Shiraishi had already retreated behind the shower curtain before the candle was lit.
At this moment, the candlelight suddenly appeared in front of her eyes, giving Reika Yotsui the illusion that she was about to be rescued.
She excitedly looked toward the light source, but when she saw Nanao Yaeko's smiling face behind the flames, her whole body froze suddenly, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
The Nanao family has served the Yotsui family for generations, and Nanao Yaeko has grown up with Yotsui Reika since childhood, and she is considered a rare friend of Yotsui Reika.
If it was a few years ago, Reika Yotsui would have been ecstatic when she saw Nanao Yaeko in a difficult situation, instead of being scared even if she looked at her again like she is now.
All changes originated from the storm two years ago.
Reika Yosui was in a bad mood that day. After arriving on the island, she found that several other people were chatting happily and no one noticed her abnormality, so she walked away angrily alone.
Later, the weather suddenly changed, and Reika Mitsui just felt angry that she was so unlucky. She didn't expect that the storm would bring such serious consequences.
The tide rose rapidly and spread. Yotsui Reika rolled and shrunk to the highest point of the island. When she looked at the roaring waves around her and realized in despair that she might die here today, Nanao Yaeko wore a life jacket and took another person with her.
Pieces suddenly appeared from the waves.
Yotsui Reika grasped the life-saving straw. After Nanao Yaeko helped her put on the life jacket, she finally breathed a sigh of relief after escaping from death, but before she could finish her sigh, another orange color gradually became more and more intense under the waves.
Floating closer and closer.
The two of them turned around and saw Nikaidou Yuji holding on to a deflated rubber raft and struggling to get closer.
Nikaido came to the sea for fishing today, and his small kayak was unable to withstand the storm. Like Nanao Yaeko's kayak, it had been beaten by the waves and was almost scrapped.
They were all members of the yacht club. After Nikaido approached, Nanao Yaeko pulled him to the top of the island. However, there were only a few meters of open space left on this "top of the mountain" and it would soon be submerged.
Nikaido was very grateful, but when he found that the sea level was rising more and more fiercely and would soon submerge the entire island, he looked at the life jackets on the two girls and became interested.
At first, because he admired the character of Nanao Yaeko more and had a subtle hatred of rich people, he aimed at the one on Reika Yotsui.
However, Nikaidou's snatching action was met with resistance - Reika Yotsui was frightened, but Nanao Yaeko was particularly angry. After being beaten a few times by her, Nikaidou Yuji became anxious and annoyed, and began to get angry.
snatch it from her.
A healthy young man will have no difficulty dealing with a girl who has not experienced martial arts training.
On the way to knocking Nanao Yaeko unconscious and pushing her into the water, Nikaido also kept a vigilant eye on Yotsui Reika, worried that she would harass her like Nanao Yaeko just now, but she didn't.
Yotsui Reika just watched his actions shivering all the time. If she hadn't screamed when Nanao Yaeko fell into the water, Nikaidou almost thought she fainted from fright.
This proud and indifferent eldest lady had never shown this side to him before.
This made Nikaidou Yuji, who originally wanted to silence her, hesitate for a moment.
...If he can use this matter as a threat to get Reika Yotsui to marry him, he can inherit the Yotsui family property without any effort, which is much more cost-effective than killing her.
It is not difficult to control a person with this kind of personality. Nikaido Yuji tried to threaten Yotsui Reika while putting on the life jacket belonging to Nanao Yaeko, and he got very satisfactory results.
The storm lasted for half a day. After half a day, although the island was still submerged under water, the sea gradually calmed down.
Nikaido, who survived thanks to his life jacket, breathed a sigh of relief.
After wiping the seawater off his face, Nikaidou pinched the wrist of Reika Yotsui next to him after seeing the cruise ship that came to search for people:
"Don't make that expression, remember, you haven't seen Nanao Yaeko today, it was me who saved you.
"And don't forget, she came here because you were on the island. After all, what happened today - you are the real murderer."
Yotsui Reika was floating in the cold sea water, her mind going blank.
The shallow dark clouds were gradually blown away by the wind, and when the first ray of afternoon sunshine broke through the clouds, she followed Nikaidou and raised her hand, waved to the people on the yacht, and raised the corners of her lips stiffly.
…
The water in the bathtub was as cold as the sea water that day.
Nanao Yaeko was lying next to the bathtub, with one hand on the edge of the bathtub, and raised her hand to touch Yotsui Reika's face just like she used to wipe the pastry crumbs on her face.
Shijing Reika's mouth was sealed, she shook violently and screamed.
Across the rising water in the bathtub, her voice became even more unclear, and Shiraishi couldn't understand what she was saying.
Nanao Yaeko didn't understand either. She supported her head and looked at the person in the bathtub: "Do you have something to say?"
Yotsui Reika nodded vigorously, tears welling up in her eyes.
"It doesn't matter. There's no need to explain anything. I know it's not your fault."
Nanao Yaeko came closer. She looked into Reika Yotsui's red eyes and said warmly:
"I understand that you were not the perpetrator, and you did not kill me. You just chose to watch while I was being killed."
"——Just like me now."
Shijing Reika was stunned for a moment. She opened her eyes wide and stopped all movements. Her tears mixed with the water in the bathtub and fell down.
In the bathtub, the water line rose slowly and slowly.
Shiraishi stood nearby, feeling very complicated. This was the first time he saw someone die in front of him in the present continuous tense.
Speaking of which, how many tokens does Nanao Yaeko have? If there is only one, does it count as a violation now?
There is also the task of rescuing Leng Touqing. If Reika Yotsui drowns here, that task will fail...
Thinking of this, Shiraishi planned to check whether Nanao Yaeko had a certificate first, and then consider whether to fish the person out of the bathtub.
But at this moment, there was a tearing sound from the side.
Shiraishi tilted his head in confusion, and through the gap in the shower curtain, he saw Nanao Yaeko tearing off the tape on Reika Yotsui.
"Anyway, thank you for keeping my grandma when President Si Jing wanted to fire her."
Nanao Yaeko has another "token" in his hand.
She smiled and put the sign into Shijing Reika's heart: "You have helped her for two years, and now, I will give you another seven hundred and thirty days."
When all the tokens were submerged into Yotsui Reika's body, Shiraishi saw that the toes of Nanao Yaeko began to disappear, and his hands must have been in a similar state.
Nanao Yaeko lowered her eyes and looked at her hands, removed the other tapes several times, and then pulled out the plug at the bottom of the bathtub.
Standing up, she looked at Reika Yotsui for one last moment, then quickly turned around and floated out of the bathroom.
The two tasks were completed at the same time. Baishi glanced at the screen, put away the extinguished Huangquan candle, and left in the dark.
When he walked to the door, he heard a cry from behind: "...I'm sorry."
…
"Thank you very much for tonight."
Nanao Yaeko looked at Shiraishi with a smile, her expression very relaxed, "All my wishes have been fulfilled, I can leave with peace of mind."
"Bon voyage." Bai Shi waved his hand towards her.
However, because he was really curious about the structure of the two "Tit for Tat Tokens", Shiraishi asked again: "What is the effect of the tokens? How long will it last?"
Don't find any strange shadows during the autopsy or physical examination, and then start to re-investigate the suspect...
Nanao Yaeko misunderstood what he meant and thought he was asking about the token on Reika Yotsui, so she explained:
"It is indeed a death mark, but besides the number of days, it is also related to other factors. It will be activated the next time Ms. Yotsui does something bad—boom!"
Nanao Yaeko suddenly made an explosive gesture, then clasped her hands together, put them to the side of her face and smiled sweetly: "Then send her directly to see me."
"..." Don't say such cruel things with such a cute face! Bai Shi silently took another half step away from her.
"Of course." Nanao Yaeko slowly put down her hand and walked to the window. She looked at the fountain outside the corridor and sighed, "I still hope that today will be the last time we see each other."
…
The people who went to chase the "murderer" in the forest returned to the villa one after another, and then they saw Reika Yotsui sitting in the lobby on the first floor, covered in water.
Iljitaka, who was gradually waking up, saw her, and there was a buzz in his head, feeling unwilling and frightened.
However, Reika Yosui kept her head down and did not mention anything about being attacked. Under questioning from Takuya Mifune, she admitted that she had killed Nikaido Yuji.
Iljitaka touched his aching neck and chin, suspecting that he was still in a dream.
After finally confirming that this was reality, he suspected that Reika Mitsui wanted to be imprisoned in this way and escape the fate of being killed.
Just as he was about to rush over angrily, an anesthetic needle flew towards him, causing him to fall into a deep sleep again.
Shiraishi waited until the buff of the sleeping pill disappeared before returning to his body.
Although Conan felt that the case was very suspicious, the only suspicious item at the scene was a piece of tape stained with fingerprints in the bathroom, and those fingerprints did not match the fingerprints of anyone at the scene.
In the end, he could only stand side by side with Ichiji Takashi after the police car arrived in the morning, and watched with great confusion as Reika Yotsui was taken into the car.
…
Early the next morning, just after dawn, Baishi was woken up by a knock on the door.
The person knocking was at the back door of his house.
Shiraishi opened the quilt, yawned and walked to the door. When he looked out through the peephole, there was no one there.
But the knocking on the door continued.
After two seconds of reaction, he understood.
Opening the door, it turned out that Conan was standing at the door with a serious face: "The autopsy results of Nikaidou Yuji have come out. Do you know the cause of his death?"
"Dry drowning?" Shiraishi was deeply impressed by his popular science.
"No, it's rabies." Conan crossed his arms, walked around him naturally and walked into the room, pulled up the chair in the study and sat on it:
"Although he didn't look like he had the disease at all, the test results showed that he was."
"The virus has mutated? Or maybe he has a special constitution?" Thanks to the system, Shiraishi is now more and more receptive to these fantasy things.
"I think so too, but something is very wrong - looking at this incident alone, Reika Mitsui is obviously not the murderer, but the victim. But now she is hospitalized because of pneumonia, and the hospital is surrounded by the Mitsui family.
Bodyguard, I won't be able to get any news for a while."
One victim was alive and kept secret, while the other died, but the way of death was due to a sudden illness... This feeling of having a mystery but no solution, and even if it was solved, could not be verified, made Conan feel uncomfortable all over.
He put this matter aside for the moment and wanted to verify another thing: "What do black cat's fingerprints look like?"
"He..." In the mask form, the gloves cannot be taken off at all, and the fingerprints are not made up by himself.
Shiraishi opened his hand and looked at it, making a reminiscence: "Nine buckets, only the right thumb is a dustpan." This is easy to remember, and it will be less likely to leak in the future.
"Right thumb..." Conan looked at him and was startled, "Oh, that is indeed different from the fingerprint on the tape." Now, he had some clues about the criminal's modus operandi and guessed the situation of Reika Yotsui the night before yesterday.
.
He originally suspected that Reika Yotsui was released by the black cat, but now the fingerprints didn't match, and the black cat had been wearing gloves. It was indeed unlikely that someone who was so cautious in this regard would leave fingerprints on the tape.
It turned out that, combined with what happened later, Conan had almost restored the situation at the time of the crime and the method the murderer planned to use.
But because of the unexpected fingerprint owner at the scene, everything became confusing again.
He was about to ask directly about the fingerprint owner, but as soon as he opened his mouth, there was another knock on the door.
This time, there was a knock on the door leading to the coffee shop.
Butterfly Ninja raised his voice through the door and asked: "Boss, are you there?"