Being too surprised, Qin Zhibo repeated what was said on the phone.
This sentence also attracted Sera Masumi and Koshimizu Nanatsuki across the table. The two of them suppressed their smiles and cast concerned glances.
"Is it suicide?" Qin Zhibo asked.
"No...it can be confirmed that it was homicide, but the specific cause of death cannot be determined yet."
Mu Mu's tone paused, "...Brother Qin, you'd better come over and take a look."
"Where is the scene?"
"You should know where it is in the hotel room where Keito Hotta is staying, right?"
"Well, I'll be there soon."
Qin Zhibo hung up the phone and immediately fell into thinking.
Since Megure contacted him and knew that he knew the location of Keito Hotta's hotel, it meant that they had already conducted a preliminary survey of the site and had also contacted the Nichimai TV program team to learn about the situation.
In this case, the police have not determined the cause of death, and it seems that the problem is indeed somewhat difficult.
At this time, Shiliang, who was sitting opposite, asked seriously: "Uncle Qin, what's going on?"
Qin Zhibo picked up the coat hanging on the back of the chair and explained, "Keito Hotta died in the hotel room. It was a homicide..."
"Kill him?"
Sera Masumi and Koshimizu Nanatsuki's eyes widened with even more surprised expressions.
Keito Hotta was killed?
Could it be that the TV program broadcast in the evening caused him to be revenged by his enemies?
But just over an hour has passed, and the enemy's efficiency in seeking revenge seems to be a little higher...
"Uncle Qin, wait a minute, let's go together too!"
Sera and Koshimi Nanatsuki put on their coats and prepared to follow.
Qin Zhibo glanced at the two of them, "You guys?"
"Don't underestimate us!"
"We are both detectives after all!"
Koshizui Nanatsuki also nodded seriously and echoed: "And this matter has something to do with us, so it's appropriate to go to the scene and take a look."
Looking at Seriang and Yueshui who looked serious, Qin Zhibo thought about it for a while and couldn't find a reason to refute, so he could only agree.
…
The hotel where Hotta Keito stayed was on the other side of the Nippon TV building. Qin Zhibo drove to his destination in 15 minutes.
As soon as I entered the lobby on the first floor of the hotel, I saw that a large number of reporters had already arrived, trying their best to search for exclusive news.
Originally, if a low-level detective like Keito Hotta died, so many people would not pay attention to it.
But he had just appeared on TV, and newspapers were compiling tomorrow's news based on his perjury and burial of corpses, when they suddenly received news of Keito Hotta's death.
Which newspaper wouldn't want to take a share of this kind of program effect that can be called a "top contemporary newspaper"?
However, due to the obstruction from the police and the hotel, these reporters could not go up to disturb the investigation of the case. They could only wait for the people from the search section to come down, and then blocked them for interviews.
Qin Zhibo and the others went around to the staff elevator on the side of the hotel, and after identifying themselves, they went up without being discovered.
When I took the elevator to the floor of Keito Hotta's room, I saw that the corridor with a radius of 10 meters from the door had been cordoned off.
Takagi was standing next to the cordon. When he saw Qin Zhibo coming, he immediately raised the cordon and went to greet him.
"Mr. Qin, Officer Mumu is waiting in the room..."
Takagi glanced at the two girls behind Qin Zhibo. One was Shiliang, whom he had just met today, and was Qin Zhibo's disciple.
I don't know the other one.
"Mr. Qin, who is this?"
In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Qin Zhibo replied directly: "She is also my disciple."
Koshizui Nanatsuki didn't feel dissatisfied at all. He smiled and raised his hand and said hello, "Hello, my name is Koshizui Nanatsuki. Please give me your advice."
"ah?"
Takagi looked at the two female disciples following Qin Zhibo, both of whom were young and beautiful, and couldn't help but feel envious of the detective profession.
Of course, if you want to receive this kind of treatment, you must also be at the level of a top detective.
Otherwise, like Hotta Keito, the end may be somewhat unpleasant.
"Officer Takagi, can we go in?"
Qin Zhibo's words interrupted the stunned Takagi, who quickly came to his senses and said, "Well, please come with me."
Under the leadership of Takagi, the three people passed through the heavily guarded corridor unimpeded and arrived at the murder scene.
As soon as he entered the room, Mu Mu was staring at the corpse in a daze with his hands behind his back.
And the corpse of Keito Hotta is even more unusual.
I saw Keito Hotta tied to a chair, his eyes widened, some drool dripping from the corner of his slightly opened mouth, and his head tilted to his left shoulder.
Now Keito Hotta has truly become the "soul detective" he dreamed of.
Such a method of death was obviously homicide.
The murderer was not hiding, but why did Mu Mu say he couldn't determine the way of death?
At this time, Mu Mu noticed someone coming from behind him and looked back, just in time to see Brother Qin, whom he was "thinking about day and night".
"Brother Qin, you are finally here..."
"Eh? Who are these two people at the back?"
Like Takagi, Megure also raised his own questions.
"They are my disciples." Qin Zhibo replied.
"Disciple?" Mumu was stunned for a moment, "But isn't your disciple the young man with golden hair from before?"
Megure was talking about Toru Amuro. Because Toru Amuro had been involved in several previous cases, he wrote them down.
Qin Zhibo smiled and said, "That is my eldest disciple. They are the second and third disciples..."
"By the way, where is the progress of the case now?"
Qin Zhibo brought the topic back to the case, and Mu Mu glanced at Takagi next to him.
Takagi took out the police manual in his arms and introduced it seriously.
It turns out that the police received the call at 6:50 pm.
It was the hotel staff who called the police. They discovered the body of Keito Hotta while replenishing supplies in the room...
Qin Zhibo turned around and glanced at the clock hanging in the room. It was now 7:40.
The "Uncensored Case Revealed" program ended at 6:30 in the evening.
However, because Hotta was worried about being blocked by reporters or police, he hurriedly left the station before the program was completely recorded.
That is to say, he was killed not long after the show was aired.
And judging from the luggage scattered on the bed and the half-packed luggage bag, he originally planned to run away.
At this time, Mu Mu continued to introduce: "We have already watched the content of that program, so we immediately investigated the director of the Japanese TV station."
"However, when the crime occurred, he had been handling the follow-up matters of the program at the TV station. His colleagues testified throughout the whole process, and he had a sufficient alibi."
"In addition, Keito Hotta has unearthed a total of five bodies of missing persons before, three of which have been identified, and one of them is the director's sister..."
Takagi held the police manual and continued: "The investigation of the relatives of the other two corpses has just been completed. One of the families is not in Tokyo now and does not meet the conditions for committing the crime."
"Although the other family is in Tokyo, they did not watch the evening program and do not know about Hotta Keito."
Qin Zhibo nodded clearly, "In other words, the possibility of a vendetta caused by the content of the program has been basically ruled out..."
Qin Zhibo walked up to the body of Keito Hotta and seemed to be observing the body, but in fact he started an automatic investigation.
【Corpse Investigation√】
[Name of the deceased: Keito Hotta]
[Time of death: 1 hour ago]
[Cause of death: poisoning]
[The corpse investigation is completed and character skills obtained: Arts and Crafts (Performance)]
[Acquire repeated skills, converted into 1000 proficiency of that skill]
Keito Hotta studied day and night how to make the psychic look more realistic, and finally it was realized at this moment.
With the help of these 1,000 proficiency points, Qin Zhibo's acting skills were successfully upgraded to level 3.
At the same time, the system task prompt pops up.
[Side mission: Find out the murderer of this case]
[Task requirements: Request to identify and capture the murderer alive]
[Task reward: 3000 general skill proficiency]
Qin Zhibo glanced at the task requirements and immediately realized something was wrong.
This mission is different from the previous case branches. There is no time limit and you have to capture them alive.
Moreover, the mission rewards are much higher than those of ordinary cases.
You must know that the general Blizzard Villa mode only rewards 1,000.
Is the murderer this time very unusual?
At this moment, Koshimizu Nanatsuki stood behind Keito Hota's body, looked at the back of Keito Hota's head and said, "You can see bleeding spots in this position of the deceased. It must have been traumatized during his lifetime, right?"
Takagi looked at the location pointed by Nanatsuki Koshimizu and quickly introduced: "The forensic department has discovered that location, but there are no fatal injuries there."
"It should be that the murderer knocked Mr. Hotta unconscious from behind and then tied him to a chair..."
"But other than that, no other injuries were found on the deceased."
The corpse investigation is not very good in this regard. It can only report back the real cause of death, while other injuries are selectively ignored.
Qin Zhibo came behind the corpse, took a look at the injury on the back of Keito Hota's head, and then looked at the half-packed luggage bag on the bed. A "little black" automatically appeared in his mind to reconstruct the incident.
"The deceased was probably packing his luggage beside the bed when he was attacked and knocked unconscious by someone behind him."
"Judging from the position next to the bed, the murderer should have been hiding in the closet in advance, just in time to attack the deceased from behind."
As soon as Qin Zhibo finished speaking, Shiliang Zhenchun held his chin and analyzed seriously.
"The murderer knew that Keito Hotta would return to the hotel after recording the show, so he lurked in the closet in advance."
"In this case, the murderer's motive for killing Keito Hotta has nothing to do with the broadcast of the program."
"And judging from the fact that Keito Hotta's hands and feet were tied up, the murderer didn't kill him immediately. He might have been forced to question him..."
Koshizui Nanatsuki also followed suit and said: "The final method of killing is also somewhat suspicious..."
Although the corpse investigation concluded that he was poisoned, the specific poison used was not identified.
Moreover, the forensic test could not detect toxic reactions...
Qin Zhibo lifted his chin, a look of thought flashed in his eyes.
If there is a possibility that Keito Hotta was killed for some reason, there is another possibility.
That is because he had previously said that he knew the inside story of the Haneda Koji case.
The Haneda Koji case was an important case related to the organization. Keito Hotta's original plan was to discuss this case on TV, but he temporarily changed it to the Lavender Villa case.
Although judging from what Kuri Sanpei learned, what Keito Hotta knew was not a big deal at all.
But the organization is likely to silence him out of caution.
If you think about it from this perspective, the poison used is easy to guess.
APTX-4869.
This is the only thing that can kill people invisible and cannot be detected by police toxicology tests.
In this case, the murderer should be someone in the organization...
"Report!"
Suddenly, a policeman came to the door and reported, "Officer Megure, our staff at the hotel found the staff member who saw the appearance of the suspected murderer."
"What?!"
Mu Mu's face lit up, "Where are the others?"
The policeman stepped aside, and an elderly female cleaning lady appeared at the door.
"That's a man, with long black hair, wearing black clothes..."
"Because his hat was pulled down very low, I couldn't see his face clearly."
This vague introduction made Ming Mu, who was originally a little excited, immediately dim.
"this……"
"Then if you see that person again, will you still recognize him?"
"Ah?" The cleaning lady was stunned, then nodded after thinking for a few seconds, "I don't know, maybe I can try..."
The cleaning staff's ambiguous answers may even be regarded as invalid witnesses in court.
And even if I try to find a suspect now, I can't find one.
Encountering this kind of situation where someone commits a crime and runs away directly, Mu Mu is somewhat acclimatized.
But Qin Zhibo already had some clues after listening to the cleaning lady's description.
With black hair and medium-long hair, the first thing Qin Zhibo thought of was that person.
Scotch whiskey!
Since Gin's death, Scotch Whiskey seems to have taken over Gin's job, and assassination is naturally his job.
If this is the case, there is a way to confirm whether it is him.
All you have to do is ask Tohru Amuro to bring you a photo of Scotch whiskey from before and ask the cleaning lady to identify it.
But ordinary police officers like Megure cannot know about this matter.
"Officer Memu, since this case is not directly related to the content of the show, I don't have any good ideas."
"The only idea now is to investigate who Hotta Kai has offended during his lifetime. Of course, we can also start the investigation from the people affected by his 'psychic technique'..."
"Then I'll take my leave now. Remember to contact me if there is any progress."
Qin Zhibo pointed out a conventional investigation idea to Mu Mu, and then left the scene.
…
After leaving the hotel, Qin Zhibo drove Koshizu Nanatsuki back to the apartment.
"Bye-Bye!"
"Bye~"
The two women parted reluctantly at the door of the apartment building.
Qin Zhibo sat in the car and waited until Shiliang returned to the car and sat in the passenger seat.
But just when he was about to send Sera home, a wise smile appeared on Sera's lips.
"Uncle Qin, this case should be related to that organization, right?"