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"Yashan City has too many case files from the past ten years. I can't show you all of them—only specific cases."
Gangye Yoshiko returned to her usual decisive self, her dazzling eyes turning toward Beichuan Si,
"So, if the boy from the Beichuan Family doesn't have a clue on where to start the investigation, then he should forget those bold words he said earlier and just go home to accompany his sister."
The events of the past decade were numerous and overwhelming, not just in Yashan City. If one accounted for the surrounding regions, those cases too would fall within Beichuan Si's investigative scope.
This enormous undertaking would not be accomplished in a day, even making Gangye Yoshiko's colleagues struggle when handling these cases.
Her passion having cooled, she didn't believe Beichuan Si had a precise direction for the investigation.
Gangye Yoshiko sat next to the computer, waiting to see Beichuan Si make a fool of himself.
But to her unexpected surprise, Beichuan Si spoke without the slightest hesitation,
"First, let's look up where Ishikawa Kaoru attended school."
He spoke swiftly and decisively, not at all like someone who came unprepared.
Seeing Beichuan Si so composed, Gangye Yoshiko was slightly taken aback, but her hands didn't stop, and she quickly pulled up Ishikawa Kaoru's information.
Ishikawa Kaoru's identification photo on the screen was still from ten years ago.
He was a young man with medium-short hair and a round head, round face.
Beichuan Si didn't care what the other person looked like; his eyes were fixed on the bottom line of information.
Attended Xucha Private High School.
"So, did you find what you wanted?"
Ignoring Gangye Yoshiko's sarcasm, Beichuan Si remained silent for a moment before speaking again,
"Search for Xucha Private High School and fire incident as keywords."
"Hmph." Seeing that Beichuan Si was nowhere near giving up, Gangye Yoshiko snorted and started typing again.
Meanwhile, Gangye Yoshiko felt a bit puzzled.
It was true there was a fire at Xucha Private High School, but that was reported ten years ago, old news from a decade ago.
People staying in Tokyo wouldn't know unless they'd investigated specifically.
Could this kid really have a lead?
Gangye Yoshiko pulled up the files again.
This time, she didn't look away after pulling up the information; she began to study the results that appeared on the computer.
"Ten years ago, there was a massive fire at Xucha High School, causing dozens of victims, with only one female student surviving. And at that time, signs of intentional arson were found throughout the school, and the perpetrator hasn't been caught to this day. Xucha High School was forced to close down after this incident and the 'Ishikawa Kaoru Serial Killer' scandal."
Only one girl survived?
Beichuan Si felt a surge of interest.
"What's the name of the only surviving girl?"
"Um..." Gangye Yoshiko clicked the mouse and then frowned, "It seems that at the request of her parents, who hoped this wouldn't affect their daughter, there's no record left in the files according to the juvenile protection law. The contemporaneous newspapers didn't report it either, just used the alias Student A."
Beichuan Si didn't panic, he quickly said,
"Then can you try adding 'Yuuki' as a keyword after the fire incident search? There should still be some records left."
"Yuuki?" This time, Gangye Yoshiko hesitated before searching. She looked at Beichuan Si in surprise, "Where did you get this information?"
Could it be that there's a mole in the police station? How could this kid know so much?
"Just try the search." Beichuan Si didn't answer Gangye Yoshiko's question; he just stared at the computer intently, as if the answer was all but confirmed.
Finally, Gangye Yoshiko typed again.
Under her manipulation, a few search results with the keywords 'Yuuki' and 'Xucha Private High School Fire' popped up.
"...This girl... is already deceased."
"Let me take a look."
Without a word, Beichuan Si pushed Gangye Yoshiko aside and scanned the entries and items on the form with a calm expression.
Sakura Yuki (deceased), female, born May 1, 1994, attended the second year at Xucha Private High School, blood type...
The photo of Sakura Yuki showed a cute girl with short straight hair, smiling broadly at the camera.
Looking at the slightly blurry color photo and the deceased notation beside her name, Beichuan Si fell into silence.
Sakura Yuki was already dead.
That was the result found in the records.
Since it was already recorded, it indicated that regardless of societal or realistic perspectives, this person was indeed deceased.
"So, did you get what you wanted?" Gangye Yoshiko asked again, seeing Beichuan Si deep in thought.
She held no hope for it.
Sakura Yuki was just someone who had died ten years ago, and the dead couldn't come back to commit crimes again.
Looking at Beichuan Si's face, she knew too.
The truth of the case was still shrouded in mystery—
Gangye Yoshiko hadn't imagined that Beichuan Si would lift his head with a calm face and unchanged tone,
"I have some ideas for now, but I still need you, Yoshiko, to help me investigate a few more things."
"???? Kid, don't fool yourself." Gangye Yoshiko grinned, "I know you might be excited when your leads run out, but fooling yourself isn't good."
Beichuan Si didn't let Gangye Yoshiko's slight in words make him agitated or show any youthful indignation.
Bickering with Gangye Yoshiko wouldn't bring any benefits and might even get him accused of attacking a police officer.
He just quietly looked at her.
Feeling Beichuan Si's gaze, Gangye Yoshiko couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth and, finally, helplessly start searching again.
Beichuan Si turned his gaze back to the photo of Sakura Yuki, as if wanting to see through the ten years of history to find the truth of the incident from the girl's innocent face.
...
In winter, it got dark quickly, and sparse stars twinkled in the sky.
Beichuan Si finally came out.
Naturally, Shen Gu Mirai, who had been sitting for hours for no reason, started to complain to the calm-faced Beichuan Si.
But seeing Gangye Yoshiko following behind him, she quickly shut her mouth in grievance.
She had wanted to complain about how terrible the coffee at the station was and how hard the bench was!
But with Gangye Yoshiko there, her little thoughts couldn't be expressed.
Helplessly, she could only gaze at Gangye Yoshiko with a resentful look.
Who told Gangye Yoshiko to make her sit there doing nothing!
"It's quite late now. I'll drive you and Beichuan back. Wait here for a moment." Gangye Yoshiko ignored Shen Gu Mirai's resentful gaze and, taking out her car keys, walked toward the parking lot beside the police station.
The moment Gangye Yoshiko left, Shen Gu Mirai couldn't suppress her expression and ran over,
"Really! You and Sister Liangzi were doing something interesting without me! I, too, want to know what you were up to!"
"It wasn't anything interesting. Telling you would be pointless." Beichuan Si shook his head.
Bringing Shen Gu Mirai might make this girl spill about the diary.
Beichuan Si had his selfish reasons; even though the system task didn't specify whether the police had to catch the criminal or if he had to do it personally, for the reward, Beichuan Si didn't want any extraneous factors that could cause the task to fail.
Shen Gu Mirai, not having as many thoughts as Beichuan Si, continued angrily,
"You don't know how terrible the coffee at the station is—"
At this point, Beichuan Si suddenly interrupted her with a calm voice,
"You think I don't know how terrible the coffee at the station is? Don't know how hard the bench is?"
"???" Shen Gu Mirai widened her eyes.
Could it be that Beichuan Si had mind reading skills? How did he know what she wanted to say?
She was about to speak, but was rudely interrupted by Gangye Yoshiko, who drove over,
"Heh, the boy from the Beichuan Family almost considers the station his own home. Just with his deposition alone, he's done more than three times. Of course he knows how the coffee tastes in the station."
"..." Shen Gu Mirai couldn't help but move her little mouth but eventually didn't make a sound.
She awkwardly looked at Gangye Yoshiko and then at the silent Beichuan Si.
Treating the station as his own home...
Beichuan Si was as excellent as always—
(From now on, the protagonist's name will be officially Beichuan Si; all previous names have been changed accordingly!)
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