The Village's Secret

If things really turn out exactly as he thinks, then surely more people will be killed...

But what was the killer's motive for committing the murder?

The murders were carried out based on the characteristics of the bodies in each family.

After pondering for a moment, Fujino asked Matsuri Junya, "Uncle Kazamatsuri, besides the villagers, does anyone else know about these Mummified corpses?"

"I don't know about that."

Uncle Kazematsu's expression was somewhat strange. "The secrets of these guardian spirits are only known to the heads of the various pavilions in our village. Others should be unaware of them, and according to the rules, other heads of pavilions cannot reveal them. You discovered this secret, which is why I brought you here to see it."

Is that so?

Fujino glanced at Matsuri Junya, while secretly pondering to himself.

Clearly, the murderer must have been very familiar with this village.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have known that the skylight in the church roof was just the right spot to hang the bed and kill Wakaba.

At this point, the only one who fits the characteristics of the murderer is Kabuto Kiriko...

Thinking it over, Fujino opened the System Task interface:

Detective Profession Mission: The Rokkaku Village Murder Case

Mission objective: Solve the murder case that occurred in the church.

Mission Reward: One million yen and one hundred Detective Reputation points

Judging from the fact that the mission is not yet completed, the murderer is definitely not Kabuto Kiriko.

If it really was her, then the System Task would have been completed long ago after she revealed her method of committing the crime and after the police confirmed that Kabuto Kiriko was the murderer.

It was already afternoon.

After leaving the basement where the Mummified corpses was stored, Fujino returned to the guest room of the Tokita family home.

"Hateful..."

Fujino scratched his head, completely clueless about this murder case.

He has basically reconstructed the method of the murder.

But the killer cannot be identified at all.

Based on her methods, Kabuto Kiriko is the most likely person to have carried out this scheme, but she is not the murderer.

If they disappeared, it's very likely they were killed along with the murderer.

Based on the current situation, there is simply no one who fits the description of being a suspect in Wakaba's murder...

Everyone has an alibi.

Could it be that Wakaba killed him?

Fujino quickly dismissed the idea.

It would be reasonable to say that Tokiko killed Shida Wakaba Tokita.

But killing oneself is really hard to justify.

At noon, another body was discovered.

Isshiki Torao owner of the Colored Glass Mansion, was found dead in his own refrigerator, his right leg severed.

On his back, it was written, "The revenge of the seventh corpse is not over yet."

According to the police officers who arrived in the village that morning and the Forensic Science Division team, Isshiki Torao's time of death was in the afternoon. He was stabbed in the heart and then had one of his legs cut off.

However, due to the vast area, the few police officers remaining in the village were unable to conduct an alibi investigation immediately.

Fujino immediately found the secret room inside the villa and examined the Mummified corpses inside.

Just as he had guessed, the Mummified corpses in the secret chamber was missing its right foot.

This corresponds to the victim, Isshiki Torao.

"A curse! It must be a curse!"

Fujino had just returned to the crime scene when he saw Shida Jusan shouting madly, "It must be their curse! All six people from that day will be killed!"

"The six people from that day, a curse?"

Fujino watched Tokita Shida Jusan mutter something to himself and then leave, his eyes narrowing slightly with a hint of confusion.

Based on current observations, all the victims were connected to the Mummified corpses in their own homes.

However, Fujino was a little confused by Shida Jusan's mention of "that day" and "them"...

Could it be that these Mummified corpses have some direct connection with these museum owners?

If that's the case, then it conflicts with what Uncle Kazamatsuri said about it being passed down from ancient times.

Before Fujino could figure it out...

Immediately, another body was discovered.

It is Kusanagi Miko of the Ivy Mansion.

The cause of death was exactly the same as that of Isshiki Torao.

They were all stabbed in the heart and then had their legs cut off.

However, the leg that was cut off was her left leg.

On the curtains nearby, written in blood, were the words: "The blood of the seventh corpse's revenge has not yet dried."

As usual, Fujino found the secret room and examined the Mummified corpses.

As expected, this mummified Mummified corpses was missing its left leg.

However, Fujino keenly noticed something about this Mummified corpses.

Those are the teeth of this Mummified corpses, showing signs of treatment with modern dental instruments.

Based on the traces, Fujino could determine that these corpses had been alive for the last few decades, rather than being relics passed down from ancient times...

"In recent decades?"

Fujino's gaze was fixed on the corpse lying peacefully in the Stone Coffin.

His mind was immediately filled with memories of the pastor and his family who had perished in the church fire twenty-seven years ago...

Judging from the skeleton, it was indeed a female corpse.

That does match the pastor's daughter.

But why did they leave the pastor's daughter's body in their mansion?

Thinking about this, Fujino became even more puzzled.

However, he could sense that he was getting closer and closer to the secret of this village.

At the same time, the killer's identity is directly related to this series of secrets.

After a brief discussion with the police about the case, Fujino did not mention the traces found on the Mummified corpses.

Instead, he returned to the Tokita family home, intending to ask Shida Jusan about the curse.

However, the other party was not at home, so Fujino searched all over the village and finally found Shida Jusan.

However, they found the other party's behavior to be somewhat suspicious...

Fujino followed him, passing through a nearby forest and winding, steep woodland paths, crossing a fence with a "No Entry" sign, wading through a swamp, and arriving at a vast 'grassland'.

However, the shape of these grasses is very strange, unlike normal plants, and they have obviously been carefully cultivated.

"The curse is all because of these awful marijuana!"

Shida Jusan knelt on the ground, slamming his fists into the earth. "Wakaba it weren't for these hateful 'Golden Apple,' Wakaba wouldn't have..."

'Golden Apple?'

Fujino was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then suddenly realized what was going on.

Judging from what Shida Jusan just said, the so-called Golden Apple should be marijuana.

Immediately, he stepped forward and greeted him, "Mr. Tokita."

"What?!"

Shida Jusan turned his head in surprise, "Who exactly are you...?"

"A hundred years ago, a group of priests came to this village in search of the Golden Apple. They found the Golden Apple and planted it here..."

Fujino glanced around and said, "If I'm not mistaken, those Golden Apple are probably marijuana, right?"

"With a marijuana operation of this scale, your entire village must have been involved, right?"

Fujino stared at Shida Jusan with a gloomy expression, without saying a word.

"The fact that we grow cannabis is easy to explain; it's obvious."

Fujino slowly stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "What I really care about are those seven corpses. After all, judging from the condition of the three corpses I saw, they were not the guardians of the village at all, but were burned alive by fire in recent decades."

"Coincidentally, twenty-seven years ago, the pastor's family in the middle of this village died in a fire... The bodies of those seven corpses were cut off in various ways, and the body parts that the victims of this series of murders lost were exactly the same as those of their own family members."

After a pause, Fujino looked at Shida Jusan: "Mr. Tokita, you just mentioned curses and revenge, which should be related to the death of the pastor's family, right?"

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Shida Jusan's forehead, but he remained silent.

Fujino had expected that the other party would keep quiet about something like this.

So Fujino decided to play the emotional card, looking at Shida Jusan and saying, "Mr. Tokita, you must also want to catch the murderer who killed Wakaba, right?"

"If... Wakaba..."

Shida Jusan was taken aback. "You, are you sure you can find the murderer who killed Wakaba?"

"I'm sure."

Fujino nodded. "Just tell me about these corpses and what exactly happened with the marijuana."

"In that case... alright, I'll tell you everything now."

After hesitating for a moment, Shida Jusan decided that since his only daughter was already dead and his lineage was essentially over, he made a snap decision and revealed everything.

A hundred years ago, missionaries who came to this village from abroad found wild cannabis and, together with their followers, the six families living in the Foreigner's Mansion and the church pastor, cultivated cannabis for profit.

After the missionaries left, the seven families in the village reached an agreement to secretly cultivate marijuana without the knowledge of the rest of the village, in order to secretly make money.

But just 27 years ago, the pastor's descendants suddenly decided they didn't want to continue growing marijuana.

The pastor and his wife adopted seven young orphans, and it was because of those children that the pastor had the idea of stopping marijuana cultivation.

However, this clearly created a conflict of interest with the other six major families in the village.

After several rounds of negotiations, the pastor and the others failed to reach an agreement. Finally, the negotiations broke down, and the pastor decided to call the police.

Then, the village's six curators cruelly shot and killed the pastor and his wife who were planning to burn down the Marijuana field.

Afterwards, they forced the seven pastors' children into the church and set it on fire, burning them all to death.

But in the ruins of the church afterward, the girls' bodies were all missing parts, as if they had been cut off by the claws of a demon...

After that, each of the six museum owners brought a corpse back to their museum and hid it in a secret room.

After hearing the whole story, Fujino's face immediately darkened.

He killed nine people, including seven underage children.

His body was even taken back to his own home after he died...

These people are fucking beasts.

However, after taking a deep breath and calming down, Fujino still grasped the key point. "These corpses were already like this when you found them, you didn't cut them open?"

"No... we didn't do that..."

Shida Jusan's face showed a hint of pain, and his forehead was already soaked with sweat. "We brought these bodies back to check each other, so that no one could have the intention to back out or call the police again... because this is our evidence of the crime."

"I already know..."

Fujino nodded, the clues in his mind gradually connecting. "If I'm not mistaken, then there are actually only six of these seven corpses."

"Only six?!"

Shida Jusan's eyes widened.

"That's right."

Fujino explained, "If you cut off a part of each body part, then you can create the seventh corpse... The one who killed Wakaba might actually be the girl who survived back then, setting up a series of murders to take revenge on you..."

Having determined the motive for the murder, the two had just returned to the village when they heard that another body had been discovered.

This time, it was Kabuto Kiriko who died...

Kabuto Kiriko was hidden inside the armor at the entrance of the Armor Mansion.

At this point, her left shoulder was removed, and her head was separated from her body.

On the back of the armor, written in blood, were the words: "The seventh corpse, this is the second person, the blood hasn't been shed enough!"

According to the examination conducted by the remaining police officers, Kabuto Kiriko's time of death was close to that of Wakaba.

In other words, Kabuto Kiriko was killed at the same time as Wakaba was murdered.

Fujino secretly sneaks into the secret room of the Armor Mansion.

"No the same?"

Fujino stared at the corpse in the coffin before him, stunned into silence.

The corpse lying in the coffin had lost its lower body, while Kabuto Kiriko had lost her left shoulder.

This time, the pattern was completely disrupted.

From Wakaba, the first victim, to Torao, and then Kusanagi, all three of them lost parts corresponding to the corpses of their own families.

But this time, things were a bit different.

However, amidst the unusual circumstances, Fujino sensed something amiss.

"So that's how it is..."

Fujino took a deep breath, looked at the mummified Mummified corpses in front of him, and lowered his head. "Did he kill himself?"