Suspect

Even Fei Yingli could not help turning around, staring at her in surprise.

"That's right, it really is me." Ono Yoko quickly reined in her shock, gently removed her sunglasses to reveal her delicate features, and smiled faintly at the two people before her. "I'm very sorry for hiding my identity from you both, but I'm deeply honored that Miss Kuriyama likes my songs."

Kuriyama Midori looked utterly excited, making Yin Kong wonder whether she might drive straight onto the sidewalk.

"No, the honor is mine! It's an honor to meet you!"

Fei Yingli suddenly understood. Since she was a popular idol, no wonder she dressed so strangely whenever she went out.

Come to think of it, although she had long passed the age of chasing celebrities, she was far from unfamiliar with the name Ono Yoko.

After all, Mori Ran had told her that she was Mori Kogoro's current favorite idol, so Fei Yingli actually held a certain degree of hostility toward this popular star.

Fei Yingli's gaze soon fell on Yin Kong, and she could not help pondering.

If she let Mori Kogoro know that the idol he had been obsessed with all this time actually already had a boyfriend in private, would he suffer a huge blow and hide in his room crying his eyes out?

Of course, the thought merely flashed through her mind.

Given Fei Yingli's personality, she would not truly do something like that.

"So, Miss Yoko, do you really not need to go to the hospital first?"

For an idol, accidentally spraining an ankle was no small matter. If it was not treated promptly, it could easily affect her regular work.

Ono Yoko gently shook her head.

"Let's return to the apartment first. It seems a murder has taken place there."

Kuriyama Midori said in shock, "A murder?!"

Fei Yingli, however, noticed her choice of words.

Ono Yoko explained, "That officer said the situation was extremely complicated and could only be explained clearly at the scene."

As they spoke, time quietly passed.

About twenty minutes later, they arrived once more at Ono Yoko's apartment building.

In the sky, the battle between those two enormous creatures was still ongoing.

Thanks to them, the streets had become countless times quieter, and Yin Kong's "intermittent motion sickness syndrome" did not act up again.

"Huh? They actually deployed so many people?"

Seeing that the entire apartment building had already been sealed off by the police, Fei Yingli was greatly surprised.

She had dealt with murder cases quite a few times and knew very well that if it were merely an ordinary homicide, they would at most cordon off the room where the murder occurred and any potentially related rooms.

Such a huge operation was truly unusual.

Yin Kong's gaze shifted, because he quickly spotted two familiar figures. They were Sato Miwako and Takagi Wataru, whom he had run into at the ramen shop not long ago.

Seeing Yin Kong wave at them from afar, the two were clearly very surprised as well.

"Yin Kong, why are you here?"

Yin Kong helped the mobility-impaired Ono Yoko out of the car and explained, "Simply put, Miss Yoko has some business dealings with our Cunning Rabbit House."

"Miss Yoko? It really is you!" Takagi cried out, looking excited. "I was just wondering whether it might simply be someone with the same name..."

"Takagi, watch yourself. We're on duty." Sato cleared her throat, letting her excited subordinate calm down slightly before speaking in a serious tone. "Miss Yoko, we found two, uh, remains in your apartment. Do you know anything about this?"

Ono Yoko had evidently rehearsed this countless times in her mind, so her response now seemed perfectly natural—confusion, incomprehension, and a trace of unease.

"Remains? Officer Sato, could you explain more clearly? I don't quite understand."

Sato Miwako pondered for a moment.

"It may be difficult to explain using words alone. Let's take you to the scene and have a look. However, you should prepare yourselves mentally first. Those remains are extremely horrifying."

Takagi nodded vigorously beside her. Apparently, quite a few of their colleagues had vomited on the spot after seeing the scene.

Ono Yoko's face immediately turned pale. The others might not yet have had much sense of it, but she had personally witnessed how Ikezawa Yuko and Yamagishi Ei had been brutally killed by the monster before being sucked dry into human husks.

The horrifying images she had deliberately suppressed deep in her mind, struggling not to remember, finally surfaced clearly in her thoughts once more.

"May I ask... can Mr. Yin Kong accompany me?"

Ono Yoko could not help clutching Yin Kong even more tightly, as though only this could give her a tangible sense of security.

Yin Kong could naturally feel the fear in the popular idol's heart. He gently patted her shoulder and said softly, "Don't be afraid. I'm here."

Under his reassurance, Ono Yoko's body gradually relaxed at last, though the fear deep in her eyes still could not completely fade.

"Of course."

Neither Sato nor Takagi thought much of it. They merely assumed Ono Yoko had always been rather timid.

There was nothing strange about that.

However, while nodding, Sato Miwako secretly gave Yin Kong a thumbs-up. Her expression clearly said:

Who would have thought? You looked so honest, yet you quietly hooked up with a popular idol.

For a moment, Yin Kong could not find an appropriate expression to respond with.

"Huh? Lawyer Fei is coming along too?"

Seeing that Fei Yingli had entered the elevator with them, Yin Kong was somewhat surprised.

Fei Yingli nodded lightly.

"I'm a little curious as well."

In truth, she simply vaguely felt that Ono Yoko's behavior was somewhat off.

Kuriyama Midori had once told her that this popular idol had hosted several haunted house programs. She should not have been such a timid person.

Besides, she was also curious just how terrifying Sato Miwako's "extremely horrifying" could possibly be.

Fei Yingli was quite confident about this.

After all, it was not as though she had never seen bizarre murder cases before. No matter how special this case was, could it really frighten her?

Suspect

"Why isn't Inspector Megure here? Aren't cases like this usually handled by him?"

Sato Miwako looked at Fei Yingli in surprise and explained, "That's normally true, but Inspector Megure is handling another case right now and cannot get away. So we were assigned to examine the scene and collect evidence first..."

As expected of Beika Town, where talent and opportunity flourished. Inspector Megure truly had it rough; he might have had to run through eight different crime scenes in a single day.

"Ma'am, do you know Inspector Megure?"

Fei Yingli nodded gently.

"We've worked together many times. You could say we're old acquaintances."

As they spoke, the elevator quickly arrived.

The instant it stopped, Yin Kong felt Ono Yoko tighten her grip on him again.

It was clearly the entrance to the apartment she knew better than anyone, yet it now frightened her like some monstrous beast.

Yin Kong gently held her hand, helping dispel the fear in her heart.

Fei Yingli noticed this and frowned faintly, but she said nothing, silently following the others toward the crime scene.

Everything here was almost no different from when Yin Kong had teleported away.

The overturned coffee table, the wrecked walls, blood and internal organs scattered across the floor, the thick stench of blood, and—

Two horrifying remains.

Even the experienced forensic personnel had clearly never seen such an inconceivable crime scene before.

Beyond their nausea and discomfort, their faces held lingering shock.

Because even the most inexperienced person could see how strange the two bodies were.

One had been cut in half at the waist, while the other had a huge hole in the chest. Aside from their bones, nearly all the flesh and organs within their bodies had vanished, leaving behind only a thin layer of human skin.

Their facial features barely retained their general shape, but they had all been twisted into miserable, terrifying expressions.

Ono Yoko let out a frightened cry and immediately buried her face in Yin Kong's chest, not daring to look again.

Yin Kong stared at the corpses' wide-open eyes, as though he could hear their shrill screams before death...

Amid the silence, Fei Yingli suddenly covered her mouth and rushed out.

The renowned lawyer was not normally so fragile, but unfortunately, she had eaten beef slices for lunch today. At the sight before her, she immediately felt her stomach churning violently.

Sato was clearly experienced with such situations and immediately shouted toward the door, "Kosaka, get her a bag!"

After shaking her head sympathetically, Sato turned back, pulled out a pen and paper, and composed herself before asking, "Then, Miss Yoko, do you know these two victims?"

Ono Yoko gathered her courage and raised her head. After glancing at the bodies, she said softly, "I-I know them. This is Mr. Yamagishi and Miss Yuko, but how could they—?"

Sato was not surprised, as they had already identified the two.

"We are still investigating the specific circumstances. Then, Miss Yoko, do you have any clues as to why these two people appeared in and died inside your apartment?"

Ono Yoko hesitated.

"Um..."

"Allow me to explain that."

Yin Kong patted her back and took over.

"This morning, Miss Yoko, Mr. Yamagishi, and I met at a café. Because Miss Yoko suspected someone was following her, she asked me to investigate the matter.

"Then, while we were acting separately, we found some evidence related to Miss Yuko and arranged to meet her tomorrow.

"However, we never expected Mr. Yamagishi to come to Miss Yoko's apartment first to meet Miss Yuko, nor did we expect them to suffer something so cruel."

"Miss Yoko felt she was being followed?" Sato froze for a moment, then delight appeared on her face. "Could you tell us about it in detail?"

Compared to the harmless-looking Miss Yoko, this was clearly the person they should suspect.

Especially after Yin Kong briefly described Ono Yoko's experience and produced the photographs and curse letter he carried with him.

Although the way the two victims died did not completely match the curse described in the letter, their misery was no less severe.

Takagi suddenly understood and analyzed, "So, for some unknown reason, Mr. Yamagishi and Miss Yuko secretly met in Miss Yoko's apartment. Then they unexpectedly ran into the stalker, who brutally killed them?"

"Officer Sato! We found a suspicious-looking man."

Just as Sato nodded slightly, thinking Takagi's analysis seemed reasonable, a colleague's report came through the radio.

"A suspicious-looking man? Could he be the stalker? Shiratori, bring him up immediately."

Not only Sato and Takagi were ecstatic; even Ono Yoko raised her head in surprise.

The stalker was Ikezawa Yuko, wasn't she?

Then who had the police found?

Very soon, the suspicious man was brought upstairs.

He was a burly young man with an extremely gloomy expression. No wonder the patrol officers had noticed him.

Upon seeing them, the young man immediately shouted in delight.

However, his delighted expression quickly froze on his face.

Because, to his immense shock, he saw Ono Yoko leaning intimately against Yin Kong.