"Shine" and "Die"

"Could it be that Jiang Hang has already figured out the truth of the case in private, and he wants me to solve the final mystery of the case on the show?" Shizuka Sakaki thought with a little uncertainty.

Aside from this, Shizuka Sakaki can't think of any other possibility. It can't be that the production team also received a request from the Takeda Family, and then they solved the mystery faster than hers, and after uncovering the truth of the case, they directly brought the case to the show, right?

Therefore, according to Shizuka Sakaki's deduction, the fact that this case appeared on the program must have been arranged by Jiang Hang.

So Shizuka Sakaki listened very attentively as Rena Mizunashi described the story of the Spider Mansion.

The information that Rena Mizunashi provided was not much different from what Jiang Hang knew; the only differences were in the direction of the story and the details.

However, to be honest, during Rena Mizunashi's explanation, Jiang Hang suddenly noticed a piece of information that he hadn't paid much attention to before.

The warehouse where the deceased's body was located was a shrine and altar used to suppress the spider monster six years ago. Until six years ago, when Takeda Shinichi, the Shinichi son of the Takeda Family, became the new head of the family, he resolutely chose to expand the workshop of puppet making technology passed down in the family for generations, and demolished the altar to build the warehouse it is today.

It is precisely for this reason that rumors of the Spider Mansion have spread in the area.

Jiang Hang knew about this information, but he hadn't thought about it carefully at the time.

But now, hearing this from Rena Mizunashi's mouth, he couldn't help but feel that something seemed amiss.

The Takeda Family has been making puppets for generations. Although the number of people buying puppets has increased significantly in recent years under the leadership of Takeda Shinichi, is it really necessary to demolish such a centuries-old altar and turn it into a warehouse?

Are there any hidden problems here?

In Jiang Hang's contemplation

It took about ten minutes to explain all three suicide cases at the Spider Mansion over the past three years.

Next, Rena Mizunashi spent some time introducing the characters who appeared in this case. Generally speaking, the murderer is hidden among these characters who have appeared.

Viewers watching on television will naturally have access to a more detailed interlude during this period after the program officially airs, providing a more effective explanation of the entire case.

After completing the entire introduction process, Jiang Hang also had a more detailed case description in his hands.

"Three cases, initially classified as 'suicides' by the Tottori Prefecture Police, occurred in the same location. Is this a coincidence, a meticulously planned scheme, or perhaps the legendary spider curse...?"

After skillfully inserting a commercial break and inviting all viewers in the studio to try to solve the mystery, the program smoothly moved on to the next segment.

This segment is essentially a free Q&A session. In this segment, Jiang Hang can ask Rena Mizunashi questions to learn more about certain clues and characters in the case, while Rena Mizunashi will answer yes or no accordingly. If necessary, she will also provide Jiang Hang with some new information and clues.

Of course, directly asking about the murderer's identity is not an option, and Jiang Hang only has a maximum of half an hour for questioning—if that time is exceeded, then they will move on to the next stage of trying to deduce the truth of the case.

This questioning process may seem somewhat hasty, but that doesn't mean it's meaningless. As long as Jiang Hang's questions are related to the people and the truth, then this clue is very likely to be connected to this case.

Using this method, he can also directly exclude those meaningless clues.

Although Jiang Hang already knew that the main reason for Takeda Misa's suicide was that her father discovered she was not his biological daughter, but a child born from the affair between his wife and his younger brother.

After her father revealed this cruel truth, she began to suffer emotional abuse from him. Living in such an environment, she suffered immense mental stress over time, and ultimately, unable to withstand the pressure, she chose to end her life.

Takeda Kinuyo's subsequent death was likely due to her feeling guilty towards her husband and daughter. After seeing her daughter commit suicide, she felt ashamed to continue living in the world and thus followed her daughter in death.

This must be the truth behind those two suicide cases three years ago.

But Jiang Hang knew he must have missed some important clue that could connect the three "suicide" cases, so after thinking for a while, he began to ask questions.

"In the information provided, the police classified all three cases as suicides, and I want to know the reason."

Rena Mizunashi nodded, and then the program team began to update the information, displaying the police's judgment on the screen—the two victims showed no signs of oppression, humiliation, or struggle. They both suddenly disappeared from their homes one day and were not found in a warehouse until several days later. Moreover, there were many cobwebs on their bodies when they died, so it was defined as suicide. At the same time, the case file did not state the reason for their suicide.

As for the third case, which is the most recent new case, it has quite a few new twists and turns.

First, there's the scene of the death.

The Negishi, his body wrapped in numerous silk threads, was hanged in the warehouse as if he were wrapped by a spider.

The photos taken by the police at the time were displayed on the screen after some simple processing. At the same time, the floor plan of the warehouse where the body was located and several key ventilation points were also pointed out.

"As shown in the picture, Mr. Negishi died in the warehouse. He was in a secret room at the time. If the head of the Takeda Family had not gone to the warehouse to get tools to repair the puppet, Mr. Negishi might have died like the other two, until a real spider spun a web on his body and his body was not discovered."

"Furthermore, no signs of foul play were found at the crime scene, so the police could only conclude that it was a suicide."

After answering, Rena Mizunashi blinked and waited for Jiang Hang's next question.

Jiang Hang briefly recalled the explanation that Rena Mizunashi had just given, and his doubts deepened even further.

Based on the fact that three years ago, Takeda Shinichi and Takeda Kayo were only discovered five or six days after their suicides, when their bodies were already rotting and attracting spiders and mosquitoes, it seems that no one usually goes to that newly built warehouse.

Although the police file stated that he was going to get repair tools, Jiang Hang felt that the matter was not that simple.

Perhaps this is not a coincidence?

After asking this question, Jiang Hang began to think about the next one.

At the same time, he also told Shizuka Sakaki was beside him, not to be too reserved, and to stand by and think carefully about what other hidden aspects of the case might have gone unnoticed.

After Jiang Hang asked the first question as a sample, Shizuka Sakaki quickly followed suit and asked Rena Mizunashi questions according to her original investigation schedule.

"In the case information, I saw that there was a maid Ranta Miyuki who worked in the Takeda Family four years and was not much older than the deceased Takeda Misa. Is there any connection between the two of them?"

Upon hearing this question, Rena Mizunashi looked at Shizuka Sakaki with some surprise.

She had initially thought that Shizuka Sakaki was just a pretty face with a little bit of skill, but she never expected that the other party would ask such a crucial question right away.

Rena Mizunashi nodded gently in response. "You're right. Ranta Miyuki was indeed one of the few close friends of Takeda Misa during her lifetime. Both of them were originally nurses at a hospital in Tottori Prefecture, and it was Takeda Misa who recommended her to work as a maid at the Takeda Family."

As Ranta Miyuki's information was updated on the screen, Takeda Misa's information also included a memory from Ranta Miyuki.

"In Ms. Ranta Miyuki Aida's recollection, she mentioned that about six months before Takeda Misa chose to commit suicide, Takeda Shinichi had a big argument with his wife, and they almost came to blows on the spot. Takeda Misa, who tried to break up the fight, was pushed to the ground by Takeda Shinichi, and as a result, she had to get seven stitches in her forehead and was almost disfigured."

"It was after that that Takeda Misa, who was originally cheerful, began to become depressed. She first resigned from the hospital, and then locked herself in her room all day and refused to go out."

When Rena Mizunashi got to this point, a cacophony of discussion could be heard from the audience. The audience members seemed to be vehemently criticizing Takeda Shinichi, the abusive man, believing that it was because of him that Takeda Misa psychological trauma and ultimately committed suicide.

However, Rena Mizunashi's explanation was not yet over.

To be precise, from this point on, Jiang Hang heard entirely new information that he had never heard before.

"However, according to Ms. Ranta Miyuki, Takeda Misa Takeda Misa's condition seemed to have improved a month before she committed suicide."

As he said this, a figure with the appearance of? suddenly appeared on the screen.

"A month before Takeda Misa committed suicide, an earthquake struck Tottori Prefecture, causing a severe landslide on the mountain near the Spider Mansion. It was during this landslide that she rescued a young man from abroad and took him home to care for him."

"Ms. Ranta Miyuki said that Takeda Misa seemed to get along very well with the young man from abroad during that period, and that she thought Takeda Misa had completely gotten over the shadow of six months ago."

"But no one expected that shortly after the young man from abroad recovered from his injuries and said goodbye to Takeda Misa would choose to commit suicide."

Chapter 438: Chapter 434: shine and death

Hearing Rena Mizunashi suddenly mention a new person he had never heard of before, Jiang Hang narrowed his eyes.

A foreign traveler, injured, was being cared for by a girl...

In a movie or TV series, the typical outcome of this development would be that the two young people develop feelings for each other during this period of contact and then secretly pledge their lives to each other.

However, in reality, this happy ending for lovers did not happen.

Regardless, this is a very important piece of information, and it may even be directly related to the truth of the case.

For example, a foreign tourist used sweet words to seduce Takeda Misa, then took advantage of her while she was recovering from her injuries, and left without a trace. Takeda Misa, who was deceived both physically and mentally, could not bear the pressure and chose to commit suicide.

From this perspective, the focus of this case might shift from the ethical issues of the Takeda Family to the love-hate relationship between the scoundrel and the resentful woman.

No matter how you look at it, this is extremely important intelligence.

However, both Shizuka Sakaki and her companion had contacted Ranta Miyuki, but the maid made no mention of this incident when describing what happened back then...

Jiang Hang pondered for a moment, and there were two possibilities.

Firstly, Ranta Miyuki didn't initially connect Takeda Misa's death with this incident, or rather, she herself hadn't previously linked the two events together.

The second possibility is that Ranta Miyuki deliberately concealed this important information for some reason, in order to prevent others from associating Takeda Misa's death with that foreign youth.

Based on the current clues, it is still impossible to determine whether Ranta Miyuki did it intentionally or accidentally.

But one thing is certain:

Jiang Hang asked Vermouth to help investigate this case by leveraging the organization's influence in Tottori Prefecture.

Tottori Prefecture, a city that the Black Organization has operated in for nearly a century, clearly enjoys a much higher level of control over than other places.

Now, regardless of what methods the Black Organization has used in the past two days, since Vermouth has directly put this case on a television program, it must mean that the Black Organization has figured out the whole story of the case.

From this perspective, every piece of information Jiang Hang sees in the Spider Mansion case is theoretically valid information that Vermouth has already filtered for him. There might even be a lot of "processes" and clues that lead back from the result.

Even if Vermouth wanted to use this case to mess with him, two days is really not a long time. Jiang Hang didn't think that after spending two days investigating the past of the Spider Mansion, the Black Organization would still have the time to stuff a bunch of irrelevant information into the case to confuse him.

If we consider the case from this premise, it becomes easy to see that both the first and second possibilities indicate that this foreign tourist is definitely not a random passerby who suddenly appears and then disappears.

He glanced at Shizuka Sakaki beside him.

At this moment, Shizuka Sakaki also had an incredulous look on her face, as if she hadn't expected that she would have missed such important information.

Perhaps she is still wondering why, despite her Koharu Yoshino, Imai Midori, and Kazuha Toyama in Osaka all helping to investigate the case, the television station ultimately uncovered more important clues in a shorter amount of time.

"Was this something Jiang Hang investigated in private? But Jiang Hang usually stays in the office, so who did he ask to investigate these things for him?" Having been a detective's assistant for so long, Shizuka Sakaki's thinking ability has improved a lot since she first came to the office. Almost instantly, Shizuka Sakaki realized that Jiang Hang had an information source that only he knew about, in a place unknown to them.

Upon realizing this, Shizuka Sakaki subconsciously felt somewhat frustrated.

After all, it was precisely because their abilities were not yet sufficient that Jiang Hang sought out other intelligence sources and even had to provide guidance to her on television programs.

Having investigated the Takeda Family for so long, they had discussed almost every possibility that could be deduced from the existing clues. Therefore, when they heard this brand-new clue from Rena Mizunashi, they quickly realized that if they used this clue as the core, they could probably deduce many new possibilities.

Therefore, after only a moment's hesitation, Shizuka Sakaki directly asked Rena Mizunashi again, "Do you have the detailed identification information of that foreign traveler?"

Rena Mizunashi nodded slightly. Jiang Hang and Shizuka Sakaki had asked crucial questions, so she could only continue explaining.

The foreign traveler's information was not a difficult secret to find, and a brand new file quickly appeared before them.

Rob Taylor United States, 26 years old.

My profession is photographer, and I currently contribute to well-known geographical magazines. I spend most of the year traveling and taking photos in various parts of the world.

The last time I came to Japan was three years ago. While passing through Tottori Prefecture to scout locations, I encountered an earthquake and a landslide. I was eventually rescued by Takeda Misa and recuperated at the Takeda Family for half a month before leaving.

Can communicate in simple Japanese.

With Rena Mizunashi's explanation, a photo of Takeda Misa with a blond man whose body was still bandaged appeared before everyone.

Judging solely from the smiling expressions of the two people in this photo, it's impossible to tell that the woman in the photo would choose to commit suicide less than ten days after the photo was taken.

It's worth noting that the photo also included a close-up of the background.

All I could see was the word "shine" written on it in marker.

"Shi ne... die ne (go to hell)?" Looking at the letters on the photo, Shizuka Sakaki, whose English wasn't very good, subconsciously pronounced them in Romanized form.

It was noticeable that when she uttered "Go to hell," a subtle expression appeared on the faces of Jiang Hang and Rena Mizunashi beside her.

Rena Mizunashi, with the professional ethics of a TV host, explained to Shizuka Sakaki in a very professional manner, "I think it's not the Japanese word for 'go to hell,' but rather the English word for 'shine.'"

Upon hearing Rena Mizunashi's explanation, Shizuka Sakaki's originally rosy cheeks instantly turned bright red, even spreading all the way to her ears.

I should have listened to Jiang Hang and really studied English properly!

At the memorial service, she had to ask Jiang Hang to translate because of her poor English. Now, only a few days later, she has made such a low-level joke again.

This is so embarrassing, and it's the kind of super embarrassing scene that will be repeatedly brought up and humiliated throughout her future voice acting career!

Unless she permanently quits the internet, her subconscious thought of "go to hell" is destined to stay with her forever.

Just as Shizuka Sakaki was feeling embarrassed about her social failure, Jiang Hang, who was standing next to her, seemed to realize something and repeated the words "go to hell" to himself.

Hearing Jiang Hang start to criticize her so harshly, Shizuka Sakaki even felt like she couldn't continue recording the show. She looked at Jiang Hang, only to see a thoughtful expression on his face.

Rena Mizunashi could also sense the sudden change in Jiang Hang's attitude, and couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Jiang Hang, have you noticed something?"

Jiang Hang's brows relaxed slightly, and he nodded gently to Rena Mizunashi.

"I was just thinking that while 'shine' is indeed a positive word for United States, when translated into Japanese Romanization, it becomes a rather offensive line."

"Indeed, you would only say something like that if you have extremely malicious intent towards someone." Rena Mizunashi nodded in agreement.

Jiang Hang, on the other hand, extended his speculation to this point.

He pointed to Rob's identification information. "The description mentions that he can use his Japanese for simple communication, but he probably only knows the Romanized pronunciation."

Rena Mizunashi seemed to realize something as well. This was a clue that Vermouth hadn't provided her with, but according to what Jiang Hang said, it seemed there was indeed some possibility.

Sensing that the audience seemed somewhat confused, Rena Mizunashi coughed lightly and said, "It seems that the audience is very eager to know Mr. Jiang Hang's discovery. Why don't you explain it to them in detail?"

Jiang Hang nodded calmly. "The word 'shine' is written on the back of this group photo. It must have been something that Mr. Rob left behind before he left."

"Perhaps he felt that this was his own way of praising Takeda Misa."

However, I saw in the information that Mr. Rob has the ability to conduct simple daily conversations in Japanese.