Arui raised his eyes to look at him, his tone unchanged. "I know you said that, but we still haven't found the killer. For now, we can only treat it as suicide and stabilize the clan members' emotions."
"No need to look any further." Lin Taichu stared at him. "The real killer is you."
At those words, Arui's body paused almost imperceptibly, but he quickly regained his composure.
"What makes you say that? I've been helping you investigate the case all along. If I were the killer, why would I take you to the coral forest and help you test the black particles?"
"Because you wanted to cover it up," Lin Taichu said. "You took me to the coral forest so I would see the fabricated scene and be led to believe that magical beasts had killed them. You helped me test the black particles and the Mo Stone so you could control the information and make me believe you."
"Also, I sensed demonic energy on you before—the same stable demonic energy found in the Mo Stone. You came into contact with the Mo Stone and the black powder. That demonic energy rubbed off on you from them."
"And that serrated tool found in Ahei's home had a crescent-shaped notch on its handle. I remember you had a similar tool before, with the same notch on its handle."
"Ahei was just your pawn. You made him gather Poison Algae and fabricate the scene. Once he was no longer useful, you killed him and disguised it as suicide, intending to pin every crime on him, didn't you?"
Arui fell silent. He neither admitted nor denied it, merely lowering his head and lightly tapping his fingers against the table.
After a while, he raised his head and looked at Lin Taichu. "Come