After the tour guide and Mrs. Kayama, the old doctor entered the room.
Through the earlier questioning, fragments of the past had begun to emerge. Imitating a police officer, Jiang Xia flipped through the notebook in his hand, though there was barely anything written in it, and asked bluntly, "Have you ever been involved in a shipwreck?"
The old doctor stiffened.
After a long while, he slowly bent down and sat on the sofa, looking every bit his age. "That's right. Three years ago, while I was traveling, the ship I was on had an accident—if I remember correctly, it caused quite a stir at the time and even made the newspaper. It was the famous 'Toyo Maru Shipwreck Incident.'"
Holding his forehead, the old doctor recalled it with a hint of pain. "Not long after that cruise ship set sail, a cargo vessel rammed into its side. The ship immediately began taking on water. The captain frantically tried to save it, but it was useless. In the end, the ship sank, and many passengers were swallowed by the sea."
"The Toyo Maru Shipwreck Incident..."
Hattori Heiji suddenly remembered something. He sprang to his feet and said excitedly to Jiang Xia, "I remember that! Aside from the sheer shock of the accident itself, it became so famous because there happened to be a reporter aboard at the time.
"He was a survivor of that tragedy. After recovering, he wrote a stirring report from his unique first-person perspective—the reporter was precisely the person who asked me to take part in this vacation experience in his place. In other words, the common link among the Experience Participants gathered here really is that shipwreck!"
Jiang Xia paused with his pen in hand. "..."
The old doctor looked surprised. "He asked you to participate