Fang Zheng took a few steps back, looking at the photographs pasted on the room’s wall, while Conan sat beside him with a serious expression, as if they were in a police forensic meeting.
In fact, it wasn’t far off; what the two were doing was simulating and deducing.
"First, let’s list the personnel names."
Fang Zheng tapped the photograph on the wall in front of him.
"Currently, we have learned that Kinzou Yodaimiya has a total of four children, all of whom have families. His eldest son, Kazu Yodaimiya, is responsible for managing all of Kinzou Yodaimiya’s financial affairs, and his wife is Madam Natsuhi. They have a daughter, Shizuka Yodaimiya. According to the police investigation, Kazu Yodaimiya allegedly embezzled his father’s funds to maintain his business, but due to lack of evidence and because he is deceased, the matter was left unresolved."
It’s indeed quite strange to refer to someone as deceased while they are still alive.
"Madam Natsuhi doesn’t seem very popular."
Conan also shared his observations from the journey.
"It seems other people look down on her."
"This is a lead. We will investigate this later. Then we have the eldest daughter, Ehua Yodaimiya, whose husband is Hideki Yodaimiya, who married into the Yodaimiya family. They have a child named Renji Yodaimiya. Like Kazu Yodaimiya, Hideki Yodaimiya’s catering business also has financial issues."
"Ehua Yodaimiya is the sole survivor of the Rokugashima incident... However, I didn’t notice anything wrong with her, but she’s not very approachable."
Speaking of this, Conan felt somewhat helpless, as he initially planned to use his appearance to fool Ehua Yodaimiya to glean some clues from her, but she entirely saw him as a child and disregarded him.
"Next is the second son, Rufu Yodaimiya, and his wife Muki Yodaimiya, along with their child Sento Yodaimiya. Rufu Yodaimiya is currently being sued by the American court to pay a hefty compensation fee, and he is also currently strapped for cash."
Fang Zheng tapped the wall again, and Conan quickly replied.
"According to the information I gathered, Muki Yodaimiya seems to be Mr. Rufu’s second wife. Their child, Sento Yodaimiya, is from Mr. Rufu’s previous wife, Asumume Yodaimiya. But these two seem to have a good relationship, none of the typical sinister dynamics between stepmothers and stepchildren. Also, I heard from Mr. Sento about his sister Enju Yodaimiya, who couldn’t attend this family gathering due to a cold."
After listening to Conan, Fang Zheng nodded and then shifted his gaze to the last two photographs.
"Lastly, there’s the second daughter, Kanon Yodaimiya, and her daughter, Maria Yodaimiya. According to the information, Kanon’s love life seems rocky; she was unmarried when she became pregnant, had the child, and then was abandoned by the man. Afterward, her personal life was a mess, and she herself accrued a significant debt as a guarantor for an unreliable man."
"Her daughter, Maria, gives off a strange feeling."
Conan also furrowed his brows at this point.
"I tried talking to her, but she didn’t seem anything like Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, or Genta, her peers. Her mental age seems abnormally small. I suspect she might have some mental illness..."
"Single mothers raising children have it rough, let’s not delve into that."
Fang Zheng shrugged, then wrote down a few more names beside him.
"Then we have the staff, Genji Lunoshiro, Sayo, Kanon, Kyoda Toshiro, Kumazawa Chiyo, and Kinzou’s attending doctor, Minami Harumasa. But there is an issue in this."
"An issue?"
"That’s right."
Fang Zheng took a list from his pocket and compared it.
"Based on the missing and deceased list on the island from the Yodaimiya Clan many years ago, two people are not on it. They are Sayo and Kanon, and instead, a name Sayo Yasuda appears."
"Sayo Yasuda?"
"According to the information, the family head, Kinzou, once invested in constructing a welfare shelter and chose orphans there as trainee servants to work on Rokugashima. Sayo Yasuda was one of them, but I did not find the names Sayo or Kanon in that welfare house."
"What’s going on?"
Hearing this, Conan also furrowed his brows.
"Could it be these two are using false identities? But they seem very familiar to everyone, as if they’ve worked here a long time. Can such a disguise last so long?"
"That, I don’t know. After the Rokugashima incident, the police did conduct an investigation on the island, but by that time it had been blown to bits, and even the bodies weren’t fully recovered. Coupled with the limited forensic capabilities at the time, the police only examined the found bodies and compared them with the list. Sayo Yasuda was on the missing list, as was another missing person, Sento Yodaimiya. As for Sayo and Kanon, they weren’t on the casualties list, because according to the official investigation, these two people simply don’t exist."
"Next, we will split up."
After finishing the introduction, Fang Zheng immediately began distributing tasks.
"So far, what we know is just what’s on paper. The actual situation can only be known by the internal members, so what we need to do now is get in touch with those people to obtain some internal information. Conan, go mingle with the younger crowd around here. From my observation, Shizuka obviously likes Kanon, and Renji likes Sayo. This could be a breakthrough. There’s also Sento Yodaimiya, who’s lively and outgoing; he might let something slip."
"I understand."
Conan nodded, as he was quite accustomed to playing the role of an innocent fool.
"Things like ’Huh? That’s strange,’ are second nature by now."
"What about you?"
"I’ll be taking the upper-level route, naturally."
Fang Zheng chuckled.
"Though these people are rather alert, it’s not entirely impossible to find a breakthrough. For instance, Kanon Yodaimiya is a good option... a woman who lacks love... Yes, that will be easy for me."
"You really sound like a villain now."
Upon hearing this, Conan was also filled with exasperation, but soon he posed another question.
"Can we figure out a way to stop all this from happening?"
"Hmm......"
Hearing Conan’s inquiry, Fang Zheng also began to contemplate. He certainly understood Conan’s thought process, considering that a mass murder of over a dozen people, practically wiping out a family, is quite rare even in Conan’s career.
"Honestly, you can try, but the problem is, we don’t even know who the murderer is or how they killed them."
Fang Zheng shook his head. From his experience, he didn’t believe this was the work of a single individual, as this world is still grounded in normalcy. It’s nearly impossible for one person to kill so many people, especially when there are many young and strong men among them. In such a situation, it doesn’t seem feasible that an assailant could go on a killing spree.
Of course, if someone intentionally poisoned them, that would be another matter entirely.
For instance, poisoning the drinking water and then striking when others are weakened by it, but even then, killing everyone would be quite challenging.
"Another issue is that all of them have sufficient motives."
Fang Zheng scrutinized the photos, shaking his head, and Conan was at a loss for words. As Fang Zheng mentioned, these four families face the same financial issues, perhaps due to poor management or investment blunders, court compensations, or even inadvertently accumulating massive debts.
Looking at it this way, any of them could have committed the murders. That means, it’s not that there are no suspects, but rather, almost everyone is a suspect.
"In any case, let’s take things slow."
"Hmm..........."
Though Conan was somewhat dissatisfied, he also realized that with the current clues, finding the culprit was impossible. He could only proceed cautiously.
After that, Conan joined the young people’s group to mingle, while Fang Zheng engaged in conversation with Kinzou Yodaimiya’s attending physician, Genji Lunoshiro, and others, hoping to uncover some clues. However, although they were very friendly to him, when it came to topics regarding Kinzou Yodaimiya, they were evasive, as if hiding some secret.
Others did not appear. In fact, after arriving at the villa, they locked themselves in a room, likely discussing the division of Kinzou Yodaimiya’s wealth — the downside of having many children in a family is this. Before his rebirth, Fang Zheng saw plenty of news about siblings turning against each other over a parent’s house and even going to court or becoming violent.
For a mere house to lead to such chaos, it’s not surprising that the division of a fortune worth billions can result in such bloody disputes.
"Is this the Witch of Gold?"
Standing in the entrance hall, Fang Zheng looked up at the oil painting and the epitaph placed beneath it.
"Traverse the nostalgic homeland’s Namazu River.
Those seeking the Golden Village, drift down and search for the key.
Follow the river down to the end, to arrive here.
Find the Two Mouths Shore here.
A key to the Golden Village sleeps there.
The key bearer should adhere to the instructions below to embark on the journey to the Golden Village.
On the first night, offer six chosen by the key as sacrifices.
On the second night, tear apart the two survivors closest to each other.
On the third night, survivors shall loudly praise my name.
On the fourth night, gouge the head and kill.
On the fifth night, gouge the chest and kill.
On the sixth night, gouge the abdomen and kill.
On the seventh night, gouge the knee and kill.
On the eighth night, gouge the foot and kill.
On the ninth night, the witch resurrects, no one survives.
On the tenth night, the journey ends, arriving at the Golden Village.
The witch praises the sage, granting four treasures.
One is, all the gold of the Golden Village.
One is, the resurrection of all deceased souls.
One is, even lost love shall be reborn.
One is, to place the witch into eternal slumber.
Rest in peaceful slumber, my most beloved witch, Beatrice.
"Hmm......"
Fang Zheng furrowed his brow as he read the inscription.
For some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something about it seemed off......

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