The next day, when Fang Zheng and Conan left the guest room and arrived at the hall, they saw Natsuki Yodaimiya and servant Genji looking hurried.
"What’s wrong? Did something happen?"
"Ah, Mr. Fang Zheng."
Seeing Fang Zheng, Natsuki Yodaimiya’s expression slightly calmed.
"I’m sorry, can I ask if you’ve seen my husband?"
"No, we just got up."
"I see... Sorry..."
Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng and Conan exchanged a glance.
"Did something happen?"
"Yes, that’s right."
Standing behind Natsuki Yodaimiya, servant Genji explained on behalf of his master.
"Last night, due to the thunderstorm, the telephone broke down. Then this morning, when we went to the kitchen, we found Chef Toshiro, who was supposed to make breakfast for everyone, missing. Not only him, but Master is also not here. Rufu Yodaimiya and Lady Kanon can’t be found either... And Sayo too..."
"They are all missing?"
Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng furrowed his eyebrows.
"It’s impossible for all of them to have gone out for a morning jog or exercise."
"We are planning to check the courtyard."
"Understood, I’ll help look... Conan, you stay here."
"Alright."
Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Conan nodded, and then Fang Zheng took an umbrella and left the villa with Genji and Kanon to head towards the courtyard.
The storm still showed no signs of stopping, and the heavy raindrops mixed with the storm hit against them, forcing them to squint their eyes.
"The weather is too awful for a morning exercise."
Fang Zheng held the umbrella, walking through the courtyard, looking around, but all he could see were wind, rain, and swaying trees... Hmm?
"What’s that over there?"
Fang Zheng pointed to a small cabin not far away, and upon hearing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Kanon hurriedly replied.
"That’s the warehouse, mainly used to store gardening tools..."
"No, I could tell that at a glance, what I mean is..."
Fang Zheng reached out his hand to point at the door of the warehouse.
"What’s that thing on the door?"
"Eh?"
Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Kanon looked closely, only to finally notice that on the warehouse’s door, there was drawn a bright red magic circle, looking as if it was smeared with blood.
"What is this!?"
Genji also saw the pattern on the door, immediately shocked.
"This wasn’t here yesterday!"
"...Do you have a key? I want to check inside."
"Understood."
Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s request, Genji immediately nodded.
"I’ll go report to Madam right away, please wait."
Soon, informed by the news, Natsuki Yodaimiya, Eha Yodaimiya, and her husband Hideki Yodaimiya also rushed over. Looking at the pattern on the warehouse door, their faces changed slightly. Then, Kanon brought the key and opened the warehouse door.
Upon seeing the situation inside the warehouse, everyone there couldn’t help but change their expressions dramatically.
Inside the narrow warehouse, several bodies were lying on the ground, their heads smashed beyond recognition with some heavy object, making their original appearance unrecognizable.
"This, this is..."
Seeing this scene, everyone present was shocked.
"Darling!!"
Natsuki Yodaimiya screamed and tried to rush in, but Fang Zheng quickly grabbed her.
"Everyone back away immediately, do not destroy the crime scene!"
Fang Zheng stood at the warehouse door, coldly sweeping his gaze around the crowd, and under his scrutiny, Natsuki Yodaimiya, Eha Yodaimiya, and Hideki Yodaimiya obediently moved to the side—they were perhaps too shocked by the scene to react properly.
"Mr. Genji."
Fang Zheng stood at the warehouse door, scanning around before looking at Genji.
"Please call Dr. Minami, we need verification of the bodies, and make a call to the police immediately."
"Yes."
Genji nodded right away, then turned to leave. It wasn’t until then that Fang Zheng turned around to examine the bodies closely under the light.
There were six deceased, including Kazu Yodaimiya, Rufu Yodaimiya and his wife Kyrie, and Louza Yodaimiya, along with servant Toshiro and Sayo. All their faces were destroyed, identifiable only by clothing. Fang Zheng had to admit, this was quite a bothersome case—though in Conan’s world, deaths were numerous, having so many die at once, and in such a brutal manner, was indeed rare.
Quickly, Genji brought Dr. Minami to the warehouse, but unexpectedly, Shizuka Yodaimiya, Yosuke Yodaimiya, Sento Yodaimiya, and Conan followed behind them. Despite Natsuki’s efforts to stop them, they saw the horrific scene inside the warehouse.
Shizuka and Sento were naturally deeply affected, crying out loud, while Renji stood pale and speechless there. Even Conan looked at the scene with a grim expression, not knowing what to say. After a moment, he calmed down and approached Fang Zheng.
"What do you think?"
"I don’t have any conclusions at the moment."
Fang Zheng shook his head as he watched Dr. Minami examine the bodies.
"But at least we’re mentally prepared."
"Though that’s true..."
Conan understood what Fang Zheng meant, as this was just a "game," and in reality, the Yodaimiya family on this island all died except for Eha Yodaimiya, so seeing many dead was understandable. However, what one saw on paper were cold records, and witnessing it personally was another matter.
"Is there a perpetrator?"
"Nothing evident at the moment."
Fang Zheng glanced around, then withdrew his gaze.
"Anyway, it’s in your hands now."
"..."
This time, Conan also said nothing, since even for him, such a case was exceedingly rare.
Dr. Minami soon finished the autopsy, although the cause of death was unclear, it was certain these six people were disfigured after death and placed in this warehouse. Moreover, another clue was that upon arrival, the warehouse was locked, and the warehouse key was the only one, kept at the servant’s room. Kanon had returned to the servant’s room to get the key, then opened the door.
This means the perpetrator killed the six victims somewhere, took the key from the servant room, opened the warehouse door, moved the six bodies here, then locked the warehouse door, painted the strange magic circle, and finally secretly placed the key back in the servant’s room...
Fang Zheng thought, this is too idle...
The police predictably couldn’t arrive due to the storm, so they had to rely on themselves. Fang Zheng naturally revealed his identity, then started the interrogation, and the first thing was to ask everyone about their alibis.
Starting with the six deceased, according to Eha Yodaimiya, after Beatrice’s letter appeared, they began discussions about the gold and the next family head of Yodaimiya. The meeting lasted until midnight when Eha Yodaimiya and her husband Hideki couldn’t endure and went to rest.
Only Kazu Yodaimiya, Rufu Yodaimiya, Kyrie Yodaimiya, and Louza Yodaimiya continued the discussion.
As for Natsuki Yodaimiya, Kazu’s wife, due to feeling unwell, she went to her room early to rest.
According to Genji, Mr. Kazu Yodaimiya temporarily changed the night shift arrangements. Sayo and Kanon were on duty at the guest house, while the victim, Chef Toshiro, was on duty at the mansion. Genji and another servant, Kumasawa, spent the night at the guest house.
Meanwhile, Yosuke, Shizuka, Sento, and Maria stayed together.
Moreover, after this, Grandma Kumasawa found a large amount of blood in the dining room while preparing breakfast, allowing everyone to determine the first murder scene.
So, Fang Zheng and Conan discussed and essentially reconstructed the development of the case. First, after last night’s letter incident, the adults gathered at the mansion’s dining room to discuss the next steps, while the children returned to the guest house to rest. Natsuhi, feeling unwell, also returned to her room in the mansion to rest. At midnight, Ehua and her husband, unable to withstand the fatigue, also returned to the guest house to rest.
Thus, the arrangement became as follows.
Mansion: Kinzou Yodaimiya, Kazu Yodaimiya, Natsuhi Yodaimiya, Rufu Yodaimiya, Kyrie Yodaimiya, Kanon Yodaimiya, and the chef Toshiro on duty.
Guest House: Yosuke Yodaimiya, Shizuka Yodaimiya, Sento Yodaimiya, Maria Yodaimiya, Genji Lunoshiro, Grandma Kumasawa, Fang Zheng, Conan, and Kanon and Sayo on duty.
According to information provided by Sento, his father had mentioned that he might stay up all night, and Genji also indicated that Kazu had altered the night shift, letting Chef Toshiro remain at the mansion.
So this means Kazu realized the discussion might continue all night and specifically adjusted the shift to have Chef Toshiro stay behind to prepare a late-night meal.
However, the perpetrator killed Kazu, Rufu, Kyrie, and Kanon, and the on-duty chef Toshiro but spared Natsuhi, who was resting at the mansion. Instead, the perpetrator killed Sayo on duty at the guest house...
Conan also has his reasoning, which is... the perpetrator killed the five people in the mansion, transported them to the warehouse door, then went to the guest house servants’ quarters to steal a key. Discovered by Sayo, the perpetrator killed her to avoid exposure, placed the six corpses in the warehouse, smashed their faces, locked the door, returned the key, and left.
But there’s a problem with this theory.
"Six people, six bodies; a normal person would probably be exhausted from this, let alone when there was a storm last night."
Fang Zheng helplessly spreads his hands.
"Supposing the perpetrator really killed them in the dining room and transported them to the warehouse — let’s not fuss about how the perpetrator killed them, maybe he used a paralyzing potion. Six bodies? Frankly speaking, I believe that no one else here besides me could accomplish this."
"Maybe the perpetrator dragged them to the door and then used a materials trolley to push them to the warehouse."
Conan naturally has his own ideas.
"After all, when we arrived here, wasn’t that servant named Kanon pushing a trolley?"
"But we need evidence..."
After talking for a long time without finding any good clues or discoveries, the two had to return to the living room.
At this moment, the remaining people in the living room all have gloomy expressions.
"What did Mr. Kinzou Yodaimiya say?"
Fang Zheng looked at Natsuhi Yodaimiya and asked, but Natsuhi didn’t answer. Instead, Ehua Yodaimiya squinted her eyes and spoke.
"There’s no one in the study."
"No one?"
"Correct."
While saying this, Ehua Yodaimiya glanced at Natsuhi Yodaimiya.
"And, I want to ask, who was the last to see father?"
"I was."
Faced with Ehua’s inquiry, Natsuhi answered.
"I met with my Master in the study this morning. Ah, right, Genji, here’s your key back."
While saying this, Natsuhi returned the key to Genji. At this, Ehua frowned.
"It’s strange, though."
"Strange?"
"Yes."
While speaking, Ehua took out a note from her pocket.
"According to Genji, the study has only one entrance or exit. So, I was thinking when I saw my sister leave the study this morning, I decided to play a little prank... I clipped this note at the door of the study. Then, after finding the bodies of Kazu and the others, my sister and I went back to the study, and when we opened the door, the note was still wedged in the door seam."
"So what you mean is, during that time, no one entered or exited the study, is that right?"
Fang Zheng immediately understood Ehua’s meaning, and she nodded.
"So, I have a thought; maybe this morning after seeing my Master, my sister killed him and hid the body..."
"I didn’t do such a thing!"
However, Ehua’s words were interrupted by the agitated Natsuhi, and Shizuka supported her from the side.
"That’s right, why would mother do such a thing!"
"Alright, please calm down."
Seeing the atmosphere in the living room becoming tense again, Fang Zheng quickly spoke, then looked at Natsuhi Yodaimiya.
"Actually, I have a question that I want answered."
"...What question?"
"Is Mr. Kinzou Yodaimiya really still alive?"
"You..."
Hearing this, Natsuhi’s expression changed.
"What do you mean? Do you also suspect I killed my Master?"
"No, I’m simply curious."
Fang Zheng spread his hands.
"Because honestly, since I arrived on this island to this moment, I have never seen Mr. Kinzou Yodaimiya nor heard his voice, only heard you all say he exists. But does he really exist..."
"Speaking of..."
At this, Ehua also started to think.
"Yesterday, we went to Master’s study several times to knock on the door, asking about the letter and Beatrice, but received no response."
"It’s ridiculous, I, Krauss, Genji, and Dr. Minami have all met with Master!"
"But the testimony of you four doesn’t hold evidential value."
Facing Fang Zheng’s response, Natsuhi’s expression changed again.
"What do you mean?"
"It’s simple. In cases I’ve handled, many are children who pretend the deceased is still alive to collect pensions or retirement funds. You four, being interested parties, could easily collude. For example, Mr. Kinzou Yodaimiya has long died, but you and your husband, for some purpose, bribed Dr. Minami and Mr. Genji to create the illusion that Mr. Kinzou Yodaimiya is still alive..."
"Nonsense!!"
Natsuhi angrily interrupted Fang Zheng.
"I really met Master this morning, and he said to me, ’Your heart has been engraved with the One-Winged Hawk’... Do you want to deny he said that to me?!"
As she said this, Natsuhi suddenly grabbed a gun and aimed it at Fang Zheng, but he showed no reaction.
"What you said doesn’t concern me. I only believe evidence, not testimony based purely on personal stance. What police need to solve a case is evidence. If you insist Mr. Kinzou Yodaimiya is not dead, then I want to conduct a thorough investigation of the study... Is that alright?"
"...Fine."
Facing Fang Zheng’s request, Natsuhi snorted coldly.
"Genji, take him to the study."
"...Yes, Madam."
Faced with Natsuhi’s request, Genji hesitated for a moment before agreeing and then turned to Fang Zheng.
"Mr. Fang Zheng, please follow me."

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