"I think there’s no need for a detailed investigation; we already have a conclusion."
Looking at the clean and tidy study in front of him, Fang Zheng paused for a moment, then glanced at the butler, Mr. Genji, behind him.
"It’s obvious that no one has lived here for a long time... So, Mr. Genji, please tell me the truth. Is Kinzou Yodaimiya already dead?"
"That is not the case, Mr. Fang Zheng."
Faced with Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Genji appeared quite calm.
"In fact, the Master is not dead; he was simply taken away by Beatrice."
"The Golden Witch? You’re saying Kinzou Yodaimiya is now with Beatrice? Then may I ask, where does this person live? Why have I never seen her?"
"......"
Faced with Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Genji was silent for a moment.
"Even if you want to meet her, it’s impossible because Beatrice doesn’t have a physical form."
"......... Huh?"
What nonsense are you talking about?
"Beatrice is a witch. It’s rumored that her human form is just as depicted in that oil painting. Sometimes she only appears as a golden butterfly. In fact, all of this is the will of Master Beatrice."
"Sounds as if it’s true."
Fang Zheng walked slowly to the bookshelf and took out a Western Book of Black Magic.
"The master has a passion for fantasy, and even the servants play along? No wonder you have Kinzou Yodaimiya’s trust, birds of a feather indeed."
Flipping through the Book of Black Magic in his hand, Fang Zheng chuckled and looked once more at Genji.
"You don’t expect that such nonsense will pass off as truth, do you? A witch? How could such a thing possibly exist in this world?"
"Master Beatrice is real."
Faced with Fang Zheng’s retort, Genji once again responded calmly, as if a senior telling a child "Santa Claus is just a story."
"Then I’d like to meet her."
"That’s not possible, Mr. Fang Zheng. You cannot meet Master Beatrice."
"Then to me, she doesn’t exist."
Fang Zheng turned around, narrowed his eyes, and stared at Genji.
"Humans need to observe, inspect, and deduce to acknowledge the existence of something. If something can’t be observed, inspected, or deduced, then it doesn’t exist—see, it’s that simple."
"........."
For a moment, the two stood in silence, but then hurried footsteps broke the quiet.
"Mr. Genji, something terrible has happened!"
Kanon came running up, panting and shouting, and upon hearing his voice, Genji also turned around.
"What’s wrong? What happened?"
"Earlier, I went to knock on the door to call Lady Eha for dinner, but there was no response from them, and the door is locked!"
"What?!"
Upon hearing this, both Genji and Fang Zheng were taken aback, and they immediately left the study, rushing toward the guest house.
"Lady Eha! Mr. Hideyoshi! Please respond if you hear me!!"
When arriving at Lady Eha’s room in the guest house, Genji also quickly knocked on the door, but there was no response. Genji then took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open...
"Click."
However, to everyone’s surprise, the door didn’t open. Instead, the chain inside blocked it from opening further. Seeing this, Genji clenched his teeth and quickly turned to Kanon.
"Go find something to cut the chain immediately!"
"Yes!"
Kanon nodded and was about to leave, but at that moment, Fang Zheng stepped forward.
"There’s no need for that. Everyone step back."
"........"
Although they didn’t know what Fang Zheng was about to do, Kanon and Genji quickly stepped away from the door. Fang Zheng then reached the door and kicked it.
"Boom!!"
With a dull thud, the door burst open at once, and Fang Zheng stepped inside, only to be startled at what he saw.
Right there on the bed in the room, Eha Yodaimiya lay with wide-open eyes, a nail-like object embedded in her forehead, piercing deep into her brain.
"This, this is...!?"
Genji and Kanon were also shocked at the sight and instinctively wanted to enter to check, but Fang Zheng stopped them with an outstretched hand.
"No one should enter the room carelessly!"
As he spoke, Fang Zheng approached the bathroom door and pushed it open, only to see Hideyoshi lying in the bathtub naked with a long black nail driven into his head, showing no signs of life.
Soon everyone gathered at the crime scene, even Conan was frowning deeply, his face grim.
"Are you sure this room was locked?"
"Yes, there was even a door chain inside, a perfect locked room."
Hearing Conan’s question, Fang Zheng nodded, then inquired in a low voice.
"Did anyone leave before?"
"No one, I’ve been with Sento, Shizuka, and Renji the whole time. No one went out... How about you?"
"I was with Mr. Genji in the study, and he didn’t leave either."
"Speaking of which, why kill someone in this manner?"
Fang Zheng looked at the bodies before him, completely puzzled.
"And judging by their states, it seems they were killed with a single lethal blow while conscious. If it were a crossbow arrow or something, it might make sense, but this thing..."
Fang Zheng gestured with his hand.
"Using this as a murder weapon is insane, isn’t it? Wouldn’t a fruit knife be more convenient?"
Fang Zheng then turned his head to look at Natsuhi, Genji, and the others.
"Has anyone seen anything like this before?"
"........."
Facing Fang Zheng’s question, everyone exchanged glances and shook their heads.
"In any case, secure the crime scene first, and then... What’s that smell?"
At this moment, an acrid stench suddenly wafted in, causing Fang Zheng to frown, and the others to show bewildered expressions. Kanon quickly stepped forward.
"Maybe it’s a problem with the boiler. The boiler here is very old; I’ll go have a look."
"I’ll go with you."
Kumasawa followed Kanon out, while Fang Zheng and Conan continued their examination of the entire scene. In fact, there were no significant traces left at the scene, just an envelope wedged in the door crack containing only the cryptic phrase "Praise my name." Fang Zheng and Conan both paid little heed to that letter.
"Something’s off, this murder is very off."
Even Conan was frowning now, murmuring to himself as he looked at the corpse on the bed.
"What?"
Hearing Conan speaking, Fang Zheng cast him a glance.
"You don’t think this was the work of that Golden Witch appearing, do you?"
"If there was indeed someone on the island besides us, it wouldn’t be impossible, but what I can’t figure out is the perpetrator’s method..."
"Yeah, it’s pretty bizarre."
Fang Zheng looked again at the nail embedded in Eha Yodaimiya’s forehead.
"A fatal single blow, with no sign of struggle or resistance, as if she was lying in bed and suddenly the nail appeared out of thin air, and stabbed into her head."
"Mr. Hideyoshi too; he didn’t even have time to climb out of the bathtub."
"So the question is, why did the killer use two different methods to kill? The time Lady Eha and Mr. Hideyoshi went to rest and when the bodies were found was only about two to three hours; compared to yesterday night, where they had a full six to seven hours to set up the murder scene, the perpetrator could have easily used those nails on the victims’ foreheads after painting magic circles on the door."
"Could it be the nails were in short supply?"
Conan curiously inspected the long nail in the forehead.
"This nail looks complex, like some sort of artwork. I doubt there were many of them. Perhaps for the killer, using them on those victims yesterday exhausted their supply."
"Then the question is, these nails ultimately..........."
"Tap, tap, tap, tap!!"
At this point, hurried footsteps sounded again, and shortly after, Fang Zheng and Conan saw Sento rushing over.
"Something’s wrong, Kanon is in trouble too, and we’ve found another body!"
".........."
Hearing this, Fang Zheng couldn’t even muster a sigh.
"Let’s go have a look then, shall we."
Soon, in the underground boiler room, Fang Zheng saw Kanon being resuscitated by Dr. Minami, as well as a charred corpse on the floor. According to Genji’s identification, the burned corpse was indeed the missing Kinzou Yodaimiya. Kanon, like Eha and Hideyoshi, had a long spike driven into his chest and was currently barely breathing.
In this oppressive atmosphere, everyone was fearful and uneasy. Finally, under Genji’s suggestion, they went to Kinzou Yodaimiya’s study, planning to hide there for a night. As for Kanon, he was taken to a room for rescue by Dr. Minami, but unfortunately, he couldn’t be saved in the end...
Under pressure from everyone, Genji finally couldn’t bear the pressure and admitted that Beatrice did exist, but according to Genji, this woman should have passed away long ago. As to whether Beatrice and Kinzou had an illegitimate child, Genji also said he was not aware. He only mentioned that Kinzou was heartbroken after losing Beatrice, which is why he was engrossed in black magic, trying to resurrect Beatrice...
"That’s right, live sacrifices! Live sacrifices!!"
Upon hearing this, Sento seemed to think of something and shouted immediately, then rushed towards the portrait of Beatrice in the study.
"It must be this way, Grandfather wanted to resurrect Beatrice, so he called us here under the pretense of distributing the inheritance, but in reality, he wanted to use us as live sacrifices! Look, the epitaph reads, on the first night, offer six sacrificed by the key, on the second night, tear apart the two who are close... it all matches!!"
"What do you think?"
Hearing this, Fang Zheng looked towards Conan.
"Indeed, if you go by what the epitaph says, it fits, but I always feel something isn’t right here. This is just a gut feeling, but I feel it’s too deliberate."
Conan expressed his opinion at this point as well.
"Deliberate?"
"That’s right, generally speaking, locked-room methods are mostly used to make people believe the victim committed suicide, thereby clearing suspicions. But now, due to the previous deaths of six people, we have already confirmed that there is a killer, and this locked room isn’t set up as a suicide scene, so what is the purpose of this locked room? Why must the perpetrator plan everything as a locked-room murder? Is it just to make everyone acknowledge the existence of a mysterious witch? To pin all the murders on the witch?"
Conan was utterly confused, and Fang Zheng couldn’t understand it either.
And just at this moment...
"Everyone step back!"
Natsuhi’s scream interrupted Fang Zheng and Conan’s thoughts. Both raised their heads to look ahead, only to be shocked. In front of the painting, Natsuhi gripped a firearm, aiming at Genji, Kumasawa, and the doctor standing by the table.
"What’s going on?"
Fang Zheng cautiously eyed Natsuhi and asked. At the side, Renji quickly explained.
"We were just here reading the epitaph, and then Maria said Beatrice sent a letter over. When we looked at the table, we indeed saw a letter placed there!"
"Oh?"
Fang Zheng and Conan hurriedly looked towards the table as well and, as expected, found a letter matching the style of the previous ones placed on the dining table.
"That letter wasn’t there before, was it?"
"That’s right!"
As Natsuhi waved the gun, she cautiously walked to the dining table, fiercely glaring at the three maids in front of her and shouted angrily.
"So, this letter must have been placed here by one of you!"
"We didn’t do such a thing!"
"Sento-kun, read the letter!"
"Ah, yes."
Hearing Natsuhi’s command, Sento quickly ran to the dining table, picked up the letter, and began reading aloud.
"... There are only two outcomes to this game, either I win or you all win. Once the time is up, I win, so please don’t misunderstand this..."
"The one who placed this letter here is one among you!"
Natsuhi raised her gun, pointing it at Genji, Kumasawa, Dr. Minami, and Maria one by one.
"When I placed the can on the table, there was no letter. After that, Renji, Shizuka, Sento, and I went in front of the oil painting, Mr. Fang Zheng and Conan were discussing the case by the coffee table, but the moment we looked away, this letter appeared on this table, so it certainly must have been placed by one of you!"
"This..."
"You four were the only ones by the table, you must have seen who placed the letter. If you can’t say, it means all four of you are accomplices!"
By now, Natsuhi was clearly hysterical, gripping the gun tightly, glaring at the four. Conan tried to step forward and say something, but Fang Zheng pulled him back.
Then, under Natsuhi’s threat, the four left the study, and after they left, Natsuhi signaled Sento to lock the door, finally catching her breath.
But the tranquility didn’t last long, after just a few minutes, suddenly the phone rang. Natsuhi walked over to answer it, but the only thing heard from the other end was Maria’s singing...
"What’s going on?!"
When everyone rushed out of the study to the dining room, they saw the bodies of Genji, Kumasawa, and Dr. Minami. Their heads were crushed, and each had a long spike embedded in their calf, abdomen, and foot.
"I see, I understand now!"
Seeing this scene, Conan suddenly realized.
"The killer is acting entirely according to the epitaph! The parts pierced by the spikes correspond exactly with the descriptions in the epitaph!"
"But who did this? And how was it done? This dining room was locked too."
Fang Zheng checked the bodies but was equally at a loss. At this moment, Shizuka, Renji, and Sento surrounded Maria, asking who the killer was, but no matter how they asked, Maria would only say the killer was Beatrice...
To be honest, seeing Maria’s annoying expression, Fang Zheng also felt like hitting her.
Wait a moment..........
"Where’s Madam Natsuhi?"
Fang Zheng instinctively glanced around, only to realize that at some unknown point, Madam Natsuhi had disappeared. Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, the others turned in surprise, scanning the surroundings, and at the same time, Maria spoke up.
"Aunt Natsuhi was reading a letter and went out just now."
"What?!"
Upon hearing this, Shizuka hurriedly rushed to the front of the dining room, attempting to open the door, but for some reason, it was locked from the outside and couldn’t be opened.
"Mom, Mom, what are you doing! Open the door!"
"Let me do it!"
Fang Zheng hurried to the dining room door, forcefully kicked it, breaking it open heavily, and at the same time......
"Bang!!"
A gunshot rang out.
When everyone dashed out of the dining room, all they saw was Natsuki Yodaimiya lying dead not far at the entrance, shot in the forehead.
"What’s going on here?!"
Fang Zheng and the others quickly approached Natsuki Yodaimiya’s corpse, looking around, but saw no one. Furthermore, they found no letter beside Natsuhi.
Just then..........
"Dong...... Dong...... Dong........"
The midnight bell tolled.
In the next moment, Fang Zheng and Conan’s vision plunged into pitch blackness.
The entire room vanished.
The world seemed swallowed by darkness, followed by a small figure appearing before the two.
"On the ninth night, no one remains alive."
Maria lifted her head, bearing a sickening smile, as she looked at Fang Zheng and Conan.
"How is it? Beatrice is quite amazing, she’s a witch."
"So, you mean to say that all this is a crime committed by Beatrice, a witch?"
Conan, looking solemnly at Maria, also nodded with "innocent" intent.
"That’s right, Beatrice is a witch, so she can freely enter and exit locked rooms, and kill at will; that’s witch’s magic, so how is it? Aren’t you willing to believe this?"
"You..........."
Upon hearing Maria’s inquiry, Conan clenched his fists, unwilling to believe Maria’s nonsense, but he truly found no reason to refute, since he had meticulously investigated those crime scenes earlier without discovering a single clue......
"Hahaha, I see."
However, amidst Conan’s deep contemplation, Fang Zheng suddenly laughed as if having an epiphany.
"I’ve figured it out, Conan."
"Mr. Fang Zheng?"
Upon hearing Fang Zheng, Conan looked at him curiously, while Fang Zheng smilingly patted his head.
"Look, we initially believed the purpose of this game was to solve the mystery and find the truth of the Rokugashima murder case."
"Isn’t that the case then?"
Faced with Fang Zheng’s statement, Conan was a bit stumped, and Fang Zheng nodded.
"Technically, it is, but the game’s setting isn’t quite the same, we not only need to uncover the truth, but also have to unravel the lie!"
"A lie?"
"Exactly."
While speaking, Fang Zheng glanced towards Maria.
"You see, in the data we received, it was merely stated that an explosion occurred on Rokugashima and everyone died except Eha Yodaimiya, but how exactly they died couldn’t be fully verified by the police. Therefore, this entire Rokugashima is actually a mystery, an unknown X. We know who died and who lived, but the cause of death, the location, time, and reason are completely unknown, thus..........."
Saying this, Fang Zheng suddenly extended his hand, pointing at Maria.
"Even if someone fabricated the scene and cause of death, we cannot confirm if this is true! Meaning, what we originally believed to happen on Rokugashima now might very well be fabricated lies! It was designed to convince us it was the witch’s doing, that’s why these boring inscriptions, puzzles, and locked rooms were made. Just like in an RPG game, Laozi can’t just kick down a door and must solve puzzles instead, this is merely a fabricated lie matching the ’witch murder’ setting! So..........."
Fang Zheng stared at Maria, his mouth lifted slightly, exposing a grim smile.
"Truthfully, everything we see here never happened in reality!"
As Fang Zheng’s words fell, at the next moment, the world shattered.

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