Chapter 117 The Aesthetics of Revenge

Edogawa Ranpo's words seemed to have magic, making people go back to the long past and imagine everything that Harue Eisai had suffered. "There are crimes of passion and there are premeditated crimes," Ranpo said. "But if a person spends seven years or more slowly doing these things, with great patience, strategy and means, and avoids all accidents during this period, I really can't imagine how this person can't succeed."

"'He' treated this matter as an ordinary thing, just like seeing a dirty table, picking up a rag and wiping it. If there is a problem, he can take a step back. After the owner retracted his vigilance, he took a step forward calmly. In this way, step by step, he came behind him. When he didn't even notice, he just stroked the back of his neck, and the other party died of fear. This invisible and intangible sense of oppression is 'his' razor all along."

"He" is mentally torturing this person!

It was quiet all around. There was not even a trace of light outside. They seemed to be isolated in a small box. Several people held their breath. They did not dare to look around, for fear that someone in their daily life might be the murderer lurking in the dark.

Only Komachi Koyuki thought about it and asked boldly, "This is just your opinion, right? Do you have any evidence? Maybe it was really just Mr. Chunjiang's own mental problems. He was frightened by the imaginary scenes and happened to have an accident, which resulted in such a death. This makes more sense, right?"

Although her voice was small, it was like a net that fished out the people who were drowning in the deep sea. They all breathed a sigh of relief. Someone smiled and said, "Yeah, how could it take so long? How can people do such things and never make mistakes? What's more, what's the point of being so persistent? If there is hatred, why not just take action directly? Why waste time and effort..."

"It seems you also know," Edogawa Ranpo loosened his collar, the corners of his lips curled up slightly, with a cold meaning: "Only hatred can make people do this. But you don't know that avengers are also divided into different types. Some can't do anything, some just want to feel good for a while, and some just want to make their enemies feel more pain."

"In the mind of this murderer, there has never been a saying that 'revenge is unjust'. 'He' has an extremely strong and stable spiritual core. Once he makes a decision, he will not hesitate." What Edogawa Ranpo did not say is that such people will not be swayed by society. They are often the successful people in the broad sense of the world. "More importantly, 'he' can do these things."

[I once wondered, why do people of all kinds have to live in the same world? There are good people among them. They are kind and selfless, and are willing to give everything to strangers. They are willing to lend a helping hand to everyone and see the world as colorful and bright. A world made up of people like this must be incredibly gentle, right?

Others are selfish and cruel, taking plunder and occupation for granted. They are like termites, not engaged in production or creation, and only willing to cling to other people to suck blood to survive. While sucking and biting, they raise their heads and croak triumphantly: "Look, what a fool I have found, who can't even feel the pain, and was born to be our blood feed!"

"He's so lucky to be chosen by me!"

If these two types of people are separated, the kind-hearted people can build their society to their heart's content, the corrupt people can fight with each other, the sinister people can walk with each other, and the cruel people can cut the flesh of the cruel people. This is fair and just, right?

Hearing what I said, my friend burst into laughter. He used only one sentence to break my confusion. He said, "Isn't this what you are talking about 'heaven' and 'hell'?"

I was stunned, and suddenly a great pain came over me. I see! Before me, there were people who had seen these things. They had the same questions and fantasies as I did. They even built them into concrete forms and gave them names.

——But now I know that these are all fake!

Such a world does not exist, where good people are not bound to happiness and evil people are not connected to retribution. They are meant to live together, this is the truth, this is the reality. My pain lies only in my despair about this and my powerlessness after recognizing it.

But there are still some things I can do. Those are things that happened to me, and the pain I felt at that time remains in my blood. To this day, I am still thinking about one thing: what method should I use to make them feel the greatest pain, from the outside, from the inside, or both?

Death is the end of everything. I don't want them to escape from this cage too early. 】

"'He' did more than just that..." Ranpo glanced at everyone and paused on someone. If he looked at them over a longer period of time, he could find that Chunjiang Yingcai's career collapse was also suspicious and full of surprises and drama. However, he only found a newspaper in the villa, which only mentioned these things briefly. He had a hunch, but he couldn't verify it. So he didn't say anything.

He lowered his eyebrows and said, "The body is external, and the mental pressure is internal. He seems to be trying a way to completely destroy this enemy. He hates him deeply. This situation is difficult to happen because generally speaking, hatred is always accompanied by recklessness and tyranny, as well as a kind of recklessness that is blinded by the soul. It is rare for such a person to calm down, and it is even more contrary to the human soul to be able to restrain oneself and cultivate such a scene that has lasted for a long time."

[Revenge is a sweet brew, nourished by the soul and marrow of your enemies.

But dear, don't learn from me, because you may not have my patience, courage and wisdom to arrange everything. 】

"What kind of hatred is this..." Komachi Koyuki was confused for a moment. She hid beside Morishima Ai and forgot her previous question.

"Then we have to go back to this villa," Edogawa Ranpo smiled, "What kind of situation could make the current owner of the house unaware of the hidden passage inside the villa, while another person knows it?"

The housekeeper's eyes flickered. Others were also thoughtful.

Ranpo said calmly: "Then it can only be the original owner of this house. I don't know who built it, but I know who its previous owner was, and I also know what happened to that elderly couple in this house."

"They were hacked to death, their blood flowing all over the hall before they died. The murderer chopped them up, taking pleasure in hearing their wails and praising their pain. At dusk, the couple put food on the table to entertain their guests, but who could have expected that they would welcome not guests but demons."

The butler said slowly. "Oh?" Ranpo smiled: "It seems that you have learned about these."

The butler nodded and said nothing more.

[The darkness could not prevent her from seeing the man's face. It was he, along with three other people, who had taken the lives of two people who were very important to her without hesitation during the incident that year. She still remembered that when the tragedy happened, the blood splattered on his face, and there was a kind of pleasure expressed on his face. He was laughing, laughing loudly!

But now, his eyes were full of frightened fear, his face was pale and weak, and his expression was terrified and timid. He was already a useless soul, hiding in a body on the verge of destruction. Even if she didn't do anything, he would either go crazy or lose his life accidentally in the subsequent suspicion.

"No, don't come over here!" He kept shrinking back, his pupils shrinking, "Monster...monster, go away! Go away!" He was unable to think at all, he could only take what he saw as everything and exaggerate another appearance. He was now like a pile of dried wood. All it took was a little spark to...

"Zheng——" She just plucked the strings lightly.

The other party was completely heartbroken. Then, she would quietly walk behind him and put something soft on his neck. When the piano started playing, he would suddenly jump up and desperately grab the thing on his neck with his hands. The louder the piano sounded and the more chaotic the music became, the more painfully he struggled. Until finally, another thing took effect. His face turned red, his legs kicked, and he whimpered but couldn't make a sound. After a while, he stopped, lay down, and became motionless.

Ah, the experiment she tried was successful! 】

"If we attribute the death of the old couple to Chunjiang Yingcai, many questions will be explained." Ranpo took out some more information. These were all found when "Long Yi" walked around the villa. There were some newspaper clippings and stationery. "And it just so happens that he and his friends became rich after the case happened. They got a large amount of capital from nowhere and invested it in the mall to make more money. They were sailors at sea and said that the money was from gold panning overseas, but someone has verified that what they said is all false."

"But the old couple has no children, and they have no contact with the few relatives they have." Someone who knew a little bit about the matter asked this question, and the people around them nodded, obviously they had also heard it from hearsay.

Edogawa Ranpo smiled faintly: "You don't know everything. If you really studied it more carefully, you would find that they actually had a child when they were young."

"It's just that child," Ranpo said with a subtle sigh, "when she was five years old, she got lost during a trip."

“They looked for it, but they couldn’t find it after a long time,” Ranpo said. “And then they never asked for it again, and just like that they entered the rest of their lives.”

"I don't know how they got in touch. All I know is that person must have had an extremely strong expectation for that love. Until everything was destroyed."