Chapter 33 Kidnapping Officer Sang is a Crime

Shortly after receiving the news, Scotland went to the hospital to take care of Bourbon, who had been injured by a grenade during the pursuit of Pramia the day before and was recuperating there. He found Bourbon lying on the hospital bed with his head hanging low in dejection: "Hiro! You got the news too?"

"Yes!" Scotland's face was expressionless, but his eyes were filled with sadness: "I never thought that yesterday would be the last time we saw Matsuda."

“It’s that bomber who took Hagiwara’s life again! And now he’s taken Matsuda’s life.” Bourbon and Furuya Rei clenched their fists tightly as they spoke, feeling extremely guilty. “If I had been more careful yesterday and hadn’t been injured, I could have gone to the scene today to help Matsuda catch that guy.”

“Zero! Even if we go there, we probably won’t be able to do anything. According to the Metropolitan Police Department’s case report, it was that bomb thief who shamelessly threatened us with the location of the second bomb…” Morofushi Kagemitsu told Furuya Rei about the case.

Then he sighed: "Matsuda could have defused that bomb, but he chose to sacrifice himself for a second bomb whose location was unknown at the time... However, there are some strange things in the case report."

"What's strange?" Because of his injury, the Ministry of Public Security had stopped assigning him any tasks from the Strategy Section since yesterday. He only knew about it because his contact and assistant, Kazami, had called him to tell him about Matsuda's sacrifice. He didn't know the specifics of what had happened.

Morofushi Kagemitsu replied to him with confusion: "According to Matsuda's colleague from the Third Division of the Major Crimes Division, after Matsuda entered the Ferris wheel to defuse the bomb, she remained there until one minute after the bomb exploded again, which triggered the mercury column of the bomb."

That is, she was on the phone with Matsuda for four minutes before the explosion, so she heard Matsuda say that the mercury column was activated and read the threat of the criminal. She mentioned in the case report that this happened before the mercury column was activated.

Matsuda seemed to utter a sound like 'Hagi,' and there was a faint sense that Matsuda was talking to someone in the train car, as if he were talking to himself. Also, the explosion site this time was the same as the one that happened to Hagiwara.

The explosion destroyed everything that should have been destroyed within the scope of science, but no body tissue belonging to Matsuda was found at the scene. The strangest thing is that Matsuda's colleague, Sato, clearly heard Matsuda read out the prisoner's words.

The location of the second bomb was displayed on the electronic screen at the last second, but Matsuda had sent her a text message about Beika Hospital more than two minutes before the explosion.

"Hagi? That's what Matsuda usually calls Hagiwara. Maybe when he was defusing the bomb, he remembered that Hagiwara was killed by the same bomber and wanted to say something to him!"

The explosion site further confirms our deductions after investigating the scene of Hagiwara's death: the perpetrator of the bomb probably possessed a highly advanced chemical bomb technique capable of eliminating all human tissue at close range.

As for sending the text message in advance, it's likely that Matsuda had already deduced the location of the second bomb based on the riddle in the bomb culprit's letter. "Rei Furuya, with his Detective Brain, never considered any unscientific possibilities, so upon hearing these doubts, his Detective Brain immediately found reasonable Detective explanations for them."

"That's what I thought when I first saw the report, but..." Hearing his words, Morofushi Kagemitsu nodded, then said with some confusion, "I saw it in the case records of other police officers."

Some police officers mentioned that a tall member of the riot control team, whose eyes were covered by sunglasses, came to the scene and asked them a lot of information. He also boarded the tour bus number 71 about 10 minutes before the explosion.

It is said to follow

They went to check on Matsuda's bomb disposal work, but found no trace of the officer's death at the scene. Most strangely, besides Matsuda, no other officers were killed in this incident.

In addition to these anomalies, a theft also occurred at the site. Vending machines, various goods, and even personal items near the Ferris wheel were stolen, and the amusement park's maintenance room was ransacked, with many things missing.

However, this matter should not be related to Matsuda's death. It is highly likely that some tourists in the vicinity took the opportunity to buy things for free, which led to this phenomenon. Moreover, it was not just one or two tourists, but quite a few... Morofushi Kagemitsu, who thought this, did not mention it to Furuya Rei.

Rei Furuya's reasoning and insight would never stray into unscientific directions. Upon hearing this last point of doubt, his first thought was: "Could it be a bomb thief in disguise?"

Isn't it said that some heinous criminals enjoy watching their 'masterpiece' being made on the spot? Maybe he also wants to see the scene of Matsuda being killed by him up close, ha…”

Looking at his childhood friend, who was clearly angry and furious despite his forced smile, Morofushi Kagemitsu, though grieving, calmly and rationally asked, "So close that you could blow yourself up? Carriages 71 and 69 on either side of car 72 were all blown up."

"Maybe the bomber just wanted to take a policeman down with him in revenge!" Knowing that he had made an irrational deduction out of anger, if it were anyone else, Furuya Rei would rationally admit his mistake and conduct a new investigation before making a new deduction. But in front of his childhood friend, he chose to be stubborn.

Seeing his expression, Morofushi Kagemitsu blinked his cat-like eyes helplessly: "If that's the case, that's fine, but I'm afraid it's not. Given the nature of the bomber, he might pull another similar dirty trick in three or four years."

"Hmph! Before that, I'll catch him and avenge Hagiwara and Matsuda." Furuya Rei thought to himself, perhaps he should be discharged from the hospital as soon as possible to conduct the investigation. The shorter the time after the incident, the higher the chance of solving the case; conversely, the longer it drags on, the harder it is to find the target...

Coincidentally, Morofushi Kagemitsu thought the same thing.

.

At the same time, Kazekisuke instantly returned to the car. Looking at the familiar huge racetrack and the countdown with only a few seconds left, he quickly and skillfully moved to the passenger seat and then released Hagiwara from the driver's seat.

Kenji Hagiwara, now in the driver's seat, was already familiar with this rhythm and subconsciously started the car. Only then did he recall a memory from a second ago, but at the same time, two other memories flooded his mind...

"Jinpei, avenge me!" Then came the scorching heat and the explosion. Before he could even feel the pain, his memory ended there.

"Kaze-chan... your time to leave is almost up, isn't it?" The familiar scorching heat and blasting wind, but this time, at the end of the memory, Kaze-chan's voice said she still had a way...

The two completely different memories made him instantly realize that these were memories from two different timelines—the memories before he was chosen and saved by Feng Jiang, and the memories of when they died together not long ago.

What happened after that? Why did Feng Jiang reopen the third timeline? Is that why she was so hesitant about the game, as if she knew something but wouldn't say?

"I was recruited to participate in the highway survival game two days ago."

"Today is the first time we've started the daily dungeon event!"

"I never expected the final level of the daily dungeon would be a racing game!"

"Since I can't drive, I'll have to find a driver to help me drive."

…………

She is able to travel back in time after her death and restart the clock.

A thread? In an instant, the words that the Wind Guardian had said to him, and the memories that appeared in his mind, stirred up a storm in Kenji Hagiwara's mind, allowing him to deduce the Wind Guardian's ability.

He understood what had been puzzling him before. Since Feng Jiang said that the day he was saved was the first time the game had opened a daily dungeon, and the game announcement didn't mention that there would be a racing event in the dungeon.

How did she know about the race and transfer herself to the driver's seat a second before the game's race announcement appeared? He clearly remembered that he had just appeared in the driver's seat when the race announcement popped up.

Therefore, there is only one possibility: she had already experienced racing once, which would explain why she knew the rules of this debut racing event. She had died in a car accident without her knowledge, and that's why she chose herself when she returned to the past...

Based on the times when Fuu-chan reunited with him in these two memories, Kenji Hagiwara even deduced that Fuu-chan's resurrection occurred about 3-4 minutes before her death. He guessed that Fuu-chan knew he had this ability and chose to stay, using her death to gather information...

Why did I suddenly regain these memories? If it was a death followed by resurrection, why didn't I have them when I changed my fate the first time? Could it be that the first death was the fate I was meant to experience?

This is part of the normal timeline, so even if the fate of death is changed, the person won't immediately gain memories of the normal timeline until they experience death again, causing some kind of impact on the timeline? A spacetime paradox of the same person dying twice?

Thinking about all this, he couldn't help but look at Feng Jiang. He had so many questions he wanted to ask, and he was worried about what price she would have to pay for using such an ability. He wanted to persuade her not to use this ability for others again…

But seeing the questioning look in her eyes, he opened his mouth, and as he stepped on the gas just as the countdown ended, he once again showed his habitual easygoing smile and asked her, "Feng-chan, how is Jinpei?"

Anyway, given her personality, she would definitely have made sure that Jinpei survived before choosing to bring me out. Before the time rewind, I had also told her the address of the other bomb was at Beika Hospital, so there shouldn't be any victims in this bomb incident...

He thought that Kojinpei probably hadn't been killed by the bomb, but he didn't expect that he was driving the car! Suddenly, a bewildered Kojinpei appeared in the back of the car.

This sudden turn of events caused even him to swerve in an S-shape, almost crashing into the car in front of him. He said helplessly, "Feng-chan! You can show me this kind of surprise when we get back."

Meanwhile, Matsuda Jinpei looked around blankly. He was sitting on a 'double bed' with the back of a car seat in front of him. From his angle, he could clearly see his best friend, who had been turned into a living person by his junior schoolmate, driving in the driver's seat.

In the passenger seat, he saw a very plump woman, who looked to be over 1.6 meters tall, weighed at least 80 kilograms, and was about 30 to 40 years old, sitting in the somewhat cramped car.

Moreover, this profile looked somewhat familiar, somewhat like the junior schoolgirl. He recalled the fantastical scene he had experienced before, and Hagiwara's reaction that there was no time to explain. He instantly realized that this woman was very likely the junior schoolgirl herself.

Before he could even process how the younger girls from his elementary school days had become middle-aged, he saw an endless expanse of cars roaring past the car window, most of them identical in design, speeding by...

This sudden change prompted Matsuda Jinpei, who could remain calm even in dire straits, to blurt out, "Hey! Junior, kidnapping is illegal, and kidnapping a police officer is an even more serious crime."