December 24, 2000, Christmas Eve.

It is rare that Christmas Eve falls on Sunday, which allows ordinary working-class people and students to enjoy the Christmas Eve atmosphere. Many pedestrians on the street are buying items to decorate the Christmas tree, and it can be seen that they are all very keen on celebrating this festival. In order to compete for business, many stores have also launched various Christmas promotions and efforts to attract consumers' attention.

Mari Akashi, with gray hair, is 69 years old this year and will be 70 years old this year. Unlike young people who count the numbers in their lives and look forward to growing up, she counts on her fingers to calculate how long she can live.

Mari Akashi, who had a weak leg, walked hurriedly with a cane, her face full of worry. You know, her beloved daughter had agreed to meet at the entrance of Nakanoshima subway station at nine o'clock in the morning, but now more than two hours have passed and there is still no sign of her.

What worried her most was that she couldn't get through to her cell phone or the landline at home. Fearing that something might have gone wrong, she had no choice but to rely on her memory to rush to the house near the subway station, praying in her heart that her baby daughter had just slept in and forgotten the appointment.

Mari Akashi arrived at the entrance of a single-family home in Nakanoshima 4-chome. The iron gate was shut, but after a gentle push, she discovered it was unlocked. Her heart tightened, and out of fear, she forced herself to walk toward the entrance. After confirming that the front door was locked, she breathed a sigh of relief.

But she only relaxed for a moment, because she remembered that her daughter's house had a backyard with a sliding door that led directly to the living room. Thinking of this, she became alert again and took a step forward. After seeing the open glass sliding door, the hand holding the crutch trembled violently, and the secretion of adrenaline increased at this moment.

“Hiss… Huh…”

Even though Mari Akashi was very nervous, she did not become foolish because of her age. She carefully avoided the muddy footprints and mustered up the courage to walk into the house. Following the footprints, she arrived at her daughter's bedroom.

When she smelled the strong smell of blood and saw her daughter lying naked on the bed, she pulled the fabric on her chest with trembling hands, trying to hold back her tears. She took heavy steps outside and fumbled for her flip phone to call the police.

"Hello, this is Osaka Police Headquarters. Is the reason for calling me an incident or an accident?"

"Yes, it was an incident. My daughter... was murdered."

"Where is the location? What is the specific situation?"

Mari Akashi knew that this was the basic procedure for calling the police, but she didn't have the courage to confirm her daughter's life or death. Or rather, as a retired nurse, she had studied anatomy and could tell what a person looks like after death.

She knew that her daughter had completely fallen into a state of rigor mortis, so there was no need to confirm it. She just wanted to know who killed her daughter as soon as possible. She was also worried that the longer time passed, the more difficult it would be to solve the case.

"Nakanoshima-cho 4-chome-10-92, please come over quickly... please."

"Understood. Police have been dispatched to the scene. Please do not allow any unauthorized persons to enter the crime scene."

"good."

After hanging up the call to the police, Mari Akashi glanced at the photo booth on the back of her flip phone. It was a photo booth that her daughter had dragged her, now old and ugly, to take in a photo booth five years ago. After the exaggerated processing of the photo, it was really hard to tell her actual age.

The photo showed two people with bright smiles, but the person looking at the photo couldn't control his emotions and covered his eyes with his hands.

His already hunched back became even worse now.

——

Osaka Police Headquarters.

It is normal for police officers to work on Sundays, and there is no Christmas Eve atmosphere in either the office or the cafeteria, but this does not prevent some people from secretly cooking for themselves.

Instead of taking a good rest during the lunch break when there were no cases, Ishibashi Ikuji, the head of the Ishibashi Group of the First Investigation Division, was holding two large plastic bags. He put down the things in his hands with a smile on his face. You didn't have to guess what was inside. The rich smell of fried chicken had replaced the nicotine smell in the office.

"Thank you all for your hard work on Christmas Eve. I bought some KFC fried chicken. If you want some, come and get it yourself. You're welcome! I bought enough for the whole office!"

"Wow, it's KFC fried chicken! That's great! We're finally feeling the Christmas spirit. The cafeteria didn't even have fried chicken nuggets today. I really have to give it a bad review."

"Yeah, yeah, Sakata, do you want one? I'll bring it to you!"

The atmosphere in the Investigation Division 1 office instantly became lively. Otaki Goro smiled and helped to take a box and placed it on Takashi Sosuke's desk. Seeing that he was still busy sorting files, he said:

"Takashi, put your work aside for a moment and eat the fried chicken while it's still hot."

"Thank you, Senior. I'll be done soon. I'll just..."

Before he could finish his words, the landline phone on the table made a shrill sound. He put down the documents in his hand and quickly answered the call. His brows were furrowed more and more because of the content on the other end of the phone.

Fujiwara Yuu hung up the phone and quickly stood up, picked up the suit jacket beside him and put it on, saying with a wry smile:

"Senior, there's been a fatality on Nakanoshima. I'm afraid we'll have to wait until we get back to eat fried chicken."

"Eucalyptus is important, let's go!"

Ishibashi Ikuji still had a fried chicken leg in his mouth. He watched the two men leave and shook his head helplessly. He didn't know if it was his illusion, but he always felt that after this newcomer with strong solving ability joined the investigation team, there were more murders.

He picked up the fried chicken box on Takashi Sosuke's desk, handed it to his subordinate Sakata Usuke, and instructed:

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!