Chapter 32: Case Solved

On the hospital bed, a long-haired man in a hospital gown leaned against the headboard and looked out the window. Outside the window, light snow was falling, silvery white fluttering down from the sky.

His face was pale, and seemed no different from the snow outside the window.

This is what Jinpei Matsuda saw when he entered the room. He paused, and the man on the bed noticed the movement here, turned his head, and coughed twice, "I didn't expect that he would be back just two days after leaving... How is the prisoner?"

"He's already being interrogated, but the guy keeps complaining about pain. We checked him and found no injuries. I'm afraid he's trying to get away with it."

That’s not the case. I guess he’s really in pain, Akiyama Kanade thought.

"...What are you going to do?" Matsuda Jinpei sat down next to him and asked with determination, "Your leg...the doctor said it might be difficult to fully recover."

His face was filled with pain, and he looked even more miserable than the patient on the bed.

Akiyama Kanade really didn't have anything to feel bad about. Before canceling the [Time Stop], he concentrated the damage from the soul burning on his left leg, which is why this result appeared. In fact, if he could recuperate with someone like Matsuda Jinpei who had a high soul purity, he would be healed in a week at the shortest and a month at the longest.

But of course he wouldn't tell the truth.

Akiyama Kanade deliberately concentrated the injuries on his left leg.

When he created the No. 1 and No. 2 avatars, he deliberately added some elements that tended to be sickly, such as too fair skin and a slightly thin body, hoping that the [Character Generator] would be able to help him generate a sick character. As a result, both avatars were very healthy and strong, which made Akiyama Kanade very depressed.

He even began to consider whether he should try another approach, and find a way to create a doctor's alias and diagnose himself as having a disease.

When using high-level items, Akiyama Kanade suddenly had a new idea. Although his body could not be injured by the naked eye, if the soul was injured, it would be reflected in the body.

It doesn't matter if it can be repaired later, as long as he leaves everyone with the impression that this person has a physical defect.

Then he would go and trick people into buying him a "magic pill that can cure all diseases."

Although this product is called a cure, the product description states that it also treats physical injuries.

In fact, Akiyama Kanade had no doubt that if he made this request now, Matsuda Jinpei would definitely sell all his property to buy the land back for him.

Instead, he was made to feel a little embarrassed to speak.

The hospital's TV was broadcasting a report on the Ferris wheel explosion two days ago.

After the [Time Stop] was lifted, the world will automatically corrected the world line. In the eyes of others, at the last moment, the two police officers deduced the location of another bomb in time, and Matsuda Jinpei dismantled the bomb on the Ferris wheel before it exploded.

Afterwards, the two of them caught the bomber from the crowd under the Ferris wheel. Unexpectedly, the bomber had a pistol with him and suddenly attacked. Jiu Sheng Chunshu pushed Matsuda Jinping away in time, but he was shot twice in the leg, causing irreversible injuries.

When Akiyama Kanade released [Time Stop], she saw that one of her legs was covered in blood, and this time it did not heal automatically.

He estimated that his injuries would heal only after his soul recovered.

This truth was pieced together by Akiyama Kanade through other people's narration and news reports. Thanks to this, he became a popular and outstanding policeman in the company.

But this time the popularity is a bit sad.

Because the doctor said that his leg injury was too serious, even if he recovered completely, it would still cause him great pain and even affect his daily life. In short, the doctor suggested that Jiu Sheng Chun Shu should not be a policeman anymore.

Stories with a bit of tragic color seem to be more talked about. The media seize the traffic and compete to report "The Fallen Genius", "The Tragic Hero Policeman" and "The End of the Genius".

Jinpei Matsuda turned off the noisy TV and sat there sulking.

He has always blamed himself for causing Jiu Sheng Chun Shu to become like this, and he can no longer be a policeman.

Akiyama Kanade said tentatively: "Actually, my legs are not completely helpless."

Matsuda Jinpei's eyes suddenly lit up, "Did the doctor tell you something? Do you need surgery? Where are you going to have the surgery? Abroad? When? Do you need to make an appointment? How much does it cost? I'll go get it right now!"

The young man in black on the bed was silent for a few seconds, lowered his eyes and avoided his gaze, "No, I heard that if you pray sincerely enough, the gods will respond... As long as you exchange part of your soul, the gods will give you medicine that can cure all diseases - what are you doing?"

The curly-haired man touched his forehead seriously, "Let me see if you have a fever. Chun, tell me the truth, do you believe in some evil cult?"

Akiyama Kanade: “…”

"Forget it, just pretend I didn't say anything."

It seems that this kind of thing is still too early for carbon-based life.

To successfully sell a product, customers must be willing to pay the price. A guy like Jinpei Matsuda, who has an atheist written on his face, probably wouldn't believe this nonsense.

However, there is a long time to come, and Akiyama Kanade is not in a hurry. As long as the concept of illness and weakness is planted in the mind, it will be considered a success.

There will always be a harvest next year.

After coming to terms with it, Akiyama Kanade comforted Matsuda Jinpei: "It's okay, I don't have any obsession with being a police officer."

In order to relax him, he even stopped pretending to be sad and tried his best to smile.

As a result, Jinpei Matsuda didn't know what was going on in his mind, and he seemed to feel even worse.

Akiyama Kanade: “?”

Okay, I won't say anything then.

Akiyama Kanade really didn't have any obsession with being a police officer. At worst, he would just quit being an undercover agent. He had only been working for a week and hadn't achieved anything. He might as well pack up and go back to the organization to retire... By the way, does the organization have employee retirement benefits? No matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like there is any.

Because of what happened to Cherry Brandy, Akiyama Kanade has a very bad impression of the Black Organization.

It seems like this crappy organization will send someone to kill its employees when they are no longer useful to prevent leaks. Maybe they will send someone to assassinate him tonight...

Hmm... Akiyama Sou paused, feeling that he had thought of something extraordinary.

No way?

After all, it's a large-scale transnational criminal group, so there should be some structure, right?

…

That night.

The door of Jiu Sheng Chun Shu's single room was tightly shut. Two figures in black slowly approached from the end of the corridor, and one of them whispered, "Brother, the hospital's surveillance footage has been cut off. I've confirmed that Blue Orange Wine is still in the room and has not left."

The silver-haired man hummed and stopped at the door of the ward.

Vodka used the stolen key to open the ward door.

The quilt on the bed bulged out the outline of a person.

Gin approached, raised the loaded gun and pointed it at the bed.

Vodka followed in.

At this moment, a dark figure who was supporting himself on all fours on the ceiling above the doorway came down silently and kicked Vodka away. Vodka hit the wall and fainted.

Gin immediately realized something and the gun was about to turn back.

"Don't move."

A cold voice came from behind.

The man laughed softly, "... As expected, they sent someone here. What? Does the organization think I'm useless?"

Gin turned his back to him and said calmly, "I thought you were happy as a policeman? A fallen genius?"

"Heh, I work so hard just to climb to the top of the police force as quickly as possible. Don't use such words to dislike me. Be careful that I will be unhappy and blow your brains out from here."

The gun behind him was pressed against the back of his head.

"The organization has no doubts about your loyalty."

This is true. For a lunatic like Blue Curacao, the organization would never suspect anyone but him. However, the organization was a little puzzled as to why Blue Curacao would be seriously injured in order to save a policeman.

Hearing this question, the voice behind him became angry, "Do you fucking think I want to? That idiot can't even hold the gun steadily, and the bullets can go west even if you point it in the east! Ahem——!"

Gin's expression suddenly became a little subtle. The anger in Blue Curacao's tone didn't seem fake, and he really didn't think Blue Curacao was the kind of person who would sacrifice himself for others.

It just seems too unlucky.

Gin cleared his throat and said, "The boss just asked me to test whether your skills have declined."

"How was your try?"

"Put down your gun, you've passed." Gin tilted his head and put down the gun of Blue and Orange. He glanced at the vodka that fell on the ground and frowned, "Pack up and leave immediately."

"Leave?" Blue Orange Wine asked in surprise.

"Your identity has been exposed. The senior police officers already know that you are Blue Curacao. They will probably be here soon."

The black-haired man raised his lip corners, "No wonder you are so anxious. See if I can still be used. If I can be used, take it back. If I can't be used, seal my mouth on the spot. You really don't want to suffer any loss at all."

Gin glanced at him and said, "Stop talking nonsense."

"Wake up that idiot yourself, I won't care about him." Blue Curacao dragged one leg to take a coat from the hanger and put it on.

He took a final look around the room. On the table was a vase with lilies that Matsuda Jinpei had brought. On the other side was a large bag of fruit. When he left in the afternoon, he left his sunglasses on the table and said he would come back to get them tomorrow.

Blue Orange Wine pondered for a moment and put his sunglasses into his pocket.

…

Going back a little further, in the morning, the senior police received a call from a public phone from an undercover agent in the organization, Rei Furuya.

The main content is that he suspected that the police officer Jiu Sheng Chunshu from the Investigation Division was the undercover agent sent by the organization to the police - Blue Orange Wine.

Furuya Rei first explained his conclusion, and there was a long silence on the other end of the phone. He knew that this news would be difficult for the other party to believe, because the undercover policeman he mentioned was being reported by the media all over Japan, and he was praised as a tragic hero.

But Rei Furuya believed in his own judgment, even though this person had just rescued his friend.

"Why do you say that?" His boss quickly adjusted himself and wanted to hear Furuya Rei's reasons.

"We knew for a long time that Blue Orange Wine was undercover in the police, and we had always thought that he was disguised as a public security police officer because a lot of the information he passed on, including... the killing of those public security police undercovers, was information only known to the public security."

"We have always overlooked Jiu Sheng Chun Shu, a non-staff member who often participated in public security operations. Although he was not officially registered, he had always been acting with the public security in a capacity similar to that of an assistant."

"But that doesn't mean he's the undercover agent."

"Yes, I really started to suspect him because of the assassination organized a few days ago. That was my first time working with Blue Curacao, and I tried to find his flaws in the process."

“And you did find it.”

"Yes. First, his voice. Although his voice has been changed twice, our technicians have managed to restore part of the original voice. We extracted the voice of Jiu Sheng Chun Shu from a previous TV show and compared it with the same words in this part of the original voice. We have reason to suspect that it is the same person."

"Secondly, Blue Orange issued an order to have a sniper kill a police officer patrolling the corridor. However, I later realized that his order was unnecessary. Even if we didn't do that, our plan would still go smoothly... I suspect that he gave this order to hide his identity, because people don't always suspect the victim, which is a blind spot in thinking; on the other hand, I suspect... well... he might want to get hurt for Jinpei Matsuda so as to gain his trust."

The last sentence was difficult for Rei Furuya to say, but this was indeed the reason he deduced.

This plan sounds crazy, and if one is not careful, a life could be lost, but according to Blue Curacao's usual style, it seems like something he would do.

The boss who was listening to the phone on the other side was also stunned.

"You mean..."

"…He seems to care about Matsuda Jinpei a lot. The last time he was injured, he staged it himself, but this time he really did consciously block the bullet for him at a critical moment, and even paid a huge price for it."

Whether as a policeman or a member of an organization, having a leg that is always at risk is terrifying, especially for the latter.

"I don't know if you still remember that on the day of the incident involving Councillor Oizumi Renzaburo, the public security department received an anonymous warning letter. That letter was not sent by anyone from our side."

"Do you suspect that was also a warning from Blue Curacao?"

"Well, now it makes sense. The assassination plan was highly confidential, and no one knew the details of the mission except the team members and Gin. So the person who sent the anonymous letter could only be Blue Curacao."

The boss was silent for a moment, "...is it also to protect Matsuda Jinpei?"

"I'm afraid so. By ruining our original plan, he was able to put the whole thing back under his control... Because of his rescue, Matsuda Jinpei has trusted him since then."

"I originally thought that he wanted to get close to Matsuda Jinpei so as to get more information. However, Jinpei is a police officer in the explosive ordnance disposal team, and he doesn't have any valuable information." Furuya Rei unconsciously called out his friend's name. He paused, "Besides, there is no need to go to this extent just for intelligence. So, I suspect..."

Fūya Rei was a little speechless.

His boss added considerately, "He likes Jinpei Matsuda."

Although it's bizarre, this seems to be the only explanation.