Chapter 40 A Comeback
November 7th was an important day for Kenji Hagiwara.
He named it the Day of Rebirth.
Six years ago on this day, he would have died in a meticulously planned explosion.
In the end, however, they escaped death as if by divine intervention.
Hagiwara still remembers the strange sight of thousands of miles frozen over at that time, which he described as a miracle that could only occur at absolute zero.
Matsuda scoffed at his childhood friend's explanation and sternly warned him that good luck doesn't come twice, and that escaping by chance was not an excuse for not wearing protective suits in the future.
Early in the morning, Hagiwara arrived at the Metropolitan Police Department as usual and found a letter addressed to him in the mailbox outside the main entrance.
When Hagi arrived at the security headquarters, his expression suddenly changed as he opened the envelope.
He jumped up abruptly, strode to his boss's office, and slammed the letter onto the desk with a thud.
"Boss, something's up!"
Matsuo Saburo, the head of the □□ processing team, was startled and picked up the slightly crumpled piece of paper to read it—
To my long-lost police officer:
The messengers of judgment returned to earth, celebrating with a riot of six-colored fireworks.
The clear voices of children echoed in heaven, while the deep bloodstains spread along the long river.
The raging flames caused the earth to collapse, but only the hero and the cat were spared!
"The tone and handwriting of this notice are very similar to those of the criminal from six years ago!" Matsuo exclaimed in shock. "But that guy is still in prison. Could it be a copycat crime?"
"But those warning letters written by the perpetrators back then were never made public. If it was a copycat crime, how did the perpetrators know about it this time?"
Matsuo frowned, realizing that this matter was not simple.
He called the prison, and the response confirmed his worst fears:
This morning, when the prison guards were counting the number of people, they found that one person was missing.
They found a tunnel in the prisoners' cells.
The prisoner has escaped!
"Damn it! That guy actually got away?!" Hagiwara said through gritted teeth. "He's already causing trouble right after escaping from prison. It seems he hasn't learned his lesson at all after being locked up for six years!"
"Instead of all that, let's take a closer look at the contents of the notice and look for places where the bombs might be buried!" Matsuda said from the side.
"To the long-lost police officer, this must be referring to us! The messenger of judgment has returned to the mortal realm, ugh! What kind of messenger of judgment is he? Does he think he's the Grim Reaper?" Hagiwara cursed irritably.
Six years ago, the prisoners made him suffer a lot.
Therefore, he still hates that person to the core when he mentions him now.
“I think the key point should be in the latter part, right?” Matsuda analyzed. “If we take it literally, ‘the children’s voice’ refers to children, ‘the long river’ means a place with water, and it can also cause the earth to collapse… so the place where the bomb is buried should have all these elements, right?”
“Water, earth… could it be a child fishing on the riverbank or embankment?” Hagiwara asked.
"What does the cat in the back mean?" Matsuo interjected.
"Ha! I think he's referring to the idea that cats have nine lives! Six years ago, we defused his three bombs. Considering the six-colored fireworks and the fact that he was imprisoned for six years, the prisoner must have prepared six bombs this time!" Hagiwara replied. "But it's strange, it's one thing for him to dig tunnels in prison, but how did he have the materials to make bombs?"
"Who knows! Anyway, let's investigate the fishing spots in Tokyo where kids gather and see if we can find the bomb!" Matsuda said.
However, before the police from the "virginity-exploding" unit could even be dispatched, they received a report:
A bomb has been found at Teitan Elementary School!
"According to the person who reported the incident, there was a celebration at the school today. First, a fake bomb and a notice attached to it were found in the school auditorium. Some people realized that it was similar to a case from six years ago. So they searched the school and found a real bomb in a classroom. Now all the teachers and students in the school building have been evacuated," the police officer who received the report said.
"This teacher is very vigilant!" Hagiwara praised.
"Oh no, it seems that the bomb was discovered by a first-grade student."
"First grade? Are you kidding me?!"
However, they didn't have time to care about what grade they were in, and the Explosive Class quickly set off for Teitan Elementary School.
"Hagi, why do you think it's Teitan Elementary School? There's no water there, is there?" Matsuda asked, puzzled.
"Why don't you go and see for yourself?"
However, upon arriving at their destination, the police officers from the "virginity-exploding" squad were dumbfounded:
Even though it's a school event, there shouldn't be this many people, right?
They soon learned the answer: someone had posted the fake bomb and the warning letter online.
Parents were naturally very worried and rushed to pick up their children, while many onlookers also came to watch.
Suddenly, Matsuda and Hagiwara spotted a familiar, tall figure in the crowd: it was the class president!
The two groups passed each other, and in the brief moment of their encounter, they whispered, "Be careful."
"The same to you."
"Jinpei-chan, I know what the cat on the notice means! Look, isn't that the six-colored cat, the mascot of the Winter Olympics?" Hagiwara shouted, pointing at the huge poster in the school.
"So that's what the six-colored fireworks mean!" Matsuda suddenly realized. "Hagi, it's my turn now."
"Huh?" Hagiwara didn't react for a moment.
It took them a moment to realize that, for the sake of fairness, the two of them were taking turns defusing the bomb, one time each.
The last mission was Hagiwara, so this time it should rightfully be Matsuda.
"Jinpei-chan, let's switch this time! I have to deal with that prisoner myself!" Hagiwara pleaded.
But Matsuda's attitude was unusually firm, and he said, "No! This time I'll take care of him for you!"
Having no other choice, Hagiwara let the other side do as they pleased, and couldn't help but worry as he instructed, "Jinpei, be careful!"
Seeing his childhood friend's unusually serious attitude, Matsuda pretended to be relaxed and said, "He's just a defeated opponent who's been locked up for six years, what's there to worry about? Don't worry, I'll be down in 10 minutes. It's your turn to buy me a drink today!"
Matsuda put on his protective suit and led the group into the teaching building.
The classroom with the bomb was on the first floor and was found under the podium.
Matsuda examined the device of the bomb.
This is a very ordinary bomb, made of simple materials, with average power, and it's not difficult to dismantle.
This indirectly reflects that prisoners are indeed unable to collect good materials in prison.
As Matsuda stared at the timer ticking away second by second, he couldn't help but recall the contents of the advance notice.
If this bomb were placed here, it would probably only be able to crack the wall of this classroom.
It hardly seems like a raging inferno, let alone something that would cause the earth to collapse!
More importantly, following the style of the perpetrator from six years ago, that person liked to use the location of the previous bomb to indicate the location of the next bomb. However, the window for indicating the location was extremely short, only three seconds.
However, this time the prisoner brazenly wrote the instructions directly on the display screen:
The warning message for the next bomb is on this screen.
What kind of riddle is this?
Matsuda frowned, looking left and right, but he still couldn't figure out what the culprit meant.
He instructed his subordinates to forward the hint to their superiors who were waiting outside, letting them figure it out themselves.
As for Matsuda himself, of course, he should deal with the immediate problem first.
The bomb disposal went extremely smoothly, and Matsuda felt he could probably find Hagi in less than 10 minutes.
"The danger is over, we can leave now."
Matsuda took off his heavy protective suit and let out a long sigh of relief.
He secretly rejoiced that the prisoner's skills had indeed declined significantly after being imprisoned for six years, and he had no traps or mechanisms at all.
However, just as Matsuda stepped out of the classroom and into the corridor, a loud "bang" was heard.
In an instant, the sky collapsed and the earth caved in.
"Oh no! We were careless! There's still one bomb!"
Matsuda instinctively lay down, but something hard hit his head.
He suddenly fainted, everything went black, and he lost consciousness…
When Matsuda woke up, he felt a sharp pain in his chest.
He struggled to open his eyes and saw only a blurry black shadow rushing towards him.
Without a second thought, Matsuda clenched his fist and delivered a fatal blow to his opponent.
Then a bloodcurdling scream was heard.
The voice sounded very familiar, and Matsuda realized that it was Hagi who had just given him artificial respiration.
"I'm sorry, Hagi, I thought a criminal had attacked me..."
"Matsuda Jinpei! Can you look carefully before you act? It hurts!" Hagiwara cried out in grief and indignation.
Matsuda tried to get up from the messy ground, but found that his hands and feet were not obeying his commands.
"Could I be so unlucky as to have broken a bone?"
"Jinpei-chan, don't move around, the ambulance will be here soon," Hagiwara comforted him.
"Hagi, how are the others?"
"There are a few minor injuries, but yours is the most serious. The others are all fine."
"Ah, that's good!" Matsuda lay on the ground, muttering incessantly, "That guy's bomb-making skills haven't improved at all, but he's really good at playing tricks. To hell with the clues, they were right up there! There's even a bomb hidden on the second floor. After being locked up for six years, he's even learned how to get a buy-one-get-one-free deal!"
"Calm down, Jinpei-chan! If you get any more agitated, you'll bleed even more!"
But Matsuda was so agitated by the prisoners that he couldn't easily quell his anger.
He asked, "Hagi, do you have any cigarettes?"
"You're in this state and you're still smoking?" Hagiwara scolded him while lighting a cigarette for him and smoking one himself.
Nicotine relieved their anxiety.
"Jinpei-chan, I feel like something doesn't make sense. Is this really the end of it? The announcement was written in a mess, was it just to mislead us?"
"Perhaps the prisoner wasn't prepared for the next bomb! Didn't they say the escape tunnels were so narrow that even a slightly overweight person couldn't squeeze through? Under those circumstances, it's already quite remarkable that the prisoner managed to bring out two bombs."
"That's true. Hopefully, the squad leader and the others can catch that person before the next explosion!"
"Have you found the person who sent the notice?"
"It was given to me by a child. The child said that a man gave him a piece of candy on his way to school that morning and asked him to deliver a letter. The child did it without thinking much about it."
Upon hearing this, Matsuda became even more enraged: "Damn it! This time I'm going to catch the criminal and throw him in jail!"
"We will never let him get away with this again!"
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