Asi Hell

Capítulo 38

The thought of Yoko being tortured by Ishii made Kiba furious.

"Who the important figure is, and what their relationship is with Yoko, Kanako, and Amamiya—the higher-ups aren't telling the lower-ranking investigators these things, which makes an investigation impossible. If the person being threatened were a big shot, that would be a different story, but since that's not the case, those guys naturally want to get away with it as quickly as possible. And—they also believe Kanako is already dead."

"That's hard to say, since no body has been found."

"That's how it appears on the surface. But not a single person in the Kanagawa headquarters believes in the possibility that Kanako is alive. So they think, since she's dead, there's no need to search for her anymore."

"cowardly!"

Why had he been dragging his feet for the past three weeks? Before regretting his actions, Kiba was consumed by anger. So many people were there, yet not a single person—not even half a person—was willing to protect Yoko. Not only that, but they treated her like a suspect. His anger simmered within him.

"In short, the actions of the prefectural police have only backfired. Suzaki was unfortunate to be killed; he was essentially killed by the police."

Even without knowing the inside story, the thought of acting alongside those foolish guys without noticing the problem—wood

He felt even more foolish.

"But in this case, Yoko gave new testimony."

"That's right, these guys are completely blank right now, unable to make any correct judgments. The higher-ups in charge of giving instructions are in a state of confusion, while the lower-ups in charge of the investigation know nothing. At most, they can only think of using the only evidence—the threatening letter—to frame Yoko as the criminal. Otherwise, they can only search for the long-lost Amamiya without any clues, that's all."

"Where is Amamiya?"

"We have absolutely no clue, not even how he left that building. Amamiya went outside before the commotion started, so no one suspected him when he left. But he didn't go to the square where the police officers were gathered. So he must have gone to the rear where the security was lax, but there's no concrete evidence for that. There's no sign of him using a car. If he really was escaping, he should have walked to the nearest station. But if that's the case, if he were a criminal, he would have to leave without attracting attention while carrying the dying Kanako."

That's outrageous! That's absolutely impossible!

Walking to the early morning station isn't a problem. But carrying kanako (a type of vegetable) is really impossible.

Aoki smiled like a student.

"Well, so it's time for the senior to step in, right? If left unchecked, he'll definitely be relegated to the sidelines."

"I am still in seclusion reflecting on my mistakes. And the jurisdiction is different."

Even so, is it really okay to let things continue like this?

"But I don't have a police manual or a fishing rope right now, so what do you think I can do?"

"And my senior and his group of strange friends. This incident is the same as the previous strange incidents. Even if we handed it over to the police, it wouldn't have been effective from the start, let alone in this situation—"

Sekiguchi, Natsukizu, Chuzenji—Aoki was referring to this group. Kiba had considered it too. But what could they possibly do?

"Aoki. Is this all the information you've heard?"

"I've also heard some rumors about the Mimasaka Institute of Modern Medicine, but they're not related to this matter."

Tell me about it.

Kiba's mood was quite turbulent. He couldn't let things go, but he was also at a loss for what to do. No matter how he tried to organize things, it remained a mess. Now he finally understood—from the moment he became involved in the incident, Kiba had lost his ability to make calm judgments. However, he also believed that this incident couldn't be resolved through calm judgment alone.

Aoki tilted his head and thought for a moment before answering:

"The research institute is built alone in the forest. So few people know that this building exists. I heard that it was one of the military facilities during the war. However, the building itself does not seem to have any suspicious mechanisms such as secret passages. No matter how casual the people in Kanagawa are, they still know to investigate. In addition to these rumors, I also heard that animals are sent there every few months."

"A mammal? Like a tiger or a rhinoceros?"

"Yes. They brought it from somewhere, large animals like monkeys and baboons. The one who was killed was named Suzaki. He would drive his truck to town once or twice a week to buy things. The truck was a bit dirty, so quite a few people remembered it. I heard that several people had seen animal cages on the truck's cargo platform. Some people said they heard squeaking sounds. Others said they saw a furry child inside. In short, they were all disgusting rumors. But the wild animals that were sent in didn't seem to be kept, and they were only brought in and never came out."

"Hmph, boring."

"Just say it's a completely unrelated rumor. It's turned into a horror story, saying they went to the graveyard and caught some kind of monster, feeding it human corpses."

"A corpse?"

"Not just wild animals, but that research institute—the locals call it the Box. Everyone says that once a patient is sent into that Box, they never come back. They are killed and used as food for monsters."

It means that even the cabbage was eaten.

Kiba became very unhappy and almost vomited.

"Alright, that's all the information I've gathered about Kanako's kidnapping that I've managed to gather from all over the place. If you're really interested in doing this, I'll definitely help you."

If you agree, it will be tantamount to falling into Aoki's trap.

But after hearing so much, it wouldn't be right to let him go empty-handed.

"Didn't you just say there were conditions for the exchange? How's it going on your end?"

Aoki's expression now resembled that of a student.

"Alright, of course we should discuss it with the senior. Besides, the dismemberment murder case was originally the senior's responsibility—does the senior know what happened?"

Kiba was unaware of the situation. The incident occurred two days before Kanako's kidnapping, and it escalated after Kiba was punished with confinement. During this period, he neither read the newspapers nor listened to the radio. Kiba admitted his ignorance, so Aoki briefly explained the whole situation. Afterward, he immediately asked Kiba for his thoughts.

"So, this is the full picture published in the newspaper. Is there anything noteworthy?"

That's all Kiba could think of. But could one person really kill so many people in such a short time?

"Is this really a serial killing spree? Could it be an isolated incident?"

"It must be consecutive."

Aoki explained that the hands of the second and third people were found together, and the murder weapon used to sever the limbs of the second and fourth people should be the same one.

"What about the first one? Maybe the first one was done by a different person?"

"Regarding this, the following information has not yet been publicly released, but the first victim's foot stake found in Lake Sagami was placed in a box, and all subsequent stakes were also placed in boxes."

"Isn't there a possibility that someone deliberately imitated the first incident after knowing about it?"

"As I just said, the police deliberately concealed the fact that the first victim's foot was found in a box, and instead released the story that it was floating on the lake."

Why do this?

"The police deemed this too shocking and therefore covered it up. Aside from the police, at most only..."

It was just Mr. Sekiguchi. However, Mr. Sekiguchi probably didn't know that the second person's hands and feet were also hidden in the box, unless Mr. Sekiguchi himself was the prisoner.

Kiba was taken aback when he heard the unexpected name.

"The pass, why are you mentioning the pass?"

Aoki saw Kiba's astonished expression. He muttered "Oh no," then scratched his forehead, looking embarrassed.

"Actually, we ran into Mr. Sekiguchi at the scene during our large-scale search at Lake Sagami. At that time, I didn't expect to keep it a secret, so I accidentally let it slip to Kinoshita."

When was that?

"The thirtieth day."

So, did Sekiguchi, Chuzenji Atsuko, and that young man accidentally stumble upon the research institute on their way back? Just as Kiba was about to recall the scene, Aoki smiled.

"Haha, I'm not doubting Mr. Sekiguchi. If, as you said, the second criminal is imitating the first, then of course suspicion will fall on the police or Mr. Sekiguchi."

It's not funny at all.

"What do the boxes used to hold corpses look like?"

"The first one was made of iron, so it sank to the bottom of the lake. It probably wouldn't have been discovered unless an angler poked at it. It was about this big."

The first box was a specially made one, just big enough to fit two feet, and it was locked. Later boxes were all about the same size, but made of wood, specifically paulownia. Hands and feet were stuffed inside. The gaps were filled with cotton. Traditional Chinese medicine materials are often packaged this way, right? It's the same kind of packaging, tied with rope. If you had to point out a difference, one is iron and the other is wood; the materials are indeed different, but you wouldn't generally think of putting a corpse in a box, would you?

This event is indeed very unusual, and there can't possibly be no connection between the two.

"The only thing not put in the box was the arm that was initially found, but Dan Jiao judged that it should belong to the same victim as the foot that was found later."

"What's that box for? It couldn't possibly be specially made for storing corpses, could it?"

"That box isn't available on the market; it's a custom-made product, but we still can't find out which company made it."

"That should be very simple, right?"

"No, I didn't."

Aoki stared wearily at Kiba.

"Put hands and feet into a box and then bury it?"

Kiba didn't want to hear his boring excuses, so he spoke up before he could.

"It was buried. But a more accurate description would be that it was embedded, fitting perfectly into the eaves of a house, the seams of the walls, or other gaps that were just the right size. The prisoner was strange; he must have been too short, it's hard to believe he would have tried to hide it straight."

"Families that encounter this kind of thing are really unlucky."

"This is really unlucky. Thanks to this, we were just talking about horror, and now it's even weirder mixed up with everything else. It's a complete mess."

chaos."

As Aoki finished speaking, he started peeling a banana again.

It seems that Aoki bought it because he wanted to eat it himself.

"Rumor has it that this wasn't done by a person, but by a train."

"train?"

"It's the Flame Chariot. The 'traitor' is a kind of monster. I heard the train comes to meet those who did many evil deeds in life as they die, takes them away, and then dismembers the body into pieces and scatters them everywhere—"

"Why are these kinds of stories circulating everywhere? What era are we living in?"

Despite saying this, Kiba's mind conjured up images of a burning car scattering the dead's limbs. As if to dispel the thought, or perhaps to hide his embarrassment, he took the last banana. However, Kiba merely played with it in his hand, making no intention of peeling it.

"Because there's no way to resolve this soon, the residents are very uneasy. The site where the body was recently discovered becomes very quiet every evening."

"Even if it really was the train that did it, with all that careless handling, wouldn't the train end up with a huge pile of heads and bodies?"

"That's true, but the other parts just can't be found. However—this matter has never been published, and about half of the first victim's body has been found."

"What the hell is it?"

"It's about, roughly. We've found a few vertebrae from the pelvic bone area while dredging the lakebed. But we haven't found the box; we guess it broke when it was thrown into the lake. If it were an iron box, of course it wouldn't float."

"Pelvis? Isn't that the whole body? Even the body has been divided."

"It seems so. I've only seen photos; it's just a bone with some pieces of meat stuck to it."

After Aoki finished speaking, he seemed to remember the photo and felt nauseous.

"So the victim's identity hasn't been found yet?"

"No, their identities are almost universally known, they just haven't been announced yet."

"That's really impressive. But why not announce it?"

"Because it's only almost. Only the fourth one is certain. She's the daughter of a photographer in Kawasaki. She's a bad girl, only fifteen years old. Because she doesn't study well, she mixes with prostitutes and sells herself. She was caught when they were cracking down on matchmaking. That's not all; she also frequently lures men and steals money while they're showering. At the same time, she's a habitual pickpocket, purse snatcher, and honey trapper. So her fingerprints are on the police station, and a comparison will immediately identify her, so it's certain. The second one is the daughter of a teacher in Saitama. The third one is the daughter of an office worker living in Senju. These two should also be fine. It's just that we haven't found confirmation yet."

"Don't you know the first one yet?"