Chapter 162
After having his mentality collapse from being played by a group of people, Professor Lin finally realized the problem.
If they could defuse it themselves, why would they suddenly act like amateurs? Was it just to deceive him? Where exactly had he shown his hand?
The young man who made him think of Hades and death gazed at him with slightly flickering red eyes, speaking in a gentle tone that somehow carried terrifying implications: "It seems you've already figured it out."
Mr. Lin gritted his teeth. Though he was very afraid, since the other party was police who hadn't immediately arrested him but set a trap instead, they probably lacked evidence. If he refused to admit anything, the police wouldn't dare go too far: "I don't know what you're talking about. Since the bomb is defused, I have nothing to do here. I'm going back."
Saying this, he turned directly to leave.
But the next second, words from behind instantly froze him in place.
"You haven't answered my question yet. This key is yours, right?"
Mr. Lin's heart plummeted.
—Damn, had they found the bike lock key he'd lost last night?!
Last night after installing the bomb, when he walked to where he'd parked, he discovered his key was missing. He hurried back to search but couldn't find it. When he returned, he could only force the chain open with pliers. But just as he was trying to break the chain, a security guard patrolled to this area and mistook him for stealing the bike, insisting on writing down the license plate number.
That's when he had no choice but to kill to silence him.
He'd thought the key wasn't found in the gondola because it had fallen on the road—he couldn't find it, and even if others found it, they wouldn't connect it to the Ferris wheel... But now it seemed it was still in the Ferris wheel?
Why hadn't he found it?
Professor Lin slowly turned his body back, then saw what the person whom even FBI bomb experts admired held in his hand—a transparent evidence bag.
...It did indeed look like the set he'd lost.
Hagiwara Kenji took the evidence bag: "As long as Professor Lin's fingerprints don't match those on this key, we can still prove your innocence."
Professor Lin was silent for several seconds, but ultimately couldn't withstand the pressure under the scrutinizing gaze of the blue-haired young man and confessed.
"...I did it."
He'd worn gloves when installing the bomb, but normally when using the key to ride his bike, he directly handled it with his hands. He hadn't considered he might lose it, so naturally hadn't wiped off his fingerprints. Continuing to struggle was meaningless—better to confess.
Hagiwara Kenji breathed a sigh of relief.
Good, a confession worked... Fortunately Shinryu discovered the key, otherwise that design diagram really couldn't serve as evidence—they could only say there was suspicion and apply for a search warrant, but that would take too long.
Professor Lin raised his hands, letting Samukawa Shinryu handcuff him. He wanted to say something, but looking up and meeting those eyes, he closed his mouth. Only after Samukawa Shinryu finished cuffing him and stepped aside did he breathe a sigh of relief and turn to ask Hagiwara Kenji: "When did you start suspecting me?"
This question really puzzled him.
Was it when he directly drew the bomb design? But these people were already putting on an act to deceive him then.
So when did he arrived?
And clearly there were two bomb experts, yet they specifically called him over—could they have guessed it was him from the start and just wanted to probe tactfully?
The more Professor Lin thought about it, the more chilled he felt.
Hagiwara Kenji was about to answer when Samukawa Shinryu suddenly interrupted.
"Guess."
Professor Lin: "..........."
Hagiwara Kenji: "...Don't toy with criminals again."
That one "guess" would keep Professor Lin awake for years...
"Then you ask him why he wanted to bomb the Ferris wheel."
Hagiwara Kenji paused. He knew Samukawa Shinryu wouldn't speak without reason—he must have guessed something, so he turned to ask: "Why?"
Professor Lin frowned as he answered: "Because, from my office window, this Ferris wheel blocks my view."
Hagiwara Kenji: "..........."
Samukawa Shinryu: "Today I was still discussing with Kudo-san how Japan has fewer psychopathic criminals than bombing cases, and now we have a hybrid. I actually think Japan's serial murder cases also seem to be less than America's..."
Hagiwara Kenji: "Stop talking."
Can't you say something good! When words like that come from your mouth, it always makes people feel anxious!
With solid evidence, Professor Lin was taken away. They'd initially come to solve a murder case, which escalated to a bomb extortion case midway, but ultimately finished everything before noon.
Usuha Izuki was very satisfied with this efficiency.
This time he essentially won while lying down, with almost nothing to do—mainly Hagiwara Kenji and the Mobile Investigation people were busy... This showed having a capable partner was great.
Someone else might not have immediately realized the bomb expert sent over could be the suspect, and this case would have dragged on much longer. Even if he'd obtained the key, finding fingerprints matching those on the key wouldn't immediately lead to suspecting the assisting bomb expert.
This could also slap the face of those who said Hagiwara Kenji was riding his coattails.
Since the culprit was an expert sent by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team to assist, they needed to inform that team first.
Matsuda Jinpei received the call and was speechless after understanding the situation: "Huh? Lin Kungfu is the criminal? What's wrong with him!"
"Says the Ferris wheel was blocking his view."
"...Psycho! We never noticed he had mental problems before!" Matsuda Jinpei had exchanged bomb-related information with Professor Lin before—they were barely acquainted—so he found it very baffling. "And not even installing a balance detonation device, just wanting to bluff people directly—how much does he look down on police!"
Usuha Izuki chimed in from the side: "He just looks down on the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team."
Matsuda Jinpei: "...Tch, anyway the EOD will follow up on this situation. When design diagrams were leaked before, we did an internal investigation once. This time we'll probably investigate all these 'consultants'..."[ TN: EOD = Explosive Ordnance Disposal. ]
"There really are many problems." Hagiwara Kenji frowned. "Yesterday someone at the Metropolitan Police seemed to have been taken away for investigation..."
Hagiwara Kenji didn't know the specific situation of who was taken away, but his undercover classmate did.
Furuya Rei actually hadn't taken the cult they encountered during their trip seriously at first. The marketing assistant working hard to scam money was a pure clown, not worth worrying about—just report to police and leave it to the local station.
But as the case investigation deepened, the situation became problematic, actually involving people from the Metropolitan Police Public Security Department—even colleagues of Morofushi Hiromitsu!
How could such money-focused people exist in such an important department?!
Furuya Rei was greatly shocked and quickly hinted to his superiors, urging them to self-investigate to avoid similar situations.
Sigh, who would have thought—Usuha Izuki insisting on that trip actually helped them such a huge favor, uncovering corrupt cops in high positions... In the future, when Usuha Izuki wanted to do something, maybe they should be more cooperative?
What if more good things like this happened?
Kazami Yuya was still reporting work to Furuya Rei: "...That's roughly the situation with the Metropolitan Police Public Security Department. Other issues need continued interrogation."
Furuya Rei nodded: "Mm, then the text on that paper I gave you last time—is the translation ready? Is it Russian?"
The paper he'd given Kazami Yuya was the "wish" or "trouble" Usuha Izuki had written at that cult.
Neither Morofushi Hiromitsu nor Furuya Rei could understand what was written, only seeing it seemed to use Cyrillic letters, possibly Russian. But he only had basic Russian knowledge and couldn't understand what was written, suspecting it was code.
Since Morofushi Hiromitsu hadn't reached his contact time with his handler, Furuya Rei simply gave it to Kazami Yuya to find someone to translate.
Kazami Yuya reported: "It uses Kurdish from the Middle East region."
Furuya Rei: "...Kurdish, huh."[ TN: Kurdish people are an ethnic group native to the Middle East, primarily living across parts of Turkey (Kurdistan region), Iraq, Iran, and Syria. ]
He felt embarrassed. Clearly knowing Usuha Izuki had returned from the Middle East, he'd somehow overlooked that Kurdish had three writing systems, one using modified Cyrillic letters, so it would look somewhat like Russian.
This knowledge was rather obscure—he really couldn't think of it immediately, feeling his head was full of what Usuha Izuki said when returning from the Middle East, complaining about the Middle East regional manager: "Even if I really were a Soviet spy, what could he do to me! If I say provide aid, provide aid! What's all this chattering!"
Russian was indeed more common—couldn't blame him for thinking wrong.
Honestly, someone like Usuha Izuki who openly said "so what if I'm a spy" made it really hard to imagine him bearing some heavy secret... He felt this guy lived too freely.
And as Usuha Izuki had said before, if he were undercover, he'd definitely work hard to climb up and seek important intelligence, but Usuha Izuki made no effort at all and rarely asked about important intelligence. When he occasionally asked "what missions do you all do," it was to torment people...
Now Furuya Rei increasingly leaned toward Usuha Izuki possibly truly not knowing about Arak Wine's situation.
He and Morofushi Hiromitsu really shouldn't try to make contact after all...
Furuya Rei asked: "So what exactly was written?"
"Uh..."
For some reason, Kazami Yuya hesitated before answering.
"It asks, is my foster father a police officer?"
Furuya Rei: "...???"
—Usuha Izuki, were you simply trying to use this question to embarrass that Cult Leader, or are you really suspicious about Arak Wine?!