Chapter 956: Baffled |
What kind of ghost is this?
Liu Xing was completely bewildered.
"Liu Xing, what's wrong with you?" Li Hanxing asked with a puzzled expression.
Liu Xing scratched his head, still looking incredulous, "My side quest has been completed. This means Shima Takeshi, no, it should be Shimazu Nakano and Shima Mitsuhiro have reached a reconciliation, or Shima Takeshi has been dealt with directly."
Sun Huiwen looked at Liu Xing in surprise and pulled out her mobile phone, "This shouldn't be possible. I intentionally installed a scanner in the lobby when I went upstairs. As long as the scanner detects Shima Mitsuhiro or someone resembling him leaving, it will send me a notification. So, Shima Mitsuhiro should still be in the hotel."
Just as Sun Huiwen finished speaking, Zhang Jingxu called Liu Xing.
Liu Xing answered the call, and Yin En's voice came through, "Liu Xing, what have you done? How come our side quest suddenly completed so quickly?"
"You ask me, I ask who? I'm also baffled right now. I don't know why our side quest suddenly completed. So, you guys should first get in touch with Shima Mitsuhiro and see if he's done anything." Liu Xing replied.
Zhang Jingxu's voice then rang out, "We've already asked Shima Mitsuhiro. He hasn't done anything yet and only plans to meet Shima Takeshi, or rather, confront Shimazu Nakano, tomorrow morning. It seems he wasn't lying to me because he really needs time to figure out how to confront Shimazu Nakano, or to consider where their respective bottom lines lie."
Liu Xing nodded and looked towards the Shimazu Group building, "Okay, I'll go to the Shimazu Group building and see if I find anything. I'll let you know if I do."
After hanging up, Liu Xing set off with Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen.
However, just as Liu Xing and the others drove a short distance, they saw multiple police cars heading towards the Shimazu Group building.
It seems something happened at the Shimazu Group building, and it's very likely that Shima Takeshi was killed.
Liu Xing took out his mobile phone, found a local Kagoshima news website, and discovered a prominent news headline on the website's homepage: Murder at Shimazu Group Building, Shimazu Nakano's Son-in-Law, Shima Takeshi, Killed.
What's going on?
Although it was confirmed that "Shima Takeshi" was dead, Liu Xing was still baffled. He didn't know what was going on because the death of "Shima Takeshi" was too sudden. It was completely unexpected.
Most importantly, according to the current plot development, it was simply impossible for "Shima Takeshi" to die suddenly at this time.
So, the one who killed "Shima Takeshi" must be a player!
The reason Liu Xing thought that the one who killed "Shima Takeshi" at this time was a player was because only players in the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall could forcibly change the course of the plot at this point. After all, players don't play by the "rules", while NPCs follow the plot step by step and wouldn't suddenly do anything out of line.
Therefore, the one who killed "Shima Takeshi" was most likely a player!
But then again, where did these players come from, and why did they kill Shima Takeshi?
Liu Xing had absolutely no clue about this.
Just as Liu Xing was about to lose it, the car arrived outside the Shimazu Group building.
Police officers had already set up a cordon, and the area outside the cordon was packed with onlookers. After all, the Shimazu Family was a symbol of Kagoshima, and now an important member of the Shimazu Family was suddenly killed in their own group's building. The ordinary citizens of Kagoshima were bound to be interested.
"Liu Xing, look at the window of Shima Takeshi's office." Li Hanxing said.
Liu Xing followed his gaze and saw a large hole broken in the window of Shima Takeshi's office. There were also two bright ropes hanging next to the hole.
"Clearly, the killer used a grappling hook to grab the top of the Shimazu Group building, broke into Shima Takeshi's office through the window, killed Shima Takeshi, and then used the rope to slide directly to the ground and escape... But to be honest, I've never seen a grappling hook like that, hundreds of meters long. These killers are really creative." Li Hanxing said his thoughts.
Hearing Li Hanxing's words, Liu Xing was even more convinced that the killers must be players. Only players would pull such a stunt, creating a grappling hook gun hundreds of meters long.
"But the most interesting thing is that these killers must know Shima Takeshi, or they had already arranged to meet Shima Takeshi in his office at this time. Otherwise, Shima Takeshi wouldn't have died here. So, Liu Xing, are you sure it wasn't your teammates who did it?" Sun Huiwen asked with a frown.
Liu Xing shook his head and said with certainty, "I can assure you that it wasn't my teammates. They wouldn't act without me on such an important matter. And I can assure you that they couldn't have done it with their abilities."
The three of them continued talking as they squeezed through the crowd, wanting to see if there were any rumors among the onlookers.
It turned out that Liu Xing and the others met a young man who claimed to be an employee of the Shimazu Group. He was telling the people next to him about his experience.
"I was working overtime in the building just now. I was thinking about whether to go to the nearby pub for a drink after finishing overtime tonight when suddenly I heard a gunshot from upstairs. I immediately called the police and left the office with the others. Soon, I saw the chairman carrying the general manager downstairs."
Chairman?
Liu Xing frowned. The chairman of the Shimazu Group was naturally Shimazu Nakano. So, why did Shimazu Nakano suddenly come back to Kagoshima?
Logically speaking, he shouldn't know that his situation had been exposed yet, so there was no need for him to return to Kagoshima at this time. Besides, it seemed that Shimazu Nakano was the one who killed "Shima Takeshi".
Although this was a slap in the face for Liu Xing, Liu Xing was even more confused about Shimazu Nakano's actions. Why did he do this "I kill myself"?
Could it be that Shimazu Nakano suddenly realized something and decided to take matters into his own hands?
At this moment, a spectator in the crowd suddenly said, "Do you think it's possible that Shimazu Nakano killed Shima Takeshi? After all, Shimazu Nakano has every motive to do it."
The Shimazu Group employee shook his head and said seriously, "That's impossible. Everyone in our Shimazu Group knows that the chairman takes very good care of the general manager. If the Shimazu Family wasn't those small families, I think the chairman would have treated the general manager as a son-in-law. Besides, the chairman had already fully delegated authority to the general manager a while back. The general manager had replaced all the key executives of those important companies in the Shimazu Group with his own people. So, the Shimazu Group is basically the general manager's domain now."
The employee paused for a moment and continued, "I'll tell you the truth. Basically, the members of the Shimazu Family of this generation are all useless. None of them can fight. Those guys working in the company now are all just here to mooch off the company. That's why the chairman values the general manager so much... So, I actually suspect that the general manager was killed by those useless guys. They were jealous of the general manager. Most importantly, the chairman was discussing something with the general manager at that time. The killer only shot the general manager, completely ignoring the chairman."
Hearing the employee's words, the crowd around them started buzzing with discussions. The focus shifted to whether those "useless" members of the Shimazu Family killed Shima Takeshi out of jealousy.
Liu Xing, Li Hanxing, and Sun Huiwen obtained the information they needed and retreated from the crowd.
"Interesting. I think the guy who claimed to be an employee is suspicious. He seems to be deliberately setting the tone." Li Hanxing said uncertainly.
"Setting the tone? Why do you say that?" Liu Xing looked at Li Hanxing with a hint of surprise.
Li Hanxing answered seriously, "First, he's an employee of the Shimazu Group. After the incident, he should have been held in the Shimazu Group building and questioned by the police, not out here telling stories to the onlookers. And as you heard, he mentioned that the killer ignored Shimazu Nakano when entering the office and shot Shima Takeshi. Unless Shimazu Nakano just announced this in public, how would he know this?"
"So, he's an accomplice of the killer, or someone specifically hired by the killer to set the tone? But why would they do this?" Liu Xing questioned in confusion.
Li Hanxing shrugged, "I don't know."
At this moment, Shima Mitsuhiro's car arrived at the scene and entered the Shimazu Group building.
"Let's go. Let's go back for now." Liu Xing glanced at his mobile phone, "We can't do anything right now, so we might as well go back to the hotel and sleep."
So, Liu Xing and the others returned to the hotel.
Of course, Liu Xing could have easily removed his disguise, contacted Shima Mitsuhiro or Shimazu Nakano, entered the Shimazu Group building, and directly asked Shimazu Nakano what happened. However, Liu Xing felt that this matter wasn't over yet, so he decided to stay hidden in the shadows.
However, when Liu Xing returned to his room and saw his messy bed, he suddenly realized that the person who attacked him earlier might be related to the death of "Shima Takeshi".
Was he trying to remind him not to sleep?
If Liu Xing had fallen asleep then, he wouldn't have received KP Duanqiao's reminder in the first place.
Now, Liu Xing was truly confused about what happened that night...
Forget it. It's best not to dwell on it.
Liu Xing shook his head, grabbed his blanket, and went to sleep on the sofa.
Of course, before going to sleep, Liu Xing didn't forget to send what he saw and heard to Zhang Jingxu and the others. They replied that Shima Mitsuhiro hadn't contacted them, so they also planned to wash up and go to sleep. They would contact Liu Xing if they had any news from Shima Mitsuhiro.
Ichiyo had nothing to do.
Early the next morning, Liu Xing received a call from Zhang Jingxu.
"Shima Mitsuhiro wants us to meet him at the Shimazu Residence. It seems they have peacefully resolved this incident. So, Liu Xing, do you want to go to the Shimazu Residence with us?" Zhang Jingxu asked seriously.
Liu Xing thought about it for a moment and finally decided to decline, "No, I'm going to wait a bit longer before showing up. First, I feel like this matter isn't over yet, so I might get a surprise if I continue to stay hidden in the shadows. Second, we have the moral high ground, so the longer I wait, the more benefits we can get from Shima Mitsuhiro. So, I'm going to wait a while longer before making my appearance."
After hearing Liu Xing's thoughts, Zhang Jingxu smiled, "I knew you would say that, Liu Xing. I also support your idea. After all, we'll most likely have to deal with Kitano Masakazu and Ii Naoyoshi later. So, it's better for you to stay hidden and help us."
Speaking of Kitano Masakazu, Liu Xing thought of Shi Zixuan.
So, after hanging up with Zhang Jingxu, Liu Xing immediately called Shi Zixuan.
"Things are going well on my end. I've managed to sneak into that community. However, I still haven't found Ii Naoyoshi, nor have I found his car. So, I suspect there's something fishy about this community." Shi Zixuan said after answering the call.
Liu Xing nodded, feeling a little guilty, "Have you heard about this? Shima Takeshi was killed last night."
"What? Shima Takeshi was killed? What happened? Did you guys move first?" Shi Zixuan asked in surprise, "This shouldn't be possible. You have no reason to attack Shima Takeshi. Or rather, no one should be attacking Shima Takeshi at this point."
It seems that Shi Zixuan thought the same as Liu Xing.
Liu Xing told Shi Zixuan everything he knew so far.
"There's such a move? Shimazu Nakano wouldn't suddenly turn on his own family at this time, would he? After all, he still needs to use Shima Takeshi as a bargaining chip to negotiate with Shima Mitsuhiro. He wouldn't cut off his own escape route, right?" Shi Zixuan said in confusion, "But besides Shimazu Nakano, I can't think of anyone else who would do this. After all, Shima Mitsuhiro doesn't have the power to do so, and Kitano Masakazu is focusing all his attention on the Shimazu Residence. He shouldn't have time to deal with Shima Takeshi."
Liu Xing agreed with Shi Zixuan's thoughts.
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Next Chapter >>Chapter 957: Legal Practice