Tokyo, 9-chome 23, Yoneka-cho.
The bustling streets that used to be bustling with people now looked like a doomsday scene - the shocking fire accompanied by the explosion swallowed up the entire building almost in an instant; the broken bricks and walls collapsed, destroying the building. All those who had no time to flee were buried!
A cordon was slowly raised under the hands of the police officers who arrived in time, instantly separating the two worlds——
People outside were crying and wailing;
The people inside were filled with helplessness and despair.
Under the ruins, the victims are incalculable!
"My child is still in there! My child is still in there, please save her! Please!"
"My wife is in there! Don't stop me!"
"Dad! Mom! Dad!!! Mom!!!"
There were people who had lost loved ones roaring and trying to storm the cordon, while children with dusty faces were crying helplessly. The once prosperous commercial buildings were now reduced to ruins, and they were devastated at a glance.
It's been a long time since a tragedy of this magnitude occurred in Tokyo.
When Katsumi Uehara and Miwako Sato arrived at the explosion site, they saw such a scene.
The two people with heavy hearts looked at each other, took a deep breath to calm down the anger surging in their hearts, calmly showed their IDs to the police officers who were protecting the scene, and put on their gloves.
"The Metropolitan Police Department's Criminal Division investigated the Violent Crime Division 1 and the 3rd Division Police Division, Katsumi Uehara."
"Miwako Sato, police officer of the third department of the Criminal Investigation Section 1 of the Metropolitan Police Department's Criminal Division."
The old inspector general who had been struggling to support the scene finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the people from the Metropolitan Police Department. He signaled to his colleagues to let the two officers from the Metropolitan Police Department in quickly. This kind of major case was not something they could intervene in. .
"Sato, Uehara, are you in charge of this case?"
The fire brigade officer who had completed the fire extinguishing work and was carrying out rescue operations was directing his subordinates. He rushed over immediately when he saw two faces he had seen in the Metropolitan Police Department.
"Ida, how is the situation at the scene?" Seeing that an acquaintance was leading the team, Sato Miwako also omitted self-introduction and asked straight to the point.
"It's very bad. Although the fire is extinguished, the places where the walls collapsed are high-risk areas."
"What about the casualties?"
"So far we have rescued 57 people from the rubble, and 13 people have died."
"..."
The cruel and cold data made Miwako Sato unconsciously glance at the emotional crowd outside the cordon. She suddenly felt that her throat was a little dry.
On the side, Katsuki Uehara, whose face no longer had the usual smile, squatted down, frowned, reached out and pulled out a menu from the pile of rubble - no, it should be said to be a third of the menu. After shaking off the pebbles and dust that fell on it, I blew a breath, and the first thing that caught my eye was the huge "New Store Opening" font right below the menu.
"Asahiju?" Katsuki Uehara, who was muttering the name of the store, raised his head, his eyes fell on the ruins in front of him with firefighters coming in and out, and he carefully looked at every inch of scorched earth.
After finishing the conversation, Miwako Sato walked around and stood still. She put her hands on her hips and pressed her tongue across her slightly dry lips. She turned to look at more and more people outside the cordon behind her. She frowned and said, "How is it? What's there?" Did you find it?"
"Obviously this is a new store that has just opened less than a month ago. The main specialties are bullfrog meat and snake meat." Uehara Katsumi raised a third of the menu in his hand and stood up and handed it to Sato. In front of Miwako, his eyes also turned to the group of media reporters outside the cordon who had already taken up their duties: "The boss's work phone number is on the menu."
Miwako Sato took the menu and immediately took out her mobile phone from her suit pocket: "I'll contact him."
The woman's slender thumbs quickly pressed the keys on the keyboard, but what followed was a shutdown sound.
"Did the fire department confirm the cause of the explosion? A natural gas pipeline explosion? Or was it a bomb as we suspected?"
"It's not confirmed yet, but judging from the situation on the scene, it's hard to say."
Miwako Sato, who had tried five times but failed to get through, put her phone back into her pocket and looked around at the scene where firefighters and police officers were working together to transport the injured to the ambulance. Her tone was a little low: "We only need to I hope this is just an accident caused by a natural gas pipeline explosion, otherwise..."
A criminal who dares to use bombs and can take human life lightly - once their previous suspicions are confirmed, the police will face a madman who does things without regard to the consequences.
What’s even more frightening is that the quality of the bombs traded reached military-industrial level.
"Generally speaking, it is difficult for a natural gas pipeline explosion to blow up a building like this." After looking away from the cordon, Katsuki Uehara continued to look at the ruins at his feet.
After the firefighters, the police officers responsible for clearing the rubble were busy running back and forth, their soles crunching against the gravel.
Perhaps because there were too many people coming and going, some gravel blocks and remaining bricks that were meant to be covered were moved out of position. A sudden reflection was clearly captured by Uehara Katsumi, and he subconsciously asked him to walk over.
"I'm going to check on the wounded. I'll leave this to you Uehara."
"Wait a minute Sato."
Lying on the ground, he stretched out his hand and took out the object that caught his attention from the gap. Katsuki Uehara glanced down, his pupils narrowed, and he called to his partner without looking back.
"Um?"
"We...seem to be in big trouble."
A card with a metallic color under the sun was held in the hand of the man who slowly stood up and displayed in front of the woman.
The entire silver card surface was covered with extremely mixed scratches. It looked like it had been beaten in the collapsed restaurant; and in the center of one side of the card surface, four letters - NEXT were clearly engraved.
——? !
Miwako Sato's eyes suddenly widened in shock: "This is?!"
"Shiratori found out about the serial murder case, and the criminal mark left on the body after the murder." Turning over the metal card in his hand, which had no decoration except letters, Katsuki Uehara's eyes were solemn: "The murderer committed another crime. "
"..."
Sato Miwako reached out to take the card and rubbed the card surface repeatedly, subconsciously biting her lower lip with her teeth: "I'll notify Shiratori to come over."
After saying that, he reached out and took out his mobile phone, looked up Shiratori Rensaburo's number, and pressed the dial button——
"Ring ring ring!"
About three to five seconds later, the two people who didn't wait for anyone to answer the phone suddenly heard the phone ringing from under the ruins.
It wasn't loud, but it was still noticeable.
Miwako Sato, who was holding her cell phone tightly, raised her eyes and glanced at Katsumi Uehara. Then they both looked at the area in the ruins where the ringing sound came from with unbelievable horror.
"White Bird?!"
