Even someone as experienced as Fushimi Roku, having lived two lives, was taken aback at this moment.
The reason he kept fiddling with the wooden box was mainly because Oogami Nui’s peculiar vice was quite strange, with "corpse cultivation" written on it. Coincidentally, when the assistant fetched a tool, he was nearby and sneaked a peek, discovering that the hidden compartment was just the right size to hold a corpse...
Who could resist not opening the box?
He thought he might find a Buddhist sanctified body upon opening it, or at worst, some intriguing tools for spirit communication. Who could have guessed it would be such a ghastly object.
Fushimi Roku examined it up and down, estimating it to be of the same type as the three tree men in the garden pavilion. In this light, the tree men were neither planted nor carved, but cultivated with corpses—a thought even more disgusting than before.
Upon witnessing this scene, everyone exhibited different expressions.
Minamoto Tamako gasped, with terrifying guesses popping into her mind; Yazaki Momo immediately pulled out her camera and started snapping shots while spinning around; the assistant looked utterly shocked, covering his mouth and nose as he stumbled backward; Ono Ken had just emerged from the bedroom with a horrified expression...
Seeing the assistant’s reaction, Fushimi Roku realized the thing was toxic, and immediately pulled Minamoto Tamako back, instinctively covering her nose and mouth.
As soon as he retreated, the others also came to their senses, resulting in chaos in the hall, with Ono Ken wanting to inform the mistress, the assistant preferring to get drenched than stay in the old house, and Fushimi Roku and Minamoto Tamako simultaneously rushing forward to catch the suspect.
The assistant was knocked to the ground, with Fushimi Roku pinning him down, while Minamoto Tamako swiftly spoke from the side, "You have the right to contact a family member or appoint a lawyer. For matters related to the case, you can remain silent, but you must truthfully answer inquiries directly related to the facts of the case..."
Fushimi Roku looked puzzled and asked, "What are you mumbling about?"
"Huh? Didn’t the induction training teach us this? After catching a suspect, we’re supposed to read them their rights first by default..."
"Much too amateurish, watch me."
Fushimi Roku, saying nothing more, slapped his face twice, right and left, rendering the assistant disoriented. He then sternly interrogated, "Come clean! What is your real purpose?!"
The assistant was about to speak, but Fushimi Roku slapped him two more times, leaving stars in his eyes. Minamoto Tamako quickly grabbed his arm, stopping her partner’s ill-mannered behavior of using private penalties: "Stop hitting him! He’s about to explain..."
"You don’t get it, do you? He’s deliberately pretending to be weak, hoping to lower your guard and seize the chance to escape... Such behavior merits arrest; slapping him falls within the procedure," Fushimi Roku bluffed.
Minamoto Tamako wasn’t a fool and couldn’t be misled by such nonsense. She again intervened to stop him, while also soothing the suspect’s emotions.
Fushimi Roku, relentless, drew his police gun from his waist, shouting about executing the apprehended. Minamoto Tamako was startled and asked when he got the gun. Fushimi Roku casually explained he had never returned the police gun; every time it was a hassle to register in the armory, so he kept it locked in the nightstand, only bringing it back to the station for routine inspections.
Minamoto Tamako was furious, claiming it was against the rules; equipment must be returned while an officer is on leave, how could he keep it secretly? The police station’s regulations are clearly stated, this is a significant risk! Moreover, the suspect had already lost his ability to resist, how could he shoot him dead? That’s premeditated murder!
"I don’t care! I’ve been coping with these charlatans for too long; today, I’m going to kill one, it’s like eradicating evil for the people!" Fushimi Roku, emotionally charged, released the safety and pressed the gun to the assistant’s head, behaving as if he was in a frenzy.
Minamoto Tamako turned pale with fright, speaking with a trembling voice, constantly persuading Fushimi Roku to calm down. The two unwittingly played the roles of bad cop and good cop, a few words breaking down the assistant’s psychological defenses. The latter confessed everything on the spot, fearing he would be shot if he delayed.
"Th-that is Ye Tea..."
The assistant confessed tremulously. He had been an apprentice to Oogami Nui for five years, during which he had uncovered most of Oogami Nui’s tricks, except for the method behind the ’Wandering Soul’s Whisper’ during the spirit summoning ceremony.
The so-called "Wandering Soul’s Whisper" involved using the spirit summoning ceremony to let the clientele visually perceive the deceased—due to the division between the living and the dead, the living couldn’t hear the voices of the dead. Oogami Nui, acting as a spirit medium, vocalized on behalf of the souls, communicating with the clients... this process is called ’Wandering Soul’s Whisper.’
Initially, the assistant thought it was just another gimmicky trick; but as time passed, he realized it was not some ambiguous trickery. The clients genuinely saw the souls, thus they paid large amounts, raising Oogami Nui’s reputation accordingly.
The assistant was keen to understand the secret, believing that once he uncovered the method of ’Wandering Soul’s Whisper,’ he could break away from Oogami Nui and establish himself as a spirit medium in Hokkaido, earning a fortune...
However, Oogami Nui refused to discuss the core ’business secret,’ and every time the assistant would subtly ask, she would scold him, advising him to avoid silly ideas and be a good apprentice for ten years, after which she would pass the mantle when she retired.
This approach was too stale, and the assistant couldn’t hold on. He figured that youthfulness was not to be spent idly for those ten years with an eccentric old lady.
He resolved to observe day and night, clandestinely monitoring, taking the initiative to serve Oogami Nui, and after two years of vigilance, he finally uncovered clues.
Every time before the spirit summoning ceremony began, Oogami Nui personally brewed tea for guests, claiming it was for calming the spirit, never allowing the assistant to help.
The assistant suspected something was up with the tea leaves and tried to trace their source, only to find that Oogami Nui never purchased tea leaves publicly... she must have some secret supply or formula; the secret to ’Wandering Soul’s Whisper’ lay within.
The assistant couldn’t wait any longer and secretly installed a camera at Oogami Nui’s house, running cables into the sewer, and crouched beneath a manhole cover to spy—wireless technology was not widespread then, and even a wired camera was quite valuable, costing him a fortune.
Enduring the foul stench, he watched the black-and-white screen intently and finally observed a clue.
Oogami Nui snuck into her bedroom closet at midnight, staying for half an hour. Emerging after, she had a small bag in her hand.
He inspected afterward and found tea leaves in the bag.
On the following day, Oogami Nui did not return from a drinking bout, and the assistant slipped into her bedroom, cautiously opening the closet door. A blast of rotting odor hit him as he saw a layer of soil on the ground, with a man’s corpse half-buried within, the upper torso covered in fungus resembling tree bark.