He became a god in Japan starting with the bear disaster.

Chapter 46 The Truth

Lin Xiuyi entered the Maeda family home.

The door wasn't locked, and the whole room had a sense of incompleteness and disrepair.

On the wall next to the door are height measuring scales, recording the girl's growth over the past eight years. The calendar on the refrigerator is from over a dozen years ago, with each important date circled in red and accompanied by encouraging words of encouragement to move towards the goal. A happy family photo is also displayed in the living room.

Lin Xiuyi checked each room that might have someone, and finally went upstairs to a bedroom with the door half open, where he found Maeda Masako.

"Everyone is dead. Are you satisfied now?"

He said coldly.

Masako Maeda sat on the edge of the bed, turned around and gave a sincere smile.

"Lin Jun, it's been a long time. This must be our fifth meeting, right? If we don't count the time in the principal's office, then it's the fourth. I still remember, Lin Jun was so disgusted when he first saw me that he threw up."

She nodded and answered his question: "Yes, I am very satisfied and happy now. I finally have no more worries."

"I've been thinking about two questions these past few days—how did Maeda Kenpei know that his death could be exchanged for money to treat Xiao Che's illness, and why would Yokota Daichi want Maeda to die? There's no need to kill someone to take the blame; there must be a more tempting target."

If this is a transaction with a clearly marked price, then there should be an intermediary and a witness. She used herself as bait to bridge the gap between the two sides, which would solve these two problems. But this raises a third question: how do we define who actively did this?

After much thought, I've come to only one conclusion: you were neither the intermediary nor the witness, but the manipulator and the facilitator. You instigated Maeda Kenpei to choose death, and you persuaded Yokota Daichi to exploit Maeda's death. If we're to find the culprit behind this case, that person can only be you.

Masako Maeda clapped her hands lightly. "That was a brilliant deduction. So, are you trying to send me to jail, or...?"

Lin Xiu glanced at the tip of her shoe and noticed a drop or two of blood on it. She said, "I'm sorry, I don't have the right to send you to prison."

"Then I won't trouble you," Masako Maeda tilted her head, her words sounding rational but her condition revealing something was wrong. "I just took a lethal dose of sleeping pills."

"I'm exhausted," she said, twisting her head as if her neck had rusted, a bitter smile on her face. "It's outrageous, isn't it? Someone would actually want to trade their husband's life for their daughter's, but that's not what I think..."

I'm so tired. Xiao Che has been on the verge of death. Every time we try a little harder, she gets closer to death. Do you know what it feels like to have no hope? It would be better if we all died together. But I don't have the courage to kill Jianping with my own hands. That guy still thinks that Xiao Che has a chance to live if she has another surgery. So what am I supposed to do?

I'll help him one last time, and then we'll all die together, it's just a matter of whether it's a couple of days sooner or a couple of days later...

This woman is truly insane.

"Didn't you consider Xiao Che's feelings?"

"I've been thinking about this all along," Masako Maeda said, her eyes narrowing as her consciousness was gradually swallowed by darkness. "I've been thinking about it for years. In the end, didn't I still manage to give her a chance to turn from an ugly duckling into a swan? But she didn't seize it..."

Lin Xiuyi stood by the bed, watching the self-destructive woman lie quietly on the bed, losing her vitality, and eventually dying.

He picked up a fruit knife from beside the bed, perhaps a backup plan the woman had made in case her suicide attempt failed, and used it to carve fine marks on the wall, forming two large characters identical to those found next to Yokota Daichi's body—

"Divine Punishment"

……

Following the suicide of Kenpei Maeda, two closely related incidents that occurred subsequently drew renewed attention.

The first incident was the shooting of Yokota Daichi by Maeda Keizaburo. The two men died around the same time, but only Maeda Keizaburo's cause of death was clear; he was obviously beaten to death by Yokota Daichi.

However, the death of Yokota Daiji himself is full of doubts—he died from a head injury caused by an unknown object penetrating from his forehead to the back of his head.

Similar to a shooting, however, the "bullet" entered the skull without any deformation or change in trajectory, going straight in and out, leaving a wound of consistent diameter throughout. No trace of the bullet was found after testing of the shooting residue.

It was as if a divine eraser had forcefully wiped away a part of this person's head.

The most bizarre thing is that the words "divine punishment" were actually drawn in blood on the wall next to his body.

The second matter, though unrelated to the aforementioned one, is independent in nature: Masako Maeda, wife of Kenpei Maeda, daughter-in-law of Keizaburo Maeda, and lover of Daiji Yokota, was found dead in her own home, not far from the aforementioned case.

The cause of death was determined to be an overdose of sleeping pills. There were no signs of struggle before death, making it a 100% suicide.

However, the words "divine punishment" were still carved near his body.

A day after the three deaths, an anonymous email was sent simultaneously to the editorial offices of Japan's five major national newspapers, detailing the entanglements between the Maeda family and Yokota Daichi. In addition to reiterating Yokota Daichi's crimes, it also exposed Maeda Masako's crimes for the first time.

The email was signed "God".

Whose prank was this?

This is so strange. I don't think any mythology has a god who exists solely to punish sinners.

[It's fake. Let's wait for the police's follow-up report.]

[Police? You'd be more interested in seeing a detective.]

Gods, please save me!

……

Lin Xiuyi casually browsed the online discussions and put down her phone.

He was dressed in a black tuxedo and sat on a bench in the cemetery.

Also dressed in a black evening gown, Ilseok-jin quietly walked over and sat down to the side.

"Thank you so much for arranging Xiao Che's funeral."

"Nothing compares to your contribution." Isshiki Kin shook her head and asked, "Have you decided on your summer vacation plans yet?"

"I've thought it over and decided to accept Eri's invitation to work part-time as an assistant at their agency. That way, I'll have food and lodging provided, and I'll also get a salary."

"It seems you chose her over me."

Yi Sejin said with a strange expression.

After spending these few days together, Lin Xiuyi knew that she was joking again, so she replied, "If we can't live together, then there's no point in it."

"After all, it's Tokyo, so I can't move out and live alone, but I can still visit you often."

"It makes me feel like you're keeping a gigolo."

"If you'd like, then of course you can."

Lin Xiuyi chuckled lightly, "Actually, I'm quite proud and prefer to be self-reliant. Anyway, we're friends, so it's not a problem to meet up from time to time."

"We're not friends anymore," Isshiki Kin suddenly said seriously.

He then added with a smile:

"They are good friends."