Dark Cave - part 5 - Chapter 25
He saw his own face swaying in the reflection of the bamboo basket . His face was gradually replaced by iron beds, with people wearing white clothes as white as snow. He saw himself lying on one of the beds.
I am indeed the key . If I cease to exist, will all evil and fear disappear? Perhaps, if I plunge into this Silver Fin River, my troubles will be over and the tragedy will come to an end.
Guanjian raised his leg and stepped onto the bridge railing. The bridge was crowded with cars and pedestrians, and no one noticed that Guanjian was already on the edge of the abyss.
Suddenly, a pair of arms tightly hugged Guanzhong’s lower back. Guanzhong was caught off guard and was pulled to the ground heavily.
” What do you want to do? ” Ouyang Shan exclaimed in my ears , ” Do you want to jump into the river ? ”
” Shanshan, you …” Guan Jian suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
” If I hadn’t been watching you, you would have made a big mistake today! ”
” Have you forgotten that I’m on the swimming team ? ” Guan Jian tried hard to downplay his previous ” distortion ” .
” Don’t you know that bathing in the river here will attract a crowd of onlookers? ”
Guan Jian finally gave up resistance completely: ” I am desperate …”
” I … I really misjudged you. ” Ouyang Shan said unhappily. ” Since Shishi and Chu Wenguang passed away, you have been very strong. I admire you very much, knowing that you must have suffered a lot for this, both physically and mentally, which makes me feel that you are such an amazing man. But you are finally giving up, right? Have you ever thought that the crazier the murderer is, it actually means that you are getting closer to the truth, so they will kill people one after another. ”
” Shanshan, you are right. I am actually very weak. I am powerless to stop the tragedy! ”
” Do you think that the murderer, who is so cruel, will stop killing because you leave? ”
Suddenly Guan Jian raised his head and grabbed Ouyang Shan’s shoulders: ” Shan Shan, what if I am the murderer? ”
” Nonsense ! If you don’t believe in yourself, who else can you expect to believe in you?! ” Ouyang Shan shook the key anxiously, as if trying to wake him up from his dream, ” Even if you don’t believe in yourself, you have to believe in me! ”
Guan Jian ‘s heart suddenly warmed up, and he suddenly felt that although he had lost Huang Shiyi, he had realized another true love. Perhaps, he was too hasty in complaining about his fate.
” Thank you, Shanshan. If it weren’t for your care during this period, I would have collapsed long ago. ” Guan Jian looked at Ouyang Shan gratefully and said.
” Finally I got a nice word from you. I always thought that you had said all the words I loved to hear in kindergarten … To be honest, I admire you a lot. You participated in that experiment and suffered so much … But I still don’t understand why you don’t want me to help you. ”
” Shanshan, remember I complained to you that I couldn’t understand why Shishi never mentioned her father to me. ”
Ouyang Shan was very smart. She thought for a moment and said, ” Ah … I finally understand a little bit now. She had a premonition that anyone who intervened in this investigation might lead to misfortune, so she never told you … She was actually afraid of hurting you! I even think that if she had told you everything at that time, at this moment … you might have already …”
” Yes, I might have been murdered … Do you know now why I didn’t tell you or my parents? ”
The crucial cell phone ringtone suddenly rang.
After Guan Jian answered the call , his expression changed slightly: ” Sachiko? Why is it you … where are you? ”
” I’m still in Japan. I just received an email from Toyokawa Takeshi , and learned about Sister Cai’s murder . Although I’m so far away, I still feel horrified. I immediately thought about whether you can withstand such repeated blows. ”
” Thank you for your concern. I … am fine. Fortunately, I have family and friends around me … and your concern …” When Guan Jian said this, Ouyang Shan’s face changed seven or eight times.
” We may need two more days. There are some new discoveries in Nara. My grandfather left a property in Nara, and my father often went back when he was alive. I was about to send you a photo. Do you have a computer? ”
” No, can you give me your phone? ”
A black-and-white photo appeared on the key mobile phone screen, showing a group photo of three young men in military uniforms.
” These were found among my grandfather’s belongings. The tallest one among them is Yamashita Masahiro. The one wearing glasses is my grandfather. The shortest one, my mother said, is Yamashita Masahiro’s senior and good friend Kuroki Masaru. ”
” So, your grandfather, Yamashita Masahiro, and Kuroki Masaru are all good friends. ”
” The friendship between fellow townsmen and classmates , and later, most likely, comrades-in-arms – comrades-in-arms in the invasion of China . ”
” But how does this help the case we are investigating? ”
Sachiko Anzaki paused. Over the phone, she could be heard saying something to her mother in Japanese. She then said to Guanjian, ” My father was a bit of a loner. When he was alive, he seemed to have a secret in his heart that he never shared with anyone. It was not until he was suddenly killed that my mother thought that his misfortune might be related to that secret …”
” She had heard from my father before that my grandfather Yasuzaki Munemitsu died in China, but the family had never received any specific information from the military, such as the specific place and time of death. When my father was a child, someone even spread rumors that my grandfather was a prisoner and was happy in China, which made my father very distressed … You know, Japanese soldiers are ashamed of surrendering. So my mother suddenly had a bold hypothesis. Could it be that my father had been hiding the secret from his family because he was suppressed by the unbearable feelings of his childhood for many years, so he wanted to find the real cause and place of my grandfather’s death? ”
” After we returned to Japan, we found in the archives that my grandfather, Yasuzaki Munemitsu, joined the army in 1939 and became a lieutenant doctor in the Kwantung Army . He died for his country in 1945 , but there is no explanation of how he died for his country . When he first joined the army, there are files showing that he was in Harbin. In 1941 , he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and transferred to another position. There is no record of where he was transferred to. ”
” Jiangjing?! ” Key blurted out. ” If your father’s trip to China before his death was really to trace your grandfather ‘s invasion of China, then during his stay in Jiangjing, can we say that he found evidence that your grandfather was later transferred to the occupied Jiangjing. Even your grandfather’s ‘ martyrdom ‘ was in Jiangjing! ”
” We do think so. So only by knowing the Japanese army’s camp in Jiangjing back then can we find more clues. ”
Guan Jian stared at the black and white photo for a while and asked: ” Where is Kuroki Masaru? How much do you know about Kuroki Masaru? ”
” He died more than 20 years ago . ”
Guanjian was silent, his mind still in a mess, listening to Anzaki Sachiko continue: ” We have found out Kuroki Masaru’s military experience. He had been serving as a military doctor in the Kwantung Army Medical Department, and was promoted to colonel. After Japan’s defeat, he returned to Japan and opened a pharmaceutical company – Kuroki Pharmaceutical . The business was very big. It was only after this investigation that we linked Kuroki Pharmaceutical and Kuroki Masaru together. Unfortunately, more than 20 years ago, Kuroki Masaru’s most beloved youngest son committed suicide due to depression. Kuroki Masaru was so heartbroken that he became ill and died not long after. ”
” I am a little confused now and don’t know what to do next. ”
Sachiko Anzaki said: ” I don’t know actually . I just feel that … the clues are far-fetched, and I feel that this is our only clue, that Shishi, Yamashita Masahiro and my father’s death, as well as all the murders, are all related. ”
” How about I go talk to those two Japanese reporters and see if they know what happened in Jiangjing during the Japanese invasion of China. ”
Kurumada Kosuke and Inoue Jin are inseparable . When Guanjian called Kurumada Kosuke, the two were drinking tea together. Guanjian asked them if they were familiar with the situation during the occupation of Jiangjing. Inoue Jin said: ” This is a stain on Japan and a tragedy for both countries. As new citizens of Jiangjing, we should do more research. ”
Kosuke Kurumada said: ” We two know a little bit, more than ordinary people know, but less than experts know. ”
” I want to know where the Japanese military camp that entered Jiangjing was located after the fall of Jiangjing ? “