RNP Page 256
Page 256
"Jimei and I are both huge fans of yours, and we especially loved your performance in 'The Snow Maiden's Scheme'!"
Upon seeing this, Chen Anxia smiled slightly and said, "Of course."
After a slight pause, Chen Anxia looked at the other short-haired female suspect next to Tachikawa Chizuru, whose expression seemed a little off, and asked, "Is the lady next to you the one you mentioned, Jimei?"
Upon seeing this, Tachikawa Chizuru nodded without hesitation and replied, "That's right, her name is Amano Tsugumi."
As she spoke, Tachikawa Chizuru seemed to sense something and couldn't help but look at Amano Tsugumi beside her and ask, "Tsugumi, what's wrong?"
"Don't you like Chen Anxia even more than I do? Why are you reacting so calmly? Is it because you're still feeling unwell due to airsickness?"
Upon hearing Tachikawa Chizuru's words, Amano Tsugumi forced a smile and said, "Yes, I feel nauseous and want to vomit right now, it's really uncomfortable..."
Everyone except Chen Anxia had no doubts about Amano Tsugumi's explanation, not even Shinichi Kudo.
After all, this is a perfectly plausible explanation.
Only Chen Anxia, with his terrifying insight, noticed a trace of anxiety and unease in Amano Tsutomu's expression.
This anxiety and unease arose after I saw myself.
Thinking it over, Chen Anxia's eyes narrowed slightly, and she thought to herself, 'Something's wrong. This Amano Tsugumi is definitely suspicious!'
'Perhaps, she is the murderer in this case...'
......
Chapter 381: Watson's Debut – A Stage Belonging to Chen Anxia! (Please Subscribe!)
At this moment, Noboru Saginuma, Chizuru Tachikawa, and Tsugumi Amano also learned from Inspector Megure that their companions, namely Taitaka and Hiroshi, had died.
Of course, the remaining two also knew this fact.
They all displayed expressions and reactions consistent with this fact.
Under Chen Anxia's terrifying insight, although Amano Tsugumi tried her best to disguise herself, perhaps because of the anxiety and unease she had felt earlier, her expression seemed somewhat incongruous to Chen Anxia.
Chen Anxia was very familiar with this sense of incongruity.
The reason she felt familiar with it was because whenever she was filming, Chen Anxia could see this incongruity in the people she was acting opposite.
This is an incongruity caused by flawed acting skills and an inability to fully immerse oneself in the role.
In other words, Amano Tsugumi's expression at this moment was an act.
This means that Amano Tsugumi definitely already knew about the deaths of Otaka and Hiro.
Besides Amano Tsugumi, there was another person who gave Chen Anxia the same sense of incongruity.
This man is Edward Crowe, a 51-year-old freelance journalist from the United States.
Similar to Amano Tsugumi, Edward felt this sense of unease because he, too, already knew about Taiga and Yo's deaths.
Clearly, the murderer was one of the two of them.
As for the remaining suspect, his name is Tsuneo Uzawa, a 47-year-old male who is a mid-level manager at a company.
Chen Anxia couldn't see such incongruity in Tsuneo Uzawa.
Unless Tsuneo Uzawa's acting skills are comparable to Chen Anxia's and enough to fool Chen Anxia's insight, Tsuneo Uzawa's expression and reaction at this moment should be completely genuine.
This also means that Tsuneo Uzawa was genuinely unaware of the deaths of Taiga and Hiro.
None of the people present knew that Chen Anxia had made such a deduction simply through his terrifying insight and the brief reaction of everyone's expressions.
I wonder what their reaction would be if they knew.
Shinichi Kudo, in particular, will definitely be hit hard.
After the bizarre incident at the ski resort two years ago, Shinichi Kudo made Chen Anxia his role model on his path to becoming a detective.
After two years of accumulation and refinement, and with the special guidance of Yusaku Kudo, Shinichi Kudo has gained the confidence to rival or even surpass Anxia Chen.
However, even with this kind of Shinichi Kudo, we cannot rule out him as a suspect at this stage.
This is actually normal, after all, not everyone can possess the insight and acting skills comparable to Chen Anxia.
......
At Megure's request, starting with Chen Anxia, the suspects began to recount their experiences of going to the toilet.
First is Chen Anxia.
"I was wandering around on the plane because I couldn't sleep. I happened to pass by the economy class restroom and wanted to use it, so I went to the restroom."
"Then I heard the flight attendants scream."
As he spoke, Chen Anxia smiled slightly and said, "In terms of time, it is impossible for me to kill the deceased. In terms of motive, I have no motive to kill the deceased."
"As for accomplices, as Kudo mentioned, that's impossible, because I've never met them before, and I don't know them."
"You agree, Watson."
Upon hearing this, Watson nodded affirmatively and replied, "Yes."
"That's not necessarily the case!"
It was at this moment that Shinichi Kudo spoke up.
Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at Shinichi Kudo, who then said, "The deceased was a photographer."
"I also happened to hear about his purpose for going to Los Angeles this time. It was because he took scandalous photos of a certain US senator and wanted to exchange them for a lot of money."
As he spoke, Shinichi Kudo turned his gaze to Chen Anxia and continued, his eyes burning with intensity, "And Anxia, your identity is that of a celebrity."
"Is it possible that he also secretly took some photos of you, intending to use them to blackmail you for benefits?"
"If that's the case, then you have a motive for killing the victim."
After hearing Shinichi Kudo's reasoning, Inspector Megure and Wataru Takagi nodded slightly.
This could indeed be a motive for Chen Anxia to kill the victim, provided that the victim actually possessed some of Chen Anxia's photos.
Thinking this, Inspector Megure and Wataru Takagi couldn't help but look at Chen Anxia, wanting to see what she had to say.
Under their gaze, Chen Anxia showed no sign of panic, but instead revealed a smile. He then looked at Shinichi Kudo and said, "Brilliant associative reasoning. This could indeed be my motive for killing the victim."
"But I'm sorry, the deceased did not have any photos related to me, so this motive is not valid."
"If you don't believe me, you can ask the deceased's friends. Given the deceased's personality, if he really had photos related to me, he would never have kept them hidden; he would have definitely shown them off."
Seeing this, everyone turned their attention to Noboru Sagenuma, Chizuru Tachikawa, and Tsugumi Amano.
Among them, Amano Tsugumi's expression was somewhat hesitant, as if she was struggling with something.
Noboru Sakunuma and Chizuru Tachikawa exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.
Among them, Tachikawa Chizuru nodded and admitted, "That's right, Kazuyo's personality makes it impossible for him to keep a secret."
“Especially if something like this really existed, he would have shown it off long ago.”
With Tachikawa Chizuru's words as corroborating evidence, Chen Anxia's words became much more credible.
Megure and Takagi didn't want to dwell on this issue and wanted to continue with the suspect's confession.
Only Shinichi Kudo frowned, thinking to himself, 'Something's not right about what he just said...'
Just as Shinichi Kudo was pondering to himself, Noboru Saginuma couldn't help but look at Chen Anxia with curiosity and ask, "Didn't you say you didn't know Kazuyo? Then how do you know Kazuyo's personality?"
Upon hearing Noboru Saginuma's words, Shinichi Kudo suddenly realized what was wrong.
Indeed, Chen Anxia had previously said that he did not know Daying and Yang, but now he knows Daying and Yang's personalities, which is obviously contradictory.
Therefore, there is a high probability that Chen Anxia is lying...
Not only Shinichi Kudo, but also police officers Inspector Megure and Wataru Takagi immediately realized the problem and looked at Chen Anxia with serious expressions, asking, "Please explain!"
Chen Anxia didn't answer the question directly, but instead looked at Watson beside her and asked, "Watson, do you know why?"
Everyone was stunned by what they saw. They had never expected Chen Anxia to ask Hua Sheng, and they were completely puzzled, not understanding what Chen Anxia was doing.
Watson showed no discomfort at Chen Anxia's sudden question. After a moment's thought, he replied, "It must have been this Shinichi Kudo who told you."
Upon hearing this, Shinichi Kudo couldn't help but show a look of astonishment, pointing to himself as he asked, "Huh? I told him? When did I tell him?"
Not only Shinichi Kudo, but everyone else except Chen Anxia was also completely bewildered.
Upon hearing this, Watson explained, "You just said, and you just happened to hear, that the deceased went to Los Angeles because he took scandalous photos of a certain US senator and wanted to exchange them for a large amount of money."
Shinichi Kudo nodded slightly, still looking puzzled.
The others were the same, not understanding what this had to do with what Shinichi Kudo told Chen Anxia.
Amidst everyone's confusion, Watson continued his reasoning, "Then, as you yourself said, you hadn't left your position and had been observing the situation until the deceased was discovered. How did you hear about this?"
"I guess you must have overheard it in a conversation between the deceased and others."
“When I came over, I heard from the conversations of the people around me that the deceased’s seat was in the middle of the front row, while your seat was in the very last row.”
"Then how were you able to hear the deceased talking to someone?"
"Was it on the way to the toilet that you heard the deceased talking to someone?"
"No, if the deceased went to the toilet with someone, then that person is almost certainly the murderer."
"Obviously, given the situation at the scene, the murderer would never have left such an obvious flaw."
"Since you can't make phone calls on a plane, there's only one possibility: you overheard the conversation between the deceased and someone else in his seat."
"Given the distance between you and the deceased, the deceased must have been talking very loudly, which is why you were able to hear them."
"Then why did the deceased speak about this in such a loud voice?"
"After all, most people would keep a low profile and be discreet when they encounter things involving power and money, not wanting to bring unnecessary trouble to themselves by exposing the matter."
"Considering all of this, there is only one possibility: the deceased was very proud and pleased with this matter and was deliberately showing off, which is why he spoke about it in such a loud voice."
"This also reveals the deceased's personality: he was arrogant, couldn't keep secrets, and loved to show off."
At this moment, everyone present, even Shinichi Kudo, was stunned. They never expected that Watson could deduce a person's personality from just one sentence from Shinichi Kudo.
'Is this the kind of reasoning ability a detective possesses? It's truly terrifying!'
Some people even had similar thoughts.
Ignoring the reactions of everyone present, Watson looked at Chen Anxia and asked, "Anxia, is there anything wrong with my reasoning?"