"Kappa and tengu?"

In the interrogation room, Eizaburo Kamei stared coldly at the innkeeper and his wife opposite, his voice full of threat and impatience, and he made a deep voice like a sharpening knife.

"Are you two kidding me?"

"How dare we!"

The boss was a short man in his fifties, and although he was afraid of the man in front of him, who was said to be the highest commander of the police system, he was even more afraid of the monsters he saw last night.

"Sir, we saw it with our own eyes, a black tengu with a flaming scythe, covered in feathers, and a nose as majestic as it was painted in ukiyo-e! And it makes terrible cries like 'hey-yo'...... And those kappa, one by one, are not even on the chests of those hooligans, and they don't know how they appeared, and they kill people when they see them, and they move faster than the water snakes swimming in the water, and they will hang on the back of the person's neck, and the man's back will be broken with a 'click'! ”

Hearing this, the two police officers in charge of recording at the door of the interrogation room exchanged glances, and they both saw goosebumps on each other's skin.

No wonder there were several bodies at the scene of the crime that were of that strange shape.

Except for the corpses that have been eaten, the most terrible ones are the ones with broken spines.

“…… Since it's killing people when they see them," Kamei Eizaburo's eyes narrowed, and there was obvious doubt in his tone, "Why would you let your family go?" ”

"We didn't do anything bad!"

It was the proprietress who spoke, she was younger, and she spoke with confidence.

"The reason why we let those people live in the store is because they are not easy to mess with with knives, and they are completely forced to helpless! Besides, we didn't know at the time that these people were doing this kind of thing. In my opinion, those monsters must have been sent by Heaven to punish them. ”

With that, she glanced at her husband with some pride, who immediately gave a formulaic smile.

"Sir, I think that's the reason too. Although those youkai adults destroyed the house, they didn't hurt us or talk to us. However, we only saw a little bit of what happened, and then we hid in the upstairs room until there was no sound downstairs, and we didn't dare to go down to check. ”

Eizaburo Kamei laughed angrily.

This group of killers of unknown origin - I don't know if it's a human or a ghost, how can I punish those who tried the knife?

They're here to punish me!

"Then let me ask you again, what happened to those foreign journalists?"

Eizaburo Kamei put his hand on the holster next to his belt and rubbed it, and the matter was stabbed in the foreigner's newspaper, which is the reason why he had such a headache, "Why didn't you call the police first?!" ”

The last question was so fierce that it was simply a rebuke.

"We don't know." The boss was taken aback by Kamei Eizaburo's face and replied in a low voice, "The matter has only been over for a while, and a few yellow-haired reporters have already arrived, and they are still pulling us to ask questions and not let us leave." They are foreigners, and we don't dare to offend, so we can only accompany them. ”

"If you don't dare to offend, you can talk nonsense?"

Eizaburo Onii unfolded the newspaper on the table in an almost furious rage.

It was a British-run newspaper in Japan, and the headline was: "Cannibal monsters are rampant in Tokyo, and the result is to eliminate violence and peace?" 》

There are two stacks of newspapers in the back, and most of the cover content is similar.

However, this is all written by foreigners to the Japanese, after all, there are scruples.

But when their telegrams reach their home countries, what will the foreign local newspapers do?

In particular, those countries that do not deal with them (such as Russia) will definitely write a big book about the "knife testers", emphasize their Japanese barbarism, and then use the "man-eating monster" to ridicule the superstitions of the Japanese.

But that's not the point, it's a big deal that he will resign and go home to do business.

However, the focus of the difficulties encountered by Eizaburo Kamei at the moment is the list of "customers" of those who tried the knife published in the newspaper!

"Who told them these names? How do foreigners know? ”

He questioned sharply, as if the two couples in front of him had committed treason.

"They found it all on their own in the room." The boss lowered his eyebrows, and his tone was a little resentful, "At that time, my insider and I saw such a scene, and we were already unconscious, so I didn't care what they were doing." ”

But after saying this, his eyes were obviously a little evasive, and his wife's sitting posture was no longer as upright as before.

"How much?" Eizaburo Kamei smiled disdainfully, and the smile was ugly.

"What are you talking about......"

"If you don't understand, you don't have to go out today."

There was no smile on Kamei's face, only fierceness, "I'll ask again, how much did they give you?" ”

"......" The proprietress and the proprietress looked at each other, and then replied hesitantly, "They gave me 20 yen and said that we could use it to decorate the storefront......

"You can sell the country for 20 yuan?!"

Kamei Eizaburo stood up suddenly, opened his hands and propped them up on the table, and the faces of the old couple immediately turned pale.

"We ...... everything."

Isn't it too serious to betray the country?

At most, they sold out some news material.

"Shut up." Kamei Eizaburo waved his hand and stood there for a while, his whole face buried in the shadows, and he couldn't see his expression clearly, but he looked very tired.

The silence in the interrogation room lasted for five or six minutes before Eizaburo Kamei spoke again.

"I'll let you go back."

The old couple was immediately relieved and happy, and just wanted to kneel down to thank them, but they heard Kamei Eizaburo say: "After you go back, there will be reporters coming to your door, including Japan's own newspapers and foreigners." ”

The innkeeper's and his wife's smiles immediately froze.

"You have to tell those reporters that it was not a monster who entered the hotel last night and caused a tragedy, but a human being, and it was only because they didn't look like Japanese that you would admit your mistake."

"Then, you have to admit that you have received a bribe, but not 20 yen, but 200 yen."

"Chief, sir......" Hearing that things were going more and more wrong, the boss's voice trembled a little.

However, Eizaburo Kamei had no intention of stopping.

"Those who died were not knife testers, but an illegal gang that smuggled famous knives; Those names are not a list of 'patrons' of the knife testers, but the targets of their theft of famous knives. ”

"And because you were first threatened by the murderer, and then you accepted bribes from reporters, that's why you will talk nonsense according to the intentions of those foreign journalists."

When the old couple heard this, their faces had completely lost their color.

"In the end, your conscience found that you understood that you had fallen for the ploy of foreigners, and that you had smeared both the country and the emperor, so you decided to ......"

Eizaburo Kamei slid the prepared wakicha off the table, "Committed suicide in front of reporters from all over the world to show his sincerity and resoluteness in apologies." ”

After saying all this, Eizaburo Kamei finally smiled again, but it was very superficial.

"You are proud to be loyal to Your Majesty and atone for your sins in the self-judgment of a samurai."

"After you die, we will not recover the 200 yen stolen money, and they will be secretly transferred to your children."

"How's that, got it?"

Kamei Eizaburo had a tone of discussion, but the old couple knew that this was not a discussion at all, but naked coercion.

The proprietress cried hysterically, but the boss put her arms around his wife's shoulders and nodded with a dead face: "I—I understand...... I'll do that, but can you arrange a ...... for us A misnefactor ......"

Seppuku suicide is very painful without the wrong person.

"Nope."

Eizaburo Kamei shook his head ruthlessly, "In order to express your sincerity of repentance and hatred for the hostile country, and in order to arouse the patriotism of the people, your self-judgment is spontaneous and must be emotionally intense, so you must shout the names of those foreign newspapers in extreme pain." ”

Diverting the attention of the people and His Majesty to the outside is also a common tool of the modern state. But only words like tragic death can arouse people's emotions the most.

"......" The proprietress couldn't believe her ears, and suddenly crossed behind the table and grabbed at Eizaburo Kamei, but the latter easily dodged it, "You can't do this!" How can you do that? ”

The two policemen in charge of recording quickly came over and subdued her, but there was some unbearability in their eyes.

"You should be happy to be able to share the worries of the country."

Eizaburo Kamei straightened his collar and slowly walked to the exit of the interrogation room, "If it weren't for you, things wouldn't have gotten to this point. ”

"In order for everyone to have a good year, I have to ask you to make it difficult."

In order to protect their children, the couple can only do what he says, and Kamei Eizaburo is extremely confident.

This matter must be clarified, at least to the common people within the country.

Whether it's a man-eating monster, a knife tester, or those "patrons" on the list, the government can't recognize any of them.

Acknowledging the existence of the knife tester is to slap His Majesty in the face, and the "becoming a civilized country" and "breaking away from Asia and joining Europe" that have been expected for many years will become a joke.

To admit that it was a monster or a cannibal monster who committed the crime was to confront the Cabinet and the War Department, which insisted that there were no ghosts in the world.

Acknowledging the "patrons" of the list would be tantamount to offending the powerful in all fields and aspects of Tokyo.

Although there are no particularly important people on this list for the time being, who can guarantee that there is only one list on this list?

All connections between the powerful and the knife tester must be denied, and even the existence of the knife tester must be denied outright - otherwise he Kamei Eizaburo will definitely die without a place to be buried.

Others don't know, doesn't he know yet?

Since his son went to the military academy and got involved with that group of war maniacs, he has been obsessed with bushido and katana for more than a day or two, and it is impossible for him not to be involved in this matter.

Eizaburo Kamei opened the door of the interrogation room, and was about to step out of the room when the proprietress suddenly shouted hoarsely at him.

"Youkai-sama won't let you go!"

"We'll be waiting for you too!"

Eizaburo Kamei suddenly fled and quickly closed the door.

Standing by the door for a while, he said to the new assistant who was waiting outside with a blank face: "Go and let go of the prisoner named Miyue, and everything will go according to plan." ”

The assistant said "Hi" and was about to turn around and carry out the order.

"One more thing." Kamei Eizaburo stopped him, opened the huge advertisement on the back cover of the newspaper, and pointed to the name on it.

"Send someone to this dim sum shop in Yoshiwara and prepare a few boxes of glowing dim sum according to the highest specifications, and I will visit the Minister of War in the evening."

"Yes!"