"Hey, Pingji, hey!" After shouting a few times but failing to stop the back in front of him, Yuanshan and Ye wiped the rain from their faces and complained, "Where did you see someone, it's really ......"

The rain is getting heavier and heavier, and the muddy ground is about to be washed into a swamp, so one foot deep and one shallow foot in such ground, but fortunately, before going out, Shimabukuro Kimie kindly provided them with rubber shoes that are convenient for walking in the rain, otherwise I am afraid that the entire knee down will be covered with muddy water now.

In the pouring rain, the umbrella was no longer of any protection, and she had to put on the coat she had brought to her as a raincoat just in case, and continued to trek behind Heiji Hattori with difficulty.

"I feel that person is like, Naoko Kuroe." Hattori Heiji, who wiped a handful of rain that obstructed his vision, and couldn't find a figure in the heavy rain that affected his vision anyway, stopped and explained, "Her hairstyle is very distinctive, and I haven't seen anyone like it on the island." ”

He turned his head, glanced at the distant mountains and leaves wrapped in his black coat, which were also wet, and said in a serious tone, "I suspect that the prisoner is deliberately linking the victim to the dugong arrow. ”

“…… What do you mean? Yuanshan and Ye subconsciously patted their chests.

Her dugong arrow, since she got it, has been by her side, visited the shrine of the goddess, after being intimidated by the old grandmother's arrow will be punished by heaven, she is like a great enemy, the arrow is directly stored in the coat, dare not have the slightest neglect.

It's like seeing a curse that will be how it will be if you don't forward it, you know the truth, people can't be superstitious, and when you encounter this kind of unlucky thing, you will still want to turn garlic, and more is better than less.

I have to say that this wave of dugong arrows is really a grasp of human nature, and it can be said that it is not vicious.

"Just after the arrow was drawn, before the arrow was obtained, Ebihara Shomi died, don't you think it's too much of a coincidence?" The corners of Hattori's mouth straightened, and several people related to Saori Menrib that he had come into contact with after going to the island flashed in front of his eyes, "That, the same is true of the client who disappeared." Not long after losing the arrow, she disappeared after leaving the island...... She was so scared that she sent me a letter of entrustment, and I didn't think she would really dare to leave the island alone. ”

If she fears the curse of the arrows, shouldn't Saori stay on the island and attend the dugong festival to find a way to get a new one?

Although her disappearance can be understood as the result of an emotional breakdown, all things considered, there are still too many unreasonable places.

Thinking of the news he got earlier at the shrine that the lottery about arrows was not really a random draw, but the question of what to write by Shimabukuro Yakoto alone, once again deepened his suspicions.

Whether it's the disappearance of Karasawa or the death of Ebihara Sumi, it's all related to this woodland with complex terrain that seems to be particularly easy to get lost, and many residents of the island say that they don't dare to go in and out of it casually, and only move around some locations where roads have been opened.

Shimabukuro Kimi, on the other hand, is an exception that is easy to get in and out of, and can easily tell the way through the woods......

"So, follow me." Seeing Toyama and Ha's pale faces, Hattori Heiji stretched out his hand, "Don't leave my sight." ”

Whatever their reason for adding Kazuha to the list, if the killer really tried to use the reason of losing the damaged arrow to cover up the truth of his death, then Kazuha might also be targeted by the murderer.

Unexpectedly, after a period of case analysis, Yuan Shan and Ye heard such a turning sentence, and looked at the palm stretched out in front of him in a daze, and the big drop of rain smashed on the palm of the other party, winding down along the palm print, making this hand she was very familiar with have an indescribable strangeness.

"Okay......" She lowered her head and grabbed his hand, not daring to look at his face again.

The wet and cold rain couldn't extinguish the heat rising in her face, and Yuan Shan and Ye were afraid that if they didn't lower their heads quickly, they would expose their excessively red complexion.

Because of this, she suddenly noticed that there was a red mark on the root of the tree at her feet.

"Pingji, look at this." She pointed to the rain-washed sign that was getting redder, "What does this symbol mean?" Look, it's like ......"

“…… Mermaid Grave? Hattori, who crouched down closer, squinted for a moment to distinguish the crooked handwriting, and soon found a deep imprinted scissor on the bottom.

Is this, someone left a guiding beacon?

————

"Boom—"

Rolling thunder surged through the dark clouds, and Kimie Shimabukuro was awakened from her contemplation, blinked, and withdrew her gaze that had always been cast to the back mountain.

Under the advice of the Monster Thieves and the mechanism arranged under her own inspection, there should be no mistakes, and she should be a little more confident.

Telling herself, she took a deep breath, straightened her black suit, and walked out of the room.

She didn't need to do anything more, her revenge was coming to an end.

And the final epilogue she has prepared for these will soon come.

After Shimabukuro Junhui also "dies", she will, wholeheartedly play Shimabukuro Yakoto, and faithfully carry out the task of the Shimabukuro family, which is also a sad mission.

When she is really old, the tragic shackles of the Shimabukuro family will also come to an end.

The goddess who lived to be 200 years old must have done enough for this island, right?

But why, the confusion and depression in her heart have not diminished in the slightest?

The stunned Shimabukuro June looked at the waterfall under the eaves, was stunned for a while, and suddenly remembered something, and took out a small bag from his pocket.

This is what Asai Narumi left behind after communicating with her about how to arrange Naoko Kuroe's death.

"What is this, a life-saving method in an emergency?" took the small bag, and found out that it contained a note, and Shimabukuro, Junhui, laughed, a little bit unsure of the meaning of this collaborator handing over at this time.

This is a plan to hide her true identity, and it is not a written exam, what can a small piece of paper influence?

"If you're confused, confused, or undecided, then open it and take a look." Knocking on the fox face on his face, Asai Nari looked at her with crooked eyes with a smile, and there was an inexplicable nostalgia and understanding in his expression, "It's good to think of it as a little reward." ”

"Remuneration. For yours or for me? Shimabukuro, who didn't quite understand what he meant, tilted her head.

She didn't understand what the Bandits wanted from her, and what they could gain from the deal—after all, it was all her unilateral help, and they didn't seem to be able to get anything.

But Asai Narumi insisted that it wasn't a well-intentioned public welfare act, just-

"To each his own according to his needs." Before turning around and swaying his flaming Haori vanished, Asai replied, "So it's both what you need and what we need." Open it when it's time to open it, don't hesitate. ”

Lowering her head again, looking at the small cloth bag, Kimie Shimabukuro bit her lip and hesitantly untied its tight opening.

Since she killed Shoumi, this bag has been taken out and put away by her, repeated many times, and it has already felt a little fluffy, almost, it's time.

She took out the thin note, she unfolded it, and when she saw the strong handwriting on it, her heart shrank suddenly, and her pupils dilated slightly.

What does this mean......

————

"Like, that's over there." Toyama Kazuha wiped the rain from his face again, looked in the direction pointed by the last mark, grabbed the branch on his side, and climbed the highest part of the hill with Hattori Heiji.

At the end of the first mark, they found the second marker indicating the direction, and they followed the marker all the way to the hillside.

The forest in the rainstorm was more dangerous than expected, and even if they were careful, they fell twice in the humus layer where they couldn't see the situation below, and their progress was slower than expected.

Hattori panted and climbed the high branches, and when he climbed the ramp with his hands and feet, he was still thinking about the signs he had just seen.

As an island with a water system connected to the ocean, the people on the island should have more experience in preparing for disasters such as typhoons than pure heavy rain.

What kind of considerations did the person who made the mark choose to paint it so strong that it would not be eroded by rain?

Thinking about these thoughts, when he straightened up again and looked down the road below, he saw a stumbling figure, rolling down the slippery mud.

"Miss Kuroe!" After seeing the short ear-length hair with distinctive features, I didn't expect it, Hattori Heiji began to call her name loudly, "Don't go over, it's dangerous!" ”

In the midst of the lightning and fire, he saw the wooden sign that said "There is a cliff ahead" broken on one side, and saw the rainwater that had merged into a stream flowing on the ramp in front of him, and he only had time to shout.

Is this what the person who wrote the mark is trying to achieve? Let Kuroe Naoko roll down the hill without noticing, and fall straight down......

Naoko Kuroe, who had already reached the bottom of the ramp, seemed to hear his shout, and tried to turn her head in the direction where the voice came from, trying to control the speed of her feet while looking for the person who spoke, but the accident suddenly came at this time.

As Kuroe Naoko stepped on something under his feet, there was a "poof" sound, and the faint sound of the mechanism touching.

A stone in a net pocket fell from the treetops on the side.

As it pulled, the rope group above tightened rapidly, and a rope was pulled up from the dead branches and fallen leaves on the ground, and the high-speed looping grass rope, like a dancing whip, strangled Kuroe Naoko's neck from the front.

In the next second, Kuroe Naoko's whole person was lifted up by the rope, and was used as a rope buckle for pulleys with the help of the branches of the trees, directly locked her throat, and hung in mid-air.

This sudden acceleration, coupled with the gravity brought by the weight itself, almost instantly, Naoko Kuroe, who had broken her spine, stopped struggling, and her hands and feet fell weakly, swinging up and down with the bounce of the branches.

The rainwater accumulated from the scattered leaves of the canopy bent with the force of the bending, and poured down on the hanging corpses below, forming a waterfall-like curtain with the already extremely heavy rain.

Naoko Kuroe, who is dressed in a raincoat, is like Tang Ze hanging in the waterfall yesterday, like a mermaid stranded in the current.

Just in front of her toes, a dark, rough tombstone stood there.

The guy who wrote the mark wasn't lying, this was the nameless grave that was recognized as the Mermaid's Tomb.

Kuroe Naoko, strangled one step ahead of the destination she wanted to reach, hung there dumbfounded, her head hanging low at an unnatural angle, as if she was confessing to the grave.

"Ahh

Heiji Hattori, who witnessed the trap taking effect, gasped for breath, and looked at the shaking corpse in front of him, and his body, which was already cold and numb in the rain, felt an unprecedented chill.

This is obviously not an indiscriminate attack, and if you don't know Kuroe Naoko's height very well, it is impossible to accurately design a knot that can accurately lock the pharynx.

Whoever set it up was an assassination with a very clear purpose.

The two men watched this scene in a daze, and before they could come back to their senses, after a dull but vibrating thunder, the raindrops that hit them suddenly increased again, and the rain pouring down from the sky was not so much raining as some water source above had been poked into a hole and was pouring down frantically.

"Heiji, be careful!" Toyama and Ye turned their heads, their faces changed greatly, but they only had time to squeeze the hand that was holding hands with Hattori Heiji.

A torrent of leaves, leaves, and dirt poured down from behind, and swept the two people who were standing in place with their trunks down the hillside.

Hattori Heiji, who was enveloped by tremendous power, reflexively held back Toyama and Ha's thin white palms, and at the same time stretched out his hand, trying to grasp the fulcrum that could support the two people.

Ahead, there's a cliff ahead......!

The two men rolled in the muddy water, and even though Hattori Heiji tried to stop their downward trend, they were pushed by the relentless flood, over the constantly shaking corpse of Naoko Kuroe, over the lonely, extraordinarily fragile looking grave, pushed and shoved, and fell from the top of the rock wall.

"Ahh

"Kazuha!"

At the moment of his fall, Hattori Heiji narrowly and dangerously grabbed a piece of dead wood growing in the slope of the cliff, pulling at the distant mountains and leaves with one hand, and holding the fork of the dead wood with all his strength with the other, regardless of the pain of the fingertips being scratched.

The black-brown torrent poured down from the top of their heads towards the trees below, and the two of them happened to hang below the end of the cliff, narrowly avoiding the direct scouring of the flood and hanging behind the mud-colored waterfall.

Even so, it continued to increase, and the rain did not make the situation much better.

The branches that I grasped in my hand were rough and rugged, but fortunately, they were able to provide enough friction in such slippery conditions.

And the other hand that shook hands with Toyama and Ye, because of the damp rain, even if Hattori Heiji tried his best to grasp it, he could feel that the other party was sliding little by little, and sooner or later it would break away from his hand.

At the top of the cliff above, flash floods can trigger landslides at any time, and it is impossible to use them as an exit.

Below, the nearest tree to them was also more than 20 meters away, and it was impossible to survive if they fell down in a daze.

Hattori gritted his teeth and supported it with all his might, feeling an unspeakable despair.

There is no way to enter the heavens and no door to the earth, no matter how you look at it, it seems that there is no way out this time.

Do you want to find a way to adjust the position and posture of the fall, and try to find a landing spot that can improve the chances of survival......

But before that, it seems that you should try to let Kazuha climb up a little first, at least hug her, so that you have a chance to give the other party a good cushion for the landing and improve Kazuha's chance of survival......

Hattori Heiji tried hard to think about the plan, and the distant mountains and leaves below raised his head in a daze, looking at Hattori Heiji's dirty face covered with muddy water, but it seemed that traces of tears could be seen from the rain on his face.

How sad, and how resolute......

"Let go, you're like this, and soon the branches won't be able to hold up......" Feeling the weightlessness of the emptiness under his feet, Toyama Kazuha said as he struggled to overcome his fear.

"I'm trying to figure out a way, don't let go, don't think nonsense!"

"Even if I don't let go, the rain is so heavy, and in a few minutes, you won't be able to catch it......"

"Shut up! I can do it, don't underestimate people! ”

"But if the branch breaks......"

"Then let's fall together!"

Against the rain and the fall of the muddy water above, Toyama and Ye tried to open their eyes, looked at Hattori Heiji's face, and soon thought of the arrow that was cherished by himself and hidden in his arms, and for the first time in his life, he thanked the sharpness of the dugong arrow, which had brought her a lot of trouble for storage.

If, in a sense, it prolongs a person's life...... So at this moment, it's time for it to come into play.

Having made up his mind, Toyama Kazuha raised his hand with difficulty, groped his way from the neckline to the position of the arrow, and pulled it out in his hand.

"What are you doing!" Under the influence of the rain, I wanted to observe Hattori Heiji below, and noticed the movements of Toyama and Ye, and the strength of my hand was a little stronger, "Don't move!" ”

It's just that when I shouldn't give up the most, I think of this kind of thing, this fool ......!

To reduce the burden on one person, with the average physical strength, you may be able to try to lower the height of the fall along the rock wall, or find another fulcrum to climb back to the top.

In short, no matter what, there will always be more ways for one person to survive than two people.

Take my share and live well......

Toyama Kazuha raised the sharp arrow in his hand.

Heiji Hattori watched her movements, and he couldn't feel whether it was tears pouring out of his eyes, or rain flowing into his eyes, only that his vision was blurry.

And this stupid leaf...... He will not ...... if he dies!

"I'm sorry to disturb the two of you in your life and death." A deep voice suddenly rang out over their heads, "I take the liberty of asking, do you need a hand?" ”

At this time, in this place, how can there be other people?

Without waiting for the stunned Hattori to react, a red rope was already like a snake, deftly poking down from above, wrapping around his waist twice, and then extending downward, wrapping around the waist of Yuanshan and Ye.

By the way, he also climbed out again, encircling the arrow in Yuanshan and Ye's hands.

Heiji Hattori opened his mouth slightly and tilted his head upwards in a daze.

A white head poked out from above, and its red eyes shimmered brightly.

"Forget it, because it scared the victim, causing the other party to fall down or something, it won't look good." Tang Ze, who was finally able to open his third eye, continued in a smiling voice, "No kidding. Hold on, two! ”

He knew that jumping off the cliff and hanging outside, playing if you let go and don't kill me, I won't let go and die together or something, it belongs to a teenager's comics, no matter how the plot changes, he has to taste it.

Happy New Year's Day, everyone!

(End of chapter)