Chapter 188
“Aaaagh! My finger!”
Evidence my ass, it fucking hurts! She’s not some beast, so why bite someone’s finger?
Even Ddol-sun-i, who I raised when I was young, never bit my finger!
Whether I screamed or not, Hina casually ignored me and yelled at Angela.
“Do you know what Mister Miguel’s cause of death is?”
“…I don’t.”
“It’s a neurotoxin. Neurotoxin. I got a tip that a neurotoxin syringe popped out when you had your belongings inspection at the bar, you see? Doesn’t the situation fit perfectly?”
The neurotoxin syringe was the reason we suspected Angela before Nigel.
We had no choice but to do so. There were dangerous lethal weapons, and even details matching Chainsaw Man’s cause of death. Anyone could see she was the most suspicious.
However, that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything strange about it.
“Are you an idiot?”
Angela suddenly shouted.
“Do I look like an amateur to you? I got caught with a neurotoxin right out in the open there, so why would I use a neurotoxin when committing the crime? Unless I’m a fool, I’d obviously use a different weapon! If I were a thorough culprit like you said, would I do such a shoddy job of work handling?”
That was exactly it. The evidence of the neurotoxin that unnaturally surfaced to point to Angela, a rich person, as the culprit, while all other information was thoroughly hidden.
Like she said, would a pro hitman leave such a clumsy clue?
Perhaps finding some truth in her words, Hina hesitated, while Angela shouted.
“What’s the poison name? That neurotoxin. Tell me the exact name.”
“Cycoexo…sometoxin?”
At Hina’s hesitant voice, Angela asked back.
“Cytoexosometoxin?”
“You said you weren’t the culprit, so how do you―.”
Instead of explaining, Angela brought both her arms together while still tied up. With her already not wearing a bra, her large breasts gathered in one place, creating a highly provocative sight.
Just as the Shaolin Monk and I freaked out and averted our eyes, Hina, the owner of a poor figure contrasting with Angela, a lacking figure, was about to get angry with a deeply displeased expression.
Pop-!
Something elongated popped out from her cleavage. No, I had felt this before, but it wasn’t like her breasts were Doraemon’s pocket or something… did that even make sense?
Were all women like that? Of course, just looking at Hina, it seemed impossible for her…
Catching the popped-up object with her mouth, Angela held it out toward Hina and me to show us.
It was the very same neurotoxin syringe I had seen during the belongings inspection earlier.
On the cartridge outside the piston, 'Cytoexosometoxin' was written in small green letters.
So, was she directly showing us that the poison she used was indeed the same poison used in the crime…?
What kind of situation was this?
“Cytoexosometoxin. It’s a powerful deadly poison that suppresses neurotransmitters, preventing breathing, and travels up to the central nervous system, damaging the brain as well. It’s quiet and certain. But it’s expensive and hard to get, so it’s not used that often. I’m probably the only one who normally carries this around.”
She was emphasizing the reason this neurotoxin was powerful evidence.
Angela frowned and said.
“This seems like a pretty nasty trap, honey. Someone who knows I use this poison…”
Did someone who knew Angela use that poison and cunningly lay a trap to deliberately make us suspect Angela?
It wasn’t nonsense. It was something possible for anyone from the group who was at the dinner gathering location that day.
If they had carefully watched me returning the weapons to Angela after the dinner ended, they could have checked the neurotoxin name written on the syringe.
The writing was small, but if they had an implant, they could likely capture it in that brief moment.
It wasn’t like there are only one or two people who have received an eye modification procedure in this world nowadays.
“…Hmm.”
My suspicions were gradually leaning to one side.
Angela wasn’t the culprit. Regardless of this femme fatale’s profession, or whether she was a bad person or a good person, it didn’t seem like she had killed Chainsaw Man.
It was still too early to be certain, but… Hina also had a confused face, as if she was thinking something similar.
Unlike before, she spoke through gritted teeth without any cursing.
“Then let me ask you one thing… sis. Why didn’t you come to the funeral?”
“…I didn’t know. I was in the middle of work. When I’m concentrating, I block all external notifications, so I only heard the news after I finished. I’m sorry. I should have gone, ha… damn it.”
Angela’s expression as she said that looked truly depressed.
That 'work' was also undoubtedly the work of killing people, but her words about not accepting hits concerning people around her didn’t seem to be a lie.
Just in case, I looked toward the Shaolin Monk, and he also nodded. It meant that even to the machine monk’s eyes, there seemed to be no deceit in her words.
At this point, I was certain. Angela was not the culprit.
I opened my mouth.
“There was one more reason why we thought you were the culprit, Ms. Angela. We figured the culprit was an acquaintance, or, more accurately, a group member.”
Chainsaw Man’s shape-memory foam mattress, Felix’s actions caught on the surveillance camera, and other circumstantial evidence…
After hearing the explanation, Angela finally seemed to understand one hundred percent why we had barged into her home.
“Ah, then even I would have suspected myself first… I admit. But what now?”
A confused expression, separate from having understood the situation.
“Then who is the culprit?”
That was my question too.
By process of elimination, there was only one person left, Nigel.
Was Nigel really the true culprit of this wicked and cunning case?
“That bastard Nigel isn’t the type to do that, though?”
At Angela’s words, which sounded like she couldn’t understand it, I asked.
“You seem to be quite close with Mr. Nigel.”
Even during the dinner back then, they seemed to hit it off quite well while bickering with each other.
“Rather than being close… I should say I just happened to learn about his circumstances. Anyway, even if he looks gloomy like a criminal, there’s no way he’d kill someone… right?”
She tilted her head, as if getting confused while speaking.
I sighed and released Angela’s restraints. Hina let out a surprised 'Ah!', but what meaning would there be in keeping someone who was clearly not the culprit tied up like this?
“Honey, thanks! Aheung… I was always the one doing the tying, but being tied up is a new feeling, isn’t it?”
I casually ignored Angela’s highly intentional moan and provocative tone, and spoke to Hina.
“Should we go to Nigel now?”
“We probably should, since that’s the only clue left.”
Anxiety lingered on Hina’s face as she said that.
It was understandable. Since Angela, who she had undoubtedly expected to be the culprit, wasn’t the culprit, she was worried that something unexpected might happen again when we went to find Nigel.
Above all, this is the biggest problem.
'What if Nigel isn’t the culprit either?'
If that happened, the case would truly become lost in a fog.
…It wouldn’t be too late to worry about this problem after finding Nigel.
“Let’s go. Monk, please help us a little more too.”
[Nngh… I have a debt of gratitude to the patron, so it can’t be helped, but still, this monk is not suited for fighting…]
“Yes, yes. I get it, so let’s go quickly.”
Just as I pushed the Shaolin Monk, our indispensable companion, outside and was about to head out with Hina, Angela followed.
“Honey, let me go with you too.”
“Uh… Ms. Angela, you…”
It was a bit awkward. Even if she wasn’t the true culprit, it was still a bit scary to travel with a contract killer, and one who had tried to kill me just a few hours ago at that.
“If we don’t go together, I’ll just follow you on my own anyway, so wouldn’t it be more efficient to move together instead?”
She’d follow on her own? I wondered what she was talking about after I had gone out of my way to untie her.
She added an explanation while with a refreshing smile, a smile reminiscent of fruits and vegetables.
“Honey, did you think I wouldn’t be pissed? I was actually planning to look for the culprit myself once this was over anyway. How dare they kill my man in my territory? I’m so curious about who did it that I want to find them and flay their skin and bones alive.”
Her bright smile and cheerful tone contrasted with the gruesome content. As I lost my words, Hina cut in from the side.
“You can’t do that.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to kill the culprit. You yield them to me, sis.”
Just what kind of conversation am I listening to right now?
A duo of a high school girl crazy for revenge and a beautiful woman contract killer who kills people like eating a meal.
Watching the two of them bickering back and forth over whether the girl would kill them or the killer would kill them made my head spin.
[Namu amita bul… Patron, you have truly gotten entangled in a terrible affair.]
I absolutely couldn’t deny the words of the Shaolin Monk next to me shaking his head.
…I didn’t know who the culprit was, but if it were me, I’d rather bite my tongue and commit suicide than be caught by that killer duo.
* * *
We arrived at Nigel’s residence.
Rather than Angela or Chainsaw Man’s high-class room or apartment, it was a small room closer to the tightly packed lower level condominium where I used to live.
The door was locked, and we forced our way in.
In the dark interior, ornamental square aquariums were stacked all over the walls. Goldfish swam around, opening and closing their mouths, above the plain flooring without any particular decorations. Beyond the light of the mood lamps, machines trapped in the water, glass, and fish tanks swayed weakly.
Nigel was not home.
Instead, Angela found something.
A note he had left was stuck to the back of a fish tank wall.
[I think I know who the culprit is.]