Chapter 37: The Cunning Killer’s Method

As the second round of slaughter loomed, a fresh wave of panic swept through the crowd. The owner of the Death Note was simply too elusive; not a single clue had emerged.

“That’s not entirely true,” Bai Yuliang suddenly interjected.

“What clue?” Nishionji Mitsuki asked, her curiosity piqued.

“The holder must be a ruthless and meticulous individual. First, the killing of Kuroda Yuto clearly demonstrates their indifference to additional deaths. Second, their timing—striking down the Mystery Club President, the sharpest mind among them, just as the three girls departed—reveals their profound understanding of opportunity and human nature.”

“That makes sense…” Nishionji Mitsuki nodded in sudden realization. “Yuliang-kun, you’re amazing. To analyze so much from just that information, I feel like I’m almost close to knowing who that person is.”

“It’s merely a trivial skill,” Bai Yuliang said with a wry smile and a sigh. “Even so, I fear I won’t be able to stop that person during this second round of killings.”

Indeed, when the second moment of slaughter arrived, Okubo Matsu, who had just loudly offered 20 million yen for his life, let out a final, guttural cry before collapsing stiffly to the ground, dead beyond a doubt.

His life was extinguished so simply, his money rendered as worthless as scrap paper in that moment.

Everyone grew more frantic, especially Edogawa Rin. He began organizing classmates, calling them up one by one to give their alibis. Anyone who appeared flustered or spoke incoherently was added to his suspicion list.

However, this method proved utterly useless. Many didn’t know how to defend themselves, and even those who looked highly suspicious were too afraid to expose anyone, let alone themselves.

Ultimately, he ripped up his notebook, burying his head in his hands and sighing in utter despair.

****

The third moment of slaughter arrived with the ringing of the dismissal bell.

A lewd-looking male student let out a braying wail, then toppled backward, falling straight out of an open window.

His body crashed onto the concrete below, dead beyond a doubt.

“It’s… it’s over…” Edogawa Rin muttered despairingly. “Even that guy, Takashima, is dead…”

“He deserved it!” a classmate exclaimed, seething with anger. “That guy was a worthless debtor who never repaid anyone! Who knows how many people he owed money to!”

“Oh?” Edogawa Rin suddenly seized the collar of the student who had just spoken, his face darkening. “Hmph, it seems you really hate Takashima, don’t you?”

“Huh? What, do you suspect I’m the owner? Then expose me.”

The speaker was Hirata Kiba, a man to whom the recently deceased owed a significant amount of money.

Edogawa Rin, of course, dared not expose him himself, and reluctantly let go.

“Hey, Edogawa-kun, you’re also from the Mystery Club. How is it that Kuroda-kun was killed, but you weren’t?”

Hirata Kiba countered with his own suspicion.

“I think… you’re not entirely free of suspicion either!”

“You suspect me!?”

“Everyone suspects you!”

A group of people stood behind Hirata Kiba, clearly a small faction.

Witnessing the chaos erupting within the classroom, many students sighed in despair, shook their heads, and left.

Edogawa Rin made a token attempt to stop them, then let them go.

His earlier efforts had already proven that the owner could kill without needing a phone or a physical notebook. Therefore, keeping the students in the classroom served no purpose.

Gradually, fewer and fewer people remained in the classroom, until even Edogawa Rin himself eventually departed.

Only Bai Yuliang remained, sitting quietly in his seat, hands clasped together, his gaze serene.

‘I must have missed something. The owner isn’t using any visible device; how are they killing people?’

If nothing at all was needed, then this task was truly unsolvable.

However, even mathematics, as difficult as ascending to the heavens, always held a solution if the problem itself was logical!

Bai Yuliang rose from his seat and slowly walked down the classroom aisle, his palm gently brushing over each desk.

Then, he approached the podium, picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote the names of the deceased on the blackboard.

Kuroda Yuto: Mystery Club President, intelligent.

Okubo Matsu: Challenged fate by offering money for his life, arrogant.

Takashima: A debtor.

“Beep beep…”

He glanced at his phone, adding another name based on the group chat’s information.

Yoshimura Taku: The guy who often harassed girls.

‘These people… do they have anything in common? Or, what if their relationships are connected…?’

‘That’s it!’

Bai Yuliang suddenly recalled Teacher Mori’s explanation.

[The Death Note]: A notebook from the underworld. Writing someone’s name and visualizing their appearance in your mind can easily kill them. A method of death can also be specified.

‘If I were the notebook’s owner, I would just write everyone’s name in it, then recall their appearance whenever I wanted to kill someone…’

‘No, that’s wrong! The notebook can’t be a normal physical book; otherwise, Kuroda Yuto couldn’t have died! There wouldn’t be enough time to write each name individually.’

‘Then it must exist in another form, and the input method must be extremely fast, otherwise, it would surely be noticed…’

‘What method could generate hundreds of characters in a single second?’

He pondered for a long time, standing as still as a stone statue until the sky outside the window no longer held a single ray of sunlight.

‘Copy, paste!’

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. He then picked up his phone and anxiously tapped open the class group chat.

Within the group files, there was a class roster. This roster contained extensive student information. For ease of compilation, it had originally been designed as an internal website, allowing each student to fill in their own details.

However, logging into the website required an account, and for fun, the right side of the website featured an access form similar to a dating profile…

All one had to do was copy it first, then input it when a killing was desired, and delete it when not needed!

Truly cunning!

Upon seeing the access records from a certain time this morning, Bai Yuliang took a deep breath, already eighty percent certain of the killer’s identity.

But…

He still wasn’t completely certain.

‘I must find a way to absolutely confirm this person!’

After much thought, he suddenly conceived a brilliant idea.

It was also a profoundly inhumane idea.

‘I’m sorry, Edogawa-kun… If your spirit watches over us, please forgive me.’

He immediately created a new account, using Edogawa Rin’s ID and avatar, then sent a friend request to a specific person.

He waited, and after about ten minutes, the request was accepted.

–Edogawa-kun, why did you suddenly add me as a friend? A private message in the group would have been fine.

–I’ve figured out a way to save the whole class! We can find the notebook’s owner immediately!

–Ah… don’t waste the chance to accuse someone. If you’re wrong, you’ll die.

–No, I won’t! This time it will work. I’m already checking the class roster’s access records. I’ll find out who it is very soon. I’m so nervous right now; I’ll tell you the result first!

–Why tell me?

–Because I don’t trust anyone else. You seem the most honest in class. Oh, this internet is so slow. Why is it refreshing so slowly? It looks like it’ll take another ten seconds or more…

Just after this message was successfully sent, a tragic piece of news suddenly appeared in the class group chat.

Hirata Kiba: –Bad news! Edogawa Rin is dead!

The moment this result was confirmed, Bai Yuliang breathed a sigh of relief.

A sin, indeed…