Chapter 10: Cyanide, Rotating Shifts!

Ji Yi sometimes feels that his personality is truly annoying. For instance, at the slightest opportunity, his mind becomes frantically active, engaging in an unstoppable stream of internal monologue.

If this were a work of fan fiction in his past life, he would probably be one of those unremarkable, uninspiring, and utterly generic "flop" characters. After all, when others transmigrate, even without a system, they at least manage to stitch together elements from other worlds, don't they? Who would care about a graduate who, having just stepped out of university and into society, suddenly realizes he is pushing thirty, possessing nothing but a pair of clear, naive eyes?

In this day and age, even an ordinary person can barely survive in a transmigration novel. No one wants to see how you struggle to change your fate, and no one believes you can alter your destiny without a cheat code. Even when transported to a new world, it remains the same. It is common knowledge that in novels, the cheat is more important than the protagonist. With a cheat, who cares whether you are a human or a dog? Everyone laughs at how "Yang" saw a peerless genius have his spirit broken, yet everyone believes "Huo" only succeeded because he had the Fen Jue. That is about the size of it.

"Wow, I’m really curious what the protagonist did before he transmigrated. Without a cheat, how could he compare to the characters from the original work? The author has really lost the plot."

He wonders if someone is posting comments like that in a place he cannot see. Perhaps everyone’s life is a "Truman Show," with countless viewers silently observing from the shadows? But who cares?

"Inspector, a poisoning case has occurred."

Oh.

Ji Yi had just returned from a meal. Inspector Megure was nowhere to be found, but then again, this was Beika Town; it wasn't strange for the police to be busy. He checked on Takagi, who seemed fine, so he grabbed his "human tool" and headed out.

When they arrived at the entrance of the restaurant, a crowd of onlookers had already gathered. The officers helped clear a path and set up a cordon, and Ji Yi walked inside. The restaurant, named "Chanson," was decorated in a way that screamed, "You can't afford to eat here." Ji Yi estimated that if he were to get promoted twice, he might be able to grit his teeth and enjoy a meal here once.

"The victim is the restaurant's head chef, Keiji Kinoshita," an officer explained while leading Ji Yi toward the kitchen lounge.

Although his internal monologue was as intense as a chaotic storm, Ji Yi always remained reticent on the surface.

The victim lay on the floor, his face purple, dried white foam spilling from the corners of his mouth. His hands were stiffly clenched against his chest, his fingernails embedded with carpet fibers. His brows were furrowed, his mouth twitching, and his expression twisted, as if the agony of his final moments were still etched upon his face.

Ji Yi walked over and lifted the victim’s eyelids. The eyes were dull, the pupils dilated and fixed. How rare; cyanide must be on a day off today.

"Can you confirm what kind of poison caused the death?" Without a clear indicator like cyanide, Ji Yi had no way to judge.

"Preliminary assessment suggests some kind of neurotoxin that caused muscle paralysis, leading to respiratory failure," replied the forensics officer examining the body.

"Tetrodotoxin?" Ji Yi asked instinctively. After all, this was a restaurant. But he quickly dismissed the thought; these were not the symptoms of pufferfish poisoning. While victims of tetrodotoxin remain conscious, they are completely unable to struggle, and their state of death is much more peaceful.

Oh, right, he almost forgot. He hadn't seen the "Death-God elementary schooler" at the scene. Having handled two cases in a row involving that harbinger of death, he had nearly forgotten that he often operated outside the "savior's" jurisdiction. It probably wasn't a case from the original story. He was used to that by now.

"Who was the first person to discover the body?" The cause of death would have to be determined by the medical examiner; that was a job for the professionals.

"It was the sous-chef, Mr. Kanagawa," the chefs explained after being questioned by the police.

"We heard the head chef’s voice from the lounge, so Mr. Kanagawa went to check, and then he found the chef lying on the floor..."

The sous-chef, Gota Kanagawa, looked somewhat flustered, his speech stumbling as he recounted the events.

"It shouldn't be the end of lunch service yet, right?" Ji Yi asked. "At this hour, there should still be customers dining. Why would the victim go to rest already?"

In such a high-end restaurant, weren't customers supposed to be there specifically for the head chef's menu?

"The head chef said he was feeling unwell and dizzy, suspecting he hadn't rested well last night, so he went to lie down early..." Kanagawa Gota replied. "Everyone saw him." The other chefs nodded in agreement.

"What did the victim eat beforehand?" Ji Yi noted that there was no food found in the victim's lounge.

"The head chef only ate one of his signature raspberry chocolate balls," Kanagawa Gota explained. "That is the chef's most masterful specialty; even customers must book it in advance."

He led Ji Yi to the freezer where the desserts were kept. "The head chef never let us near here; he said it was to prevent the recipe from leaking."

"He would scream at us if we even got close to that freezer..." the other chefs added.

"So, only he knew the recipe for these chocolate balls?" Ji Yi asked.

"Yes, it is the restaurant's most secret and precious treasure."

Ji Yi took a chocolate ball out of the freezer. It was hard to imagine that this thing required an advance reservation just to taste. It looked like a chocolate ball coated in a sugar shell, similar to a candied hawthorn. Was it really worth it?

"Since it requires a reservation, why is there so much in stock here?" Ji Yi asked, looking at the supply in the cabinet; it wasn't exactly a small amount.

"That's because the head chef loved them himself..." Kanagawa Gota replied.

Abusing his position, he thought.

Ji Yi held up the chocolate ball and examined it.

"Give me the flashlight."

He shone the bright light onto the chocolate ball and observed it for a moment. Then, he crushed the chocolate ball on the table. He separated the chocolate from the raspberry jelly filling inside, carefully examining the transparent shards of the sugar coating, and even picked them up to rub them between his gloved fingers.

"Inspector, did you find something?" Takagi asked, full of curiosity.

"I know what poison the killer used."

The method was quite "Conan-esque"—a very flamboyant and imaginative trick.

"What is it?" Takagi played his part as the straight man perfectly.

"It’s snake venom."

"But, if snake venom is ingested, isn't it difficult to induce poisoning symptoms due to the action of stomach acid?" Takagi was clearly not just an NPC tool character.

"Because the killer mixed glass fibers into the sugar coating. When the victim ate the chocolate, the tiny shards of glass would leave microscopic wounds in the mouth—wounds so small the victim wouldn't even notice—thereby allowing the venom to enter the bloodstream."

Ji Yi pointed to the bag of sugar left on the side. "I suspect the killer mixed the glass fibers into the sugar, then poisoned the chocolate or the jelly filling, ensuring that this entire batch of chocolate balls was tainted."

It was so incredibly "Conan-esque."

"Oh no!" At that moment, the receptionist at the front desk, Yui Osaki, exclaimed in horror. "If all the chocolate balls were poisoned..."

"Are you saying you sold these things to customers for lunch today?!"