Chapter 1 Xing Hechou Enters the House

Xing Hechou walked into the house, closing the door behind him.

The interior of the residence remained as Li Ang and the others had first seen it. The living room lights were on, and several pairs of shoes were neatly arranged at the entrance. All the doors and windows were closed.

The disarray caused by the players rummaging through the house had been completely restored. There wasn't a trace of anything having been disturbed.

A deathly silence slowly settled in, and the only sound in the room seemed to be the sound of Xing Hechou's boots on the floor.

"Strange..."

Li Ang's voice echoed in his mind.

"Hmm?" Xing Hechou asked, "Did you find something?"

"It's too stuffy in the house."

Li Ang replied, "On the way here, we confirmed the date by checking the calendars and electronic clocks in the convenience store. It was May 11th, Reiwa 1, a Saturday, around 6 PM.

"Assuming this is a reflection of the real world, the weather in Japan should be very humid and hot around this time in 2019.

"The other houses in the same alley as the Fukushimas either have their air conditioners running outside, or their doors and windows are open.

"Only the Fukushimas' house has its doors and windows tightly shut, and the air conditioner isn't running.

"Whether it's the first or second time we've entered the house, it's always like this.

"The state of the shops and houses along the way is enough to prove that there isn't a typhoon going on in the alley right now, so there's no need to keep the doors and windows closed."

Xing Hechou carefully felt it for himself. He did feel a bit stuffy inside.

Earlier, when he kicked open the door, it allowed the room to ventilate, but now that the door was closed, he felt stuffy again.

"Isn't that normal?"

Wanli Fengdao asked, puzzled, "Maybe the Fukushimas all went out to run errands or went to play on Saturday?"

"Unlikely."

Li Ang said, "Pay attention to the placement of the shoes at the entrance.

"To the left of the entrance is an old, three-tiered wooden shoe cabinet that's almost full. To the right is a bamboo umbrella stand. The floor is paved with three-colored tiles, and the edges of the tiles are lined with smooth pebbles.

"Two rows of shoes are placed close to the entrance. Most of them are men's or middle-aged and elderly men and women's shoes. The tips of the shoes are facing outward, indicating that they are used daily.

"They should belong to the family's great-grandmother, Fukushima Miyako, the parents Fukushima Hirahara and his wife, and the younger son Fukushima Hiroki - four people in total.

"Away from the entrance is a pair of women's high heels and children's shoes,

"It's very likely that they belong to the eldest daughter of the family – Emon Kyoko, who is already married, and her great-granddaughter Emon Shion."

Wanli Fengdao was even more puzzled. "Wait, what does the placement of shoes at the entrance have to do with their family going out to play?"

Liu Wuai said, "The so-called entrance hall was originally a term used in Taoist Zen Buddhism. The entrance hall is the mechanism of utmost mystery.

"This concept was extended to ancient East Asian architecture, becoming a private space separating the inside and outside of the house.

"Traditional Chinese architecture uses screens, middle doors, or chairs as partitions,

"While Japan sinks the entrance hall, imitating the meaning of a Zen-style platform, as a partition.

"The Japanese entrance hall can isolate moisture and dust. When guests arrive, they need to take off their coats and hats, tidy up their clothes before entering the entrance hall, and when taking off their shoes, they need to point the tips of the shoes towards the door and place them to one side.

"Emon Kyoko and Emon Shion's shoes are placed on the outer side of the left side. Since they don't live in this house often, we can assume that Emon Kyoko brought her daughter to visit her parents, grandmother, and younger brother temporarily.

"And her shoes are still at the entrance,

"In other words, she hasn't left this house."

"Uh..."

Xing Hechou was stunned for a few seconds, thought carefully, and asked, "Is it possible that Emon Kyoko often brings her daughter back to her parents' home, and it's inconvenient to change shoes every time she comes in and out,

"So Fukushima Hirahara and his wife specially prepared spare shoes for their daughter and granddaughter at the entrance?"

"Unlikely."

Li Ang said, "The first two rows of shoes are shoes that are often used by permanent family members of this house. Even if Fukushima Hirahara and his wife wanted to prepare spare shoes for their daughter and granddaughter, they should also put them in the shoe cabinet, or closer to the entrance,

"That way, it won't get in the way on weekdays."

Liu Wuai added, "Moreover, the area of the Fukushima family's entrance hall is small, and there is no stool for people to sit on.

"In other words, this family may usually sit on the entrance hall to change their shoes.

"And the children's shoes worn by the eight-year-old girl, Emon Shion, are placed on the outermost side of the entrance hall – with a little girl's height, it is not enough for her to sit on the entrance hall and directly change those shoes,

"That would definitely step on other people's shoes.

"This further proves that Emon Kyoko and her daughter are just temporary visitors and have not yet left."

"..."

Xing Hechou nodded silently. "Okay, that's really strange. The daughter is visiting, but the doors and windows are closed, and the air conditioner is not turned on."

"There's something even stranger,"

Li Ang said, "Brother Xing, please go to the living room and take a look at the windows there."

"Okay."

Xing Hechou didn't waste any words. He left the entrance hall and walked directly into the living room, opening the closed window. "Is there something wrong with this window?"

Li Ang said, "Pay attention, this is a casement window. The window frame is made of plastic steel, and there are rubber strips around it. The glass used in the window is double-layer hollow laminated glass."

Xing Hechou frowned and said, "Laminated glass?"

Li Ang said, "Yes, pay attention to the other houses in this alley. They all use single-layer glass sliding windows that were installed uniformly during construction.

"Only the Fukushima family uses double-layer hollow laminated glass, plastic-steel casement windows.

"The sound insulation effect of a window depends on the airtightness of the entire window.

"Casement windows have better sound insulation than sliding windows because they have rubber strips,

"Plastic steel material is better than pieced-together aluminum alloys because the four corners are thermally bonded together.

"Double-layer hollow laminated glass is two layers of glass glued together.

"On the outside, it looks almost the same as ordinary single-sided glass, but the sound and heat insulation effects are much stronger.

"In other words, the windows used by the Fukushima family are specially customized soundproof windows.

"Isn't it strange to use special soundproof windows in such a remote and quiet alley?

"After all, the yards of the houses on the left and right are drying household clothes, and they don't look like they like to play rock and roll or create noise on weekdays."

"..."

Xing Hechou took a deep breath. "Brother Li, where did you learn all this knowledge from?

"Don't tell me you're also a renovation enthusiast."

"Haha, I know a little, just a little bit."

Li Ang laughed.

Only Miss Chai, who was hiding in his body, knew why he knew about renovations – Li Ang had secretly carried out a series of soundproofing modifications to the room behind the landlady's back a long time ago. It couldn't be seen from the outside, but the soundproofing effect was so strong that it was exploding.

Even singing karaoke in the room wouldn't be complained about by the neighbors.

God knows what Li Ang needs such a strong soundproofing effect for...