The inability to move his right hand freely had some impact—
but it was manageable.
Hayashi Yoshiki was at his computer, researching the Schindler Inc.
Schindler Inc. was a leader in the U.S. tech industry. Two years ago, it had effectively monopolized the American IT sector with its overwhelming strength. A photo of its chairman, Thomas Schindler, was easy to find online.
On-screen was the image of a middle-aged man in a crisp suit, hawk-like nose, and a stern, commanding expression. Yoshiki studied it quietly, his impression growing sharper as he dove deeper into related information.
[The "DNA Tracking System" developed by Schindler Inc. is nearing maturity.]
[Reports claim the system can trace an individual's ancestry using skin and blood samples, with an accuracy rate of up to 99.8%.]
[Thomas Schindler stated the technology would be one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, with broad applications. If implemented globally, it could help solve longstanding missing persons cases and cold cases that have stumped authorities for decades.]
[Human understanding of DNA remains limited. This system could revolutionize that progress.]
It's still a bit early.
Sindorra Corporation had not yet revealed anything about their artificial intelligence projects, and the information surrounding researcher Hiroki Sawada remained tightly guarded.
If Hayashi Yoshiki wanted to use "Noah's Ark", simply controlling Thomas Schindler would not be enough. The only one who could truly operate and command Noah's Ark was its creator—Hiroki Sawada.
But as Yoshiki remembered clearly, Sawada had jumped from a rooftop mere moments after completing the system.
He had been only ten years old—and yet, in just two years, he developed complex systems like artificial intelligence and the DNA tracker.
If he had survived, the global tech landscape might have changed entirely.
But Hayashi Yoshiki had no regrets.
The world doesn't stop turning for the loss of one genius.
And if it came down to it, Hayashi would simply write Hiroki Sawada's name in the Death Note, and manipulate him into using Noah's Ark to extract the information he needed.
Karasuma Renya's hideout.
The true identity of the "Zoo Boss."
These were the answers Yoshiki wanted.
Noah's Ark could also be used to expose the names and faces of leaders in organizations like the FBI and CIA, but those benefits were less valuable. Unlike Karasuma Renya and the Zoo Boss, who ruled with absolute authority, the FBI and CIA were fractured with internal factions. Their agents had minds of their own.
(If Karasuma Renya were de-aged by APTX4869... could the Death Note still control him?)
It was a chilling question.
But few were qualified to answer it—very few people even lived to be 120.
There had been a priestess on Mermaid Island who claimed to be 130, but that turned out to be a hoax. She had long since turned to ashes.
As Yoshiki considered all this, a notification appeared on the bottom-right of his screen.
The task force was calling.
He clicked to accept.
A video window popped up showing the inside of the task force's office. Nearly twenty police officers filled the space, with Toshiro Odagiri seated prominently.
"What did you find, everyone?"
Yoshiki's voice came through the mic.
Immediately, a cyber unit officer raised his hand.
"Yes, Consultant! It's about what you asked us last time—we've been investigating whether any victim information had surfaced online. We found something!"
"Based on the names of the victims collected so far, we conducted a nationwide search across Japanese websites. It turns out that several victims were mentioned online shortly before their deaths."
The officer's tone carried excitement.
After all, they'd finally found something—anything—that could be linked to the killer.
[Four days before the death of Takuya Takamoto—who was run over on the night of July 28—an anonymous post from a local IP said:
"Takuya Takamoto is a bastard! I gave him money yesterday and he's still bullying me!"
"The girl next door said she almost couldn't go home because of him."
"I swear, I wanna kill him."]
[A similar situation occurred with Keisuke Uetsuji, who died on May 3 after a billboard fell on him. A local chatroom user had written a week prior that Uetsuji was known for bullying and harassing women.]
Several of the victims had been publicly exposed as scumbags online just before their deaths.
The truth was that Vodka had created those posts under Hayashi Yoshiki's orders—using his hacking skills to break into forums and chatrooms, manipulating the server data to backdate the posts.
For someone like Vodka, fabricating a digital paper trail was child's play.
"Can we identify who made the posts?"
"Yes. We've traced the IPs and identified the users. We can bring them in for questioning anytime."
"...Then I'll leave that to the investigation team. Thank you for your hard work."
Of course, those "users" had been pre-arranged as part of the ruse.
"Consultant, do you believe the killer might be selecting targets through the internet?"
Toshiro Odagiri leaned toward the screen, his expression grim.
"...I can't say for sure," Yoshiki replied, his face calm behind the screen, but his voice laced with quiet intensity.
"But I believe it's highly probable."
Behind the screen, Hayashi Yoshiki smiled.
"Judging from the incident in Osaka, it's possible the murderer has accomplices... but it's still strange to think someone would shoot wildly into a crowded street just to execute a few social 'scum'."
"Compared to investigating victims in person, using online data would be far easier—and less risky."
"That said, we don't have conclusive proof yet."
"All reasonable suspicions should be investigated—but suspicion is not the same as truth."
"Can we continue monitoring this kind of information online?"
"If the killer is using the internet to choose victims, we might be able to catch him in the act."