Chapter 1023

The next day, Tokyo, Haneda International Airport.

The flight carrying Uesugi Muneyuki landed at Haneda Airport Terminal 2 at 10:40 a. m.; even as the plane was still taxiing, he had already seen the dense thicket of long-focus lenses and broadcast vans outside the apron.

The moment the jet bridge docked and the cabin door opened, the airport announcement began playing: "Please remain seated for a moment, passengers." Normally this was a routine procedure for first-class and priority-disembarking passengers, but today the waiting time seemed unusually prolonged. The first to emerge was Uesugi Muneyuki, wearing a short-sleeve shirt and long trousers, his expression grave; Ikeda Erena followed behind him, today she had changed into a dark-blue short-sleeve dress whose hem fell to her knees, the waist-tailored cut revealing the proportions usually hidden by her uniform; on her feet she wore a pair of black YSL thin-strap mid-heel sandals, no stockings, and the Tall Beauty still discerned this point clearly—she privately wore them once in a while to satisfy Uesugi Muneyuki's fetish, but given her body heat and the hurried schedule, there was no need to bother.

In private she was the Tall Beauty's master, but at work she must address her duties! She was the noble Special Mission Division Ikeda Deputy Section Chief! Okada Masayoshi walked in front, phone pressed to his ear, confirming the position of the pickup vehicle with the Metropolitan Police Department; Maeda Toshihide and Asō Kōta carried their luggage and followed behind, while Nango Yui and Date Nagamune walked on either side.

We're back, Special Mission Division!

Uesugi Muneyuki's eyes flashed—culprit's head hit the ground!

The moment they stepped out of the arrival gate, flashbulbs poured down like a rainstorm.

The reporters' voices mingled into a noisy wall.

"Mr. Uesugi! Are you here to take over the Hirate case?"

"Mr. Uesugi, what is your opinion on Superintendent Nagase's death?"

"Will you go to Nagoya?"

"Is the police hiding something?"

"Will you seek justice for Hirate, for the citizens, and even for the deceased Superintendent Nagase?"

Countless microphones reached in from outside the barrier, nearly touching Uesugi Muneyuki's lips.

Camera lenses from every angle trained on his face, shutter sounds rising and falling.

Some shoved, some shouted, some tried to break through the security personnel's blockade.

Fuji TV's female anchor Hisaka Akiko was jostled by the crowd and staggered slightly, her microphone nearly jabbing Uesugi's shoulder; Ikeda Erena reached out and blocked it, her motion not swift but precise as a reflex.

"This time I returned from Okinawa solely to take on this case." Uesugi Muneyuki's words sent the scene into an uproar! He's here! He's here! He really came!

The returning Ultraman!

Uesugi has arrived, and justice prevails!!

"But for now I still don't know the specific details; I need time to understand, so when you ask me now, I can only say one thing: no comment." After saying this, Uesugi Muneyuki resumed his stride, ignoring any further questions, and walked straight toward the black executive car outside the arrival gate: "Please give me some time."

Okada Masayoshi had already opened the car door; after everyone got in, he finally took the front passenger seat, and the instant he closed the door, the noisy sounds were shut out beyond the window.

The car entered the Shuto Expressway, heading toward the Metropolitan Police Department.

The interior fell silent for a while, only the sound of tires rolling over the wet road and the rhythm of the windshield wipers moving back and forth.

Okada Masayoshi turned his head from the front passenger seat: "Nagoya has already sent over the electronic files. Case summary, autopsy report, DNA analysis, communication records retrieval results, surveillance analysis, witness list—everything they have, you can take a look first." Erena was driving, Uesugi Muneyuki sat in the back row, took out his Huawei iPad Pro from the briefcase, and opened the first file forwarded by Nango Yui.

His finger slid across the screen; the autopsy report, on-site inspection, DNA test flickered before his eyes; after skimming through the framework he already knew, he directly flipped to the last few pages concerning the genetic analysis of the Jingye sample.

He stared at the ancestral origins for a few seconds, then slightly tilted his head.

"This person's genetic makeup is one" he said softly: "Portuguese, Indian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, Caucasian, African, Middle Eastern, Latin American. Seven major ancestral components, extremely scattered in distribution. This almost covers all major human populations—what Earth citizen?" "Khitan Khanate? Amerilika Federation? Xinjiapore? Caribbean colonists' descendants? Brazilians? South African mixed-race? Indonesians? Or the Oceania Alliance?"

Sitting in the back, Nango Yui lifted her eyes from behind her glasses: "The Aichi Prefecture Forensic Identification Division also conducted the same analysis, with consistent results. They currently cannot determine specific nationality or ethnicity, because this degree of admixture finds no corresponding individual in regular databases. This person may come from a region where highly admixed populations are concentrated, such as India, the Oceania Alliance, Singapore, South Africa, or some island nation in the Caribbean. It could also be the result of multi-generational admixture, with ancestors from several continents."

"No wonder Nagase Ren kept investigating dispatched employees…… How to check this? I'm temporarily Mongolian." Uesugi Muneyuki placed the tablet on his knees, leaned back against the seat, and gazed at the cityscape receding rapidly outside the window.

He thought for a moment, then picked up the tablet again and turned to the next page of the case summary.

What does it mean?

How exactly did Hirate die?

This is a seven-seat business vehicle; Maeda Toshihide leaned over from the rearmost row: "Want to switch brains? Uesugi-san? I have other sources of information."

"Huh?" Uesugi Muneyuki raised his eyebrows.

"Online conspiracy theories have gone wild now. NHK's comment section, Twitter, 2ch—everywhere. Want to take a look?" Uesugi Muneyuki took Maeda's Sony phone.

The screen showed a collection of hot posts from a mainstream Japanese forum, titled "Hirate Case Truth Discussion Thread (No. 47)."

He quickly scrolled down a few pages, skimming through the hottest conspiracy theories.

Oh my, Japanese netizens have already started conspiracy theorizing.

Uesugi Muneyuki flipped through a little.

First catching his eye was the Toyota conspiracy theory.

Toyota conspiracy theory: the mainstream version, netizens believe the culprit was indeed a dispatched worker from a Toyota-affiliated company, but Toyota, to preserve its international reputation, pressured the Aichi Prefecture Police Headquarters through political donations and personal connections, forcing the police to delay releasing suspect information.

Nagase Ren's "investigative error" was merely a pretext to shield Toyota. Someone dug up a photo of Toyoda Akio and the Aichi Prefecture Governor at a certain economic forum, captioned "Look at this photo—do you still believe the police conducted an independent investigation?"

Uesugi Muneyuki thought it over and felt it wasn't entirely without reason.

Then came the Nagoya conspiracy theory: a more local version, Nagoya City, to retain hosting rights for the World Manufacturing Expo and the Asian Games, did not want news of "Nagoya is a hotbed of foreign labor crime" to break out before the expo.

So the police deliberately delayed the investigation, planning to handle it slowly after the expo ended. This conspiracy theory even posted screenshots of Nagoya City Government internal meeting minutes, later proven forged, but already shared over 100,000 times.

Next came the high-ranking police officials conspiracy theory.

This points toward Nagatacho: the reason Nagase Ren was driven to suicide was because he uncovered something he shouldn't have.

Some say he found financial transactions between Yuasa Yang and Hirate; others say he discovered evidence that Hirate was "shared" by certain political figures; still others claim his suicide note originally contained more content, but "those above" extracted the key parts, leaving only the last three lines. This includes entertainment-industry insiders who indeed know some of Hirate and Yuasa's special relationship, knowing Hirate got onto Hand of God through Yuasa's recommendation, and it cannot be said to be entirely baseless.

After that came the operational conspiracy theory, member conspiracy theory, and Sugai Yuuka conspiracy theory.

These three conspiracy theories essentially mean the same thing: due to Hirate's frequent absences from Akai Saka activities recently, whether members or operations, they have surely accumulated much dissatisfaction.

The longest analysis comes from a fan leader in the internal fan circle of Akai Saka 46.

The conclusion drawn is that Sugai Yuuka is the captain of Akai Saka 46, usually known for her calm and gentle image; this person unearthed surveillance footage (blurred and unclear) of Hirate and Sugai alone in the rehearsal room three days before Hirate's disappearance, and analyzed that a fierce argument occurred between them. Conspiracy theorists claim Hirate had already decided to quit the team, while Sugai, as captain, tried to stop her, and their conflict may have indirectly led to Hirate's emotional breakdown that night, after which operations, captain, and members may have reached a consensus.

They did Hirate in!

And among the members, Sugai Yuuka's background is undoubtedly the deepest, so it could very well be her conspiracy.

And the most outrageous one is the Hirate conspiracy theory.

The core of the Hirate conspiracy theory is just four characters: Zhongli faked death!

I play Genshin Impact!

On some anonymous forum, someone posted claiming "Hirate Sarina never died. The corpse you saw is a stand-in. She herself has already left Japan through some channels, gone to someplace you couldn't imagine. She long wanted to escape this system, merely needing to fabricate a reason to make herself completely disappear."

Below the post someone replied: "If she faked her death, why did Nagase Ren commit suicide?"

The poster's reply was: "Because he thought she was dead, he felt guilty, he didn't know the truth."

That is to say, Hirate Taitei, through this fake death, shedding the cicada's shell, successfully reincarnated, possibly changing his name to Tsui Vol, using the Undying Medicine to live a second life!

The ancient Taitei, terrifying indeed!

Although Hirate may not be able to live six lifetimes alone like the Flying Heaven Emperor, first slaying the Sun-burning Heaven Emperor then subduing the Yin-burying Heaven Sovereign, suppressing the Pu Cheng Ancient Emperor, again and again independently judging the myriad ages, but her changing name and surname to start a new life is not impossible.

But Uesugi Muneyuki thought, would she give it up?

Sakura running off to participate in the South Korea talent show to make a comeback is possible, but for her to completely abandon everything now and start over is impossible, and Hirate would not give up her current status and resources either; they both want it all.

Hirate is not that kind of person; Kawabe Mayu is similar.

"Among all conspiracy theories," Uesugi Muneyuki finally spoke, voice not loud but everyone in the vehicle could hear: "At least one thing is true—this case from beginning to end has been pushed forward by some kind of force. Nagase Ren's death was not an accident; he chose that timing, that location, that method. He wanted everyone to see one thing: the truth has not been found, and someone has paid the price for it."

"The water of this case may be deeper than we imagine."

"But it could also be that everyone is overthinking it."

"And the key to the problem lies in this ancestral source report; if we can figure out exactly who possesses so much bloodline, figure out why Nagase Ren, while clearly knowing one of the murderers is this strange person, still chose suicide, then perhaps everything will have an answer!"