Chapter 1024: And Blew Up with Uesugi!

Without further ado, Uesugi Muneyuki immediately walked into Watanabe Eiji's office.

*Knock knock~*

"Come in... You're back?"

Uesugi Muneyuki stood in front of the desk, waiting for Watanabe Eiji to speak.

Watanabe Eiji leaned against the edge of the desk, holding no documents in his hand, as if deliberately keeping his distance from those case files.

He glanced at Uesugi Muneyuki, saw his grave expression, and nodded, his voice steady but with one less layer of bureaucratic tone than usual: "Muneyuki... the situation has changed. Nagase Ren's death yesterday blew all the doors wide open. The Cabinet has now passed a resolution, appointing you as the National Police Agency Special Investigation Advisor with full authority to take over the Hirate case. No time limit, no resource limit. The Metropolitan Police Department and the National Police Agency will coordinate a police force of over five hundred for you. Toyota has already expressed full cooperation this morning. As for Nagatacho..."

He paused: "Quite a few Diet members have been struck, not a single one dares to prosecute or report it. No one will stand in your way anymore." Uesugi Muneyuki fell silent for a moment, then squeezed out an ugly smile.

This was perhaps what Watanabe Eiji wanted to see, and perhaps also what Uesugi Muneyuki himself wanted to see.

What does the system fear most?

It fears loss of life most of all!

There's an old German saying: "A person's life is of paramount importance!" This isn't a joke. In ancient times, the vast majority of matters were negotiable, the vast majority of internal crimes could be suppressed, but once a life was lost, things became completely different.

This is recorded in both *The Plum in the Golden Vase* and *Dream of the Red Chamber*: other matters are easy to handle, but a death makes trouble!

And Uesugi Muneyuki's current unlimited power was obtained precisely in exchange for Nagase Ren's life!

One life.

The life of a young Police Inspector who had just been on the job for three years.

Watanabe Eiji also fell silent for a moment, he also felt a bit uncomfortable: "Five hundred is a baseline figure. If you think it's not enough, you can transfer more. Local police stations, riot police, even US Forces Japan's forensic resources — if you need them, go directly to them... US Forces Japan is actually interested too, they've sent people to inquire."

Watanabe Eiji paused slightly, his tone gaining a hint of caution: "However, whatever you uncover, if it involves some... sensitive things, before making it public, it's best to consult with me first. I'm not asking you to conceal anything. I just need a little time to do some preparatory work." "Understood." Uesugi Muneyuki sighed: "whatcanisay? Bought with a life!"

Watanabe Eiji gave him a slight nod, reached out to pick up a document from the desk surface and handed it to him: "This is the latest complete electronic case file compiled by Aichi Prefecture. The paper version will be sent to Nagoya subsequently. Once you arrive, the Special Investigation Headquarters will report directly to you. Headquarters Chief Shimada... he has already prepared for the handover."

Uesugi Muneyuki took the document, tucked it under his arm, turned and walked out of the office.

"Muneyuki..." Watanabe Eiji hesitated, but still called out to stop him.

"?" Uesugi Muneyuki stopped his steps.

"An excellent career-track police officer used his life to buy us this room to maneuver. Please don't let his sacrifice be in vain!" Watanabe Eiji said in a deep voice.

"Of course!"

The Metropolitan Police Department's motorcade departed from the underground parking lot at noon, proceeding along Sakurada-dori toward the Shuto Expressway.

Intersections along the route had been preemptively blocked by deployed traffic police; the motorcade encountered no red lights.

Twelve police cars drove in a line onto the expressway, blue and red emergency lights reflecting on the damp post-plum-rain road surface as a flowing ribbon of color, like a stretched-out ray of cosmic miracle light.

Is this... the taste of power? Uesugi Muneyuki sat in the back seat, watching the scenery rush backward on both sides.

When the motorcade entered Nagoya's Naka Ward, traffic along the route had already been taken over by preemptively deployed Aichi Prefectural Police.

Several main roads leading to Aichi Prefectural Police Headquarters were barricaded, allowing only the motorcade and emergency vehicles to pass.

Along the way, Uesugi Muneyuki saw through the car window sporadic crowds gathered by the roadside; they weren't journalists, more like citizens who had spontaneously come after seeing news on their phones.

The motorcade arrived at Aichi Prefectural Police Headquarters at 5:20 PM.

The parking lot in front of the headquarters building had been cleared, leaving only a single central lane for the motorcade to enter.

Headquarters Chief Shimada Masahide stood at the building entrance, followed by several uniformed executives.

His expression was more solemn than what Uesugi had seen on TV, the lines of his mouth drawn tight.

Seeing that it was indeed Uesugi Muneyuki who had come in person, he nodded to Uesugi, no pleasantries, just a brief sentence: "Mr. Uesugi, the Special Investigation Headquarters has been prepared for you. The body is preserved in the headquarters' Forensic Medicine Division; the morgue is on basement level one."

Uesugi stood on the steps before the building entrance, looked up at this gray building.

Nagoya's twilight seeped from the edges of the building's outline, dyeing the whole structure a deep, dark blue.

Carrying his briefcase, he walked into the building, his footsteps echoing on the marble floor of the lobby.

Okada Masayoshi and Nango Yui followed behind him; Maeda Toshihide, Asō Kōta, and Date Nagamune, after getting out of the rear cars, were also guided into the building.

Ikeda Erena parked the car and hurried to catch up, her high heels striking a rapid, crisp *pat-pat-pat* on the floor. "Autopsy first!"

The Nagoya Police Headquarters' Forensic Medicine Division is located on basement level one; the corridor lighting is colder than upstairs, the air conditioning system emitting a continuous low-frequency hum that presses the temperature of the entire floor several degrees lower than ground level.

At the corridor end is a pair of metal double doors, a white label reading "Body Storage Room" affixed to them. A register hangs on the wall beside the door, recording the serial number and entry/exit time of every body sent here.

Hirate Sarina's body serial number is "2026-06-Nagoya-0427", registration date eight days ago.

Uesugi Muneyuki pushed open that metal door alone.

He had Okada Masayoshi and the others wait in the corridor, lowered his head to glance at the Qinghui Stone in his right hand.

The Qinghui Stone glowed faintly.

He had a clear idea in his heart, walked to the table front, placed the tools on the tray beside it, then lowered his head to look at that layer of non-woven fabric.

He took a deep breath, Uesugi Muneyuki lifted the non-woven fabric, revealing Hirate Sarina's corpse, already fully transformed into Giantism and even more ruined after several days.

Death Soul Contract!

He poured his full power into the Qinghui Stone: "Miss Hirate, are you there? I'm Uesugi..."

The Qinghui Stone suddenly flashed intensely, but this time not green — a dull red, a dark shape with sharp edges swelling sharply from above the table surface, like a thundercloud exploding in a sealed space.

Uesugi Muneyuki's consciousness was struck hard by that dark shape, as if someone had slapped his forehead with a palm.

Then he heard her voice.

It was Hirate's voice!

"Miss Hirate..." he attempted communication.

However that voice, sharp, hoarse, carrying a frenzied fury like flames bursting from a throat: "You've come to mock me? Uesugi?!"

The resentment and madness in the voice made even Uesugi Muneyuki involuntarily step back; that dark shape twisted violently in the air, its edges glowing dark red, like a red-hot Stalin quenched in water!

"Who do you think you are?!" that voice continued to explode: "You've come to clean up their mess? You've come to avenge that suicide? You... you're no different from those people circling around me! You want to get what you want from me! You want to find answers! You want to solve the case! You want your name in the headlines! What difference is there between you and Yuasa Yang?! He and all of you are the sa·me..."

Uesugi Muneyuki tried to speak, tried to use his consciousness to touch her, tried to stabilize that dark shape: "I'm here to help you!" But Hirate's anger transcended everything; the mist of that dark shape began to shatter, each fragment burning, swelling, then exploding in the air.

Uesugi Muneyuki felt his consciousness sliced open by those fragments, like being cut by countless invisible blades. He heard her final scream, carrying a viciousness that made his scalp Stopped, as if tearing open his entire chest cavity: "You... none of you... will get... me! I've had enough! I've really had enough!!!"

Go die!!!!!!!!!!

Then Hirate exploded.

Hirate's corpse and soul instantly burst outward in all directions!

An invisible shockwave exploded outward from the center of the table, blasting Uesugi Muneyuki backward, his lower back striking the edge of another table as Hirate's corpse suddenly swelled, then instantly exploded, amid the flying rotten, black, foul-smelling flesh and blood, the Peacock Bright King's Golden Body Dharma Image flashed with light, shielding Uesugi Muneyuki from most of the attack, but Uesugi Muneyuki still flew backward, slamming directly into the wall.

Then everything fell silent.

Uesugi Muneyuki braced himself against the table's edge and straightened his body.

His ears still rang, and a thin cut on his forehead from glass shards was oozing blood.

Meanwhile, Hirate's corpse on the table was already too horrific to look at.

"Ahhhhh!" Uesugi Muneyuki shouted in rage.

What the hell is going on with you guys? One or two of you are this fierce?! Nagase Ren directly summoned death to bring me here, and Hirate this bastard would rather let the killer go free than not blow up with me!

Damn it, why?!

Now, how the hell are we supposed to investigate?!