Chapter 1026

It was already late June.

By the time Uesugi Muneyuki finished his bath and came out, it was about ten o'clock outside, and the weather in Nagoya had begun to turn muggy and humid, the air feeling as if an invisible layer of warm water had been splashed over it, making even breathing feel sticky.

The air conditioning in the Aichi Prefecture Police Headquarters building was turned up to maximum, all office doors were tightly shut, and the only sound in the hallway was the low hum of the ventilation ducts.

Over a hundred officers transferred from the Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters had gathered with the three hundred-plus officers already stationed at the Aichi Prefecture Police Headquarters, awaiting Uesugi Muneyuki's judgment.

Everyone was already ready to go; Maeda Toshihide had draped his jacket over the back of a chair, Asō Kōta was stuffing a notebook and sampling tools into his bag, Date Nagamune and Nango Yui stood in the hallway whispering to each other, while Yamada Nanase ran back and forth clutching documents with a piece of bread in her mouth.

Huh? How come Nanase is here too?!

Uesugi Muneyuki glanced over, then froze again.

Wait, how come Kashiwagi Misa is here too?

Why did they follow us here?

"I'm the one who had them come along." Kashiwagi Jin appeared just then, this time also bringing the core members of Criminal Investigation Division One, Section One, all present. Seeing Uesugi Muneyuki notice him, Kashiwagi Jin felt especially pleased, he lifted his chin: "Last time we worked together in Osaka we

got along very well, so this time I had Misa come along too, for easier contact."

Such keen observation! No wonder he's my close friend and rival!

"So why is Nanase here too?" Uesugi Muneyuki tilted his head.

"Oh, it seems she's been nagging Misa nonstop to come along, I don't know why their relationship has gotten so good———

"Kashiwagi Jin is also a bit strange.

He usually doesn't manage household affairs much, but this time out, he noticed Kashiwagi Misa seems a bit afraid of Yamada Nanase, as if Hirate doesn't dare to refuse her requests, even though her position is higher and she's the Personnel Division Chief with real authority, while Yamada Nanase is just a low-ranking female clerk in the General Affairs Section who can at most get promoted once in her lifetime.

"If you want to talk family matters, change the place." By now Eirina had already changed into a suit, long pants, and leather shoes, seeing Lao Ren actually pulling Uesugi Muneyuki aside to chat about family affairs, she couldn't help but step forward and say.

"Oh right, Shiratori is here too." Kashiwagi Jin said: "He's about to be promoted to Superintendent."

Uesugi Muneyuki nodded; Shiratori Sho's age is about right, he's due for promotion to Superintendent, he's come here to leech off some merit.

No problem, as long as you listen, I'll let you leech—after all, merit isn't given to just anyone.

It is precisely because a massive merit-sharing system has formed around Uesugi Muneyuki that he can exert such tremendous influence over the entire police system.

Pushing open the main gate, Shiratori Sho sat in the corner chair flipping through an old file, occasionally lifting his head to glance at others.

When Uesugi Muneyuki walked over from the mortuary direction, everyone's eyes lifted simultaneously.

He had changed into a clean dark blue short-sleeve shirt, with a dark gray thin tie knotted at the collar, the fine scar on his forehead had already scabbed over thinly, and the cold air from the air conditioning made it appear slightly whiter than the surrounding skin.

Upon seeing Uesugi Muneyuki enter the office, everyone stood up.

Uesugi Kaka, give the order!

At your command, we'll immediately assault the National Defense Headquarters and Army Headquarters! Nagoya summer!

However, Uesugi Muneyuki shook his head: "Wait a moment. Don't move yet, I know you're eager, but don't rush!"

Maeda Toshihide's bag was already half on his back, his hand suspended in midair: "Ah? Uesugi-san, we shouldn't we start operating right away, dragnet-style search?"

"Stand by! Everyone, blow the air conditioning in the office first for me!" Uesugi Muneyuki said with considerable dignity: "Or do you enjoy wearing suits and grilling on the main road in this weather? I wouldn't object either!"

"Hahahaha ahahahahahahahaha~" A burst of laughter from the Special Investigation Headquarters, everyone hearing it finally relaxed considerably.

After so many years, everyone trusts Uesugi Muneyuki almost unconditionally.

Uesugi Muneyuki walked to his workstation, placed the report he brought back from the Forensic Medicine Division on the desk

: "Okada, Nango, Kashiwagi, Shiratori, you guys come look at this.

The four people gathered around.

With Nagase Ren's judgment and internal confirmation, and Hirate's self-destruction, Uesugi Muneyuki already had a direction.

Uesugi Muneyuki spread the photocopy of the DNA analysis report on the desk, pointing to the ancestral origin test conclusion on the last page

: On it was printed a dense string of percentages and geographic markers, those values had been repeatedly cross-checked by the Aichi Prefecture Forensic Identification Division, confirmed accurate.

Nango Yui voluntarily spoke up to explain: "The problem with this report is, it gives ancestral composition but no person.

We've already searched every database we could: the national criminal database, INTERPOL's database, even some public data from commercial genetic testing platforms, unfortunately, no match. So Aichi Prefecture here believes it can't be found."

Kashiwagi Jin lowered his head to stare at that page of data, his finger tapping on the lines reading "Portugal 18.7%, India 34.2%, East Asia 12.1%, Southeast Asia 9.8%, White 8.3%, African 7.4%, Middle East 6.5%, Latin America 3.0%": "Aichi Prefecture here has already tried all conventional methods. No match. This degree of mixed blood is itself extremely rare in East Asia. The directions Aichi Prefecture previously investigated—Pakistani, Nepali, Filipino—none matched."

"The mismatch is because the direction is wrong." Uesugi Muneyuki said: "You sent this data to where? National Research Institute of Police Science? Or Aichi Prefecture Headquarters' genetics lab?"

"The National Police Science Research Institute did the preliminary comparison, confirmed the ancestral composition, but made no inference." Nango Yui pushed up her

glasses: "Comparing against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs database also yielded no result————"

"That's because the people here are stupid!" Uesugi Muneyuki bluntly said: "Send this data to AncestryDNA in Utah, USA! They have over twenty-five million test records, combined with historical archives and family trees. They are the world's strongest ancestral DNA testing institution. I know you've already done comparisons and found no match, but your comparison direction was to find a matching person."

"Change your direction, dammit! Let AncestryDNA build a person profile inversely from this ancestral data that matches this composition! No need to find exactly who. Just tell me what kind of person, from where, has this genetic makeup. Give me several possibilities!"

"Geez, big data big data, who let you use big data to precisely search? Don't get fuzzy search, you insist on 100% match? 99% no good? 95% no good? 90% no good?" Uesugi Muneyuki said impatiently: "We're hunting a killer! We can reasonably suspect, why demand 100% certainty?"

The office fell silent for two seconds.

Shiratori Sho lifted his head from the corner, low voice: "Reverse tracing back to the source———we never thought of this."

Uesugi Muneyuki shook his head and sighed.

Japanese people actually still live in 1990.

Or rather, Japanese people have always lived in the period from 1988 to 1994.

After the bubble burst, society fell into a collective delusion that if we just wait a bit, everything will be fine.

All problems were imagined as solvable once we found that clear answer, nobody considered what to do if the answer itself isn't precise enough—how to refine it.

No way, the bubble era was too wonderful and glorious, causing all Japanese people to remain stuck in dreams of the past, unwilling to wake up, they've grown accustomed to their past successful path, accustomed to the initial effort direction, accustomed to set procedures.

Uesugi Muneyuki quite likes a certain anti-gambling streamer "Jie Jie" who once said, gambling fears not that you keep losing from the start, but that you once won, and won big, so every time you lose, you remember having won before, and thus keep gambling on.

Likewise, why do those big entrepreneurs, big dictators always act so stubborn and self-willed?

Very simple, because they've won, and to some extent, if they hadn't repeatedly won in key decisions, nobody would even know them.

In fact, perfect decisions don't exist; any decision is a gamble, nothing more than betting big or small, short-term or long-term gains, and precisely because they've won, they firmly believe they'll keep winning, so they firmly believe their judgment is correct.

Just like Jobs, after getting sick, firmly refused to accept modern medicine and only trusted his own judgment.

Japanese people are also immersed in the illusions of the past, forming a fixed mindset; many Japanese companies still require a successful prototype before considering further R&D investment, while Musk has already gone to space.

Uesugi Muneyuki gave a wry smile, thinking that to some extent, Germany is no different—people still cling to the era of price hikes to clear inventory, with pensions rising yearly, and in Saxony State, building a triumphal arch can sell nonexistent houses; graduates from top schools entering big firms earn 500,000 yen annually and dare to take out 400,000 yen mortgages a year, Senzoku Ōkami charging toward 10 billion, the dream of citywalking in Lujiabu's Bund and Hongqiao Xintiandi in Munich, brunch for 80 yuan—just lacking the nationwide wealth frenzy of Japan's bubble era, and the beauty of the dream isn't enough to make people obsessive.

Playing "YMCA" can make Americans unwilling to wake up; playing "Friends' Wine" makes everyone only think of the Empty City Stratagem.

"Things are like this, and you still want 100% certainty?" Uesugi Muneyuki said helplessly: "Use your brains more!"

Then he glanced at Eirina's chest—well, Master doesn't need that.

"Uesugi Chief means, pool collective wisdom, avoid fixed thinking!" Okada Masayoshi also nodded.

Kashiwagi Jin glanced at him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly—this was the reaction of a male elite in the Career Track after receiving some objective criticism.

Right, why didn't I think of that?

Now Uesugi has become a proper detective!

He tapped his head: "I'll contact AncestryDNA right away. There's a time difference—it's night there now. I'll connect directly via the Metropolitan Police Department's overseas channel, request expedited processing. Preliminary results could come as early as this afternoon."

Kashiwagi Jin turned and walked toward the door.

Uesugi Muneyuki watched his retreating back, saying nothing more.

He leaned against the desk's edge, hands in his pockets, eyes on the report's data: "Everyone rest first, turn on the AC, don't rush—we've already swept Nagoya before; going back would be a waste of time!"

"Hey!" The crowd responded in unison.

He turned another thought over in his mind—about Hirate Sarina.

Mai Xuejie had once told him.

Eirina thought so too, Miyawaki Sakura thought so too, and even Uesugi Muneyuki himself understood this:

Such a proud girl as Hirate will eventually leave Tangqian Yang.

No matter how Tangqian Yang lifts her, gives her resources, shelter, or paves her way, Hirate will subconsciously believe all her achievements come from her own effort.

She won't thank Tangqian Yang, because thanking means admitting she needs him.

And what she needs least is to rely on others to lift her up.

She wants to leave Akasaka, because she needs to wash off the label on her, she will leave alone, just as well.

Even, to some extent, Uesugi Muneyuki knows that if not for the contract locking and the chakra's death and rebirth, Sakura would one day leave him—possibly at twenty-eight or twenty-nine, possibly in her thirties—Sakura would choose to marry an honest man.

And thinking of this, Uesugi Muneyuki thought of even more.

The Inner World.

Hirate Sarina, an idol standing on the nation's highest stage, has gathered countless gazes, expectations, love, and hatred on her—this intensity of attention itself is a form of Inner World energy.

When she walked alone into Nagoya's streets that night, she was a moving, luminous existence wrapped in countless gazes and emotions.

What she attracts may not be merely ordinary humans.

Uesugi Muneyuki recalled the moment she blasted him open in the mortuary. She rejected him. Her fury pierced his Dharma Image's protection, shattering his own remains—something an ordinary deceased could not do.

Hirate Sarina, in the brief time after death, has already become something far beyond an ordinary grudge.

And what she has attracted———

Interesting! Uesugi Muneyuki thought: no information is also information!

Hirate's self-explosion, on the contrary, explains some things!

Everyone waited until around two in the afternoon, when Kashiwagi Jin returned.

He held a freshly printed fax, bearing AncestryDNA's official header and several highlighted paragraphs.

He handed it to Uesugi, his voice tinged with suppressed excitement: "The results of reverse tracing are out.

AncestryDNA, based on that ancestry data, constructed four possible close-person profiles."

"Good, everyone, come over!"

Uesugi Muneyuki took the file and quickly skimmed it.

First: the Portuguese-Indian mixed-race people of Goa, a Catholic community formed during Portugal's colonial period, historically trading with Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Brazil.

Indian history is extremely complex, having been conquered by multiple civilizations and bloodlines—Maurya, Kushan, Delhi Sultanate, Mughal, British India—second: German-Oceania Alliance Luso-Indigenes, the special historical background of the Oceania Alliance's special administrative region formed a people of long-term mixed Portuguese, German,

Malaysian, Japanese, Indian, and African descent.

This also makes sense.

Third: Eurasians of Singapore or Malaysia—British, Portuguese, Dutch colonists mixing with Chinese,

Malay, and Indian across generations.

Uesugi Muneyuki smiled: "What, Singapore?"

Fourth: the Coloured community of Cape Town, South Africa—complex mix of Dutch, British, German colonists with Khoisan, Malay, Indian, and Black African peoples.

South Africa—Mandela wept.

After reading, Uesugi Muneyuki placed the file on the desk.

He reconsidered the entire case.

Hirate's sudden departure, being fed wheel rice, corpse dumped in the South District Garbage Dump, Nagoya's vast temporary workforce, mixed ancestral bloodlines, DNA hard to verify, Inner World reaction, Hirate's fury, external intervention, Tangqian Yang's reaction, plus Nagase Ren's inference.

Again and again, Uesugi Muneyuki carefully considered all possibilities.

Uesugi Muneyuki immediately pointed his finger at one item.

The greatest possibility is it!

"I believe the killer's greatest possibility is this one!"

Uesugi pointed!