Chapter 115: Curse Grudge Descends

PS: Winning a game of chess doesn't necessarily have to happen on the chessboard.

On a night in December, Uesugi Muneyuki was burning the midnight oil at the Medical and Dental University. Professor Okochi had already gone home, and he sat alone in his office, quietly reading books and writing his graduation thesis.

After spending more than two weeks, Uesugi Muneyuki had put together a first draft of his graduation thesis.

Normally, the requirements for a graduation thesis for an ordinary undergraduate student at a medical school are not that strict, and furthermore, Uesugi Muneyuki did not need to conduct experiments—he only needed to excerpt a few sections from the autopsy reports he had performed to serve as his theoretical basis.

Upon checking for plagiarism, oh my, 80%. Looking at the author, oh my, it's all me.

Therefore, his graduation thesis was easy to write. After writing the first draft, he wanted to show it to Professor Okochi, but the old professor was busy.

The Medical and Dental University recently had a troublesome matter—a patient named Sasaki Yohei had died of a lung infection after undergoing surgery by Professor Zaizen of the First Surgery Department. The patient's family had therefore questioned the hospital, believing that Professor Zaizen's diagnosis was incorrect.

It just so happened that a few days ago, Uesugi Muneyuki had explained a case during a national live broadcast at a press conference, which the deceased's family had watched, so the family requested an autopsy to determine the cause of death and specifically named Uesugi Muneyuki to perform it.

Uesugi Muneyuki originally did not need to pay attention to these matters because he had previously been cooperating with the Metropolitan Police Department, and in principle, he did not need to participate in hospital affairs. Director Ukai also intentionally excluded him from hospital business.

But as luck would have it, because Uesugi Muneyuki was in the hospital to write his thesis and prepare for exams, Associate Professor Satomi of the First Internal Medicine Department specifically brought the deceased's family to block Uesugi Muneyuki and requested that he perform the autopsy.

Uesugi Muneyuki had heard of this Associate Professor Satomi; it was said that his professional ability was extremely strong and he was upright and incorruptible. Like himself, he was not well-liked within the hospital and belonged to the same species, so he had to reluctantly agree.

However, Uesugi Muneyuki was only good at autopsies because he could communicate with Souls; if he really had to perform a dissection, his level was just average.

Using the Death Soul Contract, Sasaki Yohei himself cursed Professor Zaizen as a quack, saying the surgery was ineffective and killed him, but regarding exactly how he died and whether it was truly a medical accident, he did not understand either.

With no other choice, Uesugi Muneyuki had to ask Professor Okochi for help, and the teacher and student spent three hours finishing the dissection.

"Uesugi-kun, you might still need to find an assistant who is skilled at dissection." Seeing Uesugi Muneyuki's unskilled dissection technique, Professor Okochi sighed slightly: "It is recognized in the industry that you are very good at autopsies, but your dissection level is much worse. I understand you are very busy, so find an assistant and apply to the Metropolitan Police Department."

"Thank you for the advice, Professor. Let me graduate and get my license first." Uesugi Muneyuki also felt it was necessary to find an assistant.

"The esophageal cancer surgery was very successful. The patient's main cause of death was the spread of cancerous lesions in the lungs." Professor Okochi gave his conclusion: "There is a possibility of a misdiagnosis."

"The cause of death was respiratory failure caused by cancerous lymphangitis." Uesugi Muneyuki also nodded.

Thus, the teacher and student gave their conclusion that there was indeed a possibility of a misdiagnosis.

Associate Professor Satomi reported this news immediately, while Professor Zaizen himself was still in Poland attending an international academic conference.

Director Ukai, who rushed over, did not look very happy. He did not dare to provoke Professor Okochi, so he said with a forced smile that since Uesugi-kun was so free, there was a corpse here that he could also dissect.

Uesugi Muneyuki had no choice but to continue dissecting the next patient.

This was a man in his forties who died suddenly during intercourse at a love hotel. His female companion was a twenty-year-old girl doing "papa hunting." The two had an improper relationship. What was relatively rare was that the deceased had no Soul reaction, yet he had clearly died not long ago.

Uesugi Muneyuki's autopsy result was that the deceased died of "sudden death during intercourse." The cause of death was ischemic cardiomyopathy. The man himself was advanced in age and had developed arteriosclerosis without knowing it. When he engaged in intercourse, the arteriosclerosis caused the heart to enlarge, forming ischemic cardiomyopathy, and he died suddenly about 30 minutes after intercourse due to myocardial ischemia and hypoxia.

The autopsy gave Uesugi Muneyuki a sense of accomplishment.

What do you know, I'm actually quite capable!

Uesugi Muneyuki had not done proper hospital work for a long time. Returning to his original job by chance still yielded some gains. With inspiration, he immediately typed away on his computer, continuing to write his graduation thesis.

By this time, it was already late at night. Except for the Inpatient Department and Emergency Department in the adjacent building, the rest of the Medical and Dental University affiliated hospital was closed, and the staff had gone home one after another. Uesugi Muneyuki remained alone in the Forensic Pathology Department, flipping through documents and continuing to rush his graduation thesis.

The night was quiet, and Uesugi Muneyuki picked up his phone to take a look; there were no new messages.

Just at this moment, a "thud" sound suddenly came from upstairs.

"Thump~"

The sound was quite heavy, and Uesugi Muneyuki looked at the ceiling in confusion.

Is there still someone upstairs?

Heh heh, working overtime? Medical students really have to be this desperate!

Uesugi Muneyuki laughed at himself.

His stomach was a little hungry, but it wasn't the time yet. Uesugi Muneyuki grabbed a Russian chocolate milk wafer from the table and took a few bites. Things from the Russian bear had one drawback: they were deathly sweet, but the advantage was also that they were deathly sweet, which could instantly raise blood sugar.

After eating a few more bites, another sound came from upstairs: "Thump~"

Then followed a continuous "Thump~ thump~ thump~".

Uesugi Muneyuki felt a bit strange.

Strange, there shouldn't be many people left in the medical department building, right? Even if there were people working overtime occasionally, how could they make such a big commotion?

Playing basketball?

After thinking about it, he reached out and dialed the extension for the guard room, telling the guard to go up. How could there be any reason to play basketball inside a hospital?

The phone rang a few times, but no one answered.

Strange, according to the hospital's requirements, service-related phones like the guard room must be answered within three rings at most, otherwise, money would be deducted!

After ringing a few more times, the phone's ringing suddenly cut off.

Hmm?

Uesugi Muneyuki's hand froze.

He felt that something was not right.

Very not right.

Just at this moment, Uesugi Muneyuki's phone suddenly rang.

It was Miss Minami.

The crisp ringtone seemed especially harsh in the particularly quiet atmosphere of the night.

"Homines homines possunt historiam~ condonare"

"Homines homines possunt historiam~ condonare"

Uesugi Muneyuki answered the phone: "Hello, Minami-chan, what's the matter?"

A familiar, slightly sarcastic, sweet voice came from the phone: "Uesugi, Uesugi, I have something I want to tell you specifically!"

"That Saijo Yasue! The murderer from Chiba Prefecture, she suddenly committed suicide the day before yesterday while being sent to the juvenile detention center." Miss Minami said with three parts confusion and seven parts schadenfreude: "The suicide tool was an iron spoon."

Huh?! Uesugi Muneyuki was stunned and did not reply immediately.

"She used an iron spoon to cut her own throat and trachea to commit suicide!" Miss Minami repeated: "It's really strange. Although the spoons in the juvenile detention center are made of iron, the edges of those spoons are blunt. I still can't figure out how she managed to cut her throat with a spoon."

"Anyway, the District Public Prosecutors Office is also in a panic, not knowing what to do. This is a major event of national concern! The person died before they were even officially tried in court. I want to see how the District Public Prosecutors Office explains this!"

Watanabe Minami spoke to herself for a while, but did not receive a reply from Uesugi Muneyuki.

"Hey, Uesugi, are you listening?" She was a bit annoyed, thinking to herself, I just learned of such an important matter and shared it with you immediately, how can you not have any reaction at all?

"Uesugi?"

Uesugi Muneyuki turned his head to look around the narrow but bright Forensic Pathology Department, then associated it with the sound that had just come from upstairs.

The affiliated hospital was already off-duty, and except for the Emergency Department and the Inpatient Department next door, there was not a single person around.

The surroundings were empty, there was no response from the Guard, and a strange sound was coming from upstairs.

Now Watanabe Minami was telling him that Saijo Yasue was dead, and it was a suicide, a very bizarre suicide.

He recalled the words Saijo Yasue had said to him.

"I will be meeting him very soon, and you, this damn doctor, you will also be meeting him very soon, though not as fast as me."

"It's all your fault! I will come to find you, hello, hehehe, I will come to find you."

"I will kill you kill you kill you kill you."

"I am about to die, I will come to find you, I swear."

"I will come to find you, doctor, I will."

Uesugi Muneyuki felt a bit unable to breathe; he only then realized that Watanabe Minami's call had not only brought him the news of Saijo Yasue's suicide, but had also exposed his location.

"Minami." Uesugi Muneyuki's voice carried a hint of trembling.

"Hmm?" Watanabe Minami clearly sensed the wavering in Uesugi Muneyuki's voice.

"Help me."

After saying this, Uesugi Muneyuki had already heard footsteps outside the corridor; he had no time to set it to silent, so he hung up the phone, dropped his mobile phone, turned off the light, and went out into the corridor.

After the electric lights went out, the entire hospital was quiet; in the pitch-black environment, only the emergency square green exit light at the end of the corridor emitted a faint glow.

There were footsteps, coming from far away.

Mindful of his feet to avoid making any sound, Uesugi Muneyuki slowly moved his steps to slip out of the Forensic Pathology Department; there was no doubt that the sound of the phone call just now had exposed his location, but the other party should not be as familiar with the hospital environment as he was.

Uesugi Muneyuki quietly crossed the corridor, moving toward the emergency exit, and every time he passed any intersection or turn, he carefully watched to see if anyone was lying in ambush.

Fortunately, he slowly approached the emergency exit, and Uesugi Muneyuki tentatively pulled the handle.

"Squeak~~~"

Oh no! The door actually could not be opened from this side!

And following his action, the door handle emitted a sharp screech!

"Doctor, I've come to find you!"

The footsteps were clearly audible now, a slow, dragging gait of one leg; the sound echoed in the empty concrete space, entering his eardrums.

These footsteps sounded like a rhythm, reminding one of the movements of a spider creeping toward its prey, now advancing, now retreating.

"Doctor, I've come to find you."

A black shadow, holding a large machete, appeared at the other end of the corridor, stepping forward bit by bit.

Uesugi Muneyuki barely managed to see the person clearly in the extremely dim light of the emergency exit lamp; his pupils suddenly contracted, and his heart pounded wildly!

The person who came was a man! It was exactly that male in his 40s who had died suddenly from island wind that he had just performed an Autopsy on today!

However, that familiar hollow gaze, that ferocious antisocial smile, and those specific lines.

It was Saijo Yasue.

She had come.

She had really come to find him!

(End of this chapter)