Chapter 246: The Red-Hot Uesugi Muneyuki

September 30, Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, Yonezawa Uesugi Residence, Uesugi Hall.

Except for Uesugi Muneyuki, the entire Yonezawa Uesugi family was seated in the living room fifteen minutes early, the television already locked onto the NHK channel, prepared to watch the live broadcast of the Metropolitan Police Department's Yokohama Case.

At this moment, even the fiancée of the elder brother, Uesugi Sadanori, was present. It was somewhat strange; despite being only a month away from marriage, Uesugi Sadanori rarely met with his fiancée, remaining obsessed with archaeological studies. The grandfather and father expressed understanding of this state, but today the situation was different—today was Uesugi Muneyuki's public press conference, and the grandfather had specifically called the future granddaughter-in-law to the house.

"Yukimatsumaru, he's amazing." Uesugi Hironori boasted to his father, wife, son, and future daughter-in-law: "This is a case worth 1.5 trillion yen. Father, Tomoko, and Chitokumaru, do you know? Yukimatsumaru saved Tokyo Marine Holdings and Nippon Life a full 380 billion yen in losses!"

"So is that why Tokyo Marine Holdings is holding some of their employee concerts and year-end receptions at your hall today?" Uesugi Tomoko said, feeling a bit proud yet also a bit speechless toward her husband: "Oh right, was it Nippon Life that came to look for you that day?"

"Yes indeed! That's right!" Uesugi Hironori raised his head proudly: "Oh ho ho ho, this can also bring me big clients! It's exaggerated, these two events will earn the hall at least two or three hundred million. Not only did Yukimatsu's tuition for the Medical and Dental University come back, but there's even extra profit!"

"Forget about the Medical and Dental University; starting next April, Yukimatsu will officially be a member of the University of Tokyo." Uesugi Kuninori, sitting in an old man's rocking chair, raised his eyebrows.

"Father is right." Uesugi Tomoko was quite proud of the achievements her son had made today. The mother thought for a moment and said, deliberately pitching her voice: "Dear, do you still dare to go to Sakata Bridge?"

"I don't dare, I don't dare anymore." Uesugi Hironori felt a lingering fear.

Japanese society was not yet fully aware that the Uesugi family had decided to send their youngest son away to be an adopted son-in-law, so whether it was building connections or cozying up, they still instinctively sought out Uesugi Kuninori and Uesugi Hironori. Among them, Uesugi Kuninori was already a 73-year-old man, and there was no value in investing in him; therefore, the three parties that benefited most from this matter—the Mitsui Sumitomo Group, Tokyo Marine Holdings, and Nippon Life—mainly found Uesugi Hironori.

Tokyo Marine Holdings' gratitude was simple—this year's employee concerts, art appreciation exhibitions, and a portion of the year-end receptions would be held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Cultural Exchange Hall.

The Mitsui Sumitomo Group also announced a contract with the Tokyo Metropolitan Cultural Exchange Hall, and many corporate events over the next two years would be held at Uesugi Hironori's place.

As for Nippon Life's attitude, it was more aggressive. Nippon Life representative Takeda Hironobu asked Uesugi Hironori—was Uesugi Muneyuki interested in serving as a special advisor for major claims projects for Nippon Life Insurance?

The salary for this advisor would be paid according to the Tokyo minimum wage, only 150,000 yen per month.

However, this was only the base salary; the true significance of hiring Uesugi Muneyuki lay in his powerful criminal deterrence and his ability to handle various complex insurance fraud situations and perform on-site autopsies on the insured.

If Nippon Life truly needed Uesugi Muneyuki to mobilize, they would pay Uesugi Muneyuki additional fees; that is to say, as long as Uesugi Muneyuki helped examine a corpse, Nippon Life would pay extra, and if he truly saved Nippon Life from large insurance losses, Nippon Life would reward Uesugi Muneyuki with 1%-3% of the insurance claim amount (with a cap of 3 million yen).

For example, in this Yokohama Case, Uesugi Muneyuki may have saved Nippon Life from a maximum joint policy of 150 billion yen. The Nippon Life Board of Directors did not hesitate to have Takeda Hironobu deliver a 5 million yen check to Uesugi Hironori, asking him to pass it on to Uesugi Muneyuki.

More importantly, Nippon Life also announced a contract with the Tokyo Metropolitan Cultural Exchange Hall, and a portion of their future activities would be held at Uesugi Hironori's place. Unlike Tokyo Marine Insurance, which signed for one year, and Sumitomo Mitsui, which signed for two, Nippon Life signed for five years in one go.

Uesugi Hironori and his wife had been enjoying unparalleled glory these past few days.

Just like powerful departments such as the Metropolitan Police Department, insurance, as a lubricant and buffer for modern society, possessed the resources of the entire society. Being favored by insurance meant that Uesugi Muneyuki had already covered every corner of society with his influence.

However, thinking of this, Uesugi Hironori felt even more lingering fear. The father felt a bit fortunate that he had left a sliver of room that day and had not burned bridges with his son, which allowed for the eventual reconciliation between father and son.

The wife was right; after the father retired, his own businesses might still have to rely on the youngest son.

Of course, as a proud, typical Japanese man, Uesugi Hironori could not bring himself to admit defeat no matter what: "I was doing it for Yukimatsu's own good. There is an old saying in China: when parents love their children, they plan for them far into the future."

Is that how this phrase is used? The face of the elder brother, Uesugi Sadanori, wrinkled like a chrysanthemum, thinking to himself that he was the one forced into an arranged marriage, and Muneyuki was stirred up to the point of almost turning hostile.

If Mom and Dad really cared about us brothers, doing nothing at all would be the best thing!

"It's starting!" Grandfather Uesugi Kuninori opened his cloudy old eyes, a proud light shining within them.

On the television screen, Sakuradamon, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, the press conference site at the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters.

As many as two hundred media outlets, newspapers, and self-media were all in attendance. The venue was packed, and the Metropolitan Police Department had even added many chairs. Even so, some reporters still had no place to sit and could only stand or sit on the floor.

Just like that, amidst countless cameras and microphones, Uesugi Muneyuki made a brilliant entrance. He was seen in a sophisticated black Armani suit, wearing a sky-blue tie. His sharp, cold temperament and emotionally infectious appearance made people's eyes light up.

I always feel that this guy, Forensic Examiner Uesugi, seems to be getting more handsome and more infectious.

The reporters on the scene and the audience in front of their televisions thought as much.

And as Uesugi Muneyuki appeared, the television screens in companies, train stations, detached houses, atop tower mansions, in rows of public housing, and the large screens amidst the bustling traffic on the streets were all aimed at Uesugi Muneyuki.

He began to recount the course of the Yokohama Case before the entire nation.

"On September 7, the Kanagawa Police received a report from the Mitsui Sumitomo Group that Project Manager Igarashi Aiko had been absent from the team-building event without cause... The Kanagawa Police who received the report began an investigation and quickly locked onto the victim's superior, Executive Director Sato, as the primary suspect..."

"On September 15, a barge from Tokyo Marine Holdings accidentally discovered chunks of meat wrapped in plastic bags, which were confirmed by DNA Testing to be Igarashi Aiko... On September 16, more meat chunks were discovered, and it was accidentally confirmed that one of the bags contained another victim, Tokyo Woman's Christian University student Hirasawa Yui..."

Facing the cameras, Uesugi Muneyuki began to speak eloquently. He calmly and clearly recounted the entire course of the case to the entire nation.

How the Metropolitan Police Department intervened in the investigation, what the basis for Uesugi Muneyuki's judgment was, why they hit a dead end and found nothing while investigating, how they discovered the method by which the killer entered the "locked room," and how they inferred the killer's modus operandi.

Naturally, the astonishing incompetence of the Kanagawa Police was also mercilessly pointed out by Uesugi Muneyuki.

The key DNA evidence? Sorry, the weather was too hot, it was ruined.

The key wet waste evidence and food scraps? Sorry, too much time passed, it got moldy.

Information regarding Igarashi Aiko? Sorry, the Kanagawa Police shared almost nothing; it was all investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department itself. The only help the Kanagawa Police provided was investigating that Igarashi Aiko's ex-husband was a suspect and exposing that her current lover had returned from the United States.

By the moment Uesugi Muneyuki spoke of the failure of the DNA Testing and that all leads had been severed, everyone at the scene felt a sense of suffocation.

At this point, even Uesugi Muneyuki, the legendary rookie Forensic Pathologist and master of forensics, felt that he could no longer investigate.

Just as it was about to become another unsolved cold case, the Kanagawa Police suddenly announced that they had found a major suspect—a suspect named Tanaka who was holding a gold ring and going to a gold shop to resell it.

"The moment I heard this news, I knew this Tanaka was being framed." Uesugi Muneyuki sneered at the camera: "As everyone knows, the Japanese police have a habit: first, they screen suspects based on interpersonal networks, then they conduct door-to-door visits and dragnet searches centered on the crime scene, and finally, they trace the source of the evidence at the scene."

"Then what if these three tricks don't work?" Uesugi Muneyuki wrote on the blackboard: "Then they relentlessly hound the involved parties, try every means to find evidence for them, use the Great Memory Recovery Technique on them, and help them conceive the process of the crime."

This sentence left all the Metropolitan Police Department detectives at the scene with dark lines on their faces. Among them, the Director of the Commissioner's Secretariat, Onoda, really couldn't help but glance at Watanabe Eiji beside him, seeing Watanabe Eiji give a bitter smile.

Kousaka and Kashiwagi of Investigation Division 1 both lowered their heads in embarrassment, especially Kashiwagi. However, Investigation Division 1 Chief Sugishita Ukyo pursed his lips and smiled, thinking to himself that he had said this a long time ago, and the result was being exiled to a remote island.

"And based on the extremely incompetent... yes, I must emphasize, the extremely incompetent performance of the Kanagawa Police and the result of their severe lack of forensic capability, the matter of the gold ring being dropped outside, picked up, and then resold to a gold shop is, without a doubt, highly unreasonable."

"At this time, I suddenly thought of a question." Uesugi Muneyuki raised a finger: "I suddenly thought that the Metropolitan Police Department's intervention was on September 15. Before that, the main investigation and handling of the Yokohama Case were all the responsibility of the Kanagawa Headquarters... Under such clumsy framing methods and forensic capabilities, perhaps they missed something."

"So I decided to restart the investigation. This time, we will perform Reverse Forensics, we will reconsider all possibilities!"

"Thus, after restarting the investigation, finally, we found a key clue that had been ignored by the Kanagawa Headquarters—the issue of the victim's vehicle being scraped... Just like that, Sasaki Toshito, a member of the Designated Organized Crime Group Kudo-kai, finally surfaced..."

Uesugi Muneyuki's explanation left everyone present spellbound. For a time, the entire venue was so quiet that only the sounds of taking photos and notes could be heard.

He himself was very cultured, had a great appearance, and his voice was infectious and persuasive. Moreover, he did not shy away from the problems of the Japanese police, generously acknowledging the series of outrageous actions by the Kanagawa Police and their act of taking out on-site evidence to frame someone. He also admitted that even the Metropolitan Police Department had been played for a fool within an information cocoon, and that even he himself had felt despair.

Everyone's emotions rose and fell under Uesugi Muneyuki's control, until that moment arrived.

Reverse Forensics!

Reconsider all possibilities!

Everything cleared up like clouds parting to reveal the sun. After considering all impossible conclusions, the one that remains, however unlikely it may seem, is the culprit!

Thus, they dredged the waters overnight, the truth came to light, the Kudo-kai's murder of Igarashi Aiko was exposed, and it was about to face the sanctions of the Metropolitan Police Department. Large groups of Public Security Police and Organized Crime Control Department detectives rushed to the front lines, a decisive battle at the peak of Kanagawa, Yokohama Tank Road, officially serialized!

Fuji TV Odaiba Building, Board of Directors.

"We can't wait any longer!" President Kameyama pointed at Uesugi Muneyuki on the screen, his saliva flying in his excitement: "Send an invitation immediately, send a formal invitation to Uesugi Muneyuki right now, ahhhhh!"

"As long as he is willing to accept an interview on our station's variety show, we at Fuji TV are willing to do anything. We can offer ten times, or even nine times, the normal guest fee! No matter what, we must secure Uesugi's first appearance at all costs!"

(End of this chapter)