Chapter 729

This case was the first time Uesugi Muneyuki had slipped up, and also the first time he had performed poorly.

In truth, Uesugi Muneyuki's modus operandi had always been to plan thoroughly before acting, cautious and suspicious by nature; yet in this case, whether due to his own complacency from things always going smoothly before, or because the opponent's plan was meticulous, Uesugi Muneyuki lowered his guard in a rare lapse, was played by the other party, and had the person snatched away right under his nose during a window of opportunity — despite tight security, surveillance, and teammates being present!

However, thinking back on it afterward, Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't shake the feeling that he had been pre-aimed at.

Meaning the opponent felt more like they had studied his movement patterns and habits, pre-aimed at the positions he might appear, and the instant he showed up, fired preemptively, taking him down directly.

So Uesugi Muneyuki had a premonition.

If they followed the clues and vehicles left by the other party, Uesugi Muneyuki and the Metropolitan Police Department were destined to come up empty-handed, and would even be ruined! Three days wasn't enough to search all of Tokyo, and the Japanese public is extremely wary of the Metropolitan Police Department abusing its power; how would the courts sign that many search warrants? It feels like the other party set a trap waiting for me to walk into…

So after thinking it over, Uesugi Muneyuki decided to switch his approach and start again from the earliest, the very first corpse.

That is, the corpse of "Imaizumi Yukio," whose identity had been replaced!

"Call Mikoto-nee over." Uesugi Muneyuki instructed calmly.

Train soldiers for a thousand days to use them for one moment; let Mikoto-nee take the lead!

Half an hour later, the Medical Examiner's Office.

The late-night autopsy room exuded an isolated, freezing stillness; only the shadowless lamps emitted a steady, overly bright light, illuminating the stainless steel autopsy table and the object upon it in minute detail.

The air was thick with the heavy smell of disinfectant, yet it could not suppress that stubborn, distinctive odor of death and decay which persisted even after treatment.

Ishihara Mikoto had already changed into a full protective suit; mask and goggles covered most of her face, revealing only a pair of eyes that were now utterly focused, gleaming with professional calm. She had coordinated the paperwork in advance and prepared all the equipment and reagents Uesugi Muneyuki requested. She had never doubted this little man's "intuition."

Uesugi Muneyuki, likewise fully geared, stood beside the autopsy table.

Lying on the table was the decayed corpse, codenamed "Imaizumi Yukio," dug up from the backyard of a detached house in Arakawa Ward.

It had been four weeks since death; decomposition was severe, but certain key features and potential information might still be hidden beneath that daunting exterior. "Start from where you think something might have been missed?" Mikoto's voice came through the mask, somewhat muffled but clear.

"Systematically, do it all over again. But this time, the focus isn't on confirming the known, but on finding 'contradictions' and 'anomalies'." Uesugi Muneyuki's voice was steady, carrying the precision of a scalpel: "Start with the most basic biometric identifiers, cross-reference with the database, not limited to the identity of 'Imaizumi Yukio'."

They first extracted whatever fingerprints could still be obtained. Due to corpse decomposition and soil contamination, the fingertip skin condition was poor, but with precision instruments and professional technique, they still managed to successfully separate and digitize several relatively complete prints, including a left thumb and a partial right index finger. Subsequently, the two also re-obtained a portion of his palm prints and sweat gland oil distribution using brand-new instruments.

At the same time, Mikoto carefully extracted DNA samples from the deceased's remaining, relatively well-protected postauricular cartilage tissue and a molar pulp that had not fully detached, sending them into the rapid sequencer for emergency analysis.

While waiting for the DNA results, Uesugi Muneyuki turned his attention to the corpse itself and the limited clothing remnants.

He once again carefully examined that unnatural injection site, and expanded the sampling range to include the surrounding seemingly normal skin tissue, as well as trace substances possibly adhering to the remaining clothing fibers.

"The soil and fibers in the fingernails have already been analyzed; they're basically consistent with the burial site, but there's a trace amount of a synthetic fiber, very much like a certain cheap carpet or specific work uniform." Mikoto pulled up the previous report: "At the time it was thought it might have come from the handling or burial process."

"Look at the clothing itself again." Uesugi Muneyuki used tweezers to carefully pry apart the shirt remnants stuck to the corpse, nearly rotted into rags: "Good texture, but ordinary style. Pockets… the previous check found them empty. But at the inner lining seams…"

Uesugi Muneyuki leaned in, adjusting the magnifying glass: "There are traces of repeated friction, very faint. Possibly from long-term placement of some flat hard object, like… a passport? Or a wallet?"

He signaled Mikoto to photograph and record it.

Next, he turned his gaze to the photos of the few personal effects brought back from the scene — mainly the interior of the room. Though all identification was lost, some lifestyle details had been recorded: "A few travel guides on the bookshelf (mostly Europe), an old but well-maintained leather suitcase, a few good-quality coats hanging in the wardrobe, men's premium skincare products in the bathroom…"

Naturally, there were also many videotapes and DVDs starring Asahi Ran, Ozawa Maria, Aoi Sora as the main actresses, and that marriage agency flyer. "A person who lives fastidiously, has a certain economic foundation, and frequently takes long overseas trips." Uesugi murmured: "The neighbors said 'Imaizumi Yukio' was low-key, but this 'low-key' might only refer to social reclusiveness, not a low standard of living. Strange, a man this wealthy in that era, why didn't he marry and have children? A man of this age, even if he's popping Viagra, would surely try his best to leave offspring." …" Ishihara Mikoto didn't answer; she frowned, looking at Uesugi Muneyuki: "No way, there's no more evidence."

The corpse has already rotted for four weeks; many parts including internal organs have started to 'liquefy'; performing an autopsy this late is indeed too late. "That's enough, Mikoto-nee, I'll take it from here." Uesugi Muneyuki signaled that Ishihara Mikoto could go rest.

He had already figured some things out.

After Mikoto-nee withdrew, Uesugi Muneyuki raised his right hand.

A faint Qinghui Stone light flashed, and the extremely feeble remnant dead soul was awakened!

A green light-and-shadow, too blurry to make out a face, floated up from the corpse.

With almost no time lost, Uesugi Muneyuki immediately questioned the light-and-shadow: "Who exactly are you? What is your relationship with the Red Goldfinch?" "My former name… Koyama Shigeo… Red Goldfinch… former Team Leader of the Second Team…" the green light-and-shadow spoke.

Indeed!

This guy wasn't some innocent bystander at all!!

There was a reason he was killed!

We were wrong from the very start! We mistakenly thought he had nothing to do with this case, just an unlucky guy who happened to have a passport and visa for overseas travel and was unluckily replaced!

But if we flip the question — what if he was connected to this case from the beginning, even… what if he was connected to the Red Goldfinch from the beginning? Then so many things make sense!

In other words, this guy was originally a Red Goldfinch executive; in the Taira Bank Heist thirty years ago, someone fled to Brazil (Honda Atsuhito), while someone else stayed behind in hiding — and that explains why this guy never married, had no job, lived extremely low-key, yet always had money and leisure, and more importantly, explains why he died!

Uesugi Muneyuki's expression grew increasingly sharp; he knitted his brows tightly.

But this still isn't enough, not nearly enough.

He only had one question left!

Thinking for a moment more, Uesugi Muneyuki seized the last chance and asked: "How exactly did you die?"

"Marriage agency… door-to-door, call girl… death…" the green shadow flickered, clearly at its limit.

"What did that call girl look like?" Uesugi Muneyuki pressed.

But the other party had already dissipated; just before fading, its mouth moved, revealing a surprised expression, as if discovering something unexpected. Marriage agency? Call girl?

Uesugi Muneyuki continued thinking.

A solitary old man with money, seemingly low-key but possibly lonely inside, seeking brief companionship or solace through such channels — not unusual.

The key is

If the killer used the opportunity of this door-to-door service to approach him…

Then the killer likely disguised themselves as a call girl, or simply controlled a call girl, using the chance to enter the room and carry out the poisoning. This explains why there were no signs of forced entry, and the victim may have been killed in a relatively relaxed state.

Inject poison, quick death, then the killer had ample time to clean the scene, take away all items that could prove the victim's true identity or expose the killer.

Everything seems to fit.

Koyama Shigeo (Imaizumi Yukio) was silenced when the call girl arrived; the killer might be an enemy tracking Red Goldfinch remnants, or… an internal purge by the organization?

But Uesugi Muneyuki's brows knitted tighter. Fragment after fragment of clues collided and pieced together in his mind's eye:

Koyama Shigeo's deep-cover identity. His time of death.

Cause of death (concealed poisoning), rapid burial after death.

Identity deliberately erased… Honda Atsuhito's return, his coercion, daughter Marie's kidnapping, the kidnappers' displayed precise intel and operational capability… and that batch of self-styled "Successors," the Young Radicals…

Suddenly, these seemingly scattered clues, as if struck by an invisible bolt of logic lightning, abruptly linked into a hair-raising loop! That "suspicious feeling" he had been puzzled by before now had a clear, terrifyingly plausible direction!

If... Koyama Shigeo's death was not simply a "silencing" or a "revenge killing"?

If... his death itself was a necessary part of the entire plan? A required "prerequisite" or "sacrifice"?

If... someone needed the identity "Imaizumi Yukio" to "reasonably" and "thoroughly" disappear, not just from the household registry, but to be "confirmed dead" physically and from the police's perspective?

Thus paving the way for some greater plot? Or, to conceal the truly astonishing secret hidden beneath the identity "Imaizumi Yukio"?

And Honda Atsuhito's sudden appeal, Marie's abduction, that terrifyingly precise abduction timing... if behind all of this, it was not the "Successors" coercing Honda Atsuhito, but...

Uesugi Muneyuki suddenly sat up straight, his protective clothing emitting a faint rustling sound.

His gaze under the shadowless lamp shifted rapidly, shock, realization, and a chill approaching freezing point intertwining within.

He stared at the silent corpse on the autopsy table, as if seeing a vast and dark conspiracy vortex, and this corpse was merely a grain of dust first devoured at the edge of the vortex.

Exiting the room, Uesugi Muneyuki immediately called the Public Security Police: "Inspector Ozawa, I need you to immediately contact the National Police Agency Security Bureau, retrieve the files, in the Red Goldfinch Peace Bank Heist case from thirty years ago, is there an organization executive named Koyama Shigeo? What happened to him afterward? And, regarding his departure records..."

At the Metropolitan Police Department, Public Security's Inspector Ozawa Keiko remained silent for a moment, said "I understand," then immediately dialed the National Police Agency Security Bureau's Department Manager Shinchou.

Uesugi Muneyuki waited a while, and soon received Department Manager Shinchou's response.

"Yes, Uesugi-kun, correct, within the file of the Peace Bank Heist from thirty years ago, there indeed was an executive named Koyama Shigeo, who seemingly fled overseas afterward, how so, is this person related to the current case?"

Uesugi Muneyuki did not answer immediately.

He slowly removed one glove, his fingers unconsciously pressing hard on his own temples, trying to calm his brain, which felt slightly dizzy from the overly shocking deduction.

"Uesugi-kun?"

If so, everything now has a reasonable explanation!

Uesugi Muneyuki's expression was shocked beyond precedent, he even had trouble believing it as he covered his eyes.

This case, from the very beginning, was not what he and Ono-da and Them imagined—a witness protection and terrorist attack case! But...