Chapter 767

As Uesugi Muneyuki moved swiftly, Shirakawa Mai and Sakura immediately followed; Tei Reiji hesitated for a moment, but still gritted her teeth, slipped on her nude-colored high heels, and her stockinged feet pounded the ground as she ran, following behind Uesugi Muneyuki.

I want to be on camera!

As for this group from Fuji, they ran even faster than Uesugi Muneyuki!

Tasō Hisako's room is on the first floor of the main building, not far from the Grand Banquet Hall.

The door was half-open; just now, those two attendants saw the scene through the crack.

Uesugi Muneyuki pushed the door open, and Shirakawa Mai followed closely behind.

In the room, Tasō Hisako lay on the tatami mat, her posture twisted so horribly it was hard to look at.

She clearly had undergone a violent struggle.

The blanket was kicked to one side, the coffee table overturned on the floor, the teacup shattered to pieces. Her body curled into a ball, one hand clenched tightly over her stomach, the other desperately gripping her phone.

The phone showed an unanswered call—Ichiran—yesterday, after the sudden snow and landslide, the base station malfunctioned, phones had no signal, so she repeatedly dialed her husband's number, emergency calls, 110 and 120, none of which went through.

Her face was contorted in pain, vomit smeared around her mouth and collar, her eye sockets strained nearly to bursting, pupils fully dilated. Unlike Tokugawa Ryuichi's sudden death, unlike Tokugawa Noriko's peaceful passing, Tasō Hisako struggled to her death. Uesugi Muneyuki crouched down and began examining.

Time of death was approximately three to four hours ago, roughly around 8 or 9 this morning—when most people were still asleep, or hunkered down in the panic of the incident. Rigor mortis had begun to form, but was not yet pronounced.

The cause of death was also respiratory paralysis, poisoning.

Like the previous two victims, but the toxin's dosage or type may differ—her death was too agonizing, indicating the poisoning process was more violent.

"How is it? Junior Student? Any discoveries?" Shirakawa Mai was quite calm, for she had no fear at all; as for the Snow Maiden legend, that was undoubtedly just the Village Flower Palace strolling out for leisure, her favorite being this sort of antiquated atmosphere.

Best if there's a murderer—my glaive is already thirsting for blood!

Shirakawa Mai revealed a bloodthirsty expression.

"Let's look first." Uesugi Muneyuki fell silent for a moment, then began examining the scene.

The scene here was quite normal; Uesugi Muneyuki gave it a brief check, found little of note, his luggage was also quite ordinary—just that Tasō Fujin was older and not well-maintained, her skin slightly wrinkled on face and body, possibly needing a light ironing.

Uesugi Muneyuki's gaze swept the room, finally landing on the bedside cabinet.

There sat a medicine bottle.

He picked up the bottle, examined it carefully—stomach medicine.

"Also stomach medicine?" Shirakawa Mai mused: "Junior Student, did you notice? Tokugawa Ryuichi had stomach medicine, Tokugawa Noriko had stomach medicine, and now Tasō Fujin also has stomach medicine."

"Yes, Senior Student, what do you think?" Uesugi Muneyuki nodded.

"I feel there must be something suspicious!" Shirakawa Mai smiled lightly: "But I'm not a professional, so this still depends on you, Junior Student; however, I believe there must be some connection here."

"Correct, if I'm not mistaken, there must be a massive conspiracy behind this." Uesugi Muneyuki turned the stomach medicine in his hand, sniffed it. Indeed, it was the same stomach medicine as Tokugawa Noriko's.

"Please have Tasō Shigefu come over." Uesugi Muneyuki said to Sakura: "Now, please."

"Yes!" Sakura's little head nodded frantically; she immediately sprinted off, her face flushed with excitement.

Hmm?

Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't help but glance again; he suddenly realized Sakura wasn't actually that small—her movements were a bit larger, and she trembled a little. Good, keep training hard; she might yet become the next Eirina!

Tasō Shigefu was quickly brought over.

As usual, this old president facing his deceased wife showed not complete indifference, but not deep grief either—he shed a few tears, yet appeared relatively calm.

"Did your wife have a stomach condition?" Uesugi Muneyuki calmly asked.

"Ah, yes, she has always had a gastric perforation and chronic gastritis." Tasō Shigefu wiped his tears: "She previously underwent surgery at Keio University Affiliated Hospital; the specifics I'm not clear on, as I'm busy with company affairs..."

"Attendant, fetch the satellite phone and Yellow Pages." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded after hearing this.

"The attendant quickly brought the satellite phone and Yellow Pages; Uesugi Muneyuki immediately dialed: 'Hello, is this Keio University Affiliated Hospital? I am Uesugi Muneyuki!'"

"Uesugi Muneyuki? Are you the Chief Medical Examiner of the Special Mission Division, Criminal Investigation Department, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department?" Upon hearing the name, the other end immediately went on alert: "May I ask, has a murder case occurred?!"

Uesugi Muneyuki."

He glanced at the corpse on the floor.

Indeed!

"Yes, I encountered a murder case at Shimanami Onsen Sekizenkan in Gunma Prefecture; the deceased is Tasō Hisako, who underwent surgery at your hospital before, aged 58; I wish to inquire about her medical history..."

"Sorry, Chief Uesugi, we would like to help, but since this involves patient privacy rights..." Keio University Affiliated Hospital gave a stern official response.

Uesugi Muneyuki handed the satellite phone to Tasō Shigefu's president, giving him a look.

"Hello, I am Tasō Shigefu, husband of Tasō Hisako; I demand your hospital immediately provide Chief Uesugi with all medical records and diagnoses concerning my wife, and prescription proofs." Tasō Shigefu immediately understood, took the phone, and said.

"Understood." Indeed, upon hearing it was the deceased husband's authorization, Keio Hospital immediately shifted attitude: "Please wait, we are retrieving the documents now."

Uesugi Muneyuki nodded; communicating with smart people is just easy.

No way, Japanese people are just this nitpicky and overemphasize "formalism"; after society became highly atomized, Japanese people have learned to highly protect themselves—without authorization, they won't act on anything.

Uesugi Muneyuki soon received a brief explanation of Tasō Hisako's condition from the other end; then, holding the medicine, he asked: "When was the last prescription issued?"

"About three months ago."

"So Tasō Hisako's medicine has nearly been used up?"

"If following the regimen and taking it regularly and quantitatively, it should be so."

"Understood, thank you."

Setting down the satellite phone, Uesugi Muneyuki asked Tasō Shigefu: "Tasō-san, did your wife previously know Tokugawa Noriko?" "Actually, I'm not entirely sure, but likely they were fairly familiar, for I once heard my wife mention the Kishū Family Head multiple times, and Hisako often participated in your old nobility's activities, so they should be fairly acquainted." Tasō Shigefu wiped his tears, somewhat uncertainly: "My company affairs are busy..."

"Hmm, one last question: during this trip, did your wife mention her medicine was nearly used up?" Uesugi Muneyuki finally asked.

"Oh, this point she indeed mentioned; she previously said this batch of medicine was almost finished, so this trip she couldn't drink alcohol or eat seafood." Tasō Shigefu immediately gave a clear answer.

"I see, that makes sense." Uesugi Muneyuki gestured for everyone to withdraw.

He was about to trigger the Death Soul Contract.

Approximately ten minutes later, Uesugi Muneyuki emerged from the room.

"How is it? Junior Student?" Shirakawa Mai stood gracefully before him, her lovely face full of curiosity: "What do you say?" "My guess was correct—the medicine was not Tasō Fujin's own, but borrowed." Uesugi Muneyuki finally exhaled deeply: "Do you know who she borrowed it from?"

"What's so hard about that? Obviously she borrowed it from Tokugawa Noriko." Shirakawa Mai blinked her large eyes: "In other words, the stomach medicine is poisonous!" "Yes, the stomach medicine is poisonous; Tokugawa Noriko ingested poison and died in her sleep from toxin onset, yet without violent struggle, whereas Tasō Fujin's death was similarly due to her ingesting poisoned stomach medicine!" Uesugi Muneyuki wore an expression of relief: "Then, Senior Student, I shall test you: if the stomach medicine is poisonous, what does that imply?"

"Ah-ha! Let me think!" Mai Xuejie crossed her arms, thought for a moment, and on her exquisitely beautiful face, which was perfect down to the finest detail, a brilliant smile appeared: "If the stomach medicine was poisonous, then Tokugawa Noriko, being aware of it, could not possibly have lent it to Tasō Hisako, given her status, relationship, and morals—she would never do such a thing, so she must have been unaware."

"Yes, and if she was unaware, then this does not align with the logic of her choosing to poison her son or committing suicide due to his death; therefore, she could not have committed suicide, meaning the only remaining possibilities are homicide or accidental death." Uesugi Muneyuki raised a finger: "So, let us trace back to the earlier situation. If Tokugawa the elder lady did not commit suicide, then she must have died from poison after ingesting toxic medicine. Considering the timing issue… and, Senior Student Mai, did you notice? The Tokugawa couple once said the doctor had instructed the elder lady not to eat anything after six o'clock in the evening, but we saw her after last night's banquet—what time was it then?"

"It was definitely past six o'clock!" Sakura immediately interjected from beside.

"Exactly! I remember, it was already past six o'clock!" Tei Reiji followed up.

"So, do you understand now?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked calmly: "Do you understand what this case is really about, why Tokugawa Ryuichi, Tokugawa Noriko, and Tasō Hisako all died, and where the root of the matter truly lies?"

Everyone at the scene fell into deep thought.

"I understand." After thinking it over, Mai Xuejie finally spoke: "The root cause is that the mother poisoned her son, and the son, in turn, poisoned his mother!"

Upon hearing this, Stone Breaking Heaven Shock!

Mother kills son! Son also kills mother?!

But, when Tokugawa Noriko died, was Tokugawa Ryuichi not already dead?!

A dead person—how could they possibly kill someone?!