Chapter 908: , Kashiwagi Jin is an expert!

PS: I'm stuck, it's so frustrating!

Kobe Port, Okura Hotel.

Muneyoshi Uesugi stood by the window of the guest room, facing the night view of Kobe Port. The sea in the darkness looked like a piece of black silk crumpled and wrinkled, occasionally a cargo ship would pass by, its lights dragging a thin, golden trail across the dark water.

The Ferris wheel in the distance turned slowly, its colored lights blurred in the winter night fog into shapeless patches of color. Muneyoshi Uesugi, leading the Special Investigations Unit, was staying here.

As the ace department of the police force, the Special Investigations Unit is well-funded, though they mostly stay at hotels cooperating with the Police Headquarters, such as Tokyu Inn or APA.

However, this time, the local enterprise Orix Group and Kobe's local autonomous organization found Muneyoshi Uesugi and proactively booked him a high-end room, allowing the Special Investigations Unit to focus entirely on solving the case.

Yet this placed greater pressure on Muneyoshi Uesugi.

Muneyoshi Uesugi stood by the window for a long time, still wearing his overcoat, his briefcase placed at his feet.

Minami placed both of their luggage properly, took a hot towel from the bathroom, and handed it to him. He accepted it and placed it on his face; the steam quickly condensed in the cold air, and the towel soon cooled. He draped it over the radiator, turned around, and looked at Minami. His expression was one she rarely saw—lacking confidence, filled with doubt.

For Minami, this was extremely rare. In her eyes, Muneyoshi Uesugi was always the man full of confidence and resolve, able to calmly say, "The scheming frog has been touching your belly!"

What Minami liked most about Muneyoshi Uesugi was not only his character modeling and former aristocratic background, but also his confidence in mastering everything in his professional field, his ability to make correct judgments in countless crises, and his talent for breaking through the entire system to reveal the truth—making everyone love and hate him, yet unable to leave him.

For a woman like Minami, born into privilege, obsessed with bureaucracy, and accustomed to systemic influence, this was utterly fascinating.

But today, it was rare to see Muneyoshi Uesugi seemingly temporarily lacking these qualities.

"Muneyoshi, what's wrong?" Minami's sweet apple-shaped face and large eyes sparkled with concern: "Should you rest first? Or should I call Reina over?"

………I'm thinking now—what if Motoda couldn't hold out? What would happen?" Uesugi Munesetsu said with a bitter smile.

"He'll persist, if he's not the real culprit, if he truly can't hold on……it's just that we made a pointless trip." Minami comforted Muneyoshi Uesugi, speaking softly: "Did you discover something today? Is that why you feel so troubled?"

"I'm a bit worried—this might not be the last victim, I'm even more worried……" Muneyoshi Uesugi fell silent for a moment, then finally revealed a resolute gaze: "I want to perform the autopsy. Now."

"Now???" Minami had already begun removing her makeup, a cotton pad soaked in remover gently pressed on her eyelids. In the mirror, her face reflected—the "face of the Metropolitan Police" that never falters at any time—but now her eyebrows slightly furrowed: "What's wrong with you? You seem strange today. Haven't you already seen this?"

"I can't wait. Every day I wait, the evidence diminishes by a day, and Motoda has to endure one more day. You know how Kansai's interrogation methods work—Hyogo Prefectural Police are questioning him. If he breaks under pressure and confesses, the Special Investigations Unit will become a laughingstock." Uesugi Munesetsu still felt uncertain deep down. He thought for a moment, then decided to perform an autopsy overnight. Minami watched him, stared for a few seconds, tossed her makeup cotton into the trash, took off her coat from the hanger, and revealed a determined gaze: "I'm coming with you! Call Reina too."

"No. You rest. I'll take Date and Maeda. Okada and Nan'gō are coordinating with Hyōgo Prefectural Police; we have a meeting tomorrow morning. Kai and Ikeda should rest early—tonight we need results." Muneyoshi Uesugi said solemnly.

After saying that, Muneyoshi Uesugi slipped away, leaving Minami sitting before the makeup mirror.

Minami let out a soft sigh.

Behind every successful man stands a woman who supports him.

Minami doesn't understand autopsies, doesn't understand deduction, doesn't understand various judgments—her only role is to trust Muneyoshi Uesugi's judgment and decisions, and to support him to the fullest extent through the system and law from behind the scenes.

But this time, she felt Muneyoshi Uesugi seemed less confident than before.

Minami suddenly realized a very serious problem.

If the Special Investigations Unit loses Muneyoshi Uesugi's case-solving ability and judgment, what do they have left?

The Special Investigations Unit exists because of Muneyoshi Uesugi!

Thinking this way……this matter feels a bit like a trap! It seems through this method, the Special Investigations Unit is forced to participate in this case! And Muneyoshi Uesugi rarely shows a lack of confidence—clearly indicating he lacks confidence in solving the case!

Is it intentional? Accidental? Or intentionally accidental?

Minami began to think.

But the only thing she can do now is still wait for Muneyoshi Uesugi, since the Special Investigations Unit's authority is built on the premise that he is omnipotent. If he cannot solve the case, then everything is just empty talk.

Thinking this, Minami suddenly thought: perhaps Kansai-style coercive interrogation isn't so unacceptable after all!

The "Metropolitan Police face" suddenly felt that thinking this way was somewhat despicable.

But she also suddenly understood why so many young, hot-blooded police officers, after entering the system for a few years, become middle-aged men full of wind and frost—why, as one rises in rank, everyone fears trouble and becomes increasingly conservative.

Environment shapes people: to rise, one must either be a "whore" or a "daughter-in-law."

To be like Muneyoshi Uesugi—standing tall, taking the money, earning one's dignity—truly one in a million.

But this is precisely where Muneyoshi Uesugi's charm lies!

Muneyoshi! Keep going!

The forensic medicine classroom at the Hyōgo Prefectural Police Headquarters is colder at night than during the day.

The air conditioning is off, the radiators' heat cannot be retained in the spacious room—only the surgical light above the autopsy table remains on, casting white light that reflects off the pale ceramic tiles like an unreal, operating-room-like chill.

Date Chōsō and Maeda Toshihide stood at the door, not entering, as Muneyoshi Uesugi had said: "Wait outside."

Maeda Toshihide leaned against the corridor wall, holding a can of coffee bought from a vending machine, excitedly scrolling on his phone: "It's out! Finally out! Mr. Katsui's White Peak Nine Cherry Blossoms sequel! Finally out!"

"Can't you shut up! I really feel suffocated here!" Date Chōsō scratched his clothes: "Didn't we agree the Special Investigations Unit wouldn't work overtime? Didn't we agree on the eight-hour workday? Didn't we agree……well, I can work overtime, just give me compensatory leave later! I want to go to Arima Onsen with Akane-chan!"

"Speaking of this, you and her—did you do it?" Maeda Toshihide asked quietly: "I mean, during the New Year holiday—did you or not?" ……." Date Chōsō's face instantly flushed red: "This, that……"

"Stop with this and that!" Maeda Toshihide couldn't help it: "Did you or not! We're brothers—would I really go around spreading rumors?" "Did……did……do it." Date Chōsō finally whispered: "Just……I was a bit……nervous, so……Akane-chan like her…."

"So you had premature ejaculation?" Maeda Toshihide blinked, then burst into loud laughter: "Haha! Hahahaha! Hahahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha! So weak and powerless—you really are Army!"

"Shut up shut up shut up! You promised me you wouldn't say this out loud!" Date Chōsō's face turned red with rage, he immediately clapped his hand over Maeda Toshihide's mouth: "I told you not to say it! Otherwise I'll fight you!! You damn navy bastard!"

"Alright alright, I won't say I won't say." Maeda Toshihide was still laughing so hard he felt like passing out.

"Speaking of which, Maeda, in that aspect……can you teach me?" Date Chōsō blushed, suddenly began asking for instruction.

"This is simple……let me teach you……" Maeda Toshihide suddenly felt a sense of pride: "Let me teach you how to board the ship!"

What they didn't know was that, right beside them, a line of grudges stood in a row.

Hiroko Hiromichi, Tōru Miyahara, Minoru Ōsumikawa, Reina Ōsumikawa, Tetsuya Yaegaki, and others sat in a row, listening.

Another melon to eat!

Great!

【Indeed, the Ground Self-Defense Force is just no good! All day with rifles!】 Hiromichi Hiroko and Tōru Miyahara, along with the Ōsumikawa father-daughter duo, immediately agreed, only Yaegaki Tetsuya covering his face with his hand.

Stereotypes increased again.

Muneyoshi Uesugi stood before the autopsy table.

Reina Nonaka's body still retained its appearance from the afternoon. A white sheet covered from ankle to jaw, revealing only a grayish-white face. He lifted the sheet, picked up the scalpel.

The moment the blade touched the skin, his hand was steady as a calibrated instrument—this was his muscle memory.

After hundreds of hours standing before the autopsy table in his career, with thousands of incisions cutting through skin, separating tissues, and exposing organs, those movements no longer required his brain's involvement.

But his brain was not idle.

It was thinking about something else.

His forensic expertise would rank among the best in Japan, but if placed in the United States, in those forensic laboratories that process thousands of corpses annually and possess the world's most advanced equipment and technical teams, he could only be considered "competent."

The reason he is called the Japanese Police's Final Weapon in Japan is that sixty percent relies on his ability to converse with the deceased, thirty percent on the Heiwa resources of the Special Mission Division, and the remaining ten percent on his technical skills as a forensic pathologist.

That ten percent is sufficient in Japan.

Now that sixty percent has failed, he must rely on that ten percent and that thirty percent to fill this enormous gap.

This makes Uesugi Muneyuki feel immense pressure.

Uesugi Muneyuki's scalpel was moving inside Yamada Rinka's thoracic cavity.

Uesugi Muneyuki's movements were slower than usual; he was using his eyes and hands to capture those answers he normally only needed to ask a single question to obtain. He was looking, touching, measuring, and recording.

Each step took twice as long as usual.

Give me strength, my forensic medicine knowledge!

This time, I truly have to rely on you!

What he first noticed was her esophagus and stomach.

The lower segment of the esophagus showed clear, repeated, old-and-new-interwoven damage, occurring many times.

The old injuries had scabbed over, while the new ones were still oozing blood. The stomach contained almost no food residue, only a small amount of yellow-green, foul-smelling liquid. Uesugi Muneyuki's eyes narrowed.

She had been abused, someone forcing her to swallow things she should not have swallowed.

It was feces, or, using the professional term, manure.

He removed the stomach, opened it, and found more injuries on the gastric wall.

Some were mechanical injuries, like being struck by a hard object from the outside; others were chemical injuries, like being burned from the inside by some highly corrosive liquid.

He smelled that odor—it was not gastric acid, not bile, but feces.

Someone had forced her to swallow feces.

Uesugi Muneyuki's scalpel hovered above the abdominal cavity, the blade tip unstained with blood, his fingers steady, but his breath hitched at that moment. Yamada Rinka had been abused before her death.

His gaze shifted from the stomach to the other organs in the abdominal cavity.

Liver, spleen, kidneys.

The surfaces showed no obvious damage, but the color was wrong.

The liver's color was dark, its edges blunt—signs of malnutrition and repeated poisoning.

The spleen was slightly smaller than normal, atrophied, likewise.

Her body had been consuming itself even before death.

Uesugi Muneyuki removed the organs from the abdominal cavity one by one, weighing, measuring, and recording them.

Every number was written in his notebook, the handwriting somewhat messier than usual.

Then he examined the cut surfaces.

Yamada Rinka's corpse had been severed at the waist, the cut surface extremely neat.