Chapter 977

Cold air rushed over his face. The lighting fixtures flickered slightly in the low temperature, illuminating the male corpse in dark blue workwear lying on the ground, making it look pallid.

The deceased lay on his side, with a sunken wound at the back of his head; blood had congealed into dark red ice crystals at -5°C, like a scattering of crushed agate.

Where did all this blood come from?

Uesugi Muneyuki stared at the crimson ice crystals on the ground, unable to resist commenting: Indeed, one cannot trust what others say—many things can only be known by seeing them with one's own eyes.

Even seeing may not necessarily be the truth!

There was a very obvious wound at the back of the head, appearing as if inflicted by a blow to the occiput that caused immediate death.

Killed by a single blow and then frozen to death?

Secret transport of a corpse? Organ trafficking? Murder? Accidental death?

No, if the Qinghui Stone glows, it indicates the deceased had a grievance, meaning it is highly likely murder.

But if the Qinghui Stone does not glow, it means the deceased had no grievance, yet murder cannot be entirely ruled out, for the deceased might not know he was murdered.

Uesugi Muneyuki did not rush to turn the corpse; he waited in place for a while until Asuka delivered his package.

Yes, it is unfortunate, but because Uesugi Muneyuki always encounters murder cases when he goes out, he has grown accustomed to carrying essential forensic tools in his luggage.

Japan has such a dedicated forensic pathologist as him—how delightful, how delightful! Tooth sound!

"Thank you, Taro—oh no, I mean Ashura Rei." Uesugi Muneyuki took the small bag and thanked Asuka.

"Well~ Besides me, no one else specially brings you things, Muneyuki, honestly!" Asuka stood with hands on hips, puffed out her cheeks, wearing a "What would you do without me?" tsundere expression: "Why do I always run into things like this? I just want to have some fun!"

"Alright, alright, Ashura Rei, let's go play—just leave this guy here!" Mai Xuejie embraced Asuka from behind.

"No way! Without me, Muneyuki can't manage!" Asuka continued her tsundere act: "He can't do it alone! Besides me, who else would lend him a hand?"

"I can!" Sakura immediately raised her hand.

"Damn!! Shut up!" Asuka flared up, baring her teeth and claws.

Uesugi Muneyuki then crouched beside the corpse, using the back of his hand to sense the ground's temperature distribution, then inserted an infrared ear thermometer into the deceased's ear canal to measure core temperature.

-1.2°C.

He frowned, pulled out his phone, opened a timer, and began calculating using the Hensser corpse cooling formula.

Cold storage temperature -5°C, deceased's core temperature -1.2°C, skin temperature nearly equal to ambient, but the core cooling curve shows the time required to drop from room temperature (about 20°C) to the current value is significantly longer than if death had occurred directly in the cold storage.

That is to say, before entering the cold storage, the deceased had already been dead for over eight hours.

Uesugi then turned the corpse over to observe lividity.

He shone a flashlight at a 45-degree angle onto the skin; the color there made him pause for two seconds.

Bright red. Not the normal dark purplish-red.

Bright red lividity + bitter almond taste in the mouth + gums exhibiting abnormal bright pink—these three indicators linked together point to the same conclusion.

Carbon monoxide poisoning?

Uesugi Muneyuki re-examined the wound at the back of the head.

The wound edges showed no swelling, no hemorrhage focus, the surface was dry, and there was no vital reaction.

That was postmortem.

Combined with the lividity distribution on the back—prominent pooling on the back and buttocks—indicating the deceased remained supine for a long time after death, this blunt force trauma likely occurred during handling.

Was it really an accidental death?

Red bean paste???

Uesugi Muneyuki put down the flashlight, sat cross-legged on the cold storage floor, removed one glove, and gently touched the deceased's icy forehead with the pad of his bare finger.

Then he closed his eyes.

The breath of the soul in the cold was exceptionally clear—it lacked the syllables and grammar of language, more like a thin,

carrying a salty damp mist, slowly seeping into Uesugi Muneyuki's perceptual boundary.

【Who are you?】Uesugi Muneyuki whispered.

Yet disappointing him, the other gave no reply.

Also, if the Qinghui Stone does not glow, it means the other has nothing to say.

But Uesugi Muneyuki still has a way.

Death flashback!

The mist stirred slightly; the accumulation of memory fragments instantly unfolded before Uesugi Muneyuki, from which he could extract images: 【Midnight dock, an old generator, sealed cabin, smell of bituminous coal, sudden wave of dizziness, collapsing, never rising again.】

【Are you a dockworker?】Uesugi Muneyuki asked next.

The image revealed more specific information: 【A person alone on night shift, no drinking, no illness, merely that the generator leaked. When he collapsed, he had no chance to shout.】

【48】【You were shoved into a freezer after death, then transported onto this ship. Do you know?】

【After you died, someone stuffed you into a freezer and then shipped you onto this Ship. Do you know that?】

The residual emotion conveyed by the soul was faint.

No anger, no fear—only a kind of fatigue, like "having worked a day and finally able to lie down," peaceful.

That feeling also carried some trivial fragments: 【Annual income about 5.5 million yen, with social security and paid leave, though hard the treatment was acceptable, no one to claim his corpse, his only worry being whether the company would find excuses to deduct compensation.】

Uesugi Muneyuki spent considerable time browsing the deceased's memory fragments.

It turned out he was a dockworker.

Uesugi Muneyuki pondered thoughtfully.

In reality, dockworkers in Japan are fairly well compensated.

Japanese dockworkers generally earn between 4.8 million and 6 million yen annually, with relatively good conditions—these workers often receive meals and lodging, enjoy social security and paid leave; naturally, Japanese dockworkers work frequent overtime, but overtime pay is generally guaranteed, so theoretically their monthly salary is about 220,000–280,000 yen, but with overtime added, one can easily earn over 350,000 yen monthly; besides, there are year-end or mid-year bonuses, making an annual income above 5 million yen quite attainable.

No choice—this is heavy labor; if wages were low, no one would do it.

Even so, Japanese dockworkers remain blissfully unaware of their good fortune; they actually hold annual "Spring Struggles," constantly negotiating with companies through unions, pressuring firms to improve working conditions and treatment.

Hmph~ Truly lacking awareness! This is no ordinary dockworker—must bring out the heavy fists! One empty output action!

However, generally speaking, since the labor costs of these dockworkers are indeed relatively high globally, many Japanese shipping and logistics companies prefer to hire workers from other countries or even Southeast Asia—where you'd earn 350,000 yen a month in Japan, 100,000 yen a month in Southeast Asia counts as high pay.

You don't work, there are plenty of people who will! This is what American shipping companies said to American dockworkers in the 1970s, and it's what Japanese shipping companies say to Japanese dockworkers now, and other countries will say the same in the future.

So the prospects for Japan's shipping industry are actually unclear, business worldwide is gradually shrinking, it's a sunset industry.

Work a day, live a day.

What else can we do?

Life is the emperor's commodity market! Only death can bring the conclusion of responsibility!

【Understood, thank you.】Uesugi Muneyuki opened his eyes: 【Your company wants to cover up the industrial accident. They disguised you as frozen cargo and shipped you out to avoid compensation. I will expose this matter, your due compensation will be deposited into your account, rest in peace!】

The mist of the soul trembled slightly, then as if relieved, it slowly dispersed, almost imperceptibly.

Uesugi Muneyuki stood up, put on his gloves again, and made a brief verbal record to the corpse: "Cause of death: carbon monoxide poisoning. Blunt force trauma to the back of the head occurred postmortem. Time of death: approximately twenty-four hours ago. Original place of death: a certain fishing dock in Shizuoka Prefecture. Transport method: transferred in refrigerated containers, boarded at a dock near Shizuoka Prefecture. Classification: industrial accident, not a criminal case."

He took off his gloves, rolled them into a sealed bag, and walked out of the cold storage.

It looked like there was nothing special.

The people in the hallway were still the same. Captain Sato stood outside the police tape, Mai leaned against the wall scrolling on her phone, Sakura squatted in the corner whispering something to Asuka, and Shimura Sayuri—she had already changed her clothes.

Fang Tang Cheng Yi stood beside her, quietly comforting her.

Seeing Uesugi Muneyuki come out, Shimura was the first to lift her head. Her eyes were still swollen, the tip of her nose red, her voice carrying a hint of grievance and confusion: "Mr. Uesugi————you've been inside for almost two hours————you're not the legendary forensic doctor? Why so long? Shouldn't forensic autopsies have standardized procedures? Just looking at the cause of death should be enough——

"Shimura!" Mai Xuejie heard this and couldn't help but roll her eyes.

Uesugi Muneyuki was originally walking down the hallway, expressionless, walking toward the captain.

Upon hearing this, he stopped, the corner of his mouth involuntarily curling up—an expression of being amused by something, unable to suppress a smile.

"Miss Shimura Sayuri," he said: "You are correct. Forensic autopsies do indeed have standardized procedures."

Shimura blinked, truly: "Why————"

"The problem lies here." Uesugi Muneyuki walked back two steps, his tone carrying a sense of seriousness, but obviously trying not to laugh: "I can follow standardized autopsy procedures, but can these deceased follow standardized procedures in death?"

Shimura was stunned: "What do you mean?"

"Every corpse's situation is different. Some die from stab wounds, some from suffocation, some from poisoning, some have their heads knocked after death following two days of freezing—" Uesugi Muneyuki pointed toward the cold storage: "This corpse's cause of death appears to be head trauma on the surface, but is actually carbon monoxide poisoning. I need to determine whether this head trauma occurred before or after death, how it formed, where the death occurred, and when the corpse was moved onto the ship. If any link in this judgment is mistaken, the autopsy report I sign will become evidence for others to pursue liability."

"And, really need to be standardized?" Uesugi Muneyuki said with a half-smile: "Let me put it this way, you know tooth extraction? According to the medical standards of the University of Tokyo School of Dentistry, before extraction you must rule out twenty contraindications, just completing this work can arrange examinations worth millions of yen for the patient, how many patients can actually bear that?"

Shimura opened her mouth, then closed it, her cheeks flushed with a red hue, whether from embarrassment or shame she didn't know: "Sorry, I didn't know————"

"It's fine, doctors are close to everyone, but medical skill is far from everyone." Uesugi Muneyuki shook his head: "I don't demand everyone fully understand, but I only ask that you not be overly critical and nitpicky, doctors are human, humans cannot avoid mistakes, and treating illness essentially involves some degree of gamble, where there is a bet there is a loss."

Shimura didn't dare lift her head.

Fang Tang Cheng Yi lightly patted her back beside her, his gaze sweeping toward Uesugi's direction.

Has the aconitine not taken effect yet???

However, Uesugi Muneyuki had already walked toward Captain Sato, handing over the sealed sample bag and the voice recording from his phone: "Cause of death classification: carbon monoxide poisoning, original place of death: a certain fishing dock in Shizuoka Prefecture, classified as an industrial accident. The blunt force trauma to the back of the head□was formed as a collision injury during postmortem handling. Not a criminal case. Suggest the captain report to the Japan Coast Guard noting accidental death, not homicide.""

Captain Sato took the record, as if setting down a thousand-pound burden.

His shoulders immediately slumped, his voice carrying a tremor of having survived calamity: "Mr. Uesugi————thank you. Really thank you."

"Food and lodging are free." Uesugi Muneyuki said calmly: "Also, my fee for one autopsy is one hundred thousand yen, remember to transfer it via public-to-public channel to my account at Tokyo University, indicate the source, I need to file taxes."

Captain Sato was stunned for a moment, then nodded firmly: "Of course! This voyage, all expenses for you, Miss Bai Chuan, and your two female companions will be borne by the ship! I'll arrange it right away!"

He turned and hurried away, as he walked he took out his walkie-talkie to notify all departments: "Cancel the alarm, accident incident, non-criminal case."

The crowd in the hallway gradually dispersed.

The crew began clearing the police tape, the night shift attendant resumed normal movement.

Shimura Sayuri was helped back to her room by Fang Tang Cheng Yi, as she passed Uesugi she whispered "really sorry" softly, her voice muffled in her hoodie.

Mai Xuejie straightened up from the wall, walked to Uesugi Muneyuki's side: "Finished?"

"Finished."

"Then you can rest?"

"Food and lodging are free."

"Haha, truly an expensive autopsy!" Mai Xuejie covered her mouth and smirked: "One autopsy 2 million+100 thousand?"

"Then I won't do the autopsy!" Uesugi Muneyuki said with a wicked smile: "Then they'll have to dock at Owari Province, wait for someone to do the autopsy, wait for police handling, the voyage will be canceled, people will come for refunds, losses of hundreds of millions of yen notwithstanding, it will also cause disputes, this deal they won't lose on, I naturally won't either."

"Beautiful you!" Mai Xuejie pinched his waist lightly: "Then tomorrow we go eat that teppanyaki set meal, lobster and wagyu beef, both maxed out."

Sakura and Asuka also walked over from the corner. Asuka held in her hand a cup of canned hot tea bought from a vending machine, and handed it to Uesugi: "Muneyuki, you've worked hard."

"Thank you A-shu~" Uesugi Muneyuki took the tea can, pulled the tab, and took a sip.

Sakura glanced at him sideways from beside him, whispering: "Muneyuki, you were in there for so long————were you talking to that person?"

Uesugi Muneyuki glanced at her, Sakura is a thoughtful girl, and she has already begun to know some things about his abilities.

"Mm." He briefly admitted: "The memory of the death flashback is that he died accidentally. He said the company treatment wasn't bad, had annual leave and social security, just no family."

"Is there anyone to collect his corpse?"

"The police will contact his company. I've already written the compensation matter into the report." Uesugi Muneyuki paused: "Not a big case. Just an unlucky office worker, ran into a scrapped generator."

"He should have other collateral relatives, then they'd get the police call, those cold relatives they hadn't seen in over ten years would become warm Fukuzaku Yukichi" (the man printed on the Japanese ten-thousand-yen bill), maybe tears would even fall on the spot." Uesugi Muneyuki told a hell joke.

But Asuka didn't laugh.

Uesugi Muneyuki heard this, felt a flicker of guilt, quickly reached out to rub her head to show comfort: "Sorry, A-shu."

No way, too many autopsies, people have already become numb.

After walking about ten steps, a new disturbance came from the hallway corner—several crew members in dark blue uniforms hurried past, one saying to another: "The Japan Coast Guard's speedboat has already set off, will arrive in about forty minutes."

However, after the four of them entered the elevator, Asuka spoke up.

"Kind of strange, Muneyuki."

"Huh? What's strange?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked strangely.

"Just that Shimura's male companion, he seems to have always been somewhat hostile toward you, and moreover seems to feel some disappointment at your judgment, that Fang Tang Cheng Yi feels some disappointment!" Asuka said softly: "But, I'm also not really sure exactly what kind of disappointment he is."

"Disappointment?" Uesugi Muneyuki tilted his head.

What kind of disappointment?

Disappointment that it wasn't a murder? No way?

Disappointment that he wasn't scammed by the cruise operator? Possible.

Or disappointment from talking sense with a fool? Could he actually be hoping for a clash with the fool?

That does seem a bit strange.

But since leaving port, his vacation has already passed halfway. And his holiday goal—"no overtime, no drawing blades, no dealing with corpses"—currently stands at zero completion.

He's already run into a corpse once; surely he couldn't run into another murder?

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

Uesugi Muneyuki silently suppressed that thought, thinking this corpse had been confirmed as an accidental death—surely the shipping company wouldn't make him "be accidentally killed"?

Doesn't exist!

But Uesugi Muneyuki suddenly thought of something.

Where is Eto Miyabi?

At the moment the elevator doors closed, in the shadows at the end of the hallway, a pair of eyes followed their silhouettes as they vanished.

The owner of those eyes withdrew their gaze, lowered their head, and glanced at an unsent message on the phone screen. They deleted the draft, then typed a few new characters: "Corpse classified as accidental. Alarm temporarily lifted. Proceed as planned."

"But the original 'sacrifice' is missing; we need a new sacrificial offering for the ritual."

Sent.

And Flight Bird No. 1 waited in the darkness for the Japan Coast Guard to arrive, ready to hand over the corpse and Uesugi Muneyuki's autopsy report, then continued sailing deeper into the Setouchi Sea.

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