Chapter 135
Due to Tokyo's high crime rate, the Metropolitan Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division always seems to be understaffed, especially the First Investigation Division.
Therefore, after the rumors about prisoners complaining about police sting operations had subsided at the end of last year, Chief Odagiri of the First Investigation Division called Usuiba Saiki and Hagiwara Kenji back to work.
Theoretically, experienced staff should mentor newcomers and help them get familiar with the environment, but...
Everyone in the First Investigation Division had some contact with Shinryu Samakawa during their internship at the Mobile Investigation Team, and had witnessed his unreasonable reasoning and observation skills. When Section Chief Odagiri asked who was willing to partner with Shinryu Samakawa, everyone remained silent.
After all, nobody wants to lose face in front of young people!
When I receive the assignment to investigate, I realize I haven't thought of anything, but the newbies have already taken care of everything... Just thinking about it is painful.
Section Chief Odagiri had anticipated this situation, so he calmly arranged for Kenji Hagiwara to partner with Shinryu Samakawa, placing them under Inspector Megure's command and training.
If you encounter any difficulties or don't understand something, either ask others or try to overcome it yourself. This is also a way to learn. Don't expect your boss to consider everything for you; this isn't kindergarten.
Kenji Hagiwara had no objections; in fact, he was quite happy about it—he felt that being able to keep a close eye on his friend who was on the verge of danger was a good arrangement.
Although Usui Saiki felt that having an acquaintance as a partner might affect his performance, he thought that if it were someone else, it would be about the same in the long run, so he decided to just accept it and have Hagiwara Kenji as his partner.
Inspector Megure was quite familiar with the two of them. Perhaps because they had met so many times, he had become somewhat immune to the "behind-the-scenes aura" and interacted with them very naturally: "Welcome, welcome. I won't say much more. Please take care of me in the future."
Compared to others, Inspector Megure was very easygoing. As long as the case could be solved, he didn't care who solved it, since they were all from the First Investigation Division.
Back when Yusaku Kudo was in Japan, he often consulted Yusaku Kudo. The newspapers were always criticizing the Japanese police for being useless, but he didn't care. Now, at least the cases are being solved by our own people! What more could he ask for!
The workplace atmosphere is excellent, and Kenji Hagiwara is very happy that their boss has this kind of personality.
Otherwise, if it were a more demanding one, or even someone who likes to discriminate, looks down on young people but is jealous of their abilities, and is always secretly causing trouble... he would have to worry about how to prevent Xiao Shenliu from being disappointed in the police.
"Not at all, we look forward to Inspector Megure's guidance in the future."
"Hahahaha!" Inspector Megure laughed heartily. "If you don't understand anything, just ask me. Take advantage of the fact that we're not too busy yet and familiarize yourselves with our lessons as soon as possible."
Less than half an hour after Inspector Megure said those words, they received their assignment.
"The Mobile Investigation Team discovered a strange body near the Metropolitan Mizumoto Park in Katsushika Ward." Inspector Megure led them hurriedly to their destination. "The body was completely naked, covered in wounds, with its abdomen cut open and the fatal wound in its throat. It was wrapped in blue plastic film, tied with a rope, and placed near a water tank..."
Seeing that Inspector Megure seemed to be heading towards the driver's seat, Kenji Hagiwara quickly said, "I'll drive. Fukami, you sit next to me."
Bo Yezhai responded.
Inspector Megure breathed a sigh of relief, turned around without objection, and walked to the back seat: "Okay, drive safely."
Sigh, he really should have let his subordinates drive at this point, otherwise people might gossip if they saw it. But he was afraid that if he asked, "Who's going to drive?" and then Hanakawa Shinryu would volunteer, so he decided to do it himself...
This has nothing to do with whether he trusts Shinryu Hanchuan; he simply feels uneasy and anxious when Shinryu Hanchuan drives while he sits in the back seat. But if Kenji Hagiwara were to drive and he and Shinryu Hanchuan were to sit in the back together, that would be a different kind of pressure.
But now! Not only did Kenji Hagiwara offer to drive, he also called Shinryu Kazukawa to the passenger seat, letting him have the back seat all to himself!
Inspector Megure was almost moved to tears.
It has to be said that Odagiri's decision to pair Kenji Hagiwara with Shinryu Saikawa was absolutely brilliant!
If it were someone else, who could persuade Han Chuan Shenliu to sit somewhere? They might not even utter a word, and in the end, he would be driving, the other person would be in the passenger seat, and Han Chuan Shenliu would be watching him from the back. That scene was too beautiful for him to even imagine.
Thank you, Section Chief Odagiri! Thank you, Kenji Hagiwara!
Because the First Investigation Division received an emergency report from the Mobile Investigation Team, and the situation was still unclear, there wasn't much information to discuss in the car. They would have to wait until they arrived at the scene to find out.
Inspector Megure quickly explained to them the precautions they needed to take at the scene.
Especially when addressing Usuiba Saiki, Inspector Megure reminded him, "Remember to wear your armband!"
Police officers have uniforms, but apart from patrol officers who frequently interact with the public, most other police officers only wear them for ID photos or important meetings. On ordinary days, they simply wear suits with a badge on their left breast indicating their rank.
Originally, Kenji Hagiwara was thinking that Shinryu Sugawa was easily misunderstood, and even wanted to encourage him to wear his police uniform every day. However, Saiki Usaba asked him in return, "Didn't you see me in uniform at the police academy?"
Kenji Hagiwara remained silent.
Perhaps because he hadn't seen Hanakawa Shinryu in a police uniform for several months after graduation, he was a little slow to realize it. Now, reminded of it, he thought back... how could someone wear a police uniform like a yakuza cosplayer? It was so incongruous...
Finally, he said, "Just wear a regular suit, don't bother with all that, I still have my badge."
As for the armband that Inspector Megure is talking about now, it's used to distinguish identities at the crime scene. It's more conspicuous than a badge. Inspector Megure hopes that the junior officers on duty at the scene will have good eyesight and not cause any unnecessary trouble!
Feeling increasingly uneasy, Inspector Megure simply had Usui Saiki pin the armband that read "First Investigation Division" to his sleeve in the car.
Bo Yezhai: "…………"
Kenji Hagiwara chuckled softly, "Listen to Inspector Fukami, put it on quickly. You know how easily you get misunderstood."
Inspector Megure, sitting in the back row, couldn't help but look at the back of Kenji Hagiwara's head with admiration.
Compared to Kanakawa Shinryu, whom he often met at crime scenes, he wasn't very familiar with Hagiwara Kenji. He had only met him a few times and knew that he and Kanakawa Shinryu had a good relationship and were friends. He had already remarked once when he saw Hagiwara Kenji directly arrange where Kanakawa Shinryu sat, that this friendship was stronger than he had imagined. But now, seeing that Hagiwara Kenji could actually joke about Kanakawa Shinryu directly, he really didn't expect that.
Okay, very good. From now on, if anything happens, he can go to Kenji Hagiwara first, and then have Kenji Hagiwara relay the message to Shinryu Kagawa!
The destination was a bit far from the Metropolitan Police Department, but Kenji Hagiwara had the ability to maximize the speed of the police car without violating traffic rules. Even though they set off at about the same time, they managed to get off more than ten minutes earlier than the other groups.
As soon as Usakabe Saiki got out of the car, he heard a familiar "Ah".
Then came the call he had been hearing for two months: "Hanchuan-kun! It's so nice to see you again so soon!"
He looked up and saw that it was his former colleague from the Mobile Investigation Unit, Ibuki Ai, waving enthusiastically at him. For some reason, Officer Shima, who was standing next to her, covered his face.
Inspector Megure coughed and said, "So it's an acquaintance from the Fourth Investigation Division. Go and find out what's going on."
This is where the advantage of having acquaintances comes in. The teamwork was excellent. As Usaku Saiki walked toward the cordon, Ibuki Ran immediately helped to pull up the cordon to let him in. Officer Shima stopped the patrol officers who wanted to ask questions and pointed to Usaku Saiki's armband.
The patrol officer glanced at the armband, then at the vehicle that was clearly a police car, and then at the people from the mobile search team who seemed to know him... Only then did he reluctantly believe that this guy who didn't look like a policeman was actually a policeman.
And he's from the First Investigation Division, which seems more suitable for the Organized Crime Countermeasures Division, especially for going undercover...
Ibuki Ai, standing beside Usui Saiki, said, "You really are suited for the First Investigation Division."
Arriving in a police car with the words "Metropolitan Police Department" written on it was much more convincing than sitting in a melon-shaped van. Moreover, the group of colleagues in suits and armbands around him proved his identity as a police officer even more than he and Shima in plain clothes.
Even the optimistic, cheerful, and easygoing Ibuki Ai didn't want to recall the two months that Kagawa Shinryu interned in the Mobile Investigation Team. How many times had they been implicated and misunderstood...
Officer Shima interrupted Ibuki Ai's private chat: "Let's get down to business, the body is over here."
Usaku Saiki saw the body, and Officer Shima showed him the autopsy report, while Ibuki Ran spoke from the side.
"It seems like he suffered a lot before he died. Look, there's so much glass in his wounds."
At first, Usakabe Saiki thought it was just an ordinary case, but after seeing the body, he suddenly realized that this was the work of "Strawberry Night"—the murder website run by Kitami Ii.
After Kitami gave him the website address, he not only sent it to Amuro Tooru, but also logged in and took a look himself. He roughly knew the process and the victim's final state, which was similar to the corpse in front of him.
That's strange. Was the body disposed of so carelessly? How come it wasn't discovered before?
Usakabe Saiki's mind began to race.
Inspector Megure had been waiting for Kenji Hagiwara to park, so he had walked a little slower and finally arrived. Upon seeing the body, he couldn't help but frown: "This is really... who is the culprit..."
Kenji Hagiwara used to be in the explosives disposal unit and rarely saw corpses, but he still forced himself to carefully examine the body despite his discomfort: "Why was the stomach cut open? Is there anything inside?"
Officer Shima replied, "No, it was simply cut open. Because it was wrapped in cloth beforehand, we can be sure it didn't fall out during the process, at least not since the body was discovered."
"So this is the killer's habit? Or what he's trying to express?" Inspector Megure racked his brains. "Jack the Ripper seemed to have done the same thing back then—"
"No, it has nothing to do with any of that."
Hanchuan Shenliu, who had been reading the autopsy report, suddenly spoke up, as if he knew exactly what the perpetrator was thinking, and said in a firm tone.
"This is to prevent the body from floating up due to rotting and bloating after being dumped. Since he put it here, the dumping site should be this nearby lake. Someone is responsible for transporting the body, and someone is responsible for taking the body by boat to the center of the lake to dump it. We should send people to dive immediately; there should be more bodies down there."
Silence fell.
Not only were the local police station staff silent, but even his acquaintances fell silent as well.
The young man with deep red hair and eyes looked up coldly, his brows furrowing slightly: "What's the problem?"
Inspector Megure hesitated, then said, "...A little bit..."
Ibuki Ai went even further, asking directly, "How did you manage to connect such a whole series of thoughts from just one wound?"
The police officers nearby who heard the commotion couldn't help but nod silently.
That's right! You've deduced all this in a flash; you really know what the criminal is thinking!
Hanchuan Shenliu seemed unable to understand the question and offered a reluctant explanation.
"This is the water's edge, and there's a corpse here. Any normal person would immediately think of the gigantism that would occur when a corpse is submerged in water. To avoid gigantism, you need to prevent the corpse from spreading miasma, and making a hole is the most convenient way. They've already moved it here, and the corpse has even been processed to this extent, but they didn't finish it. They just left it in such an easily discoverable place, which means there was a division of labor and accomplices... These are all easy to figure out, right?"
Others: "………………"
We're sorry, we're not normal people.
His analysis does make the logic seem very clear, but isn't the hardest part of being a police officer precisely connecting those logical chains?! Don't make it sound so easy!
And to be able to connect the limited clues to this extent in such a short time...
For some reason, the patrol officers suddenly remembered a news story from a while ago, in which a criminal claimed that some police officers wrote scripts to incite people to commit crimes, and then solved the cases themselves...
Haha, how could that be? It's already been debunked!
Just as the patrol officers were convincing themselves, they heard someone from the mobile search team ask, "Speaking of which, I suddenly remembered something. Could it be you, the police officer in the news who was reported by the criminal for staging his own story?"
Hanchuan Shenliu paused for a moment, then said, "...It's me."
Kenji Hagiwara quickly explained from the side, "That's a misunderstanding by the criminal; the person who provided the crime plan hasn't been caught yet..."
The patrol officers: "…………"
—Suddenly I understand that prisoner; his behavior was so scripted! It's impossible not to be suspicious!
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Bonus chapter, another 4,000 words! Why am I always exceeding the word count lately?
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Inspector Megure: With Hagiwara around, I feel so relieved. Thank you, Chief.
Han Chuan: Any normal person could think of blah blah blah...
Others :)
The patrol officers: This guy must have read the script! Is he really not someone who wrote and directed this himself?!
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