Chapter 6

Here we go again!

Once again, the Japanese police were being mocked to their faces!

But wasn't this guy still a suspect? Was it really okay for him to be this arrogant?

The officers on the scene all had stiff expressions, and even the composed Inspector Megure had a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Yet Lin Xinyi had no intention of sparing his Japanese colleagues' dignity.

"Do you guys think this is some detective novel?"

"If even the most basic crime scene investigations have to rely on detectives, then the police might as well be like that extra pair of chopsticks you get with a takeout order—completely unnecessary!"

"Especially you, Officer Komatsu!"

He directed his sharp criticism at the young officer acting as the medical examiner.

"Your skills are an embarrassment to your profession."

"Honestly, I really have to wonder—how did you even graduate from medical school?!"

It wasn't that Lin Xinyi was nitpicking.

As a former forensic pathologist, he simply couldn't tolerate incompetents within his field.

A president might get away with pretending to understand things, but a forensic expert couldn't.

Forensic pathology wasn't just any profession—if an unqualified person was in the role, the voices of the dead would never be heard, the truth would remain buried, and justice would never be served.

Now, witnessing Officer Komatsu's incompetence firsthand, Lin Xinyi felt an indescribable frustration.

Did everything really have to wait for a detective to handle?

You're the police. You're the forensic expert!

Of course, in reality—

This was just Lin Xinyi being overly serious.

If he truly understood what kind of world he had landed in, he would have known—

In this detective's world, the police were always weakened to an absurd degree.

If the police had real-world levels of forensic science and investigative techniques—if they could even just install more security cameras—99% of cases would solve themselves.

Where would that leave space for "great detectives" to shine?

And beyond that, there was another real-world reason behind Officer Komatsu's lack of skill:

"Medical school? I never went to medical school."

Officer Komatsu scratched his head awkwardly.

"Technically, I'm only a part-time medical examiner."

"Our forensics division is constantly short-staffed."

"So we have to pull personnel from crime scene investigations to handle basic autopsies."

"Hah?" Lin Xinyi was dumbfounded. "This is a job you can do part-time?"

In truth, this wasn't as surprising as it seemed.

Forensic pathologists were in short supply everywhere, but especially in Japan.

Becoming one required the same six-year medical education as a regular doctor.

But while Japanese doctors enjoyed some of the highest salaries across all professions—averaging 12.32 million yen annually, with experienced doctors easily making 20 to 30 million yen a year—

Forensic pathologists, despite the same education, earned less than half of that.

And unlike doctors, who had clear career advancement paths, forensic pathologists had nowhere to go.

Since there were so few of them, even if they got promoted, who would be left to actually do the autopsies?

The income gap was painfully obvious.

On top of that, medical school tuition in Japan was absurdly high. For private institutions, the full six-year program could cost tens of millions of yen.

A doctor could pay that off in a few years—but a forensic pathologist? They might never make that money back.

Low pay. Grueling work. No career progression. And having to deal with corpses every day.

Any smart medical student wouldn't dream of choosing forensic pathology.

"There are only about 150 licensed forensic doctors in all of Japan."

"Expecting a forensic pathologist to be present at every crime scene is just unrealistic."

Officer Komatsu sighed.

"That's why our standard procedure at the Metropolitan Police Department is to have part-time medical examiners like me conduct the initial examinations—basic things like estimating cause and time of death, collecting forensic samples, and inspecting the scene."

"If we come across a case with significant uncertainties, then we request assistance from the National Research Institute of Police Science or a university forensic lab."

"I see…"

Lin Xinyi quickly calmed down.

It was true—being a forensic pathologist was a tough, unpopular job no matter where you were.

Even in his past life, where conditions were far better, there were only about 11,000 forensic experts working for the public security system—responsible for all criminal cases in a nation of 1.4 billion people.

As one of them, he had spent every day rushing from one case to the next.

That was exactly why, when given a second chance at life, he had decided to pick a more relaxing career—to experience a peaceful, uneventful daily life.

"In that case…"

After realizing the serious lack of forensic expertise in Japan's police force, Lin Xinyi thought for a moment before speaking up:

"Let me conduct the initial autopsy for you."

"You? No way!"

Officer Komatsu stared at him in shock.

This guy was still a suspect in the case! How could they just let him touch the body?

Wait—he was still a suspect, right?

How had they ended up standing here, getting chewed out by him, following his every instruction like scolded children?

Not just Komatsu—even the surrounding crowd started realizing something was off.

Lin Xinyi seemed to have a special presence about him—an air that made people instinctively trust him.

It was hard to describe.

But Ran was able to put it into words:

"His aura… it's just like Shinichi's when he's solving a case."

That was the power of a great detective.

Their unwavering focus, their absolute confidence—their eyes always leading people toward the truth.

But forensic pathologists had the same aura.

Carrying that unique presence, Lin Xinyi calmly reassured them:

"I won't do anything reckless."

"If I tried to tamper with the corpse under the watchful eyes of the police and that 'great detective,' wouldn't that just be suicide?"

"But…" Officer Komatsu hesitated, looking toward Inspector Megure for guidance.

However, Megure instead turned to another person—Shinichi Kudo.

Lin Xinyi resisted the urge to mock how absurd it was that a high schooler had the final say in a police investigation.

Instead, he simply looked at the famous "Heisei Holmes."

It was clear—what Shinichi said now would decide everything.

But Shinichi didn't give an immediate answer.

Instead, he narrowed his eyes, curiosity and reluctance mixed in his gaze.

"Do we really need to keep investigating the body?"

"Lin Xinyi… didn't you already find the decisive evidence before I did?"

He put heavy emphasis on "before I did."

Clearly, being outpaced in a deduction had reignited his competitive spirit.

Lin Xinyi, however, completely ignored his competitive gaze.

"There's no such thing as decisive evidence yet."

"Forensic work should never be based on assumptions. Even if we have a preliminary conclusion, we can't let that make us complacent."

"Because the next discovery might overturn everything we thought we knew. This is about the dignity of the dead and the pursuit of justice—we can't afford to be careless."

"For example, in this very case…"

He paused, then pointed at the dismembered body laid out on the plastic sheet.

"Everyone assumes this is a brutal homicide. That there must be a killer who chopped up the victim."

"But if you look closely at the corpse, you'll realize…"

"Huh?"

A wave of disbelief swept through the crowd.

"Are you saying… this isn't a murder?"

The body had been dismembered. Parts were still missing. Blood had literally painted the water red.

If this wasn't murder… what the hell was it?

Their skepticism was plain to see.

But Lin Xinyi paid no mind to their doubtful gazes.

He pointed firmly at the scattered remains and declared:

"That's right. After my initial examination…"

"This is a case of suicide by dismemberment."