Point Allocation System

"Such a wound could actually kill someone... Either the victim had terribly bad luck, or the killer kept pressing the stab in for a long time." Shiraishi Kuro parted the hair at the back of the victim's head and examined the wound on his neck.

The body was propped against the wall. Its only wound was a tiny, barely bleeding "dot" on the back of the neck.

Based on Shiraishi Kuro's experience, a stab to the cervical spinal cord like this would generally impair mobility, but the odds of it causing immediate death were not high.

"Inspector Shiraishi, did you know the victim?" Shinichi asked perceptively.

He had noticed that Officer Shiraishi Kuro's expression had changed the moment he saw the victim...

Of course, he did not think Shiraishi Kuro was the killer!

After all, Shinichi had not slept earlier, and with his extraordinary memory, he clearly remembered everyone who had gone to the restroom during the estimated time of death.

Officer Shiraishi Kuro had been in first class earlier and had never come over.

Besides...

Honestly, even someone with terrible memory would remember it if a "moving wall" like Shiraishi Kuro passed by them!

"Hm? Brother Shiraishi..." Megure immediately grew tense upon hearing that, inwardly thinking, Just as I thought... Brother Shiraishi wasn't on vacation at all!

Seeing this, Shiraishi Kuro did not hide it. "Ootaka Kazuhiro, twenty-nine, freelance photographer. He'd taken a few award-winning photos, but his main source of income was secretly photographing people and blackmailing them."

"Secret photography and blackmail..." Megure immediately got a headache—this was a high-risk profession. There had to be plenty of people who hated him!

"I see. In that case, I can probably imagine why his pocket got wet," Shinichi muttered.

"His pocket got wet?" Megure immediately caught Shinichi's wording.

"Inspector Shiraishi noticed it too, right?" Shinichi had already noticed that this Officer Shiraishi from Organized Crime seemed just as meticulous in his examination of the crime scene.

Shiraishi turned his head, glanced at the smug little brat showing off, then nodded. "Yes. The lining of his pocket was wet. There are bloodstains on the wall behind him, but they don't match the position of the wound—they're much lower. Also, beside the fatal wound on the back of his neck, there are marks where something scraped across it."

For Shiraishi Kuro, noticing such suspicious details could not have been easier.

Besides his basic abilities, the Point Allocation System also allowed him to allocate points to skill-based abilities!

Among them, he had already raised [Evidence Collection] to Lv7...

And because Shiraishi Kuro had also raised the basic ability [Insight] to Lv10, [Evidence Collection] was performing at Lv7(+2)!

The system could not directly influence Shiraishi Kuro's thoughts or make him think of things he normally would not have considered, but...

From Shiraishi Kuro's perspective, whenever he saw a "suspicious detail at the scene," it would automatically be marked with a glittering effect visible only to him.

So, to Shiraishi Kuro, suspicious details on this level were plain as day!

After saying that, Shiraishi Kuro, whose face had been full of disappointment, seemed to rally somewhat. "It looks like someone moved his body after he died and gave him a quick search."

"Searched him? Then that means..." Megure caught on as well.

"That's right. He had photos or negatives on him that were damaging to someone. He was probably silenced during a blackmail exchange," Shiraishi Kuro guessed.

Shinichi also noticed that, compared to the Murder Case before them, Shiraishi Kuro seemed more concerned about the blackmail photos involving Ootaka Kazuhiro!

"Then this will be easy!" Shinichi suddenly said.

After the three officers at the scene looked over, Shinichi said smugly, "The people who could have committed the crime... that is, the people who visited the restroom during the time of the crime—other than the victim, there were four of them. My seat was in the last row, so I remember them."

"You can remember what they looked like? Let's go call the four of them over." Shiraishi Kuro hurriedly said.

Seeing that, Shinichi became even more certain that this Officer Shiraishi had boarded the plane because of the victim. He just had not expected the person he was tailing to be murdered mid-flight!

"Sigh... Then I'll leave it to you." Megure knew he could not stop Shiraishi, and as an Organized Crime officer, Shiraishi's job was to solve cases. Megure did not want to meddle too much in anything else.

Watching Shiraishi Kuro and Kudo Shinichi leave, Takagi curiously asked, "Inspector Megure, who is that boy? It's hard for an ordinary person to remember someone's face after just one glance, isn't it? Four people who merely passed by... and in such a dark environment too..."

Takagi had already realized how astonishing the memory behind the clue Kudo Shinichi had provided was!

After all, during interrogations, he often had to ask witnesses or victims about what criminals looked like.

Hardly anyone could explain it clearly. When it came to a criminal from a sudden crime whom they had only seen once, most people would not clearly remember the person's face even if they saw them face-to-face. After five minutes, they would struggle to describe it, and if the person changed clothes or appearance, an hour was enough to make clear identification impossible.

"He's the son of an old friend of mine. His father is a mystery novelist, and I used to ask his father for help with some cases... Now that I think about it, he'd always run around murder scenes when he was still a child. Looks like that cultivated his ability to analyze crime scenes..." Megure said with feeling.

Kudo Yusaku had recently been out of the country, and Megure had not seen his old friend in a long time.

"Huh? Then don't we have someone to rely on?" Takagi accurately got the point.

After that...

Megure gave him a good scolding!

The rookies in Organized Crime these days were getting worse with every class!

Meanwhile, led by Shinichi, Shiraishi Kuro met the four people who had visited the restroom earlier...

Shiraishi Kuro noticed that Shinichi was genuinely looking for them by face, not by seat location!

Since it was a night flight, Shinichi's seat had already been partially reclined, so he could not see where people stood up from. He had only caught glimpses of their faces when they passed by him—another habit of a mystery fanatic.

Besides...

To remember someone's face after they merely passed by in the dark, Shiraishi Kuro estimated that, by the system's standards, Kudo Shinichi's basic attribute [Memory] had to be at least Lv7!

Shiraishi Kuro himself was only Lv7 in that regard. Basic attributes required too many points, so to this day, only [Physique], which he had focused on raising early on, along with [Mental Strength] and [Insight], had reached Lv10—[Insight] had only been maxed out because higher [Physique] greatly enhanced his five senses, while higher [Mental Strength] improved his concentration, lowering the requirements for upgrading [Insight].

Generally speaking, Lv6 in a basic attribute already counted as exceptionally outstanding, beyond ordinary people, while Lv6 in a technical skill meant one had truly entered the field...

At the same time, Shiraishi Kuro noticed that the four people Shinichi had identified were all seated around the victim, meaning they were in the same area!

They were the young short-haired woman Amano Tsubame, seated in the same row as the victim Ootaka Kazuhiro; the fat middle-aged man Ukai Tsuneo, seated across the aisle beside him; the scruffy, bearded man Saganuma Noboru, seated directly behind him; and the middle-aged white man Edward Crow, seated directly in front of him.

When they saw Shiraishi Kuro approaching, the four of them... no, five, including Tachikawa Chizuru, the other long-haired woman traveling with Amano, all became somewhat nervous.

Unfortunately, Shinichi could not deduce anything from that emotion alone...

After all, anyone would get nervous with Officer Shiraishi planted in front of them!

Shinichi also sensed that this Officer Shiraishi was not merely huge; he also possessed a uniquely intimidating presence. He inwardly marveled, As expected of an Organized Crime detective. Looking like that... even members of Violent Organizations would probably shudder when facing him, right?

Of course, it was no surprise that Shinichi and the others felt that way. Shiraishi Kuro's technical skill—[Intimidation]—was already Lv7, enhanced by Lv10 [Mental Strength] to Lv7(+2). In that respect, he had reached the pinnacle.

Unless someone possessed exceptionally strong [Mental Strength], or had strength in numbers, they would be affected to some extent when facing Shiraishi Kuro.

"Did something happen? Kazuhiro... Our companion went to the restroom and never came back," Amano asked nervously.

"You four, come with me. Don't try anything funny!" Shiraishi said directly.

"Huh? Um... What are you going to... All right..." Ukai, the fat man in the adjacent seat, hesitated as he looked at Shiraishi, then chose not to object.

"Officer Shiraishi, you forgot to show your police ID..." Shinichi quietly reminded him.

"Oh, right, this is what I do... My apologies. I'm from Organized Crime, so I'm not used to dealing with ordinary people." Shiraishi took out his police ID as he deliberately put on an embarrassed expression.

Indeed, as an Organized Crime detective, the people he usually dealt with were Violent Organizations members who would not speak properly. As a result, officers in Organized Crime were usually full of underworld slang and none too polite!

Of course, that was only the superficial reason...

Shinichi noticed that Officer Shiraishi had been watching the white man seated in front the entire time. The moment Shiraishi took the opportunity to mention Organized Crime, the white man's expression did indeed change!