The Cunning Killer

Chapter 27: The Cunning Killer

Under Lin Xinyi's relentless pressure, Ishikawa's psychological defenses completely crumbled.

This unconventional "detective" wasn't simply deducing; he was systematically presenting evidence, step by step.

And in the face of such irrefutable evidence, any attempt at sophistry was utterly futile.

Still, Ishikawa wasn't ready to give up.

He was so close to acquittal; how could he fall here?

"No, no, I'm innocent!"

"If you don't believe me, check the surveillance footage at the Department Store!"

As if a sudden thought struck him, Ishikawa clutched at this final straw.

"The surveillance footage doesn't show Aoki and me entering the Department Store at all!"

"If you say Uchida was killed by me and then thrown from the building, then explain this:"

"How did I transport the body to the roof of the Department Store without being caught on camera?"

Ishikawa questioned hysterically.

This was his meticulously planned diversion, his last trump card.

He had painstakingly devised such a murder plot; if they wanted to catch him, shouldn't they at least solve this riddle first?

Ishikawa had always thought so.

However, in response to his questioning, Lin Xinyi scoffed with a laugh:

"Heh, playing these petty tricks and expecting someone to explain them?"

"You've read too many Detective Novels!"

"In reality, the more complex a murder method, the more likely it is to leave traces."

Years of work experience had taught Lin Xinyi that the most difficult cases to investigate in reality were often simple, transient murder cases:

The killer and victim didn't know each other; for some reason, the killer stabbed them once and then immediately fled.

If there was no surveillance footage at the scene, such cases could be even more frustrating for investigators.

As for those who considered themselves clever, painstakingly creating alibis for themselves, not running after committing murder, but instead pretending everything was normal and staying at the scene—

Nine out of ten ended up in prison, and the remaining one was sentenced to death.

And in Lin Xinyi's eyes, Ishikawa was the fool of all fools:

"You only thought about using a diversion to mislead the investigators' eyes, but you completely failed to consider how to deal with the eyes of Conan-science."

"You want me to explain your murder method?"

"Why would I need to explain?"

Lin Xinyi laughed disdainfully:

"The victim has been confirmed to have died by homicide, and by measuring the body temperature, we can further confirm his true time of death."

"Your skin cells were found under the victim's fingernails, and you have scratches on your body left by the victim."

"What's more, you probably can't provide an alibi for the victim's true time of death, can you?"

"So now, the one who needs to explain is you!"

The cause of death could be determined, the time of death could be determined, and the killer's DNA could be determined from the skin cells.

Ishikawa could only provide an alibi for the time of "Uchida's suicide," but not for Uchida's actual time of death.

A complete chain of evidence had already formed.

There was simply no need to know the murder method; this was enough to convict Ishikawa.

"H-how could this be...?"

"My method was completely useless."

Ishikawa fell into complete despair and breakdown:

This was a trick he had devised after watching 1000 episodes of Great Detective Samonji!

How could you not follow the process, not even solve the murder method, and just directly take me down?

This isn't Conan-science!

On a side note, although Lin Xinyi regarded him as the fool of all fools, Ishikawa had actually been quite shrewd in his planning.

Because the number of Forensic Officers in Japan is extremely small, and families generally believe in respecting the deceased and are resistant to autopsies, the autopsy rate for unnatural deaths in Japan has remained below 12% for many years.

This meant that as long as someone had some professional knowledge and put in the effort to disguise a murder scene as a suicide, the killer had a 90% chance of escaping investigation directly.

And the above was data from the real world.

In this world, where the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's capabilities were infinitely weakened, coroners had very little presence, making the success rate of faking suicide even higher.

Someone like Ishikawa, who not only faked a suicide scene but also knew how to fabricate an alibi, was considered "thoughtful."

As long as he didn't have the bad luck to run into a Famous Detective, it would be all too easy to fool everyone.

And this time, with extremely bad luck, he ran into the Famous Detective, Kudo Shinichi.

But what Ishikawa never expected was that the Famous Detective he had been so wary of didn't expose him. Instead, it was a strange man staring intently at the corpse, lost in thought, who delivered the fatal blow.

Ishikawa simply couldn't accept this unexpected turn of events:

"No, no, I'm not the murderer!"

"Even the Famous Detective Kudo Shinichi confirmed Uchida died by suicide!"

"Heisei Holmes said so himself! Uchida must have committed suicide!"

Ishikawa shrieked hysterically.

It was as if the "affirmation" from a Famous Detective could still allow him to turn the tables in this desperate situation.

"Hey, hey!"

"Don't drag me into this just because you're cornered!"

Kudo Shinichi, standing nearby, felt a headache coming on:

What did he mean, "Kudo Shinichi confirmed Uchida died by suicide"?

I was tricking you, okay?!

How could I not see through such a simple method?!

If you keep yelling like this, people will misunderstand my intelligence!

Sure enough, after Ishikawa's loud outburst, gasps of surprise immediately rose from the surrounding crowd:

"What? Kudo Shinichi is here too?!"

The Great Detective, who had been an extra for so long, was finally discovered.

But this time, the gazes fixed on him were no longer filled with admiration, but with astonishment:

"So he didn't see through the truth at all?"

"Even a Famous Detective can lose to a criminal sometimes!"

"..."

Hearing these whispers, Kudo Shinichi covered his face helplessly:

My reputation! My reputation is ruined!

Kudo Shinichi was a bit annoyed, but also helpless:

Who told him he had completely lost in this contest?

He had followed his usual investigative methods, starting from various clues at the crime scene, using his intelligence and imagination to unravel the murderer's scheme step by step.

But Lin Xinyi had simply ignored the murderer's scheme entirely, directly reconstructing the truth from the corpse.

In the face of such a simple and direct investigative method, the murderer's painstaking efforts to create a smokescreen seemed to have become a complete joke.

"Sigh," Kudo Shinichi let out a soft sigh, but his desire to challenge Lin Xinyi grew even stronger in his heart.

Meanwhile, Ishikawa, the other loser present, also seemed to have finally calmed down a bit.

As the situation developed to this point, he had realized that he absolutely couldn't escape the charge of murder.

But Ishikawa wasn't ready to give up completely just yet.

He lowered his head and pondered for a moment. When he looked up again, the fierce expression that had been on his face was now replaced with pain and remorse.

After a moment of brewing his emotions, tears were practically being squeezed from his eyes:

"I… I killed him."

"I killed Uchida, and because I was afraid of being caught, I came up with this method to disguise the scene."

Ishikawa finally admitted to the murder.

Not only that, but he also dropped to his knees with a thud, covering his face with his hands, and cried out in anguish:

"It's all my fault! I… I shouldn't have bullied Uchida."

"Because the police and principal found out about us bullying him before, the school was going to expel us. Only if we got Uchida's forgiveness could we possibly go back to school."

"So, so the three of us thought we'd beat him up, scare him, and force him to write the letter of forgiveness."

"At the time, I just wanted to teach him a lesson, but I never expected… never expected…"

"I lost my head, went too far, and… and accidentally killed him…"

At this point, Ishikawa's voice was trembling.

His tears overflowed from his eyes, truly flowing, not faked at all.

"This bastard…"

"It's a real shame he's not an actor."

Lin Xinyi almost laughed in anger at Ishikawa again. He had already seen through the murderer's trick:

Since the charge of murder was unavoidable, he might as well just confess.

But at the same time, he also needed to show clear remorse to the police and emphasize one key point:

He had "accidentally" killed Uchida, having "lost control" and struck too hard.

That way, the case would be categorized as involuntary manslaughter, not intentional murder.

Given Japan's relatively lenient sentencing and Ishikawa being a minor offender, if the charge was ultimately reduced to involuntary manslaughter, that little punk wouldn't spend much time in prison before getting out.

"Stop dreaming!"

Lin Xinyi said coldly:

"For involuntary manslaughter, the perpetrator's actions might be conscious or even deliberate."

"But the most crucial thing is that they must not have foreseen the outcome of causing someone's death; it must be negligent."

"Ishikawa, ask yourself honestly—"

Every word he spoke seemed to carry immense weight, causing Ishikawa's engrossed expression to gradually stiffen:

"When you attacked Uchida, did you truly not know you were killing him?"