The Gentle Child

Chapter 29: Gentle Child

Lin Xinyi's words were definitive, exposing Ishikawa's crime.

Everyone present looked at him differently now.

Perhaps before, some had seen this as a good show, a thrilling deduction performance for the public's entertainment.

But at this moment, after hearing Lin Xinyi's detailed reconstruction of the crime, everyone finally empathized with the victim's suffering and witnessed the perpetrator's brutality.

"I... I..."

Cold sweat beaded on Ishikawa's forehead.

He knew his situation was dire, but he had no way to excuse himself.

Because Lin Xinyi had perfectly reconstructed the truth with evidence:

He had indeed killed Uchida, deliberately.

At the time, when Uchida instinctively struggled and resisted, scratching Ishikawa's arm and causing him pain—

It was as if an invisible switch had been flipped; his bestial nature was completely awakened.

Ishikawa pushed Uchida to the ground, stomped hard on Uchida's back of the neck with his foot, and vented the agitation in his heart with what could only be described as frantic abuse.

And during this cruel act of torture, he suddenly discovered that he felt pleasure.

The feeling of trampling a fellow human being underfoot, watching the weak suffer and die little by little, sent a thrill through him.

Yes, come to think of it...

He hadn't been bullying his classmates purely for money from the start—

Though he had always been unwilling to admit it, in truth, he had repeatedly inflicted violence on his classmates because he enjoyed the pleasure of abusing the weak.

And at this moment, as the bullying escalated to torture, and even to the extreme of murder, Ishikawa finally recognized himself.

That's right, he liked this feeling.

And so, uncontrollably, Ishikawa became engrossed.

He decided to kill Uchida right then and there.

Not out of anger, not out of impulse, but simply because he found it interesting.

Therefore, Ishikawa showed not the slightest hint of panic at Uchida's death.

Not only did he not panic, but he even very calmly, in a short amount of time, devised a scheme to clear himself of the crime.

"Yes, that's exactly how it was."

After listening to Lin Xinyi's analysis, Aoki, who had been silent for a long time, timidly glanced at Ishikawa, then mustered the courage to confess:

"Ishikawa was stepping on Uchida's neck for a long time back then."

"Later, the two of us felt something was wrong and wanted to persuade him to stop, but Ishikawa glared at us, making us back down."

"After that, it was too late for everything."

"Ishikawa threatened us into helping him fake the scene. We always listened to him, and even though we were scared, we obediently did as he said."

Aoki's testimony delivered the final blow to Ishikawa.

This defiant, arrogant hardliner finally bowed his head completely and fell silent.

Lin Xinyi, the police, the public—everyone was waiting for him to confess.

But when Ishikawa looked up again, a sinister smile appeared on his face instead:

"That's right, I killed him, deliberately."

"I knew doing that would kill him, but I still did it, hahahaha!"

In complete self-abandonment, Ishikawa brazenly and wantonly confessed his crime.

There was not a trace of remorse in his voice, only arrogance and delight.

"Scum!"

Mouri Ran gritted her teeth and let out an angry shout.

She had endured this scoundrel for too long.

Her fist still hadn't landed, yet Ishikawa's evil deeds had escalated step by step.

From bullying to murder, from murder to torture—the suffering the victim endured before death was shocking.

"Calm down, calm down!"

Kudo Shinichi risked his life to block his childhood friend.

He knew that if Ran, in her current state, charged out...

Ishikawa would end up in a hearse, and Ran would end up in a police car; both their lives would be ruined.

"Mr. Lin Xinyi?"

"Please, help persuade her..."

Kudo couldn't help but look to Lin Xinyi for help.

Lin Xinyi didn't speak.

But this time, he wasn't standing by idly. Instead, he was staring intently at the corpse, as if he had discovered another clue.

"Hmm?"

Seeing this, Kudo Shinichi immediately forgot what he had been about to do:

"Mr. Lin Xinyi, have you found another problem?"

Fortunately, this question also caught Mouri Ran's attention.

She couldn't help but stop her dash towards the edge of the law, turning to look at Lin Xinyi, the anger in her eyes replaced by confusion and curiosity.

"It's not really a problem."

"This clue doesn't affect the case, it's just..."

After a moment's thought, Lin Xinyi finally revealed his discovery:

"Have you noticed?"

"The deceased only has bruising on the outer side of his right forearm. On his left forearm, there are only defensive injuries and restraint marks."

"This indicates that when the deceased was knocked to the ground by Ishikawa, he only used one hand to brace himself and resist."

"That's very strange, isn't it?"

Lin Xinyi imitated the deceased's actions, using one hand to brace against the "ground" while the other hand remained idle:

"To break free from restraint, you'd definitely use both hands to brace against the ground to exert more force."

"But why did the deceased, at such a critical moment of life and death, not use both hands, but only one to brace himself and struggle?"

"At that time, what was the deceased's free left hand doing?"

"Was he trying to resist Ishikawa with his left hand?"

Mouri Ran quickly offered her guess.

However, after subconsciously putting herself in the deceased's shoes...

She tried to imagine herself lying on the ground like the dying Uchida, then reaching her left hand back behind her neck, trying to attack the "leg" pressing down on her neck.

"No... it seems I guessed wrong."

"In that position, you can't exert even thirty percent of your arm's full strength. It's impossible to have any resistive effect."

Mouri Ran frowned slightly, asking in confusion:

"So, what exactly was Uchida doing with that one hand before he died?"

"He was... he was grabbing his phone."

It wasn't Lin Xinyi who answered, but Aoki.

This accomplice, who had a good attitude towards confessing, directly spoiled the answer:

"When Uchida was being stepped on by Ishikawa, he kept trying to reach for his phone with his left hand."

"But the phone was kicked away by Ishikawa, and he never got it in the end."

"What did Uchida want with his phone?"

Mouri Ran asked impatiently.

"Maybe... maybe he wanted to call the police with his phone."

Aoki answered meekly.

Lin Xinyi raised an eyebrow: "Maybe?"

Aoki looked at Lin Xinyi with some trepidation, then gathered himself before speaking:

"Uchida was already in too much pain to speak when Ishikawa beat him earlier."

"After that, when Uchida secretly tried to grab his phone, we all thought he wanted to call the police."

"That's probably not possible."

"Calling the police directly during bullying, just thinking about it, it couldn't succeed."

"Not only would it not succeed, but it would also provoke retaliation from the bullies."

"Uchida probably wouldn't do something that would bring trouble upon himself."

Lin Xinyi took a deep breath, speaking with a sigh:

"I think he was still trying to grope for his phone in his last moments..."

"There must have been some message on his phone that he wanted to show you!"

"Wh-what?"

Aoki was slightly stunned, his expression becoming somewhat complex.

He couldn't understand what important message Uchida could have on his phone that he needed to show them. In that situation, could that message really save his life?

Ultimately, completely bewildered, Aoki honestly divulged a clue about Uchida's phone:

"We put Uchida's phone back in his jacket pocket."

"I don't know if it broke when he was thrown from a height."

"Understood." Without hesitation, Lin Xinyi bent down and gently fumbled through the clothes pockets on Uchida's body.

Indeed, there was a phone inside, and fortunately, it wasn't broken.

Pressing a button, the screen still responded.

"Let's see what kind of message Uchida left behind."

This actually had nothing to do with the case itself, nor was it within the scope of the Forensic Officer's work.

But Lin Xinyi felt it was necessary to bring the deceased's final message to light.

So, Lin Xinyi gently lit up the phone and carefully examined Uchida's call and message logs from before his death.

Then he immediately fell silent.

"What's wrong?"

Mouri Ran asked with some concern.

Lin Xinyi didn't answer directly; instead, he handed the phone to Aoki, who was beside him:

"Aoki, read these two messages aloud."

"Me, read them?"

Aoki was puzzled. Why should he, the accomplice in the wrongdoing, be the one to convey Uchida's final message?

"I think it's necessary for you to read them."

Lin Xinyi replied with a heavy tone.

Aoki dutifully took the phone, his gaze lightly sweeping over the message content.

"This…" As if electrocuted, his entire body froze there.

"Read it!" Lin Xinyi urged coldly.

"The first… the first one is from the principal to Uchida:"

Aoki, trembling, read out the message from Uchida's phone:

"The principal asked in the message…"

"'Uchida, I have received the letter of understanding and consent you submitted.'"

"'Here, on behalf of the school, I solemnly ask you, are you truly willing to forgive Ishikawa and the others?'"

After reading the first message, Aoki's voice was already shaking violently:

"The… the second one, Uchida replied to the principal:"

"'Mr. Principal, I am willing.'"

"'Although they did something very wrong to me, I still decided to choose forgiveness.'"

"'After all, if they were expelled from school, wouldn't their future lives be very difficult?'"

"'The books say, 'Everyone deserves a second chance.' I think if I can try to forgive, perhaps even terrible people like them have hope of becoming better.'"

"'Even though the possibility is small, I still want to try.'"

"'Please, Mr. Principal, give them a chance too. Perhaps this could save the lives of three people.'"

"'Sincerely, Uchida Sho.'"

After reading all this, Aoki knelt weakly on the ground:

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

He couldn't help but bury his face in his hands and weep, tears pouring down like rain, imbued with an unresolvable guilt and sorrow.

The scene was dead silent, with only Aoki's sobs echoing faintly.

"Hmph…"

Lin Xinyi let out a long breath, his gaze complex as he looked at Uchida's body:

"What a gentle child."

"It's just a pity the world wasn't gentle to you."