Examination of Injuries

Mouri Ran and Lin Xinyi had sealed off the scene in time.

None of the passengers who had been waiting on the platform had managed to leave. They had all remained there.

Then Kudo Shinichi stepped forward and revealed his identity. Upon hearing that the famous detective was here and preparing to demonstrate his deductions at the scene, the passengers' emotions temporarily calmed down as well—

Compared to him, Lin Xinyi, who was still relatively new and only somewhat known, was nowhere near as popular or authoritative as Kudo. His words simply did not carry the same weight.

Soon afterward, the tram station's security personnel and staff arrived.

Under Kudo's direction, they called the police and promptly took over the scene.

The security personnel gathered the passengers on the platform and kept watch over them, ensuring that none of them had a chance to slip away unnoticed.

In theory, there was a strong chance that the killer was trapped among these passengers.

The pool of suspects had already been narrowed down considerably.

But—

"There are still too many people."

"There are over a hundred passengers on this platform!"

Kudo Shinichi swept his gaze across the faces of the hundred-plus passengers, but for the moment, he had no idea where to start.

He had already questioned the passengers present.

When the killer had quietly escaped from the restroom, they had mostly been chatting, spacing out, or reading newspapers. No one had noticed what was happening near the restroom at all.

In other words, the killer had successfully avoided being seen and silently blended into the crowd of over a hundred waiting passengers.

"It's basically impossible to pick the killer out of the crowd through observation alone."

"Looks like we need to investigate the crime scene first. Only by finding useful clues left behind by the killer can we identify him more accurately among the crowd."

Kudo Shinichi quickly settled on a direction for the investigation.

Then, faced with this sudden challenge, a different sort of excitement rose up from the depths of his heart.

"Mr. Lin Xinyi."

Kudo turned around, his gaze toward Lin Xinyi filled with a peculiar fighting spirit.

"Although this is an unfortunate incident—"

"This case may be another opportunity for a showdown."

Lin Xinyi: "..."

Why did it feel like he had heard something similar just yesterday?

And it had not even been a full day, yet another "showdown" had already come along.

How bizarre. After today, he should probably avoid Detective Kudo whenever possible.

That was what Lin Xinyi thought, but he still gave a vague answer aloud.

"Mm. Let's take a look at the scene first."

He could not simply turn a blind eye to a case unfolding right in front of him.

Besides, Lin Xinyi was about to be sent to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department as an undercover agent.

According to the undercover plan laid out by Boss GIN, what he needed most right now was to solve more cases, build his reputation, and establish a lofty, righteous public image that everyone respected.

Yes, strange as it sounded, that was the truth—

If Lin Xinyi did not actively fight crime, a certain criminal would be very unhappy.

So, half-willingly and half-reluctantly, Lin Xinyi accepted Kudo's so-called challenge.

"Good!"

A spirited smile appeared at the corner of Kudo's mouth.

"Mr. Lin Xinyi, then let's investigate the scene now."

As he spoke, he eagerly strode toward the murder scene without a care for anything else.

But Lin Xinyi did not follow him immediately.

He instinctively took a few steps, then seemed to recall something and abruptly stopped.

"Um, Miss Suzuki?"

Lin Xinyi walked over to Suzuki Sonoko.

She was currently clinging tearfully to her best friend Mouri Ran's arm, still shaken as she described how the killer had attacked her in the restroom.

But the moment she heard Lin Xinyi's voice—

Miss Suzuki suddenly stopped crying. She wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes and asked expectantly,

"Mr. Lin, what is it?"

"I want to look at your injury." Lin Xinyi got straight to the point. "You were holding your neck when you came out just now. Did the killer injure your neck?"

"Y-Yes."

"That guy struck me hard from behind with a knifehand chop. It still hurts a lot."

Suzuki Sonoko touched the injured back of her neck, unable to hide her curiosity.

"But why do you want to examine my injury? Is it to investigate the case?"

"No. It has nothing to do with the case."

Lin Xinyi answered without hesitation.

"Neck injuries can be very dangerous."

"I can barely be considered a doctor. Let me see how serious your injury is."

"If it's severe, you should go to the hospital for further examination as soon as possible."

"Huh?"

Both Suzuki Sonoko and Mouri Ran were slightly stunned.

Neither of them had expected Lin Xinyi to put off investigating the case and come over to examine Sonoko's injury instead.

"Mr. Lin Xinyi, aren't you going to the scene?"

"Kudo has already gotten ahead of you to investigate!"

Suzuki Sonoko asked in confusion.

"I'm not interested in some deduction competition."

"As long as the scene and the body are properly preserved, it won't matter if I arrive a minute or two later."

"As a medical practitioner, taking care of the injured person first is more important."

Forensic medicine was still medicine. Forensic medicine students had to intern at hospitals while studying, treating living patients as doctors.

To Lin Xinyi, being a minute late for an autopsy made no difference at all.

But examining and treating the living had to be done as early as possible.

Besides, Lin Xinyi knew very well that the neck was an extremely delicate part of the human body. If injuries there were not promptly examined, they could easily lead to serious consequences.

For example, he had heard his teacher discuss a case while he was in school.

Someone had injured their neck and suffered persistent pain and slight difficulty swallowing. Thinking it was a minor injury that would heal on its own, they had not gone to the hospital.

Two days later, damage and inflammation of the arytenoid cartilage caused congestion, swelling, and bleeding, obstructing the airway. Even after being rushed to the hospital, the person could not be saved and ultimately suffocated to death.

There were also countless frightening cases where untreated neck injuries led to cervical spinal cord damage and paralysis, or atlantoaxial dislocation and sudden death.

"Let me have a look."

"A heavy blow to the back of the neck is no joke."

Lin Xinyi spoke in a serious tone.

"Mm..."

Suzuki Sonoko softly agreed, showing an unusually quiet side of herself as a young lady from a wealthy family.

Then she turned around, gently lifted her hair, and exposed the injury on the back of her neck.

"The bruising is fairly severe, but the affected area isn't large. It looks alright..."

"Miss Suzuki, do you currently have symptoms such as dizziness, a heavy feeling in your head, difficulty breathing, or numbness in your upper limbs?"

Lin Xinyi asked methodically.

"No," Sonoko replied.

"That's good. At least the most serious symptoms haven't appeared."

"Press on your upper trapezius muscle—around where your neck meets your shoulders and back—and see whether it hurts."

"It doesn't hurt." Sonoko lightly pressed her shoulder and upper back with her fingers, answering truthfully.

"Very good. The pain hasn't spread to your shoulders or back either."

"It looks like it's only a surface bruise. There's no problem with your cervical vertebrae."

Lin Xinyi muttered to himself before adding one final instruction.

"Try turning your neck again. If it's only mild surface pain from the bruise, without stiffness or difficulty turning your neck, then it probably isn't a major problem."

"Mm!"

Suzuki Sonoko softly responded, her eyes shining.

Sure enough, the handsome guy she had her eye on was not only smart, but also incredibly considerate.

He was nothing like that Deduction Maniac Ran liked.

Whenever Kudo encountered a case, he forgot all about his childhood friend and charged recklessly to the front by himself.

But Lin Xinyi was completely different. He was willing to speak up for the dead, and he was willing to stop for the living.

Clearly, the latter was better!

If she could successfully win this man over, Ran would be the one envying her from now on!

Wahahahaha...

Miss Suzuki laughed wildly in her heart.

Lin Xinyi had no idea that merely examining someone's injury out of a medical practitioner's instinct had made someone lust after him again.

He was only thinking to himself.

"The killer attacked the back of Suzuki Sonoko's neck and used considerable force. His obvious goal was to knock her unconscious."

"But the killer has probably watched too many movies..."

"That isn't how you knock someone unconscious."

Movies were roughly correct. A blow to the neck could indeed make someone faint.

In medicine, fainting triggered by external force in this way was called carotid sinus syncope.

However, if someone wanted to cause unconsciousness by cutting off the blood supply to the brain, attacking the side of the neck closest to the carotid artery would be more effective than attacking the back of the neck.

The killer clearly did not know this, which was why he had chosen to strike the back of her neck.

That was precisely why, combined with Suzuki Sonoko's good health and normal blood pressure, she had not been knocked unconscious in a single blow.

Of course, that was fortunate. Fortunately, the killer had not intended to murder her from the start, or the outcome would not have been nearly so pleasant.

Staying around Detective Kudo really was dangerous...

Lin Xinyi sighed inwardly.

Then, now that Sonoko's injury had been examined, he started walking toward the murder scene in the restroom.

"Oh, right."

Lin Xinyi had only taken two steps before stopping again to remind her,

"Miss Suzuki, it's best to apply ice to a bruise during the early stage. It can reduce inflammation and swelling."

"There aren't any ice packs here, so you can buy a bottle of iced cola from a vending machine and use that instead."

"Hmm?"

Suzuki Sonoko's heart stirred.

That man had stopped for her again!

Hahahaha, so this young lady's charm really is working after all?!

So she immediately gave it everything she had, putting on a weak and pitiful expression to show off her charms.

"Then, Mr. Lin Xinyi..."

"My neck still hurts a lot, and it's inconvenient for me to move around."

"C-Could you help me with that ice treatment too?"

"..."

"No."

"Buy your own iced cola."

Lin Xinyi rejected her decisively and slipped away at a quick little jog.