Eight-Hundred-Year-Old Technique

## Chapter 45: The Eight-Hundred-Year-Old Technique

The second method Lin Xinyi proposed was very simple.

He wanted all 100-plus passengers present to cooperate with him, leave the underground platform together, go back above ground, exit the train station, and finally line up on the sidewalk.

That was his entire request to the passengers.

The passengers present were all very confused:

If they couldn't find the culprit on this underground platform, how could standing by the roadside above ground possibly help?

Could the culprit be like ice cream, melting in the sun?

"This is truly baffling."

Everyone found this method perplexing.

But since they had already promised Lin Xinyi to cooperate with his investigation as much as possible, and Lin Xinyi had also pledged to let them go directly if he couldn't find the culprit within 10 minutes, the passengers eventually, though reluctantly, agreed.

So, organized by the train station staff, these 100-plus passengers formed a somewhat disorganized line and majestically left the underground platform, returning to the surface.

Throughout the process, Ms. Mouri Ran was also there, keeping watch.

She "glared" at the passengers the entire time, preventing anyone from escaping midway.

And so...

Without any major incidents, all 100-plus people were successfully moved above ground.

Lin Xinyi organized them to exit the train station and go to the sidewalk outside.

As per Lin Xinyi's request, the 100-plus passengers noisily arranged themselves into three crooked horizontal rows, maintaining some distance from each other, standing parallel on the sidewalk.

Looking at the scene...

Someone who didn't know better might think they were there for calisthenics.

"What exactly are we doing?"

"It's boiling hot. Can this really find the culprit?"

Standing on the sidewalk, baking in the sun, some passengers were already complaining.

Indeed, inside and outside the train station were two completely different worlds.

The train station had air conditioning, making the environment cool and comfortable.

But outside the train station, the sun was scorching, the air was filled with blistering heatwaves, and annoying flies and mosquitoes buzzed in their ears.

Just half a minute of standing was enough to make many people sweat profusely.

"Mr. Lin, how exactly do you plan to investigate?"

Someone asked, puzzled.

"Just stand there," Lin Xinyi replied dismissively.

At the same time, like an instructor supervising students during military training, he seriously patrolled back and forth in front of the three horizontal rows of passengers, from head to tail and tail to head.

He's not using any technical methods, just walking back and forth, observing...

What is Mr. Lin Xinyi trying to do?

Suzuki Sonoko mumbled to herself, bewildered.

"This..." Kudo Shinichi hesitated, unable to discern anything:

In his opinion, what Lin Xinyi was doing now was probably similar to what a detective would do.

That is, by using clues such as the other party's clothing, speech, eyes, movements, gait, subtle facial expressions, and combining them with imagination and logical reasoning, to deduce the person's identity, background, profession, and experiences.

Just as Sherlock Holmes could tell at first glance that Watson was a military doctor who had returned from Afghanistan, master detectives are skilled at this "sizing up people at first meeting" technique.

But Kudo Shinichi knew very well that this "sizing up people at first meeting" trick not only required strong intellect and keen observation skills, but it didn't always work.

For it to be effective, the observed person needed to have enough observable clues on them.

But there were over a hundred people here now.

Trying to observe over 100 passengers in just 10 minutes, and then find a culprit deliberately hiding themselves from within—that was simply a fantasy.

Could he really do it?

Or is he not observing the passengers themselves, but something else?

Kudo Shinichi vaguely guessed something.

And just then, Lin Xinyi finally started speaking:

"You must all be wondering why I brought everyone outside the train station, right?"

He stopped, standing in front of the passengers, his gaze meeting each pair of eyes filled with doubt:

"The reason is actually very simple:"

"Because there's something outside the train station that can help me find the culprit."

"And that thing is almost non-existent on the underground platform."

"What is it?"

Everyone exchanged confused glances, wondering aloud.

"No rush. Speaking of that…"

"Let me tell you a short story first."

Unexpectedly, Lin Xinyi didn't reveal the answer directly. Instead, he began to tell a story:

"In 1247 AD, which was the Seventh Year of Chunyou Reign, Emperor Lizong of Southern Song Dynasty in China, the forensic scientist Song Ci, who was then the Hunan Provincial Judicial Commissioner, compiled all the forensic medical information he had summarized and collected throughout his life into a book, writing the world's first systematic forensic medicine treatise, Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified."

"The publication of Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified marked the birth of forensic medicine in a systematic sense."

Everyone present listened, completely bewildered:

Why is he talking about history when investigating a case?

And he immediately started from the very beginning of forensic medicine.

Why didn't you start from the birth of Amenominakanushi-no-Kami?

Lin Xinyi ignored their questioning gazes and simply continued his story.

Moreover, there was a sense of reverence in his tone.

Just as Kudo Shinichi admired Arthur Conan Doyle, the "father of detective fiction," Lin Xinyi, as a forensic officer, always held the utmost respect for Song Ci, the world-renowned "father of forensic medicine."

And now, he was about to solve the case using a method passed down by his grandmaster:

"In Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified, written by Song Ci, there is a case recorded like this:"

"One day, a body was discovered by the roadside in a certain village. The body's clothes and belongings were still intact, and there were more than ten sickle wounds all over it."

"The local prosecutor in charge of the investigation initially determined that the deceased had died from a revenge killing. So, he had the villagers bring out their sickles and gather them to be exposed to the sun."

"Just like now, the weather at that time was midsummer, and many flies were buzzing around."

"But not long after, these flies circling the scene inexplicably converged, 'choosing' one sickle out of the seventy or eighty sickles at the scene, gathering on it and buzzing incessantly."

"Thus, the prosecutor found the owner of this sickle and said to him:"

Lin Xinyi paused slightly, calmly reciting the original text from Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified:

"'Others' sickles have no flies. Today, you murdered someone, and the smell of blood is still present, so flies gather. How can you conceal it?'"

"The onlookers sighed in admiration, and the murderer knelt and confessed his crime."

He quickly finished telling this ancient story.

Everyone's expressions shifted slightly, as if they had vaguely thought of something.

"This is the earliest case of solving a crime using Forensic Entomology."

"And the reason why flies could help the prosecutor find the murderer is because their sensory system is extremely sensitive—even microscopic traces of blood, invisible to the naked eye after cleaning, can be easily smelled by them."

"And nutrient-rich blood is precisely the flies' favorite food. As soon as they smell blood, these little creatures can't help but gather where the blood is present."

Lin Xinyi slowly explained the principle of flies finding the culprit, his gaze gradually sharpening:

"So, do you know why I brought everyone out of the train station?"

"Because the train station is cool, and there are few flies."

"But outside the train station, it's warm, and there are many flies."

With that, he paused, his gaze fixed firmly on a certain man in the crowd:

"This case is like the story mentioned in Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified. The murderer killed someone, and their hands would be stained with blood."

"And flies and insects love to associate with villains whose hands are stained with blood."

As soon as he finished speaking, following Lin Xinyi's gaze, everyone's eyes converged on that man.

The man had a gentle face, and his clothes were clean, showing no bloodstains or any so-called malicious aura.

He looked like nothing more than a mild-mannered ordinary person.

However, at this moment, all around this "ordinary person,"

were flies, drawn by the smell.

"Come out, Mr. Murderer."

Lin Xinyi looked steadily at the man:

"You've been defeated by an Eight-Hundred-Year-Old Technique."