Coroner Ke Xue

Teacher Shimoda has always been panicked, so panicked that he would tremble just by hearing Minako's name.

This shows that his psychological quality is very poor and he should be a very easy guy to break through.

But he still showed no sign of pleading guilty.

Because Lin Xinyi brought out too few things.

And what Teacher Shimoda said is actually right:

Without evidence, Lin Xinyi should not regard him as a criminal.

The investigation finally reached the most critical and difficult moment.

The case has been classified as homicide.

What he needs now is evidence, evidence that can uncover the murderer and put him on trial.

At this point, Lin Xinyi's trump cards are by no means many.

He can only try his luck:

"You want evidence?"

"Okay, I'll give it to you!"

Lin Xinyi squeezed the one-on-three in his hand and shouted, "If I lose, I will eat the screen."

He picked up Minako's photo again:

"see it?"

"By observing the shape of the two cable grooves, I can confirm that the two cable grooves were formed by the same rope."

"This means that the rope used by the murderer to strangle Minako is the same rope as the 'hanging rope' that hung Minako under the iron pipe."

"That is to say——"

"The murder weapon was actually left at the scene by the murderer."

"The murder weapon was this hanging rope."

"And no matter how unreliable the guys at the Metropolitan Police Department are, they still know how to keep the hanging rope, the most important physical evidence in the suicide case, intact."

"Although the case ended quickly as a 'suicide', according to regulations, the evidence must be filed and preserved with the files after the case is closed."

Lin Xinyi looked at Teacher Shimoda coldly:

"That rope is now kept in the evidence room of the Metropolitan Police Department."

"And Mr. Shimoda, you can try to recall it."

"When you and Sugiyama killed Minako, did you wear gloves?"

It takes a lot of strength to strangle someone, and when you exert strength, your hands have to rub hard against the rough rope.

If you kill someone without wearing gloves, you will definitely leave your own skin flakes on the rope.

Three years ago, or before Lin Xinyi appeared, prisoners were generally more "simple".

Their minds are focused on devising tricks, and they don't even know how to clean up the traces when committing crimes. They rarely wear gloves to kill.

What's more, judging from the omissions everywhere at the scene, Minako's murderer was indeed not a highly intelligent criminal who paid attention to details and cleaned up traces.

"Think about it!"

"If you don't have gloves on"

"On the rope that was used to strangle Minako, will there be any skin scraps left by you?"

"Don't take chances——"

Lin Xinyi also gave a solemn warning:

"Even if it is old inspection materials from three years ago, our Metropolitan Police Department can identify them."

"On this point, you can read my previously published papers."

Hearing this, Teacher Shimoda's face turned extremely pale.

Lin Xinyi breathed a long sigh of relief:

Whether this so-called evidence is effective or not depends entirely on whether the other party wore gloves when committing the crime.

If you wear it, the rope will be useless.

But now, seeing Teacher Shimoda's panicked reaction, Lin Xinyi had already figured out the answer:

He struck luck.

The other party probably didn't wear gloves when committing the crime, and the rope is now the most critical evidence.

"Stop stubbornly resisting."

Lin Xinyi was about to advance further.

But Teacher Shimoda suddenly woke up from his deep thoughts.

He seemed to suddenly think of something, and even spoke with a little more confidence:

"Stop joking, Manager Lin!"

"I'm not a murderer, and I don't know what you're talking about."

"If you want to check that rope, then check it!"

"My DNA won't be on it, because I'm not the murderer at all!"

"This" Lin Xinyi frowned tightly:

Shimoda's previous performance had already vaguely revealed that they did not wear gloves when committing the crime.

Where does the other party's confidence come from?

It's because he really isn't the murderer.

Or.

"You're the murderer, but you didn't touch the rope."

Lin Xinyi suddenly thought of something:

"Because there are two murderers, you and Sugiyama."

"You did participate in the killing, but it was Sugiyama, not you, who strangled Minako."

"So you are confident that only Sugiyama's DNA will be detected on that rope, not yours."

"Is that so, Shimoda?"

"Nonsense!" Under that extreme tension, Teacher Shimoda became more and more skillful in dealing with it.

"Since there is no evidence and no DNA was detected on the rope, how can you say that I am the murderer?"

"Yes, it's Sugiyama"

"Sugiyama is the murderer. He did everything alone."

"This has nothing to do with me, and I never knew the truth about it."

Shimoda-sensei very wisely put the blame on Sugiyama alone.

Now that Lin Shinichi has proven that Minako died of homicide, the homicide requires a murderer. As a dead man who cannot speak, Sugiyama just takes the blame for the murderer.

After all, Sugiyama alone was enough to kill Minako.

Lin Xinyi has only proved that there is a murderer, but he has not yet been able to prove that there are two murderers in this case.

That’s what Teacher Shimoda thought.

"No." Lin Xinyi shook his head: "There are two murderers in this case."

"And I also have evidence to prove this speculation."

As he said that, Lin Xinyi picked out two more photos from the pile of live photos.

It was still a photo of Minako's body, but from a different angle.

This photo captures the soles of Minako's shoes.

The other photo has nothing to do with Minako. In the photo, there is only a pile of boxes filled with various sundries.

This stack of boxes is so common in the utility room that it doesn’t seem noteworthy at all.

But Lin Xinyi still noticed:

"In the middle of this pile of boxes stacked high, about 1 meter high, there is a shallow dust footprint."

"Comparing the outline shape of this dust footprint, we can judge that it matches the sole of the pair of small leather shoes Minako was wearing when she was killed."

"In other words, these are the footprints left by Minako."

"But with such a small height, it is difficult to kick to a height of about 1 meter and leave footprints at such a high position."

"So, how did she leave such footprints on the box?"

Hearing this, Teacher Shimoda's expression suddenly changed.

Lin Xinyi just continued to say in an orderly manner:

"I speculate that this was when Minako was strangled by the murderer from behind, her whole body was lifted off the ground, and her legs were in the air."

"While struggling violently in mid-air due to suffocation, when I subconsciously raised my legs to kick, I kicked the footprints left by the box."

"The time of the incident is estimated to be around 4 p.m."

"Although the school had ended at that time, there were still many teachers and students participating in club activities in the teaching building."

"So, when Minako struggled and kicked the stack of boxes, which made the stack of boxes teetered and was about to fall to the ground, making a loud noise."

"The second murderer besides Sugiyama who was present panicked."

"His psychological quality is not very good."

"He was very afraid that the sound of the box collapsing to the ground would attract someone."

"So, the second murderer subconsciously bent down slightly and supported the pile of boxes that were piled high and started to shake from the middle."

"At this moment, Minako, who was still struggling, kicked out unconsciously."

"The kick hit the second murderer squarely in the face and grazed his lip."

"This" Teacher Shimoda was stunned.

Hearing Lin Xinyi's extremely detailed restoration, a ghostly expression appeared on his face:

This was three years ago.

How could he know so much? !

Could it be that Minako's ghost still lingers and tells the "magician of death" the truth?

Just like many underworld leaders and corrupt elements are superstitious about masters.

People who do a lot of evil tend to feel uneasy. If they feel uneasy, they will become suspicious and frighten themselves. So much so that I believe in the theories of ghosts and gods, and want to spend money to hire masters to practice Buddhism to seek peace of mind.

But now, Shimoda has no intention of inviting a master.

He just felt that he was being targeted by the "master", the kind with strong magic power.

But the truth is actually not that mysterious:

"Because of this photo."

"I observed dried saliva spots on the soles of Minako's shoes."

Lin Xinyi answered Shang Shimoda's inner question.

The secret lies in the photo of Minako's soles.

Saliva stains are colorless and odorless, and after they have dried, they are difficult to see with the naked eye.

But the sole of Minako's shoes is pure black, and the bottom is relatively smooth and flat.

The master photographer who took this photo at that time happened to complete a professional side-light photo by accident, with lights projected from the side.

Under the light source from this side, the outline of the dried saliva on the black plane can be faintly seen.

"This saliva stain appeared on the sole of Minako's shoe."

"Besides, the saliva stain is not covered in dust."

"This shows that Minako's shoes never touched the ground after being stained with the saliva."

"So it's not hard to imagine:"

"Minako must have kicked someone in the mouth with her foot while her body was suspended in the air, and the saliva stains were stained."

"After that, her body was hung directly on the iron pipe by the murderer, and her whole body remained suspended."

"After being discovered and rescued, the body was also lying flat on the ground."

"Until the police officers from the Forensic Division arrived at the scene, the soles of the shoes never touched the ground again and were not contaminated with dust. That's why the saliva spots in this photo were so completely preserved."

Speaking of this, Lin Xinyi made a tactical pause:

"Teacher Shimoda"

"You are so confident, there is no DNA from you on the rope."

"This means that the murderer who strangled Minako from behind should be Sugiyama and not you."

"Then, the second murderer who bent down to hold the box in panic was kicked by Minako while struggling."

Teacher Shimoda's forehead was dripping with sweat, and he couldn't wipe it off with a towel.

Lin Xinyi finally realized:

"Who else do you think it could be?"