Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 28, Mummified Autopsy
East Japan Railway Company, referred to as JR East, is one of the giant enterprises split from the super-giant monopoly group of Japan National Railways. It is a railway company with its main operating areas in Kanto and Tohoku regions of Japan. JR East operates 69 lines with a total railway mileage of 7457.3 kilometers and an average daily passenger volume of 1710 million. It is Japan's largest passenger railway operator and one of the Fortune Global 450 companies (generally ranked around th).

Its main business scope is the so-called "trunk line" and "Shinkansen". The trunk line is mainly for shorter-distance transportation in the Tokyo metropolitan area, while the Shinkansen is a long-distance electric rail. The vast majority of the 30 million people in the entire Tokyo metropolitan area rely heavily on these two modes of transportation.

Although Uesugi Sosetsu himself hates behaviors such as crowding into trains and subways, he has to admit that JR East's approach is correct in the face of the travel pressure of Tokyo's 3000 million people.

In addition to the former Soviet Union, China has also learned a lot from Japan's trunk and Shinkansen systems in terms of large city planning. The public transportation planning of buses, subways, railways and Shinkansen ensures the convenience of travel and daily commuting needs of the massive population in large cities.

The opposite is the United States. Due to its vast land and sparse population and its historical background of western development, except for the old areas of the United States on the East Coast such as Boston and Philadelphia, the public transportation design of most cities is to make the city center highway-oriented and the suburbs residential. This means that local residents have to drive to do everything.

You need to drive to go out and make friends, go shopping, go out to eat, and even go out for a stroll.

Americans are qualified to make such plans because the country is relatively wealthy, with high wages and cheap cars (also because many companies have lobbied Congress together), but this model is not applicable everywhere, and any plan must be in line with one's own national conditions.

It was impossible for a Fortune 500 company to not respond when such a problem occurred. When Uesugi Soyuki and Ikeda Erena arrived, the tram repair factory in Shinagawa District was already crowded with people.

The elderly men and women who came to watch the excitement gathered at the door, talking about the incident in a flurry. Dozens of reporters stuffed microphones into the mouths of the JR East executives who were present. Seven or eight police cars stopped, and more than 20 ordinary policemen formed a human wall and pulled up yellow lines. Auto repair workers, policemen, and company executives all gathered together with sad faces, discussing what had happened.

"Hello, Director Minami Takeshi, I'm Kishida from the Asahi Shimbun. What do you think about the discovery of the body? Does it prove that JR East was negligent?" A reporter in his thirties, dressed in a suit and tie, squeezed to the front.

"I'm Kobayakawa, a reporter from the Yomiuri Shimbun. Director Minami Takeshi, how will JR East handle this incident? Will it conduct a comprehensive inspection of all the trains on the main lines and Shinkansen?"

"I'm Okamoto from the Daily Telegraph..."

“I’m Yamato from Economic Weekly.”

"I am Imaizumi from Weekly Bunshun. Please give us all an explanation!"

Reporters fiercely besieged the on-site person in charge of JR East, making this Fortune 50 company very embarrassed. The person in the lead was Director Minami Meng, who was about years old. He had black hair combed back and made it shiny, his face was full and square, his face was dark and he didn't say a word.

At this time, Uesugi Sosetsu arrived. Uesugi Sosetsu, who was carrying a suitcase, and Ikeda Erena, who was wearing a police uniform, got off the car. People around them immediately gathered around: "Excuse me..."

"Police!" Ikeda Erina naturally hated this kind of situation, and she showed her police notebook without hesitation.

"Make way, make way!" Inspector Moritsugu from Shinagawa Police Station appeared. He was about the same age as Tanaka, about 50 years old, not tall and a little fat. He also had a slicked-back hair. His serious eyes were filled with worry. When he saw Uesugi Muneyuki arrive, he quickly dispersed the crowd and came to Uesugi Muneyuki: "Thank you for your help, Uesugi-kun. We are all counting on you."

"What's going on?" Uesugi Sosetsu frowned. A row of traffic police pulled aside the yellow line to make way for him. Erina followed closely behind Uesugi Sosetsu in small steps.

What a direct young man!
Inspector Moritsugu originally wanted to introduce Uesugi Sosetsu to the top management of JR East, but seeing that Uesugi Sosetsu seemed to want to do an autopsy first, he could only quickly follow: "This is what happened..."

The information described by Inspector Moritsugu was almost the same as that obtained by Ikeda Erina. The police at Shinagawa Police Station obviously had no ability to solve the problem. All they could do was investigate the employees one by one, and then gather a large group of police forces to search around the location where the body was found. Naturally, they found nothing.

The appearance of Uesugi Sosetsu also caused a sensation among the surrounding people.

"The forensic doctor is here, the forensic doctor is here."

"See what he has to say."

"This forensic doctor looks so young. Who is the policewoman next to him? She's such a beauty. Is she mixed-race?"

"Hmm, so tall, not like us Japanese."

"Her breasts are so big... Is she really a police officer?"

The whispers around made Erina very uncomfortable, and her pretty face became even colder. The tall beauty really regretted wearing a police uniform with a skirt and stockings. If she had known that there would be so many people here, she would have been more comfortable in a suit and trousers.

But when facing Uesugi Sosetsu who was talking with Inspector Moritsugu, Erina felt that she was indeed on official business.

Forget it, just bear with it.

Erina knew that the criminal police around her had recognized her. Wherever her eyes passed, the police instinctively retreated. She tried to ask a few questions, but no one paid any attention to her.

Feeling somewhat conflicted and depressed, she simply stood behind Uesugi Sosetsu, only half a body length away from him, to show that she was with him.

"Okay, I understand. Let's start the autopsy now." After hearing the details, Uesugi Sosetsu frowned. He planned to give it a try first.

"Please do it." Inspector Moritsugu slowly approached and whispered, "This matter has a huge impact, Uesugi-kun, you have to consider the travel of 3000 million people in the Tokyo metropolitan area. If the entire tram system is to be inspected, it will have to be suspended for at least a whole day, and the entire Tokyo traffic will be paralyzed. This matter involves the interests of the people, so you have to be cautious."

"…I want to see what's going on first."

Uesugi Sosetsu's eyes moved slightly, but he did not give a direct answer.

It is important to perform an autopsy first.

Just like that, under the gazes of hundreds of eyes from the crowd, under the aiming of cameras from a dozen media outlets, under the stares of dozens of police officers and auto repair workers around, and under the complicated looks of the director of JR East and the chief of the criminal section of Shinagawa Police Station, Uesugi Sosetsu began the autopsy.

The body was only 60 centimeters long, with only part of the torso and the right leg remaining. Most parts had turned completely black and dehydrated. There were still some pieces of clothing stuck on the surface of the body, but overall, the remains had already mummified and turned into wax.

Well, it was a closed fracture. He must have been hit by a tram, that's right.

Uesugi Sosetsu turned the body over and examined it again.

The body was very thin and had abnormal dents in many places.

Pitting edema? Uesugi Sosetsu reached out and found that there were many places with this kind of edema on the skin of the corpse. After checking the nails of the corpse, Uesugi Sosetsu had a vague answer in his mind.

The deceased should have fallen onto the tram tracks and was cut into pieces by the tram on the spot, with part of the body flying out and part of the body attached to the bottom of the tram.

But this is another mummy... Uesugi Sosetsu thought.

As mentioned before, mummification and waxing of corpses require specific conditions, otherwise the corpse will rot. Okay, the doubts have been summarized, and the next thing to do is...

Clenching his right fist, activating the power of the azurite, Uesugi Sosetsu began to try to awaken the dead soul.

The mummy, which seemed to have been dead for many years, showed some reaction. A vague dead soul wearing construction worker's clothes barely gathered into shape and was about to say something to Uesugi Sosetsu, but it dissipated in the wind because it had exhausted its strength.

Can it actually be put into shape?

Waxing, corpse mutilations, pitting edema due to malnutrition, closed fractures, tram tracks.

Various clues were frantically arranged and combined in Uesugi Sosetsu's mind until the final construction worker's clothes.

"Mr. Uesugi, have you figured out anything?" Inspector Moritsugu saw that Uesugi Sosetsu was thinking, so he came over and asked, "This is already a mummified corpse, which should mean that the deceased has been dead for a long time, right? Last time I heard Tanaka say that Mr. Uesugi, you have examined mummified corpses. These corpses are usually dead for many years. Also, from the looks of it, it may be suicide by jumping onto the tracks?"

Ikeda Erina and Director Minami Takeshi also came over subconsciously.

"No, this body died recently." Uesugi Sosetsu objected immediately: "Not only did he die recently, but he most likely died within three weeks! And this was not suicide!"

what? !

As soon as these words were spoken, Minami Takeshi, a senior director of JR East who had been expecting Uesugi Sosetsu to give the explanation of "jumping off the tracks to commit suicide, an old case", turned pale.

Things are heading in a bad direction.

He immediately gave Inspector Moriji a warning.

"Within three weeks? That's impossible, Uesugi-kun. If he died within three weeks, why would the body turn into a mummy?" Inspector Moritsugu's face turned ugly. "Also, if it wasn't suicide, where is the evidence?"

"As for evidence, first of all, we can confirm one thing." Uesugi Muneyuki first pointed at the body: "Trains should be inspected every three months, right? So we can be sure that no body was found on this tram three months ago, right?"

At this point, neither Director Minami Takeshi nor Inspector Moriji could object. Both JR East's self-inspection and Shinagawa Police Station's investigation could confirm that there was nothing unusual in the inspection three months ago.

"It's possible that the workers were negligent, but that's not important. What's important is, as a forensic doctor, why did you determine that the person died within three weeks?" Director Nan Meng was a little embarrassed, and he said stiffly: "Do you think this is some kind of orthodox reasoning? We must rely on evidence to do things. Where is your evidence? This is JR East, not a mystery novel!"

"Actually, the evidence is very simple." Uesugi Sosetsu understood.

Both Shinagawa Police Station and JR East hope that he can give a simple result - committing suicide by lying on the railway tracks.

But this is clearly not suicide!

Thinking of this, Uesugi Sosetsu felt the anger rising in his head.

Why do these Japanese people always think of suicide and disappearance when they encounter problems?
This kind of atmosphere must never be tolerated!
"Look, these are the nails of the corpse." Uesugi Sosetsu became angry and his tone became even harder: "Did you see it? The outside of the dead man's toenails are covered with stains and mud, but the nails closer to the inside are relatively clean?"

"The reason is simple. After death, both nails and hair stop growing. However, when we do autopsies, we sometimes see nails that have been cut off and hair that has been cut grow back. This is not because the body is still alive, but because the body loses water and shrinks, and the hair and nails hidden under the skin are exposed."

Uesugi Munsetsu said categorically: "If the body had been dead for a long time, then the nails inside would have become dirty, but they haven't, which is enough to prove that the body has been dead for a short time."

"As for why it takes three weeks, it's also very simple. Just look at the weather forecast more often. The last rain was three weeks ago, and it hasn't rained for three consecutive weeks. The air is dry, so the body won't rot. If the air is humid, the body will rot before mummification."

"So there is no doubt that this is a new corpse that died within three weeks. For some reason, the deceased's body was cut off by the wheels, and part of the body was stuck under the train. Following the speeding train in Tokyo is equivalent to enduring a force 7 or 8 gale every day. It was blown into a mummy."

Uesugi Sosetsu finished speaking calmly.

The whole place was silent, including the onlookers outside, a dozen reporters, the surrounding police and workers, as well as Director Nan Meng and Inspector Mori Ci. The two guys who didn't want to make things worse opened their mouths but couldn't utter a word of rebuttal.

With the ability to restore the condition of a corpse through a superficial autopsy and his well-reasoned arguments, Uesugi Sosetsu was like a god in front of others.

What’s more important is that Uesugi Sosetsu was blessed with the Dharma image of Aizen Myo-o. When he was narrating what happened, he was focused and undivided. The infectious power of the Dharma image and his clear and firm words seemed to penetrate the sky and the earth.

After this round of description, both the police and others had subconsciously believed what Uesugi Munen said. Only Director Nan Meng was still muttering, "But, but, Mr. Forensic Doctor, we at JR East didn't receive any accident reports within three weeks? Are you doubting us?"

"Yes, we haven't received any clues about the missing person."

After the last word fell, Uesugi Souyuki opened his eyes and heard Director Nan Meng's final stubbornness. He couldn't help but chuckle: "Yeah, why didn't you receive the accident report and the missing report? Why?"

"The answer is simple: someone concealed the truth."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience was in an uproar, and all the JR East workers and Director Minami Meng's faces turned red.

What does this young man want to do? !

Does he want to accuse us, one of the Fortune 500 companies, on his own?

Bold!

But Uesugi Sosetsu obviously did not intend to give in. He just stood with his hands behind his back, facing the hundreds of people at the scene.

The man felt that his mission was to make things clear, but he did not notice the shock and surprise on the face of the tall beauty behind him.

Erina felt that the reputation was indeed well-deserved and seeing was believing. After witnessing Uesugi Soyuki's inference throughout the process, the tall beauty's sharp brown eyes became softer, and the only thing in her pupils was Uesugi Soyuki's strong back. She felt her blood boiling and her face flushed.

This is what a normal man is like.
　Public transportation is good, it's punctual and there's no traffic jam.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)