The Tokyo Police Journey Begins with the Ability to See Evil Thoughts

"In short, you just want to resolve this matter and don't want it to escalate, right?"

Kamiya Gen picked up the document again and asked casually.

Sakaguchi Akihiro nodded repeatedly: "Yes, I can only come up with 30 million yen at most right now. Any more than that and the factory will be unable to operate. So I hope you can consider discussing this more gently with the family..."

"I understand. Are there any other empty rooms?"

"What...why do you need an empty room?"

Kamiya Gen turned his attention to the man by the window and said, "Toda Toshiaki, HR manager, the deceased Ueda was an employee you hired last year, right?"

All eyes turned to Toshiaki Toda by the window.

The man, whose already less-than-straight figure was hunched over, had his tie hanging crookedly at his collar. Perhaps because the room was a bit stuffy, his hair was damp with sweat and stuck to his forehead, making him look somewhat disheveled.

The moment Kamiya Gen called his name, Toda Toshiaki shuddered violently, and after approaching, he spoke:

"Yes...it's me, officer, Ueda...it is indeed the employee I hired last year."

Kamiya Gen turned to look at Sakaguchi Akihiro, who looked completely bewildered, and said in a flat tone:

"Could I use the empty meeting room next door for a moment? I'd like to have a private chat with Manager Toda."

"Huh? What does the officer want to talk to him about?" Sakaguchi Akihiro asked.

Kamiya Gen didn't reply, but stood up.

Sakaguchi Akihiro could only turn to Morishita Kyoko and wave, "Kyoko, go and open the door to the next meeting room and turn on the light."

The female secretary immediately bowed in agreement and quickly walked out of the factory director's office.

Kamiya Gen stood up, nodded to Toda Toshiaki, and said in a flat tone, "Let's go, Manager Toda, let's go outside and talk."

……

The reception room next door was small, with only a long table and a few chairs. Kyoko Morishita turned on the light, bowed, and left, closing the door behind her.

The enclosed space fell silent instantly, leaving only Toda Toshiaki and Kamiya Gen.

The latter pulled up a chair and sat down without inviting him to sit, then crossed his arms and stared intently at him.

After a full half-minute of silence, Kamiya Gen finally tapped the table, breaking the stillness: "You handled everything for Ueda's onboarding, safety training, and job assessment, didn't you?"

"Yes...it was my responsibility, officer. We conducted a complete safety training on the day he joined the company. The workshop operating procedures and the requirements for protective equipment were all explained clearly. He also signed the training confirmation form. The documents are all in the factory manager's office. I really did everything according to the rules and didn't slack off at all."

Kamiya Gen leaned forward slightly and asked, "Then why are you panicking? You haven't slept all night, your dark circles are practically falling off the floor, and you're still putting on powder to cover it up. Are you afraid people will notice you're guilty?"

Upon hearing this, Toda Toshiaki's face twitched, but he still slowly said:

"Officer...were indeed following procedure..."

Seeing that the man was not going to admit it, Kamiya Gen frowned, thinking about where to start next.

So, what exactly does this strange, malevolent thought above the other person's head mean?

Thinking this, Kamiya Gen once again invoked the system to examine the evil thoughts above Toda Toshiaki's head.

[Purple: Idiot! You said you wanted a certain price, and that's it. Trying to rip off the factory manager like this and getting the police involved is just asking for trouble...]

One thing is clear: those so-called "family members" working at the factory must have colluded with the personnel manager, Toshiaki Toda.

The two sides had probably already agreed on a price, and the man came to extort money. However, at the last minute, someone was dissatisfied and suddenly raised the price, which led to the current situation.

"Go and call those family members up for a chat."

Kamiya Gen considered for a moment, then took out his walkie-talkie and continued speaking to the patrol outside, "Just say that Toda Toshiaki is with me. I hope some of them will know what's good for them and not make a big deal out of it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Toda Toshiaki's face turned deathly pale, and the composure he had been maintaining just moments before shattered completely.

"Officer... what are you doing? Calling your family will definitely cause a scene..."

As he spoke, cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead, sliding down his cheeks and washing away the already uneven foundation on his face, leaving a jarring white streak. His carefully constructed facade of civility crumbled completely.

"It really was an accident. The onboarding procedures and safety training were all done according to the rules. It really has nothing to do with me. Please don't call my family up. This matter can be resolved privately. There's no need to make a fuss. The factory manager agreed, didn't he?"

Kamiya Gen's gaze swept back and forth across his face before he asked directly:

"Was the 20 million yen a hush price you and Keiko Ueda agreed upon privately, or did she suddenly raise the price, putting you in a difficult position?"

These words were like a heavy hammer, directly shattering Toda Toshiaki's last psychological defenses.

"No... I didn't..."

Just then, there was a soft knock on the door, and a low voice came from outside: "Inspector Kamiya, Ms. Ueda is here."

"Enter."

The door was pushed open, and only Keiko Ueda walked in.

She had just been making a hysterical scene downstairs, but now that reckless madness was gone.

The moment she entered, she glanced at Toda Toshiaki, a fleeting look of panic and resentment flashing in her eyes, which she quickly suppressed as she turned to look at Kamiya Gen.

"Officer... I am the deceased's older sister, Keiko Ueda."

Kamiya Gen also used the system to scan her. Her malice was similar to that of Toda Toshiaki; she felt it was unfair that Toda's side did not contribute anything but received the lion's share of the compensation.

"I know you two are plotting to swindle money from the factory. If you confess now, I can reduce the amount... Never mind, since the fraud hasn't been established yet, as long as you and the factory manager can reach an agreement, I'm too lazy to arrest you and take you to the police station."

Kamiya Gen sat up straight and continued, "Are you going to tell the truth? Or do you want to be taken to the police station now and keep enduring this with me?"

Kamiya Gen didn't expect that Ueda Keiko would explode the moment he said those words.

Her eyes were bloodshot as she stepped forward, pointing a finger at Toda Toshiaki's nose, her voice practically spitting fire:

"Toda! Have you no shame?! Who was it that contacted me first? Now that the police are here, you immediately sell me out? Have you lost your mind...?"

"What...what are you talking about?" Toshiaki Toda asked with a pained expression.

He had just given the woman a meaningful look, but she didn't see it at all. As soon as the police officer said a few words, she immediately blurted out the truth.

What was I thinking, hiring such an idiot to help? First, he suddenly raised the price, and then, in his cleverness, he hired several extras to come to the factory, making things so complicated.

His face was deathly pale. Looking at Kamiya Gen, who was watching the show, he wondered if he might actually end up in jail.

Keiko Ueda's sharp curse was only halfway through when something suddenly grabbed her throat, abruptly stopping her from speaking.

She belatedly realized what Toda Toshiaki meant, and immediately her body went limp. She covered her mouth, squatted on the ground, and burst into tears.

"Officer... I was just... I was too emotional and talked nonsense... My brother just died, I'm so heartbroken, and this guy was the one who hired him, so I got really angry when I saw him and started swearing without thinking..."

While crying, she quickly contradicted herself, avoiding eye contact with Kamiya Gen, and vehemently denying everything she had just said:

"I'm just a woman who lost her brother. All I want is justice for him, some compensation for his funeral. How did that become fraud?!"

Seeing her like this, Kamiya Gen knew that she would continue to deny everything, so he gave up the idea of ​​continuing to chat with the two of them.

In fact, they could have just arrested the two of them. This is nothing more than a case of "the HR manager colluding with the deceased's family to swindle money".

But he still felt something was off.

The most important thing is—is that factory manager an idiot?

Obviously not.

After his brief encounter with Akihiro Sakaguchi, Gen Kamiya couldn't discern anything about the man's face that suggested he was a sucker.

On the contrary, this factory manager from Sakaguchi seemed quite shrewd.

How could you not see the reason? Don't you know that there's a ghost in your own factory?

But why did that person still allow Toda Toshiaki to collude with the deceased's family?

Thinking this, Kamiya Gen got up, straightened his coat, and stepped out of the reception room, calling out to the leading patrolman:

"Separate these two and detain them. Where is the workshop where the incident occurred? Take me to the scene of the death."

The patrolman first sent someone forward to guard the two people inside the house, as instructed by Kamiya Gen. Then, with a troubled expression, he bowed and advised:

"Inspector Kamiya, the scene... it's just too horrific. They cordoned it off after the incident, and it hasn't been cleaned up yet. Are you sure you want to go?"

"Otherwise what?"

Kamiya Gen raised an eyebrow and glanced at him, his tone cold, "You've been here for almost two hours, and all you've done is try to break up the fight at the main entrance. You haven't even gone inside the scene?"

The patrolman's face flushed instantly, and he lowered his head even further.

"It was our oversight. Please come with me."

Next, the inspectors accompanied Kamiya Gen through the empty production workshop and walked to the innermost corner of the workshop.

……

There, a yellow and black warning tape was strung in front of a vertical milling machine that was about half a person's height. The lights inside were still on, and the pale light shining on the machine made it look even more sinister.

The patrolman set up a cordon and bowed to invite Kamiya Gen inside, his voice lowered: "This is the place. Ueda and Itsuki had their accident here."

Kamiya Gen stepped inside, his gaze sweeping across the scene, his brows instantly furrowing.

The high-speed milling cutter almost completely shredded the corpse, with dark red flesh and blood splattering onto the machine tool's casing, anti-slip steel plate, and even onto the ceiling more than two meters high.

Nearly a day and a night later, it was half-dried and blackened, mixed with milky white machine tool oil, sticky and smeared everywhere.

What's disturbing is that the scene has not been cleaned up at all since the incident, and even the remains of the deceased are still left on the spot, simply covered by a semi-transparent waterproof cloth.

Large patches of dark brown bloodstains were printed on the cloth, and the outline underneath was fragmented and completely unrecognizable as a human figure. Only a few bits of untorn cloth could be vaguely seen peeking out.

To be honest, Kamiya Gen somewhat regretted coming.

Luckily he hadn't eaten, otherwise he might have really thrown up.

"vomit--"

Just as he was thinking this, he heard a young patrolman vomiting nearby. Kamiya Gen frowned and said:

"Since the accident, has it just been left like this? The body hasn't been collected, the scene hasn't been cleaned up, and this thing is just left sitting in the production workshop?"

An older patrolman quickly stepped forward and replied, "It was Ms. Ueda who insisted that no one should disturb the scene until satisfactory compensation is received, otherwise it would be considered destroying evidence."

Kamiya Gen narrowed his eyes, his doubts deepening instantly.

There must be some hidden story he hasn't uncovered.

Where exactly is it...?

Kamiya Gen picked up the documents in his hand and examined them carefully under the light.

Finally, he spoke and asked:

"Where are the photos of the deceased? How come there isn't even a single photo of the deceased?"

"Um... we really don't have any photos of the deceased."

"Go ask the relevant people at the factory," Kamiya Gen said.

The patrolman, who was vomiting so badly he was practically dead, immediately accepted the task and ran off as soon as he heard Kamiya Gen say he could do it.

"Inspector Kamiya...should we go out first? This place is really disgusting, I can't stand it anymore." The old inspector thought Kamiya Gen was simply inhuman. After all, even a policeman like him who had seen a lot of things couldn't help but feel nauseous looking at the scene, while this guy could still stand here and chat.

"Alright," Kamiya Gen nodded, turning around to lead him outside. "Has the forensic pathologist been to the scene?"

"No, we took photos and sent them over, but the people there were unwilling to come. Besides, this was just a dispute case, and there was no need for an autopsy."

"Let's contact them again and tell them I asked them to come over."

Kamiya Gen said that if things went as he expected, a forensic doctor would probably still be needed, otherwise it would be difficult to collect the final evidence.

He could collect it himself, but he had dinner to eat later, and it would be too disgusting to step on it and get his feet covered in blood.

"Okay... but is this necessary?" the old inspector asked.

At this moment, Kamiya Gen had already taken the data and was looking at the photos of the deceased, pondering. He nodded: "It's very necessary."

Ultimately, this is the reason why the police failed to handle the case effectively; otherwise, they might have already reached a conclusion.

He thought about the woman he had just seen, and compared her face to the photo in his hand, but he couldn't find any resemblance whatsoever.

Considering the previous situation and the evil thoughts above those two people's heads, there is probably only one possibility.

Perhaps some people would be so heartless as to let their brother's body rot here just to get more money, but it could never be that woman.

Moreover, the so-called compensation was based on the original plan of those two people.

Toda Toshiaki, who recruited the staff, took the lion's share, while Ueda Keiko took the smaller share.

This makes no sense; there's only one possibility.

The so-called family members of the deceased are all imposters.