Lin Shinichi chased Kudo and the others across the road.

Shiho Miyano looked at his back thoughtfully, and finally slowly followed.

Soon, they followed the direction from which the previous voice came to the alley next to the department store.

Ishikawa and Aoki, who went first, as well as Kudo Shinichi and Moriran, were also at the mouth of this alley at this time.

Take a closer look:

The alley is narrow and a dead end.

It was empty, and there was nothing in the alley except for an iron fire staircase welded to the outside of the department store's wall that led from the ground to the fourth floor.

And the fire staircase that leads to the fourth floor also looks very dilapidated.

The staircase was covered with mottled rust, and the guardrails had been corroded by time.

Even the only thing connected to this fire ladder, the iron door that opened on the outer wall of the fourth floor of the department store, has been completely occupied by rust, and it is estimated that it has long been completely rusted to death and cannot be opened.

Apparently, this fire staircase, which has fallen into disrepair, has not been used for a long time.

And this headless alley, which has no way out except for the fire staircase, is not a place where passers-by will enter.

Compared to the busy road outside, this dead and uninhabited alley is simply another world.

And now, in this no-man's alley in the middle of the city but "isolated"...

The male high school student named Uchida, who was standing on the roof of the building, was already lying motionless on the ground.

"Uchida!"

"Hey, hey... Uchida! ”

Ishikawa and Aoki shouted in panic.

As if they had finally realized the consequences of their bullying behavior, they were nervous.

In this way, they stood there stiffly, looking at Uchida's corpse with ugly faces, silent and not knowing what they were thinking.

At this time, Lin Xinyi acted.

As if instinctively, he ran as fast as he could.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Xinyi quickly squatted down and carefully turned the motionless strange boy from the ground.

Uchida's cheeks were exposed to everyone's eyes.

His face was covered in extensive abrasions and contusions, and there was a large and shocking depression of fractures on his forehead.

The smile of this young man was no longer visible on this green face, only erosive flesh, hideous scars, and the eternal silence.

"The skulls are all deformed..."

Lin Xinyi's heart sank, he knew that such an injury was definitely fatal.

He didn't care that he wasn't wearing gloves at this time, so he immediately stretched out his hand to measure Uchida's snort, and then opened his eyelids to check his pupils.

The snort had long since stopped, the pupils were dilated on both sides, and there was no light in the eyes.

Touching the wrist, there is no pulse, and the arm muscles have also relaxed.

"How?" Kudo Shinichi also slowly stepped forward.

"It's dead." Lin Xinyi frowned tightly, and his tone was a little complicated.

He had seen a lot of dead people, but he hadn't seen anyone die as he did now.

Get a prior notice to go to the scene to examine the body, and be caught off guard to witness the death in your life... These two feelings are completely different.

Lin Xinyi couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

In contrast, Kudo Shinichi's performance is much calmer.

Seeing someone die in front of him, the high school student behaved more calmly than the former medical examiner.

It was as if he had become accustomed to this situation.

And after hearing that Uchida had confirmed his death, Kudo Shinichi immediately entered that focused detective mode.

He was observing, thinking, and extremely engaged, like an actor standing on the stage and a candidate sitting in the examination room.

"Suicide by jumping off a building... This alley is a dead end, and the fire ladder is rusted like that, and it is estimated that no one will come in normal times. ”

"In that case, most of the items on the ground should be related to the deceased who fell from the building today."

With this in mind, Kudo Shin began to carefully observe the ground near the corpse.

First, he saw a coffee-colored baseball cap.

That's what they saw before, the baseball cap Uchida was wearing on his head.

It's just that this baseball cap is not worn on the deceased's head now, but is scattered next to the corpse, and most of it was detached when it fell.

Then, Kudo Shinichi saw a few ordinary broken bricks from the ground.

Other than that, the only thing that can be found is...

A rusty iron fence.

"This guardrail... Fell from an iron ladder? ”

Shinichi Kudo raised his head and looked at the fire ladder welded to the outside of the department store wall:

Sure enough, at the very top of the fire ladder, in front of the iron gate on the fourth floor, a large section of iron guardrail disappeared.

"The iron ladder is in disrepair, so part of the guardrail has fallen..."

"Or is it that the deceased knocked down this iron ladder guardrail in the process of falling?"

Kudo Shinichi frowned slightly.

Baseball caps, a few broken bricks, an iron ladder to the outside of the wall, up to the fourth floor, a broken guardrail at the top of the iron ladder...

All the clues of the scene converged in his mind.

"Could it be..."

"Will that be the case?"

Kudo Shinichi's eyes lit up, and he understood something.

Immediately after, he suddenly turned his head and looked at the two bad boys who had been silent all this time:

"Ishikawa, Aoki."

"Is it okay to call you that?"

Ishikawa and Aoki didn't answer, and they stood silent.

"Uchida, who jumped off the building and died, is the classmate who was bullied by you, right?"

"When did you separate from him? Where did you hit him just now? ”

Kudo Shinichi asked straight to the point.

"Uh..."

Ishikawa was slightly stunned, and there was suddenly a little more hostility in his eyes:

"Y-Why are you asking me all this?"

"Are you a police officer? Why should I tell you? ”

"Say more, say again..."

He swallowed, stalked his neck, and yelled inwardly:

"What if we beat Uchida?"

"We didn't hit him hard, and we didn't kill him."

"He ran to jump off the building by himself, and you and those who passed by also saw that."

"So, it's not our business if he's dead!"

"We're the most... At most, it's just bullying, and it's okay to be taught a few words by the police. ”

The more Ishikawa talked, the more confident he became, as if his bullying behavior was just a trivial matter.

Even, he confidently said to Lin Shinichi, Kudo, and Mao Lilan and Miyano Shiho who came later:

"That's right... Don't be in a hurry, you guys. ”

"You are eyewitnesses, and you all saw Uchida jump from the upstairs by himself."

"Uchida's death has nothing to do with us, and when the police come, you have to explain these things to the police."

“.......”

There was a brief silence.

Lin Xinyi looked at the corpse quietly and ignored it completely.

A smile appeared at the corner of Kudo's mouth, which was very meaningful.

And Shiho Miyano, who arrived later, was even more lazy to speak, because she was not interested in this matter at all.

Compared with the murder case, Lin Xinyi, who was observing the corpse with a serious face, attracted her attention more.

In the end, the only one who broke the silence was Miss Maolilan:

"You... You two bastards! ”

She clenched a pair of fists so that her bones turned white, and the grievances that had been accumulated for a long time completely exploded at this moment:

"This Uchida-san has been forced to jump off the building by you."

"Don't you two even feel the slightest bit guilty?"

The male high school student named Aoki lowered his head evasively, not daring to make eye contact with Moriran.

But Ishikawa was the opposite, not only did he not show any guilt, but he also replied viciously:

"What do you mean to be hurt by us and jump off the building..."

"He himself has a bad mentality and runs away to kill himself, can he rely on us?"

"If you have the ability to tell the police, go!"

"Let's see if they're going to arrest us for this?"

"You?!" Extremely rarely, Maoriran got angry.

She saw Uchida's completely lifeless corpse, and she also saw Ishikawa's hideous expression that showed no guilt.

The stark contrast between the dead and the living made her anger almost uncontrollable.

"Don't get excited, Lan!"

At the critical moment, Kudo Shinichi once again stopped his childhood sweetheart in time.

"Shinichi!"

Maolilan clearly didn't want to just sit idly by and watch as the two bullies continued to be arrogant in front of the victim's body.

But Kudo Shinichi's attitude is very firm: "The punishment of the offender should be left to the police." ”

Mao Lilan slowly lowered her fist, she knew that Shinichi was right, she shouldn't fight violence with violence.

However, she still found it completely unacceptable:

"The police won't care about this..."

"School bullying is such a thing... No one will ever care. ”

Maolilan's expression was somewhat gloomy, and she was saddened by the injustice that had befallen the deceased.

"No, this time is different."

Kudo Shinichi said very seriously in Maolilan's ear:

"Didn't you notice?"

"Mr. Lin Xinyi has been observing the corpse since the beginning, and his eyes are the same as then."

"Huh?" Mao Lilan was slightly stunned, and suddenly realized something: "Could it be, you mean..."

"That's right."

"Mr. Lin must have seen it too."

Kudo Shinichi nodded slightly, his eyes were extremely sharp:

"No one cares about bullying, but killing is different."