Conan: What alias? That's my struggle!

The police arrived faster than Lin Ye had expected.

He had just dialed the police when he saw seven or eight uniformed officers pouring in through the hospital's main entrance, followed by several plainclothes police officers.

Lin Ye, the leader, was not seen at the crime scene.

It wasn't Megure, Takagi, or Sato. The man was tall and slender with a handsome face, wearing a dark gray suit and a tie that was tied meticulously.

Shiratori Ninzaburo. Lin Ye recognized him. Although they had never met, he hadn't watched over a thousand episodes of Detective Conan for nothing. Inspector Shiratori was highly recognizable, not because his features were particularly special, but because of the elite aura that emanated from his very being, completely different from the rough and rugged style of old-school detectives like Inspector Megure.

"Are you Dr. Hashimoto?" Shiratori approached, his tone polite but distant.

"Yes."

"Is Dr. Miyagi your colleague?"

"Yes."

"Please cooperate with the investigation. Please wait in the office and do not leave the hospital."

Lin Ye nodded without asking further questions. He knew the procedure; he had learned it in the training room. The first thing the police did upon arriving at the scene wasn't to solve the case, but to control the scene and apprehend relevant personnel. He wasn't a suspect, but he was a stakeholder, so it was normal for him to be included in the investigation.

The corridor was cordoned off, and the yellow and white stripes looked particularly glaring under the fluorescent lights.

"Dr. Miyagi is dead...?" Several nurses stood behind the nurses' station, whispering something, but their voices immediately fell silent when they saw Lin Ye approaching.

"You guys continue." Lin Ye knew that women liked gossip, so he went back to his office, sat down in his chair, and waited without turning on his computer or checking his phone.

Everyone is like that.

The police cordoned off half of the thoracic surgery floor. The corridor behind the nurses' station was cleared out, allowing only those in uniform and civilian clothes to move around. Several medical staff in white coats were made to wait in the doctors' offices, and were called out one by one for questioning.

The first person called away was the head nurse of the thoracic surgery department, a woman in her fifties who had worked at the hospital for almost thirty years. Officer Shiratori questioned her personally.

"How are Dr. Miyagi's relationships with his colleagues?"

When asked about this, the head nurse thought for a moment and said that Dr. Miyagi was not a very talkative person, but he was very conscientious in his work, and the patients had a good opinion of him.

Officer Shiratori continued to ask Dr. Miyagi if he had ever had any conflicts with anyone. The head nurse shook her head and said that Dr. Miyagi was not the type of person who would get into conflicts with others.

Upon hearing this, Shiratori jotted down a few notes in her notebook and then asked, "Did he mention to you that he doesn't get along with anyone?"

The head nurse hesitated for a moment. The hesitation was so brief that most people might not even notice it, but Shiratori did. He didn't press further, but simply waited.

"Dr. Hashimoto, I guess," the head nurse finally said. "Dr. Miyagi and Dr. Hashimoto's relationship... isn't very good. I don't know the specifics, but it seems like they don't talk to each other much. They'll cooperate when necessary, but they don't interact much outside of work."

She had already put it very tactfully.

Shiratori nodded, not delving further into the matter. Workplace competition is a fairly common occurrence most of the time.

The second person called away was the attending physician in thoracic surgery, surnamed Tanabe, in his early thirties, who had joined the hospital at the same time as Miyagi. Tanabe's words were much more straightforward than the head nurse's.

"Everyone in the department knows that Miyagi and Dr. Hashimoto don't get along."

Tanabe sat opposite Shiratori, speaking in a calm tone, as if he were talking about something everyone already knew.

"Dr. Hashimoto is the head of the department, and he always gets to choose the best surgeries first. Miyagi has the skills, but he doesn't have the opportunity. Last time there was a lung cancer surgery, and Miyagi was the one who saw the patient first, but Dr. Hashimoto said, 'I'll do it,' and the patient was transferred to Dr. Hashimoto's department."

He was clearly more direct, trying to sow discord between Lin Ye and others.

Shiratori quickly asked, "Has Miyagi complained to you about it?"

"Of course he complained," Tanabe continued, then tried to smooth things over, "but it wasn't the kind of loud, shouting complaint. He just said he felt his abilities weren't being recognized. But that kind of thing is all too common in hospitals; who hasn't gone through that?"

This is typical of a seasoned veteran in the workplace: he dislikes Lin Ye and wants to sabotage her, but he also wants to give the impression that he is a nice guy who speaks fairly.

The white bird didn't get any useful clues either.

The third person called away was the operating room scrub nurse, surnamed Kobayashi. She was also present during Gin's surgery yesterday. Kobayashi's account was similar to Tanabe's.

But she mentioned a detail.

"Dr. Miyagi performed the surgery this morning, with Dr. Hashimoto observing. Dr. Miyagi did an exceptionally good job, even better than Dr. Hashimoto usually does. I felt then that Dr. Miyagi should have been performing surgeries himself a long time ago, but he just hadn't had the opportunity."

He might be an honest person, or he might be a manipulative woman.

Shiratori asked her what Dr. Hashimoto's attitude was towards that surgery.

Kobayashi responded quickly.

"Dr. Hashimoto credited all the performance bonuses to Dr. Miyagi, without shortchanging him by a single penny. We were quite surprised at the time, because Dr. Hashimoto had never done this before."

That is indeed true.

The white bird wrote down this information.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth. Everyone's account was similar—Dr. Miyagi and Dr. Hashimoto had a conflict, but not a life-or-death one; it was the kind of friction most commonly seen between superiors and subordinates in the workplace. One was a capable junior without opportunities, and the other was a senior who held resources and influence.

The last person to be called into the office was Hashimoto Rinyo.

Officer Shiratori sat behind his desk, a notebook spread out in front of him, several pages already filled with notes. When Lin Ye entered, Shiratori glanced up at him, but didn't stand up; he simply gestured with his chin, indicating that Lin Ye should sit opposite him.

"Dr. Hashimoto, please have a seat."

Lin Ye sat down. Unlike the others, he didn't nervously wring his hands or look around; he simply sat with his hands on his knees, watching the white bird.

Shiratori first asked some basic questions, and then got to the point.

"What's your relationship like with Dr. Miyagi?"

Lin Ye didn't answer immediately. He thought for a moment, then said something that made Bai Niao frown slightly: "It might not be a good idea."

"Possibly?" Shiratori repeated the word, his tone clearly suspicious. "What do you mean by 'possibly'?"

Lin Ye looked at him, her expression unchanged. "Because I have amnesia."

Shiratori's pen remained still on the paper.

"I was hit on the back of the head."

Lin Ye turned her head and pointed to the back of her head. "There's a bump there; you can feel it if you touch it. I don't remember a lot of things after I woke up, including what happened between me and Dr. Miyagi. Inspector Megure knows about this; he was involved in yesterday's case. You can call him and ask."

In this matter, Lin Ye certainly acted uprightly and honestly.