21st Century Necromancer

Some people want to become knights, while others aspire to become mages.

For Misumi Mikoto, ever since she had developed the idea of learning from Chen Yu how to communicate with the souls of the dead, she became utterly obsessed. This thought circled relentlessly in her mind, refusing to be dismissed.

But how to learn from Chen Yu was delicate, and it also posed a difficult problem that plagued Misumi Mikoto.

Although modern society was no longer like ancient times, where apprenticeships meant selling the apprentice to the master, and many secrets of the past were now available for a fee, many old traditions and old-fashioned practices still circulated in certain professions.

Not to mention other things, serving the master as an apprentice, pouring tea, running errands, and being a lackey were all customary. Some old-fashioned people, when taking on apprentices, even required apprentices to pour water for their master's feet, and it was not uncommon for female apprentices to learn their skills in bed.

So, how to request apprenticeship from Chen Yu was not a simple matter for Misumi Mikoto.

It wasn't that she was repelled by the idea of taking her learning to the teacher's bed. Misumi Mikoto was single, Chen Yu was handsome and her type, and as an associate professor at the University Hospital, he was a suitable partner whether for dating or marriage. However, he already had a fiancée, and Misumi Mikoto had no intention of being a homewrecker and stealing someone else's fiancé.

Moreover, such obviously supernatural powers could not be casually taught. If these abilities could be taught freely, transcendents would not have become the stuff of legends, with ordinary people only hearing uncertain snippets of information.

Furthermore, Misumi Mikoto wasn't sure if this power was learned knowledge or an ability unique to Chen Yu.

After discovering that Chen Yu had such abilities, Misumi Mikoto also did quite a bit of research, reviewing many fantasy novels and film and television content, and through these she understood that abilities came in two types: one was learned knowledge, and the other was inherited through a bloodline.

If Chen Yu's power was knowledge, then she could pester, reason, and learn through apprenticeship—there would always be a way. But if it was his bloodline ability, or if he didn't even know why he had this ability, then learning it would be in vain.

And the latter situation was undoubtedly something Misumi Mikoto did not want to face.

Therefore, for Misumi Mikoto, clarifying whether Chen Yu's mastery was a type of knowledge that could be learned or an unlearnable ability had become the first thing she needed to do.

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"Professor Chen?" Seeing Chen Yu standing beside Director Kamikura with a beaming smile, Misumi Mikoto suddenly felt a wave of guilt.

She had just been pondering how to learn from him when he appeared before her. Although he was invited by Director Kamikura, it still made Misumi Mikoto wonder if Chen Yu had become aware of her thoughts, and if he had come questioning her intentions.

Fortunately, Chen Yu was here to assist with the investigation of a previous fire incident; that very fire had caused ten deaths, and there was an eleventh survivor, the burn patient whom the Glasses Doctor had treated while Chen Yu performed surgery on Higashiyama Keika.

"The patient suffered mild respiratory burns and extensive burns on his back.

After emergency surgery, he is now under sedation for intensive healing," Chen Yu explained the patient's condition to the UDI team to facilitate their understanding, "To prevent the patient's condition from deteriorating, the sedation will need to continue until his injuries have healed to a certain extent, so at the moment, it is not possible for him to be questioned."

"Doctor Chen, when you discovered him, did you check the contents of his stomach? If it matches the contents found in the deceased's stomachs, we can confirm that he was at the same establishment as the victims at the time of the incident." Despite being preoccupied with the desire to learn from Chen Yu, Misumi Mikoto still conducted herself with utmost professionalism when it came to her work.

However, in response to her question, Chen Yu gave a helpless wry smile, "Dr. Misumi, that's a living person, not a corpse. How do you expect us to check his stomach contents? By performing a gastroscopy or opening him up for examination? You can't check the stomach contents of a living person, Dr. Misumi."

"Ah! I'm sorry, I mean, is there a way to extract the contents from his stomach for examination?" Misumi Mikoto hastily apologized, highlighting the difference between a forensic and medical perspective.

A doctor sees a severely burned patient and first thinks of how to save him, while a forensic pathologist thinks of how to conduct examinations and identifications. Their different approaches led to Dr. Misumi's notion of wanting to check the stomach contents of a living person.

Chen Yu raised an eyebrow, shook his head, and only after straightening his face did he speak seriously, "In the eyes of us doctors, that is a living person, not a body. As doctors, our first duty is to save lives; other matters are beyond our jurisdiction as physicians."

"I'm sorry..." With the conversation having reached this point, Misumi Mikoto could only offer her apologies somewhat sheepishly.

After the discussion about the burn victim was over, with no other business, Chen Yu prepared to take his leave. Misumi Mikoto, who had other ideas, naturally offered to walk him out, and they headed towards the exit together.

"Doctor Chen, I'm really sorry about what happened just now. It wasn't intentional. Please don't take it to heart. It's truly inconsiderate of us to have you make a special trip," said Misumi Mikoto, bowing apologetically to Chen Yu as she escorted him to the elevator.

Intending to learn from Chen Yu, she couldn't afford to give him a bad impression.

"It's alright, a trivial matter, don't worry about it. You're a forensic pathologist; you should think like one. Having the mindset of a doctor might actually do harm," Chen Yu assured her with a smile, ready to take his leave.

"Wait a moment, Doctor Chen!" Misumi Mikoto called out to Chen Yu, who was about to leave. She bit her lip and finally mustered the courage to ask him, "Doctor Chen, can you talk to the dead?"

"Talk to the dead? Can't anyone do that? But what special meaning is there in speaking to a corpse? Why do you ask such a question, Dr. Misumi?" Chen Yu, naturally unwilling to answer her query, deliberately twisted her meaning.

"No, I mean having a conversation with the soul of the deceased. Because of the Xiao Sanmao incident, you must have spoken to her in person to find out her name, right?

And about the last live-streamed murder, although the stream was shut down eventually, I maintained a video call with Classmate Shirai the whole time, and I saw everything that happened after you and Doctor Jounouchi burst in..." Misumi Mikoto shared the information she had, then looked earnestly at Chen Yu, "So you can communicate with the souls of the deceased, and even allow others to see the souls, right?"