I ignored Dr. Wu’s provocation and went back to examine the dead body. He was annoyed by this and stomped over to me and shouted over my shoulders, “Are you deaf, boy? Didn’t you hear what I said? What poison did you detect?”

“If I tell you now, wouldn’t you just copy what I say and take the credit?”

Dr. Wu burst into laughter so loud that my ears hurt.

“You think a legitimate coroner like me would copy you?” he retorted. “Fine, why don’t we write down the poison we detected on the palm of our hands and reveal it together then?”

“Okay!” I nodded. “But if it turns out that you made a mistake, you must apologize to me.”

“No problem!” he answered disdainfully. “I’d even get down on my knees if you like.”

“Okay, deal!”

Judging by his tone, he seemed extremely confident in his test results.

“But what if you got it wrong?” he asked.

“I’ll get...