When they walked out of the shrine and felt the warm sunlight on their bodies, the chill in their hearts subsided a little.
"Heiji … I'm scared … Let's not investigate this case anymore."
Kazuya grabbed Heiji's arm tightly and said in a low voice. Xiao Lan also grabbed Conan and shook her head.
"Me too, Shin … Conan, this should be like what my dad said. It's just an accident. Yes, it must be just an accident …."
Conan and Hattori Heiji did not care about their girlfriends' reactions. They continued to discuss the case in a low voice.
"What do you think? Hattori? "
"I think … it's hard to say."
Hattori Heiji frowned as well, completely baffled.
"To be honest, after listening to Miss Shimabuki's words, I think she has a motive."
"That's right, but that's only the motive. If Miss Shimabude is right, then the three people were already dead before she planned to kill them."
Conan nodded. He was also a little puzzled by the development of the situation.
"But … a website?"
"Could it be that she hired the killers and regretted it later?"
"I don't think so. If Shimabuki hired the killers, she wouldn't have said it in front of us. Hattori, did you notice that? She was very cooperative when we asked her, as if …. "
"As if she was asking for our help."
Hattori Heiji understood what Conan meant. As high school detectives, they often encountered this kind of thing. After all, many people were uncertain when they encountered difficulties, and the police might not necessarily help them. Therefore, high school detectives often chose to solve the problem.
But Shimabuki's behavior was the same as many clients they had encountered before.
But … she was clearly the suspect!
"If you ask me, either she's very confident in her killing methods and thinks that we can't solve the case, so she deliberately said it to tempt us, or …."
"Either Miss Shimabuki is telling the truth," Seiji said.
Conan was speechless when he heard Hattori Heiji's words.
"She did want to kill Saori and the others, so when she learned the truth, she immediately thought of this urban legend. But at that time, maybe Miss Shimabuki was just venting her anger …."
"That's right, it's like nailing a scarecrow."
Hattori Heitji nodded. This kind of situation was actually quite common. Many people seemed to be very gentle, but they also had people they hated. So it was normal for them to secretly make a paper man or something like that. As detectives, they had seen this kind of thing a lot.
"But what Ms. Shimabuki didn't expect was that the urban legend actually came true."
"So she's scared too."
"That's why he came to us for help."
The two of them tried to straighten out their relationship, but … this was even more unacceptable!
They would rather believe that Shimaduki Kun had planned a perfect murder and felt that he would not be discovered, so he said it to provoke the detectives!
However, this didn't make sense because the fire three years ago was not an accident but a man-made incident. Before that, only the three victims knew about it. Kun Shimabuki only learned the truth from Saori Monowaki a week ago after her father sold the arrow.
In other words, as long as Shimadude did not say anything, they would never be able to find a motive for her murder ….
But she told them directly ….
"Why don't we listen to Mr. Fangzheng's thoughts?
"By the way, Mr. Fangzheng …. Huh? Where's Mr. Fangzheng? "
The two Kanto and Kansai detectives thought hard for a long time. When they turned around, they found that Fangzheng, who came with them, was nowhere to be seen. When they heard their inquiry, Xiao Lan and Kazuya, who were standing next to them, pointed at the shrine. Only then did Hattori Heitji and Conan notice that Fangzheng was standing at the gate, talking to Shimaduki Kun, who kept nodding her head.
When they saw this ….
"Did Mr. Fangzheng ask her to confess?"
"Let's go take a look!!"
At this time, Conan and Hattori Heiji also rushed over excitedly. Their original expectation was that when Shimaduki Jun saw them coming, she would show a bitter smile and say, "I didn't expect you to see through me. That's right, I killed them." Then, they would start the familiar confession process of a criminal ….
Oh, they had already gone through this before.
But ….
"Thank you very much, Mr. Fangzheng."
"You're welcome. When this is over, you can come to me. Just call this number."
Hattori Heitji and Conan watched as Fangzheng took out a business card and handed it to Shimaduki Kun, then nodded and turned to leave. Shimaduki Kun bowed deeply to Fangzheng ….
"…."
What's going on?
"What are you doing?"
Asked Fangzheng when he noticed Hattori Heitji and Conan not far away. Conan blinked his eyes and looked at Fangzheng.
"Mr. Fangzheng, what did you say to Shimaduki Kun?"
"Oh, it's nothing. You see, this Longevity Woman can't keep up the act anymore. Everyone knows that her trick has been exposed. Continuing to act will only add to the pain. So, I talked to Miss Shimaduki about the future development of Mermaid Island. The legend of the mermaid can continue to be passed on. As for the rumor of Longevity Woman … Miss Shimaduki will find a time to discuss it with the people on the island, and then tell them that Longevity Woman has passed away. After all, an old lady has lived for 130 years. It's normal for her to pass away. "
"Without Longevity Woman, what's going to happen to the festival?"
At this moment, Xiao Lan and He Ye also came over, and after hearing this, they couldn't help but ask.
"The sacrificial ceremony can be held in another way. Moreover, a person can only die at 130 years old. Although it doesn't reach the standard of immortality, it's enough to make people yearn for it. People pray for the Dugong Arrow to have a long and safe life. Who would really aim for immortality?"
"Uh …."
Hearing Fangzheng's words, everyone looked at each other.
That seemed to be the case ….
"But this doesn't seem to have anything to do with you, Mr. Fangzheng?"
Hattori Heitji finally realized what was going on. Indeed, the future of Mermaid Island was something that people were concerned about, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with Fangzheng.
"Who said it doesn't?"
Fangzheng silently glanced at Hattori Heitji.
"Umbrella plans to enter the tourism industry, and the transformation of Mermaid Island is a good start for us to test the waters. The festival on this island is actually just a gimmick. What's important is the tourist environment. There's an abundance of seafood here, and it's fresh, delicious, and cheap. Isn't it more attractive to tourists than things like immortality?"
Conan was also surprised when he heard this.
"So just now, you and Miss Shimaduki …."
"Yes, that's right. I was talking to her about Umbrella's investment in Mermaid Island."
Hearing this answer, Conan and Hattori Heitji rolled their eyes.
"But she's a suspect, Mr. Fangzheng. What if she killed Saori Monowaki and the others …."
"She didn't lie just now."
Before Hattori Heitji could finish, Fangzheng interrupted him.
"I'm very sure of it. She didn't kill them."
Of course, she didn't kill them. Fangzheng did it himself.
Conan and Hattori Heitji were speechless when they heard this.
The reason why they liked to invite Fangzheng to solve the case together was not because of Fangzheng's reasoning ability. Fangzheng himself said that he was not interested in reasoning, but Fangzheng's ability to read people was top-notch. If Conan and Hattori Heitji were two geniuses, and the case was an exercise question, then Fangzheng was actually the "reference answer" to the exercise question. But just like the answer to the exercise question, he only provided the answer, not the process.
The process of solving the problem still required the geniuses like Conan to solve it themselves.
There was another reason why Conan invited Fangzheng.
It all started when Teacher Koyuri was almost poisoned to death on her wedding day.
At that time, Fangzheng directly saw through the groom's plan and stopped him on the spot, which greatly shocked and devastated Conan.
Indeed, as a detective, Conan – or rather, Kudo Shinichi – was quite excellent. He could detect the problem of the other party through the traces left behind, inadvertent movements, and other minor details.
But there was a problem.
The so-called traces were often left after the crime was committed.
That is to say, by the time he found out, the person was already dead.
No matter how good a detective was, he could only catch the criminal and avenge the victim.
But Fangzheng was different. He could detect the criminal in advance, stop the other party, and stop the crime!
This was an ability that Conan and Hattori Heitji did not have.
Although they could occasionally detect that something was wrong with the murderer before he committed the crime, they could only be curious and puzzled. After all, they did not have this ability, and they could not tell from the murderous eyes of others whether they really wanted to kill the other party or simply did not like them.
Furthermore, this wasn't the first time Fangzheng had displayed this ability in front of them. During the Egg of Memories incident, he had targeted Shi Kaobing. After that, when the policemen were killed consecutively, he was the first to discover the culprit. Furthermore, he had stopped the culprit from nearly killing Officer Sato and Xiaolan.
To be honest, Conan now wished that he had Fangzheng's ability to observe people's minds compared to his ability to reason.
However, he also found that this ability was obviously difficult to master. After all, the evidence and clues observed by detectives were fixed, but Fangzheng's observation of microexpressions was likely to only change in a thousandth of a second, and it was difficult for an outsider to really master it. This was not the field of "self-taught".
So Conan decided that if he encountered any more invitations in the future, he would also invite Fangzheng over. After all, it would at least be a precaution, wouldn't it?
Fangzheng's trick was not perfect. For example, Fangzheng once told him that unless the criminal was really stupid enough to kill the target in front of him, he would not be able to see through it. After all, a person could not live with murderous intentions 24 hours a day. Just like that time in the House of Masks. When the other party committed the crime, everyone went to sleep. How would he know that the other party wanted to kill someone?
Didn't he need to sleep?
But to Conan or Kudo Shinichi, even if they could save a victim, it would be good!
It was the same this time, but what Conan did not expect was that the victims this time were really tragic. They died before Fangzheng arrived.
Well … actually, they only died after Fangzheng arrived.
But there was no need for Conan to know about this.
Now that they heard Fangzheng's words, Conan and Hattori Heitji were speechless. Since Fangzheng's "reference answer" had confirmed that Shimadude Kun was not the criminal, it was useless for them to continue reasoning.
"Is there no other possibility?"
"Of course there is."
"Huh?"
Hearing Fangzheng's words, the two immediately perked up.
"What possibility?"
"It's simple. According to the plot, this Miss Shimadude actually has two personalities. In fact, it's her other personality who killed the victim. Her main personality doesn't know anything, so it's normal that I can't see through it …."
"…."
Conan, Hattori Heitji, Mao Lilan, Uanzan, and Ye were all speechless. Fangzheng shrugged and spread his hands.
"So, you see, this setting is quite brilliant."
In the end, the police closed the case as an "accident" according to Maori Kogoro's statement. This was also a rare moment when the "sleeping Kogoro" did not sleep and did not refute his own reasoning. It was a highlight of solving a case!
Therefore, on the way back, Mouri Kogoro was triumphant and laughed. Hattori Heitji and Conan's faces were as black as coal. Oh, Hattori Heitji didn't need to do that. His face was black to begin with.
As for Fangzheng, he was also very happy because he suddenly discovered another use for Conan other than being a god of plagues.
That was to attract wealth!
One had to know that Umbrella needed to grow, so it definitely had to acquire a lot of companies. Most of the Japanese companies were family-run. It wasn't easy to get the management rights from them. But now, with Conan, things were much simpler!
If he wanted to acquire a company, and the other party did not agree, then Fangzheng would bring Conan to a banquet. At that time, people would definitely die, and most of them would be the company's president. Usually, the person who killed them would be the company's heir. In this way, under the halo of the god of death, the whole company would be completely finished. The stock price would plummet, and Umbrella would take the opportunity to buy a lot of shares …. Perfect!
Now, Fangzheng finally discovered that Conan was not only a god of death, but also a Maneki-Neko!!
(End of this chapter)
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