Stay away from Conan.

"The police investigation remains stalled. Aside from the knowledge of another victim named 'Shindo Sumire,' there are no new developments, and..."

Under the cover of night, lying on the floor of a bed in a room on the third floor of the Mouri Detective Agency, Conan, still wearing his glasses, lay back with his hands behind his head, silently pondering all the clues at hand.

Now that the organization's purpose in getting involved in this incident is clear, the organization, or rather, the guy named "Ireland" who infiltrated the police force, has also become aware of its presence.

Therefore, we must hurry this time.

As for Mr. Akechi and Ai, although they were not aware of what was happening in Ireland, they probably realized that they might be facing a problem. Therefore, they gave me a few antidotes today, which can be considered as giving me another option.

only……

Should I inform Mr. Akechi and the others of the facts I learned from Vermouth?
With their help, things might progress better, but they would also inevitably be dragged down with them. As things stand, the intruder may have only noticed his own anomaly, but if Mr. Akechi and Ai are also involved, things seem to become even more uncontrollable...

In addition, many of my previous actions were indeed not explained to Mr. Mingzhi and the others due to various considerations, and this time...

It's best not to tell them. Perhaps Mr. Mingzhi and the others offered them the antidote this time for a similar reason.

Everyone is currently taking their own actions, so let's proceed from our own perspectives first. Perhaps we'll reap unexpected rewards.

Conan felt he could roughly understand Mr. Akechi and the others' implied purpose, so his thoughts returned to the incident.

Now, the key issue is still who the murderer is. If we can find the murderer and take the memory card from him, then there is at least a chance to turn things around when facing the organization.

But now, the number of victims, including the missing "Shindo Sumire," has reached six. Furthermore, the locations where the first five bodies were found were clearly not the primary crime scene, suggesting that the killer likely followed a pattern in disposing of the bodies. However…

Sumire Shindo has not yet been found, and the location where the murderer abandoned the body remains a mystery. The connection between all the victims in the whole incident is also completely unclear.

If we're really going to talk about it, it seems that only the words spoken by the deceased Ryuzaki, who died after his vehicle went out of control at the Hayakawa tollbooth, are truly worth examining before he died—

Qixi Festival in Beijing.

What does this really mean?

According to information obtained by Uncle Mori from the police, when the sixth missing victim, Sumire Shindo, reported the incident to the police, she claimed that she knew what was going on and demanded that the police come to protect her before she would talk. This shows that after learning about the incident, she immediately understood what was going on and was also certain that she would be the killer's target.

Therefore, this already demonstrates that the killer did not choose targets randomly; all six victims were connected, but so far, no connection has been found between them...

Could it be a connection known only to them?
The phrase "Tanabata Kyo" left by Ryuzaki before his death, does it mean that he was already aware of the murderer's reason for attacking him before he died, and that this message he left behind actually points to the core motive of the murderer who attacked them?

Suddenly, Conan realized that, in the end, he had to unravel the meaning behind the words "Tanabata-kyo".

If I'm not mistaken, Ryuzaki probably didn't know the killer's identity before he died; otherwise, he would have left behind some information about the killer, such as their name, but he didn't...

Thus, the key question is what exactly "Tai Chihaya" represents, and whether it is the key that connects all the victims together.
Following this line of thought, if "Qixi Jing" isn't a clue that directly points to the killer's identity, but rather a keyword that connects the victims... then the only thing that comes to mind from this obviously unfinished sentence—the word "Qixi"—is the Qixi Festival...

Moreover, if you think about it carefully, the Qixi Festival is just around the corner this year, so it seems that you can make a connection.

In that case, what does "京" mean...?

"Kyoto... If the preceding 'Tanabata' refers to the time, then the most likely thing following it should be the location, right? Kyoto...?"

Subconsciously, Conan immediately thought of this possibility—

Could it be that the undiscovered connection between the deceased is related to something that happened in Kyoto on Tanabata?
In that case, in Kyoto...

I guess I'll have to ask Hattori for help.

With that in mind, Conan immediately got out of bed, picked up his phone from under his pillow, and began composing a message for Heiji Hattori, asking him to investigate what happened in Kyoto on Tanabata, which might be related to the recent serial murders.

After Conan sent the message and received a reply from Heiji Hattori promising to respond as soon as possible, Conan finally felt a little relieved.

At least, it wasn't a complete loss.

If the investigation in Kyoto can uncover a connection between the victims, then finding the culprit will finally be a step in the right direction.

Thinking of this, Conan closed his eyes, but the words "Tanabata Kyoto" kept replaying in his mind—

We should hear from Hattori soon; given his efficiency, we might have results by tomorrow morning…

Just as Conan was preparing to fall asleep, suddenly—

"Click".

A very slight noise came from downstairs.

Conan suddenly opened his eyes, instinctively realizing something—

The sound was very soft, like the sound of someone turning a doorknob.

Uncle Mori drank quite a bit tonight and is fast asleep in his bedroom on the third floor, so the office downstairs has already closed.

There couldn't possibly be anyone downstairs at this time!
unless……

Sensing something was amiss, Conan's hand stealthily reached for the wristwatch-shaped tranquilizer gun beside his pillow. With his other hand, he threw back the covers, silently rose, and, barefoot, made no sound as he quietly walked downstairs… (End of Chapter)