Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

“These corpses have absolutely nothing to do with Sasaki Kiyose.”

He pulled open the handle of the morgue freezer, unzipped the body bag, and pressed the flashlight on his watch, illuminating the inside thoroughly.

As expected, none of them were intact corpses; the pieces were charred black, the clothes were probably burned off long ago, and three hands could be seen directly from the bag.

"And there's another police chief who went missing here, Aoyama..."

Higashino took out his phone and started searching for the senior police officer at the Osaka Police Headquarters. He finally found the person's identity in the Traffic Department. Not only that, he also noticed that the person originally worked at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and had been transferred to Osaka.

"However, his disappearance could not be the result of the conflict between the East and the West. Neither Mr. Hattori nor the Prime Minister should be that kind of person. There must be other factors involved."

After taking some photos of the corpses, Higashino pondered the connection between the bombing and the missing police officer, and took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to take the elevator back to the ground.

"The police system information has been updated!"

As he walked out of the hospital, he opened the research results on the Xicheng District bombing, filled out by a policeman named Otaki.

The report stated that the explosion at the Sasaki Kiyose apartment occurred during a police operation. After the explosion, the high temperature caused the combustion effect to spread in all directions along the public gas pipeline in the West Ward, eventually leading to the massive explosion.

"According to this explanation, the reason why some people in Xicheng District are still alive is simply because some families are so poor that they have to use incendiary canisters to meet their needs, so it's a coincidence that they weren't involved in the explosion..."

Higashino took two oxygen pens out of his pocket and continued walking westward in the direction of the people. He put the pen case in his mouth and then put on the mask he had just taken from the hospital.

Rescue workers were searching for survivors in the surrounding area, while from the outermost edge of the blast, engineering teams from Tokyo and Kyoto, along with locals from Osaka, had already begun clearing the rubble. "I think instead of focusing on Sasaki Kiyose, we should investigate the explosion itself."

Using a real-time satellite map, he zoomed in on the West District, which was completely obscured by smoke and dust, making it impossible to see.

"Then let's use Dr. Hiroki's miniature drone."

He pulled a palm-sized bag from his pocket, took out a folded triplane, and began recording using his phone, while in his hand he held a map of the West District marking the explosion marks. Following the occupied streets, he couldn't cover the entire West District, but he had covered almost every direction.

"The nodes of each gas pipeline were indeed the places where the explosions were most severe..."

He walked to a bench by the roadside, patted off the layer of dust, then sat down to examine the map, frowning as he pointed out the location of Sasaki Kiyose's apartment.

“If the explosion originated from here, then the people in the West District would have had a good chance to shut off the valves on the pipes beyond the third block and contain the explosion within two blocks of Sasaki Kiyose’s apartment.”

However, almost the entire western district was destroyed by the explosion. Even though some areas in the south were intact, people probably won't choose to continue living there, since the north will definitely need to be rebuilt.

"And the shockwave of the explosion..."

It might not be noticeable in person, but it's much clearer when drawn like this.

"Why does it seem like there were two explosions with different impacts near Sasaki Kiyose's apartment?" (End of Chapter)