The unscrupulous detective in Conan

Chapter 1428 Haibara: I can understand how he felt about reading the code.
In the world of Detective Conan, these kinds of blunders are always bound to happen.

For example, some vicious criminals might be willing to kill for a treasure, only to find in the end that the treasure is just some worthless stuff.

At that time, the enthusiastic citizen Ke can go up directly, use a memory restoration technique and a set of persuasive words to make the other person kneel down and admit their mistake.

With this in mind, Fujino had somewhat let go of his desire to find the treasure.

Of course, while the authenticity of the treasure has been somewhat diminished, other possibilities cannot be ruled out.

After all, the idea of ​​rapid post-war reconstruction and getting rich, according to this clue, means that the treasure, apart from some kind of mental hypnosis technique, is either some petty theft or some kind of white powder that makes you super high after inhaling it.

However, the system didn't pop up this time...

So this case shouldn't be considered a major case.

No one has died so far.

There was no white powder or anything like that.

At this moment, a worker from the Kobayakawa family suddenly chimed in: "Even so, many people don't believe it, especially those guys who made a fortune off the country during the turbulent period after the war. They've always been eyeing the Kobayakawa family, who are quite prestigious in the area."

Upon hearing this, Fujino glanced at the worker.

The worker's name was probably Yoshikawa Tsuneo, but I don't know exactly what he did. He probably did odd jobs or something, and I don't think he was a housekeeper or anything like that.

After all, he didn't do any of the usual tasks like serving tea or water.

What are we doing here?
Am I a light bulb?
Fujino frowned, feeling that this guy was more of a third wheel, neither making tea nor entertaining guests.

If it were Butler Hero, he would probably have already quit.

Fujino took a closer look at him and felt that he was getting a little too close.

Then, without thinking too much, he continued, "If what you've said is true, then there must be quite a few people here who are after your family's treasure."

Hideko Kobayakawa sighed helplessly upon hearing this: "Although we know nothing about the treasure, that is indeed the case."

Fujino nodded, understanding: "After all, that's how rumors work. Even if your family doesn't have any treasure, after it's spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred, your family should have it even if you don't."

"Judging from the current situation, your family should be a very well-known family in the area. Some local families should know that your family has a treasure. In addition, some local gangs and criminal organizations should also know about it."

As she spoke, Fujino looked at the notebook on the table—or rather, the notebook that Conan was now holding in his arms: "Moreover, the contents of this notebook are indeed related to the treasure."

"Is there anything else you know about the treasure?"

Hideko Kobayakawa's expression was complicated upon hearing this: "Well, I don't know either. My father never mentioned anything about treasure. After all, he was the one who handled the family affairs back then..."

“Like this diary, the young master knows more about it than I do.”

Upon hearing this, Kobayakawa shook his head helplessly and said, "Although Grandpa told me some answers to the riddles in his diary, I've forgotten some of them, and he didn't finish telling me all of them before he passed away..."

“I’m not talking about the riddle,” Fujino interrupted. “I’m talking about the diary.”

"About the diary?"

Faced with the Kobayakawa family's questions, Fujino calmly explained, "I don't think just anyone can know about the diary, let alone outsiders."

"Besides your Kobayakawa family, who else do you think would care about a diary in the hands of a girl in her early twenties?"

The clueless Sonoko couldn't help but ask, "Of course, it's those people who are looking for treasure!"

Hongye glanced at her 'good older sister' and felt that this Suzuki family member was a bit simple-minded. She then explained helplessly, "The person who is looking for the treasure is not the key. The key is who leaked the information about the diary."

Hearing this, Xiaolan, having been influenced by her childhood friend's frequent involvement in cases, naturally understood: "So, someone in the Kobayakawa family leaked the secret of the treasure recorded in the diary?"

Conan narrowed his eyes, his hand holding the diary loosened slightly, and he began to reason after being reminded: "Indeed, apart from the people inside the Kobayakawa family, there shouldn't be anyone else who would know this, let alone the matter of the diary."

"Those thugs were definitely after the diary; they must have known about it beforehand..."

Just as Conan was speaking, Yoshikawa Tsuneo suddenly blinked twice, his eyes fixed on the ground, and his facial expression twitched slightly.

Fujino had been keeping an eye on the other party, so he naturally noticed this immediately.

Hmm, very good, we can now determine who the mole is.

No wonder it's been stuck to me like a leech from the very beginning.

It turns out he had been a mole all along.

It's likely that he was the one who leaked the diary.

It's truly hard to guard against a thief within your own family.

Hearing this, Hideko Kobayakawa was slightly surprised: "You mean, someone in our family is leaking information about us to outsiders?"

"But all the people who do the work in our house are elderly..."

“That should be the case.” Fujino was not surprised by the lady’s reaction. After all, who would have thought that the person they had raised for so many years would collude with outsiders to sell their family out?

But that's not surprising.

Even family members might betray their own family, let alone outsiders.

That's just how people are; you can't completely trust them, especially the people closest to you.

They think they've done the other person a great favor, but in reality, it's a case of gratitude for a small favor being repaid with an even greater one. Even if that's not the case, a little temptation or threat can make all the difference.

Fujino didn't intend to reveal his identity, but instead deduced, "Your house was burgled, but no one should have noticed it that day, right?"

Hideko Kobayakawa replied, "That's right, they broke in while our family wasn't home..."

"How did those people determine that you weren't home?"

"This……"

Hideko Kobayakawa was speechless after hearing this.

The theft might be an isolated incident; one could simply scout the location beforehand. However, considering the diary incident, there's not much more to say.

The matter is simple: a traitor has appeared in their family.

"Let's leave that aside for now; it's not the right time to investigate."

As Fujino spoke, he snatched the diary from Conan's hand. "Let's find the treasure first."

Conan, whose diary had been snatched away, looked resentful.

But then he thought about it again, and realized he didn't have much to say.

Damn it, how did Fujino even realize there was a mole in the Kobayakawa family...?

However, if we think about it that way, then the spies within the Kobayakawa family are definitely still watching us.

So, that guy will definitely follow us to find the treasure next.

Thinking this, Conan fell into deep thought.

Fujino lowered his eyes and glanced briefly at the diary in front of him.

The picture above shows a fox standing on the riverbank, staring at the koi carp in the river.

Okay, this picture is so abstract, I can't make anything out of it at all.

You'd think it was a normal painting if you didn't know better.

There were also signs nearby indicating how to feed the foxes fish...

Ai Haibara, who was standing nearby, saw Fujino pick up his diary and came over as well.

After all, she is the code girl.

Fujino's ability to decipher codes is not ideal...

In times like these, it's only natural to lend a hand.

She glanced at it, and her eyes narrowed slightly. A fox eats fish…

This code is so abstract.

And there were no clues over there either...

Just as Ai Haibara was pondering, Fujino narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke:

"Hidden beneath the rice paddies."

"Eh?"

Everyone was a little confused by what Fujino had said out of the blue.

Fujino then pointed to the drawings in the diary: "Look at the patterns on the riverbank. When you fold and combine them, that's what I was just talking about."

"It was all written on a piece of armor."

"I guess it's to prevent people from easily noticing."

Everyone crowded around to take a look. Although it was very abstract, they immediately understood it after seeing the Japanese word for it.

After all, the Japanese character is a circle, which is very easy to recognize.

Seeing this, Ai Haibara couldn't help but mutter to herself: So what kind of code is this anyway?

Shouldn't a code be hidden within the text?
So abstract...

Such a simple code gave me, the code-wielding girl, absolutely no chance to make a move!
For a moment, Ai felt a little regretful.

She suddenly understood how Fujino felt about the coded messages.

At this moment, Kobayakawa suddenly thought of something: "If it is Inari, then it should be Taikodani Inari nearby, right?"

Upon hearing this, Koyo pondered for a moment: "Is it the Taikodani Inari with its thousands of torii gates?"

"Hmm." Prince Kobayakawa responded, "That's right, this is a famous shrine around here, I heard it's very efficacious."

Upon hearing this, Sonoko and Ran immediately became excited: "Is it really that effective?"

“Yes, that’s right.” Momiji nodded. “After all, it’s one of the five major Inari shrines in the country, and it has a thousand torii gates and a large number of fox statues.”

"In that case, let's get going!"

"it is good!"

The children and a few girls heard this and immediately became interested.

Looking at their expressions, Fujino felt no empathy whatsoever.

He still couldn't quite understand shrines.

However, it is, after all, a traditional folk custom.

Fujino also wanted to see the foxes or something.

Inari shrines are usually quite clean places, with original natural beliefs, similar to mountain gods. They enshrine Inari, the god of abundant harvests, who is usually believed to bring peace and prosperity to businesses, similar to a city god or a god of wealth.

The divine messenger is an adorable fox spirit.

Places like this don't usually enshrine anything disgusting.

After all, shrines are a self-contained system in Japan. If someone dares to cross that system, not only would the shrine not dare, but those believers would be exiled by those who wanted to exile war criminals.

Japan places great importance on religion, especially among ordinary people.

Those believers who pray for peace are truly daring to parade through the streets.

And just like Buddhism and Taoism, if you worship Buddhism in a Taoist temple, the Taoist priest will probably start sending out telegrams like crazy.

…………

Soon, the group arrived at the shrine that Prince Kobayakawa had mentioned.

At first glance, you can see a mountain several hundred meters high, with various red torii gates on its waist, making it look like a tunnel.

Everyone stared in disbelief at the torii gates.

Sonoko swallowed hard: "So, it's so high, we don't have to climb all the way up, do we?"

Xiaolan gave an awkward laugh: "I guess that's how it is..."

Prince Kobayakawa sighed helplessly: "This is the only way up the mountain."

Genta was completely dumbfounded: "Climbing up that high would definitely kill you, wouldn't it?"

Ai Haibara looked up at the endless mountain road in front of her and couldn't help but sigh.

Therefore, investigating cases is also physically demanding.

With our current physical strength...

Ugh……

Life is not easy, Maomao sighed.

Sighing as I may be, I still have to climb the mountain.

The path leading up to the shrine is paved with wide stone floors, not the disgusting kind of steps that can't even fit one foot, so it's easier to walk on.

Fujino walked along the mountain path without noticing anything amiss.

It's just a small hill.

In the past, China had many such mountains. Retired elderly men and women had spare money and nothing to do, but they would climb such mountains every day.

Halfway there, everyone was so tired they were about to collapse.

Sonoko is full of energy, but she plays tennis, so although she has enough stamina, climbing such a mountain is still a bit strenuous.

As for the red leaves, the weight on my body was too much when I was climbing the mountain. I was trembling and had to endure extra force as I walked, so I started to pant for breath.

Xiaolan and Kobayakawa were fine. Xiaolan's stamina was excellent, and Kobayakawa had probably been here many times and was already used to it.

That old man Yoshikawa, who seems to be the mole, is quite impressive; he climbed so high without even breaking a sweat.

As expected, Old Deng in the world of Detective Conan is an unknown entity.

The little ones were fine too.

After all, children's bodies are lighter, so a little tiredness isn't too much for them.

Genta was so exhausted that he collapsed and cried out that he didn't want to climb anymore.

Fujino looked at everyone, somewhat speechless.

However, he didn't pay much attention to it, and instead turned to look behind him.

After leaving the Kobayakawa house, a person followed behind them.

Although I followed behind, I still kept a certain distance.

The only problem was that his tracking skills were a bit lacking, and he even revealed his own appearance and physique.

He had blond hair with red highlights at the ends, wore a red jacket, sunglasses hanging on his chest, and even wore a pair of slicked-back jeans with a chain around his waist.

It's rock and roll, but not entirely rock and roll; it's normal, but not normal either. It's kind of like someone wearing loafers and skinny jeans, with a The North Face down jacket bought on loan on top.

He looks like the kind of shady social outcast who's the kind of person who blends into society.

Fujino instinctively became wary, wanting to knock the other person unconscious and then capture them for a major memory restoration technique.

(End of this chapter)