The unscrupulous detective in Conan

Chapter 1429 Crazy Stealing of Offerings
"Yellow-haired guy, interesting, he's even following us."

"Are you planning to do something that shouldn't happen in a proper storyline?"

"However, it doesn't seem very convenient here..."

"Let's do it quietly; it wouldn't be good if they saw us."

"The blond hair that often appears in these banned comics really makes people feel disgusted and instinctively repulsed."

"Let's use a major memory restoration technique first."

"If you can get a set of electric batons and fry meat, you'll behave yourself."

As Fujino thought this, various images of blond-haired men flashed through his mind, and a deep-seated disgust arose in his heart.

With a thought, his shadow transformed into a fluid, flowing like a stream into the woods beside the stone path.

After a tiring journey, we arrived at the mountain, where a peaceful scene unfolded.

The wooden shrine is very large, with various fox statues scattered throughout. The buildings are a mix of red and green. In addition to the main shrine, there are also side rooms, which are obviously larger than the main shrine.

It has to be said that this kind of shrine actually looks quite nice, at least it looks decent. Although it is also a tool for making money, compared to those places that don't distinguish between Buddhism and Taoism, this money-making effort is quite conscientious.

It's quite pleasant to just look at it as a tourist attraction.

Most importantly, it's free here.

Buying amulets or something like that isn't too expensive, and at least the amulets are actually drawn by someone else.

It's just a difference in operating methods...

After all, large shrines like this usually receive donations from local families, and their income mainly comes from these donations; the more donations, the larger the shrine becomes.

If the shrine were to operate on its own without donations, it would probably go bankrupt immediately if it didn't charge admission fees.

very realistic.

As Fujino admired the scenery, he thought to himself, while at the same time, his consciousness shifted to the other side, to the body of Kuro.

The blond thug who had been following them had now reached the shrine.

He was watching a group of people investigating the treasure from a distance.

Completely unaware of the black-clad man who suddenly appeared behind them.

Xiao Hei pulled out his stun gun, glanced at the blond-haired man's back, thought for a moment, a smile that seemed appropriate for the occasion appeared on his lips, and then let out a "hehehe" laugh before swinging out the stun gun of the Sanqing Education Team with moderate force.

Huang Mao was startled by the strange noise, and then a huge impact came from the back of his head.

Then, a series of crackling sounds from stun guns entered my ears.

Then, his vision was plunged into darkness.

…………

At midday, the sun was high in the sky.

Shimane Prefecture is quite cold in winter. After all, geographically it's similar to Shandong. It's not too cold by the sea, but the cold wind can still seep through your clothes.

The believers stood in front of the shrine, clutching their offerings tightly, their eyes filled with sincerity.

After all, they all yearn for their wishes to come true and for the things they desire but cannot attain.

So-called believers are merely those who hope that something beyond the laws of nature can fulfill their desires.

Looking at what the believers were holding, Genta couldn't help but ask curiously, "What are those things they're holding? They look like they're edible!"

“That’s fried tofu,” Ooka Momiji replied, her attitude towards them quite pleasant.

She regarded Ai as her and Fujino's daughter.

These friends are, of course, my lovely daughter's best friends.

Because she loved the house, she also treated the children very well.

He explained calmly, "The messenger of Inari is a fox, and what foxes like to eat is fried tofu. There's even a saying that fried tofu equals fox and Inari."

She paused for a moment, then continued, "As for why it's fried tofu, it was originally fried rats, since foxes also eat rats. But because eating meat was later prohibited, it was replaced with fried tofu."

Upon hearing this, Genta became excited: "Then, can we eat that fried tofu?"

Hongye paused for a moment: "They are edible, but they are all used for sacrificial purposes..."

Mitsuhiko, standing next to him, couldn't help but twitch his lips: "So, Genta, you wouldn't be thinking of stealing the offerings, would you?"

Ayumi looked worried: "Genta, how could you steal the offerings? You can't steal the offerings!"

"You'll be punished for that!"

Haibara Ai:"……"

These children are beyond saving.

She covered her forehead, feeling a little ashamed to look at the children.

Gray Mom felt a wave of shame.

The others fell silent upon hearing this.

I felt that what these kids said was somewhat funny.

When Fujino heard the word "tribute," he couldn't help but think of a joke.

Immediately, he slapped Genta on the forehead:

"You little brat, you really want to steal some of the offerings?"

"Where is it!" Genta scratched his head. "I was just wondering if it was edible..."

Fujino narrowed his eyes slightly and said calmly, "Speaking of which, foxes seem to be very cunning and vengeful creatures. Stealing offerings or something like that will definitely bring retribution from the foxes."

Genta was stunned for a moment: "The fox's retribution?"

Ayumi nodded: "That's right, that's right. Mom said that if you do something that offends the gods, you will be punished."

Yuan Tai couldn't help but ask again, "Then what exactly is this retribution?"

Hongye pondered, "It's probably like accidentally kicking a small Jizo statue by the roadside. If you accidentally kick it and don't sincerely repent, you'll have bad luck, and you might even be punished after death..."

Upon hearing this, Genta's expression turned grim: "How terrifying!"

Fujino glanced at Genta: "This isn't the fox's retribution; the fox's retribution is far more terrifying."

"Is there anything more terrifying than this?"

“Yes, I’ve heard of that.” Fujino smiled calmly. “If you steal the foxes’ offerings, after you die, the foxes will come in packs, with their whole families, and under the cover of night when no one is watching, they will jump and hop around in front of your grave, destroying your tombstone and frantically stealing your offerings…”

"That way, even after death, they will become starving ghosts because they have nothing to eat."

"Pfft..."

Upon hearing this, the others couldn't help but burst out laughing.

There was no laughter in stealing the offerings.

But a group of foxes ran to the grave and frantically stole the offerings...

It's honestly kind of funny.

Ai Haibara tried her best to keep a straight face, inwardly thinking with a sense of helplessness: So Fujino still talks inexplicably in a ridiculously unserious way that makes you want to laugh...

She could already picture the whole fox family running off to steal the offerings.

The others wanted to laugh, but Genta couldn't laugh when he heard this.

As a seasoned gourmand, his face immediately paled: "So, so, even after death, I'll become a starving ghost?!"

"very scary!"

"..." So you're not afraid of bad luck or being punished after death.

You're so scared that you'll starve to death?!

Seeing Yuan Tai's reaction, everyone felt that the child was beyond saving.

Ai Haibara couldn't help but agree and sighed softly.

As a mother of a child, she felt helpless about this situation.

The atmosphere was a little awkward, so Sonoko changed the subject, saying, "Since you said before that this shrine is very effective, why don't we get some talismans here first, or go and pray?"

"It's such a waste of time..." Conan complained. "It's already noon, and there are still a bunch of codes in the diary that we haven't cracked yet. If we waste time here, when will we ever find the treasure?"

Sonoko was speechless for a moment, then clenched her fists: "Why did you have to be so talkative, you little brat!"

"Alright, Sonoko, Conan isn't wrong. We can talk about this after we crack the code..." Ran said with a smile, trying to smooth things over. "The most important thing right now is to figure out what the bottom of the Inari means!"

Sonoko pursed her lips, but since her best friend had already spoken, she couldn't say anything more.

At this moment, Hongye spoke up and pondered, "But speaking of the area above and below the Inari, I think it refers to the place where the Inari god is enshrined."

"As for Inari, since it is not said to be a god, it usually refers to the fox that Inari God summons."

Xiaolan pondered for a moment: "If that's the case, then 'above and below' could refer to the fox statue or the shrine dedicated to Inari, right?"

“That’s quite possible!” Conan nodded, then looked at the offerings inside the main hall: “However, it seems like it might be quite difficult to search inside…”

"The people here probably won't let us get close easily."

Just as Conan was speaking, the traitor Yoshikawa suddenly spoke up: "Besides the main hall, there are some fox statues on the back mountain, and there is also a place to worship Inari God there."

"If it's the master who put it there, then it should be placed at the back, since it's unlikely that the master would put it in the main hall."

…………

The group followed the steward's clues to the altar at the back.

On the other side, Xiao Hei also caught the golden retriever.

After searching through the golden retriever's belongings, they immediately found something that could prove its identity.

This guy's name is Atsushi Takahashi, but I can't tell anything else about him.

However, while scrolling through his phone, Fujino came across an unexpected name: 【公子酱】 (Kouzi-chan).

Fujino: "..."

Young master, it must be that young master Kobayakawa.

So this Takahashi...

A thought suddenly popped into Fujino's head.

Speaking of which, that senator who was running for office earlier, I think his surname is also Takahashi.

Although there are many people with the same surname in Japan, it's quite unusual when they meet...

Fujino felt that the possibility of this being a coincidence was very high.

Especially in the world of Detective Conan.

After thinking for a moment, he directly relayed the message to Hiroki.

Soon, Hiroki brought the news.

After seeing the message, Fujino pinched the bridge of his nose and felt a headache coming on: "Is this Kobayakawa-kun his girlfriend?"

"Damn it, how can this idiot blondie find a girlfriend like this?"

"Shouldn't he be hanging out with 'psychological girls'?"

"Forget it, this guy's dad is rich, so it doesn't really matter. It's all the same in essence."

"If you have money, you're a spoiled brat; if you don't have money, you're just a nobody."

Fujino gathered his thoughts, then lowered his gaze and stared at the blond-haired man named Takahashi Atsushi in front of him: "I just don't know what the purpose of this whole show you guys put on is..."

"Could it be Romeo and Juliet or something?"

…………

On the other side, perhaps under the influence of some kind of aura, the group quickly found the location indicated by the clues—a shrine enshrining a fox statue.

On the altar in front of the offering shrine is a stone sculpture of fried tofu.

Hongye is quite knowledgeable about Japanese culture, and after a brief thought, she realized that fried tofu is equivalent to a fox and Inari.

Hidden beneath the inari is the fox, and the reasoning behind the above and below, based on Ai Haibara's coded message, involves the pronunciation of Japanese words.

For example, the words "above" and "below" can also be used to describe deep-frying when read in Japanese.

Then, naturally, we found the bottom of the fried tofu.

That was a map.

It read: "The castle is reflected in the cat's eyes; look below the mouse."

Upon hearing the word "cat," Conan immediately understood: "This cat must be the cat from the diary, right?"

"The cat in the diary?"

"Brother Fujino, hurry up and open the diary!"

Fujino glanced at Conan, opened his diary, and quickly found a page with a drawing of a strangely shaped cat.

Conan immediately examined it closely: "This cat should be the one mentioned on this map."

Sonoko was the first to come over: "Since it's hidden in the cat's eyes, could it be that there's something special about the cat's eyes in this painting?"

As she spoke, she stared wide-eyed at the cat's eye: "But there's nothing in this cat's eye..."

“Alright, Sonoko, this is definitely another code.” Fujino pushed Sonoko’s forehead away from her. “The cat mentioned on the surface probably isn’t entirely a cat.”

Sonoko clicked her tongue upon hearing this: "Tsk, this is really troublesome. Why not just tell us where the treasure is hidden?"

Everyone was clearly used to Sonoko.

Ai Haibara leaned closer to look at the cat picture and noticed something: "Speaking of which, have you guys noticed that there's a hole on this cat's belly that looks like it was made by someone?"

"Hole?"

"Could it be that it was accidentally torn?"

"The edges of this hole are neat, it doesn't look like it was made accidentally, I guess it must have some deeper meaning," Ai Haibara said.

Hongye couldn't help but ask curiously, "Then, what is the deeper meaning?"

Ai Haibara shrugged helplessly: "This time the code was just a cat and a picture of a cat, how could I possibly know it?"

Upon hearing this, Conan glanced at Ai Haibara, but couldn't help biting his finger, feeling a bit of a headache.

Fujino narrowed his eyes, glancing at the map to the left and the cat drawing to the right.

As if he had thought of something, he picked up the cat drawing and the notebook, and then put them on top of each other.

Then, the pictures on the two sheets of paper completely overlapped.

Fujino immediately understood what he meant: "It seems that this time the location has been marked directly."

"What do you mean?"

"This map roughly matches the outline of the cat in the diary, which means that the two are actually a set. It's like drawing a route map onto a map through a transparent plate and marking the route. This time, the location was also done in this way."

(End of this chapter)