Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 372 The Kidnappers Who Were Attacked
"Detective Sugihara, the cause of death was cancer, and he died at Totei Hospital, right? Okay... I understand." Shiraishi inquired one last time about the detective who handled the case.

After hanging up with Iwata, Shiraishi called Dr. Daimon.

"Hello, this is..."

Before Shiraishi could finish speaking, Daimon interrupted, "Are you injured? How serious is it? Do you need an amputation?"

Shiraishi:……

"Ahem, thanks for your concern, but could you please not get so excited when asking such questions? As for the amputation surgery... I've already cancelled my appointment!" Shiraishi said helplessly.

"You're not injured..." The gatekeeper was no longer excited, but rather somewhat disappointed.

Shiraishi:……

“Dr. Daimon, I’d like to ask you about something… Last week, an elderly man in his seventies named Sugihara died of cancer in the surgery department of Totei Hospital. Do you remember him?” Shiraishi asked his “informant at Totei Hospital.”

“Mr. Sugihara… I know, he’s incredibly resilient. When he came to the hospital, he was already in stage four. Although I made a surgical plan for him, he and his family didn’t want to suffer like that again. Sigh,” Daimon said regretfully.

Since the patient was in so much pain that they only sought medical help, there wasn't much that could be done – even if the surgery was successful, the long-term effects would likely be mediocre, and their quality of life would be compromised. Therefore, the patient and their family decided on "conservative treatment."

After all, even a gate isn't a god...

Although "the surgery will not fail", the results of the surgery still vary.

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi thought to himself, judging from Daimon's words, Detective Sugihara's death didn't seem to have any hidden story.

Immediately, Shiraishi asked, "Did anything special happen before Mr. Sugihara passed away?"

"Something special? Oh right... he's a police officer too, right?" Da Men suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Why do you ask that?" Shiraishi quickly pressed.

"When he was dying, a middle-aged couple... I think they were a married couple, kept pulling on his oxygen tank and asking him things like 'Who is the prisoner?' and 'Please tell me his name.' They even had a conflict with his family at the time," Damen recalled.

Since no surgery was being performed at the time, the gatekeepers went to watch the commotion...

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi immediately understood—this was it!

The police officer who handled the case a week before the bombing passed away, which was certainly not an accident.

However, it wasn't what Shiraishi initially envisioned—starting the killings with the detectives…

Sugihara did indeed die of illness, but before his death, the victim's family finally learned from him that even the case files had been erased, which led to a series of events!
“I see…” At this moment, Shiraishi recalled the “old scar” he had found on Takayuki Ejiri’s hand during the autopsy.

"By the way, is there a subsidy for being an informant for your police?" the gatekeeper suddenly asked.

"Hmm? Are you short of money?" Bai Shi asked, puzzled. The ordinary surgeries of the gate are fine, he just takes the labor fee of an outsourced doctor, but some benchmark surgeries often cost tens of millions or even hundreds of millions!

Didn't her "agent" give it to her? Wasn't the head of that agency like a father to her?
"I'll tell you a secret... I recently discovered a huge project. Just invest three million, and you'll get a return of thirty million in three months!" Da Men said confidently.

Shiraishi:……

"Where did you find this big project?" Bai Shitou asked, sounding pained.

“A text message…only super lucky people receive it!” Daimon said matter-of-factly.

Shiraishi:……

Now Shiraishi knows why he didn't give her the money!
"Five hundred yuan per consultation is fine." Bai Shi also felt that it was better not to give her the money.

"Huh? So little?" the gatekeeper said disappointedly.

"Yes, we settle accounts every twenty times, otherwise the office won't have any change," Shiraishi said seriously.

……

After hanging up the phone, Shiraishi's expression turned serious—although this didn't even qualify as circumstantial evidence, but...

With so many coincidences coming together, there is a hypothesis that is "comprehensible" and fits perfectly!
Twenty years ago, Satoko Ando was playing alone in a park when she was taken away by someone, and her body was later found at the foot of a cliff in Okutama.

Under the influence of unknown pressures, the investigating detective Sugihara did not leave any record in the case file;

Takayuki Ejiri has a scar on his hand that looks like it was left by a child biting him;

After retiring, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Deputy Commissioner Koichiro Takada entered politics, and Shuichi Ejiri became his mentor in his political career.
Twenty years later, a woman resembling Saki Ando, ​​after hearing Sugihara's dying words, successively blew up Takayuki Ejiri, kidnapped Manami Takada, and threatened Koichiro Takada to "confess his crimes"...

Shiraishi then dialed Kuroki's number again...

"Hey, this is Shiraishi... Detective Kuroki, go and find out about Takayuki Ejiri's friends in Tokyo, the kind you've known since his school days. Ask them if Takayuki Ejiri had any accidents or mishaps twenty years ago," Shiraishi instructed.

Although Kuroki didn't understand why they were investigating this kind of thing at this time, he naturally did as Chief Shiraishi said.

Then Shiraishi made a few more phone calls...

"Detective Yuan, please investigate the case of the missing girl in Mihana Park twenty years ago... who was the victim's father?"

"Detective Suzuki, go and confirm immediately where Satoko Ando's body was found in Okutama Town twenty years ago."

……

"Officer Shiraishi, Shinichi's location isn't moving!" Dr. Agasa said hurriedly.

“Hmm, that should be a warehouse with hardly anyone around… It’s very likely where the kidnappers are holding hostages. Professor Agasa, stop the car when you get close, and leave the rest to me.” Shiraishi nodded.

"Huh?" Professor Agasa glanced worriedly at Shiraishi's left arm in the rearview mirror, but then realized that even with both of Shiraishi's arms in slings, his fighting power was still far beyond his own. So he nodded and said, "Okay... If there's an emergency, call me anytime. I can... call the police."

……

The last place Conan's glasses stopped was in an abandoned warehouse in Okutama Town.

Okutama Town is sparsely populated and filled with abandoned warehouses, so you can imagine how remote it is.

Shiraishi had Professor Agasa stop the car ahead of time, and then he sneaked towards the warehouse alone. Although Shiraishi's size meant he was not good at stealth, the only main road around the warehouse was in disrepair and overgrown with weeds, so Shiraishi was not worried about being discovered.

After getting off the car, Shiraishi removed his left hand, which was wrapped in bandages, from the carrying bag.

Although his left arm was unable to exert much force or do anything too delicate due to the muscle twisting, it still had the strength of an average strong man!

Upon reaching the warehouse, Shiraishi pressed his ear against the outer wall, but couldn't hear anything...

To avoid being discovered, Shiraishi avoided the doors on either side and instead used a nearby tree to climb directly onto the roof of the warehouse and looked down through the ventilation opening.

The warehouse was completely empty except for some old junk, and more importantly...

Shiraishi's eyes narrowed at that moment—Conan and the little girl were indeed nowhere to be seen in the warehouse, but... on the open ground of the warehouse, there was a woman lying on the ground wearing a fake policewoman uniform, who appeared to be unconscious!
Because she was lying face down, Shiraishi was unsure of her identity at that moment.

Seeing this, Shiraishi jumped directly from the warehouse, which was four or five stories high. After all, the ground below was soil, and with the cushioning effect from bending his knees, it wasn't a problem...

After confirming that there was no danger inside and that someone actually needed help, Shiraishi rushed into the warehouse and first turned the person over to check their appearance. Shiraishi was not afraid of it being a trap; even if he put a cross-dressing Kyogoku Makoto here as a trap, Shiraishi could still hold him down!

Indeed, just like the photo that Fuji sent to her phone before, it is definitely Saki Ando herself.

After checking, Shiraishi breathed a slight sigh of relief—the person was still alive, just unconscious. Shiraishi examined the marks on her body, looked around, and then called the professor…

Dr. Agasa drove his Beetle to the warehouse entrance and saw someone collapsed inside. He quickly got out of the car and came over.

"W-What's going on? Where's Shinichi?" Agasa asked hurriedly.

“There,” Shiraishi said, gesturing with his chin in one direction.

Looking in the direction he indicated, I saw a broken pair of glasses lying next to a pile of boxes that looked like they hadn't been touched in a long time.

"This..." Dr. Agasa was taken aback upon seeing this.

"This woman likely fainted because her carotid artery was compressed. She was most likely in a kneeling position, a very standard subduing position. Judging from the situation at the scene, the person who subdued her should be about 1.8 meters tall and also very strong."

"However, it's probably because he had already decided to kill her while he was suppressing Ms. Ando, ​​so Kudo tried to stop him, but he was knocked away..."

As Shiraishi explained, Professor Agasa seemed to see a burly man kneeling on the fake police officer, who was about to suffocate. Little Shinichi stepped forward to stop him, but was thrown aside and fell onto a box, where his glasses were also broken!
“Even if the glasses break and other functions don’t work, they can still send out a location signal… How could Shinichi leave this here…” Professor Agasa said anxiously.

“It might not have been left here on purpose, but rather there wasn’t enough time to pick it up,” Shiraishi said, walking directly to the side.

There's a box here that looks brand new; it clearly wasn't originally in the warehouse.

"Wait... could that be...?" Dr. Agasa instinctively thought that it contained a bomb.

but……

Bai Shi then kicked the box over, breaking the lock and spilling out stacks of ten thousand yuan bills.

"It seems that Takada's people are one step ahead of us." The image of Yasuda immediately came to Shiraishi's mind.

From height to fighting skills, Yasuda fits the criteria of an attacker, and he also has the motive to do so.

More importantly, Yasuda had a reaction when he first heard the surname Ando—he shouldn't have reacted so quickly even if he had known about it twenty years ago, unless Ando had recently been close to the Takada family and reminded him of it!

"It's likely that Takada used the pretext of confessing to get the location from the kidnappers, and then sent people here to silence them..." Shiraishi speculated at this point.

"Wait, shouldn't our car be the one to leave first?" Dr. Agasa wondered.

Shiraishi watched him quietly...

Isn't the answer to the riddle itself? Did you drive your Beetle over 60 just now?
"Uh..." Professor Agasa then realized what was happening and felt a little embarrassed. He quickly asked, "What about Shinichi?"

After a moment of silence, Shiraishi guessed, "The attackers dared to directly attack the kidnappers, even to the point of killing them, but not with clean and decisive strikes. Usually, there's only one reason for this: the hostage isn't here..."

Shiraishi suspects that the hostages have been taken away by others, leaving only the "mischievous brat" behind.

That's how Ando managed to escape!

"Then... Shinichi is still in danger, isn't he?" Dr. Agasa asked anxiously about Shinichi's safety.

Although the kidnapper has already passed out here, but...

It sounds like the people on the other side are also ruthless killers. In that case, will Shinichi also be silenced?
“Ms. Ando is still alive. It’s highly likely that Kudo lured them away… There’s only one reason why Takada’s people could be lured away at this point.” Bai said, looking westward.

Shiraishi suspected that Conan didn't have time to do anything else at that time, so he could only lure Yasuda away first.

"You mean... Manami's location? But... how does Shinichi know? Ah! Is he just lying to her?" Dr. Agasa exclaimed in surprise.

If that's the case, Agasa doesn't even dare to think about what the other party will do next.

"No, I think Kudo probably guessed it too." Although Shiraishi wasn't sure how Kudo knew, he could guess the location...

"I'm going to Shiramaru's place," Shiraishi said.

"Huh? Shiromaru?" Agasa was taken aback upon hearing this.

“Yes, Ando Satoko’s body was found at the foot of that cliff back then. Since we’ve already come this far…” Shiraishi guessed that if the other party was determined to “kill Manami for revenge if necessary,” they would probably choose this location as well.

"Then I'll drive..." Professor Agasa was just about to offer to drive him.

However, Shiraishi interrupted, saying, "No, Doctor, you stay here. I just called for an ambulance. You can stay here and look after her. Besides... if we take the shortcut from here, it won't take more than twenty minutes. Driving will actually be slower for you." Shiraishi said directly.

"Alright," Professor Agasa said helplessly.

There are many shortcuts in Okutama Town, since it is mostly mountainous terrain where vehicles cannot pass!
The time lost by the beetle still had to be made up by Shiraishi himself on foot...

Fortunately, judging from Saki Ando's condition, she should have been unconscious for only a short time, which means that Yasuda and Conan had just left!

……

Meanwhile, Fujiwara and Kawai, who were taking care of the child, were playing Monopoly with Mikoto, whose face was beaming with joy, and Ai, who was looking completely speechless...

"Ah! How come we're here again..." Kawai helplessly found himself brought to Ai's shop once more.

"You really had a lot of fun," Teng said without saying a word.

"It's not just coincidence, I'm waiting right here," Ai Haibara said, adding that this was all in her head.

Upon hearing this, Teng frowned: "Wait... we just happened to be waiting here?"

"Huh? What's wrong with Minister Fuji?" Kawai asked, puzzled.

“Perfect timing… Ah! Oh no… I know now.” Fuji suddenly exclaimed.

"You know what?" Kawai hadn't reacted yet.

“Among the several arson cases we asked about before, there was one fire scene that almost spread, right in front of that person’s house… Do you remember?” Teng suddenly said.

“Yes, it’s Mr. Kaneko, right? Luckily, Mr. Kaneko works at the construction site and happened to be on the early shift that day, otherwise the fire might have spread…” Kawai nodded.

“That’s not right!” Teng said immediately.

Meeting Kawai's questioning gaze, Fuji said, "If the arsonist's purpose was to burn down the Takada family's garage to create an opportunity to kidnap the Takada family's granddaughter, why would she burn down a place that would prematurely escalate the situation?"

"This..." Kawai finally realized what was happening.

"And do you still remember Mr. Kaneko's work?" Fuji then asked in return.

"Isn't it a construction site?"

“It’s a construction site… I remember when we went to question him, he was wearing work clothes and was on his way to work. His work clothes had something written on them that said ‘demolition,’ and he was carrying a blue helmet that symbolizes a technician, right?” Teng confirmed immediately.

“Seto Demolition! It’s Seto Demolition Company!” Kawai exclaimed immediately.

Speaking of professional demolition teams, one cannot help but mention a very threatening technical profession... especially if the Beika people master the skills of this profession, it would be extremely threatening - the demolition worker!

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Dongdong: It's the end of the month, please vote for me! Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)