Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 406 The Mystery Takes a Turn
Plainclothes officers from the Beika Police Station, who were near the banquet, followed Hatano, whose suspicious movements suggested he was on his way to "remove stolen money," and eventually arrived at his house...

When the officers from the Mihua Police Station saw that he had brought his female companion and debt collectors to his home, they were shocked—could this be a case of the darkest place being right under their noses? Was the money actually hidden at home?
But the person who searched the house clearly said that his house was not only searched after the incident, but had also been under surveillance for years, right?

"Where's the money?" After the debt collector came in, he led him to a pile of "junk".

“Look carefully… these are all!” Hatano said, lifting up the tattered cloth.

Actually, they had already seen it before they lifted it up—it was all junk, only some of it was covered up!

"Damn it, are you messing with us?" the debt collector said angrily.

"No, no, no, you don't understand the value of these things... It's not just money that has value, these things can be exchanged for a lot of money! Look, this is the meritorious act of releasing life... This is the do-or-die treadmill... Ah! Wait... What are you doing?"

Although the client had said that violence couldn't be used, the debt collector, feeling tricked, still wanted to escalate the situation.

Meanwhile, overhearing these things through the wiretap, Ashiya, speechless, suddenly realized: "Damn it! Wait... where's the other person? Where's Suda? And Kobe?"

……

On the other side, on the mountain piled with garbage, Attorney Dai was shining a high-powered flashlight behind Shiraishi, and Komekado took the opportunity to further explain his "foresight" to Shiraishi.

Suda thought his performance had fooled Komikado, unaware that it had aroused his suspicion...

Upon seeing that "Chief Mika" was already there, Suda felt powerless—after all, he had come to attend the banquet today, and the idea of ​​silencing him was just a spur-of-the-moment decision; he couldn't possibly have brought any weapons.

Under the current circumstances, even if they wanted to hijack Kobe, they couldn't do it!
But just as Kobe saw the chief's figure and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, Shiraishi frowned and asked, "Detective Kobe, what's going on?"

“Eh? This… Mr. Suda was actually involved in the previous 500 million yen robbery…” Kobe was taken aback upon hearing this—she felt that the chief should already know.

“That’s not what I meant… I meant, how did you get subdued by someone who didn’t seem physically strong, hadn’t trained, and wasn’t carrying a weapon?” Shiraishi corrected.

"Huh?" Kobe was even more stunned upon hearing this.

“As a police officer, how can you be completely without physical strength and combat skills? Now, you will arrest them yourself!” Shiraishi ordered directly.

"Huh?" Kobe was even more taken aback upon hearing this.

Komekado whispered to Shiraishi, "Chief Shiraishi, isn't it inappropriate to have that young lady do this?"

"If you can't even arrest this kind of criminal yourself, how can you be a detective? I bet you passed the arrest technique test at the police academy... Go on, everyone has a first time, just like you did at the police academy!" Shiraishi said sternly.

“This… Mr. Suda, how about ten million to ask you to surrender? No, it’s not as simple as just losing once… fifty million! It’s not a lot of money, but it’s at least a token of my appreciation. You did all this for five hundred million before, didn’t you? And you even waited fifteen years… Tsk tsk, I’ll give you fifty million after you’re released. It’s legal income, you know.” Kobe Miwako said after thinking for a moment.

Suda Jun's eyes immediately reddened...

"Damn rich man! Die!" Suda Jun, breaking down his guard, charged at Kobe with wild abandon.

but……

It has to be said that, as a veteran programmer, his body was not very coordinated. He tripped over the trash under his feet and fell down in front of Kobe.

Seeing this, Kobe immediately stepped forward and handcuffed him, saying, "Hmm, good, that was a very realistic fall. I'll give you another five million..."

"Shut up! Who wants your dirty money!" Suda snapped.

Kobe then stood up, gave Shiraishi a thumbs-up, and said energetically, "Chief! The 500 million yen robber, get done!"

Shiraishi:……

"As expected of Miss Kobe, you are indeed wise and brave... I just wonder if we still need to fulfill our legal entrustment?" Kome immediately stepped forward and began to flatter Miwako Kobe.

"No need. Just get satisfactory compensation for the local residents. The 500 million yen commission will be transferred to Attorney Komekado's account later." Kobe spoke with a kind yet wealthy voice.

“Five, five hundred million? Isn’t it ten million?” Suda was also surprised—he had always thought that Komekado was hired by him with a ten million loan.

"Mr. Suda, ten million yen is enough for me to fight a lawsuit, but it's not enough for me to fight such a big lawsuit. This kind of environmental lawsuit is very troublesome!" Komekado said, pretending to be innocent after getting a good deal.

“You originally wanted to ask for fifty million,” Dai interrupted from the side.

Komekado had barely gestured a five when Kobe immediately called out "500 million" without any hesitation. Upon hearing this, Komekado naturally swallowed back his "10 million"...

"Fifty million?" Kobe said, tilting his head in confusion.

Kome immediately chimed in, "That's right! Fifty million... Mr. Suda, if you need a lawyer for your robbery case, I can only charge you fifty million. Considering that you didn't hurt anyone back then, and that you haven't done anything else in the past fifteen years, I can try to get your sentence reduced to less than five years, and the charges can also be discussed..."

Well, Komekado isn't afraid that Miwako Kobe will try to bargain with him. Even without mentioning that a contract has already been signed, just considering the young lady's personality, she doesn't seem like the type to bargain!
More importantly, Komekado wanted to raise his own value and not let Miss Kobe think that 50 million yen would be enough for her next time...

In addition...

Komekado didn't think that Kobe was lying about giving Suda 50 million yen, so he also set his sights on that 50 million yen.

"You damn lawyers, you damn rich people... I don't want your filthy money! And don't even think about defending me!"

The usually composed Suda has truly broken down tonight.

At that moment, the alarm rang, and the police officers who arrived took Suda back to his residence...

……

On April 17th, following the "auto show bombing" and the "4 million yen robbery," both the on-site terrorist attacks and the infamous robbery from fifteen years ago, which was about to expire, were solved by the Mika Police Station! This once again thrust the Mika Police Station and its director into the spotlight…

However, Shiraishi was quite humble. Apart from putting down Ninomiya at an internal meeting of the Metropolitan Police Department, he remained humble in private interviews, talk shows, and press conferences of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Meanwhile, starting this week, the Criminal Investigation Division has gained another "fierce general" - Daisuke Kobe!
Although they share the same surname and are both young ladies and gentlemen from wealthy families, Shiraishi could easily discern the differences in personality between Miwako Kobe and Daisuke Kobe.

Both of them are quite out of touch with reality, but Miwako Kobe is a complete "let them eat cake" type. She thinks she's kind and wants to understand everyone, but her thinking is completely her own. She's even unaware that she's rich, so her thoughts often make everyone laugh and cry...

But Daisuke Kobe is different!
Daisuke Kobe knew he was "different," but he disdained to empathize with ordinary people.

In terms of direct ability, Daisuke Kobe undoubtedly surpasses Miwako Kobe!
Firstly, in terms of basic abilities as a police officer, Miwako Kobe is merely a "police academy graduate with little substance," while Daisuke Kobe has received training at Interpol.

More importantly, Shiraishi saw a special skill in Daisuke Kobe—a financial backing!
Compared to "Oolong's Power" and "Cupid's Poison Arrow," this special skill is actually quite ordinary. It's just a few artificial satellites and a technical department providing support and technical assistance to Daisuke Kobe...

In contrast, it doesn't possess the "supernatural" power of other special effects. Just like other special effects, the "unscientific use of power" is still a problem!
The Kobe family actually let him do such reckless things?

However, precisely because of the large sums of money spent, Daisuke Kobe, who had just joined the Beika Bureau, already possessed SSR-level abilities—similar to Narcissism, even surpassing Seiji Kunikida, Kazumi Shima, and Yu Amagi.

Having seen his attributes, Shiraishi didn't find it particularly exaggerated...

After all, while Daisuke Kanbe has some weaknesses in terms of ability, he already possesses two SR-level skills in detective work—in other words, he originally had SR-level strength.

With the addition of the "pay-to-win" bonus, you'll immediately reach SSR.

From another perspective, it makes sense – after all, narcissism has been damaged and he can no longer exert his original abilities. Now, without triggering [Cupid's Poison Arrow], his detective abilities are only about the same as Daisuke Kobe's.

As for comparing [Pay-to-Win Backing] and [Cupid's Poison Arrow]...

It just goes to show that money really can change your destiny!

In comparison, Miwako Kobe's use of money was still quite rudimentary.

The amount of money the two people can access may not be that different...

Although the Kobe Group, which has deep roots and evolved from the old aristocracy, may have a stronger foundation than the upstart Kobe Industries, it should also be considered that there is more than one "young master" in the Kobe Group than just Daisuke Kobe. Daisuke Kobe can only be called the "biggest young master". However, in Kobe Industries, Miwako Kobe is the "only young lady".
Kiku Kobe would even help Miwako Kobe, working together to solve the case...

Unfortunately, Miwako Kobe still spent money lavishly whenever she needed it, unlike Daisuke Kobe who built a support team to provide assistance that was almost "unscientific"!
At this point, Shiraishi hoped that the personalities of the two could be combined—that Miwako Kobe could better understand ordinary people, and Daisuke Kobe could be more willing to get close to ordinary people...

However, even the "Director of the Rice Flower Bureau" cannot do this immediately.

In addition...

Because both Kobe employees had "gotten in through connections," they naturally engaged in personal relationships after officially joining the company. This was one thing for the Kobe Group, since it was through Ayako's connections, and Shiraishi's relationship with Ayako was extraordinary, needless to say. But Kobe Industries was through Satsuki's connections.

Although Shiraishi considers Satsuki a friend, their relationship is definitely different from Ayako's...

Therefore, Satsuki used this as an excuse to invite Shiraishi to dinner to express her gratitude.

Shiraishi thought it was too polite, but Satsuki insisted on inviting him—Shiraishi had initially declined twice on the phone, but that Friday, Satsuki went straight back to Touto and came to see Shiraishi…

“It just so happens that Satsuki is finally going back to Toto this weekend, so Kuro, don’t be so aloof!” Ayako said with a smile.

"Huh? But we already made plans for the weekend..." Shiraishi was taken aback.

“It’s okay! We can make another appointment anytime, and... how about I go too? I haven’t seen Satsuki in a long time either,” Ayako continued with a smile.

Satsuki: ...

Satsuki's expression stiffened upon hearing Ayako's suggestion, but she quickly replied, "It would be even better if Ayako were willing to come too, hehehe..."

But just then, Shiraishi's phone rang. Seeing the contact, Shiraishi was taken aback: "Huh?"

"Hello, this is Shiraishi... Yes... Hmm? You can give your testimony now? Hmm... Okay, I understand... Don't worry, I can give my testimony... By the way, let's go to the hospital together this weekend." After answering the phone, Shiraishi seemed to be discussing something important.

After putting down his phone, Shiraishi said apologetically to Satsuki and Ayako, "I'm sorry, I'll probably have other things to do this weekend."

"Is it... work-related?" Ayako asked, puzzled.

"It's related to work, I suppose," Shiraishi nodded.

"The person who just called... was it a woman? A policewoman from the police station?" Satsuki asked tentatively.

After all, it seemed that Shiraishi had given up his original invitation because a woman had called!

"No, not a policewoman, but Attorney Fei." Shiraishi didn't hide anything.

The reason it's described as "related to work" is because the case that Attorney Kiyoshi sought out from Shirai is the same "Dongdi Hospital Murder Case" mentioned last time, and Attorney Kiyoshi is going to defend that Dr. Shirai.

This incident was actually a coincidence for Shiraishi; it wasn't within his job scope!
Even if Shiraishi gets involved, it will certainly not be in the capacity of a "police officer," but rather on a personal level...

Eri Kisaki originally didn't want to trouble Shiraishi with this matter. After all, the lawyer was fighting against the prosecution, and the prosecution's evidence was provided by the police. As a mid-to-high-ranking police officer, Shiraishi was not in charge of this case, but if he were to testify for the defense lawyer, he would undoubtedly be seen as a non-communicator by the police force.

However, not long ago, the situation in the case changed, and Eri Kisaki had no choice but to ask Shiraishi again to confirm the situation—Dr. Goto Megumi, who had been attacked, had regained some of her speech ability, and in a simple questioning, her testimony identified Dr. Shiraishi...

(End of this chapter)