Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 427 Shiraishi's Bomb Disposal Tips

An explosion occurred over the Diwujin River.

The crowd that had been watching "Chief Mihana" were now being hit in the face by the blast wave from the explosion...

Fortunately, Shiraishi shouted "Get out of the way" in advance, and the prisoner did not cause any shrapnel damage, so no one was injured.

……

"First it was Beika Park, then Beika Plaza. Has the bomber set his sights on Beika Town?" Kazami and the others finally arrived late.

"Inspector Shiraishi..." Megure had arrived by then and was about to ask a question—because there were outsiders like the "Public Security Bureau" present, Megure addressed them by their official titles very formally.

Shiraishi knew what he was going to ask and answered directly, "There was a green glow in the explosion... It was definitely a plastic bomb."

"As expected..." Megure felt that at this point, it was basically certain that the bomber was the one who stole the Japanese gunpowder depot.

After all, plastic bombs are not like gunpowder; they are not so easy to prepare or obtain.

However, Kazami was staring intently at Shiraishi. Shiraishi shouldn't know about the plastic bombs; it was Kazami who told him that the plastic bombs had been stolen.

Fortunately, Inspector Megure didn't think much of it...

"Who on earth did Kudo-kun offend?" Megure asked angrily.

It wasn't that I was angry that Shinichi Kudo had caused trouble, but rather that I was furious that this bomber was so heartless as to plant a bomb in such a crowded place just to challenge Shinichi!

Both explosions, if they hadn't been stopped at the last minute, would likely have resulted in huge casualties.

"Now is not the time to talk about these things. As you all know, that kid doesn't have time to deal with any challengers right now..." Shiraishi emphasized.

Otherwise, given the current situation, we'd better find him and bring him back.

Hearing Shiraishi say this, Kazami and Megure exchanged a knowing glance, trying to hide their disdain—what could these damn Public Security agents/useless detectives of the Souichi Police Department possibly want from a high school student?

Shiraishi nodded upon seeing this...

Well, now both sides believe that the other side took Shinichi Kudo away to cooperate in the investigation of an important case. They also know that the other side would not be willing to share irrelevant information, so they did not ask any further questions.

Of course, Shiraishi knew that Shinichi Kudo was right there, but...

Was the bomber really his enemy?
Shiraishi felt something was off...

Especially the second explosion!

Knowing that Shinichi Kudo was not there, how could they let a child continue the challenge?

Is this guy's goal really to challenge Shinichi Kudo?
Furthermore, the way he addressed Conan when Conan answered the phone earlier was also quite intriguing...

"Who among that guy's enemies is in Tokyo?" Shiraishi asked Megure at that moment.

By now, Souyi should have already started investigating...

“No, if you’re referring to the prisoners he caught, they’re all still in jail.” Inspector Megure shook his head.

The Eastern Capital is indeed in the Eastern Capital, but it's impossible for him to leave!
Upon hearing this, Shiraishi nodded knowingly—Shiraishi also thought so, but he was just asking to be on the safe side.

After all, Shinichi Kudo became a famous detective within a year, and the cases he helped the police solve were all serious crimes. How could someone possibly be outside of prison?
"That's it! Could it be that he's challenging Kudo-kun for reasons other than hatred?" Takagi suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"It's not impossible..." Megure affirmed.

"How about we look into that black guy in Osaka?" Shiraishi casually suggested.

Megure remained silent in response to Shiraishi's rant—"Why don't you go ask the Osaka headquarters chief yourself if his son has been stealing bombs from Toho recently?"

Just then, Conan and Mori arrived at the scene...

Conan's skateboard had broken earlier, so he was more than a step too late; it was Mori who brought him here.

"Inspector Megure, the culprit is calling again." Mori said, holding Conan by the hand, while Conan's phone rang.

Mori's tone was also very dissatisfied at this point—not directed at anyone else, but at Shinichi Kudo!

To explain what happened earlier, Conan could only say, "Kudo-nii handed me the phone."

Mori was furious about this unreliable approach.

"I'll go prepare the equipment..."

Before Kazami could finish speaking, Shiraishi said, "It's too late, answer the call."

Unfortunately, everyone was crouching around Conan, eager to know what the culprits had said...

"Hey……"

Conan had barely opened his mouth when the voice changer impatiently said, "Why is it still you, you brat? Is Shinichi Kudo trying to hide away? It's time for adults now..."

At this point, Mori couldn't hold back any longer and snatched the phone, saying, "That's right! It's time for adults now. I, Kogoro Mori, will deal with you!"

"Kogoro Mouri, hahaha... How interesting. Since you're so confident, fine... I've already planted five bombs on the loop line," the voice changer said directly.

Everyone:! ! !
"What? You..." Mori was also flustered upon hearing this.

"Listen carefully to my warning, I won't say it a second time..."

Mori and the others had no choice but to temporarily put aside their thoughts and listen to him talk about the bomb.

At the same time, Shiraishi was somewhat distracted.

Previously, bombings at places like Beika Park and Beika Plaza were all too common, after all, bombing incidents in Detective Conan were not uncommon.

but……

When the "circular line" was mentioned, Bai Shi's long-cherished memories were suddenly stirred.

It seems... is this some kind of theatrical version?

Shiraishi doesn't have many memories of the theatrical version, but the one line that comes to mind immediately is, "You're blocking my drawing of Mount Fuji, you're already courting death"...

However, this should be unrelated to the current case...

"Brother Shiraishi, have you thought of something?" Megure's words interrupted Shiraishi's thoughts, and in his haste, he didn't even bother to avoid suspicion.

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Shiraishi realized what was going on and then said, "Yes, I've been thinking about some things... but I'm not sure yet."

"Oh no! Mitsuhiko and the others have just entered the loop line!" Conan exclaimed immediately.

Shiraishi:……

Good grief, are you trying to bomb the Detective Boys?

Now Shiraishi is certain!

This should be a movie version... or at least a case from "Detective Conan".

Because there are so many cases outside of "Detective Conan," Shiraishi doesn't even think about them first.

In this case...

"Let's borrow this kid for a bit." Shiraishi said, pulling Conan aside. "Shiraishi, over at the loop line..." Conan hurriedly tried to discuss it with Shiraishi.

However, Shiraishi interrupted, "Who have you seen recently?"

"What? You mean... that culprit might not even have really been trying to challenge me..." Conan could tell that Shiraishi wanted to start by investigating the culprit's identity, but...

“Never mind that, just answer me!” Shiraishi said immediately.

“I’ve met a lot of people…” Conan was also getting anxious.

"Someone I haven't seen in the past week... someone I just met recently, someone I've had some conversations with!" Shiraishi pressed.

Well, if we think about it from the perspective of the theatrical version, then the murderer must be someone who "appeared" before.

In other words, he must have had contact with Conan.

Thinking of this, Shiraishi also recalled the previous evidence—at Beika Park, the culprit called Conan "a little smart brat," which had already aroused Shiraishi's suspicion.

Logically speaking, in that situation, if the culprit saw Conan stopping the explosion from a distance, he would only assume that Shinichi Kudo had sent him there. As for the act of stopping the explosion, whether you call it "reckless" or "bold," it certainly can't be called "cleverness."

visible……

When should the culprit have seen Conan's "cleverness"?
"I've never seen Officer Shiratori before..." Conan muttered to himself.

“White Bird doesn’t count!” White Stone rolled his eyes—he didn’t know White Bird, but White Stone did.

"And then there's the Tomizawa family..."

Conan was about to recount his vacation when Shiraishi interrupted, "If we don't count the people I met during the murder case, what about the people I met during the minor cases?"

"This..." Conan didn't know why Shiraishi was asking this, and couldn't think of anything for the moment.

Shiraishi then said, thinking in reverse, "Think about a day when you met a stranger and interacted with them, but no murder occurred!"

“Ah? Well…right, Uncle Mori took me to Teiji Moriya’s tea party before, and nothing unexpected happened that time,” Conan said.

"A tea party? No one died at the entire tea party?" Shiraishi immediately noticed—the Mori family attended the tea party, and yet not a single one of them died... This is definitely suspicious!
"No," Conan said matter-of-factly.

Shiraishi:……

“Teiji Moriya… I feel like I’ve heard of him somewhere before… Hmm? Is he an architect?” Shiraishi suddenly remembered that he had come across the name while looking at the files on the burned Kurokawa family’s house!

When the house was mortgaged, the Kurokawa family argued that the property value should be overestimated, and even mentioned that it was "designed by Teiji Moriya".

Normally, if someone's house burned down in Beika Town, Shiraishi wouldn't have given it a second thought. But when the name "Teiji Moriya" appeared twice in a row...

"What have you figured out yet?" Conan asked quickly.

Bai Shi then put him down and said, "I have to go back to the office to direct the work."

Conan:? ? ?
Conan didn't understand why Shiraishi would ask such irrelevant questions out of the blue. Seeing Shiraishi leave, he didn't have time to ask any more questions and immediately started thinking about the mystery left behind by the culprit...

Megure and Kazami weren't too surprised by Shiraishi's sudden departure, since Beika Station was also on the loop line, and it was normal for Shiraishi to go back to direct operations.

"What exactly did the prisoner mean? That the car would explode if it was traveling at less than 60 kilometers per hour after 4 p.m.? And that it would explode after dark... What kind of detonation principle is this?" Inspector Megure had a headache at this point.

"It could just be a charade, and the culprit actually detonated it manually," Kazami said, lacking any sense of reasoning.

"It'll be four o'clock in ten minutes... We must notify the Ministry of Transport immediately!"

……

Meanwhile, Shiraishi did not return to the Beika Police Station at all, and handed over the command work to Section Chief Munakata.

As for Shiraishi himself, he drove to the Moriya family home—he's a long-time resident of Beika Town, and his home is in Beika Town.

As a renowned designer, Teiji Moriya's house is also very luxurious. Shiraishi checked along the way and found that many landmark buildings in Beika Town, including Beika Park and Beika Plaza, were designed by him!

Although the specific motive is unknown, at this point, so many factors point to him...

If you didn't blow it up, how could it have been Shiratori?

Moreover, the moment Shiraishi saw the Moriya family's mansion, he had a vague guess in his mind.

"Director Mika's presence is an honor to our humble abode... May I ask what you wish to teach us?" Moriya had no reason not to see Shiraishi, who had come to visit.

Upon seeing Moriya, Shiraishi became even more certain.

Even though the distance was very far and the prisoner was disguised, Shiraishi still felt that his gait resembled the person he had seen on the rooftop when he looked back.

"Mr. Moriya, I have something important to discuss and would like to ask you to come here," Shiraishi said seriously.

"Hmm? You don't mean you want to summon me, do you?" Moriya said half-jokingly.

"Of course not, hahaha, we were just talking privately." Shiraishi laughed as well.

……

Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Headquarters, personally led by Odagiri, was in complete chaos.

Due to the bomber's threat, the Metropolitan Police Department has notified the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism that all trains on the loop line will cease stopping starting at 4:00 PM and will maintain a speed of 70 kilometers per hour...

In order not to cause panic, the information was not disclosed to the public, and it was only said that the vehicle had broken down. However, if this continues, it is unlikely that the secret can be kept for long.

At that moment, a police officer answered the phone and hurriedly reported, "Minister, there's panic on the train!"

"Stay calm... Inform the passengers to fabricate a train number and say that the bomb is on that train, and that keeping the train moving is to avoid the explosion!" Odagiri's lies came out of his mouth without hesitation.

In fact, the location of the five bombs is still unknown, even though it's on which vehicles...

The flight attendants were notified to check, but no suspicious items were found.

"Minister! Near Mihana Station... a vehicle has broken through the blocked loop line tracks!" an officer watching the screen exclaimed.

“Mihana… what is Shiraishi doing? Get his men to clear out any suspicious vehicles immediately…” Odagiri said angrily.

But just then, the police officer looking at the surveillance footage stammered, "Chief... Chief... We've found the license plate number. It's... Superintendent Shiraishi's car!"

"What?" Odagiri raised his voice.

Odagiri paused for a moment, then immediately dialed Shiraishi's number!
Shiraishi actually answered the phone...

"Minister, this is Shiraishi. It's been a long time since I last spoke..." Shiraishi said calmly.

However, Odagiri immediately interrupted, "What are you doing?"

"Is he a police officer? Is he crazy? Help!"

On the other end of Bai Shi's phone, another aged voice came through, sounding extremely panicked.

“Well… Minister, I’ve caught the bomber, but it’s an emergency, so I brought him to the Loop Line to look for the bomb first,” Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

"I didn't... I didn't..." Moriya Teiji shouted, straining his neck, but he was clearly already under control.

"Still can't remember where the bomb is? No problem, there are still twenty-five minutes until sunset, Mr. Moriya... Look, is that the train behind us?" Shiraishi said calmly, while slowing down to approach the train behind him.

(End of this chapter)