Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 480 Alibi

When Shiraishi and Ai got home, Shiraishi noticed something was wrong as soon as they reached the door...

The Kudo family home was broken into.

Moreover, Shiraishi found the way he pried it very familiar.

"What's wrong?" Ai immediately hid behind Shiraishi's calves.

"Don't worry, it's not those people from the distillery... their skills are better than the distillery's," Shiraishi said helplessly.

As he spoke, Bai Shi opened the door normally—the lock cylinder wasn't broken, demonstrating his skill.

Upon entering, Shiraishi heard the sound of a game being played—a game console, an old model, that had been found in Shinichi's storage room, which he usually used to amuse Mayoi.

The game console was connected to the TV in the living room and was being attacked by two girls...

Besides Mayoi, who seems to be cosplaying forever, Mononobe Gina, dressed as a tomboy, is also there.

"Welcome back." Gina called out without turning her head when she heard the door open, then continued sharing a ride with Mayoi.

The two are already challenging six other AI opponents...

“What ‘Welcome back’? Why are you here… why are you breaking into my house!” Shiraishi rolled his eyes.

“Ah, the seventh…” Mayoi said helplessly.

Gina, who was in eighth place, turned her head and reached out her hand, saying, "Because you didn't give me the key."

"Gina's technique is amazing! I didn't even hear a sound!" Mayoi added.

"That's because your game volume is too loud..." Shiraishi complained, then paused before continuing, "I don't have the key, a friend lent me this place... By the way, this house has been empty for a long time, why didn't you keep an eye on it before?"

“Hmm? Let me see…” Gina said, pulling out a small notebook and looking at it, “This place only started to be uninhabited five months ago. Before that, there was only one high school student living here alone, but it is said that this family has a very close relationship with the police.”

It's been almost a year since Mononobe Gina last "committed a crime".

"You've done a really thorough investigation..." Shiraishi's lips twitched—clearly, Gina kept records of potential "easy targets" in her daily life.

"Huh? What's this?" Gina then noticed that Shiraishi was holding a metal plate.

"It's necessary for the case," Shiraishi said without further explanation.

However, Mayoi then gossiped, "That's the one! The one where metal masks appeared around the deceased, pointing towards the body, right?"

"Huh? What they're saying online... could it be true?" Gina was clearly getting scared.

"Don't worry, I've checked, it definitely has nothing to do with the soul!" Mayoi said, giving Gina a thumbs up full of energy.

but……

Gina was clearly not relieved by this!
After all, in her opinion, this "little kid" whose gaming skills were comparable to hers was just a delusional teenager, and could his words really be trusted?
"How about we find some legitimate spiritual mediums to take a look?" Gina suggested in a low voice.

"Hey! Gina, why are you looking for those scammers? I'm a professional!" Mayoi said, displeased.

Gina pouted...

"Don't worry, it doesn't require something as magical as a soul to achieve the same effect," Ai said calmly.

Gina quickly looked over and asked, "Did your elementary school teacher talk about this?"

Ai didn't answer her, but instead revealed the secret directly: "It's actually very simple to be able to clearly and without much distortion print a human face on an aluminum plate... as long as the instantaneous impact is strong enough."

Ai spoke with great confidence, but after she finished speaking, Gina and Mayoi just blinked, seemingly not understanding.

"Given the hardness and ductility of aluminum plates, if you slowly press them onto your face, it will cause facial deformation, making it impossible to imprint a normal image. However, if the impact is strong enough and even enough, it is possible to complete the imprint before the facial tissue deforms," ​​Ai explained again, glancing at Shiraishi as she spoke.

She had already explained it to Shiraishi in the car.

However, Shiraishi didn't fully grasp it at the time, and it wasn't convenient to experiment in the car...

"You'll know once you try it," Shiraishi said, holding the aluminum plate in both hands and spreading it out in front of him.

"Huh? What are you going to do?" Gina looked at Shiraishi strangely.

"Powerful...uniform...instantaneous impact force..."

Then, Shiraishi muttered something and suddenly slapped his face with both hands, while simultaneously slamming his head down onto the aluminum plate!
Snapped--

A loud, crisp sound...

Shiraishi then raised his hands behind his head, not placing them on the aluminum plate to "distribute the force evenly," but instead on his face...

A clear aluminum mask, fitted perfectly onto it!

Furthermore, the facial features are clearly outlined on the aluminum plate.

Then, Shiraishi's chest expanded, as if he were exhaling the air he had just inhaled...

boo——

After a crisp "demolding" sound, the green mask was "blown" off.

Shiraishi caught it in his hand and looked at the concave side of the mask...

“Indeed…it’s about 80% similar!” Shiraishi’s eyes lit up upon seeing this.

As for the two points that were missing, it was in terms of "clarity," but Shiraishi felt that as long as the impact was greater, it could be done perfectly.

If Shiraishi practiced this power-generating posture regularly and combined it with magic, he might be able to do it in a while!
Gina: ...

"Is it possible... that you have a hard face?" Gina teased.

Shiraishi ignored her and continued to ask Ai, "But where did such a huge impact come from?"

Upon hearing this, Ai shrugged and said, "That's not something I need to consider."

Indeed, Ai only focuses on analyzing how it was done; as for why it was done... that's for the police to investigate!
Upon hearing this, Shiraishi nodded, then sent a photo of the "Chief's version of the aluminum mask" to Yuan, who was still on duty, with the comment: "As long as the impact is strong enough, it can be done. Remember to investigate thoroughly on-site what equipment can provide that kind of impact force."

After thinking for a moment, Shiraishi added: "The impact force of large-caliber firearms can achieve that, but handguns don't."

Since the victim died from being shot in the forehead, the most obvious source of impact is naturally the gun.

However, Shiraishi knew exactly how much force he had used.

The victim was killed by a 9mm bullet, and it was probably not a professional firearm used. Even a regular handgun would not have been effective—the gunpowder in a 9mm bullet would not have generated as much impact as what Shiraishi just did!

Large-caliber bullets...maybe!

Don't be fooled by the small size of the bullets they fire; although the recoil is strong and can easily injure untrained people, they can't possibly be stronger than Shiraishi...

However, in reality, if a rifle explodes in the barrel, the gunpowder in the large-caliber bullet will explode inside the barrel, enough to throw a person several meters away, and it will be an "instantaneous impact".

If the impact comes from a firearm, then this is the "lower limit".

source:???

Yuan was also stunned when he saw the message sent by the director—how was this experiment accomplished?
At least we have a direction...

However, this direction doesn't seem to be very important at the moment.

After all, it's not clear what connection this mask has to the case yet. There are many other clues that are more worthy of investigation!

At the Kudo family's house, Gina then brought out the stew...

After dinner, seeing that it was already past nine o'clock, Bai Shi urged, "Let's hurry back to the orphanage, it's very late."

"Eh? I'm scared..." Gina pretended to be afraid to go back because of the "mask legend".

"I see... then I'll take you there," Shiraishi said calmly.

“Brother Shiraishi, don’t we have spare guest rooms at home?” Mayoi spoke up for Gina at this moment.

"But..." Shiraishi hesitated—it was fine to let her stay one night, but he was worried that she might get used to it!

“I know… After all, he’s a thief… Chief Shiraishi is probably afraid I’ll steal something… so he’s looking at me with prejudice… I know everything…” Gina then put on a wronged look.

Shiraishi:……

This is pure moral blackmail on her part!
However, Shiraishi was a moral person after all, so he waved his hand and said, "Just for one night... and you two are not allowed to play games again tonight!"

"Okay!" they both agreed at the same time.

……

After the two ran upstairs, Chihiro Ayari appeared and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, our village is quite isolated, and Mayoi doesn't usually have many opportunities to interact with children her own age."

"It's alright, but... if she wants to stay in Dongdu for the time being, should we find her a school to attend?" Shiraishi asked.

"Forget it, it might not be a good thing for her, the school, or the other students." Chihiro Ayasato shook her head.

Whether she can keep up with her studies isn't a big deal, but... after all, Mayoi is a spirit medium.

It's actually not suitable for me to have too much interaction with ordinary people!
Moreover, Mayoi is not like Ai Haibara; she doesn't seem to have any intention of hiding her identity—after all, she wears a shrine maiden outfit every day, it's just that people don't believe it.

The next morning, after dropping Ai off at school, Shiraishi went to his office and began his work as usual.

Case-related matters are not actually the "main theme" for Shiraishi as the chief. His main job is to spend a lot of time working on his desk, coordinating with superiors and subordinates, and engaging in public relations with relevant organizations or departments.

Although the case of Naohiko Meiri has generated some public discussion due to the legendary "ghost mask," this discussion is still limited to the realm of "urban legends." Moreover, aside from that, it cannot be considered an intractable case...

Therefore, after "explaining the origin of the demon mask", Shiraishi did not get too involved in the case.

He only attended the routine investigation meeting before leaving get off work in the evening—Shiraishi would attend the investigation meetings for most of the murder cases being investigated by the Beika Police Station.

Unless it's a case where you "encounter a detective on the street and solve it directly," Shiraishi just looks at the case records.

Although it was Friday, Munakata hadn't "left early" yet—Kotomi and the Junior Detective League had gone to Dr. Agasa's place for a "team building" activity.

"You guys don't seem to have made any breakthroughs... So stop being so tense and have a good talk with the chief," Zong Fang said bluntly to the six detectives attending the meeting.

All six of them did indeed look embarrassed.

Yuan Xian stood up and said, "We met President Kijima today. However, he did leave home shortly after Mei Li left. The driver can testify that he went directly to the airport. Customs also issued a receipt confirming that President Kijima's entry and exit records are in order."

"As for the argument that day, President Kijima said that Meri was trying to extort money from the company... It's hard to say for sure. According to President Kijima, he made some compensation to Meri afterward, and Meri even stayed overnight because of the heavy rain that night." Yuan shook his head as he spoke.

Perhaps there really is something sordid about LT Medical Company's operations and bribery.

However, it seems that these sordid matters have nothing to do with the murder case, so it's not their place to investigate.

Shiraishi also remembers that it rained heavily on Saturday night—the day of director Sakamaki's memorial service. It had already started raining when Shiraishi left the Beika Hotel, and it continued to rain harder and harder afterward.

It's a bit strange that they stayed overnight because of this, but it's not impossible that the two sides have indeed reconciled.

The key points are actually "eyewitness testimony of Meri's departure" and "Kijima's entry and exit records." If these two points are true, then the time of Meri Naohiko's murder would be shortened by one day, and Kijima would have an alibi.

The narcissist then stood up and said, "Today we visited the area around Hulu Lake and asked many people who often go to Hulu Lake Park at night, but no one seemed to remember the body being dumped there. There were no suspected eyewitness accounts. However, recently, because of that rumor, Hulu Lake Park... especially the area near where the body was found, has been deserted."

Shiraishi then interjected, "Have you discovered any equipment capable of generating a massive impact?"

"No, we've searched the area near the discovery site and the entire Hulu Lake Park, but we haven't found that kind of machine yet." The narcissist shook his head helplessly.

It's a park, not a factory, so it's normal that we couldn't find it.

Shiraishi nodded, but his expression still showed he was quite concerned.

Kuroki finally stood up and reported: "We visited the deceased's social connections before his death... From the pubs he frequented and his colleagues at the company, we learned that the deceased was indeed quite greedy, and he would spend money extravagantly whenever he had it, but he wasn't the type to easily make enemies."

"Aside from his relationship with President Kijima after being fired, and even being called to the police several times for causing trouble at the company... I haven't heard of any enemies."

After listening to everyone's words, Shiraishi frowned and then asked, "That's all?"

Just as everyone was feeling embarrassed, Tian Shu spoke up: "Ah...right, there are two more things."

hiss--

The narcissist standing to the side gave him a look, seemingly a warning not to say anything...

However, Shiraishi had already spoken up, asking, "Speak."

"I learned from several elderly people who often go to Hulu Lake Park for morning exercise that there were many dead fish in Hulu Lake early Sunday morning, around the location where the body was found. However, the administrator only scooped up the dead fish from the surface of the water and did not find the deceased," the narcissist said first.

“Sunday morning…it shouldn’t be related to the case, right?” Yamada muttered to himself—after all, based on the testimony, Merri’s death occurred after she left the Kimura house on Sunday morning.

Shiraishi remained noncommittal, but continued to ask, "And the other one?"

"Also... I always felt that the caretaker at Hulu Lake Park was acting strangely, so I wanted to check his fingerprints..."

(End of this chapter)