Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 521 Shot
Following Shiraishi's finger, Kuroki looked at the chrysanthemums... dandelions in front of the grave. Recalling the contents of the suicide note he had found, he suddenly understood.

Dandelions are also in the Asteraceae family, and in their flowering stage, they look very similar to chrysanthemums, but Shiraishi still recognized them.

Kuroki was taken aback and said, "Chief, do you suspect...?"

“Whether Kanzaki Kenzo is the murderer or not, he clearly came to Tokyo, yet no one can contact him, and he has been seen on surveillance footage… This shows that he was deliberately hiding from everyone while his personal freedom was not restricted,” Shiraishi said casually.

However, Kuroki understood.

Based on what Kuroki said before about Ihara, another suspect has now emerged—Matsuhara Hikaru!

Whether it was her own past experiences that made her hate the police officers, or the fact that Uemura and Ando were both involved in her husband's death, Matsubara Hikaru had a motive to commit the crime.

This is still just the "motive"...

More importantly, there are only two reasons why Kanzaki Kenzo is hiding everywhere and refusing to come out: either he himself is the murderer, or... he knows who the murderer is and is protecting him!

Matsubara Hikaru fits the description of "covering up".

Judging from Kanzaki Kenzo's actions after Ihara Tatsuya's death, if he had known that the murderer was Kanzaki Ryuichi's biological mother and Ihara's wife, he might have protected her or even deliberately taken the blame.

Kuroki then looked at Kanzaki, who was drawing a portrait in the police car. He was unaware that he was drawing his own mother.

Considering the current situation, Kuroki also decided to keep this matter a secret for the time being.

Just then, Kuroki's phone rang...

"Hello, this is Kuroki... Hello? Hello?" Kuroki did not hear the voice on the other end.

"Shut up!" Shiraishi suddenly shouted, taking his phone and listening intently.

Kuroki then realized that the other party must have been playing "background noise" for him!
“Sago... Gochome Station…” Shiraishi recognized the station announcement amidst the noisy background noise.

beep-

The call ended, and Shiraishi and Kuroki immediately got into the car.

"Is there a warehouse in 5-chome?" Shiraishi asked directly.

"Yes." Kuroki knew as well.

“Go there!” Shiraishi confirmed.

Swah——

Shiraishi's QX56 sped past the plainclothes police car, leaving Suzuki and Kanzaki wondering—where did they go? Aren't they taking us with them?
……

Shiraishi and Kuroki arrived at the warehouse district, which was an abandoned warehouse and therefore rarely visited by people.

but……

Besides Shiraishi's QX56, several other cars arrived here earlier!
Shiraishi got out of the car, glanced at the license plate, and said with a grim expression, "It's an undercover police car from the Kamuro Police Station..." As he spoke, Shiraishi touched the hood of the car and said, "It just stopped a short while ago... Let's go!"

As he spoke, Shiraishi ran straight inside.

Because this place is not currently in use, it is empty, with warehouses separating the view, but Shiraishi followed as if he knew the way!
No one has been here for a long time, and someone just came by, so... Shiraishi, whose sense of smell is even better than a police dog, can smell the path someone has taken.

Kuroki followed, and the two eventually arrived at a large warehouse, where they could already hear sounds coming from inside...

"Put the gun down!"

"do not move!"

"You're surrounded..."

Upon hearing the sound, Shiraishi quickly signaled Kuroki to slow down—it seemed that there were people inside holding guns and facing off. It was not advisable to alarm both sides at this time, otherwise... in the tension, there was a high possibility of misjudging based on the sound of footsteps!

Bai Shi stepped forward first, walked around the two empty containers, and saw...

In the warehouse open space, a middle-aged man who looked somewhat like Kuroki stood with his hands in his jacket pockets, from which a gun barrel-shaped object protruded, pointing directly at... Zeden!
Besides the two, several detectives from Kamurocho were also surrounding them, including Ogura, the criminal investigation officer whom Shiraishi had met before. Presumably, the others were also detectives from the criminal investigation department.

At this moment, they all drew their guns and pointed them at the middle-aged man...

"Kanzaki, you're no longer a police officer, yet you're carrying a gun... Did you kill Uemura and Ando?" Zeden asked casually, not at all like someone holding a gun to his head.

Sure enough, the middle-aged man who appeared to be carrying a gun was Kenzo Kanzaki!
"As expected of you, you really know guns... So, the one who shot Ihara in the head back then was actually you, wasn't it?" Kanzaki questioned.

“No, it was Ando, ​​and it was just an accident, not a mistake,” Zeden said matter-of-factly.

"It's not a mistake?" Kanzaki Kenzo said, annoyed.

"And it's all his own fault, isn't it?" Zeden asked somewhat provocatively.

Realizing something, Kuroki quickly stepped forward.

Zeden immediately looked in the direction of Kuroki's Shiraishi and shouted, "Ah! There's an accomplice!"

Shiraishi realized the reason behind Zeden's exclamation and quickly stopped him, saying, "Don't shoot! He doesn't have a gun!"

Meanwhile, someone in the warehouse had already pulled the trigger...

When the first gunshot rang out, it was as if a switch had been flipped, and the other armed police officers around, who were already on edge, began to pull their triggers one after another...

Shiraishi had already moved when Okura fired his gun—grabbing Kuroki who was about to rush forward and throwing him backward, while simultaneously blocking several subsequent shots with speed that made the air whistling through the air…

That's right, he blocked it with his body!

The officers from the Kamurocho unit were startled when they saw a large, dark figure fly over and block their target. They fired two more shots, but...

At this moment, Bai Shi's muscles swelled up, and clang, clang...

Several bullets, stained with blood, fell from his body!
Shiraishi was also helpless—if he hadn't taken off his witch... cough, red magic armor while showering at the police station this morning, there wouldn't be a drop of blood on him now!

But thinking about it carefully, having blood isn't so bad, at least it won't scare them...

mere pistol bullets...

After hitting Shiraishi, the blow was only slightly "cracked" by the skin because Shiraishi's muscles were too tight and hard. It was then squeezed out by Shiraishi's muscles.

"Hey! What's wrong? Chief..." Kuroki hurriedly looked at his father—the first shot, unexpectedly, Shiraishi also failed to block it.

Kenzo Kanzaki was hit slightly below the heart. Although it looked a bit off, blood was gushing out, and his face turned pale. He was about to lose his voice.

"Didn't I tell you not to shoot?" Shiraishi shouted at the detectives facing him.

“I…he…Director Shiraishi, would you like to…uh…” Okura was speechless for a moment.

Instinctively, I wanted Shiraishi to see a doctor, but upon closer inspection, I could clearly see that several bullets had already fallen to the ground.

If we're talking about bulletproof vests...

Not to mention that there aren't any bullets that big, the more important thing is that there's blood on the bullet?

So you hit it, right? If you hit it, how could you still...?

"Chief!" Kuroki exclaimed urgently.

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi stepped forward, took the "paper tube" out of Kanzaki Kenzo's pocket, and then "picked up" Kanzaki Kenzo.

"I will truthfully report any incidents where suspects without firearms fired after I warned them, resulting in me being accidentally shot," Shiraishi said, glancing at Zeden before striding away. Kanzaki Kenzo needs emergency medical attention!

If you wait too long for an ambulance and have to be carried away, the wound will worsen.

Fortunately, there's Shiraishi...

He lifted it up with both hands, very steadily!

……

Inside Dongdi Hospital, outside the main operating room.

Ryuichi Kanzaki also arrived quickly...

Although he had kept it from him before, Kenzo Kanzaki was seriously injured and on the verge of death, so there was no reason not to tell him.

"Chief, my dad..." Kanzaki said in a panic.

"Don't worry, Dr. Daimon is here, everything will be fine," Shiraishi reassured him.

Kanzaki then looked at Kuroki beside him and angrily scolded, "What's going on? Weren't you here? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I……"

Before Kuroki could explain, Shiraishi suddenly spoke up: "Zeden has a problem."

"Huh?" Kuroki and Kanzaki looked over in surprise, not understanding why Shiraishi suddenly brought this up.

“I specifically brought up the shooting incident and emphasized that Kenzo Kanzaki wasn’t carrying a gun, and Zeden didn’t refute it at all… It’s clear that he was more worried about other things than the shooting itself, which is why he seemed so surprised or even accepted my accusations at the time,” Shiraishi said confidently.

Shiraishi's accusations at the time were actually unfounded.

Kenzo Kanzaki did not carry a gun...

However, he was clearly pretending to be carrying a gun on purpose, and used it to hold Zeden hostage, but Zeden obviously had his own plans.

Just like Kanzaki Kenzo secretly called Kuroki over halfway through.

Kenzo Kanzaki did this so that there would be other witnesses at the scene after he exposed Zeden.

Meanwhile, Zeden also secretly notified the detectives of the Kamuro Police Station through some means!
Therefore, Zeden could not possibly plead guilty...

However, regardless of the circumstances, firing a shot was indeed due to tension, but it was not something wrong or incomprehensible.

After all, the person in front of them was a suspect who was suspected of having committed two murders and was pretending to be armed. It was completely understandable that he would open fire in such a state of paranoia.

Shiraishi made these accusations simply to see Zeden's reaction!

Zeden didn't react much to his own assessment...

From this, Shiraishi realized that Zeden must be worried about something more serious!
Seeing Kanzaki Kenzo fall after being shot, he felt a great sense of relief, so he didn't refute Shiraishi's unreasonable accusations later.

At this moment, the "Operation in Progress" light went out, and the group quickly looked towards the operating room. Although the door looked tired, it still came out arrogantly, and Shiraishi immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Surgery successful... You really know how to find challenges for me." Daimon said, then looked at Shiraishi and asked, "Were you also hit by the bullet?"

"I'm fine, some mercurochrome will do." Bai Shi shook his head, then asked, "When can we question him?"

Upon hearing this, Da Men shook his head and said, "It's definitely not going to work in the next couple of days. Although the surgery was successful, his heart could still rupture if he is subjected to any stimulation. He needs to be kept under close observation."

"Alright..." Shiraishi said helplessly, but he made up his mind to send someone to keep an eye on things here.

Although silencing witnesses at Dongdi Hospital is not an easy task, it is still something we must be wary of!

At this moment, Shiraishi also remembered the incident where Kanzaki Kenzo questioned Zeden earlier...

Was Zeden really the one who shot him in the head?
but……

Why doesn't he admit it and try to frame Ando? It wasn't even really a mistake...

Of course, if that's the case, Shiraishi has reason to suspect that Zeden was the one who framed Kuroki before!

If the results of the bullet wound analysis for those two shots were indeed reversed, it's very likely that Zeden used the same method he used to frame Kuroki.

After all, bullet hole identification technology was still quite rudimentary twenty years ago, and as a member of the police force, Zeden had opportunities to replace the gun barrel.

However, so much time has passed now that there is certainly no evidence to prove the "gun swap" from back then.

As for this time...

The Silver Dragon Society's office is located in Kamurocho, and the shooting also took place in Kamurocho. As the head of the Kamuro Police Station, Zeden has an even greater opportunity to get a gun barrel replaced!
Although there were still many things that Shiraishi hadn't fully figured out, he had basically decided in his heart that he was Zeden, and...

Seeing Kanzaki Kenzo being pushed away, Shiraishi felt less anxious.

Since Kanzaki Kenzo is still alive, it's not Shiraishi who should be in a hurry!

"You two stay here and keep watch for now. Don't disturb Kanzaki Kenzo's rest. Police officers will come in shifts later," Shiraishi said directly to Kuroki and Kanzaki.

After saying that, Shiraishi nodded to the two detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department.

The two immediately stood at attention...

Kenzo Kanzaki is a suspect in the previous shooting murders of Uemura and Ando, ​​and this is not Beika Town, so of course there are police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department watching over the area.

but……

Despite keeping an eye on things, the two of them had absolutely no objections to Shiraishi's arrangements.

After all, the story of Shiraishi losing his temper at the Metropolitan Police Department, and even Deputy Chief Inspector Moroboshi being reportedly slammed on the table by Shiraishi, had already spread far and wide.

The other departments were tolerant of Shiraishi's "anger" and did not have any objections to his command.

After returning to the police station, Shiraishi continued working... He'll definitely be working overtime today.

Just then, Yuanwei knocked on the door and came in.

"Please come in."

"Chief, regarding the legal education event to be held jointly by Beika Town and Kamuro Town tomorrow... would you like to attend in person?" Mado asked as he entered.

"There's no time for that," Bai Shitou said, shaking his head without looking up.

"However, Superintendent Zeden might personally attend the Kamuro Police Station meeting," Mado reminded her—otherwise, Mado wouldn't have bothered to ask.

"What? That fatso is so diligent?" Shiraishi immediately realized something was wrong.

Shiraishi immediately told Mado to go out first, and then made a phone call to Kawaguchi, the chairman of the Capital Security Bureau!

Shiraishi keenly sensed that there must be some special reason why Zeden would personally participate in such an event...

The security for the event was handled by the Capital Security Company. If Zeden had any schemes or made any adjustments to the event, he could keep it from the Beika Police Station, but he couldn't keep it from Kawaguchi...

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.

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(End of this chapter)