I'm in Conan, I'm not a gangster

Chapter 626 The Maid Who Hanged Herself (2nd Update)
After Hiroki Tsuchio left with Saguru Hakuba, Masumi Sera, and Nanatsuki Koshimizu, an eerie silence fell over the villa.

The shattered glass and scattered bullet casings were particularly glaring, and the stench of blood in the air seemed even stronger.

Shiraishi glanced at the injured Heiji and said, "You should have left with them."

Hattori Heiji stated firmly, "I've already been forced to join one criminal organization; I absolutely do not want to be forced to join a second!"

Shinichi Kudo pulled out a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator and said speechlessly, "Yeah, I don't know what the point of your persistence is."

“You have a gunshot wound; staying here will only cause us trouble.”

"Before they've gone far, hurry up and catch up with them, and tell them I regret it, I've changed my mind, and I want to join you."

"Get lost." Heiji kicked Shinichi in the butt and said irritably, "Even if one of my hands is injured, I can still easily deal with you!!"

This left Shinichi speechless; he was a soccer player, while the other was a kendo player.

We can't win, we can't win.

Miwako Sato wanted to know what the criminal group Heiji had joined was, but now was clearly not the time.

Suppressing her curiosity, she asked, "What should we do next?"

Shinichi smiled wryly as he surveyed the ravaged villa: "What else can we do? Prepare for the next wave of attacks."

"Sigh, I hope they have some sportsmanship and don't use too much firepower... otherwise we won't be able to fight back at all."

"What you said is as good as nothing at all!" Heiji couldn't help but complain.

He turned to look at Shiraishi E, who had remained silent: "Shiraishi, you're an expert in these matters, why don't you explain?"

Shiraishi E was squatting next to a corpse, examining something.

Hearing this, he looked up, the moonlight illuminating his expressionless face: "Go check on the maids' quarters."

"Maid quarters?" Sato Miwako frowned. "Why go there?"

“I wanted to go last night.” Shiraishi E stood up, casually wiping the bloodstains from her hands on the curtains. “The maids’ behavior last night was very strange; I’m a little concerned…”

"Isn't it a little too late to care now?" Heiji said speechlessly.

Shinichi immediately understood what he meant: "Indeed, this place has been riddled with bullets. It's better to go somewhere else."

He glanced at Heiji's injured leg: "Besides, that area is easy to defend and difficult to attack, making it suitable for defense."

Heiji suddenly realized, and he nodded, saying, "You're right. Okay, let's go over there."

Sato Miwako nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, let's go take a look, but be careful."

The four carefully left the villa and then moved towards the maid's dormitory not far away.

The maid dormitory is a four-story building that looks quite ordinary, even somewhat cozy.

Just like university dormitories, they are all single rooms.

Shinichi entered the four-story building, then gestured to try the doorknob of the first room on his left, saying, "The door is locked."

Shiraishi glanced at the lock: "Pry it open and see."

“Okay, I’ll do it.” Shinichi took a small lock-picking tool out of his pocket.

Heiji's eyes widened: "Hey, why do you carry something like that around with you?"

“It’s an essential for detectives.” Shinichi focused on unlocking the door without looking up. “Who knows when we might need it.”

Sato Miwako stood to the side with her arms crossed, her tone warning: "I'll let it go here, I'll pretend I didn't see anything. But if it were any other time, I would arrest you, Kudo."

Shinichi chuckled awkwardly, "I don't usually carry this with me. I found it at the villa."

With a soft click, the door lock opened. Shinichi cautiously pushed the door open, and a strong, putrid stench immediately hit him.

"This is... the stench of a corpse!" Sato Miwako's expression changed drastically, and she immediately drew her gun as a warning. Shinichi and Heiji exchanged a shocked look and quickly rushed into the house.

The living room was empty, but the stench of decay grew stronger.

They followed the scent to a closed door.

"Bang!" Heiji kicked the door open.

The sight before them froze everyone in place—a maid's corpse hanging from a rafter, her hands bound behind her back.

The most bizarre thing was that she was standing on a low stool that required tiptoeing to reach, as if she were actively cooperating with the hanging.

"Damn it!" Heiji was the first to react, rushing forward to carefully support the body and put it down.

Shinichi frowned, feeling that Heiji's actions in disturbing the crime scene were inappropriate, but ultimately said nothing and went to help lay the body flat on the ground.

Miwako Sato quickly examined the scene: "It was murder. The killer forced her to stand on the stool until she was exhausted."

She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood—this was an extremely cruel method of execution.

Shinichi examined the lividity, his voice trembling: "Time of death... probably around 7 p.m. last night."

These words struck her heart like a heavy hammer!

Last night at seven o'clock, it was the time they were enjoying dinner and discussing the game.

After these maids left, they were subjected to torture in the bedroom.

"I was wrong, I was really wrong!" Shinichi suddenly slammed his fist on the floor, his knuckles instantly breaking and bleeding. "If we had listened to Shiraishi last night and come to the maid dormitory to investigate..."

Heiji, his face ashen, replied, "Maybe we can save them. These bastards... using living people to test our reaction time!"

Miwako Sato gritted her teeth and gripped her service pistol tightly: "I swear in the name of the police that I will make them pay the price!"

Shiraishi E also frowned this time; he hadn't expected these people to be so cruel.

Killing someone is bad enough, but destroying their spirit is even worse!
They didn't treat people like human beings at all.

He thought for a moment and said, "Let's split up and check out the other rooms."

The proposal was agreed upon by the other three.

The four then split up and went their separate ways.

Shiraishi E went straight up to the fourth floor of the dormitory.

Instead of picking the lock, he violently kicked the door open.

The moment the door was kicked open, the stench of a corpse wafted out.

When he opened the bedroom door, unsurprisingly, another maid was found hanged, in the exact same way as before.

Seeing this, Shiraishi E didn't say anything, but closed the door again.

He then began buying up all sorts of weapons in the bandit mall, in preparation for the enemies who would come to silence him later.

Of course, most of the equipment here is not for him to use, but is prepared for Shinichi, Heiji, and Miwako Sato.

After shopping for a few minutes, Shiraishi E packed the equipment into several suitcases, unfolded them, and placed them directly in the living room.

He immediately shouted towards the door, "Come on up, I've made a new discovery!"

Upon hearing this, the other three immediately stopped what they were doing and quickly ran up to the fourth floor to meet up with Shiraishi E.

"Look, what's this?" Shiraishi E gestured for everyone to come into the living room and look at the suitcase.

Shinichi, Heiji, and Miwako Sato were completely stunned when they saw the several suitcases full of gear.

(End of this chapter)