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

Chapter 698 Clue Investigation (1st Update)
Conan witnessed the reactions of everyone after Shiraishi E's thunderous attack. His eyes behind his glasses were as sharp as a hawk's, quickly scanning every terrified face.

Without hesitation, he immediately pointed to a dozen or so passengers in the crowd and said with certainty, "You, you, and the rest of you, please stand over here. You are innocent, and the suspicion can be cleared."

The passengers who were named felt like they had been granted a pardon. Although they were completely bewildered, they quickly moved aside, their faces showing relief at being rid of suspicion.

Those who weren't called out were even more nervous and uneasy, unsure of what would happen next.

Air marshal Bill was completely bewildered by what he saw, unable to understand how the other party had ruled out suspects.

Unable to contain his curiosity, he asked Conan, "Conan, how...did you figure that out? Why were the others unharmed?"

Conan looked up and patiently explained in his unique tone, a blend of childlike innocence and detective maturity, "Officer Bill, didn't you pay attention just now?"

"Just now, in the instant when Shinichi suddenly started hitting someone, everyone's expression and reaction were different. These subconscious actions are the most real and instinctive reactions, and they are very difficult to fake!"

He pointed to the passengers who had been cleared of suspicion and analyzed in detail: "Among them, some were so frightened that their faces turned pale, and they subconsciously stepped back or even covered their mouths with their hands; some had their eyes wide open, filled with unbelievable astonishment; and some had their whole bodies frozen, which was pure fear."

"These are the most direct and uncontrollable shock and fear shown in the face of sudden violent incidents, which precisely demonstrates that they have no deep psychological connection with this event."

"If they were accomplices, or criminals with extremely strong mental fortitude, even if they were surprised, their reaction would not be so great. They would show some signs of vigilance, wariness, or even an attempt to intervene or cover it up."

Listening to Conan's clear and logical analysis, Bill suddenly slapped his forehead, a look of sudden realization on his face: "Oh!! I get it! So, Shinichi Kudo's sudden action just now wasn't just to intimidate that troublemaker, but more importantly, it was to conduct a 'stress test' to observe everyone's immediate reactions! Brilliant! That was a brilliant move!"

His gaze toward Shiraishi E was filled with admiration, as if to say, "The famous detective truly lives up to his reputation; his methods are truly exceptional."

Conan nodded, confirming Bill's speculation: "That's right. In situations where sophisticated instrument testing or lengthy interrogations are not possible, creating psychological shock through unexpected situations and observing the most instinctive micro-expressions and body language is one of the effective methods for quickly screening suspects."

"Now we can focus our attention more on the remaining people."

After Conan's explanation, Bill's doubts were dispelled, and he was also incredibly amazed by the elementary school student's observation and analytical abilities.

He finally understood why the famous Shinichi Kudo would choose such a small child as his assistant!

After answering the question, Conan's gaze, like a precise scanner, continued to scan the faces and bodies of the remaining passengers who had not been eliminated.

He gave a clear instruction: "Please, everyone else, extend your hands, palms up, so I can see them."

Although the passengers were confused, under the intimidation of Shiraishi E's earlier "killing the chicken to scare the monkey," they all obediently did as she said, and opened their palms.

Conan stepped forward and carefully examined each pair of hands.

His observations were extremely meticulous; he not only looked at the palms of the hands, but also paid attention to the finger joints, the web between the thumb and index finger, and the fingertips.

He quickly pointed out seven people and gestured for them to stand aside, but this time he did not completely rule them out; instead, he marked them as "requiring further attention."

“These seven,” Conan explained to Bill, “have fairly obvious marks on their hands.”

"Look, this gentleman has particularly thick calluses on the web of his hand and the inside of his index finger. This is caused by holding a certain shape of object frequently and for a long time, which is very similar to the friction characteristics of a pistol grip."

"And this lady, although her hands are well-maintained, her knuckles are larger than average, and you can vaguely see some old abrasions or small scars on the back of her hands. These are usually left from combat training, especially boxing or grappling."

"While it cannot be 100% certain, the probability that they have a background in weapons use or combat is much higher than that of ordinary people."

Bill, as an experienced air marshal, was naturally familiar with this type of mark. He carefully examined the hands of the seven men and nodded in agreement: "Hmm, that makes sense. These marks are indeed very typical. But..."

He frowned: "There are still seven people left, so the scope is still quite large."

Conan gave a confident smile, adjusted his glasses, and continued, "Don't rush, Officer Bill. The screening can continue. The next criterion is—body shape and muscle characteristics."

He turned to the seven remaining passengers and, while observing them, explained: “If a person has frequent skydiving experience, especially a skydiver who uses the classic ‘bow’ position for freefall, their core muscles, hamstrings, and back muscles will get very thorough training because they need to constantly fight against the airflow.”

"This will make their posture look more upright, their shoulders naturally open, and they will have a unique sense of stability when standing."

Conan's gaze fell on their hands again: "Repeatedly folding and folding heavy parachutes and manipulating parachute lines can easily leave small calluses on specific areas of the palm, such as the base of the fingers and the lower part of the palm, which are different from gun calluses or fighting calluses and are more friction-oriented."

As he spoke, Conan stepped forward again, based on the physical and hand details he had described, and like a meticulous screener, carefully identified three more people from the seven.

This drastically narrowed down the pool of suspects, leaving only four people standing there.

Bill watched the incredibly efficient selection process unfold before him and couldn't help but sigh in admiration. He patted Conan's head, but Conan dodged away in disgust.

He gave an awkward smile, then exclaimed, "Impressive, kid! Your observation skills are truly remarkable! You've got some skills!" At this moment, Bill had no doubt about Conan's abilities whatsoever. He placed all his hopes on these two "detectives," one big and one small, and waited anxiously and expectantly for their next move.

For the final screening, Conan had no way to obtain information from the four passengers.

He turned to Bill and asked a crucial question: "Officer Bill, from the time we started gathering these passengers until we finished screening them just now, during that time... did that prisoner continue to send you any new messages?"

Bill was taken aback by the question, then suddenly snapped out of his daze and quickly pulled out his phone to check the chat history.

Sure enough, the last threatening message was still the one demanding ransom, and then there was no further response.

He nodded repeatedly, saying excitedly, "He hasn't sent a single message since we started the operation!"

Conan's little face showed an "I knew it" expression. He pushed up his glasses and calmly analyzed, "This means the culprit is very likely among the group of people we currently control!"

He further explained, "Extortionists typically maintain contact after applying pressure, pressing and threatening to ensure the other party complies."

"But now he has suddenly fallen silent. The only reasonable explanation is that he has seen the investigation we are conducting, knows that he may have been exposed, so he has temporarily stopped his activities to avoid giving himself away in the communications."

"If he were somewhere else and couldn't know what was going on here, he should have continued to send messages to put pressure on us."

This reasoning made Bill's heart race.

After Conan had Bill send a text message to the prisoner, he said to the last four passengers, "Gentlemen, we need your cooperation now. Please take out your phones, unlock the screens, and let everyone see your current message reception status."

Although the four men were nervous, they knew this was the fastest way to prove their innocence. Without hesitation, they all took out their phones, unlocked them, and showed them to Bill and Conan.

Bill stepped forward and carefully examined everyone's phone screens.

However, he was disappointed to find that none of the four people had received the reply message he had just sent on their phones.

Bill sighed dejectedly, his shoulders slumping. "No... none of their phones have received any messages. It seems... the culprit isn't among the four of them? We've gone in the wrong direction again?"

A huge sense of loss welled up in his heart.

“Officer Bill, don’t jump to conclusions so quickly.” Shiraishi’s tone remained calm: “A person can own two or even more cell phones. The one used for illegal activities is often an anonymous ‘clean’ phone.”

These words were like a wake-up call for Bill, who immediately realized, "That's right! They might have another phone!"

He immediately demanded that the four men hand over any other electronic devices they might be carrying, and even conducted a simple body search.

However, the result disappointed him again—aside from the cell phone he had just shown, he could not find any other communication devices on these four people.

"Still nothing... They don't have a second cell phone on them..." Bill's spirits plummeted again, feeling that the trail had gone cold once more.

Conan, seeing Bill's somewhat slow reaction, couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. He helplessly prompted, "Officer Bill... have you considered one possibility?"

"Perhaps they anticipated their phones might be checked before they were called in, so they deliberately left their phones, which they used for communication, on their seats or hid them somewhere in the cabin?"

Bill suddenly realized, slapping his thigh: "That's right! How come I didn't think of that! I'll go search near their seats right now!" With that, he turned and was about to rush towards economy class.

"No need." Shiraishi E reached out and grabbed him, her tone firm as she stopped him.

Bill turned around, puzzled: "Why? We might still be able to go find them now!"

Shiraishi calmly analyzed, "Even if you go looking now, you most likely won't find it. Their accomplices may have already taken advantage of the chaos to move that crucial phone away."

Bill thought it made perfect sense, but then felt a deeper sense of helplessness: "Yeah... then... what should we do now? Just give up like this? Another wasted effort?" He felt incredibly frustrated.

Conan finally couldn't hold back any longer. He looked at Bill with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot and said speechlessly, "Officer Bill... have you forgotten that there are surveillance cameras everywhere on this plane?"

He pointed to the camera above the kitchen area and continued, "Since they may have left their phones on their seats, or had accomplices to help them move them, why don't we just retrieve the surveillance footage and focus on the seating area of ​​these four passengers and the footage of their journey here? That should tell us everything."

These words were like a ray of light in the darkness, instantly illuminating Bill's thoughts! He slapped his forehead, his face beaming with joy: "That's right! The surveillance cameras! How could I have forgotten about that! I was so flustered!"

He quickly pulled the flight attendant along to check the surveillance footage.

(End of this chapter)