Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 146 My Last Wish
Beihu City Hotel.

Despite having deduced the inside story, Gao Mo still consulted with the manager about room 2407.

Having stayed for over a month, the hotel staff were already familiar with the Shinmei couple. They simply hadn't initially planned to reveal the owners' information, only acknowledging their existence after meeting Shinmei Kaori and Kogoro Mouri.

“Mr. Shinmei told us not to tell anyone, so I’ve been hosting them all this time.”

A waiter led the way.

"Besides the Xinming couple, there is a doctor who comes every day."

I took the elevator to room 2407.

Gao Mo stopped in his tracks, and Xinming Xiangbaoli and a waiter went to knock on the door.

"What's wrong?" The mustachioed man and his companions walking behind Gao Mo were forced to stop.

"We outsiders shouldn't get in the way."

Gao Mo calmly gazed at room 2407.

Although there were no murders and he didn't have much of a connection with Shinmei Nittaro, he could still feel death at this moment, a death different from that of a murder.

Just as he had guessed, the old man inside was nearing the end of his life.

It will probably happen this month.

"Kabori?"

An elegant woman with short hair, who looked remarkably like Kaori Shinmei, opened the door in surprise.

"How did you find it?"

"mom!"

Without bothering to explain, Shinmei Kaori rushed into the room and immediately saw her father on the bed in the inner room.

An elderly doctor is treating patients.

"Dad? Dad!"

"Kabori..."

On the bed was an old man with a white beard, looking weak, who managed a weak smile when he saw his daughter.

"You're here... Didn't you call the police? Who solved the mystery?"

"It's that Mr. Domoto from the last newspaper. He solved all the mysteries and said that you weren't kidnapped, you were just sick."

Shinmei Kaori wiped away her tears and rushed to the bedside.

"Why did you hide this from me? This kind of thing..."

"Your father was afraid that you would stop him from being impulsive in the end, and he didn't want you to worry too much."

The short-haired woman stood behind and explained, her face showing signs of fatigue.

“I didn’t want to agree at first, but your father was determined to fulfill this wish before he died.”

“I’m sorry, Kahori, I’ve been a writer for 40 years, but there’s still a kind of happiness I’ve never experienced. Even if it only happens once in my life, I want to see readers come up to me and tell me, proudly and confidently, that they have solved the puzzles I designed.”

Shinmei Nittarou turned his head with difficulty to look out the door.

"Where is Mr. Domoto? Cough cough... May I see him?"

"Mr. Domoto is outside."

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Shinmei,” Gao Mo said, looking slightly embarrassed. “I’m not really your reader; I only saw the manuscript today…”

"Why not?" Shinmei Rentaro's complexion improved as if he had just recovered from a stroke. "Those who have read my novels are readers. If you want to decipher my hidden codes, you couldn't have not read them carefully, right?"

"..." Gao Mo was speechless.

That seems to be correct.

"It's a bit of a pity, though. It seems my little trick didn't fool you at all and didn't cause you much trouble... I thought it would definitely alert the police."

Shinmei Rentaro smiled like a child, as if he wanted to remember Gao Mo deeply.

"Next time I'll definitely come up with an even harder puzzle..."

"call!"

The old man stared at Gao Mo with a competitive look, his vision blurring as if he were hallucinating.

A distorted, dark space unfolded behind Gao Mo, within which one evil spirit after another wailed and howled.

I felt lightheaded, and my daughter's voice sounded distant.

"Mr. Shinmei?" Gao Mo called out to Shinmei Rentaro.

The old man said he hoped to see readers solve the mystery, but when I actually saw him, there was a hint of regret. It's a contradiction; perhaps he hoped readers would solve the mystery, but it's not that easy to solve?

"It's a pity, I wish I had met you sooner."

Shinmei Rentaro's face darkened again, realizing that his time was running out.

"Everyone outside says you're a modern-day leftist, but I think you are you. If I had the chance, I would definitely use you as the model to redesign a detective character..."

“Dad,” Kaori Shinmei explained, “Mr. Domoto is now also starring in a detective movie; he’s a gunslinger detective who can disguise himself.”

"Gunman detective?"

The old man looked at Gao Mo again, as if he had been inspired, his cloudy eyes filled with a hint of longing.

"Would you mind making a cameo appearance in my novel? Actors and detectives actually make a good pair."

"I don't mind, just don't use it to highlight Zuo Wenzi." Gao Mo didn't refuse.

As long as it doesn't affect him in real life, it's fine.

The protagonists in these detective novels seem to solve cases 100% of the time, but many aspects are limited for the sake of the story's development, making them less reliable than real-life detectives.

Now that the detective is his first level 5 profession, his overall abilities are definitely much stronger than those of the character Zuo Wenzi in novels and TV shows.

It would be a great injustice if, because of novels and television, he were left with the impression that he was inferior to Samonji—Domoto Hajime might always be overshadowed by Kenzaki Osamu.

"No, no," Shinmei Rentaro laughed happily, "The Actor Detective is a parallel story to Samonji, and if possible, it can even be linked to your movie... Consider it compensation for Samonji not casting you, a little Easter egg."

……

Gao Mo and his group did not stay at the hotel for long. Shinmei Rentaro was in very poor health and fell into a deep sleep soon after taking his medicine.

"Thank you so much for today."

Shinmei Kaori expressed her gratitude as she saw him off.

"The doctor said my father has terminal cancer and probably won't last another week. If..."

“It’s nothing,” Gao Mo hailed a taxi. “If it weren’t for Miss Xinming’s participation in the TV program and her request for our help, we wouldn’t have noticed this.”

"They really know how to make a fuss," the man with the mustache said, exhausted and not really understanding the novelist's capricious ideas. "What if the police are really involved? This kind of thing could cause a public relations crisis."

Damn it, if Kido were here, he would never let an actor steal the spotlight.

And there was such a large sum of royalties.

“By the way,” the mustachioed man turned to the worried, chubby editor and asked, “approximately how much will the payment be?”

"Huh? Shinmei-sensei is getting 100 million yen per chapter this time, so 6 million yen for 600 chapters so far... If the story is completed smoothly, there will be an additional 500 million yen."

The chubby editor looked worried.

"But judging from the teacher's situation, is it really possible to finish the book smoothly?"

"One million per word?"

The mustachioed man's eyelids twitched wildly.

These novelists are really making money. This is just the royalties; the real bulk of their income, including royalties and other earnings, is still unknown.

No wonder novelists and billionaires often have net worths of billions.

His role as a famous detective doesn't seem so interesting anymore.

"Don't worry, I will help Dad finish writing it," Shinmei Kaori solemnly assured him, "I will definitely not let Shinmei Nintaro down!"

“Um,” the man with the mustache asked curiously, “did your father say how many chapters ‘Halfway to the Top’ have?”

"It should be between 15 and 20 episodes, right?"

"That's at least 2000 million?"

The man with the mustache gurgled in fright, regretting it so much he felt like his guts were turning green.

If he had known, he would have just gone next door and arrested the villagers; he would have carried them over no matter what.

With Kido around, his mind was exceptionally sharp, and he was able to get a little bit of soup.

Damn it.

"I'll head back now," Gao Mo said, in a good mood. "If you can't find me, you can contact my agent, Eiichi Yamagishi, or Yoko."

hateful.

The man with the mustache looked even worse, as if he were about to cry but couldn't, and just wanted to smoke a few cigarettes to calm himself down.

(End of this chapter)