Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 190 The Real Kido Takamori
"Mr. Fan Tian said that Mr. Xinghe often came here before everyone became his disciples, so Mr. Xinghe is the youngest, but he is the eldest brother?"

"What senior brother? I was just here to have fun. I started learning magic much later than Mr. Fan Tian, ​​who already had some skills and became his apprentice. I remember Mr. Fan Tian was already quite famous back then..."

The corner of the stairs on the second floor of Zheng Ying's house.

The dimly lit corridor was extremely narrow, making it feel crowded even for one person to walk through.

At the end of the long, deep corridor was a small window, just big enough to fit a cabinet, on which the outlines of decorative vases could be seen.

"What a narrow corridor."

“Previous customers said the same thing,” Hoshikawa Tongwu said with a wry smile. “Actually, the teacher made a mistake in the design before, but he was too concerned about his reputation, so he simply went with the mistake…”

"Strange, why isn't the light on at Zhanzi?"

Hoshikawa Tongwu used the light from outside the corridor to fumble for the light switch. As soon as he pressed it, he heard a "click" and the whole room was plunged into darkness.

"Huh? The power tripped?"

The corridor, which had been illuminated by lights, was plunged into complete darkness. Xinghe Tongwu exclaimed in surprise and turned apologetically to Gao Mo and the other person.

"It's probably because the lights here haven't been on for a long time. I remember the circuit breaker is downstairs in the bathroom. I'll go check it out. Be careful not to touch anything..."

"Why is the power out?" Fan Tianli shouted from downstairs.

Hoshikawa Tongwu quickly responded, "It might be a power outage, Mr. Fan Tian. Could you please go check the circuit breaker next to the bathroom?"

"Where's the archives room?" Kaito Kuroba asked, puzzled. "Why didn't I hear Ms. Nobuko's voice?"

"The archives are on the right..."

After a while, Fan Tianli downstairs seemed to pull the switch, and the lights outside came back on, illuminating the corridor as well.

A figure suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor, which originally contained only cabinets and vases.

Her wide-open eyes, like those of a ghost in the dim light, transformed her once beautiful and sexy face into one filled with horror.

"Zhan...Zhanzi?" Xinghe Tongwu exclaimed in horror, "How could this happen? Who killed Zhanzi?"

Gao Mo's cheek twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but glance at Xinghe Tongwu again.

Before they even conducted an investigation, they already knew that Himegami Nobuko had been murdered.

“He was strangled.” Kaito Kuroba’s gaze narrowed as he approached the corpse. He extended a finger to probe it, and after a brief examination, his expression turned grave. He hesitated for a moment, then turned back to look at Gao Mo, his face pale.

The joke actually came true.

And it was a murder case...

He had just said that Gao Mo was like a detective in a mystery drama, but unexpectedly someone was murdered in the blink of an eye.

Is he a detective or the Grim Reaper?

"Yes, please come over right away!" Xinghe Tongwu called the police from the next room, and after hanging up, he wiped the sweat from his forehead triumphantly, a slight smile playing on his lips.

It worked!
He really is a genius.

Although it was the first attempt, the effect was perfect, at least the two witnesses outside did not discover any flaws—nor could they have discovered any flaws.

This was a magic trick that the teacher was extremely famous for; even the magicians who frequently visited Zheng Ying's home couldn't see through it.

Using it on Himegami Nobuko is a way of letting that woman off easy.

Ah.

Hoshikawa Tongwu tried his best to hide the smile on his face, and his handsome face gradually became distorted.

As a genius magician, even his crimes are those of genius.

The magic of death...

This should be considered the perfect crime, right? With two witnesses testifying for him, the police couldn't possibly suspect him.

The principle is the magical trick "Christmas Tree" that the teacher wrote down in his notes. Only he and Himegami Nobuko should know the inside story.

Right now, of course, it's just him, but...

Xinghe Tongwu frowned, as if thinking of something.

It would be troublesome if anyone connected this to the teacher's previous performance of "The Christmas Tree." "Mr. Hoshikawa," Kaito Kuroba followed him into the room, "Where is this?"

"This is the teacher's prop room."

Sorrow reappeared on Hoshikawa Tongwu's face.

"The three of us used to train here all the time, I never expected..."

Gao Mo stood sideways outside the door, summarizing clues and information in his mind.

Although the exact events are unknown, the scene appears to suggest that Hoshigawa Dogo hastily committed the murder and then used magic to escape punishment.

The archive room on the other side looked like it had been hastily searched, with books scattered all over the floor.

The windows of the prop room showed signs of damage, suggesting that a thief may have entered or exited.

If the police were to investigate, they might easily be misled into believing that an outsider committed the crime.

He and Kaito Kuroba are the strongest alibis.

After all, on the surface, Hoshikawa Tongwu came with them. There was nothing wrong in the corridor before the power went out, but suddenly a corpse appeared after the power went out...

If Kogoro Mouri were present, he would immediately rule out Hoshigawa Dogo as a suspect without even thinking.

but……

Gao Mo calmly returned his gaze to Xinghe Tongwu.

At this moment, the people downstairs heard the commotion and ran upstairs. Hoshikawa Tongwu explained the situation to Masakage's wife with a pained expression.

This popular magician seems to have oversimplified the issue of crime.

Indeed, Hoshigawa Dogo had an alibi when the body appeared in the corridor, but the person who moved the body was not necessarily the murderer.

If he were to handle the case, he would also focus on investigating Hoshigawa Dogo.

Moreover, this seemingly unbelievable magic trick could not be hidden from his magic eye at all.

He had practically been watching the other person perform.

The method was consistent with the other party's status as a first-class magician. If he didn't have extraordinary eyes, he would hardly have noticed anything unusual. Kaito Kuroba didn't react at all, his brows were full of confusion, and he probably wouldn't be able to figure out the situation for a while.

Gao Mo's eyes gleamed faintly.

Time seemed to stand still as the entire scene rapidly took shape in my mind.

There were no twists or turns in the case. It wasn't just magic; he could even identify the murderer directly—the entire crime was reconstructed within his mental palace.

"Wow!"

The projected text appears.

Hoshikawa Dogo – [To carry forward and glorify the Zhengying school]

Kaito Kuroba – [The Real Kido Kosuke] and [The Breakthrough Method, Revealing Hoshigawa Dogo]

Satomi Zanma – [Becoming a Top-Tier Magician] and [Developing the Kido Magic Troupe]

Sakuraba—【Someone's dead! Another one's dead! It was definitely targeting me. Please spare me! I'll never perform spirit summoning magic again!】

……

Gao Mo glanced at the pale-faced fat man, thinking about how to deal with him later, while frowning and turning to Kuroba Kaito, who was seriously investigating.

He's clearly a magician phantom thief, yet he claims that detectives are just following him around... but when he acts like a detective, he's surprisingly convincing—did this guy get addicted to the magician enthusiast incident last time?
They actually wanted to be true to him...

Gao Mo took out his phone and found Hattori Heiji's contact information.

Let this guy play with Hattori Heiji.

I wonder how Hattori Heiji will react when he finds out this guy is Kid.

Recalling how Kid had impersonated Kazuha and manipulated Hattori, Gao Mo felt a chill run down his spine.

Luckily, he doesn't have a girlfriend, and he can see right through this guy, otherwise he would have been killed by the company too... It's really tough on Hattori.

(End of this chapter)