Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 195 The Legend of the Snow Demon 3
The layout of the main building and the annex is similar, both primarily featuring galleries.

After finding his room again, Gao Mo began to examine the huge painting near the door.

Seemingly based on the legend of the Snow Demon, she has long, snow-white hair, a demon mask, large, round eyes, a gaping maw, loose white clothes, and is holding a baby with a bluish face.

The dimly lit corridor looked quite eerie.

Ok?
Gao Mo suddenly noticed a long-haired man wearing a mask and sunglasses out of the corner of his eye. In the blink of an eye, the man silently walked away, looking like a stranger who should not be approached.

“He is the painter Himuro,” Yoko Okino yawned, looking very tired. “I heard that he has become even more withdrawn and eccentric since that incident 10 years ago.”

"Didn't you sleep well?"

"Yeah, because I was worried about being pranked, I barely slept at all. Just when I finally wanted to sleep, I was called back."

After removing her makeup, Yoko's eyes looked dull, and her skin didn't look good either.

However, this is the norm for celebrities, especially popular idols like Yoko, who are almost always on the go and rarely have time to relax.

Gao Mo was also feeling a bit sleepy.

He never gets up this early at home; getting up and going out in this freezing weather is torture.

I never realized how much trouble it was when I watched TV.

The life of an actor isn't all that great—especially in Japan, where the status of entertainers is low, the pay is far lower than in other countries, and there are plenty of complicated issues to deal with.

Because only top performers earn more money, many artists work desperately to climb the ladder, which leads to bizarre incidents like him and Yoko Okino being bullied.

Back in my hometown, everyone would be calling me "teacher" by now.

"Is there something on my face?"

Yoko Okino was momentarily bewildered by Gao Mo's gaze. Suddenly, she cried out in surprise, realizing she wasn't wearing makeup. She quickly covered her face and hurriedly ran back to her room.

"I'm going to touch up my makeup!"

"call!"

A cold wind blew into the corridor, piercing Gao Mo's collar like a sharp steel knife.

So cold.

Gao Mo quickly wrapped his clothes tighter around himself.

My hands and feet are cold; it's definitely most comfortable in bed.

Do whatever you want.

You can't wrong yourself.

Whether this program will even air in the end is a big question.

"Director, we can't find Akashi anywhere."

"Huh? Akashi isn't here? What's going on, at this time..."

"Is Rie okay?"

"Still fast asleep."

“Ayatsuji,” Director Hiruda said, checking the monitor with a cigarette in his mouth, “go back to the villa later, explain the situation to her, and pick her up while you’re at it… she should be less irritable after being scared.”

"Why do I feel like my temper will get even worse?"

"Never mind... let's test the equipment first, so it doesn't break down at a crucial moment."

"Seriously, that Akashi guy, that's supposed to be his job."

The bespectacled woman, Marina Ayatsuji, watched with concern as the director and the others ran into the equipment room with lewd grins on their faces: "I'm going to make some coffee first."

"sorry to bother you."

"Recording will start promptly at 5 o'clock. Those who have grudges, get your revenge. It's time to teach that Rie a lesson!"

"Hey hey hey!"

"boring."

Shiratori Ninzaburo disdained associating with such people and always stayed by Sato's side.

“Officer Sato, I once had the honor of meeting the painter Himuro, and my family even bought one of his paintings… How about we go and talk to him directly?”

"But it's not even 5 o'clock yet..."

"It's nothing, I just saw him."

Gao Mo glanced at Shiratori Renzaburo, who had his hands in his pockets, and was about to go back to his room to catch up on sleep when Sato suddenly stopped him: "Domoto-kun, want to come along? Maybe we can get Himuro's autograph."

"I……"

“Just consider it cooperating with our investigation,” Sato whispered in Gao Mo’s ear. “I heard you’re a detective in private. Aren’t you curious about what we’re investigating?”

Absolutely no interest.

Gao Mo's eyelids drooped, and after a few words, Sato dragged him along. Beside him, Shiratori Renzaburo's resentful gaze was like a knife.

This arrogant young master, whether he's thin-skinned or thick-skinned, stammered and couldn't muster any backbone in front of Officer Sato, instead blaming him, an outsider.

Never mind, I'll just consider it helping Takagi out.

He only just learned about the Beika Wolf incident last time. His original intention was to boost Takagi's performance, but Beika Wolf died suddenly at the police station, causing Takagi a lot of trouble.

“We’re police officers after all, and we might give ourselves away and arouse suspicion,” Sato explained with a smile in a low voice. “It’s better to have an ordinary person help us.”

Shiratori nodded in understanding: "As expected of Officer Sato, he is very thoughtful."

Oh well, he's just an amateur, which only serves to highlight his case-solving abilities.

Anyway, the detective actor thing is definitely just hype.

"Dong dong!"

Outside the room of Himuro Ichisei.

Under the watchful eyes of Sato and the other man, Gao Mo stepped forward and knocked on the door, which was opened almost immediately.

It was that masked and bespectacled man from earlier.

"What are you doing?" the masked man asked coldly.

"Excuse me, we would like to ask Mr. Himuro for his autograph..."

Sato handed the autograph board and marker to Gao Mo.

The man glanced at it suspiciously for a few moments, then took the autograph board from Gao Mo and quickly scribbled a few strokes.

"Mr. Domoto, Mr. Himuro," the bespectacled woman said, passing by with a tray, "I made some coffee, have a cup to perk yourself up, even if it's instant..."

"Ah."

The masked man didn't say much. He took the coffee from the woman with glasses and went back to his room: "I still have work to do. Don't bother me unless it's important, including signing autographs."

Sato and Shiratori each ordered a cup of coffee, but Gao Mo shook his head and said, "I don't need any, I want to sleep a little longer."

Although he didn't sense any malice, he still didn't want to drink anything casually.

And it wasn't exactly lying; he was just about to take a nap anyway.

but……

Gao Mo looked at Himuro Ichisei's tightly closed door, his gaze shifting slightly.

The man signed his name with his right hand, but Himuro Kazuki is actually left-handed.

All the paintings in the villa were done with the left hand.

The self-portrait does show the right hand, but in reality, Himuro Kazusei was probably painting while looking in a mirror, resulting in the opposite effect.

Clearly, this fake ice room guy didn't notice any of this.

As expected, Officer Sato and his colleague were investigating Himuro Ichisei.

“Just as reclusive as the legends say,” Shiratori Ninzaburo said, finding a spot near the fireplace in the living room. “He definitely looks like Himuro Ichisei. He’s wearing a mask because of the burns on his face.”

"sure?"

Sato felt extremely troubled.

Even Shiratori, who had met Himuro once, said so, so the rumor that the other party was an imposter is not credible.

The reason he was almost completely isolated from the world for 10 years was probably because it was his nature.

Moreover, after something like that happened, it's understandable that her personality would change drastically.

“Domoto,” Sato turned to Gao Mo and asked, “what do you think? Actually, we received information from some art dealers and Himuro Kazuyoshi’s former teacher that this genius painter hasn’t participated in any activities for 10 years and almost never contacts the outside world, but he still sells a lot of paintings every year—”

"In the past, Himuro Ichisei would sell paintings, but he would always find someone to promote them, and he never sold them off in large quantities... In recent years, however, he has been selling more and more, which has even affected the market. It is said that the rooms in the villa used to be filled with paintings, but now only the corridors are left. In 10 years, he has made at least several billion yen."

"He's been selling paintings but hasn't produced any new works. It's almost as if someone is deliberately impersonating Himuro Kazuyoshi to steal this huge fortune... Coincidentally, the three people your program team rescued from Himuro Kazuyoshi also started to make a name for themselves around that time, and even started a studio together..."

Shiratori Ninzaburo, having observed the commotion outside the living room, couldn't help but interrupt, "Officer Sato, why are you talking about this with outsiders? We're conducting a secret investigation. What if the production crew and Himuro Kazusei find out?"

Sato still didn't give up: "Takagi said that Domoto's abilities are no less than those of a famous detective, and he might be able to discover things we haven't noticed..."

"In short, I am now in charge of this case, and I will definitely investigate it to the end."

A faint sadness settled in Shiratori Ninzaburo's heart. It was Takagi again.

He really didn't know where he lost to Takagi, but Sato always paid special attention to Takagi, while maintaining a safe distance from him as a colleague.

"We'll go ask the nearby villagers about the situation after it gets light."

"Alright," Sato sighed inwardly.

Although they can joke around and have a decent relationship, Shiratori is ultimately his superior.

“Brother,” Bai Niao warned Gao Mo, “you can look it up yourself if you’re interested, but don’t tell anyone else about this.”

Gao Mo opened his mouth.

After thinking about it, I still didn't express my opinion.

In a way, he and the police are actually at odds.

He needs murder cases, but the police's duty is to prevent murders—no matter how deserving the victim may be.

5 points in the early hours.

The sky was still dark, and the wind and snow shrouded the mountain village, making it difficult to see the other side of the cliff.

After saying goodbye to everyone, the bespectacled woman, Marina Ayatsuji, drove to the annex to clean up the mess caused by the prank.

The equipment room only contained director Hiruda, martial arts actor Daimon, and a few other staff members.

Rie Ghana may be disliked, but not everyone has the energy to watch the drama unfold.

"It's about time to begin..."

"call!"

The sound of wind and snow intensified.

Gao Mo was wrapped tightly in the blanket in his sleep, and he could vaguely hear wailing sounds in his ears.

It was still that strange, rainy night space.

Blood-red names appear in the opened Death Note, and countless grotesque figures form a face, trying to break free from the notebook pages.

Why don't you save me?

Why did you kill me?

You're the one who should be dead!

You are the real murderer! You monster!

Give my mother back to me!

Gao Mo suddenly opened his eyes and calmly looked around.

The guest rooms in this hotel have no windows, but the howling wind outside is still constant.

From the moment he obtained the notebook and became a rebel, he was destined to be drawn into the vortex of fate, surviving because of the notebook and inheriting its cause and effect.

The existence of death is destined to be disliked and even deeply hated by the world—regardless of whether these people are good or bad.

"Oh no! Rie has been killed by the Snow Demon!"

Suddenly, a terrified scream rang out from the corridor outside.

"Something happened!"

"Call the police!"

"Stop it!" The young actor, Dongfang Jian, who had been woken up, snapped in a fit of morning grumpiness. "Even if you're going to play a prank on someone, pick a time. Can't you let me get some sleep?"

"It's real! It's not a prank!"

The gate was terrified, trembling like a weakling, completely belying its tall and muscular physique.

"We saw it with our own eyes on the surveillance footage: a machete was used to chop off heads, and the whole room was covered in blood..."

"No way?" Dongfang Jian swallowed hard.

This martial arts actor has never been a good actor; he looks genuinely frightened.

"Where's the director?"

"We are police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department. Leave the rest to us."

Shiratori Ninzaburo frowned as he showed his identification.

The staff in the equipment room were quite frightened.

The surveillance footage from the annex shows the voluptuous Rie Kano lying in a pool of blood, still wearing her pajamas, with blood splattered all over the bed.

"Are you sure this isn't just for the show?"

"Absolutely not!" The director's face turned pale. "We were supposed to activate the mechanism according to plan, but suddenly a guy dressed as a snow demon walked out of the corridor shot and went straight into the guest room and killed Rie!"

"Isn't your photographer Akashi staying at the annex? Did they stage this whole thing themselves?"

"I don't think so. We can't get in touch with him at all right now."

“Ayatsuji did drive there, but it takes at least 20 minutes to drive there…”

The staff switched the camera to a view of the outdoors, where they saw the Snow Demon disappearing into the snowstorm, holding a blood-stained machete.

"No signal on the walkie-talkie, it's probably still upstream, damn it!"

"Call her back right now!"

Shiratori Ninzaburo stared intently at Kano Rie on the monitor.

He's no ordinary incompetent person who was able to become a police inspector so quickly; he's handled many important cases.

Based on his experience, the body did not appear to be faked.

What about the hallway security cameras?

"It was destroyed by the Snow Demon..."

"Look, it's Ayatsuji's car!"

A short while later, the production crew's van appeared on screen.

The staff quickly contacted each other using walkie-talkies.

"Ayatsuji, can you hear me?"

"Miss Ayatsuji, have you seen anyone dressed as Yukiyasha or anyone else?"

"No, what's wrong?" The van is parked in front of the villa in the video.

"Ms. Rie was..."

"Alright," Shiratori snatched the walkie-talkie, "turn back immediately, the criminal might still be nearby."

Then he turned to the crowd and reminded them, "Whether it's a prank or not, we're treating it as a murder case now, and we hope everyone will cooperate with the investigation."

"Cooperate with the investigation? Hey, what does this have to do with us? We didn't do it!"

"Yes, we're all here in the main building!"

"That's hard to say. It's possible that it was pre-recorded and played back as surveillance footage, right? And since the other party has damaged the surveillance system, it's highly likely that they are an insider."

The white bird carefully checked the number of people.

They discovered that everyone except for Marina Ayatsuji, who was outside, and the missing photographer Akashi, had already arrived.

Where is Mr. Himuro?

"They should still be in the room, right?"

"It must be Akashi messing with us..."

Gao Mo moved closer to the monitor.

The criminals then began to plan.

The annex and the main building can only be connected by a stone bridge upstream, and it takes more than 20 minutes to drive there each way. As a result, apart from the photographer who has disappeared, no one has time to commit a crime.

Crimes committed in time and space...

This doesn't seem to be a case from Detective Conan.

Conan-themed cases wouldn't be this complicated.

"Kindaichi"?
Gao Mo's eyes narrowed slightly.

His detective instincts allowed him to quickly review the events and generate a mental map of Beibing Village.

If the culprit is Ayatsuji Marina, then it must be Ayatsuji Marina, right?
It wasn't because the notes had given him preconceived notions, nor because he had seen similar cases before—the cases in Kindaichi, like those in Detective Samonji, didn't have a fixed culprit or victim.

Rather, as his first level 5 profession, being a detective has given him the unique and powerful intuition of a top detective after such a long period of comprehensive development, making him completely different from ordinary criminals.

The only thing lacking is information and intelligence.

“Next, everyone will be transferred to the annex,” Shiratori said cautiously. “I need statements from all of you.”

(End of this chapter)