Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 196 The Legend of the Snow Demon 4
This building.

As dawn broke and the wind and snow finally subsided, the villas in the mountains were unusually peaceful, showing no signs of a murder having occurred.

It was not much different from usual, and there was not much life.

"Tick!"

Gao Mo filled a bucket with water in front of the faucet marked "Freezing Warning," leaving the faucet dripping.

"Why don't you close it tightly?" Yoko Okino asked curiously, "It's dripping water like this..."

“If you turn it off completely, the pipes will freeze easily,” Gao Mo pointed to the sign. “In this kind of weather, even a cup of water will freeze if you spill it. Has Yoko never been to the north before?”

"I've never been here before. I've always been afraid of the cold since I was a child."

Yoko Okino suddenly seemed to realize something.

We're used to seeing water conservation measures, but this is the first time we've seen water frozen.

"You know so much, senior. Is it because you're a detective?"

"It's just that I've read more books."

Gao Mo carried a bucket to the kitchen to boil water.

It's a rural area, freezing cold, so even taking a hot shower is a real hassle.

"How's it going with the production team?" Gao Mo asked casually.

“We’ve finished taking everyone’s statements, and it seems like they all have a motive for murder,” Yoko Okino said, looking confused. “Of course, so do I, since I just had a fight with Rie-san…”

Why did it turn out like this when I just happened to participate in a TV program?
It seems that her luck has been exceptionally bad ever since her ex-boyfriend's suicide.

The movies and TV series she starred in often ran into problems, with one murder case after another, even making her doubt herself.

"If only I had come sooner," said Marina Ayatsuji, the bespectacled woman, standing at the edge of the corridor, crossing her arms in self-reproach. "If only I hadn't left Rie-san here alone..."

“If you ask me, it’s that woman’s fault,” said the young actor Ken Munakata, pursing his lips. “I heard that Mr. Akashi had a big argument with her over money issues. If she had a better temper, Mr. Akashi might not have committed murder.”

"Has the murderer been identified as Mr. Akashi?"

"Otherwise what? We were all at the main building at that time, and you were on the road too. The only person who could have killed someone was Mr. Akashi, right? The police are still looking for him everywhere."

living room.

Shiratori sat by the fireplace, frowning, while several monitors played surveillance footage on a loop.

"It seems that only Akashi, who has disappeared, and Himuro Kazuki, who has been locked in his room, have time to kill... But it takes 20 minutes to drive one way, let alone round trip. Himuro doesn't have that much time, and at that time, only Ms. Ayatsuji drove away."

"How could there be such a strange case? Is the culprit really Akashi?"

“Officer Shiratori,” Sato returned with the group’s statements, “the roads are blocked. The Hokkaido police said they can’t get here for the time being, so it seems like the search for Akashi is hopeless.”

"Does that mean we're trapped on this murderous 'island'?"

Shiratori leaned back on the sofa, a smile returning to her face.

"In other words, the murderer couldn't escape from here either. He couldn't survive outdoors in this weather. He would either hide in a villager's house or in the Himuro Mountain Villa..."

"Officer!"

The woman with glasses stumbled into the living room, her face pale as she cried out.

"Outside! Mr. Akashi is outside!"

"What?" Shiratori's smile froze as he was about to use his wisdom to find Akashi, and he stood up abruptly from beside the fireplace. "Do you want to turn yourself in now?"

"No!" the bespectacled woman explained with surprise, "It's the snowman by the door! I wanted to go to the car to get something, but... then I saw that a corner of the snowman had collapsed, and it looked like there was something inside. When I moved it aside, I found Mr. Akashi..."

Hearing the shouts, everyone in the villa ran to the door.

After some effort, the photographer, who had already died, was recovered.

Wrapped in a thick coat, Shiratori conducted a preliminary examination of the body and said, "The cause of death was a severe blow to the back of the head, and the time of death was more than 10 hours ago... How is that possible? The time of death was before Rie Kano's, which means she was murdered last night!"

The white bird looked surprised.

This way, photographer Akashi wouldn't have been able to kill Gana, and who is the Snow Demon in the video?

Everyone has an alibi.

"If the murderer is not an outsider, then it can only mean that the crime was impossible!"

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen Akashi since dinner last night."

"Who killed Rie?"

"It's Yukiyasha, the real Yukiyasha! That's right, it must be because the script had Rie playing Yukiyasha, which angered her!"

"Freeze said……"

The scene was filled with panic, and the noise was giving the white bird a headache.

He had never handled a case like this before.

Although I received specialized training during my studies in the United States, including various well-known impossible crimes, I was still somewhat at a loss when it came to my own situation.

What seemed so easy when looking at the case studies now feels incredibly challenging.

Shiratori glanced subconsciously at Sato, who continued to ask questions, and her expression tightened.

No, I must show Sato what I'm capable of.

He was able to become a police inspector not because of his family background or any other connections.

How can elite police officers be stumped by cases in rural areas?

Gao Mo walked through the snow to the body.

A few strands of dry grass clung to the collar of his leather jacket and his hair, and there were signs of dragging and rubbing on his face and chest...

The photographer was murdered neither inside nor around the villa; the distance was neither too far nor too close, not so far that the murderer couldn't move the body back but would still need to drag it away.

Gao Mo gently twirled the withered grass between his fingers.

It's fodder grass from around here.

Thanks to Natsue Tōmoto, he has a fairly good understanding of ranches in Hokkaido.

Besides tourism, Beibing Village has also developed animal husbandry, so it's not surprising to see fodder grass.

“What’s so interesting about a few blades of grass? They must have gotten from the nearby stables,” Shiratori said, a sudden tightness in his chest. “Whether you’re a detective or an actor, you’re still an amateur. Don’t interfere with our experts’ investigation.”

What's more terrifying than being clueless yourself is seeing someone else with an expression that says, "The mystery has been solved."

How could we lose to an actor?
The ice room in the villa.

The masked man secretly met with director Hiruda.

"It's you, isn't it?" the director's voice was deep. "Don't think I don't know you want to take all of Himuro Kazuki's assets and then kill Kano and Akashi! What a joke, I won't wait for you to make a move!"

A hunting rifle, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, appeared in the director's hand.

"At worst, we'll all die!"

"It wasn't me!" The masked man's eyelids twitched. "I should be asking you why you brought the police here! Officer Shiratori is the young master of the Shiratori family; I recognized him at first glance... How could I possibly kill someone under these circumstances?"

"Who knows? Maybe you're trying to kill me to cover it up!"

The director remained completely unmoved.

"Give me all the money you have this year, or I'll kill you first!"

“At a time like this…”

"Bring it!"

The director pressed the muzzle of his shotgun forward.

"Don't worry, I'll leave this awful place and Japan as soon as the weather gets better! You can do whatever you want from now on, I won't care about you anymore!"

The masked man swallowed hard and, under deadly threat, obediently stuffed yen into the duffel bag the director handed him.

Bundle after bundle, the bags were soon full.

The director's eyes were practically brimming with greed and excitement.

Money is a wonderful thing; sometimes it can even make people disregard life and death.

noon.

Gao Mo did not stay at the villa, but instead further refined the map of Beibing Village in his mind, and also asked the villagers for information.

There were indeed signs that the hay in the stable had been moved.

“I come out to feed the horses every day at 5 o’clock, but today, for some reason, a lot of the hay I prepared has disappeared, and it’s pitch black, with will-o’-the-wisps appearing in the distance.”

The old villager pointed upstream.

"It seems to be over there on the other side of the bridge. It's kind of scary... It must be you people who provoked the Snow Demon. Let's hurry up and leave, or everyone will complain."

The other villagers all stayed at home, refusing to talk to Gao Mo, for fear of bringing disaster upon themselves.

The Snow Demon is just a legend, but these people are very similar to the villagers in the legend, and even more so.

Gao Mo stood at the intersection and looked back at the rows of snow houses.

I could vaguely sense the prying eyes from the windows and the ever-increasing malice.

He had no intention of engaging in a deduction contest with Inspector Shiratori; solving the case was not his primary objective.

The first mission I drew was from the deceased Akashi: "Why did you kill me?"

The other tasks weren't anything special, but the one that was slightly interesting was Shiratori's task of "winning Officer Sato's heart."

Aside from that, people either pray for peace, catch the murderer, or strive to make a name for themselves, earn a lot of money, leave Beibing Village, or cover up their crimes.

He did not change his assignment.

Akashi's "Why Did You Kill Me?" is quite good; he's also eager to know the inside story.

The girl's constant crying during this period must have affected him somewhat.

But then again, there are so many people in this world who die unjustly, so why was he the one who could hear the girl crying?

The feeling was like crossing time and space to connect with 10 years ago.

Gao Mo walked back to the villa and almost bumped into Yoko Okino when he passed the gallery.

“Do, Domoto,” Yoko Okino said, clutching a few sheets of fax paper. “Someone just sent over some documents, but didn’t say who they were for.”

"It should be mine. I had a detective look into some things."

Gao Mo took the faxed documents and looked at them.

The list of survivors of the plane crash 10 years ago: in the past 10 years, they have either died, disappeared without a trace, and one person has lost all leads.

It is a little girl named Marina, who is suspected of being adopted, but no further information can be found.

If adopted, the surname would likely be changed, and Ayatsuji Marina fits the bill perfectly.

"Officer Shiratori!"

Sato braved the wind and snow to return to the villa.

"I found a cable car used for transporting goods on the edge of a nearby cliff, but it only has a weight capacity of 30 kilograms, making it virtually impossible for a normal adult to go back and forth..."

"A cable car?" Shiratori's eyes lit up. "That's right, there's another way. The prisoners might not need to go upstream, but could find a place to build an aerial passage. As for the load-bearing capacity... it can be reinforced separately."

As Bai Niao was about to rush out of the villa to investigate the cliff valley, he was forced back by a biting cold wind as soon as he stepped out.

"Hiss, it's so cold!"

The blizzard subsided, leaving only a light drizzle, but it felt even colder.

Shiratori scurried back to the fireplace, looking dejected: "Officer Sato, do you have a map of Ice Village?"

"What map? I'll see if I can draw one myself," Sato chuckled to himself.

After all, he was a rich kid who sat in an office. Although he was already a police inspector, he had never suffered any hardship.

"Thank you for your help," Shiratori quickly explained, not wanting to lose face. "I'd like to take another look at the surveillance footage; something feels off."

"How to say?"

"When Snow Demon left after committing the murder, he suddenly turned back and destroyed the hidden camera in the corridor, which is why we believed it was an inside job. But why go to all that trouble?"

The white bird coughed lightly and pondered.

"They were clearly disguised as Snow Demons, yet they turned back and destroyed the security cameras before leaving, and why did it have to be the cameras in the hallway... Am I overthinking this?"

“Speaking of which,” Sato’s brow twitched at the mention of this, “I also felt something was off about the corridor… Ah! It’s that self-portrait! The self-portrait disappeared after we came back!”

"Self-portrait?"

The two rushed to the gallery and found that the spot where the self-portrait had been was now occupied by a larger painting.

"I see. That's why Snow Demon sabotaged the corridor surveillance cameras—to conceal his actions. That's also why he left the villa a while later!"

Excitement gleamed in Shiratori's eyes, as if he had instantly grasped all the key points, and a flash of inspiration for conspiring together everything suddenly appeared in his mind.

The case suddenly went from chaos to clarity, with a clear direction for the investigation.

"That self-portrait is the key clue! It must contain the core key to unlocking this case!"

……

at the same time.

Gao Mo also reviewed the surveillance footage and transferred it to his phone using the program crew's laptop.

"The perpetrator deliberately set a psychological trap. It looked like he was destroying the cameras to cover up the operation, but from another perspective, it was precisely to attract attention and alert us or the police."

Gao Mo left the villa again.

“That self-portrait was already very conspicuous, and it was also captured on surveillance footage. A quick check would reveal that it had been replaced. Even if the murderer suddenly realized something was wrong, there was no need for them to go to such lengths.”

"But what's the purpose of doing this?" Yoko Okino followed closely beside Gao Mo. "Is there something wrong with the self-portrait?"

"Through that painting, we can see that the real Himuro Ichisei was left-handed, while the Himuro Ichisei we see outwardly appears to be right-handed."

"what?"

Yoko Okino was both confused and surprised.

"Is Himuro a fake? Is someone impersonating Himuro? But why?"

Gao Mo did not respond further.

In this world, murders caused by money far outnumber those motivated by passion or other reasons; even fathers and sons can turn against each other.

Billions in assets... even he couldn't help but be tempted.

It's nothing to pretend to be a dead person for just 10 years.

In Detective Conan, there's a story about someone who gets plastic surgery to impersonate an ugly old woman in a treasure hunt, only to end up empty-handed. The fake Himuro, on the other hand, at least got the money, and because Himuro is so reclusive, it wasn't difficult for him to fake it.

"Wow!"

Walking along the snowy cliff, the surrounding glacier's course is highlighted on the map in Gao Mo's mind.

The will-o'-the-wisp that the old villager mentioned was actually captured on the program's surveillance cameras, right after Ghana Rie's murder.

Starting from the location where the villagers saw the will-o'-the-wisp, and combining the direction of the will-o'-the-wisp in the surveillance footage from the other side, the two straight lines intersect at a point that is exactly where the canyon is narrowest, with the cliffs on both sides only a little over 3 meters apart.

If the murderer were to devise a trick involving time and space, they would most likely choose this place.

Moreover, it is very likely related to Akashi's death—judging from the killer's setup, killing Akashi prematurely should have been an accident, so they had to hide her with a snowman first.

It is speculated that Akashi accidentally witnessed the murderer preparing the method.

"Senior," Yoko Okino asked hesitantly, "Don't you think the culprit is the fake Himuro? There shouldn't be anyone else but him, and he has a very good motive. Maybe Rie discovered his identity... Maybe there wasn't a psychological trap at all? Maybe he just panicked and didn't think too much?"

"maybe."

Gao Mo remained noncommittal.

Marina Ayatsuji and Yoko Okino seem to have a good relationship, so it's hard to imagine that the girl with the braided hair would be the murderer.

Despite his rustic nature, he was kind and gentle, always eager to do the hard and tiring work, and seemed completely without guile.

(End of this chapter)