Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 202 The Bandit Group
"It seems to be stuck..."

Outside the study.

The young man with the middle parting couldn't open the door after a long time, so the fat man who rushed back quickly took over and kicked the door: "You forgot, if you can't open this door, kick the bottom."

"Yes."

"You guys seem quite familiar with this house," the man with the mustache remarked casually, hands in his pockets as he looked around the study.

“No,” the fat man chuckled dryly, “my grandfather just mentioned it before.”

Gao Mo followed behind the young man, quickly analyzing the layout of the study during a break in their conversation.

There is an opening in the wall behind the desk that allows a direct view outside.

“It’s this pigeon clock,” the young man said, pointing to the clock above the hole. “It chimes around 10:50, but instead of pigeons, something strange comes out of the window above the clock. Look…”

It was exactly 10:50. The young man looked at his watch and was embarrassed to find that the wall clock was not moving.

"That's strange, I definitely saw it before."

"Could it be malfunctioning?" The man with the mustache hadn't realized there was something wrong with the two men, and his expression began to darken.

Not only did I not see the lonely, talented woman, but I also felt like I was being mocked.

The worst part is that his wife is looking at him strangely.

Sure enough, he knew it would turn out this way.

These people just want to see the famous detective...

“How could that be? My grandfather’s clock is known for never breaking down,” the young man repeatedly denied. “Why don’t you wait and see?”

"Boring, I want to go back."

“Mori,” Gomer leaned over to check the video camera, “I think it wouldn’t hurt to wait a bit.”

All the time-related display panels in the room bore the same markings, seemingly concealing some kind of code.

These two people probably wouldn't do such a thing.

In other words, the original owner did indeed leave behind a mystery.

The strange arrangement at the entrance, and the illogical parts inside... all exist to solve the mystery.

Gao Mo looked at the hole in the wall again, then turned to the mirror on the desk, where the pigeon clock was clearly visible.

Upon gentle touch, it was discovered that the mirror was fixed to the table.

So that's how it is. This house hides a mechanism that uses light, just like the photometer mechanism in the Egg of Memories incident.

That's why the entrance was designed that way, and they even made a hole in the wall.

The hidden code is probably hinting at these things?

However, he doesn't need any coded hints.

He had noticed earlier that the animal decorations on the teacups, tableware, and clocks had been removed.

After investigation, it was found that there were no lion-themed tableware or clocks in the entire house.

The only lion decoration is at the main gate.

"Any questions?"

The man with the mustache paused, stunned. Having partnered with Gao Mo several times, he was all too familiar with Gao Mo's reactions.

This expression clearly indicates that they have discovered something.

"If we could find all the animal decorations in this house..."

Gao Mo subconsciously wanted to give orders to the man with the mustache, but suddenly felt Eri's probing gaze and quickly changed his mind.

"Let's go check out the other rooms."

Animal clocks were found almost everywhere in the villa. The group walked around the first floor, and when they went up to the second floor, the two fat men looked a little nervous.

Suddenly, there were continuous impact sounds from the rooftop.

Before the mustachioed young man could ask a question, the middle-parted youth complained, "The cats have come over from the roof again. These guys play pranks every day."

Just as the man with the mustache was about to ask another question, the alarm clock suddenly rang loudly in the room, and all the electronic clocks rang precisely at 11 o'clock.

“Beep beep beep—!”

"What's going on?" The man with the mustache was startled, thinking something had happened.

The two fat men were also a little confused, but fortunately the ringing only lasted for one minute before things quickly returned to normal.

"Hoohoo!"

Villa loft.

In the dark room, breathing became heavier, and the sounds of banging echoed again. The tightly bound figure struggled to roll to the door and repeatedly struck Morse code.

She had already heard the noise downstairs. Although it wasn't Kindaichi who had been invited, the sleeping Kogoro was no less... Logically, he should have already noticed something was wrong, right?

No matter what, you must hear her message and quickly find a way to call the police!

"Seriously," the guy with the mustache downstairs yawned, "even if you're going to set an alarm, isn't this a bit much?"

"I'm sorry," the fat man said, wiping his sweat. "We tried to keep it as intact as possible before solving the puzzle, so we didn't touch the clock. It must have been made by my grandfather."

“Look,” Conan, whose attention was completely drawn to the clocks, jumped in to point out, “the cracks on these clocks are all in the same place. Is that some kind of code?”

Gao Mo walked to the passageway below the attic and quickly located the source of the sound from the rooftop.

It's an attic room.

Morse code?

Nakamura Misao was locked upstairs... no one stopped him, which means there was probably no third thug.

[Call the police, they are...]

"guest!"

The fat man cried out in alarm to stop Gao Mo, who was deciphering Morse code.

"There's nothing to see in the attic. Let's go down. It seems Mr. Mori has already deciphered the code."

"Okay."

Gao Mo looked away from the locked attic door and smiled under the fat man's tense gaze.

I have to say, these guys are really bold.

Knowing full well that a detective would be coming, they still took over the place and even asked the detective to help solve the mystery.

They were probably planning to kill him to cover it up afterwards, right?

That's why we're keeping such a close eye on it.

Back in the living room.

The man with the mustache laid out a bunch of dog clocks on the table and began to study them: "Speaking of 110, of course, we can't leave out the police, and speaking of the police... the code refers to these things with dogs! There must be a secret hidden on one of these dogs!"

"Could it be Dalmatians?" Xiaolan asked excitedly. "Isn't there a cartoon called '110 Dalmatians' lately..."

"Idiot, that's 101 Dalmatians."

The man with the mustache stared intently at the Doberman sculpture.

"Everything seems normal... There might be dogs elsewhere too, let's keep looking..."

"I don't think it's these dogs."

Gao Mo interrupted.

"Since some animals have been removed, it means that the old gentleman is trying to eliminate distractions and doesn't want us to be affected by these decorations. I think the animals the code refers to should be clearer and easier to find."

"Really?" the fat man asked excitedly. "What kind of animal is it?"

"Let's not talk about which animal it is for now," Gao Mo stood next to the young man with the middle parting, "Can I ask you a few questions first?"

"what?"

"There are only one person's personal items in the bathroom, including women's toiletries, and the drain is full of long hair... There's a third person in this house, right?"

"This……"

The fat man's face darkened slightly, and he laughed heartily.

“We’re planning to get new stuff; those belong to Ah Cao’s friend. He got a girlfriend.”

“That’s even stranger. The shoe cabinet in the entryway is mostly filled with women’s shoes,” Gao Mo stared at the young man with the middle parting. “Did you really inherit this house? You seem completely unfamiliar with everything, while your brother is overly familiar with it.”

The fat man explained, "Didn't Ah Cao say in his letter that he really wasn't familiar with this house..."

"How do you know so much about the contents of the letter?" Gao Mo said quietly. "If you were there when the letter was written, it should have mentioned you, its older brother... Could it be that the letter's mention of someone spying refers to you?"

The fat man's face was gloomy as he stared intently at Gao Mo.

He then realized that Gao Mo wasn't just asking a few simple questions; he had already seen through them.

It's very likely that they saw something in the attic just now.

"You know it all?"

"What's going on?" The man with the mustache put down the alarm clock, his expression turning serious. "You're not the homeowners?" Because of his argument with his wife, he had forgotten Gao Mo's previous analysis and thought that Gao Mo could also make mistakes, so he didn't investigate further to save Gao Mo's face.

"The real Nakamura Misao should be the girl in the photo, right?" Gao Mo said calmly. "The whole room only has that group photo, which usually means it's only taken by very important relatives... Who exactly are you two?"

"Who we are is unimportant," the fat man sneered, blocking the entrance hallway. "If you don't want to die, you'd better keep solving the mystery!"

"boom!"

The young man with the middle parting stopped pretending, fired a shot at the ceiling, revealing his right hand holding the gun under the bandage. His honest face turned into a sinister grin as he forced the mustachioed man to say, "Great detective, you don't want your family to die here, do you?"

"We've already solved the mystery."

Gao Mo appeared next to the young man with the middle parting. As the young man turned around, Gao Mo magically snatched the pistol from him. The young man didn't even realize that Gao Mo had an extra object in his hand.

look familiar.

"Xiaolan."

Startled by the gunshot, Xiaolan instinctively clenched her fist, her long-dormant muscle memory awakening, and she kicked out with a high kick to the side just as the young man tried to snatch the pistol back.

A glimpse of white against the dress.

Gao Mo's face flushed slightly as he turned his head and bumped into Conan's dark face.

"That scared me to death!" Xiaolan stood beside the young man who had been knocked unconscious by a single blow, her face still filled with lingering fear. "It was a gun..."

"asshole!"

The fat man stared as his companion was dealt with, then turned fiercely to Eri Kisaki beside him, pulling out a kitchen knife.

"Don't think..."

“Although I don’t know what’s going on,” the man with the mustache said, his gaze darkening as he stepped in front of his wife, “it seems you’ve made a mistake.”

"boom!"

Another dull thud, and the man with the mustache easily grabbed the fat man's knife-wielding arm and threw him to the ground with a back throw.

This kind of guy, not to mention his current state, could be easily subdued even before he underwent rehabilitation training.

"Speak," the man with the mustache kicked away the kitchen knife that had fallen to the ground and pressed, "What exactly happened? Where is the real Miss Nakamura?"

A glint flashed in Eri Kisaki's eyes.

Her husband's skills hadn't diminished at all; in fact, he seemed even stronger, and he was particularly captivating when he rushed towards her.

The reasoning aspect remains the same as always.

Eri Kisaki pushed up her glasses and turned to Gao Mo: "How embarrassing! You only realized it after Mr. Kido reminded you. If Mr. Kido hadn't noticed something was wrong, how long would you have been fooled?"

Sweat beaded on the mustachioed man's forehead; he was equally shaken, but too proud to admit it: "Well, actually I..."

"Actually, Mori had already suspected it," Gomer said, trying to smooth things over. "He just kept these two calm to protect everyone."

"Really?" Eri looked at her husband suspiciously. "Let's call the police first, and there's also that Ms. Nakamura..."

"Miss Nakamura must be locked up in the attic. I heard some noise just now."

Gao Mo unloaded the pistol bullets, paused slightly, and then put them aside.

The allure of a real gun is quite strong, especially for an assassin at level 4.

But he doesn't need that now.

Villa loft.

Gao Mo left the Mori family to report the incident and volunteered to go upstairs to rescue them. He only discovered Conan had followed him when he unlocked the door.

Conan's eyes twitched at Gao Mo's skillful unlocking, but he said nothing.

He learned a lot in Hawaii, but he never learned how to pick locks—and never thought he would ever need to.

Perhaps I could ask you for advice?
"Squeak!"

The slightly damaged wooden door to the attic opened, and a beautiful woman, bound hand and foot, emerged from the darkness.

With her hair styled in a ponytail, the messy ends exuded youthful energy and resilience, giving her a more mature look compared to the girl in the group photo.

"Is this Ms. Nakamura?" Gao Mo stepped forward and tore off the tape from the woman's mouth.

“I am,” Nakamura Misao said, looking at Gao Mo with a puzzled expression. “And Mr. Mori?”

“He’s guarding the criminals down there.” Gao Mo’s fingers deftly untied the knot.

Those two guys downstairs, I don't know who they are, they tied her up quite professionally. Fortunately, magic escape games also include some bondage content, and they didn't even touch the woman's body before removing all the restraints.

Gao Mo was so professional that even women couldn't help but take a second look at him.

"You are……"

"My surname is Kido," Gao Mo introduced himself. "I am the owner of the detective agency that Kindaichi is affiliated with. If you have any cases to handle for Kindaichi, you can contact our agency directly."

The woman's face turned red.

She seems to have made a mistake; no wonder it was Kogoro Mouri who came.

"I think I just heard a gunshot. Are you alright?"

"fine."

Gao Mo waved and went downstairs.

He assumed that with a mustache and his family, something terrible must have happened.

The result was just a regular puzzle-solving exercise combined with a robbery and kidnapping.

Judging from the documents stored in the study and the various items in the house, this place was very likely the hideout of a gang of robbers 10 years ago.

That's why the fat man was so familiar with the house.

“Kido…brother,” Conan followed closely behind Gao Mo, “has the mystery really been solved? You don’t seem to be lying to that guy. What is the secret of this house?”

"I don't know either, but I know how to find the answer."

Gao Mo stopped and said, looking at Nakamura Misao talking to the couple with the mustache ahead.

"The key word is lion. There are lions only at the entrance of the house, and it seems that there are hidden mechanisms related to light. There are mirrors hidden at the entrance and on the eaves to reflect light."

"The study?" Conan immediately realized the answer, a bright idea flashing through his mind, and his gaze towards Gao Mo became even more bewildered.

When they first met, he didn't think he was much worse than Gao Mo, and sometimes he could even see Gao Mo's shortcomings.

Later, Gao Mo unexpectedly made a comeback, and he gradually began to resemble his father.

Now even more...

"You knew about the light mechanism right at the door?" Conan's eyelids drooped.

He also noticed the asymmetry at the door, but unlike Gao Mo, he didn't think about it much. Instead, he focused solely on deciphering the alarm clock's code and didn't even realize that Nakamura Misao had been kidnapped.

This is no longer just a simple matter of reasoning ability; it represents a comprehensive lag in all aspects.

Why does it feel like the gap between me and Gao Mo is widening? It's almost imperceptible.

He had read all the books in the house, and had handled far more cases than Gao Mo, so there was no reason for him to fall behind.

"And then?" Nakamura Misao pressed the mustachioed man, "Mr. Mori should have solved the mystery, right?"

Eri Kisaki also kept her eyes fixed on her husband.

She knew her husband better than anyone else what he used to be like.

The man with the mustache was sweating profusely and was about to make an excuse to relieve himself when he turned around and saw Gao Mo. He grabbed Gao Mo like a lifeline and quickly pulled him aside in a low voice: "Kido, you weren't just boasting, were you? You really solved the mystery? Besides the 50 yen commission, I'll give you an extra 30...50 yen. We can't let Eri look down on me..."

Gao Mo's expression was strange.

I never imagined I'd make money off a guy with a mustache.

"The answer to the riddle won't be revealed until tonight. You can ask Conan for details."

Man.

Considering he learned shooting from the boy with the mustache and they were old partners, he didn't sabotage him.

……

the other side.

A light rain suddenly started falling from the rice fields.

At the same time the police arrived at the villa, a man in a trench coat walked to a roadside phone booth with an umbrella, grinned, and pulled out a handgun.

"boom--!"

Gao Mo's eyes narrowed sharply, and the image of an umbrella and a trench coat flashed through his mind.

"What's wrong?" Inspector Megure asked suspiciously as he put the two thugs into the car. "Is there a problem?"

“No,” Gao Mo replied calmly, “I’m just a little hungry… Speaking of which, have you had any tricky cases lately?”

"No, it would be a headache if there were," Inspector Megure said, puzzled. "By the way, we've solved several major cases in a row, and today we caught the remaining members of the goblin bandit group. If you don't mind, would you like to join us for the celebration? They're all from our team three."

"May I?"

(End of this chapter)