Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 223 The Video from 4 Years Ago

"Grandma Yuasa".

Suddenly a voice pulled the man with the mustache out of the darkness.

Gao Mo squatted down and touched the back of Sanlang's neck.

This dog is not shy at all and is quite friendly to strangers, but it is not as proactive as it is with its owner.

Why is Sanlang called Sanlang?

"Stinky boy!"

The fat-faced, bearded man roared and aimed at Gao Mo.

"Didn't you hear me? Get to the front!"

"Hiking backpack, throw the hiking backpack over here!" The horse-faced man, feeling inexplicably uneasy, followed up with an equally stern rebuke, "We're not joking!"

“Kido,” the man with the mustache said, his breathing quickening, as he kept gesturing to Gao Mo, “Give it to him first…”

“If you’re looking for a videotape from four years ago,” Gao Mo casually tossed his backpack onto the snow beside him, “you’re probably going to be disappointed. There’s nothing in here that you’re looking for.”

"you……"

A look of surprise appeared on the bearded man's face.

"What do you know? What about 4 years ago..."

“Stop pretending,” Gao Mo released Sanlang. “After four years, you’ve returned to the manor and are clearly more interested in Mr. Nigaki than the Japanese wolves. You’re more concerned about his whereabouts than anyone else, and you even went to Mr. Nigaki’s room to search for him…”

And given your current actions... it seems Mr. Nigaki has found some leverage over you, right? Like, Mr. Nigaki filmed something four years ago, which you haven't been able to find, so now he's planning to silence you."

"What do you mean?" the man with the mustache asked in surprise. "Could it be that they didn't do this because they killed Nigaki...?"

“They are not the murderers of Mr. Nigaki,” Gao Mo explained. “It would make no sense for the murderers to stage Mr. Nigaki’s death during the day. They would not have killed him so early to cover their tracks before finding what they were looking for, and the backpack had obviously been searched by the murderers beforehand.”

"It must be that the killer's actions disrupted their plans, so now they're planning to stage an avalanche accident to get rid of us, just like they did four years ago."

"An avalanche?" The man with the mustache suddenly realized the sinister intentions of the fat man and his companion. "They planned to bury us alive?! Four years ago..."

"So what if we know?" the fat man sneered. "We're all going to die anyway, why bother figuring things out? It's better to die knowing nothing!"

"How could this happen?" Sonoko trembled as she hugged Ran's arm, her eyes filled with self-blame.

I never expected that a regular Valentine's Day event would turn out like this.

She even assured me that there wouldn't be any problems.

If she hadn't invited everyone over...

"Hey girl over there!"

The horse-faced man sneered and raised the muzzle of his gun, startling Sonoko. When she came to her senses, she realized that the horse-faced man was calling for Ran.

“Yes, the great detective’s daughter,” the horse-faced man threatened with his shotgun. “You go first, hehe, the famous detective’s beloved daughter went missing in the deep mountains, and then the others encountered an avalanche while searching for her… Pretty reasonable, right?”

"Brother Itakura, why bother talking to them so much?" the fat man said impatiently. "Don't forget there's a murderer among them."

"Wouldn't that be even better?" The horse-faced man's eyes lit up. "You're saying the murderer stole the hunting rifle and then fired it while killing someone, triggering an avalanche. Wouldn't that be more convincing?"

Under the threat of the gun, Xiaolan clenched her fists, unable to use her full strength and not daring to act recklessly.

She wasn't sure if she could dodge the bullets, especially with so many hostages around her...

"You...you mustn't do anything rash," Sonoko stammered, stepping in front of Ran, tears welling in her eyes. "I'm from the Suzuki Group, if..."

"The Suzuki Group?"

The horse-faced man hesitated for a moment, then greedily locked eyes with the fat man.

"Suzuki Group, Suzuki Sonoko... I see, this little girl actually had this identity, she hid it very well. Brother Sakemi, want to pull off a big heist?"

"Hey, don't mess around, we can't afford to mess with the Suzuki Group..."

"That's right."

The horse-faced man's expression changed for a moment before becoming even more ferocious.

"But we can't let these people leave."

"Wait!" Sonoko cried out in a panic, "My family can give you money and won't cause you any trouble!"

"Do you think we're idiots, young lady?" the bearded man sneered. "Stop dawdling. Blame it on yourself for not bringing bodyguards. Hurry up and go, or do you want to experience what it feels like to get your head blown off..."

With a wicked grin, the bearded man moved the gun back and forth between Sonoko and Ran: "The heiress of the Suzuki Group is best friends with the great detective's daughter. How about we decide who dies first?"

Sonoko looked terrified: "You..."

"call!"

Gao Mo stepped forward and pulled Yuanzi, who was cornered, and took the initiative to face the bearded man's gun.

"I want to die knowing the truth. Tell us what really happened four years ago, and the exact location where the former owner of the resort and his group had their accident..."

"Kido-san!" Sonoko exclaimed in surprise.

"You're not afraid of dying, are you?"

With a sullen face, the bearded man pulled the trigger. He didn't mind killing one as an example to warn others, but a moment later, his heart skipped a beat.

Pulling the trigger had no effect whatsoever.

On the other hand, Gao Mo pulled a handful of shotgun shells from his pocket and scattered them all over the ground.

"Where did you get these bullets?" The bearded man stared wide-eyed, hurriedly pulling back the bolt to check his shotgun, his face filled with disbelief. "How could this be? Where are my bullets?!"

“I also took all the bullets while I was searching you,” Gao Mo said, shaking his head, “because you two really don’t seem like good people.”

"Damn it, are you kidding us?"

After discovering that his gun was also empty, the horse-faced man angrily charged at Gao Mo, but the man with the mustache reacted even faster.

After realizing the shotgun was just a fire poker, the man with the mustache swiftly grabbed the horse-faced man's arm, twisted and threw him to the ground with lightning speed, shattering his glasses.

"Haha! Well done, Kido!" The man with the mustache breathed a sigh of relief.

"Itakura!"

The chubby-faced bearded man exclaimed in surprise, not expecting the famous detective to have such skills. In his haste, he glared fiercely at Ran and Sonoko, who were the easiest to control at the scene.

"Damn it! Come here..."

"boom!"

Before the fat man could get close, Xiaolan shielded Yuanzi behind her and took the lead with a spring kick.

The chubby-faced bearded man only saw a flash before his eyes, and then his entire face twisted and flew backward, even knocking out two of his teeth.

He was in a much worse state than his companion, the horse-faced man; his mind was buzzing.

The short-haired woman, who was still wiping away tears, was stunned. She looked at Xiaolan as if she were seeing her for the first time, unable to understand where such a petite body could have such superhuman strength.

"Xiao Lan, well done!" Yuanzi's heart was pounding as she cheered while secretly glancing at Gao Mo, who was putting away his hunting rifle.

It turns out that Brother Kido was prepared all along and saw through the fat man and his companion from the very beginning.

She was so scared she almost peed her pants just now...

Oh no! Sonoko stood frozen, her eyes wide with shock, not even responding to Ran's calls from the side.

Is it still acceptable to give Valentine's Day chocolates?
"Yuanzi?" Xiaolan tugged at the distraught Yuanzi, and had no choice but to help control the fat man first.

"Can you tell me now?" Gao Mo interrogated, "The truth from four years ago..."

"What truth from four years ago?" the horse-faced man said aggrievedly after struggling in vain. "We just wanted to help find the murderer, but our methods were a bit too drastic!"

“Yeah,” the bearded man said, his voice slurred, “I can’t understand what you’re saying at all…”

"That's not what you said just now!" The long-haired woman was so agitated that she wanted to step forward and hit someone. "You're the ones who caused the avalanche and killed Xia Ye!"

"You can't just say things like that," the horse-faced man said, seemingly unfazed. "Putting aside any evidence that we caused the avalanche, you can't blame us for the deaths, can you? We know nothing!"

Gao Mo didn't ask any further questions.

These two guys are clearly trying to fool us.

Based on what just happened, the police can't investigate too much; at most, it's considered attempted murder.

So it's not surprising that they don't acknowledge what happened four years ago.

After all, the most important evidence has not yet been found.

Frowning, Gao Mo turned his gaze back to the short-haired woman, Gan Liya.

He didn't know where the evidence was, but the woman did.

“Miss Yako, I have a way to find your brother’s body,” Gao Mo asked, ignoring the two fat men. “Can you retrieve the videotape you hid? It should contain key evidence of the avalanche incident four years ago.”

Gan Liya's gaze trembled slightly, and she remained silent, fidgeting with her fingers.

"What do you mean?" the long-haired woman frowned. "What do you mean by the videotape that Ako hid?"

“Mr. Nigaki’s goggles were put on by the murderer after the crime was committed, and the evidence is that he only had one contact lens.”

Seeing Gan Liya's reaction, Gao Mo shook his head and refused to give her any more face.

"The murderer wanted people to think that Mr. Nigaki was killed during the day before the snow fell, but in fact the crime occurred after the snow fell, which was when you went out to look for Mr. Nigaki."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" the long-haired woman exclaimed in shock. "Are you trying to say that Ayako is the murderer? What reason would Ayako have to kill Futagaki...?"

"The motive must be that videotape from four years ago, right? Otherwise, I really don't know why someone would hide the videotape in the first place."

Gao Mo spoke calmly under everyone's gaze, and even the two fat men who were being held down couldn't help but stare.

"The camera film is all used up, but the videotapes in the camcorder are completely unused. Don't you find that strange? None of the spare film and videotapes in the backpack have been opened either..."

Is it possible that the murderer took away something that might expose him and replaced it with a new videotape? As for the camera film, it may not be the same film that Mr. Futagaki used today?

I can roughly guess that the negatives are definitely related to the time of Mr. Futagaki's murder—of course, the time the murderer wanted to fabricate, because the murderer wanted to create an alibi for himself.

"Wait a minute," the long-haired woman said, her mind in turmoil, "you don't suspect Ako because of that chocolate, do you? Didn't I already say..."

“It has nothing to do with chocolate,” Gao Mo denied. “It should be said that the murderer didn’t expect chocolate to be involved.”

"What do you mean?"

“I just asked Granny Yuasa,” Gao Mo turned to Yuasa Chiyoko, “there should be more than just Saburo in the manor. Although I don’t know the specifics, there are at least two dogs that have been taking turns guarding this cemetery.”

"Two dogs?" Conan looked up abruptly.

“Indeed, although they are very similar, they can still be identified by some means,” Gao Mo affirmed. “This is why there are still canine footprints in the cemetery after the snow. When Saburo was locked in the cage, there was another Saburo outside. The so-called Japanese wolf is also another Saburo.”

"Are you kidding me? How could such a thing happen?"

Before anyone could react, the two fat men were the first to shout.

"If there were two Saburos, wouldn't Aunt Yuasa know?"

“You’ll have to ask Grandma herself,” Gao Mo said, his expression unchanged. “I think this has been the case for a long time, which is why chocolates often appear near victims. It’s not the work of ghosts, but the work of specially trained rescue dogs.”

I've looked into the incident; the chocolate only appeared during this period because that's when the resort would stockpile large quantities of chocolate.

Another piece of evidence is that Mr. Futagaki's face was licked with blood, which is because the rescue dog thought he was a victim and wanted to lick him awake.

As for why there were no chocolate rumors four years ago... of course, it's because the rescue dog's owner, the former owner of the resort, was still alive four years ago.

“Jiro?” Chiyoko Yuasa suddenly exclaimed softly, “There used to be a Shikoku dog that looked exactly like Saburo. The two dogs were even awarded a rescue medal by the prefectural government. But Jiro should have died 12 years ago after my husband’s ex-wife passed away…”

"Wang!"

Seemingly hearing Chiyoko Yuasa's voice, another "Saburo" emerged from behind a large tree, stepping through the snow, and was almost indistinguishable from the others in appearance.

"This is……"

His chubby face with a thick beard trembled, which was hard to accept.

After everything that's happened, are you really going to tell him now that it was all a misunderstanding?
“I can’t forgive Jia Gui,” the short-haired woman squatted down, hugging her arms tightly, her smile desolate. “Back then, the owner of the resort told him that there were no Japanese wolves… If he hadn’t been so stubborn, if he hadn’t spread the news about Japanese wolves, my brother wouldn’t have died!”

"Ya Zi?" The long-haired woman opened her mouth.

"But why wait until now to kill him?" the mustachioed man asked, puzzled.

"Because I only just saw that videotape from four years ago, right when I was helping him pack his backpack."

The short-haired woman looked at the tombstone in the snow and shed tears.

"Because he said he had a gift for me... I never expected it to be a video from four years ago. He was in the forest not far away, coldly filming the entire process of my brother's murder."

"That's not enough to warrant killing him, is it?"

“My brother always opposed our relationship, which is why he didn’t help me when I was dying… I just never imagined that the videotape would be related to the truth about my brother’s death, and that he would use my brother’s death to blackmail people for money.” The short-haired woman looked at the two hunters with tears in her eyes.

……

The wind howled again through the snow-covered forest, as if composing a mournful melody for the silent deep mountains.

Gao Mo took the recovered videotape, inserted it into the camera to watch it, and then braved the cold wind to find the location of the accident four years ago. Using his mental palace and special senses, he deduced the cause and quickly found an inconspicuous valley.

Four years later, the remains buried underground seem to sigh in the wind.

After spending half a day, the group finally managed to dig out the body with the help of two dogs.

Her clothes were exactly the same as in the videotape.

"It must have been washed into the valley and then brought here."

The man with the mustache examined the body.

"There was a bullet in the leg bone. Combined with the two huge gunshots before the avalanche in the video, it's no wonder those two guys were blackmailed."

Gao Mo's expression shifted slightly as he stood in the wind.

As the body was found, the notes projected onto the screen also turned.

[Ran Mouri's Guide to Karate] 4 stars

Huh?
Gao Mo turned around and looked at Xiao Lan and Yuan Zi, who were wiping away tears together.

"Why are you all crying like that?" the man with the mustache asked, puzzled.

“Because it’s so tragic,” Sonoko said, her nose stinging. “A misunderstanding caused so many tragedies.”

(End of this chapter)