Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 253 The Fighting Game Murder Case

"Hello, my name is Judy Saint Timilion, nice to meet you..."

The slightly broken Japanese spoken by the foreign beauty made Gao Mo's eyebrows twitch slightly.

This English teacher was indeed FBI Agent Judy. He had seen the character's video and remembered that the other person seemed to be quite fluent in Japanese.

“Hello,” Gao Mo said, ignoring the woman and continuing his questioning, “Did you notice any suspicious individuals at the time of the incident?”

“No,” Judy shook her head repeatedly. “I was engrossed in playing a game at the time and only found out later that the man was dead.”

“We were all playing against each other in real time on the big screen,” Xiaolan pointed to the broadcast screen next to her. “Just when we were about to win, that person suddenly stopped attacking and didn’t move. When we looked back, we found that the person controlling the character had stopped moving.”

“Officer,” the officer at the scene explained, “the deceased is 21-year-old Kengo Oto, unemployed, with a history of bad behavior and a terrible reputation here. Because of his strong gaming skills, he was known as Caesar of Beika. At the time of the incident, he was playing against another player known as Rutas of Beika…”

The gaming world was a new field, and Megure had never encountered a similar case before, so he was quite bewildered.

"In addition, it is said that the deceased recently joined a gang and became more and more outrageous, offending many people."

Police officers brought in several key individuals who had been in contact with the deceased.

Hitoshi Yamashima, 22, is an arcade employee with curly, fish-lipped hair. He dresses as a waiter and has a somewhat unfocused gaze.

A bespectacled man wearing a hat, Jiang Shoumin, 41 years old, a taxi driver, with a mustache and a cigarette in his mouth, was said to have a very bad relationship with the deceased and had spoken ill of him.

Next is Shimizu Takaho, a 30-year-old video game magazine writer known as "Beihu Rutas." He always chews gum and speaks in a sarcastic tone, seemingly quite pleased with the death of the deceased.

"I was indeed that guy's opponent before he died. If I could defeat him, I could dominate Beihu. But I was no match for him at all. I even chewed gum to change my luck. How embarrassing... But now I can be considered to be indirectly dominating, right? Heh, how ironic."

"What was the cause of death?" Gao Mo ignored the magazine writer's mutterings.

Conan was present from the beginning of this case; if we don't deal with it quickly, he might snatch it away.

Conan's abilities are actually much stronger than those of the former Shinichi Kudo, but it's only when it comes to the unfamiliar field of games that he can solve the case; otherwise, he might have solved it before they even arrived.

"Could they have been poisoned?"

Sure enough, Conan immediately stepped forward and pointed at the deceased who was still sitting in the gaming chair.

“Look, he seems to have died from shock, but there are no strangulation marks on his neck. Although his body was restrained by the machine, it shouldn’t have been fatal. He was fine beforehand… Perhaps someone injected him with poison using a syringe or something during the competition.”

"Haha," Inspector Megure laughed and waved his hand, "If that's the case, he'll definitely throw a tantrum, right? No one around him could possibly miss it."

"Really?" Conan crossed his arms, clicked his tongue, and shook his head. "Officer, you really don't know? It's so quiet right now because the machines have stopped running. It's usually incredibly noisy here, and the light is very dim. If you do something discreetly, no one might even notice."

Furthermore, since the victim's hands and feet were bound, making it difficult for him to move, he wouldn't know he had been poisoned and therefore wouldn't make a big fuss..."

“Kids are so quick-witted,” Gomer noticed Judy’s interested look and picked up Conan. “But the detective game ends here. We, the police, will naturally investigate.”

With that, Gao Mo tossed Conan to Ran.

This guy forgets everything once he enters a deduction state. Although Judy is on the red team, it's not a bad thing if she discovers something, but that's not a reason for him to show off without considering the situation.

Do they really think everyone else is a fool and won't notice the child jumping around at the crime scene?

"Xiao Lan, keep an eye on this child."

“Okay,” Ran said with a complicated expression, pulling Conan back. “Alright, Conan, don’t disturb the police officer’s investigation.”

Conan, who was engrossed in deduction, was suddenly jolted awake. He feigned ignorance, gave a dry laugh, and hid behind Ran.

Megure didn't pay much attention and turned to the officer, saying, "Let's filter out suspicious individuals first. Is there any CCTV footage?"

"Yes, although the footage isn't very clear," the officer reported, "but it captured the location of the deceased, and those who were near the deceased at the time were all here."

"Let's check the surveillance footage first."

Gao Mo had also noticed the surveillance camera in the corner long ago, and suddenly remembered the earlier art museum case.

No murderer would be foolish enough to ignore this surveillance footage. However, he also needs to understand the details through the recording. To break through the illusion, he needs to know what the illusion is.

"Matsuda, my friend," Inspector Megure asked Gao Mo with a laugh, "what do you think of what Conan said? Was it really true that someone injected poison?"

"That is indeed a possibility, but we will have to wait for the autopsy results to be certain."

Given the current situation in Tokyo, there is a severe shortage of forensic doctors, so it is estimated that he will be needed to perform autopsies.

There were no injection marks on the exposed skin. If he were the murderer, he would most likely have chosen areas that are not easily detected, such as the armpit.

"Wow!"

Gao Mo entered the transparent world directly and immediately saw through the body of the dead as if he had X-ray vision.

Sure enough, there were faint bleeding points under my right armpit.

It looks like a pinhole.

"Click!"

Suddenly, a faint scraping sound caught Gao Mo's attention, like some kind of metal colliding with the floor tiles.

Gao Mo turned to look at the few suspects walking around, but kept them to himself for the time being.

Although it's a small case with a fixed setting, it doesn't seem so simple because of Conan's presence; at least, he can't figure out the method at first glance.

Fish-lipped shop clerk, Hitoshi Yamashima—【That guy's death has nothing to do with me】

Glasses-wearing uncle Jiang Shouminzi – [These thugs deserve to die]

Magazine writer Shimizu Takaho – [The police would never guess I'm the killer]

Gao Mo glanced at the magazine writer who was confidently chewing gum.

He wore a suit, exuding a gentle demeanor with a hint of ruthlessness.

To be honest, this person didn't look like a gamer at all, at least not like the dead man, who was a thug.

but……

Gao Mo sighed inwardly.

It wasn't that he was being pretentious; he only realized after his abilities improved that mind-reading skills weren't all good.

There was absolutely no sense of exploration or mystery surrounding the unknown killer.

The investigation has undoubtedly lost a great deal of fun.

It's like someone circled the culprit before he even started reading the Detective Conan manga.

Of course, he wouldn't give up spying.

If you can know the killer's identity in advance, why refuse?

This is the real world he lives in now; only a fool would refuse to use cheat codes.

"Hmm?" The magazine writer frowned as he met Gao Mo's gaze.

It seemed like the policeman immediately suspected him.

Somewhat inexplicable.

Does he look like the murderer?
……

The arcade office.

All relevant personnel, including Xiaolan, were gathered together.

With the assistance of the police officers, Megure also watched the surveillance footage.

At first, the victim did not act strangely at all, and even arrogantly chased away Xiaolan and the others, and stole the game console that was under surveillance.

“He said it was his exclusive spot,” Sonoko scoffed. “He’s quite a domineering guy.” “He’s still normal for this situation.”

Megure stroked his chin and immediately saw the fish-lipped shop assistant appear in front of the arcade machine. The victim even arrogantly kicked the assistant.

"Mr. Izushima, what are you doing?"

“I was taking coins out of the arcade machine,” the clerk said, sweating. “After that, I never went near him again. His death had nothing to do with me.”

"Next up is Mr. Shimizu, they seem to be discussing something..."

"I wanted to find out his tactics before the match, but unfortunately I didn't succeed," the magazine writer quickly explained.

"After that... what did you pick up from the ground?"

Megure frowned as he stared at the monitor.

The footage is not very clear, and the people are quite mixed, but you can still see the magazine writer bending down to pick up the items after leaving the victim.

"I dropped my lighter, so I just picked it up," the magazine writer said, still chewing his gum. "Come on, officer, that guy was still wide awake at this point. How could he possibly suspect me?"

"Well……"

Megure pondered for a moment before continuing to watch the video.

At roughly the same time, English teacher Judy sat down at the game console next to the victim, and the surrounding crowd gathered in front of the big screen.

Afterwards, Xiaolan and the others went to see the big screen, leaving only the English teacher. However, the English teacher did not leave her seat and was quite engrossed in the game, as seen in the surveillance footage.

No one else approached the deceased at any point.

The bespectacled man finally emerged from the other side of the deceased's body.

“I was picking up a hundred-yen coin,” the bespectacled man realized something was wrong and quickly spoke up, “I was thinking of buying coffee from the vending machine in the back, but I accidentally dropped my change… I really dislike that guy and have said bad things about him, but it’s not enough to kill him…”

Noticing the growing suspicion among those around him, the bespectacled man hastily pointed the finger at the magazine writer: "This guy has a much stronger motive than I do. Because his sister was deceived and ended up spending money on him, this guy has been trying to make that scoundrel break up with his sister!"

Before the magazine writer could retort, the bespectacled man turned his attention to the silent shop assistant behind him: "And this guy, half a year ago he was a well-known gaming expert, nicknamed 'Patola of Beika,' but he disappeared after being defeated and humiliated by Oto..."

I never expected him to change his hairstyle and come work for Beika. Fujito probably recognized him too. If we're talking about motives, this guy is the most cunning!

"W-what did you say?" The shop assistant was pale. "How could I kill someone? I didn't even have the chance!"

"Who knows? That guy's been messing with that machine a lot lately, who knows if you've tampered with it?"

"A few..."

After seeing the victim discovered in the video, Inspector Megure reluctantly turned back to deal with the arguing suspects.

Gao Mo then rewound the surveillance video, watched it at double speed from the beginning, and only paused it when the police arrived.

That's the advantage of small cases: clues are easy to gather, and no matter how amazing your methods are, you can't hide them from his eyes.

Where did they get the courage to commit a crime in front of surveillance cameras?

The magazine writer felt Gao Mo's gaze again and felt a surge of frustration.

Are you sick?
Why are you staring at him?

After trying to move left and right without escaping Gao Mo's gaze, the magazine writer finally couldn't hold back any longer and said, forcing a smile, "Officer, that guy died while fighting me, so I had no chance to poison him, right?"

What are you looking at? Do you think this will make him reveal a weakness?

He sacrificed countless efforts to deal with that bastard, even putting aside his work to focus on mastering this latest motion-sensing fighting game. He earned the title through his own skill, and even without killing anyone, he might still win based on his ability alone.

“Officer,” an officer said as he entered the office, “this floor has been searched. No suspicious items were found, and the suspects have not left the scene. The murder weapon is likely still on the killer.”

“Alright,” Megure nodded and turned to the group, “Please have yourselves checked.”

“I don’t care,” the magazine writer nodded confidently. “Anyway, I could never be the murderer.”

"I'm sorry, no matter how much you deny it, it's no use."

Gao Mo was very curious about what the deceased had done.

Normally, he wouldn't specifically help the other party find the murderer, but what can he do when he's a policeman now?

Moreover, Conan seemed to have reached a conclusion as well, fiddling with his tranquilizer watch and glancing back and forth between him and Sonoko.

It's clear that not being allowed to reason is a painful thing for this guy.

Why do you feel that the deceased died in battle with you?

"Is that even a question?" the magazine writer said angrily. "It's because of the match! That guy's character suddenly stopped moving just before he was about to win, and everyone says that's when they saw him get killed..."

"I've watched the match videos too. Even Xiaolan exchanged a few blows with the deceased. How can you, a gaming expert, be completely crushed in one-sided battles? Is that reasonable?"

Gao Mo asked in a low voice.

"Moreover, the game character suddenly stops moving. If the deceased was poisoned at that time, it's impossible that there was no struggle or reaction at all, right? If there was any movement, the game character would have made some kind of response."

"This……"

The magazine writer's eyes narrowed; he hadn't expected Gao Mo to know anything about motion-sensing games.

"What does that prove? The surveillance footage shows that he stopped moving at that very moment..."

“I don’t know the reason,” Gao Mo suggested. “Why don’t we try it out and see what really happened to the deceased at the time?”

The magazine writer, sweating profusely, asked, "Hey, what's wrong with you? Why do you seem to suspect me of being the murderer ever since you arrived?"

"I don't doubt you; I'm certain you're the murderer."

"why?"

The magazine writer nearly lost his mind.

"Is it because I was crushed?"

"Yes."

Gao Mo led the way back to the arcade.

"Leaving aside the details of the match, the result was a draw because only a draw would avoid suspicion. Otherwise, if the word 'defeat' appeared on the deceased's machine screen, the audience who discovered the body would immediately realize something was wrong."
If it's a tie, then no one will know which character the deceased was playing.

"What do you mean?" Inspector Megure asked, bewildered. "Could it be that the person who was run over was actually a dead person?"

"Just like their nicknames, people would subconsciously assume that they chose roles they were familiar with. In addition, the one who was about to win the fight suddenly stopped, making the audience realize that something was wrong with the deceased... Everyone was misled by his acting skills."

"Where's the evidence?"

The magazine reporter's face trembled; he looked at Gao Mo as if he were a demon.

"What evidence do you have? Even the police can't just make things up!"

"Actually, after the autopsy is over, you will never be able to clear your name, because you are the only one who could have committed the crime."

Gao Mo said calmly.

"The location should be under the victim's armpit, right? You deliberately blocked the surveillance footage, so you must have poisoned the victim with a poison needle at that time and helped the victim restart the game, choosing a game character that you usually use..."

"Don't even think about denying it. You hid the poisoned needle in a cigarette beforehand, and then stuck it on the wrapper of a chewing gum. You pretended to pick up a lighter and put it on the ground, waiting for other customers to step on it and unknowingly take the murder weapon away..."

Unfortunately, not only was it not taken away, but it also got stuck to the sole of one of our shoes—didn't you ever consider that if someone accidentally got pricked, someone else might also get poisoned?

The magazine reporter was trembling like a leaf, but still forced a smile and said, "These are all your guesses. Maybe someone is trying to frame me, and..."

“It’s no use denying it,” Gao Mo walked up to the arcade machine. “Didn’t you notice the security camera footage? The clerk said that before you, he had already taken all the coins from the deceased’s machine.”
The coin you used to help the deceased restart and choose their game character is still inside. Can you be absolutely certain you didn't leave any fingerprints?

(End of this chapter)