Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 309 "Kogoro Mouri's Guide to Emotions"

"It is you."

The man with the mustache still remembered Gao Mo's pseudonym and didn't have any doubts; he just felt they got along quite well.

It would have been better if I hadn't tripped him up in the detective Sajimonji author case.

Thinking about the considerable income brought in by the new Zuowenzi series, he felt extremely distressed.

He dreams of making money while lying down.

Solving the puzzle will earn you royalties for the upcoming Zuo Wenzi series...

No wonder people are refusing to film movies lately.

Even though the greatest value of the character is not in the royalties, the income is still quite considerable, not to mention the additional income from the role of "Domoto Ichi".

As he thought about it, the man with the mustache's smile gradually froze.

They're not compatible at all.

Brat!
He was just a little short back then. If he had been able to find Kido to cooperate with, he would be making money hand over fist now, and maybe he could have even made the name "Kogoro Mouri" a classic character in the novel.

"Mr. Mori?" Gao Mo called out to the gritting-teeth, absent-minded man with the mustache. "I heard you recently completed a ten million dollar commission, is that right?"

"How did you know?" the man with the mustache asked warily.

"It's all over the place," Gao Mo said with a flattering smile. "Although Mr. Fujieda died in the end, it had nothing to do with Mr. Mori. Everyone is talking about how Mr. Mori found the culprit and prevented a murder."

"Really? Actually, I didn't do anything, hahaha!" The mustachioed man laughed triumphantly again.

They didn't do anything in the first place.

Gao Mo's lips twitched slightly.

This guy is always so easy to please; a few compliments and he's already carried away.

"call!"

Suddenly a cold wind blew by, and snowflakes began to fall outside.

The man with the mustache, who was only wearing a suit to record the opening remarks, was trembling. He didn't have time to chat with Gao Mo and hurriedly ran into the warm house.

Gao Mo stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the snow scene for a while. Then he turned around and saw Yu Cheng Liuli, who had finished her makeup, and Xiao Huzi meeting in the corridor.

It seems this female celebrity has a crush on the guy with the mustache?

I had the same feeling last time I was in Ryukyu.

I heard that the guy with the mustache would come here, which was also introduced by Yu Cheng Liuli.

Could this woman be the murderer?
It seems that quite a few of the mustache's friends have become prisoners.

Such a beautiful woman shouldn't be used to have a love triangle with that mustachioed guy.

"What a beautiful snow scene!" Yu Cheng Liuli exclaimed, looking outside. She then called to the others, "Since we're not filming right now, how about we all go outside and enjoy the snow? I've been staying in Okinawa for a long time and haven't seen snow in ages."

"Okay, okay."

The man with the mustache had a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead.

He's actually very afraid of the cold.

"But I need to wear more clothes..."

“There are many scarves in the lounge.”

Gao Mo frowned slightly, calmly watching Yu Cheng Liuli urge everyone to go out.

What a headache.

He didn't care whether the young master who played the lead role lived or died, nor did he want the mustachioed boy to become a murderer because of such a person.

Want to stop it?

If similar accidental deaths occur too frequently, it will also be a problem for him.

Especially since this has happened several times in the past two days, and the man with the mustache has also been to the scene each time.

One time it was the accidental death of Mr. Fujieda, and the other time it was the death of Akashi Hiroto's adoptive father, who also fell to his death shortly after they left...

The rules for Death are too lazy; they don't even bother to design them properly.

Perhaps someone in this world will be able to discover something amiss through the connection to the mustache.

Just like in the anime "Death Note", the protagonist was exposed because he killed too many people, and even though he didn't directly commit the crime, he still aroused suspicion.

It's already true that murders frequently occur around the man with the mustache, so this could be considered a coincidence. But if similar accidental deaths continue to happen...

"Something terrible has happened, Director!" A staff member suddenly ran out from around the corner of the corridor. "Yoshiki Kazami... Yoshiki Kazami has been murdered!!"

"what?"

The director, who was out enjoying the snow with the others, almost lost his balance when his vision went black.

"How could that be? Didn't he just go to sleep?"

"It's true! There's a lot of blood on the floor!"

"Call the police! And there's an ambulance!"

Gao Mo followed the man with the mustache to the room where the crime occurred.

Just now, around the corner of the corridor, that arrogant young master had his throat slit, staring wide-eyed in disbelief, completely lifeless.

"No need to call an ambulance, just call the police," the man with the mustache said in a deep voice. "From now on, no one is allowed to leave this villa, and of course, no one is allowed to touch anything without permission."

Gao Mo habitually glanced around the scene, gathering any visible clues before leaving the room with the man with the mustache.

He doesn't need to make the choice.

But who could be the murderer?

It shouldn't be Yu Cheng Liuli, but that woman seemed to have seen something.

Gao Mo turned his head to look at the corridor and noticed the mirrored door at the corner.

So that's how it is. At that time, Yu Cheng Liu Li must have seen someone in the murder room through the mirror, and it's very likely that they were the murderer after the crime.

"Wow!"

Gao Mo quickly reviewed the scene in his mind.

The actors who had previously clashed with the deceased were the ones who followed him into the villa.

Isn't this a bit too much of a drive?

"What do you think, Kido..."

While deep in thought, the man with the mustache asked a question subconsciously, before realizing that the person next to him was not Gao Mo.

"Sorry, I'm used to it. I still thought you were my partner." "It's okay."

Gao Mo's smile was subtle.

That was close; I almost went along with it.

He didn't necessarily want to hide it from the man with the mustache; there were just other people around.

"You two," the director said, utterly devastated after seeing the body, his smile more like a grimace, "you see, this matter..."

"Let's wait for the police to arrive," the man with the mustache advised. "It seems very likely that the murderer is a member of the film crew. You'd better gather them together first to avoid any misunderstandings."

"Good, good."

The director seemed to have shrunk in stature, and the way he looked at Gao Mo became particularly strange.

I told you not to ride on Domoto Hajime's coattails, but Kazami wouldn't listen.

Are you okay now?
This show is over.

"I'll go check out other places," Gao Mo said, seemingly unhurried.

A cameo appearance is just showing your face, and now that a murder has occurred, it's still showing your face; there's no difference, and it might even generate more buzz.

A cursed detective actor—who wouldn't be afraid?
However, Eiichi Yamagishi is probably getting anxious, since things are different from what was initially planned.

It's unlikely that anyone will hire "Domoto Hajime" for a film or even a cameo role in the future.

"Is this alright?" The man with the mustache asked everyone in the crew, and when he returned, he found Gao Mo still looking relaxed, which he found very strange. "I heard them say that you're cursed or something..."

Although he is always called the Grim Reaper, and some bastard even said in the newspaper that he was a plague god and that his car was washed away by the water as retribution, making it difficult for him to rent a car now, in reality, it doesn't have much of an impact.

The acting profession is different; such rumors are highly taboo.

"It's nothing, I don't plan to continue acting anyway."

Gao Mo found the room diagonally opposite the crime scene. It had been set up by a film crew and seemed to be a shooting location, with many props on the floor.

Of course, the most striking thing was a blood-stained golf jacket.

The perpetrator hid here after committing the murder, and later pretended nothing had happened and reappeared at the crime scene with everyone else.

The man with the mustache next to him also thought of this: "It seems the murderer is indeed among those people, but it's too strange. There are only blood-stained clothes and gloves here, where's the murder weapon? If we can't find the murder weapon, it's possible that an outsider committed the crime..."

"The culprit is indeed a member of the film crew."

Gao Mo quickly inspected the room's furnishings.

After discovering the body, he took the opportunity to check on the condition of everyone in the crew.

Almost everyone reacted strongly, and he could see the projected text clearly.

Although he had no direct information to determine who the murderer was, he discovered a very interesting secret.

The actor who played the old butler turned out to be Yu Cheng Liuli's biological father. The rendezvous the deceased mentioned was not a lovers' rendezvous, but a secret meeting between father and daughter who could not reveal their identities.

If his judgment is correct, Yu Cheng Liuli actually saw her father leaving the crime scene and sent everyone away in order to protect him.

“Mr. Mori,” Gomer put on gloves and picked up a utility knife from his toolbox, “what would you do if you killed someone with this utility knife?”

"What should we do?" the man with the mustache asked, bewildered.

"If it were me, I would break all the blades into small pieces, hide them, and replace the utility knife with a new one," Gao Mo deduced, outlining his criminal thought process.

"A utility knife blade can indeed be divided into many small and large pieces."

The man with the mustache watched Gao Mo speak calmly and swallowed hard.

"But blood shouldn't only splatter on the blade, right?"

“What if the handle of the knife was wrapped with tissue paper or tape?” Gao Mo’s eagle eyes scanned the area and successfully found traces of tape on the handle. “The criminal had a good idea, but this method is ultimately not very professional. He just stuck the used tape directly on the floor.”

The man with the mustache then noticed a lot of X tape on the floor: "These look like tape used as location markers."

“Take a closer look,” Gao Mo pointed to the tape that stood out somewhat from the other markings. “Someone put this on temporarily.”

"There seems to be something under the tape..."

The man with the mustache looked serious. He took a pair of gloves from his toolbox, tried to pull off the tape, and found cotton underneath.

"This smell... is it oil? I remember that person did use a lighter, the kind that uses cotton to absorb oil and ignite it... The murderer hid the razor blade in that person's lighter?!"

"And Liuli's strange reaction at that time...did she see the murderer?"

Smelling the pungent smell of the cotton ball, the man with the mustache suddenly had a burst of inspiration, his thoughts flowing like a torrent, and he instantly figured out all the key points.

"Haha, I'm so awesome!"

After chuckling smugly a few times, the man with the mustache turned around in confusion, only to find that Gao Mo had vanished without a trace.

It seems like it's not him who's better...

Wait, that's not right.

This feeling of clear thinking is exactly the same as when Kido was around.
I see, so he only needs a detective assistant to become smarter.

Outside the villa.

Gao Mo wrapped a scarf around his neck and admired the snow.

It's about time to go.

These kinds of small cases have the answer at a glance, so they don't really inspire me.

He chose a detective task involving a mustache, but after completing it, he only received a miscellaneous book.

[Kogoro Mouri's Guide to Love and Relationships - 2 stars]

What do you need this thing for?

“I heard everything just now,” Yu Cheng Liuli’s voice trembled slightly as she quietly walked behind Gao Mo, inadvertently revealing her delicate, jade-like shoulder. “The murderer could be an outsider, right? Maybe they’re deliberately framing us…”

“Your father is being too presumptuous,” Gao Mo shook his head and said. “That kind of method is fine if it’s done slowly, but if time is tight, it’s hard not to leave fingerprints. The police can find out just by checking the tape.”

Yu Cheng Liuli's expression changed drastically, and tears streamed down her face as she stood in the falling snow: "Although I don't know how you know he's my father, but... if others find out we're father and daughter, my family will be ruined. He killed someone because of me, so... please, don't tell the police?"

"I personally won't get involved in these things. If you really have an idea, you should go find Mr. Mori, although I don't think he'll agree to it."

Gao Mo glanced back at Yu Cheng Liuli.

This woman is going to be disappointed.

Little Mustache never compromises when it comes to these kinds of things.

Even if the woman is a top-tier, healing-type beauty.

Was that woman trying to seduce him?
Should I speak a little later?
(End of this chapter)