Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 321 Novel: Mizunashi Reina

The TV station's cafeteria.

In the end, Jingda couldn't be with them; he was immediately pulled aside to discuss the novel's adaptation.

In addition, there was the casting process, and the TV station wanted to get their opinions, but Gao Mo was too lazy to deal with it and left it all to Jing Tian to handle.

Ida took it very seriously: "Mr. Aoyama, actors are very important for adapted dramas, so we must choose the most suitable actors."

"You decide what to do. Contact me again once the actors are confirmed."

Gao Mo didn't believe that the TV station would treat the adaptation as a joke after spending so much money; if necessary, he could veto it.

Speaking of which, he himself, as Kido Takaki, is very suitable for playing the role of a university professor in the play. He often played similar roles when he was still an idol.

However, he certainly doesn't have that plan now.

Moreover, the most outstanding character in this book, "The Devotion of Suspect X," is the professor's old classmate, a down-on-his-luck mathematical genius.

The novel mainly tells the story of a math genius who helps a poor mother and daughter hide the crime of murdering their ex-husband, creating a deception to thwart the police investigation, a kind of alternative redemption.

"Mr. Mori is still as amazing as ever. He wasn't nervous at all during the live broadcast, and he's still as charming as ever..."

A familiar voice suddenly came from outside.

"It's all because of Yoko's outstanding charm! Even noodles would want to submit to you, haha!"

Gao Mo had just sat down when he heard the smug laughter of the man with the mustache coming from outside, which sounded somewhat obsequious.

Looking back, sure enough, I saw the mustachioed man following Yoko Okino around like a puppy.

"Kindaichi!" The man with the mustache saw Gao Mo and quickly waved to him.

"Aren't Ran and Conan here?" Gao Mo subconsciously looked around and was surprised when he couldn't find Conan.

The man with the mustache rarely went to the TV station alone; he was always accompanied by a group of family and friends.

"They're outside." The man with the mustache looked slightly disappointed.

He personally dislikes having children around, but he can't do anything about his daughter, Xiaolan.

Even after all this time, Xiaolan's inherent violence remains unchanged.

Who would suddenly break a table while laughing?

"I should have never let her learn karate."

The number of times the mustache regretted his actions increased by one.

"I finally got to be a guest on Yoko's 4-Minute Cooking Show today, but they insisted on watching the live broadcast. I was thinking..."

The man with the mustache coughed a few times, his old face slightly flushed.

"By the way, what brings you to the TV station?"

"Of course, it's for recording a program."

"Recording a show so early in the morning?"

Hearing Gao Mo's response, the man with the mustache was not quite convinced, but then he saw Rena Mizunashi returning from ordering food.

A stunning beauty who rivals Yoko Oni!

"And this is... wait, aren't you the one who's always on the Sunday night news...?"

"Hello, I'm news anchor Rena Mizunashi."

Rena Mizunashi smiled and looked at Yoko Okino with surprise.

"Yoko, don't you have a show to do? It's at this time..."

"Because you said you were in trouble, I was going to ask Mr. Mori for help, but now it seems unnecessary."

Yoko Okino magically produced a copy of "The Devotion of Suspect X" from behind her back.

"Kindaichi-sensei, could you sign this for me? I'm a huge fan of yours now."

“Of course.” Gao Mo paused for a moment, then took out his pen and quickly signed his pen name on the title page of the novel.

He's gotten used to this kind of thing lately.

Novelists are indeed more popular than detectives.

The man with the mustache was heartbroken, watching longingly as the novel was kept close to Yoko Okino's body.

He also wants to write novels.

“Um, Ms. Rena Mizunashi,” the man with the mustache said as he sat down, “I wonder what trouble you’ve run into? Kindaichi and I can help you.”

"This……"

Rena Mizunashi hesitated for a moment and then smiled. "It's just a doorbell prank, so I won't trouble you two famous detectives."

"mischief?"

The man with the mustache, who had been about to show off, froze.

This is indeed a bit...

“But it doesn’t seem like a typical prank,” Yoko Okino chimed in. “Rena, didn’t you say that you should open the door as soon as the doorbell rings, but there’s no one there?”

"Really can't find anyone?" The man with the mustache became a little interested.

“Yes, I didn’t see anyone,” Rena Mizunashi nodded. “The apartment’s outer corridor is right outside the door, there’s nowhere to hide, and it’s far from the stairs, so even if someone ran, there should be footsteps.”

"Could it be a neighbor?"

“No, otherwise I should have heard the door closing or something, and I really opened the door right away,” Rena Mizunashi said, sounding a little scared. “It felt like I encountered a paranormal event, and I’ve been afraid to open doors ever since.”

Gao Mo also became interested.

He didn't believe the dead could do such a thing.

The dead are essentially spiritual beings, capable of causing hallucinations at most.

"Have you asked the neighbors if there are any other people?"

"I asked them, and they said they heard the doorbell, but didn't see anyone strange."

"When did you ring the doorbell?"

"It started about two months ago, usually around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings."

"Did anything happen two months ago?"

"Speaking of which, that's when I was transferred from the 7 a.m. live broadcast to hosting the Sunday evening news program. But I wasn't the lead anchor for either program. The 7 a.m. program was for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays..."

As Gao Mo listened to Rena Mizunashi's explanation, he tapped the table lightly with his finger as if out of habit: "I roughly understand. The other party should be a viewer who watched the 7 a.m. live broadcast before, and can only watch on Saturday... They are probably a student or something. Are you sure there was really nothing outside the door on Saturday?"

"Huh?" Rena Mizunashi remembered, "Because Saturday is recycling day, I would bundle up the useless magazines and newspapers and put them outside on Friday nights, but there was no way I could hide them..."

“What if it’s a child?” Gao Mo shook his head and said, “Since there are no other possibilities, you should look back at these places that you subconsciously overlook. The human brain is very good at being lazy. Just like when we lose something in the room, even though we can definitely find it by searching the whole room, we subconsciously think that there are some places where it won’t be there, and as a result, we can only worry about it.”

You'll see when you try it on Saturday morning.

“Okay, Kindaichi-sensei,” Rena Mizunashi’s smile softened, and then she took out her phone from her purse. “Could I add you as a contact?”

“Sure.” Gao Mo didn’t refuse.

Deliberately distancing yourself will only arouse suspicion.

The man with the mustache felt a tickle in his head, but he couldn't feel jealous when he saw Gao Mo add the beautiful host's phone number.

My old partner is so capable; he can solve problems with just a few words. No wonder he's so popular.

Still feeling a bit hungry, the man with the mustache turned his attention to the food in front of him. Only after Yoko Okino and Rena Mizunashi had left the cafeteria for work did he begin to talk to Gao Mo: "Honestly, shouldn't you be thinking about getting married at your age? When I was your age, Ran was already in kindergarten."

"I thought that news anchor was quite good. She's about your age, and you could tell she's never been in a relationship."

"You, who's separated from your wife, shouldn't be talking about me."

Gao Mo wiped his mouth after finishing his curry rice.

He also has a book of sentimental musings by a man with a mustache, but after reading it, I felt it was useless.

On the surface, he seems to be very experienced, but in reality, he has only ever dated Eri Kisaki. The reason he hasn't divorced her is entirely because Eri Kisaki is too love-struck and loves him too much.

All the so-called emotional experiences were spent in the bars of Kabukicho.

"What kind of look is that?" The mustachioed man's face darkened. "Eri and I are special cases. Look at Kudo's side, they're quite good."

"Let's talk about it later." Gao Mo got up and grabbed a bottle of cola.

“You,” the man with the mustache shook his head and didn’t continue the topic of marriage, “I noticed it the first time I met you, and it’s still the same now. I always feel like you’re hiding something, like someone is chasing after you.”

"Before, you could at least say you needed to make money and survive, but now you have both money and fame, so what's there to worry about? It's not that you don't want to get married, it's that you're afraid of marriage, right?"

Gao Mo did not respond, but merely glanced at the mustache.

Has he always given people this impression?
"Brother, I was much worse off than you before I became famous. Do you really think I enjoy investigating extramarital affairs by looking for cats and dogs? I was forced into it; I had to survive."

The man with the mustache had drunk a few more glasses of wine and started talking nonsense, as if he were drunk.

"Although I don't know the specifics of what's going on with you, if someone is too tense, they'll break like a string sooner or later. It just so happens that someone has invited us to travel to Hakodate in a few days. Why don't you come along? I heard that you can experience a luxurious first-class flight."

"Hakodate tourism?"

"Hehe, you probably don't know yet, do you? A few days ago, I helped thwart the Phantom Thief Kid's theft plan, and Ms. Juri, who possesses the jewel, specially invited us to the celebration banquet in Hakodate to express her gratitude."

(End of this chapter)