Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 460 The Hypocritical Mermaid Island
The sea fog, like a soft white veil, gently draped over the sea. It blurred the boundary between sea and sky, obscured the dark side of Mermaid Island, and made the whole world hazy and illusory.

Xia Chuan and his two companions stood at the bow of the ship, the sea fog obscuring their path.

Fortunately, Ichiki was familiar with the waterways, so there was no need to worry about running aground.

"How long until we arrive?"

"About half an hour. This is how it is on Mermaid Island in the early morning at the end of summer. This is also the best time to hunt dugongs as they return, so as to ensure that they are not detected by maritime patrols."

Bao Benyi glanced down at his watch: "I reckon the dugong should be delivered back to the village around this time. When we arrive, we can go directly to the site to watch the deboning."

"After the boss learned about this mission, he told us to take the dugong bones back to extract the marrow."

Vodka kicked the railing hard, annoyed, "That Rum guy, he doesn't even dare to tell Big Brother about this himself, he has to go through the boss, what a coward."

Xia Chuan had no interest in this matter. As an outer member, even if there was a possibility of promotion, he didn't dare to talk about the boss and the second-in-command. He could only pretend not to hear it.

The ship docked in silence.

This is a relatively secluded dock, with dilapidated wooden floors that creak with every step.

"This was a previous landing point, but we found a more secluded one later, so this place was abandoned and became our landing spot."

"You talk too much nonsense."

Vodka was getting impatient; he had no interest in such things, as did Tequila.

"The room is the same one we stayed in when we came here before."

The room was arranged by Vodka, which was also a task assigned to Vodka by Xia Chuan to avoid him being too bored.

Xia Chuan himself studied the schedules of the two former high-ranking officials.

"The dugong celebration begins tomorrow. The two will arrive this afternoon on a private yacht, accompanied by only four bodyguards."

I have no booking record, so I'll probably be sleeping on the ship for the next few days.

Xia Chuan handed the yacht's hull information to Bao Ben before continuing, "They are quite vigilant. Spending the night on the boat makes it easier to take action, but it also makes them easier to be discovered."

Bao Benyi nodded, seemingly unconcerned, and said, "It's not a big problem, I have a way!"

Homoto Ichiki's confidence stemmed from the fact that he was originally an islander here, and that the two former high-ranking officials were both after the dugongs, which meant there were many ways to make underhanded moves.

After passing through the cliffside forest, footprints began to appear on the ground, and a faint smell of the ocean and the blood of sea fish could be smelled.

Xia Chuan bent down and turned over a clod of soil, where he saw bloodstains stained with sea sand on the back.

"This should be dugong blood. If you go up the mountain ahead, there will be a small workshop that processes dugongs."

We continued our journey through the bushes.

Xia Chuan saw many wild animals along the way.

Mermaid Island is a place where people live by hunting, but fishing is the main industry, and the wild animals in the mountains are well preserved.

"what happened?"

When he noticed that Agave had suddenly stopped and was looking at some documents as he walked, Homoto Ichiki asked him a question out of curiosity.

Then, he looked in the direction where Xia Chuan's gaze was directed.

"Oh, that's the grave of the previous longevity queen."

When the topic of the longevity matriarch came up, Homoto Ichiki frowned slightly: "You should have seen the information. This is the previous longevity matriarch who died in a fire three years ago, and she is the mother of the current Dugong Shrine's longevity matriarch, Shimabukuro Kimie."

Homoto Ichiki felt a mixture of disdain, pity, and a touch of regret towards the long-lived old woman.

The existence of dugong shrines and the high-ranking officials and celebrities' enthusiasm for dugongs are inextricably linked; the two can be said to complement each other.

Dugong shrines attract social faith, enhance the mystique of dugongs, and give dugong products value. Without dugong shrines, dugong sales would likely gradually decline.

Therefore, the villagers never revealed a word about the longevity woman's secret.

"You worship at the dugong shrine while hunting dugongs, so your shrine probably doesn't enshrine dugongs, but rather the ancestors who hunted them, right?"

“How ironic,” Vodka commented, echoing Tequila’s words.

Having a need doesn't mean he approves of the way things are done here; he also hates this hypocritical Mermaid Island.

This behavior can be described as eating from the bowl and then cursing the cook.

Xia Chuan sneered, looked away, and continued walking towards the incense smoke rising from the grave.

Soon, the three arrived at the workshop halfway up the mountain.

The doors of the row of wooden houses were wide open, wisps of smoke rose from the chimneys overhead, and villagers came and went from time to time. The fishy smell was particularly strong here.

"Oh? So our big model is back!"

One of the burly villagers saw Homoto Ichiki, wiped his blood-stained hands on his buttocks, and walked over with a grin.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered that Homoto Ichiki had brought two men in black with him, but the villagers paid no attention.

Clearly, this wasn't the first time that Ichiki Homoto had brought people from the brewery here.

"Don't laugh at me. If she were a top model, would she need to do this kind of business?"

Bao Benyi's public identity is indeed that of a model. He tells the villagers that he works as a model for many years and has met some wealthy people who are interested in dugong bones, and then recommended them to come here.

Originally, dugong bones could not generate any value for the village. Most of them were used to make soup after the dugong meat was sold. Since someone wanted this kind of thing, they were naturally happy to see it happen.

Why not earn a lot more money every year?

The robust villagers didn't care what Bao Benyimu's purpose was in wanting dugong bones; they only cared about selling them and didn't care about anything else.

He forced a simple smile and reached out to shake hands with Xia Chuan and Vodka.

Neither of them responded; they simply nodded slightly and looked behind each other.

The meaning couldn't be clearer. The robust villagers weren't angry; making money wasn't anything to be ashamed of.

"How many dugong bones do you plan to buy this time? A larger quantity will get you a better discount."

"That depends on how many dugongs we kill this time," said Homoto Ichiki, hands in his pockets, looking quite smug.

The distillery has a very high demand for dugong bones, and they have always taken as much as they can get in the past, and this time is no exception.

“We found a dugong colony. In previous years, killing five or six was the maximum. This year we were lucky and killed eight. Can we handle that number?”

“Of course!” Vodka said before Homoto Ichiki could answer, “I can eat as much as you want!”

Vodka said it didn't matter, since the European branch was paying for it, and he was willing to pay as much as needed.

My older brother instructed me to raise the price of rum as much as possible!

For hardworking fishermen, finding a generous buyer is not easy. The strong villager nodded vigorously, indicating that the hardworking and honest villagers could remove all the bones in two days.

After exchanging a few words with the other person, Homoto Ichiki watched them leave.

Once the other person entered the wooden house, he put away his smile and explained, "This is the village chief's son, Nishiyama Benyi. The village chief no longer goes out to sea, and he has been leading the hunt for dugongs for the past two years."

Rewind to early morning, not long after Xia Chuan left home.

Maori Detective Agency.

"Attending a festival?" Kogoro Mori frowned at the dark-skinned man in front of him, puzzled. "You'd travel all the way to Fukui just to attend a festival?"

Kogoro Mouri thought about his schedule for the day.

Although there's no assigned mission, there's a live broadcast of Yoko Okino's concert today. We're traveling to a remote island in Fukui Prefecture, where the TV signal is probably not even available.

"Dad, go ahead, there's nothing else to do today anyway."

Xiaolan knew exactly what her father was thinking. It was just a TV program; it wasn't like it couldn't be recorded and replayed later.

"I'd heard of this island before. They say it has a very special medicinal wine made with a local herb and a type of plant harvested from the sea. It's very famous!"

Conan raises his hand to assist.

Based on his understanding of Kogoro Mouri, the best way to persuade him to travel was through local delicacies and drinks.

I've been beaten up too much these past two days, and my communication with Xia Chuan hasn't been going smoothly, which has made me feel a bit depressed.

When I was chatting with Heiji Hattori on the phone yesterday, he mentioned it briefly, and my good friend immediately came over today to take him out to relax.

To be precise, it wasn't a chance to relax, but rather to investigate a commissioned task.

However, for a detective like him, solving mysteries and investigating is the best way to relax.

Is it good wine?

Kogoro Mouri was somewhat tempted.

"Uncle Mori, you only get to drink that kind of sake during the Dugong Festival!"

Heiji Hattori had never heard of any famous sake on Mermaid Island, but it didn't matter; he just wanted to get people there first.

Anyway, he's not the one who gets beaten up when something goes wrong.

"Moreover, this time there is a very special case that requires the famous detective Kogoro Mouri to take action."

A fame-seeker and a heavy drinker, Kogoro Mouri was so well-informed by the famous detectives of Kanto and Kansai that he immediately agreed, even though he had been hesitant.

"Wait a minute, I'll go ask Xia Chuan if he wants to come along."

When going out to play, Kogoro Mouri subconsciously wants to bring Natsukawa along, especially when going to islands.

The detective still fondly remembers the sweetness of Shikishima.

A moment later, the group appeared at Xia Chuan's door.

"not here?"

Ai Haibara nodded: "Uncle Natsukawa seems to have some work to do; he left before dawn."

"That's a pity. The dugong festival on American Island is quite interesting."

Hattori Heiji was slightly disappointed; he wanted to see how Natsukawa would react to Conan after the confrontation.

Hattori pressed further, "And what about you guys?"

Ai Haibara did not answer, her eyes were glazed over, still processing what Heiji Hattori had said.

If I remember correctly, she had been to the United States before, and had gone there with Gin to get the raw materials for APTX4869.

"Hey, Haibara!"

Conan frowned and shouted.

"what?"

"Oh, what? Hattori-nii is asking if you and Anya want to come along, and Aunt Joel too."

"I'm not going. Aunt Joel and I are busy, Anya is sleeping and probably doesn't want to go either. And I advise you not to go either."

Ai Haibara frowned and glanced at Conan. Conan was puzzled by her gaze and opened his mouth to ask, but the door was closed, leaving him speechless.

"Honestly, that's so rude."

Kogoro Mouri waved his deadpan hand: "Alright, alright, forget about them. Getting to Fukui will probably take a long time, so it's better to be sooner rather than later."

(Ask for monthly ticket)

(End of this chapter)