Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 697 The Detective Gets a Setback

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he exclaimed in surprise, "I feel like it looks somewhat similar to the playing card gun of Phantom Thief Kid."

"It really does look very similar. Apart from having a normal bullet chamber, the overall design is exactly the same as the playing card gun of Phantom Thief Kid."

Conan showed no politeness whatsoever, seemingly forgetting his age, and took the pistol, fiddling with it like a mature little adult.

"Be careful. This is a weapon that Mr. Xia Chuan gave me for self-defense. It can launch small spider webs. Anyone hit by it within a distance of 20 or 30 meters will be bound by the spider webs, thus losing the ability to escape and fight back. It is a good emergency precaution."

Hattori Heiji cast a suspicious glance at him, clearly not quite believing in Shinide Tomoaki.

"Uh"

"It really does resemble Uncle Xia Chuan's style."

Conan nodded slightly, recalling that he had indeed seen Natsukawa possess such a thing.

But what exactly is Shinichiro's identity? Why would Natsukawa entrust him with this weapon? Has he already joined the National Tax Agency? Or is he one of Yuri's men?
Let's put that problem aside for now; there's something more important he needs to deal with.

Conan turned his head to look at the treetops.

The tree where the mysterious man had just stood had a clean trunk, without any trace of being hit by spider webs.

"I hit it, but I didn't let the web open."

Shinichi explained in a low voice, "The mysterious person was more than thirty meters away from us. At that distance, the spider web would be affected by air resistance, making it difficult to achieve its effect. So it hit us like a bullet."

"Of course, you don't need to worry. This thing isn't very lethal; at most, it'll just hurt a little. It's just that the situation was chaotic just now, and that person lost his composure and ran away."

Shinichi explained with a smile.

This was also the first time he had used the Spider Web Gun, and he hadn't actually hit his opponent.

If Conan looked about seven or eight meters behind him and paid close attention, he would notice that the tree branches there were covered with dense spider webs.

But if such an embarrassing thing hadn't been discovered, Tomoaki Shinide naturally wouldn't have said it himself.

Anya remained silent beside him, only managing a barely audible, suppressed laugh, which made Shinichiro extremely uncomfortable.

"By the way, even if Uncle Araide uses a handgun, Conan, you have no right to criticize him. After all, you have a whole bunch of dangerous items like that on you."

Anya stood with her hands behind her back, her eyes lowered, trying her best to appear mature and composed.

"On the one hand, they righteously demand that others abide by the rules, while on the other hand, they brazenly do things that violate the rules. Their words and deeds are so contradictory, it's really ridiculous."

Ai Haibara raised an eyebrow and nodded slightly. Conan was indeed being unfair in this regard. "It's a bit much to say that only officials are allowed to set fires while common people are forbidden to light lamps."

Seeing that others were watching, Ai Haibara smiled and explained, "This Chinese saying means that if you make others follow the rules while you act recklessly, you will be criticized behind your back in some places."

"Heh heh, you've finally met your match. No wonder you were thinking of running away yesterday."

Heiji Hattori chuckled and patted Conan on the shoulder. "Something that can make the great detective lose his temper is hilarious!"

"Hey, hey, hey, Haibara, why are you like this too? I'm not like you guys, okay?!"

Conan still tried to speak, but his voice was very soft, and he seemed a little unsure of himself.

"Alright, that's not the point right now. The question we should be asking is why this guy is here in the first place."

Shinichiro stepped forward to smooth things over, saying, "Although this person didn't demonstrate swordsmanship, his attire is clearly that of a kendo practitioner, and he has a long sword at his waist. He is obviously the mastermind behind this!"

"Could it be that we have some kind of evidence that might reveal the killer's identity, which is why he came looking for us?"

The forest was quiet, and Conan and Heiji Hattori were both deep in thought.

It's unlikely that anyone would attack them without provocation; the most probable culprit is Benkei, the unseen figure known as Genji Hotaru.

But they clearly found nothing.

More importantly, according to Conan and Heiji Hattori's speculation, this person should also need them to decipher the code. They should wait until the code is deciphered before taking action, and should not suddenly appear at this time to seek attention.

"Perhaps, it's for something else?"

Anya's eyes darted around; she did know the reason, and it was related to a crystal bead on Hattori Heiji's person.

But as the old saying goes, she had no suitable excuse to express it.

Apart from her father, no one knows that she has the ability to read minds, and she has no intention of telling anyone else about it.

"What is that?" Conan and Heiji Hattori stared intently at it.

After Anya's reminder yesterday, they took Anya's words seriously.

Does Anya's statement mean she has discovered something?
"I don't know. It might be because of some valuable item. Since they are Genji Hotaru, they would definitely be very interested in valuable cultural relics."

"Hey, Hattori!"

Conan suddenly seemed to remember something, and looked at Hattori Heiji with a strange expression.

"No way"

"At this point, there's only one possibility left!" Conan nodded solemnly.

"Let me confirm!"

Heiji Hattori clearly knew something too, and he immediately took out his phone and called Officer Otaki.

Soon, a photo was sent via MMS.

"I knew it! What a wonderful coincidence!" Conan and Heiji Hattori exclaimed after seeing the photo.

"Hey, what did you guys find?"

Ai Haibara was somewhat dissatisfied; she hated riddle tellers the most.

All detectives are like that, so she hates getting involved in cases and always feels like she's being treated like an idiot.

The straight man, like Inspector Megure, is probably forced to back down because there are cases to solve.

"Hey, there's a crystal between the eyebrows of this Buddha statue!"

Anya provided timely reminders.

"That's right, that's it!"

Hattori Heiji took out a brocade pouch from his pocket, opened it with great care, and poured out a delicate and translucent crystal bead.

The jewel, in a regular rhombus shape, gleamed brilliantly against the backdrop of the surrounding shade.

"It's so beautiful, just a little less so than the dazzling flower that Father gave to Aunt Joel."

“This thing is no ordinary thing.” Hattori Heiji first gave a wry smile, and then solemnly explained: “This crystal is probably the one between the Buddha’s eyebrows. It was probably left behind by Genji Hotaru when he stole the Buddha eight years ago, and I just happened to pick it up when I went to visit Sannoji Temple.”

"Its value lies not in the jade itself, but in the cultural value it represents after its return to its rightful owner!"

"I published this crystal in a Kyoto newspaper a while ago, trying to find someone. I guess that's when it was discovered!"

Hattori Heiji was somewhat amused and exasperated, then he thought of one of the Genji members who was very close to him—Bizen Heishiro.

The next moment, his smile froze on his face.

Did Bizen Heishiro discover that the crystal was in his possession long ago?
All this time of care, was it all for the sake of obtaining this crystal?
"Don't overthink it. If Bizen Heishiro had discovered it long ago, he wouldn't have refrained from taking action for so many years. It's just a coincidence."

Conan noticed something amiss and offered a word of comfort.

However, learning of this situation did solve the mystery of the assassination.

The fact that the mysterious person just now was indeed aiming at Hattori Heiji further confirms this.

"He can easily kill several other Genji members with his swordsmanship, and he has obviously also made considerable progress in archery."

The arrow missed Hattori Heiji, but the entire arrowhead was completely embedded in the pillar.

"With that kind of strength, the bow and arrow must be top-of-the-line. This is definitely not the work of an ordinary archer. This person is proficient in both archery and swordsmanship; he's not someone to be trifled with!"

Lingering by the pillars of Kurama-dera Temple, Conan and Heiji Hattori were extremely unsettled.

Although I survived, that was an assassination attempt and a provocation!
"I feel my blood boiling!"

Hattori Heiji suddenly pulled his hat brim forward, put his hands in his pockets, and a youthful, arrogant smile appeared on his lips.

"Yes, by actively inviting Uncle Kogoro to participate in the case, I came to my attention that he made the worst choice, and he must be brought to justice!"

Watching the two of them talk so eloquently and spout such nonsense, Anya's eyes sparkled, and she took out a small notebook to write them down.

He's really cool. I'll remember this so I can show off like this in front of the other members of the Junior Detective League.

“However, Anya, how did you find out? The mysterious murderer was standing in a tree thirty meters away, with the surrounding trees obscuring his view, and I didn’t even notice him.”

"So, we've discovered it. Is there a problem?"

Anya stared wide-eyed.

If she doesn't explain herself, what can Conan do to her?

No matter what, it's impossible for someone to guess that they discovered the murderer through their inner thoughts!
"If you don't want to say it, forget it."

Conan shrugged, indicating that it was nothing to worry about, a trivial matter not worth mentioning.

"But you definitely can't stay with us anymore. The murderer will definitely not let Hattori-nii go. It will be very dangerous for you to stay with us."

Hattori nodded in agreement: "Yes, Mr. Shinide."

"That's right."

Shinichiro glanced back at Ai Haibara and, with a nod from her, agreed, "Then we'll go back first and wait for your good news. But we need to notify the police about this; the other party's features are quite distinctive and may help in solving the case."

Let's rewind to the morning, to the Xiachuan area.

Early in the morning, Natsukawa received an email from Gin.

The email contained information about the suspect in Sakura Seizo's death.

Information about the teahouse owner, Tae Yamakura, the dancer, Rin Chiga, the bookstore owner, Taiga Saijo, and the Noh actor, Harutaro Mizuo, is all included.

The first two lived together and were handed over to Baileys for handling, the bookstore owner Saijo Taiga was handed over to Cohen, and the investigation of Noh actor Mizuo Harutaro naturally fell to Natsukawa.

The email ended with a message from Gin.

The gist of it is that, based on surveillance footage retrieved from the locations of the previous victims' deaths, the police discovered that the murderer was wearing a Noh mask.

The police did not mention this point at the press conference, but Vodka found out about it. This is enough to show that there are Gin's informants within the Kyoto Prefectural Police, and they are not low-ranking. They are likely to be police inspectors or similar figures.

However, none of that matters anymore. The important thing is that Gin suspects Mizuo Harutaro and has entrusted him with the investigation into him!

He was originally thinking about how to delay the distillery's investigation and create opportunities for himself and Shinmeika Hori, but now the opportunity has come knocking on his door.
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(End of this chapter)