Conan: I've been linked to the tech tree system.

Chapter 69 The Strange Search for a Person (Part 2)

When the door opened, a girl with two braids stood outside.

Wearing a light blue shirt, navy blue casual pants, and large-framed round glasses, he looked like a student who hadn't graduated yet.

"Hello, this is the Mouri Detective Agency," Ran said with a smile. "Do you have a case?"

"Yes." The woman was reserved, and her expression revealed anxiety.

"Please come in then." Xiaolan stepped aside, making room for the woman to enter.

"Thank you." Miyano Akemi walked into the detective agency and habitually looked around at the layout of the room.

Unexpectedly, a familiar figure appeared on the sofa—Toru Tono, who was drinking tea.

His body froze instantly.

The person sitting on the sofa seemed to sense something and looked up, their eyes meeting.

Akemi Miyano suddenly wanted to turn around and leave.

But leaving now would be too suspicious, and there's no guarantee that the person sitting behind the table, the supposedly famous detective Kogoro Mouri, wouldn't notice something amiss.

But Tohru Tono and I know each other...

"This young lady looks familiar."

While Miyano Akemi was struggling with her decision, Tohru Tono, who was sitting on the sofa, suddenly spoke up.

Familiar face? Oh right, this is my disguised form, with large glasses on my face, completely different from Hirota Masami's image.

Furthermore, since Masami Hirota's face was already disguised, and she further transformed her appearance with makeup, it's normal that Toru Tono, who wasn't very familiar with her, wouldn't recognize her.

Akemi Miyano secretly breathed a sigh of relief and, while sitting back down in the guest seat, answered Toru Tono's question: "Is that so? But I don't think I've ever seen this gentleman before."

"I see." Tohru Tohno's gaze swept over her, but he seemed to lose interest quickly. He pulled over the little boy in the navy blue suit and started playing with him.

It seems he is quite familiar with this family.

Akemi Miyano glanced in that direction subtly a few times.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Miss?" With a customer arriving, Kogoro Mouri finally left his office chair, put down his newspaper, and stood up to sit opposite Akemi Miyano.

"My name is... Yamada Emi." Miyano Akemi tried her best to appear naive as a college student, and considering Tohru Tono's presence, she even made up another name on the spot. "Please, please help me find my father!"

"Ah... okay." Kogoro Mouri couldn't quite handle the other person's sudden emotional outburst.

“My dad, who came to work in Tokyo, hasn’t been heard from for a month.” Akemi Miyano continued her fabricated story, “I heard he even quit his taxi job.”

"So that's why you came here..."

"Yes, I specifically asked for leave from school and came all the way from Yamagata Prefecture to this place to find him."

"Now, only a detective can help me find people!" Miyano Akemi tried her best to create the image of a vulnerable and helpless schoolgirl.

“I understand, I can help you with this.” Kogoro Mouri accepted the request.

“Thank you!” Akemi Miyano picked up the black handbag beside her and pulled out a photograph. “This is my father… Kenzo Yamada.”

Kogoro Mouri took the photo. It showed a middle-aged man in a white shirt, smiling kindly, and holding a black cat in his arms.

"Height 170 cm, age 48." Miyano Akemi tried to provide as much detailed information as possible.

Where is the cat?

"It's my dad's cat, and its name is 'Quick'."

"In addition, I also have three cats: 'Emperor', 'Hercules', and 'King'."

......

The client and Kogoro Mouri were examining the photos over there, while Conan was arguing with Toru Tono over here.

I don't know why, but ever since I revealed my identity to Tohno, he's started treating me like a child even more.

It keeps coming over and rubbing itself all the time, it's so annoying.

Could it be some kind of weird fetish?! Conan is so annoyed.

He didn't even hear the details of the commission from the other side!

......

“Speaking of this ‘heroic emperor,’ I seem to have a vague recollection of him.”

Tohno Toru let Conan go, then suddenly spoke up, preparing to speed things up.

“Hey, right, if you rearrange the characters 'fast,' 'emperor,' 'hero,' and 'king' in random order, it becomes ‘heroic and fast emperor’.” Kogoro Mouri stroked his chin thoughtfully. “I feel like I’ve heard this name somewhere before.”

"Where is it...?"

Tohno Toru felt ashamed as he looked at the pensive Kogoro Mouri.

Don't you watch horse racing every day? How come you don't know about this?

Helpless, he spoke up again to prompt, "I think I've seen this on a horse racing program before?"

"Oh, right!" Kogoro Mori slammed his right fist into his left palm, suddenly realizing, "'Goukai Teiko' is the name of a very popular horse at the racetrack! Mr. Yamada must really like horse racing to name his cat after a horse."

"In that case, we're sure to find clues at the racetrack!"

"Really?" Yamada Emi asked with hopeful eyes.

"Of course." Seeing the innocent students looking at him like that, Kogoro Mouri couldn't help but feel smug. "I am the famous detective Kogoro Mouri!"

"Hehe." Conan rolled his dead fish eyes from the side.

"Okay! Let's go to the racetrack together to help Miss Emi find her father!" Ran was deeply moved by Emi Yamada's story and felt inexplicably motivated.

"Tousang, are you coming along?"

"I'll pass." Tohno Toru knew that Miyano Akemi was looking for the accomplice who robbed the bank with her but drove off with the money halfway through the robbery.

Finding someone is something that can be left to the lucky Xiaolan; there's no point in doing it yourself.

"Okay." The people in the room were somewhat disappointed.

......

The search went smoothly. Xiaolan had only been at the racetrack for a short time when she spotted the man in the photo.

The scene of "father and daughter reuniting" was also very touching, but Conan always felt that something was not right.

On the way back, they saw a tall, suspicious-looking man wearing sunglasses who seemed to be following their family.

Conan's intuition told him that things were more complicated than just finding someone.

So before Yamada Emi left, he took advantage of her inattention to attach his tracking device to her watch, in case anything malicious happened later.

......

Conan's premonition came true.

The next day, when they visited the Yamada family again, they learned some shocking news from their landlady next door.

"What?! He's already dead?"

"Yes, last night, I found him hanging in his room." The old woman was a typical Showa-era elderly woman, short in stature, with gray hair, a stern and serious expression, and wearing round-framed reading glasses. "It's really a troublesome matter."

"Then, what about that person's daughter?" Kogoro Mouri asked, worried about Ms. Yamada, whom he had just met yesterday.

"A girl who came to Tokyo in search of her father who ran away from home."

“Ah, there’s definitely more to this story.” The old lady pointed out the suspicious point. “I always felt something was off. He said he would pay a year’s rent upfront, but told me not to ask him anything and just let him move in.”

"And they are all new banknotes."

“I think if his daughter had come, the child might have died too.”

"What...? Mr. Yamada must have committed suicide, right?"

"I heard from the detective that he was killed by someone else." The old woman's face showed a look of horror.

"Eh?!"

Chapter 70 Taxi Driver Speeds with All His Might

Kogoro Mouri and his group arrived at the Metropolitan Police Department to inquire about the details of the case from Inspector Megure, whom they knew well.

Although there are regulations prohibiting the disclosure of murder cases to ordinary citizens, Kogoro Mouri is, after all, a detective and a former colleague. Inspector Megure pulled him aside and spoke to him in a low voice.

“That’s right, it’s a homicide case,” Inspector Megure said, referring to the police’s discovery.

"After strangling him, the murderer hung the victim from the ceiling."

"The large handprints left on the victim's neck indicate that the assailant was a rather tall man."

"What about her daughter?" Kogoro Mouri was more concerned about this question.

"Her glasses fell down near the scene." Inspector Megure took out a pair of round-framed glasses and handed them to Kogoro Mouri. Kogoro Mouri examined them and confirmed that they were indeed the glasses that "Yamada Eimi" had worn that day.

"No bodies have been found yet, but... I'm afraid the chances of survival are slim."

Inspector Megure's face was gloomy.

......

Outside the door, Ran and Conan, unable to enter the Metropolitan Police Department, learned about the murder case from Kogoro Mouri.

Kind-hearted Xiaolan couldn't bear to hear any of this. She squatted down on the steps, tears welling up in her eyes.

"How...how could this be? I just met with Dad..."

Kogoro Mouri comforted her, while Conan's expression was also quite unpleasant.

Then he suddenly remembered that he had sensed something was wrong earlier and had stuck the transmitter to Yamada Eimi's watch...

Conan took off running towards the door.

......

The yellow dot displayed on the glasses is moving, which proves that Yamada Emi may still be alive.

Conan followed the location to a pachinko parlor.

"...Would Miss Emi come to a place like this?" Conan wondered about the location.