Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

If he wasn't mistaken, the murderer was among those three people!

So next up is him—wait, what?

Huh???

Conan looked at the arrested Toshiaki Taniguchi with a face full of questions, then at Chu Ming, who was being stared at intently.

No, no way, this scene... I feel like I've experienced it before...?

Chapter 193 Shanni Temple

"Brother Chu Ming?" Conan stood at the door, looking at Chu Ming with disbelief.

You fucking cheated on me again?

Chu Ming lifted Conan out of Ran's arms: "Ran, leave this kid to me, I'll take him to bed."

Then, turning around, he grinned mischievously at Conan: "So this is all there is to being a detective~ So simple~"

Conan wanted to scream in his arms: "No, this isn't right! That's not how detectives work! This is cult stuff! Shouldn't a detective find clues, deduce evidence, and identify the culprit?! Don't skip steps!!"

Chu Ming pulled out a pair of sunglasses from somewhere and put them on: "All roads lead to Rome. As long as I get there, what does it matter if I flew there or not?"

Conan clenched his fist: "Next time! Next time I'll definitely prove to you what real detective reasoning looks like!!"

Chu Ming looked at the disgruntled little detective. It seemed that after his body shrank, Conan's mind was also changing imperceptibly, gradually becoming more childish. Was this the effect of the drug, or—

—Is it a problem with his own personality?

Chu Ming directly plagiarized the line Conan once said to Hattori: "There is never any truth or falsehood in reasoning, because there is only one truth."

Conan stared dumbfounded at Chu Ming, who shamelessly appropriated his words, speechless with astonishment.

Shameless, so shameless!

Who told him about the truth? They're clearly discussing why they're not trying to deduce the killer's modus operandi!

----------

The next afternoon, Kogoro Mouri prepared to take the group directly back to Tokyo.

"This is so strange. Every time I go out, I encounter a murder case. Am I really cursed? Should I go and pray to someone?"

While driving, Kogoro Mouri muttered to himself, "Hey, I remember there are a lot of cherry blossom trees on that mountain up ahead, shall we go take some pictures?"

Before the other three people in the car could reply, he stepped on the gas, and the car was already driving in that direction.

"Honestly, Dad clearly didn't want to ask for our opinions, so why did he have to ask us..." Xiaolan muttered.

Cherry blossoms? It's April now?

"Yes, the cherry blossoms are most beautiful in April. Although the ones in the city are nice too, nothing compares to the wild cherry blossoms that grow here in the mountains!"

Kogoro Mouri stood beneath a tree where petals danced in the air, his face filled with rapture.

Chu Ming leaned against the tree trunk, tilting his face slightly upward. The wind rustled the treetops, sending petals fluttering in the air. The petals drifted down, delicate and fragmented, landing lightly on his hair.

'Crack--'

Xiao Lan captured this moment in time and then handed the camera to Chu Ming.

"Brother Chu Ming took this really well."

In the photo, the boy stands under a tree, the interplay of light and shadow making him appear like an elf descended to earth.

Chu Ming held the photo with a smug look on his face: "Oh my, what a handsome young man! It's me!"

"..."

Conan stared at Chu Ming with deadpan eyes. How come there was a face on the ground just now? It turned out that Chu Ming had thrown it down because he didn't want it anymore.

Noticing Conan's gaze, Chu Ming picked him up and placed him next to Ran: "Shall I take a picture for you guys too?"

Stepping back a few paces, Chu Ming carefully searched for the right spot and lighting, and after a long while, he took a picture and handed it to Xiao Lan.

"Wow—" Ran exclaimed with delight, "Brother Chuming took such a good picture of me, but why does Conan look so...small?"

Upon hearing this, Conan quickly jumped up to look. Sure enough, in the photo, Ran looked at him with a gentle expression and her head slightly lowered. Whether it was Chu Ming's doing or not, Ran in the photo looked gentle and beautiful, and the lighting was also very harmonious.

But why was he photographed looking like a short, stout person?!

This must have been intentional, right?

Facing Conan's questioning gaze, Chu Ming appeared exceptionally innocent.

“After all, you are indeed short now~” Chu Ming patted Conan’s head and irresponsibly fooled him, “How about you have Ran hold your arm and Mori hold your leg every night and stretch them to the sides, maybe you will grow a little taller.”

Are you a devil?

"Don't you feel any guilt for deceiving children?" Conan replied, his face expressionless. "Forgot, you have no conscience."

Chu Ming stared at Conan, who was asking and answering his own questions, and remained silent for a long time. Was this because Conan's words left Chu Ming speechless?

Impossible! He'll never run out of words!

Chu Ming leaned close to Conan's ear and whispered, "I have a conscience, but you're not a child."

"..."

"Alright, let's go, it's getting late."

Kogoro Mouri finally finished taking enough photos and decided to go back.

Chu Ming lay back in his chair, feeling drowsy. He tended to get sleepy when he was bored, especially in the car or when he stayed in one position for a long time.

"Click—zz—"

The car suddenly jolted a few times and then stopped.

Chu Ming was shaken awake and rubbed his eyes: "What's wrong?"

Kogoro Mouri got out of the car and inspected the vehicle. His face was grave: "The tire is flat. There's no spare tire in this car."

"Then what should we do? Call a towing company to tow it?"

Kogoro Mouri shook his head: "We're up in the mountains. The nearest tow truck won't be up until tomorrow. It's getting late, and it looks like we'll have to sleep in the truck for the next few days."

Conan suddenly bounced over and pointed to the hillside not far away: "Uncle, look over there, there seems to be a temple. We can stay there for the night!"

Chu Ming nodded in agreement: "Indeed, it would be very uncomfortable to sleep in the car."

He knew this all too well from the time he slept in the car during a mission with Gin. Gin's old car was so uncomfortable that you couldn't lie flat or stretch your legs out. He never wanted to experience it again.

"Alright, let's go take a look."

Following the mountain path, the group slowly walked uphill, and a fairly well-maintained temple appeared before them.

“Yamani-dera Temple—” Kogoro Mori looked at the temple name at the entrance.

Chu Ming, who had been following behind, perked up. Shanni Temple? The one with the Mist Tengu?

I'll burn it for you after Chapter 194.

As he followed the group up the mountain, Chu Ming searched his memory.

He remembered that in this incident, the deceased was an old monk, and the murderer was also a monk.

...I can't remember the rest at all.

Once inside the temple, the facilities didn't look as dilapidated as they did outside.

Xiao Lan looked around and called out in a slightly raised voice, "Excuse me, is anyone home?"

"What do you have—" the old monk hiding behind the group said in a sinister tone. Before he could finish speaking, he saw the elbow hovering on the side of his neck and was so frightened that he backed away.

Chu Ming had actually heard his footsteps sneaking up behind them a long time ago, but he hadn't said anything.

Instead, he suddenly attacked when the other man opened his mouth, then quickly stopped, letting him experience what it felt like to be frightened.

The old monk stumbled back a few steps, almost falling on his backside, while Conan and the others were quite startled by his sudden words.

Chu Ming, feigning malice, accused them first: "You scared us! How come you walk so quietly?"

The old monk was so angry that his beard stood on end: "You almost hit me! Are you people from a newspaper or TV station here to interview me?"

Kogoro Mouri looked at the old monk talking to himself with a puzzled expression: "No—"

"Please leave. This is not a place for worldly people like you."

After finally getting a chance to speak, Kogoro Mouri said, "You misunderstand. We came here because our car suddenly had a flat tire, and we were looking for a place to stay for the night."

Hearing this, the old monk's expression softened. He glanced at Chu Ming and said, "You should have said so earlier. I thought you were here to interview about that matter. Well, it's fine if you want to stay. The accommodation fee includes one vegetarian meal and the cost of the tour. It's 18,000 yuan for adults and 10,000 yuan for children. It's a fixed price."

"Eighteen thousand?" Chu Ming felt something was off. Had the old monk secretly raised the price out of spite?

The old monk held his head high, looking as if he had them completely under his thumb: "You can choose not to stay, and then hike down the mountain for six hours in the rain. On rainy nights, those soul-eating tengu might come out and devour you!"

Chu Ming stopped Kogoro Mouri from asking any more questions and readily agreed to the old monk's offer: "Sure, no problem, money's no object. We can pay together when we leave."

Yes, I'll definitely burn it for him later.

The old monk revealed a cunning smile: "Alright, come out and greet our customers, it's rare to have customers come to our door~"

Something about this sounds off. It suddenly sounds vulgar.

Kogoro Mouri pressed further, "What is this 'Mist Tengu' you just mentioned?"

The old monk exaggeratedly covered his mouth: "Oh dear, look at me, I said some things that shouldn't be said. Just forget what I just said."