No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

Ai Haibara did not object because she was very clear about her position. Even though she and Masaki Kitahara had a relationship where they could joke around, it did not change the fact that Masaki Kitahara had saved the sisters. She would only offer advice on the decisions made by her savior and would not interfere with them by taking advantage of her position as a hacker.

That evening, when Conan saw the news that Tsuchimichi Yasutaka had been killed by Kiriko Busujima, a female executive of the Mud Party, he paused for a moment, then dialed Kitahara Masaki's number and asked:

"Brother Kitahara, didn't you try to stop the Black Organization's assassination attempt? I... I was just asking, I didn't mean to blame you."

"Of course I tried to stop them. Didn't you see the news? It was the yakuza, not the Black Organization, who killed Mr. Tsuchimon. It was my oversight. After Mr. Tsuchimon escaped the Black Organization's assassination attempt, I left. I didn't expect that female officer to be waiting for him at his house all along... The result is... well, anyway, our police have caught the suspect and found enough evidence to prove that she was involved in the murder of Mr. Tsuchimon. Okay, I've explained everything to you. Is there anything else you want to ask?"

The honest Conan had no idea that this was Kitahara Masaki's trick. After hanging up the phone, he still lamented that Tsuchimichi Yasuharu's luck was really bad and the murderer was really too cunning. He did not suspect that everything Kitahara Masaki said was actually a lie.

Chapter 245 Is there anything else you want to say?

Two days after the Black Organization's assassination attempt, Gin was no longer shouting things like, "Yavin, hurry up and erase the evidence that we were there!" He was probably very happy because the mission had succeeded.

Haha, after all that, it turns out Vermouth still impersonated Kiriko Busujima, and then Kir, who was hiding nearby, took care of Tsuchimon. In other words, the two snipers just went to the scene again without firing a single bullet. So, to put it bluntly, the reason why their sniping skills are worse than Kitahara Masaki's is because they don't have much real combat experience.

In short, the mission was definitely completed, which will allow Gin to behave himself for a while. Gin has gradually entered the rhythm set for him by Kitahara Masaki, just like a puppet being manipulated by the Spirit Threads.

Kitahara Masaki, who was silently chanting that he could only make a fortune by continuing to live a lowly life, directed this drama that ended quickly. If it had been like the original story, where Kir was injured and hospitalized, and then the Black Organization and the FBI engaged in a series of battles of wits to win over Kir, and finally Kir returned to the organization thanks to Akai Shuichi's faked death.

However, the FBI simply doesn't have the resources to focus on the Black Organization anymore. Their personnel in Japan have mostly been flagged by the Japanese Public Security Bureau. They're lucky if they aren't caught and sent back to the US; there's no point in talking about hunting down the Black Organization.

In a good mood, Kitahara Masaki felt a sense of warmth when he received Inspector Megure's call and replied directly:

"I'm going to the murder scene right now!"

Upon arriving at the scene, they found Conan and Uncle Mori there as well. Seeing Kitahara Masaki's amused expression, Conan immediately shouted:

“This has nothing to do with me! The uncle saw the police car and that's why he followed us. We were just shopping at the supermarket.”

"I haven't said anything yet, Conan. Now that you've admitted it yourself, I'm very pleased. Honestly, is admitting that you're the Grim Reaper something to be ashamed of? I don't think so, because it's a talent you were born with!"

Conan felt a little uneasy, sensing that Kitahara Maki seemed a bit off today.

"Ahem, Kitahara-kun, let's go take a look at the case first."

Kitahara Maki then realized that after repeatedly altering the course of the world's original story, he seemed to have become a bit arrogant.

However, because of Conan, who loves to make sarcastic remarks, he is able to notice changes in his own mindset. The best way to stabilize his mindset is, of course, to solve cases. And this time, he doesn't plan to use any gadgets.

"Kid, judging from your expression just now, you seem to know the deceased, right?"

When Conan was suddenly asked the question, his expression darkened for a moment, and he replied:

"The victim's name was Qi Chuancunzi, a mystery novelist. When I was young, I read many of her novels, and the plots and techniques were incredibly ingenious, but I never expected this to happen..."

Kitahara Masaki rubbed Conan's head and said:

"Come in with me, let her see how good your reasoning skills are."

Ah!

Conan, brought to the scene by Kitahara Masaki, looked serious. Uncle Mori initially wanted to tell the kid to get out of there, but upon seeing Kitahara Masaki, he swallowed his words and perked up. Although a matchmaking agency called the Detective Guild had recently invited him and rated his ability to catch mistresses as A-level, for a former police officer, solving a murder case was far more fulfilling.

After examining the body, the three investigators discovered that the female victim had been struck on the back of the head with a trophy found in the room and died without any resistance. The victim, Qi Chuancun, was over sixty years old. The forensic doctor preliminarily determined the time of death to be between 7 PM and 9 PM the previous evening.

The scene was spotless, with no clues left behind by the perpetrator as was the case in the past. There were no signs of disturbance in any of the rooms, so the motive was unlikely to be money.

The next step was to question the first discoverer—Haichi Tono, an editor at Labyrinth Publishing, and the apartment building's manager, Junzo Murata.

"Please tell me in detail what happened this morning."

First, editor Tono said:

"I came here this morning to deliver some materials to the teacher, but no matter how many times I rang the doorbell, no one answered. I had a bad feeling, so I called the building manager to open the door, and then..."

"So, were you at the victim's home yesterday?"

"Yes, I was here. I left around 8 p.m.

Eight o'clock in the evening—which happens to be between seven and nine o'clock in the evening, the estimated time of death. And to ask the administrator to open the door just because of a bad feeling, isn't that making a mountain out of a molehill?

Then Conan asked the same question as Kitahara Masaki:

"Wow, big brother, you're amazing! You knew something was wrong just from a premonition!"

Editor Tono, upon hearing Conan's feigned ignorance, didn't panic. He simply sighed, took a piece of paper from his backpack, handed it to Kitahara Masaki, and said:

"Actually, the teacher received this thing a few days ago. I had suggested that she call the police, but she said it was impossible for anyone to want to harm a dying person like her. She said it was probably sent by a fanatical book fan."

Kitahara Masaki accepted the threatening letter, which read, "I intend to use your life as my next collectible," and was signed Orochi Ryo. However, unlike the calm Kitahara Masaki, Conan had already cried out:

"Orochiya Ryo is a villain in Saimura-sensei's books!"

So that's how it is. No wonder the victim thought it was sent by a fanatical book lover. But what Kitahara Masaki was more concerned about was:

"What do you mean by a dying person?"

"Actually, the doctor said that Ms. Qicun only had six months left, which is why she jokingly called herself a 'dying man.' I originally came to ask her to publish a collection of mystery works with us so that the world could get to know her again, but I never expected that she would be murdered before the six months were up."

Tono burst into tears, but the administrator beside her wore a look of glee, which Kitahara Masaki and Conan clearly saw. This time, it was Kitahara Masaki who launched the attack:

“Mr. Murata, I remember you were the one who opened the door, right?”

"Oh! Yes, what's wrong?"

“We’ve found the victim’s key, and you’re one of the people who still have the key. The murderer locked the door after committing the crime, which means the murderer is someone who had the victim’s key. Don’t you have anything to say?”

"Hey, officer, if what you're saying is true, isn't that editor also a suspect? Why are you only arresting me?"

Kitahara Masaki silently took out the handcuffs and looked at him with a kind expression.

Chapter 246 Sushi That Turns Back and Forth

"I'll tell you! I just had a little argument with that old lady. I like to have a few drinks at work, and she saw me. She even said she would tell the management company. Oh, right! When I went to see her last night, it was exactly nine o'clock. A deliveryman saw me there, so he can definitely testify!"

Given the speed of the police, they quickly located the deliveryman and confirmed that the administrator had been at the victim's door at 9:00 AM. While they couldn't completely rule out the possibility that he was the perpetrator, the likelihood was much lower. After all, the estimated time of death was between 7:00 and 9:00 AM. If he were the murderer, there would be no need for him to knock on the door at 9:00 AM. Moreover, he had no connection with the deliveryman. Therefore, Murata couldn't be certain that the deliveryman would come up at 9:00 AM, meaning that the possibility of him using the deliveryman was also very small.

The most obvious suspect is the editor who was still at the victim's home at the time of death.

Further investigation revealed a sushi takeout box in a trash can at the scene. After questioning Tono, more information was obtained:

“I arrived here at 6:30 pm yesterday because I needed to discuss my portfolio with my teacher. So at 7:30 pm, I ordered a premium sushi delivery as usual. After the delivery arrived at 8 pm, I left and went to an izakaya nearby to have drinks with my friends.”

So that's how it is. He went to an izakaya after 8 o'clock, so someone must have been with him the whole time. Therefore, he couldn't have had time to come back and commit the crime between 8 and 9 o'clock. In other words, if he were the murderer, he would have had to commit the crime between 7 and 8 o'clock.

Next, Kitahara Masaki went to check on the sushi delivery. When he arrived at the sushi restaurant, the employee was very surprised to hear that Ms. Qicun had been murdered. He said that when he delivered the delivery to Qicun's house at eight o'clock, he could still hear Ms. Qicun's voice.

"So, the person who came out to pick up the takeout was Editor Tono, and you only heard Ms. Qicun's voice, didn't see her in person, and then assumed she was in the living room, right?"

"Yes, I clearly heard Ms. Qicun's voice at that time!"

Although the witness gave such testimony, Kitahara Masaki and Conan both understood that sound could be recorded in advance and then played back, and it could not prove that the victim was still alive at that time. However, it did confirm that the takeout was delivered to the Qicun family. Next, they would see what the contents of the victim's stomach were after the forensic autopsy.

Drop drop-

Just as Kitahara Masaki was wondering when he would know how well the sushi had been digested, the forensic report arrived. This was thanks to his strong advocacy for improving the treatment of forensic doctors, as Kitahara Masaki's cases were generally given priority by the forensic doctors.

"Conan, the autopsy results confirm that the sushi was digested nearly an hour ago."

"I see. So the sushi was delivered at eight o'clock, and it didn't stop digesting until nine o'clock, which means it should have been nine o'clock when Ms. Qicun died... No, that's not right!"

Conan, who was talking to himself, suddenly thought of another possibility, and Kitahara Masaki continued, following his lead:

“A forensic autopsy cannot definitively prove that the sushi in the victim’s stomach was the same sushi delivered by takeout. So, Tono could also do this—bring sushi in advance, have Ms. Shinomura eat it at 6:30, then kill her around 7:30, order takeout, and when the takeout arrives at 8:00, turn on the recorder, then dispose of all the sushi on the way to the izakaya. This way—it would make people think that the victim was killed at 9:00, after which digestion in the stomach would stop.”

"Yes, that is indeed one possibility, but the murderer could also be the building manager. He said he arrived at Ms. Qicun's door around 9 o'clock, which means he may have just come out after killing someone inside, and the deliveryman happened to pass by, so he pretended to have just arrived."

Kitahara Masaki and Conan both fell into deep thought. This case was very interesting. What was interesting was that both suspects were likely to have committed the crime, and both were quite suspicious. Because of the forensic autopsy, both of them had to be taken back to the police station for questioning.

With no evidence found, this is all we can do for now.

"Conan, what kind of character is the famous Orochi Ryo in the book, mentioned in that threatening letter?"

Conan, who was suddenly asked the question, thought for a moment and replied:

"He was a high-IQ criminal, but also a person with self-respect and persistence. After the police found the evidence, he readily confessed. So this character used to be very popular. But now, even Ms. Qicun, who was once very popular, is not well-known anymore. Sigh, if that editor wasn't the murderer, I would really like to be friends with him. After all, publishing a collection of works that hardly anyone knows would probably lose money, but he insisted on publishing it. It seems that he is a loyal fan of Ms. Qicun, just like me."

Not many people know... Kitahara Masaki looked at the news headlines on his phone and said regretfully:

"Conan, I guess you and that editor won't be able to be friends anymore."

Today's murder case has already been published on the trending search list: a mystery writer was killed by a character in his own book, a famous police officer encountered a fictional character, and can the returning eagle defeat Orochi Ryo?

"Ah! Editor Tono has revealed the details of today's case! That means Ms. Qicun's collection of works will no longer be the author's recollections after years of silence, but rather a chance to make a fortune while the trending topics are still going strong! Damn it, damn it! That guy not only murdered Ms. Qicun for money, but also used characters from the author's books!"

"Calm down, kid. We haven't found conclusive evidence yet. Indirect evidence alone is not enough to prove his guilt. Besides, after making a fortune, he can definitely afford a good lawyer to exonerate him, so we must be cautious."

Kitahara Maki thought quickly, trying to figure out where he could find Tono's weakness.

"If the murderer is Tono, in order to create the illusion that the teacher was killed at nine o'clock, he would have had the victim eat sushi around six o'clock and then killed her around seven o'clock, so that the sushi in the victim's stomach would take about an hour to digest. So we should find out where he bought that sushi."

"Kitahara-kun, aren't you going to investigate the takeout sushi he disposed of?"

"Hehe, if he ate all the takeout sushi, are we supposed to cut open his stomach too? And it's more likely that he threw the takeout sushi into the river under the bridge, so we won't be able to find it. So it's more reliable to investigate the sushi he brought, because the sushi that Tono brought—must have been eaten by the victim."

Chapter 247 Life Mentor Kitahara Masaki

After bringing the two men back to the police station, it was clear that one remained completely silent, while the other was utterly unyielding, the kind of person who wouldn't tell you a single truth unless subjected to waterboarding.

It seems we need to find evidence as soon as possible. Kitahara Masaki immediately ordered his police officers to inquire at the surrounding restaurants and supermarkets, asking the shopkeepers if they remembered Tono. Sushi given as a gift is usually bought on the same day. If the victim doesn't eat it because they think it's not fresh, they can't use digestion time to exonerate themselves. In other words, Tono most likely bought the sushi used to commit perjury on the day of the incident.

After investigating the restaurants and supermarkets near Tono's house, they quickly received confirmation from one restaurant that Tono and his family had bought a premium sushi there. Since it wasn't lunchtime yet, they had formed an impression of Tono.

Having obtained the information, Kitahara Masaki and Conan carefully examined the interrogation records and suddenly discovered that the premium sushi that Tono bought also had specific types of sushi.

"Salmon, tuna... Hanawa and octopus, wait a minute, these are the types of sushi Tono bought in advance, but I remember the premium sushi delivered by the takeout place seemed a little different."

When Kitahara Masaki checked the delivery status before, he had noticed the availability of premium sushi, but it seemed that the variety of sushi delivered was less.

The two went back to the restaurant where they had received the delivery. When they asked the staff about the premium sushi, the staff pointed outside and replied:

"Actually, it's like this: the people who come to deliver raw materials happen to be able to deliver even better salmon, so we cut out the tuna and octopus from our premium sushi and added more salmon sushi. This is one of the special features of our restaurant. After all, even in the food business, you have to have your own unique characteristics to get people's attention."

Conan excitedly shouted:

"The results of the forensic autopsy!"

That's right, the autopsy results recorded in detail the types and names of the contents, including Hanawa and octopus, but these two items are not available in the premium sushi at this delivery shop!

Haha, Tono probably didn't check the situation of the sushi delivery before throwing it all away, which is why he didn't notice that there was no sushi with Hanawa and octopus in it. However, the victim found sushi with Hanawa and octopus in his stomach, which means that the victim must have eaten other sushi before the delivery was delivered!

The other sushi—naturally, was sushi that Tono had bought in advance!