Conan, I'm an actor

“There’s an underground casino here, which is one of the outlets for illicit funds. Back when I was still using the code name Jiang Xiaobai, I once thought about turning some of my extra income into legitimate assets.” Xincheng sighed. “But the rates here are ridiculously high, and the capacity is limited. It’s basically doing business with local gangs.”

"You mean, they killed people just to cover up their underground casino?" Jing Guang frowned and said, "That doesn't make sense."

"During my investigation, I discovered something else: this casino has been operating at a loss for the past three years," Xincheng said with a smile. "A casino operating at a loss, isn't that amazing?"

Yue Shui and Jing Guang were both taken aback. This was a novel thing. Logically speaking, the dealer should be someone who always makes a profit.

In the international market, those financial giants manipulate stock prices and fleece retail investors, making a fortune every time. There's never been a case of them losing money. Of course, those referees who can't afford to play the game and disconnect the internet are a different story.

“The Flowing Horse,” Shinjo said, holding his teacup. “Every year they have a project where they bet on… who’s over there at the festival.”

Before Shinjo could finish speaking, the wakizashi beside him was suddenly drawn. Before the two could react, the sword had already pierced through the door and was embedded in the outer wall. The entire blade was buried in the wooden wall, with only the hilt sticking out.

When Koshimizu opened the door, she saw Hattori and Conan, who were both slumped on the ground, their legs trembling uncontrollably.

"If you want to listen, come in and listen. Why do you have to eavesdrop?" Yue Shui said helplessly.

“Mr. Shinjo, you didn’t have to throw a knife like that.” Conan finally managed to stand up. “Um, the person shooting arrows from the window, that’s you, right? You’re probably the only one here with that kind of archery skill.”

"When did you become so lazy?" Shinjo asked, somewhat speechless, looking at Conan's grinning face. "You're supposed to be a famous detective who rose to fame at a young age, and you're unwilling to even gather information?"

“Since you’ve already given the information to the county police, why not give us a copy as well? Didn’t you say that the murderer will kill two more people? That’s a matter of life and death…” Hattori reached out to pull out the wakizashi stuck in the wall, but he couldn’t pull it out.

He tried pulling it out a couple more times, but still couldn't get it to budge, and a slightly embarrassed expression appeared on his face.

"Didn't you say your kendo skills were pretty good? You even won awards?" Conan looked at Hattori with disdain. "You're not just bragging, are you?"

"Why don't you give it a try?" Hattori offered his seat.

"No, my body has turned into a child's now, and I'm much weaker," Conan said matter-of-factly. "If I turned into Shinichi Kudo, I could do it with one hand..."

Before Conan could finish speaking, Shinjo placed a blue capsule in front of him.

"This is……"

"The new drug has fewer side effects than the previous one," Shinjo said with a smile. "Why not give it a try? Didn't you say that if you were Shinichi Kudo, you could pull it out with one hand?"

"Kudo, you're not scared, are you..." Hattori said with a hint of schadenfreude.

"Here you go." Shinjo handed another katana to Hattori. "In remote and dangerous places, there will always be some rioters. Protect yourself and the people around you."

Hattori paused, then carefully took the katana, drew it from its sheath, and with just one glance, he knew it was a fine sword. It wouldn't be much inferior to, and might even be better than, the swords his mother treasured.

"I've given you the knife, what will you use?" Hattori quickly realized a very important question.

"This knife is enough, and my school of martial arts doesn't have such high requirements for knives."

"So, what school of martial arts does Mr. Shinjou practice?"

"Ashina School"

"I've never heard of this school of thought. I'll go back and ask my mom." Hattori scratched his head. "Maybe I'm just ignorant."

Just then, Jingguang walked out of the house with a look of utter disbelief. A child turning into an adult right in front of him was something that even he had heard of before, and it still seemed unbelievable.

"He, he..."

“That’s a drug developed by the organization. It was originally poison, but he survived by sheer luck and ended up like this.” Xincheng shrugged. “It’s a secret. If possible, it’s best not to even tell your brother.”

"Uncle Shinjo, you've already given Hattori a sword, shouldn't you give me something for self-defense too?" Conan asked with a smile.

"Here's a knife, do you even know how to use it? Don't tell me you didn't bring the gadgets Professor Agasa gave you." Shinjo rolled his eyes, then pulled out two vests from his travel bag, and handed them four steel plates, saying, "These are bulletproof vests and bulletproof power strips."

"Hey, hey, hey, is it really that serious?!" Hattori's expression changed instantly.

He had dealt with armed thugs before, but he had always done it alone. This time, Ye Ke came with him.

“As for it, I don’t even think it’s enough.” Shinichi shook his head. “Sometimes, those guys are more ruthless than gangsters. At least gangsters have some rules, but these guys don’t.”

Jingguang's expression was not good, as if he had thought of something bad.

Xincheng patted him on the shoulder and said softly, "No matter how bold those guys are, they wouldn't dare to lay a hand on the police, at least not before it's a fight to the death."

"It's alright, I believe in my brother's abilities," Jing Guangqiang said with a smile. "He's very capable."

“The more capable they are, the more dangerous they are,” Yue Shui said leisurely. “Those guys won’t target us outsiders for no reason. That would only escalate the situation, and then it wouldn’t be the county police investigating the case anymore. Unless, we uncover their secrets.”

Conan and Hattori gave an awkward laugh. If they were to solve this case, it would definitely touch upon their secrets.

Presumably, the new city took this into consideration, which is why it provided them with weapons and armor.

When they tried to press for more information, Xincheng simply closed the sliding door, as if refusing to see anyone. Remembering the throwing knife from earlier, they didn't dare to persist.

Chapter 256 "Inspector Megure's" Phone Call

"Hey Kudo, what comes to mind?" Hattori grabbed his hair with both hands. "I've never been to Nagano Prefecture before, so I don't really know much about this place."

"Should we go talk to the older man about this?" Shinichi Kudo asked.

"Uncle Mori?" Heiji looked at Kudo with some confusion.

Could it be that the medication has side effects, and this kid's gone mad? Kogoro Mouri is a complete idiot; his intelligence-gathering skills are utterly terrible, and his reasoning is utterly awful. Talking to him is probably just Kudo grasping at straws in his desperation.

"The Torada family invited the older man, not me," Kudo said with a smile. "How can I get involved in this case if I don't invite the older man?"

"You could have just looked for me and said I invited you." Hattori suddenly remembered something. "By the way, what about Conan if you're here?"

"Just say I sent him back," Kudo said with a hint of helplessness. "I really regret not coming clean with the old man; otherwise, it wouldn't have been so complicated."

Soon, the two of them arrived at the reception room.

Inside the meeting room, Kogoro Mori was asking Shigeji Torada about the details of the case. His notebook was filled with notes, clearly showing that this uncle Mori was using his skills from his time as a police officer.

Hattori's lips twitched. He finally understood why this uncle had such a great reputation. With such a professional demeanor and Kudo's accurate reasoning, it would be difficult for him not to become famous.

When Hattori entered, Kogoro Mouri didn't react much, but he was clearly stunned when he saw Kudo, though he didn't ask any further questions.

However, Kogoro's actions made Kudo and Ran feel uncomfortable, and they would rather Kogoro Mori get to the bottom of things.

"The two recent murder cases have something in common: the first person to discover them was someone close to the victim," Kogoro Mouri said, looking at the two photos of the victims on the table.

"Furthermore, for some reason, there was a dead centipede's corpse placed next to each body," Hattori said seriously.

"Kai Genjin, who fell to his death from a cliff along with his horse six years ago while practicing archery, should have died in an accident. It shouldn't be related to this incident, right?" Kogoro Mori observed Hattori's expression.

He lacked confidence in his own reasoning, and the case was simply too complex for him to draw any conclusions rashly.

“Ah, that should be the case, since there were no dead centipedes near the body.” Hattori turned to look at Torada Yui behind him. “Provided that Ms. Torada Yui’s testimony is true.”

“Although there were no centipede corpses next to the body, in terms of failing to help someone in distress, it might be the same as the first case involving my husband’s death,” Yui Torada said.

"Refuse to help someone in distress?" Hattori was puzzled; he hadn't heard of such a hidden aspect in the case before.

"Wasn't it an instant death from falling off a cliff?" Mori asked seriously.

“I told you, the body was emaciated. It might have been injured when it fell off the cliff, colliding with trees and rocks. The white gi was covered in blood, which had turned black from oxidation.” Yui Torada seemed to have thought of something, and said with a trembling voice, “But the cause of death was starvation.”

"Starve to death!" Kogoro Mouri was stunned, his face suddenly changing. This way of dying was too cruel.

"Yes, he fell off a cliff and broke his spine, making it impossible for him to stand. The place where he fell was dark and deserted. He was found almost a week later."

"It's been a week. Didn't the man and the horse fall together? Didn't you go looking for them?" Hattori asked, frowning.

The village is small, so it's easy to notice if someone is missing. If we mobilize people to search, we can find them in a few days at most; a week is far too long.

"Maybe they didn't look carefully enough," Kogoro Mouri said with a hint of disdain.

“How could we not have searched thoroughly!” Yui Torada’s voice suddenly rose an octave. “The police and villagers were all mobilized, working day and night. Because the whole village admires the character of Police Officer Kai.”

"Police officer?" Xiaolan asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Is he a policeman too?" Kazuha was also taken aback.

“Yes, he worked at the village police station. He had a strong sense of justice.” Yui Torata seemed to be describing a very kind senior. “He was kind and gentle. I have never heard anyone in the village say anything bad about him. So when we heard that he had gone missing, the whole village came out to help.”

"If that's the case, why haven't we found it after a whole week?" Mori asked, frowning.

"It's because of the fallen leaves," Shigeji Torada said.

"Fallen leaves?"

"Unfortunately, the body was covered by fallen leaves, and we didn't discover it until a week later when the wind blew the leaves away," said Shigeji Torada, bowing his head. "My brother fell on a rock with a good view, which is why he was easily discovered."

"So..." Before Kudo could ask, his phone rang. Seeing that the caller ID showed it was Inspector Megure, he could only say, "Excuse me, I need to take this call. It's Inspector Megure."

"Put it on speakerphone." Kogoro Mouri raised his eyelids slightly.

"Hey Kudo, I've done the research you were looking for," Inspector Megure said bluntly. "There are indeed underground casinos in Nagano, and they're famous for a particular game called 'Ryuhima'."

"Flowing arrow horse? Is that what you call mounted archery?" Shinichi Kudo was taken aback.

“Yes,” the voice on the other end of the phone said. “Usually, it’s a gamble on how many arrows will miss the target, but this project has been losing money badly lately and is almost a charity project.”

"A charity project?" Conan was taken aback.

“The previous archer was Kai Genjin, and the current one is Akira from the Ryūō family.” Torada Yui instantly realized the key point. “Both Kai and Ryūō are renowned sharpshooters. In the past few years, they have never missed a shot in the yūbō performances.”

“Not missing the target means that as long as you bet on all the targets, you’re guaranteed to make a profit.” Hattori took a deep breath. “Cutting off someone’s livelihood is like killing their parents. Their target is Ryuo Kei! Everything else is just a smokescreen.”

"Hey kid, what are you doing?" Kogoro Mouri placed his hand directly on Hattori's shoulder.

“Of course we’re going to protect that guy,” Hattori said matter-of-factly.

"Do you even know who your opponent is?" Kogoro Mori pressed Hattori's head down. "You brat, who can you protect? At least call those two prefectural police officers from earlier."

“Yes, yes, yes, Uncle is more experienced.” Hattori turned to Kazuha and said, “You just stay here and don’t go anywhere.”

Chapter 257 The Sharpshooter in the Woods

After Kogoro Mouri left, Hattori and Kudo followed behind him. Hattori seized an opportunity to sidle up to Kudo and asked, "Hey, Kudo, you've uncovered such important information, why aren't you saying anything?"

"How should I know!" Kudo rolled his eyes. "It must have been arranged by Uncle Shinjo, I just didn't ask him."

"Did he arrange this?" Hattori asked, frowning. "What exactly is he trying to do?"

"How would I know?" Kudo was also a little annoyed. "If you're curious, just ask him. He's over there."

Why aren't you going?

"I can not!"

On the other side

After receiving a phone call, Morofushi Takaaki frowned and said to Yamato Kansuke beside him, "Those detectives also have connections in the police force. My friend said that there are people within the police department who are also investigating what's going on here."