Conan, I'm an actor

After receiving treatment, Himuro Reiji has woken up, but he has gone mad and is shouting everywhere that he killed someone and wants to go to prison.

This unusual behavior was reported to Inspector Megure by the accompanying police officer. Inspector Megure then began to investigate based on the few words revealed by Himuro, and soon found a missing bank security guard.

However, there is currently no conclusive evidence that Himuro Reiji is the murderer of the bank guard, as he is currently in a state of mental instability, so his testimony cannot be fully accepted.

Just when he was at his wit's end, Kogoro Mouri called.

"Hey Mori, what's up with calling me after all this?" Inspector Megure said, yawning. "I'm super busy right now. That assassin who was targeting Himuro has struck again. This time he chopped off one of Himuro's arms. He was taken to the hospital, but they said they couldn't take him."

"What did you say?" Kogoro Mouri exclaimed in surprise. "That guy attacked again! Didn't he say he would attack tomorrow?"

“It’s past 3 a.m.! He attacked Reiji Himuro right after midnight, so he’s keeping his word.” Megure said helplessly, “Himuro is now saying he killed a bank guard, and Numao is very likely an accomplice.”

“I see, that explains it. Himuro must have used this incident to threaten Numao. Numao felt threatened and ran up the stairs, eventually falling into his trap.” Kogoro Mouri nodded.

"Wait, what trap? Wasn't that an accident?" Inspector Megure exclaimed in surprise.

"We found traces of oxidation-reduction reaction at the broken ends of the railings at the site of the fall in Numao," Mori said, looking at the photos in his hand. "Someone used strong acid to further corrode the broken ends of the railings, so the railings would have broken under any slight force."

“But Numao went upstairs by himself. When Numao died, Himuro was confronting you inside Kitabuki Department Store,” Megure said seriously. “This kind of alibi cannot be overturned by reasoning.”

Chapter 328 The Dead in Prison

"The patrolman said that Numao was on the phone when he ran away. I think the person on the phone with Numao at that time must have been Himuro."

"Himuro's phone has been checked, and he did not make any calls to Numao."

"He probably has two cell phones, and he hasn't had time to deal with the other one yet," Kogoro Mouri said seriously. "Tomorrow, when Hokubu Department Store opens, we'll check the surveillance footage to see where he went around that time. By the way, let's not talk about that. What's the deal with that security guard?"

“The guards,” Megure said with a strange expression, “Himuro was so frightened by that assassin that he developed some mental issues. Subconsciously, he thinks the prison is safe. I think he might want to confess to some of his crimes in exchange for a chance to go to prison.”

"So what's the situation now?"

“We did find the guard’s identity information, but Himuro is currently in a state of mental instability, so his testimony cannot be trusted. So much time has passed since the case, it’s difficult to gather evidence again, so…”

"Then let's just ignore him."

"Ignore him? That won't do!" Megure said seriously. "He's already reported it to the police. If we don't do anything, it could lead to a very serious accident."

"Isn't he the one who prefers to release people without sufficient evidence? Just let him go."

"You mean you want him to find the evidence of his own murder and put himself in jail? Isn't that a bit... unethical?"

“Evil people will be punished by evil people, and for him now, prison is not a punishment, but a sanctuary.” Kogoro Mouri snorted. “I say, Inspector Megure, put away your misplaced sympathy for a guy like him.”

"I understand, I will do as you say." Inspector Megure on the other end of the phone seemed to have made a very difficult decision.

After hanging up the phone, Mori looked at Conan not far away. Conan was deep in thought, as if something was troubling him.

"Shinichi, what are you thinking about?" Ran asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Uncle, you're a big celebrity now, right?" Conan stared at Kogoro Mouri and suddenly blurted out this sentence.

"Ah, thanks to you, I'm now the famous 'Sleeping Kogoro'." Uncle Mori opened a can of beer.

"That's why I found it strange. There were quite a few people there at the time," Conan said, stroking his chin. "Many of them took photos. Although they were interrupted, the photos they took on the spot were enough."

"What's enough?"

"Making up rumors, like saying Detective Kogoro Mouri beats someone up." Conan took out his phone. "Isn't that how a lot of fake news on the trending topics comes about? One picture to start, and one mouth to spread rumors."

"That's because I'm an upright person! Netizens must think I'm arresting criminals!" Kogoro Mouri said proudly.

“Netizens aren’t that rational. If you stir things up even a little, a lot of people will attack Uncle,” Conan said, looking at the search interface on his phone. “And this is also part of Himuro’s plan. I think his people are among those taking photos at the scene. His goal is to ruin Uncle’s reputation.”

"It was just a conspiracy! It didn't succeed, did it? It's just that good triumphs over evil. What's so strange about that?"

"No, to be precise, those news stories that stirred up controversy were either banned or had their popularity reduced shortly after they came out." Conan fiddled with his phone for a while.

He quickly found several photos of Kogoro Mouri and Reiji Himuro arguing, but these photos had extremely low engagement, and the comments posted were mostly neutral with no clear target.

"This is……"

"I think this is the result of screening. Someone is using their influence to suppress the heat of this matter and prevent my uncle from being attacked. This person is probably the same group that attacked Himuro that day."

"How is this possible? Why would he help me?"

"We don't know. We don't even know who the other party is, so how would we know why they would help us?"

"However, we can determine the other party's identity by who has this ability. Who among Uncle Mori's acquaintances has the ability to hire gunmen and suppress public opinion on online platforms?"

Kogoro Mouri almost instantly thought of his old classmate, but he felt that his old classmate wouldn't do something so crazy, so he chose to keep quiet.

A week passed in the blink of an eye. During this week, Himuro remained unharmed, quietly staying in the hospital. He even vehemently denied his previous statements during his mental breakdown and remained silent.

Shiratori watched Himuro Reiji's retreating figure, scratching his hair, and said with some distress, "Are we just going to let him go like this?"

"What other options do you have besides letting him go?" Inspector Megure shook his head helplessly. "The evidence we have now is simply not enough to convict him."

However, just as Reiji Himuro stepped out of the hospital, his phone rang. Just as he was about to check who was calling him, another gunshot rang out.

This time it was his left knee; the powerful impact of the bullet broke his leg.

Himuro Reiji didn't wail at this moment; his face was filled with fear because the text message on his phone read: "I'll collect some interest from you first."

That guy's goal wasn't to kill him, but to slowly torture him. Next time, would it be his left hand, or his other leg? Thinking of this, he immediately scrambled to his feet inside the hospital and said to Inspector Megure, "Save me! I killed Numao, and I killed that guard too. I have evidence."

Megure ignored him and immediately began arranging for people to search for the possible gunman. Seeing that Megure was ignoring him, Himuro, driven by malice, grabbed Megure and they became entangled in a struggle.

The killer must be a paranoid madman like himself. That text message confirmed one thing for him—the shot a week ago was not an accident; the other party deliberately broke his hand.

So, according to the assassin's plan, he should have tormented himself until he went insane, rather than killing himself directly.

When he and Megure were entangled, that guy would definitely not fire a shot.

Megure was caught off guard by Himuro's sudden outburst, not only failing to make any arrangements in time but also nearly losing his hat in the process. Fortunately, Chiba and Takagi behind him were quick enough to stop the madman immediately.

"We'll talk about your matter later!" Megure said with a dark face. "If the situation is true, even if you don't want to go to jail, we'll still send you there."

Upon hearing this, Himuro instantly cleared his head and wanted to slap himself twice, wondering what stupid thing he had done.

But now he has no way back; going to prison is better than being tortured to death outside.

A dozen minutes later

When Takagi and Chiba arrived with their men, the rooftop of the building was deserted. There was a shell casing on the edge of the building, clearly left by the gunman.

"This looks like a 12.7mm bullet. No wonder it broke Himuro's leg," Chiba said with a hint of helplessness. "That guy is really unlucky to have messed with such a jinx."

Meanwhile, Himuro had already started looking for a lawyer for himself via his mobile phone. However, when he opened his phone, he discovered that all his savings had disappeared; the money had all been transferred away in batches.

Moreover, the house he used to hide his money had also been mortgaged, and the whereabouts of the loan were unknown.

“It’s less than 3 million yen in total. Is this guy really a bank robber?” Karen raised her doubts.

“3 million yen is a lot. This is what’s left after recovering the stolen money.” Shinjo rolled his eyes. “Now we don’t know how much cash is left in that guy’s house. We’ll leave this to Stout and have him take everything out of there.”

“Fine, but you’d better go to the scene yourself.” Karen said with a hint of helplessness. “Who knows when Himuro will reveal this? If he does, we won’t get any of the cash in the house.”

"Okay, okay." Shinjo started the car and drove towards the house where the ice shop was located.

When he arrived at the scene, he saw Stout and Aquavit carrying four money boxes onto the car. Each of these money boxes could hold about 2 million yen, and there were already four such money boxes on the car.

Seeing Xincheng arrive, the two men breathed a sigh of relief, indicating that there were still more than thirty such money boxes inside, and their car simply couldn't hold them all.

Xincheng's lips twitched slightly. "Karen, what's with these money boxes? Wasn't he a bank robber? Wasn't the stolen money recovered? Why is there still so much money? Are those guys at the bank idiots?"

“They’re not idiots, on the contrary, they’re very smart,” Karen said with a hint of helplessness. “This money belongs to SMJT and Mitsui Banks. These two banks have a lot of bad debts, and this is part of those bad debts. I don’t know the specifics of how it was done, but the money is absolutely clean, and these two banks won’t investigate.”

They had only moved halfway when the Metropolitan Police Department officers appeared in the vicinity of the block, and their destination was right here; Himuro was also in the car.

Faced with this situation, Xincheng had no choice but to leave with his men, and put the remaining money boxes back in their original places.

A dozen minutes later

When Himuro Reiji, in his wheelchair, returned home, he saw the safe that had been pried open and more than half of his wealth missing. He felt as if he had been hit by a heavy hammer, and was in a daze.

When Inspector saw so many money boxes, especially the bundles of brand-new yen inside, he knew things were going to get messed up, like he'd stirred up a hornet's nest.

Three days later, the Mouri Detective Agency

"What did you say? Himuro is dead? Isn't he in prison?"

"It wasn't done by a gunman." Inspector Megure opened his mouth, but finally managed to say, "His wounds worsened, and he died of illness."

You're kidding me!

"Reiji Himuro died of illness, and that can only be the case." Inspector Megure coughed. "We found billions of yen in Himuro's house. This money wasn't on the books. I think you understand what I mean."

"I understand, but about Numao..."

"He confessed before he died that he killed Numao. Numao was also his accomplice; they killed a guard."

"Is that so..." Kogoro Mouri sighed.

"Let's not investigate this case anymore. It won't do anyone any good." Inspector Megure seemed to sense his old friend's frustration. "From now on, just take on some ordinary cases. You used to do them quite well, catching people having affairs and stuff."

"I'm a famous detective now, Kogoro Mouri! And you're asking me to catch someone having an affair?!"

"Don't be so concerned about your image. You're making money, aren't you ashamed?"

"Megure, I'm planning to close the Mouri Detective Agency soon," Kogoro Mouri suddenly said.

"Hey! Why close down a perfectly good agency?"

"Conan's friends, those little brats, are causing a lot of trouble if they come looking for him."

"No matter what, you don't need to close the agency, hey!"

Goodbye, bye.

Kogoro Mouri hung up the phone immediately, took a deep drag on his cigarette, and said he had to meet someone else that night to ask about the online rumors and whether he was the one who did it.

The base on Kyurojima Island

Stout sniffed the banknotes in his hand. "Banknotes still smell good."

“The boss pays you a lot of money every month, right?” Aquawit rolled his eyes. “Cash is nice, but it’s a hassle to use. And I heard that future salaries will also be paid in cash.”

“You wouldn’t understand this feeling; the numbers for cash and mobile payments are different,” Stout said with a smile.

"Fine, stubborn Englishman."

“At least my salary has increased, by about 10% compared to before.” Lei stretched. “In a few months, maybe we’ll be able to buy a house in Tokyo.”

"Are you really going to buy real estate?" Stout and Aquawit asked the question almost simultaneously.