Conan: The Romantic Daily Life of a Ghost Detective

"Huh? Ran, are you hurt? Did that slit-mouthed woman do this? Damn it, I will never forgive her!" Suzuki Sonoko finally realized what was happening, and she instantly switched from a state of fear to a state of rage.

It seems that even if a monster like the Slit-Mouthed Woman dares to harm Ran, Sonoko Suzuki will not hesitate to seek revenge.

What an admirable and sincere friendship!

However, I hope Xiaolan won't reveal the truth, otherwise he might be in danger of being thrown into Tokyo Bay to feed the fish, Wen Shui thought to himself.

"No, I bumped into it by accident just now," Xiaolan explained, seemingly not wanting to cause any unnecessary misunderstanding.

Wen Shui then turned her gaze to Ai Haibara. Unexpectedly, Ai was quite observant. After noticing the bruises on Ran's face, she didn't make a fuss but instead took out a beverage bottle to cover them up.

Although this woman appears cold on the outside, she is actually a gentle and considerate person.

But what's with that look you gave me like I'm trash? I didn't make Xiaolan kneel on the ground playing some weird game in the quiet of the night in the park, Wen Shui thought to herself.

Ai Haibara ignored the look of warmth in Wen Shui's eyes as she tried to explain.

She walked up to the hanging corpse, circled the single pole once, and then analyzed:

"The deceased was probably between 17 and 20 years old. He had been dead for about 5 to 7 hours. Judging from the ligature marks on his wrists and the extent of subcutaneous bleeding, he was likely tied up and hung here after death."

Although the injuries on the deceased's face looked gruesome, I suspect they weren't the fatal wounds.

Wen Shui looked at Ai Haibara in surprise.

He himself does not currently have the skills to perform autopsies, and originally thought that he would have to wait for the Metropolitan Police Department to arrive to find out the time of death of the body, but he forgot that he had a genius scientist by his side.

Although it's only a preliminary assessment, it's already much better than his.

Ran and Sonoko also looked at Ai Haibara with incredulous eyes, seemingly unable to understand how she could know so much.

Ai Haibara suddenly smiled shyly: "Oh dear, I forgot to tell you, when I was in the European Sherlock Holmes fan club, there was a forensic doctor who would often bring us photos of corpses at different stages and have us play an analysis game."

Your explanation is too far-fetched, but you're quite good at acting cute, Wen Shui thought to herself.

Ran and Sonoko Suzuki then realized that they were key members of the "Suzuran Detective Club." A hint of embarrassment flashed across their faces, and then, suppressing their fear and nausea, they walked up to the corpse.

“They look like students,” Sonoko Suzuki said.

"Judging from the brand of the sports jacket, the deceased's family was not well-off," Xiaolan said.

The two gave their opinions.

However, from a professional standpoint, it can only barely be described as "participation is the most important thing".

Wen Shui felt that this was not enough and that he needed to find more clues. He prepared to use his [Insight] skill to carefully search the scene, and then he suddenly thought of something.

"Xiao Lan, call the police first!" Wen Shui said.

Xiaolan was examining the corpse with fear when she was startled by the noise. She instinctively wanted to rush into Wenshui's arms, but when she reached halfway, she suddenly realized that there was someone else next to her.

No, no, even if there's no one around, you shouldn't jump into someone else's arms, right?

Xiaolan felt the redness and swelling on her cheek, which had just been relieved by the ice pack, suddenly become burning hot again. She quickly suppressed her embarrassment, used her other hand to find her phone, and dialed the Metropolitan Police Department.

Wen Shui then used her detective skills to investigate the area around the crime scene.

He soon discovered a series of faint shoe prints.

The shoe print started some distance from the hanging corpse and was only the size of a fingernail, extending towards the park entrance, so no one had noticed it before.

Such a small shoe print makes it seem like someone stepped on the blood that had splattered far away from the deceased and accidentally left it behind.

Wen Shui was overjoyed, because there was a high probability that the footprint was left by the murderer.

If a normal person were standing in this position, it would be impossible for them not to see the body, and since no one has called the police yet, the owner of this shoe print is highly suspicious.

Although Wen Shui wasn't sure if the footprints were left by the Slit-Mouthed Woman at the crime scene, since the Slit-Mouthed Woman in urban legends isn't a spirit-type monster.

But at least it provides another direction for the investigation.

Even if the Metropolitan Police Department in the Conan world is incompetent, with clues like shoe prints, they can eventually find a suspect matching the description by slowly investigating.

Wen Shui followed the path of the footprints, trying to see where the other person had left the park.

Ai Haibara took photos of the footprints with a portable camera from behind, while Ran was already waiting at the park entrance to give directions to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Everyone in the Lily of the Valley Detective Club got busy.

Only Sonoko Suzuki followed behind Nukumizu, constantly saying things like, "Amazing," "I see," and "You're smarter than I thought..."

Wen Shui followed the footprints for a short distance, then was surprised to find that the footprints disappeared near the children's slide in the middle of the park.

No other traces of blood were found nearby.

Wen Shui turned her gaze to the children's slide in front of her. Like most slides in parks, the slide was mainly made of three colors: purple, bright yellow, and brown.

The slide is shaped like a fully enclosed tube, and the exit is marked with a cute little bear's face.

In other words, riding the slide feels like sliding out of a bear's mouth, which should be very popular with children.

However, under the influence of the solemn atmosphere at the murder scene, the cute smile on the little bear's face turned somewhat ferocious and terrifying.

Wen Shui squatted down and peered into the slide tube.

It was pitch black, but you could smell a faint odor of blood.

Ai Haibara then handed him a flashlight, and Warm Water turned it on and looked into the slide pipe again.

Before my eyes appeared a pair of small red leather shoes, with dark red bloodstains on the soles.

Looking further up, it looks like a girl's fair calf; someone must be stuck in the slide tube.

Wen Shui's heart sank.

Could there be a second body?

Wen Shui held the flashlight in his mouth, reached in and grabbed the ankle above the little leather shoe, and slowly pulled, quickly pulling a girl out of the slide tube.

The girl looked much younger than them, with fair skin. Her eyes were closed, but judging from her faint breathing, she was still alive.

She was wearing a floral dress and holding a plush teddy bear in her arms.

In his other hand he held a sharp kitchen knife.

Wen Shui and Haibara Ai exchanged a glance. A bold guess suddenly came to his mind. He first handed the girl over to Haibara Ai to take care of, and then asked Suzuki Sonoko to call an ambulance.

Finally, he took out his phone and dialed Sato Miwako's number.

.

Miwako Sato and her partner Wataru Takagi are conducting a more in-depth investigation into the witnesses of yesterday's "Slit-Mouthed Woman Murder Case".

The two had just come out of the house of a witness who had been passing by near the crime scene.

The male head of the household said he was just passing by the crime scene on his way home from work and didn't see anyone suspicious. However, the other person took a long time to think when answering questions and even got simple things like "How's the weather?" or "How's the traffic?" wrong.

Miwako Sato and Wataru Takagi immediately began to interrogate the suspect more rigorously.

At the same time, colleagues at the police station were instructed to investigate the person's whereabouts that day and to verify with witnesses from that time.

After working for more than two hours, it turned out that this person had a perfect alibi, with more than one person able to vouch for him.

In other words, this man might just be a careless person.

This situation is actually quite common; after all, you can't expect everyone to have the keen intuition of a detective.

It's perfectly normal for ordinary people, especially middle-aged office workers who work overtime and stay up late, to selectively forget things that don't concern them under the pressure of long hours of intense work and life.

"I'm so sorry to bother you!"

Miwako Sato and Wataru Takagi apologized to the other party again at the door.

The man in pajamas gripped the doorknob, his expression displeased: "I'm fine with it, but please, you guys should try a little harder. Someone's already been murdered, and my wife and daughter haven't dared to go out at night lately."

"I'm very sorry, we will bring the culprit to justice as soon as possible." Takagi Wataru lowered his head even further.

The man closed the door with a cold face, and the empty apartment corridor suddenly became quiet, with the motion-sensor lights above his head flashing.

Takagi Wataru looked dejected: "I thought we had found the culprit, but it turns out it was all for nothing."

"It wasn't a complete waste of time; at least we narrowed down the scope a bit, didn't we?"

Miwako Sato looked up at the starry night sky: "If it were that easy, we wouldn't still be searching for the murderer. But I have a feeling that this case is definitely not as simple as it seems on the surface."

"Sato-senpai, do you think it might really be the Slit-Mouthed Woman?" Officer Takagi suddenly asked.

Miwako Sato glanced at Detective Takagi, then gave him a hard tap on the head: "You're a detective, Takagi, how could you say something like that? If those reporters hear this, the Metropolitan Police Department will lose all its prestige."

"I was just saying."

Officer Takagi covered his head, thinking that Sato-senpai was good in every way, and beautiful too, but sometimes she could be a bit violent.

But then again, she must have been very anxious, right?

Inspector Megure returned from headquarters this time and said that the higher-ups were already considering getting the Japanese Public Security Bureau involved, and he heard that they had even contacted FBI crime experts.

In short, the Metropolitan Police Department is under a lot of pressure right now, and both the public and the higher-ups are very dissatisfied with the progress of their investigations.

These pressures, layer upon layer, ultimately weighed down on these ordinary criminal police officers.

“Let’s go investigate the last one, then we’ll go back to the police station for a meeting,” Sato Miwako interrupted Takagi’s reverie.

Officer Takagi nodded and was about to go downstairs when Sato Miwako's phone suddenly rang.

Takagi noticed that she glanced at her phone screen and immediately a look of delight appeared on her face.

Is he my boyfriend? Or someone I met on a blind date recently?

Takagi Wataru felt a little uneasy.

"What?!" Miwako exclaimed. "You said you discovered the scene of the Slit-Mouthed Woman's murder... Um, go on... What? You also found a little girl who looks like Kazama Aoi, send me the photo..."

Sato Miwako gave Takagi a wink, then ran downstairs to the parking lot while still on the phone.

By the time she got into the car, she had just finished her call with Wen Shui.

"Has a case occurred?" Officer Takagi asked from the passenger seat.

"Yeah, I didn't expect that kid to actually surprise me in Bunkyo Ward this time. I really have to treat him to something nice this time." Sato Miwako was full of energy, like a car that had been filled with gas.

The fact that the killer committed the crime a second time also made Detective Takagi a little excited.

Furthermore, based on the conversation between Sato Miwako and the other party, it can be basically confirmed that the person on the other end of the phone should be Sato Miwako's accomplice.

However, judging from the voice, it seems to be a young man, and if he is just an ordinary collaborator, is it necessary to personally reward him?

Sato Miwako fastened her seatbelt: "Takagi, take out the patrol light."