I am in Mihua, and the ladies all like me

Before he finished speaking, Tono Mizuki raised his hand and pointed into the distance, seeming to be hesitant to speak.

"That...that coat over there should belong to Hikawa-kun, but why does he seem to be...sitting in the snow?"

Chapter 477 So Uncle Maori is really hopeless

"Hey~ Hikawa-kun~"

Seeing his childhood friend sitting alone in the snow for some reason from afar, Tono Mizuki quickened his pace and hurried over.

Although the others didn't like this guy who spoke without restraint and made the atmosphere very awkward, now that the "tour guide" had run over, there seemed to be no other way but to go together, so they looked at each other and followed tacitly.

A distance of one or two hundred meters is not far. Led by Tono Mizuki, Serabelle and the others quickly arrived at the place where Hikawa Shogo was sitting on the ground.

Just as Toono Mizuki had seen before, this man, who occasionally revealed a hint of cunning under his gentle appearance, just sat quietly in the snow, his knees wrapped in thick windproof cotton pants sunk deep into the snow, and a series of footprints behind him led to the Swan Lake in the distance.

The strange thing is that Toono Mizuki almost ran over while shouting. Normally, a normal person would have some subconscious reaction when hearing someone calling his name, no matter how slow he is.

But this Bingchuan Shangwu seemed to be unaware of anything. He just knelt quietly with his head slightly lowered at 45 degrees, as if he was completely unaware of the arrival of everyone.

"Hey, Hikawa-kun? What are you doing? Don't joke around like that. You're not a kid anymore. What are you doing here alone?"

Tono Mizuki walked up to him alone, his eyes swept across the latter's hood but did not notice the piles of snow inside, and he patted his shoulder.

She really didn't use much force this time, it was just a simple greeting between ordinary friends, and it was not even close to the level of hurting someone.

However, it was this light tap that caused Bingchuan Shangwu, who was originally kneeling in the snow, to shake a little, and then his body slightly tilted. Then, without any warning, he slowly fell to the ground, raising a cloud of snow mist.

"Ice, Glacier-kun?! Sorry, are you okay? I didn't mean to..."

Toono Mizuki was startled, but still didn't think too much about it. He even took half a step forward as if he was preparing to help the other person up from the snow.

But Serabel behind her grabbed her in time.

"Wait a minute, your childhood sweetheart seems to..."

There was a brief hesitation in the voice, and the raised snow mist fell down and dissipated again, revealing a lifeless half face still floating on the snow.

"already dead."

"..."

"..."

Eh! ?

No one could have imagined that the glacier Shangwu they discovered while hiking across the snowy field by the lake had already turned into a cold corpse here.

This is a fact that is extremely difficult for some people to accept, but it is also a fact that must be accepted.

Kogoro Mori, who once worked as a criminal policeman in the Metropolitan Police Department, took the initiative to undertake the task of preliminary identification.

After feeling his pulse, sniffing his breath, and observing the state of his pupils, he finally shook his head silently.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do. This isn't something we could have solved if we had come a few minutes earlier. He could have been dead here for more than a few hours."

"how so……"

Toono Mizuki covered his mouth with his hands in disbelief.

After all, he was a childhood playmate. No matter how rude and annoying he was, it was not something that was completely intolerable. Especially when you were looking at the body of your childhood playmate lying in front of you through the filter of childhood memories, it was really desolate.

"We all know Bingchuan-Jun has had a bad heart since he was a child, but to find him in a place like this..."

"Speaking of which, I'm suddenly curious about something."

Serabelle interrupted the crying and interjected.

"If he really died here because of a heart attack in the extreme cold, then when did he come here?"

"Needless to say, it was a few hours ago..."

Kogoro Mori, who had already mentioned the time of death once, was very unhappy that his conclusion was being questioned in this way.

Then he was glanced at by Serabelle with a look of concern for the mentally retarded.

"You didn't understand what I meant. What I wanted to say is that the reason why we assume that Mr. Glacier died accidentally is because there was only a set of footprints behind him, and these footprints were indeed from the snow boots on Mr. Glacier's feet, but——"

Serabelle emphasized the last word "but" and pointed to the footprints that were still clearly visible in the snow and the half-pound of snow accumulated in the hood of Glacier Shangwu's windbreaker.

"If he really walked here and suddenly had a heart attack and died here for several hours, which caused the hood to be filled with snow, then why are the footprints on the ground so clear?"

"That's easy, because he was walking over here without a hat on."

Kogoro Maori disagreed.

"The hat was hanging behind me, so a lot of snow accumulated along the way. As for the footprints, it's just that the snow stopped when I got here. If you don't believe me, go to the farther side of the footprints and take a look. They are definitely getting lighter and lighter."

It's a completely taken-for-granted tone...

Serabelle took a deep breath and decisively gave up the idea of ​​continuing to explain to him.

He can even say such nonsense as not wearing a hat. The IQ of this alcoholic and lecherous uncle is really hopeless.

You have to know that it is only ten o'clock in the morning now. A few hours ago it was about six or seven o'clock in the morning. In addition, the daytime is short in the mountains. It was the end of the cold night and the sun had not yet risen. It was the coldest time of the day, at least minus ten degrees Celsius.

Even if you are not a person who has had heart disease since childhood, if you go out in the early morning in a temperature of minus ten degrees Celsius without wearing a hat or ear clips, will your ears still be protected?

And while you are saying this, could you please take off your hat and ear clips?

Serabelle thought to herself that she was too exhausted to complain.

On the other side, Conan, who listened to Kogoro Mouri's words and actually ran to see the footprints, ran back and pulled Mizuki Toono to ask.

"Ms. Mizuki, I saw the footprints go to the other side after reaching Swan Lake. Is there anything over there?"

"there……"

Toono Mizuki looked in the direction Conan pointed, thought about it carefully and said with certainty.

"That's where Muto-kun lives."

"Does Mr. Muto have any conflicts with Mr. Hikawa?" Conan asked.

"Muto, he..."

Tono Mizuki seemed to want to say something but stopped himself.

At this time, Serabelle had already searched all the pockets of the corpse, stood up and slowly exhaled a puff of white mist.

"The stun gun on him is gone."

"Taser?"

Kogoro Mouri was still feeling unhappy about Serabelle's questioning of him just now, and he immediately said with disdain when he heard this.

"What's so strange about this? It's just left at the hotel. Is there any need to carry something like that with you?"

"No, that's what Mr. Hikawa said himself. He said he would carry a stun gun with him for self-defense!"

This time it was Conan who answered him and added another sentence.

“I saw it fall out of his pocket with my own eyes at the visitor centre in the village.”

"Uh……"

Kogoro Mori was speechless now.

After dealing with him, Conan turned around and looked at Serabel tacitly, with the same answer flashing in their eyes.

There is no doubt that this was not an accidental death at all.

This was pure homicide.

Chapter 478 The Ripper is targeting you

Since someone has died, the police must intervene.

However, since it snowed heavily last night, even though snowplows had been clearing the mountain roads near Kitanosawa Village since early morning, the roads in the suburbs of Niigata Prefecture were still blocked by snow.

So after receiving the alarm call, it took the Niigata Prefecture police a full three hours to reach Kitanosawa Village, and it was already past one in the afternoon when they arrived.

As expected, it was the familiar process. All cases started with asking for proof of absence.

As it was the village founding celebration and snow festival, tourists could be seen everywhere in Kitanozawa Village. It would be inappropriate to have a conversation anywhere with the police present, so the final venue for the conversation was chosen to be the hotel restaurant.

After all, it had been a while since lunch, and everyone was playing outside now, so it was the time when there were the least people in the restaurant.

So the two tables were put together, the chairs were arranged, and the conversation began.

The policeman assigned from the Shindanxia County Police Station to handle the case was a police captain who looked quite innocent. He was followed by two police officers who looked like his subordinates. There was a unique charm in his voice that made people feel drowsy.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Mr. Hikawa's body has been sent to the University Hospital for a detailed investigation by the medical examiner."

As soon as Inspector Qingzhen finished speaking, a police officer behind him immediately opened the notebook and added.

"It is currently preliminarily determined that Mr. Hikawa's cause of death was a heart attack, but whether it was an accidental attack or deliberate, a detailed examination and autopsy are needed to draw a conclusion."

"Someone else did it?"

Before the police officer could finish his words, Takehiko Muto, who was sitting opposite Inspector Qingzhen, could not help but exclaim in surprise.

"Does that mean that Bingchuan might have been killed by someone?"

"It's just a possibility, but we can't tell for sure at this point."

Inspector Qingzhen still spoke slowly.

Then he turned to Yamao Keisuke, who was also one of the three suspects.

"First, Mr. Yamao, may I ask what you were doing between 5 and 7 this morning?"

"Five to seven? That means sleeping, of course."

Yamao Keisuke looked as if it was a matter of course.

"What else can I do at this hour if I don't sleep?"

"So you were alone, and there was no one else who could provide an alibi for you?"

"……Yes."

"I see. Next up is Miss Tachihara."

Inspector Qingzhen nodded slightly, then turned to Tachihara Fuyumi.

"Yeah." Tachihara Fuyumi responded without thinking, "I got up at 6:30 in the morning and left for Murakami Clinic at 7 o'clock."

"What to do?"

"work."

"……Understood."

Realizing that he had just asked a stupid question like "Master, what do you do?", Inspector Qingzhen was silent for a moment, then turned his head to look at the last person, Takehiko Muto, at a speed that was completely inconsistent with his previous performance.

"Finally, Mr. Muto, based on the footprints left by the deceased at the scene, it seems that the deceased walked from your residence along Swan Lake to the snowy plain. Can you tell me why the deceased came to you?"

"How should I know..." Muto Takehiko retorted unhappily, "Besides, I didn't even know he was here, because I wasn't home at the time you mentioned. I was working overnight in a studio near the reservoir and slept there at night. I didn't go home at all."

"Is a man?"

"Yes, it's just me."

"understood."

Since from a certain perspective this was the same answer as Yamao Keisuke's previous one, Inspector Qingzhen did not repeat things like there was no alibi.

Logically speaking, the preliminary understanding would have basically ended here, but just as Inspector Qingzhen put away his notebook and prepared to get up, Yamao Keisuke spoke.

"By the way, Mutou, you don't really know why Hikawa is looking for you, do you?"

"……What's the meaning?"

Muto Takehiko frowned slightly.

"It's nothing, just the literal meaning." Yamao Keisuke snorted, "After all, you hate Hikawa's family who agreed to move back then, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have to go out and live independently in the mountains when even your parents live here in New North Ze Village... What, do you think what I said is wrong?"

Eh?

As soon as these words came out, Conan's ears moved alertly.

He had come to Kitanosawa Village to investigate the time of the explosion against Mayor Asakura, and wanted to find the person who had insisted on opposing the relocation of the village until the end.

But he never expected that this person was actually Takehiko Muto.