Conan Rick's Investigator

After a few seconds, he wilted.

……

Daito Mikiyasu was brought back to the villa and interrogated, and he quickly admitted that he was the murderer.

"Actually, I used to be the housekeeper of the mayor's family in Jincheng Town. I killed them both just to avenge Jiazi."

Qin Zhibo reacted for a moment and remembered that "Jia Zi" was Taketomi Masao's cousin.

Taketomi Masao also reacted at this time and asked in surprise: "Are you my cousin's fiancé?"

"Yes..." Daito Mikiyako nodded solemnly. "I was actually there when the mayor's house was robbed that night. They had already taken what they wanted, but the captain shot and killed Yoshiko."

"To avenge Jiazi, I've been trying to track down this gang of robbers for years. A year ago, I accidentally learned that a man had starved to death on this island and had left behind a string of secret codes."

"I spent six months deciphering the code and found the golden screen hidden on the island. I then used it as bait to lure other bandits over..."

"It all went just as I planned. As soon as I gave the hint about 'Urashima Taro' on shore, someone went looking for the golden screen."

"But I didn't expect that the first person to come to me would be you, Mr. Detective. Luckily, I held back and didn't take action, otherwise my entire revenge plan would have been in vain..."

"Mr. Qin, you probably found that place after hearing my hint, right?"

Faced with Daito Mikiyasu's question, Qin Zhibo shook his head honestly.

"No, that code is very simple. I can crack it at a glance without any hints."

It took Daito Mikiyasu half a year to crack the code: "..."

Conan, who spent a long time trying to crack the code, said: "..."

You are amazing, you are arrogant!

……

Next, Daito Mikiyasu explained why there was an extra wet spot on the beach where Taira Yinjiang was lying than when the tide was at its highest. It turned out that it was because the captain was sailing in the nearby waters looking for treasure, and the ship caused waves.

The bandits back then included Pingliang Yinjiang, the captain, the starving man, and...

"That should be you, right?"

Kume Yoshitsugu, who was sitting opposite, was shocked and did not dare to face Daito Mikiyasu's gaze.

As for why Miss Taira and the Captain were treated differently, it wasn't because of their gender, but...

"When I was strangling her with a rope, she called out the nickname she gave me as a child. That's when I realized she was Miss Xiaodu who was kidnapped five years ago."

"After I killed her, I realized that the kidnapping that year was staged by Miss Xiaodu herself. It was just a test to see if the mayor had any fatherly love for her."

"Now that I think about it, maybe the mayor knew that the robbery incident was related to Miss Xiaodu, so he advised me not to pursue the matter..."

Daito Kanhiko lowered his head, but Qin Zhibo caught a big melon.

Miss Xiaodu is the female bandit that Shimabukuro Keikazu encountered back then. She also has the "mermaid disease".

Over the years, she has changed her name and even had plastic surgery, but the characteristic of "mermaid disease" is that she has to take medication all the time.

In that case, she should have the targeted drugs necessary to maintain her human form in her luggage.

……

After dawn, Qin Zhibo, led by Daito Kanhiko, came to the sea where he had abandoned everyone's luggage.

During the day, Qin Zhibo is less affected by the sea water and can basically move freely.

The diving suit was still on the boat, so Qin Zhibo used his newly acquired diving skills to dive into the water to retrieve the luggage.

Conan, standing on the dry shore, was a little surprised that Qin Zhibo even had such an unconventional skill as diving.

When I was in Hawaii, I was planning to find a diving instructor to learn from, but because the vacation was not long enough and there were too many skills to learn, I temporarily gave up diving, which is not used very often.

It seems that more skills are better than less...

Chapter 473: There are "Deep Divers" in the Sea

Below the sea level, Qin Zhibo, wearing the diving suit and diving equipment left by the captain, gently flicked his fins and slowly dived.

Diving is different from ordinary swimming. Swimming mainly involves activities on the water surface, and the speed can be very fast, even becoming a competitive sport.

But below the sea surface, issues such as the human body's ability to withstand water pressure, the added weight of carrying equipment, and experience with scuba diving are involved.

In addition, the visibility on the seabed is extremely low and the environment is complex. Various reefs, corals, and fish will block the view, which can easily cause emergencies.

Therefore, before diving, you generally need to take an OW diving course, and only after passing it can you wear equipment to perform diving operations in open waters.

Of course, if you only know how to swim, it’s okay to dive in as a novice.

After all, some people just rely on their protagonist halo and dare to rush forward regardless of everything...

……

As he dived deeper and deeper, Qin Zhibo saw the reefs on the seabed through the diving light on his head.

Within the range of light, the corals on the reef are not as colorful as in some marine promotional films, but a uniform gray-green color.

They stand out like strips of tumors, which is not very friendly to people with trypophobia.

In order to allow his lungs to adapt to the first dive and to facilitate recording of the diving depth, Qin Zhibo has been diving at a constant speed, so now he can roughly calculate that his depth is about 32m.

The diving depth of ordinary people without equipment is generally 10m. Professionally trained divers can reach more than 20m. Due to the existence of "decompression sickness", diving from 30m is considered deep diving.

So strictly speaking, Qin Zhibo can now be considered a "deep diver".

At this depth, Qin Zhibo felt his ears buzzing and his chest stuffy. Every time he swam a meter, he could feel the fatigue transmitted from his limbs to his brain.

He hadn't eaten anything since yesterday noon, which resulted in him having very low physical strength. Just the five-minute dive consumed more than a third of his energy.

If you can't find it, you can only go back...

Although it was daytime, Qin Zhibo didn't dare to shift his vision to the area outside the headlights, for fear that he would notice the blue-black sea water and suffer the same symptoms as at night.

If you get sick here, it would be a true fear of the deep sea.

Just as Qin Zhibo passed by one identical gray-green reef after another and was about to go home as his strength rapidly declined, something different caught his attention.

It was an anchor stuck in a crevice in the coral.

Qin Zhibo dragged his obviously tired body to the anchor and observed it with the light of his headlamp.

Judging from the iron luster that has not yet faded, this anchor was lost not long ago.

This reminded Qin Zhibo of how the bandit group had sunk the golden screen into the sea and hidden it. It must have needed to be tied to a heavy object.

Maybe this is the anchor...

Qin Zhibo looked around with his headlamp and suddenly found a luggage bag lying quietly on the sand under the reef.

He swam over slowly, picked up the bag, unzipped it and took a quick look at the contents inside. A large white bra just happened to float out.

Ran Mao Li didn't bring any luggage with her, so this can only be Taira Yin Jiang's luggage.

I was lucky today, I found the luggage I wanted the most...

Qin Zhibo stuffed the bra he had tried to escape with back into the luggage bag. Just as he put the strap over his shoulder, he vaguely heard the low sound of running water coming from the left side of his body.

call--

Qin Zhibo's gaze quickly turned to the left, and a dark reef crack appeared in his sight.

The crack was huge, large enough for two people to pass side by side, and the humming sound of flowing water came from this bottomless space.

In order to save energy, Qin Zhibo did not turn his body while floating in the sea, but just turned his head towards the reef crack.

But even so, Qin Zhibo's eyes seemed to be attracted by some indescribable magic, and he couldn't help but look at the darkest core.

There seems to be something in there...

At this moment, Qin Zhibo didn't dare to move around easily, because if there was any creature in there that really posed a threat to him, he would definitely not be able to escape at his current speed.

Rather than running around in a panic and leaving an unprotected back, it might be better to face it directly.

Qin Zhibo narrowed his eyes slightly under the goggles, and clenched his fists quietly at this moment, ready to deal with the "thing" rushing out from that deep place at any time.

Qin Zhibo: Will -5

As he stared into the abyss, Qin Zhibo's will inevitably began to decline.

Suddenly, some changes occurred in the cracks of the reef.

From that deep darkness, hundreds of silver-white horse mackerels, about 30 cm long, swam out.

They passed by Qin Zhibo as if nothing had happened, as if they just regarded Qin Zhibo as a huge piece of seaweed floating in the sea.

After all the horse mackerels swaggered past, everything seemed to return to normal.

Qin Zhibo smiled bitterly and shook his head, feeling that his mind was too sensitive to everything in the sea.

If this continues, even if I’m not sick, I’ll get sick…

It's better to go back quickly.

Qin Zhibo made up his mind, turned his head back, and was about to shake the fins on his legs to dive up, when he suddenly felt something was wrong with his right vision.

It was a hazy gray-green...

Qin Zhibo suddenly turned his head and found a chilling creature floating in the sea less than two meters away from him.

It possesses human-like features, with distinct limbs and torso, a gray-green back, and a white belly. Its scales appear shiny and slippery, while its head resembles that of a pufferfish, deformed and mutated by nuclear radiation...

On that short and thick neck, there were constantly trembling gills, and a pair of huge, bulging eyeballs that never closed were staring at Qin Zhibo.

It’s a “mermaid”!

Qin Zhibo's heart trembled and his wrist shook rapidly, which was caused by shock.

Reflected in the data, his willpower instantly dropped by 20 points.

NMD, I’m scared to death!

At the moment when he looked at the "mermaid" in surprise, Qin Zhibo's brain realized one thing, that is, the "mermaid" as a creature has nothing to do with "beauty" in the traditional sense.

A dark emotion was conveyed from the slightly dull eyes and deformed pufferfish face.

From now on, I will get angry with anyone who says the word "mermaid" again!

After the human brain had enough time to react calmly to an emergency, Qin Zhibo's body quickly took action, swimming forward using his hands and feet.

At this moment, Qin Zhibo no longer cared about his physical limitations or lung pressure.

Go to hell! Escape is the most important thing!

Chapter 474 Thank you, Fishman!

When encountering a general wild animal, the best way to deal with it is not to run away, but to stay where you are and confront it face to face.

Because when you actively expose your back to these wild animals, they will subconsciously regard the target in front of them as their prey and start hunting mode.

But this only applies to wild animals that act entirely on instinct.

While looking into the eyes of the "merman", Qin Zhibo could clearly feel something that could be called "intelligence" emanating from its eyes.

It's just that this intelligence is dark and cold, cruel and merciless.

Even Qin Zhibo, who has an iron will, cannot face such a creature face to face and confront it for a long time while floating in the sea.

So Qin Zhibo decisively chose to escape.

After Qin Zhibo swam forward about twenty meters, the human-like body of the "mermaid" began to move slowly.

Although they both have human bodies, the mermaid's hands and feet are naturally webbed, and the strong muscles covered with gray-green scales allow it to swim faster and quickly reduce the distance between itself and the prey in front.

Obviously, the "merman" has locked Qin Zhibo as its prey.

Their race was indeed different from ordinary natural creatures, just as Qin Zhibo felt after a brief contact.

Ordinary creatures hunt for food, but "mermen" have more diverse uses, such as entertainment or sacrifice.

This "waste of wisdom" is actually a symbol that they possess higher intelligence than wild animals.

……