Conan Rick's Investigator

"Because there was a sign on the door of the bathhouse saying it was being cleaned."

An innocent conversation between Conan and Ran Maori provided inspiration for Kogoro Maori.

"That's it, I understand!"

After asking the hotel owner about the bathhouse cleaning times, Maori Kogoro reasoned, "In fact, someone deliberately hung a cleaning sign in front of the women's bathhouse in the evening, then picked up some hair of varying lengths from the drain and brought it here, then placed it in the newspaper in the suitcase."

"The purpose was to deliberately create the illusion that the long-haired man was cursing in order to disrupt the police investigation."

Shancuncao shrugged his shoulders and said in shock: "That means..."

"Yes, this is a homicide case, and the murderer is someone in the hotel..."

After going around in circles, Kogoro Mouri finally returned to Qin Zhibo's reasoning.

But this time, because of Conan's excessiveness, no one noticed that Kogoro Mouri was slapped in the face.

Seeing that Kogoro Mouri's reasoning would continue for a while, Qin Zhibo walked to the window and observed for a while.

The sky gradually darkened, and the bright moonlight shone into the forest, revealing a hint of holiness.

If Yamashita Tomonori's plan hadn't changed, he would be in the forest now...

Qin Zhibo wanted to leave, but when he looked back at the progress of Maori Kogoro in solving the case, he became a little worried.

Although Kogoro Mouri doesn't need to be given too much respect, Conan is there after all.

If Conan has already solved all the cases by the time I come back from dealing with the voodoo matter, I will miss out on the reward for a side quest.

In fact, the moment Qin Zhibo saw the murder scene, he had a rough judgment of the case.

The varying lengths, moisture, and fragrance of the hair indicate that it has just been put in.

The fact that the fake Kogoro Mori was able to arrive at the hotel before Mori and his group on the correct date means that there was a traitor in the hotel who leaked the information.

There is also a newspaper in the suitcase, which is not an ordinary newspaper, but a treasure map containing secret codes.

【Survey√】

[A certain location is marked in it. "East-Zento-Div" refers to walking 5 steps eastward from the fallen Jizo Bodhisattva in front of the Tokugami Forest. The winning and losing position of Akagi Maru refers to walking 8 steps to the right.]

Qin Zhibo still remembered the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva lying on the ground in the forest. There must be something hidden nearby.

It is obvious that the traitor lurking in the hotel wants to find such a thing, and the fake Kogoro Mori is just a hired actor.

To determine who the murderer is, all we need to do is find out who is most likely to have called the fake Mori Kogoro.

……

Qin Zhibo called the hotel owner to the scene of the murder and asked, "You've never met the real Maori Kogoro, but you know the phone number of Maori's office. Doesn't that seem a bit unreasonable?"

"As far as I know, Detective Maori has never advertised his firm on TV or in newspapers..."

Qin Zhibo's fake identity has not been exposed yet, and he is still a famous detective.

When asked this by Qin Zhibo, the hotel owner immediately broke out in a cold sweat, fearing that he would be suspected.

"I just told them about the suitcase and wanted to find a detective to solve the mystery. Someone recommended the famous Maori Kogoro to me. I got his phone number from a tourist who came here..."

"Who recommended Mao Li to you?" Qin Zhibo asked.

"You've seen him before, too. He's Shenbao Yafu, the one who parked your car..."

Qin Zhibo thought for a moment and recalled Shenbao Yafu's every move in the living room.

In the living room, when he returned Ran Mouri's cell phone to Kogoro Mouri, he said that the man in front of him who called himself "Echigo Koemon" was Ran Mouri's father.

There is a sticker with her surname on Ran Maori's phone. No normal person would think that "Mauri"'s father's surname is "Echigo", right?

Unless he knows the real Kogoro Mori.

Qin Zhibo smiled slightly and said, "Boss, please bring me an envelope and a piece of letter paper."

The hotel owner wanted to ask why, but seeing Qin Zhibo's somewhat incongruous smile, he didn't dare to ask and quickly ran to the front desk to get it.

……

Murder scene.

A large police force from Gunma Prefecture arrived late to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the scene.

Although it was confirmed that the murderer was someone in the hotel, and most likely a hotel employee, because only employees knew the location of the "cleaning in progress" sign.

But there are more than a dozen employees at Aoiya Hotel, and it would take a long time to ask them one by one to provide their alibis.

Kogoro Mouri was waiting for the results so that he could further use the process of elimination, but he found that the fake Qin Zhibo had disappeared at some point.

"Ok?"

"Where did that imposter go?"

Kogoro Mouri stood up and looked around the living room, but Qin Zhibo was gone.

The hotel owner came up and asked, "Mr. Mao Li, do you want to ask Mr. Qin?"

"Mr. Qin left an envelope with me twenty minutes ago, saying he wouldn't open it until 11:30 p.m. Inside was the name of the person he believed was the murderer."

Kogoro Mouri snatched the envelope from the hotel owner's hand and was about to tear it open when he was stopped by the hotel owner.

"be careful!"

"Mr. Qin also said that if the envelope is torn before the specified time, the person who tore the letter would be cursed and die!"

Chapter 715: Internal strife?

"curse?"

Everyone present was stunned. Why was this fake Qin Zhibo still using the same tricks as the man in red with long hair?

"Tsk, if you don't want to watch it, then don't watch it..."

"Anyway, I, Maori Kogoro, can solve the case on my own. I don't need anyone to remind me."

Kogoro Mouri awkwardly withdrew his hand that was about to tear open the envelope.

Of course, Kogoro Mouri didn't believe that curses could kill people.

But not believing it doesn’t mean not hating it.

It's like a haunted house. Most people believe that there are no ghosts in this world, but they will not buy a house where a murder has occurred.

It always makes you feel uncomfortable when you are cursed for no reason.

Besides, is there anything worth adopting from a fake suggestion?

If the famous detective Kogoro Mouri opened someone else's "magic bag" in public, he would be at a disadvantage.

"Officer Yamamura, I'll leave the letter with you for safekeeping."

"I, Kogoro Mori, must find the real culprit before 11:30, even at the cost of my reputation!"

Yamamura Cao took the envelope and saluted in a standard manner, "Yes!"

Conan on the side rolled his eyes and said helplessly in his heart: Hey, don’t make promises casually, you are not the one responsible for reasoning!

With the "provocation" of the impostor, Kogoro Mouri personally went to check the alibi.

Conan ran over and called the hotel owner, then looked up and asked, "Um... Uncle Qin, did he tell me where he was going?"

"No..." The hotel owner shook his head, "Anyway, he drove towards the forest."

Conan frowned, feeling that things were not simple.

This fake Qin Zhibo left an envelope and then went into the forest in the middle of the night, which was really suspicious.

However, it is also possible that he knew that his fake identity would be exposed sooner or later, so he left first.

But this fake Qin Zhibo always gives Conan an unusual feeling.

The imposter was able to determine at first glance that it was a homicide case. He keenly noticed the problem with the hair and deliberately left an envelope identifying the real murderer.

Compared with this fake Qin Zhibo, the real Maori Kogoro looks like a fake.

He can't be real, right?

As soon as this thought came to mind, Conan shook his head and got rid of this unrealistic idea.

First of all, he could be sure that the face was indeed not Qin Zhibo's, and this was not something that could be changed by makeup.

Secondly, this is not the first time that Qin Zhibo has had a car accident with Mao Li and his group, so there is no need to pretend to be Qin Zhibo to hide his true identity.

No matter what, I must find the real murderer before 11:30!

Conan gathered his courage in his heart, both to protect Kogoro Mouri's reputation and to prove himself.

Otherwise, if I heard that they lost to the fake Qin Zhibo, I would be so amused that I would burst out laughing.

Thinking of this, Conan was about to take action, but then he noticed something was wrong.

If the fake Qin Zhibo has already written down the answer, then as long as the other party accurately hits the real murderer, wouldn't he have already lost no matter what?

This……

Forget it, believe it first, then question it.

As soon as Conan left, a hotel employee ran up to the hotel owner and reported, "The two ladies who booked a room on the second floor the day before yesterday haven't arrived yet."

"Really?" The hotel owner paused for a moment. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Maybe they changed their minds at the last minute."

"Young people nowadays easily change their minds..."

……

In the Toushen Forest, Qin Zhibo was driving a rented Mazda 323 slowly forward.

He wore white gloves on his hands, which made him look very sophisticated, like a family butler.

But in fact, this is a magic extractor and also the GPS of Qin Zhibo's trip.

According to the instructions of the magic extractor, Kinoshita Tomonori is now somewhere in the Tougami Forest.

In order not to miss the moment when Tomonori Kinoshita committed the crime, Qin Zhibo had to leave Aoiya Hotel early to prevent being detained by Kogoro Mori and others.

In the hotel just now, no matter whether I deduced the truth of the case or not, I would be kept and questioned carefully because of my fake identity.

In this case, it would be better to escape before the police arrive.

However, in order not to miss the reward for the side quest, Qin Zhibo also left the envelope with the murderer's name on it at the hotel.

If Conan fails to solve the case on time, he will understand everything by opening the envelope and seeing the murderer's name.

If Conan accepts his help to solve the case, he will get the reward for the side quest.

As for the restriction that the door cannot be opened before 11:30, it is because Qin Zhibo does not want the detectives and police to solve the case too early and go into the forest to look for him.

Although the curse was not convincing, Qin Zhibo was sure that with Maori Kogoro's self-esteem, he would definitely not tear open the "treasure bag" left by the counterfeit.

According to the [detective's eavesdropping device] left in the lobby of Aoiya Hotel, things turned out just as Qin Zhibo predicted.

……

Following the guidance of the searching spell, Qin Zhibo drove the car to an impassable road section, parked the car in the grass on the side of the road, and walked.

I turned on the navigation system to check the direction, then got out of the car and trekked for several kilometers through the terrifying forest without sunlight.

The tall and lush treetops almost blocked out all the moonlight, making the forest unusually dark.

The dark bushes and the endless woods combined to create a depressing and terrifying atmosphere.

Even though there are no ferocious beasts in this forest, few people are brave enough to try a walk in the woods late at night.

According to legend, there is a plague god in the Toushen Forest that causes headaches.

Anyone who often suffers from headaches will be immediately bewitched by the head spirit once they enter the depths of the forest and will never be able to leave the forest.

Because no one knows what it looks like, the elders in Gunma Prefecture generally believe that the head god is a god lurking deep underground.

The Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva lying on the ground at the edge of the Toushen Forest is called the "Front-fallen Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva" and is used to suppress the plague god below.

In modern times, although the legend is no longer popular, this remote place has become a favorite of those who are disappointed with life and has become a famous suicide spot.

The legend of the head god and the suicide sanctuary combine to cast a mysterious and terrifying veil over this forest.

However, in front of Qin Zhibo's 90% iron will, this child's test cannot be considered a test.