Ke Xue: Xiaolan delivers goods to your door at the beginning

The dummy affirmed.

"That is the family crest of Karasuma Renya, a wealthy man who died mysteriously about half a century ago."

Karasuma Renya!?

Upon hearing this name, not only Kogoro Mouri and the others, but even Lin Xiaofeng showed a slight expression of surprise.

He didn't know this villa was related to Karasuma Renya before he came, but since that's the case...

"Actually, it's not just the tableware; the doorknobs, stair railings, playing cards, chess pieces, and even the floor underfoot were all custom-made by Karasuma Renya... In other words, this entire villa is Karasuma Renya's residence."

"No, I should say it used to be."

"Because forty years ago, a horrific tragedy occurred in this annex."

A horrific tragedy?

Upon hearing this statement, everyone quickly formed some guesses.

But before it could be confirmed, the mannequin gave away spoilers.

"I believe that all the detectives have noticed since entering that this villa is stained with a lot of blood in various forms... Yes, this is what was left behind on a certain night forty years ago in the still breathtakingly beautiful '247' villa."

"This villa once hosted a secret meeting of prominent figures from the political and economic circles. Ostensibly, it was to express condolences for Karasuma Renya, who passed away at the age of ninety-nine. However, the meeting was actually an auction of the art collection that Karasuma Renya had collected during his lifetime. At that time, the number of items to be auctioned exceeded three hundred, so the entire auction was expected to last for three days and three nights."

"So, on a stormy night during the second day of the auction, two men, soaked to the bone, suddenly arrived at the villa, saying they had lost their way in the storm and wanted to stay the night."

"The auction organizers originally wanted to refuse them, but the man took out a small package from his pocket containing something that looked like cigarettes. After the person in charge of the organizers smoked their cigarettes, he somehow changed his mind."

"Other guests, seeing this, also succumbed to their persuasion, and soon the villa was filled with a strong smell of smoke."

Smoke that can bewitch the mind...

As a veteran detective, Kogoro Mouri immediately sensed that something was amiss.

"Wait, could that cigarette be—"

"leaf."

Lin Xiaofeng used slang to refer to it.

The leaves, also commonly known as hemp or sesame.

"At first, the auction guests were arguing about two unexpected guests, but as cigarettes circulated among the guests, the situation suddenly changed."

"First, a man suddenly let out a scream as if he had seen a ghost, and then ran away, abandoning the artwork he had painstakingly photographed."

"Then a woman began to cover her face and weep, as if begging for someone's forgiveness, until she had cried all her tears."

"And there was another man who was excitedly stabbing his wrist repeatedly with a pen."

"In the end, all the guests began to scramble for the auctioned artworks, and even used the famous knives and swords to fight each other. The entire auction site was like a living hell."

"After this nightmarish night, eight guests in the villa died and more than a dozen others fell into a coma, while the two uninvited guests disappeared with all the auction items."

The dummy's words sounded like a fictional horror story, yet everyone present understood without exception that it was true.

The bloodstains scattered throughout the villa are the strongest evidence that the aforementioned story once took place here.

Kogoro Mouri still harbored a sliver of hope: "But if something so terrible really happened, why wasn't it reported at all back then?"

"I think the problem might lie with the guests who attended the auction at the time."

Da Shang Zhu Shan answered on his behalf.

"After all, all the people who attended the auction were celebrities from the political and economic circles. Rather than letting the world know that they were tricked by two petty thieves who came out of nowhere, it would be better to completely suppress the matter and pretend that it never happened."

"That's really true..."

"So now you all understand why I chose this villa as the stage for the game." The dummy seemed to let out a contemptuous laugh. "I want you to relive the tragedy of forty years ago here. I want to see you fight each other for treasure."

"We'd fight each other for treasure? What a joke!" Mogi was the first to scoff.

The dummy ignored him and continued speaking.

"However, considering that searching for treasure in such a large villa is like finding a needle in a haystack, I'll give you a hint: Two hurried travelers look up at the sky at night, and a demon descends upon the castle. The king flees with the treasure, the queen sheds tears and falls on the Holy Grail to beg for divine mercy, and the soldier, exhausted, cuts his own throat with his sword, and the earth changes color."

"Huh? Isn't this the story that happened in this villa that I just mentioned?" Yukiko suddenly realized.

Lin Xiaofeng tilted his head back and drank the coffee in one gulp, then put down the cup and let out a sigh of relief.

"What a load of lies! According to what you're saying, the so-called tragedy that happened in the villa is false. After all, that story was actually adapted from a code. This makes the origin of the bloodstains in the villa a mystery."

"And there's something I wanted to complain about earlier, it seems like you... only know how to say the same things?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Xiaofeng suddenly stood up, grabbed the top of the dummy's head with one hand, and pulled it off with a forceful yank, just like grabbing a basketball with one hand.

It wasn't that Lin Xiaofeng was particularly strong, but rather that the dummy's head was detachable; it was simply sitting on the body underneath.

Now that the head has been completely ripped off, the speaker section, starting from the eye area, is now visible to everyone.

What's attached below is a small Walkman, and a very retro one at that, the kind that needs to play cassette tapes.

"Now you've given yourself away!"

Lin Xiaofeng turned around, holding the dummy head, and waved the stopped cassette tape below at the crowd.

"I found it strange earlier, and after testing it, I found that it was indeed the case. Moreover, this thing is controlled by someone. Otherwise, not to mention whether the tape is long enough, it would be impossible to control the timing of when we finish eating."

"By the way, remote control is also impossible. Although there are cameras everywhere in this villa, theoretically the organizers could indeed observe our movements in real time from elsewhere, but this Walkman... it can't do that."

"The principle is very simple. Nowadays, all remote control functions are basically achieved by connecting to Wi-Fi, but these old-fashioned portable music players do not have the option to connect to Wi-Fi."

Lin Xiaofeng shrugged and placed the dummy head on the table in front of him.

"So the answer is quite clear: the people who gathered us here are all around us... even among us."

The moment those words were spoken, the expressions on all the detectives' faces changed.

Among them...

This is like a ghost disguised as a human sneaking into a group of people in a horror movie.

Lin Xiaofeng's calm gaze swept over the faces of everyone at the dining table.

"So my suggestion is that everyone search each other right now, and whoever finds the remote control on them is the one who's playing tricks. What do you all think?"

After a second of silence, Harufumi Mogi tapped the table with his knuckles.

"I agree, let's do it this way."

Ikumi Gunda also raised her hand.

"I agree too."

Then came Hakuba Saguru.

"Hmm, that does sound like a simple but effective method."

Although Chima Kazuyo did not speak, her thoughtful, slightly nodding posture suggested that she also intended to do so.

Seeing that everyone's opinions were overwhelmingly in favor, Kogoro Mouri, the only one who lacked his own opinions, hastily raised his hand as well.

"Me too!"

After one round, the vast majority of people had expressed their opinions. Lin Xiaofeng turned to Da Shangzhushan, who was still biting his thumb and looking conflicted.

"Mr. Daisho, why don't you say anything?"

When a group of people are faced with the same problem, if one person provides a reasoned analysis and offers a reasonable solution, the others will agree.

This is normal.

If everyone else agrees, but only one person hesitates and stammers out a valid reason for opposing, then...

It is obvious that the only one who hesitated was the one with the problem.

Currently, six out of the seven detectives have agreed, with only the self-proclaimed gourmet detective, Ooue no Shuzen, still undecided.

As Lin Xiaofeng said before, there's nothing wrong with openly admitting it's him.

After all, all the detectives present had received a check for two million yen before they arrived. Although this might actually be the entire commission, giving so much money before even starting the job was quite generous.

You pay, we do the work; it's just a mutually agreeable transaction.

Unless there's some other ulterior motive...

"Hey, hey, I'm saying this cowardly organizer isn't actually you, Mr. Ooshita, is he?" Gunfield, the beautiful woman, crossed her legs and changed her posture to urge him on.

"While it's not 100% certain, it's not impossible."

Mogi lit a cigarette and said jokingly.

"Alright, aren't you going to say something? Now the pressure is on you, Mr. Oogami?"

"NO, I have not……"

Da Shang Zhu Shan opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single coherent sentence.

It was clear that he was starting to get flustered.

Hakuba Saguru also raised an eyebrow slightly.

At this point, it's obvious to everyone that Da Shang Zhu Shan is definitely problematic, but everyone is still maintaining a shred of politeness and hasn't completely broken off relations.

Since Da Shang Shan Zhu was unwilling to admit it, Lin Xiao Feng directly took control of the person and searched him.

Seeing this, Mogi immediately cooperated with Lin Xiaofeng and quickly found a remote control on Daisho Zenshu. Now they were caught red-handed.

"So, is there anything else to say, this phantom who claims to make us kill each other for the treasure, the forsaken child of God?"

Mogi laughed mercilessly.

"I, I am..."

At this point, nothing more could be said, but Da Shang Zhu Shan still wanted to struggle a little.

But in the next second, his eyes widened suddenly without warning, his mouth opened wide, his hands gripped his neck, making a hoarse sound, and his eyes were filled with blood and almost bulged out.

"Wait, something doesn't look right about him!" Kogoro Mori exclaimed in surprise.

This continued for about five seconds before Da Shang Zhu Shan's head lolled to the side and he fell still, only the ferocious look on his fat face remaining.

"……what?"

Mogi also slightly opened his mouth, and a faint question mark slowly appeared above his head.

“He’s dead.” Hakuba Saguru, sitting across the long dining table, took out his pocket watch and glanced at the time. “Time of death recorded: 7:25:22.”

Mogi scratched his head, looking puzzled: "But how exactly did he die?"

"Judging from the symptoms before death, he was likely poisoned."

Ikumi Gunda, a former coroner, walked over and spoke. She gracefully bent down and used her hand to pry open Ogami Ichizen's mouth, waving her hand to let the breath into her nose.

"The strong almond smell in his mouth indicates potassium cyanide poisoning. However, the question is how he was poisoned. Everyone here eats the same things, and I didn't find any container of poison in Mr. Ogami's mouth."

"...I remember he had been biting his nails the whole time."

Lin Xiaofeng thought for a moment and said.

"About a few minutes ago, when the tape was placed near the cipher, he kept biting his thumb."

"That's just a personal thinking habit, isn't it?" Mogi glanced sideways. "Some people are just used to doing certain things while thinking, like stroking their beard or resting their chin on their hand and looking out the window..."

Ikumi Gunda shook her head helplessly. As she took a copper coin from her purse to test for poison, the fair-skinned, beautiful, long-legged woman's expression suddenly changed.

402. Steal your mother

"In that case, why don't we go take a look over the other side of the bridge?" someone suddenly suggested.

The speaker was Chima Kazuyo, who suddenly suggested going to see the destroyed wooden bridge, which was quite strange.

As soon as he spoke, Lin Xiaofeng immediately glanced at Mogi, who then glanced at Yaotian, who in turn turned to Hakuba Saguru.

In less than a moment, the three of them exchanged glances and their expressions returned to normal.

Mogi coughed lightly.

“Sure, since Chiyo-nee has said so, but it’s still raining outside, and it’s not a short walk from here to the other side of the bridge. Besides, if nothing unexpected happens, the cars we parked at the front gate should have already been destroyed.”

"Speaking of cars, I remember seeing one outside the back gate before; maybe it hasn't been destroyed yet," Hakuba Saguru said thoughtfully, stroking his chin.

"is it?"

"that……"

Just as everyone was discussing how to get to the broken bridge, a maid's weak voice rang out from inside the restaurant.