Ke Xue: I have a knife, and you still dare to fight me?

Smoke billowed out on the stage, and then the angel played by Keith rose up from a secret passage beneath the stage.

But to everyone's horror, Keith was shot in the chest, coughed up blood, and died in the Northwest.

As Keith was lifted up, a pistol fell from the sky.

The crowd screamed, and Shinichi Kudo expressed his excitement.

Shinichi Kudo quickly jumped down from the audience and went backstage, but he didn't see the culprit. However, he found a bullet casing on the ground.

The police arrived at the scene quickly, and Kudo began searching for clues.

.........

Meanwhile, Kurokawa Saki wandered around for a while and indeed found several suspicious locations. These places were being monitored, and the intersections around one of the abandoned warehouses seemed to be temporarily under control.

"This should be it," Kurokawa Saki thought to himself.

However, what Kurokawasaki Tsuki didn't know was that he was being watched.

On a distant rooftop, a man in combat gear was using binoculars to watch Kurokawa's Ford Mustang, while his companion beside him was intently aiming a sniper rifle at the abandoned warehouse.

The man with the binoculars saw Kurokawa's Ford Mustang appear again and immediately pressed his earpiece: "Shuichi, we've found a suspicious vehicle, a Ford Mustang, license plate number ****. It might be an accomplice of the serial killer. Do you want to come and check this guy?"

Soon, Shuichi Akai's voice came through the earpiece: "Find an excuse to stop that car. I'm going there now."

"Yes, sir!" The FBI agents on the ground also heard Shuichi Akai's order.

Then, at the next intersection, Kurokawa Saki was stopped by several police officers.

"Officer, we suspect you are driving under the influence of alcohol. Turn off the engine and get out of the car. Please show us your driver's license."

Kurokawa Saki noticed that their hands were all on their guns, and if he made any unusual movements, there was no doubt that this was a signal to him.

Kurokawa obediently got off the bus and showed his identification.

One policeman took the identification and turned around, while another policeman stepped forward and stared at him, his hand still on his gun.

The police officer turned around, took his identification, returned to his police car, and operated the center console. Soon, Kurokawasaki Tsuki's information appeared on the center console of a car not far away.

Shuichi Akai glanced at the message his companion sent, then froze: How could it be him?

Shuichi Akai had been following the World Martial Arts Tournament and saw the news that Tsuki Kurokawasaki had won the kendo championship. At the time, he recognized the person holding the championship trophy in the photo and felt that his name was familiar.

So he looked it up and found information about Kurokawasaki Tsuki. He looked at his photos from his student days and recognized him as the boy he had met on the beach years ago.

Shuichi Akai remarked at the time, "I never imagined you could reach such a level."

Shuichi Akai was somewhat surprised to meet him again.

Shuichi Akai pressed his earpiece: "Are you sure he's the person on the ID?"

The police officer received the message through the earpiece, compared it again with the identification document, and replied, "Confirmed."

"Wait for me to come."

After saying that, Shuichi Akai got out of the car and rushed over.

The police returned the identification to Kurokawasaki Tsuki.

"Didn't you suspect me of driving under the influence? Why don't you take a test?" Kurokawasaki Tsuki asked, puzzled. Wasn't he even going to pretend?

The policeman glanced at him and said, "I didn't smell any alcohol, forget it."

"Can I leave now?"

"Maybe my nose is stuffy, but you should still get tested."

After saying that, the police officer pretended to go back to the police car to look for the equipment, but of course, he couldn't find it.

Kurokawasaki Tsuki's lips twitched.

A short while later, Shuichi Akai arrived.

"Leave this to me, you can go back now."

Upon hearing Akai Shuichi's instructions, the police officers didn't waste any time and quickly left in their police car.

"We meet again, young man," Shuichi Akai said softly, a greeting that was also a way of testing the waters.

Kurokawasaki looked at him intently, pretending to recall his identity.

Shuichi Akai has changed quite a bit; at least when I last met him, he had short hair, but now he has long hair.

Kurokawasaki Tsuki pretended to be thinking.

Then, somewhat uncertainly, he asked, "Are you... Mr. Shuichi Akai from the bathing beach earlier?"

Now it was Shuichi Akai's turn to be surprised. "It seems you still remember me." He was somewhat surprised, after all, they had only met once nine years ago, and at the same time, most of his doubts were dispelled.

Kurokawa Saki smiled and said, "I might have a bit of a talent for recognizing people."

Shuichi Akai nodded in agreement.

"Is Mr. Akai a policeman now?"

"I work for the FBI."

"Isn't Mr. Akai Japanese?"

"I'm an American now. So what are you doing wandering around here? You're not just here for a drive, are you?"

"I got a little lost, so I wandered around in circles a few times."

Shuichi Akai looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but nodded anyway, which could be considered as accepting his explanation.

"Go home quickly. The highway killer is lurking around here. My men are trying to capture him. Don't wander around here unless you have to."

"Is it the one mentioned in the news? That's really scary."

"Yes, let's go back quickly."

After saying that, Shuichi Akai was about to turn and leave when he suddenly heard the sound of brakes coming from the next street.

.........

Ghost Theater.

Shinichi Kudo has found the culprit.

This time, however, he didn't choose to steal the spotlight himself. Instead, he told Yukiko Kudo about the murderer's methods, letting her experience being a detective.

Soon, Yukiko Kudo went up on stage to deduce the answer, just as Shinichi had instructed.

The murderer is actress Rose; the evidence is conclusive.

Realizing he could no longer hide it, Ross revealed his motive.

Her motive was absurd: Keith was going to make a movie and would no longer play the role of an angel. Rose didn't like Keith, but rather the angel that Keith played. So, she had no choice but to kill Keith when he played the angel for the last time, so that he would live on in her heart forever.

However, Ross wasn't entirely honest either. Before being taken away by the police, he made a sarcastic remark to Xiaolan, saying that he had to thank her for saving him and helping her fulfill her wish, and praising Xiaolan as a lovely angel in an ambiguous way.

With the case solved, everyone began to leave.

Yukiko Kudo needed to go to the police station to give her statement, so she asked Shinichi and Ran to take a taxi back to the hotel.

Before leaving, he reminded them to be careful of the highway killer, a Japanese man with long hair.

On the way to the hotel, Xiaolan was absent-minded, thinking about what Vermouth and Ross had said.

Shinichi Kudo noticed that something was wrong with her and told her not to pay attention to Ross's words.

But Ran didn't want Shinichi to worry, so she deliberately said, "Miss Rose spoke too fast at the end, I didn't hear clearly, could you translate it for me?"

Shinichi quickly stopped himself: "No, she didn't actually say anything, and I've forgotten about it. Don't worry about it... haha."

Suddenly, the handkerchief in Xiaolan's hand was blown away by the wind.

Xiaolan shouted directly, "Stop the car!"

"Forget it, Lan."

"No, that belongs to Kurokawa-nii."

"Okay, okay, I'll go with you to find it."

Shinichi and Ran got out of the car and soon saw the handkerchief that had been blown there by the wind on the railing of an abandoned warehouse by the roadside.

Shinichi stopped Ran, who was about to step forward, and said, "I'll go get it. You wait here, Ran."

Then, Shinichi crawled inside.

Ran watched Shinichi leave, and couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Chapter Twelve: The Angels' Favor

Hearing the commotion, Shuichi Akai went to investigate, his hands in his pockets, gripping his gun on guard. When he reached the next street, he discovered it was a girl, with a taxi parked next to her.

The taxi driver saw Shuichi Akai approaching in the rearview mirror, and upon closer inspection, he realized—he was Japanese! With long hair!

So he quickly called the girl to get in the car, saying that Shuichi Akai was the murderer, but seeing the girl frozen in fear, the driver didn't hesitate and stepped on the gas and drove off.

The driver left, and Shuichi Akai was already in front of the girl, who was still stunned and frozen in place.

After getting a good look at the girl, Shuichi Akai asked, "Are you Japanese?"

The girl seemed not to have heard clearly and paused for a moment.

Shuichi Akai raised his voice and asked again, "I'm asking you if you're Japanese."

"Yes," the girl said anxiously.

"Mr. Akai, you scared that girl." Kurokawasaki Tsuki's voice came from behind Shuichi Akai.

“I know this girl. Just leave her to me, and I’ll take her away.”

Kurokawa Saki cast a reassuring glance at Ran, and Ran's tense heart relaxed slightly when she saw that it was Kurokawa.

"Why haven't you left yet?" Shuichi Akai questioned.

"Right away, right away," Kurokawasaki Tsuki laughed awkwardly.

Just then, a car drove up. It was Shuichi Akai's companion who came to find him. Before leaving, he asked Shuichi Akai if he was just going to leave the two of them here.

Shuichi Akai told him not to worry, as he had already blocked the entrances and exits to the street outside, and then left with his companions. Before leaving, he reminded Kurokawa and his companion to leave again.

Seeing that Shuichi Akai had left, Ran asked Tsuki Kurokawa, somewhat frightened.

Is that highway killer really nearby?

"Don't worry about Mori-kun, I'm here. By the way, where's Kudo-kun?"

Xiaolan was a little embarrassed and pointed to the warehouse next door, "He went in here to get my handkerchief. It's all my fault for not paying attention and letting the wind blow it away."

Ran remembered that the highway killer was nearby. "I have to hurry and get Shinichi out of here."

"I'll go with you," Kurokawa Saki said. It wasn't safe for Ran to stay where she was, so it was better for her to come with him.

The two of them also crawled into the warehouse, and then noticed specks of blood on the ground. Xiaolan's heart jumped.

"It's blood, could it be Shinichi..." Ran quickened her pace, but the symptoms of her cold also came over her, and Ran forced herself to stay upright.

Kurokawasaki Tsukiya noticed that something was wrong with Ran. "Are you alright?"

"It's alright, let's find Shinichi quickly." Ran was more concerned about Shinichi at this moment.

Suddenly, footsteps came from the stairs above.

Ran quickly called out, "Shinichi, is that you?"

However, a Japanese man with bloodstains on his abdomen and long silver hair appeared before them.

Kurokawa Tsuki immediately stretched out his arm to protect Ran behind him, warily watching the "highway killer" in front of him. He had also forgotten whether the real highway killer was dead or not, and dared not gamble.

Shinichi, who was on the next floor, also heard Ran's call and quickly shouted back, "Ran, run! He's that highway killer!"

"Hmph, he's right. I thought I was hiding well, but that kid still found me."

The highway killer leaned against the railing, pointing a gun at Kurokawa and Ran with one hand, while his other hand was in his pocket.

"What are you pretending for?" Kurokawa thought to himself.

Sure enough, the consequences of their actions came true; the railing broke due to years of disrepair.

The highway killer lost his balance and fell headfirst off the building.

Ran reacted very quickly, bypassing Kurokawa and reaching the broken railing to grab the clothes of the fallen highway killer.