Maori Kogoro began to understand everything

"Commission?"

Xiaolan and Conan looked at Jincheng at the same time, but Maori didn't react.

"Yes," the old man said in an angry tone, "Because that virus, Duke of Darkness, destroyed the game software that I worked so hard to create four years ago and treated like my son... By the way, what was it called?"

"It's High School Girls' Extreme Battle, sir."

The servant Jingjiang reminded helplessly.

"Ah! Yes, yes!"

The old man ignored everyone's strange looks and laughed, "Anyway, that's it. As long as you can find the real Duke of Darkness, I am willing to give you, Mr. Maori, a commission of 1000 million!"

"Ten million?!"

Conan and Xiaolan couldn't help but widen their eyes.

Mao Li was not surprised at the price at all, and even thought that the other party was joking - the legendary "Duke of Darkness", a perfect virus that continuously invaded the computers of major companies and caused damage, could not be stopped even if it was discovered. If it really had to be priced, it would definitely be an astronomical figure.

And according to what Mao Li suddenly realized before, the person who created the Dark Duke virus must be someone very important...

Chapter 34: Kogoro Akechi in the Heisei Era

Tokyo, Mori Detective Agency, Mori is sitting at his desk reading several newspapers together.

Reports about the Izu Princess Hotel have come out, and his fame has seen another wave of growth - if things continue at this pace, it won't be long before the Metropolitan Police Department hires him as a special consultant.

Of course, because he was not knocked unconscious by Conan's anesthetic needle during each of the cases he solved, Maori did not get the nickname "The Sleeping Detective". Instead, he got a nickname with a strong Shinichi Kudo style - "Kogoro Akechi of the Heisei Era".

To be honest, apart from the name, Maori does not think that he has any similarities with "Kogoro Akechi", the famous detective created by the master of detective novels, Edogawa Ranpo. After all, Kogoro Akechi is only 25 years old, a young detective with a strong research spirit and scholarly temperament; while Maori is an out-and-out middle-aged uncle, and his personality is completely different from the other.

By the way, if we have to use a fictional famous detective to make a connection, Maori himself thought about it and felt that he could be put together with Hercule Poirot, created by the "Queen of Detectives" Agatha Christie - after all, both of them used to be police officers, and the age difference is not that big.

Of course, no matter what the news reports say or who the public compares him to, Maori firmly believes that he must follow his own detective path and reach the height in his mind - if nothing else, at least he must be worthy of his wife Kisaki Eri's title of "the undefeated queen of the legal world" and be comparable to Conan's father Kudo Yusaku, his future relative-in-law's title of "world-renowned mystery novelist."

……

The Dark Duke murder case in Izu happened more than a week ago. On this day, Mao Li woke up at noon and hurriedly got up to take care of his hair. He did not turn on the TV to read the newspaper or drink a cup of tea slowly as usual, but put on a brand new suit, a pair of shiny leather shoes, and a tie.

As the fame of "Kogoro Akechi of the Heisei Era" grows, the commission threshold of the Mori Detective Agency has also risen - regardless of the nature of the commission, if we only consider the commission fee, the commission fee of 500,000 yen like that of Asai Narimi last time can only be regarded as the average level of the Mori Detective Agency, and the commission fee of 200,000 yen has now become the "starting price".

Of course, not everyone can afford such a price. After all, in today's Japan, the average monthly income of a working class in their thirties is only around 30.

Closed for half a year, earning enough to eat for half a year after reopening - the gross profit has already fully demonstrated the happiness of the highly profitable industry.

……

"Not bad, not bad, very handsome!"

After carefully grooming himself, Maori looked at the mirror narcissistically, and then looked at the watch that Kisaki Eri had given him before.

Today is the day of Teitan University's campus festival. As a famous alumnus of Teitan University, Mao Li naturally received an invitation from his alma mater. And unlike those ordinary alumni who returned to school, he will also need to perform a drama with other famous alumni in a while.

It's just a pity that since Mao Li only became a famous alumnus during this period, the role he got was obviously a background role added temporarily by the person in charge, and he didn't even have a single line of dialogue.

……

In the living room of an apartment building in Beika-cho, a man and a woman were kissing passionately, but after a while the woman suddenly stopped and stepped aside in the man's surprised gaze.

"It still doesn't work," the woman felt guilty and shook her head painfully, "I can't let Sister Yukino down again."

"Yui..."

"Mr. Hachiman, you are my sister's husband... Let's end this and I'll give you back the camera."

The woman took out a film camera and put it on the table. She ran into the restaurant with mixed feelings and silently trimmed the branches in the vase, completely unaware of the strangeness of the man behind her.

"Do you have another man?"

"How can it be."

"Surely that's it?"

Hachiman looked at his lover closely and silently covered his hands with two fruit bags.

"I've already said no, don't go too far..."

The woman took a deep breath, took the vase and walked away. She turned back impatiently and wanted Hachiman to leave, but he suddenly rushed up and grabbed her neck.

"No! What are you doing?"

The woman broke free and ran away in fear, but Hachiman, with cold eyes, chased her and pressed her to the ground as if he had become a different person.

Ignoring the woman's pain, Hachiman used all his strength to tighten her neck with a ferocious look on his face.

"Cough cough!"

After struggling for only a short while, the woman lost control in his hands and her arms fell limply to the ground.

The room returned to calm. Hachiman stood up, looked at the scattered bouquets and the curtains that the woman had removed in her last moments. He let out a sigh of relief and hurried back to the living room. He frantically messed up the room with his hands covered with fruit bags, pretending to be a robber.

At this moment, his cell phone suddenly rang.

"Hello." Hachiman answered the phone while trying to calm his breathing.

"Is this the teacher?" the voice on the other end of the phone said, "I'll be at the model Yui's house soon..."

"Eh?" Hachiman's expression changed. "Why?"

"What? Did you forget? We have to take photos at noon today..."

……

Near Teitan University, Maori was sitting in a taxi, looking at the scenery outside the window boredly, when he suddenly received a call from Inspector Megure.

"Brother Maori,"

Officer Megure called out, "Can I trouble you to come over here?"

"Ah? A trip?"

"Actually, a female model was killed in her apartment just now. It looks like a robbery and murder case. Although it's a bit embarrassing, I still want to trouble you to take a look..."

Inspector Megure said this, but Maori did not hear any embarrassment in his tone.

"Couldn't you have called earlier? Officer Megure..."

Maori's face fell, and he first looked at the nearby Teitan University speechlessly, and then sighed helplessly, "Forget it, a female model, huh? I know, where is the location of the case?"

……

More than ten minutes later, the taxi driver parked the car in front of a high-end apartment building with a smile on his face. Inspector Megure's top henchman, the honest Detective Takagi, had been waiting at the door for a while. When he saw Mori, he immediately greeted him warmly and shouted:

"Detective Maori, you're finally here!"

"It's Detective Takagi,"

Mao Li glanced at Takagi and nodded slightly as a greeting, "I'll use the reimbursement form of the Investigation Division for my car fare. Is that okay?"

"Car, car fare?"

Gao Mu's body stiffened for a moment, and he said uncertainly, "It should be okay...right?"

Mao Li shrugged and hurried into the apartment building:

"So? What happened?"

"It was actually a case of robbery and murder. The criminal seems to be a wanted criminal..."

"Then why did you call me?"

"Inspector Megure said it would be safer if you, the famous detective, came."

Detective Takagi took Mori to the crime scene, where a heroic female detective was questioning him, "Officer Sato, Detective Mori is here!"

"Officer Sato?"

Maori walked into the messy living room and found that Megure was nowhere to be seen. He asked curiously, "Is Officer Megure not here?"

"He is still hunting down serial killers who kidnap young girls,"

Sato's face lit up when he saw Maori. "Nice to meet you, Detective Maori. I'm Sato Miwako from the First Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Department."

"Hello."

Maori smiled and shook hands with Sato, then began to observe the scene carefully.

At this time, forensic personnel had already examined the scene and were carrying a stretcher out from the inner room. Mao Li lifted the white cloth and took a look, and found a female corpse with marks of strangulation on her neck.

"Is this the victim this time?"

"Yes, he was killed in the restaurant. It has been confirmed that he died of asphyxiation due to being strangled by the neck, and he seemed to have struggled violently."

"Dining room……"

Maori looked at the messy living room in confusion, then followed Takagi into the dining room.

Except for the body being taken away, everything at the scene remained as it was, with fresh bouquets of flowers scattered on the ground.

"What's a bit strange is that this kind of pollen was detected on the scattered relics at the scene," Takagi said as he looked around. "It may have been stained by the victim, Ms. Yuigahama Yui, when she was struggling."

"pollen?"

Mao Li frowned and observed the scene again. "Detective Takagi, can you tell me what happened from beginning to end? There seemed to be two outsiders in the living room."

"They are the ones who found the body,"

Takagi took out the notes in the notebook and explained to Maori while reading them, "One is Mr. Hikigaya Hachiman, the deceased's brother-in-law, and the other is Mr. Zaimokuza Yoshiteru, his assistant photographer. I heard that they came here to take pictures, but when they rang the doorbell, they found that the door was not locked. When they opened the door, they were beaten by a man who suddenly rushed out. The murder weapon might be an iron rod or something..."

"Iron rod? Where's the murder weapon?"

"It seems like he was taken away."

"Is this so..."

Maori left the restaurant with a frown, and pushed open several other doors to check. One seemed to be a darkroom used for developing photos, and the other was the bathroom.

“Why are there two toothbrushes?”

After entering the bathroom, Mao Li did not leave immediately, which made him feel there were too many strange things.

The toilet seat was also upright, and it looked like the deceased did not seem to be single.

"This... Miss Yuigahama Yui, do you have a boyfriend?"

Maori turned around and asked.

After all, he was an old father whose daughter was in high school, not a single man living alone. Therefore, whether it was the kitchen or the bathroom just now, he had a very obvious feeling that the victim was not single.

"what happened?"

Takagi hadn't reacted yet, and said blankly, "Isn't the criminal the wanted criminal? Is Miss Yuigahama Yui dating him?"

"I didn't say that."

Maori shook his head - no matter what he saw, he could not jump to conclusions, but should collect as many clues as possible. He had the basic professional qualities of a detective.

Back in the living room, the two people who first discovered the situation were still at the scene. Maori took a quick look and then started checking the living room again.

He put on gloves and opened a cabinet, where he found photographic equipment, including spotlights and something that looked like a lamp that was slightly warm.

Apart from that there is nothing special.

Maori continued to look carefully.

"Although the room was in a mess, some places didn't look like they had been turned over..."

"Maybe he stopped because he heard us ringing the doorbell,"

Hikigaya Hachiman tightened his fingers, a little annoyed by Mori's search, and stood up and said, "By the way, this uncle has been wandering around here since a while ago. What on earth does he, an outsider who is not a policeman, want to do?"

"Sorry, I haven't had time to introduce myself yet,"

Sato smiled and explained to Hikigaya Hachiman, "This is 'Kogoro Akechi of the Heisei Era' Kogoro Mori, and he is here to help us solve the case."

"Eh? Are you that famous detective?!"

Zaimokuza Yoshiki said in surprise, "I've heard of you!"

Hikigaya Hachiman's face changed, but he quickly calmed down: "I didn't expect it to be the legendary detective..."

After a pause, Hikigaya Hachiman turned to Takagi and urged, "By the way, Mr. Policeman, has the robber been caught yet?"

"Well, we have dispatched police forces and are searching now."