Maori Kogoro began to understand everything

"Although there are still many doubts, it is certain that something went wrong with the Buddha statue stolen eight years ago," Mao Li continued to infer, "and it just so happens that your photo was recently published in a magazine. Not only was there a photo of the crystal beads, but also a photo of you when you were a child... I think the other party should have looked for you back then, but just didn't find you."

"So that's why the other party attacked Hattori?"

Conan suddenly realized.

Maori nodded, "Yeah...So what do we do next? Do you two have any clues?"

"Not yet, but I think we should ask those people first."

Hattori said seriously, "They are still very suspicious."

……

Sannoji, Sonoko, Xiaolan and Kazuha called Nishijo Taiga and others. The dancer Chiga Ling and her adoptive mother Yamakura, Mizuo, and even Ayanokouji came here.

Ai looked at everyone, walked aside and called Maori: "Yes, there is a new clue... Sonoko and the others called everyone over..."

"what?"

Mao Li was confused. "Are the three of them going to imitate detectives in reasoning?"

"It seems so,"

Xiao Ai glanced at the three people, Sonoko and others, who were whispering excitedly, and said calmly, "Anyway, come here quickly, otherwise I can't guarantee what will happen."

……

At Sannoji Temple, everyone gathered in the courtyard outside the meditation room, and Maori, Conan and Hattori also sat down nearby.

Hattori was speechless: "Haha and the others figured out the truth? How is that possible..."

"Well, three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang."

Mao Li shrugged, "Not to mention the three of them, let's wait and see."

From receiving the news to personally going to Kyoto to investigate this case, he, like Hattori and Conan, is still in the stage of collecting clues. It would be good for the three girls to do this, perhaps they can find some clues.

First, Sakura Shozo was killed in front of him, and then Hattori was attacked repeatedly. We can't let the murderer continue to be rampant...

"Anyway, this is what happened," Sonoko confidently swept her eyes across the crowd, finally landing on the dancer Chiga Suzu who was removing her makeup. "As far as I know, Chiga Suzu's biological mother used to be a geisha in a teahouse in Miyagawa-cho. When Chiga was five years old, her biological mother died of illness. Because she was an unmarried mother, Chiga was adopted by the teahouse's owner, Ms. Yamakura, right?"

"Yeah." Qian Heling didn't know what Yuanzi wanted to say, she just looked at her adoptive mother and nodded.

"Although we don't know who Miss Chiga's biological father is, someone anonymously sends money to the teahouse every month," Xiaolan said in a deep voice, imitating Mori's reasoning. "But the strange thing is that no money has been sent for three months... If the three of us are right, Miss Chiga's biological father is actually Yoshitsune, the leader of the thieves group Genji Hotaru!"

Chapter 103: Ashina Sword Master Mori Kogoro!

"what?"

Xiaolan's remarks shocked everyone else present - Miss Chizuru Ling was so pretty and gentle, so how could her father be the leader of a criminal group?

"It is very likely that Yoshitsune was betrayed by his subordinates three months ago and was unfortunately killed, so the money sent to the teahouse stopped from then on," Kazuha took over Xiaolan's words and looked at Chizuru Ling, "This is your motive!"

"Hey, Heye," Hattori couldn't help but interrupt, "You're not saying that Miss Chiga is the murderer? That's just a wild guess! The murderer who attacked me was definitely not Miss Chiga, and..."

Hattori looked at Chika Ling and the others: "The dagger has been tested and found to contain Mr. Sakura's blood, and the wounds match... How could Chika Ling and the others be the murderer if they can't handle the murder weapon?"

"Hattori, what if Ms. Chiga has an accomplice? For example, Benkei?"

Sonoko snorted coldly and put her hands together, looking like a legendary detective in a detective drama: "As for who Benkei is... Officer Ayanokouji, it's you!"

"Huh?!" Everyone widened their eyes.

"I remember that Officer Ayanokouji rushed to the teahouse immediately after the murder last night, and he didn't even take the squirrel he had been carrying with him..."

Sonoko affirmed, "Ms. Chiga Ling actually secretly brought two things when she came to the teahouse yesterday, the short knife and the squirrel that Officer Ayanokouji had. The squirrel is the key to this incident!

"Ms. Chiga, yesterday you pretended to accompany Mr. Mizuo to the restroom, then took the opportunity to go to the warehouse and kill Mr. Sakura. Then you tied a dagger to the squirrel that you had hidden in the closet, and released it from the basement window, letting it swim downstream along the river, and then Officer Ayanokouji picked it up..."

"Please," Hattori interrupted silently, "The murderer is an expert in archery and swordsmanship, but Ms. Chiga is just a beginner in archery who could hurt Yamamoto. As for Officer Ayanokouji..."

Ayanokouji frowned: "How could I possibly do something that troublesome?!"

"These three ladies!" Qian Heling's adoptive mother said angrily, "Dancers are busy performing and entertaining guests every day, how can they have the time to kill people?!"

"Uh, this..."

There was no part in the script that Sonoko had prepared to explain this, so she didn't know how to respond for a moment.

"Yes, Sonoko-sister," Conan added, "Officer Ayanokouji's squirrel body is so small, it shouldn't be able to move the dagger, right?"

Sonoko looked to Xiaolan and Kazuha for help. They immediately looked at each other and began to support their bestie: "We can prove it to you right now!"

"Officer Ayanokouji, can I borrow your squirrel for a moment?"

……

By the courtyard pond, Yuanzi tied a wooden fish hammer, almost as heavy as a dagger, to the little squirrel.

"Hey, squirrel, jump!"

Yuanzi poked the squirrel standing motionless on the stone: "You are ignoring me on purpose to get away with it, right?!"

“I really can’t bear to watch this anymore…”

Maori drooped his eyelids and looked thoughtfully at the people who were leaving one after another.

Although Xiaolan and the other two were a bit naughty, they were not necessarily wrong in some ways...

On the surface, it seems that everyone who cannot deal with the murder weapon will not be the murderer, but judging from the way the murderer attacked Hattori last night, it seems that he deliberately left clues and deliberately left the murder weapon.

If you think about it this way, people like Qian Heling become even more suspicious.

If we don't consider accomplices and exclude Chiga Ling first, the suspects include Nishijo Taiga and Ryuen monk. Both of them went to the toilet alone. If we consider accomplices, Mizuo is also a suspect.

Moreover, none of them had an alibi when Hattori was attacked...

……

In Pontocho, behind the teahouse, Hattori and Conan continued to study the treasure map in Sannoji Temple, while Mori walked alone to the embankment between the Kiyomizu River and the Kamogawa River.

The Xi River is a small river below the teahouse, and it is also the place where the murderer might have disposed of the murder weapon. If it was not through the squirrel, there are actually other ways, such as disguising the dagger and putting it in a longer bottle to let it float downstream with the water flow.

Even if there is no accomplice, it is entirely possible to install a tracking device in the bottle, and it is not impossible to recycle it in time afterwards. After all, Conan's glasses are not the only ones in the world with tracking functions...

But anyone can do this. The most important thing now is the evidence.

Maori raised his elbows.

He studied the treasure map of the Buddha statue for a long time but still had no idea.

The treasure map is not complicated. It is a staircase that looks like a doll stand for the Hinamatsuri Festival. The top fifth layer is painted with red cicadas, green Tengu and red goldfish. The fourth layer is painted with yellow chickens and yellow loaches, with an ink dot next to it.

Below that is between the second and third layers, painted with violets, green Tengu and purple Mount Fuji, and there is an acorn outside...

Ignore the acorn outside for now, connect the other patterns of the same color, add the ink dots, and it looks like a jade character, and the acorn outside seems to be a hint of something...

A mother and her child passed by Maori. The child looked at Maori strangely and said to his mother coquettishly, "Mom, I'm hungry."

"Eat some biscuits to fill your stomach first. Mom will cook when she gets home..."

Hearing their Kyoto accents, Maori stopped the mother and son and asked, "Excuse me, is there any special meaning of acorns in Kyoto?"

"Acorn?" The woman bit her lip and said, "When it comes to acorns, I just think of acorns rolling around. I don't really know anything else..."

"Acorn rolling?"

"Eh? Don't you know this nursery rhyme?"

"Mom," the child held the woman and said, "Go back quickly!"

……

Outside Foguang Temple, it was already evening, and Maori, Hattori and Conan met in front of a stone tablet.

"Yulong Temple Ruins..."

"Uncle, it's just as you said," Hattori said excitedly, "Children in Kyoto use songs to remember the names of roads, so the steps on the treasure map are actually the streets of Kyoto. The nursery rhyme 'Rolling Acorns' reminds us of Oike Road, and finally all the clues point to here..."

"but……"

Maori looked at the stone tablet with the words "Yulong Temple Ruins" engraved on it: "Can we really find evidence this way?"

"As long as we find the Buddha statue, we will definitely be able to find the murderer," Hattori carefully took out the cloth bag containing the crystal beads, "I think he must be impatient, right? After all, in order to keep the treasure for himself, he even killed Mr. Sakura who was responsible for selling the stolen goods... Now all we have to do is find the current location of Yulong Temple."

"Ding ding ding!" Hattori's cell phone suddenly rang.

"It's Kazuha..." Hattori answered the phone, "What's the matter?"

"This girl is in my hands," a male voice with a changed voice came from the other end of the phone, "Come to Yulong Temple in Kurama Mountain alone in an hour. If you dare to call the police, this girl will be dead..."

"Heiji! You can't come over here, you will be killed!"

"He Ye!"

Hattori put away the phone with a grim expression, gritted his teeth and looked around.

"He Ye was kidnapped. That guy... should not be just one person..."

"What did the other party say?"

"Let me go to Yulong Temple on Kurama Mountain alone in an hour..."

"How are you going to get there in your current state?" Maori grabbed the impatient Hattori, "Conan and I will help you get there."

"Are you kidding..."

Hattori tried to show off his strength, but he stumbled and nearly fell to the ground. He gritted his teeth and said dizzy, "No matter what, I have to save Kazuha..."

……

As night falls on Mount Anma, a full moon emerges from between the clouds. The Yulong Temple is hushed under the moonlight, with only the crackling sound of two rows of braziers in the front yard.

Maori did not put on any disguise. He carried a black umbrella and walked up the mountain step by step. After passing through the gate of Yulong Temple, he looked straight to the end of the two rows of torches.

The murderer wearing an old man's mask held He Ye hostage and stood opposite...

"Uncle Maori!" He Ye struggled.

"That Hattori guy fell ill, so I came here to replace him,"

Mao Li said, "Let Kazuha go!"

"Humph," the masked man sneered, "Hattori Heiji can't come, so you let him go just like that?"

"Is this your purpose? What's the difference between him coming and me coming?" Mao Li took out a crystal bead from the bag and showed it to the masked man, "I can give it to you, but you have to release He Ye first!"

"No problem, but you have to tell me where the Buddha statue is hidden first... Tell me, where is the Buddha statue?! You must know it too!"

"You were the one who sent the picture of Shanneng Temple, right? Actually, the Buddha statue is in this temple..."

"What?" the masked man shouted, "Nonsense! I've searched this place a long time ago!"

"You can't believe me, anyway, I didn't lie to you," Mao Li said calmly, "The picture shows the word 'jade', and the statue is in the Jade Dragon Temple."

The masked man fell silent, pushed Kazuha, whose arms were tied behind her back, forward, and suddenly drew his sword when Kazuha walked towards Mori.

A cold light flashed, and the masked man chased after him with a knife in his hand with a grin. Maori's eyes darkened, and he picked up a black umbrella in his backhand and rushed towards He Ye as well.

"careful!"

"boom!"

The black umbrella met the sword from bottom to top, and it sank slightly before using force to block the attack and force the masked man back a step.

He Ye was almost pulled apart and was suddenly frightened.

Maori glanced at the masked man, turned around and left with Kazuha, but before they ran out of the temple gate, a group of sword-wielding warriors wearing demon masks stopped them.

Each of them is a real sword with a sharp edge, as if bringing Maori back to the Warring States Period...

Mao Lijiang and Yehu were beside him, frowning at the masked man who was sneering at Terauchi: "So this is your base camp, do you think you can trap me like this?"

"These are all my beloved disciples. Do you think I can let you go?" The masked man stepped away, grasped the sword tightly again and ordered the surrounding warriors, "Don't interfere!"

"go to hell!"

The masked man's sword was as fast as the wind, and he chased Maori and slashed at him repeatedly, but Maori did not fight back. He just used his physical fitness and reaction speed to sway his body to avoid the instantaneous torrential attacks, and when the masked man's force was interrupted, he raised the black umbrella to block the sword.

"Your swordsmanship... is it ancient swordsmanship?"

Maori asked.

"What?" The masked man stopped and looked at Maori closely, "How did you..."