Isn't it very scientific to use the Death Note to kill people?

Her face was burning hot.

"Take it out quickly! If someone sees... Ah!" Before she could finish speaking, she let out a short, suppressed gasp as he suddenly intensified his caresses. She quickly bit her lower lip to stop herself from making any more embarrassing sounds.

She tried to nudge him with her elbow, but his arms, which were wrapped around her, skillfully neutralized her force.

Looking at her embarrassed yet adorable appearance, Lin Jiashu let out a low, pleasant chuckle.

He had enjoyed her adorable reaction of embarrassment and annoyance enough, and finally took pity on her and stopped his mischievous fingers. But he didn't pull his hand away immediately; it just stayed quietly on her warm waist.

"Okay, I won't bother you anymore."

He finally spoke, his voice tinged with laughter, and then quickly and lightly placed a kiss on her flushed earlobe, almost imperceptible.

"Sit tight, the view ahead is nice."

Xiaolan froze, startled by his final sneak attack, a warm sensation spreading like sparks from the tip of her ear. She glared at him angrily, but was powerless to do anything about it. She could only huff and turn away, refusing to look at him again.

But her body honestly pressed itself even closer to his firm chest, though her ears were already bright red.

Chapter 23: Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain

It suddenly started raining that evening.

The sound of rain, accompanied by thunder, drew the entire village into a serene stillness at night.

"Yoshiki-kun, Conan told Hattori and the others that they're staying at Ryuo's house tonight."

Xiao Lan, who had just hung up her phone, looked up at Lin Jiashu, who had just finished showering, and said, "It's a bit dangerous to walk on mountain roads at night because of the rain."

"Is Uncle Mori one too?"

"Yes, they said that there are guest rooms at Longwei's house where they can rest."

"They seem to be working so hard on their investigations that they forget to eat and sleep," Toyama Kazuha couldn't help but mutter.

At that moment, she was genuinely envious of Xiaolan.

They're both detectives, so why would Yoshiki-san take the time to pay attention to them?

“After all, Uncle Mori and Hattori-kun received a commission fee,” Hayashi Yoshiki laughed. “Besides, I was just being lazy and thought I could get their investigation results for free.”

Why is Jia Shu saying such strange things?

Xiao Lan couldn't help but chuckle.

"Alright, be careful when you go to bed later, and don't get scared by the thunder."

"No, we're not afraid of thunder."

"That's good. Let me know immediately if anything happens."

There wasn't much entertainment in the village at night, especially with the rain. The Torada family had prepared two rooms for the three of them, and both rooms were already made up with bedding.

As Yoshiki Hayashi dried her wet hair with a towel and walked towards her assigned room, Kazuha, one of the two girls standing in the hallway, suddenly said with a grin, "I still ended up being a third wheel without realizing it. Sorry, Ran."

"What are you saying, Kazuha?"

"Because Mr. Mori and Conan aren't here, this is a rare opportunity." Kazuha said with a teasing expression, "If I weren't here, you might have ended up sleeping in the same room as Yoshiki-nii tonight, right?"

"...Stop teasing me."

Xiaolan's face turned an astonishing red.

Of course she knew Kazuha was just joking, but she was certain that if she really slept in the same room as Yoshiki tonight... she would definitely be bullied terribly by him.

It's during the evening when we're riding horses.

Yoshiki-san appears to be a respectable person, but he's actually a pervert.

She lowered her head, as if she could feel the warmth of his palm through her chest.

"Okay, let's go back to our rooms."

The two girls quickly returned to their room to rest.

One lives in Tokyo, and the other in Osaka. It's a rare coincidence that they met, and they had a lot to talk about... In particular, Kazuha was very interested in Ran and Yoshiki's current situation.

She is also the first friend with whom Xiaolan can share this sweetness, so they seem to have a lot to talk about.

However, as the night deepened and the rain outside the window intensified, they gradually began to feel tired.

Kazuha and Ran fell asleep.

But suddenly, a creaking sound came from the hallway outside the room.

It sounded like something was swaying, or like something heavy moving on the wooden floor... Kazuha, who was a light sleeper, woke up as a result. She quickly got up and nudged Ran beside her, asking her if she had heard any strange noises when Ran groggily opened her eyes.

"No, I only heard the sound of rain and thunder..."

Xiao Lan sat up drowsily, muttering to herself unconsciously.

A bright light suddenly flashed outside.

Immediately following was a thunderous boom.

In the brief moment when the dim room was illuminated by the lightning, the two saw a figure wearing armor and seemingly covered in long hair reflected in the shoji screen—it was standing in the corridor.

The next moment, their screams soared into the sky.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The next morning, Kogoro Mouri and his friends returned from Ryuo's house.

As soon as I entered, I heard Ran and Kazuha talking to Torada Naonobu and his wife Torada Eita:

"It's true, we all saw it last night!" "We're absolutely certain it wasn't a hallucination!"

The two girls recounted the terrifying shadows they had seen the previous night to the Torada family, while Hayashi Yoshiki stood beside them, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Hattori Heiji and the others immediately came over to ask what had happened.

"When it thundered last night, we saw a shadow standing outside the room; it was the shadow of a samurai!"

"Could that be the armor that Mr. Hanji wears during rituals in his room?"

"It's different because that samurai's helmet has very thick, long hair, unlike the armor in Mr. Hanji's room."

"A helmet with long hair? Isn't that Takeda Shingen's helmet?"

Japanese samurai armor also has a distinctive style. For example, when Japanese people think of Takeda, they think of his iconic red armor, and his helmet is decorated with long, flowing hair. The armor of other military commanders, however, has a different style.

Did Jia Shu notice anything last night?

Conan looked at Yoshiki Hayashi.

“No, not last night. Because my room is a little far away, I only ran out after hearing Xiaolan’s voice last night, but when I got to the corridor, I couldn’t see the samurai anymore.”

As Lin Jiashu finished speaking, his gaze suddenly passed over Hattori Heiji, who was deep in thought, and looked at Ryūo Ayaka, the daughter-in-law of the Ryūo family, who was standing behind him and had come along. He saw that as she listened to everyone's conversation, her face gradually filled with terror, and then she suddenly covered her head, screamed, and turned and ran away under everyone's gaze.

Her sudden onset of illness was astonishing.

When everyone was a step too slow to catch up, Ayaka Ryūki seemed to be hiding from something. She opened the bathroom door, went inside, and locked it, refusing to come out no matter how much the others called her.

"What exactly happened?"

"I don't know, let's call her family and ask."

The Torada family looked helpless.

Despite their long-standing feud, the Torada family did have the Ryuo family's phone number. Torada Naonobu impatiently explained the situation over the phone and asked someone from the Ryuo family to come and pick them up.

"Did you find anything out yesterday?"

Lin Jiashu took a moment to ask Conan and the others questions.

"Yes, our investigation revealed that after learning of Yoshiro's death, Ryūo Kōji muttered to himself, 'Next, it's my turn.'"

Conan, with a serious expression, finished speaking, and Heiji Hattori chimed in:

"It sounds like he knows something. If that's the case, then this must be a serial murder."

"Also, the deceased Yoshiro Torada, Koji Ryūo, and the current Shigeji Torada, Kei Ryūo, and Ayaka Ryūo all had a very good relationship... For a period of time, they often spent time together, doing something I don't know."

"I see."

This is the main clue.

Lin Jiashu did not offer any opinion after listening.

After receiving the call, the Ryuo family rushed to the Torada residence... But when they knocked on the bathroom door, Ryuo Ayaka, who had just responded by saying she should just have some peace and quiet, suddenly became quiet. In the end, the Torada family had no choice but to force their way into the bathroom, only to find it empty.

Sensing something was wrong, the group immediately split up to search for the missing person.

This search was quite a large-scale operation, with even the old lady from the Longwei family joining the search in the mountains.

result,

When everyone found Ryūki Ayaka, she was hanged from a tree, and her mouth was covered with a strip of cloth.

—Yamato Kansuke was also present.

He was even the first eyewitness; by the time everyone found him, he was already standing in front of Ayaka Ryūki's body.

"It is indeed related to the previous case; there is a centipede corpse on the ground nearby."

As the group hurriedly put down Ayaka Ryūki's body, Yoshiki Hayashi stepped forward, squatted down, and stared at the centipede corpse on the ground.

"I'll call for backup from the police station right away."

Yamato Kansuke's fierce-looking face was now full of solemnity. "First, they left Torada Yoshiro to die, then they used cruel methods to bury Ryūo Koji in a pile of dirt and kill him, and now... I'm afraid the murderer won't just target these few people."

"Miss Ryūo Ayaka suddenly panicked when she heard the news that it was related to Takeda Shingen's armor."

Lin Jiashu certainly wouldn't touch a centipede corpse. He stood up and took a step back. "On the way here, I had my assistant check the relationship between the centipede and Takeda Shingen, and we actually found something."

"What is it?" Kogoro Mouri asked impatiently.

“Takeda Shingen always referred to the messengers on the battlefield as the Centipede Corps and had them plant centipede flags on their backs.”

"So that's how it is!" Shigeji, the second son of the Torada family, suddenly exclaimed. "No wonder I felt like I'd seen this pattern somewhere before. It turns out that people would put this up on the battlefield during festivals!"

"Hmph, you don't even know this, yet you're always searching for treasure!"

Torada Naonobu was quite annoyed with his good-for-nothing son.

The latter seemed somewhat timid.

Lin Jiashu then looked at him and said, "Mr. Hanji, according to the information we have so far, you used to be often with the deceased Mr. Ryūo Kōji and others, and we don't know what activities they were doing. Would you mind telling us about this?"

"...Well, we're here to find treasure. We found books and a treasure map in our warehouse that say there's a gold mine left behind by Takeda Shingen."

Shigeji Torada was somewhat insecure.

The younger generation of the Torada and Ryūo families are indeed not bothered by any family feuds; in fact, one could say their relationship is unusually good.

Yamato Kansuke begins gathering information from Ryūo Ayaka's corpse.

Ultimately, her cell phone was found missing from her purse, leading to the conclusion that she had been summoned to this mountain forest by someone.

"Brother Jiashu, what are your thoughts?"

Conan walked up to Yoshiki Hayashi, looked up at him, and said, "Even without evidence, it doesn't matter... This case involves a series of murders, and if we don't do something," he gritted his teeth, "someone else might be killed!"

“That’s right, Itsuki.” Kogoro Mouri’s gaze also shifted from the corpse. “Did you notice anything?”

The people around couldn't help but look over.

For the locals living in the village, they may have heard about Lin Jiashu through the media, and only know that he solves cases very quickly.

But these cases were so incomplete and unclear that even the murderer was confident that he hadn't left any loose ends. In such a situation, even the famous detective from Tokyo was helpless.

But for Conan and his friends, who were already used to Yoshiki Hayashi's behavior, Yoshiki Hayashi must have noticed something they hadn't noticed at all—after all, this guy has always been like this, always figuring everything out silently.

Yamato Kansuke also looked over.

"I think at least one more person needs to die."

Lin Jiashu suddenly said.

Everyone waited in silence for his next words, and Lin Jiashu did not disappoint them. He suddenly changed the subject and said, "Swift as the wind, silent as the forest, fierce as fire, immovable as a mountain—this is a passage from the chapter on military maneuvering in Sun Tzu's Art of War, and it is also the method of marching that Takeda Shingen believed in. Torada Yoshiro, who was injured by a tornado and died, is the wind; Ryūo Koji, who was tied up and buried in a pile of earth that looked like a mountain, is the mountain; Ryūo Ayaka, who was hung in the forest, is the forest... and finally, what remains is the fire."

"Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain..."

"It really is true!"

"So, the next target might be Mr. Hanji or Mr. Jing?"