Chapter 496

After the police arrived, the detectives, contrary to their usual behavior, entered into a rather negative discussion.

There's no way around it; everyone here has witnessed how unreliable Yamamura Misao is—even Amuro Tooru, who once encountered a case handled by Yamamura Misao in Gunma Prefecture, was deeply shocked and couldn't understand how the other party passed the police academy exam and graduated smoothly.

Yamamura Misao went to find out what was going on from the landlady first. Then, a few people gathered around Usoba Saiki and began to have a serious discussion.

"The light bulb suddenly exploded, which couldn't have been an accident. The injuries everyone sustained afterward were definitely caused by someone. In other words, the person who was playing tricks was in the warehouse at the time," Hattori Heiji said confidently.

Conan Edogawa no longer hid from people and thought about things on his own as before, but actively participated in the discussion in front of Tooru Amuro: "We searched them and didn't find any blades or daggers. It must have been a fragment that got stuck when the light bulb was broken. Maybe we'll find that fragment after the crime scene investigation is over, and we might even be able to find fingerprints."

After patiently listening to the two children's reasoning, Usui listened to them for a moment, then turned to Amuro Tooru and asked, "What do you think?"

Amuro Tooru was very conservative: "After the police finish their investigation, I have some ideas that I need to confirm."

He tried to instill some useful information about the police in front of Usakata Saiki.

The detectives exchanged a few words, but Kogoro Mouri was the only one absent, as he was busy comforting the landlady and clearly didn't take the competition seriously.

After the exchange, Hattori Heiji turned to him and asked, "What do you think, Usui-kun?"

Bo Yezaki paused for a moment: "I wasn't even there. What do you want me to think?"

"Well, how should I put it?" Hattori Heiji scratched his head, "I always feel like Usui-san seems unaffected by all this, like he knows everything..."

Toru Amuro kept smiling.

LOL, the first person in the organization to meet Usaka Saiki was still thinking of him as mentally ill.

On the contrary, everyone outside knows that Bo Yezaki is no ordinary person!

Even so, Amuro Tooru didn't think that Usaku Saiki's entire role in the organization was just an act—well, there might be an element of acting, but his purpose was hard to say.

Amuro Tooru suspects that Usaku Saiki's erratic behavior within the organization stems not only from his desire to oust those he dislikes, but also from his belief that the organization cannot fire him, thus providing a legitimate outlet for his emotions.

Playing ordinary people in public must have been incredibly frustrating for Usaku Saiki!

Usoppei was pleased by the emotional support Heiji Hattori provided: "Thank you for the compliment, but this is a competition. If I say something, wouldn't that be the same as cheating?"

Conan Edogawa coughed and said, "Everyone's here, and the starting point is the same, so it doesn't count as cheating, right?... Uncle Mori doesn't seem to be planning to take the competition seriously either, so let's just ignore him."

Usakata Saiki stroked his chin: "Well, let's put it this way, if I were the culprit, I wouldn't use such an easy method as light bulb fragments to be discovered. And going through all this trouble to make people think that there really is a Kamaitachi, I guess you're planning something bigger. I suggest you put aside the warehouse injury for now and investigate who in the inn looks most like the one who will be killed."

That makes a lot of sense.

Surprisingly, none of the people present suspected anything was wrong. They all felt that the perpetrator's ultimate goal was to kill—what could they do? This was Japan! Isn't it normal to suspect something strange as a warm-up for murder?

"I think the one in the hotel who's most likely to offend someone is that old man," said Kazuha Toyama.

She was referring to the current owner of the hotel, the landlady's father-in-law.

While they were talking about the Kamaitachi at the restaurant, the old man made some outrageous remarks to the proprietress, accusing her of having an affair with a regular customer and saying that if she didn't earn enough money, he would use a "secret weapon"—which, when asked about later, turned out to be having the proprietress act as a human sushi bowl, using her body as a container to hold food, essentially a form of erotic service.

The proprietress was naturally unhappy, and the empathetic crowd also felt angry upon hearing this.

"That old man is so disrespectful! His son died and he's tormenting his daughter-in-law like this." Yuanshan and Ye said indignantly, "The business is bad, but you can't blame the proprietress. She's really unlucky to have married into this family!"

Women's Friend Usoppei snorted coldly: "If that old man dies, remember to include me as a suspect. I really want to kill him right now."

Yuanshan Kazuha was deeply moved: "Boye-ge is so kind."

Ran Mouri agreed, while Conan Edogawa and Heiji Hattori nodded absentmindedly, lost in thought.

Toru Amuro: "…………"

No, he's saying he wants to kill someone?! You can praise that?! Even though he doesn't actually do it himself, he really does kill!

Amuro Tooru felt that this group of people had an absurdly high level of skepticism towards Usui Saiki!

This shows that Usaku Saiki really pays a lot of attention to his image in public... Well, is it not enough for him to cooperate?

Amuro Tooru gritted his teeth and reluctantly agreed, "Usui-kun is so considerate."

He felt like throwing up.

Usakabe glanced at him, and seemed to smile even more broadly.

Amuro Tooru strongly suspected that the reason this kid dragged him out this time was because he had learned from Morofushi Kagemitsu that he should remain calm when facing Usakuya Saiki, but his reaction wasn't funny anymore. So Usakuya Saiki came up with a new way to torment him, like now...

Apart from Amuro Tooru, no one took Usaku Saiki's murderous remarks seriously; they were still discussing whether the landlady would hate that old man.

“After all, she’s always been in this hotel, so it’s easy for her to do whatever she wants without having to prepare in advance,” Hattori Heiji said. “But we can’t just convict her like that. Let’s go and ask her more carefully.”

"I'll also remind the old man to be careful."

Just then, the police finished their on-site investigation.

"What?! You're saying there's no blood on the broken light bulb?"

Hattori Heiji and Edogawa Conan surrounded Yamamura Misao, questioning, "Are you sure? Could something have been missed?"

Yamamura Misao retorted, "Of course we're sure! We pieced all the fragments back together into a complete light bulb, nothing was missing! And there was no blood!"

Ran Mouri couldn't help but say from the side, "Bo Ye was right!"

The reasoning suddenly hit a dead end.

No dagger was found, and the fragments were intact. So how did the perpetrator injure the person? Was it really a Kamaitachi monster?

Everyone was worried. Just then, a scream came from the room where the landlady's son was. Everyone rushed over and found that the lights in the child's room had suddenly gone out and all the balloons that had been blown up had burst.

This is yet another crime. I just can't understand what the perpetrator's purpose was in disrupting a children's party that needed balloons.

While the police were about to investigate the scene, Amuro Tooru began to negotiate with the landlady: "Madam, we suspect that the culprit may have other motives, perhaps even murder. Please be careful, as well as you, the children, and the elderly."

The proprietress nodded with a worried look: "Okay, I'll go remind them in a bit..."

Before he could finish speaking, another scream rang out.

Hattori Heiji's expression changed instantly: "That voice... it's that old man!"

No way?! Is that old man really going to be killed?!

Like busy little bees, a group of people swarmed after the landlady and ran in the direction of the screams.

After all, the old man's place wasn't in the main house, but in a side house, and outsiders wouldn't know the way!

The female writer, panting, asked, "Isn't there a shortcut I can take?"

The proprietress quickly said, "You can do it from the hot spring side!"

When they got to the hot spring, they found that it wasn't time for cleaning yet, and the hot spring was full of water, so they couldn't get through!

The back door of the house is right across from the hot spring! They could even see the door swaying gently in the wind.

The male writer's expression was a mixture of fear and excitement: "It must be a Kamaitachi! Only a Kamaitachi can cross water!"

The female writer threw a bar of soap into the hot spring but didn't find any hidden mechanisms like a transparent platform.

"Damn it! There's no other way, I'll have to take a detour!" Kogoro Mori was extremely anxious.

The proprietress once again ran ahead to lead the way.

The group took a long detour, and by the time they finally arrived at the house, the old man was already dead.

The enormous scythe pinned his corpse to the ground, and the sliding door also bore the marks of being slashed by the scythe. It all seemed to be an attempt to fit the legend of the Kamaitachi.

"Damn it! We're too late!" Kogoro Mouri stepped forward to examine the body and shook his head.

Hattori Heiji was still puzzled: "Why is the hallway light broken, but the room lights are fine? And why only break the hallway light?"

Just as Conan Edogawa was about to say something, he suddenly sensed something was wrong and abruptly turned his head: "Where's Usopp-nii?"

Amuro Tooru was also taken aback, only then realizing that Usaku Saiki hadn't followed.

But thinking about it, it wasn't surprising. He explained, "Bo Ye-kun is probably too lazy to run. He's not interested in that kind of thing."

"But when we got to the hot spring, he was still following us..." Hattori Heiji was puzzled.

But there's no need to dwell on it, since nobody thinks Bo Yezaki is really the criminal, even though he just said he wanted to kill someone.

I guess they really just ran halfway and didn't want to run anymore, so they went back to the main house to wait for news.

With that in mind, the group walked to another door away from the house, the same door they had seen on the other side of the hot spring, intending to see if there were any traces there.

There was indeed a strange mark on the path from the porch to the door, as if someone had used that huge scythe to scrape away the footprints as they went.

This mark continued all the way to the outside of the door.

Hattori Heiji walked over and pushed open the door: "I knew the culprit would try to erase the footprints, but I didn't expect it to lead to a hot spring. It couldn't have really been from the water—"

The door opened, and Hattori Heiji's voice became hoarse.

Usaku Saiki, whom they thought had stayed behind in the main house, was on their side, soaking his feet in the hot spring, looking deep in thought.

Ran Mouri was taken aback: "Bo Ye-ge, you came too? When did you arrive?"

"Wait a minute! We didn't see any footprints of Usopp-san from the direction we came from!" Conan Edogawa's face tightened. "Usopp-san came from the hot springs!"

Yuanshan and Ye were dumbfounded: "Huh? Brother Bo Ye, did you swim here?"

Usoppei sighed, "Actually, I think it would be faster for you to swim here directly than to take the long way. This hot spring isn't very deep... I don't understand why no one is willing to make a sacrifice."

Amuro Tooru observed carefully: "That's true, but your clothes are dry, so you didn't swim here..."

Prisoner: “…………”

Only the prisoner knew how Usaba Saiki managed to run from the other side of the hot spring with his clothes dry to this side, because that was how the prisoner used this method to reach the exit house before the others, kill someone, and then pretend that he had never left the group, so that he could rejoin everyone when the lights went out.

But... but how come someone else is doing this besides myself?! Doesn't this completely expose my methods?!

No, it's not even a matter of revealing my methods. Could the other side have also seen me acting alone, away from the group?!

Under the tense gaze of the prisoners, the silver-haired, green-eyed youth slowly spoke.

"...Did anyone bring a towel? I can't put on my shoes like this, it's so uncomfortable."

Others: "…………"

Is that the point?! Isn't the point how you got here from the hot springs?!

The prisoner felt the sticky sensation of his feet inside his socks and unconsciously scratched the ground.

When you're about to kill someone, isn't it normal to not be a little lenient?

What this guy said made me feel really uncomfortable. How awful!

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Thin Leaf: This prisoner is really unscrupulous! But non-Newtonian fluids are really interesting!

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Yes, Bo Ye witnessed the crime again; he solved the case entirely through eyewitness accounts (not really).

That old man deserves to die; he doesn't treat his employees like human beings.