Chapter 72, Section 71: Beneath the Gentian Flower: Splitting Up...

It looks very dangerous

It's actually not safe at all.

Zhuge Tongzhi gathered the children, who had been thoroughly frightened, together and looked helplessly at the three pale-faced children, saying, "Didn't you check the news before coming here?"

"We checked on the way here, but we didn't upload any photos of the scene." Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya rubbed his nose listlessly, holding the sachet of mugwort that Zhuge Tongzhi had given him, which was meant to help them get rid of the smell.

"Because I ran into Conan being invited when I came to see Professor Agasa this morning," Ayumi Yoshida sniffed, looking at her fearless friend in front of her, and said weakly, "So I just came straight here."

"Ugh—" Kojima Genta leaned against the wall, covering his mouth and making weak retching sounds. Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko quickly stuffed the mugwort pouch in his hand into his mouth.

“You guys, this isn’t some tourist attraction for a day trip.” Zhuge Tongzhi rubbed his forehead, glanced at the blue and white arrow pointing deeper into the tunnel in the void, then looked at the three children in front of him, and finally said, “Let’s send you out first.”

“But didn’t Inspector Yamato say the culprit might still be hiding here?” Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya swallowed hard and said, “It’s probably better not to get separated from the group.”

“That’s how it is…” Zhuge Tongzhi shrugged and said, “But the crime scene for the next victim is further inside. It won’t be a short time before we can see all the details and go out.”

"Ah...actually, I think I can close my eyes too, and didn't Conan say that Ms. Yamanashi died from a fall?" Yoshida Ayumi weighed the options and decided to take a compromise and continue to follow the group.

“I have some cloth strips left over from the last game of hide-and-seek in my bag, they'll come in handy.”

"Genta, let me help you tie it up."

Okay, it's not impossible. The black-haired girl adjusted the adult safety helmet on her head, which was obviously too big, and reached out to help Yoshida Ayumi tie the blindfold.

Just as looking at someone's mouth makes them sound clearer than simply listening to their voice, the presence of vision can sometimes enhance the perception of other senses. Physically speaking, "ignoring what you see" is also a method.

The children were helping each other become blindfolded heroes, while the police officers were gathered around Dr. Ueda's body, each offering their opinions.

“This must have accidentally angered the mountain god of Elephant Mountain.” Yamamura Misao clung tightly to Kogoro Mori’s arm, glanced at the body, and quickly looked away. He said loudly, “Just like the germplasm research institute on the mountain that was mysteriously burned down before.”

"Dr. Ueda was planning to build a sanatorium here, so he must have been punished by the mountain god for that!"

“Sanatorium?” No one paid attention to Yamamura’s illogical association. Conan seized on the word and repeated it, “Isn’t Dr. Ueda an attending physician at Nagano Central Hospital?”

"Yes, but he has recently expressed his intention to resign, and he also had a very heated conflict with the dean over the transfer issue," Yamato Kansuke explained. "I heard that they had a big argument the day before yesterday and smashed half of the office."

"In that case, Dr. Koyanagi from Osaka Hospital also requested a transfer a few days ago." Heiji Hattori squatted down next to Conan, thought for a moment, and explained to everyone, "However, he died because he accidentally took cephalosporin after drinking alcohol, and the drugs clashed."

"When he was found in the alley, his heart had been deliberately cut out, and the murder weapon was thrown in the garbage." Hattori Heiji flicked his hat and said, "Dr. Koyanagi has a chronic illness and always carries his medication with him. The murderer must have switched his medication."

The next victim appeared in Gunma Prefecture, and everyone's attention turned to Yamamura Misao. The sharp-tongued police officer swallowed hard and said, trying to remain calm, "We haven't investigated whether Dr. Onishi intended to be transferred."

"But he was the first person to discover Dr. Koyanagi's murder." Yamamura Misao pulled out his notebook, which was filled with details of the case, and read aloud, "According to the investigation, the three victims were roommates in college and were drinking together in Osaka on the night of the incident."

So, they were murdered in quick succession within two weeks of each other? Conan carefully observed Dr. Ueda's fingernails and the wound marks around his eyes, and his gaze shifted to the slightly bulging chest pocket on the inside of the doctor's coat.

Compared to the bloodstains that naturally dripped and spread, the bloodstains running horizontally along the edge of the breast pocket looked more like they were wiped on when gloves were being used.

Something had been placed inside. Conan's eyes sharpened, and he reached into the red-stained breast pocket. Heiji Hattori looked over as well.

“Dr. Onishi died of suffocation, and the organ that was removed was his lung.” Yamamura Misao turned a page of his notebook and continued, “A month ago, he performed lung surgery on a child, but the child did not survive. The child’s family came to cause trouble before the incident.”

"Ha, then both of these guys you're talking about are very suspicious." Kogoro Mouri stroked his chin and speculated, "They could also be copycat crimes, since the organs they dug out are different."

Inside the breast pocket was a small, folded letter.

Conan carefully unfolded the blood-soaked envelope, revealing a stamp affixed to the innermost side.

“Everyone who had contact with the deceased alone has been informed, but we believe this should not be a copycat crime,” said Yui Uehara, showing everyone the photos on her phone. “Because the same mark was found on both victims.”

Conan holds a gentian flower-themed stamp with yellowed edges, and the date of issue in the lower right corner is thirteen years ago.

"Are the gentian flower stamps a death omen for the next victim?"

Heiji Hattori, acting in place of Conan who couldn't be too conspicuous, showed the envelope and unfolded letter in his hand. "It reads: 'Dr. Toshiaki Kiuchi, it's time to end the days of dancing with the devil.'"

"No, they both have gentian flower elements in them." Uehara Yui put away her phone, shook her head, and denied, "One is a child's drawing, and the other is a gentian flower brooch."

“However, we did look into Toshiaki Kiuchi. He was a roommate of the three deceased in a four-person dormitory during his university years.” She took the letter from Heiji Hattori, examining the slightly blurred handwriting, and said, “But he left the medical industry shortly after graduation and is now running a flower and bird shop.”

“Then, the answer to everything must lie in what happened thirteen years ago,” Yamamura Misao concluded preemptively, straightening his tie with an air of self-importance. “I, Inspector Yamamura, know that there are hidden secrets in these cases.”

“Mr. Yamamura is still Mr. Yamamura.” Kazuha Toyama revealed his crescent-shaped eyes and tugged at Ran Mouri, who was smiling helplessly beside him. “I really can’t stand it.”

Fortunately, no one at the scene wanted to discuss the credit for the summary with him. Morofushi Takaaki was making a phone call to the police officers waiting outside, asking them to come in and handle Dr. Ueda's body. This matter should have been completed last night, but it had been delayed until now because the entire joint investigation team needed to come and conduct the investigation.

However, the signal inside the tunnel was very poor, and it took him quite some time to organize the subsequent tasks amidst the noise of the communication.

Having initially determined the direction of the investigation, the group, all with excellent execution skills, immediately headed towards the location of the next victim.

Conan, who had kept his achievements hidden, clapped his hands. After snapping out of his focused state of examining the clues, he remembered the Junior Detective League, who hadn't been involved in the case since.

“Come on, one holding the other, yes… watch your step.” He peeked out and saw Zhuge Tongzhi walking straight toward them, with Yoshida Ayumi holding his shoulders like a little train behind him, followed by Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko and Kojima Genta.

"One, two, one, two, one, be careful to hold onto the wall."

Conan watched speechlessly as the four-carriage train circled the corpse in the middle of the road and passed by. He walked to the front of the train and asked, "What are you guys doing?"

"That way you won't be afraid of corpses anymore, Conan." Ayumi Yoshida, pinpointing the source of the voice, turned to Conan and said, "I think it's super useful!"

"That's why I told you not to follow me this morning." Conan sighed and raised his hand to stop the few people who were stubbornly following. "If you're scared, don't go any further. The police officers will come in to deal with the bodies later. You can just come out with them."

"Conan-kun?" Ran Mouri, noticing the children hadn't followed, turned back and looked at the three blindfolded children and the two children staring at her with wide eyes. She asked in confusion, "What happened?"

The children chattered about their plans, and after listening for a while, Ran Mouri said, "Then I'll stay here with you and wait for the others to arrive."

"Anyway, I can't be of much help with the case." Despite having a childhood friend who was a mystery fanatic, the perceptive girl had never been very interested in mystery games. She patted Conan's head and said, "Conan-kun, you have to stay close to Dad and Hattori, okay?"

But the culprit's whereabouts are unknown, how can I leave you here alone? Conan shrank back after being rubbed, stomped his foot, and decided to wait here with Ran Mouri until they could send the Detective Boys out.

Damn it, Hattori is going to steal the spotlight again. Shinichi Kudo, who was secretly competing with himself in every deduction, thought to himself, somewhat frustrated, hiding in his childlike shell: But there's really nothing I can do about it.

"Miss Lan, is there a problem here?"

The crowd that had walked a little further away soon noticed the group that had stopped in place. After Morofushi Takaaki and Furuya Rei returned, the former spoke with Mouri Ran for a while, then gestured to the people who were standing there, indicating that they should go first.

“I just need to go over some data with the officers who are coming over. The signal here is really bad.” Officer Phoenix Eyes showed the group his phone screen, which had only one bar of signal. In a short while, that bar of signal flickered precariously several times. “I’ll probably have to go through the data from thirteen years ago for a while.”

"I'm entrusting Midorikawa with taking good care of Kiri-chan." Furuya Rei patted Zhuge Tongzhi on the shoulder. "I'll stay with you. I don't think the culprit would dare to lay a hand on us, even if he's hiding somewhere in the tunnel."

Ah, that's not necessarily true. Zhuge Tongzhi glanced at the roughly equal number of high-quality detectives on both sides and silently tightened his shoulder strap.

To be honest, the aura of death emanating from you all has become quite dazzling, even to my eyes.

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Author's note: What does it feel like to want to escape but be unable to?

Zhuge: Thanks for the invitation (actually, I'm not really grateful).

…

Mwah