Chapter 134 Script Killing (Part 2)
Edogawa Conan and Amuro Toru were walking at the end. He whispered, "Mr. Amuro, what are you busy with recently? I never see you every time I go to Poirot Cafe."
Amuro Toru recalled the difficult days he had been exploited by Gin recently, and sighed, "I've been really busy lately... I'll tell you when it's over."
Edogawa Conan nodded: "Okay. I also have something I want to talk to you about."
As they approached the buildings, they discovered that, just as Hattori Heiji had said, the marks of damage on the walls were fake, easily discernible up close. The screws connecting the wooden doors were still new, suggesting these houses might actually be newly built.
"So many rooms were built just for this game? What a generous move." Hattori Heiji exclaimed.
"Who is the organizer?" asked Suzuki Sonoko.
Everyone shook their heads. The invitation was completely blank, shrouded in mystery from beginning to end.
Hattori Heiji, who was walking in front, pushed open the door, and then everyone saw an unexpected person inside.
"Aren't you guys too slow?" Dong Yexi was sitting at the long table in the middle of the hall, holding a book in his hand. Yutori Weiyi was sitting on his right, also reading a book.
Everyone asked in surprise: "Did you organize this activity?"
"No." Dong Yexi shook his head, his expression very natural, "I came here only after receiving the invitation."
"Then why aren't you surprised to see us?" Edogawa Conan's eyes were full of doubt, "It's like you knew we would come."
Dong Yexi raised his hand, pointed in a direction and said, "I can see you from here."
Everyone looked in the direction of his finger and found that it was a window. His angle was just right for him to see what was happening outside the house.
"Don't just stand there like an idiot. Come and take a look at the script." Dong Yexi shook the script in his hand and said, "The identity of each character is written on the cover. You can pick any one."
The group went around the table and got a preliminary understanding of the characters.
The script features ten characters: the clan leader, the village chief, the village chief's wife, the village beauty, the village tyrant, two villagers, and three tourists. Higashino Hiroshi and Hatori Yui have already taken on the roles of "Village Chief" and "Village Chief's Wife," leaving the remaining characters to be chosen based on personal preference.
After everyone chose their roles, they sat down according to their assigned seats. Then everyone's attention turned to the remaining seat.
"There's one more character. Is there someone else who hasn't come yet?" asked Toru Amuro.
Just when everyone was puzzled, a young man in plain linen clothes walked in and sat in the remaining empty seat.
"You shouldn't be an invited guest, right?" Hattori Heiji asked, "Are you the planner of this event?" He had obviously dressed up deliberately, and his clothes were more in line with his character.
The man smiled slightly and said, "Welcome everyone to participate in this game. I am a staff member invited by the organizer. You can call me Xiaodai. Since the number of guests does not match the roles, my task is to play the remaining roles."
Suzuki Sonoko raised her hand and asked, "Then how do you know which one will be left?"
Xiao Dai looked at her suspiciously and said, "I don't know. Whichever role is left, I'll play it." To put it bluntly, he was just playing along. He continued, "Don't worry about me cheating. I haven't read the script, just like you. Just treat me as a player like you."
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Since there weren't enough people for the board game, it made sense for the staff to come along. However, the organizer was so mysterious, and the guests were all acquaintances. He was the only stranger, so it was hard for them to trust him.
Xiao Dai not only played along, but also served as the host. He said, "Since everyone has no objections, let's begin. Everyone has received the script. First, please go to your respective spaces according to the instructions on the script. Then, memorize your character information within half an hour. During this time, you can freely change the position of objects in your space, but you cannot leave the room. When the game officially begins, there will be a reminder bell, so please return here."
After understanding the rules, the group went to their own spaces according to their role settings.
Higashino Hiroshi and Hatori Yui play the village chief and his wife, who live in this one-story house. The last remaining character is the clan leader, played by Oshiro, who also lives in this house. Two villagers, played by Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha, live to the left and right of the village chief's house, respectively. Mori Ran plays the village beauty and lives in the left rear; Edogawa Conan plays the village tyrant and lives in the right rear; Suzuki Sonoko, Amuro Toru, and Okiya Subaru play tourists and stay in the villager activity room directly behind, each occupying one of the three guest rooms.
The script begins with a brief introduction to the case. Baiyu Village is a remote hamlet, home to the Baiyu clan. However, one day, a sudden fire consumes everything, consuming everyone in the village. Based on the investigative information, we re-enact the events leading up to the fire. We hope to uncover the true culprit behind these events and bring justice to the Baiyu Village.
Edogawa Conan frowned after reading it. He'd heard the script was based on a true story, but he didn't seem to have heard of any similar cases. However, secondary creations were bound to differ from the original case, and perhaps the clues were all made up, so there was no need to dwell on the original case.
Now, he was quite interested in the character of Village Bully. He carefully looked at the character design and was secretly happy: I made the right choice!
Half an hour later, the bell rang on time. Everyone returned to the original hall as required and sat in their original seats.
Xiao Dai cleared his throat and said, "This is Baiyu Village, where the Baiyu clan has lived for generations. Almost all the villagers are related by blood, and they live a peaceful and comfortable life. But yesterday, a child named Ayong suddenly disappeared. The villagers searched the entire area but couldn't find him. After verification, it was found that the villagers present here, including me, saw Ayong yesterday and are all suspects. These three outsiders are also suspects." He looked at the crowd and said, "Everyone, please introduce yourselves and tell us when you saw Ayong. To make it easier to introduce yourself, everyone will be referred to as name + identity."
"Let me demonstrate first," Xiao Dai said. "I'm the chief of the Baiyu clan, you can call me the acting chief. I saw Ayong yesterday, probably between 7:30 and 7:45 in the morning. I get up early every day to do morning exercises, and when I saw Ayong, I had already finished the first set and was doing the second. Based on my morning exercise progress, it's probably within this range."
Once someone demonstrates, those following behind will know what to say.
Dong Yexi followed up, "I'm the village chief. I saw Ayong around the same time as the acting village chief, because we both lived in this house. He was passing by at that time, and we all saw him."
Hatori Yui nodded: "Ditto."
Others: ...
Hattori Heiji teased, "Why don't you introduce yourself?"
Hatori Yui was silent for a moment, then, facing the crowd's gazes of amusement, she said, "I am the village chief's wife, Madam Yui."
The group of people moved in unison, lowering their heads and trying to suppress their laughter.
"I'm Villager Hei. I saw Ayong after 9 o'clock when I was farming in the fields," said Hattori Heiji.
Yuanshan Heye then said, "I am a villager named He. I met Ayong in the woods around 11:00."
"Then I was here before you," Mao Lilan said. "I'm Hana Ranmura. I met Ayong by the stream around 10:30. He was fishing in the river."
Edogawa Conan said: "I am Nancunba."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone burst into laughter. It was really funny when an elementary school student said he was the village bully.
Edogawa Conan curled his lips: "...Lancunhua and I saw Ayong at about the same time and place."
The other three tourists shook their heads and said they had never encountered this.
"So, the last people to see Yong were villagers Minghe around 11:00. He disappeared after that because he didn't come home for lunch. His parents searched for him for a long time and couldn't find him. They finally asked the village chief for help, but they searched all night and still couldn't find him." Xiao Dai said, "Now we can split up and search the space of the person you suspect for evidence. The time limit is 20 minutes. Come back here after the bell rings."
Searching the house is indeed an exciting thing. As soon as Xiaodai finished speaking, everyone stood up excitedly and headed towards the space they were interested in.
"Hey, Conan." Hattori Heiji pulled Edogawa Conan and asked, "Do you want to compete to see who finds the evidence first?"
Edogawa Conan looked at him with half-moon eyes: "How difficult is it to find evidence? Why don't you say who can solve the case first?"
"Not impossible." Hattori Heiji said with a grin, "How about a competition?"
"Childish." Edogawa Conan walked away without looking back, but his pace was much faster.
Hattori Heiji followed immediately.
Toyama Kazuha sighed and shook her head, complaining to Maoli Ran: "What's wrong with Heiji? Why is he always competing with Conan? Isn't he afraid that others will say he is bullying children?"
Dong Yexi, who was passing by, said leisurely: "Maybe they are the same age."
Mao Lilan chuckled: "Hattori is indeed full of childishness." She thought that Higashino Xi was also trying to convince Hattori Heiji that he was childish, but she didn't expect that he was just stating the facts.
Over there, Hattori Heiji and Edogawa Conan began to compete with each other; over here, Amuro Toru also did not want to lose to Okiya Subaru. Specifically, he not only searched the places he wanted to go, but also searched the places Okiya Subaru had searched again, but he just didn't ask.
Subaru Okiya: ...I'm not even willing to share information with him when playing games.
Twenty minutes wasn't a short time; it was enough time for everyone to gather a large amount of evidence. The bell rang again, and everyone returned to the hall and began to share the evidence they had collected.
Okiya Subaru: Look, we still have to share! Don't you think you were just doing something unnecessary?
Toru Amuro turned his head away, not wanting to understand Subaru Okiya's eyes.
"Then who goes first?" Everyone looked at each other, and no one was willing to be the first to explain.
"Let me demonstrate first," Xiao Dai said. His job was to step up and advance the game at times like these.
Xiao Dai said, "Because I'm the clan leader and I trust the villagers, I searched the rooms of the three outsiders." He glanced at the three tourists and said, "I know they all arrived here on the same day at different times and have been here for five days. Because there are no B&Bs or other accommodations in the village, the village chief put them up in the activity room."
Dong Yexi nodded: "That's right."
"Isn't our village very xenophobic? Why would Village Chief Xi allow outsiders to live here?" Yuanshan Heye noticed something that contradicted the plot. "Baiyu Village is quite closed and not very friendly to outsiders. It's strange that they could stay here for five days."
Dong Yexi said as a matter of course: "Of course it's because they paid." He rubbed two fingers together, "The money is in place, they can stay as long as they want. If it weren't for the fact that there is no room, I would have arranged for them to stay at my house." His greedy expression was vivid.
"So the village chief is a greedy person?" Amuro Toru asked incisively.
Dong Yexi shrugged and did not answer.
The game has just begun, he can't reveal the suspense right away, otherwise what's the point of playing?
He spent many days thinking about this script. If he rushes to finish it, wouldn't his efforts be wasted? Even if Conan's vest is exposed, he still wants to have fun!
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