Chapter 138 Script Killing (End)
The evidence listed by Conan Edogawa convinced everyone.
"But what I don't understand is why Villager Ping sent Yong to the main family? Is it just because Yong is naughty?" Yuanshan Heye asked doubtfully, "And according to common sense, the main family must be more prosperous than the branch family. Wouldn't sending Yong to the main family give him a good future?"
"No matter what the main family wants people for, it's definitely not a good thing." Edogawa Conan said, "Otherwise, why doesn't the villager Ping go himself?"
"That makes sense."
"Also, I'm wondering if the construction funds that the village chief embezzled before were actually sent by the main family." Edogawa Conan frowned in thought, "Village Chief Xi once said that this money is not so easy to get, and you have to pay a price if you use it. Is he referring to the main family's regular requests for people? But because the village chief only takes the money and does nothing, the main family has no choice but to find someone else to do this."
Dong Yexi raised the corner of his mouth and said with a smile, "That's right. The people in the Zong family give me a large sum of money every year and ask me to arrange for young people to work in the Zong family on a regular basis. But the village is so small, if all the young people go out, who will farm? If a bunch of old and weak people are left behind, how can they survive? I'm thinking about the future of the village!"
The others looked at him with doubt: Don’t you really want to make more money?
"Does the acting patriarch know what the main family wants people to do?" asked Conan Edogawa.
"He doesn't know." Dong Yexi replied for him, "This deal only came about after I became the village chief. He's just an old man who loves the village wholeheartedly, but is also very stubborn and short-sighted."
Xiao Dai nodded in agreement. He waited a moment, and seeing that no one else had anything to add, he said, "Three cases have been solved, but one remains. Tonight the village will be burned down, and everyone will perish in the flames. Has anyone found the final cause?"
Everyone looked at each other and slowly shook their heads.
Since her identity and purpose had been exposed, Suzuki Sonoko did not hide it and said directly: "The three of us are here for the wealth of the Baiyu clan. We will not do such a thing without finding any clues."
Yuanshan Heye retorted: "But you haven't been able to find any clues. Wouldn't it be more convenient for you to act by burning it?"
Subaru pushed his glasses and explained, "Just like Ke and Nancunba said, we can use this badge to participate in the auction of the Baiyu clan. The reason we didn't go is because we knew we couldn't get the things there, so we set our sights on the branch family. We think the branch family must have hidden some treasures.
"And you don't know, this badge isn't something anyone can get. We're people of status, so we wouldn't do anything grandiose. These treasures aren't necessarily made of heat-resistant metal; they could be valuable things like famous paintings and antiques. What if we rashly set fire to it and burn all these treasures?"
After that, he expressed his opinion: "So I tend to think that the fire was set by someone from the village."
"I think the old patriarch loves the village so much that he wouldn't do such a thing," Suzuki Sonoko speculated. "The rest of the people are suspicious."
"Huh? Wait, are you putting the blame on us?" Yuanshan Heye retorted, "Why would we burn our own house when we're fine? Even if there's a conflict among the villagers, they wouldn't drag the entire village into it, right? They were so brutal, it must have been done by an outsider! Don't you agree, Lancunhua?"
"Ah..." Mao Lilan suddenly came back to her senses. She seemed to have been in a trance for a moment. She nodded and said, "I don't think it was done by the villagers either."
Edogawa Conan touched his chin and said thoughtfully: "Besides the two tourists who are still alive, there is another person who is not from the village."
Everyone followed his gaze and looked at Hatori Yuiichi. Madam Yui was from the main family, and based on the main family's attitude towards the branch families, she could also be considered an outsider.
"Hmm... If you think about it that way, the village chief is also a suspect." Suzuki Sonoko added, "After all, he loves his wife very much. If he finds out that his wife is going to harm the village, he might not stop her, and might even take the initiative to become a knife in her hand."
The two people who were forced to take the blame were very calm. Higashino Xi chuckled: "If you can't solve the case, then you can't solve it. The worst that can happen is that you lose. How can you force a case without evidence?" He looked at Edogawa Conan, "Is this how you usually solve cases?"
Edogawa Conan was speechless for a moment.
He pursed his lips and said reluctantly, "There is indeed insufficient evidence regarding the fire, and we cannot infer the cause of the fire." In fact, they were not sure whether the fire was man-made or accidental. There were too few clues!
"Does anyone have anything else to add?" Xiao Dai looked around, and everyone shook their heads. He then handed everyone a piece of paper and said, "Then please write down the culprits in the three cases and what you think caused the fires. Was it an accident or man-made? If it was man-made, who was the culprit?"
Everyone, including Hattori Heiji and Amuro Toru who were silenced, got paper and pen and started writing down their answers. After they finished, a man in black appeared and took away their answers.
A few minutes later, the announcement began, accompanied by its own background music. "Now announcing the final results of this game. This game... passed!"
The group of people were made nervous by the BGM, and only Xiao Dai was the first to react, and then he started clapping.
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
"Why? Didn't we find the cause of the fire?" Suzuki Sonoko asked.
Yuanshan Heye also said: "Yes, I took a peek and everyone wrote it differently."
Xiao Dai smiled and said, "Because this game is based on a points system. Solving the cases of Ayong's disappearance, Villager Ping's murder, and Tourist Tou's murder will each earn you ten points. Discovering Madam Wei's identity, the relationship between Baiyu Village and the Zong family, and the meaning of the tourist's badge will earn you fifteen points. Discovering the final whereabouts of the missing persons will earn you five points. Discovering various important clues will earn you twenty points. The full score is 100, and with a total of seventy points, you've passed."
As soon as he finished speaking, a man in black came up and placed a scoring sheet on the table.
"Everyone, take a look at the scoring points." Xiao Dai stood up and said, "Then today's game was a complete success! Thank you all for playing for such a long time. We have prepared a feast in the activity room at the back, and everyone can move to the back to enjoy it."
Seeing Xiaodai about to leave, Edogawa Conan immediately stretched out his hand and shouted: "Hey, wait a minute. Aren't you going to tell us the final result?"
Xiao Dai turned around, put a finger in front of his mouth, and said, "No. Our game is open to other players, so we can't reveal spoilers~"
"How can this be?" Suzuki Sonoko shouted unwillingly, "If you don't tell me the result, I will definitely not be able to sleep tonight!"
Xiao Dai made a cross with his hands in front of his chest and said firmly: "I can't tell you the final answer without finding any clues."
Edogawa Conan said: "Then let's play again!"
Xiao Dai smiled and refused: "This game, each player can only play once, honey~"
In the end, the unyielding Xiao Dai left the stage in front of everyone's unwilling gaze.
"Tsk, this organizer really deserves a beating! If I knew who he was, I would definitely drag him out and beat him up!" After the game ended and the ban was lifted, Hattori Heiji took off his mask and said while waving his fist.
Dong Yexi glanced at him and snorted in his heart: Want to hit me? I curse you to never be successful in your confession and stay single forever!
Amuro Toru studied the scoring sheet and realized they had indeed missed many clues. For example, the contact records between the village chief's wife and the main family, the blood-stained towel hidden by the old patriarch, and so on. These small clues didn't affect the overall flow of the story, but their failure to find them would affect the final score. It's like doing a math problem. If you skipped several steps, even if the result was correct, you would still lose points.
"This should be blamed on Conan." Suzuki Sonoko said, "If this guy hadn't pushed the final result so quickly, we could have gotten more points!"
Edogawa Conan was speechless: Who knew we had to pay attention to these little details! I had already guessed the relationship between the village chief's wife and the main family, and I had also guessed that the old patriarch was the murderer, so it didn't matter whether there were contact records or a bloody towel.
After playing for several hours in a row, our brains were working at high speed and we were already starving, so a group of us moved to the activity room, ate while reviewing the game, and filling in the unspoken character plots.
After chatting for more than an hour, Edogawa Conan said with a smile: "This game is quite fun."
"Oh, why did I hear Xiaolan say that you thought playing script-killing games was childish at first?" Suzuki Sonoko laughed at him, "You're not very old, but you like to act mature."
Edogawa Conan looked slightly embarrassed and said, "Then I apologize. This event was very well organized."
Suzuki Sonoko: You did a pretty good job... Who do you think you are?
"However, the love lines in this script are all very touching." Yuanshan Heye said with his hands on his face, "Whether it is the mutual understanding and love between the village head and his wife, or the silent protection of the village tyrant, it feels very beautiful." As he spoke, he showed a longing expression.
Hattori Heiji finally regained his emotional intelligence and realized that he had missed a great opportunity to confess his feelings.
Damn it, if they got the Village Beauty and Village Bully script, then he could confess his feelings naturally!
Tsk, what a waste of this script for Conan!
Hattori Heiji's unhappy expression did not attract the attention of others. At this time, Toyama Kazuha asked again: "Which couple do you like better?"
Hattori Heiji immediately sat up again, thinking about how to answer this question properly.
Suzuki Sonoko was very cooperative and said, "Of course I choose the village bully and the village beauty!" After that, she said shyly, "Before Zhen confessed his feelings to me, he was similar to the village bully. He was always helping me deal with those who had bad intentions behind my back."
Everyone was caught off guard and fed a mouthful of dog food.
Dong Yexi couldn't help but canvass for votes for himself: "These two couples are actually at different stages of love. If the relationship between the village beauty and the village bully continues smoothly, they will become the village chief and his wife. And after they are together, the village chief's silent contributions are no less than when they were not together, and may even be more."
Others: ...What are you two competing for?
At this time, Mao Lilan suddenly said: "But, is silently guarding fair to the other party? Isn't this just self-admiration? The truth is, the village beauty was kept in the dark all her life, and she didn't know the village tyrant's feelings for her until her death."
Everyone was stunned when they heard it.
Mao Lilan took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry, I just spoke from my heart."
Edogawa Conan stared at her blankly, muttering, "Xiaolan..."
Then, Ran Mouri pinched his cheek fiercely. "The game is over, you have to call me Sister Ran!" The pinch was merciless, and Conan's face turned red instantly.
"I was wrong, Sister Xiaolan!" Edogawa Conan begged for mercy incoherently.
Noticing Xiaolan's changes, Dong Yexi raised his eyebrows slightly: Oh no! It seems the fire is burning quite strongly this time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
