Xiaotiangou Mountain's main selling point is its pristine natural environment.
Therefore, apart from the wooden houses at the foot of the mountain, the lookout tower at the top, and the hiking trail connecting the two, there are basically no signs of human activity on this mountain.
Even the trees were allowed to grow freely, which made the path under Guangyou and the others winding and turning every few steps.
After walking along the path for a few minutes, Guangyou realized that they seemed to have reached the end of the forest.
His gaze pierced through the gaps between the trees, and what he saw was not the thick, sturdy trees, but the boundless, vast sky.
"There might be a cliff ahead, be careful, don't slip and fall."
As he spoke, Kōyū pulled Ai behind him, so that if they were to encounter a landslide or misstep, it would be him who fell, not Ai.
Ai naturally knew what Kousuke was thinking when he did this, and she noticed that it was a subconscious action on Kousuke's part.
It feels so good to be protected like this...
"No need to be so careful, there's a path ahead." Conan pushed aside the bushes, and a path wide enough for two people to walk side by side appeared before them.
Looking from the direction of this road, there is a crooked tree growing tenaciously on the edge of the cliff.
“That’s the tree I saw earlier.” Conan recalled for a moment and nodded. “The crime scene is right under that tree.”
"Alright, stop standing here like an idiot, let's go over there first."
While Conan was lost in thought, Kouyu and Ai had already passed him and arrived at the tree.
The tree in front of us was not thick due to lack of nutrition, and compared to the trees in the nearby woods, it was like the difference in size between Genta and Conan.
"Kuangyou, look at the tree trunk." Ai squeezed Kuangyou's hand and said, "There are a lot of holes on it, it looks like... shoe nails."
Upon hearing this, Kōyū looked down and examined the tree trunk carefully. Indeed, just as Ai had said, he found many holes with a diameter of less than five millimeters on the trunk.
These pores are spaced almost equally and arranged in an orderly manner, so they are definitely not naturally formed.
Moreover, this place is remote. If he hadn't stumbled upon that path by chance, he probably wouldn't have been able to find his way here, so the possibility of a tourist playing a prank can be ruled out.
If you only look at the outermost edge, it's easy to see that it's shaped like a shoe.
That's why Ai said the holes were signs that shoe nails had been left on them.
"If you climb this tree, then you can indeed use the rope to climb to the watchtower."
Thinking of this, Guangyou looked up towards the observation deck and saw that the cliff face reflected a dazzling metallic luster under the sunlight.
Before Kōyū could speak, Conan, who was following behind, said in surprise, "Mounting spikes and padlocks? How come there are such things here?"
"Do you think they got there by swinging on a swing?"
After hearing Conan's words, Kōyū couldn't help but retort, "I bet the murderer first installed the climbing spikes, then tied one end of the rope to the tree and the other end to the climbing spikes, and then climbed up the rope and attacked the victim."
This reasoning seems reasonable at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it has a fatal flaw.
“I don’t agree with that statement,” Conan said thoughtfully. “If what you say is true, then there shouldn’t be any spider webs on the deceased, but I found them on the deceased.”
"Moreover, do you remember the scene at the time? The deceased seemed to have jumped down on his own, without any resistance."
Conan's mention reminded Mitsuyu that the deceased had indeed not resisted; in fact, the deceased hadn't even made a sound.
Suddenly, a melodious bird song reached their ears.
"Chirp chirp chirp~"
Following the sound, Guangyou discovered two small birds perched on a branch of the crooked tree.
He was quite far away and couldn't see very clearly, but he knew that the two birds were definitely no more than 150 millimeters long and had obvious white rings around their eyes.
The tail feathers appear dark brown, while the flanks are a distinct chestnut red, making them quite distinctive.
"Is that a Red-flanked White-eye?"
Ai wasn't very knowledgeable about birds, but she had a vague impression of this particular bird. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I remember that this bird builds its nest on tree branches 2.5 meters or higher off the ground, and the nest material varies depending on the conditions..."
"You mean to say that the bird's nest-building materials list includes spider silk, right?" Kōyū understood Ai's meaning. If the bird wasn't helpful to the case, Ai wouldn't have revealed this information.
“Hmm.” Ai nodded and continued, “If this bird is indeed a Red-flanked White-eye, then the spider silk on the deceased’s body can be explained.”
Immediately afterwards, the three of them fell into deep thought, but each of them was thinking about something different.
For Guangyou, the case could have ended here, since the evidence and suspects needed to solve the case had already been identified.
Among them, the suspect is naturally Kondo, who is also a park employee. Based on the current situation, only Kondo is suspected of murdering Hirai.
When he first arrived at Mount Kotengu, Kōsuke overheard a conversation between Hirai and Kondo.
From their conversation, it's clear that their relationship isn't good, and they might even have some grudges against each other.
Otherwise, Hirai wouldn't have said something like, "You should be very happy if I die."
More importantly, Kondo, who works here, should be very familiar with most of the area on the mountain, and Mitsuyu could easily assume that Kondo knew how to get to this crooked tree.
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