Chapter 108 Until the Sea Turns Blue - Remembering that no one is dead, let's disperse...
"Conan!"
Xiaolan hurriedly followed him.
With a bang, the door opened.
As the door opened, the piano music became louder and louder.
But no one was playing the piano.
There was only a man lying on the piano keys, his eyes closed, unconscious.
His face was facing everyone, and his skin was pale and swollen, as if it had been blistered.
His suit was completely soaked, and water droplets were still dripping down the corners of his clothes, leaving a puddle on the floor.
It was Hideo Kawashima, one of the candidates for village chief.
Oops……
Conan was anxious and remembered the words in the letter of commission.
[On the next full moon night, the shadows on Moon Shadow Island will begin to disappear again.]
The so-called "starting to disappear again" - now that I think about it, isn't this a foreshadowing of serial murders?
Moreover, although the piano was covered in dust and looked like it had not been used for a long time, when he and Sister Lin played it just now, the piano's melody sounded normal, which meant that someone had recently tuned the piano for some purpose.
Is this some kind of killing ritual?
Conan was about to open the piano lid solemnly, but was grabbed by Kogoro Mouri who came rushing over.
"You little devil, don't ruin the scene!"
Maori Kogoro said, and ordered Xiaolan: "Xiaolan, go find the police!"
"yes!"
The only way to call the police on Yueying Island is to go through the guard room.
The guard room was not far from here. After the call to the police failed, Mao Lilan, who was already experienced in this kind of job, ran directly to the guard room.
Kogoro Mouri opened the piano lid, revealing the player inside.
"Damn it!" he cursed and pressed the stop button hard. The disturbing sound finally stopped.
"Is anyone dead?"
“No way…”
"How could this happen?"
There were whispers coming from the crowd that had come from the memorial ceremony.
The man in the crowd who had stopped Conan from touching the piano started to tremble all over and shouted, "This piano is really, really unlucky!"
The people around him turned to look at him.
He stammered, then said, "He died in exactly the same position as Village Chief Guishan... Today, just like that day, is a full-moon night... Could it be that some ghost has come to visit him?"
He seemed to be shocked by what he said and shook even more violently.
Materialistic Warrior Conan looked at the man with glasses speechlessly.
He didn't know when he moved to the front of the piano keys, his eyes fixed on Hideo Kawashima's hanging hands.
"Stop joking, there are no ghosts or gods in the world." A calm voice sounded from the crowd.
It was Shimizu Masato who came out.
"Kawashima Hideo died here. Someone must have murdered him and deliberately placed him here, playing pre-recorded piano music, just to cause panic. The most urgent thing now is to find a coroner, and I'll have to trouble Dr. Asai for this—"
"——But, he's not dead at all."
A childish voice sounded.
Everyone's attention shifted from Shimizu Masato to the little boy next to the piano.
"Look, this man is pale, but he's still breathing and has a pulse." Conan opened his eyes wide and tried to make his voice sound childlike: "He's alive!"
"What?" Maori Kogoro hurriedly used his hand to feel the man's breath, "Wait, it seems he's really still alive!"
"What?" Masato Shimizu had almost the same reaction as Kogoro Mori. He was surprised for a moment and subconsciously turned to look at Narimi Asai.
Conan caught his gaze for a moment and then looked at Asai Narimi.
The doctor dressed as a woman was wearing black clothes and was not conspicuous in the crowd. When he saw Masato Shimizu looking at him, he was stunned for a moment, then nodded slightly, and walked forward to check the pale-faced Hideo Kawashima.
"He's not dead, he's still alive, he just fainted."
The doctor frowned slightly, looking somewhat worried. "There are bruises on the side of his neck. He must have been knocked unconscious. He's not in good condition right now. We need to lay him flat on the floor to keep his blood circulation flowing..."
"Let me help you." Kogoro Mouri put his hand on Hideo Kawashima's shoulders, and the people around him brought a clean blanket and spread it on the ground at Asai Narumi's request.
Just as they were about to put Hideo Kawashima on the blanket, he slowly woke up.
He first retched as if there was salty sea water in his mouth, and raised his dizzy head.
In front of him was the doctor in black who was looking at him calmly.
The calm look in his eyes seemed to be looking at a dead person, which suddenly woke him up and gave him a start.
“You, you…”
"What's wrong, Mr. Kawashima? Are you still feeling dizzy?" The doctor in black looked at him worriedly.
His reaction was so normal that Kawashima Hideo couldn't help but think that the look in his eyes just now was just an illusion.
"I, I..." He swallowed. "Did I get knocked unconscious?"
Asai Narimi nodded.
"It seems there's nothing wrong with your memory," he said. "Mr. Kawashima, do you remember who knocked you out?"
Hideo Kawashima tried hard to recall, and his face became paler and paler.
His lips trembled, and after a while he said, "That man attacked me from behind. I didn't see his face..."
"Huh? Uncle, it seems like you're holding something in your hand."
Conan, who was standing by, held Hideo Kawashima's hand and turned his hand over upright.
"Wow!" Kawashima Hideo's hand shook, and the paper ball in his hand flew out, and was caught in the air by Conan with his quick eyes and hands.
"Hey, hey, I really have something in my hand! This is..."
"It looks like a music score." Conan unfolded the paper ball.
A piece of music was scribbled crookedly in pencil on the ball of paper.
"What? Let me see!" Maori Kogoro snatched it away, "This must have been left by the guy who knocked him out!"
Conan looked at the paper that was taken away, thinking.
This music score doesn't seem to have been prepared in advance...
"Mr. Kawashima, do you remember the details of your fainting?" Asai Narimi ignored the music score and continued to ask the still-shaken Kawashima Hideo, "For example, where were you knocked unconscious, and approximately what time was it?"
"Please try to recall this. After all, just because you're not dead doesn't mean the person who knocked you out didn't want to kill you. Hitting the side of the neck to knock someone unconscious is extremely dangerous, and the force required to knock someone unconscious is not much different from the force required to kill them."
"So, maybe it wasn't his intention to let you live," the black-clad doctor said calmly, as if discussing something that had nothing to do with him. "Maybe you were just lucky and passed out, and he thought you were dead, so he left you here."
Hideo Kawashima's teeth were chattering.
He suddenly said, "I remember! It was a woman..."
"I haven't seen her before, I don't know her, but I, I remember her appearance!"
"Her hair is black, and her eyes are lighter in color, that kind of..." He paused and said hesitantly, "That kind of...honey color."
silence.
Almost at the same time, everyone who had seen Lin Xi had her image in their minds.
Yueying Island is so small that the only people Kawashima Hideo hasn't seen are probably a few fishermen and recent tourists.
Tourists, women, black hair, and distinctive honey-colored eyes...
This sounds too much like Lin Xi.
Conan couldn't help but want to hold his forehead.
Sister Lin! What on earth did you do?
Of course he knew that Lin Xi would not be the one who knocked Kawashima Hideo unconscious.
Judging from the bruises, this man was knocked unconscious from behind.
What he said at the beginning should be the truth. The murderer - let's temporarily call him the murderer, attacked him from behind and knocked him unconscious, so he didn't see clearly who knocked him unconscious.
As for why he remembered Lin Xi's appearance...
Conan thought speechlessly, he also wanted to know why.
Could it be possible that Sister Lin ran into the murderer while going to the bathroom?
That's too much of a coincidence!
So, who is the one with the accident-prone constitution?
"Uh, where did Lin Xi go?" Kogoro Mouri scratched his head and asked.
After knowing that the person was not dead, he seemed to relax a lot.
"Sister Lin said she went to the bathroom..." Conan hesitated.
But going to the bathroom wouldn’t take that long, right?
Asai Narimi suddenly said, "Do you remember where you were knocked unconscious, Mr. Kawashima?"
"Oh, I remember! I was knocked unconscious in the restroom! I was attending the third anniversary memorial service for Village Chief Kameyama in the main hall, and I wanted to go to the restroom, so I went out! The restroom door was open, and I walked in, but before I could take a few steps, I was knocked unconscious."
His speech became faster and faster, and he became more and more confident:
"Did the person you were talking about just now also go to the bathroom?"
"That's what she did! Where is she now?"
Conan: ...
This guy was groggy when he just woke up, but now he's getting more and more energetic the more he talks.
But this guy is right, the most urgent thing is to find Sister Lin first...
But where did Sister Lin go?
Xiaolan has her contact information, but she went to the guardhouse to find the police and hasn't come back yet;
There is only one person left who has Sister Lin’s contact information.
Conan looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh.
We have to let Huiyuan's family contact Sister Lin.
But they had just had an argument in the corridor!
He really didn't want to go find Haibara Ai so soon.
The main thing is that he didn't know how to start.
Does this mean that Sister Lin has now been identified as an attempted murderer by a victim who was almost killed, and is now in a face-to-face confrontation?
It gives me a headache just thinking about it.
What's more important is that if Hideo Kawashima saw Sister Lin, it was after he was knocked unconscious.
Doesn’t that mean the murderer met with Sister Lin after committing the crime!
Although Conan is quite confident in Lin's physical skills after the battle at Ocean Park, Lin's frequent disconnection and complete ignorance of danger still make people very worried.
Moreover, what if the organization is also involved...
Now Conan finally understood why Ai was unwilling to tell him about the organization.
He didn't even dare to think about how reckless Sister Lin would be if she knew about the organization, or the truth about the two of them becoming smaller.
With her personality, she might just run right up to the organization, use her strong social skills to hook up with them, and then sneak into the organization...
Conan imagined what Lin Xi would look like after infiltrating the organization, and couldn't help but shudder.
No, no! This is too scary!
I must tell Huibara to contact Sister Lin as soon as possible and explain everything clearly.
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