Chapter 3543 3555 [“That Person’s” Request]
In a shop next to the shopping mall.
Miwako Sato, holding her wig, looked at the police officer across the table who had been wrongly arrested and was speechless for a moment: "I don't want to lay a hand on ordinary citizens either, but the way you spoke to me... really made me feel a bit threatened."
Beside him, Conan wasn't concerned about Kogoro Mouri getting beaten up, but was instead fascinated by something else he'd heard on the way there: "The series of attacks on women? Are they those unsolved cases that were reported in the newspapers?"
The phrase "the case remains unsolved" clearly embarrassed Inspector Megure, so he cleared his throat and answered tactfully:
“The criminals are too cunning. They always cover themselves up very well when they commit a crime, and they will run away immediately after knocking out their victims. By the time passersby notice something is wrong and the police arrive, there is no trace of them at the scene.”
Officer Sato placed the wig on the table: "That's why I dressed up like this, wandered around the areas where the attacks often occurred, and did things that the victims did, like going into phone booths and stuff."
"If that criminal had really targeted me and shown up to attack, things would have been resolved smoothly. But unfortunately, we failed to lure him in; we only attracted... cough."
Considering that continuing the conversation would be disrespectful to Kogoro Mouri, Miwako Sato did not continue.
Then, as if remembering something, she glanced at Kogoro Mouri, then at Conan, and asked expectantly, "Jiang Xia didn't come with you?"
"What do you need that kid for? Don't always rely on detectives, this is your job as police officers," Kogoro Mouri said, displeased.
"Speaking of which, in the information you released about the thug, wasn't that guy only 1.5 meters tall? No matter how you look at it, I couldn't possibly be him, so why did you pounce on me!"
Inspector Megure: "..." It's all because of that lecherous look you had when you approached Sato; you clearly had ulterior motives...
Seeing that the topic had gone astray, Conan had no choice but to ask again, "Did that culprit really leave no clues at all?"
Inspector Megure didn't want to talk to a child about this, but suddenly he remembered that the child in front of him was no ordinary child—if he remembered correctly, Conan often said, "Brother Jiang Xia said that."
This shows that the child usually interacts with Jiang Xia quite a lot.
“It’s a bit unreasonable to ask Brother Jiang Xia for help every time you encounter a case.”
"But what if Brother Jiang Xia 'accidentally' overheard the whole story from Conan, and then happened to be very interested in it, and happened to have some free time... so he came over and helped us catch the culprit?"
A series of thoughts flashed through his mind. Inspector Megure cleared his throat and said casually, "The three attacks took place in different locations, and no useful clues were left at the scene. The only thing in common is that the three victims were all dressed up... well... very well when they were attacked."
Conan scratched his head: "What do you mean by 'dressed up really well'?"
“It’s like…” Inspector Megure gestured, “It’s like someone with very heavy makeup on their face, who doesn’t look like a real person, but more like someone from a comic book or advertisement.”
Officer Takagi watched Inspector Megure struggling to explain to the child. After a brief moment of confusion, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and understood his quick-witted superior's intention.
So he took out a few photos and actively offered clues from afar: "It's hard to explain, let me show you the victim's photos."
"Huh? Okay." Conan wasn't quite used to the officers' enthusiastic attitude: Why did he feel like he'd stepped out of his elementary school student body and returned to the era of Shinichi Kudo?
He glanced down at himself discreetly, making sure he hadn't changed back, before taking the photo with a hint of doubt and examining it closely.
The victim in the first photo is a young woman with a bandage wrapped around her forehead and a bruise around her eye. Her face and hands are dark brown, she has a large patch of bright blue eyeshadow on her eyelids, and her lips are painted purple.
"The first victim was Ms. Ryoko Mizutani—she was waiting at a red light at an intersection one night when she was rear-ended. She got out of her car angrily to argue with the assailant, but was knocked unconscious by the assailant with a metal rod."
“At first we thought it was just a regular traffic dispute, but soon a second victim appeared – this Ms. Endo Hitomi.”
Officer Takagi put down the second photo. In the photo, a woman was wearing a thigh-length sweater and a jacket provided by the police, sitting listlessly on a bench outside the public restroom.
She also had injuries on her head, her skin was also dark brown, and her eyes and mouth were also that bright and eerie color.
"Ms. Endo went to the park to use the restroom at night and was beaten by a thug as soon as she came out. Because the two victims had very similar physical characteristics and were attacked in almost the same way, we began to suspect that it was the same perpetrator."
"Then a third victim appeared." Officer Takagi put down the last photo. The young woman in the photo also had injuries on her head, dark brown skin, and strange colors of eyeshadow and lipstick.
Officer Takagi: "And then there's Ms. Ishiguro Michiko, who was attacked last night. She made a phone call in a phone booth and was attacked by the assailant as soon as she came out."
Kogoro Mouri paused, stunned. "The phone booth you're talking about... you mean...?"
Miwako Sato nodded: "It's that phone booth where you were just subdued."
"..." Kogoro Mouri was a little embarrassed. He poked at the photos and changed the subject:
“The skin color of these people is very similar to that of the detective boss in Jiangxia. They might be from the same clan. Why don’t you bring that boss Amuro over for a walk? He might be more effective than Officer Sato.”
...
The building next door.
Inside a private room at a sushi restaurant.
Jiang Xia was lost in thought, resting his chin on his hand, when he suddenly chuckled for some reason.
Vodka, who was forced to sit next to him, shuddered and instinctively wanted to reach for the tranquilizer gun, but remembering the current situation, he had to stop and tell himself not to do anything rash and to trust Gin's control of the situation.
Across from him, Vermouth glanced at her robust colleague, whose expression was calm and still, only trembling slightly when Jiang Xia laughed. She found it somewhat amusing: "..." Vodka hadn't experienced anything, yet he was so afraid of that child... Ha, he's just an office worker after all, making a fuss over nothing. He still needs more experience.
In the entire room, it seemed that only Gin remembered the important matter.
He didn't bother to ask Uzo why he was laughing: he knew without asking that he was probably up to some crazy idea again.
Putting this trivial matter aside, Gin glanced at Jiang Xia, then at Vermouth, and said in a deep voice, "It is 'that person's' will that you be allowed to meet."
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