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墨書 Inktalez
“Do you know me?” Hanno asked with a smile.
“I, I am Yamada Hirotomo, an employee under the Aizawa Group. I’ve seen Sister Atobe come to the headquarters to see the chairman,” the Murderer replied.
“So you are an employee of our Aizawa Group. If the police find out about your connection to the Murderer, I wonder how it will affect our Aizawa Group's reputation,” Hanno remarked.
The Murderer was taken aback. “Sister Atobe, what are you talking about? How could I possibly be the Murderer!”
Hanno chuckled, “Mr. Yamada, you just told me that yourself.”
The Murderer's expression changed as he recalled a moment of confusion earlier. He glared at Hanno, his face shifting through various emotions, struggling internally. Finally, his gaze and expression returned to calmness. “Since Sister Atobe knows, then you can hand me over to the police.”
“Not bad,” Hanno applauded lightly. “Your character seems decent; you’re not thinking of killing to silence anyone, which is good.”
Yamada Hirotomo sighed. “I killed Yamamoto to avenge my sister; how could I harm other innocent people?”
“Then, after killing Yamamoto, will you continue to kill?” Hanno asked.
Yamada Hirotomo shook his head vigorously. “No, I won’t kill again.”
“Good, in that case, I’ll help you once,” Hanno said.
“What?” Yamada Hirotomo asked in confusion, not understanding what Hanno meant.
Hanno explained, “If Sonoko Suzuki or Sleeping Goro identify you as the Murderer, just deny it. I will take care of the rest.”
Yamada Hirotomo remained bewildered. "Why are you helping me?"
"Because it makes me happy!"
...
"The murderer is you, Mr. Yamada Hirotomo," Sleeping Goro began his deduction, pointing at the accused.
Yamada Hirotomo clenched his mouth shut, refusing to admit his guilt. Hanno then asked, "Mouri, what evidence do you have that Mr. Yamada Hirotomo is the murderer?"
"I believe there should be a bottle in the trash can of the bar where Mr. Yamada brought the poison. If we check for any residue of the poison inside and fingerprints on the bottle, we will have our evidence," Sleeping Goro stated confidently.
The police officer collecting evidence rushed over. "There’s nothing, no bottle from Mouri. The bar looks normal; there’s nothing suspicious."
"What?" Conan exclaimed anxiously. "How is that possible? How could there be nothing?"
"There really is nothing," Mugure Police Officer sighed. It seemed Mouri might have made a mistake this time. "Mouri, do you have any other evidence?"
Conan fell silent. Evidence? He truly had none. But he believed his reasoning was correct; Yamada Hirotomo was definitely the murderer.
"There is no evidence," Sleeping Goro said, "but I trust my deduction. Mr. Yamada Hirotomo had the strongest motive against Mr. Yamamoto because Mr. Yamamoto insulted Mr. Yamada's sister, leading her to commit suicide."
Yamada Hirotomo clenched his fists, terrified inside. He hadn’t expected today’s detective to be so skilled, easily deducing that he was the murderer of Yamamoto. Thanks to Sister Atobe for eliminating the evidence beforehand, but in terms of motive, he indeed seemed to be the most likely murderer. How would Sister Atobe help him escape this?
Hanno smiled. "Mouri, while your deduction is brilliant and Mr. Yamada does indeed have the strongest motive to kill Mr. Yamamoto, I regret to inform you that Mr. Yamada is not the murderer. Because before Mr. Yamamoto died, Mr. Yamada was with me and my fiancé the entire time; unless he possesses some kind of body double technique, he couldn't have committed the murder."
"No way," Conan blurted out.
"If Mouri doesn't believe me, he can check the surveillance footage. My fiancé and Mr. Yamada have been talking in the hallway outside the lobby."
If the police officer retrieves the surveillance footage soon, it will prove that Yamada Hirotomo was with Hanno the entire time, leaving no opportunity for murder.
Yamada Hirotomo was dumbfounded. Who was that guy in the footage? Was it really him? But he clearly hadn’t been with Hanno; he had gone to kill Yamamoto! So where did this footage come from?
The behind-the-scenes hero, Elder Brother Li, smiled slightly: illusions are something monsters excel at!
Conan's expression darkened. He was confident in his reasoning, but this footage shattered his deductions into pieces. He instinctively felt that there was something wrong with this footage. After all, wealthy families might have surveillance cameras, but they were very particular about privacy; conversations would typically take place in private rooms. How could they possibly expose themselves to surveillance for so long?
Because of this footage, Yamada Hirotomo's murder suspicion was cleared. For the first time, Sleeping Goro failed to find the murderer, and his reputation took a slight hit. Mouri Goro didn’t care much about it, but it dealt a significant blow to Conan. For quite some time, Conan remained gloomy, so much so that Ran feared he was ill and took him to the hospital for a full check-up.
Hanno, watching Conan's subsequent reactions, found it amusing and said to Elder Brother Li, "Shall we play with Conan a bit more?"
"How do you want to play?" Elder Brother Li asked casually while looking at the newspaper. From what he read, Nihong truly seemed like a disaster-prone country; one moment there were reports of buildings collapsing as if from a great battle, and the next there were accounts of deaths... Yet ordinary people continued their lives without any awareness of these calamities.
"Let’s be murderers and see if Conan can catch us. What do you think?" Hanno asked eagerly.
"Not a good idea," Elder Brother Li replied, raising his head. "Nono, there are police in this world. Although we possess powers beyond ordinary people, it's best not to oppose law enforcement or government authorities. In this world, you have parents and siblings who are ordinary people; do you want to drag them into this?"
Hanno's smile faded as she realized her oversight. However—
"Seeing Conan like that makes me really want to play with him. I’d love to see him fail to catch the murderer."
Elder Brother Li thought for a moment, "Then let's use a method that won't expose ourselves."
"Not exposing ourselves, huh?" Hanno tilted her head and pondered for a while. There were indeed countless ways to do that, with different powers and methods in various worlds. How could Conan possibly understand?
Hanno chuckled, "Let's first play with him using human methods."
She selected a target for assassination, someone who had taken several lives but had evaded the police due to the influence of their family. This villain was someone Hanno felt no guilt about killing. The method she chose this time was poisoning, but not with modern toxins; instead, she learned from Wang Nangu's poison manual. The target enjoyed drinking, so Hanno decided to auction off a few bottles of rare wine, adding an ingredient called "Drowning Narcissus" to it. This ingredient was non-toxic and actually enhanced the wine's flavor while being beneficial to the body. However, when mixed with another seasoning called "Galangal," it would turn deadly. Galangal was also non-toxic on its own and improved the taste of food.
After a while, Conan followed Ran and Sonoko Suzuki to another banquet, where yet another person died. No matter how hard he searched, Conan couldn't find any clues about the murderer or even how the victim had been poisoned. He tugged at his hair in frustration, feeling like he was about to explode. As a detective, if he couldn't even figure out how the victim died, did he still have the right to call himself a detective?
"Brother, stop pulling your hair. If you lose it all, you'll end up bald," Hanno said as she reached out to ruffle Conan's hair. "Baldness isn't very handsome!"
Conan looked up at Hanno and recognized her as the woman who had testified for Yamada Hirotomo, allowing him to easily escape suspicion.
"It's you, big sister," Conan instinctively felt that this woman was related to today's murder case. But how could he find evidence?
"Did you come to the banquet too?" Conan asked innocently.
Hanno smirked slightly, "Yes, I was invited by the host of this gathering."
"Then you must be quite familiar with the host," Conan said with feigned innocence. "But the host's daughter has died; why aren't you sad at all?"
Hanno replied smoothly, "That's because I didn't like that girl. You see, one shouldn't judge people solely by appearances. On the surface, she seemed like a lady, but in reality, she had a cruel nature and a penchant for bullying and killing!"
Conan's eyes widened in surprise: "You know so much? You even know she kills? Then why don't you report it to the police?"
"Because there is no evidence! This family's influence is not something to be taken lightly; they easily erased the evidence of their woman's crime."
"I see!" Conan's expression darkened, and his tone became more mature. "Because the law cannot punish her, the older sister chose to take matters into her own hands and kill this scoundrel? Just like last time with Mr. Yamamoto, in fact, the murderer is you, isn't it?"
Hanno covered her mouth and laughed. "Oh dear, my friend's imagination is quite vast to think I am the murderer. But how did I kill these two people?"
Conan shook his head. "I don't know. If I did, I would have called the police to arrest you."
"Haha, you really have a way of thinking! Well, I wish you luck in finding evidence soon." Hanno stood up and turned to leave.
Conan shouted after her, "I will definitely find the evidence!"
Elder Brother Li stood by the car waiting for Hanno. Seeing her smiling face, he asked, "Are you that happy to toy with Conan?"
"Of course!" Hanno replied cheerfully as she got into the car.
"Do you like Conan?" Elder Brother Li asked with a hint of jealousy.
"It's not about liking or disliking; sometimes I feel Conan meddles too much," Hanno said. "I felt that way when I watched the Moonlight Island Incident. If Conan hadn't been so intent on finding the murderer, that case's murderer wouldn't have died. That person didn't just kill their enemies; they were also a drug dealer who harmed many innocent people. I don't justify what they did, but if I were Conan, I would help cover it up and hope the murderer could start a new life!"
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