Conan: Ran, I really am Shinichi, you have to believe me!

Page 173

Following Conan and Heiji Hattori were Kenji Toba and Kita Ejou.

After being jolted awake by the earth-shattering explosion, Jiang Chengbei, who had been listless, was finally shaken up and fully revived. He joined Conan and Heiji Hattori in watching the scene with great excitement.

Following the earth-shattering explosion, the people resting at the hotel rushed over, their clothes disheveled.

After taking stock, in addition to the innkeeper Hiroyuki Kanaya who had died earlier, two more people are now missing: one is Kento Toba's girlfriend, Ayako Oki, who had previously been shouting to find the murderer, and the other is Toshiaki Fujisawa, who seems to have nothing to do with this case.

Upon discovering that the two were missing, Conan and Heiji Hattori immediately had a bad feeling.

At the same time, Kenji Toba, who probably felt the same way, immediately shouted loudly towards the burning garage:

"Ayako, Ayako..."

After attracting everyone's attention, Toba Kento immediately made a pre-charge swaying motion, which allowed the people around him to grab him and stop him from rushing into the sea of ​​fire.

After being stopped by the crowd, he appeared heartbroken and in unbearable pain, crying and shouting as he tried to break free from their control and rush inside to find Ayako Oki.

Kento Toba's acting was so good that everyone around him was deeply moved. While they kept urging him to calm down, they also kept praising the young man in their hearts for his loyalty and affection.

After Toba Kento's efforts, the fire was finally extinguished after the garage was completely burned out, leaving behind the garage's iron frame, the car's frame, and a pile of ruins.

After the fire was extinguished and the temperature dropped, people were finally able to go inside. Conan and Heiji Hattori, who were even more anxious than Kento Toba, were the first and second people to rush into the garage ruins, respectively, before Kento Toba, who had just put on a great show and was now exhausted.

After rushing into the burnt-out garage, Conan and Heiji Hattori discovered the bodies of a man and a woman inside the wrecked car, both killed by an explosion of gasoline in the air.

Without a doubt, the two bodies lying face down, one in the front seat and the other in the back seat, were none other than the missing Ayako Oki and Toshiaki Fujisawa.

Seeing that they were each holding their own lighters, and recalling the thick gasoline smell that filled the garage earlier, as well as the hole punched in the car's fuel tank that had leaked gasoline into the air, the Holmes fans immediately realized that the explosion was likely caused by them igniting the gasoline in the air with their lighters.

Chapter 238 Something's Wrong with This Case

After two more people died mysteriously tonight, Jiang Chengbei suggested that everyone first search Fujisawa Toshiaki's room.

Soon, Heiji Hattori found a note filled with writing in Toshiaki Fujisawa's 1000-question test book, which contained his answers. The note said that the prize, a first edition of Sherlock Holmes, would be placed in the car in the garage at midnight, and that Toshiaki Fujisawa should go to the car to find the book after midnight.

After finding the small note, everyone immediately understood why Fujisawa Toshiaki was in the garage.

At the same time, as Sherlock Holmes fans, we all know basic deduction. Following this line of reasoning, if we break the light in the garage so that it can't be turned on, then Fujisawa Toshiaki and Oki Ayako, who usually smoke and have lighters, will subconsciously take out their lighters, light them, and search for the first version of Sherlock Holmes in the pitch-black car.

The process of killing Fujisawa Toshiaki is now explained, while the other one, Oki Ayako, may have been lucky enough to accidentally learn the whereabouts of the first version of Sherlock Holmes, and thus went to the garage with Fujisawa Toshiaki.

While everyone was speculating about the circumstances of Fujisawa Toshiaki's death, Jiang Chengbei picked up the Sherlock Holmes 1000 questions that Fujisawa Toshiaki had completed, flipped through them a few times, and casually chatted with Toba Kento:

"Although Fujisawa Toshiaki is dead, the Sherlock Holmes 1000 Questions he completed were really good. I think he got most of the answers right."

"Toyo, I noticed you've been outside all day. How did your work go last night? Did you finish your 1000 questions?"

"Of course, the questions above were really difficult. It took me all night to finish them. They really strained my brain cells. I was exhausted last night."

"Really? Since you did it last night, I have a few questions that I haven't been able to figure out. Could you help me answer them?"

Then, before Toba Kento could refuse, Jiang Chengbei took Fujisawa Toshiaki's 1000 Questions and asked a few questions.

"Boss Hiroto Kanaya is dead, why are you still asking these questions? Don't waste your brain cells, let's talk about something else."

Seeing that Toba Kento could barely answer the questions above, Jiang Chengbei laughed: "Toba, you know that Kanaya Hiroto is dead, so why bother with pointless work and not answer the questions above?"

"Yes, it's pointless."

"In that case, based on your theories and personality, if you had known last night that Boss Jingu was dead, you probably wouldn't have done the questions above, am I right?"

Jiang Chengbei's reminder led their conversation into a dead end. The conversation died down, leaving Hu Yeyan glaring at Jiang Chengbei, sweating profusely. She wished she could short-circuit the power supply right now, turn off all the lights, and then stab this talkative gossip to death.

"Oh right, I've figured it out. Everyone, please be quiet. I think I've solved the case. I know who killed the hotel owner, Hiroto Kanaya, last night."

Jiang Chengbei clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention, and after gathering everyone together, he started to show off:

"Thanks to Toba Kento's reminder, I now know who the murderer is."

The owner of Jingu was murdered last night, so the murderer knew that even if he wrote out 1000 Sherlock Holmes questions, it would be useless.

In addition, the murderer had many things to do last night: he needed to kill the boss of Jingu, clean up the crime scene, set up the garage, and create a device to make the body drive off the cliff the next day.

In short, the murderer must have been very busy last night, with no time, energy, or motivation to do the 1000 Sherlock Holmes questions that he considered useless today.

So all we have to do is go back to our rooms one by one, find out who did the Sherlock Holmes 1000 questions last night, and whoever didn't answer them is the murderer.

After listening to Jiang Chengbei's analysis, everyone nodded in agreement and echoed his statement.

But soon, a few people were dissatisfied that Jiang Chengbei, who wasn't a Sherlock Holmes fan, had found a direction for solving the case before them. So, in order to protect the pride of the Sherlock Holmes fans, they began to oppose for the sake of opposing:

"Jiang Chengbei, you're not a Sherlock Holmes fan, so you don't understand the reasoning level of us Sherlock Holmes fans. How could we Sherlock Holmes fans not have thought of such a simple principle?"

Not only did we anticipate this, but I'm certain that the murderer among us also thought of it beforehand. Therefore, after the murder, he must have stayed up all night to finish the 1000 Sherlock Holmes questions. So, your suggestion that we bring out our own 1000-question sets is useless, because we've all already done them.”

Seeing someone step in to save face, the group of Sherlock Holmes fans immediately nodded seriously, echoing the statement once again, and gaining everyone's unanimous agreement.

As for their use of the word "we," the murderer is definitely a claim made among their Sherlock Holmes fans, because Jiang Chengbei, Hattori Heiji, and Conan all have alibis. The three of them slept in the same room, so unless they committed the murder together, they are not suspects.

Although there is Conan with a less-than-stellar reputation, there is also Hattori Heiji, the only son of the Osaka Prefectural Police Chief, who can completely offset the bad reputation of a 7-year-old child. Therefore, they are considered to be without suspicion and should be able to be the detectives without suspicion in this serial murder case.

The three of them are less likely to be suspects, but the other Sherlock Holmes fans, in order to prevent them from discussing the questions with each other and cheating, each of them sleeps in a separate room. Even the boyfriend and girlfriend Kenji Toba and Ayako Oki sleep separately. Therefore, none of them have an alibi and could be the murderer of Hiroto Kanaya.

Since Jiang Chengbei and Hattori Heiji are the detectives who are not suspected of murder this time, then Jiang Chengbei should take the lead and continue to show off his skills in solving the case:

"Originally, I didn't want to catch the murderer so early. I didn't want to show off, I didn't want to appear that I, a non-Sherlock Holmes fan, am better than you so-called professional Sherlock Holmes fans, and I didn't want you to know that your reasoning ability is not even as good as that of an ordinary passerby."

Since you firmly believe that the murderer could have thought of this long ago, then I'll make a bet with you: as a Sherlock Holmes fan, the murderer definitely didn't think of this.

"And I can show you the murderer's finger right now, Kento Toba, come out and confess! I know you're the murderer of Hiroto Kanaya, and you also killed your girlfriend Ayako Oki and Toshiaki Fujisawa, didn't you?"

Hearing Jiang Chengbei say this, the Sherlock Holmes fans around him were extremely surprised. They couldn't believe Jiang Chengbei's statement. After all, if they believed it, it would mean that they, the Sherlock Holmes fans who were good at reasoning, were not as good as a complete stranger.

Well, a group of professionals are not as good as one amateur. These self-proclaimed Sherlock Holmes fans can't afford to lose face like this.

So, after Jiang Chengbei finished speaking, they stared expectantly at Hu Yeyan's face, hoping he would stand up and forcefully refute Jiang Chengbei's statement.

Encouraged by everyone, Hu Yeyan mustered his courage and, with a fierce but weak voice, hysterically shouted towards the north of Jiangcheng:

"You're talking nonsense! I'm not the murderer! I love Ayako so much, I love her so much, how could I possibly kill her?"

"Because she found out that you were the murderer of Manager Jingu, you killed her to silence her."

Do you all remember when Ms. Ayako said she knew about the murderer?

Then, in full view of everyone, she handed a message to the murderer. Although she didn't say it explicitly, and those of us who were not involved didn't understand it, the murderer, Kento Toba, understood it. So he went out with her alone, and after some bargaining, they reached a deal.

Afterwards, everyone remembers that after Kenjiro Toba and Ayako Oki finished their private conversation, Ayako returned and immediately changed her story, saying she didn't know who the murderer was.

"Nonsense, you're talking nonsense! I just tried to persuade her to reveal the murderer, but..."

"As a result, she agreed to the deal with you, and she would keep it a secret as long as you gave her the first edition of Sherlock Holmes that you got from the innkeeper."

Upon hearing Jiang Chengbei's explanation, everyone immediately agreed and nodded in acknowledgment before staring at Hu Yeyan.

"Nonsense, that's not how it is. You're framing me, you're talking nonsense!"

Where's the evidence? Do you have any evidence to support your claims?

"There's no evidence right now, but if we search your room and find the Sherlock Holmes 1000 questions you didn't write down, or the original Sherlock Holmes version that belonged to the hotel owner, then we'll have evidence, won't we?"

"..." Upon hearing Jiang Chengbei's words, Hu Yeyan was furious: "What right do you, an ordinary passerby, have to search the rooms of us Sherlock Holmes fans?"

"Because I'm a policeman." After saying that, Jiang Chengbei took out his police notebook and threw it to Hu Yeyan.

"Even the police can't search my room without a search warrant. If you insist on searching, it's illegal..."

"Hu Ye, look carefully, I'm a police officer. What do we police officers need a search warrant for?"

"..."

"Toyo, I'm not a die-hard Sherlock Holmes fan like your girlfriend Ayako Oki. I wouldn't be bought off by a first edition of Sherlock Holmes that you mentioned, and then risk my life for a worthless book."

"It's not a tattered book! It's the first edition of Sherlock Holmes, more important than my life!"

You, who aren't a Sherlock Holmes fan, wouldn't understand, wouldn't know!

We'd give our lives for it!

Because he really hadn't written the 1000 Questions of Sherlock Holmes, and the first edition of Sherlock Holmes that he had casually taken from the innkeeper, Hiroto Kanaya, after killing him was actually in his suitcase in his room, Kenjiro Toha broke down, screaming and hysterically recounting all the grievances he had suffered.

He killed Ayako Oki because she knew he was the murderer, and he killed the innkeeper Hiroyuki Kanaya because he wrote a Sherlock Holmes fanfiction that infuriated him, in which Holmes was unforgivably insulted and several characters from the original series were out of character.

Meanwhile, Hiroyuki Kanaya had been keeping everyone in suspense for years with his precious first edition of Sherlock Holmes. He had been tricked by Kanaya several times and had never been able to win the prize.

To steal this first edition from him was also a reason to kill him.

Next is Fujisawa Toshiaki, who helped the hotel owner publish a book full of out-of-character (OOC) content. This accomplice is unforgivable and cannot live in this world, so Toba Kento plotted to kill him.

The only thing he didn't expect was that his girlfriend, Ayako Oki, died in the garage explosion along with Toshiaki Fujisawa, something he never anticipated.

Originally, he only devised two murder plans. One was to kill Hiroto Kanaya himself, dispose of the body after the murder, and then let the body drive off a cliff the next day.

Another plan was to sabotage the light switches and then have Toshiaki Fujisawa, who was smoking, take out a lighter from a car full of gasoline to provide light, thereby detonating the garage.

He had only taken the first step of his murder plan. He had just slipped the note with the time written on it into Fujisawa Toshiaki's room when he encountered his girlfriend, who knew he was the murderer.

In order to silence his girlfriend, he had to give her a second method of murder to use in order to cover it up.

To Toba Kento's surprise, even though he had told his girlfriend that he had put the Sherlock Holmes edition in the car in the garage, he, who loved the Sherlock Holmes edition more than anything else, actually resisted the urge to go to the garage to find the book right away. He dawdled for a long time, and it wasn't until almost time to meet Fujisawa Toshiaki that the two of them went to the garage to find the book together, and ended up dying there. This was something Toba Kento never expected and was completely unexpected.

Although this surprised him, the two people he most wanted to kill, Kanaya Hiroto and Fujisawa Toshiaki, were both dead. This time, all his targets had been eliminated. Although he was eventually captured, he was now very satisfied compared to the original story where he only killed one and left the other behind.

Hu Yeyan readily confessed, taking the blame for the murder of three people. As a police officer, Jiang Chengbei was very satisfied.

If Kento Toba does not plead guilty to the two murders, the case will be incomplete for the police, causing a lot of trouble, possibly requiring overtime work, and damaging the police's reputation. That would not be so pleasant.

Toba Kento took on the responsibility of killing three people, while Jiang Chengbei also earned 6 kill coins and spent 3 of them to purchase the three abilities of telekinesis, telekinesis, and telekinesis from the Ke Xue Mall.

Since these three remote abilities, like the previous remote fire-setting and remote push abilities, are only at level 1, their range of use is limited to within 10 meters. To use them at a greater distance, you need to spend kill coins to upgrade.

While Jiang Chengbei was sorting out the system rewards, Hattori Heiji was filled with shock and curiosity about Jiang Chengbei's new identity. He couldn't believe that Jiang Chengbei was actually a public security police officer; it was unbelievable.

At the same time, although Kento Toba confessed, they also found the first version of Sherlock Holmes belonging to the deceased Hiroto Kanaya in his room, as well as a Sherlock Holmes 1000 question book that was not answered at all.

But Conan and Heiji Hattori felt something was off about this case. It was as if they had overlooked something. They felt that the case was not so simple, that there must be a hidden story, and that there might be an unseen hand manipulating everything behind the scenes.

Chapter 239 You, a club president celebrating your birthday tonight, dare to invite Conan? Aren't you courting death?

Jiang Chengbei was planning to witness the murderer committing a crime later and then have the murderer come and kill him to silence him, so he asked everyone present to keep his identity as a public security police officer a secret.

Jiang Chengbei was not in a position to come forward and claim responsibility for solving the case himself, so the credit for solving the case was given to a policeman who refused to reveal his name.

As a result, the Metropolitan Police Department was pleased, since the police had solved the case. When it comes to the police, the first thing that comes to mind for the uninformed public is the previously incompetent Metropolitan Police Department officers.