Stay away from Conan.

454 Marionette

"In this case, she will definitely have a fierce dispute with her mother, right? In order to win the beauty contest, the contestant's family must have made a lot of sacrifices. Your mother also paid a lot of hard work for this, So even if Hua Lian said so, she would never agree."

Seeing that Meimei was silent, Officer Mumu continued to state his thoughts:
"Then the two of them might fight because of this. As a result, during the process, your mother accidentally snatched Hua Lian's self-defense dagger and stabbed Hua Lian accidentally. She panicked , So in a trance state, I don't know why I sent my daughter to the stage.

"In addition, she has been thinking about how to let her daughter appear on the stage, and in her subconscious, she has always regarded her daughter as a marionette, so she tied the puppet on Hua Lian's hands and feet. the thin line, isn't it?"

"This……"

Facing police officer Mumu's repeated questioning, Meimei looked at her mother's face speechlessly.

"Well, as the police officer said, Hua Lian's mother's desire to dominate Hua Lian is indeed extremely strong. The threatening letter that said Hua Lian would be turned into a marionette might be sent by herself. Yes, the purpose is to scare Hua Lian who doesn't obey her orders!"

After listening to Officer Megure's words, the host of the competition, Miura Daigo, also stared at Meiling and said so.

"Hmph! You have to limit your jokes. If you really want to doubt, you should doubt the puppeteer!"

Faced with such a statement, Mei Ling stared at Amano who was standing in the corner of the stage full of resentment, only to see that Amano was still holding the puppet with beautiful eyes in his hand at the moment.

"This man has always held a grudge against me for forcing Hua Lian to break up with him. He is a man who loves to hold grudges and has a heart like a snake."

Mei Ling said angrily.

"Hmm... What you said seems to be true, and Mr. Amano is still a puppeteer. It's easy to tie thin strings on Hualian's hands and feet for manipulation."

Hearing Mei Ling's words, Police Officer Megure nodded involuntarily, and his stern eyes immediately turned to Amano.

"What? You mean I put Hualian..."

Hearing that the suspicion was transferred to him at this time, Amano became uneasy.

"What's the matter? Mr. Amano, haven't you thought about taking Hua Lian as your own?"

Police officer Meguro said with a serious expression.

"Indeed, when Ms. Meiling forced us to break up, I was really resentful in my heart. However, I was also very busy with work. After I devoted myself to my work, I had long forgotten about Hualian. And, if I have to say it, the person I should resent is not Hua Lian!"

As Amano said, he couldn't help staring at Meiling.

"nonsense!"

Not to be outdone, Mei Ling said:

"Haven't you come to our house many times to get entangled? It's like a perverted stalker!"

Said, Mei Ling looked at Amano with contemptuous eyes.

"That, that is..."

Having said that, Amano was a little speechless.

"Mr. Amano, are these kite strings strings for marionettes?"

At this time, Shinichi, who had been observing the few people on the sidelines, couldn't help pointing to the kite string wrapped around Hualian's body and asked Amano.

"Huh? Well...it is indeed the same as the string used by marionettes."

Amano observed carefully, and quickly confirmed.

"Look, I have already said that the prisoner is him! Because he has a grudge against Hua Lian who doesn't listen to him, he took Hua Lian away from me!"

Mei Ling yelled loudly at Amano.

"But this kind of kite string is sold everywhere in the shopping mall, and anyone can buy it casually!"

Amano retorted.

"In that case, it is true."

Officer Mumu looked at the kite strings and couldn't help but say.

"Officer, let's send these threads for identification first. If you can find the same fibers as the clothes on the puppet that Mr. Amano is holding now, these threads should belong to Mr. Amano."

Shinichi looked at the puppet that Amano was holding very carefully and said.

"Well, such an appraisal will give the result soon."

Police officer Megure couldn't help but agree with Shinichi's proposal, so he immediately called the police officer on the side.

The police quickly removed the kite string from Hua Lian's hands and feet and put it in the evidence bag.

"Sorry, can we also identify the puppet's clothes?"

Police officer Megure said to Amano.

In this regard, Amano nodded, and handed the puppet directly to the policeman. The policeman carefully cut a piece of fabric from the edge of the puppet with small scissors, and put it into another evidence bag.

"Then, let's ask Kagami-san and Sumika-san next."

Officer Megure called the two people who were timidly standing in the depths of the stage, and began to ask:

"What were you doing between 08:30 and :?"

"I, I changed clothes in the room and touched up makeup in order to prepare for the talent show."

"Well, just like Jingmei said, I was with her at the time."

Sumika and Kagami looked at each other, then nodded in unison.

"However, as far as I know, the relationship between you and Miss Hualian seems to be very bad. The people in the hotel saw you two running out of Miss Hualian's room crying?"

Officer Meguro stared at the two of them with stern eyes.

"Yes, because she said very exaggerated things... We all thought that it would be great if Hua Lian died..."

Jingmei seemed to be intimidated by Officer Mu Mu's aura, and said everything in her heart in a flash.

"Oh……"

Police officer Megure couldn't help but react sensitively to Kagami's words.

"But, but, we didn't really think so."

Jingmei quickly denied that sentence again.

"However, the beauty contest is very cruel. Although you are also very beautiful, Miss Hualian is the contestant who is most likely to win the competition. If Miss Hualian dies, maybe one of you may win the championship right?"

Officer Megure said this while observing the reactions of the two.

Regarding this, both Kagami and Sumika bowed their heads in silence.

"That's right, aren't you both so greedy!"

Mei Ling suddenly glared at the two men with horror.

"Well, indeed, if it's Hua Lian, even if she kills someone else, she can still radiate the light of a queen without changing her face!"

Facing Meiling's words, Chengxiang replied not to be outdone.

And these words couldn't help but make Mei Ling's voice rough:
"What did you say?"

"But we don't have such perseverance and mental preparation. It is precisely because of this that we were laughed at by Hualian. Although we are not reconciled, we can only hide and cry."

Chengxiang plucked up her courage, faced Meiling directly, and said so.

"Is that true? I heard that Ms. Hua Lian is so beautiful that people are jaw-dropping. Don't you see Miss Hua Lian's beauty and feel that you can't win, so you are not reconciled?"

Police officer Mumu pressed on and asked the two of them:

"Although I don't know much about beauty pageants, you have been able to get to where you are today because your beauty has been recognized. In order to participate in this contest, you must have worked hard. However, only seeing Hua Ms. Lian can understand at a glance that there is no hope of winning, and she said something that made you resentful, so you all joined forces, took away Miss Hualian's dagger, and killed her. Isn't that the case?"

"No! We didn't kill Hua Lian! If you want to talk about the motive for killing, Mr. Miura, the organizer and chairman of the judging committee, also has it!"

This time, Kagami pointed to Miura next to her and explained.

"W-why do you involve me?"

Faced with this sudden accusation, Miura's eyes suddenly widened.

"After the wedding dress review, we saw that you forcibly took Hua Lian to your lounge!"

Kagami and Sumika stared back at Miura and said.

And hearing this sentence, Miura became visibly disturbed.

"is this real?"

This time Officer Megure's stern gaze turned to Miura.

"Yes, yes. But Hua Lian said that even if she didn't rely on my strength, she could win the competition, and then she left my room, which made me feel ashamed. What I said is true!"

Miura explained in a flustered and eager manner.

"Really?"

Inspector Mumu asked.

"Really, please trust me!"

Miura put his hands together and begged Officer Megure.

"Maybe it's because she didn't want to listen to you and become your puppet, so you held a grudge and pestered her endlessly. But Hualian resisted desperately, and when you pushed each other, you grabbed Hualian's dagger and killed her !Is it not?"

Jingmei continued.

"No! That's not the case! Hua Lian really left my room after letting me touch my nose, and I didn't go after Hua Lian either!"

Miura wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and retorted desperately.

"It's absolutely deceitful. Miura is famous in the industry for using despicable methods to attack the girls participating in the competition!"

Kagami and Sumika stared at Miura contemptuously, and continued.

"But this time I really didn't do anything to anyone, trust me!"

The weak Miura also clasped hands to Kagami and Sumika and begged.

"'This time'?"

"what……"

Facing Miura who unintentionally revealed his true nature, even police officer Megure was speechless in surprise.

And looking at the confessions of these people, Zhibao on the side looked a little helpless——

"Miss Hualian, who looks glamorous, is just a puppet in the eyes of these people..."

Saying so, Shiho couldn't help thinking of himself——

Even when he was in the organization, he had the codename "Xue Li", but to the organization, he was still an irresistible "marionette" after all.If I hadn't rebelled against the organization because of my sister's affairs, then my fate as a "marionette" would have been like that of Miss Hualian...

Thinking of this, Zhibao couldn't help feeling a little lucky that he could know Gao Yuan at that time.

But at the same time, Shinichi, who had been listening to everyone talking with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes, his face turned livid, and even his lips turned purple.

"Hey……"

Seeing this, Shiho asked softly.

"Well……"

The new one felt a sharp pain spreading from its heart, but right now it could only hold back, but it couldn't help but let out a painful sound.

Seeing Shinichi's reaction, Shiho knew that he might not be able to maintain this state for a long time, and he was about to change back to Conan's appearance...

(End of this chapter)