Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 243 An old case
"Eh? The murderer from five years ago? And an elementary school student was attacked there? How many murders have happened in your Beika Town this week?" Yumi was also shocked when she heard it.

Beika-cho is such an amazing place… This week there have been several serious crimes that necessitated road closures!
"It's not another homicide case, don't spread rumors... People have said it very clearly, it was a case from five years ago, and the murderer has just been found." Shiraishi said that this was not this week's case at all!

At the same time, Shiraishi was also dialing his cell phone. After calling back and finding that the phone was turned off, Shiraishi called the police station.

"Wait...the person who just called was also a kid, right? It's just one point deducted from your driver's license, you won't take that, right?" Yumi still doubted the credibility of this matter. After all, it sounded like the voice of a little boy.

It may be a stereotype, but…it is indeed very common for children to call the police without permission!

Shiraishi did not argue with Yumi, nor did he doubt the truth of what Conan said... Instead, he continued to make phone calls - to the police station's Criminal Division, and the two intersections of 4th chome, and notified them all.

Then he explained to Yumi, "It's a kid I know. He wouldn't lie about something like this."

Yumi heard this and didn't ask any more questions. Instead, she turned the accelerator and said, "Then I'll help you get through!"

Since there is a special situation, Shiraishi must of course rush over. This place is not far from 4th chome.

But the next moment...

"Hey!" Yumi had already flown into the air and was then lifted out of the car by Shiraishi.

"Let's borrow your car...it'll be faster this way." Shiraishi said, and "pinched" the helmet off Yumi's head again, and pressed it on his own head with great reluctance.

"My bike...my helmet!" Yumi screamed, watching her own cavalry being ridden away with the same scream. Shiraishi even had to hit the helmet twice with his fists before he could put it on his head, and he felt he could not bear the weight anymore.

……

Five years ago, in Beika-cho 4-chome, a wealthy man died in his home in a burglary.

Although Souichi established an investigation headquarters at the time, he still failed to solve the case in the end - after all, in this kind of robbery case, the criminal may have moved away, and it is impossible to start with interpersonal relationships...

but……

Today the case has taken a turn for the better - four elementary school students from Teitan Elementary School entered the original crime scene and the now deserted haunted house to "explore", and as a result... they unexpectedly discovered that there are still people living there!

However, what happened next gradually got out of Conan's control...

As his body shrank, his physical strength also weakened to that of a seven-year-old, and he did not have the strength to protect himself, and…

In addition to the locked-up murderer, there is also a "crazy woman" here!
That’s right, the murderer had actually been in the house all along, and it was not a robbery and murder case at all. It was the victim’s son who committed the crime on impulse.

Because the crime was committed on impulse and there was no verifiable motive, and his mother faked the scene and tried her best to interfere with the investigation, the investigation headquarters at the time was always wandering in the wrong direction.

The reason why the mother and son are still in this "haunted house" is because the son wants to surrender himself, and the mother is eager to protect him, so... she imprisoned him here!
Afterwards, the news about the haunted house was deliberately spread so that no one would approach the place until these four elementary school students came to "explore".

Conan and Teitan, the three idiots, have discovered the imprisoned murderer, and even the murderer himself wants to surrender, but his mother is very resistant to this!

At this time, although Conan had just suffered a great loss and had "lost ten years of his life", he still had not changed his bad habit of "getting a sense of satisfaction from [forcing the murderer into a desperate situation]".

After notifying Bai Shi, he was discovered by the crazy woman, who knocked his phone away. Then...

Firstly, it was to delay time, and secondly, it was because... it was really cool. Conan talked freely in front of the mother and son and revealed the truth of that year!
However, the verbal persuasion did not work on the crazy woman. Instead, she fell into a hysterical state and held a sharp knife, ready to kill all those little brats.

"Mom! Don't do this!"

"Help!"

"Run away..."

"Wow, wow, wow...I don't want to die yet!"

Just when the little kids were crying for their parents, there was a loud thunder outside, and...

As the lightning flashed and shone on the windows behind the little kids, an overly muscular, faintly red figure appeared through the glass, with fluttering curtains like his cape...

Crazy woman: ???

Even the crazy "old witch" was frightened and hesitated for a moment when she suddenly saw such a big creature standing on her windowsill.

next moment……

wow-

Bai Shi broke into the room through the window!

Looking at Shiraishi in a tights, Conan didn't know where to start to complain, while the three idiots had bright eyes - it seemed that this tights outfit was very much in line with children's "superhero" aesthetic, after all, the classic Superman was wearing tights.

Especially now, Bai Shi still appears at their critical moment of life and death.

no way……

Because of the "forced suicide for love" case this morning, Shiraishi didn't have time to go back to the apartment to change clothes, and went straight to the police station in his morning jogging sportswear. Naturally, he wore the same outfit after get off work!

For a moment, the originally gloomy atmosphere in the "haunted house" suddenly changed, as if Superman suddenly broke into Hogwarts...

"At 8:50, arrested on suspicion of intentional injury... and illegal detention!" Bai Shi said, and looked behind her. Sure enough, there was a sloppy man imprisoned in his own prison, so he directly announced the charges and stepped forward.

After all, the crazy woman had a knife in her hand. After she realized what was happening, she immediately stabbed at Bai Shi, but...

Bai Shi grabbed him easily, then broke his wrist and captured him.

At the same time, the alarm bells rang outside...

"Mom! Wait, she's just..." The imprisoned sloppy man hurriedly tried to plead for mercy.

……

Outside the "haunted house", Akasaka and other detectives as well as two nearby patrolmen have also arrived at the scene and broke into the house directly...

When I arrived at the prison room, I was shocked to see the director holding onto the iron bars with both hands, bending the thin iron bars, and forcibly pulling out a gap big enough for a thin person to squeeze out - well, this private cell is obviously simpler than a real prison cell, but...

Seeing this scene, Akasaka and others also wondered, could the director be able to get out from the real cell?
"Director, is this old lady the murderer?"

“Is this a victim of illegal captivity?”

……

After some explanation, Akasaka and others finally figured out the relationship - so the guy who seemed to have been locked up for a long time was the murderer back then?
In order to prevent his son from turning himself in, he was locked up for five years?

"What's the difference between this and serving five years in prison? If he had turned himself in then, he would have served half of his sentence already..." Akasaka couldn't help but complain as he watched the prisoner, who hadn't shaved for five years and looked like a savage, being escorted into the police car.

"Of course there is a difference... Prison is not so inhumane. At least you can communicate with other prisoners, take walks, and have group activities..." Aoki corrected decisively.

Well, apart from the better food, it seems that nothing is worse than prison.

And the food wasn’t very good!
In order to avoid being discovered, my mother had always cooked and delivered meals secretly, and her cooking skills were only average.

“That mother actually wants to keep him locked up until the statute of limitations has expired…” Aoki also shook his head – what kind of genius idea is this?

If someone surrenders himself after committing murder on impulse, he will be sentenced to a higher term than fifteen years, not to mention that the statute of limitations period is constantly being extended!
"That's right. He can apply for parole after serving half of his sentence. His family is so rich, if he had turned himself in earlier, he might have been released already..." Huigu couldn't help but agree.

"You can't say that... After all, he killed his own father. Even if he can be released on parole, as a mother, you don't want your son to bear this crime." Yuan first expressed his understanding, then shook his head and said: "But rationally speaking, it is definitely better to surrender and start atonement as soon as possible!"

As the son of the murderer, he actually wanted to turn himself in, so he was locked up by his mother...

It can be seen that the mother's mental state was no longer normal after her husband was killed by her son!
"By the way, the director just broke open the iron bars with his bare hands, right? If the director goes to prison, he must wear a straitjacket." Yamada said confidently.

Snapped--

Bai Shi came behind him at some point and patted his shoulder.

Yamada:……

"Director, um...what I mean is...it's just an example..." Yamada suddenly became panicked.

"Yamada, write a good report. This overturns the previous investigation direction of the investigation headquarters. We have to let the people in Search 1 take a good look at it!" Shiraishi said, and patted Yamada on the back again, making him stagger.

"Yes!" Yamada grinned at this time - on the one hand, it was because he was hurt by the slap, and on the other hand, he was also having a headache about how to write this report so that it would not look so "embarrassing"!
There were so many seniors present, but he was asked to write the report. I can only say...it's your fault for being so rude!

Just then...

"Stop, little detectives, you can't leave until the parents come!" Bai Shi said kindly to the four little ones.

The four wanted to take the opportunity to slip away, but Shiraishi grabbed them all back with one in his left hand and three in his right hand - the four of them together weighed only about a hundred kilograms.

It just looks a bit like the monster that captured the boy and girl is going back to the mountain...

The three idiots of Teitan immediately showed terrified expressions - after all, they came to the "haunted house adventure" secretly and were chased by someone with a kitchen knife. Once their parents knew about such dangerous behavior, they would be worried and would inevitably give them a set of education suitable for East Asian babies!
Conan was still calm at this time, because...

The "parent phone number" he just gave to the patrolman was from Dr. Agasa!

But just then...

"Conan! How could you bring your classmates to such a place! It's so dangerous, and it will cause trouble for Director Shiraishi." Xiaolan's voice came from behind Conan. Just as Conan turned back stiffly, Shiraishi said kindly: "I helped you contact Detective Maori's office... Xiaolan, don't be too harsh on Conan, he helped us a lot, facing the murderer, arguing with reason, and not changing his face when the blade was put on his body. He was just a little bit away from winning the 'National Police Agency Commissioner Award'. Considering his courage in saving his classmates, he might even win the 'Prime Minister Award'!"

Conan: Well said, don’t say that next time!

Xiaolan was getting more and more annoyed. This way of winning the award sounded like a posthumous award...

That “little bit” short of it is “heroic sacrifice”, right?
"Conan, it seems I have to have a good talk with you!" Xiaolan tried her best to keep smiling in front of outsiders.

The parents of the three idiots of Teidan also came to the scene at this time. In addition to expressing their gratitude, they also said that they would educate their children well when they returned home.

……

After seeing off Conan and the three Teitan idiots, Shiraishi went back to get the car - Yumi drove the car directly back to the Metropolitan Police Department!
After a morning and a night of two cases, and treating Yumi to a midnight snack as "compensation for the wear and tear of the cavalry and helmet", Shiraishi returned to Yingmihua Apartment at nearly twelve o'clock...

But just when Bai Shi was about to take a break, he suddenly received a notification on his phone.

"Huh?" Bai Shi took a look and immediately became concerned - this is... a surveillance prompt!
It was the motion capture surveillance that Bai Shi had installed not long ago. When someone appeared at this time, it triggered a prompt and the surveillance started running.

The reason why Shiraishi became nervous was because the place where the surveillance was installed was none other than Kudo's house!
You have to know that Shiraishi traveled through time since birth, or in other words, he was reincarnated into a "different world" while retaining his memories.

At first, due to the development of his brain, Shiraishi was too young and unable to stay conscious. Later, he gradually maintained his true self and the memories of his past lives became clearer and clearer... and now Shiraishi is 29 years old!
In other words...

It was more than 30 years ago that Shiraishi watched "Detective Conan", and even Shiraishi at that time was not a "Conan fan".

Bai Shi couldn't recall many things. Even though his [memory] had improved and he could recall all the things he had forgotten when he was a child, he couldn't remember more things from his "previous life" - Bai Shi guessed that this was because his "brain" had changed!
[Memory] improvement only means that the area in the brain that stores memories becomes easier to write and mobilize. [Memory] cannot do anything about things in the other "brain".

As for why this part of memory exists?

This question was too beyond the scope for Bai Shi.

In short, when it comes to "Detective Conan", Shiraishi only remembers the general main plot and a few cases that left a deep impression on him.

However, in Shiraishi's few memories, the "Black Organization" repeatedly doubted the matter after Gin poisoned Kudo Shinichi, but each time due to various circumstances, they repeatedly ruled out the correct answer of "Kudo Shinichi is alive"...

Although he couldn't remember the specific circumstances, Shiraishi at least knew that the empty house of Kudo Shinji's family would definitely be checked out by people from the "Black Organization"!

Conan and Professor Agasa actually think so too, which is why they cannot let Shinichi, who has turned into Conan, continue to live in their home.

Shiraishi also remembered that on one occasion, when the Black Organization inspected Kudo's house, another important person also went in - Haibara Ai!

Or……

After becoming smaller, she is called "Haibara Ai". What is her real name?

Bai Shi couldn't remember either, but that didn't matter.

Let's call him "Da Ai" for now. After Da Ai entered, he intentionally concealed the evidence that "Kudo Shinichi might become smaller" and instead confirmed his "death". This was also an important reason why the "Black Organization" did not doubt that "Kudo Shinichi was not dead" in the early stage.

Having thought of this, Bai Shi would certainly not let go of such a good hook.

The night before, Shiraishi sneaked into Kudo's house and installed hidden surveillance cameras. This was also what happened in the previous few days at Fudo High School, which gave Shiraishi inspiration...

Afterwards, Shiraishi also got some pinhole cameras!

Although this thing is illegal, Bai Shi wants to get it, so he doesn't have to use too many channels.

It's only been two days, and we've actually gained something - after all, it's only been less than a week since Kudo Shinichi disappeared, and the people who come to check on him won't come too early.

Shiraishi immediately checked the internet on his phone while leaving home again and driving to...

In the surveillance footage, Shiraishi had seen several burly men in black suits, carefully wearing shoe covers, gloves, and hoods...checking something in Kudo's house.

Because the location where the camera was installed, and most importantly, it had to be hidden, the picture was not continuous and did not completely cover every corner. However, in just a short while from the Yingmihua Apartment to the Kudo family home in Mika 2-chome, Shiraishi discovered that at least three men in black had entered the Kudo family home!

After arriving, Bai Shi just parked the car on the side of the road and didn't rush in...

Although he was watching through the surveillance camera and couldn't directly sense the presence of aura or something like that, but... looking at their skills, Shiraishi didn't think they were official members of the "Black Organization".

[Kudo House] This "hook" can only be used once. After that, no matter who Shiraishi catches, the "Black Organization" will not send anyone again!

If we only capture a few peripheral members, it would be too uneconomical.

Seeing how clumsy these people were, they simply searched, restored the items to their original positions, took some photos, and then left - it seemed they wanted to keep the status quo!
Seeing them taking photos everywhere, even in the closet, Shiraishi understood...

After a while, they will definitely send someone to confirm whether no one has really come back.

Watching the men in black leaving stealthily, Shiraishi decided not to take action this time and see if he could catch a bigger fish - at least it had to be a big fish like Gin or "Daai" before Shiraishi would start to close the net!

A few of the Black Organization's miscellaneous soldiers didn't know that they were spared by Shiraishi because they were too insignificant...

……

Friday, January 1th.

Shiraishi had made an appointment with Ayako in the evening to go buy things to take to the villa for the weekend - the club reunion organized by Miss Ayako was not to be held in a random restaurant or KTV to eat and have fun, but was to be held at a holiday villa of the Suzuki family.

There is usually no one in the villa, but there is someone to clean and maintain it on a regular basis. When you go on vacation, of course you have to prepare your own supplies.

But at noon, Shiraishi received a call from Hongzi!

"Huh?" Shiraishi was surprised when he saw that it was Koizumi Akako's number - why did she take the initiative to contact me?

Because of the existence of the "Witch's Covenant", she should be hiding from me and not want to see me!
"Hello, I'm Shiraishi..."

Hongzi, on her part, had no intention of exchanging pleasantries and directly said, "Come to the Rice Flower Museum at four o'clock tonight."

"Huh? Why?" Bai Shi was stunned when he heard that.

"This time it might be true. Let me show you." Hongzi said as a matter of course.

After the last incident at the Nadeshiko high school, Hongzi discovered that Shiraishi had "talent as a witch".

Although Hongzi didn't understand why the witch inheritance was so difficult to determine the gender, the fact was that Shiraishi did get the witch inheritance, so...

Hongzi decided to teach Shiraishi some "knowledge that a witch should know."

In fact, Hongzi has not been idle these days.

Not only did we search for "strange stories" and "supernatural rumors" near Dongdu, but we also did a preliminary elimination. The result was...

As luck would have it, Hongzi found a ghost story location that "seemed to be real" in Shiraishi's jurisdiction!

Although not 100% sure, judging from some pictures circulating on the Internet, Hongzi feels that there is something there.

So, Hongzi came to call Shiraishi...

"Really? I have an appointment tonight, and I don't get off work until four o'clock... Hello? Hello?" Shiraishi found that the other party had hung up the phone.

"Really...what's going on? I think high school just finishes school too early!" Shiraishi complained.

I wanted to ignore it, after all, it was Hongzi who owed Shiraishi two promises, not the other way around, but...

Thinking about what Hongzi said, Shiraishi felt a little worried again, so after looking at the duty roster of the koban, Shiraishi made a special call to Fuji Seiko again - the Beika Art Museum was within the jurisdiction of the koban where she was on duty.

"Hey, Fuji... huh? You're about to get off work? Great, then come to the director's office."

Coincidentally, Fuji was about to get off work, and when patrolmen go to get off work or leave work, they first report to the police station, change clothes, and then go to report or go home!

Looking at the current time, Shiraishi estimated that she had worked the early morning shift and then stayed overtime to write a report, which delayed her until now.

Teng was also helpless at this time - why is it that the leader always finds trouble when he is about to leave?
"What's wrong, Minister Fuji?" Kawai was also yawning at this time.

"The director said... let's go to his office!" Fuji hesitated for 0.1 seconds and decided to pull Kawai into the water.

"Eh? At this time?" Kawai's face suddenly fell.

"Hurry up and change your clothes!" Teng urged.

"Change clothes? What if I have to work overtime?" Kawai thought, if he has to work overtime, he won't change the uniform.

"That will also increase his sense of guilt!"

----

Tips on the original plot: When the Black Organization first investigated Kudo's house, they did not find any clues. The second investigation was a month later, when Shirley discovered that Kudo Shinichi's childhood clothes, which "were still there a month ago," were missing. However, Shirley hid key information from the organization, allowing the organization to confirm that Kudo Shinichi was dead.

The "one month" interval between the two searches is also one of the few clear signs of the passage of time in the main plot...

(End of this chapter)