Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 318 Beach Chase
"I'm going out for a walk..." Shiraishi whispered to Ayako.

Although Ayako was a little surprised when she heard this, she just nodded and didn't stop it.

But after Shiraishi left, Ayako couldn't help but look for Mizunashi Rena - well, luckily she found her, otherwise she would have thought Shiraishi was looking for someone else...

Bai Shi really came out to look for someone!
But it wasn't Rena Mizunashi, but the waiter who secretly followed him.

At this time, there were some people in the courtyard outside the villa - it was only the beginning of March, Aomori was at the northernmost tip of the main island, it was already night, and this was a seaside villa. Even if it wasn't too cold, they were still out having fun in evening gowns... I could only say they were worthy of being young people.

There were quite a few people in the courtyard of the Kimura family villa at this time. Shiraishi was always eye-catching wherever he went. He smiled and exchanged a few words with those who greeted him, while continuing to follow.

The Kimura family's villa is a sea view room, and it is located on a rock behind the beach. The entire courtyard is a three-dimensional structure facing the sea and climbing up the stairs. I don't know whether the beach below is private, but in any case, there are not many people there now.

After they started to walk down and were no longer on flat ground, Shiraishi's body shape was not so conspicuous.

but……

"Discovered?" Bai Shi also noticed that the waiter began to leave the villa. It was obvious that he didn't care about his "strange behavior" and decided to escape.

At first, Bai Shi was just monitoring her, but when he saw her about to leave, he chased after her!
If Rena Mizunashi and Judy hadn't appeared, Shiraishi might not have noticed her weirdness, but now...

Who else could this person be, a woman dressed as a man and pretending to be a waiter so realistically?

At the beginning, there was still a possibility that Yukiko had nothing to do, but later Shiraishi had heard "her" speak in a male voice - Yukiko could not change her voice!

Shiraishi was 80% sure that she was Vermouth, but he didn't know whether she was here to investigate Judy, the FBI, or to observe Mizunashi Rena, the "fake wine"...

There are two possibilities left, and that is that they are not Conan characters.

But since Judy and Rena Mizunashi are here, the probability that she is Vermouth is very high!
Unlike Rena Mizunashi and Judy, Shiraishi chose to follow Vermouth directly.

The first two, one is from the FBI and the other is counterfeit wine. Although they have some understanding of the "Black Organization", they only know the basics - Rena Mizunashi is only a formal member of the "Black Organization" and cannot be considered a core member.

In contrast, although Vermouth occasionally behaves strangely and adds water to his wine in the original work, he is a core member of the winery and has a close relationship with the Boss...

Moreover, whether it is the FBI or fake wine, if they do not cooperate with Shiraishi, Shiraishi cannot use any tough measures. However, when it comes to Vermouth, which can be considered as real wine, Shiraishi does not have too many concerns.

more importantly……

Before Shiraishi caught up, he had thought to himself - I was invited to be a guest at the home of General Kimura, and I discovered a sneaky, disguised guy showed up at the general's banquet, so I chased him out... This is normal!
Even if the Black Organization was ruined, or even Vermouth was killed, it would be hard to suspect that Shiraishi was targeting them intentionally.

……

At first, the two of them were just walking quickly, one following the other. But they didn't go far, and even before they left the door of Kimura's house, they both ran!
Vermouth probably thought that although Bai Shi was big and strong, he was not as agile as she was, so she came to the side of the rock wall facing the sea, and instead of taking the stone steps, she climbed down directly...

Seeing this, Bai Shi smiled slightly - you're overthinking this!
When Vermouth climbed down swiftly...

boom--

I saw Bai Shi jumping down directly from a high place!
Although it is four or five stories high, there is sand underneath, and the white stone bones and internal organs are also Lv10, so they are not afraid of this level of vibration.

As soon as Vermouth landed on her feet, Bai Shi landed in front of her in a half-squatting position, and the sand that blew up flew all over her face...

Belmod:! ! !
Vermouth's pupils suddenly shrank, and without having time to think, she quickly turned around and ran away - if it were someone else, Vermouth would definitely take advantage of the other party's unstable footing and take the initiative to attack.

Putting aside other things, taking advantage of the opponent's numb feet, just give him a naked choke. What else can be done?
However, looking at Bai Shi in front of her, Vermouth had no intention of fighting him and just turned around and ran away.

Bai Shi's feet felt numb for a moment. After all, it was more than ten meters high, and anyone who stepped on it would feel numb, but...

If Vermouth had really dared to come up just now, even if Shiraishi Bai had given her an arm and two legs, she wouldn't have been able to twist him!

Even if I turn around and run away...

Bai Shi moved his ankle slightly and immediately caught up.

only……

"Huh?" Bai Shi suddenly realized that he seemed to have been fooled.

The reason why the other party climbed down seemed not just because he "misunderstood that Bai Shi was not agile enough", but because...

There's a beach below!
Shiraishi's running speed is definitely faster than that of a "top agent" like Vermouth.

Judging from Shiraishi's physique, he doesn't seem to be good at speed, but in fact, the so-called "speed" is nothing more than the ratio of strength to weight - even though Shiraishi weighs three times as much as Vermouth, his strength is more than three times.

But... running on the sand is quite uncomfortable for Bai Shi.

Because at this time, Shiraishi's strength not only has to overcome his weight, but also his weight pressed on the beach, causing the "collapse" to be much greater than that of Vermouth, so naturally the obstacle is also much greater.

Shiraishi also suspected that Vermouth should have been specially trained in "sand walking", but Shiraishi had no such training - after all, he had few opportunities to chase people on the sand before.

Running on the beach, Vermouth seemed to be familiar with the route. She had taken off her "waiter" shoes and removed her somewhat restrictive top, leaving only a black tights...

After Shiraishi got serious, he also took off his leather shoes and socks and took off his suit jacket.

But where Bai Shi ran, sand flew up, and the traces on the beach looked like someone had plowed the beach!

but……

Even so, the distance between the two is getting closer and closer!

When a critical point is reached...

call--

Swah——

Shiraishi flew up and kneed Vermouth in the back of the head - normally, he would hit her back, but because of her body proportions, Shiraishi's attack was always one level higher!
If the collision was strong, even if Vermouth survived, she would probably not be able to stand up afterwards.

However, Vermouth seemed to be prepared. She immediately turned around, crossed her arms to block, and continued to jump backwards...

boom--

Vermouth slid backwards directly onto the beach.

Even though he blocked and relieved the force, but... not only did the soles of his feet bleed as he slid backwards, leaving two bloodstains on the beach, but his left arm in front of him was also twisted unnaturally at the forearm when he blocked... It was obvious that the ulna and radius were broken.

And because of the collision with Bai Shi, her arms could not support herself and fell back to her face. At this time, half of the camouflage on Vermouth's face had fallen off, and some broken mask skin was floating in the sea breeze, which looked a little weird.

"Huh? You disguised yourself and sneaked into Mr. Kimura's house. Who are you?" Shiraishi perfectly expressed his confusion - as if he had just discovered that she was a woman.

"Haha, Director Shiraishi is indeed worthy of his reputation... But if I were you, I would go back to the villa now to take a look. After all, your girlfriend is still there, right?" Vermouth revealed her original voice at this time.

Well, actually Shiraishi doesn’t know if it’s her “original voice”, but it’s definitely a female voice, a bit smoky.

Shiraishi was unmoved at first - this was an excuse often used by criminals when they wanted to escape!

but……

beep beep-

At this moment, Bai Shi's ears moved. Although he had run very far, there were few people around and no sound, so Bai Shi still heard...

There were sirens coming from the direction of the villa!
Shiraishi looked back, and Vermouth had already completely taken off her mask, and at the same time, she used her exposed golden hair to temporarily fix her broken left arm...

Then, Vermouth bit her hair, tied her arms tightly, and pulled out the mini pistol stuck in the side of her thigh. In Shiraishi's opinion, the power of this thing was just so-so, but...

Vermouth seemed to understand this as well, and instead of pointing the gun at Shiraishi, she just kept her gun lowered and on guard.

When Bai Shi hesitated for a moment, he suddenly felt a sense of crisis!
call--

Snapped--

Bai Shi quickly took a step back, and the next moment, a bullet hole appeared under Bai Shi's feet, creating a small hole on the beach!
Sniper rifle!
But it's far away.

The power is not very great at this point, but the accuracy is still very high, which shows that the sniper is quite skilled.

Shiraishi immediately looked in the direction of the trajectory and saw a high-rise building. Although it was far away, the occupancy rate was low and it was pitch black, Shiraishi looked around and immediately found which window the sniper was behind!
"Huh?" Calvados was also shocked at this time - not only could someone dodge the bullet, but how... could he see himself without turning on the lights?

At this distance, Calvados couldn't even see the other person's face clearly. It was only through the sniper scope that he clearly saw that Bai Shi was indeed looking at him!
"Idiot! What are you doing? Who allowed you to shoot?" Gin's voice came from the intercom.

"But……"

"Do you want to die?" Gin ignored his "but".

But what? But you, Calvados, are Vermouth's licker? What I hate most now is lickers!
Calvados dared not say a word.

……

"You're lucky..." After Bai Shi withdrew his gaze, he turned around and ran back - he didn't seem to be afraid at all that Vermouth would shoot him from behind.

Just facing off with Vermouth, even if there is a super long-range sniper disrupting the situation, Shiraishi is confident that he can defeat the opponent, and he won't even be hurt - the farther the sniper is, the less threat it poses to Shiraishi!
But...it's bound to be delayed for a while!

And something seems to be happening at the Kimura family right now - if it wasn't something serious, the Aomori Prefectural Police wouldn't sound the sirens at the door of their own headquarters.

Vermouth did not shoot, but instead breathed a sigh of relief and quickly turned around and fled. On the other hand, Gin, who was in charge of this operation, was also very angry.

Not only because of the Calvados exposure, but also because of…

There is also a problem in Kiel!
……

When Shiraishi ran back to the villa, the Aomori Prefectural Police were setting up a cordon outside. Shiraishi had just gone out to chase Vermouth for less than 20 minutes, and the round trip took more than half an hour, but...

Compared to half an hour ago, the festive atmosphere in the Kimura family's villa is completely gone!

Aomori Prefectural Police were putting up warning tape at the scene, and Officer Uesugi, who had just left last night, was also busy outside.

Seeing Shiraishi coming back, of course someone recognized him and told Uesugi. Uesugi turned around and saw Shiraishi, and hurried over, lowered the warning tape to let him in, and asked anxiously, "Officer Shiraishi, were you chasing after any suspicious person before?"

"Well, what happened?" Bai Shi looked at the scene and found that everyone had a sad face, but the scene was arranged in an orderly manner, so he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

It looked like something had indeed happened, but it wasn't a major mess, which meant that Ayako should be fine.

As expected, Uesugi said at this time: "Director Kimura... was killed, shot."

Shiraishi couldn't help but frown when he heard this, and in the end he didn't have the chance to meet the Aomori headquarters director.

"What's going on? Take me to see!" Bai Shi said immediately.

Although Shiraishi was not a member of the Aomori Prefectural Police at all, when Uesugi heard his words, he still had no intention of disobeying.

Firstly, the person who died was the general manager of Aomori, and the higher-ups would definitely send people to investigate; secondly, the previous case of the Akabane family made Uesugi very convinced of Shiraishi.

Walking into the villa and reaching the second floor, Shiraishi saw Ayako still comforting Junko Kimura, so he nodded to her from a distance to let her know that he was safe.

Seeing Shiraishi coming back, Ayako also breathed a sigh of relief.

Although no one knew what happened, Shiraishi disappeared after going out for a while. Not long after that, a shooting occurred in the villa, which made Ayako worry about him.

At this time, Shiraishi and Uesugi came to the scene - it was a secret room at the innermost part of the second floor... or a "safe house"!
From the structure of the room, you can tell that this is not an ordinary room. The walls are covered with plates, which may be metal inside. There are bookshelves inside, especially the door, which is disguised as a wall after all, and is almost as thick as a bank vault. There are no windows in the room...

The internal space should not be large, but there is a corner inside, and there should be a section, which Bai Shi cannot see at this time.

Obviously this is a safe house with special functions.

At this time, there were several people at the scene who were obviously senior police officers, but they were all blocked outside by a man with a square face and a slightly wrinkled suit.

"Officer Shiraishi, you are finally back..."

"Were you chasing someone just now?"

"Excuse me, I am Ishimi Kanenosuke, the chief of the Criminal Division of the Aomori Prefectural Police. Unfortunately, Chief Kimura was killed. I hope you can help me."

The senior executives of the headquarters who were clamoring to ask Shiraishi something were immediately brought into line by Minister Iwami.

Shiraishi just listened to Uesugi's brief account of the situation...

But it's too "simple" and not clear at all...

Now Shiraishi only knows that it was Ikuya Kimura, the chief of the Aomori Prefectural Police, who died in his own safe house, and there is no trace of the murderer or the murder weapon.

Because a guest had said before that at the same time as the shooting happened, he saw Shiraishi following a man dressed as a waiter out, so everyone hoped that Shiraishi had discovered the murderer!

"I did find a waitress with strange movements just now, and when I followed her, she fled the scene... and even shot me in the middle of the way." Bai Shi nodded.

"She? A woman?" Uesugi asked in surprise - the eyewitness he had asked about before was a male waiter.

"Well, a woman dressed as a man... I guess she is dressed as someone, like Kid. Go and verify the waiter's identity." Shiraishi nodded.

"Sure enough, he was wearing a gun..." Shi Jian frowned.

"Wait a minute, when was Chief Kimura shot?" Shiraishi interrupted - the timing didn't feel right, unless Kimura had died before he tracked Vermouth, it definitely wasn't Vermouth!
"It should be around the same time that Inspector Shiraishi left." Iwami summarized the events based on eyewitness testimony, but...

"No, it was shortly after Shiraishi left!" Ayako came over and denied it.

"Huh? Ayako, you are also a witness?" Shiraishi was surprised when he saw this. If Ayako was not a relevant person, she would never disturb him while he was working.

"There were no witnesses, but we who were downstairs heard gunshots coming from the second floor. That was shortly after you left. Afterwards, these gentlemen bravely went upstairs to check the situation. In the end, they only saw a broken vase, and... Uncle Kimura was gone at that time."

Ayako did not forget to praise the young people present at this time...

Right at the door of the safe house, there were fragments of a decorative vase in the corridor - Kimura Ikuya, who was supposed to be on the second floor, disappeared and the vase was broken. Junko immediately thought that her father must have been attacked and hid in the safe house, after all, the vase was right at the door of the safe house.

Although Junko knew that there was such a "safe house" at home, she did not know the "password of the safe house", so she quickly contacted the county police headquarters.

"Ms. Junko said that after the safe house is locked, it can only be opened from the outside with a password, but neither she nor Mrs. Kimura knows the password..."

Although Ayako's voice was very low, Junko still heard it and interrupted sensitively: "No! She knows the password, she must know the password!"

Junko pointed at her stepmother and said.

"No, I... I don't know these." Kimura Harumitsu hurriedly denied it.

Shiraishi also looked over at this time - this was the young wife that Kimura Ikuya had just married last year. She looked to be less than 30 years old, with a seductive look in her eyes. Because she did not attend her "daughter's" birthday party, she still had her long hair tied up and wore a kimono, which was out of tune with the others...

"I really don't know..." Mrs. Kimura shook her head repeatedly.

After Shiraishi looked at her for a few seconds, he continued to ask Ayako: "What happens next?"

"Then the police officer rushed to the scene and unlocked the combination lock of the safe house, but..." Ayako didn't say anything else. It was obvious that she saw the dead body afterwards.

The "police officer" she was referring to was the Criminal Division Director Iwami Kanenosuke who had just spoken.

Shiraishi could now understand why his suit was a little wrinkled - he should have put on a bulletproof vest on the outside!
After all, Minister Kimura hid in the safe house after the gunshots, and no one could be sure whether there was any danger inside.

Shiraishi looked at Iwami at this time. Although Iwami frowned slightly because Shiraishi was interfering in other people's affairs, he still said, "Well, when I came in, I saw..."

Iwami glanced at Junko as he spoke, and Ayako understood and pulled her away first, and then Iwami continued, "After I opened the safe house, I saw that Director Kimura had been shot and killed."

"Huh? Wait, there's no one else? Where is the gunshot wound?" Bai Shi was stunned when he heard that and noticed something strange.

Iwami shook his head and said, "Superintendent Shiraishi can come and see for himself."

The body had not been moved at this time - at first only Minister Iwami came, and after confirming that Minister Kimura was dead, patrolmen and criminal police came over, and the evidence collection work had just begun.

Shiraishi entered the safe house and saw the area behind the corner, where Kimura Ikuya fell...

He was shot in the lower jaw and the bullet went straight through the skull.

This was definitely a gunshot wound that was fatal on the spot. There was no possibility that he "struggled to hide after being shot and then died from excessive blood loss."

But in this case...

"In other words... the murderer chased in, shot and killed Headmaster Kimura, then left and locked the safe house from the outside?" Shiraishi's tone sounded a little strange at this time.

If this is the case, then the murderer is taking too much of a risk - although the guests below will certainly hesitate, if they come up to check more decisively, wouldn't the murderer run into other people?

Could it be...

Is the murderer fearless? Does he not care about killing more people, or is he confident that he will not be suspected even if he is caught?
Then Shiraishi noticed that Minister Iwami was silent.

After a moment, Ishimie said, "This safe house... can be locked directly from the inside, but if you want to lock it from the outside... you must enter the password."

Obviously, this matter made Iwami feel incredible...

"Password...Who else knows the password?" Bai Shi asked hurriedly.

"In the county police headquarters, Chief Yinshan of the Security Department and I know about it, but as for the others... I don't know." Ishimi shook his head.

Iwami declined to comment on Junko Kimura's accusation against her stepmother, and he was not sure whether the director's wife knew the password.

In addition, Shiraishi also saw that Director Kimura was holding a fancy book with a lot of flowers drawn on the cover.

"This is……"

"Hokkaido Flower Election... I don't know why the director is holding this. He must want to tell us something." Iwami was also confused at this time.

Iwami immediately said, "Officer Shiraishi, let's sort out the situation at the scene first."

It is obvious that Iwami wants to take back the command, not let Shiraishi, an outsider, always "set the pace".

At this moment, Uesugi's voice came from outside: "Minister, the police department called..."

The murder of the chief of a local police department was, of course, not something that the police department could handle, so they reported it to their superiors immediately, and the news came right away...

(End of this chapter)