Conan: Rice Flower Spring

Chapter 412, Section 406: Shinichi, this thing is much more useful than deduction (Part 1)

Although Ran Mouri is not famous among the general public, she is quite well-known within her own circle.

As the top workaholic in Beika Town, the 3rd Division of the First Investigative Division naturally falls into a small circle.

Outsiders may not know Ran Mouri's recent record, but the detectives are very clear about it.

For example, recently, Ran Mouri alone has delivered six or seven "performance reports" to them, making people sigh that she truly deserves to be Kogoro Mouri's daughter.

If the First Investigative Division's Violent Crimes 3rd Section is the Metropolitan Police Department's workhorse, then Kogoro Mouri is the workhorse of the detective field.

Although Ran Mouri is not as famous as Kogoro Mouri, her attendance rate is just as high.

So Takagi's initial joy at seeing Ran Mouri was because Kogoro Mouri was also there; he was somewhat disappointed when he realized that Kogoro Mouri wasn't with him.

But Takagi quickly realized that Ran Mouri had also followed in her father's footsteps and become a detective.

When the Beika Town detectives encounter a tricky case, isn't it just their old tradition of forcibly committing a crime when they pinpoint a random detective to solve it?
If there are detectives with connections, who says there can't be criminal police officers with connections?

As Ran Mouri led the way, followed by Ryoma Hayashi, Sonoko Suzuki, and Takagi, they boarded the broadcast van. Inspector Megure, who was talking to the director of Nichiri TV, spotted them immediately.

As expected of Inspector Megure, who greeted Ran Mouri warmly as she boarded the broadcast van, his words were incredibly friendly:
"Oh, it's Xiaolan! Are you watching the game here too?"

"Yes, Inspector Megure. I noticed a police car driving by while I was watching the game, so I came to see if there was anything I could do to help."

Ran Mouri didn't explain why she could see what was happening outside the stadium from inside the stadium, and Inspector Megure didn't ask either.

These are all trivial details; who would care about them except for a few obsessive detectives?

Inspector Megure immediately introduced Ran Mouri to the director from Yomiuri TV: "This is Director Kaneko, the on-site manager from Yomiuri TV."

This is Ran Mouri, the daughter of the famous detective Kogoro Mouri. Ran is also a very skilled detective, and she has recently solved many cases.

It just didn't make it into the newspapers.

As a journalist and a mid-level manager at Nichiri TV, director Kaneko had no objection to Ran Mouri's appearance.

He even warmly welcomed Ran Mouri's arrival.

Because when Inspector Megure introduced Ran Mouri, he clearly stated that Ran Mouri was a detective.

As a television station employee, Jinzi has access to a lot of information that ordinary people don't.

For example, the detectives in the Metropolitan Police Department are really bad at solving cases; without detectives on the scene, their efficiency in solving cases is outrageously low.

However, when a detective is present at the scene, things change drastically. Most cases are solved successfully with the help of a detective.

Faced with this predicament, how could Kaneko refuse Ran Mouri, the detective who came to her doorstep?
Even disregarding Ran Mouri's reasoning abilities, just for good luck, Kaneko would definitely welcome it.

Not to mention that this girl is the daughter of the famous detective Kogoro Mokuro. In a class-stratified island nation, the saying "like father, like son" is a common saying.

It's perfectly reasonable that a cook's descendants will know how to cook, a doctor's descendants will know how to treat patients, and a detective's descendants will know how to solve cases.

"Could you please tell me about the current situation, Mr. Kaneko?" Inspector Megure woke up the somewhat dazed director, Kaneko.

Once she came to her senses, Jinzi hurriedly explained the current situation to Ran Mouri.

About twenty minutes ago, Nichiri TV received a phone call from a criminal who said he had 56,000 hostages and asked Nichiri TV to prepare 200 million yen in cash.

Nichiuri TV initially didn't take this ridiculous extortion attempt seriously at all.

Then the thug responded to Nichiri TV's dismissive attitude with a soccer ball that had been shot and exploded. Seriously, man, are you serious?!

After the TV station confirmed the situation with the on-site director, Jinzi, they immediately called the police.

What do you mean they'll kill the hostage if you call the police? What does the life or death of the hostage have to do with their TV station?
To put it bluntly, even if the hostages die, it has nothing to do with them.

But if they don't call the police and something really happens, then the responsibility will fall entirely on them. They absolutely have to call the police; they can't afford not to.

"The current situation is that the criminals are demanding that the TV station prepare 2 million yen in old banknotes with non-consecutive serial numbers and place them in a location they specify."

He also instructed us not to call the police, saying that if he discovered we were playing tricks, he would randomly open fire inside the stadium.

Director Jinzi explained the current situation in one breath, and then breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He's a TV director; he can handle any kind of broadcast, whether it's a sporting event or a variety show.

But asking him to find the perpetrator from the stadium is not his area of ​​expertise. Now that professionals are here, he just needs to cooperate.

After listening to Kaneko's description of the situation, Inspector Megure did not let Ran Mouri lead the on-site investigation. Instead, he stood in front of the screen in the broadcast van to confirm the situation at the scene.

Meanwhile, Ran Mouri also began her own investigation.

Lin Longma didn't stay in the broadcast van for long. Seeing that everyone else was busy, he quietly got out of the van.

Since the area around the broadcast van had been taken over by detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department, and there were hardly any idle people around, Ryoma Lin called Kaneda over to ask about the cameraman's situation.

"What's the current situation with Hiruta?"

"Brother, everything is proceeding according to Hiruta's plan, but I don't think that guy is an honest man."

He might not be willing to give us the money even if he actually gets it.

"It's not that they might not be willing to give it to us, it's that they definitely won't be willing to give it to us."

He went through all that trouble—planning, finding accomplices, and personally carrying out the operation—I reckon that 2 million yen is what he really wanted.

Don't be fooled by how quickly he outlined his plan back then; I reckon he's probably figuring out how to extricate himself from us right now.

Hiruta dropped the bomb quickly, but he didn't give a complete account. For example, he never mentioned the 2 million yen that Hiruta had demanded upfront.

In that situation where someone is being chased for debt, even if you put yourself in Lin Longma's shoes, you certainly wouldn't want to obediently hand over the money.

Since they've already extorted money from the TV station, why would they care if their crimes were even more serious?

"Should we have our people keep a closer eye on them?" Kaneda asked softly.

"No, withdraw our men." Lin Longma gave an order that surprised Jin Tian.

"I've said before that we won't do the illegal things the enforcement department does; we'll snatch food from the mouths of the TV station."

Lin Longma simply looked at the exterior wall of the stadium in front of him.

Are TV stations, especially those with the largest market share, so easy to extort? The worst that could happen is that Hiruta might have the money but not the life to spend it.

Of course, if Hiruta could find a scapegoat to take the blame for him, it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to take a portion of the money.

Lin Longma didn't want to get involved in any trouble; he just wanted to make sure that Hiruta had started acting according to plan.

(End of this chapter)