The establishment of the Time Travelers Alliance began in the first year of Conan

Chapter 237 [The Moonshadow Island Case Cycle] begins
But for Conan hiding under the bed and Hattori Heiji standing to the side...

The mention of "corpse trafficking" by Kenjiro Oi undoubtedly struck a chord with the two men who had just emerged from the abandoned pharmaceutical factory.

Especially here, at the site of the Black Organization's submarine explosion.

So, in order to confirm some of his thoughts, Hattori Heiji's voice rang out: "Then let's leave the scene to Mr. Mori. I'll go and take charge of recording Akimoto Kazuta's testimony and see if we can find any other clues."

In order to avoid trouble, "everyone" is doing their best to "persuade" Conan and urge him to end the current case immediately.

Conan, who was hiding under the bed, breathed a sigh of relief.

Conan acknowledges Heiji Hattori's ability to gather clues, even as a detective.

Since he's in charge of keeping an eye on that side, I don't need to worry about the police or GSSRA missing any clues for the time being.

Immediately, Conan's gaze sharpened. The most important thing now was to close this case immediately so that he could find an opportunity to search for information related to the pointer and that organization.

As the "people" kept "adding weight" to one side of the scales in the universe, [Conan Edogawa] temporarily shifted his attention back to the current "case".

He immediately began to quickly explain Kento Oi's motives and methods for committing the crime—

"It was a detail when Mr. Nakayama was preparing the deceased's body for his final moments, and it was your last words, Kento Oi, that revealed the truth of this case."

"Please take a look at what Mr. Sun Yat-sen is holding."

Kogoro Mori posed a question: "Mr. Nakayama, may I ask where you took the fishing net from?"

Before Nakayama Kohei could answer, Mori Kogoro gave his answer directly.

“It’s the deceased’s ankle, right? Those fishing nets were wrapped around Mr. Iwata’s ankle.”

"These fragments of fishing nets were not tangled on the surface of the diving suit or the flippers, but were embedded in the deceased's ankles. This indicates that the deceased had struggled violently on the seabed, and the force was so great that some of the fishing net lines cut into the flesh."

"But according to Akimoto Kazuta, when he saw the victim, the victim was already slowly sinking in the sea, and only a few minutes had passed between him meeting the victim and the gunshot. If we also consider the time the victim spent fighting with the killer..."

“If this happened a long time ago, it was because he was careless—” Before Kento Oi could finish speaking, he was punched by the soldier who was holding him up.

“Yes, if this happened a long time ago,” Kogoro Mori refuted his excuse, “as I just said, the deceased struggled violently on the seabed. If this was because Mr. Iwata accidentally got entangled in the fishing net, then the first thing he should have done after breaking free of the net was to quickly surface and call for help from the search boat.”

His voice carried a hint of sarcasm towards the murderer.

"I'm afraid that even if Mr. Oi, as a fisherman, wanted to earn more money, he wouldn't make the decision to continue working in the murky seawater despite the fishing net cutting into his flesh after encountering such a situation."

"After all, it can be very dangerous to be infected by pathogens, and many marine pathogens have a high mortality rate."

"And that contradicts the circumstances of the deceased."

Inspector Megure looked up at Kento Oi, adding a point of evidence.

"If the deceased had struggled violently at the bottom of the sea, he probably wouldn't have had the strength to fight the murderer in the time that followed."

"Yes, Inspector Megure's speculation is correct."

Kogoro Mouri confirmed Inspector Megure's prediction and continued:

"Therefore, the truth of the matter should be that the murderer first used the water flow from a distance to entangle Mr. Iwata in a fishing net."

"Because of the murky seawater, Mr. Iwata probably initially thought it was just an accident, so he tried to bend down to untangle the fishing net that was tangled around his legs. That's when he met Kento Oi, who approached him under the pretext of offering help."

"But what you want is not to save someone by killing him!"

Kogoro Mouri's description brought the scene of the dark seabed back to life for everyone, as if history had repeated itself.

Before Akimoto Kazuta swam towards Oi Kento, Iwata Tatsuya and Nakayama Kohei, who already considered themselves salvage personnel, swam towards Oi Kento and Akimoto Kazuta respectively, following their pre-planned routes.

Therefore, unfortunately, Iwata Ryu was also "chosen".

Because he encountered Kento Oi, who was the "murderer".

The greedy fisherman had his eye on both the gas cylinder and what he had scooped up in his net—

Moreover, because they weren't from the same hometown, he was even more vicious.

"Let me help you untangle these fishing nets!"

He gave Iwata a few hand gestures, and then, with Iwata Tatsuya looking grateful, he used the clamp in his hand to break the valve on his oxygen cylinder.

"Mr. Iwata never imagined that you would do something like this under the guise of saving lives!"

"But knowing the situation was extremely dangerous, he immediately tried to drag the fishing net to the surface, and you could watch him, or even deliberately attack him at that moment to prevent him from surfacing."

Kogoro Mouri's voice grew heavier, and his description caused Kohei Nakayama, who was standing beside him, to grip the white sheet tightly.

"Mr. Iwata's intense struggle quickly depleted the oxygen in his lungs, and at that moment, you knew you needed to frame someone, and you knew you and Akimoto Kazuta had agreed to remind each other to pay attention to the oxygen levels in their cylinders."

"So you cut the fishing net that was wrapped around the deceased's legs, and then continued to create the appearance of a violent struggle on the body, and pushed the body to the southwest through a leaking gas cylinder and water flow."

"This is why Mr. Akimoto saw the body sink and Mr. Nakayama heard gunshots."

"Because you created a time-delay trap. All you need to do is invert the compressed gas cylinder when it still has a little bit of capacity left. As seawater pours in, the explosion of gas when the pressure forces open the already damaged valve will sound exactly like an underwater gunshot!"

"Because the gunshot was the sound of gunpowder gas expanding, and Mr. Akimoto saw the dead body sinking, Mr. Nakayama heard the gunshot and thought there was an underwater shooting. One of them immediately surfaced to call for help, while the other encountered you, who was deliberately swimming towards the dead body, when he went to check the situation."

"In this way, your alibi is provided by Mr. Akimoto, and because of the time-delay trap, Mr. Akimoto becomes the only suspect with time to commit the crime!"

"Furthermore, because you knew that time-delay traps could easily be linked to gunshots, in order to prevent evidence of a gun being found from being mistakenly used to arouse suspicion, you deliberately designed a 'frame-up' method to attract the attention of other detectives."

But you've made things worse by trying to be clever!

"If he were the murderer, and he accidentally pulled the trigger, he would immediately throw down the gun to clear himself of suspicion!"

"It was precisely because you were greedy enough to want both what was in the dead man's net and the guns you found that you left such an obvious loophole!"

Kogoro Mouri finally brought the case to a close with decisive evidence: "If a gun is fired underwater, the effects of seawater, gunpowder, and gases will leave special marks on the barrel due to the ignition of the bullet."

"Therefore, all we need to do is have the evidence department check it."

"If there are no corresponding traces, it means that the pistol was never fired underwater! In other words, all of this was just a trick by you, Kento Oi, the murderer!"

Kogoro Mouri's reasoning is completely correct.

After all, how could Kento Oi, an ordinary fisherman, possibly fire a gun?
He didn't study in Hawaii.

Having absolutely no knowledge of shooting, he couldn't even confirm whether the gun could be fired.

Moreover, even if he had a gun, how could he know whether it could be fired underwater in murky water?
Kogoro Mouri's words immediately turned Kento Oi's face pale.

His breathing was rapid, like that of an enraged beast.

"Damn it...damn it—!"

Kento Ooi roared angrily as he charged at a soldier standing not far away and snatched the pistol from the soldier's hand.

Clearly, a soldier could not withstand the desperate struggle of a "murderer".

—But this guard will certainly be dismissed afterward.

Kento Oi gripped his pistol tightly, the muzzle pointed directly at Kogoro Mouri.

"Everyone, don't be impulsive!" Inspector Megure immediately signaled to everyone not to provoke him.

However, in that very instant—

Kogoro Mouri suddenly opened his eyes, and with his head down, he suddenly sensed a deadly threat approaching.

His body regained its sharpness in an instant. He squinted at the person in front of him for a second, then reacted quickly, lunging forward like a black bear hugging a tree, grabbing the prisoner and throwing him over his shoulder.

The situation reversed instantly. Kogoro Mouri threw Kento Oi to the ground, and the gun in his hand slipped to the side.

"Kento Oi, your anger will only expose your crimes further."

Looking coldly at the man before him, Kogoro Mouri spoke in an icy tone.

Although his previous unconsciousness left him somewhat bewildered, it was clear that the prisoner had now come forward on his own.

The soldiers who surrounded him immediately picked up the guns from the ground. At the same time, several police officers came over, grabbed Kento Oi who was struggling on the ground, and handcuffed him.

"Kacha——"

The sound of the handcuffs closing signaled the end of the case.

Kento Ooi, lying on the ground, turned his head to the side and stared blankly as someone picked up the pistol next to him.

In his eyes, the wealth he was about to gain and his future life were all over with the pistol that left his sight.

His face turned ashen, and his body, which had been trying to resist, immediately relaxed, becoming like rubber without bones, allowing the two police officers to lift him up.

By the time the deduction was finished, Conan had already crawled out from under the bed.

He was now hiding behind Kohei Nakayama, secretly wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Conan opened the small medical kit in front of him, pressed a button to turn off the enhanced leg shoes that were already activated, and then skillfully made the motion of rummaging for bandages.

"Phew, thank goodness Uncle Mori woke up at that time."

Conan was already prepared to kick out the medical kit to subdue the criminal!
Fortunately, this "case" is finally over.

But immediately afterward, the next "case" that emerged thanks to Conan's unusual effects began to run through the corridor.

A new "case" attempts to catch up with [Conan Edogawa].

Fortunately, the people around us are all involved in the [ritual case], which provides some time to buy time.

Therefore, just as written in the Alliance Plan, the "Moonshadow Island Case" was about to begin.

That new timeline, attempting to move towards the next "time node" and the next "case," is about to crash into that enormous "loop" that lies at the center.

In a nearby medical room that had been temporarily converted into an interrogation room.

Heiji Hattori hung up the phone with a serious expression and then hurriedly ran to the infirmary where Conan was.

—The interrogation of Akimoto Kazuta has finally yielded extremely gratifying results.

Yes, although they still couldn't get in touch with Kudo Yusaku, Goto Homura, who was lurking on the command ship, immediately hijacked the phone after discovering the call from Hattori Heiji.

In other words, the information about Tsukikage Island that Iori Ida modified;
A route map that the salvage team just "found" inside the submarine;

And the decision analysis room just obtained several route maps from that body trafficking organization...

These clues are enough to piece together the key to Moonshadow Island.

Soon, while Kogoro Mouri was yawning and laughing smugly under the flattery of Imogen and Inspector Megure, he was overjoyed.

Heiji Hattori pulled Conan aside and told him this crucial "clue".

The ritual loop for the third pointer has begun.

PS: Since the reason for revealing the real culprit was exposed at the beginning, I wonder if anyone guessed part of the murderer's modus operandi.

If you guessed it, type "1" here.

(End of this chapter)