Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

If Kogoro Mouri had truly been kidnapped in front of a convenience store, it would have been impossible for it to happen so quietly and without any warning.

Even if Lin Xiuyi was careless and didn't notice anything unusual, Officer Matsumoto and the others nearby would definitely have noticed that something was wrong.

Unless, Kogoro Mouri wasn't forcibly taken away, but left voluntarily...

Lin Xiuyi stood at the entrance of the convenience store, her gaze slowly sweeping over her surroundings.

Ahead lay a bustling, noisy street, with vehicles constantly flowing back and forth and pedestrians jostling shoulder to shoulder.

In such a lively setting, unless a criminal is completely out of their mind, they would never dare to carry out a kidnapping openly.

correct!

Lin Xiuyi's heart skipped a beat, remembering that a small van had been parked diagonally in front of the convenience store earlier.

The car was filthy, and a faded lucky charm was hanging on the rearview mirror.

He assumed it was a delivery truck for the convenience store and didn't pay much attention to it.

If Kogoro Mouri were tricked into getting on that car, he could indeed disappear without a trace very quickly.

Thinking of this, Lin Xiuyi didn't dare to delay at all and quickly turned back to the convenience store to ask the clerk about the delivery truck that had just delivered the goods.

"Delivery?" The shop assistant looked surprised. "No delivery truck was available for us just now?"

"Then why was a small van parked in front of the convenience store a dozen minutes ago?"

Upon hearing this, the shop assistant shook his head helplessly, a hint of resignation and annoyance on his face: "That car has been parked at the door for two or three days now."

"Is that one of your shop's cars?" Inspector Megure asked.

"No."

The shop assistant shook his head, and before he could even speak, Officer Matsumoto, growing impatient, slammed his hand on the counter with a dark expression.

"What exactly happened?! Stop dawdling and explain yourself!"

The shop assistant was so startled by the sudden loud noise that he trembled all over.
"That small van used to deliver goods to our supermarket, but the deliveryman suddenly committed suicide last month."

"After that, although her daughter took over the business, that woman didn't work properly at all. She was often nowhere to be found, and she would often park her truck in front of the convenience store to occupy the parking space."

The shop assistant wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"The store manager invited her over today to terminate the contract, but she didn't even enter the store and just drove the truck away."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiu's pupils suddenly contracted: "The one who drove the truck away was a woman? Was she the mother of the deliveryman who committed suicide a month ago?"

Seeing the shop assistant nod, Lin Xiuyi's mind quickly conjured up the image of that bulky and ugly figure on the tram.

"Is that woman very fat, and mentally unstable, always harassing handsome guys?"

“That’s right,” the clerk said with a look of disgust. “That woman is a bit of a flirt. She always likes to go up to handsome men, which often leads to arguments. Our convenience store has been bothered by her several times.”

"Do you know her address?" Lin Xiuyi hurriedly asked.

“I’m not quite sure,” the shop assistant glanced cautiously at Officer Matsumoto, “but the manager should have her mother’s address.” “Take us to the manager now!” Lin Xiuyi grabbed the shop assistant.

……

Five minutes later, Lin Xiuyi successfully obtained the address and learned the woman's name: Furuya Nami.

The three got into the police car and immediately headed to the woman's address.

In the speeding police car, Officer Matsumoto frowned, tapping his knee repeatedly with his fingers: "Hayashi-kun, was Mori kidnapped by a woman? That's unlikely, isn't it?"

“Kogoro isn’t stupid. Since he knows the role he’s playing today, he’s bound to be wary of men,” Lin Xiuyi stared at the scenery rushing past the window. “He’s just like you. He also thinks that women can’t threaten him, so he was tricked into the trap.”

"So his abduction is unrelated to the previous two cases?" Inspector Megure asked.

“…Not necessarily,” Lin Xiuyi thought for a moment, “Do you remember those two kidnapping cases before, they both had one thing in common?”

Inspector Megure looked bewildered: "What?"

“The two victims, one was beautiful and the other was of average appearance. If we’re talking about something in common, besides the fact that they were both women, there’s only one other thing,” Lin Xiuyi said in a deep voice, “they both had handsome boyfriends.”

Upon hearing this, Officer Matsumoto's expression turned strange: "You don't mean that the reason the perpetrator kidnapped the two victims wasn't because of their gender, but because of their boyfriends?"

“Yes,” Lin Xiu nodded, “At least that’s how Kogoro is… The woman who kidnapped him, Furuya Nami, you’ve seen her on the train before.”

Inspectors Matsumoto and Megure had been following Kogoro Mouri and hadn't paid attention to Shuichi Hayashi, so they were unaware that the fat woman had continued to harass Hayashi after getting off the train.

However, since Lin Xiuyi had already made his point so clear, Officer Matsumoto naturally understood immediately.

He slapped his thigh hard: "Is the prisoner that obese woman who harassed you on the tram?"

"It's her!"

Lin Xiuyi took a deep breath and briefly recounted what had happened at the station entrance.
"That woman seemed a bit mentally unstable. After I rejected her several times, she said she would make me regret it when she left."

"In her mind, Kogoro, who was dressed as a woman, was my girlfriend, and kidnapping Kogoro was probably her way of getting revenge."

"Boyfriends of Haruko Iguchi and Mizuo Oi are both handsome. That woman may have harassed them before and, after being rejected, took her anger out on their girlfriends."

"So, there's a good chance that Haruko Iguchi and Mizuo Oi are alright?" Inspector Megure, who was driving, interjected. "After all, the person who kidnapped them was a woman; they probably won't do anything to them, right?"

After he finished speaking, he noticed that the two people left in the car were staring at him with expressions as if he were an idiot.

Officer Matsumoto rolled his eyes in annoyance and poked Megure's shoulder hard with his finger: "You've been on the job for almost half a year now, haven't you noticed that sometimes women are more ruthless to women than men are to women?"

“A woman driven by jealousy is terrifying,” Lin Xiuyi said in a deep voice. “If Furuya Nami vents her anger at those two girls for her repeated failed attempts to pick them up because of her ugly appearance, they will be in trouble.”

"No way?" Inspector Megure was still a little incredulous.

……

The police car quickly arrived at Nami Furuya's house, a typical Japanese detached house.

In the parking space in the yard, Lin Xiuyi saw the small van that had appeared in front of the convenience store earlier. (End of Chapter)