Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

"Hurry up, don't keep everyone waiting," Yui Murakami said before getting into the car.

"You guys go ahead, don't wait for me. I'll take a bus back by myself later," Lin Xiuyi called out to her teacher's retreating figure.

He said this because he saw a familiar figure on the outskirts of the crowded group of reporters.

The young Inspector Megure was being jostled around by the reporters, but he still tried his best to wave at them, his face showing anxiety.

The Metropolitan Police Department must have something important to discuss with him, otherwise Inspector Megure wouldn't have gone to the airport to pick him up and made such an urgent gesture amidst the reporters.

After seeing off Yui Murakami and Eri Kisaki, Hideaki Hayashi took a deep breath, a perfectly timed smile appearing on his face, and began to calmly answer the reporters' questions.

"Regarding the hijacking incident, it was mainly due to the cooperation of the crew and other passengers. I just did what I was supposed to do..."

……

While answering the questions, Lin Xiuyi subtly moved towards Inspector Megure's direction.

A few minutes later, he finally squeezed his way to Inspector Megure's side, smiled apologetically at the reporters, and said, "I'm really sorry, the Metropolitan Police Department has urgent business with me, so let's end the interview here. Thank you for your attention."

After saying that, before the reporters could react, Lin Xiuyi followed Inspector Megure and quickly left the airport exit, getting into the police car parked on the side of the road.

The moment the car door closed, Lin Xiuyi finally breathed a sigh of relief: "What happened? Why were you in such a hurry to find me?"

Since we're all on the same side, Inspector Megure didn't beat around the bush and spoke directly.
"Three days ago, a murder occurred in Tokyo. The victim was a 50-year-old doctor named Kenichi Sato. According to the scene investigation, he was first stunned by a stun gun and then brutally murdered by the murderer with a weapon. His death was gruesome."

Lin Xiuyi frowned slightly. The method of using a stun gun to knock someone unconscious before committing the crime clearly showed premeditation.

“We initially thought this was just a typical revenge killing or robbery-murder case, and we were investigating the victim’s social relationships.”

Inspector Megure continued, his tone growing increasingly serious.
"But just last night, another murder occurred. This time, the victim was a 42-year-old associate professor of science and engineering named Takashi Yamada. He died in the exact same way as Dr. Sato. He was knocked unconscious by an electric shock device and then killed."

"Has the murder weapon been found?" Lin Xiuyi immediately grasped the key information.

“We’ve found a clue,” Inspector Megure nodded. “After examining the wounds, our colleagues in the forensic department discovered that the shape of the wounds on the two victims perfectly matches a samurai sword that Dr. Sato has in his collection.”

"We speculate that the murderer took the samurai sword from Dr. Sato's house and used it to kill Associate Professor Yamada."

"What do those two crime scenes have in common?" Lin Xiuyi asked. "For example, are there signs of forced entry on the doors and windows, or are there any witnesses?"

“That’s the strangest thing,” Inspector Megure shook his head helplessly. “Both of the victims’ homes had intact doors and windows, no signs of forced entry, and no witnesses were found.”

"By the way, both victims had letters carved on their bodies by the murderer. Dr. Sato had an 'E' on his body, and Associate Professor Yamada had an 'S' on his body."

"Officer Matsumoto and his mentor both believe that this was definitely a crime committed by someone known to the victim, and the murderer is most likely someone who had access to both victims at the same time."

"Master?" Lin Xiu was taken aback and looked at Inspector Megure with a puzzled expression. In his memory, Inspector Megure had always worked with Inspector Samezaki on cases, and he had never heard of him having any other master.

“Oh, I was referring to Inspector Morimura,” Inspector Megure quickly explained. “When I first joined the First Investigation Division, I learned how to handle cases from Inspector Morimura. He taught me a lot of crime scene investigation and reasoning techniques. It’s no exaggeration to say that he was my mentor.”

"Oh, I see." Lin Xiuyi suddenly realized and couldn't help but tease, "I always saw you going on missions with Inspector Samezaki, so I thought you were Inspector Samezaki's apprentice."

Inspector Megure scratched his head sheepishly, then regained his serious expression: "Since we suspect it was an inside job, we've been investigating people the two victims knew from the very beginning."

"But after investigating, we found that they had absolutely no connection. Their ages, occupations, and social circles were completely different, and they didn't even frequent the same neighborhoods."

"The only thing that can connect them right now is those two strange letters on their bodies."

“E, S…”

Lin Xiu unconsciously tapped her knee with one finger, her brows furrowed in deep thought.

"E corresponds to 'East' and S corresponds to 'South', so they should refer to directions, right?"

"Officer Matsumoto initially thought so too, but his mentor disagreed. When we talk about directions, don't we usually use east, west, south, and north?" Inspector Megure asked. "Besides, if letters indicate directions, what does that mean? Does it mean the direction of the next crime scene, or the location where the murderer is hiding?"

I forgot, the Japanese say the order of directions isn't east, south, west, or north...

Lin Xiuyi shook his head: "By the way, where are Officer Matsumoto and Officer Morimura now?"

"They took people to search the area near Associate Professor Yamada's house," Inspector Megure explained. "The katana wasn't found at Associate Professor Yamada's crime scene. My mentor speculates that the murderer may have thrown the weapon away nearby during his escape, and we might be able to find the murderer's trail through the weapon."

“I was originally going to go with you, but before I left, Inspector Samezaki said that your flight to Tokyo was this afternoon and asked me to come and pick you up.”

"Trying to find the culprit with just a samurai sword is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Lin Xiuyi sighed. "Let's go find Officer Matsumoto and the others first; maybe they'll make some new discoveries."

“Okay!” Inspector Megure immediately agreed, then started the car, and the police car smoothly merged into the traffic outside the airport.

After a brief silence in the carriage, Lin Xiuyi suddenly remembered something.
"Speaking of which, it seems like it's been a while since I've seen Inspector Morimura. Has he been very busy lately? I used to run into him quite often at the Metropolitan Police Department."

Mentioning Inspector Morimura, Inspector Megure smiled with envy: "My master has some good news coming up! He recently got a girlfriend, and they've been getting along very well. I heard he got engaged not long ago."

"Before I set off at noon today, I heard my mentor say that after he finishes solving this case, he and his girlfriend will start preparing for their wedding and try to get married before the end of the year."

"That's a bad idea to set a flag." Lin Xiuyi couldn't help but rub his forehead after hearing this.

"flag? What is a flag?"

Inspector Megure looked completely bewildered, not understanding the meaning of the word at all... (End of Chapter)