Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 260: Accomplice, pawn, and victim! (7k)

Xia Chuan had no recollection of the case and still suspected that the other party's mental breakdown was caused by their children. Now, upon hearing that he could meet the other party's children, his eyes lit up immediately.

He also wanted to try to find the murderer by selecting multiple candidates.

As a spy, his observation skills should be no worse than Conan's. Of course, if Conan has the extra boost from his "Conan's Will," then that's a different story.

At that moment, the door was pushed open, and two women walked in.

One is a cool, aloof woman with big, wavy hair, and the other is a beautiful woman with long, straight, black hair; both look quite good.

Although Nagato Dosan was a fat man, his wife's genes were obviously very good, and both of their daughters were quite beautiful.

She has big, wavy hair and looks a bit older, with some crow's feet around her eyes.

Nagato Dosan chuckled and offered an explanation.

Big Wave is his eldest daughter, named Nagato Nobuko, 39 years old, still single. Apart from being a bit impulsive, she has no bad points.

He came in and immediately started shouting that Secretary Hinata was a vixen, and before he could finish two sentences, he gave her a big taunt.

Xia Chuan nodded, then ruled out the possibility that the other party was the murderer. At most, this guy could be considered a victim; in Detective Conan, the people who die the fastest are always like this.

The second daughter, with long, straight black hair, is named Nagato Yasue. She is 32 years old, has a gentle personality and a soft expression, and wears an off-shoulder dress. Apart from not being able to afford an A cup, she is quite nice.

The two exchanged some trivial conversations, mostly about everyday matters. Because Nagato Dosan brought up his eldest daughter's single status several times, they left after a short while.

Hinata Yuki, who had just been dumped in a big fight, seemed to have work to do as well, and left after the two of them.

"Hyuga is my secretary, and also my son Hideomi's fiancée."

To be honest, besides being my birthday tonight, I also plan to take this opportunity to announce their marriage. They've known each other for twenty years now, and it's about time they got married.

"Uh?"

Xia Chuan found it strange. Hinata Yuki looked to be in her early twenties, while Nagato Dozo's eldest daughter was thirty-nine and his son was probably not young either. There must be at least a ten-year age difference between them.
We've known each other for twenty years.
It seems that early romance is a family tradition in the Nagato family.

Conan and Hattori had obviously thought of this as well, and their gazes toward Nagato Dosan began to change.

Not long after Hinata Yuki left, the door opened again. This time, the person who opened the door did not come in, but stood quietly at the door. His face was wrapped in bandages, with only his eyes showing. He was wearing a knitted hat even in the middle of summer and was dressed very thickly, which looked quite strange.

"who are you?"

Hattori Heiji looked nervous and immediately thought of Nagato Dosan's request, believing that this person might be the one who had been making noise at night these past few days.

"How did this guy get in? Are the guards outside just for show?"

Xia Chuan and the others were also surprised by the other party's attire.

So, the second generation of the bandaged monster?

As Xia Chuan pondered, he suddenly realized a problem.

The other person's attire seemed a bit awkward; how to put it, it just felt inappropriate.

His shoulders looked a bit high, as if they were padded with something, and his pants were a bit too long, even covering his shoes. And those eyes... why do they look so strange? It feels like I've just seen them before.

Wait a minute, aren't those eyes related to Hinata Sachi, the secretary who just left?

“Oh, Heiji, don’t be surprised. This is my son, Nagato Hideomi.”

"Uh sorry."

Hattori realized he had been a bit rude and quickly apologized.

"Son?" Xia Chuan narrowed his eyes, sensing there was something wrong with it.

Since this case has gathered famous detectives from Kansai and Kanto, it's definitely a case. If I'm not mistaken, the case seems to have already begun quietly.

Nagato Dosan shook his head helplessly and said, "Hideomi suffered facial burns in a fire twenty years ago, which is why he looks like this. Although with the plastic surgery technology of this era, it should be possible to restore him, I don't know why, but he just doesn't want to."

The Nagato family has no shortage of money, and he was also helpless about his eldest son's situation. He originally wanted to solve the problem with money, but his eldest son disagreed.

"I think Hideomi just doesn't want to recover, after all, this is a victory that saved Hyuga."

A flippant male voice sounded from behind Nagato Hideomi, and then a hand was placed on the other's shoulder.

"Hideomi, forget it. Why remember such a painful experience? You are the eldest son of the Nagato family, the face of the family. What is the point of a family if it has no face?"

The newcomer was rather handsome, looking like a pretty boy, with a similar vibe to Shiratori Ninzaburo, except that Shiratori was more composed, while this man seemed somewhat frivolous.

Moreover, he didn't seem to consider how hurtful his words were, and was still laughing to himself.

As expected, Nagato Hideomi glared at him angrily, didn't even come in to greet his father, pushed away the hand that was on his shoulder, and turned to leave.

"Hey! You really have to listen to my advice. If you really don't want to get plastic surgery, how about I inherit the Nagato family? At least the family can't look like this, right?"

"."

Everyone in the room was speechless. Didn't they know when to say such things?
Nagato Dozo was clearly used to the other party's speaking style, and still maintained the same kind of "good guy" expression.

"Father-in-law, this is a small gift for you. I hope you get well soon. Such a large family business can't be left without someone to support it. However, if you are really too tired and want to rest, I can help you manage the company."

"I've been in this position as president of the architecture firm long enough; I feel like I could easily handle even the chairman of the Nagato Group."

"Hehe, Guangming, please stop joking. There are still guests here."

Changmen Daosan waved his hand, took the gift from the other party and put it aside, then asked with a smile, "Instead of thinking about these things, why not have a son or daughter with Kang Jiang as soon as possible?"

"Hmph, I knew it."

Nagato Mitsuaki curled his lip, somewhat disdainfully. It wasn't that he didn't want to have a child; he had been trying every day for several years, and his gait had become a little unsteady. He just couldn't get the child in one go. What could he say?

"This is Guangming, the husband of his second daughter, Kangjiang."

"By the way, Guangming, why don't you take a few people for a walk around the villa and find out what's going on? See if you can find the person who's been causing all this trouble every day."

"Hasn't this matter already been handed over to Mr. Hattori Heizo? I don't think we need to hire a detective anymore. Who knows if their detective titles are just false advertising in collusion with the newspaper?"

Nagato Mitsuaki clearly looked down on detectives.

Kogoro Mouri gave the other person a deadpan look. If this wasn't the client's adopted son-in-law, he would have punched him long ago.

"Don't underestimate a detective. Besides, I'm the famous Kogoro Mouri. You can't be so ignorant as to not have heard of me, can you?"

Kogoro Mouri's boasting made the other three a little embarrassed.

It turns out that there really are people like Wang Po who sells melons and praises their own wares. The key point is that only Kogoro Mouri thinks he's really awesome, while everyone else knows that his melons were actually planted by Conan.

"Kogoro Mori?"

Nagato Hikaru paused for a moment, his expression instantly freezing.

The unusual expression lingered on his face for less than a second. Relying on his experience as the club president, he quickly composed himself. "Since he's a sleeping detective, perhaps he can find out something?"

However, I think it's probably because my father-in-law has been overworked with the conglomerate's affairs, causing him to hallucinate. Perhaps a few days of rest will do the trick, so I can handle the conglomerate's business for now.”

Nagato Mitsuaki never stops talking about the chairman's seat, clearly indicating that he has long coveted this position.

Nagato Dosan was also a master of evasion; he chuckled and didn't take the bait, instead waving his hand and saying, "Go on, go see the other parts of the villa. I'm tired, I need to rest."

Nagato Mitsuaki shrugged helplessly and led the others out of the room.

After thinking for a moment, Natsukawa asked uncertainly, "Mr. Kou, was that person really Mr. Nagato Hideomi?"

Natsukawa's question clearly startled Nagato Mitsuaki. "Mr. Natsukawa, what do you mean by that? Do you think I wouldn't even recognize my own brother whom I grew up with?"

Nagato Mitsuaki spoke in a loud voice, but his heart was pounding.

Could it be that their plan has been discovered? Impossible, they haven't done anything yet, and this guy named Natsukawa shouldn't know Hideomi, so why would he ask such a question?

Actually, he had a dream.

His dream is to become the chairman of the Nagato Foundation.

Although he is an adopted son-in-law, and thus a son-in-law living with his wife's family, there is still a possibility that in Japan, a son-in-law's status is equivalent to that of a biological son.

The only obstacle to him becoming chairman was not Nagato Hideomi, the eldest son of the Nagato family. As he had said before, Nagato Dozo would never allow a disfigured son to inherit his family business.

Even if Nagato Dozo himself agrees, the other shareholders or senior executives will not.

The chairman is the face of the conglomerate, and Nagato Hideomi's face is clearly unsuitable for the position of chairman, which requires meeting with others.

The only obstacle for him now is that Nagato Dozo seems to be in pretty good spirits. During the last physical examination, the doctor said that he could live for at least another 10 or 20 years.

As long as the other party is alive, he cannot become the chairman.

Therefore, he planned to kill his father-in-law!

He hadn't originally planned to do this.

But just yesterday, Secretary Hinata discovered that Hideomi had committed suicide in his room.

For some unknown reason, Hyuga Yuki seems to have developed a hatred for Nagato Dosan and wants to conspire with him to kill him.

This suggestion struck a nerve, and without much thought, he immediately agreed.

Their plan was simple.

First, wrap the body in a bed sheet, place it in a pit next to the pool, and cover it with soil. Then, Hyuga, disguised as Hideomi, creates the false news that the body is still alive.

Then, at the birthday party tonight, he pretended to notice that Xiuchen was not there and went downstairs to look for him. His real purpose was to dig out the body from the pool and throw it into the water.

Next, he went back to Hideomi's room below Nagato's room and made a scene to make it seem like Hideomi was going to kill him. Hyuga Yuki led the people upstairs to the balcony to check the situation. He then wrapped himself in bandages and pretended to be Hideomi so that they could see him.

Then he returned to Hideomi's room.

After everyone else went downstairs to check the situation, he climbed down from the balcony using a rope to his father-in-law's room and killed him. Then he returned to Xiuchen's room and stabbed himself, pretending to be injured.

The villa is very large. The father-in-law's room on the third floor and Xiuchen's room downstairs seem to be very close, but in reality, it takes some time to walk up the stairs. He will also lock the door, and it will probably take three to five minutes for them to open the door.

He was confident that he could complete the murder plan within this timeframe.

He then framed his father-in-law's death at the already deceased Hideomi, fabricating a story that Hideomi killed his father and then committed suicide by drowning out his guilt.

Because Hideomi was buried in the ground, the body was only one-eighth of the normal level of decomposition. Even an autopsy could only confirm that Hideomi died tonight, thus perfectly solving the case.

As the only male heir left in the Nagato family, he could immediately inherit the position of chairman and reach the pinnacle of his life.

The plan is a bit complicated, the most important part being Hyuga Yuki impersonating Hideomi, but now it seems someone has discovered something amiss.

It would make sense if it were one of their own family members, but the problem is that the person who discovered Xiuchen's problem is an outsider.

The unknown brings fear. If it were his own family members who discovered the problem, he could cover for them, but when a stranger discovered it, he became somewhat timid.

Could it be that this person named Natsukawa actually knows Hideomi?
Xia Chuan had no idea that the other person had thought so much in just a glance; he simply looked at the other person with a slightly scrutinizing gaze.

Could he be the murderer?
Xia Chuan thought so.

Or to be more precise, is this impending murder case committed by two murderers?
The person who died should be Nagato Hideomi, otherwise Hyuga Yuki wouldn't have needed to impersonate him.

But why? What was wrong with Hinata Yuki? Why would she kill her fiancé and give up the chance to marry into a wealthy family? He didn't understand. And when Hinata Yuki mentioned Nagato Hideomi just now, he clearly felt a strong sense of love from him.

If that's the case, then why kill him?

There were many problems, so after thinking about it, Xia Chuan decided to give up for the time being.

He glanced at the pool, then followed the others to continue inspecting the villa.

Time will tell him the answer to his question, perhaps tonight.

Cases in the Conan world usually go like this: either a body is found on the spot, or someone dies that same night, so it's not difficult to deduce that the time was at night.

He was even certain that the case would take place on Chairman Nagato's birthday.

Nagato Mitsuaki breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that Natsukawa didn't seem to intend to discuss the topic further. He thought he might have been overly sensitive, and perhaps Natsukawa had just asked casually.

Conan and Hattori were seriously investigating the situation, while Kogoro Mouri thought it was just a petty theft and that the increased security might deter them from coming again. His mind was entirely focused on the ten million yen.

"Seriously, rich people really do spend lavishly!" Kogoro Mouri said, then realized that his words seemed a bit ambiguous, since Natsukawa had just given him 100 million yen that afternoon.

Realizing this, he quickly explained, "What I mean is, President Nagato must truly love his first love. After all, he's already this age, yet he still wants to meet his first love."

Seemingly finding this explanation somewhat far-fetched, Kogoro Mori changed the subject again, asking in a low voice, "Hey, Natsukawa, do you have any ideas? That woman has been missing for twenty years. I think even their neighbors probably wouldn't remember her."

Natsukawa shrugged: "Uncle Mori, just do your best. It'll take at most two days to go to Kanagawa. Even if you can't find it, you can still get the final payment. What's there to worry about? Apart from robbery, what can make money faster than this?"

"That makes sense, hahaha."

"Hey, do you think Uncle Mori can do it?" Hattori asked Conan in a low voice.

Kogoro Mouri seems unreliable; he has a feeling that even if he goes to Kanagawa tomorrow, he will return empty-handed.

"I don't know, but I'll go with them." Conan said expressionlessly. More than finding the person, he wanted to find out why there were noises coming from the villa late at night. He'd deal with tomorrow's problems tomorrow.

"So confident." Hattori pursed his lips and dropped the subject.

Led by Nagato Mitsuaki, the group thoroughly inspected the area around the villa.

Apart from some bumps and knocks found under the balcony of Nagato Nobuko and Nagato Hideomi's room, nothing else was discovered.

But this single clue caught the attention of two famous detectives from Kansai and Kanto.

"This is suspicious. There are too many of these marks, and they look quite new," Conan muttered to himself. Could it be...?
"You noticed it too, didn't you?"

"It should be right!"

Xia Chuan watched the conversation between the two people, one big and one small, and didn't know what to say.

A pair of riddle tellers.

This is how it is when these two work together; they often suddenly realize something and smile at each other, like perfectly coordinated comrades. In reality, this should only be their third or fourth meeting.

Is this the mutual appreciation between detectives, like the mutual appreciation between him and Joel, a handsome man and a beautiful woman?

The intimate interaction between the two became uncontrollable, but the person who made the commotion was obviously very vigilant. Although the two famous detectives realized the reason for Nagato Dozo's insomnia, they still couldn't guess who was responsible for it, and felt that everyone was suspicious.

Time slipped away, and they could only put the matter aside for the time being and wait for the night to come.

The two decided to stay up all night!

The marks of impact were found below the rooms of the two owners, so it's unlikely to be an outsider, and they might even commit the crime again tonight.

The commotion continued for several days, and the two felt a sense of urgency, believing that if they didn't find the person making the noise soon, something bad might happen.

Nine p.m.

Inside Nagato Dosan's room.

After blowing out the candles, Nagato Dosan looked at his children and felt deeply moved.

His life was quite fulfilling; his business was successful, and he had many children, all of whom were doing well. His only regret was his son, who caused him no peace of mind at all.

But there's nothing we can do. The family is rich, so let him continue like this. Once he marries Hinata and has a child, the child will grow up under his care, and the Nagato Group will still have a promising future.

As for Guangming, he did not intend to hand over the position of chairman to the other party.

He can't even get his second daughter pregnant. This kind of person is unreliable. His future offspring will be a problem.

Moreover, Hikaru's style of doing things is rather insidious, and he has cleaned up his messes more than once. If he were to inherit the Nagato Group, even if he agreed, the executives and the Nagato Group's partner conglomerates would not.

His gaze swept over everyone, and just as he was about to thank them, he suddenly noticed a problem.

Where is Hideomi?

"Ok?"

Upon hearing this, the others looked around and found that Nagato Hideomi was indeed not present.

"Honestly, he didn't even come to celebrate Dad's birthday. What is this guy doing!" Nagato Nobuko pouted, feeling very unhappy with her younger brother's behavior.

"He's probably still writing his novel. He often loses track of time when he's writing," Nagato Mitsuaki said with a smile. "Father-in-law, wait a moment, I'll go downstairs and call him."

"Ah."

While Nagato Mitsuaki was downstairs calling Nagato Hideomi, Nagato Dosan asked, "By the way, have any of you noticed anything?"

In his mind, investigating the source of the disturbance was no less important than finding his first love.

He had also suspected his four children, but he was unwilling to believe it. After much thought, he decided to let a detective investigate.

If this continues, he'll probably suffer a nervous breakdown and die before he even sees his grandchildren born.

Heiji Hattori shook his head. "No, so Mr. Mori and I plan to stay at the villa tonight to check on the situation and see if the same sound will happen again."

"Huh?" Kogoro Mouri looked completely bewildered. Heiji Hattori hadn't informed him about this at all! This was all so sudden.

"Is that so, Mr. Mori? Thank you so much. I'll have someone prepare a room for you to sleep here. I'll also arrange a driver to take you to Kanagawa tomorrow."

"Uh, okay then."

Kogoro Mori nodded helplessly. Since things had come to this point, it would be rude to refuse again. However, Chairman Nagato was indeed good at handling people, arranging everything perfectly for him, even providing transportation for his investigations. He had never had such conditions before.

Nagato Dosan seemed a bit tired; after saying only a few words, he closed his eyes and appeared to fall asleep.

His expression was calm, and his breathing was steady, indicating that he had not been drugged or poisoned.

Xia Chuan could clearly sense that the other party was still in a normal state.

That glass of water

Natsukawa narrowed his eyes. When Hinata Yuki handed the water to Nagato Dosan, he added a little white "seasoning" to it, which looked like something like sleeping pills.

Nagato Dosan had just fallen asleep when the phone in his room rang.

The housekeeper stepped forward to answer the phone and discovered that it was Guangming calling.

The butler promptly turned on the loudspeaker, and everyone heard Guangming's voice.

“That’s strange. I’ve looked everywhere, but I can’t find Hideomi. Did he run away?”

"Isn't he in his room?" Hinata asked.

"No, I'm right here." There was a sudden pause on the other end of the phone, and then Nagato Hikaru's voice suddenly became urgent.

"Hey, Hideomi, what are you doing? Hey, don't come any closer! Take the knife away, are you crazy?!"

The sound began to become noisy, interspersed with crackling sounds, making it extremely chaotic.

"Hey, what happened?" the butler asked urgently.

"It's Hideomi, it's Hideomi! He actually tried to kill me! He's on the balcony now, and I don't know what he's up to!"

Without saying a word, Conan and Hattori rushed to the balcony and craned their necks to look down.

The same was true for everyone else. Fortunately, Nagato's balcony was quite spacious, otherwise it really wouldn't have been able to accommodate so many people.

Below, Nagato Hideomi's balcony window was pushed open, and Nagato Hideomi, whose face was covered in bandages, seemed to have heard the noise and looked up.

With a dagger dangling from his mouth and a crazed look in his eyes, he realized someone had seen him and went back into the room.

Da da da--

A series of footsteps sounded, and Conan and Hattori rushed out, pushing open the door and leaving the room before anyone could react.

Others followed suit and rushed out.

In the end, only the unconscious chairman, the secretary with mixed thoughts, and Xia Chuan, who was watching the commotion, remained in the room.

"Mr. Natsukawa, aren't you going down to help?"

Hinata Yuki noticed that Natsukawa hadn't come downstairs to check on the situation, and asked with a stiff expression.

In her plan, everyone should be drawn downstairs by Nagato Mitsuaki's words at this point, and then she could wait on the balcony for Nagato Mitsuaki to climb up and then push him down.

That's right!

Her goal was not Nagato Dosan, but Nagato Mitsuaki.

This is related to the will left behind by Nagato Hideomi.

She survived a fire twenty years ago when Nagato Hideomi survived. Over the years, Nagato Hideomi has taken care of her as she grew up, and their feelings for each other gradually turned into love.

Some time ago, at the suggestion of Nagato Dosan, the two decided to get married.

But just yesterday, Nagato Hideomi suddenly chose to commit suicide and died in his own room.

Hyuga Yuki was the first to discover it, and at the same time, he saw Nagato Hideomi's suicide note.

The suicide note revealed that the fire twenty years ago was actually started by Hideaki and Mitsuaki.

In that fire, everyone in the entire hotel died, except for her, who was rescued by Nagato Hideomi. He felt guilty because of the burns on her face.

Hinata Yuki had been urging Nagato Hideomi to get plastic surgery to remove the scars on his face, but Nagato Hideomi had always refused.

She didn't know the reason before, but now she does.

It turns out that this was caused by the other party's guilt.

After reading the letter, her anger and resentment reached their peak, and she ruthlessly plotted this case.

Nagato Mitsuaki was not only an accomplice and a pawn, but also a victim!
But now that Natsukawa is right next to me, wouldn't I be discovered when Nagato Mitsuaki comes up? How would I then carry out my murder plan?
Xia Chuan took in the other person's expression. He liked it when the murderer wrote the script and everyone was following it, but then he suddenly intervened and tore the script apart.

"Huh? I probably don't need to. Putting aside Mr. Mori, Hattori's swordsmanship skills are a true inheritance from his parents. It's Mr. Hideomi who should be worried."

After saying that, Xia Chuan asked curiously, "Isn't Mr. Xiuchen your fiancé? Isn't it appropriate for you not to go downstairs to check on the situation after something like this has happened?"

Xia Chuan had no intention of coming downstairs from the beginning, which he had seen clearly. He asked the question purely to tease the other party and see how they would answer.

(My monthly pass is about to expire, please vote for it!)
(End of this chapter)