Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 688 The Use of Joel

Is this host also a sucker for good looks?

Xia Chuan thought to himself, carefully observing the other person, trying to glean some clues from their expression.

Is it possible that this great monk was actually a member of the Genji Firefly clan?

Yuan Hai, the host, remained all smiles, as if nothing could upset him.

After observing for a long time, Xia Chuan finally decided to give up. It was clear that this master had truly come to terms with things; his eyesight was fine, and he spoke frankly.

Speaking of that serene and cheerful smile, Xia Chuan felt that Shan Neng Temple should enshrine Maitreya Buddha instead.

Abbot Yuanhai, with his hunched back and hands behind his back, slightly raised his head to signal the three to enter the Mahavira Hall.

The interior of the hall is resplendent with gold and jade, with carved beams and painted rafters. There are screens on both sides, and when you look up, you can see that it is covered with golden Buddha carvings. There are also many places where you can see the style of the Tang Dynasty.

However, this main hall still lacks a bit of majesty, with a small Buddhist shrine beneath the high ceiling.

The Buddhist shrine is also covered by a screen. If this were in China, closing the door would be considered disrespectful to one's faith.

"Abbot Yuanhai, what is the purpose of this Buddhist shrine?"

"Why do we need to close the door, right?"

Guessing Xia Chuan's doubts, Abbot Yuan Hai nodded with narrowed eyes: "Because of the tradition of San Neng Temple, the Medicine Buddha will only appear once every twelve years."

"However, it may never be seen again this time, because it has been lost."

The screen was opened, followed by the door to the Buddhist shrine.

After opening it, you can see the dragon and tiger guardian arhats on the left and right, but the middle position is empty.

The dust in the empty space is evenly distributed, which means that the Buddha statue has long since disappeared.

"The consecration ceremony is imminent. If we can't find the Medicine Buddha..." Joel didn't continue, but everyone else understood what she meant.

“It’s alright. The most important culture of our Sannoji Temple has not been lost, and I feel that Mr. Mori can find it. That’s my intuition.”

Abbot Yuanhai smiled calmly, gazing serenely at the empty Buddhist shrine.

"By the way, may I take a look at that letter?"

Getting to the point, Xia Chuan didn't want to waste any more time. It was getting dark, and it was time to ascertain the situation.

“Yes, when Mr. Mori came during the day, my apprentices printed many copies.”

Yuan Hai reached into his sleeve and magically produced a piece of paper.

The paper had clearly been in my sleeve for a long time and was still warm.

The front features a simple text that roughly translates to: "Unravel the code, and you will be able to see the long-lost Medicine Buddha."

The back contains the secret code.

The code looked strange, resembling a five-tiered shelf with items on three tiers, including goldfish, attacking creatures, eels, and so on, as well as a rather jarring dot.

This point.
Upon seeing this code, Xia Chuan felt his long-dormant memories begin to knock on the door, but he was still a little short.

"I showed it to Mr. Mori this morning, but he didn't have any clues at the time. He went out with some of our temple's worshippers later, and now that most of the day has passed, maybe he'll find something."

Under the guidance of the host, Yuan Hai, the three of them arrived at the riverside teahouse in Longchuan Town, just like players completing a quest.

This teahouse is located by the river. It is a two-story building. The first floor is where the owner rests and lives, while the second floor offers views of the river and beautiful cherry blossom trees. It is used to receive guests.

Especially during cherry blossom season, the riverbanks are crowded with tourists and travelers. When Xia Chuan arrived, it was already past seven o'clock.

There was no laughter or joy as they had imagined, because as soon as they arrived at the teahouse, they saw Kyoto Prefectural Police cars.

"Um, what happened here?" Okita Souji stepped forward and asked.

"I'm sorry, this is confidential and we cannot disclose it."

The police officers at the door certainly wouldn't answer anyone's questions casually, until Joel pulled out his police ID from his pocket.

"Are you Instructor Joel from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department?"

After glancing at the police officer's badge, the officer suddenly looked shocked: "I have several classmates from police academy, and they all say you're a villain."

The officer stopped abruptly, clearly realizing he had misspoke. He then recalled that the investigation into the Genji Hotaru case was a joint effort with Tokyo and Osaka, so the other party's presence here seemed quite reasonable.

"A murder has just occurred here! The victim's name is Sakura Masazo, and Inspector Ayanokoji is currently investigating inside."

As they spoke, the officers opened the cordon and let the three people in, without even notifying their inspector.

As those who benefited from the situation, Xia Chuan and his two companions naturally didn't offer any warnings and stepped inside.

"Your identity is indeed quite impressive, as even the Kyoto Prefectural Police let you pass so easily."

"That's strange. Logically, they should have made an announcement."

Joel looked curious and glanced back at the police officer.

The police officer was also secretly watching her. When he noticed her turn her head to look at him, he was immediately startled and bowed frantically!

There were even more police officers inside the teahouse, and forensic personnel were collecting evidence in various places. The most crowded spot was at the end of the corridor, which clearly indicated that the crime had occurred there.

"The deceased, Sakura Masazo, was an antique dealer. Judging from the stiffness of his body, he should have died about half an hour ago. He had only one wound, which was also fatal. There was a knife wound on the side of his neck, eight centimeters deep and two and a half centimeters wide, which was killed by a single dagger strike."

The forensic team is giving a summary report.

In fact, he only summarized the size of the knife wound; the rest was told to him by the little boy next to him.

Of course, I wouldn't tell Inspector Ayanokoji about such a trivial matter.

"We found a copy of the Yoshitsune Chronicle on him, so Sakura Seizou is very likely a member of the Genji Hotaru clan!"

The forensic team handed a book to Ayanokoji.

Ayanokouji took the "Yoshitsune Chronicle" and examined it, but after a while, he frowned.

Kogoro Mouri coughed twice and walked up to Inspector Ayanokouji: "Inspector Ayanokouji, what exactly is the Genji Hotaru case that the forensic investigators just mentioned?"

Ayanokouji raised his eyebrows slightly, which resembled those of an ancient nobleman, and said softly, "Before today, five people had actually died. These five people were exactly like Sakura Seizo. After they died, they were all given a copy of the Yoshitsune Chronicle. Therefore, our joint investigation team suspects that this should be related to the long-lost Genji Hotaru theft gang."

"Aside from Sakura Seizo's identity in the Yoshitsune Chronicle, which has not yet been confirmed, the five people who died before were: Suruga Jiro, Bizen Heishiro, Kamei Rokuro, Washio Shichiro, and Kataoka Hachiro."

"Six people have already died?"

Kogoro Mouri was terrified.

As a detective, he naturally knew about Genji Hotaru's evil deeds. However, this group, including Yoshitsune, Benkei, and Ise Saburo, only had eight people in total. Six of them died, so now only the leader Yoshitsune and the deputy leader Benkei are left.
I never imagined that my investigation into the disappearance of a Buddha statue would lead me to a group of dead people!
When did this case begin?

Conan interrupted and asked.

(End of this chapter)