Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

Chapter 109 This person wasn't killed by Zheng Yi.

"The deceased was likely strangled from behind with a rope," Choso said.

Inspector Megure nodded and said, "I didn't expect that Phantom Thief Kid would start killing people this time?"

“The murderer is probably not Kaito Kid,” Choso said. “Judging from the ligature marks on the victim’s neck, the marks are very shallow, so the killer should be a woman.”

"If it were a male, the soft tissue damage around the ligature mark would be deeper and wider."

"Is that so?"

Inspector Megure looked at the ligature marks on the deceased's neck but couldn't discern anything.

The marks were no different from the ones he had seen before.

“Since it was a female perpetrator, the culprits could be Ran, reporter Kaneko, and Ms. Sakura,” Inspector Megure said.

"It couldn't be Xiaolan's."

Conan, standing next to Nagamune, said, "Ran is stronger than everyone else here, so it can't be Ran."

Xiao Lan is the kind of woman who can break telephone poles, not some skinny man.

“Conan is right,” Inspector Megure said.

He knew just how terrifying Ran was. "In that case, the culprits could be Sakura and reporter Kaneko?"

"Hey! Just because this forensic doctor says something, you think the murderer is a woman?" Jinzi said, dissatisfied. "I'd say the murderer is a man!"

Jinzi pointed at Zhengyi and said, "This man looks weak and powerless. Maybe it was this guy who did it."

Upon hearing Jinzi's words, Choso's eyes turned serious.

He looked at the woman and accepted her challenge.

"There were obvious bruises on the ankles of the deceased's body, indicating that the body was dragged by the ankles."

"Due to strength and physical structure, men tend to drag the torso when pulling, while women tend to drag the limbs."

Listening to Choso's analysis, Inspector Megure nodded repeatedly.

When the suspect was not yet the main suspect, he still trusted Choso's analysis.

"So, Sakura, or rather, reporter Kaneko, what were you doing when the victim was murdered?" Inspector Megure asked.

Sakura was injured by Kaito Kid and is currently resting in her room.

Therefore, all the clues point to Miss Kaneko.

"Of course, it's for sleeping."

"Is there anyone who can prove it?"

Kaneko frowned at Inspector Megure. Asking a single woman such a question was very impolite.

Inspector Megure also realized that his question was somewhat abrupt.

But both of them are still highly suspicious.

But they don't seem to have any motivation to take action.

The situation has reached a stalemate. I miss the days when Mori was around, and I miss the days when I could directly accuse Shoichi of being the murderer.

The police began investigating inside the villa. Although it was unclear what they were investigating or what results they had obtained, it was already morning.

Because the villa was in such a mess, they couldn't even get breakfast.

"Inspector Megure, can we go home?" Shoichi asked.

"Please wait a while. Everyone at the scene is a suspect. You can leave only after the police have confirmed that you are not a suspect," Inspector Megure said.

"no problem."

Zheng Yi nodded, showing exceptional cooperation with Inspector Megure.

This made Officer Nakamori take another look at Inspector Megure.

He knew how difficult Shoichi was to deal with. Before Megure arrived, he had always been at odds with the police, even publicly criticizing them for their incompetence.

Is this how you cooperate as soon as Inspector Megure arrives?

Is this right?
Shoichi was bored and wanted to braid Ai's hair, but unfortunately, after Ai revealed Miyano's identity, she was no longer so obedient to Shoichi.

Conan was still jumping around, attracting a lot of attention.

Several people present began to look at him differently.

“Mr. Takenaka, why don’t we go to your studio now? I’d like to buy a few more paintings,” Masakazu said.

“No problem,” Takenaka said.

It's hard for Takenaka not to be enthusiastic towards Shoichi, who greatly admires his paintings.

Takenaka said to Inspector Megure, "Officer, my studio is less than a ten-minute walk from here. It should be fine, right?"

"Uh, no."

"Wait a minute." Sato looked at Takenaka Hirono and said, "It's a bit too unsafe for you to go alone with Masakazu."

Takenaka asked, puzzled, "What's unsafe about this?"

Sato stared at Masakazu and said:

"As far as I know, Mr. Takenaka's company is in competition with Zhengyi. And Zhengyi's competitors have not fared well."

"Haha, that's just hearsay," Takenaka said nonchalantly.

Zheng Yi is a die-hard fan of his and has bought many of his paintings over the years. How could he possibly harm him?

Zhengyi looked at Sato with a reproachful expression.

How could you think of me like that?

"It's better not to go," Sato insisted.

For Mr. Takenaka's safety, it is still necessary to keep him away from Masakazu.

Inspector Megure looked at Sato, then at Shoichi, and agreed with Sato's point of view.

Being too close to Zheng Yi would make Zhu Zhong very unsafe.

Seeing that the police were even restricting this little bit of freedom, Takenaka snorted coldly, flicked his sleeves, and returned to his room.

Although it is unlikely that Zheng Yi is the murderer of the doctor.

However, the people in the Metropolitan Police Department know Masakazu very well and know that he is very likely to take advantage of the chaos to eliminate Takenaka, his business rival.

So they were very wary of him, and there were several police officers watching him at all times.

Even when Zheng Yi is just taking a sip of water, they still have to look at him a few more times.

As for the other people in the villa, they weren't monitored as closely, especially Conan, the little kid.

Shoichi lowered his head and said to Ai, "This is the benefit of being rich."

"what?"

Xiao Ai looked up in surprise, wondering what Zheng Yi was talking about.

“Once we have money, these police officers will do their best to protect us. Look, these people are here to protect us, they don’t care about the lives of others.”

Ai glanced at the police officers around her. Were these police officers protecting you?

Although they are surrounding you, they are probably protecting someone else.

"Click~"

Reporter Jinzi took this photo with her camera.

“You’re absolutely right. I’ll attach what you said to the back of this photo,” Jinzi said with a smile.

"Hehe." Zheng Yi chuckled indifferently.

However, the expressions on the faces of the police officers around them were rather strange.

If you fail to flatter someone, will you still be criticized by the public?
I feel like I got ripped off.

"Come on, Ai, let's go for a walk outside." Masakazu took Ai's hand and led her outside.

Inspector Megure was still inside the villa, clueless.

There was no trace of Phantom Thief Kid inside the villa, and no clues could be found about the other murders. It was yet another troublesome case.

"Hello, this is Inspector Megure."

"Help me! Someone's trying to kill me!"

"Mr. Takenaka!?" Inspector Megure asked in surprise, "Where are you now?" "I don't know, my eyes are covered, I don't know where I am. No, it smells like lavender, I'm in the studio."

what! ”

After a scream, Mr. Takenaka's business vanished.

"This is terrible! Mr. Takenaka has been taken to the studio, and he's probably in grave danger now," Inspector Megure said.

After receiving the call, Inspector Megure immediately drove to Takenaka's studio with his men.

"Damn it, someone punctured the car's tires." Takagi kicked the police car.

"We'll use the villa's car," Sakura said as she came out of the villa. "Mr. Butler, could you please drive the villa's car?"

"Ok."

Ran walked over to Sakura and asked with concern, "Your health..."

"I'm fine." Sakura shook her head. "I want to go see how Dad is doing."

As the butler went to prepare the car, Sato frowned and glanced around.

Someone she cared about deeply seems to have disappeared.

"Where's Sumitomo Shoichi?" Sato asked, grabbing a police officer's arm.

"Um, Mr. Zhengyi said he wanted to go outside for some fresh air, but we don't know where he is now," the officer said.

"Didn't I tell you to keep following him?" Sato asked, somewhat angrily.

The officer lowered his head and said in a low voice, "Mr. Zhengyi said that if you don't want to lose this job, you'd better not follow him."

Sato was furious, but he had no way to vent his anger.

He could only sigh heavily and reluctantly let go of the police officer.

"Shoichi might have gone to kill Mr. Takenaka." / "Could it be that Brother Shoichi was also murdered?"

Sato and Conan exchanged a glance.

How could you say something like that? *2
Sato's gaze toward Conan was eerie. Why did this kid think that Shoichi would be killed instead of someone else?
Conan's gaze towards Sato was also filled with dissatisfaction. Why did Officer Sato keep thinking that Masakazu would harm people?
Both men, who had differing opinions, shook their heads.

This child is too naive. / This woman is too irrational.

The butler drove the car over; the car could only seat Inspector Megure, Sato, Sakura, and Choso.

But Conan, taking advantage of being a child, insisted on sitting on Nagamune's lap and, unreasonably, tried to follow him.

The group drove to Takenaka's studio, parked the car outside, and Conan and the others ran along the path to the studio entrance, unaware of Sakura trembling with panic in the car.

"Brother Zhengyi, I'm so glad you're alright!"

Conan breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Shoichi there.

It's not that good.

Sato frowned deeply; it was bad that Masakazu was here.

Chosoku straightened his sleeves, having already prepared his speech for the upcoming address.

"Why did you all come here?" Zheng Yi asked in surprise.

"Has someone died again?"

“It seems you know very well,” Sato said, pushing open the studio door.

The studio was a mess, with many things scattered on the floor, including a phone that had fallen to the ground. It was very likely the phone that Mr. Takenaka had used to call Inspector Megure.

However, all the paintings on the wall were intact, except for the painting of Mr. Takenaka fishing, which was missing. Where the painting used to be, a notice from Kaito Kid was posted.

Zheng Yi stepped forward and took off the notice, saying with dissatisfaction, "I've already reserved this painting. How did that guy Kid steal it?"

“It wasn’t necessarily Kidd who stole it,” Sato said.

Inspector Megure and Conan searched the studio for a long time before following the clues to the riverbank, where they discovered Takenaka's body.

Wearing fishing clothes and holding a fishing rod, Takenaka died on the riverbank.

"Click~"

"What are you doing?" Sato asked Masakazu, who was taking the photo.

“I’m documenting art,” Zhengyi said.

"An artist dies in the scene depicted in his own portrait. You simply don't understand how artistic that is; it's immeasurable."

Zheng Yi was completely immersed in the joy of his paintings appreciating in value.

In Sato's eyes, Shoichi gradually overlapped with the image of a perverted and obsessive art killer.

This madman.

The forensic pathologist, Changzong, has diligently examined the body.

"The deceased died from a brain injury, and judging from the wound, he was likely killed by a smooth object, which is surrounded by irregular stones."

Therefore, this should not be the primary crime scene. Of course, it's also possible that the murder weapon was taken away by the killer," Chosokazu said.

He examined the body of the deceased while wearing gloves.

Then he said to Inspector Megure, "The culprit is undoubtedly Kaito Kid."

"Huh? How did it become Phantom Thief Kid?" Inspector Megure asked.

“Isn’t this obvious?” Chosokabe temporarily played detective and said, “There’s a notice from Kaito Kid at the scene.”

“Shoichi should also be a strong suspect,” Sato said.

Sato stared at Masakazu.

The place where Takenaka was killed should be his studio, which was the closest place to him, giving him ample time and motive to commit the murder.

"Absolutely not."

Choso said to Sato with a smile, "Mr. Shoichi had neither the time nor the motive to kill."

Sato stared at Chosokabe with a blank expression.

You're just a forensic doctor, why are you talking so much?
“Mr. Zhengyi has children around him. He can’t kill someone in front of the children, can he? Besides, the little girl’s expression is very calm.”

“If a normal child saw a scene of murder, they would definitely be terrified and panicked,” Choso said.

"Ok?"

Ai blinked.

Can her facial paralysis clear Zheng Yi of murder suspicion?

Then she quietly made a scared expression, suddenly feeling like she was being watched by something. She looked up and saw Zheng Yi's camera.

He immediately reverted to his indifferent expression.

Conan ran up to Shoichi and asked, "Shoichi-nii, did you hear any noise coming from the studio?"

"No."

"Have you seen anyone suspicious outside?"

"No, not at all." Zheng Yi shook his head.

Conan frowned.

Was Mr. Takenaka really killed in his studio?
Sato had no time to listen to Masakazu's excuses. She went to Takenaka's body and carefully collected fingerprints from it.

If it was collected by Chosoko, then it definitely wouldn't have Zhengyi's fingerprints on it.

This time, Masakazu was very close to the deceased, and there is a high probability that he did it himself, so Sato was very serious about collecting evidence.

Inspector Megure patted his head.

He was at a loss regarding this case.

The reliable Chosokabe finally met Shoichi, and he began to become unreliable.

"I've already requested a detective from headquarters," Inspector Megure said shamelessly.

It's okay to admit you're useless.

As long as the murderer is found, it's no big deal if the police get called useless.

"Just another lackey."

Sato looked up abruptly, not quite hearing who had said those words.

(End of this chapter)