Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

Chapter 110 A New Lackey Has Arrived
Masakazu leisurely gazed at the scenery, Chosokazu smiled nonchalantly, and Sato was still searching for the person who had spoken.

Inspector Megure was also watching to see who was saying such things.

The person he invited this time was a British exchange student, the son of Director White Horse.

If he's also a lackey of Zheng Yi, then how can the Metropolitan Police Department possibly function properly?
But those words seemed to have come out of nowhere; no one came forward to admit that they were the ones who said them.

No one stood up to accuse anyone of saying such things.

"I will not be anyone's lackey."

A boy dressed in a Sherlock Holmes-style trench coat and deerstalker hat walked over, with an eagle perched on his shoulder.

Hakuba Saguru said, "I'm sorry I'm a little late."

"Brother Hakuba, you've finally made it here," Inspector Megure said with a smile.

Inspector Megure was very enthusiastic towards Hakuba Saguru.

This is the son of Chief Inspector Hakuba, a detective whom the Metropolitan Police Department can trust.

He's completely different from Kogoro Mouri, a detective who obeys Shoichi's orders.

Only detectives like this can uphold fairness and justice.

Hakuba Saguru glanced around at the crowd and then said, "If we're talking about lackeys, then I might be a lackey of justice."

Hakuba glanced at his pocket watch: "Could you tell me the details of the case in detail?"

"No problem, Takagi."

"Yes!"

Takagi approached Hakuba Saguru and told him everything he knew.

After Bai Ma finished gathering information, he walked over to Zheng Yi and whispered something:
"Everything will be revealed to the world."

“You’re right,” Zheng Yi said. “I believe that you, a renowned detective who studied in England, will definitely be able to find out the truth.”

U.K?

Ai looked up and glanced at Hakuba Saguru.

Zheng Yi seems to have spent a long time in the UK. Could he know this British student?
However, Zheng Yi later went to the United States, and it is unknown whether he had any interaction with this detective in England.

Zheng Yixiao looks very happy.

Ai had a strange feeling that this person might be an old acquaintance of Shoichi from England.
The smile on Shoichi's face now is exactly the same as the smile on Kogoro Mouri's face. Could this latest guy also be Shoichi's lackey?
Sato shares the same feeling as Ai.

She also looked intently at Masakazu and Hakuba Saguru, sensing that there was some story between them.

Just then, the eagle on Bai Ma Tan's shoulder flew directly onto Zheng Yi's shoulder and nuzzled him affectionately.

"I didn't expect Watson to recognize me," Zheng Yi said with a smile.

Sato's eyes widened as she stared intently at Inspector Megure.

Is this the detective you requested from headquarters?
That phrase, "just a new lackey," was absolutely true.

Since they can share pets, Shoichi and Hakuba Saguru must have a very good relationship, much stronger than the purely financial relationship between Kogoro Mouri and Shoichi.

Inspector Megure was also extremely frustrated, and at this moment he had no way to express his suffering.

He really tried hard to shake off the image of Zheng Yi's lackey, and even invited the son of Director Bai Ma to solve the case, thinking that with such a background, he couldn't possibly be Zheng Yi's accomplice.

But who could have predicted it would turn out this way?

It's difficult for him too.

However, Hakuba Saguru's attitude may represent that of Director Hakuba.

If Director Hakuba also endorses Seiichi, what will become of the Metropolitan Police Department?
"Watson, come back."

Upon hearing its master's voice, the eagle flew back to White Horse's shoulder.

Hakuba Saguru stared at Shoichi and said, "Back in England, I didn't send you to prison. Now that I'm back in Japan, I'm sure I won't lose again."

Masashi blinked, leaned close to Hakuba Saguru, and whispered:
“In the UK, I need to spend money to smooth things over. But in Japan, I don’t need to spend any money at all.”

Seeing Hakuba Saguru's sharp gaze, Shoichi added, "Because I will abide by the law in Japan and will not commit any crimes."

After speaking, Zheng Yi took a step back and looked at Bai Ma Tan with a smile.

Hakuba Saguru hated his sense of confidence in victory.

"Is it that you won't commit a crime, or that you won't be discovered?" Hakuba Saguru asked.

"Hmm~"

Zheng Yi did not answer, but simply gestured for Hakuba Saguru to investigate on his own.

Hakuba Saguru gently turned his head away.

He will definitely find evidence of Zheng Yi's crimes and then put him in jail.

Everything will be revealed to the world.

Hearing their conversation, Inspector Megure reiterated, "It's settled."

Although Hakuba Saguru and Masakazu are old acquaintances, their relationship doesn't seem to be good; they appeared to have had a conflict in England before.

Therefore, Brother Bai Ma is definitely not a lackey of the Zheng Yi sect.

Having found a reliable younger brother, Inspector Megure went up to Hakuba Saguru and patted him affectionately on the shoulder.

"Brother White Horse..."

"Hmm, don't interrupt me while I'm thinking," Hakuba Saguru said coldly.

“Okay, no problem,” Inspector Megure said.

Inspector Megure has great respect for detectives who are serious about solving cases.

Hakuba Saguru passed by Megure and walked up to Sato, saying, "I need the police's assistance."

"Uh." Sato was a little confused by Hakuba Saguru's explanation.

Inspector Megure is still around, so it seems she can't represent the police in assisting Hakuba Saguru.

"Is that alright?" Hakuba Saguru continued to ask.

Hakuba Saguru had no respect for Inspector Megure; he was nothing more than Shoichi's lackey. How could he solve a case while working with such a scoundrel?

The reputation of the Metropolitan Police Department has been ruined by these people.

Zheng Yi's arrogance is also due to these people.

Sato only said "Okay" to Hakuba Saguru after seeing Inspector Megure nod.

After inspecting the site and asking some questions.

Hakuba Tan also turned his attention to Zheng Yi.

"Excuse me, why did you come to Mr. Takenaka's studio?" Hakuba Saguru asked.

"Because I wanted to come."

"Please cooperate."

“I’m cooperating,” Zheng Yi said. “I can come over whenever I want, just like when I wanted to steal your eagle, I just went and stole it.”

"You admit you stole it?"

"I do not have."

Hakuba Saguru then asked Shoichi several questions in succession, but Shoichi's answers still failed to satisfy Hakuba Saguru.

His answer was perfunctory, and he had no intention of cooperating at all.

Seeing that the new detective stole everyone's thunder.

Conan suddenly said, "The time of Mr. Takenaka's death is very close to the time when Masakazu went to the studio, but Masakazu didn't hear any noise from the studio."

With this level of awareness, you should now know that Mr. Takenaka did not die here at his studio, right?
“Sometimes, certain people will provide false testimony,” Hakuba Saguru said, looking at the little brat not far away.

Conan touched his watch.

Damn it, I kind of want to give them injections.

It's such an important clue, yet you all don't believe it.

Nobody believes what Brother Zhengyi says, right?
How can you solve a case while dealing with these insects?

Conan continued, "And Mr. Takenaka was in the bedroom of the villa just now, so why did he suddenly come to the studio?" "Someone probably invited him here," Sato said.

Conan hadn't said anything yet, but Ran gently pulled him back.

Ran ran away from the villa to this place because she was worried about Conan being alone.

"Alright, Conan, don't bother the adults while they're solving the case," Ran said gently.

"Oh."

Conan nodded sullenly.

Children's words are indeed not taken seriously enough.

“I think Conan’s words make a lot of sense,” Shoichi said. “Mr. Takenaka was clearly in the bedroom of the villa, so how did he suddenly come to the studio?”
Has anyone seen him come to the studio?

Hakuba Saguru looked at Masakazu and said, "It's possible that Mr. Takenaka died inside the villa and was simply dumped here."

"That person, you wouldn't be talking about me, would you?" Zheng Yi asked.

Conan broke free from Ran's embrace.

He said to everyone, "If Mr. Takenaka died in the villa, then we'll definitely need a car to transport his body here."

“It’s also possible that Zheng Yi survived it,” Hakuba Saguru said. “Zheng Yi was the number one fencer in high school.”

He can chase down a whole group of people all by himself; carrying a corpse is a piece of cake for him.

While in England, Hakuba had witnessed Shoichi's heroic deeds.

Hakuba Saguru glanced at Shoichi.

Then he shook his head gently.

There was no blood on him, and having traveled such a long distance, he hadn't seen any bloodstains on the ground when he came.

There were only a few scattered bloodstains near the deceased.

The time frame was too short, so it can be ruled out that Zheng Yi removed these traces.

“The car, the body was probably brought here by car,” Hakuba Saguru said.

As Sato listened to their reasoning, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

These inferences seem quite reasonable.

But the conclusion drawn seems to be an attempt to whitewash Zheng Yi.

If the studio wasn't the murder scene, then Zheng Yi, the only person who appeared next to the studio, seems to have gone from being the only suspect to someone who couldn't possibly be the murderer.

They even used a vehicle to transport the body over.

That has nothing to do with Zhengyi anymore.

Because Zheng Yi walked over, there were no cars around.

Sato clenched his fist.

I feel that Hakuba Saguru and Kogoro Mouri are strikingly similar.

When Zheng Yi was a prime suspect, both of them directly pointed the finger at him, as if to prove that they had no connection with him.

He portrayed himself as an upright detective who only pursued the truth.

Then, through a series of extremely reasonable deductions, Zheng Yi was pulled off the throne of the biggest suspect.

On the surface, they are targeting Zheng Yi, but in reality, they are all helping Zheng Yi.

Hakuba Saguru had no idea what Sato was thinking, but he had already run to the only car there.

The police car was slashed.

The only usable car here is the one inside the villa.

Hakuba Saguru knocked on the trunk and looked at Sakura in the car, saying:
"If the body was transported in this vehicle, then the real murderer is among the people in the vehicle."

Hakuba Saguru opened the trunk, raised his arm, and Watson jumped in. After turning around, Watson scratched a spot with his claws.

White Horse Scout took Watson out of the trunk.

Looking at the spot where Watson had scratched, I saw a red bead of blood.

"It seems the time was too short; the prisoner wasn't properly apprehended," Hakuba Saguru said softly.

Changzong rushed over, carefully collected the blood from the trunk, and took it for testing.

It's easy to tell if this is Mr. Takenaka's blood.

Chomune thoroughly enjoyed working with this methodical and goal-oriented detective.

There's no need for him, the forensic doctor, to find a reason.

There are detectives to debate the scriptures for the Zhengyi school.

Anyway, Zheng Yi couldn't possibly be the murderer; the murderer must be someone else.

Inspector Megure frowned and said, "But if the body is in the trunk, we should be able to smell blood."

Mr. Takenaka's head is bleeding, and the smell of blood will be very strong.

At such close range, the people in the car would definitely smell it.

"It's lavender. The scent of lavender masks the other smells," Conan said.

Bai Matan nodded.

"That's right. So Mr. Takenaka was blindfolded and guessed that he was in the studio because he smelled lavender."

"Actually, someone put a lavender scent on the trunk," Hakuba Saguru said.

Hakuba Saguru looked at Sakura sitting in the car and said, "'Kaito Kid' stole Dr. Kaizu's portrait, and Dr. Kaizu was killed by 'him'."

They stole Mr. Takenaka's fishing painting, and Mr. Takenaka was killed.

And Sakura's portrait was stolen too? Was it just that some of her hair was cut off?

Isn't that a bit unfair?

Kaito Kid couldn't possibly refrain from killing Sakura just because she's pretty.

"So, someone must have impersonated Kaito Kid to kill Dr. Kaizu and Mr. Takenaka, but she didn't expect that the real Kaito Kid would also come," Hakuba Saguru said.

"And that person also had the time to secretly dump the body on the riverbank while everyone was at the studio."

Hakuba pointed at Sakura's shoes and said, "Miss Sakura, you haven't had time to throw away your rag yet."

A white rag stained red fell next to Sakura's shoes.

Because Hakuba Saguru arrived just in time, Sakura hadn't had a chance to put away the rag she was using to wipe the bloodstains.

“Yes, I did kill him,” Sakura said.

"Sakura, how could it be you?" Ran asked softly, holding Conan.

After hearing Sakura admit that he was the one who killed her, Hakuba Saguru glanced at his pocket watch.

From understanding the case to solving it, it took a total of 2 hours, 14 minutes and 42 seconds.

That's very fast.

Bai Ma looked up and his eyes met Zheng Yi's without his noticing.

Zheng Yi cast an approving glance at the white horse scout.

Very good, you've cleared my name so quickly.

If it weren't for you, someone would probably have gotten stabbed by Conan again.

Hakuba Saguru was disgusted by Shoichi's gaze and stood frozen in place.

wrong!

What did I just do?
They came here to expose the truth about Zheng Yi's crimes, so why were they cleared of suspicion by Zheng Yi and found someone else to be the murderer?
Ironically, one should be right that one's reasoning is correct.

Sakura also admitted that she was the one who killed him.

Seeing the satisfied, even smug, expression on Shoichi's face, Hakuba Saguru felt that his reasoning might be a bit off.

(End of this chapter)