Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

In the evening, Ran held Conan's hand, waving a glittering gold card in her hand, her face beaming with a rare good mood.

Conan chuckled.

Ran seems to be in a good mood today. Conan was thinking about whether he should take advantage of Ran's good mood to praise himself.

"Awesome, Conan! I actually won a free double set meal voucher for this upscale restaurant in the supermarket's raffle! I heard that the Michelin chef here is incredibly skilled, and it's usually very difficult to get a reservation!"

Conan looked at the excited Ran, nodded obediently, and did nothing else.

Forget it, I'll talk about praising myself later. Changing Xiaolan's attitude needs to be done little by little; I can't rush it.

Meanwhile, Momiji, looking pale and clutching her stomach, stared at Masakazu and Ai with utter despair.

Ai's face didn't look good either; she looked very weak.

"As expected, I shouldn't have trusted that bastard Zheng Yi. You're not allowed in the kitchen anymore," Ai said sternly.

The culinary disaster he prepared today on a whim was nothing short of a horrific attack on the human digestive system.

Moreover, Zheng Yi's cooking style is the kind that looks normal but tastes very abnormal.

She and Hongye were initially hesitant to try Zhengyi's cooking, but they couldn't resist his persistent persuasion, and after he personally tasted it and proved that there was no problem with it.

The red leaves were just beginning to be eaten.

She only tried the food after Hongye gave it a good review, which unfortunately affected the stomachs of the three of them.

Those two bastards, Zheng Yi and Hong Ye, just to trick one more person, ate such disgusting food without saying a word and even managed to swallow it.

That's inhuman!
Hongye clutched her stomach and said, "In order for us to live to see tomorrow's sun, I strongly suggest that we go into this restaurant right now and have a proper meal!"

Ai covered her mouth and nose, clearly still reeling from that dinner. She quickly nodded and said, "Mr. Zhengyi's 'cooking skills' are indeed astonishing. Now that we're here, let's go in quickly."

Hongye added, "Zhengyi's cooking skills have indeed crossed the line of human limits."

Zheng Yi curled his lip, ignoring their sarcastic remarks.

He doesn't think his cooking is bad.

He just likes innovation; he doesn't like cooking according to recipes, he prefers to come up with something new.

But these new things don't seem to be very popular.

Zheng Yi said with dissatisfaction, "I finally cooked for you guys once in a while, and you actually said that to me? I will never cook for you again."

"That's wonderful." Ai Haibara breathed a sigh of relief.

Hongye nodded as well.

Yes, yes, that's wonderful.

Just as the waiter was leading Shoichi, Momiji, and Ai inside, they ran into Ran and Conan, who had just entered.

"Oh my? Aren't these Ran and Conan?" Momiji, with her sharp eyes, immediately spotted the two.

Are you two here on a date too?
Xiaolan blinked in surprise: "Hongye? And Zhengyi and Xiao Ai? You guys are eating here too?"

Ai nodded and said, "Yes! We heard that the chef here has excellent skills, so we came here specifically to 'cleanse our stomachs'."

Zheng Yi pouted again.

What did I hear? It's just a random restaurant I picked.

And why is gastric lavage necessary?

Did you eat something dirty?
“Since we’ve run into each other, let’s go together,” Zheng Yi said.

He took out a bag, put it in Conan's hand, and said, "And I personally cooked some bread today for you and Ran."

"Thank you, Masakazu." Conan looked at Masakazu in surprise.

I never expected that Brother Zhengyi could cook; he's even more versatile than me.

Ai and Momiji were looking at Masakazu very strangely.

Didn't I tell you to take the bread out and throw it away?

Did you just give it to Conan?
But neither Ai nor Momiji said a word.

Conan accepted Shoichi's bread without any suspicion, showing no awareness whatsoever. Doesn't he know he shouldn't eat other people's food?
This will teach him a lesson.

"Come on, let's go in together. Zheng Yi is treating, we need to make sure he makes up for it with our stomachs!" Hongye said.

Ai and her have been murdered.

Seeing Conan and Ran looking dazed, and knowing they were about to be killed, it was perfectly reasonable for Shoichi to make amends.

"But I won two free coupons."

"Use it next time."

Thus, the two groups naturally met up.

After entering the restaurant and everyone taking their seats.

Zheng Yi was intently flipping through the menu when suddenly his nostrils twitched and his brows furrowed: "Strange, why does it smell like formaldehyde..."

"Really? You must have smelled it wrong," Hongye said.

She sniffed, but couldn't smell anything.

Sitting opposite her, Ai's gaze swept over Ran's bag beside her and caught a glimpse of a hardcover book peeking out from the corner—"Atlas of Human Anatomy".

A barely perceptible smile played on her lips as she picked up her teacup and took a small sip.

It seems that Xiaolan listened to her advice.

She glanced at Conan again and saw that he had also seen the book and was trembling with fear, not daring to say a word.

He even secretly moved his butt away from Xiaolan, as if afraid that Xiaolan would deal with him.

After the food was served, just as everyone was about to start eating, the restaurant lights suddenly went out without warning.

A commotion broke out in the darkness, followed by the waiter's piercing scream.

When the backup power came on, several waiters cautiously dragged a body out of the kitchen's cold storage.

He is the restaurant's head chef.

Zheng Yi stiffly put down his chopsticks.

Damn it!

I've seen plenty of dead people, so I'm not afraid of them, but encountering one while eating is truly disgusting.

Moreover, the man's death was so gruesome.

Why couldn't the restaurant staff call the police when they saw a dead person?
Why bring the body out?
Does it affect the guests' appetite?

"what!!"

Upon seeing the body, the diners began to scream, and many even vomited.

The restaurant was filled with a cacophony of noises and smells, ruining what could have been a perfectly good meal.

Moreover, the way the deceased died makes one wonder what kind of animal the meat served in the restaurant came from.

After the call was made, the police responded quickly. Inspector Megure arrived and led the police to quickly cordon off the scene.

The corpse was a gruesome sight, precisely cut into several large pieces.

The police were at a loss as they stared at the terrifyingly clean cut. Conan was about to crouch down to examine it when Ran squatted down first.

She stared at the cut on the shoulder of the corpse and blurted out, "This is a shoulder joint separated using the coronal incision method. The cut is smooth and there are no bone fragments. The murderer is very familiar with human skeletal structure."

Conan suddenly turned his head, his pupils shrinking sharply.

"Ran-neechan, how do you know this?" Conan asked, feigning curiosity.

“Oh, because I’ve been learning this recently,” Xiaolan said.

Conan gave an awkward laugh.

"No, why are you learning this?" Megure, Sato, Takagi, and the others also looked at Ran with strange expressions.

If it were someone else, the police might suspect that you were preparing to commit murder.

But what about Xiaolan? Shouldn't that be the case?
Conan trembled; faced with a murder case, he was unable to remain calm.

Xiaolan didn't stop. She gently lifted a severed finger from the corpse and calmly analyzed, "The nail bed is very cyanotic, which means that the asphyxiation occurred before the body was sent to the cold storage. The murderer strangled the victim first and then dismembered the body."

Conan felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

Xiaolan, you know so much, I'm a little scared.

"Ran, how do you know so much?" Sato asked curiously.

Xiaolan said matter-of-factly, "Because my dad is a detective, it's normal for me to learn these things, right?"

Sato nodded.

Yes, that's normal.

Conan felt extremely uncomfortable.

Xiaolan added, "The wounds were cut very haphazardly, which means the killer wasn't very skilled at dismembering the body."

"Xiao Lan, are you very skilled?" Zheng Yi suddenly leaned over and asked.

"of course."

Xiaolan nodded, then shook her head violently and said, "I'm not skilled either. I only practiced at the slaughterhouse for two days, so I can't be considered skilled."

"To the slaughterhouse?" Conan was so scared he almost jumped out of his skin.

Conan grabbed Ran and asked, "Ran-neechan, how come I didn't know you went to the slaughterhouse?"

"Because there's no need to tell you," Xiaolan said with a smile.

Conan felt that Ran's smile was terrifying.

You went to the slaughterhouse to learn, surely not to deal with Shinichi Kudo?
Sato also felt that Ran was becoming increasingly strange.

"Why did you go to the slaughterhouse?" Sato asked.

Xiaolan said earnestly, "Because my dad is a detective, he encounters many dangerous people and things, and I will also be implicated."

That's why I decided to go to the slaughterhouse to test my courage, so I wouldn't be scared.

Sato nodded.

It's perfectly reasonable.

Conan's limbs are stiff.

Looking at the victim, he seemed to see his own future reflected in him.

His thoughts were in complete disarray, and he was unable to think clearly.

Conan is offline, Ran is online.

Looking at the corpse, Xiaolan said, "Although the cutting method was very crude, this murderer must have a good understanding of human anatomy."

"Why?" Zheng Yi chimed in, acting like a straight man in a comedy duo.

“The victim’s spleen was also removed. Only someone who has systematically studied specimen preparation would preserve the intact membrane to maintain aesthetics,” Xiaolan said.

"Oh?" Zheng Yi asked, "Can you do that?"

"It should be fine."

Every time Ran said a word, Conan's heart skipped a beat.

Xiaolan can actually do that?

She's only been learning for a short time, so how can she be good enough?

Is that how people are trained during those two days at the slaughterhouse?
Ignoring Conan's thoughts, Ran continued, "Yes, Ai taught me that blood vessels must be ligated before removing internal organs, otherwise the tissue will be contaminated and the quality of the specimen will be affected."

Now, not only Conan, but also Shoichi felt a chill down his spine.

Ran was actually trained by Ai.

How could someone as cute as Ai possibly possess such a terrifying thing?
Conan stared at Ran in horror, his mind filled with images of himself being made into a specimen and preserved in a bottle.

Shoichi looked at Ai with a hint of fear, his mind filled with images of Ai touching his body indiscriminately.

After Ran's reminder, Conan put aside his random thoughts and focused on solving the case, quickly finding the culprit.

The murderer was a kitchen helper. The chef deliberately burned the helper's hand while cooking, making it impossible for the helper to hold the spatula properly, which led the chef to commit murder.

This kitchen helper was a medical school dropout and did have experience in making specimens.

Finally, after the kitchen helper was arrested, he arrogantly told Xiaolan that if his hand hadn't been burned by the chef, he would have been extremely skilled at dismembering people, and his cuts would never have been so rough.

……

By the time the murderer was arrested and left the police station after giving his statement, it was already late at night.

The streets of Beika Town were deserted. Ran held Conan's hand, and both of their stomachs simultaneously growled in protest.

"Sigh, I was hoping to get a free coupon and have a nice meal, but then that happened..." Xiaolan sighed and rubbed her stomach helplessly.

"I've been up all night and haven't even had a bite to eat."

Conan sniffed, about to comfort Ran, when his hand suddenly felt a hard paper bag in his pocket.

"It's okay, Ran-neechan." Conan held up the paper bag in his hand and forced a smile.

"We also have bread that Brother Zhengyi gave us. He made it himself, so it should be enough to fill our stomachs. Why don't we eat this to tide us over?"

By the light of the street lamp, Xiaolan looked at the bread in the bag with great curiosity.

Does Brother Zhengyi actually know how to make bread?

Upon opening the bag, the bread actually looked quite good, which immediately dispelled Xiaolan's doubts.

It looks normal; it's probably not the same kind of food her mother makes.

She nodded: "Since it's Zheng Yi's kind gesture, let's try it. Come on, Conan, let's each have half."

Conan took half a loaf of bread and sat down on a bench by the roadside with Ran.

The two, who were starving, opened their mouths wide and took a big bite at the same time.

The next second—

"vomit--!!!"

"Cough cough cough—!!!"

The two figures, one large and one small, bent over almost simultaneously, letting out a tremendous retching sound.

That's not bread at all!
That was practically a biological weapon made up of sawdust, burnt rubber, and some unknown chemical agent!

An indescribable, strange smell assaulted my senses.

It was absolutely awful.

Conan's entire face scrunched up in a frown.

How can bread that looks so good taste so bad?

Xiao Lan's face turned deathly pale as she struggled to throw the bread in her hand into the nearby trash can.

"What... what is this smell... is Brother Zhengyi really not playing a prank?" Xiaolan said, clutching her stomach.

Conan looked at Ran's lifeless expression, and then recalled how he had just met Masakazu, Momiji, and Ai. He nodded slightly, then shook his head.

"It must be a prank," Conan said. "Judging from Momiji's expression and condition just now, just like Ran-neechan, she must have eaten this bread too."

Since they knew the bread was this bad, giving it back to us was definitely a prank. (End of Chapter)