Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

Just then, Ryūno turned his head and whispered something in Ran's ear, then slowly walked between Ms. Ikenami and Officer Yokomizo.

"Officer Yokomizo, putting aside whether that lady is a criminal or not, was that forensic doctor... serious?"

At this point, Longye glanced at the forensic doctor in a white coat on the ground and sighed speechlessly.

In general, for victims who die within a day, the confidence interval for the time of death is approximately 6 hours.

However, it also depends on who determined the time and how they made that determination.

There were no clear signs that the body at the scene had been disposed of. It is early autumn, and the temperature difference in Shizuoka Prefecture is not too great.

Moreover, the deceased died at home, where the temperature and humidity were generally constant.

In this case, even without a thorough autopsy of the deceased in the laboratory.

Even a professional forensic pathologist should set the timeframe to within two or three hours.

But after examining the patient with various instruments for more than half an hour, the forensic doctor started talking about a timeframe of more than ten hours.

Longye noticed that the forensic doctor used almost all the instruments and equipment in his briefcase during that half hour.

Under such circumstances, how could he talk for more than ten hours straight?!

He looks very professional...

A range of ten or so hours, do you even need to tell me?!

What the hell are you spouting?!

Even Uncle Mori could tell... never mind.

Thinking of this, Ryūno rubbed his eyes: "Based on the situation at the scene and the testimonies of everyone, the time of death should be between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. this morning. During this period, besides Aunt Ikenami, Mrs. Shibata could also have committed the crime!"

Upon hearing Ryūno's words, Inspector Yokomizo immediately shook his head: "How could that be? Mrs. Shibata left at five o'clock. There's this morning's newspaper on the table, and it won't be delivered until six o'clock."

In other words, the deceased was still alive when she ate breakfast around 6 a.m.! Mrs. Shibata couldn't possibly have committed the crime.

"Oh? What if the deceased didn't eat breakfast?"

"Not breakfast?"

At this moment, everyone around looked puzzled after hearing Longye's words.

Ryuno continued to explain: "If the deceased did not go to sleep immediately after returning home at three in the morning, but was instead kept up until five in the morning by Mrs. Shibata under the pretext of taking a bath or having a midnight snack."

Then, at that moment, Mrs. Shibata killed him…

"As for that newspaper, it might have just been put on the table tonight~"

Although somewhat puzzled, Inspector Yokomizo listened to Tatsuno's reasoning.

For some reason, he felt that Longye's reasoning seemed more logical than his own.

Just then, Mrs. Shibata shouted, "What evidence do you have to prove that you're saying this?!"

Longye chuckled and said lazily, "As for evidence, isn't it on the deceased and on you?"

Why was there a band-aid on the deceased's ring finger? If we were to search you now…

Although Uncle Mori and Inspector Yokomizo did not understand what Tatsuno meant, Kyoko Shibata had already lowered her head, trembling.

"People really shouldn't do bad things..."

After she finished speaking, she opened her left fist, and a blood-stained ring fell from her hand.

Upon seeing this, even if Officer Yokomizo was slow to react, he realized that she was the real murderer.

Amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd, she slowly revealed her motive for the murder.

It turns out that her husband and Yoshikawa Takezo, among others, were gambling under the guise of playing mahjong.

After the family's money ran out, her husband began selling off their car, computer, stereo system, and even her jewelry…

Although her husband confessed to her countless times, he would act as if nothing had happened the next day after each confession and continue gambling.

He even planned to sell the precious sword his father-in-law had given him at their wedding.

……

After she finished speaking, Mrs. Shibata sighed and glanced at Inspector Yokomizo: "I confess. I'll go change my clothes first, and then I'll come with you."

After she finished speaking, she walked towards the bedroom next door.

As if she had thought of something, Ms. Ikenami gave Mrs. Shibata a deep look and followed behind her.

Chapter 146 The Black Gene

"Don't come any closer!!!"

A moment later, Mrs. Shibata's roaring voice came from inside the house, and everyone immediately went to her room to check on the situation.

Upon seeing the scene before them, everyone's expressions tightened.

Inside the room, Mrs. Shibata gripped a knife with a ferocious expression. She pointed the knife at Ms. Ikenami with a hint of madness.

"I was forced to kill him! Otherwise, I had no way to stop him!! I'm beyond saving... A life for a life!"

After saying that, Mrs. Shibata put the knife that was originally aimed at Ms. Ikenami to her own neck.

Officer Yokomizo, who had just rushed into the house, was shocked to see this: "Mrs. Shibata! Don't do anything foolish!"

At this moment, Ms. Chibo calmly walked forward.

Seeing Ms. Ikenami's actions, Mrs. Shibata seemed startled. She raised the knife in front of her again, her voice trembling slightly: "Don't come any closer!"

Ms. Chibo seemed not to hear her warning and continued to walk slowly forward.

She walked forward while observing Mrs. Shibata.

Her amateurish way of holding and wielding the knife made her secretly shake her head.

For a swordsman like her, it was full of flaws and posed no threat whatsoever.

After seeing the other person's movements, she reached for her waist, preparing to draw her fan.

Just then, a soft laugh rang in her ear, and her hand, which was about to pull out the fan, was pressed down.

"With Xiaolan and me here, how could we let you take action?"

The next moment, Xiaolan and Longye stood in front of her.

Ran stretched out an arm to protect Ms. Ikenami, while Tatsuno smiled and walked toward Mrs. Shibata, who was wildly swinging her knife.

The sudden appearance of Longye and his companion startled Ms. Ikenami.

She stared blankly as Ryūno walked unarmed toward Mrs. Shibata, who was wildly slashing with her knife.

"Don't come any closer!!"

At this moment, Mrs. Shibata had already lost her mind due to fear. She was brandishing her knife and screaming at the top of her lungs.

Everyone held their breath as they watched Long Ye approach the blade step by step, not daring to make a sound.

Ryuno stared directly into Mrs. Shibata's eyes and stepped into the blade's attack range.

The blade slashed straight at Longye's face.

Upon seeing this, everyone's expression changed, and their hearts jumped into their throats.

Even Ran, who had a deeper understanding of Ryūno, subconsciously bit her lip.

Although she had personally experienced Longye's strength and physical abilities, she still couldn't help but feel somewhat worried.

—"Ding, bang"

Just before the blade reached his face, Longye casually raised his left arm, extended two fingers, and directly clamped the incoming blade between them. The blade could not move an inch between Longye's two fingers.

Upon seeing this, everyone present gasped in shock.

This shocking scene was etched into the memories of everyone present.

This plot, which had only appeared on television, made Inspector Yokomizo wonder if he was dreaming, and he slapped himself hard across the face with his right hand.

Only after feeling real pain on his face did he realize that this was not a dream but reality.

Seeing her knife easily caught by the boy in front of her with two fingers, Mrs. Shibata's mind went blank.

This unbelievable scene made her briefly question the meaning of life.

The next second, as if all her strength had been drained, she collapsed to the ground, limp and powerless.

Longye casually picked up the scabbard beside him, twirled it with one hand in a beautiful flourish, and then cleanly and neatly sheathed the sword.

Ms. Chibo, who was already quite surprised, widened her eyes even more upon seeing this scene.

Putting aside the boy's exaggerated feat of catching a blade bare-handed earlier...

Just look at the sword flourish he casually flicked and the effortless motion he made when sheathing his sword...

This boy's swordsmanship skills must be quite high!

Thinking of this, she stared silently at Long Ye, her gaze lingering for a long time.

……

Soon after, everyone gradually recovered from their shock.

Officer Yokomizo handcuffed Mrs. Shibata and led his team away.

Before leaving, he and his subordinates would turn around to look at Longye from time to time, looking back every few steps.

Only after Longye was completely out of sight did they reluctantly take the elevator downstairs and get into the police car.

The air inside the car was very quiet throughout the journey.

It seemed that no one had completely recovered from what they had just witnessed.

Outside Shibata's house

Since Uncle Mori and Conan went with Inspector Yokomizo to give their statements, only Tatsuno and the other two remained.

"Did you already know my identity?" Ms. Ikeboshi looked at Ryūno and Rin in front of her and smiled.

Ran returned a polite smile: "To be honest, if Ryūno hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have expected it... Aunt Hattori, did you come alone?"

What she didn't say was that if Longye hadn't told her, she really wouldn't have believed that the two were mother and son.

After all, Heiji Hattori is so dark-skinned... while this Aunt Hattori is ridiculously fair-skinned.