Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

"Do you still feel anxious to solve the case as soon as possible?"

"Um...that's right."

"That's right, because she also claims to be a high school detective~"

"What?! A high school detective?!" Conan stared at Sera Masumi in the distance, his expression changing drastically.

Seeing Conan's reaction, Ryūno thought to himself, "Even when you found out she was a girl, you didn't react this strongly. You really do have a detective's brain!"

Thinking about this, Ryuno recalled that Conan and Heiji Hattori seemed to have the same reaction when they first met.

Could it be that, just like Ai Haibara's "alcohol tester," Conan also has his own "detective detection device"?

When they encounter someone in the same industry, they get incredibly excited, exclaiming "Wow, wow!"

……

According to the hotel security guards and Sera Masumi, the elevator in the annex stopped on the second and sixth floors for a period of time.

Since the wheelchair they found on the second floor with fishing line wrapped around it seems to be related to the case.

Therefore, after inspecting the second floor of the annex, everyone immediately took the elevator to the sixth floor to check on the situation there.

In the elevator

Seeing Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi leaning against the elevator door, Sera Masumi spoke up to remind them, "Inspector Megure, Officer Takagi, please move forward a bit. It's dangerous for you to be leaning against the elevator door like this."

Upon hearing this, the two took a step forward before turning to look behind them.

Inspector Megure pointed in Tatsuno's direction, puzzled, "The elevator door? But the elevator door isn't there..."

“That’s right, but Inspector Megure, this is a two-way elevator,” Tatsuno explained.

"I see! This is one of those elevators where the doors on both sides can be opened!" Inspector Megure finally realized this.

He touched his hat on his head shyly, and then together with Officer Takagi, expressed their gratitude to Sera Masumi.

After stepping out of the elevator, Inspector Megure looked at the graffiti on the wall and couldn't help but exclaim, "The graffiti here looks even more 'exciting' than the one on the second floor!"

“Yes, I heard this is the floor where Mr. Kamijou used to live,” Officer Takagi explained.

"I see……"

Soon after, the group walked to the floor-to-ceiling window at the far end of the corridor.

Upon seeing this window without a "window", Conan and Sera Masumi immediately stepped forward and peered directly below the window.

Kogoro Mouri immediately grabbed Conan by the neck: "Kid! What are you doing?! It's so dangerous here!"

"Officer, where's the glass here?" Sera Masumi turned to look at Officer Takagi.

"The hotel said that the window here was broken by Mr. Kamijou with a fire extinguisher. It's very dangerous here, so please don't get too close."

"Okay~"

At this moment, Longye glanced downstairs, then looked at the marks and paint cans on the nearby walls and floor, nodded, and roughly understood the perpetrator's method.

Thinking of this, Ryuno glanced at Conan and Sera Masumi, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

Maybe... we'll see a good show from these two~

The next moment, Ryuno glanced at Sera Masumi and Conan, and chuckled, "What a coincidence, this seems to be directly above where the fall occurred~"

Sera Masumi: "!!!"

Conan: "!!!"

After hearing Longye's words, the two immediately looked down and around.

Before long, a glint of light flashed in both of their eyes.

The next second, to Conan's astonishment, Sera Masumi spoke first: "The culprit is the only one who has been here, Ms. Hirukawa!"

Under the astonished gazes of Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi, Sera Masumi continued, "Next, please set up the traps as I instructed, and then bring Ms. Hirukawa here, okay?"

Soon after, the scene was set up, and Ms. Hirukawa, who was wearing a green knit sweater, was called over by Officer Takagi.

After learning the reason she had been summoned, Ms. Hirukawa looked at Sera Masumi and said with dissatisfaction, "When Mr. Kamizumi died, I was in the parking lot downstairs. How could I have killed him?"

Upon hearing this, Sera Masumi smiled and said, "Of course! You just need to press the elevator button beforehand, and you can 'push' Mr. Kamizumi, who is in a wheelchair, downstairs."

"Oh? Is that so? Then please tell me about this magical mechanism that can automatically push people off the building and kill them!" Ms. Zhouchuan said calmly.

"Okay~ First, place Mr. Kamizumi, who is completely drunk, in the electric wheelchair with his legs bent and standing upright in front of his chest."

"Then, push the wheelchair to the elevator entrance and open the elevator door. Tie a fishing line to the mirror above the inside of the elevator door. Then press the button for the first floor from outside the elevator..."

"..."

After explaining her reasoning, Sera Masumi looked at Inspector Megure and smiled, "Inspector, why don't we verify it directly?"

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure sighed, took out his walkie-talkie, and ordered, "Chiba, are you ready? We can begin!"

--"receive."

Sure enough, the wheelchair arrived at the sixth-floor window from the elevator.

Surprisingly, the mannequin in the wheelchair was not thrown out the window as Sera Masumi had predicted.

Seeing this, Sera Masumi rushed to the wheelchair and exclaimed in alarm, "Huh! That's strange! Why wasn't the dummy thrown off by the recoil from hitting the wall?!"

"What exactly is going on?" Inspector Megure walked over to the wheelchair and looked at Sera Masumi with a questioning gaze.

Sera Masumi looked at Ms. Hirukawa and Inspector Megure and the others, scratching her head sheepishly, "Sorry, I think I made a mistake~"

After apologizing, Sera Masumi glanced at Conan out of the corner of her eye, a slight smile playing on her lips.

Upon seeing this, Longye's lips curled up in a smile.

I didn't realize Sera was such a veteran actor!

Compared to Conan's immature acting skills, Sera Masumi's acting skills are clearly a level above.

Sure enough, when Tatsuno looked at Conan again, Conan had already pointed his watch at Uncle Mori next to him.

The next moment, to everyone's astonishment, Kogoro Mouri began to perform a bizarre dance.

"dad?"

"Brother Mori?!"

Chapter 278 The Sleeping Detective's Little Assistant

Amidst everyone's astonished gazes, Kogoro Mouri leaned against the wall in a cool pose.

Upon seeing this, the middle-aged man among the three suddenly remembered something, his eyes widened in surprise as he stared at Kogoro Mouri on the ground.

"I remember now! He's that famous detective, Kogoro Mouri!"

Upon hearing this, the slightly plump woman and Ms. Zhouchuan, who were standing nearby, opened their mouths wide and looked at Kogoro Mouri in surprise.

A hint of panic flashed in Ms. Zhouchuan's eyes.

Just then, Kogoro Mouri's voice echoed through the empty corridor.

"Her reasoning was mostly correct. She just overlooked one small detail."

Everyone turned to look at the elegantly seated detective, seemingly anticipating his next deduction.

Upon seeing Detective Mori speak, a hint of anxiety flashed across Ms. Hirukawa's face once again.

However, this anxious look was quickly replaced by a playful smile.

"I thought Detective Mori was going to say something like, 'How could such a magical murder device exist? I'm so disappointed in your detective and police abilities.'"

"You actually took that young man's fantasy story as a real method of committing the crime?"

Upon hearing Ms. Zhouchuan's blatant questioning, Conan's lips curled into a smirk, and he said again with his bow tie, "What she's missing are those two paint cans!"

Ms. Houkawa: "!"

Upon hearing the word "paint can," Ms. Hirukawa lost her composure.

She stared wide-eyed at Kogoro Mouri in disbelief.

Amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd, "Kogoro Mouri" continued, "The murderer used the two paint cans placed by the window to push the victim downstairs."

"There are a lot of paint splatter marks on the wall below the window, right? That's the evidence that something was once placed there."

"Follow the marks, place the two paint cans horizontally on top and see—Conan!"

"Okay~"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Conan appeared out of nowhere. He ran to the two small paint cans and stuck them side by side to the wall under the window.

After doing all this, Conan quickly ran back.

Sera Masumi first glanced at Conan's running figure with a puzzled look, then seemed to understand something.

She pulled her hat down with both hands, trying to hide her smiling face.

"So that's the truth behind the slumber~"

The next moment, Kogoro Mouri's voice rang out again: "Inspector Megure, do the paint can and the marks on the wall match perfectly?"

Inspector Megure leaned forward and carefully examined the boundary between the paint cans and the marks on the wall. He exclaimed in surprise, "That's right! Both paint cans match the marks perfectly!"

"Now please back up the wheelchair and move it towards the window again."

Upon hearing this, Officer Takagi immediately walked over to the wheelchair and prepared to pull it into a suitable position.

Just then, Sera Masumi grabbed the handle at the back of the wheelchair before Officer Takagi could reach her, and chuckled, "Let me help you~"

She pulled the wheelchair to the center of the corridor, then looked at Kogoro Mouri on the floor and asked sincerely, "Mr. Mouri, may I start the wheelchair from here?"

Conan frowned and slowly said, "Okay."

As soon as she finished speaking, Sera Masumi blinked and said casually, "Eh? Mr. Mori, you can tell whether the wheelchair is in the right position even with your eyes closed. You truly are a great detective!"

Upon seeing this, a slight smile appeared on Longye's lips.

Because of the "case" itself, people's attention is usually diverted to the case itself.

Few people notice that Kogoro Mouri keeps his eyes closed while he is asleep.

As soon as Sera Masumi spoke, Tatsuno looked at Conan in the corner.

The confident smile that had appeared on her face because of the success of her experiment turned into a blank and tense expression the moment Sera Masumi uttered those words.