Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

"Looking back now, we were really lucky! We managed to avoid a major car accident." Officer Takagi leaned on the railing, watching the traffic on the road, and sighed.

"Don't you find it strange?" Officer Sato said seriously, "How could both front tires of a car blow out at the same time?"

"You mean, nails were scattered on the road?"

"Sniping...it's possible someone was standing on this bridge and deliberately shot our tires out. I remember there was a car parked here at the time!"

"Huh? How is this possible..."

Officer Takagi stared in astonishment at Officer Sato beside him, his mind blank.

"Takagi, although this idea may seem a bit far-fetched, I have to feel that besides the murderer, there is a group of mysterious people secretly interfering in this case!"

"A mysterious person..."

Officer Sato lowered his head and recalled, "That's right, in Miss Shindo's studio, the same paint was stepped on twice. First, the paint tube was stepped on and squeezed out. Then, after the squeezed-out paint dried, it was stepped on again."

"This means that after Ms. Shindo was taken away by the murderer, other people went to her studio."

"There's another thing that's bothering me: the woman who suddenly disappeared from the mall yesterday. Maybe she's one of those mysterious people's accomplices..."

"Huh?! That can't be right, can it? Maybe she went to the restroom just like Ryuno-kun. You're overthinking it~" Officer Takagi said, scratching his head.

Officer Sato shook his head: "Really? Maybe I'm overthinking it..."

After saying that, Officer Sato lowered his head and thought to himself, "However, if this is true, it means that there is a spy in the police force who leaked information to these people, and that person is among the members who participated in the meeting!"

……

Teitan High School, Class 2-B.

Sonoko walked up to Ryuno and Ran and said, "Ryuno, Ran, have you heard?! The soccer club's door has been broken into! Apparently, Shinichi Kudo's practice soccer ball has been stolen."

"Huh? Really? Why would someone steal something like this?" Xiaolan asked in surprise.

"Hehe, you guys just don't understand! If you ask me, this was definitely done by that detective idiot girl!" Sonoko whispered to Ryuno and Ran, squinting her eyes.

Ryūno looked at Sonoko, whose face was full of gossip, and smiled slightly.

Shinichi Kudo wasn't originally a member of the soccer club, but because he was often called upon to help out, the soccer club's coach prepared a locker for him.

But very few people know about this, and even Tatsuno only heard about it by chance from Kudo before he shrunk.

Ireland actually investigated even such a trivial matter thoroughly?!

From this perspective, it doesn't seem wrong to say that she's a "fangirl" of Shinichi Kudo.

Sera Masumi, who had just returned to the classroom, saw Ryuno and the others huddled together and immediately came over curiously: "What are you guys talking about?"

Just as Sonoko was about to tell her this gossip, Ryūno's phone, which was on the table, vibrated.

—"Buzz buzz buzz!"

The sound of the phone vibrating drew everyone's attention.

After glancing at the caller ID, Longye answered the phone.

"Hello, Inspector Megure... Okay, I understand."

Putting down his phone, Longye looked at Xiaolan beside him and nodded, saying, "Let's go ask the teacher for leave."

"Okay, sure~" Xiaolan immediately nodded with a smile.

Sonoko, who was standing nearby, stared wide-eyed at the sight.

"Xiaolan, why did you agree so quickly? Didn't you even ask what happened to Longye?!"

Sera Masumi, standing to the side, looked at Tatsuno excitedly, her eyes shining: "Can I go with you guys?!"

Ryuno glanced at Sera Masumi and shook his head: "Sorry, not this time."

"Eh?! Never mind then... But you must tell me the whole story later!" Sera Masumi waved her hand regretfully.

Upon hearing this, Longye took Xiaolan's hand and walked out of the classroom.

"Sonoko, Sera, we're leaving now!" Ran waved goodbye to the two of them.

……

Shortly after, the Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigation Division...

Upon seeing Ryuno and Ran, Inspector Megure immediately stood up and apologized: "Ryuno, Ran, I'm sorry to have disturbed your class!"

"It's alright, Inspector Megure~" x2

Longye and Xiaolan shook their heads.

After exchanging greetings, Inspector Megure glanced at Superintendent Matsumoto beside him, and then continued:

"Just as you deduced, yesterday afternoon, the last victim was kidnapped by the criminals in Hachioji City!"

"This morning, police found her body at Guangling Sports Park. A mahjong tile with the number seven (bamboo) was also found next to her!"

"The letter δ, representing the constellation Ursa Major, is drawn on the back of the mahjong tiles!"

At this point, Inspector Megure looked at Officer Shiratori, who was not far away.

Officer Shiratori immediately stood up and said, "Yesterday afternoon, the Kyoto police sent over the intelligence they had gathered."

"The seven victims were all staying on the sixth floor of the same hotel in Kyoto two years ago. And, at that time, a fire broke out."

"According to the investigation, there were two other people living on the sixth floor at the time: Nanako Honjo and Kosuke Mizutani. Nanako Honjo missed the elevator and tragically perished in the fire."

"them……"

After listening to Officer Shiratori's explanation, everyone present lowered their heads and fell into deep thought.

"From this perspective, the vertical lines on the back of the mahjong tiles represent an elevator. The position of the seven of bamboo tiles might represent everyone's position in the elevator," Longye said calmly.

Inspector Megure looked at Tatsuno with a grave expression: "You mean, Nanako Honjo was forced off the elevator by these seven people, which is why she didn't have time to escape..."

The police officers present all looked at Longye and nodded silently, agreeing that Longye's guess was correct.

In that case, everything makes sense.

No wonder the criminals insisted on killing these seven people!

The problem now is that, since the first victim was left with a one of bamboo, there is still a seven of bamboo whose circle has not been painted red.

This suggests that the perpetrator likely intended to kill not just the seven people, but eight!

Chapter 334 How is the generation gap formed?

Currently, Nanako Honjo's boyfriend, Kosuke Mizutani, is the most likely suspect.

This series of murders was very likely committed by him to avenge his girlfriend.

Even if he wasn't the one who committed the crimes, this series of cases is definitely related to him.

What's even more suspicious is that after the police found his apartment, they learned from his neighbors that Mizutani Kosuke hadn't returned to the apartment for some time.

At this point, the police had already made him their "prime suspect" and had even sent his information and sketch to police stations across the country.

However, as of now, the police have made no progress.

"Ryūno, where do you think the criminal will target next?" Officer Sato asked, glancing at the map on the whiteboard.

Ryuno looked at Officer Sato: "Since the criminal specifically chose the Big Dipper pattern, the next location is easy to guess—Polaris."

After hearing Longye's guess, Officer Shiratori got up, walked to the front of the conference room, picked up a pen, and drew the Big Dipper and its extension on the map displayed on the whiteboard.

Polaris is located on the line that extends five times the length of the line connecting the Big Dipper's Alpha Ursae Majoris and Beta Ursae Majoris.

Since he wasn't sure where the line would end, Officer Shiratori simply drew a long straight line.

Upon seeing the points the line passed through, Kogoro Mouri, who was standing nearby, suddenly widened his eyes and snatched the pen from Officer Shiratori's hand.

The next second, Kogoro Mouri drew a circle on the straight line that passed through "Tokyo".

Seeing this, Inspector Megure and the other officers present all wore thoughtful expressions.

“Absolutely right! This is the location for the next crime!” Kogoro Mouri turned to the people in the conference room and patted his chest as he spoke.

Just as Officer Yamamura was about to say something, Inspector Ayami Hagino from Saitama Prefecture glanced at the computer screen and nodded, saying, "That's right, it's the same result I calculated on the computer."

"It seems this prisoner is quite rigid. After I put the constellations on the computer map, I found that the North Star is almost right next to Tokyo."

Upon hearing this, Kogoro Mouri immediately put his hands on his hips with pride, his face beaming with an undisguised smile.

If this weren't the Metropolitan Police Department's conference room, he would probably have already thrown his head back and burst into laughter.

Inspector Megure glanced at Inspector Hagino Ayami, frowned, and said, "Is there any way to narrow down the search area further?"

“I’ll give it a try.” Ayami Hagino nodded and turned her gaze back to the laptop screen.

Seeing that the discussion had reached a conclusion, Manager Matsumoto immediately stood up: "Good! Before Officer Hagino narrows down the search area, Inspector Megure will notify all police stations in the Tokyo area to issue an emergency arrest warrant for Kosuke Mizutani! The others will continue to follow up on the investigation and try to obtain more useful information!"

--"yes!"

After the meeting, Kogoro Mouri decided to stay at the Metropolitan Police Department to continue investigating the case.

Ryuno and Ran decided to take advantage of the early hour to buy some things at a nearby convenience store before heading home.

While Tatsuno was shopping at a convenience store, he suddenly received a call from Conan.

Ryūno glanced at the time and joked, "Kudo, shouldn't you be in class at this hour?"

"This is no longer the time to talk about these things! Takeda, someone broke into Teitan Elementary School last night and stole my sea... artwork from my class! I suspect it was someone from the organization who did it to collect my fingerprints!" Conan's tone was clearly tinged with anxiety.

Upon hearing this, Ryūno recalled what had happened that morning and said calmly, "No doubt about it. Besides what you said, someone also sneaked into the Teitan High School soccer club last night and stole your soccer ball."

Conan paused for two seconds on the other end of the phone: "Looks like it's true... Both items have my fingerprints on them. That person must have already guessed my identity, which is why they collected my fingerprints to confirm my true identity..."

“That’s right, that’s very likely. And Vermouth didn’t do this, because she already knew your identity.”

“Takeda, let’s not talk about that now. How’s the case going? I heard from Uncle Mori this morning that there seems to be some new progress in the case.”

"Yes, the seventh victim has appeared. The connection between these victims has also been discovered..."

"..."

After putting his phone away, Longye frowned. He felt like he had forgotten something important.

……

a few hours later

The last class at Teitan Elementary School came to an end.