Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

……

half an hour later

Black Sky, the section chief, led his team back to the police station.

After finishing their work, Yui, Yamato, and Takaaki approached Ryūno and the others and told them what had happened.

"The officer we met during the day, Officer Kano, has been killed?!" Kogoro Mouri exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, he was strangled to death at home." Officer Yui's expression darkened.

“We filtered out people who might harbor resentment towards Inspector Takeda and Inspector Kano, and found that everything pointed to the ‘random shooting incident’ nine years ago and the ‘bank hostage incident’ six months ago.”

"But weren't almost all the family members of the perpetrators in those two cases deceased?" Kogoro Mouri asked, puzzled.

Not long ago, Officer Yamato and others said that among the families of the perpetrators in the two incidents, only the grandmother of the perpetrator in the indiscriminate shooting incident was still alive.

But she was too old to have committed these two crimes.

Thinking of this, Kogoro Mouri frowned and said, "In other words, there are no suspects worth noting at the moment."

"No, there's one more person worth noting."

Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, Officer Gao Ming slowly spoke: "He's the person who witnessed his friend's shooting nine years ago, and who also has objections to the shooting six months ago..."

Officer Yui realized something and her face turned panicked. "You mean..."

Officer Yamato, standing nearby, also turned to look at Officer Takaaki. "Takaaki, you wouldn't be saying..."

“That’s right, it’s you, Gan Zhu. There’s a saying— ‘The worms on the lion’s body eat the lion’s flesh.’” Officer Gao Ming looked at Officer Yamato seriously and said calmly.

"Damn it, you bastard..."

Officer Yamato glared at Officer Takaaki, as if the two were about to start fighting at any moment.

Just then, Officer Shinsuke Akiyama walked over and smoothed things over, saying, "How could Officer Yamato be the murderer! And Officer Morofushi, you should know that too, shouldn't you? After all, you two are childhood friends, aren't you?"

Although no one else noticed, Longye did.

The moment Officer Akiyama appeared, both Officer Yamato and Officer Takaaki, who had just been suspecting him, turned to look at Officer Akiyama.

A glint of something unreadable flashed in both of their eyes.

"Close friends? This is the first time I've ever heard of that." Officer Gao Ming looked at Officer Yamato with disdain, denying that the two were close friends.

“Yes, I have absolutely no such thoughts!” Officer Yamato glared at Officer Takaaki and said disdainfully.

Before Officer Yui could offer any advice, Officer Yamato turned around, his tone tinged with anger:

"Hmph! I'm going to investigate this case all by myself from now on! Tell Section Chief Kuroda for me!"

"Whatever you want," Officer Gao said indifferently.

Officer Yui watched Officer Yamato's retreating figure and quickly called out his name, trying to stop him.

But Officer Yamato ignored them and left everyone with only his back view.

Seeing this, Officer Akiyama's eyes flashed with a hint of joy, before he lowered his head in embarrassment and said, "I...did I say something I shouldn't have?"

Chapter 358 Don't ask, the answer is that I stopped the car with my bare hands.

After listening to their conversation, Conan, carrying a juice jug in one hand, walked up to Officer Saegusa and Officer Akiyama.

"The reason that officer surnamed Kano went home must be because he discovered something, right? Do you remember what happened back then?"

Although somewhat puzzled by Conan's sudden appearance and question, Inspector Saegusa still explained, "I remember he pressed his finger to his forehead for a while. Then suddenly he had a flash of inspiration, as if he remembered something."

Officer Akiyama added, "He probably associated it with the woodpecker footprint on Chief Takeda's forehead."

"And then?" Conan pressed.

"After we told the section chief and Yamato about this, we split up to continue gathering information... Wait? Why did we have to tell this kid all this?!"

Officer Saegusa was speaking when he suddenly realized something and looked away from Conan.

At this moment, Officer Gao Ming, who was standing nearby, pondered, "If that's the case, then he would have known about Mr. Kano going home long ago..."

Hearing the doubt in Officer Gao Ming's words, Officer Yi quickly interrupted, "Wait a minute! Are you really doubting him?"

Morabushi Takaaki glanced at Inspector Yui indifferently. "Is there a problem?"

"Of course there's a problem!!" Officer Yui shouted.

Just then, Officer Akiyama chuckled and smoothed things over, saying, "Officer Morofushi, really, how could Officer Yamato possibly kill someone!"

After he finished speaking, Officer Akiyama's cell phone suddenly rang.

After apologizing to everyone, Officer Akiyama took out his phone and glanced at the text message that had been sent to him.

After reading the message, a strange look flashed in Officer Akiyama's eyes, and he couldn't help but exclaim.

Upon seeing this, Officer Gao Ming and the others immediately asked if there was a problem.

But Officer Akiyama quickly put the phone back and turned around, saying, "It's nothing. My home is nearby. I'll go back and change my clothes. I got all wet while gathering information in the rain."

After saying that, Officer Akiyama turned and walked out of the police station.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Ryūno noticed that Officer Takaaki was staring at Officer Akiyama's back with a thoughtful expression.

After Officer Akiyama left, Officer Yui and the others told Tatsuno and the others about the contents of the text message that Officer Yamato had received earlier.

—'I am Bishamonten, the war god who destroyed the woodpecker.'

Upon hearing this sentence, which resembled a declaration of crime, everyone vaguely guessed what was going on.

If nothing unexpected happens, this incident of 'destroying the woodpecker' is not over yet, and more police officers will surely fall victim to it.

After a while, Section Chief Kuroda walked up to everyone with the inspection report.

According to the forensic examination, the head of Officer Takeda, which was found this morning, matches the right big toe found on his body under the bridge.

At this moment, Officer Kuroda looked at Officer Yui and Officer Takaaki in front of him and asked about the whereabouts of the other officers.

Before the two could explain, Officer Gao Ming's phone rang. The caller was Officer Sanzhi, who had just left the house not long ago.

At Section Chief Kuroda's instruction, Officer Takaaki turned on the speakerphone.

"—Morobuchi, I am Sange."

"Did something happen?"

"Listen to me! After changing his clothes at his hometown, that guy Akiyama drove his car towards Tsumabuyama!"

"Wife and Daughter Mountain?"

"That's right, it's said to be where the wanted robber we were trying to catch this morning is hiding. I'm on my way there, you guys hurry up too!"

After Officer Saegusa finished speaking, he hung up the phone.

Section Chief Kuroda lowered his head and thought for a few seconds before making a decision, "In that case, let's go to Mount Tsumabu to support them first."

After speaking, Section Chief Kuroda turned to look at Tatsuno and the others.

"It's getting late, why don't you all come with us? When we return, I'll take you directly to the station or something similar."

Kogoro Mouri turned to look at Tatsuno and Ran, and after seeing them nod, he also nodded in agreement with Section Chief Kuroda's suggestion.

……

Half an hour later, the group arrived at Tsuma-no-yama and met up with Officer Saegusa.

According to intelligence, the robber should be hiding in a small cabin on the mountain.

But when the group opened the door to the small house, they didn't see the robbers or Officer Akiyama; instead, they saw only a pile of household garbage.

It seems the intelligence was correct; the bandit did indeed live here for a period of time.

Just as everyone was preparing to search the area around the cabin for Officer Akiyama, a man's scream came from the edge of a distant cliff, and everyone rushed to the source of the sound.

At this moment, Officer Akiyama's neck was tied to the back of the car with a rope.

Although there was no one in the car, it was slowly driving towards the cliff.

Upon seeing the crowd, Officer Akiyama looked terrified and cried out, "Help, help me!"

After saying that, as if realizing he was beyond saving, Officer Akiyama shouted, "My phone! My phone!"

Although the group wasn't far from the car, it had already slowly driven to the edge of the cliff, and there was no time to rescue Officer Akiyama.

Longye glanced at the car that was about to plunge off the cliff and suddenly felt an itch to touch it.

Immediately afterwards, Ryūno used his eagle eyes to carefully observe Officer Akiyama, who was being dragged by the car.

Upon seeing his bulging hood, Longye's lips curled into a slight smile.

No wonder he deliberately provoked Officer Yamato and Officer Takaaki when they were at the police station.

However, judging from the situation at the time, it seems that Officer Yamato and Officer Takaaki were deliberately provoked.

They seemed to have begun to suspect Detective Akiyama and Detective Saegusa long ago.

Although the two men's gazes were subtle, Ryūno clearly noticed that whenever Detective Akiyama and Detective Saegusa were present, Detective Yamato and Detective Takaaki would occasionally glance at the two men.

The next moment, to everyone's surprise, Longye appeared instantly next to Officer Akiyama.

Before Chief Kuroda and the others could say anything, Tatsuno punched Officer Akiyama unconscious and then reached out to grab the car that was about to fall off the cliff.

Upon witnessing this outrageous scene, the officers stared dumbfounded at Longye and the car, frozen in place for a moment.

Ran, Kogoro Mouri, and the other two did not react in such an exaggerated way.

Upon seeing Tatsuno pull the car to a stop, Kogoro Mouri and Conan immediately ran over and turned off the engine.

Just as Conan was about to untie the rope around Officer Akiyama's neck and ask Tatsuno why he knocked him unconscious first, he noticed something strange about the rope around Officer Akiyama's neck.

The rope wasn't actually tied directly around his neck; he simply crossed the rope he was pulling from behind in front of his neck to create the illusion that his neck was 'locked'.

The next second, Conan also saw the fake head and blood bag in Officer Akiyama's hat pocket.

Now Conan understood why Ryūno had knocked out Officer Akiyama first.

Based on these things, Officer Akiyama was clearly planning to stage a 'fake death' scene.

There is probably only one reason why he did this—he is the real culprit in this 'woodpecker' incident!

Thinking of this, Conan stood up, looked at Ryūno, and squinted, saying, "Takeda, when did you become certain that he was the culprit?"

Longye smiled and shook his head: "What are you talking about? I just found out myself."