He's in Detective Conan, and he's the mastermind behind everything.

The two bystanders instantly realized what was happening, and Inspector Megure hurriedly asked, "What if A had taken precautions and hadn't died while visiting the garden?"

"Of course, we'll wait until next time, and the time after that."

Shinichi Kudo said in a low voice, "As long as B remains calm and waits for the right opportunity, with countless high-probability dangerous events accumulating, A will eventually fall victim to it."

"hiss--"

Megure gasped, muttering in disbelief, "So that's how it is... that's how it is... Brother Kudo, with this kind of probability event, the police have no way to obtain evidence. Isn't it just a perfect crime?"

Kogoro Mouri also looked bitter: "Looks like I really am an idiot, falling for it on the very first try."

"Um?!"

Instead of dwelling on his reflections on the perfect crime, Shinichi Kudo immediately grasped the crux of the matter and looked intently at Kogoro Mouri.

"Uncle Mori thinks this is the first time. Could it be that he has made a new discovery by following this direction?"

“I can’t be sure, but the afternoon before I went to Ginza, someone came to my detective agency and asked me to help him find a stray cat. He said he didn’t have money to pay the deposit and gave me a stack of flyers, all from bars and nightclubs, saying that I could get a discount with them. Maybe I was tempted by them.”

"Absolutely!"

Shinichi Kudo's eyes lit up: "Uncle Mori, can you describe what he looks like?"

"Um... I was a little drunk at the time, and he was wearing a mask, so..." Kogoro Mouri scratched his head frantically, then suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said, "He was wearing a pair of green rubber shoes, which left a lot of muddy footprints on the floor!"

"Green rubber shoes...muddy footprints..."

Shinichi Kudo was deep in thought, while the other two looked at him expectantly. But after only a few seconds, he shook his head in disappointment.

"It didn't rain on Tuesday afternoon, so the first guess was a construction site. But there are no construction projects near the Mori Detective Agency. If it were further away, the soil would have crumbled long ago. That was definitely just a disguise."

Shinichi Kudo thought this was useless information, but Inspector Megure disagreed, waving his hand excitedly: "His over-the-top actions have only confirmed the existence of the mastermind behind it all. All we need to do is report it to Inspector Matsumoto..."

"it's useless."

"What? Brother Kudo, you..."

"Sigh, Inspector Megure, even I have my doubts. Can this really be considered evidence?"

Shinichi Kudo interrupted again: "And I have a feeling that the mastermind is deliberately keeping us in suspense by giving us these ambiguous clues twice. I'm a little worried that he might be using this opportunity to secretly plot other events."

"Nani?!!!"

Inspector Megure had been shocked countless times, but upon closer reflection, he realized that his younger brother's words made perfect sense.

This series of cases has dragged on for five days and consumed a lot of police resources. If the mastermind committed other crimes during this time, they might have overlooked them.

but!

Megure asked blankly, "No one has called the police these past few days, and there haven't been any other cases?"

"Perhaps I'm overthinking it, perhaps the mastermind's conspiracy is still lurking, or perhaps what he's planning this time won't cause any public harm."

Shinichi Kudo shook his head: "Let's continue. This kind of person is too dangerous. We have to find him."

The discussion continued, and the air in the quarantine room became somewhat oppressive due to the unknown gloom.

At four o'clock in the morning, a policeman knocked on the door and reported to Inspector Megure.

The results of the comparative profiles of Eri and Kisaki from various angles have been released.

Chapter 40 Shinichi Kudo's Wicked Nature!

In the detention room, Kogoro Mouri flipped through the facial profiles of Eri Kisaki and Eri Kisaki one by one for comparison.

He was completely oblivious to the angles that the computer system judged to have a high degree of similarity.

But when he saw a certain left-side profile, he suddenly jolted, as if struck by lightning.

Shinichi Kudo, who had been keeping an eye on him, quickly walked behind him and looked at the two photos.

Eri Kisaki's makeup made her look slightly younger than usual, and her already beautiful skin became even more radiant and supple. Her eyes appeared even brighter under her black-rimmed glasses, and her eyeshadow was lightly blended, as warm as the morning glow of early spring. Her long brown hair was loosely styled, with two strands hanging down in front of her forehead, adding a touch of freshness to her elegance.

Was Xiaolan's mother really this beautiful?

A strange thought suddenly popped into Shinichi Kudo's mind. He quickly shook his head and looked at another photo of Towako taken from the same angle.

Emmm... In short, it's the low-spec version.

Moreover, these two pictures aren't that similar. Could there be other factors involved?

After a moment, Kogoro Mouri finally returned to normal and told the two waiting men the answer:

“I feel like I’m seeing Eri from ten years ago, and she looked almost exactly like this back then.”

ten years ago?

Shinichi Kudo recalled carefully that ten years ago, before Eri separated from Uncle Mori, he often saw her when he played with Ran.

What did Aunt Eri look like back then?

hiss--

Two fists suddenly flashed into his memory. Shinichi Kudo touched a non-existent bump on his head and gasped. No wonder he had completely forgotten that Aunt Eri was Ran's mother; he had been traumatized by the beating.

Come to think of it, the other fist was aimed at Xiaolan, right?

Regarding what happened last time, it seems he really did...

"Brother Kudo, what have you thought of?" Inspector Megure asked expectantly when he saw Shinichi Kudo's sudden movement.

Shinichi Kudo nodded: "A side profile that isn't very similar is meaningless. It must be connected to some memorable scene that would awaken a memory at that moment and make the drunken Uncle Mori mistake him for someone else."

Kogoro Mouri pondered this for a long time, but came up with nothing. Shinichi Kudo then reminded him:

"Unless the mastermind knew you ten years ago, the ability to create this specific profile would most likely require a photograph as a template. Uncle Mori, think back to where you and Aunt Eri took photos ten years ago, and where are those photos now? By the way, you must have been standing on the left back then."

Upon hearing this, Kogoro Mouri sighed deeply and gave up on thinking.

“I have plenty of these photos; they’re all kept at home.”

"..."

"..."

This sentence silenced the two of them. Damn it, there was no way to continue the investigation now.

Meanwhile, Inspector Megure had another peculiar observation point. He stepped forward, patted Kogoro Mouri on the shoulder, and advised, "Brother Mouri, it seems that you and Attorney Kisaki used to have a very good relationship. Why can't you understand it now? Listen to your older brother, go out and apologize to the other person properly, and start anew."

"..."

Kogoro Mouri was speechless. Inspector Megure had never said anything like this before, but now... Sigh, it's probably because his performance this time was so bad that he was detained by the police, which greatly damaged his image in Inspector Megure's eyes.

Since his old friend couldn't manage his life on his own, he naturally had to lend a helping hand.

Honestly, it was quite touching.

But something just feels off...

Seeing that Mori still hadn't responded to the question, Inspector Megure shook his head and looked at another brother: "Kudo, how about we go to Mori's house and investigate the signs of trespassing? Maybe some photos from ten years ago have been stolen."

As he pondered other directions, Shinichi Kudo subconsciously shook his head: "There's no need for that. So much time has passed, even if there are traces, they're unlikely to be found."

Kogoro Mouri sighed, "Ran has to clean every day, and so did the footprints that day. They could have been used to determine the suspect's height and weight."

Shinichi Kudo frowned slightly, but didn't say anything, continuing to ponder.

Inspector Megure thought for a moment: "Should we ask Ran if she has noticed anything?"

Kogoro Mouri shook his head in frustration: "Even if something is wrong, she'll only complain that I'm drunk and ruining the house. She wouldn't notice anything like that."

Shinichi Kudo also said, "Aunt Eri must have similar photos at home. This direction of investigation is no longer meaningful. We need to find another breakthrough."

"Ok."

Inspector Megure slumped weakly in his chair, his hand instinctively reaching for the cigarette case in his pocket. But after sensing Kogoro Mouri's faint gaze, he stopped and took out his hand.

"Brother Kudo, the days are long now, and it won't be long before dawn."

It wasn't that he was unwilling to support his younger brother, but firstly, there was pressure from above, and secondly, given the current situation, it was a dead end.

He couldn't even tell his younger brother about the rumors circulating within the Metropolitan Police Department.

Such accusations include forced interpretations, abuse of power for personal gain, and protecting criminals...

Alas, the source was Yukimatsu Nami, who was detained in the Metropolitan Police Department. Even though she was given a single room, the news still gradually spread.

Unfortunately, from an outsider's perspective, this whole affair is indeed rife with conspiracy theories from beginning to end.

Even with the good social reputation of Inspector Megure and Shinichi Kudo as a guarantee, this reputation naturally diminishes due to the relationship between the parties involved and them.

"How did Yamada Okao die?" Shinichi Kudo asked.

"Medical malpractice," Inspector Megure replied.

Why would a hospital misinterpret CT scan results?

"There was no reason given. The on-duty doctor initially tried to argue and shirk responsibility, but you exposed him in one fell swoop. He analyzed that it was just a momentary lapse in concentration, and he was willing to accept the punishment."

"Could it be that someone replaced the report at the time and then replaced it back the next day?"

Inspector Megure sighed, "Brother Kudo, don't put too much pressure on yourself. This is a case of our police's incompetence. You've already done enough."

Shinichi Kudo remained silent; he certainly understood what Inspector Megure meant.

Reasoning without evidence is nothing but conjecture!

In typical cases, one would simply need to follow the clues and fill in the missing evidence.

But this time, he really couldn't find any evidence!

"Where is Gao Yuanyi's cell phone?" he asked in a deep voice.

"Emails, messages, call logs—nothing. Not a single suspicious record."

Shinichi Kudo remained silent for a long time. Finally, he took a deep breath, his gaze becoming incredibly firm, even carrying a hint of coldness, which made Inspector Megure and the other person who witnessed this scene feel a chill in their hearts.

"Brother Kudo, you..."

"Officer Megure."

Shinichi Kudo interrupted him: "Are you thinking of simply releasing Nami Yukimatsu and ending it all?"

Megure nodded: "If there's no major progress in the case, we can't delay any longer. Who knows what other unexpected things might happen?"