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

Shinichi Kudo turned his head away.

Perhaps because he had been unconscious for a moment, he still felt a little surreal about the current situation. However, after taking a few deep breaths, he finally recovered. Moreover, the fact that his actions had actually saved someone gave him some comfort.

After all, the man lying on the ground was currently covered by the clothes he had taken off earlier.

If the last shot hadn't hit, that kind of thing could have happened in the next second.

"Cedar, did you see the person who knocked me out?" Shinichi Kudo asked.

Kiyoko Yukimatsu gently shook her head: "My angle wasn't right. By the time I got to the door, there was no one else there."

"Do you have any targets you suspect?"

"I'm sorry, I... I don't know anything."

Kiyoko Yukimatsu huddled in the corner of the sofa, her head bowed in guilt. She was wearing Inspector Megure's brown coat. Seeing her distraught appearance and remembering how she had almost been in that situation, Inspector Megure looked at Shinichi Kudo with a pained expression, hoping that his younger brother would show mercy.

Shinichi Kudo sighed inwardly, but the case was urgent, so he still asked, "Do you know where your mother... no, Nami Yukimatsu is?"

Kiyoko Yukimatsu shook her head: "I haven't seen her since I was kidnapped here."

"What do you know about Masato Yukimatsu's death? We've already listened to the recordings on your phone, and you seem to think that Nami Yukimatsu is the real culprit."

Faced with Shinichi Kudo's persistent questioning, Kiyoko Yukimatsu remained silent for a long time before finally speaking:

"The mastermind you're looking for might indeed be connected to me, but right now, his real collaborator is probably my mother."

Her tone was quite desolate, with a hint of self-mockery:

"After I got a little older, my parents never gave me any money. All my tuition and living expenses were earned by myself through prostitution."

Believe it or not, what I did with those people was really just what the word means, just dating them, and nothing like that ever happened.

Emotional value—that's what I offer more of.

but……

Clearly, some people are not satisfied with this.

Mamoru Ishida once told me that he could help me solve my family's problems, on the condition that he truly possessed me. I didn't understand what he meant and refused. The next day, he gave me some money and told me to buy accidental death insurance for my father.

I had a vague suspicion in my mind, so I bought it as he suggested. Ten days later, my father died.

I thought he was helping me, that I could be freed, but what happened next...

You all know.

Kiyoko's words plunged everyone into silence. What should have been the closest of blood ties had turned into fratricide...

Ah, what a hellish place.

Shinichi Kudo pondered for a moment: "You mean, the reason Ishida Mamoru took a series of actions was because of his perverse possessiveness towards you, hoping to destroy your family, your social circle, and your world in order to completely control you?"

Kiyoko Yukimatsu's voice trembled slightly: "I don't know."

This motive aligns quite well with one of Shinichi Kudo's previous guesses, but some doubts remain. He asked:

"When you escaped the police on Sunday, did you surrender to them and ask for their help?"

"No, I didn't know it was all part of his plan at the time. I just thought he underestimated you. I was with Mr. Nakatani that morning, and he can testify for me. I went home in the afternoon and was taken to the Metropolitan Police Department by you."

Shinichi Kudo glanced at Juichi Megure, who quickly went to the side to call Fumizumi Nakatani for confirmation. A moment later, he returned and nodded to Shinichi Kudo.

"He said he could testify completely and that he even had the shopping receipts."

But the credibility of a person who loves Kiyoko Yukimatsu is highly questionable. Shinichi Kudo looked at Kiyoko Yukimatsu, his brows still furrowed.

"You won't admit that you framed Yukison Nami?"

"what?"

Kiyoko Yukimatsu looked up, her red-rimmed eyes filled with confusion: "What do you mean by framing my mother?"

Shinichi Kudo frowned even more, but simply shook his head: "It's nothing."

The situation has become so confusing that even he is having trouble figuring out who is the one hiding the deepest secret. Moreover, if we follow the line of thought that Yukimatsu Kiyoko is currently suggesting, everything makes sense.

The whole framing of Yukimatsu Nami was orchestrated by Mamoru Ishida himself. He did it simply to control Yukimatsu Nami and then use her to obtain Yukimatsu Kiyoko.

After his frame-up was exposed, he redesigned the gambling incident to lure Yukimatsu Nami into the game, but his ultimate target was still Yukimatsu Kiyoko.

But this raises several questions.

Shinichi Kudo asked, "If Mamoru Ishida only wanted to possess you, why did he wait until now? And why did you go to the auction? What happened here?"

After a few moments of silence, Kiyoko Yukimatsu spoke in a rather complicated tone:

“He said he would buy me in public, he would completely destroy my personality, and make me kneel down and beg him to end it all.”

"!!!!!!"

Beast!

Animals!

Everyone present was enraged upon hearing this, and Inspector Megure felt dizzy, probably due to his blood pressure rising. He quickly took deep breaths...

That damn bastard!!!

Kiyoko Yukimatsu's gaze dimmed as she continued, "As for the unexpected incident here..."

Chapter 104 A Series of Framing

A man wearing a dark red Hannya mask saved Yukimatsu Kiyoko. The man said that the female warrior fighting the Muddy Society outside was his comrade, and he was going to help her. He told Yukimatsu Kiyoko to wait for him there, and that he would be back soon to take her away.

But the result...

He never returned.

After listening to Xue Songqingzi recount what had happened, everyone was at a loss for words. The rescue was definitely a righteous act, but leaving the person there and then abandoning them, and being untrustworthy, made it difficult to judge.

In the end, Inspector Megure shook his head and sighed, "That person has done enough. Didn't he say that he had already called the police and that they would be here soon? He couldn't have imagined that something unexpected would almost happen later."

Inspector Megure took out his phone and glanced at it, but didn't find any call records from that time. He didn't pay any attention to it.

Normally, people call the Metropolitan Police Department to report a crime, and then they are transferred there. Tonight, there must have been countless calls to this area. Inspector Megure and his team were already on their way here before that, so there was no need for them to go through this trouble.

"Do you know this person on the ground, Cedar?"

Shinichi Kudo didn't dwell too much on the Hannya mask incident and turned to other things.

Kiyoko Yukimatsu shook her head: "I don't know him, but he was one of the kidnappers. The other kidnapper was banging on the door outside, but he probably heard you coming and ran away. I don't know that person either."

"What about appearance?"

"Square face, short hair, small eyes, wearing a gray jacket, and otherwise unremarkable."

After Kiyoko Yukimatsu finished speaking, Inspector Megure immediately ordered his subordinates to search for the person carefully, but they couldn't find anything for a while. Shinichi Kudo paced around the lounge a few times, feeling stuffy, and went outside to the more spacious meeting room for some fresh air.

Megure also came out and patted him on the shoulder: "Brother Kudo, what you did was just a heroic act, nothing wrong, don't worry about it. If you're worried, that's my gun, the responsibility is all mine."

Shinichi Kudo shook his head: "My vision was completely black at the time. To say I killed someone feels like a dream. I'm sorry, it's not that I'm trying to shirk responsibility, I'm just wondering, what was that person's purpose in knocking me unconscious?"

"Maybe he was trying to save someone, but you shot him at the crucial moment. When he saw that the person he was trying to save was dead, and worried that the gunshot would attract us, he ran away quickly."

"That's definitely more likely. Could he be the one who knocked on the door earlier? And why was he knocking? Was he trying to save Kiyoko Yukimatsu? Could he be Mamoru Ishida?"

Megure sighed, "I don't know. Things are too complicated; I couldn't understand them a long time ago."

In his eyes, this place was a complete mess.

"However, at least one thing is certain: the Muddy Association is being used. Regardless of who's behind it, they're just using the Muddy Association as a platform to expand their influence. It wouldn't matter if it were another yakuza group." Inspector Megure paused for a moment:

“I just contacted a friend in Maru-battle, and he said it might be related to the Sumiyoshi-kai. The two have been fighting fiercely recently, and the Nissou-kai has suffered huge losses.”

Shinichi Kudo wasn't particularly interested in yakuza matters; he simply asked, "Can we trace this line back to the person who leaked the information?"

"Well... that probably won't work, it's too scattered." Inspector Megure's tone was somewhat embarrassed.

The police's slow response in many aspects made him, as the inspector, feel somewhat ashamed.

Shinichi Kudo was quite understanding of them. The yakuza were a disorganized mess and easily manipulated by money. The police had limited resources, and unless clues came to them by chance, they were unlikely to find a needle in a haystack.

"Police department!"

Earlier, a policeman came running quickly from the lounge, sounding quite pleased. Shinichi Kudo turned around and wondered if a clue had actually come to him.

"The password to the deceased's phone has been cracked!"

Oh, so that's what it was...

this?!

Shinichi Kudo looked excitedly and expectantly at the phone. Inspector Megure took it without hesitation and handed it to him. Shinichi Kudo flipped through the call history, but there wasn't a single familiar phone number, nor any convenient call recordings.

I checked the emails again, but they were all blank.

Damn it, could this be a blank machine he's using temporarily?

Shinichi Kudo checked the call log again and looked at Juzo Inspector Megure: "Can the police track the location of the person on the other end of the call?"

"Yes! Of course! The vehicle has the equipment!"

Having anticipated this situation, Inspector Megure had made preparations in advance, which came in handy now. He didn't know how to operate it, but Chiba Kazuki, who had just unlocked his phone, was, as an otaku, somewhat skilled in this area.

But there is a problem.

"One minute, the call must last at least one minute."

Chiba Kazunobu said this after he had checked the police's reverse tracing procedures.

Shinichi Kudo wondered if the police's technology was a bit outdated. He remembered that even in Cold War movies, it didn't take that long. But he didn't have time to nitpick now. After thinking for a moment, he dialed Kogoro Mouri's number on his own phone.

"I am a psychologist, and Mr. Mori is sleeping."

The voice on the other end of the phone was a woman's voice he had heard before, and Shinichi Kudo couldn't help but feel curious:

"Since he's asleep, aren't you going to leave?"

"The client requested subconscious therapy, which, simply put, means continuing intervention while he is sleeping."

"...Give him headphones and play audio for him? Isn't that brainwashing?"

"No, it's for treatment. Is there anything I can help you with?"