Conan: I've been linked to the tech tree system.

Do you know where he is?

“I haven’t seen him since I started keeping vigil last night.”

Lu Lang was still wearing his black suit jacket, seemingly still reeling from the blow.

"This is really a headache," Mori sighed.

"If only we could find the missing weaving workshop and take a look."

Although he was talking to himself, it sounded like he was saying it to Lu Lang on purpose.

Sure enough, Lu Lang sighed helplessly, "If you're only going to her room, look under the potted plants; the key is there."

As a longtime neighbor and childhood playmate, Rokuro obviously knows Saori's habits very well.

"Ok?"

Upon hearing his words, Kogoro Mouri flipped over the potted plants and actually found a metal key to the main gate.

Isn't this dangerous for a girl whose father is an alcoholic and rarely home?

Chapter 173 I Have a Clue

"Let's go in!" Mori said, picking up the key to unlock the door.

"But it's not really appropriate for us to go in like this without permission," Xiaolan said, still somewhat worried.

"It won't hurt you to take a look."

Kogoro Mouri had an indifferent attitude; he was a seasoned detective.

The expert who broke into the house didn't care about any of that. He looked up and asked Lu Lang, who was standing with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Uncle, did Saori do anything strange before she disappeared?"

Lu Lang thought about it and realized he did have some talent for talking.

"She's terrified of the sight of ocean waves, fearing they might be mermaids coming to seek revenge."

"revenge?"

As the two chatted, Kogoro opened the door and went inside.

Tohru Tohno was still a little hesitant, after all, this was trespassing, and it was the first time he had done it as a respectable person.

But it seems that detectives in this world all have this right to some extent, since no one reports them anyway, right?

There wasn't much to see in the main hall or the drunkard's room, so Rokuro led the group straight to Saori's room.

It was similar to a typical girl's room, with several rabbit masks and dolls on the cabinet.

Unlike the men who were barely managing a somewhat restrained glance, Conan, as soon as he entered, took advantage of his childlike nature and looked around wildly.

While saying, "Huh? What is this?" she opened the bag that Kazuya Saori had placed on the bed in the room and started rummaging through it.

"Conan! What are you doing?!" Ran scolded him as always when she saw this, but she didn't stop him in time.

Tohru Tono gave a cold smile at the child's behavior.

Naive to think you can find clues?

He had already anticipated that Conan would rummage through everything!

"Strange, what's inside?" Conan muttered, reaching into the bag and rummaging around haphazardly.

When I put it in, the expected sensation didn't occur; instead, I felt a sticky, wet feeling...

Could it be that?

Conan pulled his hand back as if he'd been electrocuted.

Fortunately, it wasn't the kind of thing I expected; instead, it was a white, paste-like semi-solid.

Toothpaste.

For some reason, I felt a sense of relief.

Then his face darkened.

Who would fill a bag that looks like a travel bag with a huge amount of toothpaste?!

No, since it's a travel bag, it's reasonable to have toothpaste inside... Maybe the packaging was damaged and it leaked out accidentally...

With anticipation, he shook his hand, carefully opened the bag again, and looked inside.

As a result, there was no trace of anything else in sight, only a pile of toothpaste stuck together.

"Conan!" Ran finally came over. "Don't go through other people's things!"

Then, seeing Conan's hand covered in toothpaste and his pitiful appearance, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Go wash your hands."

Seeing this scene, Lulang was also a little puzzled: "That bag should be the kind of equipment that Saori always takes when she runs away from home, right? I don't know how she spilled the toothpaste."

"However, she always went to Junhui's house when she ran away from home, so it seems that Junhui's house had a change of clothes and spare glasses."

"Eh?"

Upon hearing the crucial information, Conan stopped moving.

"So, the clothes that Sister Junhui was wearing when she was burned to death in the warehouse might have been her own?"

"Come on, why would she wear other people's clothes for no reason?" Kogoro Mouri couldn't keep up with the kid's train of thought.

"That way we can lure out the murderer."

Conan then paused.

"That's just my guess."

Kogoro Mouri was speechless: "Stop being stupid."

Ran suddenly remembered something: "However, if Miss Kimi also thought that the murderer might be a threat to Saori, she would assume that if she found a suspicious person near her home, she could catch the murderer. Conan is right."

"What are you saying? When the fire happened last night, didn't you see a figure that looked a lot like Saori in the yard?"

Kogoro Mouri found it strange.

Tohno, listening to the rather peculiar logic, couldn't help but speak up: "Besides, if Ms. Kimie thinks the murderer might be harmful to Saori, she could have notified others to come together or informed the police. Going up alone to impersonate Saori would be suicide; no one would do that."

Conan nodded in agreement, staring at the toothpaste tube in his hand that was gradually drying out, and then asked, "Uncle, are there any photos of Saori-neechan in this room?"

Lu Lang thought for a moment: "I think I can find it in the photo album, right?"

......

Lulang searched high and low for the drawer where Shazhi kept her photo albums, but he couldn't find it no matter what he did.

"strangeness?"

He continued moving, asking with a question, "I remember putting it here before...?"

"Uncle, besides us, does anyone else know that Saori's house key is left under the flower bed?"

Conan crossed his arms, his hands already washed clean with water, and looked thoughtful.

"All five of us actually know about this... but now only I know..." he said, his voice tinged with sadness.

Tohru Tohno said thoughtfully, "If we're talking about suspecting someone might have entered Saori's room, then there is one person..."

"Who?" Conan looked up.

"Of course, it's the owner of this house, Saori's father—Monokyo Muzo."

Toru Tono said.

-----------------

Since their search of Saori's house yielded no results, Conan, preoccupied with his own thoughts, went with Kogoro Mouri and Toru Tohno to Hattori's place.

Heiji Hattori and Kazuha Toyama were standing outside the paper door, watching the police investigating the scene next to the fishing net, trying to find some clues.

"Hi." Seeing everyone approaching, Hattori raised his hand in greeting. "Any progress on your end?"

“No.” Mori sighed and walked over to him. “It seems like Saori’s house has been broken into. The photo albums and personal belongings that should have been there are gone.”

"Oh?" A smirk appeared on his face. "If that's the case, it confirms some of my suspicions..."

"What kind of guess?" Mori asked in surprise. "Do you already know who the murderer is?"

"I can only say that I have a slight clue," Hattori announced with a confident look in his eyes, turning his hat around.

At the same time, his gaze swept over Conan, who was frowning, and Tohru, who had no expression, with a happy look on his face that said, "Haha, I'm in the lead this time!"

"I just found a pair of shoes at the boat owner's house." He prepared to state his reasoning, picked up the shoes from the steps, and showed them to the people behind him.

“Look, there are still marks from stepping on arrows here on the slippers.”

"I think that the murderer walked from the room to the place he had arranged to meet Naoko while keeping vigil, and then killed her."

Chapter 174 The murderer is...

"Afterwards, he went back to his room to keep vigil, which is direct evidence."

"I think the only people who could do this are Mr. Lu Lang and Mr. Men Xie."

"Eh? Me?" Lu Lang was surprised, but he didn't show the same anger and embarrassment as the murderers.

"Of course, you only had the time to commit the crime... Judging from the situation during the day, your sad expression at the time made it unlikely that you had the motive to harm Miss Junhui."

"Of course, how could I...?" How could he have killed Shimabukuro Kimie?

"So, the murderer is..."

......

Ultimately, the police summoned Men Xiemouzang, who had fled into the mountains to evade capture.

However, he only admitted to the harmless crime of stealing the roster and escaped all charges by claiming that he found the winning lottery ticket in the woods.

The famous detective who is supposed to be sleeping, Kogoro Mouri, has also been conspicuously absent from this island.

......

As Conan boarded the ferry leaving the island, his long-lost spirits sank.