The Daily Life of a Salted Fish Assassin in Anime Crossovers

Jiang Hang thought for a moment, then brought the topic back to the case.

"Speaking of which, since there was no autopsy or dissection, how did you know that the deceased died four years ago?"

This is a crucial question.

If the other party died four years ago, then the truth behind his death may still require some discussion.

But if the victim didn't actually die four years ago, but even earlier, and it was deliberately staged, then that would be quite interesting.

As expected, the Gunma Prefectural Police determined that the deceased had died four years prior, based primarily on a shopping receipt found on his person.

The item listed clearly showed what the deceased had purchased at a convenience store near the Head God Forest before entering it.

A bottle of milk, a piece of bread, and some other snacks.

These items have obviously expired long ago, and the expiration dates are clearly written on them.

It looks like irrefutable evidence.

But a little thought will reveal the problem here.

If the murderer deliberately returns to the location of the victim's body at a time when no one knows, changes the items on the body, and ensures that the body will not be discovered for several months afterward, then the murderer can achieve his goal and mislead the police investigation.

After all, don't the contradictions in the deceased's life prove this point?

Hearing Jiang Hang point this out without hesitation, Conan, who was standing to the side, thought it was quite normal. Detectives like them were supposed to be vigilant and suspicious of everything that came their way.

People like Kogoro Mouri and Misao Yamamura, who believe whatever others say, wouldn't really notice this.

Yamamura looked at Jiang Hang with an admiring gaze, even feeling that this eagle-eyed detective's thinking seemed a bit clearer than that of Kogoro Mouri beside him.

As for Kogoro Mouri, after a moment of awkwardness, he simply coughed lightly and then said that he had actually noticed this a long time ago, but deliberately did not point it out as a test.

In short, Jiang Hang will just believe it for now.

Anyway, judging from Yamamura Misao's enlightened look, he probably really believed it.

Chapter 462: Chapter 458: The Imposter Kogoro Mouri

Although Jiang Hang had noticed the problem with the case, he had not yet seen the corpse that had turned into a pile of bones, so he could not be 100% certain of the possibility.

But as long as Yamamura Misao isn't lying, the details about the corpse having car keys but no driver's license, cigarettes but no lighter, shopping receipts on it indicating summer, and the person wearing autumn/winter clothes... should be true.

If so many problems can be found on a corpse, then someone must have tampered with the remains.

Previously, the Gunma Police Department had only treated the case as a routine matter, treating the corpse as a suicide case, without giving it much thought to the possibility of homicide. So now, if Yamamura Misao were to consider the possibility of homicide, he wouldn't be able to figure out who the murderer was.

Jiang Hang had only just learned about the case, and without even knowing the identity of the deceased, he naturally couldn't deduce who had killed the victim.

On Kogoro Mouri's side, after Jiang Hang made his conjecture, Jiang Hang's thoughts flowed freely as he speculated on the reason for the appearance of the corpse. From feuds in the martial arts world to love and hate, Jiang Hang very smoothly eliminated several possibilities from Kogoro Mouri's conjecture.

Conan, somewhat exasperated by Kogoro Mouri's impromptu deductions, immediately offered a suggestion: "Let's go inside the hotel first. The person who found the body was a hotel employee, and the hotel owner had a briefcase to give to Uncle Mouri, right? Maybe there are some clues in there?"

After this reminder, Kogoro Mouri suddenly realized, "Oh right, since this matter is related to the hotel owner and staff, they must have some information. Maybe they were the ones who committed this crime. Ran, let's go!"

As he said this, he also looked at Jiang Hang beside him with some wariness: "This is a case handled by our Mouri Detective Agency. At most, I'll let you watch from the sidelines. Don't even think about interfering."

Jiang Hang spread his hands helplessly: "I already told you I came here to investigate this suicide hotspot. I just didn't expect to run into you guys. Don't worry, although I'm a little interested in this case, I don't need the commission fee. I won't compete with you for this case."

He just wanted to piggyback on a case; how much could the client possibly offer? It couldn't compare to the small sum the system guy could easily earn for a case.

Sure enough, after hearing that Jiang Hang didn't intend to compete with him for the commission, Kogoro Mouri immediately patted Jiang Hang on the shoulder, indicating that as long as you don't try to steal my money, we're friendly neighbors.

Since the neighbor is curious about this request, there's no harm in following him to see what's going on.

In short, as long as it doesn't involve money, everything is fine.

The group walked into the hotel arm in arm, and soon Yamamura Misao pointed out a hotel employee to them.

"Ah, that's Mr. Urakawa Eiji, who discovered the body."

As he said this, he walked over and greeted the other person.

Because the Gunma Police Station had already summoned him to the station once when the body was discovered, Uragawa Eiji had some recollection of Yamamura Misao's appearance and knew that he was there to question him again. He greeted Yamamura Misao warmly.

Before Yamamura Misao could introduce Jiang Hang and Kogoro Mouri to the other party, Urakawa Eiji had already started talking about how he discovered the corpse.

"To be honest, I was really scared to death at the time. After all, although there are quite a few suicides here every year, most of them are discovered not long afterward."

"I never expected to find a corpse that had been completely reduced to bones in that place."

He touched his head as he recounted what had happened back then. Although he said he was scared, more than a week had passed, and now when he brought it up, he naturally showed no fear at all. He simply treated it as an extraordinary experience to talk about.

Jiang Hang, who was standing nearby, added, "I heard from the village police officer that you found the body when you went to the mountains to dig for wild vegetables. Did you find the body by yourself?"

Urakawa Eiji nodded: "Yes, usually it's just me, the hotel owner Mr. Toda, and another employee, Jinbo, who take turns going to the mountains to collect wild vegetables. I found this body when it was my turn to go to the mountains. However, because of the discovery of the body, we can't go to the mountains to collect wild vegetables recently. Otherwise, we could let you taste our hotel's special wild vegetable soup."

When food is mentioned, Kogoro Mouri gets a little hungry, but when he hears that he can't have it, he seems a little disappointed.

It was only at this point that Urakawa Eiji thought to ask Yamamura Misao about the identities of Jiang Hang and Mouri Kogoro.

After all, Kogoro Mouri was accompanied by a girl and a child, and Jiang Hang was also accompanied by a girl; they didn't look like police officers at all.

When someone asked him about himself, even though he had no connection with Jiang Hang or Kogoro Mouri, Yamamura Misao still introduced Jiang Hang and Kogoro Mouri quite solemnly.

"Ahem, these two are the famous detectives known as the Twin Stars of Detectives, whose names strike fear into the hearts of even children who have done something wrong and want to hide it!"

"They are—!" Yamamura Misao introduced Jiang Hang and Kogoro Mouri in a dramatic and somewhat childish way.

To be honest, if Yamamura Misao hadn't mentioned it, Jiang Hang would have almost forgotten that besides being known as the Hawkeye Detective, he also formed the Beika Twins bond with Kogoro Mouri.

However, before he could finish speaking, Urakawa Eiji nodded in sudden realization: "I understand now, you are Mr. Mouri Kogoro's companions, aren't you?"

"We've been eagerly awaiting your arrival!"

"Huh? Companions?" Both Kogoro Mouri and Jiang Hang couldn't help but ask in confusion.

Yamamura Misao also sensed something was wrong and quickly tried to explain it to the other party.

However, Eiji Urakawa had already started talking to himself.

"Mr. Mori arrived three hours ago and is waiting for you in his room!"

"What? Kogoro Mouri has already arrived at this inn?"

Listening to the hotel employee's explanation, Kogoro Mouri began to doubt his own identity.

Jiang Hang, on the other hand, stroked his chin, watching the situation unfold with great interest.

He was just suspected of being an imposter, and now, in the blink of an eye, an imposter has appeared on Kogoro Mouri's side as well.

It looks like this case is going to be quite entertaining.

When Kogoro Mori stormed over to the hotel receptionist to ask questions, the receptionist nodded quite affirmatively.

"Yes, Mr. Mori is resting in his room right now. Would you like to go find him?" The hotel owner, Yoshiro Toda, even produced the imposter's autograph. "That Detective Mori is much more approachable than we thought. Almost all of our hotel staff have asked him for autographs, and he's always agreed."

Seeing that imposter not only taking his benefits but also signing autographs for people, Kogoro Mouri was furious.

What's even more infuriating is that when the owner saw Kogoro Mouri staring at the autograph board, he specifically reminded him, "Ah, please don't get it dirty. I was planning to frame it and use it as one of the symbols of our hotel."

"What about that briefcase?!" Kogoro Mouri practically asked the hotel owner through gritted teeth.

"Of course, Mr. Mori took that to his room. He's probably still thinking about what's inside."

The briefcase had been in the boss's possession for five years, during which time he had naturally secretly opened it to check its contents.

If he hadn't racked his brains for years without coming up with anything of value, and if it hadn't just happened that the body of the person who had deposited the briefcase was discovered by his hotel staff, he might not have bothered to come to Kogoro Mouri.

After the hotel owner mentioned the fake man's room, Xiaolan instinctively wanted to go over and teach the imposter who was impersonating her father a lesson.

However, Kogoro Mouri immediately grabbed his daughter.

“No need to rush,” he glanced at Jiang Hang, who was having a good time, “Don’t let others look down on us. If we make a big fuss now, I won’t be able to prove my identity, and it might even have a negative impact on my image.”

Ran Mouri looked at her father with some suspicion: "But Officer Yamamura and Mr. Jiang Hang are both here. They can both verify your identity, right?"

Kogoro Mouri waved his hand and explained to his daughter in a low voice, "Jiang Hang has to use a fake image to appear on TV. He himself needs us to prove his identity, otherwise people will suspect that he is an imposter. Asking him to prove our identity is like asking one 'imposter' to vouch for another 'imposter,' which will probably only make people more suspicious."

“Officer Yamamura doesn’t seem like a reliable person. If the other party turns around and accuses us of deceiving Officer Yamamura, others will be more likely to believe the fake product. So the best thing to do now is to wait on the sidelines.”

"Isn't this kind of thing often done in TV dramas? A showdown between the real Mori and the imposter. Let's see what that guy is trying to do with my identity first, and then I'll expose his flaws directly. That way, my reputation won't be damaged, and maybe I can even create another good story about the real Mori playing the fake Mori?"

Ran Mouri shook her head helplessly as she listened to her father's whimsical thoughts.

She wanted to try to persuade her father, but judging from his expression, she knew he had made up his mind and wouldn't give up easily.

Soon after, Yamamura Misao, upon learning of Kogoro Mouri's idea, also expressed his approval of it.

"That's a brilliant idea! You truly are a master detective. Please allow me to lend you a hand!"

Seeing the two like-minded people, Ran Mouri could only look to Jiang Hang for help.

Jiang Hang pondered for a moment: "After the hotel owner sought your father's help, a fake suddenly appeared, and then the matter became related to a corpse from five years ago... Was it the real killer who did it? And how did he know your father was coming and prepare the disguise in advance?"

"As it stands, there's no need to rush into confronting the counterfeit product. Let's wait and see; we should be able to glean some useful clues from it."

When Ran heard Jiang Hang's words, she knew that she couldn't persuade him to stop, so she could only shrug and say that they could play by themselves and she didn't want to get involved.

Anyway, now that the two famous detectives are here, the murderer definitely won't be able to cause any more trouble.

Just as Kogoro Mouri was already pondering the name he should use when disguising himself, another inn employee, Masao Jinbo, arrived late.

He looked like he had just gone to park the car for Yamamura Misao; he was holding a cell phone in his hand and then went straight to Kogoro Mouri.

"Sir, it seems you left your phone in the car. This should be your daughter's phone, right?"

Kogoro Mouri had just given himself a completely fake name, "Echigo Kōemon," and was currently thinking about how to expose the imposter in a clever way. Therefore, he simply thanked the employee and put the matter out of his mind.

Jiang Hang also booked a room for himself and Yoshino Mouri. Unlike Kogoro Mouri, who was currently on a path of forbearance and therefore only booked the cheapest room, Jiang Hang stayed in the most luxurious suite.

After putting his luggage in his room and having Yoshino Kiharu investigate whether anything unusual had happened in the vicinity five years ago, Jiang Hang went to chat with Conan.

"While your future father-in-law is still drinking with that village police officer, tell me how you met him."

Upon hearing Jiang Hang's question, Conan's expression became somewhat subtle. He was clearly still a little uncomfortable with being addressed as his future father-in-law, but he didn't directly object.

"It's a rather strange coincidence. My mother took me to a friend's house in Gunma, where a murder occurred. That's when I first met Officer Yamamura. Some time later, while we were traveling in Gunma, Uncle Mori was framed for murder by a criminal. Officer Yamamura was also in charge of that case. That's how we met. I never expected to run into this officer again."

"Although this rural police officer is indeed a little... well, maybe not a little unreliable, he should be considered a good cop."

It's clear that Conan's feelings towards Misao Yamamura are quite subtle. She has no special abilities and is one of those rare people who have absolutely no talent in deduction, but she is not bad in other areas, and can even be said to be extremely excellent.

He developed a desire to become a police officer after watching a crime drama his mother, Yukiko Kudo, starred in before her debut during his childhood. He later worked hard and actually became a police officer, and a highly prestigious one at that.

All I can say is that this guy is indeed a talented individual, it's just a pity he chose the wrong profession.