Detective Conan: I, with my magical powers, am going to destroy the world!

Conan glanced at Hoshigawa Dogo, who had just finished his phone call, then looked back at the door.

He was quite certain that Hoshigawa Tongwu had been standing next to him the whole time the power went out.

The subtle sound of the door closing must have been something the magician had done, like a magic switch being turned on.

It should be said that Hoshigawa Dogo was performing magic from the moment he took them upstairs; it was a magic trick of the Zhengying school.

"Was this window open just now?" Kogoro Mouri leaned out of the window to check. "If we use the bushes below as a buffer, we could jump down and escape through the back door."

"W-what's going on?"

Kazuha and the other woman brought in Masakage's wife and Hanta Riki, both of whom were quite frightened by Himegami Nobuko's corpse.

"Why would Zhanzi do that?"

"We'll talk about it in detail when the police arrive, but..."

Chi Chufeng returned to the light switch in the corridor and looked up at the light bulb on the ceiling.

“This switch seems to have short-circuited just now,” Kogoro Mouri added. “The light bulb above has been tampered with beforehand.”

"Uncle Mori, Brother Akaso," Conan called from the other side, "come and take a look at this room."

"This is a database."

Fan Tianli explained, "It contains magic information collected by Teacher Zhengying from his travels around the world."

"Everything has been turned into a complete mess."

The database is at the end of the corridor, next to Himegami Nobuko's corpse. Akatsuka Kaze hadn't been able to go in to look at it before.

There were several rows of bookshelves placed side by side inside, but the books on them were scattered all over the floor, making it look messy.

"Is there anything important here?" Kogoro Mouri asked.

"No, I don't think so," Fan Tianli said uncertainly. "They are mostly books and magazine clippings that are sold in the market, and the teacher often lets us look at them."

“Speaking of which,” Mrs. Zhengying suddenly said, “there might be a document that even I, as his wife, am not allowed to see.”

My husband always jots down his new ideas, which resulted in a notebook filled with original magic tricks titled "The True Image Notebook."

"That is to say."

Kogoro Mouri stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Was it because Miss Nobuko happened to stumble upon the person trying to steal this 'Makoto Notes' that she resorted to such a heinous act?"

Chapter 604 She's always been here

"Stealing 'The Notebook of Zheng Ying'?"

"Yes, judging from the short circuit and power outage, it was probably arranged in advance by that person. If someone happens to come by, pressing the switch will cause a short circuit and power outage. At that time, you have to go to the kitchen on the first floor to pull the switch. The prisoner can take advantage of this time to sneak out through the window of Teacher Zhengying's room."

"But the culprit's plan didn't work. Usually, only the wife lives in this house, but today there were nine guests. Moreover, Miss Zhanzi entered the room without touching the switch and even saw the culprit's face, so she was silenced."

"Isn't this strange?" Conan rolled his eyes. "How do you explain Ms. Nobuko's body?"

Kogoro Mouri said, "The culprit was probably still looking for something in the database, but we came up here at this time. The culprit probably took advantage of the power outage to move Ms. Nobuko's body to the end of the corridor and then escape from Mr. Seikage's room. He did this to buy time."

“That’s impossible,” Conan interrupted.

"Master Zhengying's room was right next to ours. If the criminal had come, we would have known by now, right? Besides, who would dare to steal from a place like this when they know there are many guests? And after killing someone, would they stay here for half an hour to search?"

"I haven't finished speaking yet," Kogoro Mouri scoffed. "Generally speaking, that's the only way to think about it. But if Mr. Hoshikawa, who caused the power outage by turning on the switch, is the culprit, then the situation is different."

"Huh?" Xinghe was stunned.

“That’s right. When the power went out, you could have stayed here and dragged the body of the person hiding in the database to the corridor in the dark, and returned to Akaso-san and the others before the lights came on.”

“Uncle Mori,” Conan interrupted, shaking his head, “I was right there, so I’m pretty sure Mr. Hoshikawa didn’t leave. Besides, dragging a body out of the archives in the dark is quite a commotion, and there was moonlight coming through the window, so there’s no way we wouldn’t have noticed.”

“That’s right,” Kazuha chimed in. “When the power went out, Ran and I were right behind him, so we’re pretty sure he didn’t leave!”

Kogoro Mouri's face darkened further, as if someone owed him money.

"Let's not talk about that for now," Conan asked about Mrs. Masakage's situation at the time of the incident, then turned to Hanta Riki and asked, "Mr. Hanta Riki, where were you when the power went out?"

“I’ve been sleeping in the room downstairs in this archive building, and then my wife came to call me for dinner,” Fan Tianli said.

"Right downstairs from the archives?" Kogoro Mouri looked at Hanta Riki with some suspicion. "Could it be that you killed Ms. Nobuko and then escaped downstairs through the window?"

"Didn't I already say that?" Fan Tianli said angrily, "My wife came to call me when the power went out. I was lying on the sofa at the time, and the power came back on after about a minute. Besides, the window in the archive is so small that it's impossible to get in or out!"

The police arrived at Masakage's house shortly afterward, and Inspector Megure breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Akaso Kaze at the scene.

"Then," asked Mrs. Megure, "is there anyone who is jealous or resentful of Master Megure? Knowing that you live alone and are familiar with the interior of this house, such a person is highly likely to commit the crime."

"Mr. Masakage's notebook from the missing place would be priceless if used in a magic performance. Think carefully, has anyone like that ever come here?"

“My husband isn’t the type to hold grudges, but…” Mrs. Zhengying hesitated.

"A few days ago, a few strange guests came in succession. They seemed to know about my husband's notebook."

"A few strange guests?" Inspector Megure's eyes lit up. "Do you remember them? What did they look like?"

“They’re not guests,” Chi Chufeng asserted directly. “The murderer is among us.”

"what?"

Mrs. Zhengying and Fan Tianli all focused their gazes on Chi Chufeng at the same time.

"W-what do you mean?"

“Lord Akatsuki,” Inspector Megure blinked blankly and said, “We have already found broken branches and traces of wiped-off footprints in the bushes below, right below Master Seikage’s room window.”

“It’s just a simple disguise,” Chi Chufeng chuckled softly. “In reality, the real culprit has always been here. What we see is just what the culprit wants us to see, like a magic show, right, Mr. Xinghe?”

"Akachu-san?" Kazuha exclaimed, her eyes wide. "But Mr. Hoshikawa has been standing in front of us the whole time."

“It’s true that the power went out when the person was with us, but Ms. Zhanzi had been murdered for more than half an hour, right? That’s enough time to set up the scene, including a fake story of the perpetrator escaping through the window.”

"What exactly happened to Miss Zhanzi's body? It couldn't have been moved by itself, could it?"

"The body has been here all along."

Akatsuka walked past Kogoro Mouri, who had a sour face.

Chapter 605 A beautiful night has fallen.

"The murderer acted in a very hasty manner. In fact, a careful investigation of the primary crime scene and the murder weapon would have easily revealed the problem. Everyone was just preoccupied with the mystery of the sudden appearance of the body. Once the mystery is solved, there will be no problem."

Chi Chufeng said slowly.

"Has Lord Akatsuki already deduced it?" Inspector Megure asked hurriedly.

"This is a house built by a magician. It doesn't make much sense to say that the corridors are so narrow simply because he didn't understand architecture."

Chi Chufeng walked to Mr. Zhengying's room and opened the door again.

"This door can't be fully opened, but it's pressed against the wall at a 45-degree angle, and don't you think this door is too thick?"

"This is..." Kogoro Mouri's eyelids twitched, and he immediately rushed to the door. Sure enough, he found that the door was much thicker than usual, and there was a vertical crack in the middle of the side of the door.

With a little force, the door actually split in the middle, becoming a regular door facing inwards and a mirrored door facing outwards.

The mirror at the mirrored door handle can be moved, allowing it to be attached to the regular door from there.

"Could it be?"

"That's right, it's specular reflection."

Chi Chufeng led the way into the room, looking up at the ceiling where the floor curtain had been retracted.

"The distance between the screen and the wall, and the fact that the screen reaches exactly the length of the front wall, along with the wardrobe doors on the wall like the archive door—these were all specially designed. With the screen down, doesn't it look like a hallway?"

Chi Chufeng moved the cabinet containing the telephone to a floor-to-ceiling window against the wall, blocking the lower half of the window.

He took out a vase from the cabinet that matched the shape and pattern of the vase in the hallway, and then lowered the curtain.

Megure stared in disbelief at Akatsuki's actions, and in no time at all, another corridor had been set up.

"Could it be that the illusion of a hallway inside the room is projected through a mirror? But is that really possible?"

"Of course, why don't you try and see?" Chi Chufeng said with a smile as he left the room.

"These arrangements were specially designed by Mr. Masakage from the missing place in order to perform magic. He must have tested them countless times. In addition, the corridor is dimly lit, making them almost indistinguishable from the real thing. You wouldn't notice them unless you paid special attention. However, they still have their flaws."

"shortcoming?"

"It's the shadow. If the window isn't covered, the direction of the shadow will be different depending on the angle of the moonlight."

Chi Chufeng opened the mirrored door and pressed it against the corridor wall. The specially designed mirrored door instantly became one with the wall and ceiling, and the fake corridor replaced the real corridor in front of everyone.

"So when we came here, we saw a fake corridor. After the power outage, we saw the real corridor with Ms. Zhanzi's body. Mr. Xinghe took advantage of us checking the body to call the police under the pretext of restoring the room to its original state."

Chi Chufeng looked at Madam Zhengying as he spoke.

"Madam should know right away that Mr. Xinghe is the criminal, right? Because Mr. Zhengying used this place to perform magic before, and there are still photos of that time in the album."

Masakage hesitated, avoiding eye contact, and glanced at the silent Hoshikawa Tongwu behind her.

"That's enough."

Xinghe Tongwu lowered his head.

"Just like Lord Akatsuki said, I acted on impulse. If we were to investigate the bloodstains, the evidence would be everywhere, unlike when I was performing magic..."