Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

Is this an attempt to lull the murderer into a false sense of security?

Chapter 216 Arai Becomes the Biggest Winner

“Voices can be faked.” Chu Ming looked at the briefcase that Iwama Nobuo was carrying. “Mr. Iwama, you’ve brought a tape recorder, haven’t you?”

Seeing the suspicious looks on everyone's faces, Nobuo Iwama quickly explained, "I just came from a meeting at school, and I always have the habit of recording important meetings. Even if you think my voice was recorded with a tape recorder, I still closed the windows!"

"There are many clever tricks to make windows close automatically. For example, you can use rubber bands, ice cubes, paper bags for chopsticks, and thumbtacks to create a mechanism that makes the window snap shut even when no one is there. I just noticed that the window of booth number three seems a bit damp, and there are thumbtack marks on it..."

"But these are just your suspicions, you—"

“You have no evidence to prove that I killed Jintian—” Chu Ming drawled out the rest of the sentence for him, then looked at him mockingly, “Is that what you wanted to say?”

Iwama Nobuo, whose lines had been stolen by Chu Ming, turned ashen-faced and was too angry to speak.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Chu Ming waved his hand generously: "Why do you all like to ask people for evidence? Do you think that even if my reasoning is very close to the truth, I can't convict you without evidence? Tch, don't take chances, okay? Here, the evidence is a piece of caviar on the deceased's hand."

Before Iwama Nobuo could react, Chu Ming, who had secretly spoken with Conan, gave him a wink.

Conan jumped up suddenly, grabbed Iwama Nobuo's sleeve, and pulled his jacket halfway off: "Huh? That's strange! I knew this uncle smelled nice, turns out he got caviar on his clothes!"

Iwama Nobuo was so startled by Conan's tug that his heart nearly jumped out of his chest, and he couldn't help but roar, "Is it a problem if I accidentally got caviar on myself?"

"But just now, when everyone was heading towards Box 8, I saw Uncle slowly standing at the door putting on his coat. Would a normal person put on their coat when they hear a scream and rush out the door? Uncle, you're really strange." Conan pointed out Iwama Nobuo's clue in his childish voice.

“Exactly, when most people rush out the door, they only take the door with them,” Chu Ming replied instinctively.

"..."

"..."

After thinking for a while, Conan finally understood what Chu Ming meant. He couldn't help but stare blankly, "Chu Ming, can you be serious for once?!"

"I want to maintain my image. After all, I'm a professor, and it doesn't look good to have stains on my clothes," Nobuo Iwama stubbornly refused to admit.

"Tch, you still don't understand what I mean. When the deceased left your private room, the caviar shouldn't have been served yet, so how could it be on his hands? It could only have come from your clothes. In other words, his fingerprints should have been on that piece of caviar on your clothes."

Seeing that Iwama Nobuo didn't understand the evidence he was giving, Chu Ming broke it down and explained it to him in detail. Sigh, this criminal doesn't seem very smart, even though he's a physics professor.

"Mr. Iwama, you must have hidden under the food delivery boat to get to Box 8, right? After all, you're quite small, so it would have been easy for you to squeeze in." Seeing that Chu Ming wouldn't reveal his method, Conan couldn't help but chime in.

Nobuo Iwama couldn't help but kneel on the ground, tears streaming down his face: "It's all—"

“It’s all his fault—” Chu Ming dubbed for him again, then couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “It seems like every murderer has his reasons, but who do you want to empathize with? You should save the details for the police.”

Then he patted his behind and walked away leisurely, leaving Iwama Nobuo kneeling on the ground, unsure whether he should continue to cry.

Conan was all set to listen intently to his murder confession, but Chu Ming's words silenced him, leaving him with a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty.

Seeing Conan looking at him with a resentful expression, Chu Ming stepped forward and pinched the back of his neck: "It seems that Mr. Arai has become the biggest winner this time. The professor killed the associate professor, so his assistant can directly become the professor tonight. Tsk tsk."

"..."

Rum, who was standing nearby, heard Chu Ming and Conan joking and laughing, and his thoughts were in turmoil.

Wow, this is amazing! If the organization wants to recommend any new political figures in the future, this method seems pretty good.

Entrusting the task of taking a statement to Conan, Chu Ming shook his head and followed Rum out of the restaurant.

"Chu Ming, is that Kogoro Mouri really a famous detective? When I watched him solve cases, he seemed to have no clues at all. He just wandered around without looking for any clues, and even testified for the suspects—" Rum frowned as he spoke. Is this really the kind of behavior a famous detective would do?

“He’s hiding his true abilities.” Chu Ming chuckled. “After all, he’s a disciple of Shiota Heihachiro, and he has the same personality as his master. Although he’s lecherous and shameless, he can be quite interesting when he gets serious. Uncle can keep an eye on him when he has time.”

Rum nodded thoughtfully, then turned to Chu Ming, trying to spur him on: "Chu Ming, you should start building your own network too. Look, Vodka, whom Gin personally mentored, is practically a core member now, and he's incredibly loyal to Gin; Vermouth has so many suitors and plenty of followers; Ireland is Pisco's adopted son and doesn't lack manpower; Cohen and Chianti support each other; Margot has a dedicated team among the peripheral members; Laffitte..."

Rum rattled off the names of nearly twenty people in the action team. Most of them had their own circles, but Chu Ming was all alone.

"Since you don't want to join my intelligence group but want to be the leader of the action group, you must have your own power base, right? Otherwise, with so many people in the action group, why would Gin give you the position? Besides, Gin himself is only twenty-nine or thirty years old. How could he decide on a successor so quickly? Chu Ming, if you want to rise to the top, you can't rely on your own efforts alone. But your uncle will help you, don't worry."

Rum subtly encouraged Chu Ming, while also trying to sow discord between him and Gin from various angles.

Chapter 217 Rum's promise was quite a good one.

"There are so many people in the action team? I thought it was just Vermouth, Gin, and Chianti Cohen and a few others..." Chu Ming was a little shocked. He had never seen the others before!

Rum was also somewhat shocked: "With such a large organization, how could the action group only have a few people? Gin is the head of the action groups for all countries in the organization. Even if you rise to a higher position, you'll most likely start as the head of the Japanese action group. But it's different for you to come to the intelligence group. I'm getting old, so I'll definitely groom you to be the head of the group—"

Before they had exchanged more than a few words, Rum began to tempt Chu Ming again.

"..." He was shamefully tempted again. The head of the general team, isn't that more prestigious than being the head of the Japanese branch?

Rum, seeing that he had succeeded, stopped trying to persuade Chu Ming. Instead, he changed the subject and started telling Chu Ming about the organization's size and the members of the action team whom Chu Ming had never met before. He also occasionally tucked in his own praise for how amazing the intelligence team was, which was something Gin hadn't told him before.

…………

After parting ways with Rum, Chu Ming was blocked at the entrance by Vermouth as soon as he entered the base.

"Oh, so you actually came back? Did you have a good date with Rum? You actually decided to come back?"

Hearing Vermouth's deliberately mournful words, Chu Ming couldn't help but touch his nose: "Sister, please don't make fun of me, I just..."

Vermouth tossed her long hair, turned, and walked into the room: "Sigh, you were just putting on an act, I know it all, I'm just a little sad—"

"..." Chu Ming was speechless.

It seems Vermouth has been acting a bit dramatic lately.

Chu Ming walked straight to Gin's office. As soon as he pushed open the door, a choking cloud of smoke rushed out. Gin was smoking inside, and the doors and windows were all closed. Chu Ming coughed repeatedly from the smoke, and his eyes turned red.

"Big brother, is your place on fire???" Chu Ming walked in, covering his mouth and nose, and opened all the doors and windows to ventilate the room.

Gin stubbed out his cigarette on the table: "What did Rum say to you?"

At this point, Chu Ming stopped coughing and leaned closer to Gin: "Big brother, Rum said he wants to give me the position of head of the intelligence group. What do you think? Should I agree to his request? That way, we can join forces, I'll be the intellectual and you'll be the martial, and together we'll create a bright new future for the distillery!"

Gin pushed away his head that was leaning in: "The position of head of the intelligence group is not something he can just give you. Even if Rum steps down, personnel changes still require the BOSS's approval. Not to mention you are from the action group, so taking over the intelligence group would be illegitimate. He was just lying to you."

???

So Rum was just making empty promises to him?

unacceptable!

Those who play with intelligence are truly wicked!

"You'll be assigned a mission in a couple of days." Gin handed a document to Chu Ming.

"The Crystal Restaurant??" Chu Ming quickly flipped through the information. "Wasn't this restaurant just built? Why would they blow it up?"

"This was built with funding from the Mud Ginseng Association, and all of the Mud Ginseng Association's working capital is in here. The BOSS has decided to take action against the Mud Ginseng Association. You can use whatever method you want, but there is one condition: our organization cannot be exposed when we bomb it. You will go and scout the location in the next two days. Margot and Lafitte will finish their business in the UK and return home next week. You haven't met these two people yet, so this is a good opportunity for you to get to know them. You will work together to complete this mission."

Chu Ming's eyes flickered slightly. Crystal... that sounded familiar. It seemed to be a crystal that had just been built and was eventually blown up because of Conan's visit.

It seems there are three more magnetic fields waiting for him.

Yay! V(＾－＾)V

--------

After lounging around the base for a few days, Chu Ming finally remembered he had a mission and was about to head out when he received a call from Xiao Lan.

"Xiaolan, what's the matter?"

"Brother Chu Ming, where are you?" Xiao Lan's anxious voice came through the phone.

"I'm at the company, just about to go home, what's up?"

"You're in danger. Shall we come find you now?"

???

Chu Ming looked around. Apart from Gin, Vermouth, and Vodka, there was no one else in the base.

The base is easy to defend and difficult to attack, with numerous traps and mechanisms; what danger could it possibly pose?

Wait—they're coming to see me? To the base?

Chu Ming quickly stopped him: "It's nothing, I was just about to go home. What's wrong? Is something the matter? Are you at the firm? I'll come to the firm to find you."

"Okay, Brother Chu Ming, see you later."

Chu Ming found it strange and hurriedly drove to the Mouri Detective Agency.

As soon as I entered, Xiaolan dropped a bomb on me.

"You mean, someone is hurting the people around Uncle Mori according to the order of playing cards? But there's no number in my name?"

“Yes, the character ‘Chu’ in Chu Ming’s name contains two ‘ten’ characters, and the character ‘Non’ in Fujino’s name also contains a ‘ten’, so this ‘ten’ must refer to Chu Ming.” Xiao Lan’s brows furrowed with lingering worry.

"Even if it's me, it doesn't matter. It's just bad luck for the murderer to run into me." Chu Ming waved his hand, not taking it to heart.

Conan nodded in agreement. That was absolutely right. He looked at Ran with some concern. Ever since Ran learned yesterday that Uncle had resigned from the police station because he accidentally shot Eri Kisaki, she had been depressed.

Looking at Chu Ming sitting to the side, Conan suddenly looked up and asked him, "Brother Chu Ming, if someone is kidnapped, and another person shoots and wounds their leg to save them, what do you think would be the reason?"

"Huh?" Chu Ming was taken aback by the question. "So that the criminals would drop the person off."

Xiaolan perked up: "Why would the criminal leave someone behind?"

Chu Ming pulled Conan over to demonstrate: "Look, when I hold a hostage and walk, he's forced to follow me, right? But if he's injured his leg and can't even stand, and I have to drag him along, then he'll become a burden, and in the end I'll have to abandon the hostage."

Xiaolan got the answer, and the light in her eyes gradually returned. So that's how it is! That must be it!

She knew that there was still affection between her father and mother!

Seeing that Ran had regained her spirits, Conan breathed a sigh of relief.

Chapter 218 Crash