Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

Lafitte turned his head away: "You go back, I'll slack off."

……

Neither of them could persuade the other, and in the end, they boarded the old-fashioned bus together on their way to Yingqiao Village.

Because Conan had the advantage of being close to Ran, he ended up sitting next to her, leaving Lafitte sitting next to Chu Ming, looking unhappy and dozing off. Chu Ming also leaned against him and closed his eyes to rest.

Suddenly, as the bus grew noisier, a magnetic field slowly seeped into his body. Chu Ming opened his eyes in surprise and saw an old man clutching his neck, collapsed at his feet.

He only knew that following Conan would bring him extra money!

Kogoro Mouri quickly stood up to maintain order. After revealing his identity, he arranged for all the passengers to move to the back of the carriage, separating them from the corpses.

Lafitte stood up and walked to the body to examine it: "It's poisoning."

Chu Ming nodded and pointed to the leaking bottle lying on the ground: "The toxins were probably injected through that needle hole."

Kogoro Mouri quickly ordered everyone to be searched; whoever was found to have a syringe or medicine was the murderer.

"It's no use. The car has been going on for a while now. Maybe the murderer already threw the weapon out the window, or maybe the murderer got out of the car midway."

Conan, hands in his pockets, made no attempt to conceal his actions, openly and blatantly making his deductions.

Lafitte became increasingly suspicious that there was something fishy about Kogoro Mouri's reputation as a famous detective; his reasoning ability was even inferior to that of a child.

The police parked the car at the village entrance and began to cordon off the scene.

While Kogoro Mouri and the police were talking, Lafitte quietly asked Chu Ming, "You've been following this detective the whole time. Have you noticed anything wrong with his detective skills? Even that first-grader is better than him. Is his reputation just hype?"

"No, it's just that his detective skills are affected by his emotional fluctuations."

PS: [Sorry for the filler chapter QAQ The first day after a long holiday is always so busy, two chapters tomorrow]

Chapter 237 I, the Dog King of the Organization

Lafitte was probably getting old and his mind was becoming muddled. He couldn't connect with Chu Ming's language and completely failed to understand what Chu Ming meant. Of course, Chu Ming didn't intend to explain it to him either.

This village is extremely xenophobic; even a simple survey can provoke resentment and displeasure from the villagers.

Chu Ming stood upstairs at the hotel, watching Kogoro Mouri, who was bursting with excitement because of the 100,000 yen commission offered by the village chief, rushing out to investigate Mr. Okumura's death thoroughly. However, his enthusiasm was met with countless closed doors.

"Tsk, what a pitiful detective. Aren't you going down to help him?" Lafitte had also appeared at the window at some point.

"What does this have to do with me? You like his daughter so much, why don't you go and help him?" Chu Ming scoffed.

"I like his daughter, not him, so why should I help him?"

Lafitte handed his phone to Chu Ming, gesturing for him to take it. After Chu Ming took it, he turned and ran to his room.

"What are you doing?" Chu Ming took the phone, bewildered. He looked down at the screen and saw that it was a call with Gin. The call had just been connected, and the call duration was gradually increasing.

? ? ? ?

Chu Ming didn't expect Lafitte to be such a scoundrel. Good grief, trying to shift the blame, huh? Looks like you don't know that I, Granbury, am the king of dogs in the organization.

"Gin?" Chu Ming instantly switched to Lafitte's voice. Hmph, back then Vermouth not only taught him disguise, but also voice changing.

"The car I sent for you and Granburg is back. Why aren't you two in it?" Gin's sinister voice came through the receiver. If the two of them were in front of him now, he might have to shoot each of them to vent his hatred.

“We got involved in a case, and the driver who came to pick us up wasn’t identified, so I let him go home first.”

"Really? But that's not what the driver said when he came back." Gin scoffed, clearly not believing him.

"You actually believe a driver but not me?"

Tsk, what kind of image does Lafitte have in Gin's mind? Not even as good as a mere escort?

Gin snorted coldly: "Give the phone to Granbury, I'll ask him."

Well, it seems that in Gin's mind, his reputation is still higher than Lafitte's.

"Big brother~" Chu Ming happily switched back to his own voice, "Don't worry, I'll solve this case soon, and I can go back tomorrow."

"I remember telling you to come back immediately after you finish your mission." Gin's voice was somewhat cold, tinged with a hint of murderous intent.

"I've been dragged into this case, haven't I—" Chu Ming drawled.

Gin interrupted him directly: "When you got off the car with that detective, there wasn't a case. Have you forgotten that all the vehicles the organization sends out are monitored and listened to? You went out on a mission with Lafitte for two days, and now you're just spouting nonsense like him?"

"..." This is awkward, isn't it? He really didn't know...

"I was just joking with you, haha. But you can't hide it from me, brother. Here's the thing, I heard from Kogoro Mouri that they were going to visit Kagekura Village, so I planned to go along and complete a small task on the side. Lafitte thought I was going to slack off, and he insisted on coming along to skip it. When we get back, you have to give him a good scolding, brother." Chu Ming said confidently, as if going to Kagekura Village was really something important.

"Kagekuri Village?" Gin thought for a while, but couldn't recall any missions involving this village, so he simply stopped thinking about it. "I'll be at the base by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

"Good~"

After Gin hung up the phone, Chu Ming looked at the phone belonging to Lafitte in his hand and suddenly smiled maliciously.

-------

By the time Lafitte shamelessly tried to ask Chu Ming for his phone back, it was already evening.

"You tricked me and you still have the nerve to ask me for my phone back?"

"I remember you were a huge fan of Gin, weren't you? He even taught you how to fight. I gave you the chance to talk to him, shouldn't you thank me?" Lafitte shamelessly snatched the phone while Chu Ming was still in shock.

Who spread this rumor?

Why do you idolize Gin so much? Anyone who wants to learn this fighting style can go ahead...

"Are you envious? When we get back to Tokyo, do you want to learn from Big Brother? Don't let his cold demeanor fool you; when it comes to his favorite things like fighting and firearms, he teaches you step-by-step with incredible patience. If one time isn't enough, he'll try again; if two times aren't enough, he'll try three or four times—he never gets tired of it." Chu Ming subtly encouraged Lafitte. "I think you have a real talent for fighting, but you're missing a qualified teacher. Why don't you come with me to study with Big Brother when we get to Tokyo?"

Lafitte was somewhat tempted. Fighting was indeed his weakness, and this was the first time he had heard someone say that he had a talent for fighting... But would someone like Gin really be able to teach others?

Seeing that Lafitte was somewhat interested, Chu Ming intensified his persuasion: "How about this, we'll go to the training ground together to find Big Brother tomorrow afternoon. You'll see if you try it. If you don't like it, you can just not go next time."

Anyway, you'll die if you try it, so who cares if you go a second time?

“Okay, then I’ll go with you tomorrow afternoon to take a look.” Although Lafitte suspected that Chu Ming had some ulterior motives, he thought it was just a visit and there shouldn’t be any problem, so he agreed.

Seeing this, Chu Ming patted Lafitte on the shoulder, full of satisfaction: "You—"

"Ah—" Xiaolan's scream came late but arrived.

"It's that girl!" Lafitte jumped out of the window and ran in the direction of the sound.

Watching Lafitte leap down with such agility, Chu Ming couldn't help but gasp. Xiao Lan was practically Lafitte's voice-activated switch. Normally, he was lazy and would rather lie down than stand up, but upon hearing Xiao Lan's exclamation, he would be faster than a rabbit.

Chu Ming shook his head, resignedly followed behind him, and chased after him in the direction of the Shadow Shovel Shrine.

"Xiao Lan, are you alright?" Chu Ming encountered Conan and the village guards on the way. Seeing Conan struggling to keep up with the two with his short legs, he picked him up and carried him.

"It's alright, thankfully Mr. Watanabe arrived in time." Xiaolan glanced gratefully at Lafitte. Whenever she was scared, her mind would go blank, and she would completely forget about fighting or karate.

"I'm glad you're alright." Lafitte smiled shyly and pointed to the two people lying on the ground in front of him. "I've already subdued the person who bumped into Miss Mori."

Conan turned on his wristwatch-shaped flashlight and shone it on the ground. Lying on top of it, with a large bump on his head, was Mr. Yabe, the leader of the youth group. Beneath him was Village Chief Funaki, who had been stabbed in the heart and died on the spot.

It's rare to find a case that contributes two magnetic fields at once, and Chu Ming felt quite pleased.

At this moment, Commander Yabe rubbed his head and regained consciousness. Looking at the village chief who was already dead beside him, and then at the people around him, he murmured in despair, "The village chief asked me to come. When I got here, the village chief was already dead. But even if I say now that I'm not the murderer, you won't believe me, right..."

No, I believe it.

Chapter 238 An Ordinary College Student

Chu Ming stood beside Lafitte, watching Yabe Takuro look at him as if he were a savior, and continued, "But it's no use me believing him, the police don't believe me."

The hope in Yabe Takuro's eyes was like a candle flame in a strong wind, which was extinguished in a flash.

Conan secretly pulled Chu Ming aside: "Brother Chu Ming, can you find out what exactly happened here seven years ago?"

Chu Ming crouched down and whispered to Conan, "I didn't bring my computer today. Why don't you call Agasa's Magic House and ask for some Magic Tools to help us out?"

Conan looked at Chu Ming speechlessly. What kind of nonsense was this? Just ask Professor Agasa, what is Miaomiao anyway?

Sigh, Brother Chuming keeps spouting some strange words.

Conan successfully made contact with his intelligence provider and is working hard to figure out the case.

Lafitte took the opportunity to say that it was too late and not safe, so he would take Ran back to her hotel. As for Conan, Chu Ming would take him back later.

Watching Ran and Laffitte leave, chatting and laughing, and then looking at Conan, who was still talking to Professor Agasa without realizing his house was about to be robbed, he slowly sighed.

Conan, Conan, you need to be more careful!

Just because you confess your feelings doesn't mean you can act recklessly!

Chu Ming nudged Conan, who turned around and asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Brother Chu Ming? Oh—the police officers are going to take Yabe Takuro away for interrogation, right? Come on, let's go too!"

"No, didn't you think—"

Conan was so engrossed in the case that he was completely oblivious to everything. After taking a couple of steps, he turned back and asked Chu Ming in a strange tone, "Come on, Chu Ming, hurry up, or we'll miss the clues."

……Fine.

Since he was only a suspect and there was no concrete evidence, Officer Hino took Yabe to the village police station for a temporary questioning.

Ran almost bumped into the culprit on her way to find Conan. If Lafitte hadn't arrived in time, the culprit might have attacked Ran to silence her.

Kogoro Mori grew angrier the more he thought about it, slamming his fist on the table and shouting, "Why did you kill the village chief?!" He was ruined by the chief's promise of payment!

“I really didn’t kill him. I had just arrived at the shrine when I heard the village chief shouting. Your daughter happened to be passing by when I went that way. I couldn’t explain myself if I was seen like that, so I tried to run away. But I hadn’t gone more than a few steps when that white-haired guy knocked me unconscious…”

"Then what were you doing at the shrine in the middle of the night?" Kogoro Mori was skilled in interrogation techniques and pressed on relentlessly.

"It was the village chief who arranged to meet me!"