Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

Chu Ming followed the magnetic field and returned to the detective agency with a dejected Kogoro Mouri.

Just as Chu Ming was about to say something to comfort Kogoro Mouri, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a young man with an anxious expression rushed in: "Mr. Mouri! Please help me, Mr. Mouri!"

Looking at the young man who looked almost exactly like the old man from last night, Chu Ming revealed a mocking smile.

…………

"You mean to say that you didn't actually kill Professor Irie? His argument with you was just to give you an alibi so that you would kill Professor Izumura?"

After listening to Hiroshi Nakamoto's explanation, Kogoro Mouri couldn't help but scratch his head. What was going on? When did Beika become so strange?

Hiroshi Nakamoto was extremely frustrated: "As expected, even Mr. Mori is unwilling to help me... If only I could find last night's recording, I could prove that what I said was true!"

Chu Ming took a sip of tea, adding fuel to the fire of Nakamoto Hiroshi's own script: "This kind of evidence must have been destroyed by the murderer long ago, right? Since the murderer was able to frame you, they wouldn't be stupid enough to just throw away such crucial evidence anywhere, would they?"

Hiroshi Nakamoto choked for a moment, then tried to force the story forward: "Yeah, the police found the tapes in the room, so the murderer must have taken them out and thrown them away, right?"

Chu Ming continued to cause trouble: "It's probably already been crushed by the murderer... Surely the murderer wouldn't be so stupid as to throw away the whole tape?"

Hiroshi Nakamoto really wanted to shut Chu Ming up and make him stop talking, but that would ruin his act. So he could only try to suppress his anger and ignore him: "What should I do, Mr. Mori? Can you help me and think of a solution?"

Conan jumped off the sofa and called to everyone, "Why don't we go help our big brother look for it? What if the culprit is somewhere?"

Chu Ming remained noncommittal and followed the others out to explore the route the murderer had taken to escape.

As he was walking, Kogoro Mouri suddenly saw a sanitation worker picking up trash and quickly put on gloves: "Wait, don't collect it, wait a minute!!!"

Then he snatched the trash bag and started rummaging through it.

This level of skill is like that of an old lady in the neighborhood who's always grabbing the trash.

"...How could this possibly exist—" Conan's words were barely out of his mouth when he saw Kogoro Mouri holding up the cassette tape, his face beaming with excitement: "Found it! Found it!!"

"So smooth... This is too fake..." Chu Ming casually complained to Conan. Officer Takagi, who was lying in ambush nearby, also ran out. They were responsible for monitoring Nakamoto Hiroshi, who was a major suspect, and they happened to be going back with Uncle Mori to listen to the recording.

After listening to the recording, Hiroshi Nakamoto felt that this should prove that he was indeed not at Irie's house last night, and he started to stir up trouble: "I waited at the professor's house for a long time last night, but the professor never came home. However, the professor told the police that he was in the study all night! I just can't understand why the professor would lie to the police!"

At this point, Hiroshi Nakamoto deliberately paused, hoping someone would pick up where he left off and let him continue.

However, Kogoro Mouri and Conan were stroking their chins, deep in thought, while Chu Ming sat on the sofa with a half-smile. Takagi and Ran looked at them blankly, and no one responded to him or even showed any reaction.

Hiroshi Nakamoto gritted his teeth inwardly and could only continue to guide Kogoro Mouri: "Does the professor have something he can't let the police know about?"

Having grown accustomed to being chased around and fed by Conan, Kogoro Mouri finally understood what Hiroshi Nakamoto meant after he got to this point, and slammed his fist on the table: "Could it be...!!"

Hiroshi Nakamoto's eyes lit up as he waited for Kogoro Mouri to say the words he wanted to hear.

"Could he be lying?"

Hiroshi Nakamoto almost choked on his breath, but having come this far, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask, "Did the professor go somewhere he can't tell anyone?"

Kogoro Mouri finally caught on: "Could it be that Professor Izumura killed Mr. Irie?"

Seeing that Kogoro Mouri had finally asked the question he wanted to ask, Hiroshi Nakamoto tried to 'defend' the professor, but the more he explained, the worse it got: "How could that be? The professor didn't know we were going to kill him. We were discussing it at Irie's villa. The professor couldn't have overheard our plan."

"Eavesdropping?" Kogoro Mori exclaimed in realization, "It must be eavesdropping!"

Then, Kogoro Mouri bluntly ordered Takagi to check Irie's villa. Sure enough, they found that the socket was loose and there were traces of a bugging device. At this point, it was very clear that Professor Izumura must have known through the bugging device that Nakamoto and Irie wanted to kill him using his alibi. So he simply turned the tables, disguised himself, went to Irie's house, killed him, and took the tape, trying to frame Nakamoto.

Conan was shocked after hearing Kogoro Mouri's reasoning; this time, his uncle's reasoning was flawless!

Impossible, absolutely impossible. Think quickly, what other problems have you overlooked?

Chapter 247 Conan's Life Was Stolen

Seeing that Inspector Megure had already accepted Kogoro Mouri's reasoning and was preparing to have Takagi apply for an arrest warrant to arrest Professor Izumura, Conan became a little anxious.

He reached out and poked Chu Ming: "Brother Chu Ming, do you feel like something's not right?"

Chu Ming didn't lower his voice like Conan did; instead, he raised it even higher: "Of course there's a problem. Didn't you notice that Uncle Mori's reasoning throughout was guided by someone?"

Conan suddenly realized that he felt like someone had been stealing his lines. It turned out that what Nakamoto Hiroshi was doing today was something he had already done before. He said that some of the lines sounded so familiar...

Kogoro Mouri waved his hand: "Impossible. What guidance? I feel that today's reasoning is no different from before."

Chu Ming glanced at Conan discreetly. Of course, there was no difference. Someone had guided you before, but today it was just a different person. Was Kogoro Mouri implying something?

Conan suddenly remembered something and ran downstairs.

Chu Ming ignored him and continued, "When Mr. Nakamoto first came over, he kept insisting that he was innocent and that the tape could prove his innocence. But in my opinion, how stupid would the murderer have to be to just throw such crucial evidence in the trash without taking any destructive measures?"

"Afterwards, having easily found enough evidence to prove the truth of his words, Mr. Nakamoto probably felt that his credibility with the uncle should have increased, so he began to guide the uncle to suspect his professor, and then emphasized to the uncle that it was possible that the professor had eavesdropped on their conversation."

Chu Ming took a sip of water and continued his rant: "But besides this tape, your previous testimony didn't contain any concrete evidence. You said you spent the whole night lurking at the professor's house, but the professor wasn't home at all; the professor himself said he stayed in his study all day and didn't go out. There's no evidence to prove either of these statements. The so-called bugging device could have been planted by the professor, or you could have planted it yourself. So why are you suddenly applying for an arrest warrant for the professor? Is this some kind of joke?"

Chu Ming simply couldn't understand the thought process of the Japanese police.

The group exchanged bewildered glances, and finally, Inspector Megure sheepishly returned to the sofa, humbly asking, "Brother Chu Ming, who do you think the murderer is?"

Hiroshi Nakamoto was secretly pleased that things were going according to plan, but then Chu Ming suddenly appeared out of nowhere, completely disrupting his plans. He was furious inside, but he didn't show it on his face and sat on the sofa with a worried expression.

Chu Ming pointed to the flyer that Conan had left behind when he ran out: "This flyer was given out by a self-service bar near Beika Station. The uncle said he saw it in his mailbox yesterday. I checked, and that bar usually doesn't send flyers here, so someone must have put this flyer in the uncle's mailbox."

"Did the murderer let it in?" Inspector Megure asked excitedly.

Chu Ming looked at Nakamoto Hiroshi: "Conan probably went down to ask the waitress at the restaurant downstairs, but even if no one saw him, there must be fingerprints on the flyer. We can find out by checking."

Seeing that things were about to be exposed, Hiroshi Nakamoto gritted his teeth and, in a desperate move, declared: "I was the one who put out the flyers..."

Inspector Megure immediately stood up: "You're the murderer? You—"

Unfortunately, Hiroshi Nakamoto admitted that it was not to plead guilty, but to exonerate himself.

"What murderer? I did put this flyer down, so what? I just admire Mr. Mori, and I'd heard he was a heavy drinker, so I put the flyer in his mailbox on a whim, hoping to bump into him sometime when I went there for a drink. What can a flyer prove?"

Chu Ming was shocked by Hiroshi Nakamoto's stubbornness. These murderers in the world of Detective Conan must be bullying newcomers!

In the original storyline, Conan logged into Kogoro Mouri's account during the deduction, and Hiroshi Nakamoto clearly confessed because of that flyer with fingerprints on it! Now that it's his turn to deduce, he's actually denying it!!!

I'm so angry! This damn world will, this damn protagonist halo!

Just then, Conan, panting, led a waitress from the coffee shop downstairs upstairs. As soon as he entered, he called out to Chu Ming, "Brother Chu Ming, Sister Xiao Zi said she saw Mr. Nakamoto putting flyers in the mailbox..."

All eyes immediately turned to them, and Hiroshi Nakamoto's face was full of sarcasm: "What are you looking for witnesses for? Didn't I already admit that I released them? So what? Do you have any other evidence?"

Conan stood dumbfounded at the door. He had only gone downstairs for ten minutes to investigate, so how did things get to this point?

Chu Ming looked at the mocking expression on Nakamoto Hiroshi's face and raised an eyebrow: "Mr. Nakamoto, don't speak too soon. You just think we have no evidence, right? Do you know that the trash can we just went through usually gets collected by cleaners at six in the morning? You said there was a murder case last night, and the criminal who escaped in the middle of the night, why would he come back to the scene after the trash was collected and throw away a crucial piece of evidence?"

Hiroshi Nakamoto's expression changed, but he still stubbornly refused to budge: "How should I know? I'm not the murderer!"

Chu Ming sneered, "Mr. Nakamoto probably didn't notice, but three days ago, the property management installed a camera specifically to address the littering around that trash can. The police will check the surveillance footage later and find out which idiot brazenly threw evidence near a trash can that's under surveillance. That's real torture!"

Hiroshi Nakamoto jumped to his feet: "You're talking nonsense! I clearly didn't see you throw it—"

"Oh?" Chu Ming smiled enigmatically. "What did Mr. Nakamoto see when he threw it?"

Hiroshi Nakamoto's expression was complicated, but he quickly slumped back onto the sofa, looking dejected. "You tricked me..."

"It's not exactly a scam, there really is a camera there, right under the lamppost across the street."

Chu Ming was very sensitive to cameras and could spot them at a glance.

With no way to defend himself and having been forced to confess, Nakamoto had no choice but to bow his head and admit his crimes.

Chu Ming had no interest in Nakamoto's inner thoughts and urged the police to take him away as soon as possible.

After a short while, Conan handed a letter to Kogoro Mouri: "Uncle, I just found a letter in the mailbox downstairs. It's addressed to you."

Kogoro Mouri, who had been led astray into making the wrong deduction and was feeling quite uncomfortable, casually threw the letter on the table upon hearing this: "Ugh, it's probably another letter from a fan. I won't read it."

Ran walked over and looked helplessly at Kogoro Mouri, who seemed to have no bones and was lazily sprawled on the table. She opened the letter and read: "Dad, it's an invitation. It says that the famous detective Kogoro Mouri is invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Tenbu Mountain Tourism Exhibition. I wonder if you would be willing to do me the honor."

Upon hearing someone praise him, Kogoro Mouri sat up straight: "A reward! When?!"

Chapter 248 Life's Not Bad

"Those devils who defile faith! They actually carved a hole in the middle of the sacred celestial statue just to let a damned cable car pass through! They are disrespectful to the gods!! Such an unforgivable crime!! They will surely be punished..."

On the bullet train, an old woman was shouting at the top of her lungs, telling Kogoro Mouri and others about the despicable things about Domoto Tourism Company. Chu Ming and the others watched her performance with blank expressions.

The old woman gently exhaled: "Sigh, I feel much better after venting to you all. By the way, what are you all doing going to Tianbu Mountain?"

Xiaolan seemed a little scared and stammered, "Well, we just...we just came here for a stroll, nothing much, hahaha..."

Chu Ming and Conan secretly mocked her at the same time. When it comes to ghosts and gods, Ran is the one who is most afraid. In fact, they came here to attend the opening ceremony of the Tianbu Mountain sightseeing tour and to ride that damned cable car that the old woman mentioned.

The invitation that Conan brought up yesterday afternoon was sent by Domoto Tourism Company. Chu Ming checked the news last night and found that there was a conflict between the local residents of Tianbu Mountain and the cable car project of Tianbu Mountain, which was undertaken by the tourism project. If there is a conflict, there will definitely be an incident in the Conan world, especially since the organizer actually took the initiative to invite the Grim Reaper.

So last night, Chu Ming decisively called Uncle Mori and asked if he could go with him to see what the so-called Sky Cable Car was like. Mori Kogoro, who was beaming with pride from Chu Ming's praise on the phone, readily agreed to his request.

The bullet train stopped at Tianbu Station. Chu Ming yawned and got off the train with Kogoro Mouri, only to find that a familiar yawn overlapped with his own voice.

Looking in the direction of the sound, Chu Ming and Conan both turned pale.

But before Conan could say anything, Chu Ming spoke first: "You little tagalong! What are you doing here?"

Lafitte, yawning, opened his sleepy eyes, seemingly stunned by the sudden accusation. He stared at Chu Ming for a few seconds before realizing what was happening, and then jumped up in anger.

"What are you doing here? It's okay if your head is empty, but the important thing is not to get water in it. Who's following you around for no reason? I'm here on important business!"

"What important business could you possibly have? You're not just skipping work to go out and have fun, are you?"

Lafitte rolled her eyes gracefully, ignoring him, and put on a professional smile, greeting Xiaolan and the others.

Conan, curious, squeezed through and used his own body to shield Lafitte and Ran: "Watanabe-sama—uh, brother, are you here to ride the cable car too?"

Shocked by Lafitte's pitiful and aggrieved look, Conan reluctantly changed his address from "grandfather" to "brother".