Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

Chu Ming glanced sideways at Tanaka Yura: "Oh~ you're the only one who bought it, then—"

Tanaka Yura took two steps back, then suddenly his face turned fierce. He pulled out a sharp knife from his side and stabbed at Chu Ming: "Baka! I'll take you down with me if I'm taken away! Die!"

You think you can drag me down with you?

Besides, didn't Kogoro Mouri expose you like that back then? Why didn't you break down then? Are you bullying me because I'm from out of town?

Chu Ming dodged the knife, which was full of openings, and blocked Tanaka Yura's wrist holding the knife. He then grabbed it with his other hand, twisted it behind Tanaka's back, and kicked him in the knee at the same time, pressing the unsteady Tanaka Yura to the ground.

The movements were fluid and seamless; before the police officer next to him could react, Chu Ming had already subdued him.

"Watch out—ah, uh, this gentleman is quite skilled, hahaha..."

The policeman standing nearby was visibly bewildered. Their small town rarely saw a murder, and today's case—a murder and a direct assault—was truly testing his nerves. "No wonder Mr. Mori is so famous throughout the country; it turns out your working environment is so harsh and dangerous—"

Kogoro Mouri was a little embarrassed by the praise. He said that others might not believe it, but he felt that there was no danger. He thought the case would be solved after he took a nap. The only problem was that his neck hurt a little. He guessed that he had been sleeping with his neck hunched over, which made him a bit stiff.

The police stepped forward and handcuffed Tanaka Yura. Chu Ming, from an angle unseen by others, revealed a malicious smile to him. There weren't many people who dared to lay a hand on him anymore. He hoped that this Dr. Tanaka would enjoy his prison life and let him think about who in his organization could tamper with things in prison.

Just as the police were about to take Tanaka Yura away, Fuji Kota, who had met Kogoro Mouri and his group on the beach the previous morning, came running over, scrambling to his feet: "It's terrible, officer! Something terrible has happened! Someone's dead on the cliff top! Oh, Mr. Mouri, you're here too?"

"What? Someone else died??????"

Compared to the policeman next to him who looked like he'd been struck by lightning and felt like he was having a run of bad luck, the battle-hardened Kogoro Mouri appeared much calmer: "Tell me what happened."

Fujiko took a couple of deep breaths and pointed to the cliffs on the other side of the coast: "Just now, Kazuka called me and said she saw Shinjo over there. She was killed on that cliff."

The poor policeman handed Dr. Tanaka to his colleague and then ran up the cliff with Kogoro Mouri and the others.

At this moment, Mitsui Motoka was covering her face and crying with a sorrowful expression. Miyahara Kanako was comforting her, while her boyfriend, Yura Tatsuhiko, stood aside looking dazed, seemingly lost in thought.

Chu Ming thought back on the case; it seemed to be a murder case caused by a love triangle or even multiple love triangles.

The deceased, Shinjo Maki, and Yura Tatsuhiko were originally boyfriend and girlfriend. However, Yura Tatsuhiko fell in love with Mitsui Souka, so she broke up with him and got together with Mitsui Souka. But Mitsui Souka was two-timing him and secretly went on a date with the chubby Fuji Kota, which was caught by Yura Tatsuhiko.

Shinjo Maki planned to commit the crime with Miyahara Kanako, having Miyahara Kanako provide an alibi so she could secretly kill Mitsui Musoka. However, she was killed by Miyahara Kanako instead.

The relationships are so complicated...

Kogoro Mori surveyed the scene. Maki Shinjo had been stabbed in the chest and died instantly. Her belongings were scattered everywhere, and her wallet was missing.

"In my opinion, this could be a robbery-murder case," Kogoro Mouri said thoughtfully, stroking his chin.

The police officer standing to the side, looking distressed, muttered to himself, "We've never seen anything this heinous in our little town. How could there be robbers? I need to ask my classmate who used to work in Tokyo what we should do in a robbery-murder case like this, and how to write this arrest warrant..."

Looking at the officer who seemed completely inexperienced in his duties, Chu Ming frowned and twisted his neck. He'd been ashore for so long, his clothes were only half-dry, and he could feel tiny grains of salt already clinging to his head. Sure enough, he still didn't like the feeling of seawater sticking to his skin. When could he finally take a shower? And these cases kept piling up!

He wants to take a bath!

Looking at the corpse, Chu Ming pursed his lips. Taking advantage of the moment when Conan was punched away by Kogoro Mouri and everyone's attention was diverted, Chu Ming took some blood from Shinjo Maki's body under the pretext of examining the clues on the corpse.

What clues are we looking for? If there are no clues, he can just create some!

Avoiding everyone's gaze, Chu Ming flicked his finger, sending a trace of blood onto Miyahara Kanako's trouser leg. He then took a handkerchief from his system inventory, wiped his hands clean, and tossed the handkerchief back into his system inventory.

After doing all this, Chu Ming slowly and deliberately asked, "Ms. Miyahara, may I ask about your schedule for today?"

All eyes turned to her. Kanako Miyahara paused for a moment, then, seeing that the police officer didn't object, looked up and said, "I was drawing across the street, but then I ran out of inspiration, so I decided to go get some coffee and have lunch there. Then I went to the rocks below to continue drawing..."

Chu Ming pressed further, "You haven't been to the crime scene?"

Kanako Miyahara's expression changed slightly: "What do you mean? Are you doubting me? I—"

"Ms. Miyahara, could you please answer my question directly?"

Although Chu Ming was smiling, his subtle aura made Kanako Miyahara's pupils shrink slightly. She suppressed her inner panic and insisted, "I haven't been here. To be precise, I haven't seen Maki since she took me to the entrance on the other side. Even when I saw Maki's body just now, I was too scared to go over. I've been staying here with Kagami."

"So, Miss Miyahara, why are there bloodstains on you?" Chu Ming raised his chin, gesturing for her to look down at her trouser leg.

Seeing that she was about to argue, Chu Ming cut her off: "Don't say it's your own blood, or that it accidentally got on you. The few bloodstains on your pants are small, but they are clearly sprayed on because the blood has a rough shape, so it can only be traces of sprayed blood. Moreover, with current technology, it is easy to find out whose blood it is."

"Alright, Ms. Miyahara, you can start explaining now. You just said that you haven't encountered Ms. Shinjo, so why are there bloodstains on your body?"

Kanako Miyahara opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a single word. She hadn't noticed the bloodstains on her body at all, and hadn't even thought to check herself afterward. Perhaps this was divine retribution...

She shook her head and whispered her confession.

The police officer who had been slacking off the whole time was shocked to see that he could get a +1 to his performance without doing anything. He was still clearly not in a daze when he took Miyahara Kanako away in handcuffs.

Conan looked at the clue he had finally found after searching for a long time, and then at Chu Ming, whose reasoning and observation abilities were at MAX because he wanted to take a bath. He secretly swallowed.

Next time you encounter a puzzle you can't solve, will you just splash some seawater on Brother Chu Ming?

Chapter 328: The Game for the Boss?

When Chu Ming came out after taking a shower, he wanted to ask Kogoro Mouri about the upcoming schedule, but he saw Ran helping Conan and Kogoro Mouri pack their clothes.

"Why are you packing your things all of a sudden?" Chu Ming blinked. Could it be that Kogoro Mouri thinks he's a jinx and is getting ready to go back?

“Dad just received a call from someone who has a client. I was thinking we’ve been out for a week, so we’ll go back to Tokyo first. Once Dad’s client’s job is done, we can continue our trip. We can also ask Dad to rent a car again then, otherwise it’ll be inconvenient without one,” Xiaolan explained to Chuming while packing her things. “Chuming, you should pack your things too. The client’s car will pick us up tomorrow morning.”

Chu Ming nodded and asked curiously, "What kind of request is it?"

Kogoro Mouri, clutching a beer can, mumbled between sips, "It's just a small request to find someone. I didn't want to take it. I told her I was traveling and not in Tokyo, but Ran insisted I was free. Honestly, she won't even let me relax while I'm on vacation."

Xiaolan threw down the clothes she was holding, stormed over, and snatched the beer from his hand: "Dad, you're not allowed to drink anymore! You've already drunk too much today. This whole trip, except for renting the car, was paid for by Brother Chu Ming. The car you rented kept breaking down, and Brother Chu Ming didn't say anything! Couldn't you have used the commission money to rent a better car before we went out together? The previous car kept breaking down because you rented a cheap one to save money!!!"

"What cheap car? That rental company is just fooling its customers..." Kogoro Mouri muttered to himself, watching helplessly as Ran took away his beer.

——(*^▽^*)——

"Mr. Itakura, the software systems engineer who suddenly disappeared a month ago?" Kogoro Mori asked, holding up a photo of Suguru Itakura. "You mean Mr. Itakura frequently disappears?"

"Yeah, he always does this when the game software is due for submission. Last time we even called the police, and we got a good scolding from them. So this time we can only ask Mr. Mori for help. After all, Itakura is particularly good at hiding things, but it shouldn't be a problem for Mr. Mori."

Kogoro Mouri was delighted by this subtle flattery. He carefully put the photo away, full of confidence: "Don't worry, leave your contact information, and I'll let you know if I have any leads."

“Okay, Mr. Mori, here is my business card, please—” Naito Sadahira said as he took out his business card, but was stopped by Soma Ryusuke.

"Hey, are you kidding me? I'm the one who paid the most this time, so if anyone's going to be notified, they should notify me first!"

Schubeklu retorted, "Wait a minute, it was clearly our company's suggestion to involve Mr. Itakura in the software this time!"

Kogoro Mouri, seeing that the three of them had started fighting amongst themselves before even finding any clues, asked, "Aren't you three together?"

“Yes,” Sukube quickly replied, “I’m looking for Mr. Itakura to design Go software, which is very important to us, so Mr. Mori, please be sure to tell me if you have any leads!”

Not to be outdone, Naito Sadahira took out his business card and shoved it into Mouri Kogoro's hand, saying, "I commissioned him to design a chess set, and the deadline is fast approaching. The company is in a real hurry, so please help me."

“I asked him to design the chess set.” Ryusuke Soma was in a hurry just now, but he wasn’t as impatient as the other two. He just slowly asked Kogoro Mouri to take good care of it.

"He's all alone, designing three different software programs? That's amazing..." Xiaolan said with some admiration.

“No, that’s exactly what we need to ask him! He took orders from all three of us, and said he could finish them on time. Now we find out he took three orders at once and then disappeared! Damn it, I’m going to give him a good beating when I find him!” Xu Beikelu was clearly very angry. “He broke our contract!”

……

Chu Ming didn't participate in their discussion. Instead, he sat at a table to the side and chuckled when he heard Xiao Lan's remark: "Actually, it's very simple. They're all board games. Apart from the different gameplay and the need for different algorithms, they can basically be applied to each other. The frameworks are similar, so this is not a problem for a senior programmer."

“Oh right, Brother Chu Ming studies computer science, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in class.” Xiao Lan looked at Chu Ming in confusion. “I clearly remember that Brother Chu Ming said before that he was a freshman.”

Chu Ming waved his hand: "University courses are very easy, at least more free than your high school. I've already talked to my advisor, and for now I just need to make sure I get an excellent grade on the final exams. I basically don't need to attend any classes."

"That's great?" Conan was a little envious. He was now back in elementary school and didn't know how much longer he would have to study before he could be as free as Chu Ming.

"Yes, so Conan should study hard and get into Tokyo University in the future, right?" Chu Ming patted Conan's head, encouraging him as if he were a real child.

"..." Conan secretly glared at Chu Ming several times.

On the other side, Naito Sadahira took out his laptop and opened a video. It was an email that Itakura Taku had sent them a week ago. In the video, he said that he was too tired to make three software programs at once and needed to rest for a few more days.

Chu Ming watched the video and lowered his eyes slightly. This Itakura Taku should be the person Gin was going to trade the disk with. It seems that Itakura Taku was asked by the organization to complete some software.

But looking at Itakura Taku in the video, who said he was tired even after completing three simple software programs, Chu Ming had a sudden realization. Itakura Taku probably had already thought about escaping at that time, but unfortunately he wasn't executed by Gin. Instead, he was killed by one of the three people.

Tsk, I'll have to ask Gin about this disk BOSS later. What exactly is it used for? Itakura Taku is a game designer, could it be that the disk contains games specifically for the BOSS to play?

Chapter 329 We Will Meet

Seeing Conan standing on tiptoe, curiously watching a video with Kogoro Mouri at the computer, Chu Ming thoughtfully picked him up, hoping to keep him in a good mood and provide him with more emotional points later.

Ran recognized Itakura Takumi in the computer screen as a CG effects artist who had been particularly famous a few years ago. This revelation reminded Kogoro Mouri of something.

"He hasn't shown up for so long, could he have been kidnapped?"

"...How could that be? Dad, you're overthinking it. Who would kidnap a software engineer?"

Ryusuke Soma suddenly remembered something and frowned, saying, "It's not impossible. Do you remember two years ago when we went to find Itakura, that big guy in all black clothes, with a strong Kansai accent, who was threatening Itakura? He looked a lot like a yakuza."

Conan's pupils dilated sharply. The words "black clothes," "threat," and "like the underworld" perfectly triggered his alarm regarding the Black Organization. Although he hadn't seen Tequila this time due to Chu Ming's intervention, it didn't stop him from imagining things after hearing Soma Ryusuke's description.

"What did he threaten???" Conan jumped out impatiently. After so long, he finally heard some news about the organization again.

"When I arrived, all I heard was, 'You're no longer of any use to me,' but that's unlikely, since it happened two years ago."

Conan wanted to ask more questions, but Ran hugged him away and told him not to disturb Kogoro Mouri's work.

Conan was getting anxious, but the best thing to do now was to find Itakura Takumi first and ask him directly. Maybe they could find out about that organization!

So he started to act cute and charming to give Kogoro Mouri hints until Kogoro Mouri got the hints. Based on the three different chessboards in the video, they determined that the hotel where Itakura Suguru was hiding was the Beika Hotel, and then the group headed there.

As soon as he arrived at the door, Chu Ming sensed the magnetic field. He coldly watched as Conan began his old act of pretending to need to use the restroom to trick the staff into opening the door. Just as he was feeling smug about his clever idea, he saw Chu Ming's chilling gaze.

"? Brother Chu Ming, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Your frequent urination, urgency, and incomplete emptying of the bladder haven't gotten better yet?" Chu Ming teased him.

???