Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

"Hiss—" Chu Ming gasped loudly, trying to scare her with a serious expression, "Then there might be a mountain demon here! It's said that mountain demons love to roam in the forest after the rain..."

Xiao Lan pressed herself against the garden wall, knowing that Chu Ming was just trying to scare her, but even though she knew it was fake, she was still afraid: "Brother Chu Ming, please stop!!"

Sonoko grabbed Ran's arm, feeling a little uneasy herself. She turned to Kogoro Mouri and said, "But Uncle, when you were walking this way just now, didn't you look very confident?"

"No, I just feel like I'm on the right track," Kogoro Mouri argued. "You know, that's a great detective's intuition. My sixth sense tells me there's a way out!"

"Really?" Ran was skeptical. If it were before, she wouldn't have believed it at all. But now that Kogoro Mouri is a nationally renowned detective, her belief in his credibility has increased slightly.

Conan felt dizzy and lightheaded. He already had a slight fever, and the temperature in the woods was quite low. Although he was wearing Chu Ming's coat, he still felt the chill creeping into him. Just then, a sliver of yellow light caught his eye out of the corner of his eye. He looked closely and saw a sliver of light shining through the gaps in the treetops.

“There’s a light…” Conan’s voice was a little hoarse as he pointed to his side. “I see a light over there.”

"There's a light?" Kogoro Mori exclaimed with delight. "Great! Let's go see if we can find a place to stay for the night. We can't just sleep in the forest!"

Unlike Kogoro Mouri's surprise, Ran and Sonoko, who had just been frightened by Chu Ming, huddled together tightly. Ran's voice trembled slightly: "How...how...how could there be houses in this deep mountain forest? Who...who would live...living here?"

Sonoko swallowed hard, remembering what Chu Ming had said: "Could it be... a female demon from the mountains?"

"Why don't we live in the forest? I think it's quite nice there..." Xiaolan's legs were trembling slightly. "At least, at least it's safe."

“Where is it safe? If it really is a mountain demon, do you think you'll be safe in the forest…” Kogoro Mouri was speechless at his daughter’s timidity. “Let’s go and take a look.”

He took the lead and walked in that direction. As the group got closer and closer, they stepped out of the shade of the trees and saw a small Japanese-style villa standing quietly in the mountains. The yellow lights illuminated the surrounding scenery and dispelled much of the gloom.

"Excuse me, is anyone home?" Kogoro Mouri knocked on the door. Ran and Sonoko hid behind Chu Ming. Ran even hugged Conan in her arms, as if that would give her some courage.

Whether Ran's courage increased or not is unknown, but Conan's face was already bright red. Ran, who is rather oblivious to this, didn't notice at all. She freed one hand to touch Conan's face and asked him softly, "Conan, do you have a fever? Why is your face so hot?"

Before Conan could answer, a short shadow appeared on the door in front of him. He reached out and opened the door, revealing a somewhat ugly face covered with age spots and deep wrinkles. His upper cheeks were severely sunken, his eyes were unusually cloudy with protruding whites and tiny pupils, making him especially terrifying when he looked at people.

Kogoro Mouri, who had initially scoffed at Ran and Sonoko's words, was startled and took several steps back with a start.

Even someone as courageous and responsible as him was behaving like this, so Ran and Sonoko, who had been keeping a close eye on their students for fear of missing a single moment, screamed in agony. Ran's arms tightened involuntarily, making Conan almost breathless: "Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!! Mountain, mountain, mountain..."

The old man flung open the door, revealing his entire appearance—a short, elderly man: "What's with all this shouting? Huh? You're not here to sell anything, are you? No, we don't need anything. Even if you brought a child, I wouldn't believe you!"

Seeing that this wasn't a mountain demon but a normal human, Kogoro Mouri cleared his throat: "It's just an old man like this. Actually, we're not some kind of push-and-pull..."

"Go back, go back, we don't need anything." The old man didn't want to hear what Kogoro Mouri had to say and was about to close the door when a familiar figure appeared behind him.

"Dad, what's wrong? What happened? — Hey, you guys..."

—Isn't that the college student with the slim waist and long legs that Kogoro Mouri met? Oh no, no, it's that tennis coach!

Chu Ming withdrew his gaze. Deep in the mountains and forests, at night, he encountered two passersby, plus Conan.

The time, place, and people all match up.

Next, the tennis coach, whom he had met twice, would warmly invite Kogoro Mouri to his home to rest, and then use him as an alibi to commit murder. In the end, he successfully misled Kogoro Mouri, but Conan eventually exposed his scheme!

Yes, this should be the script outline.

Chu Ming looked at the man expectantly. "Alright, quickly invite them in for the night."

"What a coincidence, hahaha." Kogoro Mouri scratched his head. "My car was parked on the riverbank, but then it rained heavily and the water level rose, so it got washed away. I only found out when I fished it out... All our belongings are in the car. It's a bit far from our villa, and there's no cell phone signal in this deep forest, I wonder if we can—"

Akashi Hiroto's eyes flickered slightly, then he smiled warmly: "Of course, I have a landline at home, you can borrow it to make a call. Where is your villa? I can drive you there."

???

Wait a minute, the script shouldn't be like this, right?

Chu Ming, who was following behind, was a little confused. This was different from the laws of science he had mastered!

How could this murderer push death away from them?

Open your eyes wide and look carefully, this is Death himself!

This is the legendary Grim Reaper who can walk, hop, and bring murder!

Don't you need it?!

Chapter 475 Death is watching you

Chu Ming's eyes gleamed, sensing that something was amiss with this development. Generally speaking, no murderer would refuse to show off their killing techniques in front of Kogoro Mouri or Conan.

No matter how illustrious Kogoro Mouri's reputation is, or how great his detective title is, some murderers seem to have lost their minds. They could easily avoid him when they kill, but the moment they see him, a thought pops into their heads: "My methods are so amazing, why not use this famous detective as an alibi? If even the legendary detective can testify for me, wouldn't I be able to get away with it?"

Of the ten murderers who think this way, twelve out of ten have been sent to the police station by Conan.

Chu Ming narrowed his eyes as he looked at the man who told them to wait a moment and that he would take them to the Suzuki family villa. Something was wrong, very wrong.

"Wait a moment, I'll bring some curry rice to my dad." Hiroto Akashi carried a plate of curry rice upstairs. "I'll bring it to you when I come down. If you don't mind, you can have some first."

Kogoro Mouri was starving, and the smell of curry had already made him eager to try it. When he heard Hiroto Akashi's invitation, his eyes lit up: "Then I won't be polite."

After saying that, he went to the kitchen to prepare something to eat to tide him over.

He didn't eat much; he was still thinking about the big meal at the Suzuki family villa.

After they each ate some curry, they sat at the table and waited and waited, but Akashi Hiroto never came down.

"Why hasn't Mr. Akashi come down yet?" Kogoro Mori was getting impatient. He had only eaten a little curry, and after half an hour, it felt almost completely digested. He couldn't very well go and eat another bowl...

As they were talking, Akashi Hiroto came down from upstairs: "Sorry to keep you waiting. I was just chatting with my father for a while, and we couldn't stop talking about the past. I'll go get the keys. Shall we go?"

The group got into Hiroto Akashi's car. On the way, probably because it was late at night, Hiroto Akashi didn't drive very fast, and his headlights weren't very bright. He chatted with Kogoro Mouri casually while driving.

Conan suddenly seemed to sense something and turned to look in the direction of the small villa. The lights on the second floor were off: "Is that old man going to bed so early?"

Sitting in the back seat, Chu Ming saw a hint of pleasure flash in Akashi Hiroto's eyes through the rearview mirror. He seemed to have wanted to steer the conversation here for a while. Hearing this, Chu Ming continued, "Yes, he hasn't been in a good mood lately. He was just telling me that because his wife and daughter-in-law are dead, he doesn't want to live anymore. That's why I was upstairs for so long just now. I was trying to persuade him. In the end, I managed to calm him down, and when I came down, he was already eating his favorite curry rice."

Hearing Akashi Hiroto's words, Chu Ming glanced back in the direction of the villa. The implication was that the old man was probably dead...

Such filial piety! It's truly the greatest act of filial piety to cause a stir.

Leaving the magnetic field unharvested was not in Chu Ming's nature, so he began to silently plot how to get Akashi Hiroto to turn around and take them back.

Hiroto Akashi must have recognized Kogoro Mouri's identity this time. He didn't dare to use his clumsy method of killing in front of him, fearing that things would be exposed. However, he still subtly told Mouri what he wanted to say.

That way, when he returns to the villa that evening, he will be shocked to 'discover' that his father has committed suicide. When the police come to investigate, they will only find that he was not home at the time his father died, and that he has a witness, none other than the famous Kogoro Mouri...

Wow, that was a brilliant plan!

It's rare to see a man who can defy the will of the world and refuse Kogoro Mouri.

The car arrived at Sonoko's villa without any problems, where Ayako Suzuki and Yuzo Tomizawa were waiting for them at the door.

"Mr. Akashi, thank you so much for bringing my sister back. I'm so grateful. Would you mind if we came in for a meal?" Ayako Suzuki extended a warm invitation.

Just as Akashi Hiroto was thinking about how to stall for time, he readily agreed to Ayako's invitation, completely unaware that Conan was staring at him with a probing gaze behind him.

Death is watching you.

Chu Ming stepped forward: "What's wrong? Why are you staring at Mr. Akashi?"

Conan looked up, thought for a moment, and then voiced his doubts: "Mr. Akashi kept talking about his worries about his father the whole way, but he agreed as soon as Ayako invited him. Given his concerns, shouldn't he have gone back immediately after dropping us off?"

Conan scratched his head and added, "I just feel something's off. Mr. Akashi is acting like... it's like he's stalling for time. Maybe I'm just a bit confused because of my cold. Anyway, let's go in, Chu Ming."

Chu Ming followed him inside, casually saying, "I don't think you're overthinking things. On the contrary, I think you make a lot of sense. Think back to all the cases we've encountered before. Before the mystery was solved, the murderer always told us that the victim said they didn't want to live anymore, but in reality, that was just the murderer's excuse."

Conan, who had been feeling increasingly uneasy about the situation, suddenly lost all interest after Chu Ming's interruption. He gave Chu Ming a helpless look and said, "Brother Chu Ming, you're doing it again..."

Chu Ming pressed down on his head: "What do you mean I'm starting again? Just tell me if I'm right or not!"

“…Yes, yes, that’s so true.” Conan was weak and didn’t argue with Chu Ming. He felt dizzy and lightheaded, probably because his cold had gotten worse.

"You should eat your meal and go to your room to rest." Seeing Conan's listless appearance, Chu Ming didn't argue with him anymore. After thinking for a moment, he lowered his head and tempted Conan, "Do you want some free food?"

! ! ! ! !

Conan looked up and stared intently at Chu Ming, a formula flashing through his mind: fever + baijiu (a type of Chinese liquor) = Shinichi Kudo.

He nodded frantically, his eyes lighting up: "Yes!"

Chu Ming coldly slapped Conan, who was clinging to his leg, away: "What the hell are you talking about? In the middle of nowhere, are you planning to perform a magic trick for Ran? Have you lost your mind? Besides, all my things were washed away in the car. Am I supposed to go to the bottom of the water and retrieve them for you?"

Conan let his hands and feet hang down, allowing Chu Ming to carry him. His resentful eyes stared straight at Chu Ming. If resentment could materialize, he would probably be the embodiment of resentment right now.

Chapter 476 Should we use this?

The meal was a pleasant one for both host and guests. After the meal, Hiroto Akashi didn't rush to leave. Instead, he stayed and chatted with Sonoko, explaining tennis swing techniques to her, until he lingered for several hours before finally saying goodbye.

After he left, Kogoro Mouri, who was still drunkenly drinking by himself while holding his wine glass, received a phone call and instantly sobered up.

"What? Dead?"

Conan was feeling unwell and was about to go back to his room to rest when he heard the word "death." He immediately turned around and looked at Kogoro Mouri, then ran to his side to listen to him on the phone.

Yamamura Misao's unique intonation came through the receiver in a muffled voice: "Yes, this Mr. Akashi said he didn't kill the person. He said he was with you the whole time. As soon as I heard it was Mr. Mori, I called you immediately!"

“Mr. Akashi was indeed with us just now. He drove us back and only just left.” Kogoro Mouri stepped into Hiroto Akashi’s trap without hesitation. “And on our way back, we saw his father turn off the lights. He was still alive at that time.”

Upon hearing Kogoro Mori testify for Hiroto Akashi, Misao Yamamura sighed with some regret: "Alright, let's close the case as suicide then. I was hoping to hear some brilliant reasoning from Mr. Mori this time!"

Conan immediately became suspicious. He had already felt something was off about Akashi Hiroto's previous actions, and now that he heard that Mr. Akashi had committed suicide, combined with Akashi Hiroto's previous dawdling behavior, he instantly recalled what Chu Ming had just said and couldn't help but feel a chill.

Chu Ming always seems to be talking nonsense, but actually, it often makes a lot of sense...

He stopped thinking about it and instead grabbed Kogoro Mouri's leg, saying, "Uncle, let's go see him. Mr. Akashi must be very sad right now."

Kogoro Mouri was clearly reluctant to go out so late at night, and he threw Conan aside, saying, "Go away, kid, don't bother us. Aren't you sick? Ran, let this kid go to sleep."

It was already quite late. Akashi Hiroto had left after 10 p.m., and by the time he got back, Yamamura Misao had already called at 11:30 p.m. So Ran hurriedly came over, picked up Conan, and was about to take him to his room to sleep.

Conan struggled fiercely in Ran's arms: "Wait, Ran-neechan, I want to sleep with Chu Ming-ge tonight, okay~"