Solving cases with Detective Conan's science? No, I'm a cultivator!

Damn, Boss Masaka is dead! Does that mean his commission is gone?!

Millions just vanished like that.

Chapter 23's proof problems are all about speed!

"Ran, go call the police!" With a command from Kogoro Mouri, professional police officer Ran went online.

As Ran ran out of hell, she bumped into Sonoko, who had come to check on the situation after hearing the screams.

"Lan, what are you doing here? What happened?"

Seeing the panicked look on Xiaolan's face, Sonoko couldn't help but ask.

"Someone's dead! Boss Manaka is dead!"

"Mr. Manaka?" Upon hearing that the person she and Kitagawa Taki were looking for had died, Sonoko wanted to go in and check, but Ran stopped her.

Ran explained, "Sonoko, don't go in. The way Mr. Manaka died is too horrifying. Kitagawa and my dad are inside."

So the two of them went to the police station together and notified the museum staff.

The police arrived at the scene shortly afterward, led by Inspector Megure.

"It's you again?" Inspector Megure was speechless as he looked at Kogoro Mouri. Why did he feel like Kogoro Mouri was always present at every murder case?

"It was me, of course. No one touched the body!" Kogoro Mori saluted.

Well, Conan isn't human; Conan is the Grim Reaper.

Kitagawa Taki glanced over; Conan was currently examining the deceased's body.

"Brother Kitagawa is here too!" Inspector Megure finally noticed Kitagawa Taki.

Kitagawa Taki nodded.

Inspector Megure then turned to the museum staff and asked, "Has any of you seen the culprit?"

Director Ochiai replied, "I've already checked, and it seems no one saw it."

Kitagawa Taki didn't know Director Ochiai. He didn't encounter the director at the museum, but he discovered that the old director, who was wearing a brown suit, had two spirits attached to him.

An evil spirit possessed Director Ochiai, while the other was the spirit of the newly born boss, Manaka, following behind him.

Perhaps because Kitagawa Taki kept staring at Director Ochiai, the evil spirit that was possessing him left his body and flew directly into the painting "Heavenly Punishment".

The spirit of Mr. Manaka has no consciousness; it simply follows Director Ochiai, but it may very well transform into an evil spirit in the future.

The answer to who killed Boss Shinaka is already quite obvious.

Kitagawa Taki thought to himself, "This old man has stacked up all his buffs. One evil spirit and one near-evil spirit. If you're entangled by these two ghosts, it's hard not to die."

At that moment, one of the employees pointed to the corner and said, "Maybe that security camera captured the criminal!"

Good heavens, there are security cameras in Beika Town!

The group followed the staff to the monitoring room. Xiaolan and Yuanzi did not go in but waited outside.

After a series of operations, the staff adjusted the time to a suitable setting.

The surveillance footage showed the medieval armor, and then Boss Manaka appeared in the frame, pacing back and forth in front of the armor.

Just as he turned his back to the armor, the armor suddenly moved.

The armored man swung his sword and struck the back of Boss Zhenzhong, then jumped in front of him, and a moment later turned around and swung his sword at his chest again.

Then, the armored man grabbed Boss Manaka by the neck, lifted him up, and pinned him to the wall with the sword in his right hand.

After watching the entire murder, Inspector Megure paused the video.

"Wait a minute, this composition seems to be..." Kogoro Mouri noticed something interesting.

"It's 'Divine Punishment'!" Conan exclaimed.

Inspector Megure asked, puzzled, "What is divine punishment?"

Kogoro Mouri explained, "It was a painting called 'Heavenly Punishment' that hung not far from the deceased's body."

While Kogoro Mouri was explaining, Conan secretly rewound the video.

"Look everyone, Mr. Manaka seems to have written something and is holding it in his hand!" Conan pointed at the screen, drawing everyone's attention.

Everyone looked again carefully and found that it was indeed so—while the armored man had his back to him, Boss Zhenzhong tore down the note on the wall, picked up the pen on the table, wrote something on the paper, and then threw the pen away.

So, the group returned to the crime scene and found the note.

Inspector Megure opened the note, and there it read "Kubota".

"Then, the murderer is Kubota! Who is Kubota?" Inspector Megure demanded sharply.

Kubota panicked instantly, breaking out in a cold sweat, and repeatedly protested, "It wasn't me! I didn't kill him!"

Conan calmly considered the situation. Kubota was a staff member and must have known there were surveillance cameras here. Why would he specifically come here to put on armor and kill someone? Was it to imitate that painting? No, judging from his previous behavior, Kubota was not someone who loved art.

"Officer, could I see the note?" Kitagawa Taki interrupted Inspector Megure's question.

Upon seeing that it was Kitagawa Taki, Inspector Megure hesitated for a moment before handing it to him anyway.

Kitagawa Taki took the note with his handkerchief wrapped around his hand. He examined it carefully and found that in addition to bloodstains and Kubota's name, there was also a scratch on the note!

He realized that what Mr. Zhenzhong had written on the paper was scratch marks, and the words "Kubota" were written by the old man before that.

Meanwhile, Conan was bent over on the ground, looking for the pen that Mr. Manaka had thrown away.

"Conan, have you found the pen that Mr. Manaka threw away?" Kitagawa Taki walked up behind Conan.

Conan was startled and suddenly looked up, bumping into a suit of armor.

"It hurts...it hurts, it's Kitagawa...Brother, the pen has been found."

Kitagawa Taki grinned mischievously, "So, where's the culprit? Should I remind you?"

Conan, thinking he was acting like he wasn't acting like a child again, chuckled awkwardly, "Haha, what are you talking about, Kitagawa-nii-san? How would a kid like me know about the culprit?"

"Oh, then you should pay attention to this piece of paper!"

Conan took the note. He hadn't had a chance to read it while it was in Inspector Megure's hands, and only now did he notice the scratches on it.

'Could it be?'

After returning the note to Kitagawa Taki, Conan quickly ran back to the monitoring room, "falsely conveying imperial orders" in the name of Inspector Megure to divert the two remaining police officers. He then repeatedly reviewed the video of the scene where Boss Manaka was writing.

Upon closer inspection, a problem was indeed discovered. Boss Zhenzhong showed a surprised expression as he tore off the note.

Conan silently returned to the crime scene. He had already determined that the real culprit was not Kubota, and that the note was just a trap set by the real culprit to frame Kubota.

The real culprit must be someone inside the art museum, and Conan's gaze swept back and forth among the staff.

“Officer, look closely at this note. There’s a faint scratch on it,” Kitagawa Taki called out to Inspector Megure.

Inspector Megure reread the note and said, "It is, but what does that prove?"

Kitagawa Taki explained, "The real culprit is not Kubota. That scratch was written by Boss Manaka. He saw Kubota's name and wanted to erase it, but the pen was prepared by the real culprit and could not write anything, so the scratch was left."

"Inspector Megure, we found bloodstained armor in Mr. Kubota's cabinet."

Just then, two policemen ran over carrying a bag of armor.

"Brother Kitagawa?" Inspector Megure turned his gaze to Kitagawa Taki.

“Inspector Megure, this is just another way for the real culprit to frame you. Hiding such a large suit of armor in your room, do you want the police to find it? You could have just thrown it away somewhere.”

Inspector Megure nodded, finding the idea reasonable, and then asked, "So who is the real culprit?"

"If the real culprit wanted to frame someone with the note, he would definitely have replaced the pen that Mr. Manaka threw away with a working pen. I guess that pen that couldn't write is now in the real culprit's hands."

Kitagawa Taki said, looking at Director Ochiai.

Director Ochiai felt a chill run down his spine and his scalp tingle, because the pen was in his pocket.

Kitagawa Taki's gaze clearly indicated that he already knew the pen was with him, but how exactly did he find out?

Kitagawa Taki continued, "Inspector Megure, now just check who here has that pen."

“No need!” Director Ochiai stepped forward and took out the pen.

Inspector Megure took the pen and tried it, and found that he indeed couldn't write.

Upon seeing this, Conan suddenly realized why there wasn't a single artifact around the murder scene—it was because Curator Ochiai cherished these artifacts and didn't want them to be contaminated!

"Director, is it really you?" The other staff members couldn't understand how the seemingly kind old man could be a murderer.

“Manaka is a corrupted demon. I think he is beyond redemption, so I hid in the armor. You all know what happened after that.”

Director Ochiai, on the other hand, was quite at ease at this point.

“He is selfish and wants to destroy this sacred art museum. I will absolutely not allow it!”

Conan slowly said, "The knight killed the demon, but he also got his hands stained with the demon's blood!"

Director Ochiai glanced at Conan with some surprise, then laughed loudly, "Indeed, I am also the incarnation of the devil!"

Kitagawa Taki knew that it was because Director Ochiai had evil intentions that he was possessed by an evil spirit, which then became his accomplice in killing.

But he was very curious. No one else found it strange that an old man in his sixties or seventies could wear armor weighing dozens of kilograms, lift a fat man weighing at least 150 kilograms with one hand, and pin him to the wall with a sword.

"Brother Kitagawa, we owe you a lot again this time!"

Inspector Megure instructed the officers to take Director Ochiai away, while he shook hands with Taki Kitagawa.

"Not at all," Kitagawa Taki said politely, and then used his spiritual power to send Mr. Manaka to the afterlife. Such a newly formed spirit was easy to deal with, and he didn't intend to bother with that evil spirit.

His main reason for helping solve the case was to cultivate a good relationship with the police.

Yes, it was definitely not to tease Conan or satisfy some twisted sense of humor.

Ran was still immersed in the tragedy, while Sonoko's eyes were already sparkling.

Conan was quite frustrated because he had fallen behind Kitagawa Taki again.

Chapter 24 The Hands-Off Manager

The agreed-upon payment date for He Ni's participation in the conference arrived.

Kitagawa Taki used his shapeshifting technique to revert to the black-clad figure he had used before, and swaggered into the Mud Gathering headquarters without anyone stopping him.