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

“Yes.” The two didn’t understand why Xiaolan was so excited.

"So you two were childhood sweethearts too, just like my parents!"

As Ran spoke, she looked at Kogoro Mouri and Eri Kisaki sitting on either side of the table.

Kitagawa Taki was caught in the middle, feeling both amused and exasperated. Ran really never forgot to try and make the two of them reconcile.

Kogoro Mouri, however, didn't take it seriously. "Childhood friends? Heh."

Eri Kisaki subtly remarked, "To have unrealistic fantasies about someone you know quite well is utterly foolish."

"Although you two probably won't need this, if you have any doubts about your wife's behavior, you can come to my Mouri Detective Agency."

Kogoro Mouri took out a business card from his wallet and handed it to Masahiko Matsuzaki.

Not to be outdone, Eri Kisaki handed her business card to Takako Toda.

"If you want your husband to pay alimony if you get divorced, you can go to my Fei Law Firm."

Kitagawa Taki suppressed a laugh. Should he pull out his business card and say, "If you have ever been murdered as a wife or husband, please come to the Kitagawa Exorcism Office"?

Let's just offer a one-stop service.

Matsuzaki Masahiko and Toda Takako could easily see the discord between Mouri Kogoro and the other man, so they could only awkwardly accept the business card with forced smiles.

Xiaolan's smile froze, her head drooping, looking somewhat dejected.

Kitagawa Taki secretly squeezed Ran's hand under the table.

Xiao Lan was startled. She looked around and, finding no one paying attention, relaxed.

At this moment, Kawazu Kunio changed the subject and asked Matsuzaki Masahiko, "By the way, Masahiko, where's your childhood friend? I haven't seen him."

Matsuzaki Masahiko said, "You mean A-Yang? He went snorkeling."

Kitagawa Takido: "You don't need oxygen tanks when snorkeling, right?"

Matsuzaki Haru chimed in, "Yes, for snorkeling you only need a snorkel and mask. Mr. Kitagawa, do you know anything about diving?"

Chapter 234 A Premeditated Murder

Kitagawa Taki shook his head and said, "I've only heard about it."

Matsuzaki Haru said regretfully, "That's a bit of a shame. If Mr. Kitagawa knew how, we could play together!"

Xiao Lan's gaze immediately turned hostile upon hearing this.

Kitagawa Taki saw this, but just smiled and didn't respond to Matsuzaki Haru's words.

At that moment, Toda Takako glanced in the direction of the sea, then turned to Matsuzaki Haru and said, "Haru, could you please come to our room and get a new towel?"

As she spoke, she stood up, took off her coat, and took out her snorkeling gear from her bag. "I want to go swimming in the sea for a while now."

Matsuzaki Haru advised, "You've been drinking, why don't you go swimming tomorrow?"

"It's alright, I didn't drink much." Toda Takako waved her hand dismissively and ran towards the beach alone. "Haru, please!"

Matsuzaki Haruya had no choice but to go back to his room to get a towel for Toda Takako.

When she returned with the towel, she ran into Matsuzaki Masahiko's friend, Ito Hiroshi.

After a brief introduction to Kitagawa Taki and the others, they sat down.

Ito Hiroshi teased, "Masahiko, where's your wife?"

Matsuzaki Masahiko scratched his head and said, "She went snorkeling."

"Look, she's over there!" Matsuzaki Haru pointed towards the sea and waved.

Everyone looked in the direction the finger was pointing and saw Takako Toda waving in their direction.

Kitagawa Taki saw it more clearly than the others: Toda Takako wasn't waving, she was splashing around in the water.

It was clear that he was drowning.

"No, she drowned."

After saying a few words, Kitagawa Taki rushed out first.

The others' expressions changed, and they hurriedly followed suit and ran out.

Matsuzaki Masahiko, who can't swim, ran ahead, but was pulled back by Ito Hiroshi.

Meanwhile, Kitagawa Taki had successfully rescued Toda Takako and was dragging her towards the shore.

Matsuzaki Haru, Ran, Ito Hiro and the others came over one after another.

"Takako!"

Toda Takako's eyes were closed, her brows furrowed, but she still asked, "Where is Masahiko?"

Seeing that Toda Takako seemed to be alright, Ito Hiroshi joked, "Masahiko just rushed into the sea to save you. If I hadn't held him back, he probably would have drowned too."

"Really? That's great!" Toda Takako smiled slightly before fainting.

Kitagawa Taki frowned as he looked at her; Toda Takako's reaction was rather strange.

However, not wanting to meddle, he handed Toda Takakazuko over to Matsuzaki Masahiko.

Just then, Xiaolan exclaimed in surprise, "There's a sea snake!"

It turned out that Xiaolan had just seen something long and thin swimming in the sea. When she dived into the water, she saw a black and white striped sea snake.

Upon hearing about sea snakes, the group's expressions changed.

Matsuzaki Masahiko kept calling Toda Takako's name, but she didn't respond at all.

He had no choice but to speed up, run to the shore, and lay Toda Takako flat on the sand.

Kitagawa Taki scanned the wound with his divine sense. "The wound is on the left hand."

Upon hearing this, Matsuzaki Masahiko lifted Toda Takako's hand and looked at it. Sure enough, there were bite marks on the back of her hand.

"What should we do?" Matsuzaki Masahiko panicked.

Ito Hiroshi shouted, "Does any of you have something strapped to your body?"

Matsuzaki Masahiko quickly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Ito Hiroshi.

Ito Hiroshi tied the handkerchief to Toda Takako's wrist, and then pretended to suck out the poisonous blood.

"Wait!" Kitagawa Taki stopped Ito Hiroshi.

Because Ito Hiroshi's approach was a classic example of flawed teaching.

Sucking out venomous blood with your mouth after being bitten by a snake carries a high risk. Even if there is no wound in your mouth, the venom can still enter the bloodstream directly through the oral mucosa.

"Xiao Lan, could you please call an ambulance?"

After saying something to Ran, Kitagawa Taki explained, "Mr. Ito, sucking the poisoned blood is not a good idea. We should take you to the hospital quickly."

At that moment, Eri Kisaki arrived and handed her a cup of black tea.

"You can use this to clean the wound."

"Hmm." Kitagawa Taki took it and carefully cleaned the wound on the back of Toda Takako's hand.

Xiaolan had already finished her call.

Ito Hiroshi immediately asked, "Miss Mori, did you get a clear look at what that sea snake looked like?"

Xiaolan recalled, "I remember it was black and white, and the length should be about 40 centimeters."

Ito Hiroshi continued, "Can you recognize its species?"

Xiaolan said with difficulty, "This... I don't know it."

Ito Hiroshi clenched his fist. How could he possibly know the species of sea snake?

……

The ambulance arrived at the scene in about ten minutes.

The medical staff lifted Takako Toda into the vehicle and then asked, "Do you know what kinds of sea snakes there are?"

Ito Hiroshi replied, "All I know is that it's a black and white sea serpent."

At this moment, the hotel manager, who had just arrived at the scene, interjected, "We have a sea snake encyclopedia in our hotel office; you can compare it."

The hotel also operates the beach.

"Alright, once you've found out, contact the hospital immediately!" After saying that, the paramedics got into the ambulance, and then the ambulance sped away.

The group then followed the manager into the office.

Xiaolan quickly found the sea snake in the encyclopedia—it was a semi-ringed, flat-tailed sea snake.

Kawazu Kunio asked in bewilderment, "How could there be such a snake in Izu?"

The manager said, "These sea snakes do sometimes swim here..."

Kogoro Mouri questioned, "So you're saying that you knew there were sea snakes, yet you still opened your beach to the public?"

The manager quickly explained, "These sea snakes are very docile. We've been open for 20 years, and nothing like this has ever happened before!"

Kogoro Mouri was at a loss for words.

At this moment, Xiaolan spoke up and asked, "Excuse me, are there any sea snakes with wings?"

The manager exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? There aren't any sea snakes like that."

Xiao Lan wondered, "That's strange. I clearly saw something that looked like wings behind the snake's head."

Upon hearing this, Matsuzaki Haru said, "It's probably seaweed or something like that."

"Let's contact the hospital as soon as possible."

Xiaolan stopped worrying and put down the encyclopedia.

Several college students went to contact the hospital, while Kitagawa Taki and the others stayed behind.

"Kitagawa, don't you think this is a bit strange?" Eri Kisaki walked to Kitagawa Taki's side and said softly.

Kitagawa Taki raised an eyebrow. Originally, he didn't plan to get involved in this matter anymore; finding the sea serpent and saving the woman's life would be enough.

But since Eri Kisaki brought it up, Taki Kitagawa didn't mind saying a few more words.