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

"It's you guys again!" Kogoro Mouri put down his newspaper and glanced at the group.

"Conan, come on, let's go play!" Genta grabbed Conan and dragged him away.

Conan rolled his eyes; his small arms and legs were no match for the burly Genta.

At the door, Conan saw Ai Haibara and asked in surprise, "Haibara, what brings you here?"

He thought that Ai Haibara, being such a cold and aloof child, shouldn't be interested in playing with Ayumi and the others.

Ai Haibara retorted, "What, can't I come?"

"It's rare for Ai to have time to play with us, Conan, what are you talking about!"

Ayumi stepped forward and linked arms with Ai Haibara, looking every bit like best friends.

Genta and Mitsuhiko chimed in, "That's right!"

Conan, seeing that he had suddenly become the target of everyone's criticism, was speechless and quickly apologized: "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant."

"Where shall we go to play baseball?" Conan asked, changing the subject.

Mitsuhiko exclaimed excitedly, "I know a place where we can fight!"

So, the group followed Mitsuhiko all the way to Beika Town No. 1 Street.

"We're here!" Mitsuhiko jogged to the gate of a construction site.

"This construction site has been shut down for half a month, and it's locked up now, but I know a place where I can get in!"

Mitsuhiko then led the group to a corner with a large hole, just big enough for a child to pass through.

Conan was speechless. This was practically trespassing, wasn't it?

The group entered the construction site through a large hole. The site was almost finished; the apartment buildings were completed, and even the trees had been planted.

Yuan Tai looked around, ran to a manhole cover, pointed at it with his baseball bat, and said, "Let's use this manhole cover as home plate, and I'll be the batter."

Mitsuhiko is the pitcher and Ayumi is the infield.

The three of them turned their gazes toward Ai Haibara and Conan.

Ai Haibara said, "I can't play baseball. I'll watch you guys play first, and then I'll join in."

“I’ll be the outfielder…” Conan’s face was beaming with joy.

The group took their positions and began playing ball.

Ai Haibara walked to the foot of a row of large trees in the distance. A cosmos flower under one of the trees stood out, because besides the trees, this cosmos flower was the only plant there.

Ai Haibara sat down and quietly watched the others play ball.

As a result, the game didn't last long before Yuan Tai hit the ball too hard and sent it flying out of the construction site.

Several people searched the alleyway outside the construction site for a long time but couldn't find it.

"That ball probably flew into the neighbor's yard." Ai Haibara gestured towards the yard surrounded by a high wall.

"That's certainly very possible."

"Let's go ask this family to help us retrieve the ball!"

Conan pointed to the large iron gate next to him, "This is the back gate. The main gate should be by the roadside."

Upon arriving at the gate, Ayumi pointed to the nameplate and asked, "Ai, how do you pronounce these two characters?"

Ai Haibara glanced at it and said, "Watan, this person is called Watanuki Yoshiichi."

"I hope it's not a fierce old man." Yuan Tai rang the doorbell.

As it turned out, Yuan Tai's mouth was blessed, and a fierce-looking old man with thick eyebrows and big eyes walked out of the house.

"Excuse me, it seems our ball fell into your yard. Could you help us pick it up?" Conan said as the old man approached.

"Why are you guys playing ball in this closed construction site? I'm not going to pick it up for you, go back now!" the old man said impatiently.

After saying that, the old man turned and left.

"My ball..."

Genta looked disappointed; a baseball costing several thousand yen was not a small amount for a child.

"It's all your fault, Mitsuhiko, for bringing us here to fight." Genta started blaming Mitsuhiko.

Ayumi quickly interrupted, "Let's not play baseball, let's go to Conan's house to play video games!"

Mitsuhiko chimed in, "Great! Maybe we'll even get to eat some of Ran-neechan's desserts!"

"Snacks? Eel rice?" Genta immediately thought of eel rice.

“Yes, that’s right.” Mitsuhiko nodded.

Conan was speechless. These kids hadn't even asked for his opinion!

Ai Haibara said calmly, "You guys go ahead, I'm not going to play games."

"I'm sorry, Ai, we were supposed to all play together this time," Ayumi said, pulling on Ai Haibara's hand.

"It's nothing." Ai Haibara shook her head.

Ayumi looked on expectantly, "Then let's play together again next time, Ai."

Ai Haibara hesitated for a moment, but then agreed, "Okay."

……

When Ai Haibara returned to the agency, Taki Kitagawa and Akemi Miyano were entertaining guests.

"That's how it is. My sister was definitely killed by that guy named Yoshikazu Miyakuchi, and he must have buried her in his yard. Mr. Kitagawa, I've heard you're very capable. Could you help me find my sister's body?"

"The man in the suit with the big nose pleaded."

Upon hearing the name "Yoshiichi Watanuki," Ai Haibara stopped in her tracks.

Chapter 71 The Vanished Corpse

The man's name is Masao Koda, and his sister, Sanae Koda, went missing a month ago.

Sanae Koda worked at Toto Securities and had been in charge of the Beika Town business for two years, but on the afternoon of the 8th of last month, she said she was going to meet a client and has been missing ever since.

That client was Yoshikazu Watanuki, but he claimed that he did not see Sanae Koda that day.

Yoshikazu Watanuki lost money in the stock market and had a dispute with Sanae Koda, so Masao Koda believed that he had a motive to kill Sanae Koda.

Ai Haibara walked over to Taki Kitagawa, glanced at the photo of Sanae Koda that Masao Koda had placed on the table, and asked, "How do you know he buried the body in the yard?"

Koda Masao said, "I have two points of evidence. First, Yoshikazu Watanuki does not have a driver's license and cannot drive. If he had someone else drive to transport the goods, it would have been easy to find out. Second, around 2 a.m. on the 8th, a commuter who lived nearby and was passing by heard the sound of a shovel digging a hole."

“Mr. Koda, you may have misunderstood. I am an exorcist, not a psychic. And I think you should find a police officer or a detective for this matter. Detective Mori over there is quite good.”

Kitagawa Taki didn't want to take the request, mainly because he wasn't interested, but Conan would probably be very interested.

Koda Masao suddenly became agitated: "How could I not have contacted the police?! They said that the salaryman was drunk that night and his words couldn't be used as evidence; they only conducted a routine questioning of Watanuki Yoshiichi!"

"Sorry! I've disturbed you!" Koda Masao realized what was happening, paused for a moment, apologized, carefully put away his sister's photo, stood up, bowed, and then left.

Ai Haibara suddenly spoke up, "I just saw that Yoshikazu Watanuki."

"Oh?" Kitagawa Taki looked at Haibara Ai.

Ai Haibara recounted her experience playing basketball.

"Does Ai want me to take on this request?" Kitagawa Taki felt that Ai Haibara probably wanted him to take it on, which is why he took the initiative to ask Koda Masao.

"up to you."

After saying that, Ai Haibara went straight upstairs.

"Akami, what do you think?" Kitagawa Taki put his arm around Miyano Akami, who was sitting next to him.

“Although I also hope that Taki-kun can help him, I support Taki-kun’s decision.” Miyano Akemi leaned on Kitagawa Taki’s shoulder.

Kitagawa Taki smiled. Miyano Akemi was really honest with him!

Is it because of his sister?

"Yes, he must love his sister very much, which is why he persisted for so long without the support of the police and investigated so much on his own. And I feel that if he is driven to desperation, he will definitely do something extreme."

Akemi Miyano may have seen her past self in Masao Koda, the one who dared to shoot Gin for her sister.

"Then I'll help him look it up!"

For Kitagawa Taki, investigating whether the body was in Watanuki Yoshiichi's yard was a trivial matter.

"Taki-kun is so sweet!" Miyano Akemi planted a kiss on Kitagawa Taki's cheek.

……

at the same time.

Koda Masao found Kogoro Mouri, explained the situation, and hoped that Kogoro Mouri could come to Yoshikazu Watanuki's house to investigate the next day when Yoshikazu went to the hospital, but he was refused again.

Since trespassing is illegal, Masao Koda had no evidence and was only speculating.

Furthermore, it was simply impossible to locate and exhume the body within the short time it took for Yoshikazu Watanuki to leave the house.

However, the "Junior Detective League" was full of enthusiasm and dragged Conan to the Watanuki family's house.

As a result, he was caught red-handed by Yoshikazu Watanuki.

The four thought they were going to get a severe beating, but Yoshikazu Watanuki actually gave the ball back to them, only warning them not to play at the construction site.

After leaving the Mian Guanyi family.

Yuan Tai suggested, "Let's help that uncle dig up the body tomorrow!"

He quickly gained the support of Ayumi and Mitsuhiko.

Conan smirked, wanting to say that a few kids like you couldn't possibly help.

Besides, with such a large yard, it would take several people a long time to dig it all up.

……

night.

Kitagawa Taki sneaked into Watanuki Yoshi's house under cover of darkness and thoroughly searched it with his divine sense, but ultimately found nothing and no spirits were present.