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

Is there such a good thing?

“Okay.” Kitagawa Taki blurted out.

"You!" Koizumi Akako was completely helpless against Kitagawa Taki and walked forward alone.

"Wait, here you go." Kitagawa Taki took out a stack of talismans and handed them to Koizumi Akako. "These are all ones I made before. The Golden Light Talisman is indeed gone."

Since Koizumi Akako wants these talismans, then let her have them. After all, without the method of talisman making, it's impossible to create talismans.

Koizumi Akako looked at the stack of talismans and was secretly delighted. She said, though she didn't mean it, "Consider this your payment for tonight."

Chapter 87 Snow Woman Appears?

Nothing happened that night.

The next morning, Kitagawa Taki, who always got up early to train, was awakened by a scream.

I checked the time, and wow, it was only a little past four.

The screams came from the room next to Kitagawa Taki's room, which was occupied by Kinoshita Akiko and Asanuma Yoko.

Kitagawa Taki scanned the area with his divine sense and found that Kinoshita Akiko was dead, while Asanuma Yoko was slumped on the ground.

He walked out of the room, only to find that everyone had been awakened by the scream.

Sonoko, still half-asleep, rubbed her eyes and asked, "Taki, what happened?"

Kitagawa Taki said in a deep voice, "Those two next door have run into trouble."

As he spoke, he walked to the door next door and knocked.

Kitamura Genbei and Kitamura Kayo also put on their clothes, looking at the closed door with worried expressions.

After a while, Yoko Asanuma opened the door.

What came into view was Kinoshita Akiko, or more accurately, her corpse.

She wasn't covered by a blanket; she was only wearing underwear and had a smile on her face.

"Yuki-onna, it's Yuki-onna!" Kitamura Kayo exclaimed in terror.

After she said that, everyone else thought of the legend of the Snow Woman, and the circumstances of Kinoshita Akiko's death seemed to match perfectly.

Kitagawa Taki walked to the body. There were no signs of rigor mortis on the body, indicating that Kinoshita Akiko had been dead for no more than two hours.

He then tested the body's temperature with the back of his hand; it was very cold.

Ai Haibara and Akako Koizumi walked to Taki Kitagawa's side, while Sonoko and the other two comforted the sobbing Yoko Asanuma.

"His face was pale, and his limbs were slightly bluish and bent; he must have frozen to death," Ai Haibara said after examining him.

Koizumi Akako concluded definitively, "This must have been done by the Snow Woman; the temperature inside the house could not possibly have frozen anyone to death."

Ai Haibara suggested another possibility: "Not necessarily. It's also possible that someone took her outside and froze to death, and then brought her body back inside."

Ai Haibara's words do make some sense. Kitagawa Taki glanced at Yoko Asanuma. If Akiko Kinoshita was murdered, it was most likely this woman who did it.

The stunt double kills the actor to take his place—that's a classic plot.

If it was the Snow Woman who did it, then that's interesting. He and Koizumi Akako searched for so long last night but couldn't find her, and then Kinoshita Akiko, who played the Snow Woman, was killed that very night.

What is this? Is Li Kui killing Li Gui?

Kitagawa Taki said, "Let's call the police first. Boss, could you please call the police for me?"

The elderly couple were still standing at the door, at a loss.

"Oh, okay." Upon hearing Kitagawa Taki's words, Kitamura Genbei realized what was happening and ran back to his room to call the police.

After the boss went to call the police, Kitagawa Taki turned to look at Asanuma Yoko. With the three of them comforting her, she calmed down a lot. "Ms. Asanuma, can you tell me the specifics of the situation?"

Yoko Asanuma recalled, "Akiko and I went to bed quite early last night. Just now, I got up to use the bathroom, turned on the light, and Akiko was... already like this..."

Kitagawa Taki continued, "Did you sense anything unusual?"

Yoko Asanuma wiped away her tears. "No, I was sleeping soundly."

It's quite normal that she didn't notice that she and Akiko Kinoshita slept a few meters apart.

……

About an hour later.

Two exhausted police officers arrived at the guesthouse, clearly having been dragged out of bed.

"I am Kawada from the Mikachi Police Station, and this is my colleague, Officer Odagiri," Officer Kawada introduced.

Then he asked, "Are you the guesthouse owner who reported the incident? Where is the deceased?"

Kitamura Genbei nodded. "Come with me."

The three of them went to the innermost room.

Officer Kawada saw the room was packed with people. "So many people?"

Kitamura Genbei explained, "They are all my tenants."

Officer Kawada looked displeased; so many people crammed into the room could very well jeopardize the crime scene.

"Officer, don't worry, no one has tampered with the scene." Kitagawa Taki guessed what he was worried about. Indeed, no one had tampered with the scene; he had only tested the temperature of the body with the back of his hand.

Officer Kawada's expression softened slightly before he began to examine the condition of the body.

Upon seeing the body, Officer Kawada's expression changed drastically.

This was almost identical to the condition of the deceased in a previous mountaineer death case he had handled.

At the time, it was widely rumored that the Snow Woman was the killer, but he didn't believe it. However, he couldn't find any useful clues, and in the end, it all ended up being an accident.

"The deceased's name was Kinoshita Akiko, and the woman over there is Asanuma Yoko; she was with the deceased," Kitagawa Taki explained.

Officer Kawada asked, "What's your name, sir? What's your relationship with them?"

“Taki Kitagawa, I don’t know them. I only met them once yesterday when they came to the hotel. Akiko Kinoshita is a somewhat famous actress, and my companion recognized her. Yoko Asanuma is her stunt double.”

"I see, thank you very much, Mr. Kitagawa."

Officer Kawada then questioned Yoko Asanuma, while another officer took photos as evidence.

"Ms. Asanuma, could you please take out your bags?"

Yoko Asanuma was undoubtedly the prime suspect, and Officer Kawada wanted to check their luggage.

Hearing that she had to take out her bag, Yoko Asanuma realized the seriousness of the situation. "I...I..."

Seeing Yoko Asanuma's hesitant manner, Officer Kawada's suspicions deepened. "Is there something inconvenient about it?"

Yoko Asanuma gave a wry smile and reluctantly took out their bags.

The two police officers quickly found several suspicious items, especially a suicide note from Akiko Kinoshita, which was found in Yoko Asanuma's bag.

A snow-white kimono, a bottle of sleeping pills, and a suicide note.

The suicide note roughly stated that Kinoshita Akiko, like her father, suffered from pneumonia and wanted to end her life like the Snow Woman.

Officer Kawada demanded, "Ms. Asanuma, could you please explain this?"

After a moment of silence, Yoko Asanuma said, "These things were what I prepared to kill Akiko, but I haven't done it yet! I didn't kill Akiko, it was Yuki-onna!"

Officer Kawada had no idea. He had already mentally reconstructed the murder process of Yoko Asanuma—first, he would drug Akiko Kinoshita with sleeping pills, then take her out of the guesthouse, wait for her to freeze to death, then bring her back to the guesthouse and stage it to look like Akiko Kinoshita was killed by a snow woman.

"Let's talk about these things back at the police station!"

Officer Kawada signaled to another officer to take Yoko Asanuma away.

Yoko Asanuma panicked, "It wasn't me, it really wasn't me!"

Kitagawa Taki, who had been watching the whole thing, slapped his forehead and thought, "Are all Japanese police officers this careless?"

There are too many suspicious points here. We don't know if it was Yuki-onna who did it, but it's definitely not Yoko Asanuma who killed the person.

Kitagawa Taki stopped him, saying, "Wait, officer, Kinoshita Akiko wasn't killed by Asanuma."

Chapter 88 Kill Him

Officer Kawada stopped what he was doing. "Hmm? Why do you say that?"

Kitagawa Taki said, "That bottle of sleeping pills was never opened, and the preparations made by Ms. Asanuma, the white kimono and the suicide note, indicate that she intended to kill Kinoshita Akiko and then stage it as a suicide. This is very different from the current situation."

"Hmm... but it's also possible that she's just creating a diversion!" Officer Kawada said after thinking for a moment.

"Whether it is or not, you can have a forensic doctor check Kinoshita Akiko's system for any traces of sleeping pills when you get back."

After saying that, Kitagawa Taki didn't say anything more. Whether Asanuma Yoko would be identified as the murderer was none of his business.

The two police officers then left with the body, evidence, and Yoko Asanuma.

Xiaolan said, "How could this happen?"

She really liked Akiko Kinoshita, but then she died overnight.

Sonoko sighed, "Ms. Kinoshita is so pitiful. I never expected that Yoko Asanuma, as a friend, would go to such lengths to kill her."

"Humans are emotional beings, and emotions are invisible, so people are fickle. Due to certain circumstances, once this emotion turns into jealousy or hatred, murderous intent will arise."

Ai Haibara walked out of the room with her hands behind her back, talking as she spoke.

"Jealousy? Hatred?"

Everyone looked at each other.

Ran smiled and said, "Ai, you sometimes say things that sound quite mature!"

"Haha, I usually tell her to watch less TV dramas!" Miyano Akemi laughed awkwardly, trying to cover for her sister.

Then, everyone left the room.

Sonoko asked with some curiosity, "Taki, do you think Kinoshita-san was killed by the Yuki-onna?"

“It’s very likely that we’re the only ones here in this desolate wilderness,” Kitagawa Taki said. “So I plan to stay here for another night and take another look. You guys can go back first.”

They had planned to come out for two days, but they had to drive back to Beika Town this afternoon.

Sonoko said, "Let's stay here too, and go back together tomorrow!"