Detective Conan: The Ultimate Growth Space

Kogoro Mouri nodded as well.

An hour later, the photos arrived.

Inspector Yokomizo looked at the photos, frowned, and asked curiously, "There are seven in total, right? But how can these photos serve as alibis?"

Zhiyong already knew the plot, so after seeing the photos...

He pointed to the left wrist of Sei Kenichi in a photo and whispered in Kogoro Mouri's ear, "Uncle, look at this photo, and the other photos, at his left wrist."

Zhiyong pointed out the problems with the photo.

Kogoro Mouri also noticed the difference in his wrist and figured out the reason.

He simply nodded, smiled slightly, and looked utterly inscrutable.

“He originally intended these photos to prove his alibi, but now they prove he wasn’t even at the festival. How ironic,” Kogoro Mouri said with a smile.

Now, Kogoro Mouri seems quite wise, but later he became rather goofy.

It's unclear whether he was faking it or if Conan had used tranquilizer darts on him too many times.

Zhiyong is even more convinced that Kogoro Mouri's later comical behavior was caused by Conan shooting him with tranquilizer darts too many times.

If Kogoro Mouri's later behavior was all an act, that would be terrifying.

Ran was also invited over. After looking at the photos, she said, "These are photos I just took, right when 'One' started burning. I met Mr. Sei. You can see Conan's balloon in the photos."

“However, the burning of the character ‘一’ began after 8:40, and the crime occurred around 8:02. If the car had been driven ahead, it would have taken only forty minutes to reach the festival venue from the hotel,” Inspector Yokomizo said.

Kogoro Mouri said in a serious tone, "The first character '天' (heaven) started burning at eight o'clock, right? So around what time will it continue burning to the next character?"

Officer Yokomizo thought for a moment and said, "Well, until around 8:25."

Kogoro Mouri pointed at the photo and said, "Please look at the photo carefully. Do you see? He was already at the festival venue of the Great Night Festival before 8:25. The crime was committed around 8 o'clock. No matter how fast you speed, I think you can't get to the venue within 25 minutes if you leave from this hotel, right, Mr. Sei?"

Upon hearing Kogoro Mouri's words, Sei Kenichi smiled, convinced that his plan had succeeded, and said smugly, "Of course."

Inspector Yokomizo asked doubtfully, "Mr. Mori, don't you think this photo was taken intentionally? Perhaps it's a multiple exposure; if someone is very skilled with cameras, that's possible."

Sei Kenichi said angrily, "Hey, hey, officer, I just handed the camera to you to develop. Besides, it's a camera that you'd use and then throw away, I would never do something like that."

Officer Yokomizo said to someone next to him, "You were the one who took the photos to be developed, weren't you?"

The policeman said, "Yes, neither the camera nor the photographs show any signs of being altered."

……

Chapter 35 Cleverness Backfires

Kogoro Mouri laughed heartily, "Mr. Sei is a smart man, of course he wouldn't do that. Mr. Sei asked me to develop the photos so that I would say what I just said. However, after seeing the photos, I can say with absolute certainty that the culprit is you—Sei Kenichi."

He pointed at Sei Kenichi, smiling contemptuously, and said, "You want to use photos to prove your alibi, but you never expected that these photos of yours would also prove that you weren't at the meeting, but were here killing someone."

Sei Kenichi exclaimed in surprise, "What?"

Inspector Yokomizo was taken aback, then excitedly asked, "Really? Mr. Mori, have you found evidence that he committed the murder?"

Kogoro Mori, looking quite smug, handed the photos to Inspector Yokomizo and said, "As the saying goes, cleverness can be one's undoing. Inspector Yokomizo, look at that photo with the character '天' (heaven/sky) on it. Is there anything different about Mr. Sei's left wrist compared to the other photos?"

"The difference?" Officer Yokomizo asked, somewhat puzzled.

Zhiyong chimed in, "Mr. Shijing, that photo with the character 'Tian' must have been taken here last year, right? You wanted to look the same as last year, so no matter how hot it was, you refused to take off your coat. But even the best-laid plans can slip up, and you still gave yourself away."

Officer Yokomizo took a few more photos and looked at them one by one.

Suddenly, Officer Yokomizo put away the photos, took the photo with the character "天" (heaven), and walked up to Sei Kenichi.

Officer Yokomizo raised his hand and grabbed Sei Kenichi's left hand, exposing Sei Kenichi's left wrist.

At this point, Sei Kenichi was still unaware of what had happened.

"Officer, what are you doing?"

Inspector Yokomizo sneered, "Mr. Sei, can you tell me what's going on here? In the photos of your alibi, your sun-tanned wrist is clearly visible."

Pointing to the photo, she added, "But actually, there are white marks on your wrist from wearing a watch. In the other photos, it looks the same as it does now. So, that photo must have been taken here a year ago, right? Am I right?"

Nobuichi Sei hadn't expected that his plan, which was supposed to be perfect, would make such a mistake.

What was originally intended as finding an alibi ended up pushing him into an abyss.

Seeing that his scheme had been exposed, Sei Nobu had nothing to say and could only confess.

"That's right. A year ago, I decided to kill Imaizumi Satoshi because I wanted to take his place at the top of the literary world."

As Sei Kenichi spoke, he lowered his head and said somewhat dejectedly, "A year ago, the literary magazine had already decided to publish my work, but the editorial department suddenly changed their mind and wanted to use Jin Zhu's work, which was inserted midway, simply because Jin Zhu is more famous."

"Is that why you killed Mr. Imaizumi?" Kogoro Mori asked.

"For me, that serialization was my last chance, a gamble with my life, but Jinzhu stole my chance," Sei Kenichi said angrily.

"For a writer to succeed, their work must speak for itself. If your work is good, how could the literary and artistic era change? It can only mean that your work is not outstanding. Instead of looking for problems within yourself and filling in the gaps, you think that killing Mr. Jinzhu will make you successful."

Zhiyong looked at Sei Kenichi with disdain and said, "With your attitude, even if it weren't for Imatake, or perhaps Mori or Yokomizo, you would still be replaced. When you stop letting your work speak for itself and pick up a gun, you no longer have the right to call yourself a writer. You still want to stand at the top of the literary world? You're still dreaming."

Sei Kenichi gave a bitter laugh: "Maybe that's how it is, but unfortunately, I've never understood it."

He sighed and said, "I really don't deserve to call myself a writer. Thinking back to the days when I was writing, they were truly unforgettable. I don't know when I started to change. I did kill Jinzhu Zhi, officer, please take me away."

Officer Yokomizo stepped forward and handcuffed Nobukazu Sei.

Sei Kenichi was also unlucky; although he had prepared for a year and thought it was perfect, he was still unlucky.

But he never expected that his cleverness would backfire and he would get himself into trouble.

What puzzled Zhiyong was that he had already thrown away all the items he used in the crime.

There was no gunpowder residue on his body.

Why would he need to fabricate an alibi?

The police couldn't find any evidence to prove that he had killed the person.

If his fabricated alibi hadn't been proven, and instead proved his innocence, then even if the police determined that he was the murderer.

But there were no witnesses or physical evidence, so the judge couldn't convict him!

After the matter was resolved.

Inspector Yokomizo grasped Kogoro Mouri's hand and said excitedly, "What a perfect deduction, Detective Mouri! Cracking the criminal's trap and bringing him to justice is all thanks to you. You are truly amazing."

Kogoro Mouri laughed heartily and said, "This is nothing, it's a piece of cake for me."

Actually, Zhiyong felt that Officer Yokomizo seemed like a goofball, but he was actually a very smart person.

Although Kogoro Mouri helped solve the case, the credit ultimately went to him.

What harm is there in offering a few flattering words?

Inspector Yokomizo suffered no losses and still managed to make Kogoro Mori feel great.

It will be convenient to ask Kogoro Mouri for help if we encounter any problems in the future.

This trip was quite good, and I had a lot of fun.

However, what the four kids in the "Death Squad" were very unhappy about was that they weren't allowed to enter the scene of the murder case; they could only watch from the doorway, which made them extremely frustrated.

Conan, in particular, was extremely frustrated.

He is clearly a high school student.

Now, however, he has to attend classes with elementary school students.

The murder scenes that he used to be able to enter at will are no longer open to him now that he has shrunk.

A few days later, a friend of Kogoro Mouri was getting married in Kyoto and invited Kogoro to attend.

Zhiyong didn't go because he was in a hurry to upgrade his space.

Unexpectedly, the three members of the "Young Suicide Squad" learned that Conan was going to Kyoto.

They all wanted to go and have fun, so their parents asked Kogoro Mouri to take them to Kyoto.

The parents of these kids are incredibly carefree.

Zhiyong felt that the reason why the members of the "Daredevil Group" kept doing all sorts of crazy things was that they never learned their lesson.

Besides their carefree nature, they also have big hearts, which is probably largely influenced by their parents.

Later, Zhiyong heard that they were almost blown up by a bomb on the Shinkansen.

Fortunately, Conan discovered the problem in time, and although the bomb exploded, no one was injured.

It seems that following Conan, the son of Death, is really dangerous.

If the bomb hadn't been discovered, this group of people would have been airborne without even realizing it.

Unfortunately, Zhiyong forgot about it, so he didn't go along.

Moreover, even if they do remember, they may not be able to recall which time or what happened.

This is a real world where roughly the same things can happen every day.

In many cases, even if Zhiyong knows about them, he will only know the specific time after they happen.

Fortunately, this group of people were all very lucky and nothing unexpected happened.

It would be such a shame if all of them were blown to bits.

Fortunately, although Conan has the attributes of a grim reaper, misfortune will happen wherever he goes.

However, it rarely affects the people around you.

If Conan had the same physique as Kindaichi.

Kogoro Mouri and the others are probably either in prison or murdered.

……

Chapter 36 The Vanished Corpse

That day, Zhiyong was strolling around the hospital when he received a call from Bumei and the others.

Zhiyong bought this phone number when he returned from Saitama Prefecture.