Detective Conan: The Ultimate Growth Space

Taeko Mamegaki shook her head and said, "No, my grandfather went out, so I'm all alone."

Xiaolan chimed in, "But Dad, when Miss Miaozi came back, she ran into Mr. Anzai leaving the hotel. They even brushed past each other."

Yoko chimed in, "Yes, yes, I saw it too. We had just left the hotel when we saw the two of them brush past each other."

"What?" Kogoro Mouri muttered to himself, "If that's the case, then after returning, Miss Taeko has been staying in the living room, so she hasn't had time to commit the crime."

Inspector Megure said, speechless, "So, does that mean Ms. Taeko couldn't possibly have committed the crime?"

I still feel sorry for Mamegaki Taeko.

As for Anzai Morio, such a shameless scoundrel who doesn't know how to suck his pants.

Zhiyong was also very disgusted; his death would only make Zhiyong happy.

The fact that Zhiyong was made to search for the murderer of such a scumbag made him very unhappy.

Even if Zhiyong remains silent, Conan is still able to find out who the culprit is and use Kogoro Mouri to solve the case.

Ran and Yoko Okino are both here today.

Making Kogoro Mouri show off in front of two beautiful women is something that Tomoyuki must find incredibly embarrassing.

Since that's the case, then we can't let others benefit from it.

Of course, Zhiyong should show off in front of them.

……

Chapter 49 One wrong step leads to another

Zhiyong said to the body, "Inspector Megure, there's something wrong with the death information on the ground."

Inspector Megure walked over and said, "Oh, Sato, something's not right."

After helping Inspector Megure solve several cases, he became much more polite to him.

He pointed to the blood-written characters on the ground and said, "Look, the way these kana are written is very wrong."

Kogoro Mouri and Inspector Megure looked over.

"The vertical stroke and the left-falling stroke of this character are clearly not written in one stroke; it looks like they were added later."

As Zhiyong spoke, he pointed to the words on the ground and said, "If you remove this vertical stroke and this left-falling stroke, it becomes a handsome guy."

Kogoro Mouri said, "As expected, when it comes to handsome men, it should be Shingo Nachi."

At that moment, someone approached Inspector Megure and said, "Officer, we found these photos in the victim's room."

Inspector Megure looked at the photo and said, "The photo shows Mr. Nachi and a woman walking out of a hotel."

Upon seeing the photo, Kogoro Mouri exclaimed in surprise, "This woman is actress Ritsuko Akiyama."

Someone nearby said, "Isn't she already married?"

Nachi Shingo was terrified.

Inspector Megure looked at Shingo Nachi and asked, "Is this evidence of infidelity?"

Ran chimed in, "So, in that case, I saw Mr. Anzai extorting Mr. Nachi this evening with Conan."

Inspector Megure exclaimed in surprise, "What? Mr. Nachi has been blackmailed?"

Kogoro Mouri looked at him with an expression that said, "As expected, you are the suspect. The photos and the death notice are all yours."

Shingo Nachi said angrily, "I was blackmailed by that guy Anzai, but I've already said that I really didn't kill him."

Inspector Megure said, "But the blood-written words at the scene and these photos all point to you being a prime suspect."

"Inspector Megure, Mr. Nachi is probably not the murderer."

Zhiyong wanted to go back to sleep early, so he didn't want to waste any more time and started giving his answer directly.

"Not the murderer? Why would you say that?" Inspector Megure asked, puzzled.

“Mr. Nachi must be the dark figure that Ran and Yoko saw at 10:30. He saw ‘Handsome Guy’ written on the ground, so he added two strokes and turned the blood-written words into a stone lion. However, he is definitely not the murderer. The information about ‘Handsome Guy’s’ death is still incorrect,” Zhiyong said from the side.

Kogoro Mouri and Inspector Megure walked over.

“When someone is about to die, they will write down their name directly. Therefore, the stone lions before and the handsome guy now are not real information about death. You can see that these strokes were obviously added later. If you remove these strokes, it becomes Douyuan,” Zhiyong explained.

Inspector Megure said, "So, it must be Mr. Mamegaki?"

Zhiyong shook his head and said, "No. The murderer should be Ms. Mamegaki Taeko."

"But didn't she just brush past Mr. Anzai at ten o'clock? Ran and Yoko have already confirmed that, haven't they?" Inspector Megure asked curiously.

"Yes, Zhiyong, weren't you there too?" Xiaolan asked curiously.

“Yes,” Yoko Okino also said.

“At ten o’clock, I did see Mr. Anzai. But the person we saw was just a man wearing Mr. Anzai’s clothes and a Mr. Anzai’s watch. We didn’t see his face at the time, right, Ran, Ms. Yoko?”

After thinking for a moment, the two women nodded and said, "We really didn't see Mr. Anzai's face at the time."

“When Miss Mamegaki Taeko arrived at Mr. Anzai’s place, she looked extremely terrified. I didn’t pay much attention at the time, but now that I think about it, she must have seen Mr. Anzai, whom she had already killed, walk past her. That’s why she was so surprised,” Zhiyong added.

"That's right. At that time, Miss Taeko looked at Mr. Anzai's back with a very panicked expression. I called her several times before she came to her senses, and then she hurriedly went back to the hotel," Ran recalled.

Zhiyong pointed at Anzai's watch and said, "Inspector Megure, look, Mr. Anzai's hands are covered in blood, but there is no blood on his watch. Isn't that strange? This proves that someone took Mr. Anzai's watch after he died."

Inspector Megure looked at the watch on the deceased's wrist and said, "That's right, there's no blood on the watch."

“It seems someone took the watch back to the hotel to postpone the time of the incident. In Mr. Anzai’s room, they deliberately let the alarm ring before returning to the shrine and putting the watch on Mr. Anzai’s wrist. But when they came back and put the watch on Mr. Anzai’s wrist again, the blood on Mr. Anzai’s hand had already dried,” Zhiyong said.

Yoko Okino asked in confusion, "Then the person we met in the hotel wasn't Mr. Anzai?"

Zhiyong nodded and said, "That wasn't Mr. Anzai, it must have been Mr. Shimazaki Yuji. He changed the words left on the ground by the deceased to 'handsome guy'."

Upon hearing this, Shimazaki Yuji said, "That's right, I killed Anzai, and I was also the one who disguised myself as Anzai. But there was no writing of Mamegaki on the floor. I wrote the word 'handsome guy' to frame Mr. Nachi."

Zhiyong shook his head and said, "Mr. Shimazaki, it is indeed you who disguised yourself as Mr. Anzai, but you are not the murderer. Look around the victim, there is blood everywhere, isn't there? Then the murderer should also have blood on him."

“That’s right. Mr. Shimazaki didn’t change his clothes; there’s not a drop of blood on them. Among everyone here, the only one who had time to change out of the bloodstained clothes and wash the bloodstains off is Ms. Mamegaki,” Kogoro Mori replied.

Upon hearing this, Shimazaki Yuji hurriedly defended himself, saying, "It wasn't Taeko who killed him, it really was me, please believe me."

Mamegaki Taeko stepped in to stop him, saying, "Yuji, stop talking. I did kill Anzai."

After admitting to the murder, Taeko Mamegaki also explained her reasons for killing him.

When she was in high school, her parents passed away, which made her rebellious. She stopped going to school and spent all her time hanging out with delinquents. Anzai was one of her friends at that time.

Young people often speak without thinking, and she inadvertently revealed that the storeroom of the Mihana Shrine contained expensive ritual implements.

After learning about this, Anxi stole the expensive sacrificial utensils.

The warehouse manager also committed suicide out of guilt for this reason.

Mamegaki Taeko was afraid and dared not tell the truth.

Because of this incident, she changed her personality and cut off all contact with those thugs.

She never expected that when she met Anxi again, Anxi would threaten her with things from the past.

She was repeatedly blackmailed, which finally drove her to the brink of despair, and she killed him.

A person's life is filled with countless choices.

Whether one becomes a top scholar or a beggar is determined by a single, unintentional choice made amidst countless options.

Everyone goes through a rebellious adolescence when they are young, so they must be careful when making choices.

In many situations, people cannot afford to make the wrong choices.

Otherwise, it will be very difficult to have another chance to turn back, and one wrong step will plunge you into the abyss.

Behind every case lies a liter of tears.

In this case, aside from Taeko Mamegaki's youthful arrogance...

If only the police had solved the case of the theft of sacrificial items back then.

Anzai Morio was captured.

How could such a case possibly happen again now?

In the world of Detective Conan, some cases are tragic because of police inaction.

Of course, if Zhiyong had stepped in to stop what happened today, the case could have been prevented from occurring.

But wisdom and courage are not saviors.

Besides, even if Zhiyong had stopped it this time...

Anzai Morio, however, would not let it go.

Such an easy way to make money nowadays.

……

Chapter 50 The Cunning Lawyer

That morning, Zhiyong went to the firm.

I heard that the client Kogoro Mouri is going to visit is a lawyer named Sohei Tatsumi.

Xun Zhuangping is a prominent lawyer and also an advisor to several large corporations.

Zhiyong wanted to meet such a person and hoped to become familiar with him and expand his network, so he followed Kogoro Mouri.

When Zhiyong saw that Conan had also come along, he had a bad feeling.

However, he doesn't remember many of the plot points in Conan's storyline, so he hasn't recalled whether a case has occurred this time.

However, in the world of Conan, there will inevitably be deaths and injuries whenever Conan goes out; this is a truth.

I imagine this time will be no different; something bad is bound to happen.

However, this is not important to Zhiyong. What difference does it make whether there are cases or not?

Upon arriving at the hotel where lawyer Xun Zhuangping worked, I immediately felt that lawyer Xun Zhuangping had become even more prestigious.

Five-star hotels are quite expensive.