The cross-dressing master in the world of Detective Conan

"Whether this case is a suicide or a homicide is still undetermined. You guys shouldn't be so hasty in your judgments."

"Conan, the problem you just discovered is crucial. The broken wall led to that spot, and that might be the key to solving the case. You have a keen eye for observation; you've got detective potential."

"Heh heh, this brat is far worse than me; he just got lucky."

Before Conan could even feign madness and try to distract himself, Uncle Mori had already taken the initiative and roughly ruffled Conan's hair before praising himself with an extremely unpleasant smile.

Is this a way of diverting attention from her son-in-law?

Kazama Kaoru watched this scene and a guess suddenly came to mind. However, looking at Kogoro Mouri's demeanor, it would be hard for most people to believe that he would have such a deep mind.

Before Kaoru Kazama traveled through time, he had seen many speculations about Conan on the forum, including even the theory that Kogoro Mouri was the mastermind. It was a veritable explosion of ideas and wild imaginations.

However, there's nothing that can be done about it. Even though Detective Conan has already aired over 73 episodes, the information revealed about the main storyline is still pitifully scarce. The author himself is quite impressed by Gosho Aoyama's ability to pad out the plot.

Furthermore, since Uncle 73 has stated that the mastermind is someone who has already appeared in the story, it's not surprising that such speculation has arisen.

"Hey, where are you guys planning to go?"

While Kaoru Kazama was pondering, Inspector Megure and his group, along with the monks, all suddenly rushed out.

"Sister Xiaoxun, Officer Mumu and the others just said they went to look for the abbot's suicide note."

In the blink of an eye, only Conan was left standing there, looking at Kazama Kaoru's confused expression, so he spoke up to explain.

"Oh, is that so? So, Conan, what do you think? Do you also believe this case is a suicide?"

Kaoru Kazama squatted down, watching Conan, who was deep in thought with his hands in his pockets, with great interest.

"Um, how would a little kid like me know these things? You should go ask your uncle."

If anyone else had asked, Conan would have confidently shared his guesses in a pretentious manner. However, the person asking him was Kazama Kaoru, a "woman" he was very wary of. Several times, he felt that his disguise had been seen through, but afterwards she acted as if nothing had happened, making Conan very cautious.

It was also thanks to Kaoru Kazama's habit of wearing black clothes that Conan's paranoia kicked in, leading him to think ahead about the possibility that there was a Black Organization mole in the Metropolitan Police Department. In a way, this was a good thing.

Kaoru Kazama was just teasing Conan. He was annoyed by the kid's smug look with his hands in his pockets, so provoking him was fun.

After finishing his "serious business," Kaoru Kazama turned and walked toward the forensic personnel who were inspecting the scene. He remembered something crucial.

"Sai, investigate the relationships among the monks in this temple. See if anyone is related to the monk Zhongnian who died two years ago. If so, be sure to call me immediately."

"Yes, Officer Kazama."

Although it was strange, as a subordinate, he immediately went to carry out his superior's orders.

This was something Kazama Kaoru had just thought of. Since it was murder, the possibility of a revenge killing couldn't be ignored. In the world of Detective Conan, many revenge killings involve the enemy's relatives changing their names and hiding around the person, then choosing an opportune moment to kill them.

There's nothing we can do about it. In an island nation without ID cards, changing your name isn't really that difficult, especially if you have ulterior motives.

Kaoru Kazama is certain that if they can find out that the temple has a relative of the monk Chunen, then that person is most likely the murderer who killed the abbot.

However, this can only help Kazama Kaoru identify the criminal. To truly convict the criminal, it is necessary to uncover his method of murder.

With this thought in mind, Kaoru Kazama walked into the dark, large house.

It's described as pitch black because of the building's structure. This tall building only has one square window at the very top, making it extremely dark. If it weren't for a large hole in the corner of the wall, Kaoru Kazama probably wouldn't have such a good view.

"Have you guys found any clues?"

Upon seeing the forensic personnel on the beam, Kazama asked a question, but unfortunately received a negative answer.

"Next time, we must have someone thoroughly investigate the suspect, at least their ancestors for eighteen generations."

In these 900+ cases, the methods used are sometimes quite absurd. In many cases, it would be much easier to identify the suspect first, find the motive for the murder, and then conduct an investigation based on that person, rather than making baseless inferences about the crime without any clues.

Not everyone has Shinichi Kudo's intelligence and keen observation skills; that must be acknowledged, after all, he is the protagonist of this world.

The buffs he has not only allow him to escape many dangerous situations, but more importantly, they give him divine assistance when searching for clues. Whenever he is stuck in a stalemate, he can come up with a brilliant idea. This is the greatest golden finger that God has given him.

Shaking his head to clear these absurd thoughts from his mind, Kazama Kaoru began to carefully observe the clues at the scene.

"Hey, what happened to this plank? Why is one piece missing?"

Kaoru Kazama looked out through the large hole in the wall and saw that one of the wooden planks on the balcony was missing an entire plank.

"Reporting to Officer Kazama, this plank was already like this when we arrived here."

Kaoru Kazama scanned the surroundings of the solid wooden plank and found many wet cherry blossom petals under a broken plank with an opening.

"How did this thing end up here?"

"Sister Xiaoxun, aren't these cherry blossoms that only grow at the foot of the mountain? How come they're here?"

Conan had obviously thought of this as well, but because he had gone to ask the monk Shunen earlier, he was a step behind Kazama Kaoru. By the time he came over, he saw that Kazama Kaoru had already discovered the clue. After hesitating for a long time, he finally mustered up the courage to step forward and remind Kazama Kaoru.

"Oh, so you're mistaking me for that lousy detective Kogoro Mouri!"

Seeing Conan's cute antics, how could Kaoru Kazama not understand that Conan thought he couldn't grasp the clue and was using such a childish way to remind him?

Meeting Kazama Kaoru's enigmatic gaze, Conan became even more nervous, completely forgetting his prepared remarks, clearly recalling the fear of being dominated by Kazama Kaoru. (Manual sarcasm)

"Conan, Conan, where are you?"

Just then, Ran's voice came over. It seemed that the dutiful nanny Ran had discovered the missing Conan and come looking for him.

"Ran, Conan is here, but I need to borrow him for a bit."

"Hey, excuse me, what do you need Conan for, Kaoru-nee?"

"Because the child discovered some clues, I'm going to take him down the mountain to look for them. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him and we'll be back soon."

"Don't worry, Sister Xiaolan, I will stay close to Sister Xiaoxun and won't run away."

Although he was wary of Kazama Kaoru, it was clear that this was his only chance to go out and look for clues.

"Alright then, you two be careful."

Seeing that Conan also looked eager to try, Ran had no choice but to agree. Actually, she really cared about Conan; she was all bark and no bite.

"Okay, I'll just borrow Conan for half an hour. I'll definitely return him to you in perfect condition afterwards, so don't worry."

"Borrowing me? Does she think I'm Xiaolan's personal property? But we haven't even... "

Conan was lost in his own thoughts again, looking completely entranced, as if he were having a wet dream. Kazama Kaoru was utterly speechless.

As expected of a detective with an IQ of 250 and an EQ of 052, hopeless.

Chapter 105 Am I no longer capable?

"Huff, huff, it's not here either, where is it?"

Conan, panting heavily, ran all the way down the mountain, searching for fragments of the wall that had been washed away by the water. But these things were hard to find; who knew where they had been swept away?

This kid has really good stamina. He ran all the way down the mountain path, which was several miles long, without stopping for a moment. However, he is still just a child, and he looked a bit disheveled after running down the path, panting heavily.

In contrast, Kaoru Kazama's leisurely pace behind him gives off a feeling of child abuse.

There's no way around it. Even if Conan plays soccer for another hundred years, his physical abilities still can't compare to his. Besides, he's just a kid now. His full-speed running is nothing in Kazama Kaoru's eyes.

"Sister Xiaoxun, have you noticed anything?"

While panting heavily, Conan turned back to ask Kaoru Kazama a question, probably feeling a little resentful seeing the guy's leisurely demeanor.

He couldn't help but wonder, "Has my physical strength declined so drastically since I became a child?"

Am I no longer capable?

Conan hasn't met Ai Haibara yet, and he doesn't know much about the medicine he took, so it's inevitable that he'll have some unreliable guesses.

He was still unaware that he was being compared to a non-human being, and thought it was a negative effect of consuming aptx4869. He didn't even consider whether there was a more abnormal child in all of Tokyo than him, whether in terms of intelligence or physical ability.

To be honest, Kazama Kaoru has never been particularly interested in finding evidence. The reason he came out this time was only because of his own speculation about the case.

However, there's a saying that goes, "The flowers you plant with care may not bloom, while the willows you plant without intention may thrive."

Perhaps it was Kaoru Kazama's nonchalant attitude in his search that led him to inadvertently discover the wall fragments that Conan had been searching for.

Finding a small piece of wood in knee-high grass is no easy task, and Kaoru Kazama was really lucky.

"Conan, come and take a look. This should be what we're looking for. With this, it means that the wall wasn't broken down by human hands, but rather by the use of water."

Kazama Kaoru is quite quick-witted, and influenced by his reading of the original Conan manga, he quickly deduced the origin of the large hole in the wall after finding the evidence, but he was still completely baffled as to the murder method.

"Wait, if we had that thing, it would be easy to hang the corpse up there without leaving a trace, if we used the water flow."

As Conan bent down to examine the fragments, Kaoru Kazama had a sudden inspiration and thought of a possible method of committing the crime.

"Drip drip"

Just then, Kazama Kaoru's phone rang. It was the policeman she had asked for help earlier. The investigation had come to a conclusion, which was a double blessing for Kazama Kaoru.

"What? Are you sure it's true? Okay, thank you."

The call came at just the right time. Kaoru Kazama had just deduced the method of the crime and then identified the suspect. The next thing to consider was finding enough evidence to get the criminal to confess.

After all, the legal profession is quite developed these days. If you lose a lawsuit due to insufficient evidence, all your efforts will be in vain.

"Conan, let's go. You can hand this evidence over to the forensic team later and see if they can detect anything from it."

To be fair, Conan is quite polite. Even though there might not be anything on it, and any fingerprints might have been washed away, he still carefully picked it up with a handkerchief.

"Okay, Sister Xiaoxun."

Conan squatted on the ground and thought for a while. Judging from his expression of sudden realization, he must have figured out the method of the crime.

Kazama Kaoru is unaware that Conan has already identified the suspect because of Ran's sudden scream last night. But it doesn't matter, he doesn't plan to let the sleeping Kogoro participate in this deduction.

Because this involves a case from two years ago. If he's not mistaken, that case was also a homicide, but the police closed it as a suicide, which is a stain on his record. Letting a detective, especially a famous one, reveal the truth is like a blatant slap in the face.

------------

"Xiu Nian, have you found the abbot's suicide note?"

"No, what about you?"

"We didn't find it either. We've searched everywhere. Could it be that the abbot didn't leave a suicide note?"

"Probably not. Based on what you've said, the abbot probably already had suicidal thoughts. If that's the case, he would at least leave a suicide note for his granddaughter. He must have loved his granddaughter quite a bit."

"That's true, but we've searched the entire temple and still can't find it. We don't know where the abbot hid the suicide note."

The bespectacled, freckled monk Xiu Nian shrugged and said helplessly.

"Inspector Megure, you don't need to look anymore. This was a homicide, and I already know who the killer is."

"What? Kazama, are you serious?"