No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

"That's how people are. When they encounter things that are hard to explain, they always feel scared, just like when I first met you more than ten years ago."

"Oh no, whether it was more than ten years ago or now, I have nothing to do with death. If I had to say, it is death that has been pushing me forward."

"Haha, no wonder you like to prank that kid all the time."

Conan, that brat, realizing he couldn't solve the case, started analyzing Kaito Kuroba's magic tricks, determined to deduce even the color of the magician's underwear. Meanwhile, Kaito, eager to impress the Grim Reaper, unleashed one magic trick after another, stunning the surrounding audience. No one paid any attention to the magician's assistant, who had already died from poisoning.

The middle-aged magician watched Kaito's magic performance alongside the audience, seemingly unconcerned about why his assistant had been killed.

"Hmm—it seems this is a proof problem."

"You mean that middle-aged lecher is the murderer? Does he have the guts? He just looks like a creepy old man."

"His performance has already given me the answer. Besides, he was one of the magicians present."

Another pigeon popped out of Kaito's hair, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

Chapter 349 Magic Tricks

"Inspector Kitahara, according to the investigation, the deceased's name is Honda Ema. He died from chlorine poisoning from the orange juice he drank. However, we also had the forensic department examine the orange juice of other people and found that only the deceased's orange juice was poisoned. Moreover, there were only his fingerprints on the deceased's orange juice bottle. After questioning, it was found that the person who distributed the orange juice was also Mr. Honda."

The easygoing and plump Chiba reported the details of the case to Kitahara Masaki.

The investigation revealed that the deceased opened the orange juice bottle cap, distributed all the orange juice to everyone, and only had his fingerprints on it.

Therefore, after listening to the report, Inspector Megure pondered for a while and concluded that Mr. Honda must have committed suicide.

“Brother Kitahara, this magician’s assistant must have committed suicide.”

"Ahem, is it possible that the murderer intended to poison someone else, but Mr. Honda accidentally drank the poisoned orange juice? And if it was suicide, why would he commit suicide in this kind of situation?"

For someone who is about to commit suicide, doing so at a magic show party would seem ridiculous, because people might assume he is still performing magic and therefore not pay any attention to him. Wouldn't that make it even more tragic?

"Yes, that's true. So what else do we need to do?"

"We also need to ask Mr. Honda's mentor, that middle-aged magician."

After standing up, Kitahara Masaki thought for a moment, then walked over to Kaito and brought up Conan.

"Kitahara-kun, what's up? I'm about to figure out that guy's magic trick."

"I'll take you to investigate the case. If you don't want to, you can go back."

"Of course I want to go! Tell me about the case quickly."

Inspector Megure looked at Masaki Kitahara, who was holding Conan by the collar, and asked with a puzzled expression:

"Brother Kitahara, why did you call Conan over here?"

"Haha, this kid always notices things that adults miss. So this time, when we're asking that magician a question, I think Conan can go to his room and see if there's anything related to the case."

The surrounding police officers were baffled by Kitahara Masaki's bizarre actions. Could a child really be allowed to play like that?

"Ahem, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"Really? Conan, you probably just got lost and that's why you accidentally wandered into the magician's lounge, right?"

Conan glanced at the helpless police officers, then at the smiling Kitahara Masaki, wondering when he had become Kitahara Masaki's underling.

Even if he becomes a subordinate, it doesn't matter. With the help of Kitahara Masaki, Conan has won the heart of the beauty and given the Black Organization a good beating. In addition, Ai Haibara is developing an antidote, so soon Conan's embarrassing disguise will disappear, and he will be able to become Shinichi Kudo again.

"Yes! That's right, I always like to wander around when I'm in a new place."

"What you're doing is called going on adventures everywhere. Do you understand?"

"understand!"

After assigning tasks, Kitahara Masaki led the group to ask the middle-aged magician some questions.

While everyone was asking the magician to come and question him, the old lecher was still groping a female staff member, almost to the point of starting a chess match.

"Ahem! Mr. Yamada, our police have a few questions for you regarding your assistant."

The old lecher was very unhappy after his spellcasting was interrupted, but he couldn't show it in front of the police, so he could only go to another prepared meeting room with the police to talk.

"First of all, Mr. Yamada, do you know if your assistant had any reason to commit suicide? If so, why would he do it at the magician's party?"

The old lecher scratched his head, looking extremely agitated. He didn't want to hear anything about his assistant, but he had to answer before the police could confirm all the suspicious points; otherwise, desperately remaining silent would only increase his suspicion.

"Um, I think it must be that. He's been feeling really guilty lately because he can't seem to develop any new magic tricks. As for why he had to die at a party, maybe it's because he didn't want us to be too sad."

"But—Mr. Yamada, why would your assistant keep magic props hidden in his sleeve?"

"So you mean it was murder? But he handed out all the juice himself, and there were other people's fingerprints on it?"

Kitahara Masaki nodded, indicating that although the old man seemed unconcerned about the case, he actually knew it very well.

“Through questioning our staff, we discovered that there seems to be some emotional entanglement between you and your assistant... The deceased appears to be dating a woman, and someone happened to see you pursuing that woman as well.”

The information that Takagi just got out of him includes this: the woman that old lecher wanted to pursue seems to have been beaten to it by his assistant. So this middle-aged magician must be very resentful. He was the one who came first, and he is the one who is richer, so why is she throwing herself at a mere magician's assistant!

Kitahara Masaki thought that this guy would definitely think that way, and indeed—that's exactly what the old lecher was thinking. However, he didn't want to answer Kitahara Masaki's question seriously anymore, because he knew very well that the police would talk to suspects like this before finding concrete evidence, hoping to find clues from them.

Seeing the magician remain silent, as if his sore spot had been hit, Kitahara Masaki didn't dwell on the emotional issue and instead turned to the topic of magic.

"Mr. Yamada, let me ask you, is there a technique in magic called 'the magician's choice'?"

Simply put, the magician's choice makes the audience believe they've chosen a card based on their own ideas, when in reality it's the magician's choice. In other words, this Yamada magician can use this technique to 'force' his assistant to take the poisoned orange juice.

"Of course. Ladies and gentlemen, you can see three coins of different sizes on the table now."

Seeing that Yamada remained silent, Kaito, who had also been brought into the meeting room, immediately answered and explained the technique to everyone present.

"Then I'll guess which one you chose."

Seeing how arrogant the magician brought by Kitahara Masaki was, Inspector Megure immediately volunteered to fight and asked Kaito how he wanted to play.

“It’s very simple, Inspector Megure. You just need to choose two out of the three coins.”

Inspector Megure obediently chose two coins.

"Then take one of the two coins you chose."

Inspector Megure obediently took one of the two coins from his hand. Looking at the coins on the table, Kaito immediately opened his hand; the coin in his palm was the same as the one Inspector Megure had taken out.

"Wow! What if I took out a different one?"

“It’s very simple. I will let you show the last coin in your hand, and then I will show the coin in my hand.”

Chapter 350 You're still 20,000 years too early!

This is actually a form of persuasive manipulation, but those involved often fail to recognize it. It's like the magician's assistant handing out orange juice; he might have been manipulated in this way by the magician, resulting in him handing out all the safe orange juice while keeping the only poisoned bottle for himself.

Even after Kaito demonstrated 'The Magician's Choice', Yamada the Magician remained indifferent. As for him, since he had become a suspect, what was there to say? He was very confident that he had not left any evidence.

Kitahara Masaki didn't bother with him and simply explained to Inspector Megure and the others.

"Before the deceased drank the poisoned juice, Mr. Yamada performed a magic trick called 'card intuition.' He first had an audience member draw a card, then placed the card in a box at a distance, and only after a while did he reveal what the card was. This time was to give his assistant a hint."

Kitahara Masaki held up a bottle of orange juice and continued explaining:

"The assistant suddenly suggested that everyone drink juice, which was a hint for the magician to understand the suit of the cards. As for the numbers, he probably used hand gestures to indicate them. In short, although the assistant suggested drinking orange juice, it was something that had been agreed upon between him and the magician beforehand. Right, Mr. Yamada? Or do you have any other way to find out the real names of the cards?"

The magician Yamada was speechless. After all, he knew the suit and number of the cards by using a hint method he had discussed with his assistant. Now that his assistant was dead, how could he possibly know on his own? He didn't have X-ray vision.

"The strangest thing is that you took out a card, and after getting a hint from your assistant, you could have just announced that you already knew the card's number, but you still had your assistant put it in the box. So I think you secretly poisoned a bottle of juice while everyone's attention was on the card. Plus, as a magician, you were wearing gloves, so it's normal that there were no fingerprints on the bottle."

After Kitahara Masaki finished recounting his crime, Yamada started sweating. He hadn't expected his method to be exposed so quickly. However, he had already thrown away the container used to hold the poison, and there were no fingerprints on it or on the juice bottle. So at this stage, there was no evidence to prove that he was the culprit.

"Hmm—it seems some people think we can't convict you without evidence?"

"Isn't that right! Officer Kitahara, you have no evidence whatsoever, how can you treat me like a criminal!"

Kitahara Masaki was too lazy to say anything more, he was just waiting for that brat Conan to find the evidence and then come running over with it. For now, this old man could only dart around for a little while.

Just as Yamada was about to leave, not wanting to wait any longer, the door to the reception room was suddenly flung open, drawing everyone's attention, but they saw nothing.

"I'm here!"

When everyone looked down again, they saw Conan bouncing around.

"Conan, what are you doing here? The police officers are interrogating a suspect."

Despite his lack of airs, Takagi still treats Conan like a child. However, after Conan gave him a speechless look, he took out several transparent evidence bags from his bag, each containing a small bottle.

"I found this in that magician uncle's room."

Kitahara Masaki looked at the evidence in his hand and nodded in satisfaction. If they hadn't tried to distract this guy, he might have destroyed the evidence.

"Ah! Where did you find this?!"

"Uncle, it's your room."

"Kid! Don't talk nonsense. Do you have any proof that this bottle was found in my room? This is clearly a frame-up!"

"Whether you were framed or not, it will be clear at a glance."

Vermouth followed her in. She had just gone to the magician's room with Conan, but she didn't go in; she just took a video.

A video proving that Conan found evidence after entering the magician's room.

After showing the video to everyone, Yamada said fiercely:

"You police officers actually conspired with a child to frame me!"

“You’re overthinking it, Mr. Yamada. This video is just a record of a child’s naughty behavior. We will definitely educate him properly afterward.”

Kitahara Masaki took the evidence from Conan, who then shouted:

"That's right! I've also figured out his method of committing the crime! Kitahara-nii, can you tell me about it?"

The police officers, watching Conan's attempt at deduction, chuckled and shook their heads. Since Kitahara Masaki joined the Metropolitan Police Department, their reliance on detectives had gradually diminished. Besides, their First Criminal Investigation Division had two beautiful and skilled female officers adept at deduction. They figured if this kid did become a detective, he'd probably end up like Uncle Mori, spending his days searching for people and investigating affairs like cheating mistresses.

It's so pitiful that dreams have turned out like this.

"Well, I've said all I need to say. All that's missing is evidence to prove my reasoning."

"Ha! So fast! Damn it!"

Conan scratched his head, annoyed that Kitahara Masaki had stolen his thunder again! The thought that he was the one who went to find evidence made him even angrier, because he finally realized that Kitahara Masaki was treating him as a free and useful underling.

"Alright, you can go outside and find Xiaolan and the others now."

Conan, who had been pitifully sent away, immediately ran into Ran's arms.