No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

But no matter what they thought, Kitahara Masaki still didn't like having the FBI around him. Back in the United States, he had killed quite a few FBI agents to save his life, and he even risked his life to step into an FBI trap in order to secure the mission of infiltrating Japan.

Jodie initially approached Kitahara Masaki for Evelyn's phone number, but then she approached Conan for another reason. Couldn't Shuichi Akai just let his ex-girlfriend have a proper rest?

"Hello, my name is Judy Saint-Temilion, I'm this cool kid's friend, and who are you?"

As expected, Jodie greeted Kitahara Masaki, who was carrying Ai Haibara on his back. Since Kitahara Masaki was disguised, Jodie couldn't tell that he was Kitahara Masaki.

In order to conceal the fact that the identity of 'Kitahara Masaki' had no deep connection with 'Haibara Ai', Kitahara Masaki disguised himself as 'Haibara Osamu' at this time, with brown hair and ice-blue eyes just like Haibara.

"I am this child's older brother, my name is Osamu Haibara. Nice to meet you."

"Ah! Ai actually has an older brother. I used to think Kitahara-nii was also like Ai's older brother."

Ran was quite surprised. She had seen Conan's children many times and had never heard that Haibara had an older brother.

"Haha, I'm also very grateful to Officer Kitahara for taking care of Ai. I didn't have much time to take care of Ai before because of some things, and she doesn't want to act cute with her brother anymore. This time, I rushed back because she caught a cold."

Just as Judy was about to ask something, a TV presenter suddenly walked up to Kitaen Masaki and asked:

"May I interview you?"

Kitahara Masaki turned around and, lo and behold, it was none other than the famous Nikko TV presenter—Mizunashi Rena. The brewery, the FBI, and the CIA were all there; only the Public Security Bureau was missing.

We're missing one player! Amuro Tooru, come quick!

Chapter 176 Little Priest, have you ever met Grandpa Death?

"Are you going to interview us?"

"Yes, are you also here to eat their scrambled egg congee at Zun Ya Ting?"

"Yes, after all, the scrambled egg congee here is very famous."

When the camera turned to Kitahara Masaki, he subtly took a step forward, blocking Conan behind him, and then pulled Ai Haibara's hand down, completely obscuring her face with his back. From the front, he just looked like a young man holding a child.

Stand users are always drawn to each other. Kitahara Masaki didn't create any coincidences, yet he still ran into Mizunashi Rena. In the world of Detective Conan, coincidences happen from time to time, scaring you half to death.

After interviewing Kitahara Masaki, Mizunashi Rena also interviewed Ran and Sonoko, since the two beautiful and youthful high school girls were more attractive, which actually helped Kitahara Masaki a lot.

Soon it was their turn. Professor Agasa glanced at Kitahara Masaki with some concern. He was worried that Kitahara Masaki's disguise might cause problems while eating. However, the system's gadgets were different from ordinary disguise gadgets. They wouldn't have any problems due to rising temperatures. So, before the murder occurred, they were able to properly enjoy the scrambled egg porridge. It was indeed quite delicious.

"Cool kid, are you guys still going to take this little girl to the doctor?"

"Yes, Ms. Judy, you and Sister Lan can enjoy your shopping. Accompanying her to the doctor is the purpose of our trip here. There's no need to take up so many people's time. She might feel embarrassed later."

Jodie clearly wanted to follow Kitahara Masaki and the others to continue observing Ai Haibara up close, which is why she started with Conan, thinking she could persuade the kid and give her a legitimate reason to go with them. However, Conan completely blocked any possibility of her following. Jodie's false identity is that of a teacher; forcing a child would be a breach of teaching qualifications and would easily arouse suspicion.

When Kitahara Masaki saw that Jodie was patiently going shopping with Ran and the others, he couldn't help but nod to Conan.

"what happened?"

“Don’t do this again next time. Don’t let unrelated people follow us, especially since Judy is a foreigner.”

"Aren't you being too sensitive? Ms. Judy is just an English teacher. It's just a coincidence that she ran into us."

"coincide?"

Hehe, do you know that someone has been monitoring Professor Agasa's house, starting yesterday?

However, Kitahara Masaki was too lazy to say too much about these things. After all, as long as those people weren't members of the Black Organization, that was fine. But even the FBI, who was on the side of 'justice,' couldn't be trusted easily. The Black Organization had survived for so long because the higher-ups in the FBI and CIA had concealed information. Even after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security intervened in the investigation, they sent Akai Shuichi to eliminate them, and even deceived Akai Shuichi by saying that it was all to make him a member of the Black Organization with the name of a liquor.

Kitahara Masaki learned about these things by chance. At that time, he happened to have installed a bugging device at the home of the mistress of a high-ranking FBI official, and as a result, he overheard this phone call.

This incident is enough to give us a glimpse into the bigger picture. The FBI's higher-ups' attitude towards Shiho Miyano is definitely that if they can't have her, they'll destroy her. That's why Maki Kitahara is wearing a disguise he hasn't used in a long time—Osamu Haibara. Actually, this disguise was initially intended to lower the guard of the Japanese Public Security Bureau.

However, by today's standards, the FBI will certainly not find any problems with this fake identity fabricated by the Public Security Bureau. This would indirectly prove that Ai Haibara and Shiho Miyano are not related. After the FBI discovers the fake information fabricated by the Public Security Bureau, they will understand that the Haibara family and the Miyano family are not related. After all, Osamu Haibara's parents are native Japanese, and the reason why he has foreign features is due to his grandparents' bloodline.

These detailed family tree records were written by Kitahara Masaki himself, and it's unexpected that they would come in handy now.

Actually, they could only find information about 'Haibara Osamu', but there wasn't much information about 'Haibara Ai'. However, when Jodie went back today and said that 'Haibara Osamu' and 'Haibara Ai' were siblings, the FBI agents would basically subconsciously assume that their parents were the same. So after finding information about 'Haibara Osamu', they would naturally fill in the blanks in 'Haibara Ai's' information at the same time.

Don't let me down, Ms. Judy.

After accompanying Ai to the doctor, Kitahara Masaki naturally planned to leave as soon as possible to avoid running into Jodie again. However, he did not expect that a murder had occurred in the underground parking lot, so the police had sealed off the parking lot and he could not leave for a while. To make matters worse, the murder was committed by the four Porsche owners. The drunk man who was sleeping in the car was indeed dead. His eyes were bulging, he was foaming at the mouth, and his hands seemed to be grabbing something.

"Look, Conan, the number four is unlucky."

"But having only three people left doesn't mean we're lucky, because one of them must be the murderer, right?"

"Ugh, this is such a hassle. Professor Agasa, why don't you drive Ai home and let her rest? I still need to solve this case first."

Kitahara Masaki immediately called Inspector Megure, asking him to tell the officers responsible for the cordon to let Professor Agasa's car through. Then he removed his disguise mask and went to the crime scene with Conan.

When Kitahara Masaki arrived at the scene, Takagi, used to Conan following behind him, didn't say anything about the child not being allowed to enter, since the child was probably another eyewitness.

Takagi once went to a shrine to ask Conan for a talisman that could keep him away from murder cases. However, before he could give it away the next day, the talismans always disappeared for various reasons. There was even one talisman that he had paid a lot of money to have made by a priest at Meiji Shrine, but it suddenly caught fire just before he was about to give it to Conan and burned to ashes.

After that, Takagi always looked at Conan with pity in her eyes, after all, such a young child had to suffer like this.

"Takagi! Takagi! What are you daydreaming about? Tell me about the case!"

"Oh, okay, the deceased's name was Banba Yukiya, 41 years old, and the cause of death was asphyxiation. Judging from the marks on the deceased's neck, the murderer likely used some kind of very thin thread-like object as the murder weapon. The forensic doctor estimated the time of death to be one hour ago."

Kitahara Masaki nodded. A little over an hour ago, Professor Agasa parked his car in the parking space opposite their three Porsches. At the same time, the fourth car, carrying all four of them, also parked in the parking space between the Porsches. At that time, the victim was still alive. Shortly after the other three people got out of their cars, the victim was killed.

Ah, at that time, Kitahara Masaki had just left with Haibara Ai when the murderer made his move. It can only be said that the victim was unlucky; even heaven didn't want to keep him.

Chapter 177 Don't rush, all I can say is don't rush.

"Hmm... Let's question these three suspects separately next."

Looking at the two men and one woman in front of me, it was truly a classic multiple-choice question.

"Please introduce yourselves first, and then tell us your operational plan for today."

“My name is Yoshito Kogure. As is our usual practice, we each drove to this shopping mall first, and then we all rode in my car, which is this Porsche 911, to play golf. After we finished playing golf and came back, because Mr. Banba was drunk, we decided to go up into the mall and look around until he sobered up before leaving.”

This man, who was almost sixty years old, was probably encountering something like this for the first time, and he nervously wiped away his sweat.

Police found a broken music box in his car; there were no wires, not even any other tools that could be used to kill someone.

The second suspect was a middle-aged man who seemed calm and collected, suggesting he wasn't very close to the deceased.

"My name is Budai Ruisi, and my car is this Porsche 356A."

Fishing gear and an electric reel were found in the man's car, but the most important thing—the line used to strangle the victim—was not found.

The third was a young lady who exuded confidence in her every move.

“My name is Kaoru Taizan. Anyway, it definitely couldn’t have been me who killed Banba. I had just finished playing golf, how could I have the strength to strangle an adult male? My car is this Porsche Box, and there’s one car between it and the car where the crime occurred. That car is Banba’s Porsche 928.”

Then, in her car, there was a remote-controlled car, which happened to be a Porsche.

According to the surveillance video, after the car stopped, the first person to get out was the elderly Mumu, the second was the middle-aged Budai, and the last was the young woman Taishan.

After taking their wallets from the car, the three of them went shopping at the mall. From then on, they stayed together and no one suddenly disappeared or went to the restroom.

Based on the estimated time of death, it is clear that the deceased was strangled shortly after the three suspects got out of the car.

Then, in order to feed the young man medicine—no, in order to put the murder weapon around the victim's neck—the murderer must have been the last to get off the bus, since she couldn't let others see her actions.

"Conan, sometimes I feel like these murderers always think their methods are amazing, but the result is just so-so. It's really disappointing."

Upon hearing Kitahara Masaki say this, the three suspects quickly asked:

"Do we already know who the murderer is?"

"Of course, the murderer's modus operandi makes it possible to recover the murder weapon, but that means the murder weapon was in her car. Because between the discovery of the victim's death and the arrival of the police, the murderer was with two other people, so she didn't have the time or opportunity to dispose of the murder weapon."

Because the pronunciation of "he" and "she" is different in Japanese, the other two men looked at the woman with shocked expressions, as if to say, "A pretty girl dares to kill someone?"

If it weren't for the need to get away from Judy as soon as possible, Kitahara Masaki might have helped her and made her a force against the organization. But for now, forget it. Besides, she definitely retrieved the fishing line used in the crime using that remote-controlled car, so when the other police officers take their belongings back and open them up, it will naturally expose her.

"Heh, officer, you have no evidence..."

"Hey, why is there so much wire tangled inside this big sister's remote control car?"

The culprit heard Conan say the most terrifying thing in a 'cute' tone, because the evidence was wrapped around the rear axle of the remote-controlled car.

There's no need to even explain the method; the murderer was taken away immediately.

Conan looked regretful. He had originally thought that the culprit used the electric window to tighten the fishing line, because the other Mr. Hotei's Porsche only had manual windows, and the only car with an electric window was the culprit's Porsche.

"Let's go. What's there to reminisce about in such a simple case?"

"Oh, really? But I think the method of committing the crime that Cool Kid described is really impressive."

"What's so clever about it? In the end, they still managed to put all the evidence in their own car. A method that would expose them with just a careful check by the police isn't exactly sophisticated. And also—Ms. Judy, what brings you here?"

"Oh, I was just a little worried about that little girl with the fever and cold. Has she left already?"

"Oh, you mean Ai? She's already gone with her brother."

Before entering the scene, Kitahara Masaki had already reverted from his 'Haibara Osamu' form back to his 'Kitahara Masaki' form, while Jodie had just encountered 'Kitahara Masaki'.

However, Jodie is now clearly more focused on Ai, because Shuichi Akai once told her that the little girl looks very similar to Shiho Miyano, just like Shiho Miyano when she was a child. That's why she replaced the two FBI agents who were exposed as being under surveillance. After all, she is an English teacher and it's impossible for her to be seen through at first glance.

However, Kitahara Masaki was a transmigrator with cheat codes. He arbitrarily divided the red and black sides into opposing camps and then became a pawn himself. However, he was the kind of pawn whose identity could be changed. While others would take the roles of lord, loyal minister, and rebel and then reveal their identities and start fighting, Kitahara Masaki chose to be an internal traitor, and he couldn't have been happier.

His level of happiness was no less than Yasuo's crazy EQ combo in the midst of minions. However, Jodie's current actions might expose him, so he decided to play along and make the FBI make another wrong judgment, at least so that Shuichi Akai would stop investigating Ai Haibara.

"Oh! Is that little girl very sick? I have some cold medicine at home, and I'd like to take it to her."

"No need, her brother has already taken her home, and she just finished her doctor's appointment. She's taking her medicine and is about to go to sleep, so it's best not to disturb her."

“You’re absolutely right, Officer Kitahara.”

Judy smiled as she spoke to Kitahara Masaki, though she seemed to be gritting her teeth.

"I wonder if Miss Judy got the information she wanted from Evelyn?"

"Hmm? I just wanted to go to the arcade with Miss Evelyn. It's a pity she's not back yet."

She hasn't come back yet, of course, because it was Kitahara Masaki who told Vermouth not to come back yet, and to keep Jodie hanging for a while.

When fishing, you should never rush to reel in the net.

Chapter 178 Why does it look like a bunch of kindergarten kids?

beep beep-

Who is it so early in the morning?