Conan, I'm an actor

Chapter 36 Unexpected Wealth

In the following days, Xincheng was frequently summoned, which caused him considerable distress. This situation only improved after a lawyer named Piper arrived.

Attorney Piper, who traveled from New York, expressed strong dissatisfaction with the Japanese police's frequent summons of his clients. Out of professional ethics (for his $20 million commission), he sent a lawyer's letter to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and filed a lawsuit.

A few days later

"Where's Attorney Piper?" Koshimizu Nanatsuki hung up her coat. "Is he going to cause trouble for the Metropolitan Police Department again? The Metropolitan Police Department is right across the street. Is it...?"

“How could that be? The Public Security Bureau is the one that really wants to investigate those people. The Metropolitan Police Department is just a mouthpiece. The Metropolitan Police Department will act as a mouthpiece because the other party is their superior, but if they get into legal trouble for acting as a mouthpiece, those people in the Metropolitan Police Department will not pay any attention to the Public Security Bureau.” Shinjo put down his coffee cup. “He and Narumi went to the hotel to pick up the documents needed for this inheritance. They should be taking a trip around Japan in the next few days.”

"Huh?" Before Yue Shui could react, a luxury car pulled up in front of the door. Pibor rolled down the window and beckoned the two of them to get in.

Over three days, Shinjo and his team visited two large private hospitals near Tokyo, 27 properties, and a 600-acre undeveloped plot of land.

"What exactly does your distant uncle do? How come he's so rich?" Yue Shui lay back in the back seat, looking like a salted fish.

Asagi started familiarizing himself with the information of the two private hospitals after they took over, which meant he was finally free from his predicament.

But she was different. She was dragged around to inspect various properties and listened to the introductions from the people in charge. Just when she was about to have some fun, Xincheng told her that she had finished signing and needed to go to the next place.

“Mr. Jiang’s work is very mysterious. All we know is that he is very wealthy. Our law firm only handled a portion of the gift agreements,” said lawyer Piper. “These are just assets near Tokyo. Mr. Jiang also has investments in important cities such as Osaka and Tokyo.”

"Are we going to Osaka and Tohoku?" Koshimizu felt her mind go blank, then grabbed Shinjo's shoulder and asked, "This isn't the round-the-Japan trip you told me about, is it?!"

"Pretty much. Look, you've been staying in high-end hotels these past two days, five-star standard," Xincheng said somewhat awkwardly. "You've been traveling in luxury cars, going to upscale entertainment venues and hotels. Doesn't that count as a trip?"

"You liar!!!"

In the following days, Koshimizu made an excuse about having classes at university and skipped the trip, so Shinjo had to bring Ochiai over.

Ochiai initially wanted to refuse, as he only wanted to keep his art museum. However, after learning that the inheritance included several museums, Director Ochiai's attitude became extremely positive.

Within a month, the wealth under Xincheng's name began to soar, including more than ten star-rated hotels, dozens of high-end properties, four private hospitals, two art galleries with rich collections, and billions of dollars in cash.

In order to manage these properties, Xincheng had to hire an experienced real estate agent to handle them on its behalf.

After acquiring money and land, he began planning to extract the AI ​​from the system. He had been eyeing this AI for a long time, but he had been forced to leave it idle because he lacked the financial resources to build a supercomputer.

Just as he was considering who to ask to help build the supercomputer, his phone rang.

"What's wrong?" Shinjo answered immediately when he saw it was Narumi's number. "Is there something wrong at the hospital?"

Knowing that Rum might have planted some people in his businesses, Shinjo asked Asagi Narumi to keep an eye out, and now that he's called, there should be some results.

“I think everyone has problems, that’s my answer,” Asagi said with some distress. “I really have no experience as a secret agent, and I can feel that everyone in this hospital is on guard against me. Maybe you should find someone else.”

"Alright, then you can take charge of wards 11 and 17." Shinjo tapped his fingers on the table.

"Wards 11 and 17? Isn't ward 17 empty? Ward 11 is managed by a designated person, and it can't be taken over without a warrant."

“I’ve prepared room 17 for myself. If I get shot, I’ll be transferred to room 17 for treatment. As for who’s in room 11, don’t ask. Just know that three meals a day will be delivered to you.” Shinjo stretched. “There’s a very important person locked up in there. I’ll have Ochiai deliver the warrant to you later.”

Just as Shinjo hung up on Asano Minami's call, his phone rang again. This time, however, Shinjo didn't answer immediately but hesitated for a moment because the caller ID showed Vermouth as the caller ID.

Just as he was mentally preparing himself to answer the phone, Vermouth's text message arrived.

"Did Bourbon arrive in Japan ahead of schedule?" Shinjo stroked his chin. "That guy must hate me to death, after all, I'm the one who prevented him from even collecting his body. Oh well, we'll deal with whatever comes our way. At worst, we'll just return him to him."

"Come down for dinner." Just then, Yue Shui's voice came from outside the door.

Xincheng sat up abruptly from the bed, and the next second, he fell to the ground with a loud thud.

A few seconds later, Yue Shui opened his door and looked at Xin Cheng lying on the floor. She asked anxiously, "What happened to you? Do you need me to help you with that box...?"

"I...I'm getting a cramp." Shinjo struggled to his feet.

Upon learning that there was no danger, Yue Shui burst out laughing at Xin Cheng's predicament.

Tokyo, inside the Mouri office

"Conan, what are you looking at?" Ran Mouri asked curiously as she watched Conan scribbling on a piece of paper.

"Today, when Genta and I went fishing, we saw a man being coerced by a group of people to shoot at targets on the river with a rifle," Conan said, biting his pencil. "Afterwards, I went to the scene and found a calculator with this string of numbers written on it. I suspect it's a code left by that man."

"What about the calculator?" Kogoro Mouri put down his newspaper.

"It's already been handed over to Inspector Megure."

“Don’t do anything so dangerous next time. If what you’re saying is true, that man should have already spotted you,” Kogoro Mouri said. “If he really is a criminal, the response you should receive is a bullet.”

"Yes~" Conan's tone was drawn out, clearly indicating his dissatisfaction with Kogoro Mouri's lecture.

Chapter 37 The Puppet in Pursuit of Truth

"Dad, aren't you interested in this?" Ran looked at the "secret code" on the table. "Maybe there really is some unexpected discovery? What if Conan is telling the truth..."

"I have no money." Kogoro Mouri picked up a newspaper to cover his face, then decisively refused Ran's request. "Besides, the case has already been handed over to the Metropolitan Police Department. Let them worry about it."

Conan glanced up at Kogoro, then looked down and began studying the code in front of him.

After returning from Moonshadow Island, Uncle Mori has been out of sorts, seemingly frightened.

While on the island, Kogoro didn't witness any gunfights, but he did hear the intense gunfire and found several sniper rifle shell casings. This may have instilled in him a certain fear of guns.

This case also involves guns, and Conan can understand why Uncle Mori doesn't want to get involved.

Looking at the A4 paper on the table that had been scribbled all over, Conan decided to ask Uncle Shinjo.

In their few encounters, he became certain of one thing: this Uncle Xincheng possessed exceptional reasoning abilities.

In the art museum case, he understood the truth with just one glance at the scene. In the Moonshadow Island case, he identified the impending murderer based solely on clues from ten years ago and some observations from the island. If he didn't have a penchant for leading people astray in his investigations, he could certainly have become an excellent detective.

Conan decided to simply tell Shinjo the clues he had gathered and ask him to help with the deduction, without involving him in the case; that should solve the problem.

"What's wrong with Conan these past month? He keeps going out." Ran said with some concern as she watched Conan leave.

“What does it matter? He can just take care of dinner every time he comes back, it saves him trouble and money.” Kogoro Mouri put down his newspaper. “If I’m not mistaken, he probably wants to go to that Mr. Shinjo.”

Half an hour later, when Conan arrived at the Koshimizu Detective Agency, they were having dinner. Narumi, Shinjo, and Koshimizu were all sitting at the same table.

"You're the older sister from the boat that day?" Conan was taken aback; he hadn't expected Shinjo to bring this person back to the detective agency. Although she hadn't killed anyone, she had back then…

"Call me brother, let me introduce you. This is Dr. Aso." Shinjo delivered a powerful punch to Conan's head. "She disguised herself as a man to infiltrate Tsukikage Island to uncover the truth behind her father's murder. He's the one who sent the letter to Kogoro Mouri. He hopes we can stop his revenge."

"What if we fail to stop it..."

“In that case, you should see his body.” Shinjo snorted. “In this idiot’s plan, he would commit suicide after taking his revenge. The gasoline cans and ignition devices in the community center are all ready.”

"What are you talking about?" Yue Shui immediately became interested.

Conan looked at Shinjo; with Shinjo around, he really didn't dare to say anything.

Xincheng rolled his eyes. "Don't look at me. Even if you don't tell me now, she'll find out later."

"Fine, I'll explain this myself." Cheng Shi gave a wry smile, then laid out his plan and his experiences in detail.

Of course, he didn't mention the gunfight part, because at the time he and Conan only heard the gunshots, but didn't see the gunfight.

"So you split up with us to investigate the letter of commission. You already knew about the clues to the letter of commission, and you made Uncle Mori and me waste time at the community center." Yue Shui said with some annoyance, "Also, where did that cyanide come from? Why do you have such a dangerous substance on you, and how do you know so many methods of committing crimes?"

"It was just an empty bottle. The clinic on that island was dirt poor. Where was I supposed to find cyanide? As for any special poison, it was just a repackaged cephalosporin capsule." Shinjo rolled his eyes. "After all, in that situation, I didn't know how to save anyone. It's just a pity about Kawashima. If he had been a little calmer, he wouldn't have been shot by those people."

Upon hearing that Kawashima had been shot dead, Narumi's expression changed slightly.

"Alright, kid, what brings you here this time?" Shinjo asked Conan. "What trouble have you run into this time?"

"This afternoon, when Genta and I were fishing, we saw someone on the roof of an abandoned building shooting at a target in the river with a rifle. It was a fast-moving electric model boat with a balloon floating behind it," Conan described the scene vividly. "From a distance of several hundred meters, that person shot and popped the balloon with one shot."

“Shooting training? Some assassination missions simulate the scene and use similar methods for training, but it’s not very useful.” Shinjo yawned. “And then? Don’t tell me you’ve been targeted by those assassins.”

He had already begun searching his mind for information from other cases that matched this one, but Conan had far too many cases, and classic cases like the Art Museum and Moon Shadow Island were rare, so he couldn't come up with anything even after thinking for a long time.

“I saw that the two men were being forced to shoot; the person who was forcing them was holding a pistol,” Conan said. “I suspect they were trying to force the man to assassinate someone.”

"Then go find a police officer. I remember you have a good relationship with the Metropolitan Police Department. Your Shinichi brother and Uncle Mori both have good relations with Inspector Megure of the First Investigation Division," Shinjo said with a dark face. "What do you want from me?"

"Because I went to the scene and found a calculator. There was a string of numbers on the calculator, but I don't know what it means." Conan took out an A4 sheet of paper that he had prepared beforehand. "I think you have a strong reasoning ability, so I came to find you and see what you think."

Upon hearing Conan's words, Shinjo seemed to recall the case, but he only remembered some less important information.

“Yes, you figured out the cases at the art museum and Moonshadow Island right away.” Yue Shui looked at the A4 paper in Conan’s hand and said subconsciously, “Why don’t you help the kid out?”

"I'm not a detective, and I'm not willing to be a puppet manipulated by the truth." Shinjo snorted, then went to the bookshelf next to the detective agency and picked up a compilation map of roads and railways. "Assassin training usually involves reference points. The river you mentioned is most likely a simulated road or railway, and the toy boat is a simulated car and train. Knowing this, if you still can't decipher this code, then you should give up that unrealistic fantasy. In those guys' eyes, this kind of code is just a matter of minutes."

Chapter 38 Solving Numerical Codes

Conan's eyes lit up instantly when he heard about simulated roads and vehicles.

If some of these numbers refer to road numbers, then all he needs to do is find a road that follows a similar direction to the river! With that in mind, he began to look through the atlas that Xincheng had given him.

"Hey, hey, hey, what did you mean by that just now?" Yue Shui looked at Xin Cheng with some dissatisfaction. "Explain to me what you mean by saying I'm not a detective and I don't want to be a puppet controlled by the truth."

"Literally, isn't a detective's job to find the truth?" Shinjo said with a smile. "A detective who gets lost in the process of finding the truth is just a puppet manipulated by the truth itself, isn't he?"

"Pursuing the truth is what... bastard!" Yue Shui said through gritted teeth, watching the figure disappear at the top of the stairs. "What an arrogant guy."

“Perhaps this is what Mr. Shinjo wanted to tell you: pursuing the truth is a detective’s job, but blindly pursuing the truth will lead to many losses.” Narumi cleared the table of dishes. “This is just my personal opinion.”

Koshimizu watched Narumi clearing the dishes, then glanced at Conan, who was solving a mystery. For some reason, she felt like she was the one who was superfluous because she had nothing to do.

"Oh, right, Conan, tell Professor Agasa that we'll be paying a visit tomorrow." Shinjo's head popped out from around the corner of the stairs.

Without giving Conan a chance to refuse, Shinjo disappeared around the corner of the stairs.

However, Conan quickly put these distractions aside because he found something more important: National Route 162, where a section of the road happened to resemble the shape of that river.

“162 can be explained, but how do we explain the preceding 3135134? The last few digits are all correct, so the preceding ones couldn’t have been randomly pressed.” Conan frowned, pondering the clues represented by the code.

Just as he was at a loss for what to do, a van pulled up in front of the detective agency, and Kogoro Mouri got out.

"Honestly, I finally had some peace and quiet, and you've brought me trouble again." Kogoro Mouri complained as he looked at Koshimizu beside him. "Miss Koshimizu, is Shinjo here?"

"Shinjo, Uncle Mori is here to see you," Koshimizu called out directly upstairs.

"What's wrong?" Upon hearing that it was Mori, Shinjo reluctantly came downstairs.

"This kid's caused a lot of trouble. Megure wants me to take him to the Metropolitan Police Department," Kogoro Mouri said, pulling Conan's ear. "I don't really want to go, so could you please look after this kid?"

“Last time, because of the gun issue, I was investigated very thoroughly by the police.” Shinjo pondered for a moment and said, “I don’t want to get involved in any cases related to the Metropolitan Police Department in the short term, especially those involving firearms.”

Hearing Shinjo's refusal, Mori didn't say much and could only drag Conan outside.

“By the way, Conan, there’s something I need to remind you of that might be helpful,” Shinjo said. “If an assassin wants to kill someone and make a quick getaway, unoccupied buildings and rest days are the best options. After a gunshot, people in the vicinity will go to investigate, and office buildings and apartment buildings will increase the risk of being seen.”