Conan, I'm an actor

"What did you say? The body was completely burned? There was accelerant on the body? No DNA was found?"

Conan stared at Hattori under the moonlight. Although he couldn't see Hattori's face, he figured it couldn't be too bad.

"I already asked, and the autopsy has been performed, but Sakata-senpai's body was badly damaged." Hattori Heiji shook his head. "It's probably because an accelerant was poured on the body, and no useful information was found."

"Is that so?" Conan nodded. "By the way, do you have photos of the crime scene of those two victims in Osaka?"

"Yes, it's in the bag." Hattori reached for the bag, but was stunned by Conan's next sentence.

"Okay, let's go to sleep then. We'll go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department tomorrow." Conan said before crawling into bed.

"Hey, get up!" Hattori shook Conan and said, "What were you about to say? You haven't finished yet. Finish what you were saying before you go back to sleep."

“No matter how much we say, it’s just speculation. Deduction requires evidence,” Conan said, waving his hand. “It’s impossible to go to the Metropolitan Police Department to check the photos now. At this hour, everyone there has already gone home. Besides, according to what you said, the only person left to kill is Goji Sotaro. If that guy really is Numabuchi Kiichiro, he should be in Osaka waiting for an opportunity to assassinate Goji Sotaro. There’s no way a new case could happen in Tokyo.”

After Conan said that, Heiji also thought it made sense, so he went to sleep.

The next morning, they were woken up by a loudspeaker. Officer Ōtaki had been busy all night and finally got things sorted out with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. He was here to pick up Heiji to investigate the case.

"Mouri-kun, lend me this kid for now, I'll return him this afternoon." Hattori waved to Ran Mouri, then carried Conan downstairs with one hand.

Ran wanted to say something, but ultimately didn't. Watching Conan being taken away by Hattori, she stomped her foot angrily.

As the car door closed, Conan straightened his hoodie and began to criticize Hattori for being far too rude.

Inspector Otaki found it a bit strange that Heiji Hattori brought a kid into the car, but he didn't ask any further questions. The three of them quickly arrived at the Metropolitan Police Department. Just when Hattori thought he would have to use a lot of persuasion to get Conan inside, Conan began to greet the officers with practiced ease, as if he were coming home.

Upon seeing Conan, Inspector Megure's eyelids twitched violently. He then crouched down and asked in a somewhat amiable manner, "Conan, what brings you to the Metropolitan Police Department today? Is there a new case?"

"No, I just came with Hattori-nii to take a look." Conan scratched the back of his head and chuckled foolishly.

"Hattori?" Inspector Megure then looked at the boy beside him, and after a careful look, he suddenly realized, "You're that high school detective, the one ranked after Kudo."

Heiji Hattori nodded in satisfaction as he listened to the beginning, but when he heard "the one after Kudo," his eye muscles twitched violently, and his entire face darkened. Especially after seeing Conan's ambiguous smile, he became even more furious.

Just as Hattori was about to lose his temper, Officer Otaki immediately stepped in to smooth things over.

"I'm Goro Otaki from the Violent Crimes Investigation Division, First Investigative Division, Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters. I'm here mainly because of those two murder cases." Officer Otaki showed his badge as he spoke. "This gentleman, and these two are my assistants. If it's alright..."

“I understand, I understand. It’s normal to need a detective’s help sometimes.” Inspector Megure patted Goro Otaki on the shoulder and said with a smile, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. As long as the case is solved, that’s all that matters. Don’t be shy, Otaki.”

Soon, the trio was led into a room by Inspector Megure, who then left, leaving Officer Sato to accompany them.

Not long after, Officer Takagi came in carrying a stack of documents. Judging from his tired appearance, he hadn't slept well for the past few days.

“These are photos taken at the crime scene, along with some witness testimonies.” Takagi placed the cardboard box on the table. “Because it’s a serial murder case, the forensic team took it very seriously and took several thousand photos.”

Conan found the victim's photo among the pictures, but his brows furrowed upon seeing it.

"Is something wrong?" Hattori snatched the photo. "It's just a wallet piercing through his chest, and then..."

"Officer Sato, do you have any knives here? Any kind will do. If not, a stick will do too," Conan said.

"What do you need this for?" Goro Otaki asked, somewhat puzzled. "Little kid, don't cause trouble for the police, okay? Here..."

"Just say what you want to say, no need to demonstrate." Hattori stared at the photo, but after looking at it for a long time, he couldn't find anything wrong with it, which made him feel a little disappointed. Could it be that he was really not as good as Kudo in this aspect?

Conan directly used a magnet to stick the photos in his hand onto the whiteboard. "I also need the two photos that Hattori-nii showed me before, the two photos that were shown to me in the car."

Hattori stuck the photos from his jacket pocket directly onto the whiteboard. His eyes lit up the moment he saw the two sets of photos. He slammed his right fist into his left palm. "That's it, that's it!"

"So what exactly happened?" Takagi asked, somewhat confused. "What are you guys talking about?"

"It's about the angle at which the knife is held to stab the body. The killer who committed the murder in Osaka was probably right-handed, but the killer in Tokyo was left-handed." Hattori looked at Conan. "That's probably what you're trying to say."

“That’s one point. Another point is the amount of blood splatter,” Conan said. “Although both cases involved strangulation before the knife was inserted, in the Osaka case, the knife was inserted some time after death, so the blood may have settled near the back, resulting in less or no blood splatter when the knife was inserted. But in the Tokyo case, the amount of blood splattered was huge, as if the knife was inserted before the person was fully dead.”

Chapter 158 The End of Goji Sotaro's Life

These two consecutive suspicious points directly severed the connection between the two murder cases in Tokyo and the two murder cases in Osaka.

Officer Takagi quickly informed Inspector Megure of the news. Inspector Megure rushed over immediately, carefully compared several photos, glanced at Conan with some helplessness, and then walked towards Matsumoto Kiyomasa's office.

In response to this copycat crime, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department quickly convened a meeting to discuss the heinous case.

These internal meetings are not open to Goro Otaki and Heiji Hattori from Osaka, and of course, Conan is not allowed to attend either.

"I'm here to tell you, Chief of Police, do you ever feel like someone's watching you?" Conan said, arms crossed. "Ever since I joined the Metropolitan Police Department, I've felt like someone's watching me, and that feeling has been there all along."

"Yes, there are, but isn't that normal?" Hattori said with a smile. "There are cameras all over there. It was like that when I first joined the police station. You get used to it once you go to a place often."

Conan thought about it for a moment and felt that Hattori's words made sense, so he stopped asking questions.

Meanwhile, within the research institute

"Looks like your plan failed," Karen said with a hint of glee. "The two kids spotted the flaw after just a few glances. Now look what you've done, you've outsmarted your opponent."

Xincheng's lips twitched. He had really forgotten that Irish liquor was left-handed. But now that it had happened, he had to find a way to make amends.

"Isn't there still Goji Sotaro? What's the rush? Once I take care of him myself, no one should suspect anything." After thinking for a long time, Shinjo decided to eliminate the last target.

"Are you sure you want to do it yourself?" Karen asked with some concern when she heard that Shinjo was going to take matters into his own hands. "That Goji Sotaro has a lot of bodyguards around him. If you want to replicate this special killing method, you'll need to take down all those bodyguards, which will take a lot of time. Besides, the Osaka police are keeping a close watch on Goji Sotaro. If it takes too long, their reinforcements..."

“They’re just some bodyguards. What kind of bodyguards can a country bumpkin like you hire?” Shinjo stood up. “Perfect, let Amuro Tooru show Sakata Yusuke around.”

The underground firing range of the research institute

Yusuke Sakata looked at Bourbon, who had fallen silent beside him, and scratched his head. "That was Cognac, who sent me to find you. It seems there's some training to do."

“You can call me Bourbon.” Amuro Tooru shifted his attention from the pile of weapons around him to Sakata Yusuke, then took out a pistol and a box of bullets from his body and handed them to Sakata Yusuke. He pointed to the human-shaped target 30 meters away and said, “Start with the pistol. 30-meter fixed target. You can only hit the center of the eyebrow. All 10 shots must land on the center of the eyebrow. Complete it within 5 seconds.”

"How is this possible..."

Before Yusuke Sakata could finish speaking, Tooru Amuro had already picked up his Glock, loaded a magazine, and fired at the human-shaped target 40 meters away. A magazine was quickly emptied; 17 bullets had pierced a large hole in the target's forehead, with minimal dispersion.

After doing all this, he put the pistol on the table and walked over to the weapons on the side, wanting to see if they were real.

half an hour later

Sakata Yusuke put down his pistol with a bitter expression; his hand was already a little numb. He had finally passed the test with three sets of thirty shots.

“Good. Take a 10-minute break, then start training on the 40-meter target.” Amuro Tooru nodded, looking at Sakata Yusuke’s incredulous expression, and chuckled, “Sharpshooters are made by feeding them bullets. Your technique is terrible.”

"What's the point of having such good marksmanship?" Sakata Yusuke swallowed hard.

"The most basic standard in the organization is hitting the center of the eye on a 50-meter target, hitting it 10 out of 10 times, being proficient in using various explosives, and being able to infiltrate the Metropolitan Police Department to steal information and escape unscathed without alerting the police. Which one can you accomplish?" Amuro Tooru looked at Sakata Yusuke with a half-smile.

Sakata Yusuke opened his mouth, wanting to ask if this organization recruited people or superhumans.

Amuro Tooru ignored him and continued studying the weapons, trying to find the channels through which they had entered Japan. He was determined to cut off these channels, even if it meant incurring the wrath of the authorities.

A week later, Osaka's councilor, Goji, was strangled to death under the protection of dozens of bodyguards. A knife and a wallet were stuck in his chest, and a note was tucked inside the wallet. The note contained only two words: "Revenge."

When Hattori Heiji rushed back to Osaka, he saw that all the police officers had complicated expressions on their faces.

"What's going on?" Goro Otaki immediately asked.

“The other side is a professional assassin who used rocket launchers, C4, and sniper rifles. Of course, that’s not the scariest part. The scariest part is the guy who went inside. He took on more than a dozen armed bodyguards single-handedly, charging in from the front with just a knife.” An officer said, his lips trembling. “For details, watch the video yourselves. It’s Numabuchi Kiichiro, and the surviving bodyguards confirmed it.”

Heiji Hattori turned on the video and saw a dozen bodyguards retreating somewhat hastily from the main entrance into the room. Gun muzzles of several of the bodyguards were flashing, indicating that they had already opened fire.

However, the guy on the other side blocked the bullets with just a katana and then quickly cut through the bodyguards' defenses head-on, throwing the two professional bodyguards away like children.

If he didn't want these people dead, he could have just slit their throats with a knife, which would have been even faster.

"These are the bullets we found at the scene, all of them precisely cut in half." An officer took out several bags of bullets, each containing a bullet that had been split in half. "We have found the bullet heads of those bullets, they are all here."

"Hey Heiji, don't you often learn kendo from Shizuka-nee? I'm not asking if you can do it or not, I just want to ask if anyone can reach this level. It feels like something out of a tokusatsu movie," Goro Otaki said, frowning.

“We have confirmed with the technical staff and the bodyguards on site that the video is authentic,” an officer immediately said. “It has not been edited in any way.”

“Of course I know it’s true,” Goro Otaki said with a hint of helplessness. “I was just asking Heiji if he knew anyone who could do it. To cut a bullet with a sword, it must be the personal disciple of some sword master. If we follow this lead, we might find some clues.”

“If you had asked me this question a few months ago, I would have told you no. But now…” Hattori said, looking at the video footage, “I’ve seen even more outrageous things, like catching bullets with your bare hands. If Kiichiro Numabuchi really is a member of that organization, he might actually be able to do it.”

"Which organization? Stop keeping me in suspense!" Goro Otaki grabbed Hattori's shoulder and asked as soon as he heard that Hattori had a clue. "Why are you like the department head, always leaving things half-said?"

"Uncle Otaki, I need to ask my father about this before I can tell you," Hattori shook his head.

If it were an ordinary criminal, he might have already organized a team to investigate. But these guys, if he rashly went after them, there could be extremely serious casualties, and he didn't want to experience another funeral this year.

Chapter 159 Cases Involving the Self-Defense Forces

Inside a safe house in Osaka

Yusuke Sakata was maintaining his equipment. There were more than a dozen weapons in front of him, and Tooru Amuro was explaining the details of weapon maintenance to him.

"Alright, that's the main point." Amuro Tooru coughed. "There are people in the organization who are specifically responsible for maintaining weapons; they are professionals. However, I don't trust others. I have to take apart and inspect all the weapons they've maintained."

"Why? Wouldn't it be better to leave professional tasks to professionals?" Sakata Yusuke stopped wiping the gun oil and asked with some curiosity, "Is there some special technique involved?"

"The organization has only one way to deal with members who fail in their missions: to kill them to cover it up," Amuro said expressionlessly. "That's why the organization can operate right under the noses of the police; they're already dead before they even find the person."

Yusuke Sakata couldn't help but shudder; this pit of fire seemed to be exceptionally deep.

“Your performance today was terrible. All four bodyguards were seriously injured, but none died,” Amuro Tooru said, staring at Sakata Yusuke. “With your skill level, you shouldn’t have made such a mistake. I heard from Cognac that you used to be a policeman.”

“Yes,” Sakata Yusuke said through gritted teeth.

“Abandon your original identity, put away your compassion. The organization doesn’t need merciful people.” Amuro Tooru shook his head. “This time, the bodyguard isn’t the target, and you’re in the sniper position, so you won’t be punished. But if one day you let the target escape, or if someone else sees your face while you’re on duty, I think the consequences are obvious.”

"I understand!" Yusuke Sakata said, forcing himself to speak.

He had chosen to board Xincheng's pirate ship, and now he had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue. Besides, Xincheng hadn't treated him badly; at least he had helped him get rid of all the people who killed his father. Moreover, he had promised to regularly send his mother a very generous pension through an insurance company.

At that moment, Shinjo was in the next room, wiping the knife in his hand with a rag. The aura emanating from him was like a sharp blade drawn from its sheath.

A few minutes later, a flash of light appeared in the dark room, and as the katana was sheathed, Shinjo's aura dissipated.

"How did you do that?" Karen asked excitedly. "You told me before that movies and TV shows are all lies, but you've done it!"

Xincheng expressionlessly took off his black T-shirt, revealing a bulletproof vest underneath. The vest was densely covered with bullets, numbering more than a dozen.

Karen's excited tone came to an abrupt halt. The surveillance camera's resolution was insufficient, and since both the T-shirt and the bulletproof vest were black, she hadn't seen the bullet holes on the T-shirt at all.

With so many bullets, even with a bulletproof vest, one would be seriously injured. Shinjo was simply relying on his modified body to withstand the damage.

"Since you can withstand it, why did you try to cut through the bullets with your knife?" Karen asked, somewhat puzzled. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just charge straight at them?"

"The visual impact isn't strong enough." Shinjo stretched. "The Japanese have a kind of blind worship of Kendo. If this video gets out, I wonder if a few people will do something reckless."

Sōtarō Goji's Residence

Hattori went to headquarters to look for his father but couldn't find him. After asking around, he finally found this place.