Conan, I'm an actor

Persistence pays off, and he soon found a suspect—Nanatsuki Koshimizu.

At the Twilight Villa, I used my real name. That time, the detective assistant named Tetsuo Shinjo discovered my identity as Phantom Thief Kid.

If it were her, it wouldn't be a big problem, but she can't use this face to go to the party this time; she has to disguise herself.

Seeing that his text message was still unread, Kaito Kuroba was a little annoyed. He thought he was still very charming and could easily fool some young girls.

The day before the party arrived quickly. Shinjo took out a human skin mask and handed it to Curaçao, who then disguised himself for Yue Shui.

"What are we going to do? Why do we need to disguise ourselves?" Yue Shui complained.

The sticky feeling on her face made her very uncomfortable. If she had known she would have to disguise herself, she wouldn't have agreed to Shinjo's request.

"Going to a magic enthusiasts' gathering, and also to see some old friends." Xincheng sat in front of a makeup mirror, quickly smeared some makeup on his face, and soon transformed into a different face.

"How did you do that?" Curaçao asked, looking astonished.

She thought her disguise skills were already quite advanced, but Shinjo's disguise skills seemed even more outrageous than hers. She didn't even see how Shinjo did it before he had already completed the disguise.

Xincheng just smiled and didn't answer her question, mainly because no one else could learn this disguise technique.

On the other side, Koshimizu seemed to have thought of something and suddenly looked up. "The old friend you mentioned, it wouldn't be that Kuroba Kaito, would it?"

The only old friend she could think of who could be connected to magic was this.

"She's quite smart."

"Since it's a meeting between friends, why bother with disguises?" Yue Shui asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Because that brat is also planning to disguise himself, and even prepared a pseudonym called Doi Takaki to fool innocent young girls online." Shinjo stroked his chin. "Speaking of which, does this guy have a grudge against the Suzuki family? Why is he targeting the Suzuki family and causing trouble for them?"

"The Suzuki family, a little girl? Could it be the Suzuki family's little princess? Suzuki Sonoko?"

"I didn't expect you to be so good at gathering intelligence."

"I only heard Ran mention it, and besides, if it weren't for Sonoko Suzuki's relationship with Ran, you wouldn't have gone, would you?" Koshimizu raised an eyebrow and asked, "So, what case is it this time?"

"What case? It was just a party." Shinjo rolled his eyes. "I can't expect to encounter a murder every time I go out."

"Do you even believe that yourself? Do you have the list of attendees? I'll ask Karen for information on these people."

"They are all netizens, and many of them are anonymously registered accounts. I have already checked."

"Really?"

"real."

Looking at Yue Shui's suspicious expression, Xin Cheng felt a slight pang of conscience; the young girl was already terrified of being tricked by him.

However, remembering what Koshimizu said at the Metropolitan Police Department last time, he decided to hand over this case to her, at least to help her build the confidence a detective should have.

Meanwhile, at the Mouri Detective Agency, Ran began packing her luggage for the trip.

"Ran-neechan, where are you going?" Conan asked, somewhat confused.

He got carried away the other day and a cold snap knocked him out of it. He's still in a daze.

"You forgot, Sonoko invited me out to play." Ran looked at Conan. "You have a cold, so stay home and listen to your father."

"Oh," Conan replied listlessly.

He has no interest in magic enthusiast gatherings or anything like that; it's too mentally taxing. He's just a couch potato right now, with absolutely no desire to do anything.

"Honestly, what's the point of going to a party like this, especially with friends I met online?" Kogoro Mouri said like an old fogey. "It doesn't sound very reliable at all. They're probably all scammers."

"Don't worry, nothing will happen," Xiaolan said with a smile. "Besides, Dad, aren't you going to take us there? If things don't go well, we can just turn back."

"What a nuisance." Kogoro Mouri sighed, turned over, and went back to sleep.

That evening, Curaçao climbed to the rooftop, set up a sniper rifle, and aimed it at a window of an apartment building in the distance.

"We have reached the target location and are ready to fire at any time," Curaçao said into his headset.

"What is the target doing now?" Shinjo asked, looking at the screen in front of him.

The screen in front of him displayed surveillance footage from the area around the apartment, covering various streets. He was curious about how the woman had killed Nishiyama, the chat room administrator. According to his investigation, Nishiyama lived with her mother, and her mother should have been able to hear her if she had struggled even slightly.

“He’s in front of the computer screen right now, looks like he’s about to answer a phone call,” Curaçao asked, frowning. “Is there anything special about this person?”

In her view, Nishiyama was just an ordinary person, so why would Shinjo target him and send her to assassinate him? It seemed like she was making a mountain out of a molehill.

“Nothing special, really.” Shinjo yawned. “It’s just that this guy is about to die, and I don’t know how he’ll die, so I just wanted to see.”

"Just for such a boring reason?" Curaçao's lips twitched.

"Yes."

Curaçao's expression stiffened; Shinjo's answer was too assertive, making her feel like she was in the wrong. Just then, she noticed a dark figure in her sniper scope climbing the exterior wall of the apartment building, reaching the fourth floor in less than 15 seconds.

“We spotted someone climbing the outer wall and approaching the target location,” Curaçao said. “This person is very skilled; they must have done reconnaissance beforehand.”

"Keep an eye on her. If she misses, finish off the target." Shinjo selected one of the cameras, zoomed in on the image, and quickly spotted the person Curaçao had mentioned.

"she?"

"Hmm, a magician's granddaughter, she's probably trying to stand up for her grandfather." Shinjo crossed his legs. "She's got some skills, looks like she's been training a lot."

"Are you planning to recruit him into your organization?" Curaçao asked, somewhat puzzled. "The members of the organization are all handpicked. Apart from Sakata Yusuke, the people you've chosen aren't very good."

Before taking action against Shinjo, she and Binga conducted a thorough investigation of Shinjo. Apart from Yusuke Sakata, a former detective, who was somewhat acceptable, the combat capabilities of the others were negligible. To think that they could fight against the organization with these people was somewhat wishful thinking.

Chapter 201 The Death of Nishiyama Tsutomu

“I don’t have that plan. But if her performance is satisfactory, it’s not out of the question.” Shinjo’s voice carried a hint of amusement. “How about this, you’ll be in charge of her assessment. If you think she’s suitable, then bring her into our organization.”

Curaçao's expression froze. She hadn't expected that just by saying something out of turn, she would end up doing the work of an HR person.

“Just kidding, I don’t accept just any scoundrel.” Shinjo looked at the computer screen in front of him. “The one you really need to test is Okakura Masaaki. Although he was selected by the organization, I don’t know what his talents are.”

At that moment, the shadowy figure on the screen threw something into the window; it was probably some kind of sleeping potion.

After waiting on the balcony for a while, the shadowy figure confirmed that Nishiyama Tsutomu inside the house had lost the ability to move before entering the house and beginning his operation.

“That poor bastard Nishiyama Tsutomu must have been drugged. That guy stabbed him in the back.” Curaçao’s voice was cold and devoid of emotion. “He seems to have left some text on the computer. Pretty stupid.”

“It’s pretty stupid.” Shinjo shook his head.

If it weren't for the provocative words left on the computer, Conan wouldn't have returned to that hut. Kaito Kuroba is intelligent enough to crack the crime methods, but gathering evidence is a real challenge.

"Should we continue watching?" Curaçao asked. "He has already begun preparations for evacuation."

"No need, come back." Shinjo suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right, I'll give you a day off tomorrow. I've taken Yue Shui with me. You can go wherever you want, just don't reveal your identity. After all, you're practically a dead man with Gin."

"Understood." Curaçao packed her things and immediately went downstairs.

The next day arrived in the blink of an eye. Kogoro Mouri picked up Sonoko in his car and drove towards their destination, the hut.

Ran and Sonoko chatted happily on the train, and Ran even performed a magic trick she had just learned. However, Conan immediately saw through her trick. Sonoko could only rage helplessly at the sight.

"By the way, we're meeting magic enthusiasts today, right?" Xiaolan asked with some doubt. "Are they all people we met online?"

“Yes, yes, we met online, you could say we’re online friends,” Sonoko said with a hint of pride. “There’s a professional term for meeting up offline, I think…”

"However, I never expected that the young lady of the famous Suzuki family conglomerate would be able to communicate using a computer," Kogoro remarked with some dissatisfaction.

In his mind, the internet, being a new thing, was particularly unreliable; business card-based social networking was better.

"Come on, uncle, in this information society, the internet is an indispensable tool. I think you'd better put a computer in your office, otherwise you'll be eliminated by society sooner or later, uncle," Sonoko said with a hint of smugness.

Kogoro Mouri wanted to argue back, but considering Sonoko's young age and the fact that what she said made sense, he could only hold back.

Conan looked at Uncle Mori who was driving, and seeing his face turn a deep purplish-red, he couldn't help but worry for him. Was this really okay? Wouldn't he suffer internal injuries from holding it in?

"By the way, Sonoko, how did you end up making friends online, and even becoming so passionate about magic?" Ran asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Because I met someone truly exceptional." Sonoko's face lit up with a lovestruck smile.

Seeing the expression on Sonoko's face, Ran's expression turned somewhat helpless; she had roughly guessed what had happened.

Kogoro Mouri looked at the suspension bridge not far away, stopped the car, and his expression was a little grim.

"What's wrong, Dad?" Ran looked at Kogoro Mouri's rather pale face and was somewhat puzzled.

"Is this suspension bridge the only way out of here?" Kogoro Mouri asked, looking at Sonoko.

"No, there should be another path on the back mountain. Once you cross that mountain, you'll reach the town at the foot of the mountain." Sonoko asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's wrong?"

"Don't you guys think this is exactly the same as the bandaged man incident from last time?" Conan also sensed something was wrong. "What if someone cuts down the suspension bridge again?"

"You brat, what nonsense are you talking about!" Sonoko smacked Conan on the head. "Last time was just a low-probability event. It's not that easy to run into a case like that. Besides, this time they're all online friends they've never met. There's no personal grudge involved. None of them know who the other is."

“That makes sense.” Conan nodded.

Walking on the bridge, Kogoro Mori closed his eyes and forced himself to stare at the bridge surface. Fortunately, the bridge was paved with wooden planks, not the kind with gaps, otherwise he really wouldn't have dared to walk on it.

However, as he crossed the bridge, he seemed to smell a familiar scent, but it was very faint and dissipated as soon as the cold winter wind blew it away.

Just then, another car stopped on the other side of the bridge.

"It looks like Detective Mori and his group over there, so I won't go over there," said Mr. Ochiai from the driver's seat. "I'll wait for you in the town at the foot of the mountain. Just call me when you're ready to come down."

Shinjo took out his luggage and, with Yueshui in tow, walked towards the other side of the suspension bridge.

When Yue Shui reached the middle of the bridge, he suddenly stopped, frowned, and asked, "New..."

"Don't call me by the wrong name, Miss Karen," Shinjo asked with a smile. "What's wrong?"

"Asai, do you smell something strange? It's a familiar smell," Koshimizu asked, sniffing. "It smells like it's coming from this suspension bridge... this suspension bridge..."

"It's probably some kind of tung oil. Wooden things need regular maintenance," Xincheng said with a smile. "Maybe the temperature dropped too quickly, and the wood and ropes didn't fully absorb the tung oil that was applied. Don't just stand there."

Just then, Kogoro Mouri and Conan returned from the opposite side. As they passed each other, Conan suddenly turned around and glanced at Shinjo's back, as if he had sensed something.

Shinjo naturally noticed his little actions and was startled by Conan. When did this kid develop radar detection skills? Isn't that an ability only Haibara has?

"Hey kid, we're heading back now. You've caught a cold, hurry up and get in the car!" Kogoro Mouri urged Conan to get in.

"Okay, I'm coming right now!" Conan jogged across the suspension bridge.

"Did Conan spot you just now?" Yue Shui asked, somewhat puzzled. "The way he looked at you just now seemed really sharp. Did he see through your disguise?"

“If he really figured something out, he would say it directly. That kid is impatient,” Shinjo said with a hint of helplessness. “We’re here for a vacation, not to investigate a case. Relax, relax.”

Chapter 202 The Prelude to the Magic Enthusiasts' Club