I'm in Detective Conan, but it's a chaotic battlefield.

He needed to determine whether Xiao Lan had contacted Chen Nuo on her own initiative or if they had simply bumped into each other.

But before he could even open his phone screen...

A scream came from the bathroom.

Because the coffee shop was not large and the soundproofing was not very good, the sound was clearly transmitted to everyone's ears.

As if triggered by some command, Conan took the lead and ran to the bathroom.

Chen Nuo and Xiao Lan followed them to the restroom.

Upon opening the door, a strong smell of blood wafted out.

Chen Nuo saw a long-haired man sitting on the ground, looking at the innermost toilet stall with a terrified expression.

The toilet stall door was locked, and a large pool of sticky blood slowly flowed out from the gap between the door and the floor.

Conan had already climbed up, hanging his small body on the door, observing the scene intently.

Many guests were horrified when they saw the blood on the ground after entering, and several girls covered their eyes and hugged each other.

Eri Kisaki calmly parted the crowd and walked over unhurriedly, her high heels clicking crisply on the ground.

"Little guy, this isn't a place for you to play. Get out of here right now." Eri Kisaki pulled Conan off the door and asked, "What's going on inside?"

Conan: "A woman was murdered, and she was covered in blood."

Eri frowned, turned around and said, "No one is allowed to come in. We can't disturb the scene. Ran, call the police quickly."

Upon hearing this, Xiaolan seemed to have triggered some kind of command and immediately searched for her phone to call the police.

But Conan just stole her phone, and she couldn't find it after searching through it a few times.

Xiaolan stood there, stunned.

She seemed to have crashed after her routine was disrupted, her big, watery eyes filled with confusion.

Even the cute, deformed horn on its head is shaped like a big question mark.

Her clumsy appearance is exceptionally cute, giving one the urge to hug this silly girl and protect her fiercely.

Chen Nuo was no exception; he handed over his phone, protecting it slightly, and said, "Can I borrow your phone?"

Xiao Lan almost jumped up when she heard this, and looked at Chen Nuo with a look of great alarm.

If someone else had said that, she probably wouldn't have thought much of it.

But Chen Nuo is different.

They had a misunderstanding about their phones a few days ago.

The throbbing, burning sensation kept her awake all night, and she even had strange dreams...

When I woke up in the morning...

Although it's normal for teenage girls to have such dreams occasionally, the fact that the subject was Chen Nuo gave Xiao Lan a strange feeling: "Shinichi is about to come back, so why am I thinking about Chen Nuo?"

Xiaolan suddenly felt as if she had become a bad woman in a movie.

So these past few days, Xiaolan has been focusing her mind on karate, practicing until very late every day, which has helped alleviate the problem.

But seeing Chen Nuo today, that feeling seemed to have been rekindled.

In addition, he brought up the matter of cell phones again.

Xiaolan was moved by the scene and subconsciously recalled the dream she had a few days ago.

Thinking of this.

An alluring blush spread across her face, and her two snow-white legs under her uniform skirt unconsciously squeezed together, the insides of her knees touching and rubbing gently against each other.

.

Meanwhile, at No. x, xx Street, Tokyo.

This villa area is a gathering place for many small conglomerates, nouveau riche, politicians, and various social celebrities.

The price is, of course, very expensive.

Even if an ordinary wage earner worked for a hundred years without eating or drinking, the money they earned wouldn't be enough to buy a single square meter of land here.

Tetsu Michiko, the president of the Tetsu Group, bought a house here ten years ago.

Over the past decade, neighbors have come and gone, countless generations have changed, but the Tie family has remained steadfast, and they have long since earned the right to leave this circle and enter a more prestigious social class.

But perhaps it's because of nostalgia, or perhaps for some other reason.

Tetsuya Chiko never moved out.

After the Tie family bought the villa, they expanded it several times, so it occupies a large area and looks like a medieval castle.

At the window on the second floor of the villa, a slender woman was making a phone call. She was wearing a silk loungewear dress and her short hair fell to her shoulders.

It's hard to tell her age.

Her delicate skin looked even more tender than a young girl's, yet she exuded the aura of a seasoned empress, possessing an air of dominance over the world.

Tetsuya Chiko's expression was unpleasant, but her tone on the phone was completely different, like a gentle breeze: "Thank you so much, Mr. Sato..."

I understand. I will definitely suppress the public opinion as soon as possible...

I'll have someone do it right now, and I'll get back to you by tomorrow at the latest..."

Ordinary politicians wouldn't be able to get Tetsuya Chiko to speak in this way.

However, this Mr. Sato is different. He is a popular candidate for the next prime minister and has countless political resources around him. The Tetsu family is only a middle-level player among them and is not considered a top player.

After hanging up the phone, Tetsuko turned around with a furrowed brow.

The butler behind her said respectfully, "Madam, the situation doesn't seem too optimistic?"

Tetsuko put down her phone, took out a cigarette and put it in her mouth, but didn't light it: "Yeah, there were already several old fogies watching us, wanting a piece of the pie. This leak was probably done by spies they infiltrated. I didn't expect there to be a meddlesome lawyer too. What a hassle."

The Tieshi Group made a huge investment to transform its business by entering the pharmaceutical field, but unexpectedly encountered a major problem soon after. A laboratory leak occurred, resulting in the deaths of many researchers and the release of a harmful substance.

Although it was stopped in time and remedial measures were taken, the incident was still leaked by several rival families, causing a great deal of public outcry.

Suddenly, all the pressure fell on the Tie Group.

If this matter cannot be resolved quickly, then the Tie Group's huge investment in transformation will have failed before it even began, and all the money and connections invested will have been wasted.

This is something Tetsuya Michiko cannot accept.

The butler's expression remained unchanged: "I have already sent people to conduct an internal investigation."

“It’s no use, these are usually suicide squads,” Tetsuya Chiko said. “How’s the negotiation going with that undefeated queen of the legal world?”

The butler shook his head: "The other party is no longer communicating with us directly. We sent someone to her law firm this morning, but her assistant said she's on vacation today. I guess she's already focusing all her energy on the second trial next week?"

"This is really troublesome." Tetsuya Chiko twirled the cigarette between her fingers.

In reality, even if Eri Kisaki had the title of the undefeated queen of the legal world, she wouldn't have much of a way to fight against such a powerful family.

Tetsuya Chiko has countless ways to suppress things.

However, this time is different because several rival families have joined forces to block her, so some unspoken rules are no longer effective.

It's like a football match. She has countless ways to make her favorite team win, but when the opposing team also has several people with the same methods behind them, watching her closely, the match becomes exceptionally fair.

In this situation...

Eri Kisaki is a highly respected and well-regarded lawyer.

This became the key factor in deciding this matter.

Tetsuya thought for a moment: "We can't wait any longer. Although Representative Sato didn't say it explicitly, his meaning is very clear."

If this negative impact cannot be resolved immediately, the Tie Group will be left behind. We've spent years trying to get into this circle; we can't afford to be kicked out because of something like this.

The butler bowed his head, awaiting his master's command.

“Bring that woman back, I want to talk to her face to face,” Tetsuya Chiko said.

Butler: "I'll send someone right away... Madam, is it just a simple invitation?"

The butler was actually asking whether to leave any trace. If people saw that Eri Kisaki was taken away by people from the Tetsu Group, it could cause unnecessary trouble if something happened to someone like her who was a semi-public figure.

Tetsuko smiled and said, "Of course, we have a two-pronged approach. If she agrees to my request, I'm willing to bleed a little more."

If she insists on her righteous rhetoric, then we'll have to find other ways to make her submit.

Butler: "Understood, I won't leave any trace."

“Don’t send too many people; there are plenty of eyes watching us now.” Tetsuya Michiko then asked, “By the way, how are the preparations for those ‘witnesses’ coming along?”

"It's almost ready. They are all clients who have worked with Fei Law Firm before, and they have now been completely won over by us."

Tetsuya rubbed her temples.

Seeing this, the butler tactfully left the study.

After closing the door, Tetsuko walked to the window, looked at the gardener trimming the plants in the yard, and murmured, "Can a lawyer with a corrupt lifestyle and a ruined reputation still represent justice?"

Her beautiful face, reflected in the glass window, revealed a terrifying expression, like a venomous snake ready to devour its prey.

Chapter 22 Eri's Suspicion is a Battlefield

The toilet at the crime scene was temporarily sealed off.

Chen Nuo stood at the door, looking at the large pool of blood on the toilet floor, and began to recall his impressions of the case.

As far as I can remember, this seems to be a crime of passion.

The deceased, Ms. Himeno Yayoi, forced the murderer, Tonoyama Juzo, to divorce his wife. Fearing exposure, Tonoyama devised a plan to lure her to a coffee shop for a negotiation before killing her.

The locked room in this case appears to have been created using bandages.

Dianshan pretended to have injured his finger, wrapped his hand in thick bandages beforehand, and then stabbed the victim's body with a knife, throwing the corpse into the toilet stall through the gap above the door.

Since then, Dian Shan, who was too burly to climb into the toilet stall through the gap, was naturally cleared of suspicion.

The idea was great, and the technique was exquisite.

Unfortunately, Chen Nuo happened to be passing by today, and of course he couldn't let go of this opportunity to get free miners.

However, looking at Himeya's thin body, Chen Nuo wondered if she could be efficient at mining, given how thin she was.