Conan: The Heart Thief

The mother-in-law had her back to them, her hands behind her back, a barely perceptible smile on her lips: "Humph, it's just cooking curry... Okay, here it is..."

After arranging the rooms for Lin Xiao and his group, the mother-in-law turned around and looked at the three young men and women: "Your rooms are here... follow me."

As the night deepened, Lin Xiao suddenly proposed to have an open-air group gathering with everyone. However, this proposal was ruthlessly rejected. The three women said that they were already exhausted after climbing the mountain for a day and now just wanted to have a good rest.

Lin Xiao looked disappointed, but fortunately Yukiko was the most considerate to him. After Qianying and Vermouth fell asleep, she took the initiative to wrap her arms around Lin Xiao's waist and snuggled in his arms.

"You are still the best, Yukiko." Lin Xiao said with emotion.

Yukiko smiled slightly, her eyes full of charm and affection: "Don't blame Qianying and Xiaobei, no normal person would be willing to accompany you to go crazy. Don't you think it's crazy to make such a request?"

Lin Xiao scratched his head: "No way? I just think it will be more interesting this way."

Yukiko patted his head gently: "Hey - Chikage and Xiaobei are both decent women, don't play with them like call girls. Please, be a normal person."

Lin Xiao smiled helplessly: "...To be honest, you, Yukiko, are enough for me."

Yukiko smiled brightly upon hearing this, as if spring flowers were blooming in an instant: "That's right."

Yukiko automatically spread her slender legs and opened her hands: "Actually... I have become like this a long time ago..."

"Oh...it's what I expected, so tempting!" Lin Xiao licked his lips and moved forward.

In the middle of the night, a drizzle suddenly began to fall from the sky, and the sound of the rain continued.

Qianying and Xiaobei were both awakened by the sound of rain in the middle of the night. They sat up suddenly and saw Lin Xiao and Yukiko performing an "idol drama" next to them. This scene made them blush with shame and speechless.

Yukiko smiled at her two shy best friends and said, "You two, do you want to switch shifts with me?"

Qianying turned her head away and said calmly, "You guys continue, don't worry about me, I just got up to go to the bathroom."

Then, Vermouth also stood up: "Sister Qianying, wait for me, I will go with you."

Seeing the two people leave the room, Yukiko and Lin Xiao suddenly felt awkward. They smiled at each other, but both felt a little uncomfortable.

"It seems like we were seen naked by Qianying and Xiaobei just now." Lin Xiao said in a low voice.

Yukiko gave him a reproachful look and said, "If they want to see it, let them see it."

Lin Xiao smiled cheekily: "Ah... Yukiko, when did you become so shameless? This is not like you."

Yukiko blushed: "You are the bad guy who led me astray——"

……

Lin Xiao was sweating all over as he continued to engage in joyful exercise with Yukiko.

However, Qianying and Xiaobei, who ran to the toilet on the first floor, unexpectedly encountered something particularly terrifying.

The corridor outside was pitch black and so quiet that it made people feel cold. The sound of each step on the floor seemed particularly abrupt and clear. Fortunately, Qianying and Vermouth were walking together, otherwise, in such a gloomy and terrifying atmosphere, one person would probably have been scared to death.

Just as they were hurriedly returning from the toilet, a ghostly figure suddenly passed by them. The feeling at that moment was as cold as a biting wind, which was creepy.

The two were so scared that they hugged each other tightly, and ran back to the room in panic, their faces as pale as paper.

"No, it's bad... there's a ghost..." Qianying said in panic, panting.

“Run away quickly, or you will be killed…” Vermouth was trembling all over, with endless fear in her voice.

When they returned to the room in a panic, they found Lin Xiao and Yukiko still hugging each other happily, and they were immediately furious. They came behind Lin Xiao and Yukiko and forcibly separated the two.

Yukiko muttered with displeasure on her face: "What are you doing! You are disturbing my sweet dream."

Lin Xiao asked with concern: "What happened? You two look so unhappy."

Before Qianying and Vermouth could answer, a shrill scream suddenly came from outside the door, instantly breaking the tranquility of the rainy night.

"what--"

This painful scream was like a bolt from the blue, instantly driving away everyone's sleepiness. Lin Xiao quickly put on his clothes and ran downstairs to check the situation.

Yukiko, Vermouth, and Chikage all lost all sleepiness for a moment, but they were not in a hurry to leave as they were not sure whether they had really encountered an incident.

Chapter 465: It's Not Easy for Inspector Megure

In front of the house, the rain was still pouring down, with no sign of stopping. When Xiaojun came out, someone had already gotten there first. On the wet grass in front of the house, a bearded man was holding a young lady in panic, with blood mixed with rainwater flowing all over the ground, shocking.

"Xiao Qian!" the bearded man shouted in horror.

"Bring the person in first!" Lin Xiao ordered anxiously.

Lin Xiao wore slippers and did not follow him out. He waited until the bearded man carried the young lady to the entrance before he urgently checked the situation. He saw that the woman's neck was bleeding severely, her pupils were dilated, and her eyes were staring as if she was telling some unfulfilled wish.

"The carotid artery was scratched, so there was heavy bleeding. It's too late now..." Lin Xiao frowned and shook his head, his tone full of helplessness and regret.

"How could it be?" The long-haired man's face turned pale and his voice trembled. "You are not a policeman, don't talk nonsense! Miss Xiao Qian..."

"Although I'm not a policeman, I'm a detective, so I won't be wrong." Lin Xiao said in a deep voice, "Who killed this lady? The question is who would do such a thing in such a deep mountain? We should be the only ones around here..."

"Sorry," the bearded man looked at his bloody hands with a sad expression, "Do you know where the bathroom is? I really want to wash off this blood first..."

"As for the bathroom," the long-haired man turned around and pointed, "go out from behind the screen next to the fish tank, and at the end of the corridor that turns left, you'll find the kitchen..."

Lin Xiao raised his head and looked at the bearded man walking into the inner room with deep eyes. He thought to himself: The shoes of the murdered young lady were well worn, and the murder place was right in front of the entrance... What on earth is going on?

Generally speaking, it is more likely that the victim was called out by an acquaintance, and the suspect is the two gigolos who were with him. However, from the time the screams started to the time everyone rushed to the entrance, the long-haired man following him obviously did not have time to commit the crime. So, is the culprit the bearded man?

The shop owner and the shop owner didn't look like the criminal. The bearded man, who was the first to discover the murder, was the most likely suspect. Everyone found the man outside the entrance because of his shouting, which gave them a minute or two of time. But the bearded man didn't have any weapons like knives in his hand, and it was raining when the crime happened, but there were no footprints around. In other words, he couldn't have taken the murder weapon away.

The bearded man was a little nervous when Xiao Jun looked at him: "What, what happened?"

"Nothing." Xiao Jun shook his head and asked, "Mr. Lai Ren, why are you here?"

"Ah, this," the bearded man explained, "I just happened to be going to the bathroom on the first floor, so I got there earlier than everyone else..."

About 50 minutes later, several police cars roared through the heavy rain and stopped in front of Tanaka's house. The police in raincoats hurried into the house and began a tense and orderly investigation.

"Oh, Detective Lin, if I had known you were here, I wouldn't have come. It's raining heavily in this mountain." Inspector Megure couldn't help but complain.

"Let's get to the case quickly, Inspector Megure." Lin Xiao urged.

"Yeah, that's right," Inspector Megure took out his police notebook in a serious manner, "Well, now could you please tell me the details?"

Xiaojun had no plans to intervene for the time being. The suspicion in his heart was just a suspicion after all. The police needed to investigate thoroughly and find the murder weapon first.

He had just been to the bathroom and looked around briefly, but didn't find anything suspicious, so he couldn't be sure that the bearded man had hidden a weapon.

Recalling the situation at the time of the crime, Xiaojun walked to the side and started recording it with pen and paper.

At that time, there were only two types of footprints outside the house, the victim, Ms. Qian, and the bearded man. Moreover, there were only footprints leaving the entrance. In addition, considering the time, the bearded man had no chance to return to the house to hide the murder weapon...

"That is to say," Inspector Megure concluded after collecting the confessions, "around 4 o'clock this morning, we suddenly heard a woman screaming outside. When we ran over, we saw that the woman's neck had been cut open by a sharp weapon and she was lying in the rain..."

"The victim's name is Akane Ohba, 25 years old, the daughter of the president of a financial company... The first person to discover her was this Mr. Andarai..."

Inspector Megure tapped his notebook with a pen and asked the bearded man, "Did you see any suspicious people when you rushed over?"

The bearded man mumbled, "No, it was still dark then..."

"By the way, are you all from this family? What is your relationship with the victim..."

"No, no, Miss Qian is our client. We drove to the mountains to hike, but we got lost and came here to stay the night..."

"Customer?" Inspector Megure raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Yes," the long-haired man Xiang Yuanfuga said, "We are just male waiters that Xiao Qian is familiar with..."

"Oh, the waiter..."

Inspector Megure continued to record in his notebook, then turned to look at Lin Xiao, paused, and glanced directly at the old woman.

"Then the old woman is Yamada who called the police..."

"It's Tanaka," the old man hummed, "My name is Tanaka Iwae!"

"Oh, yes, yes," Megure laughed without feeling embarrassed at all, "I have memorized the information of the person who called the police... So, Ms. Tanaka, are you the only one running this hotel?"

"No, there's my son too. We run this inn together."

"Ah, I'm Tanaka." The shop owner, an old man in his late sixties whose mother is at least eighty, quickly responded, "My mother and I are running the business."

"Oh, I see..." Inspector Megure slowly closed the notebook, his brows furrowed, as if he was still digesting the information he had just obtained.

At this time, Yukiko, Chikage, and Vermouth also put on casual clothes and walked into the living room elegantly. Inspector Megure was shocked by the three women's demeanor at a glance, and his eyes almost popped out of his sockets. He then turned his head to look at Lin Xiao, and secretly sighed in his heart: Detective Lin is worthy of his name. The women around him keep changing, and they are all so outstanding. It's really enviable.

Qianying asked, "Ah? So many policemen are here?"

Yukiko frowned slightly, looking a little impatient: "I didn't want to come out in the first place. The noise outside is really giving me a headache."

Vermouth was more proactive: "I wonder if there is anything we can do to help?"

"A murder happened, and it happened in a place with inconvenient transportation. It's very difficult for us."

Inspector Megure coughed lightly. It was the middle of the night and it was raining. It was not easy to respond quickly.

"According to what you said, it was raining heavily at the time of the crime, so in theory there should be clues such as footprints. However, we have conducted a thorough search around the house and near the entrance, but it seems that no other footprints have been found, and the murder weapon has never been found..."

Having said that, Inspector Megure looked at Lin Xiao expectantly, as if seeking some kind of affirmation.

Chapter 466 Lin Xiao helps clear the water pipe

"In my opinion, the criminal and the murder weapon should still be in this house." Lin Xiao responded calmly, his eyes firm and sharp.

"Wait, wait a minute!" the long-haired man suddenly interrupted, his face full of surprise, "Detective Lin...could he be the famous detective?"

"That's right!" Inspector Megure patted Lin Xiao's shoulder proudly, "Although Detective Lin always encounters cases, he can always solve them quickly and make sure the criminals have nowhere to hide..."

The long-haired man's face stiffened when facing Megure's scrutinizing gaze: "Are you doubting us?" There was a hint of uneasiness and anger in his tone.

"Judging from the current situation, there is indeed such a possibility," Inspector Megure answered without hesitation.

At this moment, a police officer in a raincoat rushed over: "Officer Megure! We found a car with a flat tire in the woods across the street, and everything on the roof has fallen out!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao immediately asked for a raincoat and put on his shoes, and followed the police officer to the woods. When they arrived at the car with the flat tire, they saw that the tarpaulin that was originally tied to the roof of the car had a hole, and a tent and tools wrapped inside fell out. The police officer was checking a saw and a machete, and collected them as evidence.

Lin Xiao carefully checked the loose rope, then looked down at a hammer on the ground. He thought to himself: The rope should not have loosened naturally, because he had carefully checked it when he took the quilt and it was indeed tied tightly. Moreover, a heavy rain could not have such a strong force to loosen the rope.

However, since he was planning to cook curry, several kitchen knives were put in the luggage bag, leaving only large tools such as saws and machetes. These tools did not match the wound on the victim, Ms. Qian's neck.

"Detective Lin," the officer inquired, "are these yours?"

"Well," Lin Xiao nodded, "Let's check inside again to see if there is any murder weapon hidden."

Although Lin Xiao knew that it would cause a lot of trouble if the murder weapon was really found, he did not intend to stop the police investigation. As an advisor to the Metropolitan Police Department, he could actually be exempted from the search. But since they were not the murderer, it would be better to search them. This privilege should be used as little as possible.