Conan Rick's Investigator

"Sume..." Shimabukuro Kimie was obviously surprised by the woman's arrival.

Ebina Sumi held the snake spirit's chin in her hand and said with great interest, "She truly possesses magical powers, and she has indeed eaten mermaid flesh before..."

"You know about that incident, the one three years ago when the mermaid's body appeared..."

When they heard the keyword "mermaid corpse", everyone's faces turned serious, and Qin Zhibo's eyes became more serious.

"Can you tell me about this in detail?" Qin Zhibo stepped forward and asked.

Just as Sumi Ebina widened her eyes in a feigned expression and was about to tell her story, a man came up from behind and placed his dark hand on Ebina's shoulder.

"That's enough, Sumi..."

"Lu Lang..."

The man looked a little dissatisfied, and he looked up and told everyone, "If you want to find Saori, you should go to Saori's house to find out what's going on. But the prerequisite is that Saori's drunkard father is willing to welcome you..."

After saying that, the man named Fukuyama Rokuro left with his hands in his pockets, and Ebina Sumi followed closely behind him.

Qin Zhibo noticed the man's age. He was exactly 28 years old, about the same age as several NPCs he met along the way.

In addition, these people call each other by their first names, which seems to indicate that they are probably children of childhood friends.

In this case, Qin Zhibo thought about it and realized that the girl with the bowl-cut hairstyle, Naoko Kuroe, had already agreed to discuss it in detail at the celebration in the evening.

Then I can find out what the mermaid incident was three years ago.

Kogoro Mori and others made an appointment with Kimie Shimabukuro to help lead the way to visit Saori Monkyo's house after the celebration.

……

Night fell quickly, and tourists and islanders rushed to Shimabukuro Shrine.

As soon as Qin Zhibo arrived at the entrance of the shrine, he saw the light of the investigation point flashing on the wooden sliding door of the shrine.

"This is……"

Qin Zhibo moved to the front of the crowd and barely got within an investigation distance.

【Topographic Survey√】

[Special shapes were painted on fireproof asbestos paper using gasoline: "Three," "Hundred and Seven," and "Ten and Eighteen"]

Qin Zhibo: “?”

Looking at the survey instructions, Qin Zhibo felt that he had probably guessed tonight's winning numbers.

Qin Zhibo quickly returned to Ran Mouri and Kazuha Toyama, and subconsciously looked at Ran Mouri's number. It was not "18", but "411".

But Qin Zhibo clearly remembered that he had seen the "18" card, so he quickly looked at the cards in Yuanshan Heye's hands.

It really is “18”.

It turned out that it was my luck value of 35 that won!

Qin Zhibo felt a little unbelievable, but now the number plate had been given to Yuanshan Heye, and it was impossible for him to get it back.

I finally won a prize, but gave the opportunity to someone else. To some extent, this is also a kind of bad luck...

Now, Qin Zhibo could only stand next to Yuanshan Heye and said congratulations indifferently.

"congratulation……"

Toyama Kazuha was confused: "?"

……

Before the gasoline completely evaporated, the wooden sliding door slowly opened to both sides, and a short, heavily made-up old lady sat upright on the mat.

Seeing the old woman in this image, two of the four detectives felt disappointed at the same time and complained secretly in their hearts.

Kogoro Mouri: It's so small...

Hattori Heiji: Isn't this just an old woman with heavy makeup?

Qin Zhibo didn't think it was a big deal. It was normal for people to shrink as they got older. Unlike some people, who shrank before they even reached their age...

Thinking in his mind, Qin Zhibo glanced at Conan standing in front of him.

Turning my gaze back to the longevity lady, she had already taken the long fire stick in her hand and lit the paper window on the wooden sliding door.

The flames burned along certain specific trajectories on the asbestos paper of the three paper windows, leaving behind three flaming words that shone brightly in the dim environment.

It was indeed "three", "one hundred and seven", and "eighteen", which was not a surprise to Qin Zhibo at all.

But for those who were present and holding these three number plates, it was different.

"No way... Oh my God! I really got it!"

Qin Zhibo looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the person who said she had won the prize was Sumi Ebina, whom he met during the day.

The second winner did not announce it here, and Qin Zhibo did not know who it was.

The third winner was Toyama Kazuha, who only reacted with an incredulous look on her face at the end.

"Xiao-Lan, I got it!"

"Heiji! I really got it!"

Toyama Kazuha's face was full of surprise, while Conan and Hattori Heiji standing next to her were full of shock.

Qin Zhibo congratulated He Ye in advance, and she actually won!

How did he see that in advance!

Before the two could compare their answers, Shimabukuro Kimie at the gate announced that the "Dugong Arrow" would be officially awarded in an hour, and everyone had to move to the Mermaid Waterfall on the island first.

……

On the way to the Mermaid Falls, Hattori Heiji and Conan made countless hypotheses about why Qin Zhibo knew the answer in advance. There were deduction hypotheses, hypotheses about obtaining inside information through advance investigation, and hypotheses about making a few random guesses...

But just when the two were about to send Hattori Heiji as a representative to find out what was going on, they discovered that Qin Zhibo did not go with them.

At this time, Qin Zhibo was walking towards the waterfall side by side with Kuroe Naoko, whom he met at the souvenir shop during the day.

"You mean the mermaid incident three years ago..."

"Actually, that incident caused quite a stir at the time. A fire broke out in the warehouse of Shimabukuro Shrine, and after the fire was put out, the body of the mermaid was found under a collapsed beam."

Qin Zhibo frowned slightly, "Mermaid corpse?"

"Hmm..." Naoko Kuroe nodded firmly. "That's definitely the body of a mermaid. If a beam falls across the waist, normally the leg bones would remain intact, but that body's leg bones were completely shattered."

"If it's not a mermaid, what else could it be?"

"And it is said that the mermaid is buried there now..."

As she spoke, Naoko Kuroe raised her hand and pointed at the dark forest above the Mermaid Waterfall.

But Qin Zhibo did not look towards the deep forest, but instinctively focused his eyes on the only bright spot in the middle of the waterfall.

That’s the light from the investigation point!

Chapter 452 Mermaid Forest

Qin Zhibo frowned slightly, confirming that the bright light in the water in his eyes was not the ripples caused by the moon reflected on the water surface, but a real investigation point.

Even after switching the view to telescope mode, Qin Zhibo was unable to see the specific appearance of the thing. He could only vaguely see a long and graceful figure swaying slightly in the water.

"Thank you, Miss Heijiang. I'm leaving first..."

Qin Zhibo quickly ran back to Conan, raised his hand and looked at the waterfall, and said deliberately: "There seems to be something in the middle of the waterfall..."

When Hattori Heiji and Conan heard this, they immediately turned their attention to the waterfall and saw a long black shadow inside the waterfall.

"That is……"

"It seems to be a person?"

Knowing that something might go wrong on this trip, Hattori Heiji, who had already brought his black school uniform, put forward a bolder hypothesis.

Upon hearing this, Conan quickly looked around, trying to find a path that could lead him to the middle of the waterfall to find out what was going on.

But within sight, he found something more useful.

"Hattori! Come here and help me!"

Watching Conan running towards the fireworks tubes set in front of the crowd, Hattori Heiji immediately understood what Conan meant and ran after him.

The staff in charge of the "Dugong Arrow" distribution ceremony thought that the two were winners who couldn't wait to claim their prizes. When they were about to persuade them to leave, they found that the two were running straight towards their fireworks tubes.

"Hey, hey! That's not for you to touch!"

The staff wanted to step forward to stop them, but they were all blocked one by one by Hattori Heiji. Conan, who was quick-eyed and quick-handed, quickly picked up the bullets on the ground next to him and put them into the tube.

Peng!

When the projectile flew into the sky, brilliant fireworks bloomed in the night sky ahead of time, like a colorful flare that did not last very long.

Under the guidance of this brilliant light, the figure in the rapids of the waterfall became brighter.

Qin Zhibo looked closely and saw that it was Ebina Sumi who was hanging by the neck in the waterfall.

……

Above the waterfall, thanks to the efforts of the islanders, the body was pulled up along the rope.

As usual, Qin Zhibo walked forward to investigate.

【Corpse Investigation√】

[Name of the deceased: Ebina Sumi]

[Time of death: 30 minutes ago]

[Cause of death: strangulation]

[Corpse investigation completed, skill acquired: Art and Creation (Performance)]

[Repeated acquisition of skills will convert to 1000 skill proficiency of that skill]

Side quest: Find out the murderer of this case

Task requirements: time limit 48 hour

Task reward: 1000 general skill proficiency, 200 social credit

-

The results of the corpse investigation and the task trigger prompt appear together.

This mission has unusually ample time, which is very reasonable. After all, this time it is not a simple choice between three, but members of the entire American island may commit the crime.

Seeing the corpse, Shimabukuro Kimie, who was a little scared, said in a trembling tone whether it was suicide or homicide.

Fukuyama Rokuro, who had been seen during the day, now transformed himself into a famous detective and reasoned methodically, "Both of these are impossible, because the rope around Sumi's neck was fixed to the riverbank to prevent any danger."

"I see..." Maori Kogoro stepped forward and reasoned, "In other words, Miss Sumi suddenly lost her balance when she reached the riverbank and grabbed the rope in a panic."

"But the water was flowing too fast, causing the wooden stake to fall off, and it just so happened that the rope got caught around her neck as she was falling down the waterfall."

"It was just an unfortunate accident..."

Kogoro Mouri's reasoning still eliminated a wrong option for Qin Zhibo, which was definitely not a surprise.

But why would Sumi Ebina climb to the top of the waterfall alone at such a late hour?

Qin Zhibo looked around and did not find any investigation points, so he could only rely on his own brain to deduce.

In the pocket of Sumi Ebina's jumpsuit, Qin Zhibo, who was wearing gloves, did not touch the winning number plate.

It might have been washed away by the water, but it might also have been stolen.

What if someone invited her here, snatched her number plate, and then killed her and dumped her body here?

If that's the case, the person who asked her out must be someone she trusts deeply...

Qin Zhibo looked around at several friends of the same age as Ebina Sumi who had grown up together. Based on past experience, he felt that these people were more suspicious than ordinary islanders.

At this time, Naoko Kuroe came over and provided an important clue.

"Maybe she's here to look for the 'Mermaid's Grave'..."

"The mermaid's grave?" Hattori Heiji, who had not followed the plot on Qin Zhibo's side, asked in confusion.