Conan Rick's Investigator

In front of the police, Qin Zhibo certainly couldn't say that he knew the Junior Detectives would give him away for free, so he used the children as a trap...

This is too detrimental to public opinion.

Qin Zhibo then explained to Sato Miwako, "Because the locations of the arsonist's previous arson attacks form a pentagram, the location of the last arson attack should logically be in the middle of the pentagram."

"The entire Shinagawa area, or this soon-to-be-abandoned warehouse area, is perfect for starting fires without being easily discovered..."

Sato Miwako nodded in sudden realization and accepted Qin Zhibo's explanation.

Ai Haibara next to him took out the map from her pocket and marked it again according to what Qin Zhibo said. It was indeed the five endpoints of the pentagram.

It turns out it's not fire, but ☆...

It makes sense. The spells they said were made up of a strange language, and it was more in line with the tone when paired with the pentagram symbol, the most commonly used symbol in mysticism.

only……

Haibara Ai subconsciously looked at Conan, and Conan also knew what Haibara Ai was thinking.

Could that fire tornado that shot straight into the sky really be caused by magic?

but……

but……

Both Conan and Haibara Ai are somewhat conflicted, especially Conan, who has witnessed two unscientific events before.

The first time was in the river at the foot of the mountain from Kiri Tengu Temple, where I saw the remains of what might be some kind of pink fungus.

But when he called for help, the bodies had disappeared again.

The second time was in the underground secret passage of the Blue Castle. The corpse of old lady Mamiya floated in the air and chased the criminal who killed her in the secret passage.

Still, I was the only one who saw that scene while tied up in the secret passage.

Conan has not found the cause of these two incidents so far, but this time, Conan has some clues.

The arsonists were caught by the police, who would certainly interrogate them about the reasons for the arson.

I also heard the word "Kthugya". I can investigate what it is after I go back...

Looking at Conan's sullen expression, Qin Zhibo knew that he would not give up.

Qin Zhibo doesn't mind Conan investigating these things, but he won't take the initiative to tell Conan the clues or the truth about these things.

When you are exposed to the other side of the world, it means that you have transformed from a detective to an investigator.

As a mature investigator, you must learn to investigate on your own...

……

The police took Qin Zhibo and five members of the Junior Detective League to the Metropolitan Police Department to take statements. However, Koizumi Hongzi evacuated before the police arrived and was not arrested.

Otherwise, with Koizumi Akako's red clothes and red hair, she would inevitably be taken away by the police for questioning.

The recording process in the warning hall went smoothly. Everyone was a regular and familiar with the process.

The record was completed and everyone went home.

But Conan suddenly started to act coquettishly towards Ran Mouri who came to pick him up, and his sweet voice scared the other three little ones.

"Sister Xiaolan! Just let me go to Dr. Agasa's house to play video games!"

"Ou—nei—gai—yin—"

"Da-meah!"

This time, Mao Lilan was not persuaded by Conan. She said with a slightly annoyed look, "How can you still have the energy to play video games after what you just went through?"

Seeing that Ran Mouri was tough, Conan quickly gave Professor Agasa a look and asked for external help.

With the highly respected Professor Agasa joining the battlefield, he persuaded Ran Mouri with both reason and emotion, and finally let Conan play video games for a night to soothe the child's traumatized heart.

Just like that, Dr. Agasa took Conan and Haibara Ai home, leaving Mouri Ran alone.

Qin Zhibo was not involved in the whole thing.

Because just as he walked out of the Metropolitan Police Department building, Qin Zhibo received a call from the other side of the ocean on his mobile phone.

……

When he arrived at Dr. Agasa's house, Conan eagerly turned on the computer and searched the web for information about Cthugha.

But in this era when Internet resources were not so abundant, there was only one search result related to Kthugya, which was on a knowledge search website called "Noah's Ark".

"Ah, so it's Noah's Ark. I use this website often..."

When talking about "Noah's Ark", Dr. Agasa talked about it attentively.

"This website is currently the only think tank website in the world. Although it has only been established for two years, it has already established more than 1000 million knowledge items and is still being updated at a terrifying rate of 1.5 items per day."

"What's even more frightening is that this think tank appears to be run by an artificial intelligence called 'Noah's Ark', requiring no human editing at all."

"The person who created this program is a genius..."

The "ordinary" Dr. Agasa marveled at the genius of others in inventions and creations, but Conan was not interested in topics like computer programs and genius inventions.

Opening the entry of Cthugha, Conan saw the relevant introduction.

Cthugha, one of the Old Gods, symbolizes the existence of fire.

Also known as: Living Flame, according to legend, it lives on the planet Fomalhaut...

There is not much introduction about Cthugha, but Conan roughly understands that this should be a being similar to the "God of Fire" or "God of the Sun" in most myths and legends.

Just like the widely circulated Chinese mythology, Norse mythology, Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology... every ancient civilization with a long history will give birth to an ancient myth in the long river of history.

These myths have been admired by humans since ancient times, and even in modern times, many people are happy to praise them.

On the Noah's Ark website, beings similar to Cthugha are collectively classified as "old myths."

Chapter 488: A quick trip to the United States

The old mythology system.

The source that can be traced back to at present is the Book of the Dead, created by the mad Arab poet Abdullah Alhazad in 730 AD.

This masterpiece records and explains historical events, predicts the future, and reveals the true origins of human myths and religious beliefs.

In order to verify his claims, Abdullah Alhasad also meticulously used some knowledge of astrology and astronomy to explain the history of the earth before the emergence of humans.

In addition, it also records various spells and various gods called "Old Gods".

Later, due to the ban of Pope Gregory IX in the 12th century, the Necronomicon was banned and a large number of original copies of the Necronomicon were burned.

The most complete copy of the Book of the Dead is a Latin version published in Spain in the 17th century. There is only one copy in the world, and it is permanently preserved in...

"Miskatonic University..."

Haibara Ai suddenly spoke in standard American-accented English, which made Conan and Dr. Agasa look back at the cold face in surprise.

Because the website does say it is Miskatonic University.

"How do you know this? Could it be that you..."

Before Conan could say "I've read it", Haibara Ai quickly stopped Conan's groundless guess.

"I wouldn't waste my time reading those weird occult books..."

"When I was studying in the United States as an exchange student at Miskatonic University, I saw it in the Aoun Library of that school. It was a thick book locked in a glass cabinet."

Conan knew that Haibara Ai had studied in the United States.

However, Conan didn't know about Haibara Ai's experience as an exchange student at Miskatonic University.

If Haibara Ai has also been to the University of Michigan, then there are two people around me who have been to the University of Michigan...

The figure of that person unconsciously appeared in Conan's mind, and Haibara Ai, who was looking at Conan, probably guessed what Conan was thinking.

"When that man was at the University of Michigan, he seemed to have joined a club that advocated for the occult..."

Conan looked up suddenly, "Are you talking about Qin Zhibo?"

Haibara Ai nodded without comment.

Out of face, Haibara Ai did not say that she had just escaped from the Black Organization and wanted to "take" some money from Qin Zhibo's wallet to run away, and just happened to discover this.

Conan didn't ask in detail about the specific source of this clue. He held his chin up and thought about his previous experiences with Qin Zhibo.

Qin Zhibo never explicitly denied the existence of those folk legends and strange stories like Maori Kogoro did. He even occasionally revealed that he did not refuse to believe in these things.

This even made Conan doubt whether Qin Zhibo was suitable for the detective profession where rational thinking dominates the brain.

But now it seems that Qin Zhibo has believed in these mysterious things for some time.

The ice is three feet thick and it didn't freeze overnight. This is how his worldview is constructed...

Conan slapped his forehead and felt a headache.

The detective he admired so much turned out to be someone who had been appreciating the mysticism since college.

At this moment, Dr. Agasa, who had not spoken for a long time, came up with an idea.

"If it's Mr. Qin, has he ever read the Book of the Dead?"

"Maybe he knows something..."

Hearing this, Conan and Haibara Ai turned to look at Dr. Agasa at the same time, with light in their eyes.

You are so smart! Dr. Agasa!

……

The next day at 5:00 pm.

Dr. Agasa estimated that Qin Zhibo had almost finished his work for the day, so he called and invited Qin Zhibo to his house for dinner, giving Conan and Haibara Ai an opportunity to ask questions.

At this time, Dr. Agasa found that he could not get through to Qin Zhibo's phone at all.

"Shut down..."

So Dr. Agasa and Conan came to Qin Zhibo's office again, only to find a note on the door saying "I'm on a business trip soon, tell me if you have anything to say when you come back."

Judging from the handwriting, he left in a hurry.

Dr. Agasa and Conan hurried to the women's clothing store downstairs from Zhibo Detective Agency to ask the owner, and only then did they find out something.

Qin Zhibo went to the United States...

……

Back in the morning, Qin Zhibo finished washing up and turned on the TV to watch the morning news on time.

"Yesterday, a fire broke out in an abandoned warehouse in Shinagawa City, Tokyo's 6th Ward. It was the work of a serial arsonist..."

"According to the information currently revealed by the police, the arsonists belong to a sect called 'Zoroastrianism'. There are five accomplices, all of whom are members of Zoroastrianism..."

"The police have already sealed off the sect's office in Tokyo. Further details..."

While giving her explanation, Rena Mizunashi accompanied the explanation with pictures of the fire tornado that were taken by passersby nearby.

Regarding this somewhat spectacular fire tornado, the expert next to Rena Mizunashi explained that it was a coincidence that a seasonal tornado happened to occur at the location where the fire occurred.

Also, the news did not announce that Qin Zhibo was a hero who helped the police catch the arsonists. This was Qin Zhibo's own request.

Zoroastrianism is not a small sect unique to Japan. It originated from the ancient Persian Empire and there are Zoroastrians all over the world.

If his name were revealed, he might be hated by other Zoroastrians and be retaliated against.

This is Qin Zhibo's style of doing things. He doesn't want his detective agency to be burned down by this group of fanatics.

And even if their deeds were not published in the news, with the capabilities of the Nine Angels Organization, they would be able to access the police's internal information.

Qin Zhibo turned on his computer and entered the website of the Nine Angels Organization. Sure enough, there was a message that the administrator's 100 million yen remuneration had been paid.

For some reason, the speed of money transfers has increased a lot since my last meeting with Nine Angels' A-level agent in Japan, Yasuharu Haneda.

In addition, Qin Zhibo also received a permission escalation notification from the administrator.

[Guan: Congratulations, your authority has been upgraded to C-level agent! ]

[Manager: You will be given priority in selecting tasks, perform a wider variety of tasks, and receive more organizational support]

The administrator's statement was a bit official, making Qin Zhibo unable to tell whether it was AI, Shinna Kaori, or Haneda Yasuharu.