Conan Rick's Investigator

Chapter 711: Little Blackie, are you showing your chicken feet?

Gunma Prefecture...

Amuro Toru frowned, "Is there any specific location?"

Yuya Kazami replied on the phone: "The location mentioned in the last call was Tougami Forest in Gunma Prefecture. He had booked a room at a hotel called Aoi-ya there."

“…Okay, I understand.”

After hanging up the phone, Toru Amuro fell into thought again.

The Forest of the Head God...

Toru Amuro is quite familiar with this place name. It is a famous suicide site in Japan, second only to the Aokigahara Forest at the foot of Mount Fuji.

Because it is famous as a suicide holy land, most people will not go there, and those who go there are suicides who never return, so it is more suitable for hiding.

Or suitable for suicide...

Amuro Toru's eyes suddenly widened, and he sensed something was wrong.

Could it be that Tomonori Kinoshita could no longer bear the psychological pressure and was ready to commit suicide?

Although Toru Amuro didn't know how it felt to bear the "ghost" curse personally, as long as he took a quick glimpse of the "ghost's" true appearance, his soul would feel as if it was torn apart by something.

Even a strong-willed public security police officer like Toru Amuro would feel great pain in an instant, let alone ordinary people.

Thinking of this, Toru Amuro immediately closed his laptop.

He quickly grabbed the car keys from the table and casually picked up the clothes on the hanger as he went out.

Peng!

With Toru Amuro's departure, the only sound left in the apartment was the ringing of the metal doorbell hanging on the security door.

……

The next day.

Qin Zhibo just woke up in the morning and received a call from Inspector Megure.

After an overnight interrogation and investigation by the First Investigation Division, it was basically confirmed that Masatsugu Ishida had nothing to do with the theft of case files from the National Police Agency.

The crime Ishida committed was that he was assigned to follow Qin Zhibo.

According to Ishida's confession, he joined a secret sect and followed the instructions of a man called "Dr. Kinoshita" by the believers to follow Qin Zhibo.

"I think it's called... Voodoo?"

"Brother Qin, have you heard of this religion?"

Qin Zhibo paused and denied it, "Unfortunately, I haven't heard of it either."

"That's strange..." Inspector Megure had no doubt about his good brother and believed everything he said.

"That's it for now. We will continue investigating. Although Ishida is not the culprit who stole the files, it might be someone else in this sect who did it."

After Inspector Megure hung up the phone, Qin Zhibo also began preparations before departure.

This time, Qin Zhibo does not plan to go to Gunma Prefecture as a "famous detective", but to make a new human skin mask and use a fake identity.

After returning from the Metropolitan Police Department last night, Qin Zhibo immediately took the time to make a human skin mask.

However, Qin Zhibo's disguise skill is only level 3 at present, and he has not yet mastered this skill.

The human skin masks Qin Zhibo had previously made could not be used in well-lit environments. Ordinary people would feel that it was a fake face at a glance.

Moreover, Qin Zhibo does not have the blessing of engraving skills, and without a facial mold, it is difficult for him to make a mask with particularly coordinated facial features.

If Michael Bay's human skin mask is used, it would be a bit suspicious if a foreigner suddenly appeared in the deep mountains and forests.

So Qin Zhibo could only refer to his own face shape to create a human skin mask that could stand up to scrutiny under light.

This human skin mask is Qin Zhibo's most satisfying work to date. Whether it is the thickness, coordination of facial features, or the level of hair adhesion, it can be called top-notch.

Unless you look closely out of the corner of your eye, you can hardly see any clues.

But the shortcoming of this mask is that in order to ensure the coordination and naturalness of the facial features, Qin Zhibo referred to his own face.

This resulted in the facial shape and features of this human skin mask being 70% similar to his original face.

Of course, in order to distinguish himself from his original self, Qin Zhibo chose a different wig color.

Qin Zhibo's original hair was black, but the wig that matched the human skin mask was dark brown.

As long as you are not color blind, you can see the difference between the two.

Qin Zhibo put on a brown windbreaker and was about to go out when he received a call from Amuro Toru.

"Teacher, something unexpected happened here, so I can't go to the office today or tomorrow..."

Toru Amuro just wants to take a leave.

Although Qin Zhibo was a little surprised, but thinking about Toru Amuro's dual... and who knows how many identities he had, it was normal to ask for leave.

"It's okay. It's your right to take a personal leave."

"Then the office will have to close today?" Toru Amuro asked tentatively.

"Yes, because I have something to go out for."

Toru Amuro: "..."

Qin Zhibo: "..."

The two were silent for a second, and Qin Zhibo took the initiative to hang up the phone.

After going out, Qin Zhibo bought a pair of sunglasses at a nearby store and then rented a car at a car rental agency.

After all, if you want to play a pure passerby, you certainly can't drive that conspicuous red Mustang convertible.

After much deliberation, Qin Zhibo chose Mazda.

It’s just not a luxury model like the Mazda 929, but an economical model like the 323.

I originally wanted to choose the civilian god of war - Suzuki, but when I thought about how Kogoro Mouri always got a flat tire when driving this brand of car in the wild, I chose Mazda.

After all, compared to a flat tire, Qin Zhibo felt that a traffic jam was more acceptable.

……

It takes about two hours to drive from Tokyo to Gunma Prefecture if there is no traffic jam or flat tires.

However, Toushin Forest is located in the east of Gunma Prefecture and requires more than an hour's drive.

Qin Zhibo drove from morning until almost noon, passing by the mountainous area where the dusk villa was located last time.

Ever since the Twilight Villa of the tycoon Karasuma Renya disappeared out of thin air, the Hakuba Research Institute of the Hakuba Tan family seems to have never stopped its research.

However, there should not be any reliable research results yet, otherwise Baima Tan would have called me to inform the relevant person.

Although the Twilight Villa incident sounds very far away, it actually happened less than a week ago.

It is estimated that Ikumi Gunda, who was injured in the incident, is still in the hospital in Gunma Prefecture...

……

The silver-gray Mazda 323 winds its way through the mountains.

As the surrounding green scenery continued to recede, the trees on both sides began to squeeze towards the middle of the road, and the road ahead became narrower and narrower.

Eventually, the asphalt road disappeared and was replaced by a mountain road that was passable by vehicles.

On both sides of the mountain road are depressions caused by traffic, and in the middle is a grassy area, like a natural green belt that goes deep into the forest.

This is the Toushen Forest, the legendary suicide sanctuary.

Because the mountain road was rugged, Qin Zhibo was afraid of bumping into the rental car, so he could only move forward slowly at the speed of a bicycle.

Besides the lush green trees on both sides of the road, there are banners and slogans that can be seen on every section of the road.

【Think more about your family, they are still waiting for you to return】

Please give yourself a chance to live!

【Be strong! Be positive! Be optimistic! Be positive! 】

[One step forward is the abyss, the sea of suffering is boundless, turn back and you will find the shore]

【Forest fire prevention is everyone’s responsibility】

There seems to be something strange mixed in with the anti-suicide slogans.

However, the general meaning of these banners is to persuade people who come here to commit suicide not to make decisions so easily and to think twice before acting.

However, according to Qin Zhibo's many years of experience, people who choose to die quietly in such a place are basically those who have truly made up their minds.

It is difficult to persuade such people just by looking at the cold lines of computer fonts on a banner.

The significance of anti-suicide slogans is more to highlight humanitarianism.

In addition to the banners, Qin Zhibo also found some fallen statues of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva on the roadside.

All these Ksitigarbha Bodhisattvas were lying face down on the roadside, and it was obvious that they were man-made.

Qin Zhibo guessed that this might be because Voodoo was going to perform some kind of ritual here, so they deliberately laid the surrounding Ksitigarbha down with their faces facing down so that they could not see their actions.

Although to others, this behavior seems a bit ridiculous.

But people with faith often do things that ordinary people cannot understand.

……

After driving at a snail's pace for about twenty minutes, Qin Zhibo finally arrived at the end of the mountain road, a hotel called "Kuiwu".

The hotel staff were quite welcoming. When they saw a car parked at the door, they came out to greet us and offered to help us park.

Because this hotel is located in a forest known as a "suicide sanctuary", people who come to stay here occasionally have suicidal thoughts.

Therefore, hotel staff are trained to be very welcoming and make these suicidal people feel at home.

Maybe some people feel that there is true love in the world and are moved to give up the idea of suicide?

Qin Zhibo handed the car keys to the curly-haired employee who came out to park the car, put on sunglasses, and walked into the hotel.

"welcome!"

Another male employee in a blue uniform came with two female employees in pink uniforms to welcome Qin Zhibo.

Qin Zhibo took a look and saw that the male employee in the lead was called Urakawa Eiji.

"I'm here to stay..."

Qin Zhibo explained his purpose, and Urakawa Eiji took him to the hotel front desk to check in the room first.

The check-in procedure at Aoiya Ryokan is rather complicated.

Normally, a hotel roster only requires the name and contact information of the occupants, but Aoi-ya also requires the phone number of an emergency contact.

"Please forgive me, sir. 'Disappearances' happen quite often here. To make it easier for the police to contact the families of the missing, we have no choice but to ask residents to leave their family contact information."

The hotel owner spoke carefully, afraid of touching the fragile nerves of the man in front of him.

According to the hotel owner, who received far more tourists than he sent away, the man in the brown windbreaker was most likely committing suicide.

It is really suspicious that a person drives to a famous suicide site wearing sunglasses to hide his identity.

There was no other way, Qin Zhibo could only leave the number of his other phone, so that no matter which one he called, it would be himself.

"Thank you very much for your understanding..."

"One more thing, please pay the rent first..."

In order to prevent the guests from losing both their money and their lives, the hotel owner asked for the room payment in advance.

But at this moment, Urakawa Eiji, who had been standing nearby, suddenly spoke after observing for a long time.

"I see!"

"You must be the famous detective, Mr. Qin Zhibo!"

Hearing this, Qin Zhibo was shocked and turned to look at Urakawa Eiji.

Can you recognize this?

No way, I'm wearing a human skin mask.

Qin Zhibo was a little panicked under his sunglasses, but Urakawa Eiji had already held Qin Zhibo's hands, fearing that the great detective from Tokyo would escape.