Conan Rick's Investigator

And regarding the matter of the corpse, Conan may call the Gunma Prefecture Police Department again at any time.

Once the police come, Mr. Clock may be investigated, or the frightened Mr. Clock may fly away forcibly, or the police may seal off the Angel Hall for half a month or a month.

All of these situations are possible.

If I want to implement the plan of "replacing the pillars with a beam" at that time, it will be very troublesome.

So for me, now is the best time.

Just when Qin Zhibo was about to take out his gun and shoot Conan, who was running at the head of the team, his thoughts changed again.

The place Conan wants to go is the East Building, which means he wants to investigate the tunnels and corpses there.

As the old saying goes, all roads lead to Rome, so there is no need to stick to having Conan reach the base of the Angel of the South by solving puzzles.

Isn't the reverse also possible?

Plus, now that Mr. Clock wasn't following them, it was a perfect time for them to do so.

Thinking in his mind, Qin Zhibo put away the gun, put on the [Magic Ring], and entered the invisible state.

……

On Conan's side, under Mitsuhiko's instructions, he climbed over the magic wall from last night and entered the room.

Entering the room, Mitsuhiko pointed at the golden bull on the fireplace and said, "That's the bull without horns! Just swap the bull's head and tail, and the passage under the fireplace will open!"

Mitsuhiko was very proud of cracking this "mechanism". This was one of the few wonderful moments when he could surpass Conan.

"Mitsuhiko, you are awesome!" The innocent Ayumi praised without hesitation.

"Hehe~ It's not bad, hey~"

Mitsuhiko scratched his head and looked smug.

But then, Conan's words were like cold water poured on his head.

"But this isn't a mechanism at all. It's just an ordinary ornament..."

Everyone turned around and saw Conan stepping on a chair at some point, holding the whole bull in his arms.

"What? This is impossible!"

Mitsuhiko quickly ran over and checked the top of the fireplace. It was indeed a complete marble surface without any mechanism on it.

He tried again several times without giving up, but still couldn't change the fact.

"Really? There's no mechanism..."

Conan put the golden bull ornament back to its original place, jumped off the chair, and was immediately praised by Ayumi.

"Conan, you are so awesome!"

"Um, oh..." Conan nodded in response, then turned around, crouched down and crawled into the fireplace.

Although the mechanism of Taurus is a wrong reasoning, it means that this cannot be related to the puzzle.

But since we are here, we might as well take a look at the body first.

In this way, Conan and his group lined up and entered the fireplace.

……

At the same time, Qin Zhibo, relying on his long legs, had already arrived at the East Pavilion and climbed through the window into the room with the fake fireplace.

Then go through the passage under the fireplace and come to the side of the corpse.

In the underground passage, Qin Zhibo turned on the navigation device and was able to view the map of the entire maze.

He tore off a piece of paper from the small notebook in his arms and used a pen to outline the maze map with minimalist lines.

The rest of the drawing is unimportant; it is sufficient to draw a path leading to the base of the Angel of the South.

Taking into account the Young Detectives, a "treasure map club", Qin Zhibo thoughtfully drew a large, eye-catching "X" on the base of the Southern Angel.

After doing this, he placed the note on the ground and rubbed it a few times to create some signs of aging.

The trap of the Junior Detective Team, get it!

Qin Zhibo put the antique "treasure map" into the pocket of the clothes covered by the skeleton, and then footsteps were heard in the passage.

He quickly put on the ring and disappeared into the darkness again.

At this time, the Junior Detective Team's watch-shaped flashlight happened to shine over here, and they saw the corpse lying on the ground.

Although they had been mentally prepared, the children were still frightened when they saw the skeletonized corpse in such an environment.

The calmest person here is not the experienced Conan, but Haibara Ai.

Bones, we're old friends...

The old detective Conan immediately squatted beside the body and began to perform an autopsy.

It can be called an autopsy, but in fact, there are only limited areas that can be examined. After all, everything has turned to bones. The most they can do is check whether the body has suffered any external injuries and what items it carried with it.

At this time, the first thing to check is whether there is any external injury to the head.

Top of the back of the head, no trauma.

Conan just reached out to touch his head to check the condition of the skull on the side that was touching the ground, but as soon as his fingers exerted force, the skull cracked open.

Wow, half of the head rolled on the ground, making a faint sound.

"what?"

"what--!"

Conan exclaimed in surprise, and Ayumi and Matsunaka Yuriko, who were standing two meters away, screamed in fright.

"Big, big, brain, it's cracked!"

“It’s cracked!”

Mitsuhiko and Genta were so scared that they screamed, but it was the experienced Haibara who walked over calmly.

She squatted beside the frowning Conan, reached out and picked up half of the skull on the ground without any hesitation, holding it in her hand like a small ladle.

After only observing for a few seconds, Haibara Ai's eyes changed.

"What's wrong?" Conan asked.

Ai Huiyuan held the half skull in her hand and explained, "This is a circumcision surgery, which involves cutting the skull in a circular shape from the top."

"But the diameter of this circumcision is too large, it exceeds the purpose of normal surgery..."

Haibara Ai didn't finish her words. Considering that there were children nearby, she didn't say "It's like taking out the whole brain."

However, Huihara Ai had actually seen similar surgical cases.

When she was studying at Harvard in the United States and was an exchange student at the University of Michigan, Ai Haibara read about it in a medical book in the University of Michigan library.

More than a hundred years ago, a strange brain parasitic disease was prevalent in the UK. The longer the parasites lived in the human brain, the more aggressive the host became, and the more irrational behaviors such as self-harm would become.

British doctor Moonlight Smith developed a brain drilling procedure that can remove the parasite from between the brain stem and the skull.

However, if the parasite has been present for too long, a circumcision surgery is required to remove the entire skull cap and remove the parasite from inside.

However, Haibara Ai believed that these contents were more like folk legends. After all, she had never heard of brain parasites that could directly affect human behavior.

Ai Huihara held up the severed half of the skull and continued, "The incision of this skull circumcision is very smooth. The person who cut open this skull is proficient in surgery."

"If it was cut open without damaging the brain, it would be incredible..."

Generally, experienced doctors have to carefully consider every bit of force when cutting open a person's skull, even with the assistance of modern medical equipment such as electric milling cutters, as they may touch the brain inside if they are not careful.

In the process of force interruption, the surface of the cut will be uneven and there will be slight jagged marks on the edge. This is normal.

But this skull has no trace of bumps and is as smooth as if it were a mass-produced industrial product.

This isn't even a textbook surgical specimen.

Because such muscle control precision and calmness during surgery are no longer possible for humans.

Is it true that it is only cut open after the person dies?

Haibara Ai was also unsure of her own thoughts.

Conan's investigative approach directly leans towards murder, and the murderer should have killed the man by cutting open his brain.

"But why do this?"

What good would it do to waste time cutting open a person's brain?

Isn't it for eating?

Conan suddenly thought of a certain cannibal detective movie in which the cannibal cut open the victim's skull in order to taste the victim's frontal lobe.

This shouldn't also be...

Thinking of this, Conan suddenly smelled the scent of Eucalyptus globulus and quickly fumbled around in the clothes on the skeleton, hoping to find some items that could prove its identity.

But after searching all his pockets, Conan found a piece of paper.

There was a simple map drawn on the piece of paper, with a prominent "X" marked in one corner.

Mitsuhiko: "It's a treasure map!"

Ayumi: "Really? Is there a treasure here?"

Yuan Tai: "Great! Now we can go treasure hunting! Treasure~"

The sharp-eyed Mitsuhiko and Genta immediately became excited, and even Ayumi, who was scared a second ago, became excited.

The Young Detectives are definitely a trap.

Bgm, up!

Give them a treasure map, and they can search the entire earth. General MacArthur, a five-star general of the United States, once said this...

Conan took the piece of paper in his hand, turned it over and over, and also thought that this piece of paper was a route map pointing to somewhere.

"It looks like it's right here..."

"Then let's go to that place and take a look. Maybe it is related to the puzzle!" Mitsuhiko urged quickly. His heart as a treasure hunter was already thirsty.

"Go ahead, Conan, just go and take a look~" Ayumi also suggested going treasure hunting.

Conan was still a little hesitant, but with the three little ones constantly whispering in his ears, he decided to go to the location on the paper and take a look.

Maybe we can find more clues about the murder case?

"Okay, let's go."

"Great! Let's go treasure hunting~"

The three little ones made cheerful noises, completely ignoring the feelings of the skeletons on the ground next to them.

Ai Haibara put the skull back to its original place with a calm expression and left with the team.

While the killer's surgical skills may have been impressive, they had little to do with her.

Only Yuriko Matsunaka, who was following at the end of the team, still had a look of fear on her face.

She was still a little puzzled. Why were they all the same age, but suddenly the others were not afraid at all?

She didn't even dare to look at the skeleton for a second, but the two elementary school students actually reached out to touch it.

She felt a little out of place in this small group.

……

Following the route drawn on the note, Conan and others arrived at the location marked with "×".

"There is no way..."

Genta and Mitsuhiko ran to the front and looked around, but there was indeed no way forward.

Conan's attention was focused on a slide embedded in the wall, slanting upwards.

I stuck my head in and looked inside. It was pitch black and I couldn't see anything, but it was definitely not the exit.

"Everyone! Come and see, there's something here!"

At Ayumi's call, several people gathered behind a stone rock where there was a wooden joystick.

"This must be the mechanism to unlock the treasure!"

Before Conan could say anything, Genta stepped forward and fiddled with the joystick.