Conan: Another Famous Detective

Akira Hanomiya was noncommittal about Officer Henggou's speculation about the "secret room". He pointed at the answering machine and said:

"Now that the possibility of homicide has not been ruled out, let's start the investigation from the phone pointing to homicide."

"The message light above is still on. Maybe there are some clues in those messages?"

"Well, that makes sense. Let's listen to the message right away!" Officer Henggou immediately followed suit.

…………

"According to the messages, there are quite a few people who want to visit Professor Hirota this afternoon!" Officer Henggou frowned slightly.

There were a total of twelve messages on the answering machine, ten of which were from Mr. Shirakura and the other two were from Mr. Morioka.

"Including Detective Hanomiya, there should be three groups of people." Officer Henggou turned to look at Hirota Toshiko outside the study door and asked:

"Mrs. Hirota, did Shirakura and Morioka visit you at home before the incident?"

"Well, because I went out with the wife next door after lunch. To be honest, I only got home a few minutes before Mr. Hanomiya arrived, so I didn't see these visitors."

Hirota Toshiko recalled for a while and suddenly said: "By the way! I saw the first visitor before I went out. That person was a student of my husband. I remember his surname should be Hosaya."

"I see, that is to say, before the body was discovered, there were four groups of people who might have visited or had visited Professor Hirota: Hosaya, Shirakura, Morioka, and Detective Hanomiya." Officer Yokomori sorted it out. message and then asked:

"So madam, you should know the phone numbers and addresses of those three people, right?"

"I know, except for Mr. Hanomiya, everyone else is my husband's student." Hirota Toshiko nodded.

"Um, what happened?" A young male voice suddenly came from behind.

Several people turned around and saw a handsome young man in his twenties, wearing a white casual coat, standing hesitantly outside the study door.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Officer Henggou asked doubtfully.

"My surname is Bai Cang, I am a student of Professor Guangtian." The young man introduced himself.

"Oh? So you are Bai Cang, the one who left the ten messages on the phone, right?" Officer Henggou's eyes suddenly became sharp.

"No...that's right, I came here just because I made many calls but no one answered." Bai Cang said slightly nervously.

"Oh? Then what do you want to do with Professor Hirota?" Officer Henggou looked at Hanomiya Akira again:

"And Detective Hanomiya, although the possibility of you being the murderer is very slim, I would like you to explain the specific purpose of your visit to Professor Hirota."

Bai Cang spoke first: "Because I am currently working as a model, and a magazine is currently working on a project, which focuses on [the surprising side of models]."

"I thought of the photo I took with my teacher while disguised as a woman at the university celebration. I knew that the teacher had the habit of saving the photos on a magnetic disk, so I came to the teacher to borrow the magnetic disk."

"What about Detective Hanomiya?" Officer Henggou looked at Yumiya Akira.

"My friend mistakenly sent one of my magnetic disks to Professor Hirota, so I came to pick up that magnetic disk." Akira Hanamiya explained.

"Although the magnetic disk is still there, the data on the magnetic disk has disappeared. I don't know if I can find it in the computer..." A soft but cold female voice sounded.

Yu Gongming turned around and saw Xiao Ai sitting in front of the open computer, typing on the keyboard with her slender fingers, her expression very serious.

"Huh? The data has been deleted?" Meng Yu came to the computer and looked at Xiao Ai's operations curiously.

"Yes, I just put the diskette into the floppy drive, but all the data in it is gone." Xiao Ai replied.

"That's it, then let me give it a try. Maybe I can restore the data inside." Meng Yu said.

"Wait a minute! How can you touch things at the scene?" Officer Henggou said in a stern tone.

"I'm sorry, Officer Henggou, for causing you trouble, but it actually doesn't matter what they did." Yu Gongming smiled and said: "After all, this case will be over soon."

Yu Gongming's main purpose now is to get back the magnetic disk. The case will be solved as soon as possible. He is too lazy to wait for the police to do some meaningless investigations.

"What? Detective Hanomiya has solved the case?" Officer Henggou became excited instantly.

"About that. Although the murderer's plan was quite sophisticated, it was executed in a hurry and the flaws were quite obvious." Yu Gongming said calmly.

He looked at Xiao Ai and Meng Yu who were in front of the computer: "You two, please leave the computer first. After the case is solved, we can borrow the professor's computer. Is that okay, madam?"

"Well, if you can really find out who killed my husband, then of course it's okay to let you use the computer." Hirota Toshiko said.

"Then thank you madam." Yu Gongming said with a smile.

"Detective Hanomiya, has it been confirmed that it was homicide?" Officer Henggou asked.

"Yes, this is a murder case without a doubt." Yu Gongming said firmly.

"If it was a homicide, how can we explain this secret room?" Officer Henggou asked.

"The key to the secret room depends on this thing!" Yu Gongming grabbed something from the ground with a handkerchief.

It was a white chess piece.

…………

"I'm ready." Meng Yu, who was wearing gloves, grabbed the only study key and nodded towards Yu Gongming.

In her other hand, she was holding the tape she had pulled out of the answering machine.

"It's OK here too!" Xiao Ai's voice sounded almost at the same time as Meng Yu.

At this time, she was squatting next to the answering machine. In front of her was a notebook supported by three chess pieces.

It is worth mentioning that the chess pieces are all placed upside down, with a smooth bottom to support the notebook.

Xiao Ai looked at the notebook in front of her that seemed to be quite stable and showed no signs of shaking. A trace of surprise flashed across her cold and pretty face.

She turned to look at Yu Gongming, who looked confident, and admiration flashed from her eyes.

"Okay, everything is ready, let's start." Yu Gongming said calmly.

So, Mengyu pulled the tape and walked towards the study door with the key. Yu Gongming's voice also sounded at the right time:

"To create such a secret room, first, we have to pull the tape all the way outside the study, and then put one end of the tape through the keyhole."

"Then, leaving the key outside the door, pull the remaining strap back into the room and loop the strap around the chess piece closest to the phone."

Mengyu's movements were almost in sync with Yumiya Akira's voice, and at this time, the tape had already bypassed the chess piece closest to the phone.

"Next, go back out of the room and lock the door. Be careful not to let the tape knock down the chess piece."

Meng Yu carefully controlled the key and successfully locked the door.

"Next, we have to start calling the answering machine." As soon as Yu Gongming finished speaking, the phone started ringing.

After a moment, the phone switched to the message function and the tape began to be recycled to the answering machine.

"Amidst the constant messages, the key was gradually brought in from outside the door on the tape..."

Officer Henggou watched with shock as the key gradually moved inward, all the way to the bottom of the notebook.

"Snapped!

The key knocked over the innermost chess piece, and the originally stable triangular support column instantly lost its balance. The notebook immediately collapsed, pressing the key under the notebook, and the chess pieces scattered to the side.

"This... this is exactly the same as the situation at the crime scene!" Officer Henggou said excitedly: "The secret room technique has been cracked!"

"Yes, then, you are the only one who can realize this technique, right?" Yu Gongming said calmly.