Conan’s Corpse Picker

But luckily - Toyama and Ye discovered that this time, although they had the same experience as a "horror movie protagonist", there were more of them, eight in total. This is twice the number of people who have disappeared, so it feels very safe...

But soon, this sense of security was gone again.

Jiang Xia looked at Yuan Shan and Ye: "You take the children and stay here while we go out and take a look."

Toyama Kazuye: "..."

Staying in this man-eating hotel with a bunch of kids?

She shuddered and followed her instinct and said with a dry smile: "I, I want to go out with you to find someone. It's not safe for the children to stay here..."

"...That's okay." Jiang Xia didn't understand why the hotel was unsafe, but it didn't matter where Yuan Shan and Ye Xiang were. He walked towards the outside of the hotel, "There are quite a few missing people. In this case, let's look for them separately."

…

Haiyuan Ai pointed Jiang Xia in the direction where she saw Nonomiya Etsuko.

Several people chased him along the mountain road for a while, but found nothing.

Haibara Ai thought of Nonomiya Etsuko's movement speed just now, and felt that they should have caught up with each other at this time, but now, they didn't see anyone at all.

...Did we go in the wrong direction?

As Haihara Ai walked, he readjusted the map in his mind.

Just when she thought she was right, her collar suddenly sank - Jiang Xia took her collar and pulled her back.

Almost at the same time, a heavy figure fell in front of their eyes and hit the ground with a thud.

Yuan Shan and Ye, who had taken a step slower, were startled. They swung the flashlight and saw a young man lying on the ground. The man's hair was thick and sharp, like an unruly sea urchin.

"...Mr. Futakawa?!"

He's the editor of that magazine.

Jiang Xia looked at the people on the ground, then looked up.

Futakawa Hajime fell from the cliff above his head. The top of the cliff is the famous star observation point.

This cliff is tens of meters high. After dark, it is difficult for normal people to see clearly at such a distance, and the ordinary flashlights they carry cannot illuminate it.

But this had no effect on Jiang Xia. As soon as he went out, he borrowed the ghost's vision, so he could see the top of the cliff smoothly. And there is a shiny bald head on the top looking down - the editor-in-chief of the astronomy magazine is on top.

The editor-in-chief, who had just thrown his subordinate down, was looking down the cliff at this time, but he did not feel Jiang Xia's gaze and only saw a few clusters of flashlight lights.

So he had no intention of keeping silent for the time being. He just backed away silently and quickly took a shortcut back to the hotel.

Jiang Xia looked away when she saw that the editor-in-chief didn't try to throw things down to kill people, nor did he take out the hidden shotgun and shoot them.

Then he squatted down, briefly checked Futakawa Hajime's condition, and whispered: "The cervical vertebrae are broken."

Haiyuan pointed at the hedgehog-headed editor's clenched hand: "He is holding a cigarette case."

Normally, this might not be too noticeable.

But more than an hour ago, several people just got the news that "Kono left a death message with a cigarette in a cigarette box before he died." Therefore, the cigarette box in the hand of the hedgehog-headed editor also became eye-catching—— This is probably some kind of death message as well.

Jiang Xia put on her gloves again, took the cigarette case and turned it upside down.

The scene an hour ago reappeared, with several long and short cigarettes falling into his hands, but this time, the messages were five long and two short.

So how on earth did these people come up with these troublesome mysteries at the moment of death... Jiang Xia looked at the cigarette in his hand and fell into deep thought.

After pondering for a while, the detective badge in Haihara Ai's pocket buzzed.

Soon, Dr. A Li's voice came out: "Above! Look above!"

Jiang Xia raised her head and saw several flashlights on the top of the cliff.

Dr. A Li, Rob and several children found someone on the mountain.

When a group of them arrived, the editor-in-chief had quietly slipped away. There was no one on the mountain, except for an open folding mobile phone on the ground.

The doctor picked up the phone and turned it on.

Inside was a typed suicide note.

…

"I sent the invitation letter to bring everyone here, actually to confess the crime I committed a year ago."

In the hotel lobby, under the gaze of a group of people with different expressions, Dr. Agasa read the message on his mobile phone: "Yes, the person who killed Kono Asao was me - Futagawa Hajime.

"The day that killed Mr. Kono was like a nightmare - as astronomy enthusiasts who refused to give in, we had a little argument on the cliff. Unfortunately, when I came to my senses, I had pushed him down. cliff.

"Since then, I have always wanted to confess. But as time went by, it became more and more difficult to tell the truth... In the end, my heart was overwhelmed by guilt, and I decided to turn the time back to this day a year ago. One day, before the police arrived at dawn, he died to apologize.

“I hope that my death due to the same cause as Kono’s can soothe the ghosts in the forest who refuse to sleep peacefully.

——Futakawa Hajime”

Jiang Xia walked to the hall, glanced at the mobile phone in Dr. Ali's hand, and thought that it sounded like that.

Just now, when Dr. Ali was slowly reading his suicide note, he went to the rooms of the three passengers and briefly stopped at the door of each room for a short while, looking into the room to provide a stepping stone before solving the case. prepare for.

It doesn't matter what you see, the important thing is that you have seen it, so that you can explain many sources - information that you have not seen directly can also be explained by "the detective's reasoning". This is the convenience of brain supplementation...

Just now, when a group of them returned to the hotel with a mobile phone with a "suicide note" written on it,

Boss Tiantu, Nonomiya Etsuko, and the editor-in-chief, who were also missing before, have also returned to the lobby.

Three people stood in line, a perfect choice of three.

Jiang Xia came out of the corridor and stopped in the corner of the hall, behind the three suspects.

Just when I stood firm, I felt that this was where I should lean against the wall, pick my pockets, and pose in the "know everything" posture commonly used by high school detectives, with a sneer... But before I could put my hands in place, a little head suddenly appeared next to me. .

Haiyuan Ai emerged from nowhere and asked him with her eyes: How is it?

"I roughly understand." Jiang Xia finally had time to lean against the wall and whispered, "It's almost time for the police to come over and deal with the aftermath."

"..." Hui Yuan Ai couldn't help but look up at him.

...Jiang Xia's tone just now was obviously not like a cheerful and sunny high school detective, but more like a group of members in the organization who often laughed at the police. What do these people usually say in front of young peripheral members... No, that's not the point. The main reason is that as a member of the organization, Jiang Xia suddenly said "find the police to deal with the aftermath", and she always felt that something was not right.

No, this is still not the point...

Haiyuan Ai pressed his forehead and was silent for a moment because of the slight sense of dislocation. Finally, he remembered what to do now.

——Judging from Jiang Xia's words, he should already know who the murderer is.

only……

Hui Yuarai glanced at the people in the hall.

She was also at the scene where Futagawa Hajime fell to death just now, and knew that the spiky-headed young man was holding a box of "death messages" in his hand. So the suicide note couldn't have been left by him - this wasn't suicide, there must be someone else responsible.

In the worst case scenario, there might be two murderers in this hall at the same time - the one who killed Kono a year ago, and the one who just killed the hedgehog-headed editor.

And there are only three suspects here...

There is a two-thirds probability that Haihara Ai looks suspicious to everyone now.

In addition, there are too many people who are not worthy of their own force. If the situation is revealed and the scene is too chaotic, and the murderer or murderers take advantage of the chaos to take hostages, Jiang Xia's situation will become very passive - from what happened with the truck just now. Look, Rob and Jiang Xia don't look like partners to each other, and Rob may not be able to help. Dr. A Li and the children don't have to count on it. The female high school student with a ponytail is so thin that she can be blown away by a gust of wind... After careful calculation, Jiang Xia seems to be the only one they can fight.

Haiyuan Ai looked at the very suspicious boss Tiantu and the bald and sweating editor-in-chief, then at Robert, who was not very familiar with Jiang Xia, and finally at a group of children, the old man Dr. A Li, and the slender and fragile Yuan Shan Heye whispered:

"Why don't you pretend you don't know first and wait until dawn to call the police?... Or maybe I can help you find some rope first?"

——After the suspects fell asleep, they knocked on the door one by one and broke in. They stun the murderer in a night attack and tied him up... This should also be a good solution.

It just so happened that she had brought a few tubes of anesthetics - Haihara Ai had always carried some of these things with her since she was verbally accepted by Miss Anonymous as a peripheral member of the Anonymous organization last time. This gave her a subtle sense of security that she was in sync with the organization.

Jiang Xia did not accept this suggestion. He shook his head slightly and said seriously: "It's still a long time before dawn. We can't overestimate the criminal's psychological quality - if he feels that this matter can't be hidden from us after getting entangled, he packs up his luggage and leaves at night. , the follow-up will be very troublesome.”

And there is another case at the Spider Mansion. After solving the case, he had to find Gin and Vodka as soon as possible to prevent the two busy men in black from thinking he was slow and leaving him behind and running to Moon Shadow Island in advance...

Hui Yuan Ai looked at Jiang Xia thoughtfully, feeling that he seemed to have an idea: "Do you have a way to call the police?"

As she spoke these words, she suddenly remembered the strange landline phone in the hotel.

——When encountering similar closure situations in the past, the phone lines were often cut directly.

But this time, the entire phone line was missing.

This may mean...

"The phone line wasn't destroyed, it was hidden... Do you have a way to get to it?"

Haibara Ai's eyes brightened slightly when she thought that she would be able to find the police soon, end the case, and go back to her room to have a good sleep.

Jiang Xia was about to nod, but suddenly remembered something.

He lowered his head and looked at Haibara Ai, who was calm and calm, and looked like an elegant adult in every way except that he looked like a child.

Suddenly, I remembered the scene in the original world line where the fake child pretended to have a stomachache, rolled on the ground, and forced the person who hid the phone cord to hand over the cord.

...I feel ashamed to say it. He was a little curious.

Jiang Xia looked at Hui Yuan Ai, then suppressed his conscience, then looked at Hui Yuan Ai, and then suppressed his conscience...

Haihara Ai was waiting to hear "how to find the phone line", but he didn't hear anything for a long time.

She looked up in confusion.

She saw Jiang Xia staring straight at her, but hesitated to speak.

Haibara Ai:"……?"

"Well..." Jiang Xia picked up her words, bent down and whispered, "If you pretended to have acute appendicitis and fell to the ground rolling with stomachache, that person might have taken the initiative to take out the thread."

Haibara Ai:"……"

She thought about that shameful scene, and her solemn expression slowly froze.

...It would be fine if no one here knew that she was an adult. But now, Jiang Xia is beside him, and there is also Dr. Ali who knows about it.

Haiyuan Ai's eyes drifted, looking at his calm self reflected in the black window, and fell into deep thought.

...If another person used her as a tool, she might take the opportunity to extort a fashionable new bag.

It's not that I can't afford it, it's mainly that I want to see the other person's expression of pain and use that heartache to make up for my shame.

However, Jiang Xia's proposal actually makes sense. If you want to get the phone line without injury, this seems to be the way to go.

Haiyuan Ai looked at the clean floor in the hall, silently conceived the posture and lines for rolling later, and gathered some courage.

But even if I decided to do it, it was still a bit awkward.

Her face was calm, but she couldn't stop talking. She muttered to ease the atmosphere: "When a child has appendicitis, he will hand over the phone line... Are people like that really so kind? Wait, that means you already know who is hiding. Broke the phone line? If you know who it is, there should be other ways."

Originally it was just a way to find something to say when I was embarrassed.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Hui Yuan Ai suddenly saw Jiang Xia's eyes drifting to the side, as if she felt guilty.

Haibara Ai:"?"

She recalled Jiang Xia's actions just now and made sure she saw it correctly.

So she pulled him in a bit of shock and confirmed: "...Do you really have any other ideas?"

Jiang Xia: "..."

Although he has many ways to divert other people's attention, he is also very good at avoiding the important points and quietly leading the topic elsewhere to avoid topics he does not want to discuss. But when I was caught and questioned directly like now, I was still not used to lying so directly.

After Haiyuan Ai asked, he saw Jiang Xia's eyes drifting to the side again, and he nodded lightly - the amplitude was slightly invisible, but he was definitely nodding.

Haibara Ai:"……"

...It was so dangerous, she was ready to lie down just now.

And now...

Hui Yuan Ai immediately stopped focusing on the floor, stood up straight again, and said with a slight twitch in the corner of his eyes: "If you can, just go by yourself!"

Jiang Xia sighed slightly as if he was a little disappointed.

After a moment, he turned around quietly and looked at the suspicious people in the hall.

Seeing this, Haiyuan Ai glanced at him and couldn't help but feel a little worried.

When Jiang Xia walked over, she reached out to hold him and whispered: "I want to hear what method you want to use first. If it's not very safe, I, I can actually..."

"It's okay, it's safe. Just do something else..." Jiang Xia deeply reflected on his conscience and felt that it was a little too rich in strange places.

He gave Haiyuan Ai a few words, waved to her, and walked to the side of the three suspects in a normal mood.

Then before anyone could react, he held down the confused Tiantu boss, put his hand into his pocket and pulled him.

...pulled out a neatly coiled bundle of telephone wires.