Conan’s Corpse Picker

Toru Amuro was going through the formalities at the counter when he suddenly shivered.

He came back to his senses, glanced at the stacked mountains in the distance, and thought silently that it was time to add some clothes - the ones he had prepared before departure had all been blown to ashes in the villa at dusk.

However, there is no need to buy too much this time.

After all, this long and despairing journey will come to an end soon.

...When I thought about it, I suddenly felt that the sky outside was getting clearer.

…

A few hours later.

Tens of kilometers away, deep in the forest.

As dusk approaches, the light fades.

There was a sudden bang on the forest path and the sound of a flat tire.

The next second, a Mazda skillfully slowed down, rolled over the uneven dirt road, and stopped on the side of the road.

Toru Amuro sighed silently.

Then he found that his mood was quite calm, and he seemed to have gradually adapted to this kind of thing... At the same time, he was secretly glad that when he applied for the task, he applied for ten days, and now he had enough time to waste on the road.

Moreover, once you accept the setting that "Jiang Xia is an event physique" and give up avoiding Jiang Xia's acquaintances. When encountering an unexpected situation again, assuming the identity of a detective, I can barely experience the fun of solving puzzles...

…

After all, Toru Amuro is a skilled undercover agent with outstanding ability in adjusting his mentality.

This time, before Jiang Xia, who had just woken up from a late sleep and was rubbing his eyes, could ask "Boss, why did you get a flat tire again?", Toru Amuro had already opened the door and got out of the car, looked around, and began to search. Where is the suspicious wilderness villa.

Then I discovered that the surrounding area was just an ordinary deep forest.

Unlike before, you can find a place to stay or borrow a phone after you get off the bus and look around.

"Boss, there seems to be a signal here."

Just as he was thinking about it, Jiang Xia's slightly surprised voice came from the car. Jiang Xia turned on the radio in the car and turned it off. She turned around and asked him, "Do you want to find a towing company? But at this time, they should have already gotten off work."

Amuro Toru was startled, and then realized that he seemed to have over-adapted to Jiang Xia's incident. He did not prioritize calling for help, but seemed to have acquiesced that "there must be no signal around here."

"..."

He reflected in his mind on his actions when he was out of state.

Then he took out his phone as if nothing had happened, pretending that he was just breathing fresh air and enjoying the forest, instead of forgetting to check the signal.

I turned on the screen and looked, and sure enough there was a signal.

He then dialed the emergency number.

…

"I'm sorry, sir."

The staff on duty asked him where he was and then gave a regrettable reply:

"Yesterday, a vehicle transporting metal materials rolled over on Jiusen Road. Many sharp parts were scattered nearby and punctured the tires of several vehicles. Currently, none of our vehicles on duty are free."

After finishing speaking, considering the desperate experience of travelers who have nowhere to go or where to stay, the staff provided some small suggestions with humane care:

"The location you described should be near the Guiwei Cliff in the Toushen Forest - starting from there, walk along the road to the southeast for nearly ten minutes. There is a hotel that is quite famous in the local area. The food and environment there are They are all very comfortable. It is the off-season for tourism, so the hotel should still have vacancies and the price will not be too high. You and your companions can go there to have a rest first.

"We will pick you up as soon as the car is available. Of course, you can also choose to rest all night, and we will send someone there early the next morning, so the cost is only 40% of the night price."

Toru Amuro: "..." What cliff?

...sounds very ominous.

Moreover, the name of Tou Shen Forest is also weird, with an inexplicable sense of spookiness...

However, there are no ghosts or gods in the world, and this forest looks nice and peaceful... The most important thing is that the trailer will not be able to get through for a while.

Amuro thought that at present, since he had given up the plan to isolate Jiang Xia and no longer had to guard against Jiang Xia and his acquaintances who could always show up from various places, there was no need for the public security men to pretend to be "passing by here". Pick him up with Jiang Xia - this plan is easy, but it is very labor-intensive and prone to flaws. For example, the subordinates suddenly have a tire blowout, and then the three of them stay in the deep forest looking at each other, and then the subordinates attack him inadvertently. A sentence like "Mr. Feng Gu"...

...Anyway, finally.

Among the two suggestions given by the staff, Toru Amuro chose to have them pick him up the next morning.

Of course overtime pay doesn't matter, but with the previous lessons, Toru Amuro now feels that it is necessary to maintain adequate rest. Otherwise, let alone the harm to the body, it would easily affect his judgment. Even if there is no need to worry about monitoring Jiang Xia now, there will still be organizational tasks to properly handle in the future.

With this in mind, after hanging up the phone, Toru Amuro sighed and started packing his luggage, preparing to take what he needed to the hotel.

Jiang Xia also packed up a backpack, and the two of them quickly set off.

——The luggage was not much in the first place, but it was completely burned when the car was bombed in the annex at dusk. The luggage now is even rarer than before. This road is as easy as an autumn outing.

…

After walking for a minute or two, Jiang Xia's eyes suddenly moved.

——On the roadside in front, there was a gray thing lying upside down.

Toru Amuro also noticed the abnormality immediately.

He looked at it doubtfully for a moment, and quickly recognized it. It was a stone statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. At this time, the stone statue had tilted over and was lying face down on the ground.

The stone statue is about the height of an adult's calf. He has a bald head, big ears, and an old red bib tied around his neck.

The collapsed idol looked unlucky.

Although Toru Amuro didn't believe in ghosts and gods, he still frowned and stepped forward to help it up and stand it on the roadside again. By the way, he picked up a sharp piece of gravel next to Jizo and threw it into the bushes from a distance.

——What if a car doesn’t watch the road carefully, runs over Jizo, rises up and then falls down, crushing the rocks just now... That can easily cause a tire blowout.

He has had many tire punctures, and now Toru Amuro has begun to instinctively reject all situations that may cause tire punctures, just like a person who always breaks things and likes to push the porcelain near the edge of the table back to the center of the table.

After eliminating the danger, Toru Amuro stood up, wiped off the dust on his hands comfortably, and continued to move forward.

After taking two steps, I suddenly felt that something was not right. I turned back and frowned at the standing stone statue and the place where the stone statue had fallen down.

Behind him, Jiang Xia stopped at some point.

He stood next to the stone statue and said with a hint of doubt in his tone: "This Ksitigarbha statue seems to be particularly flat."