The Grammatical Investigator in Conan

After on-site identification by the forensic officer, it was found that the bead that emitted a strange smell only had the fingerprints of Shinichi Kudo on its surface.

The material is somewhat like light yellow pearls, but the texture is lighter and softer than pearls.

The forensic officer speculated that this might be a fake pearl made of plastic because there was a distinct smell of burnt plastic.

As for the meaning of the beads themselves, Hattori Heiji proposed two possibilities.

One is that before dying, Kudo Shinichi held his own beads in his hands as a message before his death.

The other is that after killing Shinichi Kudo, the murderer put the beads into his hand in order to express something.

"But the specific meaning can only be revealed after we get to the Inubushi family..."

Hattori Heiji's eyes were sharp and calm, and he seemed to have determined that the real murderer was someone from the Inubushi family.

Mu Mu nodded and considered for a moment, then turned to look at Qin Zhibo and asked for his opinion.

"Brother Qin, what do you think?"

Qin Zhibo: "My thoughts are the same as Osaka Black Chicken..."

Conan: Osaka...

Hattori Heiji: Black chicken...

Qin Zhibo suddenly changed the topic again, "But since this bead can only provide information value to the case, why not let me take it to Inubushi's house."

"This may be some kind of personal token of the Inubushi family. Maybe if you show it to someone in the Inubushi family, you can decipher the meaning of Mr. Kudo or the murderer."

Faced with Qin Zhibo's proposal, Mu Mu rubbed his chin and thought for a few seconds before agreeing.

"What you said makes sense. Then I will give this bead to you first, Brother Qin."

With Mu Mu's permission, the forensic officer handed the beads to Qin Zhibo's hands.

Qin Zhibo looked at the bead and then carefully put it into his pocket.

…

The investigation of the case has come to an end for the time being, and the police still have to deal with the aftermath. Three detectives came out first.

Coming out of Kudo Shinichi's house, Conan breathed a sigh of relief.

At the murder scene, he heard "Mr. Kudo" so many times that he always felt like every call was calling him.

Conan turned to look at Qin Zhibo who was aside. He remembered what happened about the smell of beads just now, and he was still a little unconvinced.

"Uncle Qin, can you lend me that bead again?"

Hattori Heiji turned around and saw his good friend spreading his little hands and asking Qin Zhibo for beads, with a very helpless look in his eyes.

"Hey, you haven't given up yet, have you?"

"That bead is absolutely smelly..."

Qin Zhibo handed the beads to Conan's hand, and Conan immediately sniffed and smelled it.

But the result is still the same, it still has a faint medicinal fragrance.

Hattori Heiji saw Conan frown again and knew what he smelled.

But in front of Qin Zhibo, he didn't ask in detail.

Because Conan's current body has become smaller due to taking some special drugs, the loss of sense of smell may be a side effect.

We can only go back and see if Conan can ask the doctor's lady to take care of him.

"By the way, Uncle Qin."

Hattori Heiji looked up at Qin Zhibo and asked with a curious expression: "How did you judge that Mr. Kudo was dead at that distance?"

"Don't you have rhinitis? You can't tell by smell..."

"It's actually very simple," Qin Zhibo said with a smile. "Just look at the ups and downs of the corpse's chest. A living person's chest will have ups and downs, but the dead don't need to breathe, so they don't."

"ah?"

Hattori Heiji looked startled, is this okay?

Although the principle sounds simple, the room was very dark at the time, with only the light source at the door serving as lighting.

Moreover, Kudo Shinichi was covered with a thin quilt, which made it even more difficult to judge the rise and fall of his chest.

This observation ability is too terrifying...

Hattori Heiji sighed in his heart, but he would never say any words of admiration.

"Huh, it turns out it's nothing special..."

Qin Zhibo smiled lightly, "So did you think this was great before?"

"Okay then, I accept your compliment."

Eh?

Hattori Heiji's eyes were stunned, and he was actually involved.

Conan glanced at Hattori Heiji, his look seemed to say, "How can you defeat him with your rank?"

The three of them walked to the intersection and agreed to meet downstairs at the Maori Detective Agency at 4 o'clock tomorrow afternoon before they separated.

Before parting, Conan reluctantly handed the beads he had sniffed a dozen times to Qin Zhibo.

"Can I..."

"cannot."

Conan wanted to borrow the beads, but before he finished speaking, Qin Zhibo decisively refused.

Qin Zhibo carefully put away the beads and walked in another direction.

In fact, the reason why he lent the beads was because he felt that since the beads were one of the investigation points, they must be very important to the main mission.

Moreover, the smell of the beads is also very confusing. Why is it that only I and Conan can smell the fragrance on them?

It’s well worth taking home and studying carefully.

On the other side, Conan, with his shoulders slumped, was also going to Dr. Ali's house to study it carefully.

It's just that he is the one being studied...

…

The next day, 4 p.m.

At the entrance of the Maori Detective Agency, a group of people gathered one after another.

It was actually a bit late to set off for Gunma Prefecture at this time. It was almost dusk by the time the bus arrived.

But this is the maximum that Kogoro Mouri can accept, which is to complete a commission without any compensation and purely as a favor outside of his normal business hours.

After all, the Hattori family had entertained the Mori family as hosts before when they went to Osaka.

In order to cope with the number of people this time, Mouri Kogoro also spent a lot of money and rented a Toyota van.

In this way, Qin Zhibo, Maori's family, and Hattori's couple, a total of six people, embarked on the road to Gunma County.

The road was quiet most of the time, except for Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuye, who were sitting in the last row, chatting among their besties from time to time.

When the van arrived at the hilltop where Inubushi's family is located in Gunma County, Qin Zhibo, the co-pilot, asked the old man walking on the roadside for directions.

After all, the system's [Navigator] function can only navigate to public areas, not private areas.

The elderly white-bearded man heard that people were going to Inubushi's house, and he gave a serious warning to everyone in the car.

"I don't want to say anything unlucky, but I advise you to forget it..."

"If you rush in with a playful attitude, be careful that the demon dog will catch up with you and end up with a tragic end."

The old man's face was wrinkled and as dry as old tree bark. He looked like a man who knew some story.

However, Mouri Kogoro, a materialist warrior, didn't care at all and responded perfunctorily: "Well, we understand...so where is that home?"

The old man's somewhat cloudy pupils sank, and after two seconds of silence he didn't say anything more, and raised his hand to point to the mountain.

"Thanks."

Mouri Kogoro stepped on the accelerator and drove away.

Qin Zhibo looked at the rearview mirror. The old man in the mirror stood there, his rickety figure getting further and further away until he completely disappeared.

It seems that this place really has a story...

Qin Zhibo sighed inwardly, in this world, local legends and stories are often adapted from some real things.

It seems that the "magic dog" is popular here...

Seeing that they were about to reach their destination, the other people in the car couldn't help but sort out the clues they had so far.

"The deceased Chairman of Inufushi Group, Inufushi Tsunedi, had a total of 8 illegitimate children during his lifetime. These eight people were adopted by Ms. Suo Chen who is still alive and became adopted children."

"But since Ms. Suo Chen is ill in bed, the children have to consider the distribution of the Inufushi family's inheritance."

"From this point of view, Kudo Shinichi, who was killed yesterday, has given up his inheritance rights. Logically speaking, there should be no reason to be killed."

"Before this, the last deceased person was Ms. Meizi who passed away by the swamp. The cause of her death seemed to be that the non-flammable swamp grass started to burn. She was so frightened that she jumped into the swamp and drowned."

"The first deceased earlier was Uncle Yingci who fell from the cliff. He claimed that he was chased there by the 'Fire Demon Dog'..."

When Yuan Shanheye and Mao Lilan in the back seat heard this, they immediately started chirping with fear on their faces.

"So that means the so-called 'curse of the devil dog' is real?"

"It's so scary~" Mao Lilan shivered and shrank her shoulders.

Before Conan could offer words of comfort, Mouri Kogoro, who was sitting in the front driver's seat, calmly said: "What kind of demon dog? In fact, it's someone with hatred who wants to use the curse to get rid of Inubushi." The children of the family.”

"Didn't that person named 'Kudou' say it before he died? He believed that one of the eight adopted children was a fake. He must have got some clues before he said this..."

oh?

Hattori Heiji, who was sitting in the middle, held his chin and thought to himself, somewhat agreeing with Mouri Kogoro's statement.

In fact, Kudo Shinichi went to Kazuha's mother to ask for help, and he also categorically said that one of his adopted children harbored hatred towards the Inubushi family, which made Hattori Heiji more concerned.

He should have gotten some clues...

It's a pity that he was killed by the murderer before he could find him.

Suddenly, an idea flashed in Hattori Heiji's mind.

Could it be that the beads Kudo Shinichi held in his hand before he died yesterday were hinting at this clue?

"That uncle..."

"Uncle Qin, can you lend me the bead from yesterday?"

Hattori Heiji was about to suggest taking a closer look at the beads, but Conan suggested it first.

Obviously, what Hattori thought of, Conan also thought of.

Qin Zhibo, who was sitting in the passenger seat, glanced at the two people in the back row and handed the beads to Conan without saying anything else.

When Conan got the beads, his first step was to smell them.

It still smells good, unchanged...

Yesterday afternoon, Conan stayed at Dr. Ali's house and asked Haibara Ai to check her body.

No matter what heartbeat, pulse, or blood test, as long as the conditions permit, there is no failure in any of them.

But unfortunately, these physical data have not changed much from Conan's physical data recorded by Haihara Ai before.

And apart from this weird bead, it was completely normal for Conan to test the smell and even taste of other things.

Shit stinks and rice smells delicious.

In other words, maybe those who take drug A and become smaller just cannot distinguish the smell of a specific object?

Conan wasn't sure because he didn't successfully borrow the beads from Qin Zhibo, otherwise he would have let Haiyuan Ai smell them.

While Hattori Heiji and Conan were carefully observing the beads, the co-pilot Qin Zhibo was also secretly recalling his experimental process.

First of all, this bead is not plastic.

Although it looks like plastic, feels like plastic, and has a hardness like plastic, it is indeed not plastic.

Because Qin Zhibo used a nuclear lighter to burn the surface, there was no smell of burning plastic. Instead, a wisp of medicinal-scented smoke emerged from the surface of the beads.

From this, Qin Zhibo judged that this thing might be an "incense" made from certain medicinal materials, spices and incense ash, but it was made into the shape of beads, with higher density and hardness.

If we could cut the beads further, we should be able to study them more thoroughly.

But considering that the beads could still be used later, he did not do so.

At this time, Mouri Kogoro, who was driving in the driver's seat, looked up at the rearview mirror and saw the beads in Conan's hand.

"Is that the relic left by the deceased?"

"Looks like a regular plastic bead..."

Mouri Kogoro was analyzing to himself, and Qin Zhibo was also listening quietly.

"Look ahead..."

Suddenly, a hazy voice sounded in Qin Zhibo's ear.

Eh?

Qin Zhibo was surprised for a moment, then subconsciously turned his head and looked out the car window directly in front of him.

I saw a sign and a rope standing at the end of the road more than ten meters away. There was no road behind the wooden sign.

It's a cliff!

Qin Zhibo immediately stretched his legs to the driver's side, pressed down hard with the soles of Mouri Kogoro's feet, and at the same time twisted the steering wheel outwards.

With the violent rotation of the steering wheel, the entire body of the van moved forward while decelerating, until the body that was perpendicular to the road slid to a cliff and stopped slowly.

However, driven by inertia, the van's roof continued to rush down the cliff, and the entire vehicle was about to roll over into the cliff.

The sideways body pushed most of the wooden signs out of the cliff.

Mao Lilan had even seen a cliff tens of meters high outside the car window!

At this critical moment, Qin Zhibo immediately tried his best to push out the car window and used his own weight to balance the car body, which stopped the impending rollover.

Bang!

After a huge bump, most people in the car fell silent.

Is it so exciting?

"Are you okay?"

Qin Zhibo unbuckled his seat belt and looked back at the person behind him. He was in a dazed state, but fortunately he was still alive.

He opened the car door, got out of the car, and went to the cliff to take a look.

At a height of tens of meters, if you fall, you will definitely be shattered to pieces.

I originally thought that the end of this road was the Inubushi family, but I didn't expect that it actually led to the cliff. This caused everyone to be careless and forget to look at the road.

But that voice that reminded me was...

Qin Zhibo looked back and saw no one on the long and silent forest road.