Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"Police Officer Yamamura! And Brother Henggou, you are all here."

"This serial murder case involves various counties, so? I asked them to handle the case together."

A rough voice came from the back of the room, and it seemed to be Matsumoto Kiyonaga, the manager of the First Investigation Section.

Looking at a room full of acquaintances, Mouri Kogoro immediately became serious. After all, he was in front of his old boss. Although he was no longer a policeman, he still wanted to appear stable.

"Then, let me introduce to you, Mori." Manager Matsumoto waited for everyone to sit down, and mentioned the police officers' names in order from left to right.

"Kanagawa Prefecture Police Department Yokomori Shigego, Shizuoka Prefecture Police Department Yokomou Sensao, Saitama Prefecture Police Department Hagino Ayami, Nagano Prefecture Police Department Yamato Gansuke, and..."

"I am from the Gunma County Police Department, and so is Yamamura Cao. It is a great honor to meet you all." Putting on a serious look, the uncle showed a disgusted expression, which made Yamamura Cao, who had finally become serious, cry out sadly.

"Mr. Mori, it will make me very sad if you do this!"

"Matsuda, please introduce the situation this time with Shiratori."

Manager Matsumoto took a sip of water and reassured everyone present: "In view of the seriousness of this serial murder case, we have been ordered by the superiors that all counties will fully cooperate with us to solve the case. Gentlemen, we must work hard."

"learn!!"

After looking at Shiratori, Matsuda Jinpei picked up a stack of photos and information from the table and walked to the whiteboard.

"Wait!" Henggou Senwu raised his hand first: "Mr. Maori, isn't the kid with glasses here today?"

"A kid with glasses? Ah... you mean Conan, he's waiting for us outside." Uncle Maori was stunned for a moment: "Why did you mention him so suddenly..."

"If he is here, for some reason, the case will always be solved smoothly!" An excited expression appeared on Henggou Sanwu's face, surprising the other policemen into silence.

"Speaking of which, we in Kanagawa Prefecture were like this a few times..."

"Nagano Prefecture too..."

"Sure enough, everyone is like this!" Yamamura Soo opened his mouth in surprise and turned to look at Matsuda Jinpei, who was standing stiffly on the stage: "Is the same thing true for the Tokyo headquarters?"

[Damn it, you make it so easy, we are the hardest hit area here! 】

Fortunately, with excellent facial management, Officer Matsuda held back the malice that was about to overflow, and only made Officer Megure and Management Officer Matsumoto who were sitting next to him feel a little chilled.

"First of all, except for the sixth case, the other five cases were stabbed to death with large knives. Judging from the wounds, the knife was swung forcefully from the right downwards."

Posting the photos on the whiteboard and writing the name of each victim below, Officer Shiratori added: “And everyone was knocked unconscious with an electric shock baton before being moved to the scene where the body was found, killed and abandoned. .”

"I see. In this case, these discovery locations will be related, right?" Yamato Kansuke used a pen to circle the locations where the bodies were found one by one on the map, looking at the map in a daze.

"Actually, we investigated the interpersonal relationships of the six victims, but we couldn't find anything in common." Matsuda Jinpei put his hands on his hips: "There were also found dots in red circles on the bodies, and writing in black pen on the back. Mahjong tiles with Latin letters and vertical lines.”

There are mahjong tiles posted under each person's photo, which are made of seven cylinders. The positions that are not circled with a red marker are only the upper right and lower left positions of the bottom four cylinders.The Latin alphabet is two A, E, H, Z and an L written backwards.

"In addition, each of these six people had a personal item taken away, which is also a big suspicion." Shiratiao took out his mobile phone and sent a photo to everyone sitting. The picture above was of the sixth person. A death message left in the victim's own blood on the ground before death. "[Qi...Jing...]

"There is a space between Qi and Jing. His message before his death was definitely not that simple. The prisoner deliberately erased the second and fourth words after he finished writing it."

Uncle Maoli held his chin and expressed his opinion: "And according to the information, the sixth victim died in a car accident. Because his brakes failed, he hit the mountain on the roadside and died. How did he confirm the identity of the murderer and leave behind Death message?”

"He knew the identity of the murderer, and at least he guessed that he was one of the murderer's targets when the first few bodies were discovered by the police." Hagino Aya used a laptop to record the key points, and expressed her own opinion by the way: "Otherwise there would have been a car accident There weren’t that many valuable things in the car, so I probably wanted to escape.”

Several people discussed for a while, but finally couldn't proceed. After the meeting was quiet for a few minutes, Manager Matsumoto coughed twice: "Then that's it for today, you can act separately. These are extraordinary times, in order to protect the honor of the police and the people’s trust in us, please share your concerns.”

Sitting in front of the vending machine and drinking drinks, the three Maori family members looked at Kogoro Mori who came out with a group of policemen, but did not go up to him.

"Let's go home too. I have to think about this case carefully." Holding the information in his hand, the uncle yawned and prepared to take a taxi home.

"I made an appointment with everyone to go to the Rice Flower Forest to catch Dr. Ali, so I won't go back yet."

Conan shook his head, and with Uncle Maori's acquiescence and Xiaolan's narrow smile, he ran out of the Metropolitan Police Department.

The family walked to the door, and just as they were about to ask their daughter to pay for a taxi, Mouri Kogoro heard Xiaolan say: "Kaori and Yuzuki have a surprise for me. Let me go and play. Dad will go back by himself first."

His daughter also ran away. Mouri Kogoro touched his empty pocket and glanced at his wife in embarrassment: "Eri, this..."

"I understand." Fei Yingli sighed and took out the car keys from her pocket: "I'll take you back."

At the door of Kudo's house, Xiaolan put her finger on the doorbell in front of the courtyard, thinking for a long time without pressing it.

[Speaking of which, Yuuji and the others are really amazing. They are only 15 years old. Not only did they pass the special examination of Teidan High School, but they also made so much money on their own. 】

Not to mention the housewife Akiko and the casual Hiroki, Yuzuki and Kaori also have their own careers, which makes Xiaolan envious. When she was 15 years old, she was still preparing for the entrance examination of Teidan High School.

Looking at the three people who get along together, Sonoko doesn't care about entering a higher school (after all, the Suzukis have already arranged which school she will go to). Shinichi also entered Teidan High School through special recruitment, and only his grades are average.

[Xiaolan, you are not Kudo Shinichi’s accessory, you have to have your own world and your own life, right? 】

Recalling what Machiko said to herself, Xiaolan put down her hanging hand and wanted to calm down for a while.

"What are you doing here!"

Just as she was thinking, someone suddenly hugged her from behind. Xiaolan subconsciously grabbed the hand around her neck. As soon as she threw the person away, she saw the confused face of Yukiko Kudo who had not yet reacted. .

"Ah, hey, hey..."

[Why is she flying? 】

(End of this chapter)