Conan’s Corpse Picker

   Chapter 368 Suspicious Amuro Toru (joint chapter)

  Jiang Xia walked out of the classroom across Belmode, and arranged casually: "Come and find the person hiding in this room. I'll go to Conan's side to take a look."

  Belmode felt the very natural attitude of Uzo when he directed "Amuro Toru", and he couldn't help but doubt Bourbon's status in the detective agency.

Although she felt that Uzzo's interpersonal status was a bit strange, she didn't want to lose her horse so quickly, and she didn't know how the mystic Bourbon usually treated employees, so she had to suppress the strange emotions in her heart, and also made a "just" As it should be", he obediently walked to the podium.

   Just took two steps when Belmod suddenly heard the sound of small footsteps behind him.

   Looking back, he saw that Conan's two classmates were not with Jiang Xia, but followed her step by step, even closer than when they followed her and Jiang Xia at the same time.

  “…?”

  Bermaud was a little puzzled, she raised her hand and touched her face subconsciously, thinking, is it because Bourbon's appearance is more popular with children, so that after getting along for a while, her affinity surpasses that of Uzo?

  …Obviously, Uzo seems to be more approachable, but the children have bad eyesight. Hmm... Maybe it's because I don't see mixed blood very often, I'm more curious, so I followed her?

  Belmode ignored them, looked away, and continued towards the podium.

  …

   On the other side, after Conan finished howling, he stomped his feet in place for a while, from heavy to light, pretending to have escaped.

   Then he pulled Yuanta up and crept aside.

After a few minutes, I saw a slightly old figure with a rag in his hand, along the stairs, wiping it down all the way - scaring people also need to pay a price, the paint on the handrails used to act as "bloodstains" will not be good after drying. wipe it up.

   After wiping the last smear of blood, the Dean of Academic Affairs heaved a sigh of relief and raised his hand to wipe the sweat off the top of his head.

   He was about to continue looking for his wig, when he turned around, he was shocked to see two children standing in front of him.

  Conan raised his head in surprise, looking at the different hairstyle of the Dean of Education.

   In an instant, the director's sudden disappearance, the strange expression on Obata's teacher's face when he was questioned, the figure rummaging in the corridor late at night, the mysterious person who ran away when he saw a child and pretended to be a ghost trying to scare them away...

   All kinds of phenomena are linked together like pearls pierced by needles and threads. If an electric current flashes through Conan's mind, he suddenly understands the strange situation tonight.

  —The director's wig was probably lost, so he came to school at night and secretly searched for the wig alone.

Before   , Ayumi went to the dean’s house to ring the doorbell, but no one opened the door. It wasn’t because the dean was killed by a mysterious person, but because the dean didn’t want to see the students with a bald head, and he happened to live alone, and no family could help him.

  ... Then again, since you care so much about your baldness being seen, why don't you wear a hat to cover it up?

  Conan looked at the embarrassed look of the director, and was too embarrassed to speak out.

He changed the subject with rare thoughtfulness and asked what interests him most: "How did you make that mouth on the plaster statue?" Then he thought of the two missing classmates, "Where are Ayumi and Mitsuhiko now? "

   "...?" The dean's eyes slowly turned from embarrassment to confusion, obviously failing to understand Conan's previous question.

   The latter one vaguely understood: "Lost two students?!"

  Conan was slightly surprised when he saw that his reaction did not seem to be fake.

Before   , Conan once guessed that there was more than one terrifying little black wandering in the teaching building based on the situation when Mitsuhiko disappeared.

Later, after talking with Jiang Xia and discovering that Jiang Xia had also entered the teaching building, Conan thought, if Ayumi and Mitsuhiko, who were running around, fell into the hands of the gangsters, then they might have been picked up by Jiang Xia, which could effectively prevent the two An accident happened to a single child... Tsk, although Jiang Xia was well-meaning, it was too scary for those who were left behind...

  ...In short, after Conan saw the Dean of Education who came down the stairs, the "little black" in his mind was automatically replaced by Dean of Education + Jiang Xia.

   But now, the two things that concern him most about "the mouth on the plaster statue" and "the disappearance of Ayumi Mitsuhiko" were not done by the Dean of Education...

  The latter can barely push Jiang Xia, but the former is very confusing.

  —According to Conan’s speculation, the weirdly wide mouth on the plaster statue should be some kind of material that will expand under certain conditions.

   In order to set up this mechanism, the mastermind behind the scenes needs to be able to enter the teaching building in advance and guess that someone will enter the art classroom.

   But Jiang Xia entered the teaching building tonight, entirely because the children adjusted their duty hours without authorization, so Jiang Xia came in to find someone... This was a sudden and unexpected event.

   In addition, Jiang Xia didn't know about the weird legend about the art classroom in Didan Elementary School.

   In other words... there is a third person in the teaching building? !

   I thought that the puzzle had been solved, but at this moment, another "little black" with a blurred face suddenly popped up.

  Conan's scalp went numb for a moment.

   However, after getting rid of the previous assumption of "there are two people", more details began to emerge in his mind one by one - thinking about it, those campus legends did not match the behavior of the dean of the wig looking for a wig.

   For example, there is a legend about "muscle mannequins running late at night". While the director is looking for wigs, there is really no need to carry the model around.

Even if this can be regarded as a trick he used to scare away the students, the plaster statues in the art classroom are difficult to explain: according to the legend, they have been moved more than once, and to find something, it only needs to be flipped once. No need to look back and forth.

  ...I don't know if Jiang Xia has discovered the existence of that "third person", so he has to tell him as soon as possible.

  Speaking of Jiang Xia... Didn't he plan to be the oriole behind? Now that the director has come out, Jiang Xia still hasn't appeared. Is he going to arrest another person? He had already discovered that "Little Black" was two people? !

   As I was thinking about it, there were a few small footsteps coming from the depths of the corridor.

   Several men of uneven heights emerged from the shadows.

  Conan looked around quickly, and saw the two children at a glance, and his heart suddenly felt relieved - Ayumi and Mitsuhiko were all right.

   And the two adults walking beside them...

  Conan saw the person clearly, and was slightly startled: "Mr. Kobayashi?" And... "Mr. Anshi?!"

   "Amuro Toru" looked at him after hearing the words, showed him a friendly smile, and touched his head while passing by.

  Conan froze for a moment.

  …Why does Toru Amuro seem more enthusiastic than usual today?

In the past, although Mr. Amuro was friendly, he always looked at him with a strange look with a slight scrutiny from time to time, especially when they were sitting in the car together... But today, Toru Amuro does not have a similar look at all. Inexplicably gives a soft feeling.

  Conan took a careful look at him, secretly puzzled in his heart, and continued to look behind the four of them: "Why isn't brother Jiang Xia here?"

   "I just went to see the puppets in the tool room."

   Jiang Xia's voice came from the other side.

   Soon, others came out, and at the same time gave the Dean of Education a disappointed look.

  The Dean of Academic Affairs touched the top of his head inexplicably, and shrank to a darker place behind him, so that his head would not be so conspicuous and reflective.

   After feeling the security brought by the darkness, he wanted to show the dignity of the director and ask these arrogant children who stayed at the school late at night and two adults who appeared out of nowhere.

   But when he thought about what he had done today, the dean's confidence suddenly collapsed like a deflated ball. In the end, he had to hide in the shadows silently, pretending that he didn't exist.

  Conan looked at the director, looked at Jiang Xia and "Amuroto", and finally looked at Mr. Kobayashi, and habitually entered the four-choice mode.

   Mr. Kobayashi's current attitude is very different from her usual stern face. Combined with the plaster statue in the art classroom, Conan vaguely understands it again.

   He first looked at Jiang Xia and confirmed, "Ayumi and Mitsuhiko were with you just now?"

   Jiang Xia looked at the two children who were beaten by the cue and stood at attention and dared not speak. Thinking that if Conan asks them later, he can also ask the truth, so it is better to admit it directly.

   So he spoke calmly, and casually found a reason for his behavior: "It's dangerous to let the child run around alone."

  Conan nodded knowingly. This is the same as his previous speculation.

   So now, there is only one unsolved problem...

  Conan turned to Mr. Kobayashi who was trying to hide himself in the corner: "The plaster statue and the muscle mannequin in the health room are all that you brought to the classroom to practice for the upcoming parent-teacher meeting."

   Kobayashi Sumiko covered her red and slightly hot face and nodded in shame.

  Conan paused, then continued to guess in an uncertain tone:

"Because two bizarre legends in the school, 'moving plaster statues' and 'running mannequins' have become popular recently, Mr. Kobayashi is worried that people will think that this is actually someone preparing for the upcoming parent-teacher meeting, and then guesses. She had just worked in Didan Elementary School for a short time, so she decided to completely formulate the rumors into two strange legends, so as to distinguish them from what she was really doing.

   "And one of the most popular legends is "a moving plaster statue in an art student's classroom", so Mr. Kobayashi pasted materials that change shape according to temperature or light..."

   As he spoke, Conan's voice gradually fell.

  —From the moment he switched to the topic "Mr. Kobayashi is the one who pasted the material on the plaster statue", Sumiko Kobayashi's eyes began to become confused. Although she didn't make a sound, her face was obviously full of "I'm not what you're talking about".

  “…” Isn’t she?

   Who did that?

  Conan also became suspicious.

   Then, after a series of intuitive reasoning that he didn't even react to, Conan instinctively turned his head and looked at Jiang Xia.

  …When it comes to the magical material on the forehead of the plaster statue, it’s hard not to think of Dr. A Li.

   And Dr. Ali likes to share some interesting props with others. To say that at present, when the doctor has a strange new product, who is most likely to show it first, it must be Jiang Xia, except for Hui Yuan Ai, who is closest to the doctor.

   Conan's suspicious gaze fell on Jiang Xia.

Make bold assumptions and verify carefully: Maybe the doctor suddenly remembered the fact that "Xinyi doesn't like listening to him explain strange new inventions", and he was still brooding about it, so he handed over that strange swelling material to Jiang Xia, and asked Jiang Xia "looking for a chance to scare Conan"?

  …Doctor does like to play pranks sometimes. And if he really opened his mouth, Jiang Xia should not refuse - this reasoning has a certain theoretical basis.

   However, when Conan looked at Jiang Xia, he saw that Jiang Xia's eyes were even more confused than Teacher Xiao Lin.

   Soon, Jiang Xia seemed to think of something, and asked Conan with a hint of curiosity: "So you screamed in the art classroom just now because you were scared by that 'deformation material'? What did it become?"

   "...not screaming, just shouting." Conan shamelessly corrected this.

   He simply described the "mouth".

   Then Jiang Xia was also excluded.

  Since Jiang Xia didn't admit it, it shouldn't be his doing.

  Because there is no need to hide: According to Dr. A Li's character, if he really gave Jiang Xia that kind of expansion material, the doctor would definitely come to ask Conan's feelings of being frightened with a smile. Jiang Xia must also know this, so he doesn't have to lie about this at all.

   After crossing out "Jiang Xia" in the suspect list, Conan looked at a few children who were secretly glancing at Jiang Xia, but still didn't dare to speak out, and decisively crossed out these three classmates - they didn't have such acting skills and courage.

  The only thing left is…

  Conan raised his head little by little and looked up.

   His gaze fell on "Amuro Toru" who was watching him with interest.

   "Amuro Toru" raised his eyebrows in surprise when he met Conan's suspicious gaze.

After    understood, he didn't explain, just smiled meaningfully at Conan.

   Jiang Xia, who was watching: "…"

  …You can do whatever you want when you wear someone else’s skin.

  Conan was also stunned by the reaction of "Amuro Toru": Could this be... a provocative smile after a successful prank?

  ...However, theoretically speaking, Mr. Anshi, like Jiang Xia, is from outside the school. He is unlikely to do such a thing, and he has no motivation.

  Conan thought about it rationally for a while, and felt that he still had to tell evidence when he did things. He couldn't just use a smile to lock the culprit behind the scenes - maybe Mr. Amuro just smiled politely when looking at each other, and there was no other meaning.

Conan then secretly planned: When Dr. Li returns from a business trip, he will move the plaster statue over and let the doctor check the traces on it. Maybe based on the remaining materials, he can figure out what is going on with that terrifying "mouth". .

   During the period of ascertaining the principle of the conspiracy, the focus of suspicion was still on the Dean of Education and Sumiko Kobayashi.

  Although the confusion of the two faculty members, it seems very real.

   But Conan thought, there are many kinds of people in the world - maybe there is a showman hidden among these two honest people.

   must be carefully screened.

   (end of this chapter)