The Split-Actress in Conan's World

"M-Manako Boss..."

When Director Ochiai saw the person coming, his face looked unhappy.

"In ten days, this place will be closed." Boss Manaka laughed proudly, his mustache trembling.

"Before the museum closes, I'll trouble you to take care of these rusty pieces of scrap metal." He looked at Director Ochiai provocatively and waved to the assistant behind him.

"Bring out the design drawings."

Seeing that all the staff, including Director Ochiai, were silent and dared not speak, Mao Lilan worriedly grabbed Director Ochiai's sleeve and asked, "Excuse me, is this museum really going to be closed?"

Director Ochiai sighed, but there was nothing he could do.

"Yes, it is expected to be demolished next month. It is said that a large hotel will be built on it..."

Maori Kogoro was surprised, "Restaurant? Why?"

"Affected by the financial crisis, the company of the previous owner went bankrupt..." Director Ochiai said, "I had no choice but to sell the museum to Mr. Manaka."

He looked at Mr. Manaka fiercely and clenched his fists. “Mr. Manaka originally promised to continue running the art museum.”

Iijima angrily took over the conversation, "But that bastard, not long after he bought it, said he changed his mind and wanted to turn this place into a big hotel!"

"This art museum with a fifty-year history was destroyed just like that... Damn it!"

"Iijima..."

Bang!

Everyone was startled by the sound and turned around.

What’s wrong with this person... Conan couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

The staff member named Kubota was busy trying to pick up a helmet that had rolled to the ground.

"Hey! Be careful! Although those things are very broken, they are still quite valuable!" Boss Manaka shouted loudly.

"Oh? You must be Kubota." Boss Manaka seemed to recognize Kubota and walked towards him with a half-smile on his face.

"Yes, it is."

"I've heard a lot of rumors about you—"

He said with a long tone, "You'd better prepare the money quickly."

After saying that, he walked away with his hands behind his back, leaving Kubota glaring at him with gritted teeth.

"Damn it!" Kubota slammed his helmet onto the transport truck.

"Please enjoy it slowly." Director Ochiai followed the gloomy-looking Iijima and gave a polite smile before leaving.

Conan suddenly felt something strange.

"He was so angry just now, how come he suddenly calmed down?" Lin Chiyu squatted behind him and said softly.

"That's what you think, right?"

Conan danced away and looked at this guy with a bad taste in silence.

This guy is so perceptive, could he have already figured out that I'm Kudo Shinichi?

Rin Shakuha didn't continue teasing him. After saying that, she followed the Maori father and daughter.

Conan shook his head. How is that possible?

No matter how powerful one's insight is, it is impossible to come to such a bizarre conclusion that someone has turned into a child!

"Conan, let's go!" Ran Mouri noticed that he was still in a daze, shaking his head from time to time. She thought the child was stupid and couldn't help but call out.

"Oh!"

Conan quickly followed and quietly observed Rin Chiha from the back.

As a result, along the way, Lin Chiyu did not do anything suspicious, nor did he secretly observe him, as if he was really just here to view the art.

Conan was helpless and discouraged.

This art museum is divided into the main exhibition hall at the beginning and four sub-exhibition halls at the back, corresponding to the four themes of ocean, earth, sky and hell.

"Huh? No entry?" The group, who had been walking through the Ocean, Earth and Sky exhibition halls, stopped at a sign. Ran Maori looked at the museum's brochure with some confusion.

"Strange, there should be an exhibition hall in front..."

Maori Kogoro looked impatient, "Forget it, let's go back quickly."

Conan leaned over to look at the tour brochure.

Lin Chiyu yawned and said nothing.

So they went back and walked around again.

"Sister Xiaolan, let's go back!"

"I'm so hungry!"

Conan and Uncle Maori were exhausted. Rin Chiyu looked at the two of them collapsed together with amusement.

It seems that men all over the world have about the same amount of energy when it comes to shopping.

Approximately equal to nothing.

"You are so useless." Mao Lilan looked at the two guys who were almost exhausted with disdain, but they still looked very energetic.

"Look at Mr. Lin. He's not as exaggerated as you guys." She pointed at Lin Chiyu who was admiring a folding fan at the side.

Rin Chiyu smiled at them as if in response.

Conan curled his lips. God knows why this guy is still so energetic. It's obviously the same route.

Now he believed that Rin Chiyu was really here to visit.

"Hey, why is the sign just now gone?" Mao Lilan looked at the corner at the end of the corridor.

It turned out that they walked around and came back to this position.

“It’s rare to come here, so let’s go take a look!”

"what!"

The two gloomy-looking men protested in unison.

"You can go back first, but I'll have to trouble you to cook dinner yourselves." Mao Lilan is very good at dealing with them.

So they had no choice but to follow him dejectedly.

Lin Chiyu stood quietly where he was and did not follow.

He took out his cell phone and began counting down silently in his mind.

5, 4......

"ah!!!"

A dolphin sound that pierced the soul rang out at the same time, and Lin Chiyu dialed the emergency number that had been entered long ago.

"Hello, I want to call the police."

When Uncle Maori rushed out and shouted "Call the police", he had already hung up the phone.

After shaking his cell phone at the dazed Kogoro Mouri, Rin Shakuha slowly walked into the Hell exhibition hall.

What caught my eye was Xiaolan, who was sitting on the ground with her mouth covered with fear, while Conan was nowhere to be seen.

He walked a few steps forward and looked up at the huge "Divine Punishment". The dim light in the exhibition hall shone on it, making the few drops of blood on it less conspicuous and perfectly blending into the painting.

He withdrew his gaze and turned around to see Boss Manaka nailed to the wall by a long sword.

Oh, no wonder I didn’t see Conan at first glance. It turns out that I had to walk closer and turn around to see the crime scene.

The corpse that died with its eyes open is exactly the opposite of "Heavenly Punishment", and the death is quite ritualistic.

As expected, he is the Rice Flower Sword Saint.

An old acquaintance, Inspector Megure, quickly arrived at the scene.

"What's going on? You're the first one to discover it..." Inspector Megure blurted out when he saw Kogoro Mouri.

Maori Kogoro saluted with a playful smile, "Yes, Officer Megure!"

At this time, all the suspects in the art gallery were gathered and called to the scene.

"Has anyone seen the murderer?" Inspector Megure asked as usual. Of course, the answer was the same as always.

"No, no..."

But there were still some gains. Iijima pointed to a camera in the corner of the exhibition hall and said, "Officer, maybe that surveillance camera captured the murderer!"

"Oh?" Inspector Megure was encouraged and looked over expectantly.

"Because we usually use video for surveillance."

So everyone rushed to the guard room to check the surveillance.

"Ah, got it, got it!"

Maori Kogoro shouted excitedly, "Haha, this murderer must be a fool. He didn't even know he was being photographed."

The figure of Boss Manaka appeared in the picture. He was walking into the Hell exhibition hall, looking around, as if he was looking for something.

Soon after, he stopped in front of a suit of armor and began to check his watch frequently.

"Wha, what!"

The next second, the content on the screen made everyone's eyes widen in disbelief.

Behind Boss Manaka, the armor suddenly moved, raised the sword in his hand high, and slashed fiercely at the person in front of him!

Boss Manaka was almost knocked to the ground. His expression was just like those of the people in front of the surveillance camera, full of fear and disbelief.

The armor hit the target successfully and moved forward a few steps due to inertia, passing Boss Manaka who had crawled to the corner. Boss Manaka quickly came to his senses and hurriedly did something on the table.

The armor quickly stopped the trend, turned around, grabbed Boss Manaka by the collar, lifted him up with one hand, then held the sword in the other hand, pierced his throat, and nailed him directly to the wall.

The sword was very steady, without even a tremor.

"What a cruel method..." Inspector Megure was stunned.

"Wait a minute!" Kogoro Mori looked shocked, but soon noticed a feature in the picture.

“I seem to have seen this composition somewhere before!”

Conan was surprised at the same time, "That's right!"

"It's exactly the same as the painting opposite the corpse!"

"Really? Is it true?" Inspector Megure opened his mouth wide.

"Yes, the painting called "Heavenly Punishment." Kogoro Mori confirmed.

Rin Chiyu, whose presence was low from the beginning, suddenly said, "It was a ritual killing."

Conan nodded.

"In criminal psychology, ritualistic killings are often accompanied by very clear motives. From the murderer himself, to the motive, to the method of committing the crime, there must be some kind of symbolic connection between them."

Lin Shakuha took over his words, "So in this case, the murderer has some kind of obsession with "Heavenly Punishment". You can start from the imagery in the painting. The murderer probably compares Mr. Manaka to the devil and himself to the knight of justice. This symbolic meaning is very helpful in screening the murderer's identity."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but glance at the elementary school students who were agreeing with him.

Could you please be more restrained and show off your vast knowledge in front of me? Are you afraid that I won't doubt you?

He symbolically glanced at Conan with a meaningful look, but unfortunately his wink was cast to a blind man. At this time, Conan, who had not been beaten by Gin, obviously did not have such a strong sense of crisis and did not notice his peeping at all.

"Who is this..." asked Officer Megure.

The police officer next to him told him: "This is the person who called the police today. He is also a person related to the case a few days ago and helped solve the case."

Inspector Megure immediately remembered that this was the man who had saved Brother Kudo twice!

"Ah, it's Brother Rin, I didn't notice it was you, hahaha..." He smiled warmly and found some of the feeling when Brother Kudo was around.

By the way, where has Brother Kudo gone? I haven’t seen him at the crime scene for a few days. I feel a little uncomfortable.

"Brother Lin, what do you think about this case?"

"There is no doubt that the murderer is someone in this art museum, and one of the staff members." Rin Shakuha naturally began to express his opinion.

hiss--

It feels pretty good to have a group of police officers listen to your reasoning seriously. Does Kudo Shinichi always indulge in this kind of pleasure?

"It was clear from the surveillance footage that Mr. Manaka was meeting someone, so the murderer must have been someone in the museum at the time."

"As for why it was a staff member, on the one hand, at the time of the incident, there was a sign in the Hell Hall prohibiting entry except for staff members. It was impossible for outside visitors to get this sign except for those working in the museum."

"Oh, yes, we saw the signboard in the afternoon." Xiaolan came out to provide evidence in time.

Rinshakuha nodded and added another point: "On the other hand, the armor the murderer wore when committing the crime was exactly the 'armored ghost' that appeared at night in the art museum. I'm afraid that the murderer was seen rehearsing the crime, and then the rumor spread."

“The only people who have this qualification are the staff of the museum itself.”

Officer Megure nodded, "Then there are only three of you left as suspects!"

The three people he was referring to were Kubota, Iijima, and Director Ochiai.

While everyone's attention was on the suspect, Conan started operating the surveillance camera.

"Hey, look at what Boss Manaka is doing?"

"This kid actually rewound the tape without permission..."

A cross of blue veins appeared on Kogoro Mouri's head, and he walked forward with his fists as big as sandbags, ready to give Conan a big blow.

Rinshakuha walked a step faster as if nothing had happened and stood between him and Conan.

Conan didn't know that his life was saved by Rin Chihaba. He climbed onto the table excitedly and pointed at a place in the picture.

"Look, the murderer staggered forward a few steps after the first strike."

"Then Boss Manaka seemed to have discovered something."

"Yes, indeed." Kogoro Mori also realized that this boy seemed to have really found some clues, so he moved closer to take a closer look.

"He tore off the label on the wall and then picked up the pen on the table..."

Conan repeated aloud the actions of Boss Manaka in the picture, and now everyone knew what he was doing with his back turned on the table.

Conan: "He seems to have written something!"

Uncle Maori: "And then?"

Inspector Megure: "Throw away the pen...?"

Lin Chiyu didn't want to be huddled together with them in an indecent manner, so he crossed his arms and asked from a distance, "Where's the paper?"

Conan: "It's still in my hand."

The scene finally freezes on Boss Manaka being nailed to the wall.

His hands were tightly clenching something.

"Could it be that piece of paper..." Kogoro Mori murmured.

"Is it still in the hands of Boss Manaka?" Inspector Megure continued.

The two looked at each other, and Conan had already jumped down and ran away outside.

Inside the Hell Exhibition Hall.

"It really does!"

"This paper was found in the victim's hand!"

"Oh! That's great!" Officer Megure took the note from the investigating officer and asked cautiously, "Are you sure no one touched the body?"

"Yes! No one except the police officers has touched it!"

Rinshakuha saw Conan and Uncle Maori looking at the sky and whistling.

Inspector Megure looked solemnly at the crooked handwriting on the note.

"Kawada, Kubota?!"

"What!" Kubota's face lengthened in shock, "Why is my name included?!"

Uncle Maori looked at him coldly, "Haha, you deliberately put on armor to avoid being photographed...but you didn't expect that you would still be recognized by the deceased!"

"I'm afraid you and Mr. Manaka have some problems! He mentioned paying back the money or something in the main exhibition hall."

Uncle Maori became more and more confident as he spoke.

"I remember you were frantically holding a helmet. Did you already have your hands ready to commit the crime?"