Chapter 64 I Suspect You Are Selling Defective Products
While questioning the "Black Cat"-related matters, Conan has also been observing Boss Manaka and Director Ochiai.
He noticed the injury on Manaka's shoulder immediately.
His eyes swept over the blood splattered on the floor, walls, sword, and Director Ochiai's armor. Combined with the shape of the blood stains everywhere, several scenes quickly flashed through his mind.
Conan's expression changed slightly and he looked at Director Ochiai warily.
At this time, there was a series of footsteps approaching in the corridor behind him.
Conan turned around suddenly and saw Mao Lilan and Mao Li Kogoro running anxiously.
Mouri Kogoro stopped at the entrance of the corridor and looked at Conan with a suspicious look on his face: "I seem to hear someone screaming? It can't be you making random noises in the museum, right?"
"of course not……"
Conan looked at the father and daughter and breathed a sigh of relief. Although the uncle's efficiency in solving crimes was low, he was quite sensitive to the incident.
Just as he was thinking, Leng Buding punched him on the head, and Mouri Kogoro shouted angrily: "I haven't asked you yet, why were you running around just now!"
Conan held the bag on his head and struggled for a while between "telling what happened before" and "keep silent", and finally decided to pretend that nothing happened.
It would be useless to say it, it would only make the two of them worry in vain - this was a choice he made after rational judgment, not because he felt it was embarrassing to be locked in the toilet. Well, that's right, that's it.
So when faced with Moori Kogoro's question, Conan forced out an innocent smile and changed the subject: "Because I heard something strange happening here! Uncle, what do you think happened here?"
Before Mouri Kogoro could answer, he said in an exaggerated and naughty tone: "The old man in armor slashed the fat uncle from behind! It was so scary!"
"What?!" Mouri Kogoro's eyes suddenly became sharp.
The words spoken by the child in a determined tone always made it difficult for people to suspect. Seeing the "gangsters" wearing strange armors and stained with blood in the exhibition hall, Mao Lilan also became nervous and clenched her fists in fear.
"You're wrong." came the retort.
But to Conan's surprise, it was not the assailant who spoke, but the fat boss who had been stabbed.
"..." Director Ochiai was about to admit, but boss Manaka beat him to it.
He frowned and looked at the young man who was blocking him behind him, but Manaka turned around and said in a volume that only the two of them could hear: "Are you planning to take this painting with you to prison?"
"How is it possible to bring it in..."
Director Ochiai was of course reluctant to part with the painting, let alone his daughter who was attached to the painting. But precisely because his daughter was watching from the side, he could not go against his conscience and say that he had done nothing.
"I am the one who was injured by you. Such a minor injury can only be regarded as a private dispute. It is up to me to decide whether to sue or not. And my decision is to settle privately."
Boss Manaka's shoulders were covered with blood, but he spoke in a relaxed manner.
At this time, he spoke much more fluently than when he was young - obviously, while his appearance was ravaged by time, his experience was also growing rapidly:
"Black collar... Well, the reason why Black Cat chose this time to come is because Xiaokui wants him to show up now - that is to say, she doesn't want to see you put in jail and doesn't want to be separated from you.
"Are you going to misunderstand her meaning again and do something that will make everyone uncomfortable?"
These words were very convincing, but also very heartbreaking. Muddy tears began to flow down the old face of Director Ochiai again. He raised his hand and wiped it hard, as if he wanted to hide his embarrassed posture.
Turned his back.
Boss Manaka looked at him and knew that the deal was settled.
He breathed a sigh of relief, stood up straight despite the severe pain in his shoulders, and turned to look at the three people at the door:
"When I was playing with the Western sword here, I accidentally scratched myself. Director Ochiai ran over to help me, and I accidentally got blood stains."
"Really?" Mouri Kogoro felt something was wrong, "Why is that old gentleman wearing armor?"
"He is the curator here. This is another medieval exhibition hall. The curator will cosplay a medieval knight. Is there any problem?"
Having been a boss for a long time, he still has a bit of the momentum he should have.
After Manaka finished explaining bravely, he immediately changed the subject: "Thank you very much for your concern, but rather than asking some incomprehensible questions, it is better to call an ambulance for me!"
"Ah, yes! I'm sorry!" When Mao Lilan heard this, she woke up from a dream. She was anxious and a little guilty at the same time - facing a person who was constantly bleeding, how could she just watch from the side...
She immediately turned around and rushed out, asking the staff to borrow a phone.
Boss Manaka looked at her back, shook his head and laughed, then took out the mobile phone from his pocket and pressed 119.
"..." It seemed that there was no need for them to appear at all. Mouri Kogoro nodded to the two of them with some embarrassment, and dragged Conan away.
Conan didn't want to leave at first, but thinking of the red eyes of the two people in front of him, he finally sighed and decided not to interfere in this matter.
Since the person who was hacked insists that it was an accident, and the person who hacked him has given up the action, let's just follow what they said and let them resolve it privately.
After being dragged out the door and passing the "Keep Out" sign in the corridor, Conan was slightly startled and suddenly thought of someone.
——The neighbor downstairs stayed here for a while before.
According to Mao Lilan, Shiraishi objected to her coming to visit last night, but today he came over instead, which was a bit abnormal no matter how he thought about it...
Reconnecting it with what happened before...it seems that this is not the only thing that is abnormal about him.
It was first in the library. Before closing, Shiraishi appeared in the elevator. At night, the mysterious masked man appeared and kidnapped Ayumi, and in disguise helped them avoid the search of Director Tsukawa.
Not long ago, when Dr. Ogawa asked them to find the sender of the gift, Conan saw Shiraishi in a bus. One of the stops of that bus was Miwa General Hospital.
After that, on the surface, the neighbor had nothing to do with the gift case.
But when Conan deduced that Dr. Ogawa's son was in danger and arrived at the scene, Ogino Kei, who was about to commit murder, inexplicably gave up the action and knelt down crying.
This is simply like...just like the two people in the Hell Pavilion just now!
Conan only felt a light flash in his head.
——Several cases were attempted cases. Shiraishi had been to the scene before the crime occurred. After that, the man in black appeared again... Oh, it seems that he should be called the black cat now.
In short, although there was no strong evidence, Conan intuitively felt that Shiraishi and Black Cat might be the same person.
Of course there are differences: the black cat seems to be a bit taller, the two people have different voices, and judging from the exposed lower half of their faces, their looks are also different.
But because he has a magical mother who is good at cross-dressing, Conan's thinking is extremely broad in this regard:
The height can be adjusted with a booster pad, and as for the voice, some people can perfectly change their voice without a voice changer.
As for the different face - maybe he disguised himself and then deliberately put on a half-face mask to confuse others.
After all, when a scam is exposed, many people will unconsciously relax and ignore the second scam hidden under the scam. Black Cat may have taken advantage of this psychology.
This is entirely possible, after all... that is an elusive magician!
…
"Come to think of it, if you dress up so horribly, why would you choose a cute code name like 'Black Cat'?" This made Conan very confused:
"The same goes for his behavior. All he does is good things to prevent murders or persuade others to surrender, but he has to put on a bad face..."
Conan complained on the phone when he entrusted Dr. Ari to investigate the relevant information of "Black Cat".
He described the appearance, clothing, and common behavior patterns of the men in black, except for the characteristic of Onmyoji, which he only mentioned casually.
Conan is a materialist after all, and he thinks this has little reference value.
Dr. A Li said: "It's probably a personal hobby, or maybe he happened to have a black cat and used it as a code number."
While Dr. A Li was talking, he looked at the countless "black cats" on the screen, which were very big.
This nickname is too popular, and it is also mixed with some information about real black cats, making it difficult to distinguish.
Looking at the information, Dr. Ali suddenly remembered something:
"By the way, come over if you have time tonight - I made a new thing, haha, you must like it."
…
In the cafe, Shiraishi didn't know that Conan was trying to take off his vest as if he was cheating.
But even if he knew, he wouldn't be too worried.
The protagonist will definitely not believe in out-of-body experiences. As long as he and "Black Tie" appear next to him at the same time, Conan's eight achievements will be like seeing Kudo Shinichi and Conan's Maori Lan at the same time, dispelling doubts.
"I should have thought of a title in advance."
Shiraishi sat in the cafe, feeling a little regretful:
"I made up the strange name 'Black Tie' temporarily to fit my elusive and weird image, but it's not handsome at all."
"Actually, it's not bad." The butterfly ninja stood behind the counter, his mouth was as sweet as honey, and he secretly kicked a discarded pot into the corner:
"The tie makes people feel mature and elegant, which fits your image very well."
"Thank you, but no matter how much you praise me, I can't afford to buy more pots for the time being..." Shiraishi heard the slight sound caused by the scraping of steel and wooden floors, and he sighed haggardly.
Although the money has not been exhausted, Shiraishi has gradually become accustomed to the Q version of profiteers' routines.
To prevent her from being unable to afford the product she offers, you must always save a little in your bankbook.
After having a friendly exchange with the employees and collecting a wave of strange props, Shiraishi walked through the door behind the counter, returned home, and turned on the light screen.
There is only one task in the taskbar at the moment:
[Rescue the confused person who jumps back and forth between art and money x2] [Completed]
He opened it to check the reward. This time it was the same as before, nothing new:
【100,000 yen】
【[N]Memory Fragments】
[Random props [click to draw]]
Shiraishi reached out and pressed the last line.
The font scrolled quickly, and when it slowly stopped, the line of words actually split into two lines.
This has never happened before.
Shiraishi was startled for a moment, and after taking a closer look, he found that the thing he drew this time was a bit strange——