"By the way, you suddenly want to go to the American island and you call us. What's going on?" Conan asked, changing the subject.
When it came to the topic of legends, Hattori Heiji was also very interested and said mysteriously: "In fact, in addition to this name, American Island is also called the island where mermaids live by nearby people."
"I even heard that there is an old lady on the island who eats mermaid meat in order to live forever."
Conan was thoughtful and remembered that there was indeed a report on TV before that there was an old woman in the American Island who lived an extremely long life.
Because of this, Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuye kept talking to each other on the way here in the car, saying that they wanted to achieve eternal youth and beauty together.
But in Conan's view, the old woman on TV was stooped and extremely ugly, and her longevity seemed to be her only praiseworthy feature.
"Not long ago, I received a commission letter sent to my home. There were only a few lines of hastily written words on the letter, saying, 'The mermaid is about to be killed, come and save it.'"
Hattori Heiji spoke quite seriously, but all he got in return was Conan's endless yawns and ruthless complaints, "I find that you seem to have a connection with monster legends."
"It was the same with the Spider House in Gogu Ridge last time. Why don't you just call me Monster Detective - Hattori Heiji from now on."
Hattori Heiji:"."
I feel like you are scolding me, but I have no proof yet.
"Please." Hattori Heiji leaned into Conan's ear, "I accepted this commission because of you, because the letter begins with the words 'Hello, Mr. Kudo Shinichi'."
What Hattori Heiji said is true, because the client this time was very stingy and did not include the 200,000 commission fee with the letter, so in principle, there was no need for Hattori Heiji to go there in person.
When he heard that someone was actively looking for him, Conan raised his eyebrows and suddenly felt a little interested. He asked about the situation on the phone.
"I did leave a phone number on the letter, but no matter how I called the second time, I couldn't get through."
“When the phone was connected for the first time, the voice still impressed me so much.”
"In addition to the sound of the waves, there was also the sound of a woman moaning in pain."
The in-team voice chat between Hattori Heiji and Conan unknowingly attracted the rest of the Shinigami tour group.
"Could it be that that person turned into a mermaid?"
Mao Lilan, who has always had an open mind, put forward a bold hypothesis.
Mouri Kogoro, who was standing by the fence, immediately waved his hands and firmly stated that there could be no mermaids in this world, and that those were all lies.
"Actually, even mermaids may exist."
"Human beings are on an isolated island called ignorance, surrounded by dark waters, which contain endless secrets."
Qin Zhibo's voice came faintly, and the thought-provoking sentence made everyone tremble in their hearts, and they didn't know how to answer for a while.
Hattori Heiji quickly pulled Conan aside and asked quietly: "That uncle seems to believe in mermaids?"
Conan shook his head and said that he was not particularly clear about Qin Zhibo's worldview. After all, he had never had in-depth exchanges on this aspect.
"But I asked you to read the article "At the Mountains of Madness" he published in the magazine last night. Did you read it?"
"Oh, I've read that story before. I really didn't expect that kind of uncle to write such a detailed article."
I read "At the Mountains of Madness" last night. Hattori Heiji's feeling is similar to that of Conan. Although I can't quite understand the author's intention, as a reader, it is quite shocking.
In the Blizzard Villa mode, Qin Zhibo added some more innovative content, such as the mysterious five-pointed star creature
This gave Hattori Heiji a hunch that this novel might become popular.
Of course, this also depends on what the reveal chapter will look like later.
"What happened to that novel?" Hattori Heiji asked.
Conan raised his eyebrows and said seriously: "Actually, the author's world view can be analyzed from a well-written article."
"If the person who killed the expedition members in the camp was a human being, it means that his world view is still biased towards the real world."
"If it's something else."
Conan didn't say the words, but Hattori Heiji said it for him.
"Then he is a 'monster detective', right?"
"Come on, normal people would write that humans devised some kind of trick to kill people in the camp, right?"
"Putting it off to monsters or something like that is not a science fiction novel."
Conan heard this and nodded in agreement.
Right
It's not science fiction.
After disembarking from the boat, the Death Tour Group first went to the village office to inquire about the sender's information.
"What! You said Miss Saori's current whereabouts are unknown?"
The middle-aged uncle at the village office looked directly at Kogoro Mouri, who had a very expressive face, and said seriously: "Yes, she disappeared from the place where she worked three days ago."
Hattori Heiji held his chin and thought, "It seems that three days ago was exactly the time when that letter was sent to my house."
As we all know, the person who sent the letter of entrustment to Hattori Heiji did not end well in every sense of the word.
However, the middle-aged uncle did not realize the seriousness of the matter. He only thought that the girl was too playful and secretly took a boat to the mainland to play.
"I'm going to prepare for the celebration soon. If you still want to ask me anything, just go to the souvenir shop where Saori works."
This wave seems to be a guide, but in fact it is to promote local products to these outsiders, so as to boost the local GDP.
Are you embarrassed if you just ask questions and don’t buy anything?
When they came to the souvenir shop, Mao Lilan, Yuan Shan and Ye spent money each to buy a local mermaid pendant, and got some useful information from the proprietress.
It turns out that the Mermaid Celebration here was renamed the "Dugong Celebration" two years ago because the government does not promote superstition, and three "Dugong Arrows" that can be used as talismans of immortality are randomly distributed at the annual celebration.
The dugong is a marine mammal. Because it regularly floats to the surface to breathe, it is mistaken for a "mermaid" by witnesses around the world.
Qin Zhibo was listening to Hattori Heiji's popular science for Toyama Kazuha, while staring at the dugong pictorial hanging on the wall.
Dark gray skin, relatively small head, bulky body
Qin Zhibo was very sure that the creature he had seen hunting dolphins on the sea was not a dugong, but some other creature with a more flexible body and an uglier appearance.
"Saori, she accidentally lost the "Dugong Arrow" she won at last year's celebration. This made her so scared a week ago that the mermaid would crawl out of the sea to take revenge on her."
The true materialist warrior Mouri Kogoro was a little helpless, but he explained again: "But there are no mermaids in this world."
Just when Mouri Kogoro finished speaking, a female voice came from behind everyone.