The faint firelight swayed in the hand, as if it might be swallowed up by the surrounding darkness at any time.
Confirming the "identity" of the Five Hundred Arhat Statues is a big project, requiring Qin Zhibo to approach them one by one and place the [Starry Sky Fishing Rod] on them.
When there are no starry sky fishermen around, [Starry Sky Fishing Rod] cannot be materialized.
But it works now.
The starry sky fishing rod is said to be a fishing rod, but it is actually not a fishing rod in the broad sense.
This is a ten-sided pointed cone made of black rock, the size of a palm, resembling a small and delicate wedge.
There are hieroglyphic-like inscriptions engraved on each of the ten facets, depicting strange creatures between birds and dragons.
As long as this black stone vertebra is placed against the surface of the Arhat statue to be tested, you can determine in your mind whether it is a "starry sky angler".
no
no
Not yet.
After testing dozens of Arhat statues, Qin Zhibo got negative answers.
In order not to miss any Arhat statue, he tested the stone statues one by one according to the order in which they were arranged.
During the test, Qin Zhibo also discovered that these stone statues were not exactly carved from the same mold.
The bald heads of some Arhat statues are relatively large, while others are relatively small, even greatly sacrificing the beauty.
However, considering Domoto Eizo's business philosophy, this should be caused by his cost control. In addition, there is no light in the tunnel, so it is indeed difficult for tourists to detect the flaws of the Arhat statue.
Time passed by.
When Qin Zhibo walked from the tunnel entrance to the exit and back to the entrance, all five hundred Arhat statues had been tested.
The result was that they were all eliminated and no one qualified.
After moving his body, which was stiff from the cold, Qin Zhibo was now a little annoyed.
This is equivalent to the organizers spending a lot of money to hold a talent show, hoping to promote a star and make a lot of money, but in the end they attracted five hundred idiots who can't get on the stage.
But the key is that the system prompts that the "Starry Sky Angler" is nearby. Could it be that there are times when the system does not work well?
At this moment, Qin Zhibo is like five hundred bald heads in the tunnel, and Monk Zhang Er is confused.
Looking around, there is nothing else in the tunnel except these Arhat statues.
Suddenly, Qin Zhibo had an idea and seemed to have thought of something. He slowly raised his head and looked upward.
The rock wall above was bare under the firelight, and there didn't seem to be anything hidden.
But apart from the space occupied by the rock mass, Qin Zhibo knew that there was another stone statue above, which was the statue of the goddess.
Could it be that the goddess statue is the real “starry sky fishermen”?
Qin Zhibo thought about it carefully and it seemed to make sense.
These Arhats are like factory goods that Domoto Eizo recently commissioned from masons. Even if they can gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and absorb the essence of the sun and moon, they will not be able to do it at all.
Obviously the goddess statue above is more likely!
Moreover, the size of the goddess statue is very large. It is very likely that its existence is the reason why the system prompt was activated in the tunnel, making me mistakenly think that the Arhat looks like a "starry sky angler".
Confirming his new guess, Qin Zhibo quickly used [Flying Claw] to leave the cable car tunnel, return to the mountain trail, and continue climbing up the steps.
After a while, Qin Zhibo arrived at the observatory, the closest place to the Statue of the Goddess.
The height of the observatory itself is slightly higher than the shoulders of the goddess, and the edge of the railing is only one meter away from the left hand of the goddess holding up the wish-fulfilling orb.
Qin Zhibo was about to walk towards the railing closest to the statue of the goddess, when his footsteps suddenly stopped.
Under the moonlight, I saw a figure lying on his side in the left hand of the statue of the goddess of heaven, with his body leaning on the wish-fulfilling orb.
Taking another closer look, it turned out to be Eizo Domoto!
Qin Zhibo hurriedly ran closer and saw Domoto Eizo lying in the hands of the goddess statue, with bright red blood blooming on his chest, and a dagger stuck in it like a flower stamen!
So sudden?
Even Qin Zhibo, who had experienced many killings, never expected to encounter Domoto Eizo's body at this place and at this time.
But soon, Qin Zhibo noticed something was wrong.
Although the appearance of the corpse is very lifelike, why is there no light spot on the head of the corpse?
Can a corpse that cannot be examined as a corpse be called a corpse?
Qin Zhibo took two more steps forward, climbed onto the left hand of the goddess statue with white gloves on, and used the most primitive method to investigate, only to discover some clues.
The "Domoto Eizo" in front of you is not the real Domoto Eizo, but a dummy made of rubber and resin materials.
There is a plastic dagger stuck in the dummy's chest. If you don't look carefully at the degree of simulation of this prop, it's really hard to see the flaws.
But why is there a dummy here?
Who else put it here?
Qin Zhibo jumped back to the ground and thought carefully.
Judging from the degree of completion of the dummy, this is definitely not the work of ordinary craftsmen. If we only refer to the photos, without Kaitou Kidd's skills in making face molds, we can't expect it to be so realistic.
As for who put it here, this place is currently not open, so it could be someone in the hotel.
But when he was sending Domoto Nagao off the mountain this afternoon, he said he had some personal matters and left in the other direction at the foot of the mountain.
Could it be him?
There are too few clues now, and Qin Zhibo can't be sure.
But at least it is certain that someone is planning a crime against Domoto Eizo, the president of Domoto Company, and this dummy specially made to look like a corpse is evidence.
In order not to alert others, Qin Zhibo did not plan to announce the dummy, nor did he plan to remove the dummy.
Since someone is going to commit a crime tomorrow, all he needs to do is use his plan and he should be able to catch the murderer easily.
Sorry, Conan, it seems I got the better of you this time.
Qin Zhibo smiled slightly, climbed onto the left hand of the goddess statue again, and placed the [Starry Sky Fishing Rod] on it.
When the black stone and the white stone came into contact, an incredible scene happened.
The ten-pointed vertebrae were like wedges driven in by an invisible force, slowly burrowing into the cracks in the stone until they completely disappeared.
[Ding, the starry sky fishing rod has been activated!]
[Please put in bait]
[Tip: It can be any item. The more you invest, the greater the return]
Bait?
Looking at the system prompts, Qin Zhibo was stunned for a moment. He hadn't heard about bait yet?
Do you still need bait for fishing?
It seems necessary, otherwise wouldn’t he become Jiang Taigong?
But this is an emergency. If I haven’t prepared in advance, where can I find bait?
Just when Qin Zhibo didn't know what to do, the system sent out a prompt again.
【Feeding is being put in.】
"Um?"
Qin Zhibo was puzzled and suddenly found that the "Domoto Eizo" at his feet was shaking slightly and slowly sinking under the surface of the stone statue.
Ruined!
The system actually regards the rubber resin dummy as "bait" by default!
Qin Zhibo felt a little nervous, like a shameless parent who saw his child destroy other people's figurines and happened to know the price of the figurines.
But it was of no use. He didn't dare to reach out and pull it. He could only watch helplessly as the dummy completely disappeared into the palm of the goddess statue.
Such "lifelike" figures must be extremely expensive to produce.
But fortunately, it was the murderer's murder prop, and no one would come to claim compensation from him.
But without this key prop, will the murderer still take action tomorrow?
Didn’t he indirectly miss an opportunity for a side mission?
Qin Zhibo felt mixed emotions, but fortunately the system prompts gave some comfort.
[The bait placement is completed and fishing begins.]
It seems that the first half of the fishing is over so far, and the rest is just waiting for the bait.
As for how long it takes to fish, how to “hook” the fish, and what kind of things can be caught, it is still unclear.
Qin Zhibo glanced at the empty palm of the goddess and could only look apologetically, then turned and left.
I'm sorry for eating a "person" alive.
The next day.
Early in the morning, there was so much noise at the entrance of the resort hotel that it was impossible to sleep.
Since the opening ceremony started at noon, the staff of Domoto Company started busy with the venue decoration work from the morning.
Qin Zhibo managed to sleep for half an hour longer and had to get up amid the noise downstairs.
Opening the door, Conan in the living room was enjoying the sumptuous breakfast ordered by room service.
It seems that Conan's sleep quality has also improved after Mao Lilan adopted Qin Zhibo's suggestion of "sleeping in the same bed but not sharing the same pillow".
Otherwise, under normal circumstances, Conan would spend the first half of the night with his brain congested.
"Good morning, Mr. Qin."
"I don't know what you like to eat for breakfast, so I just ordered a little bit."
On the European-style long dining table, there are more than a dozen kinds of food such as veal steak, lamb chops, tempura, steamed buns, fried noodles, etc. The portions of each snack are not large, but the dishes are exquisite and the variety is complete.
Today is the first official day of business. The hotel's breakfast should be prepared according to the highest standards. It is hard to say whether it will be so rich in the future.
Enjoying Mao Lilan's attentive service, Qin Zhibo occasionally acted like an aristocrat, tying the napkin in front of his lapel and eating with a knife and fork instead.
Although Qin Zhibo did not eat any other Western food except foreign food in his previous life, he naturally did not know how to use a knife and fork.
But the muscle memory of this body has the experience of using knives and forks, so now it is no stranger to using it. On the contrary, the way it eats reveals an elegant Hawaiian style.
Conan learned knife and fork skills in Hawaii, but was rejected by Mao Lilan for using a knife: "."
Half an hour later, all the food on the table was eaten by Qin Zhibo and Ke Lan, who were chewing slowly.
Everyone was sitting in the living room watching TV programs while waiting for noon to arrive.
At noon, Secretary Yoshino came to inform the three of them to go downstairs.
When we arrived downstairs, the stage had been set up, and rows of folding chairs were neatly arranged in front. Judging from the number, the scale of this opening ceremony was not small.
Qin Zhibo's seat was arranged in the middle of the first row, which was the most eye-catching position. Therefore, Mao Lilan and Conan also took the seats next to Qin.
As soon as he sat down, Conan said he had an urgent need to urinate and needed to go to the toilet.
"Really, why are you always in need of urination~ Go and come back quickly."
Because Conan made excuses for urgent urination so many times that it was difficult to tell the truth from the fake, Mao Lilan even had the impression that Conan was an "urgent boy".
Qin Zhibo imagined that if Conan could change back to Kudo Shinichi in the future, would Mao Lilan suspect that Kudo Shinichi was not good at that aspect?
In order to solve the case, Conan's sacrifice is really not small~
On the other side, Conan hurried to the toilet because he really needed to pee this time.
After draining the water in the men's room, I passed by the side of the stage and happened to see Domoto Eizo and Domoto Nagao conspiring loudly.
"Everything is ready and no one will notice."
Facing the eldest son's groveling report, Domoto Eizo didn't seem to be satisfied. He snorted coldly: "Only if you can trust your 'absolute', you can't even deal with annoying flies like Tetsuya Aoyagi, so why don't you?"
Do you have the nerve to say it?”
"But, that's true."
But before the eldest son could finish what he said, Domoto Eizo scolded him angrily, "When did you learn to talk back!"
"The most important thing in business is results. If you are so useless, how can I trust you to hand over the company to you?"
At this time, Secretary Yoshino came to inform Domoto Eizo that it was time to take the stage, and the unpleasant conversation between the two ended.
The elder Domoto glanced at his father's back. Although he stood still and did not move, he gritted his teeth angrily, and the ferocity in his eyes was not concealed.
And this scene of "a loving father and a filial son" was captured by Conan, who was good at observing.
Returning to his seat, Conan wanted to tell Qin Zhibo about this special discovery.
But thinking about the two "Ni Zuokai" yesterday, he felt that it didn't matter if he had this information to himself.
"We will now invite Mr. Eizo Domoto, the core figure who promoted the opening of the Tenbuyama Ropeway and the president of Domoto Kanko, to come on stage to say a few words to all the guests."
During the host's introduction, Eizo Domoto came to the stage and began to speak.
"Dear guests, thank you all for taking the time to celebrate this memorable day."
"In order to protect the cultural assets left by our ancestors, Domoto Tourism has the mission of leading the tourism industry in the 21st century."
21st century?
Qin Zhibo was surprised at the time.
At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded from the audience.
"You will be punished by God!"
"And those of you who come to celebrate will be punished by God sooner or later!"
The sharp voice immediately attracted the attention of everyone present, and they all looked at the owner of the voice.
Qin Zhibo took a look and found that it was the goddess Shenshan Jing he met on the train yesterday.
The old goddess, wearing a nun's monastic uniform, shouted angrily at Eizo Domoto on the stage.
"How dare you dare to dig a tunnel under the lotus seat of the holy goddess of heaven? You are really deceiving others!"
"You people still know no shame, damn it! You have desecrated the holy statue of the goddess."
Under the incredulous gazes of everyone, Shenshan Jing's feet gradually rose into the air, and her voice became increasingly ethereal, fading away.
It turned out that she had mastered the levitation technique of the abbot in the God of Cookery, and was politely carried out by the security guards.
Qin Zhibo looked at the distant Shenshanjing, feeling a little surprised.
This is an extreme troublemaker. Domoto Company knew about it early on and actually allowed her to sneak into the venue without changing her clothes.
However, this is considered a security error by Domoto Company and has nothing to do with him as a detective.
The sudden chaos did not interfere with the progress of the ceremony.
Eizo Domoto continued: "I know that there are many irresponsible newspapers now and publish many reports about the curse of the goddess statue, but this is simply lies to deceive the public!"
"For this reason, I, Eizo Domoto, want to personally overthrow this superstition, so I specially invited the famous detective."
"That is, Mr. Qin Zhibo is here to attend our opening ceremony today!"