Conan: Ran, I really am Shinichi, you have to believe me!

Page 163

"Stop right there, where do you think you're going?"

Although the fleeing camouflage soldier was fully armed, wearing a bulletproof vest, carrying an assault rifle, with a pistol strapped to his leg, and carrying a lot of ammunition and grenades, making him look intimidating, Conan still shone the beam of light from his watch on him and charged at him without hesitation.

In the past, when Kogoro Mouri was around, or when there were other people present, after Conan took the lead and rushed up to chase the suspect, Kogoro Mouri or the others would still follow up and help catch the bad guys.

But this time, under the light of Conan's watch flashlight, the several digital humans present and Jiang Chengbei tacitly made the same choice: none of them chased after them.

The other side was armed and wearing camouflage uniforms, fully armed. We were all ordinary people, so we all tacitly agreed not to move.

After the light from Conan's watch disappeared into the grove, Jiang Chengbei and the remaining digital people pretended to find a flashlight, turned it on, and anxiously discussed what they should do next.

The fully armed, camouflaged man who was carrying a gun was, in everyone's guess, most likely a mercenary who takes money and kills without blinking an eye. No one knew why he was here or why he came here, so everyone was very scared because they knew nothing about him.

Moreover, Yotsuki Reika is still missing, and now a mysterious stranger with a gun has appeared. As ordinary people who don't even have a weapon to defend themselves, not even a hunting rifle, they are very scared.

After turning on their flashlights and having a frightened discussion, they quickly discovered that in addition to the previously missing Yotsuki Reika, Nikaido Yuuji was now also missing.

Seeing that everyone had only just realized that Nikaido Yuuji was missing, Ichiji Takashi, who had just run back with his shirt cuffs slightly damp and was secretly panting, breathed a slight sigh of relief. He was glad that he had acted quickly and returned in time; otherwise, it would have been difficult to explain if everyone had discovered that he and Nikaido Yuuji had both disappeared at the same time.

As he secretly caught his breath, he overheard something that shocked him:

When the power went out, he secretly carried the drugged Nikaido Yuuji away. No sooner had he left than a fully armed man in camouflage appeared in the room in the back alley. Under Conan's flashlight beam, the man broke through the window and escaped into the grove outside.

Ichiji Takashi was shocked to discover that, besides them, there were armed strangers in the villa. This was definitely a major incident!

Knowing that everyone present had seen the gun-wielding stranger, in order to avoid giving himself away, Takashi Ichigo pretended to have been there as well, claiming that he had also seen the mysterious man. He listened carefully to his companion's description of the man and remembered his characteristics so that he wouldn't give himself away when talking about him later.

Seeing that Ichiji Takashi was listening attentively, Jiang Chengbei touched the check in his pocket.

Unlike Conan, who lacks professional ethics and takes money without doing anything, Jiang Chengbei is much better.

Even if he takes the money and doesn't do the work himself, he should at least provide some convenience for the person who does the work. So when he saw Ichigo Takashi leave with Nikaido and Conan quickly run back, in order to buy time for Ichigo Takashi, he decisively used his mercenary skills, spent a little money to hire an assault mercenary from the system, and then ordered him to jump out of the window and escape, leading Conan to circle around in the woods outside.

Jiang Chengbei helped Zhilong a little, hoping that he could complete the task that Sijing Lihua had paid him, so that he could accept the money with a clear conscience.

While the few digital beings present were discussing the mysterious armed man with trepidation, the elderly maid, Qiweimi, with her frail arms and legs, walked over shakily, carrying three lit white candles.

After another round of inquiries and information sharing, and with each other sharing what they knew, led by Nanao Mi, who was familiar with the villa, they finally found the main power switch and restored power to the darkened villa.

With electricity, the world was finally bright again. Although he knew there was a mysterious man with an assault rifle outside the villa, and that he could become his victim at any moment in the brightly lit villa, he was still alive.

But given their fear of the dark, and even if the lights in the room were turned off, could these ordinary people without guns or weapons really evade the mercenaries lurking in the shadows?

Anyway, so far they haven't heard any gunshots, nor have they seen any of their companions die. They also haven't determined whether the armed mercenary is friend or foe; perhaps he's actually a bodyguard hired by Yotsuki Reika and doesn't have any ill intentions towards them.

Even if they had malicious intent, with their weak abilities, they would be powerless against modern weapons. Could they really escape by turning off the lights?

Most importantly, when Conan shone the light on the fully armed soldier, they saw that the man had a monocular thermal imager on his Kevlar helmet. So even if they turned off the light, they couldn't change the fact that the other party was in the dark and they were in the light.

Knowing they had little power to resist, they sat comfortably in the living room. Even if the other party had bad intentions, they waited for them to come and negotiate. As long as the conditions weren't excessive, they were open to discussion.

As for Yotsuki Reika, who went missing before, and Nikaido Yuuji, who has now gone missing, they have searched the entire villa, inside and out, and even the small woods outside, but they still can't find them. What can they do?

They gathered quietly in the living room and waited for half an hour. During this time, they could vaguely hear some explosions and firecrackers coming from the grove outside. Finally, Jiang Chengbei and the remaining digital people waited for the disheveled Conan to return.

Seeing that Conan, though disheveled, was still alive and well, further confirmed that the armed mercenary who escaped was not a bad guy. How could such a despicable child be a bad guy if he could return safely?

Upon seeing Conan return, everyone immediately surrounded him and began asking him a barrage of questions.

Conan is quite unsportsmanlike in his question-and-answer style.

Whenever he had a question and asked a character in the story, he would always get a response.

But now that everyone has questions and has started asking Conan about the outside world and the situation of that mysterious person, Conan has stopped answering and tells them almost nothing.

The questions from the digital figures were all in vain; they couldn't get a single piece of information out of Conan. He always responded with "I don't know" or "I'm not sure."

Moreover, not only did he not answer their questions, but he went even further by immediately asking why Nikaido Yuuji wasn't there and where he was now.

Compared to the clueless Conan, the digital figures present were much more ethical. They immediately answered Conan's question, telling him that Nikaido Yuuji disappeared just as he was chasing the mysterious camouflage man, and they had never seen him since.

"Oh no, we've fallen for their diversionary tactic!"

After regretfully slapping his thigh, Conan gleaned more information from the digital figures. Upon learning that they hadn't immediately gone to look for Nikaido after discovering his disappearance, Conan immediately began cursing in anger.

Faced with an angry Conan, and still standing on the moral high ground to condemn them, the group of people looked at each other and then used the excuse that a mysterious armed mercenary had appeared there.

They had searched for so long without finding Yotsuki Reika, and there were precedents like this. There were also armed mercenaries lurking in the shadows, whose identities were unknown. Moreover, they were not Nikaido's parents, so what obligation did they have to search for him who had suddenly disappeared in the living room?

Several digital characters felt wronged when faced with Conan's accusations.

Anyway, they found many reasons not to look for him on the surface, but the most real reason, which was that everyone hated Nikaido, was kept hidden in their hearts and no one said it out loud.

After a heated argument, Conan, who appears to be a primary school student, once again took the lead and led everyone to search the entire villa for the missing Nikaido Yuuji.

Unlike the first time when it took a long time to find Yotsuba Reika, Conan and his friends found Nikaido Yuuji in a short time.

Unfortunately, it was too late when they found him; he had already drowned in the bathtub of a bathroom.

Seeing that the body was still there and hadn't disappeared like the first time, Ichigo Takashi, who had found Nikaido's body, quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Originally full of confidence, believing he could save Yuuji Nikaido's life and resolve the conflict between him and Reika Yotsuba, Conan was deeply hurt upon seeing Nikaido's corpse.

"Why didn't you protect him? Didn't I ask you to protect him before I left? Is this how you act as a police officer?"

Seeing that Conan dared to question him during their private conversation after being pulled aside, Jiang Chengbei immediately pulled out child handcuffs and cuffed Conan's hands behind his back.

"Conan, did you kill that person? I have evidence that you were paid to kill someone. You must have done it. I never thought you would become a hitman. I misjudged you!"

"I didn't kill him, you failed to protect Nikaido!"

Jiang Cheng, with your abilities, how could you possibly fail to protect Nikaido? Are you not a police officer, but an imposter?

"When did our capitalist police have an obligation to protect people?"

Our responsibility as police officers is only to combat criminals and arrest lawbreakers. We are only responsible for enforcing the law and have no responsibility to protect citizens.

"Whether Nikaido lives or dies has nothing to do with me. All I need to do is arrest you, the murderer who killed Nikaido."

Upon hearing Jiang Chengbei's words, Conan's eyes widened, and he shouted, "Shameless! You don't deserve to be a policeman!"

How am I shameless?

Even if you weren't the murderer, didn't you choose to capture the mysterious mercenary, even though you didn't know if he was a criminal, when you were faced with the choice between protecting Nikaido and capturing the mysterious mercenary?

Whether this mercenary is friend or foe, good or bad, or a criminal, we don't even know the details. We know nothing about his situation, yet you still chose to abandon protecting Nikaido Yuuji, whom you knew was hired by Yotsuhime Reika to kill. Isn't your behavior in line with the principles of conduct I just mentioned?

Conan, my choices and code of conduct are exactly the same as yours, so what right do you have to criticize me?

Furthermore, if I were to fall for your trick of luring the enemy away from their stronghold, and in order to protect Nikaido Yuuji who left without permission, thereby putting the rest of us in danger, how would you blame me?

I can clearly distinguish between the lives of one person who left without permission and the lives of the five people who stayed behind.

Conan was immediately filled with self-reproach after Jiang Chengbei's sophistry. It turned out that he was just like Jiang Chengbei, whom he hated the most. He had finally become the kind of person he hated. How despicable!

To alleviate his guilt, Conan tries to immerse himself in work so he can forget about the unpleasant things.

After failing to convince Jiang Chengbei, Conan immediately swore that he was not the murderer. After Conan staked his reputation on this, he finally gained Jiang Chengbei's trust. Then, the handcuffs were removed, and the investigation, investigation, and case-solving process began.

Seeing that Jiang Chengbei believed him so easily, Conan wasn't too surprised. After all, the police officers like Megure had believed him in the same way before, and they believed whatever he said.

Now that it's confirmed Jiang Chengbei is also a policeman, isn't he just like Inspector Megure and the other policemen? He should believe whatever Conan says. This is Conan's subconscious thought, since it's always been like this before, so he can understand Jiang Chengbei's current behavior.

Anyway, one person is still alive, and the mysterious power of the plot still shrouds the villa, so even the famous detective Conan is powerless in the face of the world's great power, and the reason why he can't find the culprit is Takashi Ichigo.

Even though some fragmented clues have been found, the key points connecting them are lacking, so Conan is still in a fog.

Chapter 225 What to do with a kind-hearted murderer who doesn't like to kill to cover up his crime?

As time passed and the plot unfolded, Conan not only discovered some unusual things, but also gradually learned some things from several numbers of people.

Although he knows more, he still can't connect the dots, so Conan has no idea who the culprit is.

Unlike Conan, who doesn't know who the murderer is, the other simple-minded supporting characters unanimously believe that the mysterious mercenary who suddenly appeared, or his accomplice, is the one who killed Nikaido Yuuji.

In the world of Detective Conan, everyone, regardless of who they are, has a common flaw: even if someone dies or there is danger at a party, after being scared for a while at first, everyone will eventually go to sleep separately and return to their own rooms, without being scared at all.

Last time, at the Suzuki family's villa, a bandaged monster appeared, and one of the friends was killed and dismembered. This is how it happened. Now, at the Yotsuji family's villa, a mysterious mercenary has appeared, and similarly, one friend has been killed and another has gone missing. But after the initial panic subsided, the result was the same: everyone continued to separate, went back to their own rooms, and slept in their own beds. This glorious tradition remained unchanged.

It's understandable that the extras and digital humans are inexperienced since this is their first time encountering them, but it's strange that Conan, who has experienced this situation many times, hasn't learned his lesson and still hasn't gathered everyone together to fight the risks.

Sure enough, after everyone went back to their rooms to sleep, and when they woke up the next morning, they found Yotsuki Reika's body in the bathtub of another bathroom. This was not surprising.

Upon seeing Reika Yoshii's body, Jiang Chengbei whispered to Conan:

"Conan, to keep your secret that you're an assassin, you'd even kill the person who paid you to do the killing?"

"Nonsense, I didn't kill anyone. I was with you all night, how could I have killed someone?"

After Conan examined the body and determined the approximate time of death of Yotsuki Reika, Conan breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had been with Jiang Chengbei when she died and did not have the opportunity to commit the crime, otherwise he would have been blamed for it.

Now that both of them were dead, Jiang Chengbei stopped pretending and rubbed Conan's head to give him a reminder.

Jiang Chengbei's reminder made Conan realize the truth. He then slapped his thigh in frustration, took out the Chakra Phone Earring, and dialed the police.

While waiting for the police to arrive, Conan diligently investigated the case.

After Conan solved the case, Jiang Chengbei extracted information from Conan and obtained evidence, then arrested Ichiji Takashi and handed him over to the police.

After presenting the evidence he obtained from Conan in Jiangchengbei, Ichiji Takashi confessed his motive for killing Yoshii Reika and Nikaido Yuuji.

It turns out that these people, whose names start with one to six, plus the number eight, are members of a yacht club. Three years ago, they encountered a storm while on a sea trip.

When they learned that Yotsuba Reika had not returned and was trapped on the reef they had previously played on, which was about to be submerged by the rising tide, the kind-hearted Yaeko put on a life jacket and rowed a lifeboat to rescue Yotsuba Reika.

Yaeko, who went to rescue people, never returned. At the same time, Yotsuki Reika and Nikaido Yuuji, who returned with her, said they didn't see Yaeko looking for them.

As Ichiji looked at the life jackets they were wearing and the lifeboats that had been rowed back, he had a feeling that they looked familiar, as if they were exactly the same as those worn and brought by Yaeko.

A few days later, Yaeko's drowned body was washed ashore, and her life jacket was also missing.

Afterwards, through years of investigation, Ichiji Takashi finally discovered that not only Yotsubi Reika was waiting for rescue on the reef that year, but also Nikaido Yuji.

Because there were only two life jackets, Nikaido Yuuji conspired with Yotsui Reika to steal Yaeko's life jacket and push her into the sea.

Therefore, in order to avenge Yaeko, Ichigo Takashi had no choice but to kill Nikaido Yuuji and Yotsubi Reika himself.

After hearing Takashi Ichigo's explanation of the motive for the murder, Conan also learned why Reika Yotsui hired someone to kill Yuji Nikaido. It turned out that Yuji Nikaido used an incident from three years ago to blackmail Reika Yotsui into marrying him. In order to avoid marrying him and to silence her, Reika Yotsui, having no other choice, saw Conan's legendary story online and hired him to kill her.

As for the mysterious mercenary, even after the police arrived and launched a large-scale search, they couldn't find any trace of him, and the matter had to be dropped.

The case was solved. Jiang Chengbei was killed by Yizhilong once and then sent to prison. In the end, he got a total of 2 kill coins, 1 transformation opportunity, and the newly added ship driving skill.

After solving the case, when Jiang Chengbei brought Conan home, they learned about what happened the night before. They were immediately met with complaints from the Miyano sisters and the Mori father and daughter. The complaints were basically the same: they were indeed the Grim Reaper and the Plague God, bringing death wherever they went, and only by staying at home could people outside be safe.

Following their advice, Jiang Chengbei stayed home and watched TV, while Conan went to school for a few days in peace. Sure enough, things were calm outside, and fewer people died.