69novels Page 210
Page 210
"The deceased, Mr. Nishiyama, was an avid internet user and also a magic enthusiast, as can be seen from his online name, Escape King."
Matsuda took out a stack of photocopy paper.
"And this Shadow Mage was one of his online friends. Through his chat history, they confirmed that they were going to attend a magic enthusiasts' gathering together today."
"An online friend gathering?" Inspector Megure was immediately confused. "Is it the internet these days?"
“Yes,” Matsuda nodded, “We can find out his real identity through the ID ‘Shadow Mage,’ but we also need to find out where this gathering is and whether he has already killed someone again.”
“I’ll go investigate the Shadow Mage’s true identity,” Sato volunteered.
“Wait a minute, Miwako,” Matsuda called to Sato and handed her a slip of paper. “Except for Shadow Mage, we need to check everyone on this list.”
"What is this?" Sato looked at the name on it with some confusion.
“These are the people who attended the gathering, as identified through chat logs,” Matsuda explained. “The Shadow Mage might be hiding among them.”
"What bizarre names! Doesn't anyone use their real name?"
The magician's apprentice, the vanished Barney, the man in red, the silly boy, the phantom, the taciturn ventriloquist...
As Inspector Megure looked at the name on the note, his headache grew even worse.
For an old-fashioned person like him, it's really hard to understand the preferences of today's young people.
After Sato left, Matsuda looked at Shiratori.
"Take some men to the Cup Capital Apartments to investigate if there are any witnesses, and whether anyone noticed anyone entering or leaving the deceased's apartment yesterday."
"I'll do all this? And what about you? Matsuda, if I remember correctly, you're in charge this time."
This was clearly the most clueless, troublesome, and ineffective method, so Shiratori naturally didn't want to do it.
"I'll wait here for Sato's news, and then find out where they're meeting," Matsuda said confidently.
"Alright, Shiratori, lead the team over there," Inspector Megure urged from the side. "Don't overlook any clues."
......
Soon, the information of all the users in this chat room was uncovered.
The taciturn ventriloquist, whose real name is Ara Yoshinori, is a 46-year-old male.
Phantom, real name is Naoko Kuroda, female, 25 years old.
The missing Bannie, whose real name is Hamano Toshiya, is a 27-year-old male.
The silly girl, whose real name is Tanaka Takahisa, is a 28-year-old woman.
The magician's apprentice, whose real name is Suzuki Sonoko, is a 17-year-old girl.
......
Huh? Sonoko Suzuki? Sonoko?
Upon seeing this name, Matsuda was speechless.
Where there is Sonoko Suzuki, there is Ran.
And if Ran is there, then Conan, that brat, will definitely be there too!
Could it be that Conan, that brat, is behind this case again?
"Is it possible to contact them in person now?"
Matsuda rubbed his temples. Seeing Sonoko's name was like seeing Conan, giving him the same headache as Megure.
"We've tried to contact them, but so far we've only been able to reach two people,"
Sato's expression turned grave as he recalled the information he had just received.
"how?"
Matsuda noticed Sato's expression.
“Neither of them is particularly enthusiastic about magic, and they don’t use computers very often,” Sato replied.
"So, someone stole someone else's name and created this ID?"
Matsuda quickly pressed on, "Then who are these two people? Shadow mages?"
“That’s right, one of them is Shadow Mage, and the other’s ID is Red Man,” Sato replied.
A man in red? A shadow mage?
Is there any connection between these two people?
After thinking for a moment, Matsuda simply took out his phone and dialed Conan's number.
Chapter 255 Death is at Work Again
"Hello, the number you dialed is not in service. Please try again later..."
Uh, that ominous feeling is getting stronger.
Matsuda hesitated for a moment, then looked at Sato and asked, "What about the others? Can you contact their families? Doesn't anyone know where the gathering is?"
Judging from the current situation, Conan has most likely gotten caught up in this again.
With Death in the picture, this is likely to be another troublesome incident.
"We're already in contact with them, and we should get a response soon," Sato reassured him.
Time waits for no one.
Matsuda pulled up a chair and sat down. To calm himself down, he started looking through the printed chat logs and began to sort out the incident from the beginning, slowly arranging the clues he had found.
"There's news."
Just then, Chiba rushed in.
"According to Yoshinori Ara's wife, he is hosting a party at his villa on the mountain today, which should be for magic enthusiasts like them."
"Matsuda."
No sooner had Chiba finished speaking than Megure entered.
"I just received a call from Brother Mori; he knows the location of this gathering."
......
After confirming the location of the villa where the group of magic enthusiasts were gathering...
Kogoro Mouri brought them another piece of news that put them in a very passive position.
The only wooden bridge leading to the villa was burned down by the murderer.
As a result, the members of the First Investigation Division had no choice but to sit together again.
"There's no point in discussing this any further. Now that we've determined the location, Inspector, let's prepare to depart."
Matsuda said helplessly,
"After we got the villa's contact number from Ara Yoshinori's wife, we confirmed that communications there had been cut off for at least four hours. Anything can happen in four hours."
"Matsuda, weren't we just discussing how to get there?" Shiratori tapped the table. "We were studying the route into the mountains."
“Everyone has seen the map; there’s no safe route there,” Matsuda urged. “Time is of the essence; we must take action.”
“It’s impossible to climb those snow-covered mountains on a night like this. Although our profession is inherently dangerous, we shouldn’t waste our lives on something with no chance of success,” Shiratori immediately retorted. “I would absolutely never agree to something like this.”
“That’s right, Shiratori is absolutely right. I won’t agree to this either, not even you, Matsuda. If you insist on doing things your own way, I will stop you.”
Megure looked very unwell.
This feeling of knowing that a crime is happening somewhere, but being powerless to stop it...
It was clearly torture for the police.
“Who would go hiking?” Matsuda pointed to the sky. “I’ll take a helicopter.”
"That won't work either. Putting aside whether there's open space to land, if we fly low at night, we might get caught on a power pole or tree branch and crash. No pilot would dare to do that."
Shiratori rejected Matsuda's proposal again.
“It’s not about getting the helicopter to land,” Matsuda shook his head. “The helicopter just needs to take me to the airspace near the villa.”
"What? You mean?"
Upon hearing Matsuda's words, Sato was the first to react.
"Yes, I'll jump down and stop the criminal from committing further crimes."
Matsuda told a lie with a straight face.
“I have received training in this area before, have experience with parachuting, and am the best in physical condition among those present. There will absolutely be no problem with this.”
"Airdrop? Parachute?" Inspector Megure asked doubtfully. "Matsuda, weren't you in the explosives disposal unit before?"
"Ah, that's just a hobby, a hobby," Matsuda quickly explained.
......
"You're really going all out, Officer Matsuda."
The helicopter pilot looked on with admiration.
"Hehe, actually, although I don't have a fear of heights, I don't exactly like this dark, bottomless feeling either,"
Matsuda peeked down and casually grabbed a parachute.
"Is this sturdy? Has it been unused for a long time?"
"Don't worry, I'm in charge of maintaining all the emergency equipment here. Are you going to jump or not? If not, we're going back," the helicopter pilot said with a laugh.
"Jump, how can we not jump?"
Matsuda slung the parachute over his shoulder, leaned out of the cabin, and made final adjustments.
"Hey, don't forget you have to return this parachute. These things are all counted."
Before the driver could finish speaking, Matsuda leaped into the air.
His figure quickly disappeared into the dark night.
"Hey, you absolutely have to return my parachute yourself!" the helicopter pilot yelled. "I don't want to have to go down and pick it up myself tomorrow."