Detective Conan: The System Takes Me to Zero's World

Chapter 323: Haneda Hiroshi Incident: Death Message and the Conspiracy Behind It

In the picture, Kuroda Bei is crouching, walking slowly, placing a mobile phone by the door, and quickly turning sideways to hide in the corner. His eyes are fixed on the end of the corridor, with vigilance and expectation flashing in his eyes, as if he is waiting for the key person who can change the situation to appear.

Not long after, a slight sound of rolling wheels came from the other end of the corridor, and a waiter pushing a food cart slowly walked over, unaware of the gaze lurking in the dark.

Seeing this, Kuroda Bei pressed the dial button.

"Ring, ring, ring..." The cell phone rang in the quiet corridor.

The waiter stopped, a puzzled look on his face, frowned slightly, leaned over to pick up the phone and answered: "Hello?"

Kuroda Heibei didn't dare to breathe, his eyes locked on the waiter's every move, and at the same time lowered his voice and whispered anxiously into the receiver of the phone: "I am Amanda Hughes' bodyguard. Could you please deliver the phone to her room? I really can't leave her side at the moment. Thank you very much."

The waiter was stunned for a moment, then responded, put his phone on the food cart, pushed the food cart, and walked steadily towards Amanda's room.

At the same time, Rum pressed Haneda Hiroshi's doorbell again. In the silent corridor, the doorbell rang suddenly, and the crisp sound of the bell actually revealed a sense of urgency that made people panic.

Haneda Hiroshi frowned, his face full of impatience, and shouted: "Why are you here again? I've already said that there is no woman you are looking for here. If you harass me again, I will call the police."

Rum covered his right eye with his hand and looked at Haneda Hiroshi with only his left eye. There was a cold light flashing in the exposed eye, as if it could see through all disguises.

"You know you can't do that. The indoor telephone line has been cut off, and the radio waves that interfere with communications have caused your cell phone to lose signal."

Rum slowly scanned Haneda Hiroshi's room, and his sight finally fell on the bookshelf full of books behind him. A trace of confusion suddenly flashed in his eyes, and he inquired, "Huh? If my memory is correct, the files on the bookshelf seem to have moved a few millimeters compared to before!"

"Yes, because I just picked up a few books to read."

"Then please let me take a look too." Rum said as he walked straight into the room. Each step he took was very heavy, as if he wanted to break down Hiroshi Haneda's defenses.

Hiroshi Haneda stopped him: "Ah, wait a minute."

However, the men behind Rum stepped forward quickly, stretched out their arms, and blocked Haneda Hiroshi's steps, stopping Haneda Hiroshi from moving forward.

Rum stood in front of the bookshelf, fiddling with the books on the middle shelf with his fingers, as if he had discovered something new and interesting, and was about to take down the books on that shelf: "It's shogi, I'd like to try a game."

Haneda Hiroshi knew the situation was critical and uttered four words: "Karasuma Ren!"

These four words were like a bombshell, shocking Rum instantly. His body stiffened slightly, and the expression on his face froze.

Looking at Rum's reaction, Haneda Hiroshi felt emboldened and looked into Rum's eyes, "I happened to see in a news report online that you attended the annual meeting of the International Economic Forum about 30 years ago, right?

As the representative of Karasuma-san who was unable to attend due to health reasons, you must have some relationship with Karasuma Renya, right? My memory is also very good. "

Rum quickly regained his composure, put on that unfathomable smile again, and clapped his hands, "As expected of you, Haneda Hiroshi, the four-time champion. I admire you!"

He slowly approached Haneda Hiroshi and lowered his voice: "You know too much, which is not good for you."

As Haneda Hiroshi and Rum confronted each other, the camera switched back to Kuroda Heibei. The system screen then unfolded, showing the scene as he saw it.

The waiter pushed the food cart, holding the phone in his hand, and rang the doorbell of Amanda's room, but no one responded for a long time, so he opened the door and walked in. "Sorry, I'm here to return a lost item."

When Kuroda Bei saw the waiter walk into the room, he followed him quietly and walked to Amanda's door pretending to have just returned.

He quickly scanned the scene in the room and saw the waiter shouting in a slightly panicked tone: "Mrs. Hughes, are you okay? Mrs. Hughes."

Kurodabei immediately quickened his pace and walked into the room, his eyes full of concern and vigilance, and asked: "Hey, what happened?"

"Mrs. Hughes, there's no movement."

At this moment, Amanda sat quietly on the chair like a motionless statue, her upper body leaning forward weakly, lying lifelessly on the table.

Kuroda Bei quickly stepped forward, stretched out his hand, and gently placed his fingers on Amanda's nose. After a moment, his face became solemn, and she was no longer breathing. He turned around suddenly and urged the waiter: "Call the police!"

"Yes, sir." The waiter turned around hurriedly and ran out to call the police.

At this moment, in Haneda Hiroshi's room, Rum stood beside him with a gloomy face and fierce eyes. He waved his hand and ordered his men to punch and kick Haneda Hiroshi, shouting viciously: "Beat him hard and make him tell me the whereabouts of Asaka!"

Haneda Hiroshi was helpless and was beaten all over, with blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. Bruises covered his entire body, and his clothes were in disarray.

The subordinate had a helpless look on his face and spread his hands to report: "This man is very stubborn and refuses to reveal where the woman is."

Rum raised his eyebrows, a cruel smile on his lips: "It seems that Amanda's body has been found."

Another of his men suggested: "We should withdraw."

Rum was silent for a moment, then took out the APTX-4869 medicine box from his arms. "Then there's nothing we can do. It looks like we have to let Mr. Haneda take a poison pill as well."

He walked forward, roughly pinched the chin of the unconscious Hiroshi Haneda, and forced the medicine into his mouth. After watching the medicine being swallowed, Rum stood up.

In Amanda's room, Kuroda Bei stood alone in the middle of the room, his brows furrowed, his eyes moving back and forth at Amanda's body and the surrounding objects.

He analyzed it clearly: "I checked all the obvious places on the body. There are no bruises from beatings, marks from being tied up, or even signs of resistance. The most likely possibility is that he was poisoned."

His attention was suddenly attracted by something strange on the chessboard. The chess piece was wearing Amanda's watch, which looked quite weird.

Kurodabei couldn't help but fall into deeper thought. He muttered to himself, "And what's going on? The watch and the knight chess piece placed in front of her are probably the death message she left behind before she died."

He leaned in for a closer look and discovered a clear lip print on the dial of the watch. The knight chess piece's eyes were also painted with lipstick. The bright red color was particularly eye-catching in this room filled with the atmosphere of death.

"Why not just simple and straightforward text, but such a cryptic code? Are they worried that the criminal might come back and be easily discovered? Does that mean the criminal is still in this hotel?"

Kuroda Bei was thinking while looking around vigilantly, trying to find more clues from the corners of the room: "Speaking of which, where is her bodyguard?"

He thought of this key person again and recalled the scene he had seen before. "I remember she was carrying this box of chess pieces. Did Amanda play chess with someone before the accident?"

The clues in Kurodabei's mind were pieced together bit by bit like a puzzle. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind: "It's the famous Haneda Hiroshi! Amanda is his loyal fan, and the famous man also said that he has an appointment later. Could it be... they were together before, and then something happened?"

Thinking of this, Kuroda Bei did not dare to delay for a moment and immediately ran towards the waiter.

At this moment, the waiter was standing outside the door, holding a mobile phone in his hand, calling to report the situation: "Really, manager, she's dead."

Kuroda Bei rushed forward, grabbed the waiter's shoulder, and demanded, "Hey, tell me Haneda Hiroshi's room number!"

The waiter turned pale with fear and stammered, "Sir, the guest's information is confidential. I can't tell you, or I'll lose my job."

Kuroda Bei's eyes shone, and he increased the strength of his hands: "He is the grandmaster of Japanese shogi. If something happens to him, can you bear the consequences?"

The waiter hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Room 1502."

In this tense atmosphere, the camera quickly switched to the opposite floor of the TOPIA building in Haido Town West. A window was wide open, and the words "No video playback" were clearly displayed on the system screen.

At the window, the mysterious new member without a name was holding a sniper rifle with Cohen. The new member wore a headset and talked to Rum with a little impatience in his tone: "Lord Rum, when will the woman who is the target of this time come out?

Isn't she just a bodyguard who left her employer to die and went into hiding? Is it necessary for such a coward to specifically snipe her? And she didn't see your face. "

"Stop talking nonsense! Keep your eyes on the scope."

"understood."

Rum sat in the back seat of the car with the window half closed. He put down his phone and looked out the window with a gloomy look in his eyes. He whispered to himself, "Although my appearance was not seen, my voice was heard."

On the other side, the words "No video playback" on the system screen gradually disappeared, and the scene turned to the bathroom in Hiroshi Haneda's room.

Rum stood in the bathroom, looking down at Hiroshi Haneda who was curled up by the sink due to the effects of the APTX4869 drug.

Hiroji Haneda had a painful expression on his face, beads of sweat the size of beans covered his forehead, and his body was shaking uncontrollably.

Rum raised a cold arc at the corner of his mouth: "The teacup placed next to the washbasin is stained with the same color lipstick as Amanda's. This is the evidence that Amanda has been here.

She must have brought Asaka with her as a bodyguard at the time, but you didn't tell us about Asaka, so you were wrong, okay?

Originally, I used this poison to see if you would eventually die, but let tomorrow's news tell me what happened to you and Amanda."

After saying that, Rum turned around and looked at the group of men behind him. With a stern look in his eyes, he ordered: "Let's retreat before the police find this place. We'll come back to look for Asaka later!"

The men shouted in unison: "Yes."

Then he hurriedly followed Rum and left Hiroshi Haneda's room.

Haneda Hiroshi endured the severe pain in his body, with only one thought in his mind: "I need to find a way to leave a message about those people. Oh, and use the makeup mirror my mother gave me."

He stretched out his hand with difficulty and took out the makeup mirror from his body. He seized this last moment and tried his best to leave clues.

In the hotel corridor, Kuroda Beibei had just learned from the waiter that Haneda Hiroshi was in room 1502 and was walking towards this side quickly.

From afar, he saw a group of people in black clothes walking hurriedly towards the elevator. He felt something was wrong and quickly hid in a nearby corner.

After the elevator door closed, he walked out from the corner, his mind full of doubts: "What's going on with those people?"

Just as he was about to walk towards room 1502, he happened to see a man in black coming out of the room. The man was cleaning the fingerprints on the door handle. There was also a large suitcase next to the door, which looked quite suspicious.

Kurodabei's eyes narrowed, he took a step forward, put one hand on the door, and said in a serious tone: "I don't think you look like a friend of Haneda Meijin."

The subordinate was startled by the sudden sound. He raised his head and looked at him suddenly, with a trace of panic in his eyes. Then he took out a pistol from his arms and pointed the gun at Kuroda Heibei, intending to kill him directly to prevent future trouble.

Kuroda Bei reacted very quickly. He grabbed the subordinate's wrist with his left hand and then hit the man's chin with his right hand. There was a dull sound, and the subordinate collapsed to the ground and fainted.

Kuroda Heibei looked at his unconscious subordinate with a frown on his face. "Is he an accomplice of the gangsters in the bathroom?"

Just at this moment, he heard the sound of gurgling water coming from the bathroom. He felt more and more that something was wrong, so he walked into the room and opened the bathroom door.

When he saw Haneda Hiroshi lying on the ground and already dead, he quickly stepped forward to hold up Haneda Hiroshi's upper body and shouted loudly: "Master Haneda!"

But Haneda Hiroshi didn't respond, and Kuroda Bei looked annoyed: "Damn it, I'm late."

He gently placed Hiroji Haneda on the ground and began to inspect the crime scene.

The mess in the bathroom formed a sharp contrast with the room outside. His doubts grew even stronger. "Huh? Unlike Amanda's room, this bathroom is the only one in the celebrity's room that is so weirdly messy. Did the celebrity deliberately mess up the scene to hide some message?"

His eyes fell on the scissors and makeup mirror mixed in with the broken tableware, and he always felt a sense of incongruity.

Looking at the washbasin again, the faucet was still on and the water was flowing. He wondered, "Did he cut the mirror into pieces in the water and then stick it back on the backboard? This makeup mirror is a popular style recently. I remember the words on it were PUT ON MASCARA, so the letters that were cut off must be..."

Suddenly, a noise came from the living room, interrupting Kurodabei's thoughts. He poked his head out cautiously, only to see the books in the bookcase scattered all over the floor, and a figure slowly crawled out from inside, it was Asaka.

To be continued...