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

"What?" Kogoro Mouri widened his eyes.

Officer Yamato sneered, "He knew we would look for him after the avalanche, so he arranged all this in advance. Now he must think I'm buried under the snow."

Conan held his chin in his hand and thought: "If he thinks you are dead, he will be even more unscrupulous next time."

"That's right." Officer Yamato looked at Kazami, "Kazami, you've come just in time, do me a favor."

Kazami immediately stood at attention: "Please give me your orders."

"I'm going to 'disappear' temporarily." Officer Yamato's eyes swept across the snow around them. "Tell the public that they haven't found any trace of me, and let everyone think that I've been killed. I'll hide nearby and observe until the criminal reveals his true identity."

Kudo Yuki immediately understood his intention: "You want to take advantage of his trick and expose him?"

"That's right." Officer Yamato nodded. "Since he spent so much effort designing the avalanche, there must be follow-up actions. We have to keep quiet now, so that we can catch him."

Maori Kogoro stroked his chin and became serious for once: "That's a good idea! Let the criminal let down his guard!"

Conan also nodded in agreement: "I will cooperate with you and catch the criminal."

Feng Jian quickly understood: "I will deal with the traces at the scene and keep a unified tone to the outside world."

After a simple division of labor among the few people, Kazami began to clean up the traces around that might expose Officer Yamato's location, while Conan ran to "report" the arriving rescue team, pretending to be disappointed and saying that Officer Yamato was not found. Mouri Kogoro and Kudo Yuki cooperated to show regret and anxiety.

Officer Yamato's fingertips moved rapidly on the phone screen, his eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings before he pressed the send button. The text message was concise but contained instructions:

Yui, cooperate with me in the play. Tell the public that I plan to spread the news that I died in an avalanche to expose the criminal. Follow this story and don't make any mistakes.

When the notification of successful sending popped up, he had already hidden in the black car with the help of Yuya Kazami, staring at the only path leading down the mountain. A hunt of waiting for the prey to be caught quietly began.

In the office of the Nagano Prefectural Police Headquarters, the heating was turned on high, but Mao Lilan was holding her mobile phone. The screen lit up and dimmed. Finally, she took a deep breath and her fingertips danced quickly on the keyboard:

Shinichi, I'm at the Nagano Prefectural Police Station now. I just heard from Officer Ogino that there was an avalanche over there and the situation seems very serious... Are you, Sister Xue, and Dad all okay?

I'm waiting here for news that you're safe, waiting for you to tell me that everything is over and that you are all well.

Please reply to me quickly, even if it's just one word.

Xiaolan

Not long after the message was sent, familiar footsteps were heard at the end of the corridor, mixed with the slightly loud voice of Kogoro Mori.

"Conan!"

"Uncle Maori!"

"Sister Xue!"

The three little ones shouted in unison and ran towards the corridor entrance in unison. When they ran in front of Kogoro Mouri, they stumbled due to inertia.

Maori Kogoro was stunned by this scene: "I'm sorry, I made you worry."

"Dad." Mao Lilan raised her head and walked over quickly. Seeing that her father was safe and sound, her frown finally relaxed and the worry in her eyes gradually dissipated.

Maori Kogoro stepped forward, patted his chest, and said in a confident tone: "We are all fine. If I, your father, take action, is there anything that cannot be solved?"

"Sorry, I'm back late." Conan stood aside, the sunlight shining on his face, and the lenses reflected a faint light.

Huihara Ai picked up two cups of freshly brewed black tea from the table, walked in front of the siblings, and handed them the cups: "Come on, Sister Xue and Conan, have a cup of black tea, it's freshly brewed."

"Thank you, Ai." Kudo Yuki took the tea, and a warm feeling spread along her fingertips. The rich aroma of the tea spread in her mouth, and she immediately reminded Conan, "It's very hot, drink carefully."

Conan took the teacup and nodded: "Got it, Sister Xue."

Maori Kogoro looked at Officer Yui who was holding a steaming coffee cup and asked, "How are Morifushi Keimitsu and Mr. Kagekawa?"

"They are not in danger of death." Officer Yui's expression softened. "By the way, Agan... I mean, where is Officer Yamato?"

Conan responded: "The rescue team is looking for him."

Hasebe Rikuo walked over with the report in his hand, stroking his chin. "By the way, the fragment of the criminal's glove bitten off by the child turned out to be deerskin. The Scientific Investigation Institute is testing it..."

Before she finished her words, Sato Miwako was panting and holding onto the door frame: "Just now... the rescue team contacted me. Officer Yamato has been found."

Everyone in the room smiled upon hearing the news.

Sato Miwako adjusted her breathing and said, "Before we could send him to the hospital, Officer Yamato...was confirmed dead."

The paper cup of coffee in Officer Yui's hand fell to the ground, and the coffee spilled on the ground. She seemed to have lost her support and knelt on the ground: "You are lying, you are lying."

Seeing this, Mao Lilan stepped forward to comfort her.

Officer Yui couldn't stop her tears from falling, crying out, "Aghan! Aghan!"

In the black car, Yuya Kazami was wearing a headset and heard a woman crying through the bug on the inside of Conan's collar, and was at a loss for a moment.

Officer Yamato also rubbed his temple and sighed: "You're crying too much, it's bound to be exposed."

At this time, Maori Kogoro cursed from the eavesdropping device: "Damn it, Yamato is dead now too."

"Hey, hey, you're crying too much." Officer Yamato did the same, rubbing his temples, "It's going to be exposed, it's definitely going to be exposed."

And from the eavesdropping device came the curse of Maori Kogoro: "Damn it, Yamato is dead now too."

Only after Officer Yui's crying subsided did everyone leave the Nagano Prefectural Police Headquarters.

After arriving at Zenkoji Temple, Maori Kogoro sat alone on the steps and thought: "There must have been something that the criminal didn't want others to see in the avalanche ten months ago."

Ogino Ayami looked at his serious expression and speculated, "So that's why Officer Yamato, who witnessed the incident, and Inspector Sametani, who started the investigation, were killed."

"Get lost!" Maori Kogoro cursed in a low voice, "Didn't this let the criminal succeed? This was a battle for revenge for the crocodile, but the result is... one more death."

Mao Lilan asked: "Dad, I've always wanted to ask, why do you call him crocodile?"

"Yes, the shark is obviously a shark." Officer Takagi agreed.

Maori Kogoro explained: "In his hometown, people call sharks crocodiles."

Kudo Yuki asked, "Where is Mr. Sametani's hometown?"

"His hometown? I forgot." replied Kogoro Mori.

The brother and sister noticed that Yuya Kazami, who was leaning against the wall, seemed to be eavesdropping, so they nodded to him.

The three of them then sat down on the bench, and Kazami Yuya spoke first: "In the records of people holding hunting licenses in Nagano Prefecture, there is a name worth paying attention to."

"Sure enough, there are clues." Conan responded while holding the tablet, and then raised his eyes to look at Feng Jian, "Can you help me check this person's household registration information?"

Feng Jianyuya bent his back slightly and sighed: "You really know how to assign tasks to people."

Kudo Yuki took the tablet and looked through it for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "I hope this person is related to Washito Ryu."

She returned the tablet to Conan, glanced at the sugar-free coffee in Yuya Kazami's hand, and chuckled: "Oh, then you can slowly rely on coffee to refresh yourself. Conan, we'll go back first."

Conan followed Kudo Yuki and turned to leave. After walking a few steps, he looked back at Kazami - the other party was reluctantly unscrewing the cap of the coffee bottle, but he immediately took out his cell phone and started dialing, obviously ready to check the household registration.

When the brother and sister reached the middle of the bridge, the phone in Conan's pocket suddenly vibrated.

The three words "Amuro Toru" jumping on the screen made him raise an eyebrow. When he picked up the phone, his fingertips unconsciously rubbed the rust on the railing: "Hello?"

"The bug is just there?" Amuro Toru's voice came through the receiver. In the background, there was the sound of people crossing the street. "Kazami's monitoring skills are not that covert."

"Since it was Mr. Kazami who was monitoring us, it can't be something unimportant." Conan looked up at the ends of Kudo Yuki's hair that were blown by the wind, and said with certainty, "Inspector Sametani's case, and the avalanche accident ten months ago - you commissioned that investigation, right? Hand it over to Inspector Sametani of the Secret Public Security Bureau."

"You heard this from Kazami, right?"

"He didn't say that." Conan chuckled, tapping his fingertips on the railing to create a brisk rhythm. "But the details of Sametani avoiding avalanches every time he mentioned them made it more certain."

There was a very light breathing sound coming from the other end of the phone, and Toru Amuro seemed to be weighing something.

Conan didn't stop, and continued: "The question is why you... No, why did the National Police Agency entrust this matter to Inspector Sametani to investigate? This must be the criminal's motive, right? This is probably related to the judicial transaction that is currently stalled in the congressional review. What is happening in the island country?"

"These are not your concerns." Toru Amuro's tone became a little colder, with the unique indifference of the public security.

"What if I have found the criminal?" Conan's fingertips suddenly stopped at the groove of the railing, and his voice became deeper.

The silence on the other end of the phone was prolonged by the crackling sound of electricity. When Amuro Toru's voice sounded again, it was sharp and unnoticeable: "Are you sure?"

"At least we can be sure that it is among those who participated in the follow-up handling of the avalanche." Conan looked down at the endless stream of car lights under the bridge, "Inspector Sametani's investigation must have found something that he shouldn't have - for example, someone used judicial transactions to cover up the truth of the case, and Sametani's existence has become a threat."

"..." Amuro Toru's breathing sound came through the receiver, "Conan, there are some things you shouldn't interfere with."

"But the criminal has already taken action, hasn't he?" Conan's tone suddenly became serious, "The death of Inspector Sametani, Mr. Kazami's attempt to find out the truth of the case through wiretapping, and the criminal's deliberate obstruction... Mr. Amuro, when you commissioned Sametani to investigate, didn't you have a premonition that these would be involved?"

The breathing on the other end of the phone paused for half a second, and then came Amuro's low voice, with the unique coldness of a public security police: "Premonition? Investigation itself means risk."

Conan raised his eyebrows, and the frequency of his fingertips tapping on the railing increased by half a second. "Risk? When Mr. Amuro assigned Inspector Sametani to investigate, he probably expected that the 'ES Dark Amber' project was involved behind this, right? The researcher who disappeared in the avalanche accident happened to be in charge of the neurofeedback module of the brainwashing device, didn't he?"

There was a very light sneer from the other end of the phone, and Amuro Toru's voice was shrouded in coldness: "It seems that you have checked more than I thought."

"Who told some people to always hide clues like they were buried in the snow." Conan turned to look at Kudo Yuki, "Sister, do you have any clues about the four-digit combination lock of Nagano Trading? We were supposed to watch the stars at Nobeyama Observatory last night."

Hearing this, Kudo Yuki turned around and reached out to Conan. She pressed her fingertips lightly on the phone Conan handed over and put the receiver to her ear: "Toru, after Samedani's case is solved, how about going to the planetarium to watch the replay of the Orionid meteor shower? Maybe we can find a four-digit clue."

Kudo Yuki put the phone to her ear and said, "Toru, after Inspector Sametani's case is solved, how about watching the replay of the Orionid meteor shower at the planetarium to find the four-digit password?"

Toru Amuro was silent for a moment on the other end of the phone, as if he was weighing something.

"The meteor shower replay at the planetarium?" His tone was a little playful. "You really know how to pick a time."

"After all, location clues will never lie." Kudo Yuki hung up the phone.

When the bell of Zenkoji Temple rang through the twilight, Mao Lilan was standing on tiptoe and looking around in the crowd: "Where on earth did Conan and Sister Xue go?"

"Don't worry," Ogino Ayami stood beside her, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the phone case - it was given by Hagiwara Kenji, with a starry sky pattern printed on it, "the two of them may be back soon."

As soon as she finished speaking, Mao Lilan's phone suddenly vibrated. She swiped the screen and found that it was a message from Conan's number, but it was not for her, but for Mao Li Kogoro to forward to her.

Mao Lilan read it word by word, her brows gradually furrowed, and then she quickly found Mao Li Kogoro who was drooling at the grilled rice cracker stand not far away, and handed the phone to him: "Dad, it was Shinichi who forwarded Conan's text message."

Maori Kogoro muttered, "What the hell is that brat up to again?" He took the phone and glanced at it. His originally nonchalant expression froze instantly:

Regarding the Nagano incident, I heard from Xiaolan about the incident at Higaya Park and the connection to Nagano. Inspector Sametani was your good friend when you were a detective, and I feel deeply sorry for him. After investigation, I have found the truth of the case and now share it with you. - Kudo Shinichi

"That Kudo kid?" Kogoro Mori tapped his finger on the screen and looked up in the direction of Zenkoji Temple in the distance. The outline of the bell tower was blurred in the twilight.

The image of Sametani Koji always having a stern face but secretly giving him hangover pills when they worked together at the Metropolitan Police Department suddenly appeared in front of him. His Adam's apple moved, and he said in a hoarse voice: "This kid... is more reliable than some people."

Seeing his expression darken, Ogino Ayami said softly, "Since Kudo said he found the truth, he should be sure of it. Maybe... he can help Inspector Sametani solve the case."

Kogoro Mouri didn't say anything, but just clenched his phone and rubbed the name "Kudo Shinichi" repeatedly with his fingertips.

The bell of Zenko-ji Temple rang again, and this time, as if carrying some heavy expectations, it blended into the deepening night of Nagano Prefecture.

To be continued...