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

After listening to Toru Amuro's analysis, Kudo Yuki murmured softly, "Hmm," and ended the call. She looked up and saw that the situation in the living room had changed again.

"So, you two are not only neighbors of the late game writer Mr. Zhou Chuan," Shiratori's gaze wandered over Atobe Michiya and Wu Jingyou, "but you both knew him, right?"

I guess so." Atobe Michiya shrugged, his tone flat.

"We've just met a few times at offline gaming events." Wu Jingyou quickly agreed, but his eyes were a little evasive.

"So, do you know who might be holding a grudge against Mr. Zhou Chuan?" Officer Shiratori asked.

"That's a lot." Wu Jingyou seemed to have found a breakthrough, and his tone became lighter. "Mr. Zhou Chuan is very harsh when he comments on games he doesn't like."

"But this is also why he is popular." Atobe Michiya added, as if trying to ease the atmosphere.

The two continued to explain the suspicious points at the scene to the police.

"But was this really murder?" Wu Jingyou questioned. "That suicide note written in erasable marker might have been deliberately arranged because he thought suicide was too boring."

"That's right!" Atobe Michiya nodded immediately. "The safety chain on the entrance door was also securely fastened. If Zhou Chuan had hanged himself and then committed suicide, that would make sense... And most importantly, when the music started playing loudly in this room, I was livestreaming a game, and my viewers heard the sound!"

"Me too!" Wu Jingyou said immediately, "If the safety chain had been hung at that time, wouldn't that prove it was suicide?"

Officer Chiba reluctantly took over the conversation: "That's right..."

At this moment, Conan, who was hiding behind him, was standing on tiptoe, fiddling with the speakers on the table curiously.

Just as everyone was arguing, an extremely sharp sound of electricity was heard. Everyone was startled by the sudden noise and the conversation came to an abrupt end.

Everyone's attention was instantly focused on Conan.

Sato Miwako immediately walked over quickly and asked sternly, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry!" Conan quickly lowered his head, looking as if he had done something wrong, and raised the headphones in his hand. "I wanted to listen to some music with the headphones... but the headphone wire was tied up, too short, and the plug couldn't reach the speaker. So I put my finger in there and tried to pull the wire out a little..."

Before he finished speaking, the eyes of the three police officers, Sato, Shiratori and Chiba, lit up at the same time, as if they had figured something out in an instant.

Miwako Sato was the first to react and pointed at the speakers and headphones.

"I see! The killer plugged the headphones into the speaker and played music at a very high volume. Then, he threaded a fishing line through the bundle of headphone wires. If he pulled the fishing line from outside the door, the headphone plug would be ripped off, and the speaker would blast out loud music!"

Kudo Yuki, standing nearby, echoed this line, adding, "As long as the fishing line is long enough, even if you two live in the next room, you can easily do it in your own room and make the music play in this room. Afterwards, just grab the other end of the fishing line and slowly reel it back in, and you can remove it without leaving a trace."

Her eyes swept over Atobe Michiya and Wu Jingyou, and their faces turned pale at the same moment.

Wakasa Rumi, standing at the gate, placed her fingertips lightly on Wakita Kensuke's shoulder. She looked toward the center of the living room, a meaningful smile playing on her lips. "Ah! It seems a mystery has been solved. It seems this incident can be brought to checkmate in just two or three moves, right?"

She turned her head to look at Wakita Kensuke beside her, her eyes deliberately probing, and her voice lowered a little: "Speaking of which, shogi... don't you like it?"

These words were like a fine needle, just piercing the air.

Suddenly, a subtle but clear electronic sound came from the inside pocket of Wakita Kensuke's shirt. It was the sound of the communicator.

The bodyguard's anxious voice came through the receiver: "Lord Rum, please give us instructions! The situation has changed, Lord Rum!"

Wakita Kensuke's face darkened instantly. He subconsciously wanted to press his pocket, but Wakasa Rumi's hand on his shoulder did not move at all.

He could even feel that Wakasa Rumi's fingertips seemed to have slightly increased the force, as if giving a silent warning.

Wakita Kanenori did not dare to act rashly and could only quickly glance around with the corner of his eyes.

As far as I could see, Kudo Yuki was looking towards the gate with a confused look on her face, as if she had just heard an inexplicable sound.

Kudo Yuki did hear the entire conversation between the two. Her heart sank slightly, but she didn't show any flaws on her face.

She tilted her head slightly, her eyes shifting between Wakasa Rumi and Wakita Kensuke, her tone filled with confusion: "Was there a strange noise just now? What were you talking about?"

The smile on Wakasa Rumi's face remained unchanged, her hand still on Wakita Kensuke's shoulder, and she even patted it gently, as if comforting a nervous friend.

She smiled and tried to smooth things over: "Nothing, I was just saying that the reasoning in the living room was very interesting. But you, did you seem to have thought of something key just now?"

Wakasa Rumi deliberately brought the topic back to the case, not only to help Wakita Kanenori out of the predicament, but also to declare a subtle control through the gesture of patting his shoulder.

A barely perceptible trace of sweat formed on Wakita Kensuke's forehead. Taking advantage of the moment when everyone's attention turned to Kudo Yuki, he whispered, "Instructions later," into the communicator on his collar in a low, almost inaudible voice.

Then he raised his head, his usual gentle smile on his face: "Officer Sato and Miss Kudo's analysis just now was indeed very interesting."

In the living room, Wu Jingyou and Atobe Michiya followed the reasoning clues of the case and looked towards the entrance door.

"Yes, but..."

“It really is wearing a safety chain.”

Seeing that his view was blocked by the two people, Conan squatted down, took out a white handkerchief and carefully wrapped the fragments of the lock he had found on the floor. He deliberately raised the tone and reminded: "Oh, this is strange, the fragments of the safety chain actually fell here!"

He picked up the evidence, stood up, looked towards the door, and asked innocently, "Did the water splash here when the safety chain on the entrance door...broke?"

Conan looked up at Cameron, his eyes carrying subtle guidance: "But when Mr. Anton and Mr. Wakita opened the door together, the safety chain broke and pulled the door outward, right?"

"Yeah." Cameron nodded in agreement, although he hadn't fully caught up with Conan's train of thought.

"So, the fragments of the safety chain shouldn't have fallen into the room, right?

After hearing this, Wu Jingyou and Atobe Michiya's faces changed slightly and they quickly opened their mouths to try to explain.

"Could it have splashed onto Anton's clothes and gotten caught, and then fallen to the ground after he entered the room?"

"Or maybe he kicked the debris away."

Cameron rubbed his chin, lost in thought. "Speaking of breaking the safety chain, the first time I did it, I definitely didn't find the right position. The second time... the second time, I didn't seem to feel much resistance."

Atobe Michiya frowned slightly, his tone filled with uncertainty: "The safety chain is on, right? I clearly heard a clang when the door opened."

"But..." Cameron was about to say something but was interrupted by Conan.

Conan ran to the front of the speakers, laptop and a bunch of electronic devices, opened the glass door with a "clatter", and deliberately made a noise.

When everyone heard the voice, they subconsciously looked towards him.

Kudo Yuki's attention was not on Conan, but on Michiya Atobe's zipper. She knew that Conan was looking for a breakthrough, and that seemingly insignificant detail might be the key to solving the mystery.

Conan pretended to be hit and covered his knee: "It hurts."

He struggled to hold onto the glass door and gave an awkward smile: "I was trying to put the headphones back on the equipment rack, and I hit my knee when I opened the glass door."

Officer Shiratori picked up Conan helplessly and said, "You, please don't destroy the scene without permission."

Conan was anxious and helpless, and was stopped from expressing his thoughts. He could only grin and look at Officer Shiratori with a smile, but there was a hint of cunning and eagerness hidden deep in his eyes.

After Conan reminded Cameron, a light bulb went off in his head and he instantly understood the secret: "Yes! The safety chain had actually been broken at that time! What we saw was just a chain stuck on the door with tape or something to pretend to fix it!

Just draw a line to mark the location of the door that the fake chain can open. When you open the door, place your foot under the door according to the mark, and the door will not open. It will look like there is a real safety chain hanging on it!

Kudo Yuki turned around, her eyes locked on Atobe Michiya who was standing behind Cameron, and said, "The only person who could have done this was Mr. Atobe who was standing on the right side of the door at that time! It was only you, right?"

Michiya Atobe was shocked all over, with a look of shock on his face, his mouth slightly open, and his eyes flickering. He obviously did not expect that he would be suddenly identified.

Officer Shiratori followed Cameron's line of thought and the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. "I see. First, hang up a real safety chain, then use a longer stick in the room to leverage it. That way, the broken pieces of the safety chain will fly everywhere, leaving you no time to retrieve them!"

Michiya Atobe forced himself to remain calm and immediately retorted, "But the crime happened between an hour and a half and two hours ago. At that time, I was actually doing a live broadcast of 'Moe Moe Memories'! My viewers can attest to that!"

Officer Chiba's thoughts were also opened up, and he said excitedly, "I just realized that otome games are simulation games where you can achieve love by choosing the right options in famous scenes. As long as you remember which options you chose, you can complete the game without watching the pictures, just by listening to the audio!"

The audience's real-time comments can be converted into audio playback, and you can respond immediately just by listening. You can even pretend to be playing a game!"

Wu Jingyou added: "Yes, action games cannot be played without looking at the graphics, but otome games can be played."

"But, but..." Atobe Michiya hesitated for a moment, as if grasping at the last straw, "Mr. Policeman, didn't you also say that? When the deceased was hung, there was no sign of resistance on his neck! How could I have done this while he was conscious?"

Sato Miwako stepped forward and gave the answer: "If you use drugs to make the victim fall asleep, wouldn't that be easy to do?"

"Ah!" The blood color on Atobe Michiya's face faded instantly, as if he had not expected this at all.

Miwako Sato continued, "They put on a sweatshirt that was easy to put on and take off while the victim was sleeping, tied him up with tape all over his body, and then hung him up, so that he wouldn't show any signs of resistance.

After he's hanged, you can calmly remove the tape and the sweatshirt so there's no evidence left."

"In other words, this is how you committed the crime, right?" Officer Shiratori linked all the details of the crime together to form a complete logical chain.

Atobe Michiya lowered his head unwillingly and said nothing, but his clenched fists revealed his emotions.

Officer Shiratori looked at him and spoke slowly, as if reconstructing the entire process of the crime.

"First, you drug the victim to sleep. Then, you break the security lock on the entryway, plug your headphones into a stereo, turn up the volume, and thread fishing line through the headphone harness.

Next, you pick up the victim who is tied up with tape, put the rope loop tied to the horizontal bar around his neck, and make him wake up and stand on the step stool.

That way, you can hang him remotely at the time you want. Afterwards, you can start live streaming the game from the victim's room to create an alibi."

Kudo Yuki looked at the WIFI and various connecting cables in the house.

"This should be able to connect to the wireless network in your own room next door, making it convenient for you to operate. Of course, to prevent the victim from shouting for help, you also put tape on his mouth!"

Officer Shiratori nodded and continued, "You took his footstool and killed him while you were in the game playing a haunted house scene full of screams and groans, using the noise to cover up any sounds that might occur.

After that, you just have to recycle the sweatshirt and tape, hang the fake security chain on the entryway door, and you can go back to your room.

Finally, you pulled the pre-set mechanism, causing the victim's room to start playing loud music, and used this as an excuse to ask someone to open the door, performing the same 'unable to open the door' trick from earlier."

Atobe Michiya suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with anger and unwillingness. He was still making a final struggle: "If that's the case, where is the fake safety chain? If you can't find evidence, you can't wrongly accuse me!"

Conan pretended to have accidentally discovered a new world and pointed his little hand at Michiya Atobe's waist.

"Oh my! Big Brother, are there more chains around your waist? I remember there were only two at the beginning, but how come there are three now? Why?"

Sato Miwako reacted quickly, squatting down to carefully examine Michiya Atobe's chains. She picked up one of them, twisted it with her gloved fingers, and carefully examined the joints of the chain. Then she looked up at Kudo Yuki.

The two exchanged confirming glances, and everything was said without words.

Miwako Sato stood up. "While everyone was in the room, their attention drawn to the body, you removed the fake safety chain and hung it around your waist, trying to mix it in with the decorative chains you usually wear! The material and broken ends of this chain are exactly the same as the fragments we found at the scene!"

Kudo Yuki looked at Officer Sato and silently admired: "As expected of Miwako, she reacts really quickly."

Miwako Sato also nodded slightly, as if to express her approval of her cooperation.

To be continued...