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

The light from the doorway was cut off by the figures of Domoto Kyosuke and Kondo Hideho, both of whom were looking into the house with frowns on their faces.

"Hey, what was that scream just now?

"Did something unexpected happen in this room?"

Conan looked at the anxious expressions of the two men and instantly came to a conclusion in his heart: "As expected, the two people the reporters are waiting for are actor Mr. Domoto and Councillor Kondo!"

Before he could speak, Kudo Yuki had already walked quickly to the door, only a few steps away from the two of them, and lightly reminded them: "It is recommended not to come in before the police arrive. The murder scene cannot withstand any damage."

Domoto Kyosuke paused as he leaned into the room, his expression a look of unconcealed shock. He quickly adjusted his expression, suppressing the panic in his eyes.

Kondo Hideho widened his eyes in disbelief, then quickly glanced at Domoto Kyosuke beside him.

The two looked at each other briefly.

There was a look of inquiry in Domoto Kyosuke's eyes, as he was obviously trying to judge whether this murder would affect his reputation; Kondo Hideho's eyes flickered, as he was more likely to quickly weigh the pros and cons, fearing that this murder would expose his own secrets.

Sera Masumi raised her hand to signal the two of them, lowering her voice slightly: "Sister Xue, Conan, come here."

The brother and sister walked quickly to the body.

Sera Masumi put his hands in his pockets and looked at the items beside the body. "The deceased's posture was strange, but even more unusual was the calculator that fell beside him. Not only was there a '0' written in blood on it, but it was also followed by a string of completely incomprehensible numbers. What does this mean?"

Conan squatted down, staring at the blood-stained calculator behind his glasses.

The edge of the "0" formed by the bloodstain has become slightly black, and the eight numbers " " that follow it look like a string of irregular codes, which are weird.

Kudo Yuki lightly touched the screen of her mobile phone with her fingertips and dialed the police.

Soon, Inspector Megure and Ayami Ogino arrived at the scene and immediately launched an investigation.

Masumi Sera walked out of the room with her cell phone, called Ran Mouri, and briefly explained the situation on the scene.

"What?! Another murder? You, Sister Xue, and Conan are all here?" On the other end of the phone, Mouri Ran's voice was full of surprise.

Suzuki Sonoko's voice followed, a bit hurriedly: "Didn't you go back to the restaurant to get the things you forgot to bring? Why are you there?"

"No, actually... I remembered who that journalist named Ogasawara was, so I wanted to go look for him in his room, but he wasn't there. Then he said, 'I forgot my phone in the room,' and came back with his female companion, saying, 'I'll go get my phone, wait for me.' So, Sister Xue, Conan, and I waited for him in the corridor, and..."

Sera Masumi's voice paused and his tone became deeper.

"What happened while we were waiting for him?" Mao Lilan guessed what would happen next in an instant, and her voice couldn't help but become tense.

Suzuki Sonoko leaned over to the phone and raised her voice suddenly. "So someone really was killed?! Was it that reporter?"

Sera Masumi held the phone and said in a deep voice: "Yes, the deceased is Ogasawara. It was too late when we rushed in."

Suzuki Sonoko took a deep breath, and even Mouri Ran's breathing became clearly audible.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sera Masumi caught a glimpse of Kudo Yuki giving him a look, and he hurriedly said, "The police have arrived. I'll tell you when I have news."

Then he hung up the phone.

Inspector Megure frowned, his eyes sweeping over the blood-stained calculator next to the body. He said in a deep voice, "So that's how it is. You waited in the corridor for more than ten minutes, and when he didn't come out, you used the spare room card to enter the room, and then you found the body of journalist Mr. Ogasawara, right? Conan!"

"Yeah." Conan looked up at Sera Masumi behind him and added, "Mr. Ogasawara seemed to know Sera-sister, and told her to contact him if she remembered, so we came to his room specially."

Sera Masumi nodded in agreement, but his gaze fell on Nomura Rina. His tone was scrutinizing. "The first person to enter the room was the lady with the spare door card. We rushed in and found the body after hearing her screams. There were no other suspicious people around the body at the time, right?"

"Yeah, there were only four of us at the scene." Nomura quickly replied, "Speaking of which, I'm considered a relatively well-known person."

Ogino Ayami followed up on her question, "If Miss Nomura, who shared the room with the deceased, doesn't count, why are you all here?"

"That lady must have heard it! Mr. Ogasawara blackmailed me with a certain photo!" Kondo Hideho spoke immediately, pointing at Nomura Rina, as if trying to clear himself.

"Me too!" Domoto Kyosuke took over, his face full of fear. "He said if you don't want your photo published, you have to pay."

"Everyone has their own situation. We will question them one by one later." Ogino Ayami pressed her hand, trying to maintain order at the scene, and then turned her gaze to the corpse.

Inspector Megure crouched down, carefully examining the body, his tone puzzled. "Speaking of which, this body is indeed strange... Its right hand is tightly gripping the chair leg, and there's a calculator next to it. Not only is there a '0' written in blood on the calculator, but the display also has the string of numbers ''."

"Could it be an accident?" Ogino Ayami looked up at the top of the cabinet and speculated, "The broken vase on the floor was originally placed on this cabinet, right? Perhaps he bumped into the cabinet when he bent down to pick up the calculator, and the vase fell and hit him on the head, causing the accident."

"It's also possible that someone deliberately placed a calculator with strange numbers on it next to him to create an accident." Sera Masumi immediately retorted, staring intently at Nomura Rina. "For example, was it a premeditated murder planned by Ms. Nomura Rina?"

"What?!" Nomura's voice rose in shock. After recovering from his shock, he immediately asked, "Why do you suspect me?"

Sera Masumi gave a knowing smile and analyzed logically, "You shared a room with the deceased, so you had every opportunity to set up a trap to make the vase fall. There was a small gap between your scream and our entry, enough time for you to conceal the traces of the trap."

"You are making up a false accusation!" Nomura frowned, his tone filled with anger.

"So, it's impossible for us to have committed the crime?" Domoto Kyosuke spoke hurriedly, trying to take the opportunity to remove the suspicion.

"Yes, we were waiting outside the door the whole time!" Kondo Hidehide nodded in agreement, but his eyes were a little evasive.

Conan walked to the door and looked up at the two men: "Uncles, you can do it too, right?"

"Ah?" Domoto Kyosuke and Kondo Hideho were both stunned, pretending to be confused.

"You took advantage of the fact that Miss Nomura entered the room first and waited for me, Sister Sera, and Sister Xue to come over. The door was open, right?" Conan explained clearly, "In this case, you can hide behind the door."

"That's right." Kudo Yuki added, following her train of thought, "As long as you somehow sneak into the room, kill Mr. Ogasawara who comes back to get his phone, and then hide behind the door. When we hear the screams and rush in to see what's going on, you can take the opportunity to slip out and pretend to have just arrived."

Inspector Megure stood up and said in a deep voice, "Anyway, let's question them individually in order, starting with the person who first discovered the body—Miss Nomura Rina."

"Okay." Nomura Rina nodded in response.

Ogino Ayami pulled the investigative report from her pocket, flipped open a page, and asked, "We went to the newspaper where Mr. Ogasawara works to investigate. His wife went to Atami Onsen with a friend yesterday. So, what is your relationship with him?"

"Let me be frank. I'm a former sex idol and his mistress," Nomura Rina admitted frankly, her tone tinged with self-mockery. "He's been refusing to divorce his wife, and I was planning to break up with him anyway."

"It is said that Mr. Ogasawara came back to get his cell phone. Does this happen often?" Inspector Megure continued to ask, his eyes becoming serious.

Nomura shrugged casually, "He's a journalist. He never leaves his company-issued work phone, but he always leaves his personal phone and cigarettes lying around, even though they contain important photos."

"What about the photo used for blackmail?" Inspector Megure crossed his arms, his tone warning, his eyes fixed on her.

"He refused to show it to me," Nomura Rinan broke the news. "He just said he wanted to use it in a report, but the editor-in-chief stopped him for some reason."

"Could it be that one of those two people put pressure on the newspaper?" Ogino Ayami put away the investigation report and asked.

"Probably not." Nomura Rina shook his head in denial, "If that were the case, the editor-in-chief would definitely contact him."

"Did those two people intend to pay at that time?" Sera Masumi came forward with curiosity in his tone.

"Who knows? They don't do things in a happy way." Nomura Rinna suddenly paused, as if remembering something. "Oh, that politician—Kondo Hideho—was the one who said, 'My throat is so thirsty, give me a bottle of water from the refrigerator.' He accidentally knocked over the bottle, spilling it all over Ogasawara. He apologized for a long time afterwards."

"You didn't see it with your own eyes, did you?" Kudo Yuki caught the key information and asked immediately.

"I was taking a shower at that time and only heard the noise outside." Nomura Rina answered truthfully.

"Come to think of it, the corpse's trouser legs were indeed a little wet." Sera Masumi said thoughtfully.

"This is worth investigating." Conan immediately responded.

Ogino Ayami nodded and said, "Okay, I'll contact the police station that received the body and ask them to conduct a thorough inspection."

"Did the other visitor, Mr. Kyosuke Domoto, behave in any strange way?" Inspector Megure continued questioning, not missing any details.

Nomura paused for a moment, then slowly spoke, "He said he felt sick and wanted to use the restroom. I had just finished showering, so I let him use the bathroom. Something strange... Ogasawara had said he wanted to shower before leaving, but then he said, 'I'd better shower when I get back,' and left right away. I don't know if that counts."

"By the way, did you see those two people leave the room?" Inspector Megure asked in a serious tone.

"When Kondo Shufeng left, I was still in the shower. I only heard the door slam shut. I watched Domoto Kyosuke from the moment he left the room until he closed the door and left."

Nomura Rina answered without the slightest hesitation.

The door of the interrogation room was pushed open, and Inspector Megure signaled the police officer to bring Kondo Hideho in.

When Kondo Hidehide walked in, the chair legs made a sound when he sat down.

Inspector Megure, who was sitting opposite him, quickly passed by Conan in the corner and Masumi Sera who was standing with his arms folded, and finally landed on the notebook in front of him.

"Mr. Kondo," Inspector Megure spoke first, "Please tell us in detail about how Mr. Ogasawara blackmailed you with the photo."

Hearing the word "blackmail," Kondo Shufeng's shoulders trembled slightly, but he immediately forced himself to remain calm: "I did ask him for a bottle of water yesterday - I stayed here the day before, and I talked too much at the hotel fan meeting last night, and my throat has been dry ever since."

"I heard that the bottle of water was spilled?" Inspector Megure asked, his eyes never leaving his face.

"It was accidentally spilled on his pants." Kondo Hideho crossed his arms over his chest. "It was just clean water. I didn't see he minded, so I didn't pay much attention to it."

"What kind of photo did Mr. Ogasawara use to threaten you?" Kudo Yuki took over the conversation, her tone calm but penetrating.

This sentence touched Kondo Hideho's soft spot. He looked embarrassed, leaned forward, and lowered his voice with a pleading tone: "Officer, can you keep it a secret? If this gets out, my reputation will be ruined.

My granddaughter is in junior high school now. She fell in with some bad company a while ago and was photographed smoking outside a convenience store by Ogasawara. He said if I didn't get 5 million yen to keep her quiet, he'd release the photos to the media, and my public reputation would be ruined.

"5 million?" Kudo Yuki suddenly opened her eyes wide, her tone full of astonishment.

Conan and Sera Masumi on the side also showed surprise. This amount was much higher than they expected.

Shushu pricked up his ears, his chubby little paws clinging to the table legs, his eyes filled with disbelief: No way! Just a photo of a middle school student smoking? 5 million? This Ogasawara Ryo is really mistaking "extortion" for "bank robbery!"

It scratched its chin, twitching the tip of its tail irritably. "Whose extortion starts in the tens of millions? This Kondo too, is his brain stuck in the door? Even if he's worried about his reputation, he wouldn't let himself be ripped off like this!"

"This, this amount is indeed..." Inspector Megure was also stunned, the rhythm of his fingertips tapping on the table was half a beat off, "Mr. Ogasawara didn't give you any room for bargaining?"

Kondo Hideho lowered his head even more, his voice bitter: "He was very tough, saying that either we had to gather the money within three days, or we would have to wait and see our granddaughter 'on the news.'

I tried to ask if it could be a little less, but he just slapped the printout of the photo on the table and said, 'This is just bargaining at the market.' ... I had no choice. I couldn't let my child carry this stain for the rest of his life."

Shushu rolled his eyes and covered his face with his chubby paws: "This is not extortion, this is robbery! Outrageous, too outrageous!"

Kudo Yuki reached out and stroked Shushu's little head, responding telepathically, "Don't worry. This amount is indeed outrageous, but the more outrageous it is, the more problematic it is. Ogasawara has no right to ask for 5 million based on just a photo of him smoking. Maybe he's using the granddaughter's matter as a pretext to threaten Mr. Kondo with something else."

To be continued...