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

Inspector Megure's expression darkened again, and he pressed on, "Then why did you come back here?"

"I wanted to call him and explain things clearly to him, rejecting him directly, but the call was unanswerable. I had no choice but to come here." Kondo Hidehide pulled out a cell phone from his trouser pocket, turned on the screen and handed it to everyone.

With a flick of his fingertips, a scrap of paper floated out of his pocket and landed on the edge of the interrogation table. "Look at the call logs, it's all there! This is the evidence!"

Inspector Megure picked up the scrap of paper and examined it carefully in his hand: "Hmm? What is this piece of paper?"

"It was Ogasawara's business card," Kondo Hideho said in frustration. "When I heard him asking for 50 million, I got so angry that I tore it up."

After Kondo Hidehide left, Inspector Megure immediately had someone bring in Domoto Kyosuke.

As soon as he sat down, Domoto Kyosuke couldn't help but ask, "Officer, I just overheard something outside. Did Councillor Kondo really tear up that reporter's business card?"

He also fished out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. "What a coincidence! When I heard him ask for 50 million, I was so angry that I crumpled up the business card like this. Look."

Shushu suddenly shrank back, covering his nose with his chubby paws, his ears drooping. "I can't stand it! Domoto Kousuke's scent is too strong, mixed with some sweet and greasy floral and fruity notes, it makes me feel stuffy."

Sera Masumi also frowned and moved aside, staring at him: "Why is the perfume on you so strong?"

"Oh, this one." Domoto Kyosuke didn't think anything of it. He put the business card back into his underwear pocket, then reached into his handbag and took out a few small perfume bottles, placed them on the table, pressed his fingertips on the spray head of one of the bottles and sprayed it with a "hiss". Instantly, the air was filled with layers of light fragrance.

"I like to collect perfumes. I change the scent when I meet different people, so I always carry these with me."

Kudo Yuki suddenly said, "I heard that you said you had a stomachache when you were in Mr. Ogasawara's room?"

Domoto Kyosuke stopped pressing the shower head and replied vaguely, "Maybe there was something in the lunch I had that didn't go well with my stomach... But I'm feeling much better now."

Officer Megure didn't dwell on the topic any further and brought the conversation back to the point: "Let's not talk about that for now. What photos did Mr. Ogasawara use to threaten you?"

"I really can't get around this." Domoto Kyosuke sighed, leaned forward, and lowered his voice with a hint of pleading, "Please, if this gets out, my job will be ruined. You have to keep it a secret for me."

He took out his cell phone and the screen lit up. The background was a picture of him as the spokesperson for an advertisement wearing sportswear and smiling brightly.

"I'm currently signed to an exclusive contract with a top sportswear manufacturer. I'm sure you've seen the commercial I shot, right? But Ogasawara took a picture of me privately wearing a hat from another brand and said, 'If you don't want to pay a huge penalty, why not just give me 50 million?' I came back to this room to give him an answer."

Kudo Yuki caught a glimpse of Shushu huddled behind a table leg, his chubby little paws still fanning his nose. He teased him telepathically, "Little clever boy, no matter how strong the aroma is, it can't compare to the aroma of your cheese. Go back to my pocket and hide there. It's better than choking here and having your ears droop."

Shushu, however, was clinging to the table legs and shaking his little head, even the tips of his ears were tense. "No, no! The smell has seeped into the gaps in my fur! If I put it back in your pocket and it gets stained with the smell, then chewing cheese tonight won't taste good!"

Kudo Yuki retorted telepathically, "Your fuzzy slit can even hide cheese crumbs, so why are you afraid of a little perfume? If it really gets on you, I'll open a can of blueberry cheese for you tonight. It's better than you being an 'air purifier' here."

Shushu's claws tightened, his little head shaking. "No way! Even blueberry cheese can't cover this cloying sweetness! I'm going to wait under the table for the aroma to dissipate before I leave. Don't forget me!"

The moment Kudo Yuki curled her lips helplessly, the door of the interrogation room was gently pushed open.

Ogino Ayami had just finished listening to the whispered report from the police officer next to her, and tapped the edge of the document twice with her fingertips to show her understanding.

After the police officers left, she turned to Officer Megure and said sternly, "We've inspected the belongings of Kondo Hideho, Domoto Kyosuke, and Nomura. No suspicious items were found, and no residue related to the crime scene was detected."

"The room search has also reached a deadlock..." Inspector Megure frowned even tighter and was interrupted by Conan before he could finish his words.

"Sister Sera." Conan looked up at her, his eyes behind the glasses probing. "You said before that you were anxious to see Mr. Ogasawara. What are you afraid he might take pictures of?"

Sera Masumi subconsciously leaned forward, feigning a relaxed demeanor. "What else could it be? What if that reporter takes some unpleasant photos? Wouldn't I have to delete them immediately?"

"What exactly do you mean by 'unpleasant photos'?" Conan's eyes were fixed on her slightly changing expression.

Masumi Sera's mind suddenly flashed back to that day downstairs in the hotel, where she half-hugged the shrunken Mari Akai, afraid that others would take pictures of her in a panic.

She quickly came up with an excuse: "Yes, it's a bottom-revealing photo! I usually wear pants, and that was the rare time I wore a skirt. Maybe when the wind blew it up, he would have taken a picture of me. If this were to become public, I'd never be able to get married!"

"But Sister Sera, apart from your school uniform, you have never worn a skirt in private." Conan ruthlessly exposed her, his tone full of helplessness as if saying, "I'm not that easy to fool."

The smile on Sera Masumi's face froze for half a second, then he immediately covered it up with a louder laugh: "Oh, I want to change my style sometimes! Kids, don't meddle with so many things!"

Conan looked at her obviously guilty expression, sighed helplessly, and gave up asking any further questions for the time being.

Kudo Yuki raised her hand to cover her mouth, and a few low laughs slipped out from between her fingers - she was naturally aware of Sera Masumi's concerns, she just didn't want to expose Akai Mary's current situation.

The ringing of her cell phone interrupted Ogino Ayami's thoughts. She pressed the answer button and asked, "How is the investigation going with the Identification Department?"

The voice on the other end of the phone came faintly through the receiver.

Ogino Ayami's brows gradually furrowed as she looked up at everyone in the interrogation room. She said in a serious tone, "There's a small GPS device hidden on the inside of the corpse's trouser leg."

"GPS locator?" Inspector Megure straightened up from his chair, his face full of surprise. "Hidden in a place like that? No wonder we couldn't find it during the previous body search and the scene investigation!"

Ogino Ayami confirmed a few more words into her phone, then hung up and added, "The identification department said it's a round model with a diameter of about two centimeters. It's very concealed and can't be found without a careful search."

Conan lowered his eyes, his expression serious, and secretly speculated: "That GPS locator was probably placed there by Councillor Kondo!"

Masumi Sera also reflected in her mind: "Earlier, Councillor Kondo mentioned accidentally spilling water on Mr. Ogasawara's trouser leg. Perhaps he hid the tracking device in the cuff of his trouser leg while wiping it with a handkerchief."

[What on earth does he want to do? He knows the reporter's whereabouts, is he going to...] Conan's brows furrowed even tighter, his train of thought stuck at the most critical link.

While everyone was focused on the GPS tracker, Kudo Yuki silently said to herself, "Sign in."

"Ding, congratulations to Xiaoxue for signing in successfully today. You've earned +600 mall points and a clue linking signpost.

Current mall points are 13,900. System space items: Healing Elixir, Distillery Status Information, Distillery Base Location Map, and Clue Signpost. Please continue to sign in daily.

As the prompt sounded, a light blue light track that only Kudo Yuki could see appeared out of thin air. Looking in the direction indicated by the light track, her eyes fell on the corner of the table and the evidence rack in the interrogation room.

It was the business card, perfume bottle, and chair wheels that Domoto Kyosuke had stuffed into Riri's pockets, which were folded into pieces.

Kudo Yuki walked lightly to Conan, her hair brushing the table as she leaned over. Her voice was so low that only the two of them could hear it: "Are you still dwelling on this? The key to this case is not the source of the locator. Are you missing something more important?"

Conan's head shot up, his glasses reflecting the ceiling light in the interrogation room into a cold ray. His tone was filled with the earnestness of a teenager: "What did you miss? I'm still concerned about it. On the calculator next to the victim, that '0' written in blood and the '' that followed it..."

"According to your habit, what do you think of first when you see this kind of number?" Kudo Yuki's eyes fell on the keyword "raccoon cat" prompted by the system, and she guided calmly.

"If it's a death message, remove the leading '0'. '505' would sound more like an SOS number, and '110' is the police number. But if the victim leaves a message, they should include the murderer's name. Just asking for help is meaningless."

Conan stroked his chin, his brows knitted into small pimples.

"You have no idea about the last two digits '70'?" There was a smile in Kudo Yuki's voice.

This sentence was like a key, instantly opening the floodgates of Conan's memory - the conversation between Sera Masumi and Ogasawara Ryo at the door of Room 204 suddenly became clear: "No! This information is not for the police at all, maybe it's a new hint for Sister Sera!"

"Think again about the 'raccoon cat' I mentioned?" Kudo Yuki struck while the iron was hot.

"'Tanuki'...if you draw a tanuki at the end of the code, it means 'read it without TA'. The 'TA' in Tanuki..." Conan muttered softly, "But what exactly did Mr. Ogasawara mean when he said this?"

"By the way, where is Mr. Ogasawara going after leaving the room? Could it be that the murderer just doesn't want him to go that place?" Inspector Megure's voice interrupted his thoughts, and his eyes swept over everyone present.

"Probably not," Ogino Ayami immediately replied, "The hotel staff said he made a reservation at a high-end Chinese restaurant nearby and said he was 'Tanuki' today."

"Officer Ogino, what does 'Tanuki' mean?" Conan asked immediately, his eyes lighting up.

Ogino Ayami glanced at Kudo Yuki's reassuring look and explained, "It's a hotel term for guests who haven't made dinner reservations. Because the '晚' in '晚餐' sounds similar to the katakana 'TA' in Japanese, removing '晚餐TA' makes it 'Tanuki'."

I asked the hotel staff, and they said Mr. Ogasawara had been squatting in the hotel to dig up information, and after getting to know the staff, he even learned a lot of these internal terms.

"Could the code on the calculator also be hotel jargon?" Sera Masumi suddenly interjected, shoving one hand into her coat pocket, her eyes sharp. "And that '0' written in blood might actually be the letter 'O'?"

"I've got a few hotel terms starting with 'O' written down on my phone," Ogino Ayami quickly flipped through her notes. "Couples checking in are called 'Osonae,' because offerings to shrines are usually made in pairs. Guests who show up unexpectedly without a reservation are called 'Obake,' meaning 'sudden appearance.' And chefs call fish they didn't sell the previous day 'Otomart,' meaning 'keeping it for the next day.'"

"It just corresponds to the three people present." Sera Masumi nodded thoughtfully.

"And this code might contain a clue that only Sister Sera can decipher." Conan added at the right time, "Think about it again, is there anything special about the scene?"

"The only special thing..." Sera Masumi frowned as he recalled, "was that the body was clinging to the chair leg tightly."

"What if we use a different name for 'chair legs'?" Kudo Yuki's voice sounded at the right time.

"It's the roller!" Sera Masumi reacted instantly and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"It can also be called a tire." The moment Conan answered, the two looked at each other and smiled knowingly at the same time.

Conan already had the answer in his heart: "I see, now the method of committing the crime and the truth of the incident are all clear - the murderer who killed Mr. Ogasawara must be that person!"

Shushu rubbed his little head against Kudo Yuki's palm, sniffing his own silver-gray fur repeatedly with his nose - only after confirming that the strange perfume smell that made him uneasy had completely dissipated did he prick up his ears with confidence and nimbly slip back into her coat pocket along the folds of the fabric.

Its soft body curled up in the pocket, and it did not forget to use its tail to gently hook the corner of her clothes, as if to report that it had "returned safely."

As soon as the slight movement in the pocket subsided, the light blue system prompt box that was originally floating in front of Kudo Xue's eyes flashed, and the last line of text "Guiding the key clue 'roller/tire' triggered successfully" gradually faded and completely disappeared from the field of vision.

She looked up at the center of the interrogation room. Conan and Sera Masumi were already talking to Inspector Megure in low voices. The light in their eyes clearly showed that they had already locked onto the real culprit.

"Looks like I don't need to say anything more." Kudo Yuki's smile deepened. She quietly raised her hand and patted her inner pocket, feeling the warmth inside. "Next, it's up to you."

After listening to Conan and Sera Masumi's analysis, Inspector Megure's brows suddenly relaxed, and he raised his hand to signal the police officer beside him: "Go and call those three people here immediately."

The police officer took the order and walked out quickly. The atmosphere in the interrogation room seemed to be a little tense because the truth was about to be revealed.

Ogino Ayami put away her phone and looked at Conan and Sera Masumi, her eyes full of anticipation.

Kudo Yuki leaned against the wall, her fingertips gently stroking her inner pocket - the rat inside seemed to have noticed the change in atmosphere, its little body moved, and the tip of its tail rubbed the corner of her clothes again.

To be continued...