Model worker and his little darling

Upon entering the detective agency, they saw Uncle Mori quickly tidy up the messy office and make it look brand new, and even served the beautiful woman a cup of tea.

Watching the uncle's efficient movements, Pingqing thought that if the uncle didn't become a detective, he would be good at housekeeping.

"Hello, Mr. Mori, my name is Kaori Shinna."

Upon hearing the familiar surname, the group immediately thought of the author of Detective Samonji, Shinna Nittaro.

It turns out the beautiful woman is the daughter of that famous writer, which instantly turned Uncle Mori, who was just complaining, into a fan, ready to get closer to her.

However, Xiang Baoli looked worried.

“My father disappeared two months ago. The day my father and mother disappeared was exactly one week before the novel serialization was restarted. He left only a note saying he was going out for a while and then left. I asked all my relatives and friends, but no one saw them.”

“Strangely, my father’s manuscripts would be sent to the publisher by fax. Every Saturday, at midnight, the manuscripts would be sent over.”

“I also sought help from the police. Although they issued a search request, I did not receive any extortion calls, and the publishing house regularly sent me manuscripts. In the end, they could only tell me not to worry.”

Seeing the beautiful woman with tears streaming down her face, looking pitiful, Uncle Mori slammed his fist on the table and promised to go find her immediately.

The five of them then took a taxi to the publishing house of Detective Samonji.

The editor is optimistic; as long as the manuscript is updated on time, whether the person goes missing or not is a minor matter.

Pingqing silently observed the publishing house, but his mind was preoccupied with the feasibility of developing online novel software.

He wants to help everyone realize their writing dreams, he wants to give authors all over the world a home, he wants to lead the trend of the times... cough cough, he wants to make money.

After thinking about it for a long time, Pingqing decided to wait until he had time to discuss it with someone.

Just as Pingqing was enjoying his daydreams, the fax machine beeped, interrupting his reverie. Teacher Xinming's manuscript arrived right on time.

The editor carefully put it away, indicating that no one was allowed to see it.

However, Conan ran over, jumped up, eagerly grabbed a card, and stood aside to look at it.

It turns out that Conan discovered the signature on the manuscript hadn't been updated since episode six, which gave Uncle Mori a bad feeling, so he immediately asked Ran to call the police.

Pingqing stood aside, wondering what he had missed and why he was about to call the police.

Inspector Megure, responding to a call late at night, looked at the group with displeasure. He believed this wasn't a kidnapping and there was no need to investigate.

Fortunately, Takagi was quick and efficient, and soon made copies of the novel and distributed them to everyone present.

Pingqing held it and looked at it for a while, but couldn't figure out what was going on. However, he finally remembered what was going on.

In the final moments of his life, the writer kept quiet, secretly hiding in a hotel to write, ultimately failing to see his daughter one last time. However, for someone who loved literature, perhaps this ending was the best for him; his life ended with his beloved novel.

I saw Conan making a phone call, and then I glanced at Kaho.

Pingqing sighed and walked to Xiang Baoli's side. "I know where your father is. If you're willing to trust me, I can take you there."

Kaori looked up at Hirakiyo, opened her mouth, and finally made up her mind, "Thank you for your trouble."

Seeing that Kaori had agreed, Hirai told Uncle Mori, who then gave Ran a few instructions before the three of them hurriedly took a taxi and left.

This left Inspector Megure completely bewildered, and he quickly urged Takagi to follow.

After a friendly exchange with Heiji Hattori, Conan angrily threw down the phone, looked up, and found that almost everyone had left, leaving only Ran waiting for him.

He was completely dumbfounded. All he did was answer a phone call. How did the situation suddenly turn upside down like this?

"Hirakiyo, how did you know where Shinmei-sensei is?"

"I gleaned it from the teacher's novel. The title, 'The Pinnacle of Half,' means merging the two words in the first column of the original manuscript. The teacher's character in the book lives in France, and the French letter H is silent at the beginning of words. Therefore, we need to remove words whose Romanized initials are H before interpreting it..."

"So the code the teacher left in the novel was, 'Help me, I'm in room 2407 of the Beihu City Hotel, hurry, there's no time left.'"

Upon hearing Pingqing's words, Xiangbaoli immediately became anxious and kept urging the driver to hurry up.

Soon, the group arrived at the Beihu City Hotel.

As soon as Kahori knocked on the door, a lady came out, and Kahori went up to her.

"Mom, thank goodness, you're really here! Where's Dad?"

Upon hearing this, the lady pulled Xiang Baoli into the room, where they saw Teacher Xinming lying on the bed, with a man examining his body beside him.

Kaori walked over and had only exchanged a few words with her father when she saw Shinmei-sensei close her eyes forever with a smile on her face.

It turns out that two months ago, Mr. Shinmei discovered that he had terminal cancer. This reminded him of his past wish: to see readers solve the mystery before he could reveal it. So, Mr. Shinmei planned all of this as his final act of selfishness.

After crying, Kaori walked up to Hirakiyo and bowed deeply. "Thank you for letting me see my father one last time."

Ping Qing smiled and shook his head. He only took action because they had provided him with a money-making idea.

Uncle Mori slapped Hirakiyo on the shoulder, "Good job, kid."

The matter was resolved satisfactorily, and Xi and his party returned home happily.

The next day, as soon as Hiraki woke up, he saw Conan pouting and waiting for him.

Pingqing patted Conan's big head with amusement. "What's wrong? Who bullied our little detective?"

"Brother Pingqing, you're so mean! Why didn't you tell me the answer when you already knew it?"

Seeing Conan's sullen expression, Hirai felt as refreshed as if he had eaten an ice pop on a hot summer day.

"Haha, all I could think about was getting Xiang Baoli to see her father one last time. It's all because you're so small. I looked around and couldn't find you."

Conan: ...

It's his small stature, that's to blame.

"Brother Pingqing, how did you discover the code?"

“I once traveled to France, so the word H was immediately 'silent' in my mind, hahaha… I know I’m amazing, but you don’t need to idolize me too much.”

Seeing Hirai's smug look, Conan suddenly remembered what he had seen a couple of days ago and was about to ask him about it.

Seeing Conan's expression, Hirakiyo knew he was going to ask about the FBI, and he wasn't about to let him have his way. So he immediately stood up. "Conan, has anything interesting happened lately?"

Conan had just opened his mouth when he saw Hirai walk into the bathroom.

Tsk, why does he have this feeling that Pingqing is deliberately going against him?

Pingqing tidied up, took Conan, and went to find Uncle Mouri. Hehe, let's see how he asks Ran in front of him.

He was happy to see Conan looking frustrated because he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Today's goal: To suffocate Conan!