Model worker and his little darling

Before Pingqing could do anything, he heard Conan's voice.

"Sister Xiaolan, are you alright? Are you hurt?"

At that speed, even Heikichi suspected that Conan had used teleportation.

"I'm fine. The murderer has been caught by Brother Pingqing."

When Conan shone his wristwatch-shaped flashlight, he saw that the person sitting on the ground clutching his leg was Takuro Yabe, the leader of the youth group, and next to him was Village Chief Funaki, who had been killed with a single stab.

"Brother Pingqing, what's going on?"

"Xiaolan and I arrived at the shrine to find you, only to find the village chief dead. He tried to run away, but I stopped him."

Suddenly, Pingqing changed the subject, "Hey, now Uncle's million is gone, and both village chiefs are dead. The two major gangs in the village are leaderless. What are we going to do now?"

The already tense atmosphere instantly became strange after Pingqing said that.

Conan rolled his eyes, speechless. "Hirakiyo-nii-san..."

A murder has occurred here, and Hirakiyo is still acting strangely.

Ping Qing pursed his lips; he was just upset about the million-dollar commission the older man had taken on. After all, the older man rarely received his commission fee for the most of the cases he accepted.

“I didn’t kill him. I heard the village chief’s screams as soon as I arrived at the shrine.”

Ignoring Yabe Takuro's protests of innocence, the group went to the police station.

When Uncle Mori heard that Ran and Hirai had almost been stabbed by thugs, he immediately sobered up and rushed to the police station at lightning speed. He grabbed Ran and looked her up and down.

"Xiao Lan, are you alright? Did the thugs do anything to you?"

Taira no Kiyoshi: ...

What exactly did the uncle hear on the phone?

"Dad, I'm okay now."

Seeing that Xiaolan was indeed alright, the uncle breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing the murderer sitting right next to him, the uncle slammed his hand on the table. If it weren't for Pingqing, Xiaolan might have been hurt. Thinking this, the uncle got angry again.

Why did you kill the village chief?

"That's not how it is. As soon as I arrived at the shrine, I heard Village Chief Funaki shouting. When I rushed over to investigate, your children and that young man arrived."

"In that situation, anyone would have misunderstood, so I wanted to leave first. But I hadn't run two steps when that guy kicked me down."

"I'm not listening to your nonsense. Let me ask you, why did you go to Kagekuri Shrine in the middle of the night?"

Faced with Uncle Mori's relentless questioning, Yabe Takuro shook his head repeatedly, "It was Village Chief Funaki who invited me to meet there."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Mori was completely bewildered. "You said he invited you there, in the middle of the night, what would he want with you at a secluded shrine?"

"Well, this..." Yabe Takuro looked embarrassed.

"Hmph, now you can't deny it anymore. I think you killed Vice Village Chief Okumura too. You know, you've always had conflicts, and your motives and reasons for killing him are quite obvious."

Seeing Uncle Mori start haphazardly blaming others, Takuro Yabe also got anxious.

"Didn't you also have a motive for murder? The deputy village chief of Okumura forced you to give up your position and even hit you with his cane. Maybe you held a grudge and poisoned him to death."

Looking at Yabe Takuro's wildly imaginative ideas, Taira Kiyoshi silently gave him a thumbs up in his heart.

For this reason, in the world of Detective Conan, especially in Mikado, killing someone is perfectly normal.

This small village is full of talented people.

A policeman with a script in hand, and villagers who are well aware of the murder motives.

Uncle Mori was so angry at these words that he almost fainted. "What did you say? How could I, the famous detective Kogoro Mori, be a murderer?" He rolled up his sleeves and was ready to fight Takuro Yabe.

Pingqing quickly pulled the old man back. If it were Inspector Megure, he could hit him without consequence. But this Inspector Hino had looked down on Uncle Mori from the start. If he laid a hand on him, he'd probably end up in jail. Why invite trouble upon himself like that?

"Uncle, don't be impulsive."

He then looked at Yabe Takuro and said, "I think you'd better tell us, since the police will find out your hidden secret sooner or later."

If the police can't find it, there's always Conan.

After struggling for a while, Yabe Takuro finally spoke up, "I've been in charge of transmitting intelligence."

"So, you're an opposition spy?"

Upon hearing the word "spy," Ping Qing's spirits lifted. Good heavens, this village's got some tricks up their sleeves.

Not only are there fierce battles, but also undercover operations.

These days, even village feuds have spies.

Hmm, it feels like the organization has lost its prestige; it's now competing with a village.

Upon hearing Yabe Takuro's voice, Taira Kiyoshi quickly banished these chaotic thoughts from his mind. They were a transnational criminal organization, far beyond the reach of a small village.

“Yes, the opposition representative who died on the bus this time, Vice Mayor Okumura, sends me money every month, and I tell him about Mayor Funaki’s things and ideas.”

The middle-aged man looked at him with suspicion, "Why would you do that?"

“Once a new project is developed in the village, all the villagers’ money will flow into companies that have connections with the village chief, while companies that have close ties with the deputy village chief will be squeezed out. That’s why he wanted to sabotage the project beforehand.”

After a period of interrogation, Yabe Takuro still insisted that he did not commit murder.

Conan also felt that Yabe Takuro was not the culprit. Instead, the car accident seven years ago that the others had inadvertently mentioned made him feel that it was more necessary to investigate.

So he went outside and called Professor Agasa, asking him to help investigate the bus accident that happened seven years ago.

"In that car accident seven years ago, two people died: Yoichi Tezuka and Kohei Moritsugu. The other eight were injured. What? Vice-Mayor Okumura wasn't in the car that day! Doctor, immediately check the detailed information of their families."

Ran stood quietly in the back, listening to Conan talking to Professor Agasa on the phone.

"Brother Pingqing, when did you find out?"

Judging from Xiaolan's expression, she's probably already seen the finale.

"Hmm... I should have been a little earlier than you."

It'll be a little earlier!

"Really?" Xiaolan brushed a stray hair behind her ear. "So everyone knew."

Xiao Lan remained as gentle as ever, but Ping Qing still sensed a sadness in her heart.

"Pingqing-ge, what would you do if you were in his shoes?"

Pingqing paused for a moment, feeling that nothing he said would be quite right.

"do not know."

After all, different circumstances lead to different decisions.

Hearing this answer, Xiaolan was a little surprised, then smiled. Indeed, how could anyone else possibly understand their plight?

After gathering the information, Conan turned around and saw Hirai and Ran standing not far behind him, and immediately sounded the alarm.