Transmigrated into Conan, his ability is Rhodes Island

“…That’s how it happened.” Akihara Kazumitsu was led aside by one of the police officers to avoid interfering with the police investigating the scene. He briefly told the police officer taking his statement when he entered the mall, when he found the dismembered body in the parking lot, and when he finally called the police.

At this moment--

"Officer, this man is definitely suspicious. Don't believe his nonsense!" The old man, panting, appeared out of nowhere, still holding his broom in one hand and pointing tremblingly at Akihara Kazumichi with the other.

He probably felt much more confident after seeing the police arrive.

"Oh my, who can remain so calm after seeing this scene? When I arrived, I saw him examining that, that... ugh..." His gaze shifted to the corner surrounded by the police from the First Investigation Division. As if recalling something unpleasant, his face instantly turned pale, and he bent over, leaning against the wall.

Akihara Kazuhiro took two steps back without making a sound. Even though his sense of smell had been honed recently, he didn't really want to smell the mixture of burnt corpses and vomit again.

Fortunately, the old man only gagged twice. He took a bottle of water from Kenji Hagiwara, rinsed his mouth, and then continued to glare at Akihara with a fierce look.

Akihara said innocently, "It would take at least 30 to 40 minutes for a body to burn like this, and these two police officers can testify that I was on the street with them ten minutes before I discovered the situation and called the police."

The police officer taking statements looked at Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda with questioning eyes, and the two nodded slightly, indicating that what Kazumitsu Akihara said was true.

The old man continued rambling on, insisting on his point of view, and wouldn't let go of Hagiwara Kenji's hand. Matsuda Jinpei ignored his friend's pleading look, instead looking up, surveying the ceiling, and finally fixing his gaze on the camera on the side of the pillar.

He asked the police officer, "This camera is positioned so it should be able to capture the scene, right?"

The officer in charge of taking the statement put down his pen and paper, nodded, and said, "A colleague has already gone to find the mall manager."

Just then, the elevator dinged. Accompanied by a policeman, a middle-aged man in a suit and wearing an employee badge walked towards them, wiping sweat with a handkerchief and bowing respectfully.

He adjusted his glasses, a forced smile appearing on his chubby face. "Officer, I'm the manager of this shopping mall. The CCTV footage can only be viewed in the control room. I'll show you the way..."

Akihara Kazumitsu raised his hand to interrupt their conversation, asking without much hope, "Um, I'm just a helpful citizen who happened to be passing by and called the police. May I go now?"

Kenji Hagiwara finally found a chance to get rid of the old man. He stepped forward and, in a friendly manner, put his arm around Kazuhiro Akihara's shoulder, saying with a smile, "Don't rush, Akihara. In order to get direct evidence to prove your innocence, let's go together. What do you think?"

Akihara brushed his hand away in disgust. "You're right. Since we're here, we might as well make the best of it. We're already here, let's make some money before we leave."

Kenji Hagiwara blinked. "Huh?"

Akihara straightened his collar. "It's nothing."

So Date Wataru and the rest of the First Investigation Division continued their search and photography at the scene, while Akihara and the head of the First Investigation Division followed the person in charge to the monitoring room on the first floor.

Qiuyuan watched as the person in charge wiped his sweat again, then asked the employees to bring out a DVD player and three surveillance videotapes.

"Magnetic tape surveillance?" Akihara asked.

The person in charge glanced at Akihara, then at the section chief in his police uniform. "Yes, in order to... save costs."

Akihara Kazumitsu understood and nodded.

The main difference between tape-based surveillance and the more common digital video recorders and webcams is that the medium used to store recorded sound, images, digital data, or other signals is magnetic tape. In a camera, a magnetic head moves along the tape via a mechanical device to write and read data.

However, tape-based surveillance cameras require regular tape replacements and manual data backups, making them cumbersome in practice, and they may suffer from tape damage and data loss over long-term use.

Besides the drawback of manually changing tapes, there are also limitations in image quality and storage capacity due to the storage medium.

However, having surveillance cameras on the Conan set is already a pleasant surprise, and cameras that can directly capture crime scenes are extremely rare.

We shouldn't be too harsh on them. Akihara Kazumitsu thought calmly.

Akihara Kazumitsu's judgment was correct—sure enough, the camera was facing the side of the wall pillar, which completely blocked the crime scene.

As the staff set the time back an hour and began fast-forwarding, everyone quickly saw a man in a suit carrying a plastic bag disappear behind a pillar. A minute or two later, thick white smoke began to rise from behind the pillar.

During this time, the area in front of the camera was empty, and no one passed by until about forty minutes after the fire started, when Akihara Kazuhiro's figure appeared in the camera's field of view.

As for the picture quality, it was barely possible to make out the general clothing of the people, and facial features were too blurry. The picture also flickered several times during playback, and there were even periods of blankness for a second or two. Fortunately, it wasn't a major issue.

"Is the parking lot usually so quiet?" The head of the First Investigation Division turned around and asked the person in charge.

The person in charge wiped his forehead with the corner of a handkerchief. "Yes, the parking lot operates on a membership system. Only VIP members in the shopping mall can park for free; other vehicles are charged... well, it's quite expensive. That's why the foot traffic has always been low..."

Kenji Hagiwara gestured to the staff to give him the keyboard, and he began to rewind the burning process repeatedly.

He straightened up and looked at Matsuda Jinpei. "Don't you think this seems to be..."

Matsuda Jinpei understood. "SHC."

Apart from Akihara and Hikaru, everyone else in the room turned their gazes toward them, waiting for the two to explain further.

"Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) refers to a person suddenly igniting and burning without any apparent external ignition source," Kenji Hagiwara explained simply.

“A typical case is that of a woman in the United States who was found dead in her home, burned to death in the high temperature. Only one foot, wearing a slipper, was found at the scene; the rest of the body was burned to ashes. But apart from the deceased’s remains, the house was almost completely intact.”

The section chief nodded. "In that case, it does indeed resemble the situation on the ground."

Akihara Kazumitsu had his eyes half-closed, seemingly deep in thought. When he opened them again, he interrupted their conversation, saying, "But I remember that case wasn't closed as 'spontaneous human combustion'."

Kenji Hagiwara glanced at him with considerable surprise. "Yes, many so-called cases of spontaneous human combustion are actually murders, and there's a high probability that this one will be no exception."