Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

The sound was like someone stepping on the wall, and at the same time, there was a faint cry for help.

"Is there anyone here... please come and save me..."

Kudo Shinichi was stunned for a moment.

He recognized that it was Hojo Shinji's voice.

Kudo Shinichi looked around and soon his eyes fell on the only door in the room. He walked over and pushed it tentatively, and the door slowly opened outwards.

It seems that the kidnappers have no intention of trapping them in the room... Kudo Shinichi breathed a sigh of relief and looked outside carefully. After making sure that there was no one there, he walked towards the room where the noise came from.

He pushed open the door and looked inside. The scene before him stunned him again.

I saw Hojo Shinji tied upside down on a water pipe, his head immersed in the sink. The faucet beside him was not closed tightly, and water was dripping down.

The water was already above his nose and would soon reach his mouth.

"help me……"

Shinichi Kudo came to his senses and looked at the school bully who had locked him in the cold storage yesterday, and his cries for help became increasingly weaker and weaker.

----

Minato Middle School, fifth floor of the teaching building.

A strange teacher came to the door of the International Department's music classroom. Several students looked at him curiously. Rabbit recognized that he was Kudo Shinichi's homeroom teacher.

"Excuse me, Mr. Qingliu," he said anxiously, "Can you come out for a moment?"

Aoyagi Binmitsu closed the piano lid, stood up, said a few words to the students, and left the classroom, closing the door behind him.

"What's up?"

"Have you seen Shinichi today?" the head teacher asked anxiously.

"No." Qing Liu Bingguang said, and then frowned quickly, "What happened to him again?"

"He didn't come to class today." The head teacher wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Yesterday... Excuse me, are you sure you sent him home before leaving yesterday?"

"Zi...Zi..."

The radio speaker above the two of them suddenly made a soft sound, and a few seconds later, a burst of music came out.

Aoyagi Hikari looked up at the stereo: "Yesterday I sent Kudo home before I left... Did the school change the bell tone? What song is this?"

In the classroom separated by a door, the rabbit on the piano suddenly stood up and looked down.

tick... tick...

An ominous voice mixed with the strange music came from under the piano, like a piece of music played by the devil.

Chapter 47 Campus Bomb Case

8:50 AM, Metropolitan Police Department.

In the office of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squad of the Security Department's Mobile Group, a police officer who was responsible for staying on duty all night yawned and walked towards the water dispenser with a mug with coffee grounds left in it.

Special professions such as police and doctors must have someone on duty 24 hours a day. If the situation is serious, even if they are on vacation at home, they will be called back by a phone call.

He added some cold water to the cup, tilted his head back and drank it in a few gulps, then let out a long sigh of relief.

As police officers in the explosive ordnance disposal team, the probability of them being on duty late at night or in broad daylight is lower than that of the criminal police in the first search section. In 10 minutes, a colleague will come to relieve their shift.

As long as nothing unexpected happens.

As he was about to get off work, the young policeman felt extremely happy and looked at his colleagues behind him.

"Matsuda-senpai, after get off work, are you going to go home directly or go shopping first?"

The person whose name he called turned around, his short black hair was soft and fluffy. He sat by the window where the sun could shine in, wearing a pair of sunglasses on his nose.

"Go straight back."

Jinpei Matsuda also yawned and leaned lazily back in his chair.

"Then can you give me a ride? My girlfriend's birthday is coming up, and I want to go to the Rice Flower Shopping Street to buy her a necklace." The young policeman put his hands together, "I was working overtime and didn't have time to go, please, Senior Matsuda!"

"Let's talk about it after get off work." Matsuda Jinpei was speechless.

"It's 10 minutes before we get off work. There won't be any trouble in this little time..."

"Bang!"

Before he could finish his words, the office door was suddenly pushed open.

"Matsuda!"

A senior stood at the door and looked at Matsuda Jinpei: "Lead the team to the port area immediately. Someone has planted a bomb in a middle school!"

The sudden words exploded like thunder in the originally quiet office. Matsuda Jinpei, who had wanted to say a few more words to his junior, stood up immediately after hearing these words: "Understood."

"This time we'll go with the police from the Investigation Division," the senior added.

Matsuda Jinpei was puzzled: "Investigation Section 1? A criminal case happened there?"

"No."

The senior frowned, his expression not relaxing at all.

"The teacher who reported the case said that two other students were missing from school today."

……

9:15 am, Minato Middle School.

As this case involves a school and a large number of underage students, the Metropolitan Police Department attached great importance to it. They rushed to the scene as soon as they received the alarm, and even the media were involved.

When Jinpei Matsuda arrived at Minato Middle School, a cordon had already been set up at the entrance, and reporters and cameramen carrying cameras were blocked outside.

Some students came out escorted by their parents. The reporters immediately pointed the microphone at them. Most of them waved their hands impatiently and just wanted to leave quickly. Only one student stopped and said a few words.

He pushed his glasses and sighed faintly, his tone showing the vicissitudes of life that had been tempered severely: "I didn't expect that my family would encounter such a thing after moving from Mihua to the port area..."

Jinpei Matsuda got out of the car, looked at the heavy explosion-proof suit inside the car, and confirmed the situation with his colleague who had arrived earlier.

"What type of bomb?"

"The mercury bomb, with the capacity of this bomb, is enough to flatten this teaching building."

Hearing this, Matsuda Jinpei's expression became more serious. He ordered his men to take out the heavy explosion-proof suits and continued to ask, "Where is the bomb installed? Is the mercury rod activated?"

"The bomb was installed on the pegboard of a piano in the music classroom on the fifth floor. The teacher was called out during class and had no time to play. The mercury rod was not activated. There are still 45 minutes before the explosion. No eavesdropping or surveillance equipment has been found. It can be dismantled immediately."

Matsuda Jinpei checked the time and said, "Is the setting set to explode at 10 o'clock? I see."

After hanging up the phone, he looked to the side and saw that the police from the First Investigation Division had also arrived, led by Inspector Megure Juzo, and behind him was a female police officer with neat short hair.

Their explosive ordnance disposal class is responsible for defusing the bomb, while these criminal police are here to investigate the missing two students and whether their disappearance is related to the bomb case.

Jinpei Matsuda walked into the campus and heard the noisy noise outside. He looked there with a bit of impatience.

“Why are there so many reporters?”

He had dealt with bomb planting at Mihua School before, but it wasn’t as “lively” as it is now.

"I heard that one of the students' parents is a reporter, and there are several TV stations nearby, so..." another policeman said helplessly.

Minato has a special geographical location. Not only are most of the embassies here, but the Touto Tower, the wireless signal transmission tower in the Kanto region, and the core bureau headquarters of Japan's private television stations are all concentrated in Minato.

Matsuda Jinpei was speechless about this reason. He looked forward and suddenly saw a familiar blond man walking out of the teaching building.

They made a lot of noise and the other party soon saw him.

An older teacher came in from the other side of the door. He was sweating profusely and asked quickly, "Teacher Amuro, are you sure the second floor is okay? Have all the students been evacuated safely?"

"We've checked and there are no people left." The blond teacher replied immediately.

"That's good." The old teacher breathed a sigh of relief. "Now follow me to the police. They are about to start an investigation. We have to do our best to provide clues. And the two missing children..."

He was halfway through his words when he noticed Matsuda Jinpei and others, and hurriedly said, "Mr. Police, please go up quickly. We have evacuated all the students. Thank you for your hard work!"

Jinpei Matsuda nodded slightly in greeting.

He knew that before the police arrived, the teachers were responsible for evacuating all the students, and after all the students left, they would temporarily stay in the teaching building where the bomb was to check in case anyone failed to evacuate in time.

The old teacher walked past the team of bomb disposal police, followed by the blond mixed-race teacher.

From beginning to end, Matsuda Jinpei did not say hello to the other party. Only when they passed by each other, a word almost whispered came with the breeze.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Matsuda Jinpei remained calm and turned to his colleagues, "I'll go to the fifth floor, and you guys go to other floors to search for other bombs!"

"Yes!"

……

Toru Amuro said goodbye to Jinpei Matsuda, avoided the flashing cameras of the reporters outside, and went to the temporary accommodation point for faculty and staff on the campus.

Here he would not be affected by bombs, and he would not have to face reporters who might expose him.

In addition to the teachers, there were also cleaning staff, cooks, handymen, etc. in the resettlement center. Amuro Toru looked around secretly, but didn't see the second person who was on his list. He had just asked someone else and learned that the other person had taken a leave today.

As for the first one...

"Please describe in detail how you sent that student back yesterday. Where did you go afterwards? What was the exact time? Are there any witnesses?"

Inspector Megure, who leads the First Investigation Division, stands in front of Aoyagi Akimichi.

Toru Amuro watched this scene and quietly stepped aside.

——Aoyagi Akimitsu, the last person to see Kudo Shinichi yesterday, has become a suspect.

Chapter 48 Suspect Aoyagi Binguang (two in one)

"…So you left school at 12:35 yesterday afternoon and arrived at Kudo's house before 1 o'clock. Kudo Shin got off the car and walked into the house."

"And since you had no classes in the afternoon, you didn't return to school and went straight home?"

Inspector Megure wrote down this information and confirmed it with Aoyagi Akimitsu again.

"Yes."