Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

"..."

Amuro Toru, who knew the character of many American police officers, looked at Aoyagi Akimitsu suspiciously.

He could tell that this was pure praise, without a trace of sarcasm or ridicule, but he just felt that this sentence seemed to imply something else.

"Buzz..."

In the lively music classroom, Aoyagi Binguang's cell phone suddenly rang.

Jinpei Matsuda was one of the few policemen who was not in a hurry to leave. He looked at Aoyagi Akimitsu and watched him answer the phone.

"Hey?"

Amuro Toru, who was standing closest to him, heard the rustling sound of a poor signal coming from the other end of the phone. Then, a young boy's voice came vaguely.

"Teacher Qingliu, can you hear me?"

Chapter 54 As a Detective

"Kudo?"

As Aoyagi Binkou called out this surname, the classroom exploded instantly as if a spoonful of oil was poured into a hot pot.

Inspector Megure, who was about to walk out, almost teleported in front of Aoyagi Akimitsu and tried to take his cell phone, but Aoyagi Akimitsu reacted quickly and dodged.

"..."

Aoyagi Akimichi stared at Officer Megure for a few seconds, confirming that he was only snatching the phone because he was anxious. He turned up the volume of his phone to the maximum and placed it on the table.

"Where are you now?!" Officer Megure asked anxiously.

Aoyagi Akimitsu was much calmer: "Kudo, the police are investigating your disappearance at school. Is the kidnapper with you now? Can you move freely? Can you describe the location in detail?"

"Inspector Megure is here too?"

Kudo Shinichi was stunned for a moment, then answered one by one in an orderly manner.

"I'm not kidnapped. The kidnappers are not here. Besides me, Hojo has also been kidnapped. I'm now in a room on the second floor below ground in a ship-shaped building. The room is leaking water and has already reached my waist."

It’s the Ark indeed!

Officer Megure, who was sure that his deduction was correct, breathed a sigh of relief: "Kudo, we have deduced that you were at a project site in the Arkland Project in the past, and the Metropolitan Police Department has sent people over! You will be fine soon! Now get to a higher place as soon as possible!"

"Where are you? Where is Hojo?" Aoyagi Akimitsu suddenly asked.

There was still an obvious rustling sound from the other side, and Kudo Shinichi replied after a few seconds.

"The kidnapper set a trap. He blocked the only exit to the outside with huge rocks. One person had to be left behind to operate the underground winch to remove it."

Everyone else present realized something.

"I let Hojo escape, and now I'm stuck in a room blocked by falling rocks, and..."

Kudo Shinichi said as he moved his phone closer to something.

tick tock...tick tock...

The devil's footsteps came from the other end.

"—There is a bomb in this room. It will explode in 18 minutes."

There was dead silence in the classroom.

When Jinpei Matsuda heard this, he clenched his fists instantly.

He knew this criminal was evil, but he didn't expect him to be this evil - if this guy stayed next to him, he would definitely punch him hard! !

Aoyagi Binguang, who was standing next to him, suddenly tightened his grip on the phone. He looked up at him, then quickly lowered his hand again.

"The other one has escaped?!" Inspector Megure was shocked.

"Yes, about half an hour ago." Kudo Shinichi confirmed, "I'm sure he escaped. We agreed that if he got out safely, he would signal me through the gap."

Sato Miwako looked grim: "But we haven't received any reports--"

Halfway through her speech, she realized that she might have said the wrong thing and immediately shut up.

After a few seconds of silence, Aoyagi Hikari spoke again: "Kudo, that place used to be a tourist attraction. Maybe there is a map. Have you seen it?"

"Indeed."

Kudo Shinichi's voice was not affected at all.

"At the top of the stairs, I saw a map showing that the ark was in Okuho-cho."

"The Okuho Ark is the only one built by the water, so it is indeed likely to leak!" said the academic director, who had once taken the children there.

"Okuho Town..."

Toru Amuro on the side frowned.

Okuho is a small place, and the local police station there does not have bomb disposal police, so they can only transfer people from the Metropolitan Police Department. And it takes at least 30 minutes to drive from Chiyoda Ward to Okuho.

It is closer from the port area, but it takes about 20 minutes.

In addition to finding people, destroying walls to get in, and defusing bombs... we have to drive faster to get there.

Amuro Toru thought of something.

Matsuda Jinpei, who was thinking the same thing as him, couldn't help but look at him.

Aoyagi Akimitsu seemed to care nothing about anything around him.

He lowered his head and continued talking on the phone with Kudo Shinichi.

----

10:52 AM, Ark underground.

Kudo Shinichi stood at the highest point in the room, with the bomb very close at hand.

The room with the winch was small, hot and humid. A little sunlight fell through the gaps above the head, and other than that, the only lighting was the flashlight function on the mobile phone.

A crudely made bomb was placed behind an old table and activated 22 minutes ago, so Shinichi Kudo didn't notice it when he came in to use the winch.

The only thing to be thankful for is that perhaps the kidnappers installed a signal-enhancing device in this room to ensure that the bomb could receive the control signal.

He immediately tried to make a call, and after several attempts, he finally got through.

Unexpectedly, the call to 110 didn't go through, but instead, the call to Qing Liu's teacher went through, and there happened to be a policeman nearby...

Kudo Shinichi raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and looked at the countdown on the bomb.

8 minutes left.

The noisy commotion on the other side had long ended.

Only Aoyagi Hikari was still there, and before leaving, Officer Megure asked him to try to calm himself down. He told him that the police had already rushed over.

Kudo Shinichi, who was familiar with Japan's geographical environment, knew that it would be too late to rush here from the Metropolitan Police Department.

"Teacher Aoyagi," Kudo Shinichi said, breathing was a little uncomfortable, "Who is the criminal? Have you caught him?"

As he was nearing the end of his life, he should at least make sure whether his final reasoning was correct.

"The criminal is Koji Koshiba, a handyman in the kitchen," said Aoyagi Akimitsu. "The police are still trying their best to find him, but they haven't found him yet."

"really."

When Kudo Shinichi found out that he had guessed correctly, he wanted to laugh, just like when he had guessed the answer to a mystery novel in the past. But in his current situation, he couldn't laugh at all.

And hearing this name reminded him of more.

He had never paid attention to the school's handyman, but he clearly remembered that Koshiba Koji was the younger brother of a criminal his father had once caught.

"…I'm afraid this case is a revenge crime against the detective."

Aoyagi Akimitsu seemed to hesitate, but finally said it.

"I know." said Kudo Shinichi.

The death penalty is rare in Japan, but the prisoner Koshiba Koichi died anyway. When the media reported the bombing and suspected that the wrong person had been arrested, he committed suicide in the detention center after leaving a suicide note.

At that time, Kudo Yusaku read the suicide note and went to visit Koshiba's house, and Kudo Shinichi went with him. Koshiba Koji did not open the door, but just glared at them through the door.

——That haggard face, the malice and pain in those eyes almost gave Kudo Shinichi a nightmare that night.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with solving the case." Kudo Shinichi said firmly, "But..."

Now he knew who had kidnapped him, but he didn't feel any hatred at all.

After leaving Xiao Chai's house that day, his father said to him meaningfully.

"Shinichi, it's not easy to become a real detective."

"A detective in a novel only needs to solve a mystery. The end of the reasoning is also the end of the story. But a detective in reality needs to face many more problems..."

He began to understand what his father meant.

Chapter 55 In the Last Moments of Life

There are only 6 minutes left on the bomb countdown.

Kudo Shinichi took a deep breath, stopped thinking about the detective's question, and looked up at the ceiling.

When he explored the corridor, he found that the ceiling was very low, but now it seemed so far away. From the small cracks above, the sunlight from outside could be seen faintly.

Will this be the last thing he sees?

Kudo Shinichi looked at the dazzling light in the darkness, and recalled the surprised tone of Officer Megure when he told them that Hojo had escaped, and the words of the female police officer...

"Kudou, there is something I need to tell you..."

Aoyagi Akimichi's words brought Kudo Shinichi back to his senses.

Kudo Shinichi interrupted the other party and said, "I just heard it. Hojo hasn't called the police yet, right?"

At that time, the two of them didn't know that there was a bomb in the Ark. Faced with the huge rock blocking the only exit, they actually had two choices.

The first option is for the two of them to stay together on the underground floor where there is no water seepage, and continue to wait for rescue;

The second option is to sacrifice one person to use the winch, allowing the other to escape early.