Oritis in the world of Detective Conan

Chapter 158 The Dark Shadow Approaching Huiyuan's Secret (Part 4)

Officer Shancun was somewhat helpless: "That's how investigations work."

Conan and Sera have already started analyzing the clues left at the scene.

"As for the clue about the criminal, didn't he leave sneaker prints around when he was digging the hole?"

"It might be difficult to determine the actual shoe size based on rough marks alone, but it should still be possible to get an idea of ​​the foot size."

"Let me see." Inspector Yamamura pulled out the ruler he carried with him. "About 26 centimeters."

Sera continued, "There was a small shovel left at the scene, so we can't expect to find fingerprints there. Since the criminal left the shovel here, it means there's a high probability that he committed the crime while wearing gloves."

"In other words, the only clue we have about the criminal at the moment is that his shoes are 26 centimeters in size. So we have to wait for the forensic department to come..." Officer Yamamura was confused again.

The novelist resisted the urge to punch him and analyzed, "You can basically infer the criminal's height by the size of their shoes. Judging from the size, the criminal should be a tall man. However, we can't rule out the possibility that the criminal is wearing double shoes to fabricate false evidence."

"That's unlikely. Look at the depth of the footprints. It doesn't look like he was wearing two layers of shoes. Moreover, the man was caught off guard by the children, which means this was not a carefully planned murder, but more like a spur-of-the-moment act." The entomologist squatted on the ground to examine the footprints.

Shiliang also pointed out another clue at the scene: "Officer, look at this man's hands."

Conan added: "The shape of the deceased's hand is quite unnatural."

Officer Yamamura suddenly realized: "It's true, but what is this gesture? Is it sign language or something?"

"I don't know. Judging from the bloodstains, it seems the person desperately made the shape with his fingers inside the sleeping bag before dying."

Officer Yamamura imitated the corpse's gestures and said, "O and K? No, 2 and 3?"

After some random reasoning, Officer Shancun didn't come up with any useful information.

The novelist beside him silently made this gesture and thought to himself: "This gesture seems to be..."

Suddenly, as if he thought of something, the novelist covered his head in pain, cold sweat oozing from his forehead, and he squatted on the ground to relieve the pain.

"Orpheus, what's wrong with you?" The entomologist tried to pull the novelist up from the ground, but accidentally pulled off one of his gloves.

On the palm under the glove, there was a very clear scar that ran through the entire palm, and it looked like it was strangled by a thorny plant like a thorn.

"Huh, I'm fine, I just thought of some memories from the past..." The novelist stood up from the ground and covered the scar with his other hand.

Conan happened to see this scene. After all, the novelist had always worn gloves before, and no one had ever seen what he looked like under his gloves. Conan was a little curious about the origin of this strange scar, but the most important thing now was to solve the case at hand.

[Entomologist: Are you exposing your injury to Conan just like that?]

[Composer: Your identity reversal will shock him.]

[Adventurer: When your identity as "Nightmare" is exposed, whisper "Guess who's awake now?" to him, and the atmosphere will be filled with terror.]

[Jack: If that happens, I guess he'll be haunted by his dual personality for the rest of his life.]

[Blind Girl: It’s really a bit scary.]

At this time, another police officer came to report the search results: "Officer Shancun, the search team contacted us. They found three men wandering around in the mountains on their own and are now preparing to bring them here."

"What about the children?" Dr. Agasa asked anxiously. "Did you see any children near where the men you mentioned were found?"

"Well, there haven't been any similar reports yet."

"Is that so?" Dr. Agasa sighed.

The novelist was still trying to figure out the meaning of the corpse's gesture, while the entomologist stayed nearby to prevent him from having another attack.

In the mountain cabin, the little girl tried to make a few more calls, but there was still no signal and no one answered.

Mitsuhiko was facing the door: "It's probably been two hours."

Yuan Tai also went forward to listen to the movement outside the door: "There is absolutely no sound outside."

Ayumi wiped the sweat from her forehead: "Could he have given up on us and run away?"

"Should we take a peek at what's going on outside?"

Huiyuan quickly stopped him: "No, the criminal might have deliberately made us think this way and ambushed us outside."

"But just take a quick look." Yuantai said as he lifted the latch.

"Wait a minute, Genta!" Huibara suddenly started coughing uncontrollably in the middle of her words. The tense environment and the previous cold had made her body a little overwhelmed.

"Are you okay, Ai? You've been sweating a lot." Ayumi stepped forward and supported Haibara.

"I have no problem. Go and persuade Yuan Tai."

"But......"

Yuantai had already opened the door a little, and a beam of light shone into the dark hut.

"How's it going, Genta?"

"There's no one outside." Yuan Tai carefully observed the situation outside through the crack in the door. "Okay, it should be fine."

However, just when he wanted to open the door completely, he found that the door was locked with a chain.

"Oh, it's over! Someone's locked the door outside! We can't get out."

Mitsuhiko frantically sought Huibara's advice: "What should we do? Huibara, we are all trapped in the cabin."

Ayumi comforted everyone: "It's okay, we're just trapped inside. The doctor and everyone else will definitely come to rescue us soon."

"Ah!" The little girl's scream rang out in the inner room of the cabin, and everyone hurried to check the situation.

The little girl, holding her phone, sat on the ground and pointed at the sealed window: "Fire, fire!"

The wooden window sealed with iron nails and wooden bars was emitting wisps of black smoke, accompanied by the crackling sound of burning wood.

Mitsuhiko and Genta tried hard to open the window, but it didn't move at all.

"There is no way, the window is nailed shut!"

"No way, isn't there no way out?" Ayumi was so anxious that tears welled up in her eyes.

Huiyuan had figured it all out: So that was it. The criminal had probably intended to imprison the woman here from the beginning, set her on fire, and then fake her death as an accident. However, the woman saw through his ruse, so he had to kill her with an axe instead. But if he burned her and the cabin together, the body would still show signs of being hacked. So, he had buried the body near the "Snakes" warning sign, thus concealing his presence.

Yuantai was desperately trying to pull at the door, trying to make the gap wider so that everyone could escape, but the iron chain could not be pulled by the strength of just a few children.

Huiyuan comforted everyone: "Don't worry, everyone stay calm, someone outside will definitely notice the smoke here, and then someone will come to rescue us."

The little girl was sitting there, dialing her phone non-stop. The sound of the keys echoed over and over in the wooden house: "Ophi, save me, don't let the memories be annihilated in the fire..."