Oritis in the world of Detective Conan

Chapter 159 The Dark Shadow Approaching Huiyuan's Secret (Part 5)

Conan saw thick smoke rising in the distance: "Well, in the distance, it seems like something is burning."

Officer Yamamura explained, "Ah, that must be the smoke from the campfires. Look, we can see smoke over there. For some reason, lately, a lot of young people have been setting up huge campfires starting at noon and lighting them in broad daylight."

A few people looked up and saw that there were indeed some wisps of smoke rising not far away.

"Although we have warned them, more and more people are following suit." The village police officer looked helpless.

At this time, the police brought the latest news: "Officer Yamamura, I have brought the three men I reported to you earlier."

"Oh, I see. Thank you for your hard work."

Officer Shancun turned his gaze towards the three men and said, "Then please each of you tell me your name and occupation, and tell me in detail why you came here alone."

The man in a knitted hat and pink vest said, "I'm Mizumi Sodo, a freelancer. I don't know what's going on right now. I'm going camping with some friends next week, so I came here to check out the campsite in advance."

The man with glasses and neatly combed hair said, "My name is Usaki Tiaozo, and I'm a photographer. I'm currently photographing beautiful scenery at campsites all over Japan."

The last man, a thick-lipped man wearing a baseball cap, said, "I'm here to take photos, too. I wanted to use my phone to take pictures of the azaleas here and upload them online. They're in bloom right now, with their orange-red flowers. Oh, and by the way, my name is Iwakuma Takeya, and I'm a senior at Beika University."

"But I noticed that you three are all dressed very lightly."

"I'm just here to investigate."

"I'm here to investigate too. My camera and filming equipment are in the car."

“I was just passing by so I came in to take a picture.”

"Oh, I see." Officer Shancun had a headache. The reasons given by these three people were quite reasonable.

At this time, Conan has not given up on using his phone to contact Huibara: "It's strange, I still can't get in touch with her. Logically speaking, Huibara should move to a place with a signal."

Dr. Agasa thought: "If they are still being chased by the criminal and have no time to call, then does it mean that the criminal is not one of the three of them?"

Shira prepared for the worst: "Although I don't want to assume that, could it be that one of the suspects has already killed all of them?"

The novelist immediately retorted: "That's absolutely impossible, it's impossible, don't talk nonsense!"

The entomologist stopped the agitated novelist and said, "I don't think that's possible either. Judging by the timeframe, the perpetrator wouldn't have had enough time to dispose of all the children and then pretend nothing happened before being discovered by the police. So the most likely scenario is that the children, in order to escape the killer, ran into a place with a weak signal and difficult to leave."

"Don't be discouraged. She is a brave nightingale, no matter which one she is, isn't she?"

Conan sensed a hidden meaning in the entomologist's words: Aunt Merry compared Little Alice to a nightingale, and, by "either one," was she referring to Little Alice and Mrs. Dross? It seemed that everyone around Uncle Orpheus knew about Little Alice's connection to Mrs. Dross, and about the tragedy that had befallen her.

The novelist was still not overwhelmed by his grief: "You used to compare her to a moth flying into a flame. Are you suddenly saying this to comfort me?"

Now the entomologist got angry: "You mean raven, don't think you're the only one who cares about that."

Conan:? It seems the situation has become more complicated?

After saying this, the entomologist turned his back on the novelist and took out a few small cages from his bag.

Curious Conan walked over and asked the entomologist: "Aunt Merry, what is that?"

"The bees I specially bred react to specific smells. This morning, little Alice came into contact with the nectar I used to feed the insects. I wanted to see if I could find her that way."

The entomologist released the bees and watched them buzzing away with their wings.

Sera was now a little wary of the entomologist. After all, how could an ordinary professor of zoology and botany have nothing better to do than to breed an insect that looked like it was used to track others?

After a while, one of the released bees flew back and danced in the same place.

"It seems to be very far away, and after a long time, the smell of nectar should be about to dissipate, making it difficult to determine the exact location." The entomologist took back the bee.

The few bees that flew back later were a little shaky, and one of them even fluttered twice before falling to the ground.

Shiliang came over and said: "What's wrong with these bees? They look like they are drunk."

A solemn expression appeared on the entomologist's face beneath his veil. "This means that a large amount of carbon dioxide has suddenly been produced in this forest. This will affect the bees' ability to locate themselves and significantly shorten their lifespan."

Conan was shocked: "A lot of carbon dioxide is produced in the forest?"

"Isn't that a forest fire?" Dr. Agasa smiled, then belatedly realized and yelled in surprise. "What? A fire!"

[Puppeteer: I remember this prisoner just set the house on fire, right? How did it develop into a forest fire?]

[Batter: Florian speaking.]

[Fire Investigator: I was at home watching a movie with Richard and Marta, not me!]

[Knight: I testify that it was not him.]

[Ms. Farrow: What kind of movie can you all watch together...]

[Puppeteer: Guess why I'm not home now?]

[Air Force: We were watching Romeo and Juliet. Richard wanted to see it, and Florian was making a face. It cracked me up.]

[Fire Investigator: That's too boring. I want to watch a fire documentary.]

[Puppeteer: And then learn more about fire hazards, right?]

[Air Force: Hey, hey, hey, Richard, why did you change the movie to "The Frog Prince"? And you, Florian, you are not allowed in the kitchen!]

[Ms. Farrow: It's only been a short time since Mathias and I left home, and you're going to rebel? Do you know how hard it is for me to make money out there?]

[Explorer: So the funding for the five of you is now entirely supported by Evelyn?]

[Air Force: Yes, even though Kreacher helped us buy this villa, the daily expenses are still quite high. Evelyn earns money at the casino, Matthias is out doing the shopping, Richard and I only go on missions occasionally, and we also have to be careful about Florian blowing up the kitchen.]

[Perfumer: What a mess! It's true that having too many people living together can cause problems.]

[Bartender: Let's get back to the topic of why forest fires occur.]

Savage: That's strange. That cabin shouldn't be near anything flammable. It's not late autumn yet, so there aren't any fallen leaves. It shouldn't cause a large-scale fire, right?

[Adventurer: Brother Muro, have you forgotten that this is a campground? It would be easy to set up a gas stove.]

[Magician: That doesn't make sense. The criminal set fire to the cabin, but he also set fire to everything around it? Did he really want to kill himself?]

[Little girl: That feels like I did it...]

[Forward: Huh?]

[Aviator: Huh?]

[Cowboy: Huh?]

[Little girl: Well, I was in the cabin, using my phone to get a signal, and out of boredom, I was walking around and putting pages of a book down. Maybe the force of the pages knocked over the ignition that the criminal had placed...]

[Novelist: This...]