Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Page 147

The trio's chatter was a jumbled mess, but Conan could only make out the general outline of what they were saying—

A ruthless gunman suddenly appeared, fired a shot into the air, and then stole Yuan Tai's remote-controlled airplane.

What kind of outrageous case development is this?!

Before the bewildered Conan could think any further, his phone rang again in his pocket.

"Shinichi Kudo, you're really something. You found my bomb without me even noticing, and you even defused it in such a short time... Wait, that guy actually gave his phone to a kid?"

Conan pressed his face against the phone, feeling like he recognized every single word the other person was saying, but when put together, he couldn't quite understand it.

When did I defuse the bomb?

Also, how did that guy know the phone was in the kid's possession...?

Masaka, that guy's nearby!?

Conan hurriedly climbed out from under the trio of monks and yelled into his phone, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Don't worry, since that guy handed you the phone, I'll tell you the location of the next bomb. It's in front of Beika Station. Here's another hint... under the tree. You don't have much time left."

After saying that, the other end of the phone hung up. Conan had no choice but to leave the still crying trio behind, hop on—no, on his skateboard—and start playing a children's version of Fast & Furious.

Meanwhile, Sano had already arrived at the plaza in front of Beika Station—after all, it wasn't far.

Although the mission required finding and defusing the bomb, so there was no location on the system map, the square was still quite small, and Sano's explosive gloves had a fairly wide detection range for bombs, so he found the target after only a few minutes of wandering around.

It was a pink cat...bag placed on a bench.

It should be called a cat carrier, right?

Sano's gaze swept across the surroundings, wondering if the guy who planted the bomb was also nearby. What if he saw him and decided to detonate it?

Sano narrowed his eyes. The reward for this mission was even less, but Sano himself was not sure whether the difficulty of the mission was actually related to the amount of the reward.

Even so, the low reward for this mission might simply be because Sano has the explosive gloves, making it easy for him to find the bombs, rather than making it easy for him to defuse them.

After hesitating for less than two seconds, Sano tried to switch his vest in the corner. After succeeding, he immediately changed his black hoodie into ordinary casual clothes, and then, just like an ordinary person who had just discovered a cat on a bench, he went over.

Although there is no evidence, Sano saw Conan's arrival before leaving the green park, so he has reason to suspect that the series of bombs were actually aimed at Conan.

...After all, he's a plague god.

If that's the case, then even if an unrelated person were to appear in the eyes of the bomber, they probably wouldn't detonate the explosives carelessly.

Sano gently unzipped the cat carrier, rummaged around inside the cat, and saw flashing scarlet numbers.

This time it seems to be just a scheduled event.

...Of course, it's also possible that, like the previous bomb, it was remotely detonated, but logically speaking, since the other party was keeping watch near that park, they shouldn't have been able to get here so quickly.

Sano's tense nerves relaxed slightly, but he still pretended to stroke the cat, while in reality, his explosive gloves were already on the bomb and he began to dismantle it.

This bomb is clearly much more powerful than the previous one.

Preliminary estimates suggest that it is close to the power of the five kilograms of TNT that Sano converted.

...It was probably more powerful than the one Sano used at the end of the Shenlong mission, so it took longer to dismantle, almost a minute for Sano.

After confirming that the bomb had been completely dismantled, Sano calmly took it out and put it in his pocket.

As for the tool cat that was still rubbing its head against Sano's palm, trying to get a long-term meal ticket, it was ruthlessly abandoned by Sano.

Otherwise, would we take them back to take care of their food, drink, toileting, and sleep?

...If this thing can take care of Sano's eating, drinking, defecating, and sleeping, then it's worth considering.

After completing the task, Sano did not go home immediately, but instead found a nearby coffee shop to sit down and wait.

To reiterate, the guy who planted the bomb definitely has other explosives in his possession. This matter is not completely over; there will inevitably be more to come.

...Am I going to be a bomb disposal expert for the day?

Sano was lost in thought.

Sure enough, before Sano could even get comfortable, the system sent another mission trigger notification.

[Please proceed to the target location to prevent the bomb from exploding. Completion will earn you ten enhancement points. Mission time remaining: 1:59:59.]

Wow, you arrived pretty quickly.

Sano pulled up the system map, and just as he confirmed the location of the mission objective and was preparing to set off to defuse the bomb, the system gave him another notification.

[Please proceed to the target location to prevent the bomb from exploding. Completion will earn you ten enhancement points. Mission time remaining: 1:59:59.]

Sano: "..."

Looking at the two mission objective locations on the map, Sano confirmed that this wasn't a system bug, and then...

[Please proceed to the target location to prevent the bomb from exploding. Completion will earn you ten enhancement points. Mission time remaining: 1:59:59.]

[Please proceed to the target location to prevent the bomb from exploding. Completion will earn you ten enhancement points. Mission time remaining: 1:59:59.]

Please proceed to the target location...

……

Looking at the long list of identical system tasks, each numbering in the double digits, Sano's eyes widened slightly. He thought he was already used to Conan's teachings, but for once, he was completely bewildered.

What's going on? How come there are so many bombs all of a sudden?

Even if you really want to be a bomb disposal expert for a day, you should at least do it one by one. You can't create clones. How are you going to run around to these dozen or so different locations that are not far apart within two hours?

Sano lowered his head and fell into deep thought, feeling an unbearable headache.

Does this mean we have to give up some of them? But I'm a little reluctant...

No, dragging this out will only lead to greater losses. I should definitely be more decisive.

However, just as Sano gritted his teeth and prepared to dismantle as many bombs as possible, a flash of lightning suddenly struck his mind.

An essential detective skill – a flash of inspiration!

The system task only instructed me to stop the explosion, but it didn't explain how to do it, let alone what was prohibited.

Then why do you insist on dismantling it yourself?

If we bring in some outside help, we can solve the problem within two hours, right?

With that in mind, Sano no longer hesitated and took out his phone to call Gin.

"Hey Gin, do you want a bomb?"

Meanwhile, Gin, who was monitoring Miyano Akemi with Vodka, thought something had gone wrong with Sano's mission.

To his surprise, the first thing the other person asked him after the call connected was whether he wanted a bomb. Gin was immediately left with a question mark.

……

A moment later, Conan arrived and began a frantic search of the small square, but unfortunately, he found nothing, and of course, he couldn't find anything.

Because the item is on Sano.

As time went on, Conan, who was becoming increasingly anxious, suddenly had a flash of inspiration when he saw an old lady holding a kitten and realized the true location of the bomb.

It wasn't under the tree, it was under the cat!

Conan, his face contorted with rage, stormed up to the old woman, grabbed the cat carrier, and took a look!

...Empty?

What happened? Was my reasoning wrong?

Conan stood there bewildered for a while before gradually coming to his senses under the strange gaze of the old woman beside him. He felt embarrassed, but also realized that something was wrong.

If there really is a bomb here, then it's been so long, why hasn't it detonated yet?

Or did they think they were tricked and there was no bomb at all?

After all, everything was perfectly fine in the green park before...

No, no one would make such a stupid joke that would be so easily exposed. Besides, although the green park seemed fine at first glance, there were still some odd things about it.

Conan frowned, his mind filled with a multitude of fragmented clues that he couldn't connect, giving him a terrible headache.

Chapter 177, Section 176: The Great Rampage of the East Capital Circular Line

...Speaking of which, this doesn't seem to be the first time this has happened, does it?

When did it start? Why do I feel like I'm becoming more and more useless...?

Conan's eyes darted around, and he came to an answer—it seemed to have started when those extraordinary people appeared one after another.

...After all, those people were either of unknown identity or exceptionally capable, and their appearance would naturally make the situation extremely complicated.

So much so that just organizing the clues can be a headache.

For example... those two people in the Shenlong incident last time!

Thinking of the Shenlong incident, Conan couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Because of him, Shinichi Kudo, the Sherlock Holmes of the Heisei era, the shrunken detective, was actually tricked!

Back on Shikijima, Conan noticed something amiss and was preparing to go to the Navy cave to investigate.

She was even threatened into engaging in a sordid transaction that defiled her soul and body.

Unexpectedly, before the transaction was even over, Conan's "Ran-neechan" suddenly appeared and forcibly took him away.

At first, Conan felt something was off, but he didn't think much of it. It wasn't until he returned to the hotel and found Ran Mouri dressed the same as before that he finally realized that the one he had met earlier was a fake.

To be able to use disguise so flawlessly, without even being able to see through it, is something Conan simply doesn't believe.

Although Conan doesn't know the true identity of the guy who impersonated Ran Mouri, he is a prime suspect in the investigation at the end of the case.

Shikijima is located in a remote area, and apart from the newly discovered ghost ship Shenlong, it has nothing attractive about it. Therefore, the number of people visiting it is not only pitifully small, like that of Tsukikagejima, but it is practically non-existent.

During those two days, apart from the Mori family of three and Uehara from the travel agency, the only other outsiders on the island were the two men who had exchanged a few words with the ferry.

...One of them even looks remarkably like Sano.

The person impersonating Ran Mouri must be one of them.

Throughout the Shenlong incident, Hamada died, and two people who were initially suspected, one on the surface and the other on the hidden, disappeared without a trace—their bodies were suspected of being dumped at sea, and they escaped with a billion yen in gold. During their escape, they used bombs to capsize several ships, causing dozens of deaths and injuries.

All these evil deeds point to those two people.