Chapter 7

Chi Feichi could only remain silent.

No matter what he said, he would still be considered sick. What else could he say?

Even the words he was about to say—“The succulent plant on your desk told me that you played games on your phone for over an hour during work yesterday”—were held back.

Following Fukuyama Shizuo's line of thinking, it was easy to guess that if Fukuyama Shizuo heard him say this, his first thought would probably be—this kid was secretly peeping into my office yesterday? Did he imagine it because he forgot? Scary... Cough, he shouldn't say that about a patient; it should be—pitiful, really sick...

Anyway, after that, he gave up trying to prove to Fukuyama Shizuo that he wasn't sick and started secretly researching this ability on his own.

So far, there was no pattern to when he could hear plants and animals speak, and he couldn't control it or find any regularity.

Sometimes he wouldn't hear anything for days, and other times he would have to listen to a big tree ramble for hours.

Because the timing was unpredictable, it caused a lot of trouble.

For example, the scene suddenly turned into a horror movie.

One night when he went to the bathroom, in the quiet, empty environment, the potted tree outside the bathroom softly said, “You're still coming to the bathroom this late at night...”

If he didn't have a strong tolerance and mental preparation, he would have been scared to death and kicked the pot aside.

Another example was that he couldn't determine the exact number of people by their voices.

Once, outside an activity room, he heard three different voices inside, but when he opened the door...

There were indeed three patients inside.

However, one of them was an autistic patient who didn't speak, while the grass on the windowsill was happily echoing the other two patients.

Another example was that some animals and plants had distinct voices, but others sounded just like humans, making it impossible to tell if the voice was human or something else.

A while ago, a mischievous bird kept flying to the big tree in the hospital. One day, when Fukuyama Shizuo was chatting with him, the bird imitated a nurse's voice and called out, “Mr. Chi,” and he instinctively turned around to look.

The result was...

Fukuyama Shizuo: “Mr. Chi, what's wrong?”

He: “Nothing.”

Fukuyama Shizuo: “Is it the hallucinations again? You have to believe me, if anything happens, tell me immediately. If you have any worries, you can talk to me...”

Blah, blah, blah.

He: “...”

Moreover, that mischievous bird happily imitated the nurse's voice and called him over ten times for three consecutive days. After he glared at it with a murderous look and considered how to use the tools there to make a delicious roasted bird, the bird finally stopped.

Actually, making it into a spicy hot pot would be even better...

Cough, cough...

However, with troubles came benefits.

He could learn many secrets and understand things that couldn't be known through normal channels, and he could even communicate.

Although the animals and plants didn't always understand his intentions clearly, they could follow simple commands.

Should he try to prove it to Fukuyama Shizuo again?

Forget it!

About ten days ago, the mischievous bird landed on his hand, and he experimented with how far simple commands could go.

Fukuyama Shizuo passed by and saw the bird obediently flying up, landing, moving left, moving right, and picking leaves. After watching for a while, he remarked, “Mr. Chi, no wonder you're a veterinary medicine student; you're really good at taming animals!”

He: “...”

Fukuyama Shizuo might have misunderstood veterinarians.

Veterinarians are not the same as animal trainers. While they do learn about animal behavior and how to calm animals, he and his classmates and seniors were probably more skilled at dissecting animals than taming them...

After inwardly complaining, Chi Feichi collected his thoughts and hailed a taxi.

What to do?

Spend money!

...

While Chi Feichi was buying and ordering things, Conan and Hattori Heiji were busy with the case.

Two people had died right in front of them, plus the two previous cases with the same modus operandi, making a total of four victims!

For a moment, they didn't realize that the police officer, Sakata Yusuke, who had been accompanying them everywhere, was the real culprit.

Sakata Yusuke, driving, casually mentioned, “The wallets on the victims' bodies, which were pierced by knives, all contained driver's licenses...”

In the passenger seat, Hattori Heiji was startled and turned to look at Conan in the back seat.

Exchanging a glance, both of them smiled slightly.

They had confirmed the important clue.

Hattori Heiji immediately looked at Sakata Yusuke, “Mr. Sakata, let's take a detour! We're going to the driver's license office...”

The call was interrupted.

Sakata Yusuke answered, “Yes!... Should we go back now? To the headquarters? Okay, I understand...”

Hattori Heiji was puzzled, “What's going on?”

“Indeed, we need to take a detour. The chief wants us to return immediately,” Sakata Yusuke said, “He said there's an important discovery...”

Although Hattori Heiji wanted to go to the driver's license office to investigate the driver's licenses, he also wanted to know about the “important discovery,” so he didn't say anything.

On the way back to the Osaka Police Headquarters, Sakata Yusuke parked the car and was immediately surrounded as soon as they entered the building.

Chief Hattori Heizo personally led the team, sternly staring at Sakata Yusuke, “Sakata, as a police officer, you killed four people and committed such a serious crime. Do you have anything to say?”

Sakata Yusuke was stunned. What went wrong with his actions? How were they discovered?

Conan and Hattori Heiji were also stunned. The police officer who had been driving them around was the culprit in this case?

Chief Hattori Heizo sternly said, “The common point in the four cases is that the knives pierced the wallets and were nailed to the victims' chests, and all four victims' wallets contained driver's licenses...”

Hattori Heiji was about to ask if his father had made a mistake, but he stopped when he heard this, as it matched the clue they had noticed...

“According to our investigation, the four victims attended the same driver's license training course 20 years ago...”

Chief Hattori Heizo took out a photo, “In addition to the four of them, there were also city councilor Gomabuchi Soichiro and fugitive Numa Kenichiro. Another relevant person was the driving instructor, Inaba Tetsuji, who was your father!”

20 years ago, on the day the six students graduated, Inaba Tetsuji died in a car accident due to drunk driving.

This was actually a prank by the six students. They had gotten Inaba Tetsuji drunk and drained the brake fluid, wanting to see if the so-called devil instructor would be afraid. However, it resulted in Inaba Tetsuji's death in a car accident.

20 years later, after learning the truth about his father's death, you decided to kill the other five people and frame the fugitive murderer, Numa Kenichiro...

Seeing that the 20-year-old incident had been thoroughly investigated, Sakata Yusuke lost hope. Hearing the true cause of his father's death, he couldn't deny it and said in a low voice, “Yes... The statute of limitations for murder is 15 years, and now 20 years have passed, so there's no way to hold anyone accountable. So I decided to take justice into my own hands... to punish them!”

“Don't be so self-righteous!” Chief Hattori Heizo sternly said, “Sakata, do you still think this is upholding justice? By taking away others' lives, do you represent justice? As a police officer, you committed murder, and you trampled on the law that you were supposed to uphold. The cherry blossom emblem on the detective badge would weep for you!”

The other police officers took the dazed Sakata Yusuke away.

Conan couldn't help but whisper to Hattori Heiji, “Your Osaka police are really impressive.”

Not only were their investigative skills strong, but Chief Hattori Heizo's words were also powerful and righteous...

Usually, he would know everything while the police were still confused, but this time, he had just noticed the important clue, and they had already figured out the motive and the plan of the culprit.

The Osaka police were truly different!

“Of course,” Hattori Heiji was a bit proud and said happily, “I didn't expect them to investigate a 20-year-old case so thoroughly.”

Conan nodded, “Yes, it's like they saw it with their own eyes. Usually, such praise would be directed at a detective...”

“However...” Hattori Heiji looked up at Chief Hattori Heizo, who was looking back at him, and asked with a hint of pride, “You haven't figured out the method yet, right?”

Chief Hattori Heizo squinted at Hattori Heiji. This brat was showing off in front of his father?

“We don't need to figure it out; we can just ask Sakata directly.”

“Cough...” Hattori Heiji choked, “What about the evidence? Have you found the evidence?”

Conan also looked at Chief Hattori Heizo. They hadn't found any evidence, so he wondered if the police had...

“We have already arrested Numa Kenichiro, and he has confessed everything,” Chief Hattori Heizo said casually, “We now have a witness, and based on his confession, we found physical evidence at the place where Sakata was holding him.”

Hattori Heiji's mouth twitched, “So, you caught Numa Kenichiro first, and this is what you learned from him?”

“As a police officer, as long as we can solve the case, catch the real culprit, and find the evidence to convict, the presence of a flashy deduction process is not important,” Chief Hattori Heizo turned and left, “The opposite is also true!”

“The opposite... is also true?”

Hattori Heiji was stunned for a moment, then his eyes narrowed, “In other words, it means ‘even if there is a flashy deduction process, but it can't solve the case, find the evidence, or catch the culprit, it's useless,’ right? Is he showing off in front of us detectives or indirectly expressing dissatisfaction with us?”

“It's not dissatisfaction, but rather a sense of the police reclaiming their ground and feeling vindicated...” Conan looked at Hattori Heiji, “And also a father's way of warning and awakening you.”

Hattori Heiji was speechless: “...”

Although the words were true, the final goal of deduction is to catch the culprit and gather evidence, but... being suddenly scolded by his own father and having to admit it was the most frustrating thing!