Xiao Hei, the Fall Guy

"Gunshots?!"

Ran was taken aback when she heard this, Sonoko quickly followed up, "Could it be that uncle with the hunting rifle?"

"The gunshots were too loud; they must have been fired from a high place."

Fujino lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, "But we can't be sure if that guy really used a shotgun to kill someone. Let's find that Er Heng first."

Just as Ran Sonoko were converging on the idea that the bearded man had shot Er Heng dead with a hunting rifle, a new System Task appeared before Fujino's eyes:

System Task: The Dangerous Snowstorm Mountain Lodge

Mission Summary: An avalanche four years ago, a murder four years later—the killer seems pretty clear now...

Mission Rewards: 5 Detective Coins, 5 million Yen, 500 Detective Reputation Points

"This is terrible..."

In the wind and snow, a man carrying a hunting rifle and backpack emerged from the woods. "Has that guy already beaten us to it?"

Fujino snapped out of her daze and looked at the man with a somewhat square jaw, "You wouldn't happen to be the companion that old man mentioned, would you?"

"That's right, I just came up here."

The square-faced man responded, then glanced around. "Judging from the gunshots just now, he's probably already found the Japanese Wolves."

Following in the group, Funawa glanced at the other person and asked in confusion, "Have you seen Er Heng?"

No, not at all.

The square-chinned man pondered for a moment, "I've been wandering around this area for a while now, but I haven't seen anyone..."

"Woof woof!"

Just then, a dog's barking suddenly came from not far away, interrupting the man's words.

"In these deep mountains..."

Funakawa looked in the direction of the sound, "It sounds like Saburo's shout!"

"But how is that possible?"

The old woman asked in confusion, "Although it was Saburo's voice, he's still inside the manor."

"Could it be Conan?!"

Ran exclaimed in surprise.

"If it's that brat..."

Sonoko narrowed her eyes upon hearing this. "It's still quite possible that you ran away with the dog."

When everyone arrived, three figures appeared before them.

One Ke, one dog, one Ai.

"Conan, what are you doing here?!"

Ran stepped forward and looked at Conan with a reproachful expression, "Didn't I just tell you to wait inside the villa? You even brought Ai out with you!"

"Sorry!"

Conan awkwardly scratched his head.

Although I don't quite agree with the fact that she brought Ai Haibara out.

But he didn't ramble on. He readily admitted his mistake and then said childishly, "I heard that Miss Funakawa said that the former boss was dug out by Saburo, so I brought Saburo to find Mr. Er Heng. After all, Mr. Er Heng has been in the villa for a long time, so maybe we can find him by his scent."

As he spoke, he looked at the big tree beside him. "But when I found Mr. Er Heng, his whole body was frozen stiff."

"Jia... Jia Gui?!"

Amari Ako looked at the figure and immediately exclaimed in surprise.

She originally intended to kill Er Heng Jiagui herself, and even had a plan prepared, but she was interrupted when she was about to take action.

Helpless, she had no choice but to abandon her plan and reconsider her strategy.

Unexpectedly, someone actually helped her. To be honest, she had mixed feelings.

Even though he was certain the other person was dead, Fujino still followed the normal procedure and went forward to check on them.

Activating Eagle Vision, clues begin to emerge around the corpse:

[Er Heng Jiagui] [Outdoor Investigative Reporter] [Beated to Death - Suspected Torture Before Death] [Bloodstains Separate Section, Suspected to Have Been Licked by Some Creature] [Randomly Ransacked Backpack] [Rigid Rigidity, Time of Death Undetermined...]

"It looks like a murder."

Fujino glanced at him, then stood up. "The time of death can no longer be determined; we'll have to wait for the police to come and conduct an autopsy to confirm it."

"Murder?"

The Itakura Hajime frowned and looked Fujino up and down, questioning, "You're not a policeman, how can you be so sure he was murdered?"

"Determining whether a person was murdered is not entirely the job of the police."

Fujino glanced back at Itakura and pulled out his work ID from his pocket. "But shouldn't a police advisor also be considered a police officer?"

"Metropolitan Police Department... Fujino?!"

"That Great Detective?!"

Everyone glanced at the work badge and were taken aback.

"That's right, Fujino- Senior is that famous High School Detective!"

Suzuki Sonoko, however, was used to seeing dead people and said confidently, "This kind of thing, my Senior can definitely take care of it in no time!"

"If that's the case, do you know who the murderer is?"

Upon hearing that a detective was present, Asakasen Chiyoko leaned forward and asked him a question.

"The identity of the murderer is still unknown."

Fujino said calmly, "It looks like he's been outside in the cold for a long time. His backpack was rummaged through, so the murderer was probably looking for something. The only suspect seems to be that bearded man."

"You mean, I'll drink with you?"

Itakura Hajime's face stiffened, and then he said repeatedly, "Impossible! He doesn't even know this guy. How could he possibly kill him? Besides, I just saw a guy dressed in all black nearby. If you ask me, it must have been that guy who killed him!"

"A guy dressed all in black?!"

Upon hearing this, Conan noticed the blind spot. "Did you get a good look at that guy's face?"

No, not at all.

Itakura Hajime was somewhat speechless.

How could the excuse he made up possibly have a clear picture of the person?

You can't exactly say it was your own partner who double-crossed you.

So he gave a vague answer, "That guy was all in black, and it looked like his face was black too, I couldn't see him clearly at all..."

"Since he's dressed all in black... Xiao Hei! It must have been him!"

Conan pondered for a long time, and upon hearing the word "black," he immediately thought of that guy who was all black.

"Well?"

Hancang Chuang was stunned when he heard this. He had just made up a murderer on the spot and someone had already stepped forward to take the blame?!

"I don't think it's Xiao Hei."

Fujino glanced at the two of them and spoke.

While Xiao Hei is indeed active at various murder scenes, it's absurd to think that Xiao Hei who committed all of them!

Do you think I wouldn't know if he's one of the people at Xiao Hei Shark?

Fujino sighed for a moment, then continued, "It's unlikely that Xiao Hei would run into such a deep mountain, but we can now be fairly certain that there might indeed be people in this mountain besides us."

"Could that person be Natsuya?!"

At this moment, Pinkawa's expression suddenly turned strange, and he said tremblingly, "It must be Natsuya, Natsuya must still be alive! I have to go find him!"

"Wait, it's real!"

Amari Ako quickly stepped forward and grabbed her. "If you rush over there rashly, you might encounter the murderer, and the snow is getting heavier and heavier..."

"But Natsuya is still waiting for me in the forest!"

"Natsuya is dead!"

Ganli shouted, "He died four years ago during the avalanche!"

Upon hearing this, Fukagawa Miko seemed to have heard some cruel truth, and she squatted down and burst into tears.

"Natsuya, you're Amari-san's brother, right?"

Ran looked at Fenchuan and hesitated, "Then the chocolate she made..."

"It was made to be placed in front of my brother's grave for worship."

Amari Ako explained, "After he died, we couldn't even find his body, so we built him a grave in this forest. His grave is next to the graves of his former boss and his ex-wife, so every year, Konakawa comes here with us..."

"It's not just their graves."

Asakasen Chiyoko said, "There are many tombstones of the victims in this forest, but because they have no names, few people come to pay their respects. Most of the tombstones have been destroyed by the animals in the mountains, and only the tombstones of these three are relatively well preserved."

Conan asked curiously, "Then why weren't their three tombstones destroyed?"

"It's probably because I take Saburo there to worship every day."

Asakasen Chiyoko pondered, "After all, my husband used to visit his former wife's grave every day before he died."

"So that's how it is..."

Conan nodded thoughtfully.

"By the way, Little Brother Conan."

Fujino glanced at Pinkawa, who was squatting on the ground, then looked away and asked Conan, "When you came here, did you find any other clues?"

"Huh? That's strange, where did that thing go?"

Ai Haibara, like a little girl, pouted and said, "Speaking of which, when we arrived, I think we saw something in front of him..."

"..."

Conan gradually turned dead.

What the heck is this? You have to make fun of me after you've sold out, right?

This woman is being a bit too talkative!

... By the way, why does this scene feel a little familiar?

Damn, Iron Revenge.

"Little Brother Conan, is there really something?"

Fujino was surprised by what he heard, then looked at Conan with a half-smile.

"I just found this on that big brother's stomach..."

Conan was terrified when he saw that familiar expression, and he pulled a piece of chocolate from his pocket.

Chocolate?

Fujino glanced at the evidence on the chocolate: "Heart-shaped chocolate," "bitten by some kind of creature," and "Yoshi may represent a person's name."

Then he sighed, somewhat regretfully saying, "If it hadn't been put in my pocket, I might have been able to use the temperature of the chocolate to tell the time."

"Conan!"

Ran didn't quite understand how chocolate could determine the time of death.

But seeing Fujino's disappointed expression, he still stepped forward and pulled Conan up.

A look of sadness appeared on her fair face as she scolded, "How many times have I told you, don't interfere with the investigation... What's wrong with you, child..."

"I'm sorry, Sister Ran!"

Conan immediately and decisively admitted his mistake again, looking like he had made a mistake and would obediently fix it, and wouldn't dare to do it again next time. He changed the subject. "But the word 'yoshi' should represent the pronunciation of 'Yoshi' in Mr. Yoshiki, right?"

"Yoshi... that must be the chocolate Ms. Amari made today, right?"

Ai Haibara recognized the chocolate at a glance and looked at Amari Ako beside her with a strange expression.

"How could chocolate appear out of thin air at a crime scene?"

Upon discovering a new culprit, Itakura chimed in, "Could it be that you were the one who put the body next to him?"

"How could this be?!"

Ganli panicked for a moment. "I've been with everyone the whole time, I haven't left, and even if I killed someone, I certainly wouldn't leave such obvious evidence!"

"Yes."

Ran regained her composure and nodded, saying, "Besides, the chocolate was still in the kitchen when we left!"

At this point, Ran felt something was off.

Yes, this chocolate is in the kitchen...

"If that's the case, it seems the murderer is trying to frame Miss Amari for the crime."

But before she could think further, Fujino interrupted her thoughts, "I think we should go back to the villa first and call the police. This can't go on like this."

"The police cannot get here now."

A Sakami Yuzo walked up from behind the group. "I just saw that the tunnel at the foot of the mountain was swallowed up by an avalanche. I estimate that it will take at least a day to clean up all that blood."

"In that case, let's hurry back."

Itakura turned around and walked towards the villa. "If there is a murderer, the villa is safer."

"Yes, if you ask me, you should go back as soon as possible."

Sakemi followed Itakura: "If you stay here overnight, I reckon you'll all freeze into Snow Woman."

"Frozen into Snow Woman?!"

The two recalled Fujino's description of the Snow Mountain Villa scenario, and their mood inevitably became somewhat heavy.

Conan also recalled what Fujino had said before and frowned.

Everything I said before actually came true.

Why do I have this feeling that Fujino knows something?

"Hello."

Itakura Hajime was walking in front, turned around to make sure everyone was far away, and couldn't help but ask Sakami Yuzo, "Why didn't you wait for me before killing them?"

"I had no choice."

Sake shook his head, slightly helpless, and said, "I just saw a guy in black clothes knock him out, so I took this opportunity to go up and look through the videotapes..."

"Did you get the videotape?"

"We didn't find it, not even the video recorder..."

As he spoke, Jiu Mian's expression darkened. "I tortured that guy... it seems that someone took it. Even if not, I just used the avalanche to flood the tunnel... that guy definitely can't escape."

"So what should we do now?"

"I can't keep the fact that I killed that guy a secret for long."

After a pause, a cold expression appeared on Jiu Jian's face. "If all else fails, we'll have no choice but to kill them all, since we have guns!"

"..."

Fujino, who was following behind, secretly eavesdropped on the conversation between the two.

At the same time, a new System Task appeared before him:

[System Task: Dangerous Snow Mountain Villa - Supplement]

Summary: Unable to find what they were looking for, the two murderers, in a fit of rage, seem to be planning to kill each other to silence the witnesses...

Mission objective: Kill or arrest two criminals.

Mission Rewards: 5 Detective Coins, 2 million Yen, 200 Detective Reputation

Fujino glanced at the newly appeared task and casually accepted it.

Judging from the gunshots and the avalanche, it seems that the bearded man doesn't intend for them to leave alive, or perhaps he doesn't want the person with the videotape to leave.

That suits him perfectly...

An avalanche, in its worst-case scenario, cuts off their escape route, but in reality, it also cuts off their escape route.

Fujino briefly outlined his action plan.

Soon, the Snow Mountain Villa mode became his domain.

Today's update is 4,000 words; tomorrow will be three updates.