Outlaw in the World of Conan, Tokisaki Kurumi

But the listening devices she knew of were almost all regulated for civilian use, and even the professional equipment used by the police didn't look anything like the gadget Kurumi was holding.

Aso Narumi even felt that if this thing dropped on the ground, he wouldn't know where it would roll off to, and it would be impossible to find.

"Of course!" Kurumi's expression was particularly proud. "This little guy isn't just small; its reception range and effectiveness are not something those low-end products can compare to."

Kurumi didn't mention that this tiny listening device was actually the cheapest model she had redeemed from the system's mall for dozens of points.

Yet, even this cheapest item far surpassed any listening device in this world.

Especially since it was completely wrapped in rubber, and ordinary sharp objects couldn't cut through its exterior.

"That amazing?" Aso Narumi felt that what Kurumi said was a bit too fantastical.

Although he was curious where Kurumi got such a thing, Aso Narumi didn't foolishly ask.

Taking the soft and bouncy little thing from Kurumi's hand, Aso Narumi squeezed it and found that it was also sticky.

"Sister Narumi, as long as this thing sticks, it won't fall off with a touch," Kurumi reminded him.

Hearing this, Aso Narumi looked down at his clothes and decided to stick it to his belt.

A black object stuck to a black belt was not very conspicuous to begin with. Plus, the hem of his sweater could cover the belt, so Aso Narumi wasn't worried about being discovered.

"Then I'll be going now!" Just as he was about to open the door, Aso Narumi suddenly thought of a problem. "Oh right, Kurumi, aren't you worried about being discovered hiding here?"

The lock on the warehouse door was broken, meaning anyone could push it open. If someone found Kurumi hiding inside, Aso Narumi felt a bit worried.

It wasn't that he was worried about what would happen to Kurumi, but rather whether the person who found Kurumi would be silenced by her.

"Well~ I'll be going somewhere else later," Kurumi said with a smile, waving her hand to signal Aso Narumi not to worry about her.

Besides, even if someone walked into the warehouse, Kurumi could completely activate King Crimson and leave instantly before the other person could react.

Hearing Kurumi's words, Aso Narumi felt much more at ease.

Although their plan had gone without a hitch so far, Moon Shadow Island was now filled with police, and there was even Mouri Kogoro, who called himself a Great Detective. It was impossible for her to say she wasn't nervous at all.

In fact, Aso Narumi had already prepared for the worst.

If her and Kurumi's actions were exposed, she would immediately surrender to the police to ensure Kurumi's safety.

Kurumi, unaware of what Aso Narumi was thinking, had naturally made preparations for the worst as a member of the Black Organization.

In a way, Kurumi and Aso Narumi were on the same page: if things reached the worst possible outcome, they would both protect each other without hesitation.

A few minutes later, Aso Narumi, with some dust on his clothes, returned to the piano room with the tape recorder.

"Inspector Megure, I found the tape recorder."

Placing the tape recorder on the piano, Aso Narumi watched as Mouri Kogoro took out the tape from the recorder and inserted the one from the box.

The play button was pressed, and with a burst of static, Kawashima's voice came from the tape recorder.

"The Aso Keiji family, who died in a fire twelve years ago, the murderer was not as reported. Aso Keiji went mad and killed his wife and children, then set himself on fire. It was me, along with the current Kuroiwa, the deceased Kameyama, and Nishimoto. The four of us killed them to prevent Aso Keiji from reporting the matter."

When the voice from the tape recorder played, everyone in the piano room was shocked.

"This, this voice is Mr. Kawashima's!" As someone who knew Kawashima relatively well, Aso Narumi pretended to be surprised.

"What? You're saying this is Kawashima?"

Hearing Aso Narumi's exclamation, Mouri Kogoro and Inspector Megure immediately looked at him.

"Yes, I wouldn't mistake it."

The recording in the tape recorder had not yet finished.

"The reason for this was that we wanted to use Aso Keiji, a famous pianist, to sell White Powder during his world tours."

"But he refused us."

"Although he didn't say he would report us to the police, to avoid any leaks, we four went to his house that night and then killed him, his wife, and his daughter."

"As for the rumor on the island that Aso Keiji was still playing Moonlight as he died in the fire, it was probably his last action while he still had a breath left."

46 A Paradox Interactive Player's thought process is incomprehensible to Conan.

From Aso Narumi's mouth, everyone learned that the voice coming from the tape recorder was that of the long-lost Mr. Kawashima.

With a final burst of static, the tape in the recorder reached its end.

The content played by the tape recorder even captured the attention of Conan, who was busy deciphering the musical score's code, and Mouri Ran, who leaned in to watch.

After a moment of silence, Mouri Kogoro analyzed, "It's undeniable that the missing Mr. Kawashima has fallen into the hands of the criminals. From this recording on the tape, I believe the criminals did this to take revenge on Kawashima and Village Chief Kuroiwa, as he mentioned."

Mouri Kogoro's analysis was affirmed by Inspector Megure and Conan.

If the events of that year were truly as Kawashima said, that the four of them killed the Aso Keiji family to silence them, then the letters sent to the detective agency must have also been from the criminals.

"Inspector Megure, I think we should immediately apprehend Kuroiwa and Nishimoto who are at the venue!"

At this moment, Conan, who had refocused his attention on the musical score in his hand, also deciphered the meaning of the musical notes: "Uncle, I've solved the code in this musical score. It says, 'You're next!'"

Conan's expression was very serious. From the fact that the criminals had cut off Kawashima's hands, it was clear that the perpetrator harbored immense hatred towards these three people. If they couldn't catch the killer in time, given the perpetrator's brutality, Village Chief Kuroiwa and the silent Nishimoto Ken would surely fall victim to the killer's wrath.

As a detective overflowing with a sense of justice, Conan could not allow things to continue this way.

In his heart, even if these few people had committed such heinous and inhumane evil deeds, they should have been punished by the law, not have their lives deprived and trampled upon for revenge.

Of course, if Kurumi were here, she would probably scoff at Conan's thoughts.

Kawashima and the others, who had committed murder, not only escaped legal punishment at the time but also deliberately smeared the Aso family with a curse. Have they truly regretted their actions after living freely for over a decade?

The answer is no!

From interrogating Kawashima, Kurumi already knew that they had been secretly trading White Powder all these years. To this day, everything they possessed, while still evading the law, was built upon the corpses and blood of the Aso Keiji family.

Without wondering how Conan had deciphered the musical score's secret codes, Inspector Megure became enraged when, based on the facts in the recording, he actually found a bag full of White Powder under the piano.

"These bastards!"

Despite his anger towards these individuals, as a police officer, Inspector Megure naturally could not simply let the remaining two criminals be murdered by the assailants.

He quickly ordered the officers outside to bring Village Chief Kuroiwa and Nishimoto to the venue. At this moment, the two officers lying on the ground were also gradually regaining consciousness.

"Wh-where is this?"

As soon as they opened their eyes, the officers saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

"My neck hurts so much!" Another officer sat up in pain, touching the back of his neck.

Seeing that his two subordinates, who had been knocked unconscious by the assailants, had finally woken up, Inspector Megure hurried over and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Wh-what happened to us?" The two officers who sat up exchanged glances, looking at Megure, who was squatting in front of them, with confusion.

Seeing that they truly knew nothing, Inspector Megure sighed and explained, "You were knocked unconscious earlier. We carried you two, who were outside, here."

"Right, do you remember anything? Like, who knocked you out?"

"I'm not sure. At the time, Nishiyama and I were leaning against the door. If someone had knocked us out from behind, we definitely would have noticed if they got close to us."

Inspector Megure's words only made them more confused.

"I just remember we were looking outside, and then I didn't know anything else." The officer named Nishiyama frowned, unable to figure it out.

The officers' words only deepened Inspector Megure's confusion. How did that assailant manage to knock out the two officers, who were leaning against the door, from behind without them noticing anything?

In the room, the Mouri family, who heard the officers' answers, also found it somewhat unbelievable.

Mouri Kogoro and Conan walked to the door, two figures, one large and one small, beginning to carefully analyze how the assailant had done it.

"It's impossible. If the assailant really knocked them out from behind, he would have had to open this door." He tried to carefully pull the door open, and the creaking sound it made would have been impossible not to notice at such close range.

"This door is so old, anyone who isn't deaf should be able to hear the sound it makes," Mouri Kogoro said, rubbing his chin, finding it hard to make sense of it all.

No, if the assailant didn't knock them out first, but used something like a tranquilizer gun to make them lose consciousness, and then attacked the back of their necks, all to make us think they were knocked out. Conan, thinking this was a possibility, immediately felt something was off: But if the assailant really did that, wouldn't it be an unnecessary step?

In fact, Conan didn't know that Kurumi could directly incapacitate them with a tranquilizer gun.

It was just that she was reluctant to spend points to redeem it from the system store.

This was something Conan could never have guessed, no matter how hard he tried.

After all, as a transmigrator, Kurumi's inner self and essence were no different from a Fourth Catastrophe. Her thought process was quite different from these characters in the story.

Especially since Kurumi was also a Paradox Interactive Player, her thought process had always been about maximizing her own interests.

No matter how brutal, unethical, or inhumane her methods were, as long as the final outcome made her happy, that was all that mattered.

Therefore, there was a saying on the internet: Paradox Interactive Players, when lining up for execution, only have those who slip through the net, never the innocent.

"Inspector Megure, we've brought Kuroiwa and Nishimoto here!" At this moment, a police officer who pushed the door open reported.

Looking at the two trembling individuals walking behind the police officer, Megure gritted his teeth in hatred.

Beside him, sensing the fat man's teeth-gritting expression, Aso Narumi knew that the plan she and Kurumi had devised had reached its current stage.

In order to better cultivate her persona, Aso Narumi asked, "Um, Inspector Megure, if there's nothing else for me here, may I leave?"

47 Doctor Sister, Do You Know Tokisaki Kurumi?

Aso Narumi knew that Kurumi wanted to obtain first-hand information from the scene through the listening device she was carrying, and in this regard, her thoughts were aligned with Kurumi's.

However, her identity on Moon Shadow Island was merely that of a doctor. As just a doctor, Aso Narumi didn't believe she could stay with these people for the entire duration.

Doing so would only arouse suspicion.

That was why she had said she wanted to leave after Kuroiwa and Nishimoto were brought in by the police.

Even though she desperately wished to see the two people who had caused her family's ruin be killed by Kurumi immediately.

"Ah! Since they are alright now, Doctor Asai, you can also go and rest." It wasn't until Aso Narumi spoke that Inspector Megure remembered that there was someone else present who was not related to the case.

"Thank you for your hard work, Doctor Asai." Finally, Inspector Megure thanked Aso Narumi, who had helped them greatly.

"No, no!" Aso Narumi waved her hands, somewhat flattered, and said modestly, "It's my duty."

Inspector Megure, who had a good impression of the kind and beautiful Doctor Asai, gave a gentle smile and watched the female physician leave the room.

Slap!

As she turned to leave, Aso Narumi's shoulder bumped into the displeased Kuroiwa.

"Excuse me, Village Chief Kuroiwa," Aso Narumi apologized for her carelessness.

Ignoring the beautiful doctor's apology, Kuroiwa, who was solely focused on wondering why the police had found him and Nishimoto alone, didn't even look at Aso Narumi.

Aso Narumi wasn't upset that Kuroiwa ignored her apology.

First, she had bumped into him entirely on purpose.

As for the second reason~ Aso Narumi felt there was no need to dwell on things with a dead man.

Although Aso Narumi wasn't bothered by Kuroiwa's attitude, Inspector Megure, who had a good impression of her, frowned. He decided to make things difficult for the arrogant guy later and teach this scumbag a lesson.

However, Inspector Megure didn't notice that at the same time Aso Narumi bumped into Kuroiwa, she had quickly attached a listening device to the inside of the hem of Kuroiwa's clothes on his back.

Having finished her task silently, Aso Narumi nimbly left the room.

'Hmm... Next, I'll go find Kurumi.'

'But where could she be now? Is she still in the warehouse?'

Aso Narumi was a little uncertain.

Leaving the piano room, Aso Narumi went to the warehouse to see if Kurumi was still inside.

She turned on the lights in the room, but couldn't see Kurumi amidst the packed warehouse.

Just as Narumi was about to go home to see if Kurumi was slacking off and drinking coffee at her place again, a child's voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Huh? Doctor, what are you doing here?"

"!!!"

Realizing she had been followed, Aso Narumi's eyes widened instantly.

However, when she noticed that the voice behind her seemed to be from that big-headed kid from the Mouri Detective Agency, Aso Narumi put on a gentle smile.

"Oh? Aren't you the child from the Mouri Detective Agency?" Aso Narumi's perfectly timed surprise and gentle tone perfectly matched the persona she had cultivated. "I just came to pick up some things. Why aren't you in your room, little one?"