The Mermaid Festival's Lot-Drawing Ceremony

"But it needs to be pointed out that the case three years ago is also the main reason why Saori Kadowaki is now missing. If any of you can guess it, I'll consider you amazing."

Hearing Jiang Hang continue to play the riddle-maker, the two girls couldn't help but frown and begin to ponder the connection between the two events.

Lacking crucial information, they naturally couldn't deduce anything useful and could only hope that Jiang Hang could give them some more hints.

"You already know where she is, so why don't you just bring her back?" Koharu Yoshino pressed.

Jiang Hang smiled but didn't say anything, instead letting the two girls continue to deduce, which was also a way to train their associative abilities.

"In short, everything should be clear by tomorrow. If you can't guess, just wait patiently."

In the end, none of them got to have the late-night snack.

After all, there would be all sorts of activities starting early in the morning for the festival the next day, so they naturally needed to save up their energy to spend on the festival.

The next morning, Heiji Hattori still had dark circles under his eyes, looking like he hadn't slept well again.

But you can't blame him for that.

He spent yesterday afternoon and evening outside investigating and questioning the island's residents.

Although he could vaguely sense that there was indeed some secret hidden in this Mermaid Festival on the island, he didn't have Jiang Hang's cheat code, nor did he have Miyano Shiho to warn him in advance.

He pondered all night but couldn't come up with anything.

He originally planned to go to bed early so he could be in better shape to analyze the case the next day.

Then he discovered that Jiang Hang had suddenly gone out late at night.

Later, with the help of Kazuha, he learned from Jiang Hang's two assistants that Jiang Hang had basically solved all the mysteries and connected the case from three years ago with the disappearance of Saori Kadowaki.

Now he was completely unable to sleep.

What exactly happened back then that would affect us three years later?

I can't figure it out, no matter how I think about it, I can't understand where Jiang Hang discovered what clue.

But naturally, he couldn't bring himself to ask Jiang Hang for the answer, so he could only rely on his own investigation to deduce the truth.

This also made his dark circles even more severe.

Fortunately, he has naturally dark skin, so you can't really see his dark circles unless you look closely.

"Ugh... I'm so sleepy. What are your plans for today?" Heiji Hattori, yawning repeatedly as he ate his breakfast.

Seeing Jiang Hang sitting there calmly, drinking his morning tea with great energy, Heiji Hattori just wanted to go back to his room for another nap.

Then he heard Kazuha constantly telling him about the day's arrangements, her voice like a lullaby, from what to do in a certain place in the morning to what to do in a certain place in the afternoon.

The Mermaid Festival officially began at 6 p. m.

Upon hearing this, Heiji Hattori had already fallen asleep again at the dining table.

"... If we get to draw the arrow tonight, we can get the Dugong Arrow. I wonder if there's any magic in it..." Kazuha Toyama muttered to himself about his plans, then turned to see Heiji Hattori, who was completely unresponsive.

Jiang Hang took the initiative to help the other party out of the predicament.

"He must be exhausted from running around these past few days, let him sleep a little longer."

"He should be more energetic by noon."

Despite her complaints, Kazuha Toyama still took the half-asleep Heiji Hattori back to his room.

Even this morning's itinerary was changed from playing around to staying at the hotel to wait for Heiji Hattori to wake up.

"Childhood sweethearts are so wonderful," Jiang Hang muttered to himself.

But then he thought about it again. Shimadai Kimie was one of his childhood friends, and she had burned her mother to death with her own hands.

It seems that Heiji Hattori friends like Kazuha Toyama are relatively rare.

While muttering to himself, Jiang Hang was dragged by the two girls to participate in various festival games.

Since it's already winter, many classic summer festival events can't be held in winter.

But it's not bad in winter either.

It's like the signature winter seafood soup of Mermaid Island.

There are also group fishing activities where everyone sets off together on a boat in the morning, and unique Mermaid Festival rituals.

Around noon, the Miyo-sama, who was said to be 130 years old, appeared before them for the first time.

He was a short, elderly man with heavy Japanese-style makeup on his face.

Without using Eagle Eye, Jiang Hang carefully observed the other person's physique.

It must be said that it is truly remarkable that someone could study disguise techniques to this extent on their own.

Body shape, smell, voice, and expression.

Without using Eagle Eye, the opponent would appear as an old woman, making it impossible to detect any flaws.

Although it's not quite on par with the level of Kaito Kid, and it can't compare to Toichi Kuroba, whose appearance even Eagle Eye has to work hard to recognize.

However, one is a family secret technique plus the Brotherhood's secret teachings, while the other is purely self-taught, so the difficulty of the two cannot be compared.

Judging from this, Shimadai Kimie's talent for disguise is at least at an advanced level.

If given the opportunity, it would be possible to recruit the other party into the Brotherhood.

However, considering that there are already too many women in the Brotherhood, apart from Yusuke Sakata, the former Osaka police officer who was recruited by him, it seems that they are mostly women.

So let's try to recruit Shimadai Kimie as an employee of our company first, and then see how things go.

As he muttered to himself, Jiang Hang's eyes met those of the "Miyo-sama" in the air a few times.

Perhaps because his gaze was too sharp at that moment, the other person's body seemed to tremble for a moment, and then he quickly turned his head away, not daring to meet Jiang Hang's eyes again.

Chapter 515: Chapter 511: The Mermaid Festival Lottery Ceremony

Shimadai Kimie felt a little nervous at this moment.

Almost from the time she became an adult, she had been helping her mother pretend to be her great-grandmother.

In fact, the man who was rumored to have gained Miyo-sama by eating mermaid flesh on the island had already died thirty years ago.

But for the sake of the Mermaid Festival on the island, her grandmother disguised herself Miyo-sama for ten years over the next thirty years, and then her mother disguised herself for more than ten years, and even taught her the skills of makeup to Miyo-sama when she was very young.

In fact, in order to better portray the identity of Miyo-sama, her mother chose to die in the same shipwreck five years ago after her father's death at sea, thus completely abandoning her original identity and only appearing in public Miyo-sama.

After a fire three years ago took her mother's life, this responsibility fell on her shoulders.

In fact, she was only 24 years old at the time and did not want to take on this task, which would tie her life to this small island and the identity of this centenarian.

But she will never forget that when her mother was dying in the fire, she still called her and asked her, at the cost of her own life, to continue playing Miyo-sama role for the future of the island.

So after that, she persisted for another three years until now.

If it weren't for the fact that the Dugong Arrow that Saori Kadowaki drew was sold for money by her alcoholic father, and that Saori Kadowaki hadn't come to her with a fearful expression, wanting to know the burial place of her mother's remains in order to gain the power of immortality.

She probably will never know until her death that the fire was actually started by her own friends whom she had known since childhood.

Even the reason is so simple.

Because they failed to draw the Dugong Arrow back then, they got drunk in their regret and saw "Life-Giver" walking into the warehouse.

Then someone made that suggestion—since everyone on the island says that Life-Giver ate mermaid flesh and gained the ability to remain young, why don't we just test whether the legend of the mermaid is true or false?

Then came that fire, which completely bound Shimadai Kimie's life, which might have had other possibilities, to this small island.

It was precisely because she knew this truth that she thought of using this Mermaid Festival to kill the three people who had killed her mother.

However, no one expected that Saori Kadowaki would send a letter for help to the Eagle-Eyed Detective under such circumstances.

And the other party actually came to Mermaid Island in person to investigate the disappearance of Saori Kadowaki.

Thinking about what the other person said to her last night, suggesting that Life-Giver should retire, and recalling the look in the other person's eyes just now.

Could it be that the other party has already seen through my disguise?

Shimadai Kimie had no idea what to do.

So much so that her memorial ceremony, which she had rehearsed for years without a single mistake, almost went wrong several times, and she was saved entirely by her instinctive reactions.

However, everyone present seemed to notice that she was not quite right, but they didn't think much of it, since it wasn't surprising for a woman in her 130s to have some problems.

As long as nothing unexpected happens during tonight's most important draw ceremony.

After all, this year's Mermaid Festival is undergoing a major reform, with three Dugong Arrow appearing simultaneously, and even tourists now having the opportunity to draw Dugong Arrow.

If the feedback this time is good, then it will obviously continue to bring good benefits to Mermaid Island in the future.

However, Shizuka Sakaki and Koharu Yoshino seemed a little worried about the body of the Miyo-sama. After watching the memorial ceremony, they couldn't help but whisper to him that they hoped the Miyo-sama wouldn't have any health problems.

Of course she has no health problems.

The biggest problem for a healthy 27-year-old adult woman is probably menstruation.

However, the Shimashiro family, with decades of experience in deception, certainly has a way to deal with this.

Shimadai Kimie is probably only wavering because of his look just now.

I wonder what ideas the other person has come up with after thinking about it all night.

Jiang Hang didn't intend to confront the other party completely right now; he wanted to see what the other party's next move was.

Let Altair hover over the Mermaid Island, acting as his eyes to keep an eye on Shimadai Kimie's movements.

By the afternoon, Heiji Hattori had finally fully recovered.

Of course, as usual, he was given a little complaint by Kazuha Toyama, so in the afternoon he could only accompany his childhood friend to play around the festival for a while to make up for the absence in the morning.

Throughout the entire afternoon, Heiji Hattori only managed to squeeze in a short break to go to the restroom to ask Jiang Hang if he had made any new discoveries that morning, or if he had completely solved the case.

Jiang Hang shrugged, indicating that he had indeed been playing around all day and hadn't investigated the case.

Hearing this, Heiji Hattori felt a sense of relief but also a bit helpless.

I realize that I am still not as good as the other person.

Seeing Heiji Hattori's expression, Jiang Hang gave him another hint.

Miyano Shiho had been here three years ago, before she left the organization.

Because Yusuke Sakata's case was suspected to be related to the Black Organization, Heiji Hattori learned about the Black Organization from Jiang Hang, and then learned some secret information through his father.

Of course, through Jiang Hang's intelligence, he naturally knew that Miyano Shiho was the developer of the poison called APTX4869 that Jiang Hang had rescued from that organization.

He knew that Conan had shrunk because of this drug.

It is also known that this drug was not initially developed as a poison.

Although Jiang Hang had not mentioned the organization's purpose before, one could guess that it was related to things like immortality and rejuvenation.

So what does this prove?

The mermaid legend on the island was indeed false, so the organization that came to investigate only to confirm that there was no such thing as immortality before leaving.

Could that mermaid-like corpse be the work of that organization?

Heiji Hattori, then shook his head.

No, according to the island's residents, the tourism industry on Mermaid Island had been lukewarm until the news about the mermaid remains went viral, which triggered a tourism boom.

That Black Organization must have arrived on this island after that.

Heiji Hattori pondered what other clues were hidden in the information Jiang Hang had given him.

Then he heard the regret of Kazuha Toyama beside him.

"I heard that the 130-year- Life-Giver had his memorial service held at noon today. It's a pity I didn't get to see what he looked like. I only heard that he didn't look that old, maybe only 70 years old. I can only wait until the lottery ceremony tonight to see what he looks like."

Upon hearing this, Heiji Hattori's heart skipped a beat.

He didn't know what a woman in her 130s should look like.

But he did meet some elderly people who were between 90 and 100 years old.

But no matter how you look at it, it's clearly unusual for a 130-year-old to be able to hold such a flexible memorial ceremony.

However, the island's residents and tourists from outside the island were only interested in the rumors of mermaids and immortality, so they didn't think much of it.

But if it involves that black organization, that Black Organization will definitely have seriously studied that Miyo-sama's situation.

Since nothing on the island had changed, Jiang Hang had come specifically to remind him...