Shotaro Wakabayashi

Sensing the despair in Keisuke Yamao's eyes, Jiang Hang added fuel to the fire.

"Speaking of which, those jewels you hid back then shouldn't be easy to retrieve using conventional methods, otherwise you wouldn't have thought of using the method of blowing up the dam."

Looking at Keisuke Yamao's dejected appearance, it seems that he had indeed tried many methods to take out the jewels before, but all of them failed. That's why he went completely crazy and wanted to use this method to detonate the dam.

"As you should know, in Japan, although the death penalty exists, those who are sentenced to death often live in prison for more than ten years or even longer without being executed. In the end, it may become life imprisonment."

"And life imprisonment also has the opportunity to be released early."

Jiang Hang whispered a reminder in the other person's ear.

"If those jewels are hidden well enough, the Japan police won't expend too much effort to find them."

"That means when you are released from prison again, you will still have the opportunity to retrieve these jewels."

Seeing the desire reappear in Keisuke Yamao's eyes, Jiang Hang knew that this guy was still thinking about those jewels.

After all, we've already paid such a high price; it's impossible to let go so quickly.

Having served eight years in prison, he was more sensitive to matters of sentence than anyone else.

He had indeed heard of some prisons where prisoners had been held for over a decade without being executed.

I also know that a life sentence can be reduced to a 20-year fixed-term imprisonment.

Twenty years later, that is to say, he was only in his fifties at that time.

If by then the police haven't unearthed the jewels from the bottom of the river, he'll still have a chance.

Seeing that Keisuke Yamao has completely settled down, he's probably now thinking about holding out until he's released from prison again before looking for these jewels.

Seeing the expectant look on the other person's face, Jiang Hang secretly smiled to himself.

I'll just hold onto that hope and go back to prison.

Indeed, in Japan, the execution of a death sentence requires the Minister of Justice to sign an execution order.

These ministers of justice in the North, who are unwilling to comply, generally try to prolong the execution time of those enforcement orders, preferably until their next term begins.

But when the next administration comes in, it will take the same measures and continue to postpone these enforcement orders.

This cycle repeated itself, and death row inmates were thus dragged out for more than a decade.

But if Keisuke Yamao thinks he can be like that, he would be very wrong.

After all, he almost killed the Governor of Hokkaido, as well as other high-ranking officials from Hokkaido who accompanied the governor to the opening ceremony.

Once he is sentenced to death, he will probably become the fastest death row inmate to be executed in Japan in the 21st century.

Now that they've given the other party these hopes, they'll probably only feel even more desperate when the moment of execution is confirmed.

Thinking about plunging such a scumbag into the deepest despair made Jiang Hang feel much better.

About half an hour later, several police cars quietly entered Kitazawa Village after midnight and arrived near Takehiko Muto's hut.

Seeing Shogo Hikawa, who had been beaten beyond recognition, and Keisuke Yamao being handcuffed, Jiang Hang then led the police to find the bombs that had already been planted one by one and had them defused.

After doing all this, Jiang Hang, along with the Miyano Sisters who had rested briefly at the hotel, left the village in a police car.

By the time they finished giving their statements and left the police station surrounded by a group of bigwigs thanking them, it was already dawn.

At the police station entrance, Jiang Hang finally received a thank you from Takehiko Muto.

He also gave a statement all night, but since he wasn't involved in the matter much, he was released earlier.

He had stayed at the police station without sleeping, only because he was waiting for Jiang Hang to come out.

"No need for words of thanks. Just putting your heart into making those wood carvings is the greatest gratitude you can give me."

Seeing the gratitude in Takehiko Muto's eyes, Jiang Hang waved his hand, indicating that the other party should go and rest.

However, it seems that Takehiko Muto has other ideas besides these.

After hesitating for a moment, he still asked Jiang Hang, "Mr. Jiang Hang, are there really no chance of dismantling that dam using the methods you mentioned before?"

Chapter 586: Shotaro Tatewaki

Hearing the question posed by the somewhat bewildered man in front of him, Jiang Hang patted him on the shoulder.

It's clear that he has a deep affection for the old Kitazawa Village. Even though the village has been submerged for years, he still can't forget the place where he grew up.

Perhaps one night, he even seriously considered whether if he let Keisuke Yamao and the others blow up the dam, the old village could be brought back.

"But there's no going back. Even if the dam is really gone, I'm afraid not many people would be willing to go back to live there."

Jiang Hang paused for a moment, then spoke in a somewhat cold tone, "And to be honest, the construction of the Kitazawa Dam is a good thing for most people. Look at the residents of Kitazawa Village before, well, they should be more satisfied with their lives now than before."

Upon hearing Jiang Hang's words, a hint of helplessness flashed in Takehiko Muto's eyes.

This is true.

After all, the construction of the Kitazawa Dam did bring them many benefits.

There are fewer and fewer people who still hold onto those ideas from back then.

It could even be said that apart from him persisting, everyone else has already gotten used to their current life.

"However, it is good to remember the past and to cherish one's homeland. But your strength alone is not enough. If you really miss Kitazawa Village back then, use your skills to carve out what you want to express and let more people know about it."

Upon hearing Jiang Hang's words, Takehiko Muto's body trembled, and his eyes widened.

"Let me recreate the old Kitazawa Village?"

He subconsciously felt that his skills were not good enough and that he couldn't do it.

"But only you could do it, so you must have some confidence in yourself, and only you could do this."

"If you don't do the only thing you still can't forget about Kitazawa Village now, then in a few decades, the Kitazawa Village will really be completely forgotten."

Upon hearing Jiang Hang's words, Takehiko Muto's expression immediately hardened.

Although he couldn't bring back the Kitazawa Village of the past, he still hadn't completely gotten over it.

But Jiang Hang's words did indeed wake him up.

If he doesn't do it himself, then no one else will.

Jiang Hang yawned as he watched Takehiko Muto's departing figure, which still carried a hint of hesitation but was overall more determined than before.

He's been busy for so long, and he still has to comfort others; he should go and rest for a while.

In the afternoon, they still had to go to Asahikawa to see what kind of famous detective Kaito Kid had found for him.

Thinking this, Jiang Hang also sent a message to Conan.

This is the first layer of the truth about the case from eight years ago.

"Eight years ago, when Keisuke Yamao was returning to Kitazawa Village with the stolen treasure, he accidentally ran over and killed Mizuki Tono's sister. This scene, along with the sight of the jewelry scattered all over the ground during the accident, was witnessed by Fuyumi Tachihara's son, who happened to be passing by. So he simply kidnapped her son and then threw him off a cliff on the road."

In Kitazawa Village, upon seeing the message sent by Jiang Hang, the expression on his face became subtle.

"Hasn't the whole truth already been investigated and clarified? What else do I need to investigate?"

Conan then quipped to Jiang Hang.

Ran is still dealing with Sonoko Suzuki, who woke up this morning in a strange state. He only managed to get a chance to get some fresh air after a long day.

Both incidents that night were caused by the same person in different places.

"Who knows? That child was on the roadside at that time because he wanted to see the swans, but what was the other person's reason for being there at that time?"

Jiang Hang's email contained such an inquiry, which made Conan fall silent again.

What other truths are hidden?

He walked toward the room around the hotel.

Jiang Hang had mentioned to him before that this was actually Fuyumi Tachihara's room, where her son, who had been in a coma for eight years, lay and had not yet woken up.

"So how do we investigate this?"

As Conan muttered to himself, he saw the curtains in front of the door move slightly, and a 16-year-old boy stood in the room, pulling back the curtains and looking at him with a puzzled yet innocent gaze.

Conan's lips twitched slightly as he thought about Jiang Hang's request to him, and this thought came to mind.

Could it be that Jiang Hang has already figured out that the child who has been asleep for eight years will be revived in the next two days?

······

With the capture of Shogo Hikawa and Keisuke Yamao, the group in Kitazawa Village, whose lives had been stagnant for eight years, began to slowly move forward.

After blocking a bunch of invitations that required him to meet for dinner, Jiang Hang boarded a train to Asahikawa that afternoon.

Asahikawa is located in the central region of Hokkaido and is the second largest city in Hokkaido.

When Jiang Hang and his group arrived, it was almost evening.

Jiang Hang casually greeted a passerby next to the station.

The passerby nodded to Jiang Hang without any apparent change in expression.

Kaito Kid is really good at keeping his identity and appearance a secret when he's out and about.

It is precisely because of his caution that his true identity has not been discovered until now.

Of course, this doesn't include people like Jiang Hang who have cheated.

"So, as soon as you arrived in Asahikawa, you found a high school detective who actually fits the requirements I told you about?"

Sitting in a not-so-quiet coffee shop near a train station, Jiang Hang asked the Kaito Kid in front of him a question.

"It doesn't quite meet the requirements, does it? Anyway, I've observed it for a day and haven't seen anything special, but the other party's name is indeed quite famous in the Asahikawa area."

Kaito Kid shook his head. "Besides, you should be the one to confirm this yourself. After all, I'm just a phantom thief. It's already quite an achievement for me to find out where high school detectives are. I don't want to do the work that you detectives do."

This guy only cares about digging holes and doesn't care about burying them, right?

Jiang Hang thought to himself, "That's what I'm complaining about."

However, before coming here, he had indeed searched for some information about Asahikawa.

Even without Kaito Kid's reminder, he was going to come here anyway.

"In short, tell me about the other party's identity first."

Kaito Kid displayed a photograph of a seemingly harmless high school boy.

"You look so inexperienced," someone remarked, looking at the other person's appearance and giving off the impression of a middle school student.

However, the other person is actually already a junior in high school.

"Shotaro Tatewaki ..." It wasn't Jiang Hang who uttered the name, but Miyano Shiho sitting to the side.

He certainly doesn't seem like the high school detective Jiang Hang mentioned, the one who travels all over Japan looking for cases to solve, and who refuses to leave his name after solving the cases, resulting in a wrongful conviction.

Jiang Hang looked at the photo for a few seconds, then smiled and shook his head at Kaito Kid.

"Unfortunately, the person I'm looking for isn't him, and he's not exactly a detective either."

The title of "detective" attached to the other person was given that title by the surrounding classmates for other reasons.

"The timing doesn't match up. This boy only started appearing at the crime scenes this spring, while the one I'm looking for has been a detective for at least a year now. Moreover, he has left Hokkaido and traveled to other places for a while. He has only been to Tokyo a few times."

"How boring. I knew I could figure it out at a glance. But I did find out something else. There aren't many high school detectives in Asahikawa, and those two are the only ones with a bit of a reputation." Kaito Kid curled his lip, not surprised at all, and then took out the identity information of the other high school detective.

In this era of high murder rates, all sorts of detectives are emerging.

Being a high school detective is a fairly popular profession.

Anyone who has encountered a few cases and provided clues to the police at the scene will inevitably acquire the identity of a high school detective.

In addition, the guy was quite low-key. The police at the scene couldn't even remember his name or describe his appearance clearly. They only knew that he was a high school student with a rather strange way of speaking.

So, Natsuki Kosimizu, who also possesses the talent of a great detective, has wasted so much time without finding the detective who killed her friend.

Let alone Natsuki Kosimizu, even Jiang Hang, with the help of artificial intelligence, has a hard time filtering out much useful information.

After all, in Japan at this time of year, there were very few public surveillance devices. With those scattered cameras, it was impossible to pinpoint a high school detective from Hokkaido who didn't seem to use modern equipment much.

Jiang Hang muttered to himself, then looked at the second list given by Kaito Kid.

This time, the list they provided looked more normal.

The 18-year-old high school senior has not solved many cases, but he has encountered one or two murder cases and several other types of cases.

However, he mostly helps find lost items within the school, which gives him a bit of a reputation, but that reputation is limited to the school and a few surrounding streets.