Chapter 131: Exchange-Based Crime
Just how many traces were left? To such an extent that Conan, with just a casual search, quite easily reverse-engineered the culprit's specific execution process. Or rather, the culprit's specific MO was actually not very sophisticated.
In the office, there was a large cabinet for liquor, positioned quite close to the desk. It was currently half-open, and the space inside was just enough to hide a person. Conan also found some clues and marks at the bottom of the cabinet, proving that someone had once hidden inside.
The subsequent process was very straightforward. Once the black-hearted president entered the office and sat in his chair, the culprit rushed out, then activated their Stand ability. Spider silk embedded with blades flew out, looped around the black-hearted boss's neck, and then—a sudden slash.
Of course, the black-hearted president might have struggled, and his Stand might have acted at that time, but none of it mattered.
Then, the culprit's murder trick officially began.
A knife was placed not far from the black-hearted president. It was estimated that the culprit wanted to disguise it as a suicide where the president slit his own throat. Then, he placed some documents on the desk. These documents showed that the black-hearted enterprise's capital chain was about to break recently, creating a very tense situation, which laid some motivational groundwork for the president's suicide.
Conan couldn't help but fall silent. This method, this trick—it had absolutely no "Crime Soul." It was neither elegant nor stylish; it was simply too crude. If this were the Fifth World Line when he was still Moriarty, he probably wouldn't have been able to resist slapping such a criminal.
Conan thought for a moment and felt that this might be caused by the world-line change. After the version update, the proportion of "intelligence" in criminal acts had decreased, while the proportion of other aspects had greatly increased.
Just like now, although this trick had no criminal soul, the knife dropped on the ground and those documents faintly radiated a bizarre power, seemingly merging with the Criminal Mist that shrouded the entire space.
While observing, one's gaze and attention couldn't help but be drawn to them. Influenced by this, the thought "This guy maybe—no, definitely—committed suicide because the company's capital chain broke" couldn't help but rise in one's mind.
Bizarre power was interfering with the mind, gradually shifting perception toward the direction the culprit desired.
Conan felt he was doing alright; he could still clearly distinguish between the truth and the illusion. But if it were ordinary police or detectives, they might truly fall for it. However, how the case would develop after someone fell for it, Conan couldn't say for the time being.
This was a serial murder case. The deceased was more than just this black-hearted president. After checking and ensuring he hadn't missed anything, Conan crawled out of the crime scene holding that "Inspiration Stick," intending to search for other homicide scenes.
Although Conan had roughly locked onto the culprit and the MO and tricks were mostly figured out, some things still puzzled him.
This case had a very obvious tendency toward a "vendetta" or "grudge killing." The direction was very clear, with no doubt about it.
But the problem lay right there. Normally, the culprit should be someone closely related to the black-hearted president—whether a relative, a subordinate, or a friend who had been victimized by him—they would have a more direct causal link.
But that "Mystery Enthusiast (!?)" had a problem in this regard. Conan had heard him while he was giving his statement. According to what he said before, his only connection to this black-hearted president—no, even to this entire building—was that a long, long time ago, he had come to this building once to apply for a job at the company next door. Upon leaving, he saw the nameplate of this company, and that was all. He basically never came here.
Having no grudge against the victim, no overlap in daily life circles, and not even knowing each other—in this case that was obviously a vendetta, it could be said he lacked a criminal motive.
And this point was actually very important. Because this wasn't a purposeless random attack, but a targeted serial grudge-killing. The victims weren't just the black-hearted president; there were likely two other executives. To kill them, one would need to know where their offices were, or at the very least, know what they looked like. If one knew nothing, how could they kill?
Of course, it wasn't ruled out that the guy was lying, but the probability was low. Conan was quite confident in his detail-observation skills; that guy was very frank, or rather, full of confidence when giving that statement.
If the situation truly was like that, then the culprit's real trick might not be the crudely disguised suicide on the surface, but a deeper ruse. Regardless, guessing was useless; evidence was needed.
Walking through the distorted corridors, Conan faintly felt something was wrong. The Criminal Mist was becoming increasingly turbulent, making the corridors even more chaotic, even starting to rotate. The office doors embedded in the hallway were constantly rearranging themselves. To Conan's senses, the number of doors hiding killing intent was increasing!
The criminal was constantly becoming stronger—this was a very bad thing.
After walking for a long time, Conan finally found the second crime scene. It was still an office door glowing with a shimmering light. Pushing the door open, the interior decoration was far inferior to the president's office.
Inside, Conan found a company executive hanged by spider silk against the wall.
Before Conan could even walk over to check, the executive's Stand emerged. Unable to narrate the culprit's identity, it pointed to a certain area in the office before dissipating.
Then, a photograph on the desk suddenly highlighted!
Conan walked over and found it was a photo taken during a company team-building event. The leader was naturally this executive, but among the employees behind him, Conan found a familiar face—the Real Estate Agent from the crowd of onlookers who had lamented that the building's value would plummet after the murder.
This photo must have been taken not long ago. In the photo, that executive was smiling very happily, but the real estate agent's face was extremely ugly!
Putting down the photo, Conan looked at the desk. As usual, there were "decorations" used to disguise a suicide—this time a suicide note. It claimed that after a "moment of conscience" regarding his past workplace bullying that led to an employee's death, he chose to atone with his life.
Conan remained non-committal, simply thinking. Just then, the office door was pushed open again. A scarred Kogoro Mouri, along with the real estate agent and two police officers, rushed in.
"Dammit! I didn't expect this case to reach B-rank. The culprit can actually use the Criminal Mist to deploy a Criminal Domain. There were so many traps along the way, I almost bit it. Now we finally found the crime scene. Everyone, search quickly for any clues! Especially keep an eye out for anything glowing strangely—that's usually a dying message left by the deceased!"
Kogoro Mouri shouted a couple of times, then noticed Conan. He looked slightly relieved but still said:
"Kid, I've been looking for you the whole way. You've got some luck, hiding directly in a crime scene. Next, stay right by my side and don't go running off. It's dangerous here..."
Conan could feel Kogoro's goodwill, so he chose to reciprocate, shouting:
"Uncle! this photo is glowing brightly! Also, I picked this up."
Seeing the Inspiration Stick in Conan's hand, Kogoro's expression turned to joy:
"An Inspiration Stick? Wait, doesn't this thing only appear after a criminal mystery node at a crime scene is triggered? How did you pick it up? Whatever, you've got some real luck, kid."
Taking the stick, Kogoro seemed accustomed to it carrying strange information. He silently sensed it and then muttered:
"Is it really the Legion of 666 Beasts? That criminal society has been quite active lately. Their rank in Beika Town's crime rankings seems to have risen. I remember what their trait was... right, every member must have specific elements of 'six' or 'beast' on them to flaunt their existence..."
Hearing this, Conan blinked and asked, "Uncle, are there many criminal organizations in Beika Town now?"
Kogoro, still immersed in sensing the information and thinking, answered casually:
"Criminals are human too; it's natural for them to huddle together for warmth. Plus, Japan has the 'Freedom of Association Act,' so various criminal societies have emerged. This Legion of 666 Beasts only popped up recently. I think their rank has broken into the top twenty of the Beika Crime Leaderboard..."
Conan was utterly shocked. A criminal organization that orchestrated a serial murder involving more than three lives wasn't even in the top twenty of criminal societies.
Was Beika Town after the Sixth World Line change really such a wild capital of crime?
Then, after Kogoro snapped out of it, he looked at the photo. Finding the real estate agent in it, he turned around, scrutinized the agent's attire, and suddenly pointed his finger:
"Aha! So the culprit is YOU!"
The real estate agent froze, then hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no! The killer isn't me! Definitely not me!"
Kogoro Mouri said with total conviction, "Hmph! Stop making excuses! According to the photo, you were once an employee of this company, but now you're a real estate agent—you must have been fired! You must have held a grudge, so you took the chance to kill these people! The evidence is your shirt—it has 'beast' traits! You're a member of the Legion of 666 Beasts!"
Conan looked at the T-shirt the real estate agent was wearing. It indeed had beast-like features, but well, Mickey Mouse counts as a beast too. The marks of the 666 Legion members were apparently quite broad.
The real estate agent became frantic: "No, Detective Mouri! I indeed worked here before, and I was good friends with Kiritani-kun who died from workplace bullying. My salary was constantly docked, I was forced to work overtime day and night—at one point I slept at the company for half a month! The president and executives constantly insulted and bullied me, then maliciously fired me, causing me to default on my mortgage! My wife divorced me and took our son and daughter back to her parents' home! But... I really am not the killer!"
It would have been better if he hadn't spoken. Once he explained, even Conan couldn't help but glance sideways. If this guy didn't have a few lives on his hands, he was practically a disgrace to his status as a Beika resident.
The real estate agent was still explaining: "I have an alibi..."
"Hmph! No need to argue! That alibi is definitely fake! No crime can escape the eyes of the Great Detective Kogoro Mouri! Come forth, my Stand [Muddled Sake Bottle]! Now, under my Stand's power, kneel and repent!"
In an instant, Kogoro Mouri struck a cool pose and pointed sharply at the real estate agent. Behind him, the sake bottle Stand with arms and legs emerged and activated its ability. The Stand also pointed at the suspect and said in a muffled voice:
"Based on this or that—anyway, for whatever reason is fine—I decree that you are the killer of this case!"
In the next instant, a beam of light appeared out of thin air above the real estate agent's head, enveloping him and making his whole body glow. The agent was scared out of his wits, thinking he had truly been identified as the culprit. He was about to explain, but then Kogoro Mouri retracted his pointing hand and instead patted the agent's shoulder:
"Don't worry, I was just joking. After my rigorous deduction, you are definitely NOT the killer of this case!"
Hearing this, the agent let out a long sigh of relief. Then, remembering something, he said, "I remember now! Detective Mouri, you have the title of 'Sin-Washer'! Legend says your Stand can absolutely and unerringly clear someone's suspicion. So, this light on me... is it the legendary Light of Innocence?"
Kogoro Mouri let out three loud laughs. "My title of Sin-Washer does indeed have something to do with my Stand power, but it's mainly because I can use meticulous deduction to completely wash away the suspicion of a suspect. That's the origin of the title! And this light on you is the protection I've granted you, which can further showcase your status as an innocent person. Even Inspector Megure recognizes this!"
Conan, however, keenly sensed the awkwardness in Kogoro's laughter. Clearly, his words were somewhat insincere. Conan did a bit of deduction and felt that Kogoro's Stand power was probably... pointing out someone who is absolutely not the killer!
In fact, he wasn't far off. The ability of Kogoro Mouri's Stand, [Muddled Sake Bottle], was called "Muddled Identification." Its power was simple: "Through a random deduction, forcibly designate a suspect. Only a non-killer can pass the check. After passing, they receive the Innocence Protection."
Kogoro Mouri had recently risen to fame because of this Stand. Mainly, whenever there was a case, Inspector Megure loved calling him in to solve it. The reason wasn't complex: no one would refuse a Stand power transmitter that could 100% rule out a suspect. If they hit the jackpot and identified the criminal right at the start, it would be a super surprise.
It's just that, whether by luck or something else, since Kogoro Mouri figured out his Stand's ability, he had never once identified the killer on the first try.
But regardless, Kogoro Mouri was worthy of the title "Sin-Washer."
Conan remained silent. In his view, this real estate agent was incredibly suspicious. It wasn't just his overflowing criminal motive or the gleeful look in his eyes when he glanced at the victim. There were other points—for instance, after the agent came in, he unconsciously showed extreme familiarity with this office.
Conan walked over and asked innocently, "Uncle, you seem very familiar with this office!"
The real estate agent's face twitched slightly. "Indeed. This office used to be mine. Then one day, because I refused to cooperate with layoffs, the president kicked me out and replaced me with someone who would..."
If a criminal motive was a buff, the buffs on this agent were almost at full stack. He looked like he should have launched a legendary attack on the president.
Conan asked again innocently, "Uncle, you just said you have an alibi. I'm curious..."
But before Conan could finish, he was bopped on the head by Kogoro Mouri and lifted up. "He's not the killer. Why are you asking so much?"
Conan was naturally unwilling to give up. At this time, the real estate agent said in an indifferent tone:
"It's fine. Although confirmed by the Sin-Washer, more evidence is better. The day before the case, I was drinking at a bar. I drank from yesterday until just before I was teleported here. There's surveillance in that shop the whole time; I was there the entire time except for a short while in the restroom."
Drinking for that long without being drunk—not even much of a buzz?
Conan's eyes narrowed. He immediately realized this was a slightly forced, unnatural alibi. Or rather, it was a move made deliberately to leave behind proof.
Then, Conan remembered the information contained in the Inspiration Stick. it mentioned that the Legion of 666 Beasts had a special criminal style. At that time, Conan didn't understand, but now, a flash of insight hit him, and he face-planted into the ground.
After picking himself up, Conan looked behind him, teeth bared in pain. Sure enough, another physical pillar of light had slammed into his forehead.
Kogoro Mouri noticed this. "That's strange. Aren't Inspiration Sticks supposed to be rare? Why is there another one? Or is your kid's constitution special, making it easy to spawn these things?"
Kogoro walked over, picked up the stick, and sensed the information within. He then muttered:
"The Legion of 666 Beasts believes that only mutually shared sins can build 'the Swarm,' 'the Multitude,' and 'the Beast of 666,' offering supreme respect to that Great Existence. What does this mean...?"
Hearing this, Conan understood instantly. This was Exchange-Based Crime.
End of Chapter
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