Chapter 116: Lucy's Method of Deduction |
After Bai Mu handed the Detective Glasses to Lucy, she transformed into a little Sherlock Holmes once again.
To Bai Mu, it had been nearly a week since he last saw her. It was not a terribly long time, but reuniting with a friend was always a joyful occasion.
The little one's radiant smile eased the tension in his heart.
She rested on Bai Mu's shoulder, peering curiously at her surroundings. This time, the case took place at an Art Museum. The exhibition hall was magnificent, with sparkling crystal chandeliers suspended beneath a vaulted ceiling adorned with angel reliefs.
Various oil paintings lined both sides of the corridor, which was draped in dark red velvet. The interior design was incredibly luxurious—after all, this art exhibition was hosted by the Suzuki Financial Group, an outrageously wealthy conglomerate.
Lucy stared at an oil painting of an autumn maple forest on Bai Mu's right. She hesitantly reached out to touch it, only for her hand to phase right through the frame. This seemed to give her a fright, and she immediately shrank back to hide behind Bai Mu's head. It took several seconds before she cautiously peeked out again, seemingly remembering that she was in a "dream."
Truth be told, Bai Mu had no idea what things looked like from Lucy's perspective whenever he activated his skill.
Judging by her reactions, he believed that Lucy's world was real, and that the omnipotent Paradise simply linked the two of them together whenever he used the skill.
Although the status panel listed her as Bai Mu's Summon, she possessed her own consciousness and was an entirely independent entity.
This time, the body had been discovered in an elevator shaft. The police and elevator maintenance personnel had already pried the doors open, revealing the corpse resting on top of the elevator car.
Conan and Hattori Heiji had already darted off to search for evidence in every nook and cranny. Today's murder case was utterly devoid of any detailed loopholes. Between the lack of fingerprints, hair, and skin flakes, the flawless alibis of the three suspects, and the method used to bypass the security cameras to hide the body in the elevator shaft, the entire incident was shrouded in a dense fog of mystery.
At the very least, Bai Mu could not deduce who the murderer was from the current clues.
Furthermore, after disrupting three consecutive murder cases, he and Yan Yu had been strictly restricted by the Corrective Force. The primary commanding officer leading the investigation today was not even Inspector Megure, but Superintendent Matsumoto Kiyonaga from the Police Headquarters.
This man was a top brass at the Police Headquarters; even Inspector Megure had to play second fiddle in his presence. The investigating officers on the scene had also undergone a massive roster swap compared to the familiar faces from previous cases, and the area was now swarming with the Suzuki Financial Group's private security detail.
To sum it up in one sentence: there were countless eyes fixed firmly on Bai Mu and Yan Yu at the scene.
In just the few minutes it took to walk back from the corridor, Bai Mu felt a multitude of gazes tracking his every move. He could no longer roam around freely as he had before.
Because he and Yan Yu had been turtling up inside the police station, the Corrective Force could only resort to these strict limitations to prevent them from taking any unexpected actions.
Since this was a children's theatrical play, the child Detective naturally had to make an appearance. He took Lucy to observe the murder scene so she could get a general grasp of the situation.
"Lucy, can you help me find the murderer who killed this person?" he asked, making a request of her.
Lucy patted her chest confidently, pulled out her drawing board, and scribbled a large "OK."
She then phased straight into the wall, vanishing from sight.
Her range of movement was restricted to a ten-meter radius centered around Bai Mu. This was rather small compared to the sheer size of the Art Museum, so Bai Mu had to occasionally stroll around to accommodate her investigation.
The security personnel and unfamiliar detectives cast suspicious glances his way, but he simply meandered about with his hands clearly visible outside his pockets to prove his innocence.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, the frantically roaming Lucy finally settled down.
She floated down from the third-floor ceiling, looking brimming with confidence as she began to sketch in front of Bai Mu.
She presented three doodles to him. The first circled one of the three suspects. Though her line work was simple, the defining features were distinctly highlighted, making it obvious at a glance that the heavily bearded man was the one she had identified as the killer.
In her second doodle, she drew a painting. This was evidently the oil painting they had just seen in the exhibition hall—the famous artist's "Sunflowers," which was displayed in a highly prominent spot.
For the third doodle, she sketched a delivery truck.
Since Bai Mu could not hear her speak, she could only gesture frantically with her fingers.
To onlookers, Bai Mu had abruptly stopped in his tracks; in reality, Lucy was dancing about enthusiastically right in front of him.
She used her paintbrush to point back and forth between the corpse and a cargo crate, then repeatedly tapped between the corpse, the killer, and the "Sunflowers" doodle.
Bai Mu roughly grasped her meaning. The corpse was likely transported onto the elevator while the killer was disguised as a delivery worker. Was that famous "Sunflowers" painting the motive for the murder?
He pondered the details carefully. However, it wasn't long before he suddenly heard footsteps approaching from the stairwell, accompanied by the muffled voices of Conan and Hattori Heiji.
"So, the culprit really is that guy?"
"The facts are clear. I'm one step ahead of you this time."
Coincidentally, the spot Conan and Hattori Heiji were descending from seemed to be the exact same area of the ceiling that Lucy had just floated down through.
He suddenly understood Lucy's method of deduction. Indeed, in Beika Town, this was unquestionably the fastest and most direct approach.
Wasting no time, he hurried back to the crime scene.
"You are the murderer, aren't you, Mr. Manaka?" Bai Mu declared.
"What nonsense are you spouting?!" the heavily bearded middle-aged man roared in fury. "Which department are you from?! What rank gives you the right to speak to me? Go fetch your superior!"
"Killing someone over a single painting seems far too impulsive," Bai Mu remarked calmly.
Those words made the middle-aged man stutter out of sheer reflex, but he quickly fired back a denial, stubbornly refusing to change his story.
It wasn't until Bai Mu mentioned the delivery worker disguise that he finally exhibited a severe reaction.
At that exact moment, Conan and Hattori Heiji arrived at the scene. They were holding an ordinary-looking staff uniform. But the instant the middle-aged man laid eyes on that uniform, his psychological defenses completely collapsed, and he dropped to his knees.
The dramatic background music swelled, signaling the start of the confession segment once again.
Conan and Hattori Heiji stared blankly at the older man as he began pouring out his sins.
'Wait, we haven't even started our deduction yet. Why are you on your knees?'
Lucy rested on Bai Mu's shoulder, smiling brightly at their bewildered faces as if to say, 'We couldn't have cracked this case without you guys.'
'She really just eavesdropped on the protagonists' conversation, didn't she,' Bai Mu thought to himself.
The truth had been brought to light, and the case was solved once again.
Even Yan Yu had absolutely no idea what Bai Mu had just done. Although she was his teammate, she could not see the invisible Lucy.
The very second the background music stopped and the killer was handcuffed and led away, suddenly...
[ "???"'s attention on you has increased. Current attention level: 100%. ]
[ You have been marked by "???" as a high-priority target for disposal. ]
[ Main Quest updated. Objective changed: Survive the pursuit of "???". ]
[ Script danger level increased. Current danger rating: C. ]
The moment those notifications sounded, a furious voice roared through the air.
"Enough!"
"I don't care where you two glitchy characters came from, I'm going to eradicate you right this instant!"