Chapter 198: The Erased Traces

After making sure that Sera Masumi was safe and sound, Conan hurried back to Kosenan.

Since the number of victims this time was quite large, the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters also sent a considerable number of detectives to Kosenan.

After returning here, Conan met Inspector Okamura again, whom he had just met yesterday.

He was directing his detectives to investigate the outside of Kosenan and the entire first floor of Kose-nan.

At this time, he saw Conan, and pointed at Chianti with a serious face and said:

"Conan, did you witness how this person died?"

"Yes, her neck was broken by the sister who was wearing the Kosenan work uniform."

Conan added to Inspector Okamura.

"So what was her condition like before her neck was broken?"

"It seems he fainted."

"So she passed out from hydrogen sulfide poisoning just like Ms. Sera?"

Conan noticed that Inspector Okamura began talking to himself after hearing what he said.

And a slightly confused expression appeared on his face.

"Is it the cause of her death that makes Inspector Okamura confused?"

Conan thought to himself while observing Chianti's body beside him.

She found that the dead Chianti, like Sera Masumi, had swollen eyes and pale faces.

Logically speaking, this should be the symptom of hydrogen sulfide poisoning.

However, one strange thing is that

Chianti's eyes, lips and ears are all cyanotic.

This is slightly different from the symptoms of hydrogen sulfide poisoning.

And Conan also discovered.

Chianti's neck showed severe bruises.

Conan moved a little closer and found that there were very obvious blue-purple bruises on the skin in the area of Chianti's carotid artery.

'Subcutaneous bleeding?!'

Conan instantly understood the cyanosis around Chianti's eyes, lips, and ears.

"As expected, Inspector Okamura's confusion was not wrong."

'Although she also showed symptoms of hydrogen sulfide poisoning, she did not fall into a coma due to hydrogen sulfide, but because of compression of the carotid artery.'

'The bruises on her neck indicated that her carotid artery had been severely compressed.'

'The cyanosis around her eyes, lips and ears is due to the compression of the carotid artery, which blocks blood flow and causes suffocation.'

"This is absolutely impossible for Miss Sera to do. Someone really wants to kill Chianti!"

After thinking of this, Conan immediately connected the matter with the mysterious man he had previously identified who had caused the disaster to Vermouth and Chianti.

This made Conan even more confused about that person's identity.

"Using hydrogen sulfide, compressing the carotid artery, and scratching Vermouth's arm"

"What a cruel method! Who is that person?"

Conan thought about it, then hurried into Kosenan and rushed to the monitoring room.

"Whether the mysterious man lived in Kosenan beforehand or came in from outside, he would definitely be captured by Kosenan's surveillance cameras."

"As long as we investigate the surveillance, we should be able to roughly determine the other party's identity."

After entering the surveillance room, Conan saw the female detective whom he had met yesterday morning who came to check the surveillance.

Next to the female detective stood two other detectives.

The female detective frowned deeply as she operated the mouse and computer, while the two detectives beside her also stared at the computer screen with confusion.

"What? What happened? Didn't you see the bad guys in the surveillance video?"

Conan asked in a childish voice.

The three detectives were all frightened by Conan.

They looked towards Conan, who quickly explained:

"I saw the murderer who killed the aunt outside, and Inspector Okamura asked me to come over to identify the murderer."

The female detective in charge of checking the surveillance video also recognized Conan as the child who stayed next to Detective Sera Masumi throughout yesterday morning.

So he didn't hide it and frowned and said,

"All the videos after 11 o'clock last night have been deleted, whether it's outside or inside Kosenan."

Conan: "!!!"

Conan was shocked when he heard this.

'The surveillance video was deleted?!'

"By whom?! That mysterious man? Or Vermouth?"

'It was done so seamlessly!'

With all kinds of doubts in his mind, Conan quickly moved a stool over, jumped on it, and checked the surveillance video with the female detective.

"Excuse me, officer, could you please delay the progress a little bit?"

"I want to see if the murderer is in the surveillance video."

Conan said to the female detective in a serious tone.

The female detective slowly dragged the progress bar according to Conan's instructions.

"I remember hearing on TV that if you want to modify or delete surveillance footage, you must have administrator privileges."

Conan said.

"This computer does have administrator privileges."

As the female detective spoke, she circled the location of the administrator account with her mouse.

After learning the news, Conan fell into deep thought again.

'That mysterious person shouldn't know the administrator's password, unless he is an insider of the hotel.'

"Or was it Vermouth who deleted the surveillance video?"

Conan watched almost all the videos at the gate of Kosen'an, but did not find the disguised Vermouth in them.

At this point, Conan has confirmed the identity of the person who deleted and turned off the surveillance, and it is most likely Vermouth.

"When Vermouth first sneaked into Kosen-an, she knocked out and tied up all the front desk and backstage staff on night duty."

'That is to say, at that time, she asked the staff for the administrator's password and closed and deleted the surveillance video of her time in Kosenan!'

'And in order to conceal her purpose, she deleted and turned off all the surveillance videos on other floors at the same time! '

After making this judgment, Conan felt a headache again.

As a result, not only could Chianti and Vermouth not be found in the surveillance footage.

And even the identity of the mysterious man who caused severe damage to Vermouth and Chianti and drove them away is naturally unknown.

"Since the traces have been wiped out so cleanly, the only person we can place our hope on is Miss Sera."

'I don't know if Miss Sera saw the appearance of the mysterious man, or whether she determined the identity of the mysterious man?'

Conan thought to himself.

(End of this chapter)