Chapter 163: Heightened Sense of Smell

(Grim Reaper): The target is in a primary school student state and appears to be indistinguishable from a normal person. However, wherever the target goes, incidents occur.

Currently, this ability seems to be triggered passively, and the person is not aware of their own abilities.

This ability operates on a causal level and can affect people in the surroundings at any time, any place, and in any form. It creates well-executed murder cases.

The cases caused by this ability are primarily solved by the individual responsible, and the apparent disasters can be resolved legally without causing social unrest. However, there may be casualties and imprisonments along the way.

So far, different methods of murder have been observed, and the number of different murder methods is likely to increase proportionally with the number of victims.

Observer's suggestion: To prevent innocent individuals from being persecuted by these incidents, containment is recommended.

If we consider Conan as the containment subject, this is roughly the situation.

Therefore, Senichi had the intention to defend but was powerless.

However, even he did not expect that in the process of calling Conan to make a statement, the only passerby encountered would be so audacious.

He even acted out a play right in front of their eyes, in the presence of detectives.

Yes, although an incident occurred right under their noses, which annoyed Senichi, he had basically identified the culprit.

According to "Conan Law," when there is only one stranger present and the person they are calling experiences a murder, it is highly likely that the person is the culprit!

It is obvious that the person used some tricks and regarded everyone present as their "Alibi."

But now is not the time to discuss these matters. The most urgent task is to go to the crime scene.

At that time, Senichi will definitely make the criminal understand the feeling of despair.

Driving at high speed, Senichi drove towards the residence of the Masuo family. At this moment, the middle-aged man sat in the backseat and looked at Shiratori with an anxious expression, asking, "My wife... Is she okay?"

"Have there been any abnormalities around you these past two days?"

Shiratori did not answer his question, which could possibly bring bad news. Instead, he immediately asked about crucial information.

"My wife said there was a suspicious person lurking near our house last night..." The middle-aged man's expression was full of fear. "No... It couldn't be those criminals, right?"

"It's highly possible... Your wife was held hostage at gunpoint by criminals, and they might have felt that she discovered their identity, so they wanted to silence her..." Shiratori spoke with a heavy tone.

"How could this happen..." Masuo muttered with an unpleasant look on his face, filled with worry and concern.

But Senichi didn't pay attention to what was happening behind. At the moment, he had to focus on investigating the crime scene first.

Even if he suspected the person behind him, he needed concrete evidence.

After rushing all the way to the perpetrator's house, Masuo hurriedly entered and shouted. However, there was no response to his calls. Masuo looked at the two of them and said, "Please help me search around. I'll check the living room. It's upstairs."

Saying that, Masuo quickly ran over, while Shiratori walked towards the second floor.

As for Senichi, he had some doubts about Masuo and planned to follow him, but he was afraid of alerting the suspect, so he slowed down his pace.

On the way, a howling wind could be heard from the side. Senichi turned his head and saw a large hole next to the window lock, a common method used by burglars to break into houses.

But in that momentary delay, a cry of terror came from the nearby living room.

When Senichi and Shiratori rushed over, they found Mrs.Masuo lying unconscious next to the exercise bike.

When they approached to check her condition, she had already died.

The cause of death was a knife stabbed into her back, but it was not the usual stabbing method. The knife was inserted horizontally into the back of the deceased.

But now is not the time to discuss this. In the instant he entered the room, Senichi activated his heightened sense of smell and began to identify the scents in the room.

First, he ruled out the bloodstains and sweat odors from the body of the deceased. The scents from the two individuals nearby were also excluded.

Closing his eyes, Senichi focused his mind and blocked out any unnecessary sources of smell, then started to filter out the remaining scent of blood in the room.

Perhaps, the bloodstains on those unnatural places might be the key to cracking the case.

After excluding the main source of blood odor from the victim's body, Senichi once again pinpointed two faint sources.

When Senichi opened his eyes, he first examined one of the bloodstains, which was located directly behind the victim.

Upon finding the source, Senichi discovered it was a bookshelf against the wall, and the bloodstain was on the beam above the top of the bookshelf.

Upon closer inspection, Senichi realized that the trail of blood abruptly ended halfway!

"Oh? Interesting... It seems that the other half is on her body. This is decisive evidence."

Senichi cast a playful glance at Masuo, who sat paralyzed on the ground, unable to accept the reality, and couldn't help but praise his acting skills.

The other source of the blood odor that Senichi had found was in the suspect's pocket!

And at this moment, the suspect's acting skills were simply explosive. Senichi couldn't find any flaws with his current level of insight. He was playing the role of a victim with such finesse.

However, Senichi didn't have immediate plans to expose him. He began searching for evidence.

He needed to uncover all the details of the crime method to prevent the culprit from denying anything.

After seeing the bloodstains on the bookshelf beam and the knife inserted horizontally into the back, Senichi already had a rough idea that the suspect, who was far away in the police station, had the ability to remotely control murder.

With sweat dripping down her back, the deceased lying next to the exercise bike and the bookshelf positioned directly behind her were all part of the mechanism.

To "automatically" trigger this mechanism, there must be another part that "connects" them and makes it work.

And the key to it all was something hidden on the exercise bike.

With that in mind, Senichi crouched down and examined the exercise bike next to the body.

Sure enough, inside the foot pedal of the exercise bike, Senichi found a large coil of rope, with a small circular knot at one end.

When these three pieces of evidence were combined, the situation became quite clear.

The reason the bloodstain on the beam was cut in half was because the tape that was fixed to the top of the beam had caught another portion of the bloodstain, which was later peeled off and taken away by Masuo.

As for the method of killing from a distance, the suspect secured the thin rope to a tack in the middle of the bookshelf and tied the other end to the exercise bike.

At this focal point, it could easily pull the bookshelf down to prevent any unexpected incidents such as the rope breaking.

Then, they placed the knife horizontally on top of the bookshelf and covered the protruding blade with books or other objects.

By taking advantage of Mrs. Masuo's habit of exercising on the exercise bike every day, she would unknowingly trigger this murder mechanism herself.

In the end, Mrs. Masuo would pedal the exercise bike, causing the bookshelf to fall and the knife fixed on the bookshelf to be thrust into her own back.

And before initiating the plan, Masuo had gone to the police station to have a detective act as a witness to his absence.

The phone call and having Shiratori answer were all meant to prove that Mrs. Masuo was still alive at that time, making it easier to frame the other criminals later on.

Upon returning to his own house, Masuo was the first to enter this room, restoring the bookshelf to its original position while removing the tape and tack, creating the illusion of a break-in by intruders.

It must be said that it was a clever technique.

But unfortunately, he encountered Senichi, A Conanverse Law expert!

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