mtl008 Chapter 1288 A Galaxy of Stars
Chapter 1288 A Galaxy of Stars
Chapter 1288 A Galaxy of Stars
"The villagers here don't seem so difficult to talk to. Could it be that the mess you made before was because you said something really offensive?"
"What do you mean I spoke too harshly? I'm very careful about my approach when handling cases!"
"Stop talking nonsense. If it weren't for that time—cough, if you hadn't matured a lot since leaving Tokyo to handle your cases, you wouldn't speak to your clients like this."
"No way! At most, I'd only question suspects who are confirmed to be the murderers—that's an exaggeration!"
"You've made your die-hard admirer so angry—"
"This is clearly Uta's own problem, okay?"
"Uh, that—"
Kazuha Toyama seized the opportunity to interject and timidly raised his hand.
"How about we switch seats, Xiaolan? That way it'll be easier for you two to talk."
Heiji Hattori, who was enjoying the opera in the front row, turned around upon hearing this and couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Kazuha Toyama's face clearly said, "Why are you two talking across me?" She sat there helplessly, staring at him with a gloating smile.
Kudo's reaction did not surprise him. After being scolded by Miss Ran, he was still able to sit in the same car without blushing, instead of running away to Tang Ze and Ming Zhi. He was already in a very good state of mind.
If it were me—cough, what do you mean, if it were me? Why make such a hypothetical assumption?
Hattori Heiji guiltily looked away, thus missing Kogoro Mouri's gaze, which was practically filled with murderous intent.
"Speaking of which, Conan actually went home by himself without saying a word." Kogoro Mouri, determined to cause trouble, spoke indifferently. "Such a young kid with such big ideas, what a troublesome fellow. If we don't teach him a lesson, who knows what he'll become."
"Uh—this—" Ran Mouri, whose attention was suddenly drawn back, tensed up. "Conan probably thinks...that this place is rather boring. He's always been very independent—"
Kogoro Mouri snorted twice, unconvinced: "He was just lucky that we weren't targeted by the villagers. A first-grader traveling such a long way back to Tokyo by himself—if something had happened to him on the way, we wouldn't know how to explain it to his parents."
"I'll make sure to tell him that—"
While Ran Mouri and Shinichi Kudo were being tortured in the car in front, the atmosphere in the car behind was quite relaxed.
Tang Ze looked at the autographed photo of Shinichi Kudo in his hand, not at all surprised. He clicked his tongue and casually put the item away.
A die-hard fan of Shinichi Kudo, and the twisted nature of it is closely related to Shinichi Kudo himself. I can't even be bothered to guess what will be produced in the Hall of Fame.
Glancing at Nanatsuki Koshimizu, who was fast asleep in the back seat, Tang Ze didn't bother to lower his voice and asked directly, "Have you contacted Curaçao yet? What did she say?"
Tang Ze, who has been focusing all his energy on Conan lately, is still enjoying the happy lull brought about by Binga's death.
Bourbon is progressing well, and Vermouth is as stable as it gets. Before Rum, who has retreated again, adjusts his mindset and re-emerges, Tang Ze doesn't need to worry about the situation on the organization's side for the time being.
However, the necessary preparations still need to be made. To make it easier to conquer Rum's temple in the future, he still needs to further enhance his current impression.
This includes, but is not limited to, letting Rum know exactly how "dead" Binga and Curaçao are, and how fast Bourbon's power is expanding.
In this way, once the temple of rum is found, all possible difficulties will be easily resolved.
"Of course she won't object," Hoshikawa Teru replied, gripping the steering wheel. "Without you, she would hardly have survived this long. She's definitely willing to try your plan, even if it's risky. I don't think it's a problem."
As he spoke, Hoshikawa Teru glanced at Tang Ze's expression and shook his head inwardly.
Before leaving the organization, Curaçao had already sided with Kumail. Later, she used a mission to escape the organization and then faked her death to get away. The whole plan was basically completed by Tang Ze.
Without Tang Ze's help, even if Curaçao had been ambushed and forced to leave after breaking into the public security database, she would have had little chance of escaping the organization's pursuit. It's no exaggeration to say that Curaçao owes Tang Ze her life.
But Tang Ze acted as if nothing had happened to him. He had already made a plan and was still asking the person he was supposed to work with for approval. It's unclear whether this stemmed from a genuine lack of self-awareness or was simply a tactic to win people over.
"You can't be so absolute. I know she'll most likely help me, but we still have to allow her to refuse." Tang Ze waved his hand casually. "It's only natural for Curaçao to be afraid of or back down from Vermouth, and we do have a Plan B. If she's unwilling, we don't need to force her to compromise."
"She's the best candidate; it would be ideal to have her take the place." Following the car ahead, Hoshikawa Teru couldn't help but add, "Hopefully she learns quickly enough. Sending her to approach Vermouth and imitate her mannerisms is no different than sending a mouse to talk to a cat."
"That's precisely why it's so convincing, isn't it? You know, Rum is really suspicious." Tang Ze spread his hands, indicating that he was also helpless.
Tang Ze's scheme, beginning with the very first forged memory card, had been in the works for a long time. In this regard, Tang Ze had always been an extremely patient hunter.
Rum had already followed the trap he had set into the cage little by little. This final and most crucial part, the detonation, naturally required even more meticulous attention to detail.
We've waited this long already, so let's just give Curaçao some more time to imitate Vermouth. Tangze can afford to wait.
"Vermouth is also currently in Japan. Are you planning to—?"
"Okay, let's invite her to the base when she has time."
Hoshikawa Teru pursed his lips and remained silent, but his fingers involuntarily tightened their grip on the steering wheel.
This means that Tang Ze is going to pull out that misunderstanding-driven script again, which means that no matter what, I'll have to go through all that exasperating drama with Tang Ze —
Suddenly I don't really want to go back to Tokyo anymore.
Isn't it said that detectives are prone to accidents? These two cars have attracted so many detectives, hurry up and cause some trouble!
Just as he was pondering this, a sickeningly screeching sound suddenly came from the guardrail on the right side of the highway.
The sound was sharp and piercing, waking even Koshimizu Nanatsuki, who was sleeping in the back row, and she looked in the direction from which the sound came.
On the far right side of the highway, a car was riding along the emergency lane, scraping against the guardrail, and speeding straight ahead.
"Huh? What's wrong with that car?"
In the car in front, Kogoro Mouri, who was constantly talking about how unruly and troublesome Conan was, noticed this side.
He frowned and observed for a few seconds, then turned the steering wheel, moved to the right lane, approached the car that was clearly out of control, and honked the horn.
"Is the driver asleep? At this rate, there's definitely going to be an accident." Kogoro Mouri clicked his tongue, ignoring the strong wind blowing through the open window at high speed, and rolled it down. "Hey, wake up! I'm talking to you, wake up—"
Halfway through his sentence, Kogoro Mouri noticed the other person's expression and his face immediately changed.
The man in the driver's seat had his head tilted to the side, his eyes glazed over, and drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. He looked more than just asleep or having a medical episode.
"He's acting strange!" Hattori Heiji, who had noticed this, immediately focused his attention. "I have to find a way to stop the car and check on him!"
"Move the car to the front!" Shinichi Kudo, in the back seat, no longer cared about driving safety. He stood up and grabbed the back of the driver's seat. "We have to find a way to stop it!"
"Huh? What are you doing up there?"
"The only way now is to drive up in front of it, block it, and brake to force it to stop—"
"Hey, this time I'm driving a rented car, if you do this—!"
Before the two could reach a conclusion, they saw the black sedan that had been following them accelerate, overtake them from the left, and then change lanes, also ending up in the emergency lane.
The black car skillfully approached, slowed down, and then slowly came to a stop, completing all the technical maneuvers required by Shinichi Kudo in a very short time.
Shinichi Kudo knew perfectly well who the driver was:
Suddenly recalling the chase at Beikacho Central Hospital, and looking at this strangely familiar scene, he realized he had somewhat underestimated Goro Akechi.
They drove the car to a spot a little further ahead and stopped there as well. Apart from Ran Mouri and Kazuha Toyama, who were still unaware of what was happening, the other people in the car quickly got out.
In addition to confirming the driver's condition, they also need to place warning signs at the back to prevent unsuspecting vehicles from approaching and causing accidents. They have to act quickly.
Hoshikawa Teru, Karasawa, and Koshimizu Nanatsuki had also gotten out of the car. The group of people walked towards the back in a large crowd, which surprised the woman who got out of the car that was parked behind them.
What are they doing? Providing highway assistance? When did Tokyoites become so helpful?
Despite her stunned state, she didn't slow down at all, quickening her pace to approach the man. She immediately reached her hand through the open car window into the driver's seat, cupped his face, and cried out.
"Junping, Junping?! Wake up, what's wrong with you?!"
"Hey! Don't touch him!" Hattori Heiji shouted as he rushed over. "Stay away from him!"
"Misunderstanding?" The woman was stunned for a moment, and before she could ask anything, she was pushed out.
With only a small car window, she was being watched by a whole bunch of detectives, leaving no room for her to act out panic and grief.
"I can't feel a pulse." Hattori Heiji said, reaching out to touch the driver's neck. He then pulled a small flashlight from his pocket, held it close to the driver's eyes to check for light reflexes, and said, "No, there's no response. It's probably too late for first aid—"
"This is terrible—" Shinichi Kudo's expression turned grave, his head already poking into the car window. "His body is still warm. Tsk, if we try CPR now, I don't know if there's still a chance—"
Koshimizu Nana peeked over from the side, glanced at the driver, and then touched his eyelids, using Hattori Heiji's flashlight to lift them open and confirm.
"There are bleeding points on the eyelids," she immediately pointed out. "It's probably too late for CPR."
"In other words—" Shinichi Kudo immediately reached out and grabbed the collar of the driver's shirt and ripped it open.
A deep red dent was right below the collar; the feature couldn't be more typical.
"Strangulation marks!"
"He was strangled; this couldn't have been an accident!"
"Don't open the car door yet, camera, wise, you there—"
After they finished their busy work, Ran Mouri and Kazuha Toyama, who were a few steps behind, finally came over and looked at each other blankly at the sea of people in the car window.
With the side windows and windshield blocked, making it impossible to see directly into the car, she decided against tiptoeing to join the commotion and simply asked, "What's going on?"
Straightening up, Shinichi Kudo immediately turned to Ran and ordered, "Ran, perfect timing! Call the police right away! There's a tollbooth a little over a kilometer ahead. If we block it off now, we can still intercept the suspect!"
"The driver of this car was strangled. This is murder," Hattori Heiji announced directly.
"Ah, while it's in motion?!" Ran Mouri looked at the empty car except for the driver, grabbed Kazuha Toyama, and then skillfully stuck them together.
Regardless of how this happened, just hearing the description is chilling.
"Yeah, it's practically a moving secret room." Koshimizu Nanako stretched her palms down and wiggled her fingers. "Even when I go on a long trip, I'm just as busy as usual. It's a truly fulfilling job."
Despite her unease, Ran Mouri didn't hesitate to pull out her phone, as if it were muscle memory; she swiped open the dial pad and prepared to make a call.
However, Tang Ze stopped her movement by raising his hand.
"No need for that trouble." Tang Ze held up his palm and pointed to the vehicle approaching from behind, which was checking the situation. "Isn't this just a coincidence?"
Ran Mouri turned her head and met the gaze of Wataru Takagi, who had rolled down the car window and was about to ask about the situation. Both of them were stunned.
"Officer Takagi, Officer Sato! What are you doing here!"
"I should be the one asking that question—" Sato Miwako looked at the familiar faces surrounding the car and her lips twitched. "But judging from the looks of it, it seems like we already know the answer without even asking."
In the middle of nowhere, by a highway with limited traffic, what circumstances could possibly bring together such a star-studded detective team?
That would of course be a sudden murder case, and one that is very difficult to solve at first glance.
Ordinary traffic accidents won't do it; even fatal ones require at least three people.