Conan’s Corpse Picker

Chapter 390: Lord Spider (together)

 Chapter 390 Lord Spider (Complete Chapter)

Thinking about it, Jiang Xia pointed to the storage room and said to Takeda Yoko who was helping to lead the way: "Let's go over there and have a look."

Hattori Heiji was startled.

He remembered that before the twin sisters appeared, when Takeda Yoko asked Jiang Xia where he was going, Jiang Xia clearly pointed in the direction of the main house.

— Hattori Heiji is used to going to the crime scene to investigate first. For example, this time, if he was given a choice, he would first go to the storage room where Negishi Akio died.

 So just now, after seeing Jiang Xia make such a completely different choice as the "main house", Hattori Heiji was immediately alert and deeply impressed by this, so he almost took a note to study why Jiang Xia made that choice.

 But now, Jiang Xia has changed his mind again...

Hattori Heiji asked in confusion: "Didn't you just go to the main house?"

“…” Yes, but now, the ghosts have gone to the storage room again…

Jiang Xia said calmly: "I thought about it, and it turns out that it would be safer to start the investigation from the scene."

Hattori Heiji: "..." Actually, he really wanted to ask why he just thought that investigating the main house was a good option.

 But I’m too embarrassed to ask...

Next to him, Takeda Yoko didn’t think too much. She didn't quite understand the detective's routine, but since Jiang Xia was going to the storage room now, it would be great if she was responsible for leading the way.

She quickly took Jiang Xia to the storage room. Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha also followed.

Rob went to the kitchen to help the maid in the Takeda family.

—He just killed a person a few days ago, and he plans to kill another one later. He has something in his mind and doesn’t want to stay with the detectives.

 But before killing Takeda Shinichi, he needed an absolute alibi.

So Rob had no choice but to hang out with the maid, praying secretly in his heart that he would not be criticized for his cooking skills...

 …

The storage room is not too far away. Takeda Yoko led the way, and the four of them quickly arrived at the place.

However, no matter how fast he arrived, Jiang Xia still didn't have time to see the ghost clearly.

Just when I first entered the door, I saw a few translucent figures in the corner of the room that were so fast that they were blurry, and they passed in a flash.

Although I didn’t see anything, this speed...

Jiang Xia gradually became alert and had a bad premonition in her heart. Eight thick and fluffy spider legs appeared in her mind, moving quickly against the ground.

As soon as Yangzi, who was leading him, turned around, he saw Jiang Xia staring at the corner of the room with serious eyes.

She looked along in confusion and saw a small spider hanging in the corner of the wall, hanging upside down along the silk thread.

Yoko Takeda thought she understood.

She looked away and explained: "We have a lot of spiders here. Fortunately, they generally don't bite people, and they are not easy to drive away, so we just keep them here."

Hearing this, Hattori Heiji also frowned and looked at the little spider hanging in the corner.

I have often heard the saying that "killing spiders is unlucky", but here we can't even drive them away... When he remembered the legend Takeda Yuzo mentioned on the way, as well as the three hanging corpses, he thought this might be the case. is a clue.

 Hattori Heiji asked: "I heard that you here worship Lord Spider very much? What are its characteristics?"

  …If the way the deceased died coincides with some of Spider-sama’s habits, then the three “suicides by hanging” of the Takeda family would have strong human traces—perhaps someone deliberately imitated monsters and killed people.

Yoko Takeda obviously also knew about the widely circulated legend. She shook her head: "It's not that we worship...our attitude towards Lord Spider should be said to be 'vigilance'."

After speaking, seeing the three young guests looking at her with interest, Takeda Yoko recalled:

“It is said that a long time ago, there lived a beautiful woman on this mountain who looked like a fairy. She often stopped by the roadside, stopped the travelers, and asked them some questions softly, such as—

 ‘Do you think there is a paradise in this world? ’

  ‘What kind of place is that? ’

  ‘Do you want to go and see it with me? ’

“…Travellers are often bewildered by her beauty and nod in agreement. Then they are taken deep into the forest, never to return.

“A puppet master heard this rumor and made a life-size puppet equipped with an automatic device, letting it walk back and forth on the mountain road where Master Spider often haunts, while he hid himself to check the situation.

“Later, Lady Spider actually showed up, and she asked the puppet those three questions in a gentle voice. But the puppet never answered.

"Gradually, the eyes of the beauty wearing a white bamboo hat turned scarlet, the corners of her lips cracked, and her hands and feet were divided into six... She turned into a huge ugly spider on the spot, and ferociously pounced on those who refused to talk to her. puppet."

 Ugly and huge…

Hearing this, Jiang Xia couldn't help but ask for details about the spider like a picky buyer: "...is it really ugly?"

Takeda Yoko was startled and couldn't understand why Jiang Xia asked this.

 But he still answered rigorously: “Yes.”

 After speaking, Jiang Xia felt a little disappointed for some reason, and quickly added: "However, the human form should be very good-looking."

Jiang Xia nodded, but in his mind he thought of the ghost that disappeared in a swish.

 It runs so fast that even the foggy dog ​​with a pair of wings and the mermaid that can swim in the air can't catch up. How can it be humanoid...

Seeing that Jiang Xia didn’t ask any more questions, Takeda Yoko cleared her throat and continued:

"The puppet master hiding nearby saw this and woke up from the beauty of Lord Spider. He took out the rocket he carried and shot at the spider repeatedly. The big spider's whole body was on fire, and it screamed and fled deep into the forest, and was eventually burned to death in the forest. In his own lair.

“Later, the villagers heard about this and were afraid of being cursed by the dead spider, so they built a small temple at its nest to worship it. The mountain was also renamed ‘Puppet Peak’ in memory of the puppet master.”

 … doesn’t seem very scary.

Yuan Shanheye touched his chin and gestured with interest: "If the transportation here is more convenient, that temple may become a tourist attraction!"

"Ah, this..." Takeda Yoko was a little embarrassed when he heard this sentence:

“As for the Spider Temple, it actually no longer exists. After my father-in-law passed away, Brother Xin expanded the land, bulldozed the temple, and built a warehouse on the original site.

“Three years after the completion of the warehouse, Misa and Kinushiro hanged themselves in that warehouse one after another. Their bodies were discovered very late, covered with cobwebs... In addition..."

Takeda Yoko looked to the side and whispered: "Although Mr. Negishi died in the storage room and not in the puppet warehouse, in addition to the noose around his neck, he also had a lot of fishing lines wrapped around his body. It looked like a Another spider thread..."

Hattori Heiji’s eyes lit up—this is it!

It's hard to say what happened to the two people who died three years ago, but Akio Negishi's death was so unique. The fishing lines wrapped around his body looked like someone was using the "Spider-sama" gimmick to kill people... Speaking of which, the head of the Takeda family just now was... What did you whisper to Jiang Xia? He could barely hear the previous words "Investigating the cause of death of Akio Negishi", but then the voices of the two people became quieter and quieter.

 Hattori Heiji looked at Jiang Xia and leaned over to ask.

 But at this time, the maid and Rob came over.

 The two of them knocked on the door and greeted warmly: "Dinner is ready."

Jiang Xia saw Takeda Yoko looking at him inquiringly, nodded, turned and walked out the door, intending to finish the meal.

At this point, he had lost interest in the storage room—the key to solving the case was not here, and there were no ghosts around, so it was better to go get something to eat first.

The maid prepared a sumptuous dinner.

Jiang Xia found a seat and sat down. As soon as he picked up the chopsticks, he couldn't help but think of the drug-allergic organization cadre and Gin's reminder. He paused slightly.

 After a moment, he stretched out his chopsticks and picked up the fried fish in front of him as if nothing had happened.

 …It shouldn’t be a big problem.

Although the lesson learned by his predecessors was quite painful, Jiang Xia had just thrown the slow-moving parent ghosts on the maid, just in case, so they could not help in the ghost-catching operation, and asked them to help keep an eye on the water.

 Judging from the current feedback, the meals have not been tampered with, and Takeda Shinichi has never appeared in the kitchen.

Thinking about it, since Takeda Shinichi wants to find the mole as soon as possible, he must ensure that the detective he finds is clear-headed and in a normal state.

And if he throws strange medicine into the dishes as soon as he meets him, he will only get a burden that cannot help him, which is not worth the gain.

After thinking about it, Jiang Xia took a bite of the crispy golden fried fish without much psychological burden.

 Opposite, two little girls sitting next to Takeda Yoko looked directly at him.

 Seeing this scene, the two little girls lowered their heads simultaneously, looked at their plates, and then paused for a moment.

Soon, they turned to Yoko, and their clear voices were full of doubts: "Mom, why don't we have any fish?"

“The fish is bought according to the number of people scheduled, so...” Takeda Yoko explained in a low voice while picking up the fish on his plate, “Then mom’s is for you.”

After Kinushiro's sister-in-law hanged herself, the family's finances were all taken over by Takeda Shinichi.

Takeda Shinichi is extremely frugal in these small things, and is unwilling to buy more ingredients.

Now a few uninvited guests suddenly came. It was hard to tell that the other dishes were even, but the fish distributed according to the number of people was obviously not enough.

Takeda Yoko thought about it while helping to serve the rice, and felt that she must not miss the guests' food.

 So she divided the two meals without fish between her two children. She felt that children tended to be distracted while eating and should not be noticed.

 Unexpectedly, this time, the two clever little guys noticed it right away...

Jiang Xia heard the movement at the table opposite and felt the greedy gazes of the two little girls. Then she remembered that when she picked up the fish just now, the eyes of the two **** followed the tips of his chopsticks, and the movement of chewing the fish was not obvious. The ground stopped.

 …I always feel that he is at fault here.

But I ate everything...Jiang Xia glanced at the remaining half of the small fish, bit it into his mouth without any burden, and chewed it.

 Then he wiped his mouth under the gaze of two resentful eyes, left the table and went to the bathroom.

  Let Yoko Takeda handle such a small matter as dividing the fish by herself... The famous detective has other things to do.

 For example, go see the new ghost he just got.

—Yes, after eating for a while, news finally came from the ghosts.

 They held down the new ghost who was running very fast.

Jiang Xia turned two corners and entered the empty bathroom.

 Then I saw the ghost on the sink that had finally fallen into the encirclement after being chased and intercepted.

—Mermaid, Kiritengu, Miyano Akemi and Xiaobai happened to occupy the four sides, surrounding a translucent thing.

Jiang Xia took a closer look.

 Originally, he was prepared to see a big hairy spider.

Unexpectedly, after this ghost that moved like the wind stopped, and took a closer look, it turned out to be a beautiful ghost fetus wearing a bamboo hat.

Although there are many places covered by clothes, the exposed parts and rough outline are completely Q-version humanoid, without any weird eight eyes or eight legs.

Jiang Xia secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

  Sensing that there was no one around, he tentatively asked: "Mrs. Kinushiro?"

 This is the name of Takeda Shinichi’s wife.

The beautiful new ghost looked up at him, covered his sleeves, and lowered his head again.

 It seems to respond to the name, but it doesn't look like the person... Well, let's try another name first.

Jiang Xia shouted again: "Miss Meisha?"

 This time, the new ghost was obviously stunned.

Then she slowly raised one of her wide sleeves to cover her face, and turned 180° with small steps gracefully, turning her back to Jiang Xia, looking shameless in front of others.

 Jiangxia: “…”

The response to calling "Meisha" was greater. It seems that it should be her... No, not necessarily. Maybe it was because Mrs. Kinuyo heard "Misa" and thought of her dirty tricks of finding her brother-in-law to have a baby that she felt embarrassed and didn't want to see anyone...

Calling names is indeed not a good method of identification.

Jiang Xia simply reached out and poked it.

 He can sense the general obsession of the ghost when he is in direct contact with the wild ghost fetus.

 The ghosts who have obsessions and want to get rid of them are the best to turn around - usually, there are some smart ghosts who will instinctively understand the abilities of the psychic and take the initiative to seek help from the psychic.

 The beautiful new ghost who was running very fast was poked by Jiang Xia and subconsciously wanted to run away again.

 But she didn’t know whether it was because the mermaid in front of her was too fierce, or because she felt that Jiang Xia could do something for her. In the end, its movement stopped again.

Jiang Xia examined its reaction: Very good, seems to be able to communicate normally.

So enter the transaction process skillfully:

  "Do you have any wishes? I can help you realize it, as long as you are willing to pay a small price..." For example, selling yourself to a hard-working psychic.

 …

 After some simple communication.

Jiang Xia was sure that the ghost in front of him was actually Misa Takeda who was the first to "hang himself".

Takeda Misa was originally a nurse in a nearby hospital. She was beautiful, cheerful, and lived a very peaceful life.

 But a few years ago, after Takeda Shinichi learned the truth that he was actually infertile and that Misa was not his biological daughter, Takeda Misa's life became difficult.

She was not only pushed against a pillar by Takeda Shinichi when she was trying to break up a fight, but was hit and disfigured. He even learned the truth about that year from his "father".

 (End of this chapter)