Chapter 54: The Only One with Issues is Chi Feichi

"B-But they are still injured!" Toyama Kazuha hurriedly reminded, lifting her foot up slightly as she spoke.

"It's fine, they're just playing around," Morizono Yurie said with a smile as she looked at Chiba Hitoshi. "Right?"

Chiba Hitoshi nodded, indicating that the two pets were indeed just messing around, though they wouldn't be able to eat like this. "Hitchan, if you want to play, go outside."

Hitchan immediately slithered toward the door, and Rebeca scampered after it in a chaotic chase.

"Meow!"

"Awooo-meow!"

Outside, the cat cries gradually faded into the distance, still sounding eerie.

At the dining table, Chiba Hitoshi wore a calm expression, and the Morizono family remained composed and unperturbed.

Morizono Mikio smiled at Mouri Kogoro. "Pardon the disruption, our family pets are a bit mischievous. Mr. Mouri, shall we continue?"

"Uh..." Mouri Kogoro had previously thought Morizono Mikio's smile was warm and friendly, but now, no matter how he looked at it, it felt somewhat bizarre. "Where were we just now?"

Hattori Heiji spoke in a low voice to Conan. "Hey, Kudo, don't you think... something's weird?"

"Yeah!" Conan nodded.

The commotion caused by the two pets fighting was quite significant, and both of them were injured. As their owners, was it really okay to just ignore it so nonchalantly?

Chiba Hitoshi aside—he had always been of this calm and detached temperament—for the entire family to still be smiling and chatting calmly seemed rather abnormal.

Just what kind of households does this guy Chiba end up staying at...

After chatting with Mouri Kogoro for a moment, Morizono Mikio turned his gaze to Shigematsu Akio. "Shigematsu..."

"Sir..." Shigematsu Akio's eyes involuntarily drifted toward his own feet, his expression one of suppressed and painful endurance, before he suddenly collapsed to the floor.

"Uh..." Morizono Kikuto, seated at the dining table, likewise wore a pained expression as he slumped sideways, dragging his chair down with him.

"Ah—!"

The maid standing behind Morizono Kikuto let out a scream.

Hattori Heiji and Conan snapped back to reality, standing up simultaneously and running toward Morizono Kikuto and Shigematsu Akio respectively.

Chiba Hitoshi glanced over, committing everyone's reactions to memory, then briskly strode past Morizono Yurie and Katagiri Kaede, walking up to Morizono Kikuto.

"Everyone else stay where you are, no one is allowed to move!" Mouri Kogoro shouted with a solemn expression, then turned to Mouri Ran. "Ran, hurry up and call an ambulance, and call the police too!"

Hattori Heiji ran over quickly and, seeing that Chiba Hitoshi was already crouching beside the two men to check their conditions, asked directly, "How does it look?"

A hint of grim darkness flashed through Chiba Hitoshi's eyes, though it vanished just as quickly. "Interesting."

Conan had a vague sense that something was amiss, but when he turned to look, he found that Chiba Hitoshi's expression and gaze were nothing but calm, completely indistinguishable from usual.

"What is it?" Hattori Heiji walked up with a puzzled look, and upon seeing the situation clearly, he couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

The hem of Morizono Kikuto's shirt had been pulled up, and on his lower back and side, there were unmistakably two small, bloody, parallel puncture marks. The skin around the punctures was swollen and tinged with a purplish-black color. He had not lost consciousness yet, but his whole body was trembling, gasping as if he couldn't get enough air.

On the other side, Shigematsu Akio's trouser leg had been pulled up, and on his calf were two identical puncture marks. He had already lost consciousness, and the muscles in his limbs twitched spasmodically from time to time.

This shape of injury almost instantly brought to mind the venomous fangs of a snake!

"No, that's not right..."

Hattori Heiji calmed down, looked closely at the injuries on the two men, and suddenly smiled. "Indeed, it is interesting. Did Hitchan end up offending someone here?"

"Who knows." Chiba Hitoshi remained noncommittal. This was also what truly angered him—

The culprit had actually targeted Hitchan!

"By the way, did you bring any antivenom?" Hattori Heiji asked hurriedly.

"The wound is swelling rapidly, hardening, bleeding continuously, and the skin is purplish-black," Chiba Hitoshi said, irritation aside, keeping his mind clear as he lowered his head to check their condition. His voice was calm without a trace of emotion. "The victims are trembling, their body temperature is rising, their heart rates are accelerated, they are experiencing shortness of breath and inability to stand. This is a hemotoxic venom. What I brought is antivenom for sea snake venom, which targets cytotoxins and is useless against hemotoxins. Furthermore, judging by the current situation, the venom has already spread with the bloodstream. Do not use the method of cutting the wounds to let the blood out. Contact the hospital and tell them to bring hemotoxic antivenom when they come."

"Ran-neechan, tell the doctor to bring hemotoxic antivenom when they come!" Conan turned and shouted.

Mouri Ran, who was handling the police call and ambulance dispatch, immediately nodded and relayed the message to the person on the other end of the line.

"Snake antivenom?" After securing control of the scene, Mouri Kogoro walked over to inspect the situation, and the look he gave Chiba Hitoshi instantly turned strange. "Tell me, it wasn't your pet that bit people just now, was it?"

Hitchan, alerted by the screams in the dining room, slithered into the room. "Bit people? I didn't bite anyone..."

Along the way, everyone silently retreated to the side to clear a path.

Chiba Hitoshi stepped forward, scooped up Hitchan, and held it securely. "The bite marks of venomous and non-venomous snakes are different."

Mouri Kogoro: "???"

Seeing Mouri Kogoro's blank expression, Hattori Heiji felt a helpless resignation toward Chiba Hitoshi's way of speaking. While they could understand it, he really ought to consider whether others could follow along. He simply took over the task of explaining. "Venomous snakes have two long, sharp fangs connected to poison glands, and the bite marks leave two very deep small holes. Non-venomous snakes only have saw-like teeth, leaving only neatly arranged, tiny bite marks. The bite marks on Mr. Kikuto and Uncle Shigematsu are traces that only a venomous snake could leave. Although Mr. Chiba mentioned that Hitchan has a trace amount of venom, I took care of Hitchan for a while in Osaka last time, and judging by its teeth, it's a non-venomous snake. It's completely incapable of leaving bite marks like these!"

"I-Is that so?" Mouri Kogoro wanted to look at Hitchan to confirm, but the moment he turned his head, he was greeted by one expressionless human face and one expressionless snake face, both carrying the same calm and icy gaze. He gave an awkward, light cough. "Ahem... Does that mean another poisonous snake slipped in here?"

"Huh?"

"No way?"

The expressions of the people in the dining room changed drastically, and they all lowered their heads to look at their own feet.

"But still, Uncle, don't you think it's very strange?" Conan adopted a child's curious and innocent tone to subtly remind them. "It's understandable if Uncle Shigematsu was bitten on the calf, but Kikuto-niisan was bitten on his lower back, right against the back of the chair. Would a snake deliberately go out of its way to bite someone's waist? Biting an ankle or somewhere easy to reach by poking its head out seems much more likely, doesn't it?"

"And ever since we entered the dining room, Miss Kaede has been sitting right next to Young Master Kikuto, right on the side where the bite marks were left," Hattori Heiji said, his gaze toward Katagiri Kaede carrying a trace of scrutiny. "Why didn't the snake bite anyone else? Why didn't it bite Miss Kaede sitting right beside him, but instead bit Mr. Kikuto?"

"This..." Mouri Kogoro rubbed his chin in thought. "Could they have been bitten by the snake before entering the dining room?"

Hattori Heiji remained silent; he felt it would be better for Chiba Hitoshi to refute this hypothesis. But after waiting a moment for someone to speak, he turned his head and saw that Chiba Hitoshi had already returned with Hitchan to his original seat. "..."

Seeing Hattori Heiji looking his way, Chiba Hitoshi calmly offered an explanation, "I'm avoiding suspicion."

Hey, hey...

Even Conan was left speechless. Did this guy Chiba think he was going to become a suspect?

Hattori Heiji had dark lines across his forehead, though he still paused to consider the situation. "Before you touched them just now, you didn't happen to take photos as evidence beforehand, did you?"

"I did." Chiba Hitoshi took out his phone, opened his photo album, and held it up to display the pictures he had taken before touching the two men so that Hattori Heiji could see them.

Hattori Heiji nodded. That figures, he thought; Chiba Hitoshi wouldn't even overlook a detail like that. He stepped forward to examine the photos and simply raised the question himself. "At the time, the wounds seemed to have just started swelling, yet Mr. Kikuto and Steward Shigematsu reacted with suffocation and unconsciousness so quickly. Isn't that a bit too fast? Can you determine what kind of snake venom this is?"

Mouri Kogoro muttered under his breath, "Even though Mr. Chiba studies veterinary medicine, you really think he's a walking animal encyclopedia..."

"Agkistrodon acutus, a ninety-five percent probability," Chiba Hitoshi stated. "The venom of the Agkistrodon acutus is a hemotoxin composed of proteins, possessing strong hemorrhagic properties. Victims immediately experience pain and bleeding at the wound site, followed by swelling, blistering, tissue necrosis, and ulceration, subsequently leading to dizziness and accelerated heart rate."

Mouri Kogoro: "..."

Seeing Mouri Kogoro dumbfounded, Conan let out an internal, dry laugh as he squatted beside the two injured men to check their conditions. "The wounds have been bleeding the whole time. Although the blood volume isn't large, there's been no sign of clotting or stopping. Is that what Brother Chiba used to judge?"

"In that case, using bloodletting as first aid is definitely out of the question. But are we just going to stand here and watch?" Hattori Heiji frowned as he asked Chiba Hitoshi. "Can we bandage them using a pressure method?"

"Pressure bandaging cannot stop the bleeding and may induce widespread systemic bleeding," Chiba Heitoshi glanced at the time on his phone. "Calm down. If the paramedics arrive with the antivenom, they won't die. At worst, they'll just suffer some tissue necrosis."

Hattori Heiji had dark lines across his forehead. What does he mean by 'at worst, they'll just suffer some tissue necrosis'?

And telling him to calm down—didn't he see that Morizono Mikio and Morizono Yurie had turned pale?

Still, this also confirmed that this family was normal; the only one with any abnormality was Chiba Hitoshi alone...

"Then what is the onset time for this snake venom?" Conan's gaze involuntarily lingered on Chiba Hitoshi's phone for a split second before asking, "Also, through what channels can one acquire this kind of snake venom? That's what Brother Heiji must be wanting to ask, right?"

Only then did Hattori Heiji remember there was still something else that needed confirming, and he turned his gaze back to Chiba Hitoshi.

"Hey, hey..." Mouri Kogoro was speechless. Even if Chiba Hitoshi had some knowledge of venomous snakes, asking about the onset time of the venom was understandable, but asking where such venom could be obtained—wasn't that pushing it a bit too far?

"Since Japan doesn't have Agkistrodon acutus, the ways to obtain this kind of snake venom surely can't be many," Hattori Heiji explained. If that weren't the case, they wouldn't have felt the need to confirm it with Chiba Hitoshi.