Chapter 66: Toshinori Kaetsu: Where is My Scapegoat?

Since they had already finished their meal, the group did not linger much longer in the dining car.

Conan pulled Chi Feichi, lagging behind at the very end, and asked in a low voice, "Don't you think everyone in the dining car just now was acting really strange?"

"Well, when I came in, they were talking about Mr. Mouri, right?" Chi Feichi lowered his voice in cooperation to whisper back. "Everyone else's expressions were a bit off at the time."

"The strangest one was that woman," Conan muttered, touching his chin in thought. "So secretive, eavesdropping on us, and then suddenly losing her temper. And that parting remark she left at the end—it sounded an awful lot like a threat."

Chi Feichi was somewhat speechless. "You're probably overthinking it."

"Fair enough," Conan murmured, lost in his own thoughts. "Some women are truly unreasonable..."

As the group passed by a room, the door was cracked open an inch. Yukiko Kudo stared expressionlessly as Conan walked past.

Was he implying that she was unreasonable?

Conan felt a slight chill down his spine. He turned around, only to see a closed door, and immediately frowned. "The person inside that room..."

Chi Feichi glanced at the door, unsure of whose room it was.

Conan thought for a moment, realizing they hadn't really discussed anything important just now. Pulling his thoughts back, he looked at Chi Feichi with a complex gaze. "Speaking of which, how come every time I run into you, there are always a bunch of people with weird behaviors and abnormal emotions around?"

Come to think of it, that family in the castle case wasn't quite right. Afterward, Mamiya Manji's reaction was also very strange; he could secretly laugh out loud to himself right in the middle of a meal, which was simply terrifying.

And after that, the Sonozono family could continue eating with complete calm faces while their pets fought and that terrifying roar echoed, which was equally bizarre.

This time, that woman's emotional fluctuations were also bizarre, almost like she had bipolar disorder, suddenly turning gloomy and dropping harsh threats...

Chi Feichi stared at Conan without a word.

He suspected Conan was badmouthing him, but he had no proof.

"Ahem," Conan felt uncomfortable under Chi Feichi's cold stare and changed the subject. "Anyway, we should still be careful. I have a bad feeling that something is bound to happen."

Chi Feichi withdrew his gaze. "I understand. After all, it seems an incident always happens whenever I run into you."

Although he had no proof, it didn't stop him from counterattacking.

"Hey, hey..."

"Conan?"

"Coming!" Hearing Mouri Ran calling him, Conan quickened his pace to catch up.

Mouri Ran smiled wryly. "You really get along well with Mr. Chi!"

Conan suddenly had an idea. Since they had bumped into each other, it might be better for him to stay on Chi Feichi's side; that way, if anything happened, he could act without restrictions. "Ran-neechan, tonight I want to stay in..."

"No, you don't." Chi Feichi dropped his voice, bypassed the three of them, and unlocked his door with a room key card. "Good night."

"Uh, good night..." Mouri Ran didn't hear what Chi Feichi had whispered to Conan. Watching Dalziel enter the room and the door close behind him, she withdrew her gaze and smiled down at Conan. "Conan, what were you about to say just now?"

"N-nothing at all." Conan forced an awkward smile.

This guy, Chi Feichi...!

...

In the dead of night, the train sped toward Hokkaido.

In the gradually quieting hallway, a figure slipped out of a room, quietly approached Aso Sanji's door, and raised a hand to knock. "Aso."

No response.

The figure frowned and pulled out a cell phone to make a call.

Meanwhile, in a carriage far away, Aso Sanji felt his phone vibrate and woke up. He let out a few muffled groans before realizing that everything around him was pitch black, he was bound tightly, and his mouth was gagged.

Beside him, Heizhe shook its slightly dizzy head, noticed Aso Sanji had woken up, slithered over to a capsule, and poked it open with its tail.

Before Aso Sanji could even recall what had happened, he passed out again.

On the other side, the stealthy figure made two more calls. Finding that no one answered, the figure frowned and knocked again. "Aso?"

"Aso, it's me!"

"Hey, are you really trying to hide from me?"

Still no response from behind the door.

Looking at the locked door, the figure gritted teeth, first putting on a wig, hat, and face mask, adjusting a coat identical to Aso Sanji's, and walking aside to dial another number. Once the call connected, the figure lowered his voice and said, "Hello, I'm the passenger in Room 05. I accidentally left my room card inside. Could you help me open the door with a spare key card?"

When the staff member arrived and opened the door, Kanetsu Noriyori stepped inside and stood there in a daze.

He had assumed Aso Sanji had discovered something and was deliberately hiding inside without opening the door. He never expected Aso Sanji to not be in the room at all...

They had clearly agreed that Aso Sanji would wait in the room for him!

Now that his scapegoat was missing, what should he do with his murder plan? Should he still go through with it?

Two hours later, at 4:00 AM, the sound of gunfire and screams rang out as the train passed through a tunnel.

Inside his room, Dalziel, who had been sleeping on the sofa, instantly opened his eyes and sat up. He stared vigilantly at the door and slowly moved toward it.

Outside the door came the sound of chaotic footsteps running past, accompanied by a few gunshots.

Then came Mouri Kogoro's distant shout, "Bastard! Stop right there, don't you dare run!"

Chi Feichi was also woken up by the commotion outside. After sending his location coordinates to Feimo via his phone, he put on a coat and stepped out of his compartment.

So an incident still happened?

He had thought that without Aso Sanji to serve as the scapegoat, the killer would give up on the murder.

Discovering that Chi Feichi had also woken up, Dalziel glanced at him and whispered, "Young master, something's happened. I'll go check it out. Make sure you lock your door..."

"It's fine, let's go check it out together." Chi Feichi stepped forward and opened the door directly.

"Hey, young master..." Dalziel failed to stop him and hurriedly followed behind.

In front of a room, cold wind whistled into the corridor as a line of railway police officers stood guard.

"Stop the train immediately," Mouri Kogoro shouted, "and call the police!"

"Mr. Mouri," Dalziel asked, "what on earth happened?"

Mouri Kogoro turned around with a solemn expression. "Don't come in. Someone was shot and killed in the lounge car just now. The killer ran all the way here, smashed a window with a gun, and escaped!"

Chi Feichi turned his gaze to the shattered glass window. "Do you remember what the killer looked like?"

"It was someone wearing a coat, with their face hidden by a mask and a hat," Conan said, his expression equally grave. "I couldn't make out their features."

Chi Feichi didn't ask any further.

He hadn't expected that even with Aso Sanji absent, the killer would still commit the crime according to the script of the novel...

The train came to a halt. Half an hour later, the police arrived and began their investigation.

Taking advantage of the fact that the police, Mouri Kogoro, and the others were concentrated in the front carriages and the lounge car, Chi Feichi opened the communicator on his necklace. Slipping on a pair of gloves he had grabbed from the restroom, he walked quickly toward the rear carriages and found the still-unconscious Aso Sanji hidden inside a cabinet.

"Master, I'm here," Feimo's voice came through the communicator. "The taxi has arrived too. The supplies have been placed below the tunnel!"

Chi Feichi didn't rush to move the body. "Good. Report the situation outside."

"The train is currently stopped outside the tunnel," Feimo reported, the sound of flapping wings audible on the other end. "There are police officers on both sides, making it a bit difficult to get someone off the train... Wait, master, near the door of the third-to-last carriage, the police just pulled back and the door hasn't been locked yet. The cops up ahead can't see this spot. We can get him out from here."

"Help me keep watch. I'll take care of the ropes in three minutes while I clean up the traces here." Chi Feichi carried the unconscious Heizhe out, hid it safely in a nearby restroom, and then carried Aso Sanji, avoiding notice, to send him out at top speed.

Outside the train, a police officer standing before the shattered window looked up in confusion. "Why are there crows flying around here?"

"Probably because of the dead body," another officer remarked. "Hearing crows caw in the middle of the night gives me the creeps..."

Far above in the sky, Feimo circled and cawed instructions from time to time.

Beneath the tunnel, a flock of crows worked together, holding boxes, cardboard, packing tape, and ropes in their beaks. Evading the police's line of sight, they placed the box and tape near the train door and looped the rope around the railing by the tunnel.

Before long, Chi Feichi opened the train door, stepped outside, and with practiced efficiency propped up a cardboard box, reinforced the other three sides securely with packing tape, and placed Aso Sanji inside.

"Caw—!" Two crows flew over and dropped two sheets of printed paper at Chi Feichi's feet.

Chi Feichi sealed the package at maximum speed, wrapped the entire box tightly, and remembered to poke a few small holes for ventilation. Then he tied the rope he had pulled to his feet tightly around the box and grabbed the other end of the rope.

Beneath the bridge outside the tunnel lay a highway running crosswise.

The box was dragged closer to the guardrail while a flock of crows hovered not far away to shield it from the police's view.

Feimo flew up and down, observing and directing until the box cleared the guardrail and was lowered below. Only then did it let out a long sigh of relief. "Alright, master, it's landed safely and nobody noticed. The second taxi I arranged should be arriving soon."

"Clean up the drag marks left by the box on the ground," Chi Feichi whispered. He removed his gloves, tossed them to the flock of crows, and turned back toward the train without the slightest hesitation.

From the moment he started carrying Aso Sanji out to this point, barely over five minutes had passed.

Carrying a grown man through a carriage, sealing the box at top speed, and lowering it down the bridge with a rope had left him quite exhausted.

Moreover, this operation plan could be considered a full mobilization.

If the killer had given up on the murder due to Aso Sanji's disappearance, he could have just figured out a way to get the man out after the train reached the station.

Since the killer did commit the murder, the train was bound to stop. Upon receiving his location coordinates, Feimo would contact a taxi, place money by the roadside, and have the taxi deliver the box and rope so he could move the person off the tracks. While rushing over, Feimo would arrange a second taxi.

Once the box and supplies were delivered and the first taxi left, he would lower the box down, and the second taxi would arrive just in time to 'pick up the cargo', with the payment left on the box by Feimo.

While picking up a box in the middle of nowhere was a bit eccentric, it was still far better than hauling an unconscious human being around.

By using text messages to coordinate and leaving cash on the box, transferring through a few more taxis, and eventually delivering the person all the way to the police headquarters—with Feimo keeping watch the entire way...