On the other side, Hattori Heizo walked all the way to the interrogation room, deep in thought. He did not feel the sense of "triumph" that Conan had imagined.
They hadn't been the ones to catch the criminal, so the Osaka Prefectural Police had nothing to be smug about.
Initially, when he heard that Numabuchi Kiichiro had been captured and delivered to them, he had merely noted it. Since the man was already caught, he figured he could leave the detailed questioning to two officers.
His attention remained focused on the case where the culprit had already killed four people and might kill again.
However, not long after Numabuchi Kiichiro was brought in, the National Police Agency suddenly called, asking for information regarding Numabuchi's capture.
When asked where Numabuchi was caught, the truth of the serial murder case and Sakata's guilt came to light. But when asked who caught him, Numabuchi, who had been cooperative until then, suddenly fell silent and refused to say a word.
"Chief!"
Toyama Ginshiro greeted Hattori Heizo as he approached.
Heizo nodded. "Is he still refusing to talk?"
"Yes. Whenever we ask who brought him here, he shuts up completely," Toyama replied. "The forensics team sent to the cabin only found traces of Numabuchi and Sakata's activities. The person who delivered Numabuchi seems to have specifically cleaned up their own traces—fingerprints, footprints, hair... nothing was left behind."
"What about the surveillance cameras outside the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters?" Heizo asked. "Did they capture the person's movements?"
"No. The spot by the roadside they chose was perfectly in the camera's blind spot," Toyama explained. "The phone card used to call the police was an anonymous one bought temporarily. There are no prior call records, and it's currently turned off, so we can't trace their location. Furthermore, the printed paper left no useful clues. As for the cardboard box, it's a standard packing box from Cheetah Delivery Service. I've already sent someone to their Osaka packing center to confirm."
Heizo observed the chafed skin on Numabuchi's wrists through the glass window. "Numabuchi is injured. Judging by the wounds, it happened recently."
"Yes," Toyama looked a bit strange. "Numabuchi claims he fell and hurt himself. The forensics team also supports this claim; the marks don't look like they resulted from a fight between two people..."
"In other words, we have absolutely no information about the other party, and it's difficult to deduce anything?" Heizo asked.
"Yes." Toyama nodded gravely, then probed tentatively, "Could there be something wrong with that person?"
"Oh?" Heizo had some guesses but didn't voice them.
"It's obvious Numabuchi is protecting that person!" Toyama's imagination ran wild. "Could it be that this person was an accomplice in Numabuchi's previous three murders? No... it's confirmed that Numabuchi acted alone. So, could that person be the mastermind behind the scenes? Maybe he convinced Numabuchi to take all the blame and cooperate with being sent to the station..."
Seeing Toyama's expression grow increasingly grim, Heizo couldn't help but chuckle. "That's not it. If we can't find out, then let it be. Once the investigation is over, compile the results for me."
"Uh, okay..." Toyama was a bit confused. Why does the Chief look so relaxed?
Heizo didn't explain.
Numabuchi Kiichiro had only been in custody for ten minutes when the Public Security Bureau of the National Police Agency called to demand information.
They didn't ask if he had been caught, but directly demanded the details of his capture.
This meant the other party had informed the Public Security Division of the Osaka Prefectural Police beforehand. once Numabuchi's arrest was confirmed, the Osaka Public Security officers immediately reported it up the chain.
Since this was a criminal case under the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Public Security couldn't easily intervene directly. However, wanting information on the person involved, the National Police Agency had contacted him.
The attitude of the caller had been very casual, seemingly just wanting to gather as much intelligence as possible without taking it too seriously. It didn't sound like they treated the person as a criminal.
It must be someone they're keeping an eye on...
Heizo felt quite relaxed about it.
He would just submit whatever they found. As for anything else, there was nothing more they could do.
Cheetah Delivery Service.
"All our packing center employees are here. No one went out today. We've only had a few large shipments recently..."
"Are there any large packing boxes missing?" The staff member thought for a moment. "Packing boxes aren't worth much, so we don't really pay attention..."
The two police officers exchanged glances. It seemed there was no way to investigate further.
"Well then, if you think of anything, please contact us."
"Will do."
Watching the police leave, the staff member finally turned to Chi Feichi, smiling apologetically. "Sorry to keep you waiting!"
"It's nothing. Cooperating with police investigations is important," Chi Feichi expressed his understanding.
It wasn't strange for the police to come investigate the box. He guessed the National Police Agency wanted to get a handle on his information, so they were likely checking other leads as well.
However, he wasn't here out of guilt or to patch up holes in his story. The Cheetah Delivery box was something he picked up on the street; if he hadn't found a Cheetah box, it could have been a box from any other merchant...
He was here simply to mail some things.
"So, the delivery address is Aoyama Fourth Hospital. The recipient is Dr. Fukuyama Tomoaki. The phone number is..."
While filling out the form, the staff member confirmed with Chi Feichi, "Do you need a specified delivery time?"
"No need," Chi Feichi said. "Whenever is fine."
"Alright." The staff member attached the label, took another cardboard box, and placed a pile of dolls, plush keychains, and T-shirts for kids inside, sealing it with tape. "This is for a little girl, right? Is she your sister?"
"Something like that," Chi Feichi said. "Send this one to 22, 2-Chome, Beika Town, Tokyo. Recipient: Little Ai. No specified delivery time."
"Okay," the staff member scribbled on the form. "Contact number?"
"None."
"O-Okay..."
Leaving the packing center, Chi Feichi hailed a taxi directly to the airport.
Since he came to Osaka and made some money, naturally he wanted to share it. However, there weren't many people he could give gifts to.
He didn't know his former classmates' addresses, and he had practically no friends. After calculating, only Fukuyama Tomoaki and Haibara Ai were familiar enough, and he had met both of them after transmigrating...
He had also prepared a gift for Kitagawa Adachi, which he sent along with Fukuyama's package. He left a note asking Fukuyama to pass it on—an apology for knocking him out and using ether to keep him down.
Initially, he thought he shouldn't play favorites and should send something to his cheap parents too. But he realized he didn't know where those two were—he didn't even know if they were in the country or abroad—so he simply gave up.
Right now, the hospital should be searching everywhere for him. He wasn't sure about his father's side, but since he bought two anonymous phone cards, his old number was currently unreachable.
Once Fukuyama received the delivery and saw the sender's address was in Osaka, maybe he would give up searching, or maybe he would send someone to Osaka to look.
He really didn't dare underestimate that hospital's level of responsibility. But regardless of the situation, he could use this time to complete another bounty...
The taxi stopped outside the airport. Chi Feichi paid and got out. On his way in, he casually tossed the phone card he used to call the Osaka Prefectural Police into a trash can at the entrance.
Thirty minutes later, the plane took off from Osaka, heading for Tokyo.
At 6:30 PM, Chi Feichi exited the airport. Instead of picking up his car parked nearby, he hailed another taxi.
The protection mission wouldn't require much mental effort, but gathering criminal evidence required him to investigate thoroughly and confirm intelligence first.
The target was a key member of the Inagawa-kai's Tokyo Executive Branch.
The bounty information provided the target's name, photo, age, address, frequent haunts, and daily routine.
The requirement was to obtain evidence of the target's illegal activities—anything would do.
Although there were no other instructions, he could guess the reason.
Someone had likely touched a nerve with the Japanese Public Security Police. They wanted a breach to take this guy down, or perhaps to make an example of him to warn others.
The fact that Public Security didn't do it themselves, and that the requirement was "anything will do," suggested the target was well-hidden and tricky to deal with...
He might need to find a helper!
Night, 8:00 PM.
Darkness fell, and the city was shrouded in lights.
Shop owners on Pet Street were at their most leisurely moment, having already made plans in groups of two or three to go for a drink after closing up.
Not many people came to buy pets late at night. When Chi Feichi arrived, the street was deserted.
Walking down the street, he could occasionally hear animals talking.
"That guy over there is so ugly..."
"I wonder what we're eating tomorrow?"
"Where's the water? Where's the water?"
"Move over, you're crowding me!"
...
After visiting a few shops, Chi Feichi discovered a very interesting phenomenon.
The animals he could hear talking—whether cats, dogs, or birds—had eyes much more lively than their peers, and their status among their kind was also higher.
This was what one might call "spiritual intelligence"!
Through interacting with these animals, he also discovered the rules of his ability:
Sometimes, when he couldn't hear plants or animals talking, it wasn't because his ability was intermittent, but because the surrounding flora and fauna lacked spiritual intelligence or didn't have enough of it.
Other times, animals or plants that had spoken would suddenly fall silent. This might be because their speech was just a fleeting "flash of inspiration."
For example, the potted plant outside the restroom. Aside from that one night, he never heard it speak again. It likely had a sudden flash of sentience, blurted out a sentence, and then returned to a muddled state with no thoughts.
Of course, sudden silence could also just mean they didn't want to talk...
Based on the frequency and content of their speech, he could judge the spiritual intelligence of these animals and plants. For animals, spiritual intelligence was basically equivalent to IQ.
Thinking back to the mental hospital: the big tree that remembered over a decade of gossip; the cheeky bird that mimicked the nurse's voice to prank him; the succulent on Fukuyama's desk that complained daily; and the flower in the recreation room that laughed along with the patients...
Then looking at what was in front of him: the puppy that said one sentence then stuck out its tongue and looked at him ignorantly; the cat sleeping lazily; the hamster that only repeated "What are we eating tomorrow?"...
Chi Feichi fell silent.
Comparing the two, he suddenly felt the gap in IQ!
Could it be true that "There's a lot of talent in the mental hospital"? Did that apply to animals and plants too?
Come to think of it, in the two days he had been outside, he had never heard a plant speak. Looking at it this way, plants with spiritual intelligence were rarer than animals with spiritual intelligence.
Yet in the mental hospital, there were three... no, three plants with IQs no lower than humans...