Chapter 2165 - 2163: People Startling People (Rain and Shine Throughout the Day)

Although Fang Zheng wasn’t really interested at first, he eventually decided to go to Mermaid Island with Heiji Hattori and Conan to see how they would handle this matter.

But to be honest, although Fang Zheng knew that Monshaku Saori was quite timid, he didn’t expect her to be this cowardly. According to Heiji Hattori, the letter was sent to his house three days ago. Based on the timeline, it means that Monshaku Saori realized the Mermaid’s Arrow she drew was missing a day before Fang Zheng found out about it, and then went to find Kimi Shima to self-detonate, then wrote a letter to Heiji Hattori for help on the same day.........

This desperation to survive is way too strong.

However, she was sunk into the sea by Fang Zheng the next day, indicating that being too desperate to survive isn’t necessarily a good thing.

After arriving at Mermaid Island, the group first went to the town office, and unsurprisingly learned that Monshaku Saori had been missing for several days. Everyone was filled with doubt about this, but of course, doubt aside, since they came, they still had to investigate.

However, this had nothing to do with Fang Zheng. Compared with Hattori and Conan’s deductions, he was more interested in Mermaid Island itself.

So that’s how it is.

Looking at the mermaid-themed shop in front of him, Fang Zheng nodded to himself. He didn’t come here when committing murder to avoid being discovered. So he wasn’t very familiar with the situation in the town, and initially, he had doubts about Kimi Shima’s posts.

After all, even if you’re disguising as a long-living elder, it shouldn’t take that much effort, right?

But after seeing the shops here, Fang Zheng finally understood why Kimi Shima’s family had to continue their disguise. Everything here revolves around the mermaid theme, from local specialties to decorations, and tourists flock here nonstop.

In simple terms, Mermaid Island is essentially a tourist spot using mermaids and longevity as its selling points. Most of the residents’ livelihoods rely on this.

If the long-living elder is revealed to be a hoax, it’s not just Kimi Shima’s family’s problem but concerns the livelihood of everyone on the island———no wonder they have to continue portraying the Longevity Granny; this is not purely about belief or legend anymore, but rather the core of tourism and sightseeing.

No wonder, after all, people always desire immortality or longevity. Using this as the selling point, and having a long-living elder, whether true or not, people will always come to try their luck.

Like how people go to temples to burn incense and pray, whether it works or not, at least burning incense never feels a loss.

The day the group went to the island was coincidentally the annual Dugong Festival, during which the Longevity Granny would bestow three Dugong Arrows, and those who obtained the arrows are said to gain immortality......of course, this is purely a legend. If such a boon existed, at the very least everyone in the town would have one.

As for Saori’s disappearance, the townspeople believed she fled the island because she feared the mermaid’s revenge after losing the arrow she received at last year’s festival.

To think you’d make the entire island aware of such a thing, Monshaku Saori really reached a level of cowardice. Do you really spill your guts to everyone you meet?

Although this story made Sister Lan and Kazuha shiver, Uncle Mouri, Conan, and Heiji Hattori of course weren’t frightened by such tales; but they also agreed that Saori’s disappearance might be related to the Mermaid Legend, so they headed to the shrine where the festival was held, and there, Fang Zheng also met his "client" Kimi Shima.

Though he had heard her voice before, he hadn’t seen her in person, and as it appears, Kimi Shima is a very beautiful girl whose looks rival those of Kousaka Natsumi. If Kousaka Natsumi has an elegant princess-like, imperial air, Kimi Shima seems very approachable, lively, cheerful, and her voice is sweet and merry, making a good impression.

Yet contrary to what everyone thought......

"There’s no such thing as mermaids, it’s all nonsense."

As the shrine’s Shrine Maiden, Kimi Shima was the most direct in denying mermaids’ existence.

"My grandmother just lived slightly longer than others, and that spawned a lot of ridiculous rumors, there’s nothing we can do about it."

Hearing this, everyone was speechless, much like when a horror movie starts and everyone is ready, just to have someone spoil that it’s all fake. Kogoro Mouri was still not satisfied and continued to inquire.

"Then what about the Dugong Arrow......"

"Originally, it was the shrine’s Anti-Magic Arrow, meant to dispel calamities and protect others. I don’t know how it turned into the Dugong Arrow in the stories......Oh, right."

Saying this, Kimi Shima seemed to remember something, reaching into her sleeve to pull out two number tags, handing them to Sister Lan and Kazuha.

"You can try as well. This morning an elderly couple returned their number tags, of course, success is purely luck; maybe you really can stay youthful and live forever as everyone says."

No, even without this, they’d stay immortal, alright?

Listening to Kimi Shima, Fang Zheng mentally exclaimed. When he was in elementary school, she was still Sister Little Lan, and by the time he graduated college and started working, she turned into Little Sister Lan......over twenty years and they hadn’t aged a day; this is genuine immortality!

"So, about Monshaku Saori......"

"Yes, I’m actually very worried."

At this, concern surfaced on Kimi Shima’s face.

"Although the people on the island think she just ran away again after arguing with her father, I know that’s not the case."

"Oh? How so?"

Hearing this, Conan and Hattori’s curiosity was immediately piqued.

"Because every time Saori ran away, she’d mostly end up staying with me, and honestly, I also have two friends who disappeared just like Saori."

.........Hmm?

Hearing this, Fang Zheng silently glanced at Kimi Shima.

Girl, are you planning to betray me?

Is it so hard to do a good deed these days?

Sigh, where has the trust between people gone?

"Is this true?"

As expected, Conan and Hattori immediately grew tense, while Ran and the others looked uneasily at Kimi Shima.

"Yes, they’ve been missing for several days. At first, I thought they just left the island together to have fun outside, but they didn’t answer their phones, and people nearby don’t know where they’ve gone... I’m really a bit worried..."

At this moment, Fang Zheng clearly noticed that fear was the expression appearing on Kimi Shima’s face.

Oh... so that’s how it is.

After a brief thought, Fang Zheng immediately understood why Kimi Shima would tell Hattori Heiji these things.

From Kimi Shima’s previous words, she seemed not to believe much in those divine and ghostly things, which is quite natural. After all, the rumored Longevity Granny on the island is impersonated by her family. It’s impossible for Kimi Shima to believe in any mysterious objects under such circumstances.

As for her message on "Hell Correspondence," it was likely mere venting. That site is secretive, others can’t see the messages, and Kimi Shima evidently wouldn’t have expected someone to discover her real identity through the internet. Clearly, after learning the truth about her mother’s murder, she was overwhelmed with anger, thought of this legend suddenly, and wrote those things with a mentality to "give it a try."

But what Kimi Shima didn’t expect was that this legend actually came true. Moreover, because Fang Zheng, out of caution, directly tied up the three with stones and threw them into the sea as fish feed, this led to the situation where they were neither seen alive nor found dead.

This shocked Kimi Shima out of her wits.

From Fang Zheng’s perspective, this was just an ordinary task. He received the commission, investigated the target, killed them, and threw them into the sea—job done.

See, the whole process was as simple as could be, without any suspense whatsoever.

But for Kimi Shima, it was like a horror film—a young girl, believing in rumors, opens the death website in the legend, and then mysteriously, anyone she names disappears without a trace by the next day. It’s the perfect beginning of an urban legend kaidan!!!

So now Kimi Shima, like the character in the story who loved dragons but feared them, was completely panicked and confused about what to do. At this point, she encountered the detectives here for investigation and instinctively sought help from them.

At least if they could find the bodies of those three people, it would be better.

Thus, missing the living and the dead, with the last straw being Fang Zheng’s call saying, "they’ve already flowed into Hell with this resentment" — people can truly be scared to death by others scaring them!

Ultimately, Conan and the others decided to visit Saori’s home afterward, and Kimi Shima expressed that she would join them after the festival, confirming the plan.

By evening, the festival began after all.

"There really are a lot of people here..."

Looking at the bustling crowd around, Ran couldn’t help but sigh, and Fang Zheng nodded. A glance around showed that many were tourists from other places, presumably here for the Longevity Granny’s ritual.

"After all, immortality—no harm in seeing it, whether it works or not."

Just then, the Longevity Granny appeared before the crowd—a small elderly woman with white hair.

"So small..."

Upon seeing this, Kogoro Mouri remarked, and Heiji Hattori couldn’t help but retort.

"Just an old lady with heavy makeup."

However, the next scene left everyone stunned. The Longevity Granny picked up a pole to light a fire, then set the paper doors behind her on fire.

Soon, the flames spread from the paper doors, transforming into numbers in the blink of an eye!

"I see."

Seeing this, Conan understood.

"The numbers formed by the fire are the winning numbers..."

"Ran, Ran, Ran!"

At this moment, Kazuha frantically tugged at Ran’s clothes.

"I, I, I... I won!"

"Eh?"

Hearing Kazuha’s words, Ran promptly looked at her, while Fang Zheng turned his head, seeing Kazuha joyfully and excitedly holding the number plate with numbers matching one of those burned by the Longevity Granny!

"Amazing, Kazuha, you actually won!"

In contrast to Ran’s excitement, Fang Zheng seemed somewhat puzzled.

No way, Ran didn’t win?

In the Conan World, Ran is a Luck Emperor, always winning whatever she draws. Yet this time, she didn’t win, and instead, Kazuha did?

This isn’t Conanology at all...

At this moment in the crowd, others were also discussing. Those who didn’t win were naturally crestfallen, while the winners were elated.

Then staff from the Shrine hurried to extinguish the fire on the paper doors, and meanwhile, Kimi Shima reappeared.

"Please pay attention, we will officially award the Dugong Arrow in an hour. Please be ready to gather at Mermaid Falls!"