After buying Hayashi Yoshiki's new work, Conan opened it and read it as soon as he got home.
The name of this new work is "The Wax City Murder Case".
The book begins with the story of Kindaichi being invited to participate in a mystery event called "Mystery Night" attended by famous detectives from all over the world. The event takes place in a wax figure city called "Bardo Castle" which is known as the resting place of the dead.
Because the winner of the "Suspense Night" will be able to receive an entire castle and 200 million yen in cash as a reward, many people participated, including the detective Kindaichi, famous mystery writers, mystery novel critics, detective agency presidents, crime reporters, psychologists, elite detectives, etc.....
The luxurious lineup instantly aroused Conan's expectations.
After all, there are so many reasoning-related experts in the article. If each of them is to play a role, then the case that is about to appear will definitely not be sloppy and simple.
Moreover, given Hayashi Yoshiki's character, it is impossible for him to write a dull case that would tarnish his reputation and pride.
Yes.....
In Conan's eyes, Hayashi Yoshiki is a very proud person.
He continued reading.
The city of Bardo in the text was moved from medieval Germany. The castle only used candles for lighting, and the various torture instruments in the basement had a faint smell of blood under the description of the text.
The castle is divided into the West Building and the East Building, and connecting the two buildings is a wax figure room, which contains 1:1 wax figures of all the people invited to the event.
The case begins when the protagonist Kindaichi follows the message left by the organizer of the event and places the wax figure of the mystery writer in the wax museum in a specific posture at a specific location, making the wax figure look like it was stabbed with a knife and left with a death message... After simple reasoning, everyone immediately points out that the "murderer" is Kindaichi.
A small game easily established the elite personalities of the supporting characters, which made Conan nod his head.
But soon afterwards, everyone discovered that the mystery writer whose wax figure was set up as a game was actually dead in his own room, and the way he died was exactly the same as the scene that the wax figure was set up to create.
The entrance and exit of the castle have been blocked.
No one can escape before the end of the event. In this snowstorm-like predicament, people begin to die one after another, and before each person dies, a wax figure will be arranged to look like the victim at the time of death.
The most incredible thing is that everyone has an alibi...
"There are secret rooms in both the East and West Buildings... The chimneys of the castle can be connected to these two places--"
"But how did you get this alibi?"
Conan rubbed his chin in thought.
His mind raced as he turned to the next page.
In a bar in a corner of Beika Town far away from the Mori Detective Agency
In front of the bright bar counter, Gin sat in the corner of the bar and flipped through a book signed by Hayashi Yoshiki - which he took from Vodka.
"Because of the previous foreshadowing, everyone had a preconceived notion that the victim would be killed in the same way as the puppet in the room...
"Using the influence of this concept and the ingenious arrangement of disguising myself as a wax figure to complete the alibi."
"Humph... It's really a superfluous thing that only happens in mystery novels and third-rate murderers."
Gin, who had read the entire novel, scoffed at this.
Vodka next to him took a sip of his vodka martini and turned his head:
"Ah, Cointreau doesn't write very well, brother?"
Gin didn't answer.
Although he could not appreciate this kind of detective novel, he had to admit that Cointreau's creation was indeed brilliant.
In fact, he was quite immersed in watching it.
Sometimes detective novels are a game between the creator and the reader. After the author lays out the murder case and explains the clues in the story, whether the reader can successfully figure out the method before the protagonist is the decisive factor.
However, even Gin was a beat slow to react.
In this case, whether it is the design of the wax figure or the existence of the double secret room, or the influence of the "preconceived" ideas implanted in the protagonist and supporting characters in the story and even the readers, they are all very subtle. Until the end, the murderer accidentally left a tiny flaw and the whole mystery was revealed, the process was extremely smooth and exciting.
Even Gin admits this.
He just felt that this way of killing was too tedious and troublesome, and it would be much easier to install a bunch of bombs and blow up everyone and the castle into the sky.
"But, it is indeed Cointreau--!"
With a joyful look in his dark green eyes, Gin placed the book on the bar.
There is a saying that creation is an extremely personal matter, and sometimes creators will inadvertently reveal their thoughts in their works.
Gin agrees with this concept.
When the murderer of this case was finally caught, he repeatedly said things like "artistic crime", "criminal work", "the art of perfect crime"... As expected, Cointreau regarded criminal murder as art!
"..."
Why did big brother get so excited after watching this?
Vodka watched from the side and didn't dare to say anything.
On the other side, Chianti couldn't stand seeing Cohen's eyes completely absorbed in the novel: "Is that enough? You've read this paragraph ten times, right? You still haven't seen enough!"
"..."
Cohen didn't even look up, but just pushed up his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose: "I saw my name."
"Then what?"
"Cointreau wrote me to death."
As Cohen spoke, a strange blush appeared on his face: "Being locked in a medieval iron virgin torture device, pierced by spikes all over the body and bleeding to death... It's really well written."
"So you're a pervert!?"
Chianti called out, getting up from his seat and moving away from him with his glass.
Cohen did not reply, but continued to read the book.
Tequila sat in the middle and flipped through the pages two or three at a time. Soon she had finished the whole book, but she still couldn't taste anything.
He is a rough man who is good at killing and arson.
Although it's not that he is illiterate and uncultured, but reading books... especially detective novels that require one to calm down and read, is really difficult for a reckless man like him.
Why not take Vodka and the others to a brothel?
At the same time,
People who are more interested in Hayashi Yoshiki are reading this book, such as The High School Detective in Kansai, The Phantom Thief in Ekoda City, and The Transfer Detective.
Everyone was basically paying attention to the work itself, except for a certain witch who was wearing strange clothes and hiding in a dark basement. She threw the book aside while reading and said with gritted teeth:
"Damn Hayashi Yoshiki--!!!"
"asshole!"
"I will never forgive you!!"