In the world of Detective Conan, however, he was bound to the Naruto System.

Chapter 68 Live Well as a Man

Chapter 68 Live Well as a Man

While the group sat waiting, Akutagawa Hiko glanced at the closed door at the end of the corridor, nudged Conan who was looking around restlessly, and gestured for him to act quickly.

Conan rolled his eyes, jumped off the chair, and pushed open the door.

"Conan, no—!"

Ran Mouri's attempts to stop him were ineffective. Conan simply pushed open the door and went inside, only to find the room empty except for an old piano.

The piano was covered in dust and looked like it hadn't been maintained for a long time.

"What a big room!"

Having grown somewhat bored while waiting, Kogoro Mouri entered the room, and Sonoko Suzuki, along with Hiko Akutagawa, followed.

"Wow, the ocean is right behind this room!"

In response to Sonoko Suzuki's exclamation, Hiko Akutagawa nodded in agreement. This could be considered a sea-view house. The view of the sea from the house window was ultimately different from the view of the sea from a cruise ship.

Xiaolan was about to open the piano's key cover when a voice sharply stopped her: "Don't touch that piano, you'll be cursed!!"

Upon hearing this warning, Xiaolan instantly got goosebumps all over her body; she was most vulnerable to these kinds of supernatural and mysterious events.

"Cursed?!"

Hirata Kazuaki, the current village chief's secretary who came to entertain them, recalled with a look of fear: "This is the cursed piano that Mr. Aso played on the night he committed suicide."

The memories of twelve years ago were already blurred, but what happened two years ago was still vivid in his mind, especially since he was a witness to that incident.

The fear in his heart continued to churn, and his face became even more distorted.

"Just two years ago, on another full moon night, I happened to pass by the community service center and heard the sound of a piano. It was the same 'Moonlight Sonata' that Mr. Aso played when he committed suicide."

Hirata Kazuaki looked up, and anyone could see the fear in his eyes: "When I asked who was playing the piano, the music had already stopped. When I arrived, the former village chief had already collapsed on the piano."

Kogoro Mouri asked in confusion, "The former village chief?"

Hirata Kazuaki delivered the information he had missed by Asagi: "That's right, Kameyama Isamu died here two years ago today. The cause of death was cardiac arrest, or heart attack. Today marks the second anniversary of his death."

After hearing this, the two girls, who were afraid of ghosts, quietly moved several steps away from the piano.

The two girls' behavior seemed to ease Hirata Kazuaki's fear, and he breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "Since then, no one on the island has ever touched that piano again."

Akutagawa Hiko pretended to tap on the piano, then gave a puzzled look: "The sound is a bit strange."

Then, to Hirata Kazuaki's utterly horrified expression, Akutagawa Hiko slowly made his way to the bottom of the piano, tapping and striking along the way.

Akutagawa looked at Conan, who immediately understood and, with the demeanor of an assistant, crawled under the piano. After rummaging around for a while, he discovered a hidden door: "Akutagawa-nii-san, there's a hidden compartment down there."

"What?!"

Ran quickly lay down to look. Sonoko Suzuki originally wanted to do the same, but unfortunately she had changed into a skirt on the cruise ship. Although she was wearing safety shorts, it was still indecent to lie down and look like that.

Conan opened the hidden compartment, and some white powder fell out. Conan recklessly tried to pick up a little and put it in his mouth to taste it, but Akutagawa Hiko stopped him.

Akutagawa looked at Conan with a complicated expression, who seemed to have no idea how to be cautious. This was heroin; if it were some kind of lethal poison, saving him would be extremely troublesome. He remembered several cases where, after being poisoned, the poison had been transmitted indirectly multiple times, and even extremely small doses could still be fed directly into the mouth, causing the person to vomit blood and die on the spot.

Conan had no idea how many images of elementary school detectives dying were swirling in Akutagawa Hiko's mind, while Akutagawa Hiko stood aside, tears welling in his eyes, accepting the "performance report" he was presented with.

"Brother Akutagawa, this looks just like the white powder we found at the Beika Library!"

Conan had only subconsciously tried to identify it, but now that he'd come to his senses, he knew exactly what it was.

He couldn't help but think how Akutagawa could solve cases more efficiently than him. He was able to spot something so subtly off about the piano, clearly knowing it was related to Keiji Aso and keeping an eye on it.

From now on, we must learn, summarize, reflect, and improve, and then catch up with and surpass them.

Conan doesn't know if Akutagawa Hiko has the ability to identify drugs, but he believes Akutagawa will definitely understand this hint.

Akutagawa Hiko stared intently at Conan's fingertips, which were covered in white powder, with a serious expression: "Heroin."

Upon hearing the word, most of the people present froze in place. Kogoro Mouri rushed forward to investigate and, drawing on his years of experience as a detective, confirmed Akutagawa Hiko's statement: "That's right, it's heroin!"

Hirata Kazuaki asked tremblingly, "Why is there heroin in this piano?!"

Akutagawa Hiko looked at Mouri Kogoro and said, "It seems that there were indeed other hidden circumstances behind Aso Keiji's death back then. Uncle Mouri, please keep an eye on things here and don't let anyone get close. This is something that only someone as respected and experienced as a detective like you can do."

Kogoro Mouri was immediately flattered and patted Akutagawa Hiko on the back, chuckling, "Don't worry, go investigate! With me here, I'll definitely protect the scene!"

Akutagawa Hiko borrowed the map from Suzumi Sonoko and dashed out with lightning speed, not even taking Conan as his little accessory. After all, it wasn't good for the righteous elementary school detective to know what he was about to do.

On the way to the police station, Akutagawa Hiko formed a hand seal, and an ice clone appeared beside him, which quickly transformed into the Root ninja, Yokojaku.

Hiko Akutagawa found the key person: an elderly police officer at the local police station.

After a conversation, Akutagawa Hiko obtained the following clues:

Keiji Aso's family situation ×1

The relationship between Keiji Aso, Isamu Kameyama, Hideo Kawashima, Tatsuji Kuroiwa, and Ken Nishimoto ×1

Community activity center warehouse key x1

Back at the community center, a large crowd had already gathered. The incident involving Keiji Aso back then had caused quite a stir, the death of the village chief two years ago was also common knowledge, and now the discovery of drugs in the piano had added up the buzz surrounding these three events, even overshadowing the so-called village chief election.

Ignoring Kogoro Mouri's pleading eyes as he could no longer hold on, Akutagawa went straight to the warehouse and retrieved what the old police officer had mentioned.

The musical scores left behind by Keiji Aso.

Finally seeing the second detective he had hired, Asano Minami broke away from the crowd and followed Akutagawa Hiko to the warehouse.

Seeing this, Akutagawa Hiko raised an eyebrow, raised the sheet music in his hand, and said, "So that you can live well as a man in the future..."

Would you like to take a walk with me?