Conan: Ran, I really am Shinichi, you have to believe me!

Page 17

That really scared me to death!

When the old man mentioned that he came from the building next door, Jiang Chengbei noticed that one of the newly emerged young men had an unusual expression on his face.

This person looks like a misshapen gourd or a grotesque creature. According to the conventions of Detective Conan, judging people by their appearance is quite acceptable here; those who are ugly are definitely not good people.

With this preconceived notion, Jiang Chengbei began to pay attention to this young man.

And now there are 1, 2, 3, 4 people, exactly one victim, one murderer, and two suspects, a classic three-choice scenario.

"Old man Otonashi, I really admire you for being able to be scared by such an adorable little kid."

It seems your previous ramblings about encountering ghosts were all because you're a coward and prone to overthinking. Otherwise, you wouldn't be afraid of such a cute child today.

Seeing that Jiang Chengbei remained silent and instead looked around erratically, the young man who had previously disbelieved in ghosts and only believed in science first made a sarcastic remark about the old man, then said to Jiang Chengbei:

"Hey kid, who are you? Why are you scaring old man Otonashi?"

Before Jiang Chengbei could speak, the old man Yinwu, who had been criticized first, immediately retorted:

"Cute? I thought it was cute at first, but if it opens its mouth and sticks out a tongue that's half a meter long, would you still think it's cute?"

"You mean it like this?" Seeing them chatting so enthusiastically, Jiang Chengbei couldn't help but chime in. After speaking, he opened his mouth, and a long tongue dangled out.

"what!!!"

Upon seeing this, the old man let out another scream.

"Idiot, this is just a tongue-rolling toy, made of rubber. What are you yelling about, old man Otonashi? Are you blind?!"

When Jiang Chengbei showed off the toys he bought from an ordinary store again, the three young men, with their sharp eyes, immediately saw what was coming out of Jiang Chengbei's mouth. After revealing the truth, they didn't forget to mock the old man Yinwu a few times.

"Oh, it's just a toy." After hearing the young man's explanation, the old man breathed a sigh of relief, patted his chest, and said that he had been scared for nothing.

"Little friend, it's not good for you to scare an old person like me. Who are your parents? Didn't they teach you to be polite and respect the elderly?"

"I have no father or mother."

"Oh? I'm sorry, I was being presumptuous. Little friend, what's your name?"

"Conan Edogawa".

"Edogawa Conan? That name sounds familiar... I remember now, you're the elementary school detective Conan who's been making waves lately, solving several difficult cold cases and even defeating the high school detective?"

Upon hearing Jiang Chengbei introduce himself as Conan, the fat man among the three young men immediately started shouting excitedly.

"A primary school detective? Really? Can a primary school student really solve cases? And even defeat high school detective Shinichi Kudo? He's even better than Shinichi?"

I don't believe it. Could it be that something's fake, that someone's writing a script for him and then having the media hype it up to fool us?

After hearing about Jiang Chengbei's deeds, the tall, square-faced young man, who had previously believed in science but not ghosts and gods, raised questions again.

In addition, the last ugly man, who was the one whose expression changed when he first heard that Jiang Chengbei came out of the building next door, looked even worse after he heard that Jiang Chengbei was a famous detective.

"Peony, you graduate student, you're so suspicious. You don't believe anything we say. We've all seen ghosts and strange things before, but you're the only one who didn't see anything, and you still don't believe us."

Now a gifted elementary school student has appeared, and you don't believe it, instead suspecting it's a conspiracy by someone with ulterior motives or media hype. Can't people have a little more trust in each other?

"A little more trust between people? But what you're talking about is clearly unscientific. If I actually believed it, wouldn't I be a complete idiot?"

Here's an idea. Didn't you guys say this place is haunted and that a lot of mysterious things have happened here?

Let this self-proclaimed famous detective kid investigate. If he finds out that the ghost stories are fake, then I'll admit he's a primary school detective.

If he can't figure it out either, then his title of "Elementary School Detective" is definitely just media hype, orchestrated by someone behind the scenes, and scripted.

"Little friend, how about it? Are you willing to accept our commission?"

"Row."

Jiang Chengbei agreed readily. After all, the four natives here each had their own unique appearance, making it a classic murder case setup. As long as he was a witness when the murderer committed the crime, Jiang Chengbei would naturally become the target of being silenced.

"Alright, let me introduce myself first. My name is Mudan Luyan, I'm a graduate student, I live on the first floor, and I've never seen a ghost or witnessed any mysterious events..."

Next, the four people in the old apartment building introduced themselves, letting Jiang Chengbei know the basic situation here.

This old apartment building has two floors, with four one-bedroom rooms on each floor for rent, for a total of eight rooms. Currently, half of them are rented out, and four people live there.

Each apartment has only one room, no bathroom, no kitchen, just a small room that doubles as a living room and bedroom. To wash up or use the toilet, you have to go to a shared bathroom on each floor.

These conditions are basic, but the rent is cheap. However, since a young woman was burned to death in the park four years ago, and the place has been haunted ever since, half of the tenants have fled, leaving only these four penniless ghosts struggling to survive.

Speaking of these four tenants, the old man's name is Otonashi Hoichi. He lives alone in a room on the second floor, and he is also the one who has seen the most ghosts.

He not only saw will-o'-the-wisps and ghosts floating in the building next door, but also personally experienced things like the toilet water turning red, a ghost floating on the window staring at him, the television suddenly turning on by itself, and a woman who had been burned to death appearing on the screen crying out to him for justice, and so on.

If it weren't for the really cheap rent here, Otonashi, an old man with half his body buried in the ground, would never have stayed here to continue suffering.

Besides the old man, the other three young people all lived on the first floor.

The ugly, skinny guy with a consumptive look is named Kikuji Bancho, the guy who reacted strongly to Jiang Chengbei coming out of the building next door and being called a famous detective.

He works as a shop assistant in a mold shop, and he also makes some dolls and such at home in his spare time.

In addition, there's a fat guy named Yotsuya Iwao, who is a tokusatsu enthusiast and likes to shoot things in his spare time. It is said that he also made a short film based on the story of the woman who was burned to death in the park four years ago.

The three people above believe this place is haunted. They say they have personally witnessed ghosts and are convinced that there are ghosts in this place.

Meanwhile, they believe that their apartment building and the building next door are haunted, yet they refuse to move out and insist on living there in fear. Their combination of being both clueless and playful is truly something else.

Compared to these three strange guys, Mudan Luyan, a tall, square-faced graduate student with fair skin, seemed much more normal. He had never seen any supernatural events, did not believe in ghosts, and only believed in science.

Chapter 27: These are very simple; they're all in the textbook, and anyone who's been to school knows them.

Unlike others who like to risk their lives and choose to explore haunted houses at night, Jiang Chengbei goes to haunted houses during the day.

Since no paranormal events occur during the day, the three people in the apartment had no choice but to describe what they saw to Jiang Chengbei.

First, they went to the toilet. All three of them described how, when they went to the toilet at night, the water that came out of the toilet was red, but the water in the toilet tank was colorless. It only turned blood red after the water was flushed out of the tank, which was very scary.

After listening to their account, the supernatural event was easy to explain. There was an ordinary shop nearby, and Jiang Chengbei, right under their noses, turned the water that was being flushed red in front of them, replicating what they had encountered that night.

Although Jiang Chengbei's chemistry was so-so when he was in school, and he didn't know much about how to turn colorless water red, he did know a little about phenolphthalein and litmus.

So Jiang Chengbei added a little alkali to the water tank and sprayed some phenolphthalein on the water outlet. The water spraying from the toilet immediately turned red, and the supernatural event happened right in front of them, in broad daylight.

After resolving the paranormal incident, Jiang Chengbei said to them with a heavy heart, "These are very simple. They're all in the textbooks. Anyone who has been to school knows them."

Then came the supernatural event of seeing ghosts watching the house through the screen window at night.

Based solely on their descriptions, Jiang Chengbei had no concrete image of it in his mind and had no idea how it was created.

Although he didn't know how to crack it himself, Jiang Chengbei was good at lying. Even if he didn't know, he had to tell them that he knew what was going on and that he had already cracked it.

"The ghostly figures you mentioned on the screen window are quite simple. I can't explain it in detail, but I'll tell you the principle behind it."

For example, if you want a stone statue to grow from the ground, first dig a hole in the soil, pour in some mung beans, then place the stone statue on top of the mung beans, cover it with soil, and then water it every day. This way, the stone statue will grow a little bit from the ground every day.

"Kid, even if what you say is true, and your method allows the stone statue to grow from the ground by itself, what does that have to do with the ghost on the screen window?"

"It's very relevant, the principle is the same." Jiang Chengbei stubbornly insisted, refusing to admit defeat, and continued his nonsense:

"Similarly, if you write a word or draw a picture on a stone slab with honey, large words or pictures will soon appear on the stone slab itself..."

Oh, I've figured it out! It's the same principle as smearing honey on a stone slab to attract ants. If you just apply an insecticide that attracts flying insects to the screen and draw ghost images on it, wouldn't ghosts appear on the screen?

These are very simple; they're all in the textbooks, and anyone who's been to school knows them.

Jiang Chengbei originally only intended to casually mention two common scams known to all Dongda students, but as he talked, he unexpectedly grasped the basic principles behind creating this paranormal event.

"Using insect attractants to lure flying insects? But what we clearly saw were swaying ghosts, not flying insects!"

"That's why ghosts only appear on the screen windows at night."

At night, the lighting is poor, and it's a relatively bright area inside looking out into a dark area, so you can't see anything clearly, only a general outline.

Moreover, flying insects appear at night, which is why ghosts cannot appear during the day. In addition, most flying insects are attracted to light, so turning on the lights at night will attract many flying insects.

I currently have several bottles of insect attractants that attract various flying insects, including male moths, male mosquitoes, and male flies...

I have a lot of different insect attractants, but unfortunately it's not nighttime now. Why don't you take these and try them out tonight?

These are very simple; they're all in the textbooks, and anyone who's been to school knows them.

To bolster his wild guesses, Jiang Chengbei pulled out various insect attractants he had bought from the system's regular store as he spoke.

Seeing that Jiang Chengbei's words made sense, the fat man who had seen the ghostly figure through the screen window nodded in agreement:

“The child is right. I remember now. Whenever ghosts appear on the screen windows, there are always a lot of moths around here. I understand now. It’s very likely that insect attractants are the culprit.”

After hearing the explanations of the two supernatural events in Jiangchengbei, the graduate student standing to the side felt embarrassed and ashamed.

It's all about chemistry, biology, and physics, yet this graduate student has lived in this apartment for so long. Although he hasn't seen it with his own eyes, every time he hears the other three people's descriptions, he can only offer dry rebuttals, spouting vague platitudes like "there are no ghosts" and "we must be scientific." But he can't offer any concrete explanation.

Now, this elementary school student has solved these two paranormal events using his knowledge of chemistry, biology, and physics. He's so embarrassed.

Now, he finally understood how high school detective Shinichi Kudo felt when he encountered elementary school detective. It was so damn unfair! Why did you, an elementary school student, have to show up and steal the spotlight?

Feeling a burning shame on her face, and just as Jiang Chengbei was about to solve the supernatural case of the female ghost appearing on TV, in order to save face, graduate student Mudan Luyan shouted, made an excuse about something at school, and slipped away with her face red.

We really can't stay here any longer. If we wait for this elementary school student to solve the last few paranormal events with his textbook knowledge, what will happen to all the books he's read?

The line "These are very simple, they're all in the textbook, anyone who's been to school knows that" really stung him.

To save face in the end, the best of the thirty-six stratagems is to flee.

The man named Mudan Luyan fled in shame, and Jiang Chengbei did not pursue him. As Jiang Chengbei resolved the two supernatural events one by one, the other young man was far more suspicious than this graduate student who could only write papers.

This suspicious person is none other than Kikuji Bancho, the ugly man who gave himself away from the start by showing particular interest in the building next door.

After solving the two paranormal incidents in Jiangchengbei, he showed an incredulous resentment on his face and looked at Jiangchengbei with a sinister gaze.

Of course, because Jiang Chengbei is only a 7-year-old child, Banmachi Kikuji's gaze towards him was undisguised. He was only thinking about how to avoid everyone's gaze and teach this all-knowing elementary school student a good lesson.

As Kikuji Bancho stared menacingly at Jiang Chengbei's retreating figure, Jiang Chengbei and the other two went upstairs to the second floor and entered the old man Otonashi's room. After briefly assessing the situation, Jiang Chengbei began to make excuses:

"Making a female ghost cry on TV is also very simple."

"Old man Otonashi, look, the power cord and all the signal cables on your TV are plugged in. You don't usually unplug them, you just turn it off, right?"

"That's right, who would unplug the power cord for no reason? You have to plug it in when you turn it on. I'm old and my eyesight is failing, and I have to find the sockets. Besides, there are so many wires and sockets, and I can't remember them all. Matching them one by one is a big hassle."

Why keep unplugging it every time? Isn't that just creating trouble for yourself?

"That's easy. Just get any remote that's the same as yours or a universal one, point it at your TV from outside, and the TV will automatically turn on and play the scene of the female ghost crying, right?"

As for the image input, I checked and it's certain that a signal cable is connected to someone else's VCR. Even if it isn't, they could tamper with the cable TV to get the image to come from there.