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

Chapter 43: That was close, I almost got my head smashed open.

Director Tsugawa's face visibly darkened: "Whose are these? Pets aren't allowed in the library! Who let them in?!"

Most people didn't notice anything unusual, since the library does have such a rule, and it was understandable that the librarian, Tsugawa, would behave this way.

Inspector Megure took out a handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. These pets clearly had a close relationship with Akutagawa, so he quickly signaled his subordinates to take them away. If the library staff made the first move, it would be difficult to control the situation.

"Huh, that's weird..."

Before the police officers who received the order could take action, Conan tugged at Akutagawa Hikaru's sleeve: "Akutagawa-nii, when we were in the elevator with Director Tsugawa and the others, the elevator showed that it was overloaded."

Genta Kojima stepped forward to retort, dissatisfied: "Conan, what are you talking about? The elevator can only hold seven people, and there are eight of us."

Ayumi Yoshida unconditionally supported Conan's judgment: "There must be a reason why Conan-kun said that."

Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya clenched his right fist and tapped it on his palm: "I remember now, I read in a book that although elevators have a passenger limit, they also have a weight limit. The four of us kids combined shouldn't be as big as three adults!"

The Junior Detective League, with their back-and-forth discussions, had already analyzed the situation quite thoroughly, demonstrating that although they were a bit clumsy, they still had their own abilities. Even though they mainly relied on Conan, they still had their moments of brilliance from time to time.

Akutagawa nodded with satisfaction, moving closer to the elevator that made Director Tsugawa's monkey-like face even more terrifying: "In other words, there is another unseen passenger in the elevator."

Immediately afterward, Akutagawa Hiko stared at the gloomy-faced Tsugawa Director and said, "That passenger was Mr. Tamada Kazuo, whom you murdered, right?"

"You bastard!!"

Director Tsugawa roared and charged at Akutagawa Hiko, a chair in his hand.

"careful!!"

Before he could finish speaking, a loud thud was heard, and Akutagawa Hiko had already subdued the suddenly attacking Tsugawa Director with an over-the-shoulder throw.

As a martial art that rivals the legendary "hand chop" technique, the "hand chop" can knock someone unconscious with a 100% success rate, and the "over-the-shoulder throw" skill naturally has its own unique advantages.

When the strength of the two opponents is similar, an over-the-shoulder throw can almost always subdue the opponent.

Led by Takagi Wataru, several police officers rushed forward, handcuffed the almost unable-to-get-up Tsugawa Museum Manager with silver bracelets, and carried him away.

Seeing that Akutagawa Hiko was unharmed, neither injured nor frightened, Inspector Megure finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If a promising young detective were attacked by a murderer right under his nose, he might as well quit his job as a police inspector.

Inspector Megure thought he could leave once he had caught the man, but Akutagawa stopped him: "Inspector Megure, you can't leave yet."

Faced with Inspector Megure's questioning expression, Hiko Akutagawa patiently explained, "We still don't know the killer's motive, what would make the killer disregard their colleagues of so many years and commit murder."

Inspector Megure clutched his head in exasperation, casting a hopeful glance at his younger brother who had presented him with this difficult problem.

Due to their limited capabilities, the probability of them finding anything after searching again was no higher than the probability of his subordinate Takagi being promoted to Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police Department and becoming his superior.

Akutagawa Hiko did not disappoint Inspector Megure: "The victim's main job was organizing books, so we can focus our search on the books in the murderer's office, especially the unopened ones."

After repeatedly being turned down by the police, Conan decided to change tactics and reminded Akutagawa Hiko, "Akutagawa-nii, that curator moved a big box away earlier, and it was full of new books."

Akutagawa Hiko nodded and led the way into Director Tsugawa's office, where they quickly found the box Conan had mentioned.

At Inspector Megure's instruction, the packaging of those massive, all-foreign-language books that made one lose all desire to read them was opened.

Everyone instantly understood why Director Tsugawa would go so far as to kill someone to silence them.

Because of the social unrest caused by opium smuggling in the past, the government also maintains a zero-tolerance attitude towards drugs and even uses entrapment tactics to arrest drug dealers.

Regardless of the final outcome, at least the attitude deserves recognition.

Therefore, Inspector Megure is taking this incident very seriously.

However, this had nothing to do with Akutagawa Hiko. He was just a concerned citizen who came to return a book, unfortunately got involved in the case, and was almost hit on the head with a chair by the murderer.

Before leaving, Akutagawa casually lifted Conan onto his motorcycle. This time, he didn't need to borrow a helmet from the police, as he always kept one in the trunk.

As for the dog and two cats, they were happily taken to the police car, completely unguarded, which made Conan very worried.

There's nothing wrong with pets being family, but this feeling is too easy to be taken away by someone else.

Akutagawa Hiko wasn't worried at all. He had already started training with the cat and dog recently, so don't underestimate the bond between them!

Back at the office, Akutagawa looked at the bare office, which hadn't brought him a single client's request form, with the same look he'd given a disappointing son.

A gust of wind blew by, and several sheets of paper on the request form fluttered up, as if expressing their grievances and protests...

Akutagawa Hiko didn't care about any of that. He dejectedly took down the authorization form and coldly opened the door with his key.

"Please sit down..."

Akutagawa Hiko sat wearily on the sofa. The tea had gone cold, but Conan probably wouldn't mind; he could just treat it as iced tea.

"Tell me, what did you want to say when you came here?"

Upon hearing this, Conan immediately sat up straight: "Ah, you noticed that."

Akutagawa sighed, rubbing his forehead: "Conan, when you left, your face practically screamed that you had something to say. It's amazing that Ran hasn't discovered your true identity yet, given your acting skills."

Conan was clearly not optimistic about keeping his identity a secret, looking worried: "Ran has suspected me several times, but I've managed to fool her each time. I don't know how long I can keep it a secret."

According to Dr. Agasa's analysis, if others find out that Shinichi Kudo is still alive, the Black Organization will definitely come after him to silence him, and the Mori family, who know his identity and are close to him, will certainly suffer as well.

Therefore, he had to conceal his identity and couldn't tell anyone, not even Xiaolan.

Conan fully agreed with this analysis, and out of concern for Ran's safety, he has been trying to conceal his identity until now.

Akutagawa Hiko guessed that there might have been such considerations in the early stages, but in the later stages it was probably just to save his life under Ran's control.

With a sullen face, Conan began to recount what happened while Akutagawa Hiko was away...