The three arrived at the Miho Town Art Museum, bought tickets, and went inside to wander around.
"So few people." After going inside, Ran discovered it was very deserted.
Inside the large exhibition hall, excluding the staff, there weren't even ten visitors.
"I told you they were just trying to trick visitors into coming, but you didn't believe me." Shinichi was very speechless.
"Anyway, we don't have anywhere else to go! Coming here for a walk is pretty good too." After Ran finished speaking, she didn't forget to say to Baishi Hui: "I'm right, aren't I? Shirashi-kun."
"Mm." While Baishi Hui responded, he noticed two people arguing fiercely in the distance.
One was a long-bearded old man, and the other was a pot-bellied middle-aged man.
As expected, the former should be Chief Curator Ochiai, and the latter should be Boss Zhenzhong.
The content of their argument was likely that Boss Zhenzhong didn't keep his promise; after buying the Miho Town Art Museum, he wasn't going to continue operating it as an art museum but planned to renovate it into a hotel. Chief Curator Ochiai expressed strong protest!
Boss Zhenzhong declared the protest invalid.
...
While they were arguing, Baishi Hui recalled Chief Curator Ochiai's murder method — wearing dozens of pounds of medieval armor, then single-handedly lifting Boss Zhenzhong, who he estimated weighed around 180 pounds, and impaling him against the wall with a sword.
He's so old, yet his strength is so great...
Just as he was lost in thought, Ran said somewhat sheepishly: "Shinichi, Shirashi-kun, well... I need to go to the restroom. You two can wander around for a bit first!"
After she finished speaking, she hurried off to find the restroom.
Shinichi commented speechlessly: "Who told you to eat so much?"
Having nothing to do, Baishi Hui decided to tease Shinichi and said: "Shinichi, how about a bet?"
"A bet? What are we betting on?" Shinichi said with great interest: "Betting on when Ran will be back? Sure!!"
"Betting on how long a girl takes in the restroom? You're such a pervert!" Baishi Hui glanced at Shinichi speechlessly.
As expected of a Japanese manga protagonist, this kid is definitely a bit of a pervert!!
"Uh..." Shinichi was a bit embarrassed by what was said. He rubbed his nose and awkwardly said: "Isn't... isn't that what we were betting on?"
"Of course not!" Baishi Hui turned his head to look at Chief Curator Ochiai and Boss Zhenzhong and said: "What do you think, will the Chief Curator kill that Boss?"
"Hmm?" As soon as he heard about killing, Shinichi was instantly wide awake.
The argument between Chief Curator Ochiai and Boss Zhenzhong just now was a bit loud, so he naturally heard it too.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Shinichi shook his head and said: "How could the Chief Curator possibly kill the Boss over something like this?"
"Besides, that Boss bought this art museum with his own money!"
"He can change it however he wants."
Baishi Hui was immediately amused when he heard this: "Then how about we make a bet? Whoever loses buys dinner! I bet the Chief Curator will kill him!"
"Alright!" Shinichi didn't think at all that the Chief Curator would kill someone over something like this; the Chief Curator didn't own this art museum!
He paused, then looked at Baishi with a strange look and said: "Baishi, why do you think the Chief Curator will kill him?"
"Intuition!" Baishi Hui casually found a reason and said: "You also know my identity, I often deal with criminals... I can tell, the Chief Curator's eyes are the same as those guys'."
"Eyes? You can tell just from that?" When Shinichi heard this, he turned to carefully observe Chief Curator Ochiai and wondered: "The Chief Curator's eyes are narrowed, how can you see?"
"He just opened them." Baishi Hui found an excuse to brush him off.
"...Why do I always feel like you're talking nonsense?" This made Shinichi look at Baishi Hui with a suspicious gaze, but he had no evidence.
While the two were chatting, Chief Curator Ochiai and Boss Zhenzhong left separately.
"Look, they've left." Baishi Hui gestured: "I guess... Chief Curator Ochiai is definitely going to make his move next."
Shinichi just felt the other person was talking nonsense out of boredom, so he went along with his words and said:
"If someone as old as the Chief Curator wanted to murder Boss Zhenzhong, a head-on conflict wouldn't work, after all, the age difference is obvious."
"The best way is to use poison! The next best is a sneak attack!"
"However, the possibility of succeeding with a sneak attack isn't high either. The Chief Curator is old after all; if it doesn't work immediately, the other person will quickly react."
Baishi Hui shook his head in disagreement: "I don't agree with you. Why wouldn't a head-on conflict work?"
"With firearms and ammunition so advanced now, any handgun could allow the Chief Curator to easily kill the Boss!"
"For example, the total length of a KAHR CM9 compact pistol is only 138mm, and its total weight without a loaded magazine and ammunition is only 397 grams. Even an elderly person can easily use it!"
Shinichi repeatedly retorted: "Handguns are very loud. As soon as you fire, the murder won't be able to be concealed!"
"If you use poison, you can do it without anyone knowing!"
"As long as it's handled well, no one will know it was you!"
Baishi Hui smiled: "Who would be foolish enough to go look after hearing gunshots?"
"Hey! I wouldn't run, I'd even go closer to look!" Shinichi used himself as an example.
Baishi Hui said: "Then just shoot you too, and then no one will know?"
"How many bullets does one handgun have? Can you shoot all the witnesses?" Shinichi continued to retort.
...
Just as the two were chatting animatedly, Ran returned.
Seeing how enthusiastically they were chatting, she asked curiously: "What are you two talking about? You sound so happy?"
Baishi Hui said: "We're discussing what to eat for dinner."
"Yeah, yeah, I think ramen would be pretty good." Shinichi quickly nodded in agreement.
He didn't dare let Ran know they were talking about murder!
"It's still early, isn't it too soon to talk about dinner?" After checking the time, Ran said: "Let's hurry and go see that medieval armor!"
"Maybe we'll really see it walk!!"
As she said this, her face was full of anticipation.
"Do you really think the armor will walk by itself?" Shinichi saw that Ran hadn't sobered up yet and couldn't help but feel speechless.
"Let's go take a look, since we're already here." Baishi Hui felt it was about time.
So much time had passed, Chief Curator Ochiai should have already killed him.
"Shirashi-kun is right, since we're already here! Of course, we can't come for nothing! Let's go!" Ran excitedly headed towards the exhibition room called the "Room of Hell".
However, on their way, they saw a sign that said "Visitors Stop".
"Ah... we can't go." Ran was greatly disappointed when she saw it.
"Strange... that sign definitely wasn't here just now." Shinichi frowned, suddenly having a bad feeling!
The Detective's intuition told him there was definitely something wrong here!
After thinking about this, Shinichi looked around, and seeing that the staff weren't paying attention, he went around the sign and said: "Let's go inside and take a look anyways!!"
"Shinichi, maybe we should just forget it?" Ran still wanted to persuade him, but found that Shinichi had no intention of stopping.
"Next time we come, this place might already be demolished, let's go!" Baishi Hui patted Ran's shoulder, signaling her to follow along. He also reminded her: "Just walk behind me... In case we see that moving armor later, just hide behind me!"
These words made Ran feel very reassured. She nodded and walked behind him.
After the three walked forward for a while, they arrived at the entrance to the Room of Hell exhibition.
Shinichi was the first to walk in. However, after taking a few steps, he stopped and looked at Boss Zhenzhong, who was pinned against the wall by a sword. His face instantly changed!!
He quickly turned back and shouted: "Ran, don't look!"
"Huh? What's wrong?" Ran became even more curious when she heard this and took two steps forward to look.
When she saw clearly, she immediately stopped, her face full of panic, and finally let out a sharp scream.