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

Chapter 233 Why is the Tokyo Detective update happening in Hokkaido?

Chapter 233 Why is the Tokyo Detective update happening in Hokkaido?

"I will keep this a secret for you. Don't worry, I know the rules. The less ordinary people know, the more carefree they can live in the ordinary world."

Upon learning that Akutagawa Hiko and the others did not want him to reveal what he had seen, Machida Shuzo patted his chest and assured them that he would keep it a secret and that they would lie in the coffin with him.

Akutagawa patted Machida on the shoulder and laughed, "Grandpa, you look very healthy. It's still a long way from when you're in your coffin."

Although Machida Shuzo's spirits have been dampened considerably since his wife passed away five years ago, meaning he's aged mentally, he's driven by the goal of protecting wild red-crowned cranes, and he can still live for many more years.

However, his skills were not what they used to be, and he worried that he would die in a fight with poachers, and that his two good-for-nothing children would inherit his estate and abandon the career he had worked so hard for most of his life.

So today he met with a lawyer to prepare his will, in which he will use all the money he has saved from running his farm, except for the portion left to his children as a basic guarantee, to establish a red-crowned crane conservation foundation.

It can be seen as a final act of fighting for the shared ideals of him and his wife before he died.

However, to his surprise, he suddenly encountered poachers who had come here to try their luck. What was even more saddening was that these poachers were clearly much younger than him, an old man. There were just too many young people trying to take shortcuts and get rich overnight.

Fortunately, today I met someone like this, someone I only occasionally heard about in legends, who saved this red-crowned crane that I would otherwise have been powerless to save and could only have made into a specimen to be given to a school or museum.

Machida Shuzo's mood improved considerably. He ignored Akutagawa Hiko's inappropriate stroking of the red-crowned crane and forgot his earlier warning not to get too close to these wild birds.

"Please allow me to express my gratitude once again for not only helping to take care of them, but also for being willing to rescue it. Please do me the honor of visiting my humble abode, which is nearby and has an open-air hot spring. I will do my best to be a good host."

Faced with Machida Shuzo's invitation, Akutagawa Hiko naturally agreed. Although it hadn't been long since his last hot spring bath, it was a well-known fact that hot springs in different places had different flavors.

A three-wheeled motorcycle can't carry four people, so the old man told them to wait there for a while while he went back to drive over and pick them up.

After watching the roaring motorcycles and soaring red-crowned cranes depart, Ai Haibara began asking about some specific details of the surgery that couldn't be observed with the naked eye, taking meticulous notes in her notebook.

Conan knew that he couldn't match Ai Haibara's meticulousness and skill as a researcher when it came to chakra control, and he understood the principle of not trying to do too much at once, so he didn't delve into medical ninjutsu.

However, he was quite curious about chakra threads, since piano wire, fishing line, steel wire, and so on appeared far too frequently at all sorts of fancy crime scenes.

"These are chakra puppet strings, used to control puppets."

After saying that, Akutagawa Hikaru's pure white chakra gathered into a puppet string, which extended from his fingertips and connected to Conan, who was caught off guard and had no way to dodge or defend himself.

Conan's body suddenly started moving on its own, though the force wasn't very strong. Conan felt that he could easily break free by using his chakra, but it was quite miraculous.

"This is a little trick of puppetry. If you study it in depth enough, you can control human movements. If you cooperate well, you can achieve a result greater than the sum of its parts."

Akutagawa Hiko could see the longing in Conan's eyes. After disconnecting, he smiled and said, "If you want to learn, I'll teach you when I have time."

Conan feigned shyness: "How could I possibly accept this?!"

As expected, I received my second sharp rebuke of the day: "Speak properly, and you'll have to pay the price for this."

Ai Haibara chuckled softly, then quickly composed herself, putting the notebook, which was filled with transcribed text, back into her pocket, intending to study it more carefully when she got back.

The old man's family was quite wealthy, after all, they ran a sizable farm and were considered farm owners. After dividing part of their assets among their children, they still left behind an inheritance of 300 million yen, which is more than a worker could save up in several lifetimes.

The room was a bit cold, and judging from the state of the ashes in the fireplace, it hadn't been lit for quite some time.

Seemingly noticing their confusion, Machida Shuzo explained, "Because a bird's nest was built on top of the chimney. Although it has flown away now, it might come back to breed next year after Warm dies."

Xiaolan's face was full of admiration: "Uncle Machida is so thoughtful! The birds here must all like you very much!"

'

Just then, a voice came from the doorway: "Of course, my brother is completely dedicated to rescuing migratory birds. He's prepared to invest all 300 million yen in it."

Kogoro Mouri's eyes widened: "Three...three hundred million yen?!"

Machida Shuzo snorted, whether he was referring to his younger brother or to Kogoro Mouri, who had been complaining ever since they took care of the red-crowned cranes.

"This is my younger brother, Abao. He arrived here ten days ago. He claims to be a painter, but you probably haven't heard of him, since he's not very famous."

Machida Tamotsu seemed much kinder than the old man, and said with a wry smile, "If you're not famous, there's no need for an introduction, right, brother?"

Compared to his own children, Machida Shuzo actually looked down on his younger brother even more. Putting aside everything else, at least his children had their own businesses, and although they weren't doing well, they could still make a living with some help.

Machida Tamotsu, on the other hand, was so desperate that he couldn't survive without coming to him for money. These days, besides wanting to borrow money, he probably also wanted to freeload.

Thinking this, Machida Shuzo snorted again.

"Isn't what I'm saying true? Your biggest fatal flaw is your lack of observation skills as a painter and your never really caring about what you paint."

Having his sore spot touched, Machida's smile faltered.

Then, Machida Shuzo began to introduce Akutagawa Hiko and the others: "These are two famous detectives from Tokyo, Mr. Akutagawa and Mr. Mori. This is Mr. Mori's daughter, Ran. And over there is an inventor named Professor Agasa."

"These two children are Mr. Akutagawa's assistants—"

"Detective?"

Machida's expression darkened further, as if he couldn't understand why a perfectly good Tokyo detective would leave Tokyo and come all the way to Hokkaido.

He had clearly planned to kill Machida Shuzo to seize part of the inheritance, and even specifically notified his nephews and nieces to cause trouble and prevent the will from being drawn up.