Chapter 39 Persuasion or Violence
Chapter 39 Persuasion or Violence
"Three days ago after school, the three of us had oden at a snack bar near the school. There was also a kind old man who treated us to something. After we finished eating, we left and went home at a fork in the road."
According to what Kondo Kazue said, Qinghai Chuantang found this snack shop, which happened to be open.
"Hello. Have you seen this girl?"
Qinghai Chuantang handed the phone to the other party.
The owner looked at it carefully and nodded.
"Just three days ago, she came here with two other children. A man invited them to eat, but they were not together. I have seen that man several times. He runs a shoe repair shop nearby. I think it's called 'Xine Shoe Repair House'."
"Oh, right," the shop owner suddenly remembered something, "not long after the three children walked out, the man followed them."
Qinghai Chuantang and Conan looked at each other.
"Next, we just need to go to the shoe repair shop and ask, and we'll get a clue, right?"
With the development of technology today, Conan's words made Qinghai Chuantang silent for a moment, then he pointed to the surveillance camera on the street lamp not far away and said, "Why don't we just check the surveillance? Besides, if you were the suspect, would you follow the other party in a high-profile manner? If so, you will soon be suspected."
Conan looked up at the surveillance camera and couldn't help but fall into deep thought: Why is there always a lack of surveillance when I encounter a case?
"This is the surveillance footage from three days ago. Speaking of which, when I was on patrol before, I often saw children coming in and out of a house, but that house has been abandoned for a long time."
Conan used quantum wave speed reading to browse the surveillance, while Qinghai Chuantang chatted with the other party, perhaps he could get some useful information from it.
"Are those kids still there?"
The other person shook his head. "It seemed like they left two days ago. It was raining at the time, and I only found out by watching the surveillance. But they were all holding umbrellas, so I couldn't see what they looked like."
Qinghai Chuantang took out his cell phone, found Weiyou's photo and handed it to the other party.
"Take a look, is there anyone whose back looks similar to this child?"
The other party looked at it carefully, thought for a long time, and finally nodded slowly and said, "It seems that there is such a person, also wearing a white coat like this. But it is not the same person, I am not sure."
Conan found the scene the other party was talking about, and it looked like several people were leaving a house with umbrellas, but they were all walking alone, and they didn't look like they were being coerced.
Could it be that Kuwahara Miu just ran away from home?
Conan stroked his chin and thought, always feeling that things were not that simple.
After receiving the call, the two left the monitoring room.
It was Chuanxi Mugui who called and said he hoped Qinghai Chuantang could assist the police in solving the case.
This case is a bit tricky.
Because there are so many people, the Investigation Division is already very busy. If the main culprit is not found soon, the situation may continue.
Robbery and theft committed by minors will be sent to juvenile courts or juvenile detention centers according to different age limits. As long as they do not commit extremely heinous crimes, the family courts are generally lenient. After that, they only need to bear the corresponding civil liability.
However, due to lack of discipline, some people may have been sent to juvenile detention centers more than once. Some even think that since they are not yet old enough to break the law, they will only be educated and locked up for a few days at most.
Therefore, in the past month, cases involving them have been endless.
"Officer Chuanxi, do you want me to help you find these minors?"
"of course not."
Chuanxi Mugui gave a general account of the matter.
In summary, the police's goal now is to find the man known as "Ghost Brother". Because Ghost Brother is elusive and difficult to find, they hope that Qinghai Chuantang, a profiler, can help with geographic profiling and find out where he is.
"Just go to the places where robberies often happen recently and have a look. Since they all use the word 'appearing and disappearing' to describe each other, then this man called Brother Ghost will certainly not appear in one place and will roam around everywhere. As members of the Ghost Group, they may know something, such as how to contact Brother Ghost."
The place where robberies often occur is around Kyōto Station.
After hanging up the phone, Conan kept looking up at him, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't. Qing Hai Chuan Tang immediately understood something and couldn't help but laugh: "Little friend Conan, you don't want me to take you to find those kids, do you?"
Conan was stunned, blinked, and nodded.
I couldn't help but wonder: Are you sure you can't read minds?
Qinghai Chuantang looked at him, and he was not even as tall as his knees. He gestured with his hand again and said, "Are you sure you want to give yourself away?"
"Giving away lives?" Conan was a little confused.
"It means to die." Qinghai Chuantang explained: "Your current height and body shape are not convincing. Even if they really meet, I guess they will laugh their heads off. And the police know about this matter themselves, so you don't need to get involved, right?"
Does this guy have to be so straight?
Conan thought to himself, and then seemed to have thought of something, and said, "Didn't I help you before? Now it's your turn to help me."
As a man of justice, he couldn't just sit back and watch.
Qinghai Chuantang sighed, "Get in the car."
Finally, she murmured, "If you hadn't had the halo protecting you, you would have been dead a long time ago."
Fortunately, because the wind was quite noisy, the other party did not hear what she said.
Vehicles are driving on the road.
Conan looked around, trying to spot the group of people.
It was already dark, leaving only the warm yellow light. Jinghu Station had been abandoned for a long time, so not many people would pass by here, and there were not many pedestrians on the road at this time.
It was easy to find them.
Several children gathered together and looked at a man.
"Wait, it's right there!"
Conan quickly stopped her.
The moment the vehicle stabilized, Conan quickly opened the door and jumped out.
The boys who heard the footsteps turned around and looked at him, and the surrounded man also looked at the newcomer.
"Conan?"
"Officer Takagi?"
Conan was stunned. Why would you, as a policeman, be robbed by a group of children?
"Kawanishi-senpai went to refuel the car and asked me to wait for him here." Takagi explained with a wry smile: "I didn't expect to encounter something like this. But facing a group of children, I can't do anything to them."
Poor Takagi, he hasn't even paid off the loan for his ring yet and he's being robbed again.
"I didn't expect it was a cop." The boy in the gray coat smiled and looked at Conan, "Little boy, have you finished your homework? Could it be that you have watched Kamen Ultraman too much and thought you are Superman who is here to save the earth?"
After hearing this, the children all burst into laughter, as if they were mocking each other's arrogance, which sounded a bit harsh.
"It seems that you are relying on the protection of the Juvenile Law and have nothing to fear."
Chuanxi Mugui walked to the entrance of the tunnel and stopped. He pointed at the black car on the road with his thumb and said, "Look at that car. It's handsome, isn't it? It's black. You are all criminals now, so come with me."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Gao Mu and said with some disdain: "Officer Gao Mu, you are a policeman after all, but you were robbed by a group of children. If other people knew about it, our police would lose face. Weren't you quite smart before?"
Gao Mu smiled awkwardly and scratched his head. "If word gets out about this policeman beating a minor, it will have a huge impact. So we mainly use persuasion and education."
"Crime is crime, regardless of age."
Qinghai Chuantang was holding a lollipop in his mouth, looking quite relaxed.
"Three and a half people." The gray-clothed man laughed and said, "Is the threshold for joining the police force now so low that even elementary school students can join?"
After saying that, the man in gray whistled, and several children walked out from the other end of the tunnel, a total of thirteen people.
"Hey, uncles. If you leave now, you still have time. Do you policemen want to beat up the students?"
Among the crowd that walked out of the darkness, a young man in purple clothes caught Conan's attention. The clothes were exactly the same as those worn by the person next to Weiyou that he had seen on the surveillance camera before.
"Students? Now there are only police and criminals."
Kawanishi Ki looked at Takagi and said, "Officer Takagi, now is the golden time to stop crime. Juveniles of this age are unscrupulous under the protection of the Juvenile Law. If you indulge them too much, it will only push them further into the abyss."
The word "good guy" is the most appropriate to describe Takagi.
He felt that they were just a group of rebellious teenagers who had run away from home. As long as they were properly persuaded and educated, and the pros and cons were explained to them clearly, so that they could clearly recognize that what they did was wrong, they could wake up and turn over a new leaf.
So even when he was surrounded and about to be robbed, this thought remained unchanged.
If it was just about fighting violence with violence, he could certainly do it.
After all, some fighting skills are necessary for criminal police. But as a police officer, they have to deal with a group of underage students, who are still young and weak.
Frankly speaking, he was a little hesitant to do it.
However, whether it was Qinghai Chuantang or Chuanxi Mugui, what they said made sense. This made Gao Mu's long-standing persistence waver.
"Officer Takagi, what are you standing there for?"
Conan called his name repeatedly, finally bringing the other person back to his senses.
"Conan? What's going on?"
After Takagi came to his senses, he looked at the boys lying on the ground and felt a little panicked.
Kawanishi Kikui carried a young man on his back like he was carrying rice, then looked at him and said, "Officer Takagi, I'll leave the rest to you."
(End of this chapter)