"Demon dog?!"

"The devil dog appeared in the mansion?"

Everyone looked shocked, and Yamamura Cao, who had not yet left, was so frightened that the corners of his mouth trembled.

"No, it can't be right? Is there really a demon dog?"

Demon dog?

Qin Zhibo frowned slightly.

Conan looked at Mao Lilan with a cautious expression, "Sister Xiaolan, what does that devil dog look like?"

Mao Lilan frowned uneasily and said: "It's a dog with fire all over its body, running very fast..."

"That's right!" Her eyes lit up and she suddenly thought, "Xiaoba is still outside, nothing will happen to him, right?"

Hachi is an Akita dog raised by the Inubushi family.

Since Saki, who was usually responsible for housework, had just passed away, Kaoko had to prepare for the funeral, Zen was allergic to dogs, and Chiko and Hachi had a bad relationship, so the task of feeding the dogs was left to Yukihime today.

However, Yukihime still had to take care of Saki's remaining housework, so Mourilan, Toyama Kazuha, who happened to be free, went to help feed the dogs.

As a result, while feeding the dog, the devil dog suddenly rushed out from the other side of the yard...

"Is there something wrong? Can't we just go out and take a look?"

With that said, Hattori Heiji, who has always been passionate, stepped forward to push away Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuha who were blocking the door, and went out to investigate in person.

At this time, people from the Inubushi family also hurried over from the corridor, asking inexplicably what happened.

Mouri Kogoro explained that the demon dog appeared, and these people were also surprised.

Zenya: "Will the devil dog appear here? Don't say stupid things..."

Yukihime: "No, did it climb over the fence and get here?"

Kaozi: "How is that possible? It's incredible..."

Zhihuang: "No matter what, it's very dangerous outside now, so don't go out for the time being."

However, Hattori Heiji raised the corners of his mouth slightly and said confidently: "How could you not go out?"

"Now is a good time to catch the devil dog!"

Hattori Heiji pushed open the sliding door with a loud "bang" and rushed out first.

Conan, Qin Zhibo, Maori Kogoro, Mao Lilan, Toyama Kazuha, and Yamamura Cao followed in turn.

Several people came to the side yard and saw the Akita dog named "Hachi" roaring and jumping in the air in front of the dog house in the middle of the yard.

However, due to the restraints of the chain, it was unable to leave the two-meter radius of the dog house.

The line in front of Xiaoba is a small burning flame, like the fire footprints left by the Ghost Rider on the road.

"This is……"

Hattori Heiji showed a surprised expression, because this was exactly the same situation that was left on the cliff after Saki fell off the cliff.

Even because we arrived faster this time, the fire remaining on the scene was slightly larger than last time.

Qin Zhibo took the lead in walking along the route of the fire footprints, checking the so-called flame footprints as he walked.

Like the footprints on the cliff, these "footprints" are not staggered one after another, but are still side by side and parallel.

As I walked forward, there was even an area where no flame footprints were left, but the turf was messy in a large area.

Qin Zhibo immediately squatted down and groped carefully on the turf with his palms. Sure enough, he felt some differences.

There is a small depression in the turf at the same distance between two other flame footprints.

The pit is not obvious under the cover of grass and can only be felt out by hand.

Looking at the entire series of gradually weakening flame footprints, Qin Zhibo suddenly thought of something.

He turned to look at Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuye behind him who were caring about Xiaoba, and asked: "Xiaolan, when you encountered the devil dog and escaped, did you pass by here?"

Mao Lilan, Yuan Shan and Ye turned their heads and looked at the position pointed by Qin Zhibo's finger. After a little recall, they remembered it.

Yuan Shan and Ye stood up and said: "It seems that I tripped over a paving stone and fell there..."

"By the way, I still remember that I smelled a strange smell after I fell..."

smell?

Conan, who was not far away, immediately turned his head to listen when he heard this recently sensitive keyword.

"It smells like rotten onions?"

After talking to Ye, Mao Lilan next to him also recalled it.

"Also, when I turned back to help Heye, I saw that those burning footprints seemed to be alive..."

"They made a 'clacking' sound and seemed to be jumping around."

Rotten onion smell?

Flame footprints that jump and make a "clicking" sound?

"Small fire of spirit"?

Qin Zhibo continued to walk deeper, following the footsteps of the gradually extinguishing flames, until he reached the back door of Inufushi City.

At this time, the back door was wide open, and the wooden stick used as the door latch was put aside.

On the loess ground in front of the back door, there are several canine footprints scattered in an orderly manner.

Qin Zhibo's eyes glanced at this series of footprints, and he immediately figured out what was going on.

I see……

Qin Zhibo smiled knowingly, having roughly understood what the "devil dog" and "flaming footprints" actually were.

This is not the power of some mythical creature, but a human trick.

Someone from the Inubushi family devised this trick, and the purpose should be to use the curse to get rid of the adopted children of the Inubushi family.

Mao Lilan, Yuan Shan and Ye just happened to come over to feed the dogs, and then they encountered the "devil dog".

But in this case, the four remaining adopted children of the Inubushi family may implement this plan.

While Qin Zhibo was thinking, Mouri Kogoro put forward a hypothesis about the "devil dog".

"Could the devil dog you saw be a dog with fluorescent paint on its body?"

"As long as the surrounding environment is dark enough, even fluorescence may be mistaken for flames..."

Mao Lilan immediately denied it with a serious look, "That's not some fluorescent paint!"

"Is that red, or is it still a beating flame? I can see it clearly!"

"And if it was fluorescent paint, how could it leave these flame footprints?"

"This..." Mouri Kogoro was speechless for a moment when his own daughter retorted him with such words.

At this time, Qin Zhibo came over from the back door and took the initiative to share the intelligence he had collected.

"The 'devil dog' came in through the back door. The latch of the back door was also removed by someone unknown, and there were dog footprints on the ground nearby."

"In other words, the murderer who introduced this devil dog into the mansion should be in the mansion now..."

Qin Zhibo walked up to the four adopted children and while speaking, his eyes swept over each person's face.

The expressions of the four people all looked a little moved, some were shocked, some had a hint of hostility, some were unhappy, or some were uneasy.

Qin Zhibo still doesn't know who the murderer is among these people.

However, according to his guess, even if the real culprit is found, he probably is not the real culprit mentioned in the main mission.

Because no investigation point was seen just now, whether it was the dog footprints found at the back door or the small pits in the grass.

This shows that these clues have nothing to do with the main mission.

But these clues are undoubtedly related to the owner of the "devil dog", the murderer.

Could it be...that there was someone else who killed Kudo Shinichi?

But even so, the murderer must be found first before we can know what he did to Kudo Shinichi that day.

When he saw that it was a multiple-choice question he was familiar with, Mouri Kogoro immediately took advantage of it.

"Since the murderer is among you, let's first tell you where you were in the mansion just now and what you were doing."

"After all, it's impossible for Ms. Suochen who is unconscious to commit a crime..."

The four people looked at each other and explained their situations.

But just like before, the four of them did not act together, and the Inubushi family's servants were on leave for the past two days, so no one could prove their innocence.

Seeing this, Qin Zhibo continued: "It seems that we can only start from the direction of the devil dog..."

"Judging from the current situation, the devil dog is probably kept near the mansion. Are you all familiar with this area? Do you have any impressions of this kind of place?"

Perhaps because he felt that his job was being taken away, Yamamura Cao, who wanted to increase his sense of presence, also stood up and echoed: "Or it could be the sound of a dog barking in the forest..."
To be continued...