Upon hearing Senichi's words, Takagi nodded in agreement, obviously agreeing with this statement.
However, upon seeing the strange symbols "○×△" written in blood by the deceased, his expression changed again, "What on earth is this death message!"
"Could the '×' possibly refer to multiplication? And '○×△' indicates some kind of mathematical formula," Sonoko, who was nearby, speculated.
"But why '○×△'?" Ran questioned in suspicion. "Wouldn't numbers be easier to understand?"
"It's quite simple," Sonoko waved her hand, explaining, "he did it this way to prevent the culprit from realizing and destroying the information, so they used these strange symbols instead."
"OH!!" Jodie-sensei, who was nearby, heard Sonoko's words and excitedly exclaimed in an odd tone, "So, does that mean the culprit is someone proficient in mathematics?"
Hearing this, Takagi looked at Kisugi with skepticism, "So, do you have any employees in your company who are particularly good at mathematics?"
"No... Due to the nature of our work, most of the new recruits we hire are from the humanities field..."
"Ah..."
"Could it be that '○×△' refers to oden?" Sonoko touched her chin, and her thoughts somehow diverged to oden.
"Hey... Sonoko, Jodie-sensei, do you think this '×' could refer to that thing?"
"Huh?" Hearing Ran's words, both Sonoko and Jodie-sensei looked puzzled, "What are you talking about?"
"It's that thing. During our English class, Jodie-sensei mentioned that cute symbol she often writes at the end of letters..."
"Hahaha~"
Hearing Ran's words, Sonoko and Jodie-sensei looked at each other, burst into laughter.
"No, no, no!!"
"It can't be that, absolutely impossible!"
Laughing, they both dismissed Ran's guess with a wave of their hands.
"Ah, are you talking about what girls often write at the end of letters?" Takagi, who was nearby, heard their conversation and couldn't help but ask with a smile.
"Yes~"
"Detective Takagi, do you know the meaning of '×'?" Ran was surprised, and looked at Takagi.
"Hehehe, since you understand that, does it mean you often receive those kinds of letters?"
Sonoko, who was nearby, heard Takagi's words and couldn't help but tease him with a sly smile, "Can't tell from your appearance..."
"No, no!!" Takagi quickly waved his hands, "It's just that, when helping Detective Senichi handle a lot of letters, I naturally came to know about it..."
"Huh? Brother-in-law? Well, that's normal..." Sonoko glanced at Ran, then nodded nonchalantly, "After all, he's my brother-in-law... it's normal..."
"So, Detective Senichi, do you also know the meaning of this '×'?" Ran asked, looking at Senichi, who was contemplating the "death message" left by the deceased.
"Well, I do know, but for some people, it might be a puzzle not so easily solved..." Senichi glanced down at Conan, who was listening intently, smiled jokingly, then turned to Takagi with a serious expression, "Let's put aside the jokes for now; I've made a discovery..."
"A discovery!?"
Upon hearing Senichi's words, everyone stopped discussing the previous topic and hurried over, "What is it?"
"Perhaps this death message is not just '○×△.'"
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Sonoko asked in confusion, "Could it be that this code is incomplete?"
"That's right. Look here, isn't there a bloodstain on the left side of '○'?" Conan pointed to the edge of the file bag, alerting everyone.
"Oh, it's true..."
"Oh! Upon closer inspection, there is indeed a bit of a vertical bloodstain..."
"But brother-in-law, it seems there's no blood around here, right?" Sonoko looked around, and asked a forensic personnel who was conducting the search, "I haven't seen anyone reporting finding blood, ah..."
"At least in the areas we've checked so far, there doesn't seem to be similar bloodstains. But we haven't checked there yet."
Senichi pointed at the escalator, "Don't forget, even though the escalator is currently stopped, when the body was discovered, the escalator was still running normally. So, if a part of the 'death message' on the file bag is missing, it must be on the step of this escalator!"
"I see!" Takagi, seeing the location Senichi pointed to, immediately understood, "I'll get someone to check it right away!"
"But Brother-in-law, the escalator has been running continuously before you arrived, right? Wouldn't the blood-written words by the deceased have disappeared by now?" Sonoko asked from the side.
"For that, there's no need to worry. We just need to spray some luminol reagent on the escalator steps, even if the blood has vanished, it can still be detected."
After explaining, Senichi added, "Moreover, at that time, the situation was that the deceased was already bleeding heavily from the stab wound. In that situation, the escalator steps must have been covered in fresh blood. So, we just need to find the escalator step with the most intense blue fluorescence."
With everything explained, Takagi hurriedly joined the forensic team personnel to inspect the escalator steps. Meanwhile, Conan pulled on Senichi's sleeve, indicating he had something to say.
"What's the matter?" Senichi bent down and asked, "Did you notice anything earlier?"
After all, Conan was present when the case occurred, and with his insight, he might have discovered something. However, as a child, revealing such findings might be too surprising. To avoid suspicion, Conan usually whispered these things to Senichi quietly. He thought it would be the same this time, but...
"I want to ask you a question..." Conan covered his mouth and asked softly, "What does that '×' they mentioned earlier represent?"
"..."
Upon hearing Conan's question, Senichi looked at him with a playful expression, ruffled his hair, and said, "Some things, it's better for kids not to know~"
What a joke. Senichi was still looking forward to the drama later; how could he let Conan know about this matter beforehand?
Regarding Conan's expression later, Senichi was really looking forward to it~
"Since you know, just tell me!" Conan slapped away the hand on his head with annoyance, "I'm not really an elementary school student!!"
Facing Senichi's evasion, Conan wanted to continue questioning, but Chiba, who was nearby, rushed over holding a pile of clothes, interrupting their conversation.
Seeing this, Conan could only glare at Senichi, then turned his attention to listen to the discoveries Chiba and the others made during the search.
--------------------------------
🙏🙏Please consider supporting this translation project by becoming a P@treon member!!!
Your support is greatly appreciated!
Available on my P@treon page for just $4!!
Early access to the following translations:-
⭐MCU: Druid's Adventures (MCUDA) - 133 advance chapters
⭐Famous Police Detective in Detective World (FPDDW)- +165 advance chapters
⭐Marvel: Little Genius (MLG) (⭐COMPLETE⭐) - Total Chapter 450
⭐Harry Potter: Card System[⭐NEW NOVEL⭐] - 2 Chaptersp@treon.com/Lightreaper457
--------------------------------