Chapter 84: Message hidden in the work

Chapter 84: Message hidden in the work

Several people came to the publishing house, explained their purpose, and began to inquire about the news about the new name Rentaro.

The editor in charge of the left text said, "Yes, Mr. Niname sends the manuscript every Saturday. Today happens to be the day. Look at the time, it's almost midnight."

Maori Kogoro asked: "Mr. Editor, are you sure that it was written by Mr. Niname?"

The editor replied with certainty: "Of course, although it is a typewritten text, the font and other things are the same as what the teacher used before, and the teacher always signs his name on the cover of the manuscript."

"How about this, I'll bring you the original manuscript I sent you before?"

"Excuse me."

Soon, the editor brought over the manuscripts from the previous issues.

Maori Kogoro flipped through the pages and said, "The title of the new series is 1/2 of the apex." Then he pointed to the signature next to the title and asked Shinna Kaori, "Are you sure this signature is from Shinna-sensei?"

Shinname Kaori nodded and said, "Yes, I have been here many times, and every time I confirm that it is my father's handwriting."

The editor smiled and said, "Don't worry, Ms. Kaori. I guess the teacher must have been too immersed in his creation, so he forgot to contact you."

Mao Lilan raised her doubts: "But the teacher's wife is also here, can't both of them forget about it?"

The editor showed a distressed expression: "What you said seems to make sense." But in the editor's opinion, the novels have been sent as usual, so nothing should have happened to Shinmei Rentaro.

Maori Kogoro asked, "Mr. Editor, in your opinion, is there anything strange about Mr. Shinmei?"

The editor was stunned for a moment.

Maori Kogoro reminded: "I think you should meet regularly to discuss the serialization?"

The editor stroked his chin and thought: "In fact, we didn't meet after the serialization, but we met to discuss the specific details before the serialization began."

The editor recalled with difficulty: "But I didn't think there was anything strange."

Maori Kogoro: "No matter how small the matter is, it's fine."

The editor said with a bitter face: "I really can't think of anything strange, but if there is anything strange, it's the fact that the Samonji series is being re-serialized itself."

Maori Kogoro was a little confused: "What do you mean?"

The editor smiled and said, "In fact, we approached Mr. Shinmei four years ago to serialize this sequel. But no matter what, his answer was, 'Satoshi Samonji has already died, and the dead cannot be resurrected.'"

The editor spread his hands and said, "The teacher said so, and we had given up hope. Who would have thought that the teacher would suddenly call us two months ago and say that he wanted to re-serialize the Left-handed series and asked if there was any free space."

"Of course, this is what we have been longing for. We immediately cleared a space for the teacher to start the serialization of Zuo Wenzi."

Maori Kogoro nodded: "Is there anything else?"

The editor thought for a while, and then said, "There is one more thing, but it has nothing to do with the teacher himself. At the beginning of his work, he wrote something like this: 'Famous detectives across the country, please pay attention. If you want to surpass my mind, just try to solve the mystery of this incident!'"

Maori Kogoro laughed awkwardly: "This is really a provocative statement!"

The editor smiled and nodded. "Yes, thanks to this passage, we received a lot of fan letters speculating about the murderer and the method of committing the crime when the first issue was serialized. From the standpoint of the publisher, we are of course very happy about this, but I still feel that this is not in line with the style of the usually gentle Mr. Shinaki."

"But it's also true that this is a new series that fans have been eagerly waiting for for 10 years, so it's normal that it has received such a warm response."

Maori Kogoro was a little unconvinced: "Looking forward to it? Is that so exaggerated?"

Editor: "Yes, just half a year ago, there was a radical fan who threatened to burn down our publishing house if we didn't resume serialization. We have received such threatening phone calls, but of course, this was just the fans' expectation for the new work, and nothing like this really happened."

Kogoro Mori sighed and said, "There are such radical fans." He couldn't understand such emotions because he didn't read Samamonji.

The editor suddenly thought of something and said, "Oh, by the way, there is one more thing. Shinpin-sensei himself also appears in this work, as an old friend of Samonji."

"The character is a novelist who travels in France and whose works are not popular. This series has more than 40 books in total, which is a feat that the teacher has never done before."

Conan suddenly shouted: "Can we see this scene?"

The editor smiled and said, "Of course." He took the manuscript with Mr. Xinming's appearance and handed it to Conan.

"Really? Teacher Shinmei is coming!" Mao Lilan came over and said in surprise.

The editor said, "Yes, it says that Samonji has a question to ask an old friend in France for advice, and that's how Mr. Xinming appeared."

Conan looked at the manuscript carefully, and suddenly frowned. He pointed to a part of the content and said, "It's weird, uncle. Look here, the time is written differently when it's very close to each other. The front part is written in Chinese, but the following part is written in numbers."

Kogoro Mouri took the manuscript and looked at it, and suddenly became serious: "It's very strange, such a typo shouldn't happen, right?" He asked the editor with a wry smile.

The editor quickly denied it: "How is that possible! The teacher always said that words are the life of a novelist and cannot be easily changed. If you repeatedly stated that you must do as he asked before serialization, then I will stop serialization immediately."

Conan stroked his chin and thought, if it was just a simple typo it would be fine, after all, no matter how experienced a novelist is, such mistakes will occur.

But they specifically emphasized that they wanted to publish it in this way before the serialization, as if they were hiding some information in the article.

Conan thought about it and picked up the manuscript on the table and started reading it. It was the manuscript of chapters 1-7. Suddenly he found something wrong.

Just then, the fax machine rang and the manuscript of the new serial was sent over.

Conan looked at the time and it was exactly 0 o'clock.

Kogoro Mouri walked over and wanted to take a look, but was stopped by the editor, who said that this was a mystery novel and the content of the new issue might have a great impact on the reasoning of the case and it could not be shown to anyone in advance.

Conan frowned and swiftly pulled the cover page from the editor's hand. Then he overlapped it with the other front pages in his hand, compared them under the light, and his eyes instantly became solemn.

The editor was anxious, but was afraid of damaging the manuscript so he didn't dare to snatch it away.

Kogoro Mouri came over and hit Conan on the head, cursing, "You little brat, you're making trouble again!" and snatched the manuscript from him.

Conan covered his head and said with a wronged look: "I found something strange. The teacher's signature is exactly the same from the sixth to the eighth chapter, but the signatures in the previous chapters are slightly different."

The identification of handwriting is mainly based on factors such as the proficiency, regularity, and coordination of the writing, rather than on the characters themselves.

So even if the same person writes the same word, there will be some differences in the way it is written.

Kogoro Mouri also compared it with the light and found that it was indeed as Conan said.

"I guess Mr. Xinming must have photocopied the previous signature and used it for this purpose."

"But why doesn't the teacher sign it himself? It shouldn't take much effort to just sign, right?" Conan pretended to be confused.

Kogoro Maori guessed: "I think the teacher doesn't want to sign, or... can't sign..." As he spoke, he began to sweat profusely.

"Hello, Mr. Maori..." The editor suddenly became panicked.

Others also showed worried expressions.

Conan said seriously: "If you can't sign, it means that Mr. Niname might have met with an accident, or... is dead."

Shinname Kaori turned pale with fright.

Kogoro Mouri became anxious: "This is the worst situation! Hurry, call the police immediately!" he shouted to the editor.

The editor was startled and quickly ran over, picked up the phone and called the police.

Conan cast his eyes on the latest manuscript and began to ponder: It is not certain that Teacher Niname is dead, otherwise these manuscripts cannot be guaranteed to be delivered on time.

But he must have encountered something that he couldn't escape from. Was he put under house arrest?

Considering the seemingly provocative words at the beginning of the work, the strange signature, and the deliberately changed use of numbers in the article, perhaps the teacher hid the message of saving him in the work.

Soon, the hardworking Inspector Megure arrived with his officers.

Also coming along was... Yuya Kamiya.