Ma Baoguo touched the large bump on his forehead, pointed at Hoshimi Miyabi, and angrily said.
"You! You, you, you! You also lack martial virtue! I had already shattered your wooden sword with my inner force!
According to the rules of traditional martial arts, where a touch is enough, I had already won! Yet you still launched a sneak attack! Playing these petty tricks."
After scolding, Ma Baoguo felt parched and out of breath.
While continuing to accuse Hoshimi Miyabi, he subconsciously picked up the thermos he had brought, placed at the edge of the ring, unscrewed the lid, and prepared to take a sip of water to calm himself down.
Just then, Conan appeared from who-knows-where, standing by the ring and shouting, "Wait! Don't drink it! That water might have a prob..."
However, Ma Baoguo was in a fit of rage and didn't hear clearly, nor did he care who was shouting. He tilted his head back and took a large gulp with a "gudong."
As soon as the water entered his mouth, his expression changed.
Pfft—!
He violently spat out the water, coughing intensely,
"Cough, cough, cough! Who... who added bitter almonds to my water?! This taste isn't right!!"
Before he finished speaking, his face quickly turned from red to green, his body began to convulse violently, his eyes widened, revealing an expression of pain.
"Ugh... ugh..."
Strange gurgling sounds came from his throat, his hand loosened, and the thermos clattered to the ground, its contents spilling everywhere, emitting a faint scent of bitter almonds.
Then, under everyone's terrified gaze, Ma Baoguo frothed at the mouth and fell heavily backward.
Conan stood by the ring, his face extremely grim, his small hands clenched into fists. "Damn it! I was just one step too late..."
Time rewound to earlier today.
On the way to the stadium with Ran, he accidentally caught sight of a burly foreign man in black clothes, sneaking out of the staff entrance backstage, looking nervous and extremely suspicious.
As soon as Conan saw the black clothes, he instinctively suspected the person was a member of the Black Organization.
Using the excuse that Professor Agasa needed him, he temporarily separated from Ran and the others, and quietly followed the foreigner in black.
The man walked quickly, heading straight for a relatively secluded parking lot behind the stadium.
Conan, using his small stature and vehicles as cover, cautiously followed.
Just as the foreigner opened the car door and was about to get in, Conan seized the opportunity to quickly flick a miniature bug, sticking it to the underside of the man's jacket collar.
After doing all this, Conan immediately hid behind a car and began adjusting the receiving device on his glasses to eavesdrop.
Through the bug, he heard the man's heavy breathing after getting into the car, and his low murmuring in English.
"F**k! Damn it, you old swindler!"
"He ruined my career... my reputation..."
"This time I'm going to make him pay!"
Through the words the person revealed about himself,
Conan pieced together the whole story.
This foreigner was not a member of the Black Organization.
His name was Owen Parker, a famous former heavyweight boxing champion from Britain, who had won multiple international fighting championships during his professional career, known for his strength and technique.
He was the so-called 200-pound British strongman.
After retiring, Owen opened his own martial arts gym and also worked part-time as a martial arts stunt actor, taking on roles to supplement his income. His life was originally peaceful and fulfilling.
Until a few years ago, he accepted a job.
The employer claimed to be a disciple of the martial arts Master Ma Baoguo, inviting Owen to participate in filming a promotional short film about kung fu.
The pay was generous, and the filming content sounded simple: just perform according to pre-designed routines, highlighting Master Ma's power.
Owen, thinking it was just a normal commercial collaboration, similar to filming an action movie, gladly went.
He never imagined that this promotional film would become the beginning of his nightmare.
Ma Baoguo and his team edited and dubbed the filmed segments, creating so-called "real combat instructional videos," which were widely disseminated on martial arts forums and video websites worldwide.
In the videos, Ma Baoguo was portrayed as a hidden, peerless master, while Owen became a former international fighting champion easily defeated by his mysterious Eastern kung fu.
Owen repeatedly posted videos on social media to clarify the truth, presenting the filming contract and unedited outtakes from that time, proving it was just a paid performance.
However, his clarification seemed pale and powerless in the face of Ma Baoguo's popularity, and hardly anyone knew about it.
Ultimately, his martial arts gym's business plummeted, and no one took his abilities seriously anymore.
His acting career was also affected, with fewer and fewer directors hiring him. His reputation was ruined, and his life fell into a slump.
This time he came to Japan to travel, intending to relax and escape the things that bothered him.
But fate played a trick on him, as soon as he arrived in Beika Town, he saw promotional posters on the street announcing Ma Baoguo's participation in the "Martial Arts Exchange" competition.
Years of pent-up anger[1] instantly surged into his heart.
Beika, this place, was like magic[2], inexplicably stirring a murderous intent within him, making him immediately want to kill someone.
So, he bought a packet of cyanide from an inconspicuous vending machine[3] in Beika, then quietly snuck backstage, found Ma Baoguo's thermos in the resting area, and poured the poison in.
After hearing all this, Conan simultaneously called Inspector Megure and sprinted, wanting to stop Ma Baoguo from drinking the water.
Unexpectedly, he was ultimately a step too late.
However, just as Conan was filled with regret, believing the tragedy had already occurred, and was about to point out the real culprit—
Another change occurred on the ring.
Ma Baoguo, who had been twitching on the ground, frothing at the mouth, and seemingly on his last breath, suddenly flipped over, propped himself up with his hands, and shakily got to his feet.
"Cough, cough, cough... Ugh... What a strange taste? It's too awful to drink."
Under everyone's ghost-like stares, Ma Baoguo's face was green, and his lips were somewhat purple, but his eyes had already regained their sparkle.
He vigorously spat out a few times, wiped his mouth, and pointed at the overturned thermos and water stains on the ground, complaining loudly in his heavily accented Japanese.
"Pah, pah, pah! Your Japanese water quality is too poor! What's this strange taste in the water?! It almost choked me.
It's bitter and astringent! Did you mix nuclear wastewater into it?! It doesn't taste good at all! It almost made me pass out!"
Conan was completely dumbfounded watching the lively Ma Baoguo.
Cyanide is a deadly poison, ingesting it means certain death!
How could this Master Ma in front of him be perfectly fine?
Did Owen buy fake cyanide? Or is this Master Ma's constitution different from ordinary people?!
That day, even after Inspector Megure arrived with his team, and the forensic department confirmed the presence of cyanide in the cup, arresting Owen, Conan's mind was still reeling.
[1] Beika Town Special Buff it seems
[2] Ofc it's like Magic, where do you think Beika can get the most high crime rate from?
[3] .... Matte, there's a Vending Machine that sold something like that in Beika? what the....