Conan: Rice Flower Spring

Chapter 359, Section 353: The Gambler Who Lost His Mind
Lin Longma waved his hand, and the castle servants, quite perceptively, retreated to a place where they could not hear their conversation.

Bai Shi and the deputy director of the president's office both looked at Lin Longma. They had both heard that strange sound.

"Is there anything strange, Chairman?" With Kaneda absent, Ryoma's straight man was replaced by the less familiar deputy director.

Of course, some awkwardness was inevitable, since Jin Tian had always been Lin Longma's straight man in the comedy duo.

"That old lady is a bit strange. It's just a gut feeling, there's no concrete evidence."

As if he knew what his subordinate was going to ask, Lin Longma didn't wait for the deputy director to ask and spoke on his own.

Recently, Ryoma Lin and Kaito Kuroba have been spending significantly more time together. Having witnessed Kaito Kuroba's flawless disguise and voice manipulation, Ryoma Lin has naturally become quite interested in it.

Unfortunately, Lin Longma was not good with his hands and couldn't handle making a disguise mask. The same was true for learning voice modulation.

Sometimes learning certain skills really requires talent, and voice changing is clearly one of them.

Without that talent, Ryoma Hayashi is destined never to be able to casually speak another person's voice like Kaito Kuroba and Vermouth.

However, Lin Longma did not come away empty-handed while learning voice modulation and disguise. At least in terms of these two skills, with guidance from a "master" like Kaito Kid, Lin Longma's horizons were broadened considerably.

Just now, Lin Longma had a feeling when the old lady spoke. At first glance, her voice was indeed no different from that of an ordinary old lady.

Upon closer inspection, the old woman's voice sounded somewhat unnatural—a natural, technical one.

It sounds like someone deliberately imitated an old person's speech, and the sound became a habit over time.

The problem is that an old woman should have an old woman's voice, and even the servants here can testify that this old lady is their "Madam".

In the end, Lin Longma decided to put aside his suspicions about the "first wife" for the time being and let his men focus on finding the secret passage in the castle.

After a while, the security personnel who had been "strolling" around the castle gradually returned to Lin Longma's side.

"President, I found a hidden door in the corridor; it's the entrance to a secret passage."

"President, I've also found the entrance to the secret passage."

"Me too."

"And I."

With professionals handling professional tasks, and knowing that there were secret passages inside the castle, it was not difficult for the security team to find the entrances and exits of the passages.

"So many entrances and exits," Lin Longma said, summarizing the secret passages and entrances his men had found.

These entrances and exits are basically scattered throughout the castle, which means that secret passages can actually lead to various parts of the castle.

Lin Longma didn't dwell on the original purpose of setting up the secret passage; he simply decided to lead a group to explore it.

Lin Longma, accompanied by the deputy director of the president's office and four members of the security department, arrived at the entrance of a secret passage, triggered a mechanism, and entered the passage.

Shiraishi, along with four other security personnel, waited outside to provide backup.

The secret passage was completely dark, with no lighting whatsoever. Four security personnel turned on their flashlights to illuminate the entire passage.

Lin Longma walked straight ahead along the secret passage until he reached a fork in the road, where he found some markings.

These markings roughly indicate where these forks lead to.

"President, which way should we go?" When they reached the fork in the road, neither Lin Longma nor the deputy director of the president's office had any intention of splitting up.

Although this is just an ordinary secret passage with no enemies or anything like that, splitting up forces in unknown territory is the most dangerous thing to do.

If you have to split up when you encounter two forks in the road, does that mean you have to split up again when you encounter another fork in the road?
In the end, if you're all alone and encounter any accident, you won't even be able to call for help.

Lin Longma casually pointed in a direction: "Let's go this way and take a look. Don't go too far, and come back here within half an hour."

Remember to mark your path.

After Lin Longma finished speaking, a member of the security department casually took out a tool and then forcefully chiseled it into the wall.

The exploration continued, and security personnel used tools to chisel marks on the wall every 20 to 30 meters.

"President, there's something ahead!" The illumination from the four high-powered flashlights, while not as bright as day, was enough to make it easy to see clearly.

From a distance, the security personnel could see what appeared to be something on the ground.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a skeleton.

"President, there are words carved on the steps here!" Just as Lin Longma was examining the skeleton, other security personnel were on guard and checking the area.

Then they discovered the engravings on the side of the steps.

Lin Longma walked over after hearing the sound and saw the words on the side of the steps.

That person has now taken my place and wants to steal the castle's treasure.

The words were not finished being carved, and the writing was not damaged. It was probably not discovered by someone, but rather that the person carving the words did not have the strength to continue.

"The castle's treasure...treasure?" Lin Longma suddenly realized something and immediately gave orders to his subordinates.

"Go and examine the leg bones of that skeleton."

Two security personnel immediately took action, lifting the "clothing" off the skeleton to examine the leg bone.

"President, this person must have not walked for a long time before his death. Preliminary assessment suggests that he was around 70-80 years old when he died."

"No unusual wounds or signs of poisoning were found on the bones. It's possible that this person was starved to death in this secret passage."

Even the security personnel responsible for examining the remains shook their heads after speaking. What kind of deep-seated hatred could drive someone to starve to death in a secret passage?

At this moment, Lin Longma didn't need to deduce anything; it seemed that there was only one elderly and frail person in the entire castle.

That was the wife of Lord Mamiya, the old lady Mamiya who had just met them!
In an instant, Lin Longma suddenly realized why the old woman's voice sounded strange.

No wonder the old lady was so "energetic" when she heard that Ryoma and his group had been invited by Mitsuru Mamiya to search for the castle's treasure.

It turns out that this guy had his eye on the castle's treasure even earlier than Ryoma and the others, and he had already put it into action.

Did she actually take over the identity of old lady Mamiya so that it would be easier to search for treasure in the castle?
He's a gambler.
Lin Longma was utterly baffled by the person who had replaced the old lady.

Because from beginning to end, Mitsuru Mamiya never revealed what the treasure left behind by Lord Mamiya actually was.

Even the "old lady" herself didn't know.

They only knew from the master's last words that he had left them treasures in the castle.

What this treasure is and how much it's worth are still unknown—how could someone pay such a high price for a lottery ticket with such an unknown probability?!

(End of this chapter)