Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 252 Uncle Xia Chuan, don't be impulsive!

After the two left, a crack suddenly appeared in the wall at the corner of the corridor, and the crack slowly widened.

Through the crack, a pair of eyes stared intently as the two left, then closed the door again. The wall closed perfectly, revealing no trace of the secret passage.

Dr. Agasa arrived late and, finding that the noise was just a false alarm, breathed a sigh of relief. He was genuinely afraid that Genta would cause some trouble again.

"What happened?"

"It's alright, nothing serious happened." Xia Chuan told Professor Agasa the whole story.

Professor Agasa grew increasingly alarmed as he listened. He put his hands on his hips and stared at Genta for a few seconds, only to find the boy looking at him with a blank expression. He sighed helplessly, realizing that Genta was just a first-grader and he couldn't expect him to be like Shinichi.

"Genta, don't do such dangerous things again next time."

"understood."

Genta knew he was in the wrong, so he nodded and shoved Ayumi and Mitsuhiko to explore other places.

“Ania, aren’t you coming with us?” Ayumi asked, turning around.

"No, Anya needs to find the entrance to the secret passage."

Anya pulled out a magnifying glass from somewhere, put a toy pipe in her mouth, hunched over like Sherlock Holmes, put one hand behind her back, and felt around on the wall with the other.

Bond was like her little sidekick, wearing a Sherlock Holmes hat and following her around like glue.

"Hey, how did Anya find out?" Conan asked Ai Haibara.

Ai Haibara stayed by Anya's side the whole time; she must know something.

Ai Haibara was also bewildered, shrugging, "I'm not a mind reader, how would I know what she's thinking? By the way, is there really a secret passage here?"

Conan nodded, then looked at the window: "The distance between the two windows is problematic. There must be a lot of space in the wall; it can't be solid. However, the existence of this secret passage doesn't seem to be related to the puzzle."

Have you solved the puzzle?

“Yes,” Conan nodded. “If you piece together the English words and coordinates of these white chess pieces, it probably means ‘self-righteous intellectual.’”

"An arrogant intellectual?"

Conan nodded, then glanced at Natsukawa and saw that Natsukawa was accompanying Anya to check the secret passage before continuing, "This is the meaning of the white pieces. I haven't figured out the meaning of the black pieces yet, but if you remove the white pieces and only look at the black pieces, it seems that they form the letter G."

But this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the secret passage. Could the secret passage be the path to the treasure, and the answer lies in the "self-righteous intellectual" and the letter G?
But that would leave behind a mystery about the secret passage.

Conan couldn't quite understand it.

If you don't discover the distance between the two windows, you won't be able to find the secret passage. Even if you solve the chess puzzle, you still won't be able to find the answer without knowing the secret passage.

Moreover, judging from the family's situation, they clearly didn't know that their house had a secret passage.

Anya quickly located the hole in the wall, but pushing it forcefully had no effect.

Even if it were Xia Chuan, the situation would be the same.

Suddenly, Xia Chuan also began to doubt his own memory. Could it be that there was no secret passage in this place?

But that shouldn't be the case! He vaguely remembered that this was the place. And the sound of knocking on the wall was definitely suspicious.

No, it should be that there's a way to open it, a switch!
Xia Chuan scanned the wall back and forth, finally fixing his gaze on the top of the hole.

He discovered that a mechanical clock was hanging above the hole in the wall. The clock seemed to be out of power and was not running, remaining at 5:24.

"The secret door should open when the clock is set to a certain time," Conan said confidently.

Upon hearing this, Xia Chuan reached out. Being tall, he could easily reach the clock and opened the glass cover covering it, then began to turn it clockwise.

However, after walking around the entire wall, there was no reaction whatsoever.

Xia Chuan manipulated the clock hand; if it had any effect, it should have been turned on by now.

Conan was also dumbfounded.

"Could I have been wrong?" Conan muttered to himself.

Xia Chuan tried the minute hand again, but it still had no effect.

A little weird.

"Is it because it's been neglected for so long that the secret door is broken?" Professor Agasa said seriously. "After all, this is a secret left behind fifteen years ago, and this castle is at least fifty years old. With no maintenance for so long, the secret passage and the secret door may have broken down."

This also explains why the other members of the Mamiya family didn't know about the secret passage. It's probably because so much time has passed that even the patriarch of the Mamiya family had forgotten about it, so he didn't tell anyone else about it.

"It doesn't seem like that's impossible," Xia Chuan frowned.

That's what he said, but he didn't seem to remember that Conan could open this secret door.

What went wrong?
Is it
Xia Chuan glanced outside the door and remembered the old lady who had just been in this room.

He remembered that the guy was the real culprit. He wondered if she had done something to open the hidden door after she left, since he couldn't open it himself.
After all, the other party has been in the castle for so many years, they might have a way to completely close the secret door.

If that's the case, then that's interesting. You won't let me drive, but I'm going to drive anyway!

Xia Chuan suddenly smiled, catching Conan's attention.

Before Conan could speak, Natsukawa waved his hand and said, "You guys step back a little."

“Uncle Natsukawa.” Conan’s face stiffened, already knowing what Natsukawa was going to do. “Don’t be impulsive! Even if you’re going to break it by force, you should get the owner’s permission first.”

What kind of owner's consent?
Inside the secret passage, Nishikawa Monomi, disguised as the old lady Miyayo's former housekeeper, frowned, somewhat puzzled by the meaning behind the child's words outside the hidden door.

She leaned closer, pressing her head against the hidden door, wanting to listen carefully to what was happening inside.

boom--

The stone door shook violently, and dust scattered throughout the secret passage.

Nishikawa felt as if she had been hit on the head by something heavy, her mind went blank, and her ears were ringing.

Several seconds passed before she came to her senses and looked at the hidden door in front of her with indignation.

"Hey! Isn't this going too far?"

Nishikawa Mimi muttered something, looked at the steel pipe she was using to block the hidden door, and seemed somewhat at a loss.

Are they planning to break through here?
What the hell kind of guest is this?

As that child said, shouldn't you have informed the homeowner before resorting to violence? I, the homeowner, haven't even given my consent, and you've already started damaging my home. Isn't that going too far? I'm calling the police!

boom--

Another violent impact struck, and Nishikawa discovered that the hidden door was beginning to loosen, and the steel pipe she was using to brace against it was also showing signs of bending.

Nishikawa was extremely annoyed. It was bad enough that the secret passage had been discovered by these visitors, but now they were trying to break it open using such methods. Was all his years of planning going to be for naught?
She originally thought that these people would quiet down after she stopped Miyako, but she didn't expect these outsiders to be so arrogant, not treating her like an outsider at all!
In order to find the secret treasure of the old man who died fifteen years ago, she underwent plastic surgery to transform herself into an old and frail woman. In doing so, she also caused a fire four years ago that killed more than a dozen people. After paying such a high price, how could she give up in a place like this?

Every night she dreams of the fire four years ago, in which the people she killed curse her from the flames, as if trying to drag her down to hell with them.

Even so, she pulled through.

But today, can my plan still succeed?
She blocked herself against the hidden door, bracing her feet against the opposite wall, trying to prevent the uninvited guest from breaking in.

However, the effect was not good, and the next two impacts made her somewhat disoriented again.

"No, we can't stay here any longer."

Nishikawa forced herself to calm down. She had fully explored the secret passages inside the castle and confirmed that there was nothing related to the treasure inside. She hadn't wanted to reveal it before because she wanted to keep it a secret, but now that she couldn't keep it a secret, she might as well let them know. Anyway, the treasure wasn't in there.

I just need to be more careful when I go out at night to look for clues in the future, so as not to be discovered.

Thinking of this, Nishikawa Mumi said no more, took a few quick steps, grabbed a skeleton from under the stairs, and ran away.

This skeleton is the very person she's impersonating, Mamiya Shiro. She can't put the skeleton here, otherwise people might guess that her identity is fake.

Not long after she left, the hidden door was kicked open with a loud bang.

The revolving hidden door was subjected to tremendous force, and after opening, it spun several times before stopping.

"It seems someone doesn't want us to discover this hidden door." Xia Chuan walked into the hidden door and picked up the steel pipe on the ground.

"That person is probably either a member of the Mamiya family or one of their servants." Conan turned on his wristwatch-shaped flashlight, shining the light on the stairs at the end of the secret passage. "This seems to lead somewhere."

After saying that, Conan wanted to go down and find out what was going on.

"Wait a minute!" Xia Chuan stopped Conan, who was about to go down, and pushed the few followers outside the hidden door.

"What?" Conan asked, puzzled.

"somebody is coming."

Xia Chuan turned and closed the door, then looked outside.

Soon, the sound of footsteps approached, and Tian Yanshengnan came into view, carrying a small iron shovel.

"what's going on?"

Tian Yansheng frowned and looked around the room. "What was that noise just now? What are you doing here?"

"It's nothing. Conan just slipped and hit the back of his head on the wall," Natsukawa said.

"But I seem to have heard the sound many times." Tian Yansheng looked at Conan suspiciously. The little brat didn't seem to be very well-behaved. Could he have broken the wall?
He then turned to Yuan Tai and said, "Little Fatty, watch yourself. Don't cause any more trouble, or the old lady will kick you out and you'll be sleeping in the forest tonight."

He felt that the chubby boy must have done something wrong, since he was the most disobedient boy from beginning to end.

He had just witnessed the other person nearly fall out of the window while he was in the yard. In short, these kids didn't seem very well-behaved.

"Humph!"

Yuan Tai pursed his lips, offering no explanation.

Tian Yansheng checked the room and found nothing wrong, then left with her doubts.

After Tian Yansheng left, Conan asked curiously, "Why didn't you tell him?"

"You said it yourself, the person who blocked the door just now was among these people. What if Tian Yansheng was the one who blocked the door from the hidden door just now?"

Conan confirmed Xia Chuan's suspicions, and he nodded, rubbing his chin as he walked out of the room.

The answer to the chess puzzle was obvious at a glance, but its meaning still piqued curiosity. Whether it was related to a secret passage or whether the castle held other secrets remained to be seen.

What does the phrase "self-righteous intellectual" really represent?

Because of Natsukawa's intrusion, the plot changed. Conan did not initially realize from the conversation that the self-righteous intellectual was actually referring to the owner of the castle who had died fifteen years ago.

They would never associate it with the bright, glaring oil painting in the living room.

"Father, what should we do next?" Anya looked around and whispered, "When no one's around, let's go into the secret passage and check the situation, shall we? We can also bring Conan along."

From Anya's perspective, the future she knew was that Conan would be knocked unconscious after entering the secret passage.

She really wanted to film this scene. With this video, she could show it to the other three members of the Junior Detective League and reduce Conan's influence within the team.

The child's thoughts are simple: Anya just wants the other members of the Detective Boys to revolve around her, and Conan's existence is a stumbling block.

Actually, Ai Haibara is the same, but Anya doesn't dare to have feelings for her yet.

Because in Bond's prophetic vision, whenever she harbors any wicked thoughts towards Ai Haibara, she is the one who ends up suffering the consequences and having to do extra homework.

"You better behave yourself!" Natsukawa turned to look at Ai Haibara.

Ai Haibara immediately understood and shrugged, "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her. If Anya doesn't want more homework, she should be very obedient, right, Anya?"

Anya didn't want to talk and pushed Bond out of the room.

Because of Tian Yansheng's little incident, the group was unable to enter the secret passage.

Conan led the Detective Boys on a wandering tour of the castle, discovering several places that appeared to be secret passages. He planned to familiarize himself with these passages and doors beforehand, and then check them out on his own after everyone had gone to sleep.

The entire castle is full of secret passages, and the distance between many rooms is questionable, with large gaps in the walls. These are definitely secret passages.

"Who exactly was the master who died fifteen years ago, and why did he set up so many secret passages in his house?"

After exploring the castle, Conan discovered no fewer than ten possible entrances to secret passages, but he did not attempt to open them lightly.

The enemy is in the dark while he is in the light, and there are a bunch of kids around him. If he rashly opens the secret passage, and Xia Chuan is not around, and the person blocking the door is lying in wait inside, it could easily lead to the annihilation of the whole group.

As for Xia Chuan.

Taking advantage of the fact that these people weren't paying attention, Xia Chuan pulled back the oil painting in the living room and went to the place where the treasure was hidden.

(P.S.: I'm currently saving up chapters and preparing to try writing 10,000 words a day. Please give the author some monthly votes for their hard work!)

(End of this chapter)