Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 254 The Special Maze Room

The secret passage was pitch black, but fortunately, Natsukawa had made preparations in advance and brought in a camping flashlight, while Conan had the wristwatch-shaped searchlight invented by Professor Agasa.

Take two steps forward, and you'll find a downward staircase. The staircase is dark and deep, and it looks like it leads directly to the first floor.

"This staircase leads down to the first floor, and if I'm not mistaken, there should be another exit down there." Conan confidently showed off the results of his afternoon's work by pulling out a map of the hidden doors he had drawn earlier.

Xia Chuan ignored the other party; he didn't care about the passageway, since he wasn't afraid of being ambushed anyway.

His purpose in coming down was not for the so-called treasure, since he had already found the real treasure.

The reason for coming down here is simple: to find out the true secret of this ancient castle.

This castle is definitely not just about the treasure left by the old man of the Mamiya family. Otherwise, the existence of the secret passage cannot be explained. You can't say that the secret passage exists because the old man likes to play hide-and-seek, can you?

The enormous castle is definitely not as simple as it appears in the story. Since the secret passage exists, there must be a reason for it to exist; something must be hidden inside.

Earlier that afternoon, he had contacted Frank to ask him to find out the specific details of the castle.

It turns out that the castle was built earlier than he had imagined.

This castle was not built independently by the Mamiya family, but rather renovated on the original site. Strictly speaking, this castle is actually eighty years old.

It's strange that the deceased patriarch of the Mamiya family must have known about these secret passages, but he didn't tell his family.

There must be something wrong here, or perhaps there's a treasure left behind by our ancestors.

According to information gathered from Frank, the person who built this castle a hundred years ago was a foreign friend.

His specific nationality is now impossible to verify, but it is certain that he was an extremely wealthy man. The fact that he could build such a large castle in such a place during that era speaks volumes about his immense wealth.

It's worth mentioning that the foreign friend seemed to have only lived here for twenty years before mysteriously disappearing. Later, for reasons unknown, the Japanese government sold the building through a foreclosure auction.

The patriarch of the Mamiya family acquired this castle around that time, and he has lived in it ever since. To this day, the castle still bears the Mamiya family name.

The castle fetched a hefty price at auction, so why did Mr. Mamiya choose to buy it instead of investing in his own business? There must be some hidden secret behind it, and perhaps he could even find some real treasure.

The 19th century was a time of frequent wars, so it was normal for some people to choose to come to Japan to escape the war. Those who were able to escape to foreign countries were usually super-rich people.

Based on the above reasoning, Xia Chuan believes that this ancient castle must be hiding a true treasure.

That's why he decided to come down with Conan.

Of course, if there really is treasure, try not to let Conan discover it.

Given Conan's nature, he would definitely choose to hand it over to the government, so let Conan obediently go find Mamiya Shiro.

The secret passage was long and dark, and the light illuminating the deep tunnel sent chills down one's spine.

The ancient, heavy floor kicked up dust with every step, countless spider webs hung overhead, and the occasional cockroach or rat squeaking made Conan swallow hard.

It looks like a sewer.

"This secret passage is indeed very old; this staircase must be several decades old."

Conan tried his best not to think about random things; with Natsukawa around, they shouldn't encounter any danger.

If all else fails, there's always Bond!
Despite Bond's cute appearance, when he gets fierce, many large dogs will tuck their tails between their legs and behave like dogs.

"what is this?"

Conan was just trying to distract himself, but he suddenly noticed that there seemed to be some words carved on the face of the steps illuminated by the light.

The text looked very old, covered in dust.

"That person took my place and wanted to seize the castle's treasure. The character after 'treasure' should be 'hidden'."

After reading the entire passage, Conan frowned, stroked his chin, and seemed to be deep in thought.

Xia Chuan glanced at the other person, made a shushing gesture to Bond, and then walked forward silently, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

I'll go scout ahead first, and let Conan play by himself for a while. Anyway, with the tranquilizer dart and the leg-strengthening shoes, nothing should happen.

"Uncle Xia Chuan, look at this, isn't it?" Conan said, but suddenly realized something was wrong.

He turned around abruptly and found Bond standing behind him, breathing on him and looking at him with a blank expression.

"Wang?"

Bond tilted his head, as if asking Conan what was wrong.

"fine."

Conan breathed a sigh of relief and was about to turn back to continue examining the words on the steps when he suddenly noticed a problem!
and many more!

Where is Uncle Xia Chuan?
Conan's forehead instantly broke out in a cold sweat. When he turned around again, Natsukawa had indeed disappeared.

He clenched his fists and looked into the depths of the passageway.

"no!"

Look back.

"no!"

Next, he began to examine the walls, but found no sign that the hidden door he had marked was open. Moreover, even if it had been opened, there should have been a sound, and he couldn't have missed it.

So, what about Uncle Xia Chuan?
"summer"

Conan was about to call out Natsukawa's name, but then he remembered that there might be others in the secret passage, and that shouting might lead to his discovery, so he immediately shut up.

Uncle Xia Chuan is highly skilled in martial arts; he should be fine.

The other person was probably just walking fast and didn't notice you.

Conan comforted himself with this thought.

Then I stopped looking at that text.

This statement makes it very clear: someone in this castle has been impersonated.

As for why the other party would carve the words here, it's quite obvious. The words are covered in dust, indicating they've been there for many years. The person who carved them is probably in grave danger.

So, is my current situation also dangerous?

"Bond, where did Uncle Xia Chuan go? Take me there quickly!" Conan felt a chill down his spine, and the feeling of someone watching him became increasingly obvious. He hurriedly urged Bond to lead the way.

Bond seemed to understand him, and turned and ran briskly towards the passageway ahead.

"Hey, slow down!" Conan ran to catch up with Bond, and led by him, they passed through the passageway and went down another flight of stairs.

"This should be the basement, right?" Conan held up his watch to point the way and walked forward step by step. Bond stood at a fork in the road, looking left and right, seemingly having lost track of Natsukawa.

It seems I'll have to rely on myself from now on.

Conan thought for a moment, then walked up to Bond and tried to turn off the camera.

Don't turn this on, otherwise you might capture some embarrassing moments that won't look good.

Then, Bond noticed Conan reaching out, so he immediately took two steps back and barked twice.

"Shh, keep your voice down. I'll turn off the camera. Don't you think it's heavy to wear on your head? I'll take it off for you."

Conan is like a wicked villain tempting little kids, offering enticing treats such as canned dog food, freeze-dried food, big chicken legs, and pork bones.

Bond shook his head firmly, indicating that he didn't care.

He's a well-mannered dog; once he's promised Anya, he can't go back on his word!

However, as he shook his head, the camera, which was already somewhat unstable due to the bumpy ride, suddenly slipped down. Fortunately, it was tied with a rope, preventing it from falling, but it ended up hanging upside down around Bond's neck like an ornament.

Conan glanced at it and thought that this would work too; the camera was shaky and definitely wouldn't be able to capture anything.

He stopped worrying about these things and prepared to explore what was in the basement.

The basement was clearly intricate and complex, with many branching paths. Each passageway connected to a room, and upon entering a room, one could see one or two other passageways on other walls.

"A maze?" Conan smiled, carefully marked his location on the paper, and began to explore.

Interesting, he, the famous detective Shinichi Kudo, loves this kind of challenging game!
Since we can't find Xia Chuan, let's leave it for now. This maze is much more enticing than Xia Chuan. Maybe we'll run into Xia Chuan soon.

Conan chose a direction and entered the passageway. In the room where he had been standing, a black figure appeared where he had been. The black figure held a steel pipe and stood there, seemingly waiting for Conan to walk away before following. Conan was completely unaware that he had a tail following him. Each time he entered a new passageway or room, he would doodle on the paper in his hand.

He soon realized that he had traveled far beyond the castle's boundaries and that he had likely wandered into the courtyard or even outside the castle grounds.

The basement was much larger than he had imagined.

Could the letter G represent the way to move through the tunnel?

Conan thought for a moment and proceeded according to the arrangement of the Kuroko stones in his mind.

Behind him, a dark figure silently followed, raising and lowering a steel pipe in its hand.

"I'd like to see if you can uncover the true secret of this castle," the man muttered, before continuing to follow Conan's route.

On the other side, Xia Chuan fell into deep thought.

He was a little lost.

At first, there were no problems; the winding and circuitous paths were not an issue for someone with such a strong memory as him.

However, the underground space was simply too vast, with small rooms and passageways lined up one after another, forming a huge maze.

The passageway wasn't all straight; some of it had corners. Xia Chuan suspected that he might have misjudged the angle and distance when turning at one of those corners.

However, this was not a big problem. Following the marks he had left behind, he quickly returned to the starting point, which was the place where he had parted ways with Conan at the beginning.

"That Conan kid is really bold. He didn't even wait for me when he found out I was gone."

Xia Chuan shook his head. If Conan waited in place, he wouldn't be Conan.

Just as he was about to go up the stairs again to look for Conan, he heard faint sounds coming from the stairs behind him.

anyone?

Xia Chuan instinctively ran forward and hid at the corner of the passageway.

Soon, a somewhat hunched dark figure appeared in the passageway; it was none other than Nishikawa Monomi, disguised as Miyayo.

Nishikawa looked around and walked familiarly into the passageway. She paused for a moment at a fork in the passageway before heading into another passageway in the opposite direction.

Where did they go?

She seemed to have come down to find Xia Chuan and Conan. She muttered something and walked to the entrance of the two passageways in the room, crawling on the ground and groping for something.

"So this is the way from here?"

Nishikawa Monomi grinned menacingly, holding the slightly bent steel pipe in his hand.

After the other person left, Xia Chuan went to the spot where the other person had been squatting down and found a thin line of white powder gathered on the ground, with a shoe print in the middle of the line.

"She probably used this method to confirm the direction Conan was heading."

Xia Chuan lifted his foot to look at the sole of his shoe and found that there was also white powder on the sole.

He had taken a different route through the passageway. Nishikawa Kuni didn't expect the two of them to split up, or she didn't know how many people were coming down, so she didn't notice anything unusual and thought she was lucky to have chosen the right direction.

"This guy is quite cautious; he actually came up with this method. A normal person would never notice this powder at the entrance of the tunnel in this environment."

Xia Chuan chuckled and followed the direction the other person was going.

If we follow them, we should be able to find Conan soon.

Originally, I planned to take matters into my own hands and see if I could find the secret of the underground chamber, but I didn't expect that the underground chamber was too complicated and I probably wouldn't be able to get through it in a short time.

To uncover the secrets of this place, we might need to call on Frank later and use scientific techniques to model this maze before we can analyze it thoroughly.

Led by the other party, Natsukawa quickly found Conan's location.

Conan, unaware that he was being followed, remained in one of the rooms, repeatedly tapping the floor as if searching for something.

Bond seemed to be tired from walking, and lay down on the ground without moving, only his tail kept wagging, sweeping away the dust on the ground.

Conan was completely unaware that Nishikawa Kuniyoshi had approached him from behind, after all, he had instructed Bond to shout to alert him if anyone got close.

Based on his understanding of Bond, the guy was very intelligent, and dogs' hearing and sense of smell were far superior to humans'. If there were other people nearby, Bond would definitely have spotted them.

However, he was unaware that Bond had been instructed by Anya not to do anything unnecessary and to simply record the video for the Lord.

Bond naturally listened to Anya.

Conan carefully examined the floor and, based on the arrangement of the letter G and the chessboard, concluded that this room should be the endpoint of the letter G.

Moreover, this room is indeed a bit different from the other rooms.

Although it also has several passageways and the room is also empty, the color of the floor in this room is slightly different from that in the other rooms.

It looks updated.

If the floor tiles in the other labyrinthine rooms of the basement are from a hundred years ago, then the floor tiles in this room are probably from forty or fifty years ago.

Besides the difference in color, the materials are also different; the other rooms are made of marble, while this room is made of white jade.

"White jade stone, white jade piece. Could it be..."

Conan's face lit up with joy, but the next moment he suddenly felt a chill rise up behind him as he heard soft footsteps coming from behind.

"Uncle Natsukawa?" Conan was about to turn around when he heard a voice behind him.

"Little brother, what are you looking for on the ground?"

The hoarse female voice seemed genuinely asking him a question, very earnestly, with a cheerful smile like an old lady passing by asking for directions.

Conan's pupils contracted sharply, and sweat dripped from the corners of his eyes onto the ground. He had been careless!
What's going on with Bond? Everyone's right behind him, why isn't he making a sound?
While puzzled, he also noticed that the voice sounded somewhat familiar.

If I'm not mistaken, it's the voice of the old lady from the Mamiya family.

Could it be that.
The clues about the writing found on the stairs, coupled with the fact that the other person clearly needed a wheelchair to get around, yet appeared in the underground secret room that could only be reached by going down the stairs, make it obvious who the so-called "that person has taken my identity and wants to steal the castle's treasure" refers to!
"Grandma Mamiya!"

After Conan finished speaking, word by word, Mamiya Shiro smiled slightly: "Oh my, you're quite clever, little one. You recognized me just by my voice. So, clever little one, can you tell me what you're doing, banging on the floor?"

"Did you find something? Can you tell Grandma? As a reward, I can give you a chocolate."

Mamiya Shiro suspects that Conan is looking for the Mamiya family's treasure.

That scientist named Dr. Agasa certainly lived up to his reputation; he solved the mystery so quickly.

It seems the puzzle is indeed related to the underground chamber, and it's located right here in this room!

But what about Professor Agasa?

Or what about Xia Chuan?

With neither of them around, what's with this little kid showing up here?

Forget it, I don't care anymore. As long as I can get the treasure, nothing else matters!

Nishikawa Monomi couldn't help but grin.

Is it finally going to be my turn? After years of enduring hardship and biding my time, I'm finally going to receive this enormous fortune.

"Hmph, do you really want to know?"

Conan took a deep breath, then smiled and said, "I've solved it. It's the treasure left behind by the old man who died fifteen years ago. If you want to know more, I suggest you put away that iron rod."

I can't stomach chocolates shaped like that.

Although I don't know your real identity yet, I think you must have started impersonating Mamiya Shiro after the fire four years ago, right?
If I'm not mistaken, the fire was also your doing, wasn't it? So that you wouldn't be exposed when Miyako was in the plastic surgery replacement room.

That's really cruel; a full fifteen lives were lost in the fire.

If you're confident enough to impersonate Mamiya Shiro, you're at least a servant of the castle, and you've worked here for many years.

The fire killed the wife who might have seen through your disguise as Mamiya Shiro, and you faked your death in the fire to hide in the shadows. After impersonating Mamiya Shiro, to avoid being discovered, you even pretended to have symptoms of dementia. It was truly a perfect scheme.

Conan turned around and faced "Mamiya Shiro" directly, shining his flashlight on the horse-like face covered with age spots.

"For the sake of the treasure, you didn't hesitate to have plastic surgery to look like a seventy or eighty-year-old woman, and pretended to be crazy for four years while sitting in a wheelchair. For the sake of the treasure, you gave up your life. It's so pathetic."

(One more update at 18 PM)
(End of this chapter)