Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 256 Why don't you try this key?

The second floor of the castle.

Because Natsukawa and Conan left, Professor Agasa gathered the other children in one room.

"By the way, Uncle Natsukawa and Conan have been gone for almost an hour, and there's still no news? Should we go look for them? In case something happens, we can help."

Ayumi was somewhat worried about the two of them, mainly because she was worried about Conan.

"Are you sure you went there to help or to cause trouble?" Ai Haibara threw the two kids onto the bed, crossed her arms, and said, "You guys lost again."

"I'm not playing anymore!" Anya's head was covered in white tissues. Ever since Natsukawa and Conan left, they had been playing cards, and an hour had passed, and she was the only one who had lost!

Now she has so many tissues on her face that they almost completely cover her vision.

Why?

Anya couldn't understand how she, with her ability to read minds, could still lose.

Ai Haibara is clearly an ordinary person, so how could she so accurately guess what cards she had in her hand?

"Then let's do our homework?" Ai Haibara silently picked up her schoolbag from the ground and pulled out a few elementary school workbooks. "One for each of you, to improve your grades, especially Ayumi, your grades seem to have slipped on Friday's test."

Didn't you say your mom almost dragged you to tutoring today? Since you're free now, do some extra practice problems so you can have something to tell your mom when you get back.

And Genta and Mitsuhiko, I don't need to say anything more about you, right?

In fact, Ai Haibara didn't want them to do homework either, but if she didn't find something for them to do, these kids wouldn't stay still.

Didn't you see that Genta and Mitsuhiko have already quietly run to the door?

Their ulterior motives are all too obvious.

"Where are you going?"

"Um, we're going to the restroom, we'll be right back."

Having said that, Genta and Mitsuhiko made a hasty escape, their steps so swift it seemed as if demons and monsters were chasing after them.

But it's pretty much the same. Behind it all is a devil called the Elementary School Exercise Book. If you're even a step too late, you might be immobilized for several hours.

"I'll go as well."

Anya stole a glance at Ai Haibara, and seeing that she was expressionless, she grabbed Ayumi and ran off, afraid that if they were late they would be caught and forced to do their homework.

"Professor Agasa, aren't you going to do anything about this?"

Haibara sighed and turned around, only to find that Professor Agasa had fallen into a deep sleep sometime earlier.

"Not a single one is reliable."

Ai Haibara reluctantly walked out of the room. It seemed that these kids wouldn't stay still unless they went out on an adventure.

A few minutes later.

The Junior Detective League stood at the window of the room where they could see the chess pieces.

They had no intention of going down to the basement to look for Natsukawa and Conan, but they wanted to help solve the mystery of the chess game.

"We can't stay outside for too long, and we need to keep our voices down so that the Mamiya family or their servants don't find us," Ai Haibara whispered a reminder.

"I understand" ×4
The four children were clearly very interested in solving the puzzle, and even though it was past midnight, they showed no signs of being sleepy.

"Ugh, I've only ever played shogi, I know absolutely nothing about chess." Mitsuhiko rested his chin on his hand, shrugging helplessly. ┓(`)┏

Without Conan, things would definitely be a bit troublesome.

Previously, all the cases were solved under Conan's leadership, but now that Mitsuhiko is thinking on his own, he realizes that he hasn't used his brain in a long time.

"Does Conan already know the answer? Damn it, I should have told him to tell us." Genta was munching on a bag of potato chips. He was mainly here for an adventure, and he left the brainpower and solving the case to the others.

"Ania didn't notice, but Ayumi did?" Anya asked, turning around.

Ayumi shook her head, indicating that the chess piece had hit her blind spot.

"Actually, it's not difficult at all. I already know the answer. Do you want to know?" Ai Haibara asked.

Ai Haibara felt that it was a bit dangerous for the group to be leaning against the window like that, and that it would be better to just tell them the answer instead of wasting time there.

Before Conan went down, he had already told Ai Haibara the answer, so she was the one who knew.

Moreover, this answer was one she had just come up with, different from Conan's previous guesses.

Previously, she thought Conan's reasoning was sound and correct, but when she passed through the hall just now, she accidentally discovered that the "self-righteous intellectual" might not necessarily refer to the relics of the old man in the basement.

Why can't the answer to this mystery be the oil painting in the living room?

As a Conan scholar, Ai Haibara is also very intelligent. After thinking about the oil painting, she immediately remembered the meaning of the black letter G.

"You know?" Anya's voice suddenly rose, sounding somewhat surprised and uncertain. Then she began to activate her skill, wanting to eavesdrop on their thoughts and say it out in advance so that the other three little ones would admire her.

However, after trying for a long time, she couldn't hear anything.

Ai Haibara's thoughts were too calm, and she often couldn't hear them, which was one of the reasons why she was always afraid of Ai Haibara. Of course, the main reason was that the other party always gave her endless homework.

"Of course we want to know!" the three little ones said in unison.

Just then, they suddenly felt a slight tremor under their feet, followed by a muffled thud and the clanging of chains.

Although the sound was very soft, the castle was very quiet at night, making the sound all the more noticeable.

"It seems we need to hurry. Uncle Natsukawa and Conan must have discovered something down there. This sound could very well attract the attention of others. We need to finish this quickly! The Mamiya family is acting strangely; we must be very careful."

"Yeah!"×4
Ai Haibara:
I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall.

Led by Ai Haibara, the four reckless individuals arrived at the hall.

The hall is a split-level layout, with photos of the wife and her first husband hanging on the left and right sides. The staircase extends to the front wall, then splits to the left and right, with an oil painting of the old man of the Mamiya family hanging at the front of the spiral staircase.

"Is this the place? Such a large oil painting, even if there are secrets behind it, we probably can't open it."

Genta stepped forward, grabbed a corner of the old man's oil painting, and tried to pull it away, but he couldn't move the painting an inch.

"Pull down the left corner, grab the bottom left corner of the painting, and turn the knob to the right," Ai Haibara instructed.

In the chessboard setup, the angle of the letter G is -90°, so the way to open the passage is to rotate to the right to bring the angle to zero.

Genta nodded blankly, and he and Mitsuhiko grabbed the knob in the lower left corner and turned it to the right.

Sure enough, the oil painting was easily twisted at a certain angle.

Behind the oil painting is a rectangular depression with a series of steel ladders that extend upwards for an unknown length, appearing like a bottomless pit in the darkness.

"There really is a passage!" Ayumi's mouth dropped open, her eyes sparkling. It turns out Haibara is quite clever too.

Anya was a little unhappy; she heard the shock in the hearts of the three little ones.

Good grief, with Conan gone, Ai Haibara steals her thunder. This isn't fun at all!
Looking at the ladder in the wall, the group exchanged glances, all revealing excited expressions. Even though Anya was annoyed, she still wanted to know what this so-called treasure was.

Several children entered one after another and climbed the ladder, quickly reaching the top.

Under the watch-shaped spotlight, the entire top space is clearly visible.

“We should be inside the conical roof of the castle.” Ai Haibara looked around and instantly confirmed her location: the highest point of the blue castle.

"Where is the treasure?" Genta found the entire space completely empty. Forget about treasure, there wasn't even a cockroach in sight. It was almost too clean.

"What treasure? Could it be a scam?" Mitsuhiko wondered, but after a careful inspection, he found nothing.

"Is this the place?" Anya stroked her chin. Directly in front of her was a square slit, through which light shone, casting a rectangular shadow on the ground.

She ran over quickly, eager to be the first to try it.

"Huh, why can't I open it?" Anya frantically poked at the crack, but couldn't find a way to open it.

“There seems to be a keyhole here.” Ai Haibara’s gaze lingered on the left edge of the square, where there was a long, narrow keyhole.

"strangeness."

Ai Haibara shone a searchlight on the window and found that it seemed too clean. The walls were covered in fine dust, but the window itself had very little dust, and there was even a mark that looked like a handprint.

"It seems someone came up here beforehand!" Ai Haibara suddenly felt a chill rise from the soles of her feet and pondered for a long time.

who is it?

Who arrived at this treasure trove ahead of time?

Conan? But Conan spends the whole day with them.

Xia Chuan went fishing; it shouldn't be them.

As for now, it's even more impossible. There's only one passage in this space. Conan and Natsukawa must have gone to the basement; they couldn't have come here.

The noise just now proves that the two people are still down there, so it definitely has nothing to do with them.

Therefore, this can only be someone from the Mamiya family!
"Damn it, it looks like this place has been discovered ahead of schedule. We'd better leave as soon as possible and wait for Xia."

"Leave? Where?"

"Of course, I'll go back." Ai Haibara's voice faltered, her expression changing drastically. The person who had just spoken was... Mitsuru Mamiya!?

She suspected something was off about that guy from the start, but she never expected him to show up here.

Oh no, it must have been Natsukawa and Conan's noise that woke up Mamiya Mitsuru.

Ai Haibara turned around, and under the spotlight, Mitsuru Mamiya's smile seemed somewhat unrestrained and even sinister.

"Thank you so much for helping me find my father-in-law's treasure. How can I possibly thank you enough?"

Mamiya Mitsuru's eyes narrowed with laughter, as if he had already found a treasure.

He strolled leisurely, seemingly enjoying the thrill of about to discover a treasure. However, this pleasure was only for him personally; with each step he took closer, Ai Haibara and the others had to take a step back.

"What's wrong with you? Don't you want to thank me?" Mamiya asked.

"Can you provide me with eel rice for a month?" Genta swallowed, his mouth watering at the thought of having an endless supply of eel rice. Even though the other party didn't seem like a good person, he still voiced his expectations.

"Hey! What are you still thinking about at a time like this?!"

Ai Haibara understood Conan's helplessness at times. These little brats, do they still naively think that the man in front of them is a good person?

Why would a good person follow a group of children around late at night?

"Eel rice? Sure!" Mamiya replied with a smile.

"Huh?" Ai Haibara's eyes widened, unsure whether to back away or not. This was not what she had expected.

And how did Mamiya Mitsuru's expression slowly change from ferocious to kind?!?
"As for the other children, feel free to tell us what you want. When the treasure is sold, you can ask for anything you want."

Mamiya Mitsuru had no ill intentions toward the children in front of him and was genuinely intending to thank them.

He woke up to the sound of chains and the ground shaking. The moment he noticed the noise, he went to the room that had been suspected of having a secret passage that afternoon, and just then he saw several children coming out of the room.

While he was curious why the adults weren't with them, he was even more curious about what the children were up to.

Then, he saw Mitsuhiko and Genta work together to open his father-in-law's oil painting and discover the passage behind it.

Good heavens! Mamiya Mitsuru exclaimed, "Good heavens!" His father-in-law was truly a genius, actually hiding the treasure behind his own oil painting. Just as his wife had said before, he was indeed a self-righteous intellectual.

Then, he thought of what Xia Chuan had asked him in front of the oil painting that afternoon. Perhaps the other party had already solved the mystery by then?
No wonder Xia Chuan's expression seemed so strange at the time; now I understand what he meant.

As for why they didn't tell him, Mamiya Mitsuru thought that the other party probably wanted the children they brought to experience the fun of treasure hunting.

The treasure was left by his father-in-law. Even if these children found it, it would still belong to the Mamiya family. Why would he poison a few children to hide the news?

As for Mamiya Shiro, Natsukawa had previously stated that he was the first in line to inherit the estate, so if anyone were to be killed, it would definitely be him.

He had originally planned to take action against Mamiya Shiro soon to avoid ending up with nothing, but he couldn't rush it and needed to plan it out carefully.

There's also Nobleman Mamiya, who is also his target, but not his primary target; he can put him on hold for now.

Of course, that's all in the future. Once we get our hands on the treasure, we'll have plenty of time to figure out how to proceed.

Whether he does it himself or hires a hitman, it's not difficult. With his years of experience in the underworld, what difficulty could he possibly have in handling an old woman and an old otaku?

The other children all named their dishes, and even Ai Haibara was helped by the others to make a random wish.

She secretly put away the web-launching gun that Xia Chuan had given her; it was just a false alarm.

Although Natsukawa had given her the gun beforehand for self-defense, in order to prevent the kids from causing trouble, it seems it's no longer needed. Mitsuru Mamiya may look fierce, but he seems to be alright in practice.

Anya blinked, considering whether or not to tell her father about the other party's scheme.

So, what reason should we use?
She had easily brushed off the matter of the secret passage in the afternoon, but now that she's come again, even Xia Chuan would be suspicious of her, right?

The secret of mind reading must absolutely, positively be kept from anyone!

Think again.

Time goes back to ten minutes ago.

A treasure room in the basement.

Conan scratched his head and squatted on the stone platform, lost in thought.

"If the self-righteous intellectual refers to the old man from fifteen years ago, and the basement is different from my guess—there are no of the old man's belongings—then where does the self-righteous intellectual refer to?"

The castle is only so big, and he has basically figured out its interior.

He had been to the room where the old man used to live, but that room had been converted into a guest room and there was nothing of the old man's in it.

Having reasoned to this point, the answer naturally emerged in Conan's mind: the huge oil painting in the hall came to mind.

"It's an oil painting, an oil painting!"

He had always believed that the "self-righteous intellectuals" were hiding something about the old patriarch of the Mamiya family in the basement, but he hadn't found it along the way.

If we exclude the basement, then the only thing in the entire castle that is related to the old man and is the most obvious one is the oil painting in the main hall!
That's right, the key must be behind the painting in the lobby!

So that's how it is. So the letter G in black has this meaning too.

Conan suddenly understood everything; he had completely solved the mystery!
After completing the deduction, Conan was extremely excited. After going out with Natsukawa so many times, he could finally comfortably deduce and solve the mystery.

After hearing Conan's reasoning, Natsukawa's expression turned somewhat strange. "You mean, the key to unlocking this stone platform is hidden behind that oil painting?"

"That's right, the key is definitely behind the painting, there's no doubt about that!"

I've always been curious about the significance of the white piece. I thought it was related to the mechanism in this room, but now I realize it's more than that. It actually represents the location where the key is hidden.

"Uncle Xia Chuan, let's hurry back to the castle to get the key. The mechanism is making too much noise; the people inside have probably been woken up. We need to hurry."

Conan never considered returning to the castle to tell Professor Agasa and his group, or the host family, about the situation. For him, everything had to wait until he had his fill of fun; otherwise, nothing else mattered.

With that, Conan grabbed Natsukawa's hand and started running towards the passageway.

"Wait."

"Don't wait any longer. If we wait any longer, the situation in the secret passage might be discovered by others. We have no idea whether this person impersonating Mamiya Shiro has any other accomplices."

Mamiya Mitsuru will probably also be thinking about what happened this afternoon.

Xia Chuan:.
Good grief, it sounds like we're burglars afraid of being caught by the homeowner, but we were invited in openly to solve a mystery!
Conan was anxious, but Natsukawa remained motionless, as if he were rooted to the ground.

"Actually, you don't necessarily have to go up and look for it. Why don't you try this key?"

Xia Chuan reached into his pocket and took out an old-fashioned F-type key.

This is the key he casually pulled out when he opened that window. He was thinking that if Conan solved the mystery and went up to find that he couldn't open the window, his expression would definitely be quite interesting.

He simply wanted to see what Conan would look like in a daze.

Unexpectedly, this key would come in handy in a place like this.

Too late and things will change.

There's no need to watch Conan make a fool of himself now; let's just quickly open the stone platform and solidify our status as the true first in line to inherit the treasure.

Conan:? ? ?
(One more chapter at 6 o'clock)
(End of this chapter)