I'm in Detective Conan, and the system has appointed Batman.

Chapter 174 Fear Invades in the Dark
The Lianhe Building, third floor, the secret room of the Dadujian Newspaper Office.

Silver Fox, the notorious counterfeit money thief wanted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, was sitting in a secluded room at this moment, smoking a cigarette, puffing out clouds of smoke, his brow slightly furrowed, when he asked...

"Didn't Inuyama say he went to get the color-changing ink? Why isn't he back yet?"

Silver Fox was very dissatisfied with this underling.

She always thought this underling was a fool who loved to take advantage of others. If it weren't for the fact that they couldn't find anyone else and had to rely on Inuyama, she would have kicked Inuyama out of the team long ago.

"It's alright, there's no rush."

"Our new sculptor still needs some time to familiarize himself with the work before he can complete the carving of Fukuzawa Yukichi."

Inside the secret chamber, a sculptor with a bandaged hand spoke with a cold laugh.

The Fukuzawa Yukichi he was referring to was naturally the Fukuzawa Yukichi depicted on the 10,000 yen banknote.

The "new sculptors" refers to the people they kidnapped.

—A student in the art club at Teitan High School.

It can only be said that Beika Town is indeed a place where talented people emerge in large numbers.

He was just an ordinary student in the art club of Teitan High School, but his imitation of Natsume Soseki's portrait on the 1,000 yen note was almost identical. He could even draw a one-to-one replica of the counterfeit note template!

If it weren't for this student's fondness for Natsume Soseki, and his lack of knowledge about Fukuzawa Yukichi, he wouldn't have done much research.

With such drawing precision, almost like a human printer, he probably would have already completed the missing eye area of ​​Fukuzawa Yukichi's painting, which he was unable to finish due to his hand injury.

I overheard the people next to me discussing how to make counterfeit money.

Junye, who had been tricked into being kidnapped, swallowed hard and began to draw even more carefully.

How could he not know if others didn't?

This counterfeit money gang is utterly lawless; they even carry guns. If you say they're slacking off, they'd probably shoot them and let them experience the power of bullets!
"Waaaaah, if I'd known boys would be..."

Junye lamented in his heart.

However, just as he was trying to clear his mind and concentrate on painting, a slightly unusual movement appeared in the surveillance footage inside the Lianhe Building.

Silver Fox looked up at the monitor screen, his brows furrowing.

"Strange, why isn't the third brother patrolling anymore?"

"Wasn't it his turn to patrol the stairwells during this period? Why haven't we seen him?"

—At this point, the people in the secret room finally realized what was happening.

Something seemed amiss outside.

The next moment, the lights in the secret room and the surveillance footage suddenly went out.

Even the incessant sound of the printer running outside the door stopped.

The power is out.

A sudden unease arose in Silver Fox's heart for no apparent reason.

The mysterious disappearance of the patrol member was already strange enough, but now the inexplicable power outage at the Lianhe Building, plunging the secret room into darkness, is even more eerie.

what on earth is it?

pat.

Someone turned on a flashlight.

There was barely any light in the sealed room.

Silver Fox breathed a slight sigh of relief.

She jumped down from where she had been sitting, landed on the ground, and said,

"Someone pulled the power switch; we need to go check it out."

“If there’s no electricity here, we can’t see anything. We’ll be completely blind. The printing press and the surveillance system won’t work. If the Metropolitan Police Department comes to investigate, we won’t even be able to run away.”

The flashlight was shone on the other people in the room.

Silver Fox's gaze followed the beam of the flashlight.

She saw three people.

That's right, there were indeed four people in the secret room.

She, the kidnapped boy, the sculptor, and his henchman.

"Let's go turn on the power."

Silver Fox pulled the pistol from his pocket.

She said.

However, she moved, but the others did not.

The henchman's voice trembled slightly as he spoke.
"Boss, how many people are in the room?" Silver Fox frowned and answered without hesitation.

There are four people in the room, of course.

The underling asked again,

"How many people did you see?"

Silver Fox said impatiently.
"Of course there are three, that doesn't match the number of people—"

There were only four people in the room.

She saw three people, making four people including herself.

Then the problem is coming.

Who is the person shining a flashlight?

The moment everyone realized the problem.

The secret room was plunged into darkness once again.

Silver Fox's heart was pounding at that moment.

She inexplicably sensed an atmosphere of fear spreading.

It didn't feel like a hideout I'd created; it felt more like a horror movie set!
Tick, tick, tick.

Footsteps echoed inside the secret room.

The sound of footsteps.

It's the person who scurried in earlier with the flashlight now moving.

Silver Fox instinctively pointed his pistol at the man's location.

However, just as she hesitated about whether to fire the gun...

Footsteps sounded again.

This time it was from behind; two footsteps sounded simultaneously, but Silver Fox knew this was impossible.

She was just sitting on the table. If there were footsteps behind her, what would that mean? Would someone walk on the table?
Before Silver Fox could make a judgment.

A third set of footsteps followed.

Then came the fourth, the fifth, the sixth...

In the darkness, footsteps echoed from all directions, and Silver Fox could hear heavy breathing sounds coming from all sides, making her eyes widen to their maximum.

—What's going on here?

How could there be so many people in a dark, enclosed room? Is this a hoax? And how were footsteps from so many directions created? Is this real? And why are footsteps and breathing sounds appearing in so many impossible places?

Silver Fox's hand, gripping the pistol, was already covered in cold sweat.

She couldn't understand what was happening before her eyes, and just subconsciously said...
"The sculptor? The second brother? That brat? Where are you now?"

No one responded.

The entire dark, secret room was deathly silent.

The silver fox stood still, motionless.

Her heart sank into an icy abyss, and she didn't know where to escape.

—Until this moment.

She finally realized that her cell phone could also be used for lighting.

Silver Fox reached into her bag and pulled out her phone.

He pressed the button on his phone as if he had found a treasure, and shone the light around.

She only saw the people lying on the ground.

Following her was her younger brother, a sculptor with bandages.

A high school student who disappeared without a trace.

"What...what exactly happened?"

Silver Fox stared in disbelief at the scene before him.

She took a few steps forward and felt a hand silently appear on her shoulder.

The phone fell to the ground and shattered instantly.

The last light source in the sealed room also disappeared.

(End of this chapter)