Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

“I invited her, but she plans to stay with her sister these next few days and doesn’t want to come to the beach. It’s okay, we can take her to the beach another time.” Longye smiled.

Xiaolan nodded, then smiled and said, "That's right, then next time, let's take her out to play together~ Let's invite her older sister to come along next time too!"

"..."

Conan, who was standing nearby, was eavesdropping on the conversation between Ryuno and the other two.

Ever since he began to suspect Ai Haibara, he has been trying to find opportunities to learn more about her.

But back in school, his classmates all knew that he had made Ai Haibara cry.

The moment he got close to Ai Haibara, before he could even ask a question, a group of classmates would surround him, staring at him with disdain. Therefore, he had to abandon the idea of ​​investigating her at school.

After school, Ai Haibara would be picked up directly by Tatsuno, and he would never have a chance to investigate.

This matter kept nagging at his mind. If he wasn't sure about Ai Haibara's true identity, his detective instincts would keep him up at night!

Therefore, he desperately "helped" Uncle Mori guess the answer to the jigsaw puzzle, and subtly hinted that he should invite Tatsuno and the others out together. This way, he would have a chance to investigate Ai Haibara.

However, things didn't go as planned... Ai Haibara didn't come!

What's even more upsetting is that the usually stingy Uncle Mori actually invited the professor, Mitsuhiko, and the other two! But the professor couldn't come because he had an important "appointment".

In the end, he had to take care of the three children all by himself.

What a human tragedy!

However, his trip was not in vain.

He overheard the conversation between Ryūno and the others, which included information about Ai Haibara.

"Sister? That child named Ai Haibara has an older sister? Could she really just be a precocious, ordinary child... or am I just overthinking it?"

Chapter 173 Undersea Palace

Just then, Kogoro Mouri's exclamation interrupted Conan's train of thought.

"What?! How could there be no record of my booking?! I clearly made a reservation!"

"I'm sorry, but our system really doesn't have a record of your appointment..."

Upon hearing the counter staff's words again, Kogoro Mouri's eyes widened, and he craned his neck to look at the staff's screen.

Longye and the others naturally overheard their conversation.

The three boys even started discussing it directly.

"Are we going to camp in the wild?"

"This island is located in the subtropics, so there should be a lot of poisonous insects and the like. Camping here is too dangerous."

"Oh? Poisonous insects? How scary!"

The three of them, including Ryūno, stared helplessly at Uncle Mori and sighed slightly.

A moment later, with Uncle Maoli's explanation, the counter staff helped contact the island's tourism department.

Not long after, a slightly overweight man wearing black-rimmed glasses ran in through the hotel entrance.

"Hello everyone! I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting. You must be the famous detective Kogoro Mouri, right?"

The slightly overweight man ran up to the group, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped his sweat, and said, "Excuse me, I'm Iwanaga Shiro from the Tourism Department. Due to some reasons, the number of tourists has suddenly surged this month, so hotels everywhere are fully booked. I originally wanted to book here for you, but unfortunately, it's impossible..."

Seeing the change in everyone's expressions, he quickly explained, "But please don't worry, I've booked hotels for you all! I'll take you there next."

After saying that, Section Chief Iwanaga immediately waved and turned to walk towards the hotel entrance.

The others followed in his footsteps, preparing to leave the hotel.

At that moment, three tall, muscular men with dark skin in front of them caught Ayumi's attention. She turned her head and asked, "Conan, who are those three big brothers? Why are their skin so dark?"

Conan had obviously spotted the three people ahead as well, and said confidently, "They must be treasure hunters."

"Treasure hunter? What's that?" Genta asked, puzzled.

Conan casually replied, "They're people who search for treasure all over the world. Those three were very tanned, but apart from their hands and heads, the rest of their skin wasn't as dark, right? That's evidence they often wear wetsuits!"

Conan's answer drew everyone's attention, and Sonoko asked curiously, "Then why do you call them treasure hunters? Maybe they just like diving?"

Upon hearing this, Longye pointed to the poster on the wall: "He probably guessed based on that poster, right?"

Everyone stopped and looked in the direction Longye was pointing.

A poster depicting an island came into view.

Besides the island's name, the poster also features two lines of eye-catching yellow text: "An island where underwater palaces slumber, come and search for ancient treasures!"

After seeing the poster, Sonoko and the others understood the origin of the title "treasure hunter".

After the question was answered, everyone got into the car.

In the car

Uncle Mori looked at Section Chief Iwanaga, who was driving, and asked, "Speaking of which, why would a treasure hunter come to this island? The treasure mentioned in that poster is probably just a gimmick to attract tourists, right?"

Section Chief Iwanaga smiled and said, "No, actually, a treasure was found here two weeks ago."

"What?!" Uncle Mori was so surprised he almost bit his tongue.

Section Chief Iwanaga pointed out the window: "Look over there, isn't there an uninhabited island over there? That's Yoichishima. About two hundred meters east of there, on the seabed, there's a building made of huge stones. As early as ten years ago, there were rumors about an ancient site near Shinkai Island."

"That underwater palace has been studied by many scholars, but no one has been able to give a definitive conclusion as to whether that 'megalithic palace' was man-made or formed naturally."

"I heard that three hundred years ago, the part of Laiqin Island that was above sea level was larger than it is now, but it sank into the sea due to an earthquake and became what it is now."

Just as everyone was engrossed in listening, Conan popped up and asked, "Did it sink into the sea because of an earthquake? Was it because of a landslide?"

Section Chief Iwanaga was taken aback by Conan's question: "Well, I've heard that there seems to be a so-called methane hydrate layer on the seabed nearby. It's the most compelling theory that its rapid decomposition caused the surface to collapse."

After listening, Conan sat back down and nodded thoughtfully.

Seeing that Conan seemed to understand, Genta immediately asked, "Conan, what is that... what is a hydrate layer?"

Upon hearing this, Conan turned his head to look behind him.

Not only Genta, but even Sonoko looked at him with a bewildered expression, as if waiting for his explanation.

"It is a 'methane hydrate layer'. Under low temperature and high pressure, water molecules combine with methane to form a so-called water cage structure. This phenomenon is also known as 'combustible ice', which looks like ice and is flammable when exposed to fire."

After hearing Conan's explanation, Genta, the other two, and Sonoko all narrowed their eyes helplessly, their confusion deepening.

At this moment, Ryūno clapped his hands and chuckled, "Conan, you really do know a lot~"

Ran exclaimed, "Yes! This is really hard for elementary school students to understand. Conan, you're amazing!"

Upon hearing their words, Conan's previously confident face immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

He stiffly turned to look at Long Ye, stammering, "I...I saw this on TV. It just happened to be on yesterday's TV program..."

Before Ryūno and the other could react, Mōri Kōgōrō, in the passenger seat, suddenly spoke up: "Yesterday? Wasn't the TV broken yesterday? The repairman just fixed it this morning before we left..."

Upon hearing Uncle Mori's words, Conan broke out in a cold sweat: "I...I must have remembered wrong, right? It should be...it should be the day before yesterday, right?"

Seeing Conan stammering nervously, Ryuno covered his mouth with his hand, barely suppressing a laugh: "Oh, I see~ But you still deserve praise!"

Conan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Ryūno and the others didn't investigate further.

……

Soon after, the car arrived at its destination.

A somewhat quaint-looking guesthouse came into view.

The hotel's sign bore the large characters "Shenhai Manor".

"Mr. Mima! Are you there?"

"What's all the noise about! I'm here."

A middle-aged man with slightly dark skin walked out of the hotel. He was about forty or fifty years old, with a full beard and an unkempt appearance.

“Mr. Mima, these are the people I mentioned on the phone, Mr. Mori and his party.”

"Five thousand a night, including two meals. If that's not acceptable, then look for somewhere else."

After saying that, the hotel owner, Arima, glanced at everyone, then turned and walked back.

Uncle Mori was taken aback by this attitude and couldn't help but remark, "So arrogant?"

Section Chief Iwanaga immediately chased after Mr. Arima and paid the money.

After completing the formalities, he walked over to the group and said, "Alright, everyone can stay here tonight. Although Mr. Arima has a rather eccentric temper, he's a good person."

Everyone: "..."

Seeing that no one reacted, Section Chief Iwanaga immediately changed the subject: "Let's not talk about this anymore. Who wants to participate in the treasure hunt?"

Upon hearing the words "treasure hunt game," Mitsuhiko and his two friends immediately raised their hands excitedly.

Not only that, when they saw that Conan hadn't raised his hand, they thoughtfully raised his hand for him.

Chapter 174 The prerequisite for being able to dive is wanting to dive.

With Conan looking helpless, Section Chief Iwanaga finished counting the number of people.

Afterwards, Section Chief Iwanaga walked up to Tatsuno and the other two and said with a smile, "You three are planning to go diving, right? You can ride with me in my car later."

"Then I'll trouble you." X3

Finally, Section Chief Iwanaga approached Uncle Mori: "Mr. Mori, what are your plans? If you don't have anywhere you'd like to go, you can also participate in the treasure hunt game. It's actually quite fun!"

"No, no, no, just tell me which shop serves local famous wines~ It would be even better if the owner is beautiful!"

"Huh?" Uncle Mori's words startled Section Chief Iwanaga, making him question the man's reputation as a "famous detective".

Is this lecherous man, who's making a ruckus about drinking in broad daylight, really the legendary detective?

……

Shortly after

Inside a diving house by the sea.

A short-haired woman with tanned skin glanced at the registration form in her hand, looked up, and asked, "Tatsuno Takeda, Ran Mouri, and Sonoko Suzuki?"

Longye and the other two nodded.

"Okay, you want to rent the whole diving equipment, right?"