Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

Genta punched the roller shutter door, shook his hand in pain, and then pushed the door outward forcefully.

But no matter how hard the two tried, the iron gate in front of them did not change at all.

A few seconds later, Mitsuhiko, covered in sweat, turned to Fumi and Ai Haibara: "No, we can't open it with our strength!"

"It seems those two anticipated that we might escape and struck first," Ai Haibara said, looking down.

After Ai Haibara finished speaking, Ayumi glanced around and asked worriedly, "Where's Conan? Didn't he say he'd be here soon?!"

"There's been no movement for so long, he must have already fallen into the hands of those two," Ai Haibara said calmly. "Besides, they know that we'll come to the first floor in order to escape."

Mitsuhiko glanced nervously at the stairs, his voice trembling slightly: "If that's the case, they'll be here soon!"

After a few seconds of silence, Mitsuhiko looked up and said, "Can't we just call the police quickly?"

Ai Haibara shook her head and said calmly:

"Although we can make phone calls now, this matter cannot be explained in just a few words. Before it is explained, they may take our phones away at any time."

"Besides, we're just kids, so they can easily get away with it by explaining that it's just kids playing some kind of 'cops and robbers' prank."

"There's nothing we can do. Apart from Edogawa, none of us have Officer Takagi's phone number."

Upon hearing this, Mitsuhiko rubbed his hair haphazardly with both hands, looking extremely nervous.

Genta looked at the window and suggested, "Why don't we just break the window and escape?"

"Look, the window is sealed shut and surrounded by barbed wire. It's not so easy to break it." Before Mitsuhiko and Ayumi could answer, Ai Haibara turned to look at the window and said calmly.

While Mitsuhiko and Genta were attacking each other, she had already observed the surroundings and concluded that it was impossible to escape from the first floor.

Seeing his suggestion rejected, Genta looked at Ai Haibara in a panic and hurriedly asked, "What should we do now?!"

Upon hearing this, Ai Haibara smiled faintly: "Don't worry, we just need to stall for a while. I already..."

Before Ai Haibara could finish speaking, two running footsteps came from the stairs, and two kidnappers appeared in front of them.

"Finally found you! You little devils were here after all~"

"It's pitiful, but now that you've discovered our secret and seen our faces, don't even think about leaving here alive!"

Upon hearing this, Mitsuhiko and the other two turned pale.

Although he wanted to escape, his limbs suddenly lost their strength and became limp.

The next second, the two kidnappers, with evil smiles on their faces, slowly walked towards the group.

Just as they were about to reach out and grab the people, a loud bang suddenly rang out.

--"Bang!!!"

Upon hearing this unusual sound, everyone present immediately turned to look in the direction of the roller shutter.

To everyone's astonishment, the roller shutter door had already flown to the ground not far away.

A figure walked in through the 'empty' door.

Immediately afterwards, a voice tinged with laughter rang in everyone's ears: "How about it, Ai? I'm not late, am I?"

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Ai Haibara smiled slightly: "Hmm, you've come at the right time~"

Mitsuhiko and the other two exclaimed excitedly, "Brother Ryūno?!"

Before the two kidnappers could figure out what was going on, Longye walked up to them and casually knocked them into the wall behind him, leaving two terrifying 'human marks' on the wall.

"Speaking of which, Conan isn't with you guys? Looks like something happened to him~"

Chapter 344 Sometimes, business opportunities can be found from strange angles.

As Ryūno stepped forward and tied up the two kidnappers, he listened to Mitsuko and the other two chattering about the cause and course of the incident.

After listening to a few words, Longye fully understood the whole story.

After receiving Ai Haibara's text message, he brought up the system map and investigated Ai Haibara's current location.

Surprisingly, besides Ai Haibara and the Detective Boys, Professor Agasa was also in the same building.

Since Professor Agasa got together with Aunt Fusae, he has rarely acted with the Junior Detective League.

Strangely, none of Mitsuhiko and the others mentioned the existence of 'Professor Agasa'.

Based on this, it seems that the kidnapper's target was probably Professor Agasa.

After shaking his head with a light laugh, Longye carried two kidnappers in each hand and led the group upstairs.

Sure enough, soon after, the group found Conan and Professor Agasa tied up in a storage room upstairs.

When they were discovered by others, the two were fast asleep.

Professor Agasa, who was kidnapped, had no obvious external injuries. However, Conan had a noticeable bruise on his left cheek, and upon closer inspection, there was a soccer ball mark on it.

When they saw Professor Agasa being carried out of the locker by Tatsuno, Ai Haibara and Mitsuhiko were all filled with surprise.

They never expected that the person the two kidnappers had taken was actually Professor Agasa, whom they knew well.

Just as Mitsuhiko and the other two were untying Conan and Professor Agasa, Tatsuno suddenly pulled out a white glove from his pocket, picked up a nearby oil drum, and turned to walk over to the two unconscious kidnappers.

After noticing Tatsuno's actions, Ai Haibara followed him out of curiosity.

With a suspicious look on her face, Longye used the hands of the two kidnappers to grab the handle of the oil drum and then poured the oil from the drum onto the ground.

"Wait! Ryūno...you don't mean to..." Ai Haibara, who was getting increasingly uneasy, quickly walked to Ryūno's side and whispered.

Upon hearing this, Ryuno immediately understood what Ai Haibara meant and chuckled, "Don't worry, I'm not some kind of serial killer~ Besides, you kids are still here, how could I be so cruel?"

"Then you..." Ai Haibara glanced at the oil drum in the 'kidnapper's' hand, and was a little confused.

"Think about it, which is more serious, a simple 'kidnapping' or a 'kidnapping + attempted murder'?" Long Ye said calmly, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Haibara Ai:"……"

After glancing at Ryuno, Ai Haibara said nothing more, but turned and walked towards Mitsuhiko and the others.

Although Ryuno's actions were somewhat 'unconventional,' she wasn't some 'flower in a greenhouse.' While Ryuno's actions were somewhat unexpected, she didn't think Ryuno had done anything wrong.

A moment later, Conan and Professor Agasa regained consciousness, and the police had arrived at the scene.

At that moment, Mitsuhiko and the other two also smelled the strong smell of gasoline coming from all around them.

They were puzzled by the sudden pungent smell of gasoline, as they remembered not having this smell when they first arrived.

But they didn't pay too much attention to this small matter.

After a brief on-site investigation, the police arrested the two kidnappers on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder, and prepared to take them back for questioning.

The two kidnappers targeted Professor Agasa because they learned by chance during their work that Professor Agasa's wife was the president of the famous brand 'Fusa'.

Therefore, when Professor Agasa was alone at home, he disguised himself as a delivery company employee, broke into Professor Agasa's house, and kidnapped him.

Their plan was simple: to demand a large ransom from Dr. Agasa's wife.

The only problem was that they were not well prepared beforehand—they only knew Professor Agasa's landline number, but not Fusae's private phone number.

So every now and then, he could only call Professor Agasa's landline and wait for Fusae to come home from get off work and answer the phone...

After everything was over, Longye and his group walked out of the building.

Seeing that it was getting dark outside, Mitsuhiko and the other two immediately waved goodbye and ran home.

After walking a few steps, Professor Agasa suddenly remembered something, scratched his head and looked at Tatsuno beside him: "Could you please not tell your Aunt Anzu about this?"

The three of them immediately understood what Professor Agasa meant. He was afraid that this matter would make Aunt Fusae worry or even feel guilty.

After all, the cause of the incident is very clear: the kidnappers wanted to kidnap Professor Agasa because they knew that Aunt Fusae was very rich.

Thinking of this, Longye smiled helplessly and waved his hand, saying, "I understand, we'll keep it a secret."

Conan and Ai Haibara nodded, agreeing to keep the secret for Dr. Agasa.

"I'm sorry to trouble you." Professor Agasa smiled apologetically.

Just then, an interesting idea suddenly popped into Longye's mind.

He then looked at Professor Agasa beside him and changed the subject: "But Professor, what will you do if you encounter something like this again next time?"

"Huh? This..." Professor Agasa frowned and stopped in his tracks.

Longye is right. Even if we can cover this up, who can guarantee that something similar won't happen again in the future?

What if another kidnapper or thug breaks into the house...

Just as the professor was pondering, Longye smiled and said, "How about this, Professor, why don't you invent a more intelligent surveillance system?"

"A more intelligent monitoring system?"

"That's right. It can function as a regular surveillance system, and it can also monitor the security around the house at any time. Once it detects someone approaching with dangerous items, it will sound an alarm..."

“Hmm… I can give it a try,” Professor Agasa nodded.

"If possible, we could integrate some simple 'defense' devices on top of this to create a comprehensive intelligent security system."

After listening to Tatsuno's advice, Professor Agasa stood there with his brows furrowed, deep in thought.

Before Professor Agasa could answer, Tatsuno continued, "How about this: I'll provide the research funding, and you, Professor, will provide the technology. We'll set up a smart security company. The company will be responsible for selling these security products."

"Huh? But I think even if we could actually figure it out, it would definitely not be cheap to make..."

"It's alright, we can just sell it to rich people. Ordinary families don't need this kind of thing, right?" Longye chuckled.

"Furthermore, if we can really develop a practical, effective, and intelligent security system, we can sell it to places like museums at a high price."

"Regarding this, once the research is complete, we can test it out at my Mika Art Museum first."

After listening to Tatsuno's vision, Professor Agasa's eyes lit up and he immediately agreed.

Seeing that Ryūno and the other man in front of them had decided to establish a 'smart security' company in just a few words, Ai Haibara and Conan were at a loss for words.

After all, Ryūno is certainly not short of money, and Professor Agasa seems to really have the technology and ability to do so.

Maybe... this thing can actually work out?

Chapter 345 Three Paths, Three Choices

Since Professor Agasa's house was not far from Tatsuno's house, the group decided to take a walk back together.

Along the way, Tatsuno and Dr. Agasa discussed the general ideas and details of 'intelligent surveillance'.

Strangely enough, Conan also quietly followed Tatsuno and the others, escorting Professor Agasa back home.