He's in Detective Conan, and he's the mastermind behind everything.

There was a bridge made of ropes and planks, but it had broken off on the other side of the cliff, and the bridge was now lying on this side, clinging to the cliff face.

Xiaolan glanced at the width of the cliff, then looked back at the height of the trees behind her, and shook her head.

"Sorry, there's not enough distance to build a bridge. We'll have to take another route."

Megure nodded hastily, inwardly thinking to himself that he had never even considered building a bridge on the spot.

"Sister Xiaolan, could you throw a vine over there?"

As everyone turned to leave, Conan suddenly spoke.

Xiaolan nodded: "If you tie stones to it, it should work. Do you want the other side to pull up the bridge? It's very heavy, you know. Miss Ayako and the others probably can't do it."

“Aren’t Kyogoku-nii and Mizuki-nii here? They must be here too. The signs of damage on the road look very fresh,” Conan said.

"That's true, but..."

Xiao Lan looked up at the garden.

Sonoko snorted: "Kyogoku-senpai can do it all by himself. Let Mizuki Hotaru go and carry the luggage."

“Okay, then you call Kyogoku-senpai, I’ll go find Fujiman.”

Xiaolan remained noncommittal and turned to walk into the forest.

After finishing her call, Sonoko glanced irritably at Conan, who was looking down from the edge of the cliff: "This bridge can be repaired later, right? This kid just loves to boss people around."

Conan ignored her question and simply asked, "Are there wild animals in this mountain?"

Sonoko grew increasingly annoyed, but still replied, "If we go further into the Tanzawa Mountains, there might be wild boars, and I've heard there are even bears, but I've never seen one."

Conan, lost in thought, grabbed the rope at the edge of the broken bridge and slid down the cliff.

Everyone on the cliff was stunned. They rushed to the edge of the cliff, calling out Conan's name, and looked down.

Conan was at the end of the broken bridge, holding onto a rope with his feet in the gaps between the wooden planks, observing where the rope had broken.

Megure let out a sigh of relief and told Conan to come up quickly, but Conan did not answer.

Shortly after, Ran returned with the vines. Knowing that Conan was below the cliff, she threw the vines down.

"Conan, grab me, I'll pull you up."

"No need, Ran-neechan. Could you separate the vines into two strands so I can tie a knot in the rope?" Conan replied from below the cliff.

"Honestly, you're so naughty."

Xiao Lan pulled back the rather long vine, split it into two strands, tied a rope loop at one end, and attached it to the wooden stake at the bridgehead. After testing its sturdiness, she grabbed the vine with one hand and the broken bridge rope with the other, and slid down.

This startled everyone again, but thanks to Xiaolan's previous performance, no one panicked as much as before.

Ran came down to Conan's side, and Conan stared at her blankly, about to speak.

"Ouch——!"

He received a heavy flick on the forehead.

Conan covered his forehead with one hand, his eyes filled with a pitiful look. What he originally wanted to say, "You can wait for me up here, you don't need to come down," now turned into:

"why did you hit me?"

"Because you are a reckless brat, always trying to be brave, it has already reached a very dangerous level."

Xiao Lan waved the vine in her hand: "This is alive, and it's as thick as a rope. Look at your right hand. You can barely hold onto the rope. Do you want to tie a knot with one hand? What if you risk using both hands and fall down?"

Xiaolan glanced down and saw only pitch blackness, without a ray of light, and a faint, eerie wind blowing.

Bo——!

"Ouch! Sister Xiaolan, what are you doing?"

Conan had just loosened his grip on his forehead when he quickly covered it again; his eyes were already brimming with tears.

"If you fall from here, there's no way you'll survive. I need to make sure you remember this, you clumsy fool." Ran handed two strands of vine to Conan. "Why don't you try it with one hand? Remember to fall slowly, or I won't be able to catch you."

"Humph, no way."

Conan was quite annoyed to be lectured like this by Ran, who used to be the one he needed to take care of. He decided to show Ran how easily he could accomplish this task.

As Xiaolan said, he couldn't tie the knot at all because his hands were too small.

This made Conan realize that he had indeed been too arrogant, and that his shrunken body was far less sturdy and powerful than before.

Conan tried several times without success and became somewhat discouraged, so he secretly went to look at Ran.

Ran looked at him calmly, without any expression, but Conan could still sense a hint of mockery.

"I told you so, you arrogant little detective."

Conan deduced that Ran must be thinking those words right now.

This made him quite unwilling, so he gritted his teeth and bit the end of the vine. Fresh juice burst into his mouth, bitter and astringent.

But he still managed to tie a knot properly and proudly showed it to Xiaolan.

"Well, I've finished."

Xiao Lan shook her head and sighed softly, telling him to let go, and gently stepped on the dangling rope.

pat--!

The knot loosened instantly, and the elastic vine tip lashed towards Conan's face. Conan quickly dodged, and "whoosh—" the vine grazed past his mouth.

Conan felt a burning pain in his lips and was grimacing as he gasped for breath when he heard Ran chuckle.

Conan was annoyed. This guy was awful! He immediately glared at him.

The next second, he froze on the spot.

Xiaolan's azure eyes sparkled with the gentle light of the rising sun, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, outlining a captivating curve.

In a daze, Conan saw it—the Sakura Class from thirteen years ago…

No, it's even more beautiful and splendid than it was then.

The current Xiaolan possesses a radiance he has never seen before—pure and stunning.

My hand, without me even realizing it, let go.

Snapped--!

Ran barely let Conan fall an inch before grabbing him by the back of his collar.

"I'm sorry, that was rude of me, but Conan-kun, your lip gloss looks really good right now."

"........."

Conan was speechless, pursed his lips slightly, feeling a burning sensation, and guessed that he must have a pair of huge sausage lips right now.

"Snap out of it, grab the rope, let me tie the knot, you tied it too loosely."

Ran's hand trembled slightly, and Conan quickly grabbed the ropes on the broken bridge with both hands, unable to help but mutter a complaint under his breath.

"That's dangerous, my clothes are buttoned up."

"Now you know the danger. What were you thinking before? I was going to have you try tying the knot with both hands and catch you after you fell a little further. But Kyogoku-senpai is already here, so business is more important. Let Inspector Megure give you a good talking-to."

Xiao Lan said while tying a knot with one hand.

Conan glanced across the cliff and saw a dark-skinned figure backlit by bandaging his left arm.

"Heh, those two really went too far before, they've both gotten injured."

“It’s normal for martial artists to get injured. Compared to your recklessness, that level of injury is nothing.”

"...Isn't Sister Xiaolan worried about Brother Shuiyue?"

"Because Shuiyue-kun will definitely be alright."

"Sister Xiaolan trusts Brother Shuiyue so much?"

"Yeah, kid, you're asking so many questions. Aren't you precocious? Do you have a girlfriend in elementary school?"

The more Xiaolan learned about Yingsheng, the more she felt that Yingsheng was too amazing, with no limit in sight. She could only do her best to get closer to him.

But she herself was unsure of the actual results.

"Ah ha ha……"

Conan scratched his head awkwardly: "I was just curious, about girlfriends and stuff..."

Haha, I don't want to go back to elementary school.

Conan, eager to change the subject, glanced at Ran's knot-tying technique and his eyes lit up: "Is Ran-neechan tying a fisherman's knot? The kind that gets stronger the more you apply pressure?"

Ran nodded: "Conan-kun is indeed a little genius, so knowledgeable. This is what Mizuki-kun taught me."

"Oh, it's Brother Shuiyue."

Conan's interest waned for some reason, but he still casually asked, "Why are you suddenly teaching knots? Is there any use for them?"

"No, it was just a casual chat about knots, and Mizuki-kun told me which knots were useful, like the fisherman's knot..."

Xiaolan paused, suddenly remembering the first example Yingsheng gave when teaching her how to use this knot:

"If you tie someone up with this kind of knot, as long as the rope is of good quality, that person will definitely not be able to escape."

"........."

Thinking of this, Xiaolan was speechless, just like before. Shuiyue-jun really was a lawless madman.

He wouldn't have someone tied up right now, would he?

Seeing Conan's curious expression, Ran smiled and continued, "Mizuki-kun said that this kind of knot is perfect for emergency rescues and won't cause any accidents, which is just right for this situation. As for why we're talking about this, well... have you read 'The Sign of Four'? It mentions a special kind of knot."

"The Sign of Four?!"

Conan wasn't in a great mood at first, thinking that Hotaru was much more attentive to Ran than he was, but upon hearing Ran's last words, he was immediately jolted as if by lightning, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Conan Doyle's 'The Sign of Four'?!"

wrong!

how can that be!

Xiao Lan actually read Sherlock Holmes?!

"Are you that surprised?" Xiaolan frowned slightly. "Is there something wrong with this novel?"