Masked W: I'm like peanuts or vegetables, and Saeko is outside the door.

29 Philip ignored his complaints, picked up the bag, and said excitedly, "Look, Shotaro, the Amanita rubiginosa is perfectly fine!"

Shotaro was even more speechless, and sighed deeply, "Instead of picking mushrooms, you should worry more about our safety!"

"Don't worry, nothing will happen."

"Let's go pick some more mushrooms up ahead. Maybe we'll find the legendary mushrooms that Princess Wakana mentioned on the radio the other day!"

Philip looked eager to try.

Shotaro Saka sighed helplessly.

He finally understood where his partner's interest in picking mushrooms came from.

......

Narumi Office.

Neither of them came back.

Terui Ryu glanced at the clock on the wall; it was already evening. Hearing this, Akiko got annoyed. "That's right, Philip is obsessed with searching for mushrooms. He most wants to see... um... a kind of mushroom that I don't know what it's called. Shotaro said he saw it on Mount Kazefuki before."

“And then…” Akiko said, mimicking Philip’s tone, “Philip said, ‘Then please take me to see it!’”

"Besides, Shotaro also likes the feeling of being needed, so he thought it would be nice to take a vacation once in a while, and that's how it turned out."

After Akiko finished explaining the situation, she scratched her head and looked at Terui Ryu with a smile. Terui Ryu listened quietly, picked up his coffee, and said, "Director, what you just said sounded like a story of good friends getting along happily."

He took a sip of coffee, glancing helplessly at the heavy snow falling outside the window.

"But in this kind of weather, ordinary people would probably think they had died."

Akiko froze on the spot, stiffly turning around, her voice trembling as she said:

"Yes...yes...you're right..."

Teruji shook his head helplessly.

The two unfortunate souls mentioned were unable to discern their direction due to the heavy snowfall, so they could only aimlessly continue forward step by step.

With a face full of despair, Shotaro looked up casually and saw a huge dark shadow not far away. He squinted and, after confirming it, exclaimed excitedly:

"Look! There are houses ahead!"

The two were immediately filled with hope, and they gritted their teeth and mustered their strength to walk to the house.

However, upon arriving at the scene, they discovered that all they found were ruins and the remains of houses.

"This is an abandoned village."

Philip saw it clearly and said.

"hateful!"

Shotaro's hopes were shattered, and he collapsed to his knees, despair rising in his heart.

"Shotaro, someone's coming!"

Philip looked at the figures that were visible through the heavy snow and exclaimed in surprise.

Shotaro then raised his lowered head and looked at the figure.

A figure with long, flowing hair could be seen, but the face was obscured by the blizzard; only the general outline was visible.

Shotaro looked again and again, and when he saw the three flowing long hairs, he couldn't help but think of that urban legend. As the person got closer and closer, he was so frightened that he fell backward into the snow and shouted, "Snow... Snow Woman!"

The figure that had reached them gradually revealed itself. A woman dressed in heavy clothing stood before them, holding two thick cloaks, her young and beautiful face exposed. She spoke,

"Did you get lost in the blizzard?"

Seeing that he was a normal person, Shotaro Zuo got up and replied repeatedly, "Yes, are you a resident of this neighborhood?"

The woman didn't say anything, but simply handed the cloaks she was holding to the two men one by one.

Overjoyed to receive the cape, Shotaro knew he wouldn't be unlucky enough to freeze to death in the storm.

"Come with me quickly," the woman said, and then started walking forward.

The two then put on their cloaks and followed behind the woman. Shotaro excitedly shouted, "We're saved!"

The three walked through the ruins. Shotaro looked around, glanced at the woman leading the way, and said softly, "It seems there are still houses here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the person leading the way stopped.

Shotaro looked up and froze in place when he saw the house in front of him.

“A private residence…” Philip looked up, pursed his lips, and gazed at the luxurious villa before him. “It doesn’t look like this.”

Before Shotaro could even finish his thought, the woman was already standing at a small doorway, waving at them and calling out, "You two, come here quickly! Come this way."

The two followed him inside. After closing the door, in the warm house, Shotaro took off his snow-covered cloak and muttered something under his breath.

"It's so cold, I'm saved."

Philip took off his hat and said gratefully:

"Thank you, you saved our lives."

"You're welcome. I just happened to see you two."

"Is this mansion your property, Miss?" Shotaro asked curiously.

The woman simply shook her head and smiled, turning her back and saying, "No, you've misunderstood."

"I'll go talk to the master and see if you can take shelter here from the wind and snow for a while. Could you please wait here for me?"

Shotaro suddenly realized and replied with a smile, "Of course, just standing here at the door is a hundred times warmer than outside."

The woman nodded, took a few steps forward, and then suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh, right, there's one more thing I need to trouble you with. Could you please not tell anyone in this mansion that you've seen my face?"

"Eh?"

Both Shotaro and Philip were somewhat puzzled.

Can you guarantee that?

Although he was puzzled, Shotaro nodded, "Of course there is no problem, after all, it is the request of my savior."

The woman nodded and then walked straight ahead.

The two stood at the gate and took out their phones, only to find that there was still no signal. Shotaro sighed, "There's no signal here either."

Philip speculated, "Could it be the effect of abnormal weather?"

At that moment, a hand appeared from around the corner at the end, and a voice came from the corner, "The master wants to see both of you."

The two exchanged a glance and followed behind the woman in front.

Philip stared at the woman leading the way and asked in confusion, "This woman seems different from before. Is it because her voice is a little deeper?"

"My thought is that I never expected her to be a woman who would dare to wear such a backless dress, hehehe." Zuo Xiangtaro looked at the dress the woman was wearing, unable to control his smile, and his mouth was filled with a worthless, silly grin.

Philip witnessed this scene.

Speechless and choked.

Soon, the three arrived at a door. The woman opened the door, and the two who entered were stunned by what they saw.

The interior was extremely luxurious, and right in front of them sat a central figure, like a king on a throne.

The man was wearing a mask and holding a wine glass, surrounded by three scantily clad women, all of whom were also wearing masks.

The butlers and bodyguards around them were all wearing masks.

Even the woman leading the way was wearing a strange mask, which startled Shotaro.

The man sitting in the main seat downed his drink in one gulp, sighed, and then greeted them in a low voice, "Greetings, gentlemen. I am the owner of this house."

A woman sitting on a high seat, wearing a mask, spoke in a voice that sounded aged and weathered: "I never thought there would be people seeking refuge in this world."

"We can't just leave someone who's freezing to death, Grandma," the owner of the house said.

"Speaking of which, you two," the man said, with a beautiful woman on each arm around his, "I have a question for you. What do you think we're doing here?"

Philip looked around for a moment, then said, "A masquerade ball hosted by a wealthy man with peculiar interests. I can't think of anything else. What do you think?"

The man burst into laughter. "That's what most people would think, right?"

“That’s not necessarily true.” Shotaro put on his hat and interrupted, “First of all, this shouldn’t be the kind of party where people just have fun with pretty girls, otherwise the women wouldn’t be wearing scary masks. I think this is not just a strange hobby, but probably has some kind of meaning.”

"Also, if this is a banquet for the host's entertainment, then the old lady is getting in the way."

"And there was a golden screen-like thing behind her, so she was probably the person with the highest status present."

"So I don't think this is a banquet for pleasure."

The man nodded. "Very good, so your answer is..."

Shotaro's lips curled up slightly as he confidently said, "To be honest, dressing up as a monster is probably the most fitting description."

"It's like a scene from the movie 'The Fox's Wedding'."

"Hmph, hahahaha." The man laughed, then leaned down to look at him with interest. "What's your name? What do you do for a living?"

“My name is Shotaro Sato, and this is Philip. We are both private detectives.”

The man suddenly realized, "No wonder! That's amazing! Your intuition is spot on; your explanation was very close to the correct answer."

"Huh? What did you say?" Shotaro was surprised when he heard this.