Conan Rick's Investigator

"It's not certain whether you can sleep here...it's already this late, so don't ask for so much."

Koizumi Hongzi felt a little unhappy after being taught a lesson by Qin Zhibo, but she didn't say anything.

Since they met and experienced some events together, their relationship has long evolved from initial unfamiliarity with each other to a feeling similar to that of friends and comrades-in-arms.

Although Koizumi Hongzi has a bad temper, she now restrains herself in front of Qin Zhibo.

……

Qin Zhibo entered the building called "Indian House" alone.

There was no one in the front hall, and Qin Zhibo did not choose to ring the bell. Instead, he observed the environment first. This was an old habit of his as an FBI detective.

It can be seen that this was once a hotel, and the semi-packaged front desk of the old hotel is still preserved.

However, perhaps due to the scarcity of customers nowadays, most of the hotels have been converted into private residences, with many personal belongings placed in them. Apart from looking a bit messy, they are relatively clean.

Standing on the brightly colored stalls with Indian aesthetics, Qin Zhibo pressed the copper bell on the front desk.

jingle--

A crisp sound was heard, and soon a burly figure walked out from the dark corridor next to it.

This was an Indian man with a round face and a broad forehead. He was wiping his dark hands with a white towel and looking at me appraisingly.

"Hello, can you provide accommodation here?"

The Indian man wiped his hands silently until he was done, then walked to the front desk to respond to Qin Zhibo's question.

"Yes, but you have to pay for the room first. It's $60 a night."

"The price is fair, deal."

It is really not easy to find a place to stay in this "wilderness", and the price is really reasonable. Qin Zhibo immediately paid for and booked two rooms.

Back in the car, Qin Zhibo quickly asked Koizumi Hongzi to move the luggage downstairs, fearing that the Indian man would change his mind if it was too late.

The two returned to the hotel lobby carrying large and small bags. The Indian man stared at them for several seconds like a human scanner before taking them upstairs.

The two were taken upstairs through a dark and narrow staircase.

"You can choose any room on the second floor. The room may be a little dirty. If you need cleaning, come to the utility room on the first floor to get the cleaning tools."

"I'll bring the bedding over later, but there's no water heater on this floor. If you want to take a shower, you can come to my room on the first floor..."

After saying this, the Indian man went downstairs.

The remaining two people looked at the two rooms in the corridor. Qin Zhibo decisively chose the room facing the town exit and where he could see the hill.

But when they pushed the door open and entered the room, they realized they had been tricked.

The room was not just dirty, it was VERY dirty!

The corners of the walls were filled with dusty spider webs, and the simply furnished furniture in the room was also covered with a thick layer of dust. It was almost not comfortable to live in.

"be cheated!"

Qin Zhibo cried out that he had been cheated. No wonder he had to collect the room fee first. It turned out that he was waiting here!

Crafty locals!

……

It took an hour to clean up the room, and the Indian man brought the bedding over.

After making the bed, it was already evening and time for dinner.

Although the housing conditions are a bit disappointing, this "hotel" provides three meals a day. The main dish is traditional Indian charcoal-grilled animal meat, served with salty bread and raisins.

While eating, Qin Zhibo asked the Indian man his name because he could not understand the Indian language.

"My name is Benniu, just call me Benniu."

This is a name named after an animal and is very Indian.

Benniu grabbed the slightly burnt roasted meat with his hands and put it into his mouth, without caring at all about his eating manners in front of Ms. Koizumi Hongzi.

Qin Zhibo also ate a lot of this charcoal-grilled animal meat because the taste was really good, similar to the original barbecue flavor.

But Koizumi Hongzi just sniffed the plate and didn't touch them again. She only ate a few raisins.

Compared to this rough game, she appreciated the instant noodles more.

After the meal, Benniu took out some tea leaves, brewed them and brought them to Qin Zhibo, while Koizumi Hongzi went back to her room to eat the instant food she brought with her.

Drinking the fragrant tea and sitting leisurely on the wrap-around fabric sofa, Qin Zhibo felt that the $60 was not a bad investment.

However, he did not forget the important matter and asked Benniu who came to clean up the tea set.

"Have there been any other outsiders in town recently?"

Benniu thought about it and shook his head, "No."

Hearing this answer, Qin Zhibo looked thoughtful.

The "outsider" he was asking about was naturally Mr. Clock.

I had previously agreed on a meeting place with Mr. Clock, and since I had been staying in New York for two days on business, Mr. Clock should have been in Binger Town.

Or is he lurking somewhere nearby?

If there was any place to hide in the plains surrounding Binger Town, it was the hill not far away.

But at this moment, the usually taciturn Benniu took the initiative to ask, "Are you planning to go to the 'hill'?"

"Hill?" Qin Zhibo asked in confusion.

"It's that haunted hill outside of town."

"Ghost?" This topic piqued Qin Zhibo's interest. "Excuse me, what exactly is going on here?"

Benniu put the tea set aside and said calmly, "This place was a very popular exploration spot decades ago. Legend has it that the spirits of Red Man ancestors often wandered the hills with blue torches, which attracted many white explorers."

"But almost all the explorers mysteriously disappeared in the hills, and no one knows where they went."

"There was once a colonel who came here to explore and returned successfully, but he became insane, constantly muttering things like 'people lurking underground', 'blue light', and 'golden cities'..."

When Qin Zhibo heard the phrase "people lurking underground", he smelled the scent of the main mission.

If the legendary underground world "Kunyang" is nearby, that hill is likely to be the passage leading to Kunyang.

"Do you know anything else? Can you tell me everything?"

Qin Zhibo pressed the issue again, but Benniu shook his head. "I'm not sure about the details. By the time I was born, the passion for adventure had already faded quite a bit."

"The old people in the town who knew about what happened at that time have all passed away. My father is probably the last person to know the secret."

"But he also disappeared forever when he was guiding a lady more than ten years ago..."

After reading Benniu's description, Qin Zhibo roughly understood the experience of this small town.

Binger Town was once bustling with adventure and gold rush, and there were even rumors that there was a city made of gold under the hill.

But as the enthusiasm for adventure faded, people gradually gave up coming here and the town fell into decline.

Originally, the town of Binger was supposed to expand its area as it modernized, but the locals were afraid of offending the souls of the Indian ancestors on the hill, so they dared not build large-scale projects, let alone approach the hill.

Therefore, this place has basically maintained the appearance of the 1920s and 1930s.

However, Bull Run's father, an Indian named "Grey Eagle", was very business-minded. He took advantage of the exploration boom to open this hotel and hosted many explorers who came here.

But even so, the last time they received explorers was fifteen years ago, when a lady in red and her servants came here and hired Old Gray Eagle as their guide.

However, to this day, the lady in red, her servants, and the old gray eagle have never returned. Like most explorers, they have disappeared on the vast red earth.

Qin Zhibo felt a little alert and asked, "What did the lady in red look like? Did she leave a name?"

Benniu shook his head calmly. "I don't have a name... but I remember that the lady in red often communicated with the servants in a language I couldn't understand, and she was also very interested in my father's amulet."

"Amulet? What kind of amulet?"

"It's a metal disc passed down in our family, with strange patterns carved on it."

Hearing Benniu's words, Qin Zhibo's eyes turned, he took out his wallet from his pocket and was about to take off the badge of UM.

But when he turned to the back of the badge, he saw a small yellow sticker.

"Ok?"

Peeling off the sticker, there is a thin layer of electronic components inside, which looks somewhat familiar.

Isn't this Conan's signal tracker?

Why do I have this thing on me?

Qin Zhibo didn't know that this was Conan stuck in his wallet at Rena Mizunashi's house.

But now this signal tracker has long run out of battery and has lost its function.

Conan thought that his tracker had been discovered by Qin Zhibo, so he didn't try to retrieve it and it stayed with him forever.

This Conan, even I am investigating...

Qin Zhibo, who had thought everything through, made a silent note in his mind and showed the back of the badge after removing the sticker to Benniu.

"Is it this pattern?"

Benniu stared at it carefully, shook his head and said, "No, it's a much more complicated pattern than this. I remember it was engraved with a snake and an octopus..."

"Snakes and octopuses?"

"Yes, and perhaps there were toads, too. But it was so long ago that I can't remember."

"Where is that amulet now?"

"My father wore it the last time he was a guide."

Apparently, the amulet didn't do much good.

But Qin Zhibo was more curious about where the guide was going. If they were going to the hills, they wouldn't need a guide at all. The hill was right there, and they just had to climb up.

Facing Qin Zhibo's doubts, Benniu explained.

"My father knew long ago about a secret passage in the valley that leads to the bottom of that hill."

"He had truly seen that place before, but he didn't go crazy and came back alive."

"But there's no second chance of being lucky..."

Benniu's words once again reminded Qin Zhibo that there is more than one way to enter Kunyang.

He decided to start his investigation from the hills outside the town.

……

Back in the room, Qin Zhibo told Koizumi Hongzi the information he had obtained from Benniu.

However, he deliberately concealed the part about the "lady in red" to prevent Koizumi Akako from doing anything impulsive.

The two agreed to go to the top of the hill to investigate before Mr. Clock showed up.

Late at night, Qin Zhibo and Koizumi Hongzi walked to the hill a few hundred meters away.

The hill, which is more than ten meters high, has slopes with a consistent inclination angle, and the difficulty of climbing it is the same no matter where you start.

However, Koizumi Hongzi brought her magic broom, and easily carried the two of them to the top of the hill.

The hill is one hundred meters long and less than 20 meters wide. From a bird's-eye view, it looks like a long and narrow oval.

The hilltop was dark and quiet at night, with a cool breeze. The lush bushes and tall grass blocked the view a little, but it looked no different from the daytime.

"I'll go over there and have a look."

"Okay, but don't go too far..."

Koizumi Akako strolled alone in another direction, while Qin Zhibo summoned Minase Yangmeng.

At this point, it is natural to make good use of her "ability to pass through walls".

Chapter 989 Arriving in Kunyang!

As soon as she summoned Minase Yomu, she found that something was wrong with the surrounding environment.

"Is this...a wild place?"