Genshin Impact players in the world of Detective Conan

"Although this lock has trapped us, it is also thanks to it that I have confirmed one thing again: there are indeed people living in this villa, and they are living, breathing people."

After all, if it were a ghost, it could easily hide the door; there would be no need for a lock, right?

Conan looked out at the dense rain curtain and seemed to see a pair of eyes hidden within it, watching him intently:

"Come on, let me see what other tricks you have up your sleeve."

Yin Kong naturally heard Conan's provocation, but he only slightly curled the corners of his mouth.

The door lock was obviously something he did on purpose.

As Conan said, if Yin Kong simply wanted to destroy Conan's worldview and prove that ghosts really exist in this world, then he should have [Barbatos in his childhood form] use illusion magic to hide the flip door.

Or to put it more directly, just grab a real monster and throw it in front of him, then there's no need for any explanation.

But obviously, what's the point of playing a horror game if monsters are always suddenly appearing in your face?

Even the most timid person will eventually become desensitized after seeing it many times.

Just like when Yin Kong walks down the street now and sees those strange-looking demons running up to him and asking him questions, he doesn't even bother to change his expression.

So when Conan's worldview is about to collapse, Yin Kong will give him a little bit of hope and fighting spirit.

Then, just when he thought he had successfully found an explanation, he was given a little mysterious shock.

Zhongli sighed softly:

"Even travelers sometimes have such wicked thoughts."

Yin Kong coughed and explained:

“Mr. Zhongli, actually I’m doing this for their own good. If I don’t scare these kids a little, they’ll develop an unruly personality sooner or later if they stay with Conan.”

Even in the real world, these kids' habit of seeking thrills and wandering into remote places is extremely dangerous, let alone in this Detective Conan world where demons really exist.

"Don't worry, I completely understand the traveler's thoughts."

Zhongli smiled slightly. After all, Hu Tao also liked to use Youyou to scare away those unwelcome guests who didn't know what was good for them.

While they were talking, Conan, whose fighting spirit had been rekindled, immediately led Ayumi back into the villa.

This time, their actions were clearly much more cautious.

Not only did they try to keep quiet, but they also dared not shine a flashlight randomly.

Finally, they successfully discovered a clue.

Thump! Thump! Thump...

Hearing the approaching footsteps and the increasingly bright light from around the corner, Conan immediately turned off his flashlight, covered Ayumi's mouth, and shrank into a corner of the corridor.

"That, that is—"

Ayumi trembled all over because she soon saw a long-haired "female ghost" pushing a food cart past her.

The light they saw was coming from the candles on the dining car.

"Conan, Conan, she, she, she is—"

Ayumi only spoke with a look of horror after the long-haired "ghost" disappeared at the end of the corridor.

If she had just entered the villa, she might not have guessed the identity of the "female ghost".

But now, Ayumi easily matched the long-haired "female ghost" with the woman in the photo.

Could it be that the family of three in the photo have turned into evil spirits?

"No, she is a human being."

Conan's tone was very certain, as if he had grasped a crucial clue.

A preliminary idea was gradually taking shape in his mind.

Although, judging from her appearance, the long-haired woman who had been hiding in the villa did indeed resemble a real demon.

However, Conan saw through her identity at a glance. On the contrary, the male homeowner he had met before, who seemed normal and had a kind and amiable tone and demeanor, made him feel an omnipresent sense of incongruity in his words and actions.

"But Conan, she's disappeared."

However, when Conan decided to follow this long-haired "female ghost" who was not very wary, he was surprised to find that she had also suddenly disappeared at the end of the corridor, leaving only an empty food cart behind.

"Oh, I see. It's a basement."

Conan, however, looked at the marks on the ground and smiled confidently, feeling that he had solved Yin Kong's trick of disappearing into thin air.

Chapter 171 Exposed

Under Yin Kong's watchful eye, Conan quickly used his newly acquired gadget—a retractable harness—to successfully open the basement door, revealing the hidden passage below.

"Where...where am I??"

To Conan's great surprise, the underground passage had a very simple structure, with only three rooms in total:

A bedroom for resting, a toilet, and a secret room at the far end.

The long-haired woman was preparing something in the rest room, so they sneaked out to the secret room at the end.

The layout here is cramped and cramped, and can be described as rudimentary.

Apart from a small cell of about seven or eight square meters containing a man who looked like a wild man, there was only a cabinet for storing odds and ends. There was none of the interconnected secret passages that Conan had imagined, allowing him to move freely throughout the entire villa.

How could this be?

Could it be that there is a similar underground secret room beneath that study?

While Conan was still in a daze, the long-haired woman's footsteps sounded again from behind.

He immediately pulled Ayumi along and ran behind the cabinet to hide.

Did you have another nightmare?

Under the light, Conan and Ayumi finally saw the woman's exact appearance.

She was not only emaciated and had a blank expression, but her messy long hair also covered half of her face. Even without makeup, she was perfectly suited for a horror movie shoot. She was completely different from the dignified and elegant lady in the photo.

However, upon seeing the people in the prison, her tone softened somewhat:

"It seems you still can't forget that incident..."

However, the man locked in the cell remained silent, not uttering a single word.

The woman sighed. She had offered this advice countless times and knew it was useless, so she didn't say anything more. Instead, she picked up the food she had prepared and was about to send it in through the gap under the cell.

But soon, she froze:

"Someone's there! Who is it?!"

Conan was startled, completely bewildered as to how he had been exposed.

But when he followed the woman's gaze, he quickly revealed a look of realization and helplessness—

He and Ayumi had just run in from the yard. Although they hadn't gotten wet, the soles of their shoes were already soaked, leaving footprints wherever they went.

Of course, by the time they got here, their footprints were already very shallow.

Not to mention in the dark, it wasn't noticeable even under the old-fashioned electric light, so the long-haired woman didn't notice anything unusual at first.

It wasn't until I was about to put the plate on the ground that I realized something was wrong.

"Hiding won't help, come out now!"

Following the footprints, the woman quickly located Conan's position, gripped the kitchen knife, and glared menacingly at their hiding place.

Conan knew he could no longer hide, and sneered:

"I should be the one saying that, madam."

While the woman was still in a daze, Conan began his own deduction:

"Aren't you also hiding here, trying to hide from everyone's sight?"

I've always wondered why you went to such lengths to create this ghost story, spreading rumors about the haunted house and preparing so many strange methods. Now it seems it was all to maintain the illusion that the man who owns the house, your husband, is already dead, right?

The woman was stunned again, and frowned as she said:

"What... what are you talking about?"

"Still playing dumb?"

Conan didn't find anything wrong, because criminals were often stubborn. He walked out from behind the cabinet and confidently said:

"I don't know how you managed to fool the police, probably through some strange methods, right? But I guess the reason your husband chose to fake his death was either because of poor management and huge debts, or because he had bought a large insurance policy, right?"

He had seen many cases like this, where people were trying to escape debts or insurance payouts.

However, the woman's reaction was completely unexpected.

That wasn't anger and embarrassment after the truth was exposed, but rather a ferocious expression of being simply startled:

"Fake death? Debt? What nonsense are you spouting, you brat?"

The man in the prison also went berserk, clutching his head and shouting wildly:

"Yes, I killed my father! I killed him..."

"What? That man is really dead, and you killed him with your own hands? We just saw him in the villa. Are you sure?"

Seeing Akio's reaction, Conan's confident expression froze, then turned into disbelief and shock.

In this situation, he didn't think the man would lie.

And if all of this is a lie, then his acting skills are just too good, aren't they?

But if that's the case, then who was the person they saw?!

Since the mother and son had been secretly living in the villa, the speculation that outside criminals used it as a base was basically proven false.

After all, although this villa is not small, it is still quite difficult to get two groups of people to live peacefully in it.

Moreover, judging from this woman's condition, she would never allow anyone else to be in the villa.

But if the man could not be the long-dead male owner, nor was he an outsider in disguise, then who was he?

In an instant, Conan felt a chill run down his spine again.

However, the woman holding the knife and the man in the prison seemed to react even more intensely than Conan.

"What did you say? You saw that person?" The woman suddenly grabbed Conan by the collar, slammed him against the wall, and demanded in a frantic tone, "Who did you see? Tell me!"

However, Conan was being choked and couldn't speak.

You're asking me a question, so give me a chance to answer it!

Conan, who was even having some difficulty breathing, couldn't help but think to himself.

Could he really just die at the hands of this crazy woman?

Clearly, while the woman's mental state wasn't as chaotic as her son's in prison, it had long been abnormal. Under such stimulation, she immediately became frantic and nearly lost her mind.

Upon seeing this, Ayumi screamed and said in a tearful voice:

"It's...it's that bald guy in the photo, he...he...he kidnapped Genta and Mitsuhiko..."

The long-haired woman looked around in horror, and then she saw a familiar figure behind her son.

Yin Kong, disguised as a bald man, reached out his hands towards Zhao Fu in the cell, seemingly trying to drag him into some abyss.

The woman's eyes widened, and she immediately released Conan's hand, letting out a heart-wrenching scream:

Chapter 172 Fingerprint

"It's all my fault, please let Akio go!"

"Please, please spare him! If you must kill someone, kill me instead!"

Conan and Ayumi exchanged bewildered glances as the woman, who had been acting like a madwoman just moments before, suddenly knelt down in front of the cell, frantically kowtowing and begging for mercy.

The illusion created by [Barbatos's Childhood Form] was not shown to them, so they naturally could not see Yin Kong's existence, let alone understand the woman's behavior at this moment.

Seeing her like this, both of them felt a chill run down their spines.

"I will take him to turn himself in!"

Only after hearing these words did Yin Kong nod slightly, withdraw his hand amidst the woman's surprised expression, and slowly disappear.