Detective Conan: The System Takes Me to Zero's World

As the three of them reached the door, the lights of the black rare antique car came on.

Toru Amuro deliberately held Kudo Yuki's arm to avoid the potholes in the road, and only went around to the driver's seat after he helped her into the passenger seat.

Yasuharu Haneda's physical condition is not suitable for driving for long periods of time, so he was originally planned to travel this distance.

The car slowly drove away from Poirot, and Kudo Xue just fastened his seat belt.

Shushu poked his little head out and pointed his chubby paw at the briefcase in the back seat: "Mr. Haneda's bag is shaking! Something seems to be making noises inside!"

When Yasuharu Haneda heard the sound, he immediately unzipped his briefcase, and an ebony chess box slid out from the compartment and landed on the foot pad.

A corner of the box lid popped open, revealing the dark red velvet inside. Three polished chess pieces lay quietly there. The pattern on one of the corner pieces was exactly the same as the amulet in the photo just now.

"This is the last chess box Hiroshi sorted out before his accident," Haneda Yasuharu bent down to pick it up. "Mary said you need clues about 'ES Dark Amber'. The code he wrote is engraved on the inside of this box. Perhaps it can be matched with the fragment of Wakasa Rumi's prosthetic eye."

Yasuharu Haneda held the ebony chess box in his palm.

Kudo Yuki noticed that there was a groove on the dark red velvet inside the box, which was exactly the shape of a square chess piece, and the edge was stained with silver powder that had not been cleaned off.

"This horn chess piece... isn't in the box?" She lightly traced the groove with her fingertips and looked up at Haneda Yasuharu. "This is the amulet that Mr. Koji carried with him back then, right?"

Haneda Yasuharu paused, then nodded slowly. "The chess piece disappeared on the day Koji was killed. The police only found an empty chess box at the scene, and we always thought it was taken by the murderer."

He opened the lid of the box and saw several lines of light brown handwritten codes. "Mary said you were looking up the code for 'ES Dark Amber'. Could the numbers on it be related to the artificial eye fragments?"

Amuro Toru's grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shushu's little head pop out of Kudo Yuki's pocket and sniff the chess box. "The box smells like rum! And silver powder—the same as the one that locks the lab equipment!"

Kudo Yuki immediately took the chess box and examined it carefully under the dome light. "There are four faint marks on the velvet, which look like the positions of the pieces. Toru, do you remember the interrogation record mentioning that Mr. Koji liked to play in a figure-eight pattern?"

Amuro Toru freed a hand and fished out a pen and paper from his storage compartment. "You mean the 'circumventing the enemy' move? I'll draw it, and we'll see if we can spell out the numbers."

He quickly drew a simple chessboard and marked the four positions as A, B, C, and D. "Mr. Haneda, where does Mr. Koji usually start his moves?"

Yasuharu Haneda leaned over the blueprint, his eyes brimming with nostalgia. "He always said, 'Open with a corner, protect with wings.' He would always place the corner piece first, on the A-slot, the third square from the right side of the board."

Shushu suddenly jumped onto the dashboard and pointed his chubby paw at point A on the diagram. "From here to point B is two steps! And to point C is one step! I counted!"

Kudo Yuki deduced in the direction it pointed, drawing an arc on the paper with the tip of her pen: "A to B is 2, B to C is 1, C to D is 4... and finally from D back to A, that's exactly 8 steps! The total is 2148!"

She looked up at Amuro Toru, her eyes brightening surprisingly. "This should be the password to the device lock! When Haneda Koji took the Kakuyuki chess pieces and gave them to Wakasa Rumi, maybe he was trying to pass on the password clue."

Just as Toru Amuro was about to speak, he received a text message on his phone:

Bourbon, that gentleman has transferred the vodka to the laboratory. You and I both know its purpose. Gin wants to keep the illusion of "obedience" a little longer. - Vermouth: Absinthe

Kudo Yuki put the chess box back into Haneda Yasuharu's hands: "The old man is testing Gin and hitting Rum."

Haneda Yasuharu clenched the chess box tightly as the ventilator's sound suddenly became rapid. "Does the fragment of the artificial eye that Wakasa-sensei brought with him match this code?"

"I'm sure we can." Amuro Toru restarted the car, his eyes scanning the receding Poirot Café in the rearview mirror. "Matsuda and the others will keep an eye on Wakasa-sensei. Once we confirm the original logo, we can use 2148 to unlock the lab's equipment. By then, Rum's little tricks won't be hidden anymore."

Shushu curled up in Kudo Yuki's pocket and gently patted her palm with his little paw. "Oh, and there's a note inside the chess box! It says 'Wings hidden in the corners'—it matches the pattern on the back of the chess piece!"

Kudo Yuki smiled and touched the rat in her pocket, then turned to look at Haneda Yasuharu. "Mr. Koji left clues a long time ago, but we're only now understanding them. This time we go to the old house, maybe we can find more secrets about 'ES Dark Amber'."

Yasuharu Haneda held the chess box tightly in his arms, as if holding the truth that had spanned many years.

The light inside the car reflected the sharp gleam in the eyes of the three people.

Kudo Yuki's fingertips were still on the code on the inside of the chess box. The string of "2148" was like a red-hot iron, leaving a clear hope in the dim light.

Toru Amuro held the steering wheel, his eyes filled with coldness towards the winery conspiracy, but also with determination to uncover the truth.

The knuckles of Yasuharu Haneda turned slightly white as he held the chess box, and the gentle sound of the ventilator was filled with the eagerness to seek justice for Hiroshi Haneda.

The code 2148 is not only the key to unlocking the device, but also the first crack in the distillery's conspiracy. It connects to the unspoken truth of Haneda Hiroshi, the chip hidden in Rum's briefcase, and the core secret of the "ES Amber Project."

From now on, the covered-up bloodstains, tampered procedures, and imprisoned consciences will all be exposed to the light little by little through this crack.

A rare black antique car was driving on the mountain road leading to the Haneda family's old house. The low classical music playing on the car radio was stopped by Shushu with a light paw.

It swayed its chubby body and squatted on Kudo Yuki's knees. It put its little nose to the edge of the ebony chess box and sniffed it again. Suddenly, it raised its paw and patted the code on the inside of the lid. "It seems there are small words hidden behind this number! You need ultraviolet light to see it!"

Amuro Toru immediately pulled out a spare UV pen from his storage compartment. The moment he flipped the switch, a lavender beam swept across the inside of the chess box, and a few lines of faint writing slowly emerged:

Silver powder is used as a guide and it is secretly locked in the west.

Kudo Yuki stroked the words with her fingertips and suddenly remembered the "west secret door" marked on the laboratory drawings. A flash of understanding flashed in her eyes: "Rum went to the laboratory at this early morning, probably not only to check the chip, but also to confirm whether the secret lock of the west secret door was intact."

Yasuharu Haneda's grip on the chess box tightened slightly, and the sound of the ventilator took on a heavier tone. "Houssi must have sensed the danger back then, so he split the clue into three parts: chess pieces, code, and secret code. Wakasa Rumi has the fragment of her prosthetic eye, and we have the code and the chess box. Only by combining them can we completely solve the mystery."

Toru Amuro's phone vibrated again, this time it was an encrypted video sent by Vermouth.

In the picture, Vodka was standing in the center of the laboratory wearing a white lab coat. The electronic shackles on his wrists were flashing red, and the words "ES Dark Amber Project - Human Compatibility Test" kept jumping on the instrument screen behind him.

Kudo Yuki's fingertips slid across the screen, noticing a pale blue pinprick on Vodka's neck. A coldness grew in her eyes. "The old man isn't trying to make him stronger. He's using him as a living experiment for ES Dark Amber."

"I'm afraid Gin isn't having a good time either." Amuro Toru turned off the video and thought of the "eavesdropping device" that Kudo Yuki mentioned earlier. "He appears to be cooperating with Karasuma Renya, but he's actually observing the situation in secret. Vermouth sent us the video to signal division within the brewery."

As Kudo Yuki's fingertips touched the edge of the chess box, Amuro Toru's hand holding the steering wheel suddenly paused.

The car radio suddenly interrupted with some noise, and returned to normal after a few seconds, leaving only the lingering sound of the classical music lingering in the car.

"It's the brewery's signal monitoring." A hint of coldness flashed across Amuro Toru's eyes as he followed the driver in turning off the radio. "They're probably tracking Mr. Haneda. After all, the first clues to the 'ES Dark Amber' shouldn't appear here."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the rat in Kudo Yuki's pocket sticking its head out, its chubby little paws clawing at the fabric towards the chess box. "What did you find?"

Shushu's voice was a little anxious, so only the two of them could hear it. "There's a crack at the bottom of the chess box! There's silver powder hidden inside! It's exactly the same as the lock on the lab equipment!"

Kudo Yuki immediately turned the chess box over and, sure enough, saw tiny glints of silver in the cracks of the ebony base. She picked up a little with her fingertips and held it up to the car lights for a closer look.

The silver powder particles are finer than those used in ordinary decorations, and the edges are covered with a layer of light blue fluorescent substance, which is the unique logo of the startup key of the "ES Dark Amber" device lock.

"Mr. Hiroshi hid the activation key here." She carefully poured the silver powder back into the chess box and looked up at Haneda Yasuharu. "Rum went to the laboratory to check the secret locks early this morning. I'm afraid he was looking for this thing. Without the silver powder, even if you know the code 2148, you can't open the west secret door."

The car radio fell completely silent. The cold light in Amuro Toru's eyes blended with the night sky on the mountain road. He put the UV pen into the storage compartment and caught a glimpse of Kudo Yuki carefully wrapping the silver powder in the cracks of the chess box with a tissue. Her fingertips moved lightly, as if she was afraid to disturb anything.

That was the key that Hiroshi Haneda had hidden for many years, and it was also the key to uncovering the "ES Dark Amber" conspiracy.

"The fluorescent reaction of the silver powder is exactly the same as that of the laboratory equipment." Kudo Yuki folded the tissue into a small square and stuffed it into his pocket.

The rat in his pocket said, "Gin's car is parked at the fork in the road three kilometers away, without its headlights on."

Amuro Toru immediately slowed down the car and scanned the mountain road behind him in the rearview mirror. "Vermouth just sent a message saying that Gin received Rum's order to 'assist in checking the hidden locks,' but he only asked Cohen to wait at a distance. It seems he's still waiting and not willing to help Rum."

He recalled the call records intercepted by Kudo Yuki last night. Rum had specifically instructed Cohen "not to let Gin know the details of the assassination of Wakasa." Now it seemed that Gin had already noticed the rift between the two.

Toru Amuro tapped his fingertips on the steering wheel and scanned the mountain road behind him while adjusting the rearview mirror.

The fork in the road three kilometers away was hidden in the shadows of the trees. Gin's black Porsche didn't even turn on its side lights, like a dormant beast.

He spoke in a low voice, his tone calm, "Cohen's sniper scope is most likely pointed at our car, but Gin didn't let him take action, which means he's still waiting for Rum's instructions."

Kudo Yuki took out the magician's divination cards from her pocket. The cards sent by Kuroba Touichi gleamed under the car lights. Her fingertips stopped at the card engraved with "Wings".

"Tou, send a message on the encrypted channel saying, 'Silver powder has been found and is being sent to the lab for verification.' Lum will be led to the west secret door ahead of time."

Yasuharu Haneda's grip on the chess box tightened slightly, and the sound of the ventilator was trembling. "If Haoji knew we found a clue, he would definitely be relieved."

He looked down at the dark red velvet inside the box and suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right, there's Hiroshi's encrypted diary in the old house's study. It records his conversations with Amanda Hughes, and perhaps mentions the early development of ES Dark Amber."

Shushu suddenly jumped out of Kudo Yuki's pocket, its little paws scratching the edge of the chess box. It put its nose close to the crack and sniffed again: "The silver powder inside is glowing! It was light blue when we went through the tunnel just now!"

Toru Amuro immediately stepped on the brakes and took a closer look with the help of the emergency lights on the roadside - in the narrow gap of the chess box base, the silver powder was shaking slightly with the car body, emitting a very faint fluorescence.

He fished out the evidence bag from the storage compartment and carefully poured out a little silver powder. "This stuff can't get fingerprints on it. When we get to the old house, we'll have to use professional equipment to test its composition and confirm whether it's the only key to activate the secret lock."

Just as Kudo Yuki put the silver powder into the evidence bag, her phone suddenly vibrated. It was an encrypted message from Vermouth, with a screenshot attached: "Rum sent instructions to Cohen, telling him to keep an eye on the Haneda family mansion and take action as soon as Wakasa Rumi arrives. Gin interjected, 'Don't hurt Haneda Yasuharu by mistake,' but it seems he's still just going through the motions."

"Ms. Wakasa-sensei is being watched by Matsuda, so she should be able to avoid Cohen's sight." Kudo Yuki's fingertips slid across the screen, suddenly remembering the message Wakasa Rumi sent this morning. "She brought a replica of the artificial eye fragment. The real fragment is hidden in the pen cap. Rum wants the real one. Cohen probably won't recognize the replica."

Amuro Toru restarted the car, his eyes growing colder. "Gin deliberately reminded Cohen, but he was actually sending us a message—he didn't want Rum to completely control the key to ES Amber under the guise of assassinating Wakasa. After all, Vodka is currently a test subject. If he loses control of Cohen again, he'll be completely alone in the distillery."

Yasuharu Haneda coughed twice. "Houssi said that Wakasa-sensei had 'a light in her eyes, like a hidden sword.' Now it seems that she has been looking for an opportunity to take revenge all these years."

Kudo Yuki noticed that the pattern on the corner chess pieces was exactly the same as the pattern on the amulet in the chess box.

"Now it seems that she is looking for us - the chess box, the code, the silver powder, and the fragments of her artificial eye, together they can solve all the mysteries."

To be continued...