Model worker and his little darling

Sitting on top, Ping Qing suppressed a laugh as he watched Conan slowly close his eyes.

"Boy, do you know where this is?"

As soon as Conan closed his eyes, he heard a terrifying voice. No, his voice was more than just terrifying; it seemed to pass through his body and pierce his heart, and the surrounding temperature seemed to drop again.

Conan tried to stand up, but it was so cold, so cold, so he could only curl up into a ball.

"China...China's...underworld, why...am I here?"

"I didn't expect you to have some insight. You're dead, so naturally you'll appear here. As for your tiny place, what difference does it make if I interfere?"

"No...this is impossible...this is not the underworld."

Hearing Conan's intermittent voice, Ping Qing raised his hand and waved it. Images appeared around Conan, showing various tragedies in the eighteen levels of hell, with blood dripping, eerie winds blowing, and screams constantly coming out.

"So, do you believe me now?"

After he had seen enough, a bowl of water appeared out of thin air in front of Conan.

"Drink this, and you can be reborn as a human."

"Do not……"

Pingqing got up and walked to Conan, while the Black and White Impermanence beside him floated to Conan's back.

He gently helped Conan up, picked up the bowl, and poured the contents down his throat.

Conan tried to break free, but found he couldn't move at all. He was forced to drink the spicy liquid, which made his throat hurt.

Pingqing watched as Conan rolled around on the ground, sweat beading on his forehead, muttering "No, no way," as if he was about to transform.

After a long time, Conan still hadn't transformed. Ping Qing clicked his tongue. It seemed Conan's cold was already better. As expected of the protagonist, he recovered from a fever and even fainting in a day.

"Xiao Qi, is Conan alright?"

[I'm probably about 80% sure... I guess I'll be fine.]

"Tsk, it's all your fault for coming up with such a terrible idea. What if Conan gets scared and falls ill again?"

[Ito Heikiyo, have some shame! You agreed to my suggestion right away, and even made me create all those dramatic scenes to scare him. Now you're blaming it all on me. Have some decency!]

Hearing Xiao Qi's roar in his mind, Ping Qing shook his head. "Xiao Qi, you've gotten bolder. Now you even dare to yell at me."

Heh, serves you right for being so inhuman.

"Xiao Qi, how about we make a Western hell next time?"

"Seriously? You only need to play with this once. You're trying to scare him to death."

"Since you're just killing time anyway, why don't you come up with something fun?"

【Pah! I don't want to be in cahoots with you.】

"How can you talk like that? What do you mean by 'colluding with each other'? We are like-minded people with similar interests, kindred spirits, and we appreciate each other's talents and understand each other perfectly. Great minds think alike."

Ha, I've noticed you're getting more and more shameless.

Ping Qing pursed his lips, finding it boring, and sent Conan, who was still having a nightmare, back home, hoping he would wake up tomorrow.

The next morning, Uncle Mori smelled alcohol as soon as he woke up. He was wondering what was going on when he realized that the smell was coming from Conan.

He picked up Conan and saw that he was pale, reeking of alcohol, and sleeping like a log. He was instantly furious; this brat had secretly been drinking in the middle of the night.

So he pinched Conan hard. Hmm? Still not awake? Then the uncle pinched him even harder.

Conan woke up in excruciating pain, his eyes blinking as he looked at Uncle Mori in confusion. "Uncle, you're in hell too?"

Hearing Conan start rambling incoherently, Uncle Mori was so angry he nearly exploded, yelling at Conan, "Conan, what were you doing last night? Why were you secretly drinking?"

Ran, who was preparing breakfast, heard her father's angry roar and rushed over. She found Conan reeking of alcohol and frowned at her father. "Dad, how could you give Conan alcohol?"

Uncle Mori pulled Conan in front of Ran. "I didn't. This kid was out gallivanting somewhere last night. I smelled alcohol on him as soon as I woke up."

After being yelled at by the uncle, Conan sobered up a bit. "Uncle, Ran-neechan, I really didn't sneak out to drink. I dreamt that I went to hell, and that person brought me a bowl of water and insisted that I drink it."

Uncle Mori and Ran stared wide-eyed. Good heavens, he actually used such an excuse to fob them off.

Uncle Mori clenched his fist, threw Conan onto the bed, and gave him a good beating.

"You little rascal, you're getting bolder and bolder these days, daring to sneak out for drinks in the middle of the night and lie to us like that. Let me tell you, I'm going to teach you a lesson today, so you don't go astray and I won't have a good way to explain it to your parents."

In the end, it was Ran who stopped the enraged Uncle Mori. Although she also felt that Conan should be taught a lesson, if Uncle Mori continued to beat him like that, Conan would end up in the hospital.

After watching this show so early in the morning, Ping Qing was so happy he almost lost his bearings.

Ah, that feels so good!

Over the next few days, Conan was constantly cared for by Uncle Mori, who repeated various life lessons over and over again, afraid that the boy would go astray in his family.

He even made arrangements with the school, instructing them to inform Conan immediately if anything seemed amiss.

Conan has been living in constant misery. His teacher, uncle, and Ran are always watching him, and now he can't even stay overnight at Professor Agasa's house.

The three members of the Junior Detective Team thought he had committed some heinous crime and were all advising him to behave.

What he couldn't understand was what happened that night. He truly felt the chilling aura and heard that terrifying sound; that person had indeed touched him.

But if it was a nightmare, then the alcohol doesn't make sense.

The only thing he's certain of now is that the person fed him alcohol.

After several days of wild thoughts, he confided his troubles to Haibara, only to be met with her eye-rolling and mockery, who told him he was daydreaming.

"Has the staunch materialist and the great detective who firmly believes that there is absolutely no phenomenon in this world that cannot be explained by theory and reasoning begun to ponder these supernatural tales?"

After Haibara said that, Conan could only feel depressed by himself.

Heiji has been following Gin on missions lately, occasionally checking in on Conan's situation, and is having a great time.

Gin was a little surprised to see Taira no Kiyoshi doing the mission with him quietly and not causing any trouble.

He would occasionally laugh out loud by himself, but otherwise he seemed perfectly normal, which made him think that Heiji had a mental problem.

That evening, after completing their mission, Hirai and Gin were speeding along in a Porsche 356A, with Hirai checking on Conan from the back seat.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

"Son, do you have time now? Your dad and I are waiting for you at the Rice Flower Restaurant."

Pingqing glanced at Gin, who was driving, and smiled slightly. "Yes, I'll be right there."

After hanging up the phone, Pingqing looked at Gin and said, "Let's go to Beika Restaurant. I'll treat you to a big meal."