Model worker and his little darling

Looking at Conan, whose eyes were squinting with a smile, Hirai asked, "By the way, what brings you here to see me?"

Ayumi opened her bright, sparkling eyes and said, "Brother Taira, we want to go to the old house in 4-chome to eliminate the monsters."

Pingqing: ...monster.

"It is said that five years ago, the owner of that house was killed by someone, and his wife and son seemed to have moved away. Later, the house was taken over by an evil spirit."

“I always hear terrifying sighs in the middle of the night. Dogs that accidentally run inside are found to be nothing but bones the next day. And yesterday I saw ghosts in the windows of the house.”

Pingqing looked at Ayumi. She was clearly a cute little girl, but she was so good at telling ghost stories.

Mitsuhiko, standing nearby, offered an online explanation: "Ayumi, that's all just for kids. In this scientific age, so-called monsters or ghosts only exist on TV or in comics."

"No, Conan, there's a monster in that house, right?"

"Haha, I think Mitsuhiko is right."

Genta, standing nearby, said, "I believe Ayumi. There must be a monster in that house."

"Then you can go if you want, why are you looking for me?" Pingqing asked, puzzled.

Mitsuhiko said dejectedly, "Brother Pingqing, last time we went treasure hunting we encountered Italian robbers and got injured. We got a severe scolding from Mom, Dad, and the police. If we sneak into the haunted house this time, they'll definitely scold us if they find out. So I wanted to ask Brother Pingqing to go with me, so they'll feel at ease."

Pingqing: It seems that he was the one who caused that incident. Doesn't that mean he ruined himself?

"Brother Pingqing, we also brought things for our adventure! I've prepared snacks for when we get hungry." After saying that, Ayumi showed off the snacks in her small backpack.

"I've prepared a flashlight and a compass." Yes, that's Mitsuhiko from the science side.

"I brought a metal baseball bat to destroy monsters." This is the violent Genta.

Ping Qing looked at Conan with a smile: "Conan, what did you bring?"

Conan scratched his head: "I didn't bring anything."

"Conan, you're going too far! We're going to a haunted house!"

Hirai also patted Conan's head: "Ayumi is right, you should learn from your classmates."

Conan: ...Heh...

Seeing three pairs of big eyes staring at him, Pingqing thought for a moment and figured it was fine, so he went with them.

Looking at the dilapidated villa, overgrown with weeds, with its walls mottled and windows teetering on the verge of collapse, it certainly looked like a haunted house, having been neglected for years.

However, the grass by the entrance was clearly trampled, and there was even a dog hole for people to come and go...

He remembered that his son had accidentally killed his father, and his mother, to prevent him from going to jail, locked him in the basement for five years. But he felt it was better to go to jail; being in the basement made him look like a ghost, and he had to suffer mental torture.

Yuan Tai has already discovered the secret entrance—a dog hole, which a few children can easily pass through by bending over.

But he couldn't do that. He could only climb in. As a terrorist, even the outer members had to call him Lord Yu Lu. If people found out, where would he put his face?

"Brother Pingqing, why aren't you coming in yet?" Yuan Tai's puzzled voice came from inside.

Pingqing chose to climb over the wall, and landed in front of the group with a leap.

"Wow, Brother Pingqing is so amazing!"

Unfortunately, the weather turned bad, and it started thundering and raining.

Ayumi ran straight into the house, when suddenly—

"Ah-"

Pingqing rushed over and saw that Ayumi had bumped into the demon sculpture and her hands were covered in dust, so he took Ayumi to wash her hands.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a door opening. They went inside and found that it had been blown open by the wind.

Mitsuhiko said he needed to go to the restroom, and Taira suggested that everyone go together, as it wouldn't be safe for them to go separately. This time, because everyone was there, Mitsuhiko was unharmed.

Watching the children running around the house, Conan suddenly approached Pingqing and said, "Pingqing-nii, you noticed it too, didn't you?"

Heiji looked at Conan with a puzzled expression: "What did you find out?"

Conan is going crazy.

"Ahhh—Brother Pingqing, stop teasing me. You must know the secret of this house."

Ping Qing looked helpless: "Okay, okay, I know the secret. You mean to say that this house has been uninhabited for five years, but the water supply has not been cut off, and the house with the window open, even though it rained a few days ago, doesn't seem to have been exposed to wind and rain. In other words, that window was only recently opened. Right?"

"Yes, they deliberately left a secret entrance for people to come and go, so there must be someone living inside."

Suddenly, footsteps sounded behind them, and Pingqing immediately pulled the children to hide behind the cabinet.

A woman in black with long hair, holding a candle, pushed a food cart over.

Ping Qing heard the system's voiceover in his mind: beer, soft drinks, mineral water, peanuts, melon seeds, eight-treasure porridge.

Tsk, that nose looks like Gargamel's.

[Host, don't you think I look like an elderly Gin?]

"Xiao Qi, quickly take a picture and send it to him."

They were following Gargamel, but he disappeared after turning a corner.

"Brother Pingqing, Conan, the floor here is different from the other places."

Pingqing glanced at it and realized that this should be the entrance to the basement. After opening it, a long staircase appeared, and he quietly led a group of children down the stairs. After going all the way to the bottom, the basement was like a maze.

“There’s light over there,” Ayumi said, pointing to a room.

When Pingqing opened the door, what came into view was the prison: iron doors, iron windows, and iron bars. Inside, a disheveled man was sitting on the bed, screaming in pain.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door again, and Pingqing pulled them to hide again.

Gargamel brought in the food and, seeing the man's pained expression, said with heartache, "You must have had another nightmare. It happened five years ago. Try to forget about it. No matter how much pain you're in, the dead will never come back."

The man suddenly went berserk and threw all the food out.

"I locked you up here not to make you suffer..."

Gargamel was still muttering to himself, but Ayumi made a sound with just one movement.

"I knew there were rats in this house. Come out now, or you won't get out alive."

Gargamel picked up the knife and walked toward where Pingqing and the others were hiding.

Suddenly, Conan's voice rang out: "Madam, I just saw a photo in the study of you and the master who was murdered five years ago..."

Ping Qing was speechless. Why was he acting all high and mighty at a time like this?

He flashed in front of Gargamel, snatched the knife from her hand, and then knocked her unconscious with a single blow.

"Alright, stop talking and come out."

Pingqing took out his phone and made a call to the police.

The man saw his mother lying on the ground and began to scream in pain again.

Inspector Megure quickly took the two away.

"Haha, Brother Pingqing, I really owe you a lot this time. But you shouldn't let your kids play these kinds of games so casually in the future."

"Understood, Inspector Megure."