Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

Toru Amuro, who had once secretly looked through the school's employment files but only found the wrong address, silently memorized this new address.

Out of caution, he had not tried to track Aoyagi Akimitsu before, and only now confirmed the other party's real address.

With access control system and surveillance, it is not a hassle.

I just don't know if he will change his place after this incident is over...

Amuro Toru thought about these questions calmly, and then observed Aoyagi Akimitsu's reaction again.

The other person's thumb finally dropped from his index finger.

----

The rabbit squatting on Qingliu Binguang's right shoulder, the system pop-up window appeared in front of him.

【Rage: Don’t worry. 】

[Rage: Since he is the protagonist, he shouldn't die so easily. ]

"..."

Looking at the two lines that his teammates slowly typed out under the police's questioning and Amuro Toru's gaze, Rabbit's stiff body gradually relaxed.

Aoyagi Binguang raised his hand and touched his back. The hand was steady, leisurely and relaxed, without a trace of trembling.

Officer Megure called the Dean of Academic Affairs and asked, "Do you have any students or faculty members who haven't come today?"

"When I found out that Kudo and Hojo were missing, I immediately asked all the homeroom teachers to check the situation in their classes. I also called the students who had asked for leave one by one to check and make sure that they were the only two missing."

"As for the faculty..."

The Dean of Academic Affairs was more concerned about students and was not so clear about the situation of faculty and staff. He turned and looked at a teacher in the Logistics Department.

The other party quickly replied: "Except for Koshiba Koji in the kitchen, no other employees have asked for leave today. I just called Koshiba at home, but no one answered. He might be out."

"Where's the cell phone?"

"Xiao Chai's cell phone accidentally fell into the water a few days ago, so he took it to be repaired and he hasn't brought it with him yet." said a colleague in the kitchen.

Inspector Megure frowned.

"Koshiba Koji..." He touched his chin, "Why do I feel that this name sounds familiar? I seem to have heard it somewhere."

At this moment, several policemen who were also searching the teaching building hurried in.

Miwako Sato handed something to Juzo Megure: "Inspector, we found a threatening letter on the computer desk in the school broadcasting studio! These two cases may be related!!"

"oh?!"

Inspector Megure was stunned and quickly lowered his head to read the letter.

The rabbit was resting on Qingliu Bin's bare shoulder. The distance between them was very close, so he could see the contents of the letter at a glance.

[In the performance of the Ninth Symphony, I will punish the two blasphemers by burning and water torture, and their souls will be cleansed and return to the Pure Land.]

Signed by: Messenger of the God of Music.

The author has no reasoning skills and borrowed from some novels when writing cases. This case was partly based on "Ark" by Haruo Yuuki.

Chapter 49: Guiding Serpents (Two Chapters in One)

9:32 am.

Shinichi Kudo held up his cell phone, turned on the flashlight function to illuminate the front, and walked through the water in the corridor of this unknown building.

The water had reached his calves and was still rising. He looked around carefully.

He determined that this was some underground building. The corridor in front of him was wide and the ceiling was low. There was no sunlight coming in. There was a light bulb at intervals, but none of them were lit.

On both sides were doors that looked almost identical. Due to the limited light from the cell phone, it was impossible to see where the end of the corridor was.

The harsh environment made the fourteen-year-old boy feel a little uneasy, and there was someone behind him, holding his arm tightly.

"Kudou, where are we going?"

Hojo Shinji, who was rescued from the water pipe, asked this question for the nth time.

"..."

Kudo Shinichi felt the vein on his forehead throb.

……

More than ten minutes ago, Kudo Shinichi discovered that Hojo Shinji had also been kidnapped, and in the room next to his.

Seeing that the man who bullied him yesterday was tied to a water pipe and would drown in ten minutes, Kudo Shinichi did not hesitate and immediately stepped forward to put the man down.

He hates school bullying, but that's not a reason to ignore other people's lives.

When Hojo Shinji saw who saved him, he was stunned and didn't say anything for a long time. It was Kudo Shinichi who asked him first why he was kidnapped here.

"I do not know."

Hojo Shinji answered: "After my parents came back from school, my dad wanted to beat me, so I ran away from home. When I ran to the park, I suddenly lost consciousness..."

Kudo Shinichi at least knew the reason why he fainted. He seemed to be just an unlucky guy who was inexplicably affected.

……

calm down.

When trying to save yourself in a dangerous situation, you should try to conserve your energy and not quarrel casually...

Kudo Shinichi was in a dark space. He took a deep breath to calm himself and repeatedly warned himself in his heart.

Hojo Shinji added: "It's too dark here, and I don't know how long your phone can last. There was clearly a power generation room just now, why didn't we go in and try to start it? If the lights were on, it would be easier to find the way..."

He was talking about a room they had just passed.

The room looked like a mechanical room, with cables winding around the walls like snakes. The cables were not damaged and were connected to a generator the size of a bathtub.

The generator was very old and had two LPG tanks next to it. The gauges showed there was fuel inside and the hoses were connected to them properly.

Shinichi Kudo had learned how to start this old-fashioned generator in Hawaii, but seeing so many cables around him, rusty hose connections, and water under his feet, he did not act rashly.

As Hojo Shinji continued to chatter away, they passed by another room.

This room has no door, and like the mouth of a bottle, the entrance is very narrow, only wide enough for a person who is not fat to pass through.

Kudo Shinichi turned his phone and shone it inside, and found that there was a winch for salvaging sunken ships installed on the wall of the room.

There were circles of iron chains wrapped around it, and looking in the direction where the chains extended, I found that they passed through a pulley and were then connected to the wooden board above.

I don’t know if the above is the ground, or the upper floor of this strange building…

Kudo Shinichi muttered to himself.

Maybe something else was added to the food. His hands and feet have no strength now. Otherwise, he could try to climb up by pulling the iron chain to see the situation above.

"...Kudo, are you listening to me?" Hojo Shinji suddenly said.

"Ah?" Kudo Shinichi was startled, then he collected his thoughts and said, "I've been listening the whole time."

"...Will we be trapped here until we drown?" he asked.

Kudo Shinichi glanced at the water under his feet and remained silent. It was really hard to say.

There was no signal on my cell phone, and I hadn’t found any map or road signs, so I had no idea where I was trapped.

The only hope now is that someone will notice that they are missing, catch the suspect, find out their location, and then come to rescue them.

Thinking of this, Kudo Shinichi looked at Hojo Shinji: "Does your sister live with you?"

The author of "Detective Kyoko", Hojo Toika, is the sister of Hojo Shinji. Although he doesn't like the concepts in the work very much, those cases are very interesting and she may be able to find them.

Hearing this, Hojo Shinji's face turned embarrassed.

"She...may not have time."

He stammered, "Today... no, it was yesterday morning. Someone suddenly came to our house. They looked very aggressive. There was also a serious woman who looked like she was not easy to mess with. They came looking for her as soon as they arrived."

"What are they here for?" Kudo Shinichi asked curiously.

"I don't know. I was about to go to school and left the house. But judging from the way my parents were called to school at noon, she might have gotten into trouble..."

Hojo Shinji paused here.

This was the first time he took the initiative to mention what happened yesterday after being rescued from the water pipe by Kudo Shinichi.

Hojo Shinji felt very guilty, he didn't dare to imagine what Kudo Shinichi's expression was like at that moment, but he couldn't help but secretly look at him. But in the dim environment, he couldn't see the other person's face clearly.

A few seconds later, Kudo Shinichi's calm voice sounded: "Don't do that kind of thing again in the future."

"...Yeah." Hojo Shinji lowered his head.

"Have you ever bullied anyone other than me? Remember to apologize to them when you get out." Kudo Shinichi said with concern.

"No, pushing you into the cold storage was the first time I successfully bullied a classmate. I wanted to release cockroaches in you before, but you caught me! And I pushed you yesterday and left without locking the door..."

Hojo Shinji felt a little aggrieved when he said this.

He admitted that he threw things and pushed people, but when the teacher called his parents yesterday, he scolded him for deliberately locking his classmates in the cold storage, which he clearly did not do.

Kudo Shinichi was stunned.

"You weren't the one who locked the door?!" he cried out, "Before that, I found glass shards in my food, and..."

"No!" Hojo Shinji retorted, "Didn't you check the surveillance video later? I was eating in the corner of the cafeteria the whole time, and I didn't even know where you were sitting that day."

Kudo Shinichi seemed to have grasped something.

If it wasn't added to the dining area later, it was already there when he got it, plus the cold storage door...

...Yes, that's right. When he was picking up things, he first heard footsteps going away, and then suddenly heard the door was locked! Someone came in after Hojo and the others left and deliberately locked him in!

There is a problem with the cafeteria’s logistics staff!

This time he and Hojo were kidnapped, perhaps it was related to each other!

Seeing that Kudo Shinichi didn't say anything, Hojo Shinji thought that he was still doubting him: "Hey, Kudo, you..."

The next words stopped abruptly.

Hojo Shinji's eyes widened, and he suddenly pointed behind Kudo Shinichi: "Snake! There's a snake!!!"

"!!"