Ke Xue: The thief Cao is actually myself

Chapter 565 I have a beautiful, rich and white friend! (Please give me a monthly ticket!)

"It's not that easy!"

Hearing Conan's words, Secretary Hanai's eyes flashed with hesitation, then he smiled bitterly and shook his head: "The president has made up his mind and is determined to keep the company. What can we change?"

"Besides, the criminals are ruthless and cruel. If we are not careful, Miss Naoko's life will be in danger. We simply cannot take this risk!"

Conan stood up, walked quickly to Secretary Hanai, and said seriously: "It's the president's business to give up, but we can't give up. We can find a way ourselves."

The reason why President Takei gave up on rescuing his daughter Takei Naoko was because he was reluctant to pay the huge ransom.

Between the interests of the company and the safety of his daughter, he ultimately chose the former.

But Conan is not the kind of person who would retreat in the face of danger and watch innocent lives die.

After all, let’s not talk about it first. As a detective who always keeps the word justice in his heart, doing nothing to help someone in danger is a blatant violation of the principles and bottom line he has adhered to for many years.

For example, Takei Naoko was a classmate of him and Mouri Ran. They had been classmates for many years. Although they could not be said to have a deep friendship with each other, they were classmates. Even if nothing else, just this point alone meant that he was destined to not stand by and watch her die.

More importantly, his Xiaolan is a kind-hearted girl who can't bear to see others suffer. If Takei Naoko really encounters an accident, she will definitely be sad. How can he bear to let his childhood sweetheart fall into sadness?
At this point, Conan raised his chin slightly, with a hint of the arrogance that only teenagers have, "Don't look at me as just a child, but I am quite good at reasoning and investigation. Maybe I can follow the clues to catch the kidnapper who kidnapped Miss Naoko."

As he spoke, his eyes revealed a boldness beyond his age, "As long as we can find Miss Naoko before the transaction and rescue her safely, then it doesn't matter whether President Takei is willing to pay the ransom or not!"

Secretary Hanai stared at Conan with suspicion in his eyes: "You are just a child, what tricks can you have? Besides, you are still trapped here, there is no way to go out to investigate, let alone find Naoko before the transaction!"

Conan looked calm and explained without panic: "Although I am a child, my observation and thinking abilities are beyond the reach of many adults."

"As for the fact that I am trapped in this room now, this is a small problem. Although I am trapped in the room, you can tell me all the details you know about the kidnappers and the kidnapping case. Maybe I can find some clues from them."

He paused slightly, his eyes full of earnestness, "Besides, as long as you are willing to help me, we can definitely find a way out."

After all, Secretary Hanai is President Takei's secretary and is familiar with the house inside and out. There must be a way for him to avoid the guards and sneak out!
Secretary Hua Jing looked hesitant, struggling with his inner thoughts for a moment, but finally nodded gently, with a voice full of helplessness and worry: "Okay, I'll trust you this time, but what should we do next?"

Hearing what Secretary Hanai said, Conan was delighted, but he remained calm. He pondered for a while, then said, "We can start with the criminals' request and see if we can find any loopholes."

As Conan spoke, he carefully observed Secretary Hanai's expression, intending to persuade her to act with him. "They want a ransom of 500 million yen. With such a large sum of money, there will definitely be many requirements when it is delivered. Maybe we can find clues from it and rescue Miss Naoko without angering the criminals."

Secretary Hanai frowned slightly after hearing Conan's words, as if thinking about the feasibility of this plan, "But how can we get the 500 million yen ransom? The president will definitely not be unwilling to pay it."

If a president had been willing to pay the ransom at the beginning, there wouldn't have been so many twists and turns.

Noticing that there was still doubt in her tone, it was no longer as desperate and resistant as before, Conan smiled slightly, knowing that he had a chance.

"We can pretend to prepare the ransom first, and in the process, carefully study the location and method of the criminals' delivery. Generally speaking, in order to ensure safety, the kidnappers will choose some more complicated locations, which are likely to have blind spots in surveillance or places that are convenient for us to set up ambushes."

Conan's eyes sparkled with wisdom as he continued, "Moreover, we can contact the police and ask them to assist us in secret, such as preparing a ransom for us to prevent the kidnappers from killing us. However, we must be careful not to let the criminals be aware of the police's presence, otherwise Miss Naoko will be in danger."

Although 500 million is a huge sum of money, it is not impossible to mobilize it with the channels and power of the police.

Even if the police find it difficult to raise the 500 million ransom in a short period of time, at worst he can ask his childhood sweetheart for help.

The Suzuki Group has extensive connections and strong financial resources, and a mere 500 million in funds is just a drop in the bucket.

As for that, what if the kidnappers run away after getting the ransom?
Haha, under the modern strict financial regulatory system, the kidnappers cannot easily legalize this huge ransom and spend it at will in a short period of time.

Once they work closely with the police, successfully locate the kidnappers and bring them to justice, the ransom can naturally be recovered.

At this point, he paused, "But in order to rescue Miss Takei Naoko safely, I need to get more clues. Secretary Hanai, I wonder if you can tell me how the kidnappers contacted you and all the details, including every word they said!"

Secretary Hua Jing bit her lip, struggling internally. After a long silence, she finally raised her head with a look of determination in her eyes: "Okay, now that things have come to this, I will tell you everything. The kidnappers called twice in total. The first time they called, they asked for a ransom of 500 million yuan and specified that the transaction would be conducted in an abandoned factory. The second time was today, and the transaction was scheduled for dusk. They warned us fiercely over the phone that we must not call the police, otherwise they would kill us immediately. Their attitude was arrogant and fierce."

After listening to this, Conan frowned and fell into deep thought. His brain was working fast, trying to find a breakthrough from this limited information. After a moment, he raised his head and asked with a sharp gaze: "Have you tried to track the kidnapper's phone number?" As long as the kidnapper's position can be located, then there is hope to rescue Takei Naoko.

Secretary Hanai looked helpless, smiled bitterly and shook his head: "The president is afraid of angering the kidnappers and causing them to do something bad to Miss Naoko, so he neither agrees to the police to continue to intervene in the investigation, nor allows any means to track the kidnappers' phone calls."

Conan frowned slightly, his expression became more solemn, and his tone was firm and unquestionable: "This won't do. Just sitting there and waiting for death won't solve any problems. We must take the initiative to find some key clues."

"By the way, when the kidnapper called, besides the threatening words, did he say anything special that could reveal his identity or location? Or, were there any strange noises in the background?"

Secretary Hua Jing's eyebrows were twisted into the shape of a "川" character, and he closed his eyes tightly, trying to recall every detail. "It seems that... there is the noisy sound of machines running in the background, and there is also a faint sound of dripping water, which sounds wet. Combined with the fact that they specified an abandoned factory for the transaction, I guess they might be in an abandoned warehouse, or a dark, damp, and dilapidated place."

Conan's eyes lit up, and his brain quickly sorted out the information: "Abandoned warehouse, machine sounds, dripping water... this is very important. Generally, if there is a sound of machinery running, there may be a factory still operating nearby, or there are some equipment in the warehouse. The sound of dripping water means that the humidity in the warehouse is very high, and there may be a leak in the roof or water accumulation. Let's think about it, in which areas of the city are there abandoned warehouses that meet these conditions."

Secretary Hanai tried to recall the layout of the city: "There is an old industrial area in the north of the city. The factories moved away one after another in the past few years, leaving behind many abandoned warehouses that have been idle. Could it be there? But the area is very large and there are many warehouses. How can we find it?"

Conan touched his chin and thought for a moment: "Let's start with the phone signal. Although President Takei didn't let the police track it, we can try to inquire from the communication company to see if we can determine the approximate source range of the signal and narrow the search area. If we are lucky, maybe we can find their clues soon."

Secretary Hanai was somewhat tempted, but still worried: "But how are we going to get out? The president must have arranged other people to guard outside besides me. I might be able to find an excuse to leave here with my identity as a secretary, but what about you? You are an 'eavesdropper' in his eyes. He will definitely be extra vigilant against you and will not let you out easily."

Conan raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a confident smile, which was full of calmness and wisdom beyond his age: "I will have to rely on your help, Secretary Hanai."

Conan looked at Secretary Hanai, his eyes full of trust and expectation, "As President Takei's secretary, you have been handling all kinds of complicated affairs for him for a long time. You know his style of doing things very well, and you have had a lot of contact with those security personnel. You must have a way to make the people outside relax their vigilance."

"For example, you can pretend to be furious because of my mischief and deliberately make a lot of noise to attract the guards' attention to the door. Then, we use the existing objects in the room to carefully create the illusion that we are still in the house, such as cleverly stuffing a lifelike mannequin with clothes and placing it by the window, and then add pre-recorded quarrel sounds."

"Conan spoke incessantly, gesturing quickly and vividly in the air with his hands, explaining every detail of the plan without reservation,"When the guards are attracted and crowd around the door to find out what's going on, I will take the opportunity to slip away quickly and quietly through the window."

Secretary Hanai listened to Conan's plan quietly. A hint of surprise flashed across his eyes, which was then replaced by full admiration. He couldn't help but blurt out: "Conan, I really underestimated you."

"What's in your head is much more powerful than I thought."

She could never have imagined that a seemingly ordinary child could so calmly and quickly come up with such an interconnected and detailed escape plan in such a critical situation.

However, thinking back carefully, it seems reasonable that someone who could design an investigation plan in an orderly manner when all the adults were discouraged and gave up hope could come up with such a solution now.

"Although this plan is good, there are still many risks in its implementation. Although there is a flower bed under the window that can act as a buffer, you may still get hurt if you jump down."

Secretary Hanai raised a new concern and was also actively thinking about the follow-up plan. "And after we get out, how are we going to get to the communications company? Once the president finds out that you've escaped, he will definitely send people to search everywhere. How are you going to avoid their pursuit?"

Although she can help Conan escape from here, if Conan is caught by President Takei's men during the escape, then not only will the plan to save Takei Naoko fail, all efforts will be wasted, and even she herself will inevitably be affected to a certain extent.

There is even the possibility that President Takei would regard me as a traitor and retaliate against me maliciously.

Conan pondered for a moment, then calmly replied, "As for jumping out of the window, we can tear the sheets and curtains in the room into strips, twist them into ropes, and go down along the ropes. This will minimize the risk of injury. As for after we get out, I will first find a secluded alley to hide and avoid those who are searching. When the storm has died down, I will take public transportation to the communications company."

He planned the follow-up actions in an orderly manner. "After that, I will try every means to investigate President Takei's recent call records at the communications company, and with my understanding of technology, I will analyze clues about the source of the signal from a professional perspective. As long as we can successfully obtain the approximate location of the signal, we will have a clear direction for rescuing Miss Naoko."

After that, Conan turned to look at Secretary Hanai with expectation, his eyes burning with the flame of hope: "Secretary Hanai, I believe that as long as we work together, we will be able to rescue Miss Naoko safely."

Secretary Hanai took a deep breath, looked at Conan's determined eyes, and her worries eased a little. She nodded vigorously and said, "Okay, Conan, I'll do it with you! I'll go prepare the things to make the noise, and you should also quickly prepare the ropes."

"Uh-huh……"

Conan nodded heavily, and then quickly took action, preparing to tear the sheets and curtains into strips, and then carefully twist them into a thick and strong rope so that he could escape safely through the window.

But at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the corridor, getting closer and closer, becoming clearer and clearer...

(End of this chapter)