Ms. Moriarty wants to save Beika Town today too.

"Maybe they rented it years ago."

The middleman squatted down and touched Conan's head.

"Really? You're hindering our work. Go back with your friends quickly, little brother."

"my friend?"

Conan was stunned. How could he bring any friends with him?

He pointed out the window with his index finger: "Yes, they should be your friends, right?"

Then Conan saw the three giants of Teitan pressing on the glass and squirming, and the sweat on his face became even bigger.

After Conan's repeated deceptions, the Teitan trio have begun to doubt him. The trio said they would never trust Conan again because he always left them behind to investigate the case alone, without any team spirit. They are the famous Junior Detective Team! They have solved criminal cases more than once and have been praised by the media!

Conan was almost beaten to the waist by the three people's questioning. After asking, he realized that it was the new girl named Huiyuan who exposed his purpose.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Junye walked towards the agent and asked if there were any novelists' residences nearby.

"novelist!?"

Conan didn't have time to think about Ai, and walked straight to Shunya: "Why are you asking this?"

"After my brother disappeared, our family received a phone call."

As Toshiya explained, the Big Three came up to him and asked him for details. Toshiya said that the person who answered the phone was his grandmother, and because of her poor hearing, she only heard his brother say that he was with the same person as Natsume Soseki, and then she suddenly hung up.

It turned out to be the case.

Conan deduced that it was Toshiya's brother who found an opportunity to call home, but was later discovered and forced to hang up.

"If you're talking about someone who looks like Natsume Soseki, there is indeed one around here. He's the manager of the corner bookstore, and his nickname is Thousand Yen Bill."

The three giants were surprised and said, "It's him, thank you for your help, uncle!"

"what?"

"Please take us there." They hugged the agent's legs.

Although the middleman refused again and again, he still couldn't resist the curiosity of a group of children and took them there reluctantly. As a result, he was kicked out by the bookstore manager. Hearing the nickname "Thousand Dollar Bill", the bookstore manager was extremely angry. Huiyuan Ai, who was not with them, quietly watched his reaction and didn't think that the manager, who was worried about the nickname, had anything to do with this matter.

"I advised you not to come."

The agent said as if it was a matter of course. Anyone would be angry if they were suddenly teased by a group of kids using bad nicknames.

The three defeated giants began to speculate about the store manager from a bad perspective.

Conan stood up.

"No, I don't think it has anything to do with this bookstore. I just checked the warehouse behind the bookstore, and there is no printing press that can print counterfeit money."

"Speaking of printing presses," the middleman recalled after Conan's reminder, "I know there's a new printing factory nearby. They've bought a lot of printing presses recently. But they haven't opened yet."

"Printing house?"

"Yes, two months ago, someone bought a bankrupt auto repair shop and turned it into a printing factory. They also renovated and painted the entire exterior. I heard that they have already received a lot of orders at the reserve price in advance. That piece of land is sold by our company."

Conan: "What kind of person is the president of the printing factory?"

"It was a woman who always wore a black wide-brimmed hat," the agent said, placing his palms on both sides of his head. "When she came here, she rode in a very luxurious black car."

"A black car? What brand is it?"

Conan immediately associated her image with the woman in black described by Junye. In addition, the black car also reminded him of Gin's Porsche 356A.

"I don't know, but it should be an old car with a sense of age."

Classic car!

Conan instantly imagined the scene of the woman in black sitting in the back seat of the Porsche, with Gin and Vodka sitting in the front of the car, and he clenched his fists.

"Where is the printing house?"

"It's right next to the Nosako River, about two kilometers east."

After answering the questions, the agent advised Conan and the others not to play the detective game anymore and to go home quickly because it was completely dark.

"But this should have nothing to do with Natsume Soseki, right?" Mitsuhiko commented.

"Rinsing the mouth on a stone and using the flowing water as a pillow." Conan explained, "This famous story comes from Soseki, which means strange."

"Rinsing your mouth with running water and sleeping with a stone as a pillow are common practices, but those who go against this are considered weird."

"Generally speaking, counterfeit money should be made in a suburb away from people's attention, but they chose a factory not far from the station and residential areas, and it is inside the printing factory. This method can indeed create a blind spot for a long time. I think Junye's brother is probably referring to this point."

But how could he stop these little devils from following him all the way?

Before he could come to a conclusion, the three giants had already started to move. Conan didn't know where they got the strength from, but in just a short moment they had already rushed out, even more energetic than during the sports meeting.

Just as he was about to catch up—

"Is this okay? Involve them as well?" Haibara Ai walked to his side.

Mysterious smile.

Conan looked at this smile. This was the third time that the child named Haibara gave him an inexplicable smile.

Have they met somewhere before?

Conan stared at Huihara Ai's face, but no impression came to his mind. He thought he had a pretty good memory, and a girl with foreign ancestry like this should have a deep impression on him.

Looking into her eyes, he felt like he was being watched.

Conan was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly chased after the three giants. There was a park near the river, and the last bus was there. Because it was a residential area, many residents were jogging and exercising. There were some young people dressed very fashionably on the road, which showed that the area was not sparsely populated. Looking from the top of the river bank, the factory was pitch black.

There is a height difference between the bridgehead and the factory, and there is a river right below the factory.

He finally caught up with the three giants and found that they were already peeking out of the locked iron gate, eager to try to climb over the wall for an adventure.

"Stop it, Yuantai!"

Conan shouted in a low voice, trying to stop Genta from climbing over the wall. "Genta, don't do such a dangerous thing." Genta fell down and hit Conan on the back, directly pressing him to the ground, but he still insisted, "If Shunya's brother is really in there, there must be a criminal gang on duty, and they will use him as a hostage to threaten us. This kind of dangerous thing should be left to the police."

Conan's righteous words made the three giants of Teitan realize the recklessness of their behavior, so they decided to explain the truth of the matter to the police.

Seeing that his trick was successful, Conan breathed a sigh of relief: Even if they explained it to the police, they wouldn't believe such a bizarre thing, so it could at least delay some time.

Conan pretended to be exhausted and said that he would be on duty nearby and would contact them through the detective armband equipped with a small radio if there was any unrest in the factory. The three giants got the opportunity to show off, and without thinking, they went straight to the police station in front of the station.

"You're quite good at this." Haibara Ai walked up to Conan.

This see-through tone made Conan feel very uncomfortable.

"Haha, what are you talking about..."

Conan pretended to be stupid on the surface, but he was actually thinking in his heart that this was another difficult kid to deal with.

Why didn't she go with them?

"Are you thinking that I'm a tactless guy?"

"Uh... no."

Conan felt somewhat guilty when he spoke.

Because no matter how you look at her, she is a girl with a bad attitude and a cold personality.

In addition, it is very smart.

"Haha, why don't you hide first? I want to go to the bathroom first." Conan continued to grin foolishly and slipped out in a hurry.

He had to notify the police and then take advantage of this opportunity to enter the factory to investigate.

Conan found a telephone booth and used the bow-tie voice changer to change into Kudo Shinichi's voice. He called Inspector Megure and told him his guess about the counterfeit money.

When he sneaked back to the factory, he found that Haibara Ai, who was supposed to be waiting there, was nowhere to be seen.

Conan said to himself, "Oh no!" and quickly found a few pieces of stone, turned around, stood on tiptoe, and climbed over the low wall.

……

236 Intense? Confrontation (8k)

Conan landed on the grass at the corner of the wall.

Although the exterior has been repainted and looks like a brand new building, the interior still retains the somewhat dilapidated layout of the original factory.

He walked around the hut that looked like a car inspection station. There was no light in the hut, and Conan jumped up through the small window, but saw no one inside.

"Has she gone deeper into the room?"

Conan supported himself on the ground with one hand and clenched his teeth. His mind was full of bad guesses.

From the angle he entered the courtyard, there was actually light in the room inside the printing factory, but it was blocked by thick curtains and was located near the river bank, so it was impossible to confirm from the front of the factory. At this time, it was strange that the people who were still staying in the factory were not guards, unless the criminal gangs had used the rooms here as temporary residences.

"Were they going to stay here until the counterfeit money was made?"

Although Conan made an inference, he still felt that there was something wrong.

Toshiya's brother disappeared a week ago, which means that the counterfeit banknotes printed with Natsume Soseki's name were only started to be produced a week ago. This period required countless attempts at paper, paint, and watermarks. The counterfeit banknotes used by the man were obviously unfinished products, which means that it was impossible for them to carry out large-scale printing. It would be too slow to cover up with the scale of a printing factory.

Suddenly, the lights in the factory flickered.

"That guy Huihara..."

Conan was extremely anxious, thinking that something went wrong with Haibara Ai in the factory. He didn't have time to think more and hurried to the bottom of the side glass of the factory.

During this time, he stepped on some broken glass.

But he had no time to cull.

He crawled down under the window, and after making sure there was no sound around, he poked his head to the side of the window.

The building materials were not soundproof, so he did not hear the little girl's cry or struggle, nor did he hear any threats from the criminal gang. Conan's temples were sweating, and he felt that his suit, which was pressed against his back, was completely soaked. He had just confirmed that there were cameras installed near the main entrance, but the coverage was not wide, and it was more like something to deal with inspections by relevant departments.

Conan, who was thinking about how to break in, suddenly looked serious.

He had a premonition that he was about to be hit by a baseball bat like in an amusement park, and quickly turned around to see Haibara Ai standing against the wall with a relaxed look on her face.

"Could it be that you are looking for me?"

Haibara Ai crossed her arms and looked down at Conan who was squatting.

Conan smiled awkwardly again. He felt that if this continued every day, his facial muscles would have problems sooner or later.

"Why are you here?"

"Because I saw you climbing in from the outside, I followed you here," she said. "Or did you want to leave a girl alone on the edge of an empty factory?"

I actually wanted to go in and save you, Conan thought.

And no matter how you look at it, it's more dangerous inside.

If we don't think from the premise of "there is a criminal organization", what they did was simply trespassing on other people's land.

"Now, what should we do?"

"Stay here and don't move."

"I can't promise you that."

Conan estimated the time and thought that the police might be on the way. This period of time was the golden time for him to investigate the organization. It would be best if he could get information about gin and vodka from the woman in black. In this way, he would have a reliable direction for investigation and would no longer be dizzy and rushing around.

He tried to move the window, but it didn't budge.

The windows were locked.

He leaned against the wall, moved cautiously, and tested the windows in different directions. The results were the same, so he could only focus on the emergency exit leading to the second floor.

Although it's risky, it's worth a try.

"Go back outside the factory and wait for the police to come." Conan turned around after he finished speaking, but did not see Haibara Ai.

Conan couldn't help but sigh, and decided to ignore Huibara and try to attract the attention of the criminals in the printing factory in other ways. The short time he spent with Huibara made Conan feel that she was not as reckless as the three giants, and she should be able to protect herself. If he didn't get some information now, it would be difficult to get anything useful out of her after the police arrested her.

He slowly climbed the metal-framed stairs to prevent any collisions. The stairs were shaky and the paint had peeled off, but judging by the cigarette butts on them, the express lane should be open. It was hard to imagine a thief going to a printing factory, so was that the reason he let down his guard?

As Conan got closer to the iron gate, he slowed down.

This door is badly corroded, and if you open it directly, there will be quite a bit of noise.

He suddenly had an idea and remembered the tape he had left in his pocket during the handicraft class. He used the tape to stick the lock core to reduce friction, and then stuck another layer of tape on the door frame. Then he stood on the steep railing next to it and raised the door.

What a blessing!

Conan broke out in a cold sweat.