Ms. Moriarty wants to save Beika Town today too.

"another thing?"

When she was confused, she heard the voices of Genta and Mitsuhiko looking for Conan. So the three of them went to the corridor to see what was going on and ran into them.

"Didn't Conan return to this room?" Genta asked, "He disappeared all of a sudden."

"What? You said Conan is missing?" Ayumi was anxious. "But he was clearly in that room just now!"

"How do I know..."

Mitsuhiko added: "We just turned around and he disappeared in an instant."

Ai thought about what Winnett had said just now, and she felt that Conan should be investigating a puzzle different from chess. She looked at the situation in the room: the strangely positioned and overturned chair, the books scattered on the floor, the open clock cover and the clock with the wrong time. She simulated the situation in her mind and thought that Conan should have used the chair and books as foot pads to open the clock cover.

Winnett thought that Xiao Ai must have discovered the secret. She wanted to simulate the situation at that time and might turn on the switch of the secret passage. Winnett estimated that the group of children would clamor to enter the secret passage and take risks.

Xiao Ai picked up the fallen chair and stacked the books again. Before she stood up, Winnet heard footsteps behind her. She quickly stopped Xiao Ai and pulled her into her arms.

The man who came was the noble young master that the gardener had introduced. He stared at Winnett, as if he was about to say something, then changed his mind and looked at the children. He didn't look angry, just a little worried.

"You guys are going to make your sister worried if you play pranks like this."

"No, I didn't take good care of them. I'm so sorry." Winette bowed and apologized. After living in Japan for a long time, she knew what etiquette to follow. To be honest, she didn't want to apologize for Conan's behavior. He was just a toady, and it was very rude to touch other people's things.

His voice alarmed the Doctor who was visiting the castle.

Dr. Agasa came into the room and asked, "Did these children do anything?"

"No, it's just a prank."

"Prank?" The doctor looked at them.

Ayumi shook her hands excitedly, denying the prank. She explained: "That's not the case, it's because Conan suddenly disappeared and we are looking for him!"

"Conan is missing?"

The gardener who was accompanying Dr. Agasa on the tour was standing in the back. He reasoned, "I think he must have gone to the bathroom. The bathroom is on the lower floor."

When the nobleman heard that a child was missing, he did not pursue what had happened and asked the gardener to go and take a look.

When the Junior Detective Team heard the news, they were quite complaining. Mitsuhiko and Genta complained one by one, saying that Conan could have just said hello to them.

"You noticed that mechanism, right?" Ai paused and asked Winnett.

"Ah."

"It seems that he has found the secret passage in the castle." Xiao Ai said, "No wonder you said that just now."

"It seems that this noble gentleman is unaware of the secret passage in the castle."

"Maybe she's just pretending. After all, we're just strangers." After saying that, Xiao Ai slowly walked out the door, but her head still turned and her eyes stared at her blankly. It seemed that she wanted to see something hidden from her, but Winnet just smiled playfully; she sighed, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and followed.

As a result, Conan was not found in the toilet.

According to Mr. Guiren, this house is rarely used and there is only one bathroom.

Although they didn't find the real culprit, the children were relieved, thinking that Conan must be hiding somewhere and ready to scare them.

"Actually, Conan is quite childish." Mitsuhiko made a sharp comment.

Winette thought so too, but it wasn't cute at all when she was too big. Based on Edogawa's personality, she felt that forgetting dinner to explore the castle was exactly what he would do. As for his personal safety, she was too lazy to consider it. A guy who was already a high school student should at least have this consideration - having said that - it was still difficult to measure the degree of his suicidal behavior when he was following Gin.

At this time, the servant of the castle found the nobleman. He also kindly invited them to have dinner together. Genta thought of his eel rice first, but Ayumi was still worried about Conan; Mr. Nobleman was a person who could comfort children, and he told Ayumi that he would come out when Conan was hungry, and comforted her.

At this juncture, Winette also had the opportunity to go to the clock mechanism to look for Conan. She and Ai looked at each other for a moment, and then agreed with Professor Agasa and went to the dining room.

There was a long table in the restaurant, which was filled with sumptuous dishes. The decoration was mainly Western style. The small flower basket was filled with bread as the staple food. The richness of the dishes matched the style of the castle very well, including steak, soup, fruit, and side dishes. Winnet felt a little uncomfortable sitting in her seat, but the children were attracted by the delicacies, and they started eating with their forks in their left hands and knives in their right hands.

Compared to their rough way of eating, Xiao Ai is so elegant that she doesn't look like a child at all.

Winnet cut a small piece of vegetable and Ai glared at her, as if to say "pretentious".

“It’s nice to have some fun occasionally.”

Seeing the children so happy, Master Aman said with a smile.

The nobleman sitting next to him agreed: "Yes, since Mom died in the fire, we have almost no customers here."

They get along well and seem to have a good relationship.

"But I heard that you have been staying here since the fire." Dr. Agasa asked, "Why is that?"

The nobleman hesitated and replied, "Actually, I had planned to live in this castle after I graduated from college." Master Aman followed suit. "Initially, I lived here because I was worried about my mother-in-law who had lost her only daughter." He looked up and said, "But as I lived here, I liked this castle where my wife was born and grew up more and more."

As he spoke, the sound of wheels rolled past the hall door. The eldest wife appeared at the end of the long table, and the waiter stood there at a loss.

The eldest wife scoffed at his words.

"I think what you like is not the castle, but the treasure inside the castle."

The noble lady called out "grandma" in surprise, and Master Aman did not deny it. After all, there are only a few people who remain indifferent after hearing the word "treasure", especially when the treasure is real and close to them. The eldest wife treated him unkindly, saying that he was a man full of greed, and then said that she was going back to her room to have dinner, and left on the wheel. Before leaving, she mentioned something about her daughter.

"Grandma is still the same," the noble sighed, "She still thinks my mother is still alive."

"No wonder she has a bad memory. She has been trapped in this castle for the past ten years." Master Aman muttered, and then looked at Dr. Agasa, "By the way, has the puzzle been solved, Dr. Agasa?"

Professor Agasa was completely immersed in touring the castle and had forgotten about the puzzle. He was stunned when he heard his words.

"Why, haven't you heard yet? My father-in-law once said before his death that he would give his most precious treasure to anyone who could solve the mystery of this castle. This was his last words!"

Dr. Agasa scratched his head.

"I have heard about this from Mr. Tian Dian, the gardener, but I don't know where to start looking."

"The chess pieces arranged in the yard," Xiao Ai put down her knife and fork and said, "If the person who designed the chessboard in the yard is the one who buried the treasure, then there must be a way to unlock the treasure. There should be no mistake."

The Doctor came closer. "Is it true?" he asked.

The noble man on the other side couldn't help but guess after hearing what Xiao Ai said. "Could it be that... you already know the meaning of those chess pieces?"

Xiao Ai calmly drank a sip of red tea.

“How could I know that?” she said. “You spent four years trying to figure it out.”

If anyone could solve it, it would be the silly woman pretending to be blind and acting like a lady, and the confused detective obsessed with solving the case.

And now, Winnett seems to have the answer.

Since it is a treasure that cannot be taken away, it doesn’t matter if I tell them later.

……

380 I have someone I like

The two owners of the castle were a little embarrassed by Xiao Ai's sharp words.

At this time, the maid appeared to ease the atmosphere. She brought a fresh-keeping bag as Ayumi requested. Ayumi thanked her and opened the bag.

"What is this bag used for?" Mitsuhiko asked puzzledly.

"Because I want to bring one of my breads to Conan later," Ayumi put the bread into the bag and said with a smile, "I think Conan will be very hungry by then."

Edogawa is truly guilty of a grave sin.

Winette took a sip of her tea.

Speaking of Conan, Master Aman also asked: "By the way, where is the boy with glasses?"

"That child, I haven't been able to find him since a while ago," Dr. Agasa said, "I plan to look for him carefully after we finish our meal."

"This castle actually has quite a lot of mechanisms. I think he must have lost his way somewhere." Mr. Guiren said comfortingly.

However, Master Aman next to him was very worried.

"It would be better if we didn't break into that tower," he said. His tone was concerning, so Dr. Agasa pressed the issue. He explained, "It's the tower on the left side of this castle - I'm talking about the burnt tower that burned my wife to death four years ago and is now overgrown with weeds." At this point, he recalled something, "Oh, by the way, I remember that two years ago, a new servant we hired to work here suddenly disappeared one night. Upon questioning, I learned that he told a servant he was on good terms with that there must be something strange in the tower. So I immediately went to look for him, but although there were signs that someone had entered, I didn't see him. After that, we called the police and searched the woods."

Winette raised her eyes slightly, and was a little surprised by the information. Ai also opened her eyes wide and glanced at her.

"What happened next?" Winnet asked.

"Nine days later, we found him in the woods," he said a little heavily, "He starved to death."

This conclusion scared the children.

"How could this happen..." Dr. Agasa was also a little scared and began to worry about Conan's safety.

"I don't know," Master Aman shook his head. "The police later treated it as an accident that he strayed into the forest, got lost and died in the forest." But he obviously didn't believe the police's conclusion, and mentioned another thing: "However, there was a very strange saying among the servants at that time. It was said that after my wife was burned to death, her ghost lingered in the tower, and the hatred was transferred to him. Since then, we have sealed the entrance to the tower."

His story frightened Ayumi to tears. "Then..." Ayumi had already imagined Conan starving to death in the forest, sobbing, "If we don't find Conan soon, he will also have nothing to eat--"

The word "starved to death" was never uttered in the end.

Mitsuhiko and Genta didn't know whether it was because Ayumi was crying or because they were worried about Conan, so they put their bread into the bag.

Winnett was thinking about what he said. It took them only about two hours to get to the castle from the branch road into the forest. Because the road was not very flat, the speed of the car was actually not faster than running. There were mountains nearby, and the terrain was relatively obvious. The castle was located at the foot of the mountain. Although it was at the foot of the mountain, judging from the road conditions when they came, the terrain here was still much higher than the surrounding forest.

This actually means that even if you get lost in the forest, as long as you walk along the low terrain, you can easily find the stream, and then you can find the road along the stream. For example, the place where they originally planned to camp was a tributary of the stream.

It was really strange that he had not walked out of the forest for nine days, unless he chose to go deep into the forest in order to look for something. This was not logical, especially when people were unfamiliar with the forest, they would tend to be fearful of it.

Winnett immediately thought of another possibility: dumping the body. Her brows tightened slightly. If that was the case, Conan might have been imprisoned now.

What is in the secret passage?

she thinks.

Mr. Guiren stood up from his seat with a little anxiety, put his hands on the table, and said impatiently: "Let's spread out and look for it, otherwise it will be darker later."

After drinking a cup of tea, Winette followed them and said to Xiao Ai in a low voice:

"What do you think of the story just now, Ai?"

Xiao Ai frowned slightly, stopped and started analyzing.

"If the tower has the same arrangement as this castle, that is, a secret passage, then there may indeed be some secret hidden inside. Because the servant knew this secret, he was killed by someone in the castle and his body was finally thrown into the forest. If you think about it this way, everything is easy to explain."

Winnett blinked and nodded, indicating that they shared the same view.

At this point, the search came to an end. The children walked around the yard, but still did not find any traces or items left by Conan. As for the castle, the nobleman who was familiar with the castle also checked it with the servants, but did not find Conan. Combining these two pieces of information, it is easy to conclude that Conan went into the tower.

Master Aman came running over panting and denied this possibility. He said:

"No, I just checked the entrance, and the lock on the door is still locked."

"So the only thing left is the woods," said the gardener Mr. Tian Dian.

"The problem is that the rain is getting heavier now."

During their search, a light rain had already begun to fall and was now showing signs of intensifying.

Master Aman obviously disagreed with the plan of entering the woods to search. Going into the woods on a rainy night would further reduce visibility and be extremely dangerous.

"In my opinion, we should ask the police to come over tomorrow and conduct a search." He called the Junior Detective Team, "By the way, the rest of you should come in as well."

"No way!"

Genta and Mitsuhiko were worried about Conan, and Ayumi among them ran towards the forest again, calling Conan's name loudly.

Seeing the child like this, Ai took a step forward.

"Xiao Ai, you..."

Winnet looked at her with some worry, thinking that she had the same idea. It was because she knew Xiao Ai's character well that she was a little unsure - Xiao Ai was too kind.

"I'm just trying to persuade her. Compared to an adult like you who doesn't understand a child's mind, it would be more effective for me, who has the same appearance, to do so."

Ai stood beside the anxious Ayumi in the drizzle and said with a firm belief:

"You can rest assured."

Ayumi looked at Ai's profile excitedly, not knowing whether it was rain or tears that filled the corners of her eyes.

"Edogawa Conan is not the kind of person who doesn't need girls to worry about him. Even if something happens, he will find a way to get out of trouble." She spoke in a tone that was not at all persuasive, but there was a convincing power in her words, "If you have time to cry here, you'd better hold the bag well to prevent the bread from getting wet in the rain."

Ayumi's tender white little hands tightened, she gripped the bag tightly, nodded gently, and her sobbing stopped.

She followed behind Ai and asked anxiously, "Why do you know so much about Conan?"

"What do you think?"

Kids nowadays are so precocious, she thought to herself, and immediately thought of her past self.

She was a child then, but growing up is not a matter of following time. All growth happens in an instant. When she fell in love with Winnet, she felt like an adult.

"You like Conan, right?"

Ai saw through Ayumi's thoughts early on and thought it was too dramatic, but she couldn't help but want to tease her a little.