I am in Mihua, and the ladies all like me

Serabelle stopped the car in front of him and pressed the lift button on the car door. Amid the buzzing sound, she revealed the upper half of her face from behind the black sunshade film, and her eyes cast suspiciously on the bag on the back of a certain bespectacled death god.

"What are you looking at? Get in the car... And what's with that bag of yours? We're just going to get something, why are you making it look like we're going on a spring outing?"

"..."

Conan remained expressionless and said nothing.

He walked around from the front of the car to the passenger seat, opened the door, took the backpack off his back, and then got into the car holding the backpack.

The car door closed, and Conan continued to unzip his backpack expressionlessly and took out a thermos cup from it.

"this is for you."

"Oh, thanks, but what is this?"

Serabelle thanked him with some surprise and took it. The heavy weight in his hand made him sure that it was definitely not an empty cup.

Without waiting for Conan to answer, he unscrewed the lid.

Suddenly, a rich chocolate aroma emanated from it and filled the entire car.

It turned out to be hot cocoa.

At the same time, Conan took out another thermos from his backpack, unscrewed the lid and took a sip himself.

The brown liquid soaked his lips, and the sweet and warm breath filled his mouth. Coupled with the warm air blowing out of the air-conditioning outlet, his cheeks, which had become a little stiff due to the low temperature, finally relaxed a little.

After taking another sip of hot cocoa, Conan breathed a sigh of relief, covered the cup and placed it on the car mount.

"My mom checked the weather and said that it was snowing heavily in Gunma, almost to the point where the mountain was closed. It was very cold, so she prepared this for us and asked me to wrap it up to keep it warm."

"But you were standing outside in such a cold weather, which was not keeping you warm..."

Serabelle put down the cup, held the steering wheel with one hand, shifted gears and prepared to set off.

Conan couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard that: "What can I do? My mom insisted that it's not good to let you wait outside, so she pushed me out directly."

"You... forget it, just pretend I didn't ask."

Serabelle thought about it and decided not to say the second half of the sentence.

What he actually wanted to say was - are you really your biological child? I'm afraid you were adopted.

But after thinking about it, it felt a bit hurtful, so I gave up.

Conan found out where Itakura Taku lived, and Serabell was only responsible for following the navigation.

The distance from Tokyo to Gunma is about 100 kilometers. Under normal circumstances, if the weather is fine and there is no traffic jam, it will take about an hour to get there. But if the mountain is blocked by heavy snow and the villa of that bastard Itakura Taku is deep in the mountains, the trip will take at least three hours.

The journey was long and the drive was long. When they were out of Tokyo and on the national highway, Serabelle took the initiative to bring up the topic.

"Speaking of which, when I read the diary of Itakura Taku this afternoon, I was quite concerned about something. He said that the software he was commissioned to develop could even affect the fate of all mankind. What is that? What kind of game was he originally working on that allowed him to create something of that level?"

"Hmm~ To be honest, I'm not sure either."

Conan thought about it seriously and shook his head.

"The main reason is that I didn't know him before this. All I know about him comes from the three clients who came to Uncle Maori. They said that although he has the ability to develop games independently, his best skill is in the field of optical graphics. He was very outstanding when he was young, but later because of his age, his eyesight deteriorated and his health was not good. He had heart problems, so he stopped doing this."

"Optical graphics..." Serabelle didn't really know much about game development. "It feels like a special effects artist or artist."

"Almost. Maybe it's this kind."

Conan was vague.

There is a saying that goes "every different profession has its own difficulties". The two detectives talked about game development for a long time, but in the end they could only get an uncertain answer.

The clouds in the sky far ahead of the car gradually gathered.

……

Three and a half hours later, the time in the upper left corner of the car's navigation screen had reached ten o'clock in the evening.

Serabelle and Conan were driving along a mountain road that was completely covered with white snow. The cold wind was howling outside the car window, and snowflakes as big as goose feathers were flying backwards in dense masses against the direction of travel.

"Are you sure that the villa is right up this road?"

“That should be correct.”

"That's what you said."

It stands to reason that you should never drive on mountain roads in extreme weather like this, because the soft snow will give people a false sense of security.

You thought there was solid ground in front of you, but it turned out to be a hole. Once you stepped in, you fell into it.

As for cars, it goes without saying that if they are traveling at a speed of just a few dozen yards per hour and hit by a bump, they will be blown away.

Fortunately, Itakura Taku seemed to be particularly concerned about his residence. Although the house was built in such a remote place, he still did a lot of work to ensure its safety.

The road leading to the villa is not a winding dirt road like the one in Yokosuka Castle. Instead, it is a wide straight road opened directly through the mountains and forests. It is about the length of four lanes, and there are large tracts of dense forests neatly preserved on both sides, forming a perfect contrast with the wide and flat mountain road, just like the soundproof fences on both sides of the viaduct, serving as a natural navigation.

Ten minutes later, the mountain road came to an end.

What caught their eyes was a large wooden mansion standing on the hillside covered with snow.

Serabelle parked the car, got out with the thermos, walked to the front door of the villa, unscrewed the lid, took a big sip, and exhaled a breath of hot air in a proper manner.

"So this is it..."

But before he could finish posing, Conan, who had gotten out of the car and ran around the house, hurried over with an unhappy expression on his little face.

"There was an accident."

"...What's wrong?" Serabell raised her eyebrows.

"We don't have the key!"

Conan groaned.

"This Itakura Taku is really a person with obsessive compulsive disorder. He locked all the windows and the door before he left. We don't even have a place to go in now."

"Isn't this simple?"

Serabelle shrugged and strode up the steps to the door.

Then, with Conan's increasingly shocked look in his eyes, he raised his leg and kicked the lock of the main door with great force.

"MI6 OPEN THE DOOR!"

Chapter 316 Silly Vodka

"OK, that's fine for now."

Serabelle, who had used some special means to get in, found a stool near the entrance and kicked it behind the door. After making sure that it would not be blown away by the cold wind outside, she stood up and clapped her hands.

By the time he turned around and faced the inside of the house, Conan, who was standing on the steps in front of the dust collection area, had a completely numb expression on his face.

How should I put it? He usually looks elegant, reserved and polite, but when it comes to fighting, he is just like a bandit leader... No, even the bandit leader who specializes in robbery in the mountains is not as skilled at kicking doors as I am!

Did you use to kick other people's doors every day in the UK?

Of course, Serabelle had no idea what Conan was thinking. Anyway, the owner of the house was already lying in the morgue. In a sense, the villa could be considered ownerless.

So he simply threw away all those red tapes, stepped onto the clean corridor floor without taking off or changing his shoes, and walked straight inside past Conan.

"Look, the computer room should be in..."

Because the villa has only one floor, Serabelle doesn't need to speculate whether the computer room might be on the second floor, and she just wanders around the first floor.

So after passing through the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and dining room, the two finally found the only computer in a room next to the bedroom in the deepest part of the villa.

It is a very retro style, and it uses a big-butt monitor, with the host placed horizontally under the monitor.

“It’s just here.”

Serabelle muttered as she fished out gloves from her pocket and put them on, then reached out and opened the drawer of the desk under the computer.

The drawer was pitch dark and I couldn't see anything.

But it was no wonder, because they hadn't even turned on a single light since they entered the house, and they had to rely entirely on the light coming in from the snow outside to search the room.

Serabelle could only take off one glove and then take out her cell phone to turn on the flashlight function.

As the light came on, the contents of the drawer became clear.

There was very little inside, almost empty, with only two things in total.

A sealed white CD and a check.

It seems that Itakura Taku had made sufficient preparations for his escape. He took away or disposed of almost all personal belongings in the house, leaving only the two things mentioned in the diary.

"Be brave, don't be afraid of difficulties!"

While muttering some strange words, Serabelle handed the check and CD to Conan and motioned him to put them in his backpack.

Conan is quick to follow suit.

"Okay, now we have everything we need, and we can almost..."

Serabel wanted to say that it was time to retreat, but before he could utter the last two words, a sudden movement instantly attracted the attention of the two.

Ding-ling-ling!!!

An old-fashioned, noisy and piercing bell rang out without warning in the dark space, and Serabelle's eyes suddenly became sharp as she looked in the direction of the sound.

It was a landline phone placed on the low cabinet at the door of the room.

In fact, the furnishings in Itakura Taku's computer room are quite simple, with only two large pieces of furniture besides a chair.

One is a computer desk, and the other is a low cabinet with a landline phone at the door of the room.

However, when they entered the room just now, their attention was attracted by the computer and they did not notice that there was a phone at the door.

But who could be calling at this place at this time?

"Eh, eh..."

Just as Serabelle was thinking, Conan's deliberately lowered voice called out to her ears.

Well?

Serabelle turned her head and saw Conan glaring at her.

The translation probably means - how to say it, should I answer the phone or not?

"…Don't be so nervous. The call hasn't been connected yet. You can talk."

Serabelle said as she walked towards the low cabinet at the door.

"As for whether or not to answer it, of course I will answer it."

After saying this, he picked up the microphone and put it to his ear, but did not speak immediately. Instead, he remained silent.

After about four or five seconds, a slightly hoarse voice came from the microphone, sounding fierce but inexplicably a little silly.

"Hey, why aren't you talking? Are you mute? Well, it doesn't matter. I just called to urge you. The date is almost here. The software should be ready by now, right?"

Oh ~

Serabelle recognized the voice immediately.

Isn't this vodka?

After a little thought, he cleared his throat and imitated the Kansai accent of a certain Osaka black chicken.

"Who are you? What software? If you're looking for the original owner, Mr. Cang, he's already moved out."

"Uh... huh?"

Vodka on the other end of the phone was stunned when he heard the unfamiliar voice, but he quickly reacted and questioned.

"Wait a minute, who are you, this voice?"

"Who do you care who I am..." Serabelle rolled her eyes in a very vivid way. "Anyway, the original owner has sold the house and no longer lives here. This house is mine now. Don't call me anymore. If you want to call me, call his cell phone. That's it. I'm hanging up."

"Oh wait wait!"

When Vodka heard that he was going to hang up, he panicked and quickly changed to a more polite tone.

"Sorry, I just wanted to ask, has Mr. Itakura, who sold you the house, said where he is going? I ordered a piece of software from him, and now the date is approaching, so I plan to go pick it up from him."

"Where to..." Serabelle paused and pretended to think for a while, "I think he went to the United States. He said he had made enough money and was ready to immigrate. He's been gone for three or four days."

“U.S.A.?!”

"Yes, that's it, hang up."