I am in Mihua, and the ladies all like me

"Don't come! Heiji, please don't come! There are so many of them..."

Kazuha's shouting could be heard in the background, but the call was cut off before she could finish.

Chapter 427: Madam Jinghua's Breath Covering EX

Time goes back to more than two hours ago——

A construction site located on a mountain road somewhere in Kyoto.

As it is the end of the year and the New Year is approaching, most of the construction workers in Japan have closed their businesses and returned to their hometowns to prepare for the upcoming New Year.

Therefore, the construction site that should have been under construction was deserted, with not a single person to be seen. Bags of mud and cement powder were randomly stacked against the wall in the December northwest wind, without any anti-theft measures.

After all, there is no village or shop around here, and there are mountains of Kyoto on both sides. Not to mention children, you can't even see a single person.

What's more, cement, sand, gravel and other things are not worth much, so there is no need to worry about them being stolen even if someone really passes by.

This is true in theory.

"Huh~ It's finally here."

However, the cold wind brought the familiar Osaka accent, and the cold silence on the construction site was instantly broken.

A pair of the latest popular style of girl's winter boots stepped on the newly paved cement floor, which was obviously different in color from the road next to it.

Looking at the scene on the construction site in front of him, Yuanshan Heye carefully compared it with his impression of it last night, and then firmly wiped the fine beads of sweat that seeped from his forehead.

“This should be the right place.”

She had originally planned to take a bus from the hospital in downtown Kyoto all the way here, but this place was too remote and there were no people living further ahead, so the bus route only went as far as the nearest intersection in the city.

And although it is the closest, it is actually about one or two kilometers away.

This distance is neither short nor long for walking. Even if you walk normally, it will take twenty minutes to half an hour. In addition, the mountain road is continuous and the terrain is undulating, making it difficult to walk. By the time we get here, it has been almost an hour since we got off the bus at Yuanshan and Ye.

But it's all worth it.

It was here yesterday that she and Hattori Heiji stopped the Noh-masked monster who tried to escape after shooting arrows at them, and they fought in the grove next to the construction site.

Although we were unable to subdue and capture the enemy in the end, it was not a complete failure.

Toyama Kazuha clearly remembered that she had launched a sneak attack from a distance last night while Hattori Heiji was fighting with the Noh monster. She wrapped a stone she picked up from the construction site with her stockings and threw it out, accurately hitting the Noh monster's head and also smashing a small piece of the mask on his forehead.

If that small piece of debris could be found, it might be possible to hand it over to the police as decisive evidence to catch the criminal.

This is what Yuanshan and Ye thought.

But what she didn't notice was that at the moment she excitedly stepped into the grove in order to find the mask fragments, a black figure suddenly poked its head out from behind the corner of the model house at the construction site behind her.

On his face was a pale Noh mask with one corner torn off.

……

Time returns to the present.

On the side of the road next to the ruins of Yulong Temple, Hattori Heiji, who had just answered the phone, angrily punched the wall of the house next to him, his tone filled with immense regret.

"Damn it, why didn't I notice it earlier? I should have guessed it long ago. He Ye must have gone to the woods last night to help us find decisive evidence of the criminal, but he ended up being..."

"Calm down, we still have a chance."

Serabelle spoke calmly.

"The other party's purpose is to seek money. Since they want to use Yuanshan and Ye as a threat to force you to go alone, at least they will definitely not do anything to your childhood sweetheart before you go."

"That's what I said..."

After being comforted, Hattori Heiji calmed down a little, but worry was still in his eyes.

Serabelle glanced at him and shrugged. "The only problem now is how to get there. After all, the other party's request is obviously a big trap no matter how you look at it. If you are so stupid as to step into it, you will probably die."

"...That's right."

"So I'll lend you this sword."

Before Hattori Heiji could react, Serabelle suddenly handed over the sword in his hand.

"I think it can be used. Although it doesn't have a hilt like a samurai sword, the difference in essence shouldn't be that big."

After saying that, he grasped the handle of the cane and pulled it gently, sleekly pulling out the three-foot-long blade from the tiny joint. The metal blade, flashing with a cold light, reflected the surprised eyes of the Osaka boy.

"Wait a minute... But isn't this your weapon? If you lend it to me, wouldn't you be..."

"It doesn't matter."

Serabelle looked calm and spoke in a gentle tone.

"Dealing with a group of ordinary people who have been holding cold weapons for a few days is no more difficult than killing a chicken."

"Uh, sorry about that..."

Hattori Heiji hesitated for a moment, but still thanked him and took it.

After the weapons were handed over, Serabelle turned to Ooka Momiji beside her.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Ooka, what we are going to do next is too dangerous, so we really can't take you with us, so if you don't mind, we can say goodbye here... Of course, I would be very grateful if you could take this kid to Sannoji Temple on the way."

"Got it, no problem!"

Ooka Momiji agreed very readily.

But Conan didn't think so. When he heard that Serabelle and Hattori Heiji were going to leave him behind and go to the banquet alone, he became anxious.

"Stop it. If you go straight over like this, you will be walking into a trap. At least go back and discuss this with Officer Otaki and the others first..."

"I think so too, so I'll leave this important matter to you."

Serabelle paused, then glanced at Conan oddly.

"You don't think we asked you to go back just to wait for notification, do you?"

"Do not……"

Conan was stunned for a moment and said nothing.

Indeed, two-thread parallel operation is much more efficient than single-thread operation.

"Okay, that's settled then, let's go."

After finishing her words, Serabelle patted Hattori Heiji's other intact shoulder and took the lead to walk forward.

The latter also reacted quickly, said "oh" and jogged to catch up.

After watching the two figures completely disappear at the entrance of the residential area, Conan quickly turned to Ooka Momiji beside him and said anxiously.

"Ms. Ooka, we have to immediately..."

However, it was not until he looked up and saw clearly that he realized that the Kyoto girl was not looking at him at all. Instead, she picked up the mobile phone that had been in her hand and put it to her ear without clicking.

"Hello? Iori, did you hear our conversation? The criminal who attacked us is located in the Shingyokuryuji Temple deep inside Mount Kurama."

"Understood, Miss. We are on our way to pick you up."

"very good."

After the call, Ooka Hongye put away her phone and smiled at Conan who was already stunned beside her.

"Let's go to the nearby intersection and wait for the car. My butler and bodyguards should be here soon."

"...Oh, okay."

As the last two people left, the alley at the Yulong Temple ruins finally returned to its former tranquility.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, a graceful figure of a mature woman in kimono and holding a samurai sword climbed over the wall from behind her. The cumbersome clothing did not affect her agility at all.

Hattori Shizuka landed steadily on the ground, stood up, turned her head and looked in the direction where Serabelle and Hattori Heiji had left earlier, and murmured with her red lips slightly opened.

"Hmm, Mount Kurama..."

Chapter 428 Hunting time!

The old Yulong Temple has been abandoned, and the new Yulong Temple is located deep in the mountains of Kurama Mountain.

Such a location is certainly very good for monks who are devoted to Buddhism, as it is quiet enough without being disturbed by anyone.

But for the long-term development of the temple as a whole, this is undoubtedly digging one's own grave.

After all, this is no longer ancient times. All under heaven belongs to the king. Let alone building a temple, even building a simple house requires a series of procedures from buying land to hiring a construction company.

All of these require money.

For temples, apart from attracting big bosses to become donors and receiving large amounts of donations every year, the remaining main source of income is only the money from incense offerings from tourists who come to worship Buddha.

This is why even a small temple like Sannoji Temple, even if it cannot be built in a famous scenic spot in Kyoto like large temples such as Kinkakuji Temple, must at least be built on the street.

This may be a bit vulgar, but at least people can see it.

If it is built deep in the mountains, others won't even be able to see it, let alone come and burn incense and worship Buddha.

But we can only say that this is true according to universal rationality, but it is not the case for some others.

The sky in the mountains always gets dark earlier than in the city.

Before the street lights in Kyoto city were turned on, the braziers in Gyoryuu-ji Temple on Mount Kurama were already lit.

There was not just one brazier, but many of them, placed along the stone-paved road on both sides from the main entrance of the temple. They were all elevated braziers with racks underneath.

There was flickering fire in each brazier, and the blazing flames enveloped bundles of firewood. The bright red firelight shone on the ground of the temple, and in the shadows cast were the busy and intertwined figures of sword-wielding warriors wearing Noh masks.

"Hurry up! Get everything ready if you don't want to be punished by Master!"

"Put the spare sword in Benkei's drawer! Put the bow and arrow back in the hexagonal drawer!"

"Yes!"

Conversations like these could be heard everywhere, as if a grand ceremony was about to take place.

And at the end of the fire, outside the main entrance of the temple.

There are thousands of steps, and someone is climbing up with a knife.

……

The person holding the knife was naturally not Serabell.

For him, since he knew that the other side had a lot of people, it was impossible for him to just attack from the front.

It’s not that we can’t win in a head-on battle, but that a surprise attack from behind is more cost-effective.

According to the agreed plan, Hattori Heiji would attract fire from the front and launch a sneak attack from behind, giving priority to rescuing Toyama Kazuha.

So at this moment, Serabelle was shuttling through the dark forest, his figure turned into a ghost. The deep dusk and the howling mountain wind were his perfect cover.

"Speaking of which, this Nishijo Taiga is really capable, to be able to gather so many people..."

Serabelle lightly kicked the tree trunk where she was standing to stop herself from moving, and with one hand hooked on the branch, she looked down.

Five meters vertically and four meters horizontally, three sword-wielding Noh warriors were lying in ambush beside the steps leading up the mountain to Yulong Temple.

As for the target of the ambush, it was naturally Hattori Heiji who was walking up the stairs one step at a time. At this speed, he would step into the enemy's ambush range in less than five seconds.

Get rid of them!

As the saying goes, only rookies will always shout words like fighting and killing. A real expert should have accomplished something the moment the words come out of his mouth.

Serabelle thought so too.

So he released his hands that were hooked on the branch almost the moment this thought came to his mind, and at the same time, he pushed his feet hard towards the tree trunk. The reaction force caused him to pounce on the first sword-wielding warrior like a fast, accurate and ruthless blood-dripping grenade.

The whistling wind blew past my ears, and a touch of silver light entered my palm.

Those were the cutlery knives they used in the western restaurant when they had lunch at noon. Normally, cutlery is not allowed to be taken out of the restaurant, but if there is a "cutlery fee" column on the receipt when checking out, it means that the cutlery is allowed to be taken away.

Just in case, Serabelle took it with her.

Sure enough, it is used now.

The distance of less than ten meters was passed in a flash, and the warrior who was concentrating on ambush had no idea what was falling on his head. He was hit in the head by a table knife that still exuded a faint aroma of steak sauce, and his temple was pierced by the knife.

His companion who was ambushed beside him lived for another blink of an eye. Just as he was about to shout out, he was hit on the bridge of his nose by a vicious elbow from Serabelle, and the pain caused him to loosen the samurai sword in his hand.

Then, Serabelle grabbed the handle of the knife and swung it with ease, cutting off the trachea and the aorta. He could only cover his neck with blood gushing out, make a hoarse sound, and slowly sit down.