Conan Rick's Investigator

"Everyone, I have something else to do, so I'll be going home today."

"Here's my phone number. If you need to investigate the code tomorrow, feel free to call me."

"After all, I'm still okay as a guide~"

Sera Masumi handed a piece of paper with a number on it to Mao Lilan, smiled at Kudo Shinichi and Conan, and left quickly.

After leaving everyone's sight, Seriang took a taxi and told the driver his destination.

"The Hink Vauxhall Hotel..."

20 minutes later, Seriang got out of the taxi and returned to the hotel where he and his mother were staying temporarily.

In fact, the mother and daughter moved to this hotel just a few days ago.

Because MI6 colleagues recently said that "Akai Tsutomu" often appeared on Vauxhall Bridge, the two moved to this hotel where they could fully monitor the situation on the bridge.

When I opened the door to the room, I saw Mary inside the room holding a telescope by the window, staring intently at the Vauxhall Bridge outside.

Since it is still more than an hour before dark, with the help of telescopes, we can have a clear view of the people on the bridge.

"Mom, I'm back."

Seriang's eyes first glanced at the slippers on the floor, and then stretched his head to look at the room warily.

After realizing that there was no one else in the room except Mary, she completely relaxed. She took off her coat in a swaggering manner, threw it on the clothes hanger, and lay down on the bed in a large shape.

After stretching her waist a lot, she tilted her head and looked at Mary.

"Dad's friends have left yet?"

Mary, holding the telescope, replied calmly, "He left two hours ago..."

"Oh, that's a shame..."

Sera Masumi was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Although she said regrets, there was a smile on her lips.

Suddenly, Mary asked, "Machun, what are you so happy about?"

Shiliang was frightened by this sudden question and subconsciously defended himself, "No way~"

But then he immediately sat up in bed, looked at Mary and said, "Mom, guess who I met on the street today?"

Upon hearing this, Mary, who had been holding the telescope, suddenly froze and became alert.

Is this child going to meet...Wu Wu?

Although Sera has never seen his father since he was born, he has seen photos of Akai Mutake.

One of the conclusions I reached after discussing with Qin today was that we cannot rashly approach this "Akai Mumu" at the moment.

If it were someone from the organization, it would be dangerous...

"Majun, you..."

Before Mary could ask what she was thinking, Sera Masumi said with a smile, "You'd never guess this person is... the little boy I met at the beach when I was little!"

"Little boy?" Mary asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Seeing that Mari couldn't remember, Sera quickly reminded her, "It was the little boy we met when our family went to the beach in Shizuoka Prefecture 10 years ago!"

"Oh..." Mary thought for a few seconds and then remembered, "You mean the child named 'Shinichi' that woman was carrying?"

"So you still remember it, Mom!"

Sera smiled happily and said, "Today when I was at Baker Street, I met that little boy and his friends who were traveling in London..."

"But what's strange is that I always feel that the boy named Conan is the boy I remember meeting 10 years ago. How strange..."

Mary didn't know Sera's concerns and didn't care much.

She looked at her daughter seriously and said slowly, "Let's put that matter aside for now..."

"Now I'm going to tell you the latest about your father, Akai Tsuchimure..."

……

On the other side, Qin Zhibo finally arrived at the University of Brightchester.

Chapter 1274 The Herald of Destruction, Gherroth

At the University of Bristol, a black sedan was driving slowly down the central avenue of the campus. Qin Zhibo sat in the passenger seat, lowered the window, and silently surveyed his surroundings.

Although the University of Brightchester is also one of the top universities with a good reputation, when you visit it in person, it still feels different from what you imagined.

This place is completely different from the youthful, energetic, and intelligent atmosphere of a traditional university. Deserted and eerie are the keywords here.

Except for a few teaching buildings in the center of the campus that are illuminated by bright lights, the surrounding area is filled with sparse and old office buildings.

These office buildings looked old and lacked repairs, mostly made of red brick and gray walls. The only main road on campus for external vehicles was lined with streetlights that emitted a pale yellow light.

If you look a little further into the street, you'll feel an eerie silence. Even though it's not yet completely dark, it's hard to see anyone on this campus.

Qin Zhibo narrowed his eyes and observed for a while, then turned to the driver next to him and asked.

"Has this place always been like this? It looks deserted..." Obviously, a world-class university should not give people such a feeling.

This is called

The driver of "John Cage" was watching the long road stretching in front of the car.

"The Miserable Yellow Avenue," he replied.

"This is my first time here, so I don't know much about it..."

"But I heard when I was in London that students who graduated from the University of Blythe were somewhat... weird." The driver's tone was not relaxed, as if he was chatting about family matters, but rather a little nervous.

"Is it weird?" Qin Zhibo asked him.

"What's so strange about it?" The driver held the steering wheel with both hands, staring at the straight street in front of him, and groaned in his throat.

"Um……"

"I should say he's a weirdo."

“I heard from a friend who once shared a house in London with two students from the University of Brightchester.”

"That house is in the Bromley district of London. Although it is a bit far from Inner London, the advantage is that the rent is very cheap."

"Less than 100 meters from the house, there is a cemetery."

"My friend once saw his two roommates walking to the cemetery in the middle of the night wearing strange clothes, seemingly performing some kind of ceremony."

"At the beginning, the ceremony was just the two of them, but gradually, more and more people participated in the ceremony, and finally it turned into a huge team of dozens of people."

"Sometimes, they would wear black robes and step on other people's graves, dancing with their teeth and claws."

"Sometimes, they would hold white candles in their hands and collectively sing hymns that no one had ever heard..."

"One day, my friend couldn't stand the behavior of these people, so he chose to knock on those two people's rooms during the day and ask them what they were doing..."

"Guess what they said?" The driver paused and turned to look at Qin Zhibo.

"What do you mean?" Qin Zhibo asked. The driver showed a look of shock on his face.

"They actually said they were conducting an experiment..."

"The experiment involves recalling the dead from the graveyard."

"After hearing this, my friend thought this was ridiculous. He wanted to call the police, but due to the large number of people on the other side and they were all students, the most the police could do was give a simple punishment."

"But once I offend them, life will definitely be difficult in the future. In the end, I have no choice but to move out."

"Ah..." The driver sighed and continued to concentrate on driving. Qin Zhibo, sitting in the passenger seat, was slightly stunned. He was also a little shocked by this story.

If this story is true, then the research topics of this university are too hardcore. Such a university is very suitable for Koizumi Hongzi... At this moment, the driver suddenly stepped on the brakes.

A man suddenly emerged from a dark alley off the main road. He looked younger than usual, a student. He had a loose canvas bag slung over his shoulder and a heavy stack of books in his other hand.

He clearly had a bag, but he was still holding a book? The driver rolled down his window and asked in a genuine London accent, "Excuse me, how do I get to the Institute of Astronomy?" This was the destination Qin Zhibo and the driver had agreed on, and it was a round-trip trip.

The student stopped, slowly turned his head, thought for two seconds and then said coldly.

"Keep driving forward. When you drive about 1 kilometer, you will see a low slope, and the research institute is there."

"Thank you." The driver thanked him and quickly raised the window, fearing that something unclean outside would fly into the car.

Before Qin Zhibo closed the window completely, he saw something twisting and making irregular bulges in the canvas bag tightly held under the student's arm.

It looked like an animal... but Qin Zhibo had no idea what kind of animal was inside, because the driver had already stepped on the accelerator and the car started speeding away.

...Soon, the car arrived at the low slope the student had mentioned. The low slope was next to a river, which, according to the navigation system, was called the Severn River.

There is a white observatory on a low slope, connected to a green-gray six-sided fortress-shaped building.

"We're here..." The driver checked the sign at the bottom of the slope, and it did indeed say "Institute of Astronomy, University of Brightchester".

Qin Zhibo also glanced at the sign, then looked towards the fortress building. With no lighting, most of the building was shrouded in darkness, with only one window on the second floor showing a light.

As luck would have it, it looks like there's someone inside.

"I'll go inside and take a look. You wait here. I'll be back soon." Qin Zhibo explained to the driver and pushed the door and got out of the car.

He looked at the only lighted window, not expecting to run into someone from the research institute who would just know the answer.

But at least I could get the contact number of the relevant researcher, and then I could just call and ask.

As for why the other party

Qin Zhibo had already thought of a way to tell a stranger about the research progress of "Great Halley's Comet"... Qin Zhibo walked up the stone steps and onto the short slope.

The gray walls surrounding the building were covered in a host of chilling graffiti, the most obvious of which were images of skulls, cemeteries, faceless men, and zombie dogs.

But in a corner on the left side of the wall, there were some patterns with completely different styles. Driven by curiosity, Qin Zhibo took a few steps and walked in front of the pattern.

It was a graffiti painting of azure sea and blue sky. The graffiti was painted quite a while ago, causing many of the colors to peel and fade, making it look very mottled.

But the pattern used to be pretty good, at least better than the completely creepy graffiti next to it.

And on the line where the sea and the sky intersect on the light blue sea, a big pale face is rising. At first, Qin Zhibo thought it was the moon.

But if you look closely, you can see that there is a huge eye on it, as well as facial features made of huge pits and mountains.

"It's so abstract..." Qin Zhibo shook his head slightly, not knowing how to evaluate this graffiti.

He turned back to the institute's main entrance and pressed the doorbell. Beep—the bell above his head made a muffled sound, calling out to the person inside.

But after waiting for more than ten seconds, Qin Zhibo did not hear any sound coming from behind the dark glass.

So, Qin Zhibo pressed the doorbell again. Beep-beep--the doorbell, if pressed too often, would arouse the disgust of the people inside.

But just as Qin Zhibo pressed the third button, a piercing sound erupted from above his head. It was the sound of aluminum alloy windows, long unlubricated, sliding through a chute filled with sand and dust.

"Who is that?" The voice was clearly unhappy. Qin Zhibo looked up and saw a head poking out of the only lighted window.

"Hello, I am..." Qin Zhibo was about to introduce himself when he was interrupted by the other party.

"I don't care who you are. My research is at a critical stage. Don't disturb me!" After saying that, the other party closed the window.

Uh... Qin Zhibo hesitated for three seconds before continuing to press the doorbell. Although it was a bit rude, he had to do it in order to know the truth of the world as soon as possible.

The doorbell rang again. The distraught man upstairs quickly opened the window and shouted, "Sir, I've already told you I don't have time!" Qin Zhibo ignored the other party's refusal and quickly stated the purpose of his visit.

"I'm here to find the researcher who is still conducting research on the 'Great Halley's Comet' of 1888..."

"I don't need to take up too much of your time. Just tell me that person's contact information and I'll leave!" After hearing Qin Zhibo's purpose, the man on the second floor fell silent.

Then he asked, "I must first know why you are looking for people to conduct this research?" The man's answer was tantamount to admitting that someone was indeed still conducting this research.

Qin Zhibo took out his wallet and revealed the metal badge inside. Without waiting for the other party to see clearly, he said: "I am from Miskatonic University, and I have seen some information from that year in the school. I’m also very interested in this research.”

"So I came here specifically to learn about the current research progress..." Because of the moonlight behind him, the man in the second-floor window had a dark face.

However, judging by the angle of his head, Qin Zhibo judged that the other person was observing him. After a few seconds, he said in a deep voice, "To be honest, I'm the one conducting this research right now..."

"Since you are from the University of Michigan, come up and have a chat." The man retracted his head, and after a while he stuck his head out of the window again and threw a key in front of Qin Zhibo.

Qin Zhibo took the key and used it to open the locked main door. Entering the institute, he found it was even more energy-efficient than he had imagined.

The first floor was almost completely dark, with offices with different functions on the left and right sides, and the doors were all closed.

Qin Zhibo walked along the stairs opposite the door to the second floor and saw that in the dark corridor, only one office had its door open, and the light inside illuminated a small area.

He walked to the door of the office and saw a man wearing glasses sitting in front of the computer, staring at the screen above.