Ke Xue: Xiaolan delivers goods to your door at the beginning

"Well... we can't rule out that possibility." Shinichi Kudo scratched his head. "But we have to give it a try."

"I must refuse," Lin Xiaofeng replied crisply.

"Why...?" Shinichi Kudo was dumbfounded.

"Instigating others to enter a police-sealed area and take evidence without authorization is a crime, my friend. But how can a friend of justice break the law?"

Lin Xiaofeng tilted his head to look at him.

"Which is more important to you, the law or the truth?"

"Then I'll go by myself."

Shinichi Kudo, using his dual identities as a high school detective and the savior of the Japanese police, easily infiltrated the room where Shogo Hikawa had previously lived and successfully found the jacket Shogo Hikawa wore the night before and the small notebook with old newspapers tucked inside the closet.

The notebook was mostly filled with trivial matters, but because the newspaper was folded and tucked inside, the tactile sensation was very obvious, and he casually flipped to that page.

"This is it!" Shinichi Kudo recognized it at a glance.

He pulled the folded newspaper out of the notebook and unfolded it.

The newspaper's folded exterior still bore the familiar headlines and content, all of which they had seen the previous night.

And what is written on the inside is—

"A jewelry store robbery worth 1 billion yen?"

Shinichi Kudo murmured the headline printed in large, bold font on the inside of the newspaper.

He vaguely remembered the case; it was a vicious robbery and murder that happened when he was in the third grade of elementary school.

At the time, a jewelry store in Tokyo was robbed late at night. The only person in the store, the owner, was murdered, and jewelry worth about one billion yen was stolen.

The combination of murder and a huge robbery made this case a sensational scandal at the time.

What's worse is that the perpetrator has not been caught so far, and we don't even know who did it.

But why does Yamao Keisuke's expression change as soon as he sees this news?

Shinichi Kudo flipped through the newspaper, completely baffled.

Suddenly, he inadvertently discovered an extremely small detail.

The day the robbery occurred was the same day as the day Yamao Keisuke was involved in a car accident, speeding, drunk driving, and fleeing the scene—the dates listed in the newspaper were actually the same!

What does it mean that they happened on the same day?

In an instant, it was as if a bolt of lightning struck Shinichi Kudo's mind, and all the trivial details were connected at that moment, forming a complete storyline.

If... I mean if, if the robbery eight years ago was indeed committed by Keisuke Yamao himself, then it wouldn't be hard to explain why his expression changed drastically upon seeing this news.

The same logic behind Hikawa Shogo's behavior can also be explained in this way.

He kept the newspaper not to poke at his old classmate's sore spot—a pointless and self-defeating act—but to blackmail Yamao Keisuke, who had robbed 1 billion yen worth of jewelry eight years ago, in an attempt to get a share of the spoils.

In addition to what Sonoko mentioned earlier, the two people asked the information desk at the visitor center for maps of both the old and new Kitazawa villages.

To put it simply, eight years ago, Keisuke Yamao robbed a jewelry store in Tokyo. On his way back to his hometown, he accidentally ran over and killed Natsuki Tono, who was only eighteen years old at the time.

He chose to flee because there were stolen goods from a jewelry store in his car. He only turned himself in after returning to his hometown and burying the jewelry.

Yamao Keisuke thought he would only be sentenced to less than two years before being released, but he didn't expect that the various charges would add up and he wouldn't regain his freedom until eight years later in the summer, and his hometown would be turned into a reservoir.

So Keisuke Yamao decided to take advantage of the snow festival to return to his hometown and dig up the buried treasure.

However, this secret somehow came to the attention of Hikawa Shogo. In order to prevent the secret from being leaked, Yamao Keisuke had no choice but to pretend to cooperate with Hikawa Shogo and then secretly try to kill him.

But why must it be during the snow festival?

For no apparent reason, Shinichi Kudo felt a jolt in his heart; he felt as if he had overlooked something very important.

It's important to know that it snows all year round in Kitazawa Village. No matter when you come, the weather is pretty much the same. The temperature doesn't change much throughout the year. It's always freezing cold. There's no such thing as low water temperature in winter and high water temperature in summer.

For the people of Kitazawa Village, the Snow Festival is an important holiday, almost like a New Year celebration.

"Wait a moment!"

As if struck by a sudden inspiration, Shinichi Kudo, who was standing quietly in the room pondering, subconsciously turned his gaze to the window.

Just outside the window, two workers in reservoir dam uniforms were chatting and laughing as they walked into the restaurant in front of the hotel.

"This……"

Could it be!!!

Shinichi Kudo's expression suddenly changed.

420. Shinichi Kudo and Xiaofeng Lin have another disagreement.

"Well then, we'll be going now. Thank you for your assistance, Detective Lin. Have a pleasant journey."

Downstairs at the hotel, the Niigata Prefectural Police, having finished taking statements, were shaking hands with Lin Xiaofeng one by one to say goodbye.

"Wait a moment!"

Shinichi Kudo shouted as he rushed down the stairs from the second floor. Ignoring the strange looks from the other tourists in the lobby, he ran straight out of the hotel and grabbed several Niigata Prefectural Police officers who were about to leave.

“You, you are…” The Niigata Prefectural Police officer, whose clothes were being grabbed, widened his eyes slightly.

"Could you be that high school detective—Shinichi Kudo?!"

The county police officer was probably surprised to see two such famous people in one day, and he was a little incoherent.

Shinichi Kudo asked anxiously, as if his eyebrows were on fire: "Where is Mr. Yamao? Is he still there?"

"Are you referring to Mr. Yamao Keisuke?" The prefectural policeman was a sensible man. Seeing this scene, he forgot about asking for autographs or handshakes and quickly answered honestly.

"Mr. Yamao left after taking a statement, about ten minutes ago, saying he had some urgent business to attend to."

"Really!"

Upon hearing this, Shinichi Kudo clicked his tongue and turned to rush into the hotel, but was stopped by Ran, who was walking out of the hotel. Behind her were Sonoko, who was with her best friend, and Lin Xiaofeng, who was looking up at the sky with nothing on his mind.

"Shinichi...where are you going?" Ran asked, seeing Shinichi in such a hurry.

"Well, although it's just speculation, I predict that something big is about to happen at the dam. I need to go check it out now!"

After saying that, he lifted his foot to continue walking forward.

In the instant their figures crossed paths, a voice floated lightly from the side.

"Be careful, you might die!"

Lin Xiaofeng crossed his arms and gazed lazily at the sky, where dark clouds had once again gathered.

"The other side might still have weapons. Are you sure you really want to go?"

"Of course!" Shinichi Kudo replied firmly.

"Oh, okay, then go ahead," Lin Xiaofeng said.

“I thought you wanted to come with me,” Shinichi Kudo said.

"I have to keep Xiaolan and Yuanzi company, I'm not as free as you." Lin Xiaofeng was being sarcastic again.

"..."

Shinichi Kudo was speechless. He paused for a moment, then picked up his feet and hurried back to the hotel.

When he came out, he had a nuclear-powered skateboard specially made by Professor Agasa in his hand.

The high school detective hopped on his skateboard and sped off towards the dam, riding the snow waves.

"Shinichi... is he really okay?" Ran murmured to herself.

"Yes! That's right. After all, he's the protagonist, a high school detective. Besides, with Shinichi's protagonist's spiritual light (ring), there's nothing to worry about."

Sonoko grabbed Lin Xiaofeng's arm and beamed, "As expected, my Xiaofeng is the best!"

"Yes. You're right, Xiaofeng is the best." Since becoming Lin Xiaofeng's girlfriend, Xiaolan no longer has to worry and has a strong sense of security. This kind of spiritual joy is something that Kudo Shinichi can't give her.

……

The group returned to the hotel restaurant, sat down, chatted, sipped coffee, and enjoyed their leisurely holiday.

After a while, the phone rang; it was Xiaolan's.

She took out her phone and answered the call. Shinichi Kudo's rapid and heavy breathing came through the phone, and he spoke very quickly.

"Lan, you're all still staying at hotels, right?"

"Ah... um."

Xiao Lan nodded honestly.

"Sonoko, Kaze, and I are all here. Professor Agasa and Ayumi should be at the hotel entrance, playing in the snow with the kids..."

"enough."

Shinichi Kudo interrupted hastily.

"There's only one thing you need to do now: get everyone out of here!"

"Eh?"

"I'm on this side of the dam now. Someone has planted a bomb on the dam. I'm taking pictures now and will send them to you right away..."

Bah——!

Without warning, a loud, crackling electrical sound exploded from the phone's earpiece.

Xiaolan was startled. When she looked down again, the call had already ended, and the upper left corner of her phone showed no signal.

"how so……"

"Ran, what happened?" Sonoko asked quickly, seeing Ran's shocked expression.

"It was Shinichi... Shinichi told me that someone has planted a bomb on the dam, and we need to organize the people to evacuate immediately, in case the bomb explodes and the dam collapses..."

Before he could finish speaking, the two dam workers that Shinichi Kudo had seen from upstairs at the hotel happened to pass by.

The two of them smelled strongly of coffee. One of them stopped in his tracks upon hearing Xiaolan's words, raised his eyebrows, and lowered his voice to warn her.

"Hey! Little girl, what nonsense are you talking about! What dam bomb? You can't say things like that, it'll cause panic among the other tourists!"

"I'm not making this up! My friend is right there on the dam!" Xiaolan argued firmly. Knowing Shinichi Kudo as she did, she knew that what he said wasn't a joke; there must be some basis for it.

"Your friend?" The staff member was amused and exasperated. "My colleague is also at the dam right now. I can handle this with just a phone call..."

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.

The staff member looked at the phone in his hand, where three large characters were displayed in the upper left corner.

No signal.

Lin Xiaofeng also stood up and said seriously, "My Xiaolan won't talk nonsense."

"You, you are... high school detective Lin Xiaofeng?" Another dam worker who was with them recognized him.

"What? It's that famous detective Lin Xiaofeng?!" The dam worker, who was still staring blankly at the cell phone with no signal, suddenly came to his senses.

He realized his previous mistake, but then he was immediately troubled.

"The snow festival is a crucial revenue-generating period for our Kitazawa Village. Without solid evidence, we can't make decisions on our own. If the information is wrong, the responsibility is something no one can bear..."

Lin Xiaofeng said coldly, "Do you know who provided this information? It's also a high school detective, Shinichi Kudo!"

"Shinichi Kudo!" Upon hearing the name of this former savior of the world, the staff member was terrified.

However, just to be on the safe side, the staff decided to investigate the dam; without investigation, they had no right to speak.

The dam is quite a distance from Beize Village; it would take at least half an hour to reach it on foot.

Fortunately, the two staff members who came down from the dam to have tea in Beize Village arrived in their work van.

With suitable means of transportation, the time spent on the road can be greatly reduced.

After a brief discussion, Lin Xiaofeng, Xiaolan, Yuanzi, and two staff members, a total of five people, boarded a van and set off in a grand procession towards the dam.

The snow-covered mountain roads were difficult and dangerous to navigate, so the dam staff responsible for driving had to proceed cautiously and slowly, increasing their speed as much as possible while ensuring safe driving.

The van traveled along the bumpy mountain road for more than ten minutes before the outline of the dam gradually emerged from the towering mountains in the distance.

In that scene, there really was a large stone tablet blocking the smell of Gastrea.

The massive dam, constructed of cement and steel, sits in the valley, storing a vast amount of fresh water within the valley and the dam. Several kilometers away, it faces the villages of local residents, separated by a winding canyon that acts like a water channel.

It's unclear whether this dam is truly intended for hydroelectric power generation, or if it's simply waiting for some natural or man-made disaster to wipe out the local indigenous people.