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

However, everyone who came to watch tonight's performance believed that Professor Moriarty was only after Irene Adler and had nothing to do with ordinary people like them.

But the current situation perfectly demonstrates their misconceptions.

That's right, Jack the Ripper was much crazier than they imagined; he planned to blow up the entire opera house and bury everyone alive!

"Run!"

"I don't want to be killed by Jack the Ripper!"

Once this was understood, all notions of gentlemanly manners and ladylike image became irrelevant. In the face of death, everyone is equal, and everyone rushed off their seats in terror, scrambling towards the exit at the back.

Lin Xiaofeng had already rushed onto the stage. He knew very well that Jack the Ripper's only goal was Irene Adler, and that his actions against the other guests were merely meant to scare them.

As expected, just as Lin Xiaofeng arrived beside Eileen Adler, a strong gust of wind suddenly came down from above.

He looked up and suddenly felt a chill run through his body.

It wasn't some fallen knight's armor or a large water vat, but a single piece of stone ceiling, about the size of a semi-circular stage.

Although the performer doesn't move around much during the performance, Jack the Ripper couldn't pinpoint the exact location of his target, so he simply blew up the entire ceiling, making it look like a giant hydraulic press column falling from the sky.

"Lower your head!!"

In the critical moment, someone shouted in a familiar Osaka accent.

Immediately afterward, a dark-skinned figure rushed onto the stage with incredible speed, crossing his arms high in front of his chest and planting his legs in a horse stance. He caught the stone slab just as it was about to crush Lin Xiaofeng and Eileen Adler.

boom!

Heiji Hattori's legs suddenly sank down, his hands stomping into the shattered stage floor.

This was an immense pressure that no human body could withstand, yet he endured it nonetheless.

"Hey, let's go."

Hattori Heiji turned to look at Lin Xiaofeng and Eileen Adler, who had ducked to avoid the attack. A slightly strained smile appeared on his lips, and his body began to glow with white light.

"In that case... we've settled the score for what happened earlier."

"Ah."

Lin Xiaofeng nodded, made a gesture that he would leave the rest to me, and then picked up Eileen Adler and jumped down.

Almost at the same time, Hattori Heiji's figure finally disappeared from the back, and the heavy stone slab crashed to the ground, crushing the entire stage.

The explosions inside the opera house continued. Lin Xiaofeng, carrying Irene Adler, ran wildly and, together with Conan, managed to escape the opera house and reach the street outside before being crushed by falling bricks.

Turning around, the once magnificent Gothic building was now teetering on the brink of collapse.

Fortunately, it's old London, so the building materials are relatively solid.

After all, it was during the most glorious era of the British Empire in history. Although it was nearing its end, the opera house was indeed at its peak when it was built, and it could not be shaken by a large bundle of explosives in a short period of time.

But...that's where it ends.

The explosion inside the opera house affected not only the interior, but also pedestrians on the streets outside, with a strong sense of panic spreading outwards from the opera house.

The streets were filled with fleeing people. The coachman couldn't control the runaway horse and could only sit pale-faced and hunched over in the back of the carriage, being dragged around wildly.

"It's like the end of the world..."

Conan gritted his teeth slightly.

Lin Xiaofeng, with his arms full of Eileen Adler, couldn't free his hands, so he simply said, "It's time to go. Let's find a safe place to settle down first..."

However, before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Conan's raised voice.

"What will happen to those three children if we leave?!"

He was already much more emotional than Lin Xiaofeng, and Hattori Heiji's departure made it even harder for him to maintain his usual calm demeanor.

"...It's just a game."

Lin Xiaofeng shrugged.

"They're just ordinary kids. You don't actually think their chances of survival are high under these circumstances, do you? Instead, focus on figuring out how to beat the game. Think clearly, this is a game, not reality. Once we beat the game, all the previous losers will be spared..."

He suddenly stopped talking. Not because Conan's expression was getting worse, but because he caught a glimpse of a small figure running out from around the corner outside the opera house in the distance.

It is Hideki Morohoshi.

"Hey! Great... Phew! You guys escaped too..."

He ran breathlessly to the three of them, then stopped, bracing himself on his knees and panting heavily, his forehead covered in sweat.

Even someone who regularly plays football is exhausted like this; it seems they really used every ounce of strength they had to escape.

"Where are your two friends?" Lin Xiaofeng noticed that no one was following behind him.

"Jiang Shou and Kikukawa..."

Hideki Moroboshi paused for a moment, then lowered his head slightly.

“We ran together, but they were a step too slow and couldn’t escape.”

"It doesn't matter, as long as we beat the game..."

Before he could even utter the word "line," Lin Xiaofeng's shoulders jolted violently, his muscles tensed instantly, and his casual gaze turned icy cold. Without a second thought, he released his arm from Eileen Adler's knees, instead drawing Holmes's black umbrella and swinging it horizontally towards the other's head.

Almost simultaneously, a figure shrouded in a black cloak descended from the sky, a short dagger colliding heavily with a cane, sparks flying, creating a sound like metal striking stone.

"meet again."

Time seemed to slow down at that moment, like a slow-motion close-up in a movie. Lin Xiaofeng raised his head and said calmly.

The next moment, time returned to normal. Jack the Ripper, who had failed in his first attack, used the force of the recoil from the clash of weapons to leap high into the air, moving four or five meters before landing lightly in the middle of the road.

Jack the Ripper is in an attacking stance, holding a dagger in one hand, while Lin Xiaofeng is holding a cane in one hand and hugging someone in the other.

The two sides remained locked in a silent stalemate.

Suddenly, Jack the Ripper turned around and ran away.

It seems that after weighing the pros and cons, he chose to abandon the assassination target that was right in front of him.

"Don't even think about running away!"

Without a second thought, Conan gave chase. Hideki Moroboshi glanced back and forth between Conan and Lin Xiaofeng before abandoning his thoughts and following closely behind.

Only Lin Xiaofeng remained unhurried. He lowered his head and looked at the female celebrity, who was being held by the waist and looked completely bewildered, clearly still not fully recovered from the attack.

"Alright, you should be safe now. You can walk back on your own, right?"

"Well...of course."

Bringing her thoughts back to reality by the boy's words, Eileen Adler smiled slightly.

"Then, I'm leaving."

After Lin Xiaofeng finished speaking, he let go of her hand and was about to catch up with the two who had left first.

But he was immediately stopped again.

"Please wait a moment."

It was Eileen Adler. After calling out to Lin Xiaofeng, she ran over, lifting her skirt with both hands. Without his consent, she tiptoed and gave the boy a light kiss on the cheek. When she pulled back, her beautiful face returned to its usual mischievous expression.

"Thank you for protecting me, Sir Knight."

"...It's the detective."

Shrugging to correct this misconception, Lin Xiaofeng turned and left.

……

Meanwhile, Conan and Hideki Moroboshi, who were chasing Jack the Ripper, soon caught up with him near a railway line.

Not far away, a train that had just started moving and whose locomotive was belching black smoke was churning and puffing its way towards them.

Jack the Ripper, who was fleeing ahead, noticed this and decisively turned and ran towards the oncoming train.

"He wanted to get on the train and escape!"

Conan immediately understood Jack the Ripper's intention.

Indeed, although London had only experienced the Industrial Revolution a hundred years ago, the power of steam engines was far beyond that of ordinary human beings, especially in terms of endurance.

For a desperate person like the latter, escaping by boarding a train is an incredibly simple task.

“Let’s get on the train too!” Hideki Morohoshi shouted.

Perhaps it was out of concern for his fallen comrades, or perhaps it was the fearlessness of youth, but in any case, this twelve-year-old boy did indeed display a courage that was extremely rare for an ordinary person of that age.

Even Conan had to admit that this was the only viable path they could take at the moment.

Less than ten seconds later, Conan, following in the footsteps of Jack the Ripper, also boarded the train.

After he boarded the train, he reached out his hand to Hideki Moroboshi, who was still waiting to board.

"Quick, get up here!"

"They're here!"

Hideki Moroboshi leaped up with great effort and managed to grab hold, pulling himself up.

Immediately afterward, another familiar figure rushed up, much faster than them, and (the way) he did it was even more effortless.

"Phew~ Looks like I arrived just in time. Did Jack the Ripper get in from this carriage?"

Lin Xiaofeng arrived at the last minute.

"……Correct."

Conan glanced at him and nodded.

"Great."

Lin Xiaofeng pulled out his cane, stepped forward, and opened the carriage door first.

This is a passenger carriage, and there are quite a few people sitting inside. At a glance, you can see everyone from businessmen to workers to brightly dressed young women.

Lin Xiaofeng looked around: "Excuse me, did anyone just pass by?"

"..."

Silence. No one answered.

He was speaking in English, so it was impossible for me not to understand him; I just wouldn't answer.

Whether it was because they couldn't answer or because they dared not answer, no one knows.

Lin Xiaofeng nodded thoughtfully.

"There's no other way, so let's kill everyone here."

"Wait a moment!"

Conan stopped it in time.

"What? Conan, you don't feel sorry for lines of game code, do you?"

"No, I have a better way. Find Jack the Ripper." Conan smiled wryly; game code is life too, young man.

“…Oh?” Lin Xiaofeng paused slightly, his hand holding the umbrella still. “So, what do I do?”

"It's very simple. Please raise your hands to show that you don't have any weapons."

Conan switched to standard American English. His words seemed like a joke, but under the influence of his deceptively innocent and childlike voice, everyone in the carriage obediently did as he was told, raising their hands with their palms facing forward.

Furthermore, because the seats inside the carriage are built around the inner wall, you can see everyone's hands clearly just by standing at the door.

"Very good, then please keep your current posture for now."

Conan nodded.

469. My lord, times have changed.

"According to Mr. Holmes's notes, the body of the second woman killed by Jack the Ripper, Jeanne Charlister, was found near St. Mary's Church in the Whitechapel district, and a pair of rings were scattered next to the body. The larger ring was identified as Jeanne Charlister's wedding ring, so it is speculated that Jack the Ripper and Jeanne Charlister may have had a very close blood relationship."

"Secondly, Jenny Charlister was a woman with great dreams. Ten years ago, she left home because she could not bear the poverty in her married life and came to London to seek a new life. Presumably, the smaller one of the rings was left for her abandoned child at that time."

"In conclusion, imagine what would happen to the finger on which a person wears a very small ring since childhood?"

Conan smiled confidently: "So you understand now? The real Jack the Ripper... is you!"

He gestured towards a woman in a dress who appeared to be quite young and beautiful in the carriage.

The reason is simple: his left ring finger is indeed much thinner than the other fingers, just as speculated.