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

"This is your last chance. Go to the smoking room and isolate yourself. If you don't calm down, I'll kill you right now."

"..."

The delirious muttering stopped abruptly, and Fujioka Takamichi indeed stopped in his tracks.

Lin Xiaofeng tilted his head: "Have you calmed down?"

"Turn around."

"Get out of here. Don't look back or resist, or I'll shoot."

522. Viral infection?

The two walked through the corridor on the lower level of the airship to the door of the smoking room.

"Stop."

As soon as Fujioka Takamichi stopped, Lin Xiaofeng also stopped immediately.

After all, his gun was pointed at the back of the man's head; if he didn't stop, he would be shot dead.

Lin Xiaofeng gave a faint "hmm".

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and click in."

As he spoke, he looked around. The air was still filled with the strong smell of disinfectant, but to be honest, choosing a smoking room as an isolation location was not a good idea.

Although it is one of the best-sealed rooms in the tourist area of ​​this airship, a major problem is that the smoking room door is a sliding door on both sides.

Simply put, there is no door lock; people outside can easily enter by pushing the door open, and people inside can easily exit by pushing the door open again.

Let alone a normal person like Takamichi Fujioka, whose limbs are all intact and can move freely, even if he were tied up and unable to move his hands and feet, he could still roll out by doing 17 somersaults.

I should have brought Inspector Nakamori along; at least he could have kept watch at the gate...

Watching Fujioka Takamichi obediently walk into the smoking room, Lin Xiaofeng couldn't help but click his tongue inwardly.

squeak--

The door hinges turned, and the smoking room door closed automatically again. The well-sealed door panel swayed back and forth slightly under the pull of the floor spring before coming to a complete stop.

After a short wait, Lin Xiaofeng stepped forward, knocked on the door with the butt of his gun, and repeated the action in an extremely calm tone.

"Listen carefully, if you stay inside and don't wander around, as long as you can hold out until the airship lands, the Suzuki Foundation will immediately send you to the best hospital for isolation and treatment. But if you dare to come out on your own, you're doomed regardless of whether the virus kills you or not."

Without waiting for a reply, Lin Xiaofeng turned and left.

Back in the observation deck, the atmosphere remained extremely heavy. Upon seeing the former return, Conan immediately approached and asked in a deep voice.

"Where is Mr. Fujioka? Did you take him to the smoking room for isolation?"

"Then...what else?"

Lin Xiaofeng shrugged, having already put away his pistol.

"Well, although killing him directly and throwing his body off the airship into the sea is also a way, and it would also solve the only source of infection found on the airship so far, but that would probably pollute the environment, and I'm not that inconsiderate."

"..."

Conan didn't reply, but just stared at him intently for a while. Although he didn't say anything, it was clear that he wanted to speak several times, but he forcibly held back.

At the same time, Sera Masumi noticed that her little brother Kaze had reappeared and came over, with Ran and Sonoko by her side.

"By the way, Brother Xiaofeng, did you see those kids on your way here and there?"

"……No."

Lin Xiaofeng's gaze swept across the observation deck.

Sure enough, apart from Conan standing right in front of him and Ai Haibara standing not far away beside Professor Agasa, the other three little ones were not there.

So where are they?

"Perhaps... they're exploring somewhere on the airship."

Conan pondered for a moment, trying to recall.

"I remember when we came down from the Sky Observatory, Eta and the others seemed to have gotten a structural diagram of an airship and said they were going to explore somewhere, but I don't really remember where exactly. I didn't hear them clearly at the time."

"They probably wouldn't go to the smoking room, would they?" Sonoko blinked. "Anyway, those kids don't smoke."

“Yes, yes,” Xiaolan echoed.

"Just to be on the safe side, let me ask first..."

As Conan spoke, he took out his detective badge and pressed the call button on it.

"Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, Genta, can you hear me?"

About two or three seconds after the words were spoken, the voices of the three little ones from the detective badge came out clearly.

"Ah, it's Conan-kun. What's up? We haven't wandered off; we're playing cards in our room right now~"

"..."

Ling?6 Dream (five) lead the flag bar?? Ba Ling Qi ⑹ also

This is like trying to hide something obvious; who would come up and immediately give their address, then insist on adding a swearing statement that they haven't wandered off?

Lin Xiaofeng rubbed his forehead slightly. Even Conan, who had spent so much time with Conan and was almost completely integrated into the group, couldn't help but feel speechless.

However, he didn't have time to dwell on these things right now, so he went straight to the point and asked.

"Putting everything else aside, have any of you been to the smoking room on the airship before?"

"Uh……"

This is a very simple question, and under normal circumstances, the three little ones should have answered it long ago.

However, whether it was because Conan's tone was too stern when he asked the question, or because he had been taught since childhood that he could not smoke or go to the smoking room, the other end of the detective badge hesitated briefly.

The more they refused to speak, the more anxious Conan became, and he urged them again.

"Answer me, did you go or not!"

"Go, go, go... I'm going, I'm going, but I only peeked at the door for a moment..."

Genta's voice was still coming from the Detective Badge intermittently, but Conan could no longer hear it.

His eyes widened little by little, his pupils contracting to the size of pinholes.

"Where are you now? Stay where you are and don't move. I'm coming right away!"

"We are now..."

After hearing the approximate location given by Genta in the detective badge, Conan turned and rushed out of the observation deck.

At the same time, high-altitude air currents roared outside the airship.

Against the backdrop of blue sky and white clouds, a black, unidentified helicopter, shaped like Route 450, followed silently behind the Suzuki airship like a stealthy predator, its rapidly spinning propellers emitting a loud, sputtering sound.

The helicopter carried a fully armed assault team. Each member wore a tactical bulletproof vest, a hood to cover their face, and a fully loaded submachine gun hanging in front of them.

The only one whose face wasn't covered by a hood was a tall, middle-aged man who looked to be around forty years old, with a knife scar on his nose, giving him the appearance of a shrewd and fierce mercenary.

The middle-aged man stood at the helicopter cabin door, one hand on the safety handle, looking down with an emotionless gaze at the airship flying unknowingly ahead, while the other hand took out his cell phone and dialed a number.

"It's me. We're directly above the airship now. What's the situation over there?"

"Ah~ you're finally here! I know, I know. I was wondering how long it would take you to get here. Staying in the smoking room for so long was so boring..."

The voice coming from the other end of the phone was surprisingly familiar. If Lin Xiaofeng were here, he would definitely recognize it as the voice of Fujioka Takamichi, who had almost been shot by him not long ago.

After he finished speaking, there was a sound of someone standing up from the sofa.

"Alright, I'll go clear the way for you now. It's time for the show to begin."

523. Cat catching mouse

The perspective shifts to the middle level of the airship.

This area is located between the lower passenger area and the upper observation deck of the airship. Although no one would normally come here, it occupies 70% of the entire airship's space.

The overall shape of the middle space is roughly olive-shaped. In this extremely spacious space, which resembles an Olympic stadium, steel walkways and ladders are interwoven with a large number of supporting columns, supporting this huge rugby ball from the inside out.

Located at the center of the rugby center is a fully transparent elevator shaft that runs vertically. At the top of the elevator shaft, on both sides, are twelve huge airbags filled with helium that provides buoyancy to the entire airship, floating in the quiet space like the alveoli of a whale.

squeak--

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a dull thud as a sealed iron door, located on the lower middle floor and connected to the outside by a steel walkway, was forcefully pushed open from the outside.

A small figure darted into the doorway and then closed it behind them.

"Seriously, these guys can really run fast. How did they find a place like this? Besides, it smells like rust all over. What's so fun about it?"

Conan grumbled as he looked around.

"I remember the location that Genta and the others mentioned was..."

"Conan——"

Before anyone could be seen, a voice arrived. Just as Conan was looking around, a familiar voice cautiously came from directly in front of him.

Conan immediately looked away and followed the sound, and saw three small heads peeking in his direction from behind a steel pillar that had risen in the middle of the corridor not far away.

"You three!"

At a time like this, he was still playing hide-and-seek with himself. Conan's blood pressure immediately spiked. He twitched his lips and quickly ran over. Before he could say anything to Ayumi or Mitsuhiko, he grabbed Genta and pulled him over.

"Genta, are you feeling unwell anywhere right now?"

"Eh?"

Although Genta was big, he was still a child at heart. When he saw Conan rushing towards him as if to interrogate him, his momentum immediately weakened.

"No, not feeling well? No... I feel great."

"What happened, Conan-kun?"

Ayumi also noticed something was wrong and asked about it.

"Um……"

Conan pondered for a moment.

"To tell you the truth, something big has happened. The news previously claimed that the red Siamese cat that robbed the Nishitama City Biological Research Institute spread deadly bacteria on the airship, and that the source of the spread was in the smoking room."

"A smoking room!?" Genta was quite startled. "Am I doomed? But I really only peeked in from the doorway for a second..."

"I don't know." Conan shook his head. "It might still be in the incubation period, or it might not be infected at all. In any case, no symptoms are a good sign, but you have to say something immediately if you feel unwell, understand?"

"I know, I know..."

Little Fatty Genta pounded his head like garlic.

Perhaps it was Conan's saying, "No phenomenon is a good phenomenon," that made him feel like he was invincible again. Just a second ago he was worried about his life, but the next second his mind was already racing.

"What should we do now? Since the Red Siamese Cat's people have already infiltrated this airship, what about our Junior Detective League..."

"Hey, what's that person climbing on that ladder over there?"

Before Genta could finish speaking, Mitsuhiko suddenly lowered his voice and pointed to a ladder on the other side.

people?

Conan instinctively looked up.

It was indeed a person, about twenty meters away from them. This distance wasn't far, but due to the various ladders and walkways on the middle level of the airship, plus the fact that the person was wearing a long-sleeved hoodie and a hat to cover their face and limit their vision, they didn't notice them for a while.

"Is that Kidd's accomplice?" Yuan Tai was a little eager to try.

"No, I don't think they have anything to do with Kid. They're probably from the Red Siamese Cat's group...~..."

Conan answered, but his body remained still for a long time.

After all, the other party was a strong adult, especially given that he was likely a terrorist. If four first-grade children rushed up, they would be asking for trouble.

His gaze was fixed on the person as he climbed the ladder step by step until he reached the top platform.

Above that is the top opening of the airship, which is not usually opened because no one goes in or out from that place. It is only used by the work crew when they are carrying out maintenance work.

From Conan's perspective, after reaching the top platform, the hooded man raised his hands and unlocked the latch on the movable roof panel, just like unlocking the latch on a fire extinguisher box in a school corridor, before returning the way he came.

Going through all that trouble to climb so high just to... unlock a lock?

"Without a flag, Conan thought about this mysterious question," he said, and through the sturdy outer wall of the airship, he heard the faint sound of a helicopter rotor coming from directly above.

They're so close, so very close, if it's not a shutdown, then there's only one possibility—