Chapter 66: Day 66 of Cultivation

Chapter 66

At Kanako's instruction, Ijichi Jiegao immediately unfolded the "tent". In this way, no matter what changes occurred inside Teitan Elementary School, the school would appear calm when viewed from the outside.

Ordinary people have no cognitive concept of this kind of "tent" or other types of barriers. They cannot realize the existence of the barrier with their own minds alone.

If someone could lead them in and out, they would only feel a thin membrane brushing against their skin when passing through the barrier, which would be fleeting like a breeze.

But in comparison, the reactions of the people from Teitan Elementary School were a little strange.

At first, Kanako acted as the leader and walked in front. After leading everyone into the "tent", the members of the Junior Detective League were the first to show physical reactions to varying degrees.

"Why does it suddenly feel a lot cooler? Did the temperature drop at night?" Ayumi Yoshida touched her arm.

"The atmosphere suddenly became eerie," Kojima Genta exclaimed rudely. "That's amazing."

"It's really worthy of being a family business specializing in professional exorcism..." Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya nodded and sighed.

"Huh?" Kanako asked, puzzled. "I saw on the news that you often come across difficult cases like murders, kidnappings, and robberies in Beika Town. Could it be that you're not used to this kind of environment?"

Yoshida Ayumi shook her head. "Those incidents happen between people, but demons and ghosts are different. We currently have very little experience dealing with people and ghosts."

Conan Edogawa: ...It's not a small problem, it's absolutely zero.

What era is this? How can there really be a relationship between humans and ghosts?

It happened so quickly that before Conan had time to think about the possible cause of the gloomy wind, he saw a furry, colorful...bug in the window of the first-floor classroom.

If it was just a simple bug, it would be fine, but the key point is that the bug has facial features like a human, and the facial features are distortedly distributed on its face, and its body size is many times larger than the bugs in traditional cognition... dozens of times.

Its body was half hanging by the window, looking like it was trying to get out of the classroom but was stuck.

Conan's pupils trembled, and he quickly pushed the frame up a little and rubbed the corners of his eyes.

How come even he is hallucinating!

"Ga...Ga." The insects made meaningless noises as they moved.

It seemed to sense the human's gaze and quickly turned its head towards Conan. Its four bulging eyeballs turned from four different directions, making a gurgling sound.

“!!!” Damn it, it’s not an illusion, it’s real!

Conan Edogawa kept telling himself in his heart that he must believe in science, believe in science... At the very least, even if he believed in science as much as he did himself, it would be fine!

He looked at the other members, then at Kanako and Ijichi Jietaka, trying to get confirmation from their expressions.

However, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta and the others were only focused on the feeling of the environment getting cooler, and obviously did not see the strange-looking insect. Kanako glanced at them indifferently and spoke softly.

"Ichichi, get to work."

Ijichi Jiegao hesitated a bit. "Should we do it right in front of these kids? I remember they're just ordinary people."

He boldly continued, "And once they enter the barrier, they'll inevitably see cursed spirits as time passes. Is that really okay? Kanako-sama...senpai."

"That's a good question." Kanako snapped her fingers.

Then she said very frankly: "I forgot!"

Yidi Zhijiegao: “?”

Kanako was also very frank in admitting her mistakes: "I've already said that I misjudged the positioning of the Junior Detective Team... I thought those outrageous and melodramatic events reported in the news were definitely related to the curse."

"It turns out it really has nothing to do with it! Humans are truly a combination of melodramatic and outrageous creatures." Kanako said, "But it doesn't matter. I have a backup plan."

"Tongbao, come out and work!" she called.

The system yawned and floated out from behind its head, revealing its ghostly form possessed by a cursed spirit: "Tell me, do you have another strange idea?"

"Oh my god!" "There's a ghost, a living ghost!" "Ahhhh look at my salt attack!"

The system, which was sprinkled with salt as soon as it came out: "..."

Silently floating to the ground, he picked up a bag of salt and threw it heavily to the ground: "Why is it still salt!!!"

Facing the classmates who could see the system, Kanako had already prepared an explanation: "Actually, it...it's not human."

The system subconsciously retorted: "? You're not human, and your entire family isn't human... Oh, that's not right, why is this statement not offensive to you at all?"

Kanako: "It's actually... artificial intelligence!"

“???” Regardless of anything else, the system nodded its chin pretentiously.

Kanako opened her eyes wide and began to talk nonsense: "It's a product of science, it's high-tech. On the surface, it looks like a ghost, but in fact, there is a mechanical core inside, and it is equipped with many small fans to blow it up. And there is a voice transmitter in the middle, just like a mobile phone call. My butler is remotely controlling it on the other side."

Without Haibara Ai present, Conan was still obsessed with the caterpillar. The remaining three believed this explanation without a doubt, and their eyes gradually became filled with curiosity as they looked at the system: "So that's how it is!"

"Now, we need Tongbao to start...the air purifier!" Kanako raised her hand.

"Okay Kanako-sama, no problem Kanako-sama."

The system understood the hint and obediently followed her instructions to begin emitting strong magical power.

This cursed power carries a strong warning meaning, causing all curses in the "tent" that are lower in level than it to penetrate into dark corners that cannot be seen by the naked eye for a while.

Even the caterpillar that Conan noticed disappeared quickly in just a few seconds, its distorted features revealing fear.

The shock this brought him was far greater than the scene when Kanako left school that year.

On the other hand, the person involved said calmly, "By the way, what are the latest bizarre incidents on campus?"

Human beings' most real fear of something often breeds curses, so while she is very curious about the latest rumors, she must first investigate the possible impact of the rumors on the curse.

"I followed the online forums, and there was a post in the Beika Town community section last week." Ijichi Jiegao took out his mobile phone and clicked on the record that had been cached in advance.

"Uncle Ijichi, are you talking about the forum? I've seen the forum too." said Ayumi Yoshida.

Yidizhi Jiegao was stunned for a moment, clutching his chest, feeling hurt: "Uncle...Uncle."

Kanako rested her chin on Ayumi's shoulder and watched her operate her mobile phone, searching for a saved post. The title had already attracted her attention.

"This post has been very popular recently because many of the names mentioned in it have real prototypes." Ijichi Jiegao came back to his senses, confirmed that they were both following the same post, and continued what Ayumi said.

The title is: "Teitan XX School Campus Guide"

Dear students, good evening at the beginning of the new semester. Time flies, and Teitan XX welcomes a new batch of students who have volunteered to attend night school. We welcome everyone here.

Our Teitan XX School encompasses elementary, middle, high, and university departments, encompassing the campus environments that a significant portion of students will likely spend their entire school life. We hope this guide will help you better prepare for the new semester.

Conan: ...night school? Schools with names starting with Teitan are never open to the public at night, right?

It seems like there were peculiar oddities right from the beginning.

[Rule 1: Please do not bring food into the teaching building. Especially to the activity room on the left side of the first floor. Please refrain from bringing even small snacks.]

If you have opened food and are passing through this classroom, please keep it within your sight and check the total amount of food immediately.

If you notice that the weight (or volume) of the food has increased, please immediately discard it into the nearest trash can and do not eat it. If it has not increased, please do not continue to eat it.

"The first rule is definitely targeting me!" Kanako wailed.

No...that's not right.

Conan thought in a daze: the activity room on the left side of the first floor... isn't that the classroom they just passed by with the strange insect-like creature sandwiched between the windows!

Why would the food content increase? Besides the food itself changing, the most likely explanation is that something else got mixed in...

And... don't let food out of your sight.

Before Conan could think about it further, he heard Ichichi Jiegao whisper, "How about Kanako-senpai, throw away the snacks in your pocket first?"

"What are you throwing away? What are you throwing away?" Kanako poked at her coat pocket. "There's no way I can throw away everything!"

Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya frowned, immersed in the role: "No, I have to throw away the leftover cookies from yesterday..."

After cleaning up their things, they walked past the classroom on the first floor and headed straight for the stairwell, preparing to change floors.

[Rule 2: Please do not linger too long in corner stairwells. Remember which floor you are on. The floors on our campus are from 1st to 5th. Do not take steps that lead to floors that do not exist.]

"Ah?" Hearing this, Kojima Genta immediately retracted the foot he had taken.

Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya looked at the stairwell, breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "That's just a fictional work. Look, Genta, in reality, there are only stairs from the first floor to the second floor. You didn't go wrong."

The reason why he comforted Genta Kojima so much is very simple, which is explained in the next paragraph.

If you see a student who has made the mistake of stepping onto the wrong steps, do not talk to them, and try not to make eye contact with them. Wait for them to leave on their own.

If someone calls your name, pretend you didn't hear it and quickly turn around and walk away from the stairwell.

"But...but..." Yoshida Ayumi recalled seriously, "There is a small room for cleaning tools in this side of the teaching building. It uses the hollow space under the stairs."

"Logically, there should be a small door at the corner of the stairs on the first floor."

But the "reality" they live in tells them no.

The whole audience was silent.

Looking up, they saw that the side of the stairs in front of them was clean, with no trace of a door frame.

As Ayumi was talking, she managed to scare herself and tried to excuse herself: "The light is so dim, it might be the angle. I can't see for a while."

Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya stiffly changed the subject: "Right... just wait until daytime to come and see."

"It's no longer effective during the day," Kanako said calmly. "Otherwise...why did this post specifically emphasize 'a new semester at night' at the very beginning?"

"That means the time of 'night' is the most important. To find the truth, we must delve into it..."

"Boom, boom."

At this moment, there was some movement from the ceiling, like regular footsteps, the sound was very light.

Kanako stopped talking in time, and everyone switched their breathing to manual mode at the same time, listening carefully to the noise in silence.

The sound was getting closer and closer, and the direction changed from overhead to in front...which was where the stairs were.

One foot landed on the steps at the corner, revealing a corner of the Teitan Elementary School uniform.

"Why are you...standing there?" The man raised the flashlight on his cell phone and tilted his head in confusion.

Seeing that the visitor was an acquaintance, the Junior Detective Team's joy overwhelmed their panic and they instantly escaped from their fear: "Ai!"

Huiyuan Ai walked down slowly: "The doctor said he would not be home tonight, so I came back to gather. I originally went to the classroom from the right staircase of the teaching building, but I found that you were not there, so I had to come all the way down to look for you."

"There are no ghosts in this world, so...what are you afraid of?" Haibara Ai shrugged.

"Fortunately, Ai is here—"

"Quiet!" Conan interrupted loudly, "Now turn around and run to the other exit. Run outside and regroup. Hurry!"

Conan opened his eyes wide and said excitedly: "Move, run!"

Although the three of them were a little confused, they relied on their trust in Conan and turned around and ran back after a slight hesitation.

A few drops of sweat ran down Ijichi Jiegao's forehead. He followed closely behind the three elementary school students, using his magical power to wrap them in a thin layer of defense as much as possible.

There was another noise above my head, this time it was extremely loud. The next moment, the ceiling and the entire wall collapsed and fell. The electric lights collapsing together with the tables and chairs that fell from the classroom on the second floor were crushed to pieces.

The three elementary school students from the Junior Detective League and Ijichi Kitaka were physically separated from Kanako and Edogawa Conan.

"Ijichi, you're quick to react. Just take them to the playground and untie the 'tent' after I come out!" Kanako shouted.

After saying that, she turned around and gave Conan a nonchalant smile: "Thanks to these curses, I can finally see more clearly..."

"Although Ayumi and the others are all connected by a very strange curse line, it really becomes much dimmer once they are away from you." Kanako said, "It turns out that you are being targeted, Conan."

Conan didn't answer, nor did he question or raise any counter-questions.

The only light in the dim stairwell was from Ai Haibara's cell phone.

No, in other words...is the guy walking down the stairwell really Haibara Ai?

The answer is of course no.

Conan, who knows the true identity of Haibara Ai, holds the badge of the Junior Detective League in his pocket - the badge is essentially a communicator.

The real Haibara Ai would never appear in front of them in such an inexplicable way.

Conan felt like his head was about to explode. He tried many times to think, but the current situation and his intuition told him that the best way to deal with it was... not to think too much.

If I think about it any further, my worldview will collapse.

So after five seconds of silence, Conan Edogawa quickly adapted to the situation and devoted himself to handling the case.

"Kanako-san, what is your plan for exorcism?"

"The biggest plan is to have no plan. I want to try the rules a little more." Kanako said, holding up the phone that Ijichi Jiegao handed over before she left after receiving her instructions.

A picture of the rules post suddenly appeared above.

Kanako also turned on the flashlight function and began to compare her flashlight with that of "Haihara Ai". She smiled faintly at the person on the other side, turned off her phone, turned around and ran up the stairs to the second floor.

Conan: "Let's first calculate how many rules we have triggered..."

Kanako was surprised: "Huh? A lot?"

Conan: “…”

His emotions were quite complicated: "It's not just a lot."

【Author’s words】

The reason for bringing the Junior Detective Team in was that Kanako saw that they had strange curse lines on them and wanted to investigate what the reason was. Later, she found that it was mainly from Conan's x

So the strange combination of Kanako and Conan started a strange adventure (almost said it was xx's strange adventure...)