Chapter 67: Day 67 of Cultivation

Chapter 67

"You can see the cursed spirit in that classroom, right?" Kanako asked straight to the point.

"Cursed spirit... is it a specific technical term? If you mean the insect that is about one meter long, then I saw it." Conan told the truth.

He quickly faced the reality: this kind of suspected exorcism-related field was the specialty of his classmate Gojo Kanako.

As the saying goes, every profession has its own expertise. Following Kanako, who knows more about cursed spirits than he does, will definitely be much more useful than his own random guesses.

"It's true that we can't generalize the minds and physiques of different people."

Kanako muttered to herself, "I've long noticed that Conan is the kind of person who loves reasoning and is also very smart... To be able to get full marks in English tests consecutively, he's simply inhuman!"

Conan: ...Just take it as a compliment.

Also, is your sole criterion for judging someone as "too smart to be human" based on a perfect English score? Just how much do you hate English?

"What about your 'butler'? It's not a flying communication device or a human being, is it?" The story was too obvious, so Conan told the truth.

Kanako nodded: "Just think of it as my contracted assistant. It's loyal and devoted. It can complain when there's nothing wrong, and you can blame it when there's something wrong."

System: “Hello——”

The episode ends.

"Is Genta and the others okay?" Conan asked worriedly.

He pinned the detective badge to his collar and flipped the switch, only to hear a noisy, dead tone.

It seems that the signal has been interfered with.

"They are not the main food of the cursed spirits. You are the main food of the cursed spirits, Conan." Kanako comforted him, "Don't worry, don't worry, they won't be eaten until you are eaten."

"So, be prepared to not become food and drive out all the cursed spirits!" she encouraged.

Conan: ...Such abstract comfort, but thank you anyway.

Next, the division of labor between Kanako and Conan gradually became clear.

Adhering to the idea of ​​"since I'm here to break the rules, I'll break them all the way", the former sat on the steps of the stairwell and began to listen to the latter's analysis of the rules for post writing.

First, the first rule.

"Although we threw away all edible food as quickly as possible, there were some procedures we didn't follow."

Conan put his finger on the words "Don't let food out of your sight and check the total amount of food in time."

He expressed his confusion: Putting snacks in pockets and never taking them out to check, does this count as being out of sight to some extent?

"Actually... in order to deliberately break the rules, I deliberately didn't throw away all of them." Kanako silently took out a small bag of candy from her pocket.

Conan: ...

What a great teammate!

He observed the candy bag. It looked slightly bulging on the outside, as if a lot of air was trapped inside.

When he pressed down with his fingertips, he found that the feeling of expansion was real... because Conan touched a long and thin object, which did not look like the round soft candy advertised on the package.

Long and thin strips...Conan inevitably thought of the insect-shaped cursed spirit.

He was a little reluctant to open it and take a look.

"It should be that the insect-shaped cursed spirit in that classroom is secretly growing on the food." Kanako said.

"Because food can provide energy for growth, if there is any small hole in the snack bag on your body when passing through that classroom, it is possible for insects to invade and parasitize you," Conan added.

As he finished speaking, a ball of colorless and odorless gas suddenly emerged from the bottom of the snack bag, and Conan quickly threw it away.

After Kanako and the system confirmed that the gas was harmless, she poked the bag again and found that it had completely deflated.

"The things inside are gone..." Kanako narrowed her glasses slightly, observing the remaining cursed energy, "It must be that some condition has been met - I understand!"

She raised a finger and explained to Conan in a simple and understandable way: "The cursed spirit must pay an equal price to create strange events."

"If you want to continue to establish additional rules in the event, you have to pay the same rules in exchange."

"Summary of basic exorcism knowledge: The price of this establishment must be enforced absolutely! If you refuse to comply, your existence will be wiped out." Kanako gently stroked her neck to indicate.

Conan nodded to show that he understood.

Kanako continued, "The ghost stories that appear on the internet are actually part of the price they pay. If they want to harm humans openly and within the rules, they can only disclose some of their information in advance."

After listening to her explanation, Conan had already formed a rough framework in his mind.

Combining the little knowledge about the field of "exorcism" that Kanako interspersed in the middle, he said: "So, as long as you follow the rules and the information disclosed in the ghost stories, you can indeed protect yourself from the harm of cursed spirits to a certain extent."

Kanako clapped: "That's right!"

"But if we break the rules..." Conan swallowed, "it means the cursed spirit can attack us, but at the same time, it can also become a breakthrough point to lure the cursed spirit to expose itself."

Kanako pointed at the discarded bag of snacks and said, "The advantage of exposing them is that revealing the true identity of the cursed spirits will greatly reduce their abilities. Look, as soon as I mentioned the bug snacks, they disappeared in the blink of an eye."

Conan felt a chill at the level of her nickname: "Bug snacks..."

Kanako: “That’s pretty vivid, isn’t it?”

Conan twitched his lips. If he hadn't dared to move, he would have definitely taken a few steps back.

I didn't dare to move casually because this was a stairwell.

According to the second rule of strange stories, the first sentence is: [Please do not stay too long in the corner stairwell.]

Since the building collapsed and split the team into two, Conan and Kanako had no way to retreat and were almost trapped in the stairwell. Analysis shows that they have stayed there long enough.

The cursed spirits they faced were intelligent and knew how to tread on the edge without paying the price, deliberately using the terrain to force them to stay where they were.

Conan glanced at the stairs and, as expected, noticed something unusual.

Please remember which floor you are on. The floors of our school are from the first to the fifth floor. Do not take the stairs that lead to floors that do not exist.

They were on the first floor, but since when did a staircase leading down appear?

"How do we reveal the truth if we encounter one that has no causal relationship?" Conan asked.

According to the first rule, the essence of bug snacks is that curse spirits silently parasitize the food. If someone does not pay attention and eats the curse, it will turn into a tragedy.

But stairs that disappear or appear out of thin air don't make any sense, right?

"Kwaidan stories without logic are weak, don't take them too seriously. Just be smart and don't make mistakes." Kanako said nonchalantly, "There's another possibility, and that's related to a major characteristic of cursed spirits."

She tilted her head: "Weak people like to stick together."

The follow-up to the second rule is: [If you see a student who has made the mistake of stepping onto the wrong step, do not talk to him/her, and try not to make eye contact with him/her. Wait for him/her to leave on his/her own.]

When they didn't stay long before, most of their attention was focused on the facilities in the stairwell, and they gradually overlooked the previous key point.

"The wrong student".

The "Haibara Ai" that walked down the stairs was a fake. It deliberately disguised itself as someone trusted by the Junior Detective Team, and induced them to break the rules before their vigilance was fully up.

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

Conan knew that there were people in this world who were good at disguise, but supernatural disguise still refreshed his cognition.

Conan made some guesses: "Kanako-san... Can the cursed spirit change into another person's appearance exactly the same? Or is it just an illusion without substance?"

"I'm not sure." Kanako shook her head. "The fake Haibara-san was too far away just now. I couldn't smell it, and I couldn't tell what it really was."

Conan: "I see..."

"But I came here to find out its true form." Kanako whispered, "Conan, have you felt that the entire Beika Town has been acting strangely in the past six months to a year?"

Conan's pupils shrank: "!"

He was no longer sleepy when he mentioned this.

"Are you trying to say that all the strange things happening in Beika Town can be explained by exorcism?" Conan asked excitedly.

"Of course." Kanako assured him, "If we can wipe it out tonight, Conan, you will become the savior of the entire Beika Town!"

Although her tone sounds like that of a capitalist who makes empty promises, Kanako would never lie to her own people.

Whether or not Conan is a savior is not what he cares about. What he cares about most is the facts and the truth.

In the process of dealing with "people and ghosts", there is naturally a compulsory cost constraint hanging over the field of exorcism, and there is no need to worry about other factors that may arise in human society.

Therefore, on this basis, Conan keenly caught an idea in his mind:

In other words, in this case of a strange story about rules caused by a cursed spirit, all you need is the power of exorcism to fully unleash your deductions and investigate step by step by breaking the rules...

Wait. Conan adjusted his glasses, the flashlight reflecting off the lens.

It sounds easy, but he doesn't know how powerful Gojo Kanako's "exorcism" is!

Conan calculated the fighting power of the two. He had Dr. Agasa's inventions: anesthetic needles, power-enhancing shoes, football belts, etc.

"Kanako-san, your level of exorcism practice at home is roughly..."

"Conan, are you usually fast at reasoning?"

They both asked in unison, staring at each other in confusion, their eyes widening, "Huh?"

It seems that they are thinking in the same direction.

Conan believes that Kanako's plan is to rely on quickly detecting the essence of the rules to reduce the ability of the cursed spirits and quickly expand their own advantages.

So he raised the corners of his mouth slightly and conveyed his confidence in words: "Ah, there is enough time."

"That's great!" Kanako was delighted after hearing this, and immediately added, "Don't worry about my strength. In terms of physical skills alone, I'm the strongest in the world of curses...exorcism!"

Conan: ...strong in what way?

"My plan is this - Conan will be responsible for combining the rules on the post with the actual situation, and quickly deduce the answer to the mystery of the strange story, getting as close to the truth as possible."

Kanako: "And I'm responsible for beating up anything that stands in our way!"

She pumped her fist in the air. "Who wants to play tricks with a bunch of weaklings? If there aren't any rules, we'll create them!"

Conan's expression went from serious to speechless in just three seconds, then he twitched: "Kanako-san, please calm down first. After all, in this situation, you can't achieve anything by relying solely on violence—"

Kanako didn't listen to Conan's next words. After her warm-up exercise, she transferred the next few punches from the air to the nearest armrest.

“Boom!!!”

The stairwell and its steps were shattered by a punch.

"...victorious."

The remaining distance was too far, so Kanako adhered to the second rule of "Don't step on the stairs leading to non-existent floors" and swung Youyun to cut off the downward section of the stairs.

Countless broken wood chips flew in the dust.

Due to the long attack distance, the indiscriminate attack accidentally injured the little cursed spirits hiding at the bottom of the stairs waiting for a sneak attack. Their lives instantly turned into nothingness amidst the ghostly screams.

"If you don't allow people to use the stairs, then just tear them down." Kanako nodded calmly. "By the way, what did you say just now?"

Conan: "!?!? (Japanese exclamation)"

"I was talking to myself! I wasn't saying anything!"

Conan was immediately filled with respect and gave a thumbs-up: "I think Kanako-san's plan is very appropriate... Kanako-san's use of appropriate violence is also very efficient."

When he thought that his teammate had such fighting ability, he covered his face silently and couldn't help laughing: He really is the strongest in physical skills!!!

It’s settled!

Kanako originally planned to jump directly to the second floor, but considering the physical fitness of ordinary people, she jumped back and stared at Conan up and down.

"Conan, I have a brilliant idea..."

He had a bad feeling: "...What is it?"

Kanako made a lifting gesture, then turned the back of her hand upwards: "Have you heard of the game of flying a kite?"

Conan answered subconsciously: "It means that in online games, you use long-range skills to hit the opponent, but the opponent is too far away to attack and has to chase the player all the way."

"During this period, the player's attacks will continue uninterrupted until the opponent's health is completely depleted... Ugh."

Before he finished speaking, Kanako had already started looking for equipment for flying the kite.

As a result, she actually found a long rope in the tool room under the stairs.

Kanako was eager to try, blinking her red eyes that were almost glowing and said, "The cursed spirits tend to ignore me, but they like to (target) you, so I found that you are particularly talented in gathering monsters, Conan-kun!"

"Don't waste your precious talent!" Kanako exclaimed, "One day you'll be the best at pulling monsters!!"

Isn't that just bait!!!

Conan broke out in a cold sweat: "Ah...ah?"

The system rubbed its white hands together and slowly approached... Then it suddenly hugged Conan's waist and flew into the sky!

The next moment, two figures disappeared from the stairwell in an instant, appeared in the corridor on the second floor, and ran forward.

To be precise, it was Kanako running wildly and the system flying wildly with Conan in its arms.

"Go! Conan-style kite number one--!" Kanako cheered while pulling the rope tied to her wrist.

The system worked tirelessly, its face full of black lines as it said, "At least treat him like a human being!"

【Author’s words】

Kanako: Let's fly a kite!

Conan: Okay, where's the kite?

Kanako: (smiles)

Conan: ...You're talking about kites?