Chapter 3422 3434 [Telling]

After checking, Conan frowned deeply.

"Whether it's water, electricity, or gas, the numbers are different from what I saw this morning. I'm afraid there's someone in this house."

This thought sent a slight shudder down his spine, like an electric current running through him. At the same time, the pseudo-schoolboy's thoughts raced.

The best-case scenario is that all three meters break down at the same time.

The next thing you know is that a benign, harmless homeless person sneaks into the house.

And the worst-case scenario...

"If they want to monitor Haibara and me, this vacant house is undoubtedly the most convenient place... Could it be that some member of the organization has taken a fancy to this place, sneaked in, and used it as a temporary base?"

Conan adjusted his anesthesia watch and carefully pushed the door open a crack.

He looked around and saw no one in sight, so he turned sideways and carefully slipped into the house.

Conan closed the door behind him, thought for a while, squatted down again, turned on the switch of his foot-strengthening shoes, and added an extra layer of insurance for himself.

"One anesthetic needle, one pair of sneakers... If there are only two intruders, I should be able to handle them."

After making all the preparations, the daring pseudo-schoolboy tiptoed into the living room, muttering to himself, "But if there are three..."

After a brief silence, Conan shook his head and calmed himself down: "Don't be too pessimistic - it seems that the organization rarely acts with three people. Most of the time, they only have two people, just like Gin and Vodka.

"Also... I don't know if it's an illusion, but recently whenever I've run into Gin or Vodka, they always seem to be acting alone. Could there be some rift between these two?"

After pondering this for a while, Conan stopped thinking about it. He focused his attention on the present, ready to deal with the unknown person or two who broke into his home.

Walk through the spacious living room and follow the stairs to the second floor.

Looking at the row of rooms in front of him, Conan stopped at the door of the first room and planned to start checking from this one.

He strained his strength to press down the doorknob, pushed the door open silently, and walked in.

The next moment, a hand stretched out from behind the door and quietly closed it, just like Conan had opened it just now.

A breeze blew across the back of his neck. Conan was stunned for a moment and suddenly understood something. He turned around in horror and faced the black muzzle of a gun.

At the same time, the finger on the gun tightened and pulled the trigger.

…

the next day.

Suzuki Sonoko and Mao Li Ran, along with three other children from the Junior Detective League, boarded the tram and headed to the prefectural park in the suburbs to participate in the youth tennis tournament.

On the way, Suzuki Sonoko yawned and looked at the three children in confusion: "Why are there only three of you? I remember you weren't a group of five."

Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya: "..." Little gang? What kind of image do we have in your eyes?

Yoshida Ayumi didn't notice the subtlety of the wording at all. She answered honestly, "Ai has a cold and isn't feeling well, so she can't come. Conan... he said he has something important to do and can't come. Plus, he didn't participate much in the previous practice, so it's just the three of us competing this time."

"Really?" Suzuki Sonoko rubbed her chin and muttered softly, "It's better if he doesn't come. I always feel that the little brat is unlucky. If he comes, we might be in trouble today."

Another carriage next door.

A little mixed-race girl wearing a hood, wrapped in a scarf, and with her hair dyed black, withdrew her gaze from Suzuki Sonoko and turned to look at Jiang Xia who was sitting next to her.

Jiang Xia was looking at his phone. For some reason, Haibara Ai always felt that he was in a good mood recently.

Perhaps because he had been staring at her for too long, the detective noticed something and turned to look at her: "What's wrong?"

Huiyuan Ai pursed her lips and hesitated as she whispered, "At this critical moment, is it not good for me to run around outside?"

"There's nothing wrong with it." Jiang Xia put down his phone. "Children should behave like children. Participating in group activities is also a very important part. Besides, you might be more needed here."

Huiyuan Ai: “!”

Although she had paid close attention to every word Jiang Xia said before, now she wanted to do an 800-word reading comprehension on every word.

After thinking for a while, Huiyuan Ai asked tentatively, "Will something go wrong in this tennis match?"

Jiang Xia shook his head: "I just want you to come out and relax. You've been too nervous these past few days."

"Is that so?" Huiyuan Ai breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry about me, actually. I do get nervous easily, but it's a very normal emotion. I've gotten used to it a long time ago."

"Really?" Jiang Xia looked at the scenery passing by outside the window. "Then let's enjoy today's game."

Speaking of the competition, Huiyuan Ai remembered something: "Shouldn't we go over and meet them?"

The words were about to come out of her mouth, but she swallowed them back.

——That's right, she often walked with the children from the Junior Detective League when going to and from school. If Vermouth had observed her beforehand, then she might have also been monitoring these children.

"Of course, the surveillance level won't be too high. But if I had happily met them at the station just now... then Vermouth would probably have known as soon as I left."

Thinking of this, Huiyuan Ai pulled her hood down even lower in worry, muttering to herself, "I'd better wait until we get to the suburbs, until these kids are completely out of that woman's sight, and then I'll find a way to meet up with them."

Also, speaking of those children...she suddenly remembered something.

Huiyuan Ai looked at Jiang Xia and whispered, "Last night, Kudo suddenly went out secretly and came back with his head soaked."

She thought about it all night, but couldn't figure out what the fake elementary school student had done. At this critical moment, any abnormality could cause a series of unpleasant reactions.

So, to be on the safe side, I decided to tell Jiang Xia. It doesn't matter if I can't figure it out myself, as long as someone else can figure it out.

Hearing her words, Jiang Xia smiled and said, "Maybe he was hit by a water gun."

Huiyuan Ai looked confused: "Water gun?"

…

When we got to the destination and got off the bus, we saw a striking banner in front of us: "Tokyo Cup Charity Tennis Tournament"

The station's announcement was also promoting this match: "Today will be the semi-finals of the Tokyo Cup Charity Tennis Tournament..."

Before she could finish, a voice drowned out the broadcast. Suzuki Sonoko saw the tennis player on the screen and was surprised: "Mabuchi Kyohei! This tennis star is here too. Xiaolan, did you bring your autograph book?"