Chapter 242, Seventy-Third Cycle (72)
"Subaru Okiya has disappeared too?" Kaito Kid touched his bald head in surprise. "He disappeared with the priest? That's really strange. How could three people suddenly disappear?"
"As expected, something bad happened after midnight." After saying that, Hakuba Saguru turned to look at them. "Your lead singer is also missing? How did he disappear?"
The blond guitarist nervously tugged at his hair: "I don't know! He just turned around and disappeared! It happened while we were searching the restrooms! But we didn't find any trace of a mechanism! Could this place really be haunted? Even the priest has disappeared!!!"
"What nonsense are you talking about! There are no ghosts in this world! Maybe it's just that with the advancement of technology, the mechanisms we create are more perfect and we can't easily detect them!" Phantom Thief Kid perfectly played the role of this big, silly guy who was actually a bit timid.
However, he was actually a little panicked.
If Phantom Thief Kid makes a move, it must be related to gems.
This band was actually a group of robbers in disguise. There were five of them in total. They had a fight before, one of them died, and their belongings went missing. It is said that they hid them in their hometown of Nagano.
Only when Phantom Thief Kid found their trail and disguised himself as the bald man did he learn some specific information.
For example, the person who died was a psychopathic killer who liked to dig out the sphenoid bones from people's brains and collect them after killing them.
For example, clues were found at his old home in Nagano after his death. He really liked the novel "Running Towards the Sun" and hid the items in the deep mountains of Nagano, planning to kill all his accomplices before going to a fan event to retrieve them.
Obviously, in the end, he was killed in retaliation.
None of these people are good. Phantom Thief Kid only planned to follow them to get the jewel and then hand them over to the police, but when he got here, he found that the police were already waiting here.
Of course he recognized those three policemen: Matsuda Jinpei, Hagiwara Kenji, and Date Wataru! They were acquaintances of Edogawa Conan, and he had even nearly been caught when his car overturned during a previous encounter with them!
Moreover, before coming to Nagano, he had investigated the Nagano police, thought about how to hand over the thief gang to them, and even considered disguising himself as a capable police officer and going to their door openly. Naturally, he was familiar with Morofushi Takaaki's face.
Therefore, he now faces two huge problems.
First, the disappearances were all arranged by the police. The police already knew the clues about the thieves' gang, set traps, locked the doors, and were just waiting to take them down one by one.
But this idea completely shook him when he saw real human blood and bones.
So the second possibility is, could it be that there's someone hiding very deep, even knowing everything, who then turns around and tries to kill all the accomplices who know the information and the police chasing him? Could it be that even the organizers, staff, and the ambushing police were misled into a trap, and then that person kills the unsuspecting lambs one by one?
Kaito Kid glanced at the extremely anxious and agitated blond-haired man.
If that's the case, then either the blond guy was putting on an act and secretly plotting something, or one of the missing people faked his death and secretly hid to use a trap to kill someone.
And he's the next target.
Kaito Kid casually moved away from Hakuba Saguru and approached Edogawa Conan, whose expression was unusually grave and grim.
"Hey kid, were you the one who first noticed those two were missing?" he asked, squatting down.
Conan Edogawa looked up at him, his expression immediately returning to that of an ordinary child: "Yes, I also wanted to go find the priest. But I was only a few minutes late, and I even saw Mr. Okiya enter the room and heard the priest's voice inside. But when I opened the door, they were gone."
Kaito Kid got up and paced around the priest's room, his tone a mix of agitation and genuine fear: "But this place is so small, and the toilet is so small too. No matter how hard we look, we can't find any trace of a mechanism. Is this really caused by a mechanism? Should we go look in other places? Maybe they're hiding somewhere we haven't seen them..."
As he was talking, as if he had just remembered, he suddenly strode out of the priest's room and stood in front of the locked nun's room.
"Wait! What are you going to do?" Date Kou walked over warily.
Matsuda Jinpei was leaning against the second-floor stair railing, even closer, when he reached out and grabbed Jinpei's shoulder, threatening, "Tsk, don't do anything reckless, or you might be the next one to get into trouble."
Kenji Hagiwara also smiled and joined in: "Don't rush, it's just a game, there's still plenty of time, we can take our time."
Phantom Thief Kid is surrounded by the police, and even though he's used to it, he still feels a bit pressured facing these three guys.
Even if there is a risk of exposure, he needs to act quickly to understand the situation, otherwise he might be the next one to get infected.
"But there's clearly something wrong with this room! So many people have gone missing, why don't we go in and check?" He feigned anxiety and fear while trying to maintain his authority. "Are you all suspicious? Are you the traitors? Otherwise, why are you stopping me from finding clues?"
"They're just worried about damaging the building and causing an accident." The blond, dark-skinned youth walked over, smiling as he took out a piece of wire. "Leave this kind of thing to me."
Kaito Kid slightly widened his eyes.
What? This person can even pick locks?!
Amuro Tooru crouched down, inserted the wire into the lock, and after a few tugs of his finger, the lock clicked open.
Kaito Kid: "!"
This skill is even comparable to that of the Phantom Thief Kid!
"I almost forgot you had this skill," Kogoro Mouri laughed. "Last time, Ran and the others said you were just like Kaito Kid!"
Kaito Kid himself: "?"
Being suddenly called by his name almost made him lose control of his expression.
Hikaru Midorikawa walked over with a flashlight: "Everyone, be careful, make way before opening the door."
The people at the door took a few steps back. Conan Edogawa tried to pretend to be disobedient and stand next to Tooru Amuro, but Kogoro Mouri grabbed him and dragged him away.
Amuro Tooru put away the wire, stood up and exchanged a glance with Midorikawa Hikaru, then grasped the doorknob and slowly pushed open the door.
"squeak--"
The howling wind and snow couldn't drown out the sound of the door opening; there was clearly something wrong with the door.
Hikaru Midorikawa shone his flashlight into the room, and the people behind him followed suit.
The nun's room and the priest's room were laid out almost identically, except that they lacked bookshelves and other common furniture that should have been there, making them unusually spacious.
Therefore, it is obvious to everyone that the strange butterfly chair placed in the very center of the room, as well as the bed placed against the wall.
The blood staining the white sheets and chairs, along with the chains and syringes carelessly tossed on the floor, added to the intense sense of eeriness and unease.
As the light moves upward, you can see that the walls, surrounded by darkness, are also covered with horrifying, frenzied scratches and scarlet handprints, giving you an immediate sense of how broken and insane the person imprisoned here was, and an overwhelming sense of despair.
In the very center of the wall, a sentence was written in English and blood, its shape twisted and unrecognizable.
【We can be both of God and the devil.Since we're trying to raise the dead against the stream of time.】*
Conan Edogawa's pupils contracted sharply.
These are... words Vermouth once said to Itakura Taku, and they also represent the organization's true goal.
We are both God and the devil, for we seek to reverse the flow of time and bring the dead back to life.
In an instant, countless fragments flashed through Conan Edogawa's mind, and all the details of that novel were completely linked to the organization in reality.
*
In the instant he lost his balance, countless thoughts flashed through Shuichi Akai's mind, and he raised his hand at the same time.
But when he saw the priest's expression, he finally suppressed all his emotions and pretended to fall into the pit.
The fall ended quickly. Judging from the height, it wasn't a direct drop to the first floor, but rather into a secret space sandwiched between them.
Shuichi Akai pretended to be panicked and lost his balance, taking the opportunity to observe his surroundings as he staggered on the ground.
It was a dark, narrow secret passage, with nothing on the walls except candlesticks.
He looked up and met the gaze of the priest who stood at the cave entrance, looking down at him.
“Father, what are you doing—” Shuichi Akai was about to say a few words when his expression changed slightly as he saw that the other person had also jumped down.
The priest landed lightly, his white scarf and black robe fluttering up and falling down.
“Come on, Peter, that man told me to take you where you need to go.”
The hole in his head closed perfectly, and the priest picked up a candlestick from the wall and led him downstairs.
“The situation has changed, and now it’s your turn to step in,” he said.
Shuichi Akai followed silently behind him, only asking one question: "What happened?"
But the priest just smiled and said, "You'll know when we get there."
Shuichi Akai didn't say anything, but his eyes and mind were still racing.
The card he received was Simon Peter, also known as Ishtar, who was originally a fisherman who once brought the dead back to life.
In the novel, he is identified as Junichi Ikeda, the main criminal being pursued by Masaya Oki, the protagonist of the third part, and also an undercover agent who infiltrates the organization to investigate.
However, the fact that he is actually an undercover agent has been clearly exposed, and the organization must know it too. So what's going on now?
Mission: Impossible?
Furthermore, if this fanfiction isn't a random adaptation, then Morofushi Kongming, whom Okiya also trusted as a senior, is actually a member of the organization.
Most importantly, judging from the current situation, both this setup and this church were prepared by the organization.
Then the game of finding the traitor that they are supposed to play should be completely reversed.
Jesus likely represents the leader of the organization or the person in charge of the operation, while the traitor is... an undercover agent? So who exactly is the traitor?
Moreover, this matches the trick Rum played in the castle back then. Are these really just coincidences?
Shuichi Akai's mind raced through a variety of thoughts before his gaze finally settled on the priest's profile.
In the candlelight, his features were clearly visible. He calmly lowered his eyes and walked steadily into the darkness deep underground.
Those eyes... those blue, upturned eyes, really do look like Scotland's.
Facial features... even after removing their beards, their facial features still look very similar, and even some of their temperaments are somewhat alike.
That's why he wanted to approach the priest alone to test him.
Shuichi Akai's hand, tucked into his pocket, gently rubbed the gun handle as he pondered the relationship between the two.
Could they be related by blood?
However, Shuichi Akai then remembered that when he was investigating Shinichi Kudo, he even found several people who looked remarkably like Shinichi Kudo but were not related by blood at all, and he thought that this might just be a coincidence.
There are quite a few people in the world who look alike but are not related.
Forget it, whether it's a coincidence or not, we'll have to investigate and confirm it properly after we get out.
"We've arrived." The tall, slender priest stopped in front of a large door carved with blue and red butterflies on either side.
The man placed the candlestick on the wall shelf, put one hand behind his back, and used the other hand to unlock the fingerprint lock on the door. He then turned slightly to open the door for him.
"Please come in," he said.
This depth is far beyond the first floor; it must have gone deep underground. Is it a basement?
Shuichi Akai stared at the priest for two seconds, then finally went inside with a blank expression, playing his part.
The priest followed him in, then closed and locked the door.
"Click!"
The priest pressed some kind of switch, and the entire space instantly lit up.
Compared to the dimly lit passage just now, the brightness here was too dazzling. Even though Shuichi Akai was prepared, it took him a moment to see his surroundings clearly.
It was a huge white space, densely packed with strange instruments and wires, looking both messy and strangely orderly.
The entire wall behind the left corner was covered with surveillance footage from inside the church, and the audio was also very clear.
However, the most eye-catching thing is the huge circular instrument in the center of the room, which is completely covered by black metal, and you can't see what's inside.
"Be happy, you have passed the organization's test, so that person has decided to show you the organization's biggest secret and make you a more core member."
The priest walked over, stood next to the huge instrument, and smiled as he reached out to stroke the smooth metal surface.
Everything in the basement appeared dazzling and psychedelic under the overly bright lights, stimulating the nerves every second.
"This is the legendary time machine that can travel between the past and the future," he said slowly.
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