Chapter 408 Priceless Treasure
Ai Haibara, sensing the presence of the brewery members, trembled violently and suddenly loudly refuted Heiji Hattori's suggestion.
"No!" Seeing that her voice had suddenly drawn everyone's attention, Ai Haibara pursed her lips slightly, her voice trembling not too noticeably, "What if, what if the people who entered this villa before us weren't the original owners? What if they were a criminal gang or something? Wouldn't we be in danger then?"
What she said made a lot of sense, and everyone was caught in a dilemma for a moment.
Seeing Ai Haibara's reaction, Conan immediately realized that those who arrived at this place before them were very likely members of the Black Organization!
Indeed, if they were to confront the organization members directly, everyone would be in danger.
"ah!"
Just then, Ayumi suddenly screamed in fear.
Genta and Mitsuhiko immediately moved closer to her and asked with concern, "What's wrong, Ayumi?"
Ayumi pointed her trembling finger to a window on the second floor of the villa, "I just... I just saw it, there was a dark figure in that window!"
"A black... shadow!? Is it... a ghost!?"
The three girls' faces changed drastically, and they huddled together in fear.
At that moment, the villa's door was opened from the inside, and a tall, thin middle-aged man came into their view.
The man wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and strode toward the large iron gate.
Once they confirmed that he was a living person and not a ghost, the three girls breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hello, may I ask who you are...?" The middle-aged man walked behind the iron gate and looked them over suspiciously. "I saw you from the window on the second floor just now. I wonder how you got here?"
"Ah, hello uncle. We originally planned to stroll around the edge of this forest and pick some mushrooms and wild fruits, but we ended up here without even realizing it," Hattori Heiji said, striking up a conversation with the friendly man.
"Because there is no cell phone signal, and if we go back now, we won't be able to get out of the forest before dark, so we are now debating whether or not to go into this villa."
Hattori Heiji scratched the back of his head, looking quite embarrassed, then coughed and brazenly asked, "Excuse me, may we stay here for the night?"
"Oh, I see." The man suddenly realized. "Of course, no problem, please come in."
As the man led them toward the villa, he introduced himself, saying, “My name is Uchida Souta. I’m a relative of the owner of this villa. Decades ago, the owner moved out of here and emigrated abroad. I came back specifically to look for an item that the owner left here a long time ago, but unfortunately, it seems to be lost due to the passage of time.”
"What are you looking for, sir?" Hattori Heiji acted as a good liaison, though it was also the detective's curiosity that drove him to ask.
Uchida Sōta shook his head and sighed, "It's a priceless treasure, no, it should be called priceless. What I'm looking for is a gem, a family heirloom passed down through generations of the Kawai family. The Kawai family are the owners of this villa."
"Then why didn't you take that gem with you when you moved?"
With the threat of the 'ghost' gone, the three girls who had banded together quickly calmed down, and Toyama Kazuha asked them some questions out of curiosity.
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