Chapter 409 The Sound from the Secret Passage
"That's a long story." Uchida Sōta smiled with a troubled expression, unconsciously scratching his cheek with his fingers.
He cleared his throat and said, "Actually, the location of the family heirloom has always been known only to each successive head of the family. However, before we moved, the previous head of the family passed away, and the current head of the family didn't have time to find out. So, we had no choice but to move first and then ask someone to come back and find it. But we haven't had the chance for decades."
"As for me, I'm trying to find the necklace my mother left behind when we moved. But I've searched almost the entire Sunset Mansion these past two days, and I haven't found even my mother's necklace, let alone the well-hidden family heirlooms."
As he spoke, Uchida Sōta sighed with deep sorrow.
Then he suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Hattori Heiji and the others, "By the way, did you bring your own food? This place has been abandoned for a long time, so there is no food and the kitchen is unusable."
"Oh, we brought enough food. It should be fine for dinner tonight." Ran Mouri thought about the food she brought today and nodded with a smile.
"That's good. There are many rooms here, but they're all a bit dusty, so we'll just have to make do." Uchida Souta chuckled, scratching the back of his head.
"Um, Uncle Uchida, I'd like to ask you something." Conan sharply surveyed his surroundings before looking up at Uchida Sōta and speaking.
"What do you want to ask, little brother?" Uchida Souta bent down, puzzled.
"Is Uncle Uchida the only one who came to this big villa?" Conan asked curiously, tilting his head slightly.
"Before I saw you, I was the only one here, so what's wrong?"
“But uncle, the footprints here are very messy, and it’s obviously not just one person’s.” Hattori Heiji chimed in, pointing to the area they hadn’t yet set foot in, and then back to the section of road they had just walked.
Uchida Sōta was stunned for a moment, then his expression changed drastically. "What!? Others have entered here too! Could their target be that gem? That absolutely cannot be given to anyone outside the Kawai family!"
Seeing his sudden loss of composure, Hattori Heiji looked down and exchanged a glance with Conan.
"Don't worry, didn't you say you couldn't find it either? That should mean that the gem isn't so easy to find." Hattori Heiji waved his hand to comfort Uchida Sōta.
Uchida Sōta frowned, a hint of worry in his eyes. "That's true, but I only looked at the exterior. In reality, there are countless secret passages in this Sunset Mansion. The family heirloom is obviously hidden somewhere in one of these passages, but there are also countless dangerous traps in the passages. I can't get through them on my own. Besides... I don't know where the switch to open the passage is."
After he finished speaking, everyone fell into a mysterious silence. But in this silence, a loud thud coming from the deep passageway reached them all.
"What...what is that sound?"
Upon learning that there were other people present, the three girls quickly huddled together again, looking around frantically.
"No, could the sound be coming from inside the secret passage?! Could it be that the other party has already entered the secret passage?!"
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