Chapter 111 Past Events in a Foreign Country

"Ran--"

The group walked through the old staircase, making the steps without the protection of the handrails creak and shake off fine dust.

Conan Edogawa, who was sweating anxiously, took a few steps up and broke open the bedroom door. The first thing he did was to look at the girl standing by the window with a look of shock on her face.

In the room where Ran Mouri was, Dr. Agasa fell to the ground, and it seemed that he had not recovered yet. He was holding his stomach and gasping for breath. An arrow was stuck in the bedding next to him. The arrow head was almost completely immersed in the mattress, and the tip was even embedded in the floor. It can be seen how powerful the shot was.

Fortunately, the arrow just grazed Dr. Agasa's sleeve, and although it tore the fabric, it did not touch the skin.

"Dr. Agasa?!" Tsukiyama Chaoli frowned and quickly ran to his side and squatted down. He lifted up the piece of clothing and carefully checked the old man's arm. He was relieved when he found no wounds. "Fortunately..."

After confirming that Dr. Agasa was not seriously injured and just sprained his waist due to falling down in panic, he turned his line to the direction where the arrow came from.

On the closet next to him.

Edogawa Conan dragged a stool from the side and stepped on it, but still couldn't reach it. It was Tsukiyama Chaoli who came over and lifted him up, so that the boy could see the situation above clearly. There

was a crossbow/arrow stuck between the two horns of the bronze sheep-head statue placed above the closet, facing the position where Dr. Agasa was before.

"I was almost pierced through by this thing." The chubby doctor stood up and patted his head with his hand, saying in fear, "Lucky."

He rubbed his waist and was helped up by the brown-haired girl and Tsukiyama Asari, who were full of worry and anger in their eyes.

"What happened?" Maori Kogoro asked.

"The arrow just now suddenly shot out!" Hearing this, several children immediately started chattering, vying to say, "If it weren't for Ai pulling Dr. Agasa, the doctor would have been shot."

"Yeah, it's Ai's fault this time."

Edogawa Conan frowned, "When was the arrow fired?"

"I don't remember it very well. I wanted to catch my sleep, and just when I was about to lie down, that thing suddenly shot out..."

Just when I was about to lie down.

If Haibara Ai hadn't grabbed him at that time, the arrow would have probably penetrated into Dr. Agasa's chest and pierced his heart after he lay down.

Tsukiyama looked at the place where Dr. Agasa was going to lie down, and communicated with the system in his heart, "System, this crossbow/arrow is not used to..."

[Kill you. ]

"...You are really not tactful." The black-haired man twitched his mouth. That was indeed his bed, because it was longer than the one prepared for the child. It seemed that the murderer hid the mechanism there, and it would automatically fire as soon as the person lay down.

The only one who could complete this preparation was that person.

What was the motive for the attack? Just because he looked a lot like Yutani Mia, this was too much. Tsukiyama Asari frowned because of this puzzled question and the fact that Professor Agasa was dragged into it, and gently put down the boy she was holding.

Because of the attempted murder, everyone was in a bad mood. There was silence in the room. Finally, it was Ran Mouri who spoke first, "Have a glass of water first."

Seeing that Dr. Agasa was still a little shocked, the always considerate girl took the kettle from the table, searched for a while and finally found a clean glass, "This is..."

"I washed it before, and it has not been used yet." Tsukiyama Asari explained that he wanted to use this to drink water last night, but after drinking the energy potion disguised as coffee in the system mall, he didn't feel thirsty at all, so he never used it.

Ran Mouri took a cup of warm water and handed the cup to Dr. Agasa.

"Thank you, Xiaolan..." The latter took the cup and was about to put it into his mouth.

"Wait!"

Dr. Agasa asked a short question as the cup stopped less than three centimeters from his lips. Before he could react, the black-haired man who came over snatched the cup from his hand.

Tsukiyama Asari asked coldly in the surprised eyes of everyone, "Excuse me, are Mrs. Mori Yu's earrings made of silver?"

"Yes..." As the other party asked, Mori Yu Sachiko took off the earrings on her ears and handed the butterfly-shaped silver earrings to the other party, "Please use them." The

delicate, sparkling earrings fell into the water and were soon coated with an ominous black color.

Conan Edogawa's pupils suddenly shrank, and he said in disbelief, "It's...arsenic trioxide."

"Arsenic trioxide?"

"It's arsenic." Haibara Ai crossed her arms and met Mouri Ran's questioning gaze, "One of the oldest poisons."

Mouri Kogoro's face darkened since he saw the blackened earrings, and now he finally couldn't help shouting, "Damn it! Who did this? If it's a joke, it's too much!"

"It's not a joke." Conan Edogawa raised his head, his glasses reflecting the light, blocking most of his expression, "It's murder."

The word 'murder' is too cold, and it makes people shudder when it is uttered by the ethereal child's voice.

"I think we should not stay here and wait for the rain to stop. The murderer is ready to kill indiscriminately." Maori Kogoro frowned. He could not let his daughter and so many children stay in this place for any longer. "When it gets light, we will go out to find the nearest residential area and contact the police."

"Okay."

After cleaning up the guest room, disposing of the poisonous water, and checking whether there is any poison on other food, the sky finally got bright. Tsukiyama opened an umbrella and walked out of the villa with Yoshikazu Sai in the continuous rain. Maori Kogoro was left in the villa to protect the people left behind.

Unfortunately, nothing was gained.

The two of them didn't know how far they had walked. Their clothes were soaked, but they still didn't see any houses. Halfway through the walk, they were worried that if they didn't go back, they would not be able to find the way back. So Yoshiichi Sai suggested that they return to the villa. They didn't return to that spooky place until the sun went down.

After returning, Tsukiyama Asari had a meal, took a bath with boiled water, changed into the clothes he brought with him, and sneezed several times before he recovered.

Really... It's really impossible for them to find a way to leave the villa before the case is over.

He felt a slight headache. He hadn't slept for almost a day and a night. He had been walking outside for so long, and the energy potion he had drunk before was only effective for half an hour. He

probably had to change another bottle...

Thinking this, the man put a clean towel on his half-wet black hair and came out of the bathroom. He saw Maori Kogoro and his group walking towards the stairs with a half-burned candle.

"......What is this?"

"Asari-nii! We need to go to the storage room to get some candles......" Edogawa Conan quickly waved at him, his tone filled with worry, "How do you feel? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Nothing." The black-haired man suppressed the vague pain in his head and smiled, "I'll go with you guys."

They didn't know how long they would stay here, and the demand for candles for lighting was great. The ones prepared by the villa were only for show and melted quickly, and the few they had before were almost used up.

It was dark, and Boukawa Douji was holding the only remaining candle. The flickering flame made the corridor even darker, and even made people dizzy. The storage room was on the underground floor, and the group walked down slowly, holding on to the wall.

Edogawa Conan frowned, and was still thinking about what happened in the morning when he went downstairs. He did not notice the water stains on the stairs, and he slipped and fell down.

"Be careful."

Tsukiyama Asari quickly reached out to grab him, and seeing that the young detective still looked like he had not extricated himself from his thoughts, he simply picked him up with one hand, "...At least pay attention to the stairs, young detective."

He asked the system to turn on the night mode for him, and carefully avoided the rain on the stairs.

"Why did this brat follow us?" Maori Kogoro complained.

Edogawa Conan was yelled at and subconsciously shrank into the arms of the black-haired man who was holding him, rubbing his forehead against the other's neck, and said, "Thank you, Brother Chaoli."

"It's okay, it's more difficult to walk here, I'll let you down when you get there."

The door of the storage room was opened by a rusty key.

"This is the storage room."

Dim candles were placed on the dusty wooden table, illuminating a small area of ​​darkness. Several people vaguely saw a row of framed portraits piled up in a mess, and at first glance they all looked the same.

Tsukiyama Chao held up the candles and looked at them one by one.

Each portrait shows an adult and a child. Even their poses have not changed much. Hiroshi Hanetani's face seems to have been copied and pasted several times, but the child being embraced keeps changing. Long hair, short hair, curly hair, straight hair, brown, black or blonde. They are all wearing the same overalls, looking forward with no smile on their faces. They

are all girls, and they look no more than eight or nine years old.

In the dim candlelight, the innocent faces of the girls are full of ghosts. The painter who painted the portraits seems to have a special liking for painting eyes. The brushstrokes of the eyebrows and eyes are very fine. The girls' eyes seem to be able to move. Standing in front of these portraits, it is like being stared at by dozens of eyes.

With the continuous sound of rain and occasional thunder outside, Kogoro Mouri shuddered and couldn't help rubbing his arms which were already covered with goose bumps. "It's so unlucky. Why are there so many portraits..."

"These portraits are all children adopted by Mr. Hiroshi Hanedani." Butler Doji Boukawa explained, "After each adoption, the old man would ask someone to paint the portrait."

"If that's the case...these children in the portraits are..." asked Conan Edogawa in a calm voice.

"Yes, the ladies all died of illness... The old man asked someone to paint their portraits, probably as a memorial."

"I remember!" The famous detective with a mustache slapped his head, recalling the information he had seen when he was looking up the case before, and said, "I've seen these portraits in newspapers."

Every time this philanthropist adopted a child, the newspaper would publish the corresponding portrait, praising this philanthropist who always adopted seriously ill children.

"But, that painting has never been published." Edogawa Conan said, "It's the painting at the crime scene. We haven't seen it in the newspaper."

"The young master doesn't seem to like appearing in front of others, so the old man didn't let the newspaper publish this portrait...Okay, let's find the candles quickly."

This topic was hurriedly avoided by the butler. Edogawa Conan squinted his eyes and groped to take a look at the portrait, but he was tripped by something and fell to the ground, and even his glasses flew out.

"It hurts--"

"Be careful, there are debris there." After just a few minutes of not noticing this guy who turned into a child, he fell again. Tsukiyama Asari said helplessly, and handed the glasses back to the other party, "It will be fine after a while to get used to it."

After being helped up, Edogawa Conan finally stood there obediently, waiting for his eyes to finally get used to the darkness. In the firelight without much lighting effect, he could vaguely see the general outline of the items piled in the room.

...Did Tsukiyama Asari have any adaptation process just now?

The little detective paused as he walked towards the portrait.

No. From the moment he fell into the darkness, the other party's movements were very smooth, and he was even able to avoid all the unclear water marks on the stairs and picked himself up in the darkness.

He was used to the darkness, so he could still move normally in this dim environment that was unbearable for ordinary people.

The boy's eyes flickered twice, and his hands hanging beside his body slowly clenched into fists. He finally asked a question in his mind that he should have thought of long ago.

How will a couple who have lost a child treat the next child?

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Thank you for reading

Asari: Help...

System: Let you cheat!