Chapter 37: Deep Underground
After Pu Siqinglan left, the traffic police hurriedly contacted the search section.
At this time, the wanted notice for Pu Si Qinglan had been promulgated, and the Dusk Police Department was busy, so the Wise and Enlightened Police Brigade came.
When a group of criminal police officers arrived at the scene, they entered the factory to try to collect clues, but were surprised to find that there were still five bodies inside.
After questioning the traffic police and analyzing the situation at the scene, the wise police can basically determine that the woman who killed so many people should be Pu Si Qinglan, who was wanted by the Fang Cai Mu Police Department, that is, the killer Shi Kaobing.
Previously, Pu Siqinglan killed a gangster on the side of the road and robbed a taxi, although there were also people who reported to the police, and when they called the police, they said that the prisoner was a woman's testimony. However, because the Metropolitan Police Department had not received the news of Pu Siqinglan's escape at that time, no one associated the murderer with her, but only sent a few criminal police officers to the scene to investigate.
Now the wise police deduced from the time when Pu Si Qinglan escaped, and guessed that it should be Shi Kao Bing who killed the gangsters on the roadside. After killing the thugs, she robbed a taxi, then drove the taxi to the factory and killed the five men. Then the traffic police chased after him, so Pu Siqinglan shot a traffic policeman and fled in a car.
"Have you found out the identity of these corpses?" Wise Alert asked his subordinates.
The identities of these gang members are still not difficult to check, and their subordinates immediately reported: "They should all be members of the underworld organization Dongcheng Society, led by a small leader named Sakata Liang, who is usually responsible for some shady arms trade." The Date Police Department of Division 4 has been investigating them for a long time, but has not been able to find out the location of their stronghold. β
The main duties of the Fourth Investigation Division are to prevent and respond to criminal acts committed by violent organizations such as the underworld.
"I see, so this factory is their stronghold...... Which one is Ryo Sakata? β
"It's the man who died with a blow to the face."
Of the five bodies, the remaining four were shot and killed, and only one body was killed by a blow to the face.
"It seems that Pu Siqinglan drove here to buy guns, and then killed these people when he got them." Wise Alert Mind Turns, "No, Sakata Ryo didn't die from a gunshot...... It was supposed to be that Pu Si Qinglan killed Ryo Sakata and snatched the gun during the transaction, and then shot the other four people to death. β
"The destination of Pusi Qinglan is...... Is the Kasaka family located in Yokosuka's castle? "Immediately dispatch men to Yokosuka to pursue the criminal Pusi Qinglan, and at the same time inform everyone that the target is extremely vicious, and if there is danger, they can be killed on the spot." β
At this time, Pusi Qinglan had already driven on the mountain road in Yokosuka, and the mountain road spiraled upward, although it was not very steep, but if you were not careful, it would easily cause the car to be destroyed and killed. However, the taxis driven by Pu Si Qinglan always maintain a high speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour on the mountain road.
"The Egg of Memories is mine!"
Pu Si Qinglan now wants to rush to the castle of the Kasaka family as soon as possible to snatch the egg of memory.
Every treasure related to the Russian royal family should belong to his ancestor Raspuchin, as long as he thinks of his ancestor, Pu Siqinglan will have endless obsessions in his heart.
ββββββββ plot dividing lineββββββββ
Below Kiichi Kasaka's study is not a basement as Conan and others expected, but an extremely vast underground space.
Everyone walked down the spiral staircase for a long time, and finally touched the ground, thinking that reaching the bottom would be to reach the destination, but they didn't expect that there was a long passage ahead.
The passage is wide enough to accommodate several people walking side by side, and is about five meters high. Therefore, such a large number of people walking in the passage are not too crowded.
The only thing worth noting is that the passage is so dark that two fake police officers, "Shiratori" and "Sato", hold flashlights to open the way.
"But why is the password the 'magician of the end of the century'?" Siruov asked as he walked.
Natsumi thought for a moment and said, "My great-grandfather was known for his craftsmanship at the end of the nineteenth century, and that may be the title my great-grandfather received. β
I don't know how long I walked, but suddenly there was no road ahead, and there was a stone wall in front of everyone. A two-headed vulture with a crown is depicted on the stone wall, and the sun is depicted behind the crown.
The two-headed vulture is the symbol of the Russian royal family, and Conan looks at this stone wall thoughtfully.
The sun is painted on the back of the crown, does it mean that the crown should be illuminated with light?
Conan was about to speak, but Zero was the first to say to Shiratori, "Officer Shiratori, please shrink the aperture of the flashlight so that the light can shine on the crown on the mural. β
"Shiratori" did as he was told, shining a flashlight on the crown.
The circle of light of the flashlight shone on the crown, and the crown suddenly burst into a dazzling light, and at the same time, the roar of machinery sounded, and the ground in front of the stone wall slowly sank, revealing the stairs that continued downward.
"I see, this crown is a luminance meter, and when it is illuminated, it triggers a trap." "Shiratori" with a flashlight muttered.
"Do you want to go down, how deep is this?" Ah Yi, who felt a little tired, complained.
It's not just Ah Yi who feels tired, except for a few characters with outstanding physical strength at this time, everyone else is more or less tired. When the little children first entered the underground passage, they still had the excitement of exploring themselves, chattering and talking, and they couldn't talk much after walking for such a long time. Older people like Dr. Asasa are even gasping for breath. However, Suzuki Jiroji still seems to be very energetic, and his dog Lupin next to him is also vivid.
But even if you feel tired, you still have to keep going. Fortunately, after descending the stairs this time, they didn't have to walk any further, and after passing through an arched doorway, everyone came to a circular lobby.
The lobby is very large, with a stone platform in the center, which is concave and has a small hole at the bottom. Directly in front of the lobby is a coffin.
"It's ...... Burial chambers? Kogoro said, looking at the coffin.
There are candlesticks around the tomb, and Kogoro holds a lighter and lights the candles on them one by one with the help of the "Shiratori" lighting. But when Kiichi Kazaka built this underground space, it was so well ventilated that everyone could feel the slight flow of air. So it's deep underground, but there's no such thing as biogas, so you don't have to worry about ignition and explosions.
After the candles were lit one by one, the brightness of the tomb was also enhanced, at least there was no need for Shiratori and Sato to hold flashlights all the time.
There is no other exit in the tomb except for the door hole when everyone came in just now, and everyone turns around and it doesn't look like there is any mechanism, which means that this is the deepest part of the underground space.
There is only one coffin in the entire burial chamber where things can be hidden, which means that if there is a second Egg of Memory, it can only be placed in the coffin.
"Miss Natsumi, is this your great-grandfather's coffin?" Kogoro asked Kasaka Natsumimichi.
Natsumi shook her head and said, "My great-grandfather is buried in the cemetery of the Kasaka family, but there is no tomb of my great-grandmother there, so I think it should be my great-grandmother who sleeps in this coffin." Perhaps because she was a foreigner, she could not be buried in the family cemetery according to the custom of the time. β
Kogoro asked again, "Then can this coffin be opened?" β
Natsumi thought about it for a while, and finally nodded in agreement.
Everyone, look at me, I look at you, who should lift the coffin? Although he has Natsumi's permission, in both Eastern and Western cultures, it is taboo to open a coffin and disturb the purity of the deceased, and no one wants to be this villain.
Like Qianjiangyi, if there was no one around, maybe he would go up and lift the coffin board directly, but he was embarrassed to do such a taboo thing in front of everyone.
Zero walked up to Shiratori and said to him, "Officer Shiratori, do you want to bother you to do something?" β
"White Bird" was naturally not happy: "Why me?" β
"Aren't you a professional at this?" Zero said in a low voice.
"White Bird" gave Zero a roll of the eyes, what does it mean to be professional in this business? I'm an elegant gemstone connoisseur, not a tasteless tomb robber!
But in Zero's aggressive eyes, "White Bird" could only helplessly walk towards the coffin. There's no way, who lets the other party know their true identity and hold the handle.
"Shiratori" came to the coffin, only to find that a padlock had been installed on the coffin, and the coffin board could not be opened without opening this lock.
So the "white bird" said to the people: "There is a lock on the coffin, and it cannot be opened. β
Conan suddenly remembered that Natsumi had shown a key on the cruise ship, so he hurriedly said to Natsumi: "Sister Natsumi, the key you took out on the cruise ship ......"
Natsumi reacted, took out the key from her bag, and stepped forward to hand it to Shiratori.
"Shiratori" took the key, opened the lock, and slowly uncovered the coffin board. When opening the coffin board, "Shiratori" asked Natsumi to step back, and at the same time he was cautious enough, after all, Kasaka Kiichi was a well-known master of organs, in case he also set up some mechanism in the coffin, and suddenly shot a few arrows from inside while lifting the board and killed himself, then he would have died too unjustly.
However, it turned out that he was overthinking, and there was no mechanism in the coffin, only a skeleton lying quietly in it, and on its chest, a red egg of memories was placed.
Looking at the body of her great-grandmother, although Xia Mei had never seen each other, she couldn't help but feel a little stunned in her heart.
Everyone gradually approached, and the two people who had a plan were at the forefront, only to hear Siruov say to Natsumi: "Miss Kasaka, although the timing may be a little wrong now, can you let me take a look at this egg?" β
Natsumi nodded, and Shiratori confessed to the body, took the second egg from the body, and handed it to Siruov.
Anyway, now that everyone is watching, there is no need to worry about what Siruov and the cadres will do in a while.
"There's a little hole in the bottom......" Siruov took the egg and looked at it carefully.
The red egg is larger than the green egg overall, but much lighter. And the green egg can be opened, so this red egg must be too. Siruov fumbled for the seam in the middle of the egg and gently broke it open.
"How, how can this be!" However, the inside of the egg turned out to be empty, with only a few grooves at the bottom.
What is the purpose of Mr. Kiichi making an egg with a hollow inside?
At this time, Zero spoke: "I think this should be a matryoshka design." β
When Siruov heard this, he was stunned for a moment, but then he understood: "So that's the case." β
"What's going on?" Kogoro still didn't know why, so he asked.
"Matryoshka dolls are Russian toys with small dolls inside the doll, and smaller dolls inside the small dolls, one on top of the other, hence the name." "The same goes for the Egg of Memory, the green egg is supposed to be placed inside the red egg. You see, there are grooves inside this egg, which are supposed to be used to hold the other egg. β
"Damn, if only another egg were here." Kogoro said with regret.
Hearing this, the "White Bird" smiled slightly and said, "If there is another egg, it is indeed here." β
Except for Zero and Sato, everyone else heard the news and cast inquiring glances at Shiratori.
Shiratori unzipped his satchel and took out the green egg of remembrance, saying to the crowd, "I had a hunch that it might be useful to find this egg, so I asked President Suzuki to borrow it." β
When Kogoro heard this, he stepped forward and stared at the face of "Shiratori", and said with a questioning expression: "This egg must have been secretly brought by you, right?" β
When "White Bird" heard this, his heart suddenly became weak, but he still pretended to be calm and said, "How is it possible, Maori detective, you really like to laugh." β
Jiroji Suzuki also felt a little strange why Shiro hadn't mentioned it to him. But he didn't think much about it, after all, although he and Shiro had a close relationship, they didn't communicate with each other about everything. However, Lupin, the dog next to him, barked at the "white bird" a few times, which made the "white bird" panic.
Of course, what made him even more frightened was the vague smile that appeared on the corner of Zero's mouth at this time.