Chapter 88

In the corridor at the entrance of the annex, the frame of the painting did not react after Okiya wrote that stroke, and Conan Edogawa tried to convey the message again, but found that the surface of the oil painting, which had automatically sunken when he touched his fingers, did not move again.

The connectivity function was just gone.

Okiya was in a hurry to make the strokes fly and the words still stayed on the screen, which was particularly dazzling in this situation.

At the same time, the same chime was heard.

[Rules change.] ]

[Formerly out of game security settings: Injured.] Change. ]

[Change Condition: Death.] ]

[Effective immediately.] ]

“…… Change of conditions? "The three of them are all in one action.

Before, the other people in the hall were out because they were stabbed by flying glass pieces, and they forcibly ejected the virtual space under the system protection mechanism.

Now that this restriction is gone, they don't have to worry about being forced out because of an accidental injury, but ......

"The settings here are so realistic, if you die in the game, ......" Edogawa Conan frowned, thinking of another bad situation.

Here, death may have a terrible effect on their □□ in the real world.

After nodding his head to confirm this guess, Okiya motioned for him to look at the virtual screen that appeared in the corner of the air when the system prompt appeared just now.

There is a small line in the upper right corner.

[Number of participants remaining: 5]

Before that, when the system sound sounded in the hall, the number of words was still in double digits, and now there were only five of them left.

At least I can confirm from here that the two people in the next room are fine, and the three of them also have a task on their bodies, so they can only suppress their doubts and worries in their hearts first, and go through the next process under the guidance of the valet NPC.

The manservant was loyal, the knight was silent, and the lord was mild-mannered.

The three of them were ushered to the table, on which was a steaming barbecue steak with wine, fruits and vegetables, and apple pie as a dessert, Edogawa Conan sat on a chair and hesitantly cut a piece of meat to eat, both in texture and taste, it was no different from reality.

This virtual world is so real that it is uncomfortable.

He frowned, but did not move his knife and fork any more, lest there be anything in the food.

Fortunately, the NPCs were not so intelligent in this regard, and the lord talked to them as if he didn't see his guests using a knife and fork at all.

Okiya gave out a lot of information when he answered, but his eyes kept falling on the wine glass he was holding in his hand.

Compared to the wine they had at hand, his color was so intense that some viscous liquid hung on the walls of the glass when it was shaken, leaving an uncomfortable dark red mark.

The valet left with dinner while the three of them were talking, and Okiya set his eyes on the dinner that had been delivered, and unlike what he had imagined, the dinner for the Holy Son was completely sumptuous.

Crispy slices of bread, bacon and a variety of meats, served with peeled grape fruit platter and milk......

It wasn't a harsh diet at all, so the boy who lived in the tower was emaciated like this could only be due to other reasons.

Glancing at the dark red wine in the lord's hand again, he always felt that the place was full of foreshadowings.

After dinner, the three of them walked around the room a few more times, waiting until night fell before starting a new round of investigation.

Although the speed of time in the virtual space is different from the outside, it is inevitable that he will be tired after going through so many things, and Conan Edogawa tells Mao Lilan to rest in the guest room before quietly walking out of the room, ready to investigate new clues.

Having searched during the day, the only place he hadn't set foot on was the tower, and he slowed down towards the middle of the second floor, catching the faint sound of deliberately suppressed footsteps in front of him as he stopped.

Who?!

The boy immediately stopped in place, and only after seeing the comer clearly did he bend his half-moon eyes speechlessly: "Mr. Okiya? ”

The black shadow that appeared around the corner was none other than Okiya Pleiades, who had just gone to the opposite guest room to rest in the NPC manservant.

You don't rest at night.

"You also came to see ......" The second half of the sentence was quickly swallowed under the other party's gaze, and Edogawa Conan covered his mouth and pointed inside, his expression a little puzzled.

'Someone is at the door. Okiya gestured.

The moonlight inside the tower was bright, and the heavy gate was not tight at the joints, and there was still moonlight coming in through it, but near the bottom, the light seemed to be blocked by something.

Someone is standing inside the door!

Edogawa Conan's pupils constricted, he was already very careful when he came, but he didn't expect to be discovered by the people inside...... No, the shadow had been there since he stood in the doorway.

That is, the person who lived on the tower stood at the door all the time.

'Could it be waiting for someone?' ’

The boy gestured to the adult next to him, and asked with his eyes if he wanted to leave.

Okiya waved his hand, "We've been discovered." ”

With that, he reached out and pushed the door open.

The door to the annex was uncut and could easily be opened from the outside, and he pushed it open with a slight force.

Cold light flashed through the crack in the slowly opening door, and the sharp silverware at the front of him came straight at the door.

Conan Edogawa stared at him with round eyes, took two steps back to dodge the attacking dagger, and he said, "Wait!" Before he could blurt out, the boy who had been guarding the door saw that he could not succeed in a single blow, so he immediately turned his blade and attacked again.

Not counting the sharp silver dinner knife cutting through the moonlight pouring in from the window, even if he was wearing a loose robe, the boy's pace did not pause, knowing that he could not deal with the adult next to him, he seemed to have made up his mind to deal with the little detective next to him who was not as tall as himself, and his movements became more and more ruthless every time.

"Wait! We're just here to ......" Before the sentence was finished, the blade struck again, and Conan Edogawa tripped over the ornament next to him while dodging, and accidentally fell to the ground for a while.

The moonlight blew into the room with the wind, blowing some of the white cloth covering his head away, and the little detective looked up from below, facing a pair of heterochromatic eyes full of water and murderous intent.

Edogawa Conan was stunned by his desperate emotions, and the action that he was about to dodge froze for a moment, but in a moment, the boy with the dagger leaned over, raised the knife in his hand, and stabbed him in the chest.

The moment the tip of the knife fell, a large powerful hand reached out from behind and held the boy's wrist firmly in his hand.

Too skinny.

The moment he grabbed this wrist bone, the word flashed through Okiya's mind.

It is as thin as the exposed neck and jaw, as if it were wrapped in a thin layer of flesh and bones.

The man's eyes fell on the untouched bite of the meal that had been delivered in the evening, and there was a vague guess in his heart.

Grabbing his wrist, the boy gritted his teeth, took the blade with his other, uncontrolled hand, and stabbed at the man next to him.

"Hmm!"

The blow missed, and he tried hard to pull his hand back, but the pink-haired man holding his wrist was so strong that he couldn't break free no matter how he pulled, "You let go!" Let go ......"

During the struggle, red marks quickly appeared on his wrists, and he was afraid of making too much noise, so he could only suppress the scolding that blurted out, and his eyes glared at the two viciously through the white cloth.

Okiya casually pulled over the decorative candlestick next to him, and tapped it under his wrist bone with the lower handle, causing the opponent's wrist to go numb, and the silver knife in his hand fell to the ground.

"What's the situation?" Conan Edogawa picked up the dagger on the ground, not expecting to be attacked by a boy who looked no more than ten years old with a dagger, he looked at the tall man, who shook his head and motioned for them to go in.

After signaling, Okiya glanced down at the boy who had a sense of familiarity, scooped up the person directly with one hand, and held it in his arms in the posture of holding a child.

The eyes blocked by the white cloth immediately widened, and the boy hurriedly reached out to wrap his hand around the other party's neck to stabilize his body, "You! …… Put me down! ”

"Don't let go."

He didn't expect to get such a straightforward answer, his body stiffened, he even forgot the movement of the struggle, and before he could react, he was carried into the tower behind him.

Edogawa Conan closed the door.

There was a 'click', and the heavy door cut off the inside and outside of the house, and the boy, who had been stiff and did not dare to move, shook very lightly when he heard the sound, and his face was paler than the moonlight in the room.

He pursed his lips tightly, his hands crumpled the clothes of the man holding him, and he didn't say a word for a long time.

At this moment, the little detective feels very much like the bad guy in various detectives.

Seeing that the other party's color was too ugly, Edogawa Conan turned his head to look at Okiya Pleiades, but saw that the pink-haired man reached out and pushed his glasses, most of his face was blocked in the shadows, and the glasses were still reflecting a light in the dark, which looked worse than just now.

Finally raised his head to look at each other through the thin cloth, but just happened to bump into this scene, the boy was frightened again, and quickly buried his head back, like a kitten wet in the rain.

Why do you look scarier than the people in the organization?

Conan Edogawa twitched the corners of his mouth, and he could only take on the role of the red-faced singer among the two, "Don't be afraid, we don't mean anything else." Mr. Okiya, you put people down first-"

The pink-haired man's arm moved, and he was just about to put the person down, but he didn't know what to think of and hugged him a little tighter, "That's it." Don't let him run. ”

How can you run away when you're scared like this!

finally pressed down his heart-filled complaint, Edogawa Conan reached out to support his forehead, and only responded half-loudly, "Okay......"

Then you hold it.

He turned his head and put the knife down in his hand, and found that it was only a dinner knife used to cut meat, but the blade was sharpened to be as sharp as a dagger.

Looking at the interior again, there is a small opening missing in the corner of the ornament, which just fits the place where the table knife is polished.

It seems that a person was locked in a room for a long time and sharpened his knives before sharpening a table knife that could only cut barbecue chops into a sharp weapon for killing.

"Why do it to us?" Putting the knife on the table, Edogawa Conan looked inside for a while before asking.

The boy tugged at Okiya's clothes and spoke halfway, "...... If you want to kill me, the best way to resist is to kill you first. ”

Listening to the ten-year-old child's mouth full of the word 'kill', Edogawa Conan's head hurt even more, and he paced around the room, only from the appearance of the other party's little adult.

"We're just here to investigate, and we don't have any intention of attacking you." The man's voice rang out from above.

"You ...... Didn't you come to kill me? The boy didn't look convinced. He looked at the two of them suspiciously, and when he saw that they were indeed not carrying any weapons, he looked away, but his body was still tense.

"Of course not!" Edogawa Conan hurriedly waved his hand.

"Since you're not ......"

The boy's lips twitched twice, he lowered his eyes and muttered the words, his face becoming as gloomy as before, "Then what are you doing, God?" I'm still idle, I want to come and see me, a useless person trapped in the tower. ”

"This ......" can't say that we are here to investigate the case, Edogawa Conan scratched his head, and quickly made an excuse, "We are actually here to ask God, I ...... He! His wife is sick and wants to come ......"

According to the set of beliefs at this time, what do you want to ask God to heal the sick......

He couldn't say it for a moment, so he could only get stuck in this place, but the boy obviously didn't care about the second half of his unfinished sentence.

Okiya glanced at the little detective who labeled himself as 'married' with some surprise, and accepted this character without the slightest hesitation, "My wife is seriously ill, and I am here to visit." ”

"Seriously ill?" The Holy Son didn't have any expression, "...... Sorry, I can't help with this. Because I'm going to die. ”

Ignoring the stunned gazes of the two, he said to himself, "Maybe it's today, maybe it's tomorrow, who knows." Anyway...... Soon, there is no other possibility, I will definitely die, you find someone else. ”

"Wait." Okiya's eyes were impressive, and he suddenly thought of something, and spoke before Edogawa Conan could react, "Why do you think you're about to die...... ”

The person who was asked did not answer, but his eyes fell on the dinner that he had eaten only a little next to him.

"Why am I telling you this?" He took a deep breath, "Please let me go." ”

The man didn't move, he didn't let go without answering, he struggled hard a few times without breaking free, and finally said in a low voice, "...... Because I hate eating vegetables. ”

“…… Yes? Edogawa Conan's originally serious expression instantly froze, and a question mark appeared on his head.

"I say because I hate vegetables."

The boy's breathing was a little shorter.

It was as if a bucket full of water had finally been opened, and the water that was full of water was finally pouring out.

"Don't you understand! With his character, he wouldn't indulge me so much...... They won't agree to all my requests, unless they're guilty, because they're going to kill me soon! They're just waiting, waiting for me to be of no use......"

He tugged at the clothes of the man in front of him: "I'm not stupid, they think I don't know anything, peace of mind as the so-called holy son, how can I not notice, only ...... Of course, I know how people live, and how they live are only meat deer that can be slaughtered at any time! ”

His voice trembled and gradually became a cry that was difficult to catch, and he said that because of his emotional excitement and even a little intermittent, he finally revealed the fragility of his age.

Because the range of movement was too large, the white cloth that had been covering his face hung down with the movement, and Okiya reached out to pull it so that the pure white cloth would not fall to the ground, but he was caught off guard and crashed into a pair of eyes full of water.

The black blue at the moment was particularly obvious on the pale skin, he had obviously not slept well for a long time, and he had been standing at the door with a sharpened dinner knife, vigilant to everyone who passed by his door, and the whole person was so tense that it seemed to be pulled by only a silk thread, and he was crumbling.

The boy's face was sickly thin, his misty blue eyes hung uneasily, his eyelashes flickered, and his eyes were gloomy and gloomy, showing a dull twilight that did not match his appearance at all.

He had seen this kind of look on Ikekawa Na more than once, many times, when he had not revealed his identity and left, he would occasionally see Ikekawa Nai sitting in the suite opened by the two of them as relatives, staring at the scroll in his hand, but obviously not looking at the content, just thinking about things, his eyes were so depressed that he didn't see any anger.

"You don't understand ...... at all"

The sudden outburst of emotion gradually unloaded, and he wiped away the embarrassed tears on his face vigorously, muttering the words at the beginning.

Okiya's face was cold.

He was indeed a smart enough boy.

Many times things will show up in the minutiae, for example, a person who used to be strict about the intake of all kinds of vegetables suddenly gives in to all the requirements, and even shows unusual consideration in the diet.

His gaze fell on the plate next to him.

The meal removed the roasted vegetables that the boy usually hated the most, and carefully peeled off the skin of the fruit, picked out the seeds inside, and even made it the size of a convenient mouth, and even the unhealthy juice that was usually only allowed to drink a glass was equipped with a pot, which can be taken at any time.

With unsettling caution, I try to make up for the same guilt.

The man suddenly figured out another question.

When he was undercover, he had seen the pampered young master frown at the carrots that the butler ordered to eat more than once, but he never really got angry.

Insisting on supplementing vitamins is not only a choice for radish, but it is more annoying to be pressed on the disgusting things than to care.

But the housekeeper has always insisted on this behavior, and the only possibility is that Ikekawa Nai has not seriously refused at all, and instead of telling the other party that he hates this kind of thing and replacing it with other vegetables, he is afraid that he has always adopted the attitude of a child's picky eater, limiting his disgust and resistance to carrots within an acceptable range.

Why do it? Because he has gained any sense of security in the fact that the housekeeper has not let go of his mouth and let him not eat carrots?

Okiya opened her mouth.

He had been wondering why Ikekawa Na had run out of that villa if he was trapped in one place and received a value education that was completely different from that normal world.

Now that I think about it, the fear of death that he has had since he was a child was the most powerful hand that pushed him away.

How old was he, ten? Like the boy in his arms, he stayed awake all night, holding a dinner knife that didn't help at all and guarding the door, and he couldn't live in fear.

The man reached out and wiped away the tears of the man in his arms, and did not reply.

From the age of three to nineteen, Ikekawa spent sixteen years in that villa. The sixteen years of light and shadow seemed to be sealed in a black box, and a hole had been carved out of it, and he tried to look in from the outside, but all he saw was a simple shadow.

As for what the person trapped in the square inch has experienced and thought in the past sixteen years, only the person himself knows.

And now, Okiya has finally torn the hole a little bigger, and through the eyes of this boy who has been mixed with all his memories, he has glimpsed some remnants of the old days.

The afterimage of pain, fear, and exhaustion is already terrifying when it struggles out from the small opening.

As he pondered, the boy in his arms trembled with tears, but he rarely made a breath sound, only a few sobs from between his breaths.

All the negative emotions came up at this moment, and finally exploded. This crying method made his cheeks stained a thin red due to a slight lack of oxygen, his eyelashes stained with tears kept trembling, and his brows never relaxed, "I really ...... I'm scared...... I don't want to die. ”

His voice was like that of a mosquito.

I don't know how long I haven't been able to sleep, and the accumulated sleepiness covers his whole body. The boy's eyelashes fluttered vigorously a few times, but in the end he couldn't bear the sleepiness and fell asleep in the other party's arms.

The air was silent for a long time, and Conan Edogawa spoke a little dryly: "Mr. Okiya...... you?" ”

Okiya put the boy in his arms on the bed and answered in a low voice.

The original purpose of their trip was just to investigate, and now they naturally can't stop in this place. There are also a few dark rooms in this tower to be inspected.

Suppressing his doubts and surprise at what had just happened, Conan Edogawa was the first to enter through the secret door on the right side of the tower, followed by the pink-haired man with a candle lamp in his hand, and slowly walked down the stairs.

This staircase is not very high, and it is the distance from the second floor to the basement, and the further down you go, the more bloody it becomes.

"What the hell is the ......" The little detective frowned with a bloody aura, and he stepped into the room with an ugly face, only to see the general outline of the room through the candle flame in Okiya's hand.

In the middle was an iron platform, and behind it were several tall long cabinets, on which the contents of the bottles and cans exuded a pungent smell of blood.

Too familiar layout.

Okiya pondered for a moment, and quickly reacted.

This is exactly the same as a test site that he passed by when he followed Columbeth to the laboratory before revealing his undercover identity.

It was also such a layout, with a laboratory table in the middle and blue and white specimens on both sides, which he couldn't really see from the outside at the time, but the scene inside was too tragic, and it still left a deep impression.

Although the furnishings of the room in front of me have been changed to the Middle Ages, both the position of the decorations and the overall layout are very similar.

Except for the bloody gas, there was no human body in the room that he had seen at the time, as if this virtual space had automatically fallen off, and even the original human experiments had been turned into some kind of witchcraft place under the influence of the medieval background.

In the thick of blood, Edogawa Conan pinched his nose and looked around, only to pull out a few rolls of dusty sheepskin from the corner.

"Mr. Okiya."

As he slowly untied the parchment, the little detective, who had been cold-faced since he came in, turned his head to look at the tall man next to him, and asked the question he had been asking in his heart, "What constitutes this place...... Could it be our memory? ”

The first time he had this suspicion was when he entered the door and saw the child who was called the Son of God appearing.

Not long ago, his father, Yusaku Kudo, mentioned the decryption part of the virtual game on the phone, and said that the game developer had asked him to design the script, and he wanted to write a suspense drama that recreated medieval love, and these NPCs were obviously not included in the script at that time.

And no matter which author it is, it should not be possible for a child under the age of ten to ingest it, or even become one of the candidates for the deceased or murderer.

This place is probably reconstructed from the memories of the participants after all the virtual scenes collapsed.

"House of Memories ......"

Muttering out the introduction of the manservant when he first entered the door, Edogawa Conan's expression was ugly.

I'm afraid this word is not only a hint of 'escape room' for the two of them next door, but also a hint that everything they have is constructed from their own memories.

At that time, when he was investigating clues in the study, he had seen some books with blank pages, but when he picked them up, there were already contents in them, one of which had become the detective he had read not long ago, but the name had changed, and some of it was what Maoriran had been reading recently.

"I'm afraid so. This should be my memory. ”

Edogawa Conan's eyes widened slightly when he heard this, and he quickly reacted again.

The FBI agent in front of him should have seen the organization's laboratory before his identity was revealed, and he had also heard some words from Gray Yuanai, who used to be an experimenter, and knew that some places in the organization had already begun to conduct human experiments, and he was afraid that it was in such places.

"That ......"

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered another question.

"Whose memory was that?"

Whose memory is it that the young son who is trapped in the tower waiting for death like a meat deer?

When he reached out to take the candle flame from Okiya's hand, he saw that the other party's dark green eyes were partially illuminated by the dim firelight, and they looked a little cold in the dark.

"Now is not the time to say that, boy." The man reached out and tapped his knuckles on the paper, and there was no emotion in his voice, "Look at this first." ”

Feeling that the other party didn't want to talk too much about this topic, Edogawa Conan set his eyes on the parchment roll, looked down with the candlelight in his hand little by little, frowned and relaxed, and waited until he finished reading a few rolls of paper before exhaling, "Sure enough, ......"

Their memories were extracted here, and the immortality of the lord's family was connected to human experimentation, but the result here was obviously more contrary to common sense, and the sacrificed test subject turned into a black monster.

The lord believed that Miko, who was born with heterochromic pupils, could suppress all filth, so he brought back the boy who was now sleeping peacefully outside, and kept him in a tower just a few walls away from the laboratory.

"I'm afraid that's what the oil painting in the corridor outside is ...... I don't know if they have any weaknesses if they have monsters that the test subjects have become, but if they do, Mr. Amuro, they will be able to take it easy. If so......"

Putting down the parchment roll in his hand, Edogawa Conan remembered another thing, and his face suddenly turned pale, "There are so many jars here, which means that there is more than one monster here!" ”

(End of chapter)