Chapter 234: Secret Treasures of the Ancient Castle
Chapter 235: Secret Treasures in the Ancient Castle

"If I say yes... then what?" At night, the drizzle hit Shiho and Ayumi, making the confusing answer even more hazy.

"That, that won't do..." As if she felt the strength of Shiho's aura, Ayumi suddenly became weak. But it seemed that she also had her own persistence. Although her momentum was much weaker, she still said what she thought in her heart with tears in her eyes.

As if she had achieved the desired effect, Shiho's mouth slightly raised, and then she turned around and walked towards the castle gate. As she walked, she said, "Don't worry, I'm not interested in that kid at all."

"Eh? Really? That's great." Ayumi's stress was relieved all of a sudden. She happily ran to the eaves and smiled back at Shiho. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, really." Shiho was speechless about Ayumi's attitude. Although she also began to admire love at the age of seven, it seemed that she was not as good as Ayumi. Or maybe she was in the organization at that time. She only met me. However, for her, the curiosity of the opposite sex when she just entered elementary school was deeply touched.

On the other side, when Shiho came to my side, she saw my strange look and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Well... should I pretend to be jealous at this time?" I teased.

"Jealous? You have the nerve to tell me you're jealous?" Shiho rolled her eyes at me. "You've brought a room full of women without my knowledge, and you still have the nerve to tell me you're jealous?"

"Uh..." For a moment, I was speechless. Although I knew that Shiho was joking, and I knew that the only person who could truly stand shoulder to shoulder with Shiho was Shizuru. But saying this at this time... Okay, I was wrong.

"Ahem..." The doctor who was following behind Shiho coughed softly in my ear, indicating that he was a little embarrassed. "Children nowadays are really smart."

"Well... everyone has that." I spread my hands. "When children first come into contact with friends of the opposite sex, the hormones in their bodies will stimulate their brains to have such thoughts. So when children first enter school, they will naturally have a stronger liking for playmates of the opposite sex than before."

"Alas... this is too embarrassing for a bachelor like me." The doctor was miserable. "But, what is Kudo's situation like now? Xiaoxun, do we really not need to worry about him?"

"It's been so long since we heard from him, it's useless to worry." I explained. "I will search carefully tonight. As long as he is still alive, I can find him. By the way, I can unravel the mystery of this castle. The biggest problem now is the children. I must act alone, otherwise it will be difficult for me to be distracted to protect them in a castle full of traps."

"Ah, I'll be responsible for keeping an eye on them." The doctor nodded.

"Shiho, don't follow me. Apart from the old lady in the wheelchair, it is still unknown who has problems and who doesn't in this castle. So, I need you to help me and the doctor watch over those children and don't let them run around. Is that okay?" I couldn't help but say as I looked at Shiho, who looked like she wanted me to follow her.

"Well, okay, but you have to be careful." After thinking about it, Shiho agreed with me.

"Of course, don't worry." I answered. "If I'm not back two hours after I leave tonight, then Doctor, you must take the children and leave here under the cover of night. Do you understand?"

"That's... okay." The doctor nodded. "Do you want me to call the police first?"

"That's not necessary. You know I don't have a good impression of the police. And there are still many unknown things in this mysterious castle. Calling the police will easily alert the enemy. It will easily put Kudo, who was just kidnapped, in a dead end."

"I understand." After hearing what I said, the doctor nodded solemnly.

"Well, it's getting late, let's all go to bed." I checked my phone. "Let the kids go to bed earlier so I can get moving earlier."

At night, the children lay down in pairs. Genta and Mitsuhiko squeezed into one bed, and their sleeping postures were extremely ugly. Ayumi half-wrapped Shiho's arm and fell asleep quietly. Shiho squinted her eyes to rest. Although she was in a state of dozing, I knew she was not asleep at this time. Opposite me, the doctor had already snored heartlessly.

I lifted my quilt and got out of bed gently. At the same time, Shiho opened her eyes and looked in my direction. Seeing her reaction, I smiled at her gently and reached out to play with her bangs, revealing her fair face.

[Be careful.] Shiho's lips moved, and she said to me in a low voice. I smiled back, gently scratched her small nose, and then walked out of the room silently.

"Hu..." Shiho exhaled softly and closed her eyes again.

"Hmm... Haibara-san." Ayumi woke up slowly, as if Shiho's gentle movements had touched her. "Are you still awake?"

"Hmm? Hmm. I can't sleep." Shiho said softly.

"Is that so? Eh? Where's Xiaoxun?" Ayumi asked when she saw the bed next to her and the person who was supposed to be there was gone.

"Maybe he went to the bathroom?" Shiho lied to cover up for me.

"Hey, Haibara-san." Ayumi sobered up a little and asked Shiho. "You seem to know a lot about Kaoru too?"

"Eh?" Shiho was stunned again. "Yeah, after all, we've been playmates since childhood."

"Hehe, I really envy you guys." Ayumi looked longing. "Childhood sweethearts, it sounds so romantic." "Really?" Shiho's lips flashed a touch of tenderness. "But speaking of it, I envy you more."

"Me? Why?" Ayumi wondered.

"...No, nothing." Shiho shook her head. "It's late, go to bed."

"Well... Huiyuan-san, can you tell me about you and Xiaoxun?" Ayumi seemed to be no longer sleepy at this moment. She pulled Shiho to chat.

"Our story?" In an instant, scenes of memories emerged in Shiho's mind, from acquaintance, to understanding, and then to love. How could it be explained in a few words? "We... just knew each other since childhood. After thinking about it, Shiho chose to make up a story. When we were young, we were neighbors. We would see each other every morning. Occasionally, we would have breakfast together and play together. That's about it."

"So, what about the necklace?"

"That..." As she spoke, Shiho pulled out the necklace that had not faded even after ten years from her clothes. "This necklace was given to me by Xunlin before I separated from him. He said that even if a pair of wings were separated, they would always be together one day. I didn't expect that we would meet again just a few months after he moved away."

"Wow... How romantic." Ayumi's eyes sparkled. "Then... Should I also... with Conan..."

"Ok?"

"Hey, Haibara-san, if possible, let's go to the gift shop together next time. I also want to pick out a gift for Conan."

"Hmm? Yeah, sure." Shiho chuckled.

"Well... then what should I give... Just give..." After a while, Ayumi's eyelids began to twitch, and soon, her bright eyes closed gently, and the sound of her even breathing gradually rang in Shiho's ears.

"Heh~" Shiho smiled helplessly at Ayumi's behavior. After all, she is just a child, and I don't know how much Ayumi can remember about the brief conversation the next day? "Will there be a day when we can be together?" Shiho grabbed the right wing necklace and looked at it in confusion. "I just hope that after being put together like this, there will never be a day when we will be apart again." With a slight sigh, Shiho closed her eyes.

————The scent of orchids, the scent of lavender, the scent of home & the wings of angels, the wings of demons, the wings of guardians————

On the other side, I didn't hear what Shiho and Ayumi said when I walked out of the door, because as soon as I walked out of the door, I heard a slight creaking sound in the corridor. It was the sound of a wheelchair, so I took two steps and jumped onto the roof and leaned against the corner. After a while, I saw the old lady passing by in the corridor in a wheelchair. She also looked around at a corner for a long time. After seeing that no one was there, she quietly stood up and pulled a candlestick on the wall. I saw that next to the candlestick, a small secret door was quietly opened.

"Sure enough, there's nothing wrong with her legs and feet." Looking at the old woman's actions, a wicked smile slipped across my lips. But I didn't move at all. Because behind her, I heard another small footstep. Through the dim light, the old woman also saw the shadow on the other side of the corner, so she had to gently pull back the candlestick. The secret door also closed quietly.

"Grandma, why are you still in the corridor so late?" The person who came was a young master. Judging from the pajamas he was wearing, he must have gotten up in the middle of his sleep to go to the bathroom.

"I just saw that my daughter hasn't come back yet, so I came to look for her." The old woman made up. It seems that this excuse is very useful, so she pretended to be crazy today.

"Just let us handle your mother's affairs." The nobleman pushed the old woman's cart and walked towards her room. "You should go back to your room and have a good rest."

Soon, the two people's voices disappeared in the corridor. I also had time to jump down from the roof and leave the corridor. I didn't pull the candlestick because I didn't know where the secret door led to. Instead of taking the wrong route, it would be better for me to go back and take the same route as Kudo.

So, I sneaked into the room where I could see the chessboard clearly in the morning, which was also the room where Conan disappeared. I moved a chair out of the room, stepped on it and turned the strange clock. When the time coincided with twelve o'clock, the wall in front of me suddenly rotated. Fortunately, I reacted quickly and pressed the wall, otherwise I might have fallen in like Conan.

Turning on the flashlight, I carefully observed the secret passage. After confirming that there was only a very deep staircase inside, I moved forward step by step. At the same time, the wall behind me returned to its original state. I tried to push it. There was no movement at all. It seemed that I had to find a mechanism.

So, I searched carefully around the secret door, and finally found an irregular brick on the right side of the wall. After pressing it, the secret door opened.

"Hey, what an interesting design." I smiled softly. After determining the escape route, I turned on the flashlight and walked inside step by step. At the same time, a purple SAS dagger fell into my hand. In such a castle secret passage, it is very unwise to shoot, but using a dagger will not be a big problem, after all, it can take people's lives silently.

I walked down the stairs for nearly three minutes. When I reached the bottom, it looked like I was already in the basement of the castle. With the only light source, I kept scanning the surrounding environment. Sure enough, not long after, I found a pool of blood on the ground. Judging from the color and dryness of the blood, it should have been left not long ago, which means that it is very likely Conan's blood. Judging from the amount of blood, this amount of blood is not enough to be fatal. Conan should have been captured.

Continuing to search around, I saw a line of words carved on the stairs. [That person replaced my identity, and she wanted to take the treasure from this castle...]

"Replacement? That old lady?" I frowned and continued to walk inside. Soon, I found a skeleton in the wide underground space. The hair of the skeleton had not completely fallen off, but judging from the dryness of the hair, it should be an old man around 80 years old.

"Really? That old woman was pretending." I thought to myself. "Haha, a middle-aged man, for the sake of unknown treasure, actually made himself up and transformed himself into an old woman. How much do you want the money? Is it enough for your surgery?" As the words fell, I swung my dagger backwards and nailed it to the wall. Next to the dagger, the old woman who had just been pushed away was already standing there, holding a steel rod in her hand, and it seemed that she wanted to knock me out from behind. However, in such a quiet environment, I could hear her heartbeat accelerated due to nervousness from a distance.

"Hand Conan over quickly." As I spoke, the murderous aura around me began to spread. "If you still want to live."

(End of this chapter)