The heavy iron door was slowly opened, and two short figures walked in with their heads tilted.
"It's a prison cell...but why is it in a place like this?"
Conan looked at the dungeon in front of him in amazement.
Ayumi next to her saw the long-haired figure lying in the cell and hugged Conan's arm without saying a word.
"Okay, there seems to be someone!"
Conan, who didn't realize that he was being taken advantage of by a child, considered all possibilities based on all the clues he had so far.
Are they homeless people living here?
But why don't homeless people live in the guest rooms above, but in the cells in the basement?
What is the relationship between the person in this cell and the person wearing a black dress outside?
Also, the nearby rumors that this bungalow is haunted are also caused by the people who live here?
...
Conan had many doubts in his mind, but before he could think of an answer, heavy and slow footsteps could be heard outside the door.
In desperation, Conan immediately spotted the iron cabinet in the corner.
But when Conan dragged Ayumi to the iron cabinet and tried to open the cabinet door to hide in, he couldn't open it.
Conan: "?"
The metal cabinet is the most common kind of utility cabinet. It has no keyhole and should be opened by pulling it.
Is the door stuck by the debris inside?
The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and Conan had no time to think, so he dragged Ayumi and hid in the gap between the iron cabinet and the wall next to it.
...
Inside the iron cabinet, Qin Zhibo was hooking two fingers on the metal bulge on the edge of the iron door.
Just now, through the ventilation gap on the cabinet door, Qin Zhibo saw Conan pulling Ayumi and heading straight to where he was hiding.
So, Qin Zhibo carefully hooked the door with his fingers, so that Conan could not open the cabinet door.
It's not that Qin Zhibo doesn't want Conan and Bumi to hide in.
But the space in this iron cabinet is limited. Qin Zhibo, who is 70 years old, is very crowded inside, and it is impossible to fit two children.
Moreover, once Conan and Ayumi open the cabinet and see themselves hiding in the cabinet without any warning, they will definitely show extremely shocked expressions and remain in a stalemate for a few seconds.
By that time, everyone will be exposed.
So Qin Zhibo thought it was better to hide in separate places. Anyway, there was a gap next to the cabinet where people could hide.
At this moment, the heavy iron door made a "squeaking" sound, and another person walked into the secret room.
Qin Zhibo in the cabinet and Conan next to the cabinet began to listen attentively.
...
A person wearing a long black dress came in carrying a dinner plate. The candlelight on the dinner plate was flickering, and the dinner plate was placed on the ground.
"It's time to eat."
"Come over and eat."
There were two soft calls, but the person lying on the bed in the cell only moved his arms slightly and showed no intention of coming down to eat.
Outside the iron fence, the man in black skirt kneeling on the stone tiles let out a long sigh.
"Akio..."
"It's been five years, just forget about that..."
"Because no matter how painful you are, the dead will never come back."
Hearing this, Conan's eyes widened by the cabinet, remembering the photos he had just seen in the study upstairs.
The photo is a family portrait.
There are three people in the family portrait, a bald man sitting in the main seat and a mother and son who look very similar.
Five years ago, the male owner here was killed.
If the person who was killed was the man in the photo, then these two people should be...
So that's it, the secret of this house and the truth of that matter.
I understand it all!
...
"Okay, okay, eat quickly."
"I imprison you here for your own good!"
"As long as you endure until the prosecution period of the case has passed, everything will be fine."
The woman in the black dress continued to pass the dinner plate inside, but the person lying on the bed inside remained unmoved.
At this moment, the man in the black dress suddenly became violent and beat his hands on the ground.
"Eat! Why don't you eat!"
"If you don't eat, there will be nothing today!"
"Fast food!"
The man in the black dress suddenly raised his voice, which frightened Ayumi behind Conan and made her body shrink back involuntarily.
It didn't matter that he was shrinking, but his foot accidentally hit the mop in the corner, causing the mop rod to lose its balance and hit the ground.
Fortunately, Conan reacted quickly enough, and all those years of football practice were not in vain. He directly raised his foot and hooked the mop pole that was about to hit the ground with his foot.
call--
Conan breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
At this time, Qin Zhibo, who was hiding in the iron cabinet, felt something was wrong.
I don't know what was stored in this iron cabinet before, but now there is a pungent smell in the cabinet.
Qin Zhibo had been enduring it since just now, but as the strange smell continued to attack his nasal cavity, Qin Zhibo finally couldn't bear it anymore.
I want to sneeze...
Seeing that he couldn't hold back his sneeze, Qin Zhibo quickly covered his mouth with both hands to make the sneeze as quiet as possible.
But correspondingly, Qin Zhibo's body trembled due to the recoil of the sneeze.
This tremor caused the metal cabinet to shake.
Then by chance, the iron bucket on the iron cabinet lost its balance and rolled down, making a huge noise.
Boom——
The huge sound echoed in the dungeon, and the man in black skirt's pupils shrank suddenly, looking back, and at the same time he picked up the sharp knife at his feet and threatened.
"I felt like, besides the two people just now, there seemed to be other rats sneaking in."
"Okay, come out! It's useless to hide."
"Sa! Come out quickly!"
The man in black skirt stared fiercely in the direction of the cabinet.
Conan next to the cabinet gritted his teeth nervously at first, then showed a soothing smile.
There's no point in hiding, right?
Now that his position has been noticed by the other party, as long as he walks over and takes a look, his and Ayumi's positions will be exposed instantly.
It is better to go out generously now and scare the other party with words, so that the chance of escape will be greater.
And the iron bucket just fell to the ground.
If persuasion doesn't work, I'll let you have a taste of scoring goals!
Conan planned his next plan in his mind, broke away from Ayumi's arm, and walked straight out.
...
At the same time, Qin Zhibo in the closet also experienced a brief psychological struggle.
Is this person talking about me? After all, it was me who made the sound just now.
It’s no use saying I’m hiding?
But...
Why should I hide?
Just when Qin Zhibo was about to open the cabinet door and walk out, Conan next to the cabinet had already made a sound.
"Madam, I think it's you who is talking about that, right?"
"When I was in the study just now, I saw all the photos taken of the male master who was killed five years ago and you."
"And the guy standing next to the photo is the crazy guy who spent five years hiding in the basement."
"Although I'm not sure about his appearance, I know that this person is your son!"
"Because you don't have that mole under your eye!"