Chapter 27: Mitsuru Mamiya: How Wonderful

Inside the tower, the floor panel on the first level was pushed aside.

Chi Feichi first helped Kojima Genta up, then turned back to pull Conan and Mitsuhiko, and finally gave Professor Agasa a hand. After that, he hoisted Genta up again and began walking toward the door.

Professor Agasa hurried to catch up. "Is the mechanism this time located outside? The secret passages beneath this castle really are complicated..."

Chi Feichi turned his head. His gaze toward the Professor was, for once, not as calm and ripple-less as usual, but carried a hint of complexity. "It takes less than a minute to walk across the surface. Why bother crawling through secret passages?"

Professor Agasa: "..."

This...

After spending so much time crawling through the secret passages, he had completely forgotten that compared to the winding, climbing, and descending underground tunnels, walking on the surface was much closer—it was just a matter of stepping out the door and turning a corner.

Conan and Mitsuhiko were also stunned, remaining silent and pretending they hadn't been thinking exactly the same thing as the Professor just a moment ago.

Professor Agasa felt a bit stung. In that one look from Chi Feichi, he seemed to see a questioning of his intelligence. He could actually explain; it had nothing to do with intelligence, just a matter of habitual thinking...

Genta, who had been carried by Chi Feichi the whole way, woke up halfway and was handed over to Mitsuhiko to be filled in on the situation.

Under Conan's secret instruction, Professor Agasa called a plastic surgery clinic to confirm the identity of "Mamiya Masuyo."

Upon reaching the main hall, Chi Feichi walked to a floor panel. "The exit is here."

Conan followed, watching the display on his tracking glasses and warned, "Judging by their movement speed, the killer seems to be chasing them. Be careful later."

Professor Agasa gathered around as well. "I found out. It's very rare for someone to go abroad specifically to get plastic surgery to look like an old woman, and to have multiple procedures done at that. The clinic remembers it very clearly. The name registered during the surgery was Mutsumi Nishikawa."

Mitsuhiko stepped forward as well, examining the entrance, which looked no different from any other floor panel. "If she knows we're waiting above, the killer might run back into the secret passage and leave through another exit. Wouldn't she escape that way?"

Genta, rubbing the large bump on the back of his head, suggested, "Then let's hide, and grab the killer when she comes up!"

"No need, I have a way to make her come up herself. I'll use the answer to that riddle..." Just as a confident smile curled at the corner of Conan's mouth, he suddenly realized Chi Feichi was still nearby. He turned around, putting on a cute act, "Chi-nii must know the answer too, right? The answer to the chess puzzles in the garden."

"I don't know," Chi Feichi replied. "And I'm not interested in puzzles."

Conan choked. He immediately felt balanced again; although Chi Feichi's deductive ability seemed a bit stronger than his, he didn't seem to be good at solving riddles or codes.

However, he needed to be careful...

Today, he seemed to have inexplicably displayed quite a few behaviors and remarks in front of Chi Feichi that didn't fit a child. It was precisely Chi Feichi's attitude—treating him not as a child—that had made him almost forget that he was currently in the body of a seven-year-old.

Still, considering Mitsuhiko's calm and mature performance today, he wasn't sure what Chi Feichi was thinking or if he had discovered anything...

*Click.*

A soft sound came from beneath the floor panel the five of them were gathered around, and then it was opened.

Ayumi climbed out, panting, and suddenly noticed the lighting was a bit dim. She looked up: "..."

All around, Chi Feichi stood on one side, Professor Agasa on another, Conan on a third, and Genta and Mitsuhiko on the fourth, forming a perfect circle around the exit.

Chi Feichi silently reached out and pulled Ayumi aside.

"The killer's goal must be the treasure in the castle..." Haibara Ai followed closely behind Ayumi, emerging and looking up: "..."

Having gone through all the trouble to run here, only to find her friends—whom she thought were in danger—already waiting at the exit, and even forming a strange circle around it, left her feeling somewhat complicated...

Without waiting for Haibara Ai to climb out, Chi Feichi reached out again and lifted her out.

A hand appeared beneath Haibara Ai's feet, but it was a step too late, its fingers brushing against the soles of her shoes and grabbing nothing but air.

Below, Mamiya Masuyo—no, it should be Mutsumi Nishikawa, the killer who had undergone plastic surgery to look like Mamiya Masuyo and had been impersonating her for years—looked up. Seeing the emptiness above, she hesitated for a moment, but gritted her teeth and climbed up.

She could not let those who had discovered her secret escape...

Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

At the exit, the people she had knocked out—and those she hadn't—were standing in a circle, waiting quietly for her to emerge.

Mitsuhiko and Genta were even lying flat on the ground. Mitsuhiko reached out to press down on Genta's head as he tried to peek, turned to shush him, and when he turned back to look at the exit, he locked eyes with Mutsumi Nishikawa, who had just poked her head out of the secret passage.

The atmosphere became instantly awkward.

Conan looked at the scene of his group crouching and waiting for someone to appear and also felt the rhythm was a bit strange. Seeing Mutsumi Nishikawa trying to pull her head back and run, he hurriedly took out his voice changer and hid behind Professor Agasa. "Ahem, Ms. Mutsumi Nishikawa, even if you run now, you won't be able to escape the police's wanted list. Besides, don't you want to know the answer to the castle's riddle..."

People die for wealth, just as birds die for food.

Mutsumi Nishikawa actually climbed out, listening as Conan and Professor Agasa performed a duet of deduction.

The real mistress, Mamiya Masuyo, had long been murdered by Mutsumi Nishikawa. Afterward, for the sake of the treasure in the castle, Nishikawa had undergone plastic surgery to look like Mamiya Masuyo and feigned dementia. Because she couldn't deceive the mistress's daughter, she staged the fire four years ago, burning the daughter and the maids who had served the mistress for years to death.

And what really made Conan notice her was her comment about the "change in passport size." If it were the real mistress, who hadn't left the castle to travel in ten years, she would have no way of knowing that passport sizes had changed...

Chi Feichi examined the face of Mutsumi Nishikawa, which was covered in age spots. This woman was truly desperate for the treasure; if she escaped and became a wanted fugitive, her bounty would likely be even higher than that of Numabuchi Kiichiro.

"Enough!" Mutsumi Nishikawa said, growing impatient and feeling uncomfortable under Chi Feichi's emotionless gaze. She asked, somewhat frantically, "Where is the treasure? Tell me, quickly!"

Chi Feichi continued his assessment. *Hmm...* Such criminals with no sense of guilt or remorse were mostly classified as high-risk antisocial bounty targets. In the event of an emergency during capture, self-defense was permitted, and if it resulted in death, no charges would be filed, though the bounty would shrink significantly...

After Conan revealed the answer to the riddle using Professor Agasa's voice, Mutsumi Nishikawa impatiently opened the secret passage behind the hanging painting and climbed up, only to find that the so-called treasure was simply this castle and the scenery around it.

On the horizon, the morning sun slowly appeared, and the clouds were dyed orange-red. The light was like a walking messenger, slowly swallowing the darkness and gradually illuminating the forest.

The river in front was sparkling, and the transition between day and night was right before their eyes—it was indeed a beautiful sight.

Chi Feichi stood by the window and enjoyed the view for a while, feeling refreshed. As for Mutsumi Nishikawa, who sat dejectedly on the side, weeping blankly, he ignored her completely.

An hour later, the police arrived, startling Mamiya Mitsuru, Mamiya Takato, and a group of servants.

After hearing the general account of what happened from Professor Agasa, Mamiya Takato watched as Mutsumi Nishikawa was taken away in a police car. Just as he let out a sigh of relief, he was startled by a sudden burst of laughter.

"Hahahahahaha...!" Mamiya Mitsuru laughed heartily.

The police officer driving the car turned to look out the window, hesitating whether to finish the operation or check the situation.

"Ahahaha... I'm fine..." Mamiya Mitsuru explained to the police, then started laughing again, laughing extremely heartily and freely, "Hahahahahaha..."

Chi Feichi: "..."

This was different from the original plot. He remembered that Mamiya Mitsuru should have been very disappointed...

Genta whispered, "Did he get too much of a shock and go crazy?"

Conan couldn't refute this; according to standard logic, it was indeed possible...

Mitsuhiko also whispered back, "Chi-nii should know the contact information for the Aoyama Fourth Hospital, right?"

"I'm fine," Mamiya Mitsuru declared again. His bell-like laughter subsided, but a bright smile remained on his face. "To be honest, at first I was very disappointed. I didn't expect the treasure the old master spoke of to be just this castle and this scenery. But once I thought about finally being able to leave without any attachments, I became happy again... It hasn't been easy. It's great, it's really great... Instead of coveting that ethereal wealth, wasting time, and torturing myself, it's better to look at the present, enjoy the joys of life, and strive for the wealth that can be seen."

Yes, at that very moment, he felt his soul had been sublimated!

Professor Agasa let out a sigh of relief. Although he still felt something was a bit off, thinking about it carefully, what Mamiya Mitsuru said did make sense. "It's good that Mr. Mamiya can think that way."

"Let's all go have breakfast together!" Mamiya Mitsuru invited. "Please don't be polite; you've been a huge help!"

"We..." Professor Agasa originally didn't want to trouble the Mamiya family, but after Haibara Ai tugged on his sleeve, he changed his tune. "Then we won't be polite!"

Mamiya Mitsuru looked at Chi Feichi again. "Mr. Chi, I'm sorry. I don't want to be trapped in this castle anymore. I originally promised your father I would help take care of you for a while, but I'm afraid I'll have to break that promise. I'll speak to Mr. Shinnosuke in a moment. I'm truly sorry."

"It's fine," Chi Feichi said, expressing his understanding.

He had long expected that he wouldn't be staying here for long.

Mamiya Mitsuru had only lived there because he was after the treasure. Since there was no shocking treasure in the castle, he wouldn't let himself be trapped in that forest anymore.

Although Mamiya Mitsuru's mindset and thoughts were a little different from what he had expected, the result was the same.

Mamiya Takato said, "I intend to stay. If Mr. Chi doesn't mind, you can continue to live here as well..."

"Thank you," Chi Feichi considered it for a moment. "I'd like to discuss it with my father first."

This place was suitable as a training ground, but if he were to stay here for a long time, let alone finding two bounty targets to sell for money, he probably wouldn't even see a few new faces throughout the entire year.

However, if he had to choose between returning to the psychiatric hospital and staying here, he would definitely choose to stay here...