Jiangxia disappeared without warning. In the castle room, Toru Amuro, Mouri Ran, Sonoko Suzuki, and Conan stood there, looking at each other in silence—none of them could even remember when they last saw Jiangxia.
There were exactly two windows in the room, and a clothes rack in the middle blocking the view. Sonoko and Ran hadn't seen Jiangxia, so they assumed he must have gone over to the other window, near the men standing there, possibly joining the conversation.
Amuro Toru figured that Jiangxia must be with Maurilan and Suzuki Sonoko, considering how enthusiastic he'd been with the two girls.
As for Conan… As soon as he reached the window and saw the large chessboard full of puzzles, he fell into problem-solving mode, completely forgetting to ask, "Which window is Jiangxia at?"
Now, Conan realized the situation and hung his head in shame—his observational skills were so poor he didn't notice a whole person missing next to him. This shouldn't be happening. Not good at all.
Since there was no signal, there was no way to contact Jiangxia.
Although one person was missing, no one had heard anything strange—a scream, a crash, nothing—so they didn't panic. Maybe Jiangxia just went to the bathroom.
But when they checked the bathroom, he wasn't there.
They wandered around the castle floor for a while, but Jiangxia was nowhere to be found.
Finally, the four of them stopped and stared at the end of the corridor in silence.
This was a little strange. Even if he got lost, he wouldn't get lost in a different section of the castle, right?
Conan frowned, thinking back to Jiangxia's quick reasoning skills, and suddenly wondered: "Could it be that Jiangxia solved the puzzle and went to the place indicated by the chess pieces?" He figured Jiangxia might have already made some inferences but wasn't sure of his conclusions, so he wanted to check it out.
The thought hit Conan hard. He remembered how Jiangxia would carefully answer questions when Kudo Yukiko had pulled him into puzzle games as a kid. The more he thought about it, the more this seemed like the right conclusion.
Amuro didn't have as many scenarios running through his mind as Conan did. He asked, "You mean Jiangxia went off to look for the treasure on his own?"
But if Jiangxia had really cracked the code, even if he didn't tell the castle owner, at least he would have told them.
This kind of sneaky behavior felt suspicious, like "swallowed treasure."
But Amuro recalled how Jiangxia hadn't embezzled the funds, instead using them to promote the store, and how he had refused to sell the experience coupons and feng shui pills. He thought maybe Jiangxia wasn't the kind of person who would pull a stunt like that.
Suzuki Sonoko and Mouri Ran didn't think anything nefarious had happened.
Sonoko was convinced, "He probably got too caught up in solving the puzzle and forgot to tell us when he left. Doesn't Kudo do the same thing sometimes when he's chasing a clue?"
Ran nodded sagely. "That makes sense."
After this line of reasoning, although the four of them had different mental journeys, they all came to a similar conclusion.
"This castle is huge. If you're trying to find the treasure location, it could take a while," Amuro said, turning around. "Let's head back to the room and wait. Maybe he'll come back on his own."
But… that wasn't the case.
By dinnertime, Jiangxia still hadn't shown up.
Takahito Mamiya, meanwhile, sent someone to check on them. He had prepared a feast and wanted to ask about their progress with the puzzle.
When the four of them arrived at the dining room, Takahito Mamiya greeted them eagerly, but his excitement turned to confusion and disappointment when he realized that the detective he had hoped to hear from was absent.
After such a long time, the protagonists finally realized something was off.
No matter why Jiangxia left, the fact that he hadn't come back by now meant there might have been an accident.
Toru Amuro's face darkened(somehow).
He stared out the window into the night, for the nth time replaying the strange tire marks and the inexplicable puncture he had found earlier.
If that tire blowout wasn't an accident... What if it was caused by someone or something else? Maybe someone's interference… No, no, he could only suspect the interference of another party. That meant Takahito Mamiya, the castle owner, might not be as friendly as he appeared.
Takahito Mamiya scratched his head, trying to think about where the young detective might have gone, but just as he was lost in thought, he froze.
He looked up and saw Amuro Toru staring at him with a creepy, intense gaze.
Takahito Mamiya shrank back. "What... what's wrong? Where's that little gentleman?"
Amuro Toru looked at him for a long moment but saw nothing out of place.
He furrowed his brows, then, after a pause, remembered the vastness of the castle and the number of Mamiya's family members. He decided to mention Jiangxia's disappearance to Mamiya, hoping to get help finding him.
If Takahito Mamiya had orchestrated Jiangxia's disappearance, asking for help now would only lead to Mamiya secretly laughing at him for "trusting others." The worst that could happen was that Mamiya would think he was a fool.
But if Mamiya was innocent, his servants could help speed up the search.
If Jiangxia's disappearance wasn't a scheme, but instead a tragic accident—like stumbling upon a collapsed area—finding him sooner would surely prevent further harm.
…
Mamiya didn't hesitate.
Someone was missing from his house, especially a detective suspected of finding treasure. Of course, he'd do his best to find him.
While Mamiya and the protagonists were organizing their search, there was another figure in the dark, long secret passage looking for Jiangxia.
Nishikawa Suimei—the maid who had undergone plastic surgery to become a fake old lady—was quietly walking through the passage with a wooden stick in hand.
She usually pretended to be senile, but in reality, she kept a close eye on everything happening in the castle. Today, when the guests arrived, she quickly noticed them.
She had sat in her wheelchair, pretending to be crazy, when she overheard that two of the guests were detectives, one of them being a famous young one.
Nishikawa Suimei got nervous. She worried they might covet her treasure. And since she had killed so many people, she also felt uneasy around police officers or detectives.
She had planned to wait a bit and then get rid of them, but before she could, she realized that one of the detectives was missing.
The others couldn't figure out why a living person had disappeared so suddenly, but Nishikawa Suimei understood perfectly well.
She had accidentally discovered the mechanisms in the castle before, and she was familiar with the secret passages. She recalled where Jiangxia and the others had been when they were observing the chessboard, and quickly realized there was an entrance to a secret passage nearby.
That detective must have discovered the passage and walked in.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 36/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS*