Ke Xue World: The Confrontation between Black and Red

Different from previous treasure hunt competitions.

After making up his mind to make the Red Leaf Treasures into a trump card for the consortium's red leaf season tourism line.

In order to achieve the best publicity effect and sustain this wave of dividends, Ooka Finance, which has invested money and effort and made careful plans behind the scenes, would like to reap the benefits permanently.

The contestant selection mechanism for this treasure hunt competition has been modified to a certain extent.

In addition to the 32 contestants selected by lottery from the enthusiastic applicants, nine other contestants were specially invited, including well-known treasure hunters, detectives, and classical literature writers.

All expenses including travel, accommodation, meals, etc. during the seven-day competition were covered, not to mention providing high-standard reception services.

Each participant is also allowed to bring no more than four teammates or family members to participate and enjoy the same treatment.

Therefore, this treasure hunt is more like a competition among forty-one participating teams than a competition among forty-one participating contestants.

Just by distributing the treasure map parchments, Conan and Hattori Heiji recognized many old acquaintances.

On the side, Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuha, who hadn't seen each other for a long time, were chatting happily. Toyama Kazuha was amazed by the kimono Mao Lilan was wearing at first sight. After learning who gave it to her, she was surprised:

"I didn't expect your guy to be so thoughtful."

Mao Lilan lowered her head shyly, with an extremely sweet smile on her face.

Yuan Shan and Ye were amazed by what they saw.

Then she looked at Conan and Hattori Heiji who were huddled together at the diagonal side, and saw that her own dark-skinned detective was chatting happily with someone without even glancing at her.

At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded from behind the two of them:

"So you guys are here. If I had known, I wouldn't have squeezed over there."

Mao Lilan turned around and saw the person coming, with a look of surprise;

"Yuanzi, why are you here?"

Suzuki Sonoko, wearing a light yellow kimono embroidered with ginkgo, walked over slowly, fanned the same style Japanese fan in her hand, greeted Toyama Kazuha, and said unhappily:

"My elders at home asked me to come here. They said that the plan behind this event was made by Ooka Hongye, the heir of the Ooka family. They asked me to come and take a look and learn from him."

During this period, Suzuki Sonoko was either at home or occasionally attending business gatherings.

I always hear people talking about how the heir of the Ooka family has been transformed and how well he has performed in the fields of investment and project planning.

Although some people's tone was sour, Suzuki Sonoko could tell that these people were much more serious and cautious in their choice of words and sentences than before.

As a result, people rarely talk about the time when Ooka Koye chased after the Kansai high school detective Hattori Heiji. Even if it is mentioned occasionally, most people regard it as an immature and ordinary past event of Ooka Koye.

It's like talking about a man's romantic past, with such tolerance that the harshness and sarcasm of the past are no longer seen.

It is obvious that the reason these people's attitudes changed so quickly was because of the abilities demonstrated by Ooka Momiji and the attitude shown by the head of the Ooka family.

In the past, everyone viewed Ooka Momiji as a mascot vase, someone to be put on display and who would at most receive a large dowry and the false title of an heiress in the future.

Now, seeing that the head of the Ooka family is training his daughter like a male heir, the rumors that occasionally leaked out when they talked about marriage also implied that he was going to marry a son-in-law.

Who can't see that the eldest daughter of the Ooka family will become the actual person in charge of the Ooka Group in the future?

Shiro Suzuki and his wife, who had been shown off to the head of the Ooka family many times, were naturally jealous.

Although they have made preparations to train a third-generation successor, and just in case, they have found a capable young executive in the consortium.

But they would be even more pleased if their daughter could take on the burden of the consortium like the Ooka family did.

So, after learning that the Ooka family had organized a treasure hunt competition to promote their travel line and that the behind-the-scenes plan was still created by Ooka Momiji, the couple sent their daughter over.

Suzuki Sonoko was naturally not very happy about this. Not to mention that the Ooka family and the Suzuki family have always been business competitors and have overlapped in many businesses, the heads of both families basically only smile with their lips crossed every time they meet.

Besides, the heir of the Ooka family, Ooka Momiji, was known in the circle as the kind of person with an arrogant temper and was the most difficult to deal with.

Now I'm afraid they will look down on her, an heiress who is like a vase, even more.

But she couldn't persuade her parents. Seeing that they were still worrying about the consortium and her plans even as they got older, Suzuki Sonoko had no choice but to compromise.

The only thing that makes me happy is that I can see Xiaolan and others here, and...

"Sonoko, are you here alone?"

Mao Lilan asked with concern.

"Of course... not."

Suzuki Sonoko winked playfully, then raised her hand and waved happily to the side:

"I am here."

Mao Lilan and Toyama Kazuha looked in the direction where Suzuki Sonoko was waving, and saw Kyogoku Makoto, wearing a dark gray samurai uniform embroidered with dark patterns, walking through the crowd and towards them with a clear goal.

Mao Lilan said in surprise:

"Mr. Kyogoku is here too."

"Well, Ah Zhen has a competition in the country recently, and he was worried that I would be in danger if I went out alone, so he came with me."

Suzuki Sonoko smiled sweetly, just as sweetly as Mao Li Ran before.

"Of course. Even if Zhen doesn't come, I don't think there will be any danger. I have a karate master and a aikido master protecting me."

The karate master and the aikido master smiled at each other, nodded and said:

"Yeah, that's right."

Kyogoku Makoto walked over, said hello, and then stood next to Suzuki Sonoko, watching the three of them chatting happily.

After chatting for a while, Suzuki Sonoko casually glanced around and suddenly stopped, squinted her eyes and looked around for a while, then asked:

"Conan is here too, right? Which one is it?"

"Isn't it just-" next to Heiji?

Yuanshan and Ye were halfway through their words when they turned around and were stunned.

Mao Lilan felt a little confused, so she turned her eyes away.

Then, the third stunned person appeared.

As far as the few people could see, a classic black and white football was rolling on a small piece of specially cleared field, surrounded by five or six little boys of similar height and dressed similarly.

There was a circle of adults watching the fun surrounding, some were cheering and encouraging, some were giving on-the-spot instructions, and some were cheering and applauding. The atmosphere was very lively.

At first glance, it's hard to tell which one is Conan.

The corners of Mao Lilan's mouth twitched slightly. She looked at Conan, who was running the happiest in the field with a football under his feet, and didn't know whether she should be happy or make other expressions.

You are having so much fun playing with a group of kids. Shinichi, don’t you remember that your real age is not seven years old?

Conan, who successfully scored a goal, woke up to the cheers of his teammates. When the breeze blew in his face, Conan's face was full of confusion.

No, how did he end up playing football with a bunch of kids?

He seemed to remember that he was chatting with Hattori about a case, and then a football flew to his feet and he kicked it subconsciously.

Then, the ball seemed to come towards him again, and then someone shouted at him to pass the ball...

After seeing Conan stop after scoring a goal, Hattori Heiji watched from the side for a long time, and finally laughed out loud with joy, laughing so hard that he couldn't even straighten his back.

The people around him thought he was cheering for the victorious Conan and others.

Sometimes, men’s friendship is established because of a simple encounter, and sometimes, boys’ friendship is established because of a football game of less than twenty minutes.

The sun rose high in the sky, and the opening ceremony, which lasted for more than an hour, came to an end.

The little boys ended this impromptu game with a sense of unfulfilled desire.

As for Edogawa Conan, who performed outstandingly in this competition, every little boy greeted Conan and agreed to play football together again later. Then they reluctantly returned to their parents.

The last little boy who said goodbye was holding a football. When he was led away by his family, he kept looking back. It seemed that he was reluctant to leave his friend Conan.

Conan became even more depressed after the friendship ended, especially when he saw Xiaolan's smiling eyes looking at him, the jokes from Sonoko and others, and the photos and videos that flashed by on Hattori Heiji's phone.

He wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.

However, there was no hole in the ground for him to crawl into.

In less than ten minutes, he met the little boy who had been reluctant to leave and kept looking back on the Red Leaf Special Train, who called himself A Mian.

Seeing Conan in the next box, A Mian was surprised and looked at the man next to him coquettishly.

After the man nodded slightly, she took the box of snacks handed over by the man, knocked on the door of the next box happily, and walked in.

Conan originally thought that Sonoko and the others were all there, so who would knock on the door at this time? He stared in amazement at A Mian walking in with a box of snacks.

Then he told Kogoro Mori and others that he was here to hang out with his good friends, and that his uncle had brought him some souvenirs and invited everyone to taste them.

As soon as Maori Kogoro looked at the packaging of the box, he knew that this souvenir must be very expensive. However, after secretly touching his bulging belly, he said politely:

"Oh, you're so polite, but since you're Conan's friend, you can give this gift to Conan."

Then he turned his head and changed his tone:

"Little boy, since it's your friend who's here to see you, you should treat him well, okay?

Go play in that empty space over there, and be quiet.

Xiaolan, come over and sit with Yuanzi and the others."

Mao Lilan, who was originally sitting next to Conan, responded with a helpless look in Conan's expectant eyes and sat next to Suzuki Sonoko.

Conan, who was rushed over to entertain his friends, stood up with heavy steps, and sat on the tatami on the other side of the box with A Mian, who looked happy and expectant.

The entire room was in Japanese style, which matched their current attire very well. The floor was covered with wooden boards, and two tea tables for guests were placed on the slightly raised tatami mats on both sides.

On one side sat Kogoro Mori, Heiji Hattori, Sonoko Suzuki and others, while the other side was originally empty, but now sat two short and stocky kids.

Hattori Heiji and others discussed the red leaf treasure while looking at the parchment treasure map spread out on the tea table.

On the other side, Conan and A Mian started tasting the snacks in the opened snack box on the tea table.

"Conan, eat it, it's delicious. When I was at home, I rarely ate these. My father and uncle never allowed me to eat these snacks."

A Mian actively recommended it, and Conan couldn't refuse the kindness and had to take off his mask.

While listening to the discussion on the other side with his ears perked up, he picked up a snack and started eating it slowly.

At the same time, I chatted with A Mian:

"Are you here with your uncle this time?"

"Ah."

"Then eat more snacks this time, your uncle won't scold you, will he?"

"will not."

After swallowing the snack in his mouth, A Mian took another snack from the box and smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed.

"Uncle has been very nice to me lately, always secretly giving me two extra snacks."

"Did your uncle bring you here alone?"

"No, there are three bodyguard uncles."

"Then why didn't your father come with you?"

"Dad is very busy recently and has no time, so only uncle came with me."

"..."

"..."

A favored young master from a wealthy family.

Conan came to the conclusion and swallowed the snack in his mouth, and then A Mian beside him stuffed another piece into his hand.

"I was right, this snack is really delicious."

Conan nodded.

Then he saw A Mian, with snack crumbs in one hand, smiled at him mysteriously, and then rummaged through the pocket of his little samurai uniform.

Finally he pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment.

"Here, this is a treasure map."

A Mian had an expression as if he was presenting a treasure. Conan didn't expect that the treasure hunt token that only forty-one contestants in the team could possess was actually taken away by a five or six-year-old child.

This child's uncle really dotes on him.

Conan quickly reached out and opened the parchment. When he saw that the content on it was the same as what he had just seen from Uncle Maori, his impression was further deepened.

next door,

The man in a white hunting robe with red lining watched his nephew walk into the next box, then sat down beside the tea table with two cups of tea.

There was a thin cloud of smoke, but the man didn't move at all.

It was not until there were two quick and two slow knocks on the door that the man raised his head and nodded slightly to the bodyguard standing by the door.

The door opened, and Toru Amuro, who had changed into the same clothes as the bodyguard, looked at the man beside the tea table and bowed slightly after entering the door:

"Good day, Mr. Utsunomiya. I didn't expect you to come in person this time."

The man called Utsunomiya remained expressionless, looked up at Amuro Toru, and said:

"You are not the one who solved the bounty code set by my father. Let the one who solved the code come and talk to me."

Not knowing how the man came to this conclusion, Toru Amuro thought that the content of the bounty code must be very important, and that woman Vermouth must have deliberately not told him.

The bodyguard made a gesture to see him off, but Toru Amuro certainly didn't want to leave like that:

“It’s true that I’m not the one who deciphered the code, but I will be the one who will find the real treasure map for you and steal it.

Are you sure you want to kick me out like this?"