Ke Xue World: The Confrontation between Black and Red

As night falls,

In the last rays of sunset, the lights inside Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine gradually lit up.

Dusk and night intertwine, light and darkness interweave, and as the afterglow of the setting sun gradually dims, the dark and light yellow light from the lamps replaces the afterglow of the sunset given by nature.

It fell on the maple trees planted in groups on both sides of the road.

However, perhaps nature itself possesses a mysterious power that is difficult for humans to achieve. Compared with the pure natural colorful glow, the artificially created lighting atmosphere is always much worse.

The red maple forest path, which was bright and warm under the sunlight and attracted countless people to take photos, group pictures, and paint, now looked like it had been splashed with basins of blood.

As the area illuminated by the street lights expanded, the color of the maple leaves gradually changed from dark to dark, like blood that was gradually solidifying, and none of the vitality that they had during the day could be seen anymore.

If you get closer, you can almost smell a faint, lingering smell of decay.

Perhaps, it comes from the corpses of dead insects and ants buried deep in the roots of the maple tree.

Or perhaps, the vitality was quietly drained away by the dark power hidden in the night.

Of course, this kind of delicate and sad feeling would not appear on Conan who was standing under the street light at this moment.

Conan looked up at the dark red trees above his head, wondering when Xiaolan and the others who had entered the Tenmangu Shrine to worship and pray would come out.

Also, there were the strange beings he encountered during this journey.

Conan, who has always been a staunch believer in scientism since he was just Kudo Shinichi, has never been very interested in visiting shrines.

Even if you have witnessed the existence of the mysterious side with your own eyes and seen the mysterious abilities of its members that cannot be explained by science.

Conan's scientism was shattered into pieces, and he couldn't even pick it up again. He still had no interest in these behaviors that were just seeking psychological comfort.

Therefore, most people either go into the shrine to worship and pray, or go to the brightly lit areas to enjoy the scenery.

Conan chose to stay in this maple forest path where the lights were sparse, it was extremely quiet, and the feeling of loneliness was overwhelming.

While I was thinking, I heard the sound of footsteps approaching from afar.

Conan looked up and saw one of the strange beings he was thinking about - the magical friend A Mian and his mysterious uncle, with whom he became friends because of playing football and then had a snack party.

Following the bodyguards behind him, he walked slowly on the stone road in the middle of the red leaf forest.

Then he stopped under a maple tree that was far away from the street lamp. The treetop was shaped like a cloud, and the branches were lush and full of red leaves.

Because the distance was a bit far and it was night time, Conan could not see the expressions of the uncle and nephew as they stood sideways with their backs to the light and looked at the maple tree.

But his curiosity about the two uncles and nephews, especially the mysterious uncle, increased a lot.

At this time, bringing my young nephew to such a dark and deserted place with sparse and dim lights and only two people around, I guess I wasn't here to take pictures.

Conan couldn't help but recount in his mind all the strange things he had discovered during the snack party with little Amian at noon.

Judging from A Mian's manners and behavior, A Mian and his uncle should be from a famous family or a wealthy family.

In order to prevent the children at home from being targeted by bad guys and to avoid accidents such as kidnapping and extortion, they do not reveal their surnames when they go out.

There is nothing wrong with this.

But A Mian's mysterious uncle, who used to be very strict with his nephew and didn't even allow him to eat one more piece of snack, is now very tolerant.

There was also the one who had been so busy and invisible a while ago, but was suddenly free to participate in the lottery for the treasure hunt contestants.

Not only did he successfully become one of the 32 lucky contestants, but he also had time to bring his nephew to participate in this treasure hunt competition.

No matter how I look at it, this doesn't seem right.

Now with this incident, Conan simply doesn't believe that the mysterious A Mian was just taking his nephew on a treasure hunt trip to add to his childhood memories.

He suspected that the mysterious uncle had ulterior motives in participating in the treasure hunt, and that he might not even be a real contestant selected by the Ooka Group.

But through some means, he replaced this identity.

So, after taking out his cell phone and asking Rina Hanano for help to check the true identity information of the contestants selected by the Ooka Foundation, Conan put away his phone and decided to go up and test it out.

Unexpectedly, just as he raised his foot, before he could get closer, A Mian, who was extremely bored watching the maple leaves with his uncle in the distance, was the first to discover his good friend under the street light in the distance.

"Conan!"

Little A Mian waved his hands happily, and his loud little voice instantly attracted everyone's attention.

Utsunomiya Hiroshi turned his head and looked over, and saw in the distance a man named Conan who was dressed almost the same as his nephew and was about the same height.

The vigilance between his brows faded instantly.

Little A Mian didn't care about all that. He happily ran towards his good friend Conan. His small figure gradually appeared clearly under the coverage of the street lamp.

"call out!"

Accompanied by an imperceptible sound of breaking through the air, a feather arrow suddenly shot out from the darkness.

The place where the arrow was pointing was actually little A Mian.

By the time Utsunomiya Hiroshi discovered it, the arrow tip, which was illuminated by the light and reflected a cold light, was less than two meters away from A Mian.

Although he immediately ran towards where A Mian was at the fastest speed, he and the three bodyguards behind him had no time to stop him.

One of the bodyguards pulled out his gun while running, but was still powerless.

The arrows were shot from behind them, leaving only a single point on the shooting surface, a moving target in the darkness.

Although the bodyguard is also a good gunman with excellent shooting ability, in this situation, he is unable to accurately hit the arrow with a bullet.

The most important thing is that if he is not careful, the arrow might not kill the young master of the master's family, but he might kill him instead when he fired the shot.

Therefore, even though the bodyguard took out his gun, he still didn't dare to shoot.

At this time, Conan also noticed the feather arrow attacking A Mian from behind.

He threw the small wooden sword from his waist and shouted to A Mian who was running towards him happily:

"Dodge to the left."

Seeing a small wooden sword about to hit him, A Mian subconsciously followed Conan's instructions and ran two steps to the left.

Then he stopped and looked in shock at the arrow that had brushed past his arm and was firmly nailed to the ground.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Seeing that the first arrow missed the target, the person in the dark shot the second and third arrows.

But at this time, Utsunomiya Hiroshi and three bodyguards had already arrived beside Amian.

The two bodyguards hugged A Mian and Conan in their arms and easily dodged the two feather arrows shot from behind.

Seeing this, the people in the dark decisively chose to retreat.

When Utsunomiya Hiroshi, his bodyguards, Amien and Conan followed the direction of the arrow and arrived at the attacker's hiding place.

The place was deserted.

Only one tail feather was left, like a maple leaf covered by the light of a street lamp at night, so dark red that it gave people an idea of ​​a feather arrow.

Conan, who was still held in the bodyguard's arms, watched Utsunomiya Hiroshi's expression suddenly freeze when he looked at the long red feather arrow left by the murderer at the scene.

I immediately guessed that there must be a story behind this.

"Conan, where are you?"

A call from a distance interrupted Conan's thoughts.

Not long after, Xiaolan and others holding flashlights appeared at Conan's current location.

Looking at Conan being held in the arms of the bodyguard, Mouri Ran was about to ask Conan why he appeared here, when Utsunomiya Hiroshi came in front of Ran with a feather arrow.

After briefly explaining the situation, Utsunomiya Hiroshi looked at Conan, who had gotten down from the bodyguard's arms and walked to Ran Mouri, and thanked him sincerely again.

"Conan, thank you so much for saving A Mian."

"A Mian is my good friend."

Conan looked at A Mian, who was still held in the arms of another bodyguard and looked a little depressed, and said:

“Good friends help each other without needing to thank each other.”

Hearing this, Utsunomiya Hiroshi looked at Conan seriously. Only then did he really begin to take his nephew's good friend seriously.

When A Mian realized what had just happened to him, he was very depressed, but he still smiled at Conan.

Utsunomiya Hiroshi did not stay here for long. After a while, he left Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine early with his bodyguards and nephew, saying that Amian was a little frightened.

When he left, he also took away the feathered arrow that was found in the attacker's hiding place.

Before this, Hattori Heiji had suggested that it would be best to call the police, and then hand over this feather arrow, together with the three feather arrows picked up by the bodyguard, as evidence to the police for investigation.

But under Utsunomiya Hiroshi's calm yet firm attitude, the matter of calling the police was eventually put on hold.

A corner of the moon hidden behind the clouds quietly appeared, and the faint moonlight streamed down from the clouds, illuminating the departing figures of Utsunomiya Hiroshi and his group extremely clearly.

Hattori Heiji squinted his eyes and looked at the long red-feathered arrow in Utsunomiya Hiroshi's hand, and a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes.

Toyama Momiji beside him was looking at the white outer and red inner hunting robe on Utsunomiya Hiroshi, seemingly thinking about something.

After carefully checking the traces at the scene, Conan and others, who received an urging call from Kogoro Mori, did not stay here any longer.

The group quickly walked along the long maple forest path and disappeared at the end of the road.

In the dark, the woman who had been holding her breath and watching the situation was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but before she could finish her breath, a crisp "click" sound came from behind her.

The woman was startled, and then she felt a metal tube against her head.

When the woman realized what that thing was, she immediately tried to prove that it was harmless, but was knocked unconscious by a knife from behind.

The fallen woman was supported by a pair of honey-colored hands.

As the moonlight gradually faded, Amuro Toru, whose figure was gradually illuminated by the moonlight, looked at the woman who had closed her eyes and fainted in his arms, and said to the darkness behind another tree:

"It's really easy to get it. Now it's up to you, Vermouth."

Vermouth walked out slowly from the shadows, glanced at the face of the woman who was one of the eight suspects, and a subtle murderous intent flashed in her eyes.

At around eight o'clock in the evening, the contestants who came out of Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine were transported by the Ooka Group's special vehicles and checked into a nearby hot spring hotel funded and operated by the Ooka Group.

Starting tomorrow, over the next two days, contestants can go treasure hunting freely in Fukuoka City, or they can follow the travel guide provided by the Ooka Foundation, ahem, a treasure hunting guide.

Under the follow-up reports of media reporters, we went to those suspected treasure hiding places with beautiful scenery, searching for treasures while enjoying the beautiful scenery of the red leaf season.

During the period, the hot spring hotel will provide free food and lodging as well as hot spring invitation tickets to all contestants and their relatives and family members.

For professional teams keen on free treasure hunting, the Ooka Foundation will provide them with a batch of mobility scooters printed with the Ooka Foundation logo free of charge, for participants to use for free travel during the two days.

Of course, it would be even better if they wanted to visit the surrounding shops, restaurants, and some specialty stores that are also funded and operated by the Ooka Group.

If you come across something you want to buy at a store with a red leaf season travel poster on the door, you can enjoy a special discount by showing the treasure map parchment when paying.

Conan and others were the last group to arrive at the hotel.

After completing the check-in procedures, delivering the stored luggage to the room, and having a simple dinner, it was already past nine o'clock in the evening.

Kogoro Mori was so excited that he got out of bed early in the morning and got drunk at dinner.

At this time, he was snoring happily in bed, meeting his idol Yoko Okino in his dream.

And next to the bedroom where Kogoro Mouri was, there was a living room with the lights on, the doors and windows closed, and the curtains drawn.

Conan and his friends gathered around the tea table in the living room, sitting in pairs on four double sofas, and discussed seriously the attack that had just occurred at Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine.

After describing the entire process of the attack that he had witnessed, Conan also told about the strange things that he had discovered before.

Finally, he asserted:

"That attack was aimed at taking A Mian's life. A Mian's uncle must know something."

Conan suspected that there were some directional clues on those arrows, so Amian's uncle collected all the arrows and took them away, and stopped Hattori Heiji's suggestion to call the police.

But at that time he was held in the arms of a bodyguard the whole time, and the person who collected the feather arrows was another bodyguard. He had no access to the feather arrows at all, and could not confirm whether there were any important clues on those feather arrows.

Hearing this, Hattori Heiji took out a pen and paper from the compartment of the backpack behind him, and then drew a pattern on the paper.

"This is a black pattern I saw on the red tail feathers of the arrow in the man's hand when the moon shone on him."

A palm-sized notebook was spread out on the tea table. Several people gathered around it. On the page, there was a black circle with three solid black triangles arranged in the shape of a mountain.

One triangle on top and two triangles on the bottom form a triangular pattern with a white inverted triangle in the middle.