How many character cards do you have?

After getting off the train and driving on the mountain road for two hours, everyone finally saw this small town.

Speaking of a small town, it feels more like a remote countryside like Yayuan, where several villages are combined, and there is a forest not far away.

Compared with Tokyo's environment full of steel forests, the scenery of this small town may have a different flavor for urbanites... no wonder.

After getting out of the car, Mao Lilan and Conan looked at the surrounding environment in shock. It cannot be said that there is not much difference, but it has nothing to do with the vibrant scene they imagined.

It's clearly spring now, and it's the season when all things prosper and grow. They have seen a lot of greenery all the way along the way, but here, it seems to be forgotten by spring, forever imprisoned by the enchantment of winter, and the grass does not sprout new sprouts. , There are withered and yellow branches everywhere, and the leaves are almost invisible.

The person who came to pick him up was a middle-aged man with beards, who greeted Mori Kogoro enthusiastically: "Detective Mori, you are finally here, and all the other contestants are here."

"Hmm...ah." Mori Kogoro looked at the surrounding environment, his thoughts of traveling here for the first time stopped, and he scratched his head, "What's wrong with this area? Is there any insect infestation?"

The middle-aged uncle didn't quite understand: "I heard from the locals that there is something wrong with the land. This year's harvest is also difficult."

"Oh, life is hard." Mouri Kogoro sighed heavily.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter. If our show becomes popular, maybe the tourists who come here can make up for the losses of the farmers. I believe in the appeal of Maori Detective." The uncle complimented.

Mori Kogoro's tail immediately went up to the sky: "Ahahaha, isn't it! It would be great if I could use my fame to do something for the people here."

"Yeah yeah."

Conan Banyueyan: Hehe, what are you thinking, Uncle?

But it's really strange here, and it doesn't look like a bug infestation.

Conan bent down and touched the land, and found that there was no obvious problem with the soil quality here, and most importantly, Kogoro Mori didn't notice that since they got off the car, they had never seen insects crawling on the ground at all, even in the countryside. No birdsong.

At this time, Conan noticed that not only was he squatting on the ground, but also Detective Meguro, who was accompanying them, squatting halfway on the ground, rubbing a little dirt with his fingers and putting it in front of his eyes to examine it carefully, with a dignified expression.

"Mr. Meguro, did you find anything?" Conan immediately approached Meguro Eluo and asked.

Meguro glanced at him and shook his head: "It's not sure yet."

So you have an idea?

Conan wanted to continue asking, but at this time the middle-aged uncle who was suspected of being the producer noticed Meguro and asked, "Is this also your family member?"

"no."

"I just came here with Mr. Mori by chance," Meguro Ero saw him looking at him, stood up and said, "Don't worry about me, just treat me as a tourist."

"Mr. Meguro is also a detective, and he is quite famous in the country." Conan said crisply.

"Oh?" The middle-aged uncle's eyes lit up, "May I ask what your full name is?"

"Meguro is evil." Meguro smiled wryly, and looked down at Conan. The little kid relied on his own tender face, and looked at him innocently like a real brat.

"Meguro Eluo... Meguro Eluo..." The middle-aged uncle murmured and repeated, as if remembering something, his eyes gradually lit up, "Could it be the detective from the 'Poirot Reincarnation'?!"

Meguro's smile became more difficult: "It's me..."

"That's really great!" The uncle shook Meguro's hand violently, "Since you are also a detective, why not join this 'Detective Koshien' together! It will definitely make the show more lively of!"

Meguro Eluo was stunned at first, and then smiled wryly: "It's my honor—although I want to say this, but I have my own purpose in coming here, and I may not be able to spare the time..."

"Did you get entrusted by the locals?" asked the woman in kimono who came with the middle-aged uncle.

"Probably." Meguro looked at the woman with surprise, "Could it be that you are..."

"Yes, my name is Keiko Qiandao, I have been waiting for you for a long time." The woman bowed slightly.

The middle-aged uncle said: "This is not a place to talk, and it's getting late, why don't you take a car with us to the town first."

In the end, everyone got into the van and went to the town together. The van was quite big. The three of the Maori family sat in the back seat, and the middle-aged uncle sat in the middle and talked enthusiastically with them. He even turned on the camera, as if he wanted to take some tidbits , Chishima Keiko was in charge of driving, and Meguro Era was sitting next to her in the co-pilot.

In the car, Mori Kogoro couldn't help asking:

"What was the commission you mentioned earlier?"

"Uh, it's not a big deal..." Keiko Qiandao seemed a little hesitant, glanced at Meguro, and Meguro said, "Please don't worry about anything, Miss Qiandao, everyone here is detectives, maybe I can give you some perspective on the matter.”

"...That's it, then I'll say it," Qiandao looked a little uneasy, "This matter is a bit ridiculous, everyone, let's make it a story."

"Do you know why this town is called Starfall Town?"

Everyone in the car shook their heads.

The uncle from Nikmai TV touched his chin and said, "I heard from the locals that meteorites often fall because of the magnetic field."

"It's often a bit exaggerated, but it's true that the town got its name because of the meteorite that fell nearby. But a strange thing happened in the town a year ago."

"First, the growth of the plants is very strange, and the fruits and crops are much larger than in previous years."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Molly asked.

"But it's not over yet. Although it has grown in size, for some reason, it tastes very weird, and it can't be eaten at all, so of course it can't be sold."

Kogoro Mori heard the words and said, "Could it be a land issue?"

Qian Dao shook his head lightly: "No, this kind of thing has never happened before. Since a meteorite landed in the forest...everything has changed. The crops are just the beginning, and then the animals raised by the residents of the small town have also changed. The color of the land and water has become very strange, and even the people here..."

Speaking of this, Chishima Keiko pursed her lips, Meguro tilted her head slightly, and watched her with her eyes.

[Dice investigation. 】

Scouting: Normal success.

Meguro Eluo noticed the flash of hatred and fear in the woman's eyes, and the fingers holding the reverse wheel turned slightly white.

Conan thought for a while, but didn't understand the lady's intentions: "But Mr. Meguro is a detective, right? What does Miss Qiandao want him to investigate?"

"Yeah, if it's land or water, it should be the work of geologists." Xiao Lan said.

"Our town also hired a geologist a year ago, but there was no result. These things have been going on for a long time, but recently there seems to be this trend...so I want to figure out what's going on. "Qian Dao smiled wryly, "Maybe it's because we rushed to the doctor in a hurry."

"Well, the mysterious phenomenon in the small town is really interesting. It can be used as a sideshow behind the show." The uncle nodded seriously, and pointed the camera at Qiandao and Meguro.

Meguro raised his hand to cover his face, and Qiandao also said coldly: "This is not interesting, Mr. Hyuga, the growth of crops is the livelihood of most people in the town."

"Hahaha, don't be so boring. If our show becomes popular, many people will definitely come to your small town to travel. By then, the income from the tourism industry will be enough for you to live on, and the show is famous. Don’t more people know about the situation, maybe there will be a team of experts to investigate this phenomenon, now is the information age.” Uncle Hyuga was full of confidence.

Conan twitched the corner of his mouth, thinking too much, this town is so remote, it is difficult to develop tourism.

but……

"By the way, Uncle Hyuga," Conan pretended to be obedient and asked, "How did you come up with the theme of Detective Koshien?"

"Ah? What are you asking this for?"

"Because it sounds so interesting. Putting all the high school detectives together to decide the winner, it sounds like someone's blood is boiling~" Conan tried his best to pretend to be a child's tone, pretending to look admiring, "This Great idea~ Did you come up with it yourself?"

"Hahahaha, of course!" Hinata looked complacent, "Tell you, a first-class program producer must have the ability to come up with a popular program..."

30 minutes later,

The smile on Conan's face has gradually faded away. The uncle has been bragging for almost half an hour and has no intention of stopping.

"...I was in a dream, eh, I suddenly dreamed about this theme. I thought, now society pays so much attention to detectives, especially detectives who are young and famous high school students. Since baseball has the term Koshien, Then why can't high school student detectives come to reason about Koshien, eh, this plan came out like this..."

"Mr. Hyuga, we've arrived." Qiandao's indifferent voice sounded, and at the same time the van turned off and braked, and the people in the car turned backwards at the same time, hitting their backs on the seats, and Hinata's words got stuck in their throats. Conan, who wanted to drink water, accidentally spilled half a bottle of water on his clothes.

"Sorry, there is something wrong with this car. When there are more people in the car, it's easy to do this." Qian Dao explained briefly, pulled out the key and got out of the car.

Xiaolan took a towel and helped Conan wipe it off: "Are you all right?"

"It's okay." Conan quickly tightened the bottle cap, and hurriedly wiped his clothes.

The people in the car got off one after another and followed Keiko Qiandao into the town.

The size of the town is small, and it feels like a rural place like Yayuan, where you can see farmland around it. Compared with the town, it looks more like a collection of several villages. It stands to reason that the greening of this kind of rural place should be good, but there are many people along the way. I didn't see any green, most of them were cut down small trees or deliberately cut greenery, which looked bare and desolate.

Qian Dao was puzzled when he saw everyone's expressions, but he didn't explain it, he just led the way.

Along the way, Hinata still introduced to Maori and the others: "Our program will start recording tomorrow. The process is very simple. Tomorrow I will come up with a puzzle. Whoever thinks it out first and gives me the answer will be promoted successfully. Of course it will be. There is a reminder, as for Mr. Maori, this time I will ask you to be the judge, responsible for the final evaluation of each of their reasoning process."

"Hahahaha, of course no problem!"

It's a big question, okay?

Thinking that it was the uncle who commented on their reasoning in the end, Conan couldn't help but smile wryly.

They soon came to a homestay, and on the way they knew that Qiandao Keiko was the proprietress of this homestay, and would be in charge of their daily life during the competition.

"...If everything goes well, the answer can be announced tomorrow night, and then everyone can leave the day after tomorrow."

Mori and Uncle Hyuga were exchanging the game process. At this time, everyone could see the location of the house, and they also saw four people waiting outside the house.

They are three men and one woman. One man is tall and thin, one is strong and holding a hoe, the last one wears glasses, and the girl looks like she is in her 20s. She is wearing a headscarf outside the B&B as if she is bending over to explain something. .

"Eili." Seeing this scene, Keiko Qiandao quickly rushed up, and the others also quickened their pace upon seeing this.

"Qiandao-san." Seeing Keiko Qiandao back, Eili finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"What are you going to do, haven't you already discussed it?" Keiko Qiandao stood in front of Eri with a serious expression.

"We're just here to confirm the arrangements for tomorrow night." The three looked at each other, and the man wearing glasses stood up and explained, "Keiko, you misunderstood."

"Better so."

"What happened?" Molly asked.

Keiko Chishima's expression softened slightly: "It's nothing... Let me introduce you. These three are Ichiro Fukada, Hitoshi Kitano, Itsuka Miyazaki, and Eri Sugiyama."

The man with farm tools, the tall thin man, and the man with glasses nodded to everyone.

"Ichiro Fukada is the manager in charge of the harvest, Hitoshi Kitano is the deputy mayor of our town, Wuhe is the only doctor in our town, and Eri helps out in the store."

"This is Mr. Mori Kogoro."

"Hello, my humble Maori Kogoro, I am the judge of Detective Koshien this time."

Fukada Ichiro's expression changed: "Is that famous sleeping Kogoro?"

"Hahaha, it's right here."

"Oh, are they the last group of contestants to arrive?" Miyazaki Wuhe pushed his glasses, his eyes swept over the faces of Mouri and the others, as if they were examining something, which made people feel uncomfortable for no reason.

Scouting: Difficult success.

Meguro Eluo stood slightly behind and could perfectly capture the movements of the three of them. He keenly noticed that although the three of them were not thin, their complexions were sallow like malnutrition, and they were now There are thick dark circles under the eyes, and it seems that I haven't slept well for a long time.

Keiko Qiandao: "That's right."

"Why are there so many people..."

Uncle Hyuga interrupted: "Ah, Mr. Meguro was not invited by us, he is not a detective entrusted by Ms. Qiandao herself."

Hearing this, the three of them subconsciously looked at Meguro and Eluo, and their faces were not very good-looking.

Keiko Chishima explained helplessly: "I just entrusted Mr. Meguro to investigate the famine a year ago... and now the previous signs appear again."

"Hmph, doing this kind of useless work again." Kitano Ren, the sturdy middle-aged man holding a hoe, snorted coldly, "So many people were called to investigate before, what's the result? It's a liar."

"Then you said that this kind of thing happened again now, what should we do!?" Qiandao Keiko suddenly lost control of her emotions, and her voice suddenly became sharp, "Should the whole town wait to die together like last time?!"

wait to die?Will the disaster be so serious?Conan frowned.

"...I never said such a thing." Kitano Jin's face was ugly.

"Well~" Hinata quickly stood up to smooth things over, "Don't worry, everyone, when my show becomes popular, there must be countless people who will come here to travel! By then, the tourism industry can be developed here!"

Conan couldn't help showing half-moon eyes: Haha, this uncle is really confident.

At this time, there were footsteps getting closer and closer in the homestay, as if someone heard movement inside and was approaching the door.

"What's the matter?" The person came to the door, his face was exposed to the sunlight, and the features of his dark skin and baseball cap were very obvious.

"Hatto-kun?" Xiaolan asked in surprise.

"Oh, sure enough you are here too." Hattori smiled and greeted Mori and Xiaolan, then bent down and rubbed Conan's head, "And you kid."

Conan: "Hehe."

Seeing that there were more and more people, Ichiro Fukada pulled Hitoshi Kitano, while Eri comforted Keiko Chishima softly, and they finally calmed down.

"...Anyway, the festival is going to be held tomorrow night, you'd better not run around." Kitano Hitoshi and the others ended with this sentence, and left in a hurry without any further communication with Mo Li and the others.

"Let's go in first." Keiko Qiandao also returned to her original quiet and steady state at this time, and she couldn't see the loss of control just now, "I made everyone laugh."

"That's not true." Mao Li touched his head, "But is the situation in the town so urgent?"

"...That's right. After all, our small town relies on the sale of crops and livestock by-products to make a living."

"So we should develop the tourism industry. The weather has changed so fast these years, and now it's very popular to go to the countryside to experience life. I said our show..." Uncle Hinata was about to brag again, but was interrupted by Hattori urgently, "Okay, okay Let's stop standing outside, it's getting dark soon, right now... Conan, guess who's coming to this show?"

"Who is it? Is it the brother I know?" Conan immediately picked up the topic wittily, and looked at each other. That's right, he was the victim who was abused by Uncle Hinata.

In short, remove the topic and don't let him talk again!

"Haha, you'll find out later."

Hattori smiled, and walked in with Mori and the others. Keiko Chishima is the owner of this homestay. Of course, during the show, this place has been booked by Hinata as a place for the entire crew.

Speaking of the whole crew...

When everyone put away their luggage and came out for dinner, Conan and the others saw the so-called whole crew, and he was surprised to find that all the participants this time were acquaintances.

"Brother Baima, Shiliang...sister?"

Conan pointed at them in shock, as long as he pointed at the latter: "Are you all Eastern representatives?"

"Isn't this Conan? It's a coincidence that I met here." Shiliang Zhenchun, a girl with a rather heroic appearance who also belongs to Didan High School, scratched her head, "But what is the representative of the East?"

The two looked at each other, but Hattori explained: "That's not true, this time it doesn't seem to represent anything."

"That's right," Hinata, who was leading the film crew at this time, was actually a cameraman and a lighting engineer, "I didn't distinguish between north and south, anyway, as long as they are famous high school detectives, they can be invited!"

"The truth is, this Uncle Hinata has been confirmed by us to be an employee of Nichibu TV, but this program has not passed the review, that is to say..." Hattori whispered in Conan's ear.

Conan's eyes twitched: "Wild team?"

"Ahem, it's because the people above didn't see my talent, but I believe that as long as I make a wonderful film, they will definitely change their minds!" Hinata said confidently.

"No wonder I said that the invitation letter was not official at all," Conan complained. "If you think about it carefully, you don't even have an appearance fee for Uncle Maori. You only said that the round-trip fare will be reimbursed, and the payment will be paid after the show airs."

Hey, isn't this just painting cakes?

Conan glanced at Uncle Mori, obviously he also realized it, and seemed to want to say something to Hinata, but at this moment, this man was boasting about the program he had come up with, as if it was a good thing to be on the boat.

"Are these the only participants?" Conan murmured.

"It seems that we are the only ones," Baima looked at the number of people here. Except for the judge Maori, he, Hattori and the girl, this time there were only three high school detectives, which was less than last time...

Can this be called Detective Koshien?

Maori was obviously also aware of this problem, and complained: "Isn't this already the top three?" There are only three in total!

"Ahem, we also tried to send invitation letters to other detectives, but we didn't receive a response..." Hinata's face was a bit embarrassed when he mentioned this, but he soon regained his confidence, "But it doesn't matter, as long as the content is exciting enough, people It’s okay to be less, we are fighting for the quality of the program!”

"What's more, aren't there two detectives here?" Hinata said, his eyes searching the audience, "Hey, speaking of which, where did Detective Meguro go?"

"Uh, he probably has a lot of luggage. He said he came back later."

As soon as Conan finished speaking, he saw the push door open again, and Meguro Eluo walked in: "Sorry, I'm late."

"Detective Me-Meguro?!" Baiba stood up in surprise.

Meguro Eluo looked up blankly: "You are?"

"Um, I'm sorry, this should be our first meeting. My name is Baima Tan." After a brief gaffe, Baima Tan returned to his original elegance, "I saw your report before this, and I once told your The detective agency submitted the resume of the intern assistant, but unfortunately did not receive a response."

"...Is that so, sorry, our detective agency has been closed for a long time."

"Did something happen?" Baima inquired, "You seem to have been inactive for a long time."

Meguro Eluo was silent for a while, but just smiled: "Sorry."

At this time, the atmosphere seemed to have undergone some wonderful changes. Baima looked at the sadness that flickered on Meguro's face, and his heart moved: "No, no, I should be too abrupt."

After that, he sat down, but occasionally he still couldn't help looking in the direction of Meguro.

"Sure enough, Detective Meguro is very famous in the country." Hinata saw the exchange between Detective Hakuba and Meguro just now, and his attitude became more eager, "How is it? Would you like to join our program, with a name like you Detectives join, that's really..."

"Sorry, but I don't necessarily have time." Meguro said and glanced at Keiko Chishima who silently served everyone dinner.

I don't know what the other party was thinking in this short period of time, and he is a little haggard now.

"...No, if it's an entrusted matter, please don't take it to heart," Qiandao Keiko smiled bitterly, "Maybe they are right, this is not what a detective should do at all, please investigate casually, even if you can't find any results It doesn't matter, I will still reimburse the commission fee and travel expenses."

"Since Ms. Qiandao has said so, Detective Meguro, look..." Hinata's eyes lit up, and he invited unrelentingly.

Conan couldn't stand it any longer, and relying on his identity as a child, he moved closer to Keiko Qiandao: "Hey, can you explain the change that Aunt Qiandao mentioned? Since this happened a year ago, then How did it end? You told the three people in front of the hotel that this happened again, right?"

Qiandao Keiko seemed a little embarrassed when she heard the words, and at this time Eri, who was helping at the homestay, suddenly said, "Qiandao-san, it doesn't matter if you say it."

Chishima Keiko looked at Eri in surprise, and hesitated for a moment: "...This matter started a year ago. I also told everyone in the car before that there were abnormalities in crops and animals."

Conan and the others nodded.

"In fact, not only these, even the people at that time... became a little abnormal. I don't remember what I did at the time. I only remember that many young people in the town left before the worst situation came. We Of course, a little countermeasure was made, and a geologist was hired to investigate at a high price... After that, I don’t really remember what happened after that.”

Keiko Qiandao covered her forehead, her expression was dazed, with a look of fear that she didn't even seem to notice, her expression was distorted, but her tone was extremely soft: "I just know...that must, must be a nightmare from which I cannot wake up."