Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"Afue Takuzo was attacked..."

Brian, with a cigar in his mouth, was sitting on a bus that was traveling around Hakodate. He had not gotten off the bus since leaving the hotel building yesterday and had been controlling it remotely with his mobile phone.

The external cell phone lit up twice, and after collecting all the information about the people deployed outside, the arms chief chuckled, but there was a hint of anger in his laughter.

"That Nishimura, he pulled out all the people I put in the police station. He's really capable."

Brian turned to the sturdy subordinate who was sitting upright next to him and hooked his finger to ask him to explain the whole thing.

"It seems they were exposed while tracking down Kidd."

The sturdy man was a little cautious, fearing that any of his words might hit the boss' sore spot. Anyone who angered Brian would suffer a bad ending.

"As for Fujiang Takuzo, the people we sent out replied that this guy was attacked last night and today, and..."

"And what?"

Brian saw the sturdy man dithering and looked at him with a cold and piercing look: "Speak."

"This guy seems to care about something more than just the sword."

The sturdy man immediately told the story that after Fu Jiang Takuzo was sent to the hospital, the bodyguards of the Fu Jiang family sent four groups of people back to the Fu Jiang villa to get things, and he also opened his mobile phone and showed a photo of a bodyguard holding a knife in the hospital.

"This guy only had this one knife, but he still let the person go home. I think there is something fishy going on."

Brian had obviously begun to think about what his men said, and he felt that it made sense, but it was not necessarily related to the treasure.

As an arms dealer, Brian's goal is the weapon of mass destruction that can change the situation of the war. The sword is just a clue to find the treasure. The things that Takuzo Axe ordered people to take may be other antiques. If they have nothing to do with arms, it is meaningless to Brian.

"Perhaps I can tell you the answer..."

The sudden voice behind him startled him all over. In the whole car, there were only him and his two men besides the driver, and it had been like this for two days.

Realizing this, the burly man sitting opposite Brian immediately pulled out the pistol he had stuffed on his pants and pointed it behind him, but a blinding light cut through their vision and half of the pistol fell to the ground. Brian knew that the man was a kendo master, so he rushed forward with his sword in hand.

He kicked the burly man away to prevent him from being beheaded by the oncoming enemy. Brian deliberately tilted the blade sideways and saw the face of the other person through the fireworks produced by the collision of the blades.

“Ghost…it’s a ghost!”

"Idiot, this guy is wearing a mask!"

Realizing that the wind direction was wrong in the enclosed space, Brian raised the scabbard with his left hand and used his experience to block Ghost Face's other knife.

"Two swords... cut."

Relying on his tall stature, Brian rushed forward with all his strength. The blade grazed Ghost Face's neck. He caught a glimpse of the man's left hand still frozen in place, with the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

【Got it! 】

"what!"

Just when Brian thought he had succeeded, the Ghost Mask suddenly squatted down, and the arms dealer's knife got stuck in the Ghost Mask's jaw. He found that the opponent's left hand began to twist in a strange posture, and the knife also slid sideways, with the handle as the rotation point on the right, and the two knives were crossed and pointed at his chest.

"That's it."

Ghost Face's eyes were slightly blue, and his hands were already on Brian's chest, but he had no intention of going any further.

"I'm not here to teach you swordsmanship."

Unable to tell whether it was a man or a woman, Ghost Face shook his kimono, took a step back, and with his two swords hanging down, looked at the embarrassed man in front of him.

"Afue Takuzo, besides collecting knives, there is another way to find treasures."

"What did you say?"

Brian stared at Ghostface with vigilance. This man almost killed him just now. The crossed double knives and the unlucky lawyer were also killed by Ghostface. "Afue Keisaburo is not a fool. Could he not have thought that his descendants would not be able to get the six knives back?"

Ghost Face's eyes flickered and darkened: "Collecting six knives can confirm the location of the treasure, but the codeword left by Keisaburo Axie can also be used."

"Code words!" Brian was shocked and angry. "You mean, Fu Jiang Takuzo laid so many plans about the sword, but he was actually using code words to look for the treasure in private!"

"…Whatever you think." Ghost Face paused: "The code was divided into two parts by Fu Jiang Zhongzhi, one for each of the Fu Jiang family and his confidant. Fu Jiang Takuzo has already lured the police to get the other code."

"So, as long as he can crack the two codes, he can get the treasure's location directly, and the precious sword we have been chasing for so long will be useless."

Brian gritted his teeth and stared at Ghost Face angrily: "What do you want?"

"I want you to kill Axe Takuzo."

Ghost Face paced back, his lower body disappearing into the darkness.

"You're much more powerful than me, why don't you kill him yourself?!"

"Because I don't need treasure."

Ghost Face flashed in the darkness and jumped out of the bus window. Seeing this, Brian immediately rushed to the window, watched the black shadow disappear into the bushes, and then immediately locked the window completely.

"Boss, are we really going to kill Fujiang Takuzo?"

The sturdy man picked up the knife that Brian dropped and hesitated: "We haven't done anything that the police can catch us."

"Then let them not catch anything."

Brian turned around, hiding his face in the darkness of the bus: "You remember the ghost mask just now."

……

"Mr. Fu Jiang, I would like to ask you about the other treasure location confirmed by your grandfather."

Officer Nishimura faced Axie Takuzo and said, "You should know how much trouble the treasure left by Axie Keisaburo has brought to Hakodate, so I would like you to tell me everything you know."

"Even if you say so, I don't know..."

Axe Takuzo's eyes flashed, and then he suddenly remembered the piece of paper he was holding in his arms. He looked around for the bed but didn't see it. He stared at Miura anxiously, asking with his eyes.

"Sir, that piece of paper was destroyed in the car accident."

Miura told the lie without blushing or beating his heart, causing Takuzo Axe to hit him on the head and almost make Jihu faint.

"Ruined?! How could this happen?!"

In order to prevent others from noticing the special nature of the paper, he did not dare to make a backup copy. This was so that one day when he got the other half of the code paper entrusted to him by his father from Fukushiro Ryoe, he would be the only one who would have the chance to crack the code, but now it is all destroyed.

"My treasure..."

Takuzo Afue fell headfirst on the hospital bed, feeling extremely desperate.

"It seems that you know how to crack the code, so everything that happened before was to hide this." Nakamori Ginzo held his forehead.

"Actually, I don't know the code either..."

Fujiang Takuzo lowered his head and whispered, "So I was planning to see if you could take the two knives from Fukjo Ryoe before considering whether to tell you about the secret code."

If the knife can be obtained, then the code paper will naturally be no problem. If not, then Miura and the others will have to snatch it away.

"You are such a shameless guy."

(End of this chapter)