cat blues

The Twilight Annex is located in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture. It used to be the mansion of the richest man in Japan and once received a lot of attention. However, due to various reasons, it has now been regarded as a haunted house.

Osamu Dazai and the others set off very early, but even so, it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon when they reached the forest where the Twilight Annex is located. They ate something casually on the way, and refueled at the gas station for the last time. After that, continue to drive forward along the navigation.

As a result, after they drove to the mountain, the navigation lost its function. It can be seen that there should be no signal base station nearby, and the mobile phone can only display outside the circle.

"It seems to be really going to rain now." Osamu Dazai looked out, "By the way, Oda Saku, do you feel that the current situation is really like the snowstorm villa model written in mystery novels? ?”

Oda Sakunosuke was stunned, but the hand turning the steering wheel was still very steady, "It is indeed a bit, a relatively closed environment, unable to communicate with the outside world, if there are some more, such as cutting off the traffic between the Twilight Annex and the outside world, it is completely in line with this mode."

After he finished speaking, he added, "But Mr. Ranpo seldom writes novels of this type."

"Yeah, Mr. Ranpo doesn't like to write novels of this type. After all, the staff is too fixed, so it's easy to find the murderer." Qiao Qiao couldn't help showing a bland smile, "Look, the road leading to the outside world has come out, as long as this is cut off, you will really be trapped in the Twilight Villa and can't get out, right?"

"No, the Rashomon below is enough to extend to both ends." Ryunosuke Akutagawa, sitting on the back seat, subconsciously said, "And at such a height, with our ability, we can fall from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the cliff before going out. Finding the way is not difficult."

"Ms. Akutagawa, can you stop talking?" Osamu Dazai turned his head with a smile, looked at Ryunosuke Akutagawa and said.

"I'm sorry..." Akutagawa Ryunosuke nodded, and did not continue speaking.

"Besides, we're not the only ones going this time, so we should give them some face." Osamu Dazai still added.

"I know." It's not that Akutagawa Ryunosuke has never met other detectives, he just feels a little helpless. Many detectives he meets outside will rule out the ability person when investigating a case, but obviously there are others. Few cases were committed by capable people. After the follow-up, they found that the reasoning had fallen into a dead end, and they had to spend more effort to overthrow the previous speculation.

However, Akutagawa Ryunosuke is also aware that not all detectives have the observation and thinking abilities of Edogawa Ranpo and Dazai Osamu, and most of the cases are indeed committed by ordinary people. It is not surprising that the first thing most detectives think of after discovering a case is what ordinary people do.

In addition, in key cities like Tokyo and Osaka, there are often scepter4 and the supernatural spy department's key monitoring, the chances of ordinary detectives encountering capable people committing crimes are even smaller, so it's no wonder they always direct their thinking immediately The situation of ordinary people.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke was still thinking about it, but the car on the other side had already slowly driven into the Twilight Annex.

After all, it is an old house that has changed hands many times. Although the appearance of the Twilight Villa still looks like a haunted house, the interior has been partially modified, such as the electric switch to open the courtyard gate, and there are many lights in the courtyard. and so on, but the internal buildings are said to have only been maintained, and no one has tidied up and renovated them.

"We seem to be the first to arrive." When we drove to the parking lot in the courtyard, there was only one very ordinary Toyota car besides them. The car looked very low-key, and it was probably the staff in the annex drove over.

Such a remote place is impossible to reach without driving up.

Dazai Osamu walked over and glanced at it casually, and said, "It should be the servant's car in the annex. It was just rented, and I just shipped a lot of ingredients today."

"It seems that we can look forward to dinner." Osamu Dazai said, stretching vigorously, "Oh no, go in quickly, it's really going to rain."

Although they did bring umbrellas, since the Twilight Villa is very close at hand, why would they open their umbrellas and go in to shelter from the rain?

Arriving at the door of the Twilight Annex, Akutagawa Ryunosuke stepped forward and knocked the door knocker, and the brass door knocker knocked on the metal plate of the door, making a very crisp sound.

"Here we come..." Accompanied by a young female voice, the door was quickly opened, and a young woman wearing a typical British maid dress came out. There were no panniers in her maid skirt, so the skirt was just very vertical. It fell down, covering her calves.

"Hi everyone, are you Mr. Dazai, Mr. Oda, and Mr. Akutagawa, right? I have been waiting for you for a long time, please come in." The young maid with freckles on her face hurriedly welcomed them in, "The three arrived at the annex first Guests, there is still some time before the dinner, do you need any services?"

It can be seen that this young maid is probably doing this kind of work for the first time, and she is a little nervous.

"It's okay, you should have just arrived today, don't worry about us, we will look around by ourselves." Dazai Osamu comforted the maid with a smile.

"Yes, yes, did you see it?" The maid let out a sigh of relief, and then couldn't help asking, "I, am I so obvious?"

"Well..." Dazai Osamu gave a neutral response, and then walked into the hall with a smile, "Odasaku, Akutagawa, let's explore the house first, ah, yes, Miss Maid, I will put It doesn't matter if the lights are on, right?"

"Yes, I'm sorry, I didn't find all the light switches in time..." the maid said nervously.

"It's okay, it's okay, Miss Maid, you should also get acquainted with this place, anyway, I will trouble you later." Osamu Dazai smiled and comforted the maid. When he wanted to get close to someone, he was always in every position. , not to mention when the person being comforted was still a young girl who was not deeply involved in the world.

Looking at the handsome face that was so close, the maid felt that her heart was beating so fast, she even felt as if she wanted to jump out of her chest, her face became even redder, and she felt like she was about to smoke.

"Thank you for your hard work." Osamu Dazai stepped back with a smile, allowing the other party to take a good breath, and then left with a smile.

Miss Maid didn't recover until the three of them walked into the room.

"Dazai..." Oda Sakunosuke looked back at the young maid who was still blushing, and couldn't help looking at the people around him, "Is this not good?"

"Anxin, Anxin, I didn't do anything to them." Dazai Osamu said with a smile, "Let's go, let's go and see how the layout here is. Didn't you say there are treasures?"

"Akutagawa, you go to the first floor, Dazai, you go to the second floor, and I'll go to the third floor." Oda Sakunosuke immediately assigned the division of labor.

"Okay..." Akutagawa Ryunosuke didn't have any objections, and walked straight into the depths of the hall.

"I'm fine, but speaking of it, there are quite a few surveillance cameras in this building." Osamu Dazai glanced casually and saw several cameras, couldn't help muttering, and walked to the second floor .

Oda Sakunosuke followed him up the stairs. The stairs leading to the third floor had to go through a corridor to reach the stairs at the gate. After he waved goodbye to Osamu Dazai, he walked to the third floor with a clear goal.

The layout of the first floor is very simple. There is a corridor behind the entrance hall. There are separate bathrooms on both sides of the corridor. At the end, there is a fairly spacious kitchen. The side of the hall is a spacious dining room. It's closed, and I don't know if it's locked, but Ryunosuke Akutagawa didn't push it open, and he didn't want to force it open either.Going forward, there is a separate washing room for washing clothes and supplies. After passing through the washing room, there is a large bathroom inside. It can be seen that this place should be used by servants.On the other side of the hall, there is an entertainment room with a pool table and two chess and card tables on the other side. There are large bookshelves on the wall of the entertainment room. a greenhouse.

The layout of the second floor also looks very simple. Most of them are independent bedrooms, and there are also one or two old study rooms filled with the style of half a century ago.

The layout of the third floor is similar to that of the second floor. There are a few rooms that can be seen to be used by the servants. The rest of the rooms seem to be used to store sundries. Because I haven't been here since I got the house, these rooms seem a bit empty, only some things that haven't been cleaned up before are left here to accumulate dust.

Oda Sakunosuke wanted to close the door, but he saw one of the objects move suddenly. He stepped forward with some doubts, and then stared at the small object for a while, the object finally began to tremble, with obvious vibrations .

Oda Sakunosuke stretched out his hand, and took away the thing that didn't know if it was a building block, revealing a small trembling little monster holding his head underneath.

"Hello..." Oda Sakunosuke said seriously.

"You, hello." At first, he thought that this person would not be able to see him, but who knew that the other person could see him clearly. The little monster was greatly frightened. He actually greeted himself calmly, the little monster also heaved a sigh of relief, stopped his trembling body, and asked curiously, "Can you see me? Are you not an onmyoji?"

"It's not..." Oda Sakunosuke shook his head, "It's not an exorcist either."

The little monster breathed a sigh of relief, "Great, I thought I wouldn't be able to live here anymore."

Saying that, the little monster couldn't help sobbing twice.

Oda Sakunosuke knows that in a place full of natural atmosphere like Nagano Prefecture, it is not surprising that there are monsters. In fact, since he has been to heaven and hell, he has seen many monsters even in big cities like Yokohama and Tokyo. It's just that most of the monsters have changed their forms to live well in the world of ordinary people, and the smaller monsters have learned how to hide faster and not be discovered by others.

What's more, Yuji Big Cat has been hiring little monsters to help them take care of the president's old house and the old Wanxiangtang inside the abandoned subway.

"You've been living here?" Oda Sakunosuke asked curiously.

"Well, it's been more than [-] years since I moved here." The little monster saw that the other party didn't intend to hurt himself, so he chatted with the other party at ease, "There was another one with me, but that guy suffered a lot. If not, a group of people will move here every few years, and after staying for a day or two, they will leave again and move to the forest."

"I see." Oda Sakunosuke reached out to him, "Want to go out with me? I still have two companions who can see you."

"Hmm..." The one-eyed and sharp-eared little monster hesitated for a while, then jumped onto Oda Sakunosuke's hand and ran up his shoulder, "I'm telling you, let's chat with you guys." It doesn't matter, but don't bully me, I'm a member of the Nuragumi."

"Ah, the Nuliang group, we know the previous general Nura Yuba and the current general Nura Rikusou." Oda Sakunosuke casually mentioned the people he knew to appease the nervous little monster.

"What? You actually know such a big man!" As a little monster who has always been protected by the Nuliang Group, he couldn't help showing a look of shock and envy, "That's great, it's amazing."

Oda Sakunosuke didn't mind his murmurs, and walked downstairs with the little monster, "By the way, since you've been living here, do you know if anyone has been here recently?"

"I know!" said the little monster, raising his hands high like a student speaking to a teacher, "It's a fat man and an old lady, they came here often half a year ago, Those who ran in and out didn’t know what they were doing.”

"The fat man and the old lady?" Oda Sakunosuke tilted his head strangely.

"Oda Sakunosuke, have you finished reading the third floor?" Dazai Osamu asked curiously when he saw Oda Sakunosuke coming down from the third floor, and then he saw a humanoid standing on Oda Sakunosuke's shoulder The face of a small monster who was originally full of interest suddenly collapsed, "Hey, what are you doing, wouldn't it be no fun at all?"

"Sorry..." Oda Sakunosuke didn't know what fun Dazai was talking about, but he subconsciously apologized first.

"It's nothing, ah, by the way, I found something on the second floor that is probably a secret room or something." Since Osamu Dazai saw a native little monster living here, he can naturally guess that this little monster probably took this The people who have been going in and out of here for a while are all staring, and now they are not in the mood to solve the puzzle. When the time comes, just press the person down, "Not only did I find the secret room, but I also found a secret passage , you can go straight to that room."

As he spoke, he couldn't help spreading his hands, and lowered his voice when he spoke, "The host of the monitor was also found in the secret room, but these monitoring devices are not very good, and can only record sounds higher than a certain decibel, like I am now Talking to you like this, it can't record it."

"Really?" Oda Sakunosuke said appreciatively, "You really deserve to be Dazai."

"Tsk..." Osamu Dazai shrugged helplessly, "Let's go and see what Akutagawa found."

"Mr. Dazai, Mr. Oda." When Ryunosuke Akutagawa saw them coming down, he also noticed the little monster on Oda Sakunosuke's shoulder. Many traces of what should be the murder scene were found on the ground floor."

"Ah, yes, I remember that the reason why this place changed hands in the first place was because a murder happened here." Osamu Dazai nodded and said, signaling Akutagawa and the others to come with him.

After he brought the two of them to a blind corner of surveillance, he looked at the little monster with his arms crossed, "Tell me, who is running in and out of here recently?"

"Hey!" Osamu Dazai's attitude startled the little goblin, and the little goblin grabbed Oda Sakunosuke's clothes and quickly ran behind him.

"It's okay, Dazai won't hurt you." Oda Sakunosuke comforted the little monster hanging behind his back.

The little monster hesitated for a while, then crawled back slowly, looked at the three people in front of him and said again what he had said to Oda Sakunosuke before: "It's a fat man and an old lady, they died more than half a year ago. In and out here."

"Half a year ago?" Osamu Dazai was a little puzzled, "Did they say they were going to find treasure here?"

"Well, those two people seem to be detectives. They came here to search around, but found nothing." The little monster carefully recalled their physical characteristics, "That fat man is still very persistent, and he will come here every now and then. Once here, until more than a month ago, he suddenly stopped coming, and the old lady came alone. Then more than a week ago, the two of them came together. Two days ago, the fat man moved some Strange things came in, and then yesterday, the old lady came alone, and I don't know what she did."

"Old lady?" Dazai Osamu pondered for a while, and suddenly thought of someone, "I remember that the only one who is still active in the detective world at an advanced age is the cradle chair detective, Ms. Qianjian Xiadai, right? "

"Well, it should be her." Oda Sakunosuke nodded and said.

Although Qianjian Jiangdai is a well-known easy-chair detective, in fact, she really has not solved many cases just by listening, and it is not too complicated. It is better to say that the cases do not even require on-site investigation It can't be too complicated. She is most famous for her detective career for more than 30 years. She has been engaged in detective work since she was young, and she has been doing it until she is 69 years old.

It is also for this reason that this old lady is quite famous among detectives.

Of course, one thing that must be said is that this old lady was also a master who often ran around when she was young, and she was not given the title of easy chair detective until she was old.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke was a little puzzled, "Why would Ms. Sengen do such a thing?"

"I don't know, it probably has something to do with another fat man." Osamu Dazai waved his hand, and then his shoulders slumped in frustration, "That's why I feel bored, and I found the truth all at once, what else? What do you mean?"

"If you feel bored, let's go find the treasure together, haven't you already found the hidden secret room?" Oda Sakunosuke suggested.

"Well... I think that the clues to the treasure may lie in those two people. There is no news about it now, so it's not realistic for me to dig three feet into the ground." Osamu Dazai spread his hands and began to complain, " There is really very little news about this Twilight Villa, even if you ask Huadai to find it, there is no practical information on the Internet except that this place is a haunted house."

"Well, after all, it happened more than half a century ago." Oda Sakunosuke comforted him, and then he saw that Akutagawa Ryunosuke seemed to be staring at the little monster, and asked curiously: "Akutagawa, what's wrong with you?"

"I just noticed that this guy seemed a little surprised when he heard Dazai-san say "digging the ground three feet". "Akutagawa Ryunosuke said frankly.

"That, that." The little monster said hastily, "It's actually like this. I saw that fat man dug up a part of the flower bed beside the parking lot, and then buried something in it."

"No way..." Dazai Osamu's expression became quite strange, "Is my random nonsense really hit?"

Is this really going to the Blizzard Villa mode?

"I'm going to demolish it..." Oda Sakunosuke said and walked outside, "Anyway, this is a house bought by Mr. Yukichi, and it is also hung under the name of the president, so people can't destroy it like this. "

"Go down and help Mr. Oda hold an umbrella." Akutagawa Ryunosuke thought that what Oda Sakunosuke said could not be more correct, and immediately followed him out.

Not long after they entered the annex, it started to rain lightly, and he noticed it when he just went to the greenhouse.

"Mr. Oda, Mr. Akutagawa, are you two going out?" The maid who just made tea and was about to bring it to the entertainment room asked suspiciously.

"Well, I have something to do when I go out." Oda Sakunosuke nodded and said.

"Yeah, is the tea ready?" Dazai Osamu came over with a smile and patted the maid on the shoulder, then turned around and walked towards the entertainment room, "It's just right, I want to drink something."

"Ah, Mr. Dazai, please have tea." The maid hurriedly followed him into the entertainment room.

Oda Sakunosuke's car is full of all kinds of weird tool belts. After all, any situation can be encountered. When the trunk is opened, it is a toolbox with various props.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa took out an umbrella for the two of them, and then asked the little monster, "Where did that person bury the bomb?"

The little monster thought for a while, pointed to a row of flowers beside the parking lot and said, "It should be here."

"Rashomon!" Akutagawa Ryunosuke immediately unfolded the black beast formed by the hem of his clothes, and shoveled away a piece of land over there, revealing what was buried underneath.

Although his actions looked ferocious and dangerous, and the appearance of the black beast even startled the little monster, but he was very careful in the actual operation, and the soil he shoveled did not touch anything underneath.

Oda Sakunosuke stepped forward, put on his gloves and gently peeled off the floating dirt on the top, revealing the bomb below. His expression was a little complicated. Although he still doesn't know who the fat man is, he must wait a while. We will meet, and when the time comes, he must question the other party, why don't good detectives do it, and insist on coming here to do such a dangerous thing.