Chapter 11 Chapter 10 Bartering People with Things

The news that Baron Monster escaped in a hydrogen balloon spread throughout Japan that night. Judging from the wind direction that night, the hydrogen balloon would probably float from the west of Tokyo to Yamanashi Prefecture, so there was quite a commotion in the villages approaching this direction. Policemen across the country immediately mobilized, and as soon as the hydrogen balloon floated over, they would immediately light torches to track it. However, it was not until the next morning that someone discovered that the hydrogen balloon was hanging on a big tree in Mount Okutama, and there were people hidden in the basket.

After receiving the report, the local police rushed to the scene immediately. I saw that the hydrogen balloon was hanging on a cedar tree probably due to an air leak, and there seemed to be two figures in the tilted basket. Seeing this, the police immediately surrounded the fir tree. "Hey! Monster Baron, don't do unnecessary struggles anymore, just grab him obediently!" The chief of police shouted face up. But after waiting for a long time, the monster baron didn't respond at all, not even the basket. The policemen couldn't help but looked at each other. At this time, the police chief tentatively fired two or three bullets into the air, but the person in the basket remained motionless.

"Director, have they died? Should we send someone to climb up to have a look?" "Well, that's fine." An athletic policeman immediately climbed up the fir tree, and the chief of police and the policemen who stayed below were all sweating for him. Soon the policeman had climbed up to the basket and jumped into it by stepping on a thick branch. After a while, a creepy laughter suddenly came from the basket. "Haha! Kindaichi Kosuke, it's beyond your expectations! Haha!" "Ah! Monster Baron!" The faces of the policemen changed drastically when they heard this, and everyone held their pistols tightly, seeing that a shootout was inevitable.

At this moment, the policeman just now poked his head out of the basket. "Boss, the Monster Baron is actually this thing!" After the policeman finished speaking, he threw a dummy that looked exactly like the Baron Monster from the basket. The policemen present were all dumbfounded when they saw this. The policeman then threw a dummy that looked like a sound ball from the basket, and finally hung a metal box on his hand, and slowly climbed down along the trunk of the cedar tree. "So, it's not the monster baron who escaped in the hydrogen balloon, but these dummies?"

"Yes, Chief. I think Baron Monster must have deliberately used these dummies to distract the attention of the police, and then escaped calmly." "But the voice we heard just now..." "That's the thing." The policeman smiled bitterly and handed over the box in his hand. "What is this?" "This is the tape recorder. I'll play it out for the director to listen to." The policeman opened the box and pressed the switch, and the voice of the monster baron sounded immediately: "Haha! Kindaichi Kosuke, it's beyond your expectations! Haha!"

When everyone heard this recording, they all froze on the spot. What an irony for the police!They managed to find the hydrogen balloon, but they didn't expect that it was not the monster baron who escaped in the hydrogen balloon, but two dummies and a tape recorder. Presumably, the monster baron took advantage of the gap between the hydrogen balloon disappearing from the ceiling and the gap emerging from the roof, secretly swapped with the dummy, and pressed the switch of the tape recorder in advance to record this passage to mock Kosuke Kindaichi. Therefore, when the police were trying their best to search for the hydrogen balloon, the monster baron had already escaped calmly.

On the other hand, just when Kindaichi Kosuke and his group returned to the police station and took off Sayoko's mask, Kiyohiko Unano suddenly blurted out: "Ah! This man is not Sayoko!" (What the hell is going on here?) Kosuke Kindaichi and a group of policemen met, and they all seemed to be in a cloud of mist, looking at the girl in front of them at a loss. This incident is a shame and disgrace to the Police Department and Kosuke Kindaichi. All the reports point to them, and there is even a cartoon of "the famous detective turned out to be a confused detective" to satirize being slapped by the monster baron. Kosuke Kindaichi.

In order to save face, the police department can only hope to catch the monster baron and rescue Sayoko as soon as possible, so on the night when the hydrogen balloon was found, everyone held a secret meeting again in the office of the director of the police department. The people who participated in the meeting included police officers of equal strength, several cadres of the Police Department, and Kosuke Kindaichi who assisted the police in solving strange cases. However, all the people sitting around the round conference table have been looking at the clock frequently since just now, with anxious expressions on their faces.Because tonight's protagonist, the Superintendent of Police, has not entered the office until now.

Kindaichi Kosuke gradually grew impatient, so he said: "Officer, it's already eight o'clock, may I ask where did the Chief of Police go?" "He said he has something to do and wants to go out with the female secretary Sugiura-san... But, strangely, he should be back before 7:30!" "Could it be that there was a car accident on the way?" "If that's the case, we should also receive a call. That's all right, I'll ask the switchboard first." Just as Officer Waiting was about to pick up the phone on the table, there was a sound of footsteps in the corridor, and then the female secretary Sugiura Nokko came in.

"Everyone, sorry to keep you waiting, because we had a car accident on the road." "Huh? A car accident? Then the Chief of Police was injured?" "Yes, but don't worry, the director will come to the meeting later." The female secretary had just finished speaking when the voice of the chief of police came from the door. "Ah! I'm so sorry I'm late." Everyone stood up in surprise when they saw the police chief who pushed the door open. No wonder they had this reaction, because the entire face of the Superintendent of Police was wrapped in a white bandage, and the only things that could be seen were the eyes, mouth, and nose.

"Director, what happened?" "It's nothing. When I went to the nearby hospital for medical treatment, the doctor was worried that the wound would be infected by bacteria, so he bandaged me like this. Haha! It's like a mummy." "Is it really okay?" "It's not in the way, it's not in the way. Here, everyone, sit down and have a meeting! Ms. Sugiura, please go and make a cup of coffee for everyone, please make it stronger!" After the police chief sat down, he took out the golden candlestick with Sayoko's fingerprints on it from the safe. "The problem lies in this candlestick. Mr. Kindaichi, I heard that Baron Monster is also very interested in this candlestick, isn't it?" "indeed so." Kindaichi Kosuke nodded. At this moment, the female secretary Sugiura Nokko came in with coffee, so everyone drank coffee and listened sideways to what Kindaichi Kosuke had to say. "Based on the conversations of Kiyohiko Unano, Kunio, and I overheard in the underground factory in Shinagawa, it seems that two groups of people want to seize this candlestick. One of them is Kurata and Onda, the subordinates of the monster baron. They started thinking about the golden candlesticks very early on, and I don't know what their motives are." Kosuke Kindaichi said slowly while drinking coffee: "In addition, there is another group of people who also covet this candlestick, but they don't want to get the candlestick, they just hope that this candlestick can disappear from this world." "How do you know about this?" The Superintendent of Police asked curiously. "This is what I judged from the incident where the other party killed the keeper of the Eagle's Nest Lighthouse, turned off the lights of the lighthouse, and forced the shipwreck of the 'Nizuki Maru'. These people don't seem to be worried if the 'Nizuki Maru' If it sinks to the bottom of the sea, the candlestick will also sink to the bottom of the sea." "Why would they want the candlesticks to disappear?" "Because there is Sayoko's fingerprint on the candlestick. Everyone knows that although Sayoko is the granddaughter of Marquis Tamamushi, since she was separated from Marquis Tamamushi when she was three years old, neither of them remembers each other's appearance. The only thing that can prove Sayoko's identity is the golden candlestick. , In this way, the existence of this golden candlestick will naturally be detrimental to someone." "The person you're talking about is..." "It's not clear yet. However, if Sayoko is really the granddaughter of Marquis Tamamori, all of Marquis Tamamori's property will of course belong to Sayoko alone; and Marquis Tamamori's family is rich..." Kosuke Kindaichi was talking, and suddenly looked around at the people around him. (Huh? What's going on here? Wait, why are the police officer and the others all asleep? ) And Kindaichi Kosuke himself gradually felt dizzy and his tongue couldn't be controlled. (Oops! There is something wrong with the cup of coffee I drank just now!) Thinking of this, Kosuke Kindaichi couldn't help turning his head to look at the police chief. While everyone was asleep, only the Chief of Police was still sitting leisurely in his seat, and there was still a mocking expression in his eyes and the corners of his mouth under his white bandages. Suddenly, the phone on the table rang earth-shatteringly. "Hi, I, I'm Kosuke Kindaichi, who are you?" Kindaichi Kosuke reluctantly picked up the phone and responded with a few words. The Chief of Police, whose head was bandaged, looked at all this with a smile. "I'm the police chief. I was escorted to a certain place by gangsters, and I managed to escape just now. By the way, is there anything wrong with the police department?" The anxious voice of the Chief of Police came from the microphone. (It’s not just a situation? The situation is very critical!) "Director of Police, now someone here is pretending to be you..." Before Kosuke Kindaichi finished speaking, he felt limp and powerless all over his body, and finally fell asleep lying on the conference table holding the microphone. At this moment, the Chief of Police... No, the person pretending to be the Chief of Police took the opportunity to put the golden candlestick in a box, held it under his arm, left the conference room quickly, and called the female secretary: "Ah Kaoru, the real chief of police seems to have escaped, I have to get out of here immediately!" The two hurried downstairs. After they walked away, Kosuke Kindaichi, who had already passed out, suddenly raised his head and picked up the microphone. "Get the guard room, hurry up!" Soon, a call was received from the guard room, where Nomura Kunio and Unino Kiyohiko had been waiting for a long time. "Bang Xiong? Just now the chief police chief in bandages was leaving with his female secretary. Follow them quickly. That person is a fake police chief. Follow closely and don't lose him!" After Kosuke Kindaichi hung up the phone, he said to himself with a proud face: "Haha! I saw this female secretary in Kobe's basement before, so I knew she was the assistant of the bearded man. I just pretended not to know because I was afraid that I would startle the enemy and make the bearded man run away." Kosuke Kindaichi tried to shake the other sleeping people, but probably the medicine was too strong, no matter how hard Kosuke Kindaichi shook them, he couldn't wake them up. "How did they sleep so soundly? Alas! Forget it, in fact, it is thanks to them sleeping so soundly that I can make my acting more realistic. Just now I saw the man in the bandage pretending to drink coffee while pouring coffee on the floor, so I followed suit and poured the whole cup of coffee on the floor." Kosuke Kindaichi put on his hat again as he spoke, walked out of the room calmly, and explained to the guards outside the entrance: "Officer Wait Li and several other officials of the Police Department are all asleep in the Office of the Chief of Police because they drank a drink mixed with sleeping pills. Hurry up and call the doctor." After finishing speaking, he left the guards with astonished faces, and left the police station like a gust of wind. Half an hour later, a taxi stopped at a quiet street corner near Azabu Liubenben, and the bearded man and Kaoru, who was disguised as the female secretary of the Chief of Police, got out of the taxi in a hurry. From this, it can be seen that the man with bandages all over his face just now is a bearded man. After the taxi drove away, the two of them looked around with roguish eyes again, and only walked forward with peace of mind after making sure that no one was following them. "Brother, you said that Baron Monster wants you to exchange candlesticks for Sayoko, is that true?" "Shh, don't yell!" The bearded man looked around quickly, worried that someone might overhear him. "Ah Kaoru, I always find it very strange. Why did the Monster Baron know that I was looking for Sayoko? He even called me specifically, saying that he would trade Sayoko with me for a candlestick. Why would that old monster want to get this candlestick? Ah! Here we come , this is the family." The place where the bearded man pointed was the old western-style building behind the hiding place of the monster baron who had made a commotion last night. He cautiously pressed the doorbell, waiting for a response from inside, but he didn't know that all of this had been seen by two people hiding twenty meters away. Those two people are Kiyohiko Unano and Kunio Nonomura. After the bearded man pressed the door and turned it around, there was a sound of footsteps coming from inside the door. "Who's at the door?" The voice was rather low and hoarse. "I'm the one who got the call from the Baron today." "What? The person who received the baron's call? Oh? It's you... have you got that thing?" "Of course, and I have already brought it, hurry up and inform the Baron!" "Okay, please wait a moment." The man in the door began to remove the bolt, but suddenly stopped and said reproachfully: "Who is standing next to you? Why didn't you come alone?" "Oh, don't worry, this is my assistant, thanks to her help I was able to get the candlestick." "Oh, is she the one who turned into the police chief's secretary?" The bearded man and Ah Xun couldn't help but looked at each other when they heard the words. (It seems that the other party seems to know everything!) "Besides, is there anyone else?" "Don't worry, it's gone." "very good." As soon as the other party finished speaking, the door opened. It turned out that standing at the door was a big man in a black cloak. "Come in quickly, and wait at the entrance first." As soon as the bearded man and Ah Xun entered the door, the big man hurriedly checked to see if there was any movement outside the door, and after making sure there was nothing unusual, he closed the door. Then, the big man walked towards the two people waiting in the hallway, but the sound of his footsteps sounded really weird. Facing Kaoru's puzzled expression, the big man smiled and said: "Haha! There is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, I am Otomaru. In order to avoid people's eyes and ears, I deliberately stepped on stilts and pretended to be tall. Here, hurry up and go in! The baron is already waiting for you." A group of people walked into the entrance, passed through a dark hall, and bent into a winding corridor. Since there were no lights in the corridor, the surroundings were very dark, so Yinwan could only lead the way with a flashlight.But because he was walking on stilts, he kept making clacking noises as he walked in the dark corridor, which made people feel very uncomfortable. Soon, they came to the door of a room, and Otomaru knocked lightly on the door. "Come in!" A very dignified order came from the room, and Kaoru couldn't help but tremble all over when he heard it. Otomaru opened the door and said: "Baron, that man has brought the golden candlestick as promised." Otonomaru's attitude is very humble. In his eyes, Baron Monster is like a great king. "I know, let them come in!" "yes." The bearded man and Kaoru followed Otomaru into the room, and when they saw the situation in front of them, they all gasped in unison. It was a quadrangular room five meters square, with black curtains hanging on all sides, and a funnel-like black iron lampshade hung in the center of the room. Under the lampshade was a round table, and across from the table sat a monster baron wearing a white leather mask. "Please sit down." Although his choice of words was very polite, there was still a hint of ferocity in his voice, which made people shudder. Even the bearded man felt very scary, he hesitated for a while before sitting down opposite the monster baron. "I heard that the golden candlestick is in your hands, is this true?" Even though the Monster Baron's tone was quite polite, the eyes under the mask looked aggressive. "It's true, and I've brought it." The bearded man showed the baron the box under his arm, and the baron immediately leaned his neck forward and stretched out his arm to take the box away. "Ha ha!" The bearded man forced a dry smile and said: "That's impossible! I've been desperately performing for a long time to get this thing, so you must hand over Sayoko to me as promised so that I can give you the candlestick." "Of course, I will definitely hand over Xiao Yezi to you, but before that, I want to take a look at the candlestick, otherwise, if it is a counterfeit product, I will suffer a great loss." "You don't have to worry. This candlestick has been kept in the safe of the police station. No one can touch it. I think you should bring Xiao Yezi here first! When I see Xiao Yezi, I will naturally let you see it." candlestick." The bearded man is not a fuel-efficient lamp, he immediately put forward his own conditions. After hearing this, the monster baron shot fierce eyes, slapped the table angrily and shouted: "Otomaru, since this gentleman doesn't trust me so much, let's show him that child first!" "yes." Yin Wan, who was standing by the door, immediately responded respectfully, and then quietly turned the turntable on the wall. The sound of metal rubbing gradually came from the ceiling, and then an iron cage slowly dropped from the ceiling.Seeing this, Kaoru couldn't help screaming; even the bearded man couldn't help but clung to the edge of the table. "Haha! Don't be afraid, I let you see it because you said you wanted to see Sayoko, so you'd better open your eyes and see clearly!" It turned out that there was a girl in a sailor suit sitting in the cage, and that girl was of course Sayoko. Sayoko's face was not masked, but her delicate doll-like face was lifeless. She sat there motionless, without blinking her eyes, almost like a wax statue. "Ah! Miss Sayoko!" Kaoru couldn't help but let out a sharp cry. "Miss Sayoko...is she dead?" "Don't worry! She is not dead, I just fed her some medicine and let her have a good sleep." The monster baron said, and turned to look at the bearded man. "How is it? Have your doubts been clarified?" The bearded man wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied: "Yes, I don't have any doubts. It's just that after the candlestick is given to you, you have to give me Sayoko." "Of course, this child is of no use to me. As long as I get the candlestick, I can give her to you at any time." "And you can't interfere with me disposing of this child!" "Haha! Of course, if you want to kill or cut, it's up to you." "Okay, it's a deal, I'll give you the candlestick now." The bearded man put the box on the table, and the monster baron immediately took the box, opened the lid with trembling hands, and took out the golden candlestick from inside. At this moment, a light flashed quickly in his eyes. "Hey, I've already given you the candlestick, quickly give me Xiao Yezi!" The bearded man was a little anxious, but the monster baron turned a deaf ear to it. He just kept carefully inspecting the candlestick. After a while, the monster baron suddenly let out an angry roar. "No, this is a fake candlestick!" "What? What did you say?" Both the bearded man and Kaoru stood up in disbelief. "Impossible! We obviously..." "What's impossible? Didn't you see this note?" The bearded man took the candlestick and took a closer look. It turned out that there was a note pasted under the candlestick, which read: When the bearded man and Kaoru saw this note, they were all stunned!However, at this moment, the alarm bell hanging from the ceiling suddenly rang loudly. "Ah! Someone came in over the wall!" Baron Monster got up quickly, opened the curtain behind him, and turned on the monitor on the wall. He saw Kunio and Kiyohiko Unino crawling forward in the courtyard, followed by five or six heavily armed police officers. Seeing this scene, the monster baron immediately looked back at the bearded man and said: "Hmph! You evil bastard, you not only brought fake candlesticks to lie to me, but also brought the police. Otomaru, don't let these two get away!" As the monster baron said, he tore off his mask angrily, with a look of bared teeth and claws, which made people feel frightened.