Chapter 23 2. The Vanishing Traveler

The "Mr. Kindaichi" mentioned by Li Xiakou is the famous private detective - Kosuke Kindaichi. As for the boy standing beside him is Tachibana Shigeru, Kosuke Kindaichi's assistant. Last summer, Kosuke Kindaichi came to the fishing village of S on the Izu Peninsula to escape the summer heat. He lived in Sankaiji Temple and had a close relationship with the monks of the temple. He stayed there for more than two weeks. He also came to visit the lighthouse at that time.So I got acquainted with the administrator - Shimazaki. Kosuke Kindaichi visited Sankai Temple again this year, and Shigeru Tachibana, who was with him, wanted to see what the lighthouse looked like, so the two rushed here immediately.

"welcome!" Shimazaki brought ice-cold barley tea to the two guests, grinned and said: "I'll show the two of you a tour of the lighthouse later. Mr. Kindaichi, you can spend the night with us tonight!" He showed a look of begging for something. "Don't bother me, this time I plan to live in Shanhai Temple, so I will come to bother you when I come back next time." "No, no... I really hope you can stay with us tonight, a strange thing happened here, but Furukawa, who guarded the lighthouse with me, said I was crazy..." Shimazaki looked back and saw the manager - Furukawa.

He probably felt a little embarrassed, and raised his gray-haired head after speaking. "What is this 'strange thing' you speak of?" "It's like this..." So Shimazaki began to tell the strange story. One evening seven days ago, a traveler came here by boat from the fishing village of S and said he wanted to visit the lighthouse. But just as the traveler was visiting the lighthouse, the weather suddenly turned bad. "Everyone knows that the sea area in this area is very dangerous. Even in good weather, once the sun falls to the sea level, the fishermen dare not go out to fish again. It was going to be windy that day, so the travelers returned to us to borrow Stay one night. His name is Noguchi Kiyoyoshi, he is about thirty-five or six years old."

"Did something happen to that person?" "Well, he disappeared from this island that night." "Disappeared from the island..." "Yes, it was very windy that night. We didn't close our eyes all night, so we couldn't get up the next morning. The storm didn't stop until dawn. The next day was fine again. I think Noguchi is still there Sleeping, so I didn't wake him up. "Until around ten o'clock in the morning, the boat from S Fishing Village usually carried more than 20 tourists to visit the lighthouse. thing. "The tour group visited here for an hour or so and went back to S Fishing Village. After they went back, I thought of Noguchi and thought it was time to wake him up. Who knew he was not on the bed at all, and I couldn't find it everywhere."

"This... Could he have gone back with the tourists in the tour group?" As soon as Kosuke Kindaichi raised this point of view, Furukawa next to him said with sympathy: "You see, Mr. Kindaichi agrees with me." "It's possible! But anyway, it's too strange for him to leave without even saying hello, and at that time I personally sent the tourists on board the tour group, and the young man named Noguchi was obviously not there Inside the tour group!" "I see. If Noguchi hadn't gone back with the tourists in the tour group, would he have..."

"Impossible! Mr. Kindaichi, I just said that the storm that night was quite heavy, and he probably wouldn't go back despite the wind and rain. What's more, the boat that Noguchi was on had already sailed back, and our motor boat also Always in the dock." "Well, then what happened to him? Did he fall into the sea..." "I thought so too at first, but then I thought about the storm and that night, behind the island... Mr. Jin Tianyi should also know that there is a cave on the island called "Longkou" by the local residents! That person said, "Longkou" at night The cliff above collapsed and blocked the entire entrance of the cave. I wonder if Noguchi entered the cave, but was blocked by the collapsed earth and rocks and could not get out."

When Furukawa heard this, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Mr. Kanedaichi, Shimazaki likes to think so wildly. Later, we sent people to dig that cave, and went into the cave to search carefully, but Noguchi wasn't there at all!" "But how to explain that voice? Mr. Kindaichi, since Noguchi disappeared, I sometimes hear a very strange voice..." "Hahaha! You're going crazy again. In fact, those are your own hallucinations. There is no sound at all. I think all you hear is the sound of the waves." Furukawa pushed back Shimazaki's statement with a casual sentence.

But Kosuke Kindaichi raised questions about this point: "What sound did you hear?" "That voice sounds like it came from deep underground. During the day, due to too much noise, I can't hear it very clearly, but at night, the voice will come intermittently... Maybe Noguchi is still on this island. somewhere, like under the ground..." After hearing Shimazaki's words, Azuki became frightened from the bottom of his heart.