Chapter 7 6. The whereabouts of Soji

According to Matsuno, it turned out that the phantom thief had successfully deceived the pursuers by adopting the following strange means, and escaped without any effort in full view. The thief who was being chased by everyone jumped into the pond in the courtyard and hid in the water.But he has been diving and can’t breathe. It happened that there was a hollow bamboo tube that Zhuangji discarded after playing nearby, so he took it into the water, held the bamboo tube in his mouth, let the other end of the bamboo tube come out of the water, and breathed quietly. , waiting for the pursuer to leave.

Unexpectedly, the driver Matsuno, who was behind the crowd and was patrolling the area alone, found the bamboo pipe. After seeing through the trick of the culprit, he mustered up the courage to pull the bamboo pipe up with all his strength. Muddy big living people. So a fight broke out in the dark, but poor Matsuno was subdued by the strange thief before he could call for help.The strange thief took out the silk rope that was in his pocket beforehand, tied him tightly, and then gagged his mouth.Afterwards, they changed the clothes of the two men and carried him to the branch of the big tree.

After finding out what happened, it can be confirmed that the driver who took Zhuang's second sibling to school was a counterfeit.The young lady and the young master, whom the whole family regards as darlings, were taking someone else's car, but they were taken away by the car driven by Twenty Faces himself.The panic of the crowd and the worries of the parents need not be repeated. They immediately called Kadowaki Girls' School, where Sanae attended.As a result, Sanae unexpectedly arrives at school safely.In this way, the thief had no intention of kidnapping, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.Then I called Zhuang Er's school to ask about it. Classes had already started, but the school said they hadn't seen Zhuang Er.Hearing this, the parents turned pale with fright on the spot.

Perhaps the thief knew Souji was the one who set the trap, and perhaps kidnapped Souji just to avenge his foot injury. Okay, now things are getting bigger.Nakamura's search chief immediately reported the matter to the Metropolitan Police Department, and then set up a network all over Tokyo, issuing a wanted warrant to find Hashiba's car.Fortunately, I know the model and license plate number of the car, so the clues are very clear. Sotaro called the school and the Metropolitan Police Department almost every half hour to inquire about the progress.But one hour, two hours, three hours... Seeing the time go by mercilessly, there has been no news of Souji.

Unexpectedly, after noon that day, a young man in a shabby suit and peaked cap came to the entrance of Hashiba's house and said something strange. "I'm here at the request of the driver at home. The driver seems to have some urgent business and asked me to bring the car back. I've already driven the car into the yard and put it away. Please check it." The scholar hurriedly went in to report the matter.Upon hearing this, the owner Sotaro and Kondo's old housekeeper rushed to the entrance and checked the car carefully. It was indeed Hashiba's car.However, there was no one in the car, and Souji was indeed kidnapped.

"Hey, there's a weird letter in the car." The old butler Kondo picked up the letter from the car seat.On the front of the envelope was written a large "From Mr. Hashiba Sotaro", and on the back of the envelope, there was no name of the sender. "What could it be?" So Taro said, opened the envelope, went to the yard and began to read the letter, which contained threatening words. 1's work, which can be called a national treasure, I, who loves art, of course long for it.At that time, I made up my mind that I must get this Buddha statue no matter what. What a wishful thinking this is.Including Sotaro, everyone clenched their fists with hatred, but there was no better way to return Souji, the irreplaceable hostage.Although it was a pity, it seemed that he could only agree to this daring request.

Also, they severely questioned the young man who was entrusted by the thief to drive the car back, but the young man was only charged a little money to run errands for others, and knew nothing about the thief.