Conan was startled.

Cats and canines can communicate with humans in a simple way, but they cannot master human language. They can only respond to some specific commands after training - it is written in a popular science magazine.

So what's going on with these two creatures!

Is it because they were specially trained to nod their heads to express their approval after others have finished speaking?

Such a crazy thing... It really fits the style of "black cat".

Conan thought it was miserable enough for him to be caught out of nowhere to work as a white worker, but he didn't expect that even the animals would be forced to obey the black cat's subordinates.

In order to verify this guess, Conan tentatively said something that was obviously wrong: "But I prefer that the pattern is just an anti-counterfeiting mark printed on the bottom of the object by the manufacturer."

He stared at the two seemingly ordinary animals in front of him, but this time, no one nodded.

The fox looked at him in shock for a moment, and suddenly sighed very humanely.

Then it stretched out its claws, pulled Conan's book behind him, and followed the pen, skillfully holding it in his mouth, turned his back to Conan, and read the words on the paper with the black cat, a pair of Do not play with scumbags.

"..." Conan's eyes jumped twice. This unscientific!

When I go back, I should write to the editorial department of the popular science column and ask them to re-examine whether animals can understand human speech. It is best to publish reliable experimental data together!

…

No matter how the worldview is impacted, the mystery that should be solved still has to be solved.

Conan cheekily asked for the pen back, and began to infer the pseudonym represented by each symbol one by one based on the known information found in the living room and Japanese writing habits.

After a while, a complete list of passwords was listed on the notebook, and the passwords on various objects were deciphered.

The words at the bottom of the plate are "please look at the vase", and under the vase is "please look at the candlestick"... After looking around, Conan finally picked up the French dictionary and it said "please look at the fireplace".

Conan climbed into the fireplace, turned on the flashlight on his watch, and finally found a string of password patterns in the corner. He immediately interpreted it, but the words he solved were:

"...look at the plate."

Going back to the start/point again, a group of objects are connected in a circle, and there is no final point at all.

Conan looked like cold water had been thrown on his head, his expression restrained, and he glanced at the fox subconsciously: "Is it wrong?"

The fox didn't know what the problem was, so innocently tilted his head to look at him, as if he couldn't understand human words.

"..." The pen in Conan's hand creaked, and his temples jumped twice.

Shiraishi looked away from the fireplace and looked back at the living room.

He remembered that there was no error in the code reading, and he also remembered that it seemed that this was not a sorting question, but a connecting question.

Connect several items in the order in which they are placed, and you can find the mechanism.

Shiraishi looked at the pile of objects with the cipher text printed on them, and couldn't remember exactly where they were originally placed.

But the living room is only this big, and several things are placed in various places. As long as you remember the keyword "connection", the rest is very simple - the intersection point is eighty in the center of the room.

He raised his head, looked at the chandelier at the top of the living room, and after visually inspecting the position of the table and chairs, he ran higher and higher, jumped into the air, and hooked his claws on the lamp.

The moment he hugged the fork of the chandelier, Shiraishi keenly felt that the lamp seemed to be pulled down a little by it.

At the same time, the enhanced hearing in this form made Shiraishi vaguely hear the sound of the machine turning, but the movement was not obvious.

...the cat is too light to flip the switch?

He was about to instruct the fox to turn Conan's eyes away and replace it with a human-shaped toggle switch, but at this time, Conan also found that the cat was gone, and when he looked up and saw it hanging on the lamp, he was also startled.

His first reaction was that the black cat couldn't get down again.

But soon, after recalling what happened at the diplomat's house, Conan felt that it was not so simple - how could such a cat ghost and ghost go up to the lamp for no reason.

Even a fox can understand the password. There is no reason why the black cat from which the code name "Black Cat" originated is just an ordinary cat.

Is there something wrong with the lights?

Conan pondered for a moment, pushed a table over, lifted a chair and put it on it, climbed up to examine it carefully.

Soon, he found a very inconspicuous groove on the base of the lamp.

Having a groove often means that it can be pulled up and down... No wonder the cat suddenly wants to hang itself on the lamp!

Conan stood on tiptoe and grabbed the chandelier, pulling it down hard.

He was much heavier than a cat, and after pulling it in by ten centimeters, he heard a loud thud, as if something heavy fell from the upstairs.

The ceiling was shaken twice, and Conan looked up in shock, judging the situation.

Before he could guess anything, the black cat stepped on him and jumped all the way to the ground, trotting to the second floor.

Conan quickly followed.

…

From the outside, the villa has only two floors.

However, after coming to the corresponding room on the second floor, Conan actually saw a staircase - this staircase was originally hidden in the ceiling, but now the mechanism is activated, and it is completely revealed.

Shiraishi raised his head~lightnovelpub.net~ and saw a head poking out from the top of the stairs.

The disheveled old soul sighed faintly, looking very relieved, but there were tears in the corners of his eyes. He wondered if he regretted setting the password too complicated.

Shiraishi retracted his gaze again and glanced at the light screen. The task was not completed, and he didn't know how it was over.

When he came back to his senses, he saw that Conan had already climbed up the stairs, and Shiraishi followed.

This hidden staircase leads to the attic.

From the outside, the villa has only two floors, but its roof is a gently sloping spire, so it has a little more space.

It was very dark in the attic, but Conan quickly saw a light-leaking window. He walked over and pushed the window open with all his might. There was a lot of resistance in this process, and the ivy outside was about to block all the windows.

After opening the window, the room finally became a little brighter.

There were a lot of painting utensils scattered on the floor of the attic. Conan was looking down when he suddenly heard a terrified "squeak!" from something behind him.

He turned around vigilantly, and saw the fox staring at the desk, his hair exploded with fright.

It threw a somersault back in a panic, got up and squeezed **** the black cat. The black cat's ears moved, looked down at the dirt on it, and slapped it to the side with a claws.

Conan hurriedly picked up the miserable fox, patted it soothingly, and brushed a few hairs by the way.

He straightened up and looked at the desk, and found that there was a skeleton lying on it, and the hair and clothes of the skeleton were still there.

After letting go of the fox and looking at the letter on the table and the posture of the corpse, Conan judged that the man should have died suddenly.

It's just that the content on the letter paper is of concern. One of them is:

I don't want to give this artwork to Akira Okuda!