Detective Conan: The Teyvat Syndicate — Chapter 357

Chapter 357: The Dark Shadow Approaching Haibara’s Secret (End)

Arriving in front of the clearing, the group skidded to a halt, staring dumbfounded at the wooden cabin now entirely engulfed in raging flames. Thick plumes of black smoke billowed into the night sky, accompanied by the violent, deafening crackle of collapsing timber.

“How could this be?!” Tazo Usaki, who had arrived just a step behind the others, looked in absolute horror at the burning structure. His legs gave out, and he dropped to his knees on the dirt path, his eyes wide with disbelief. “It hasn’t even been that long! How could it burn so fast?!”

Haibara… and Qiqi… they…

Conan stared blankly ahead, the intense heat washing over his face, yet his blood ran ice-cold. He was truly unwilling to believe that his friends were trapped inside the blazing inferno before him. His jaw locked, and he lunged forward, fully intending to rush into the fire.

Before he could take more than two steps, a pair of large hands clamped down on his shoulders. Dr. Agasa hauled him back, shouting over the roar of the flames. Just as Conan was about to thrash his way out of the inventor’s grip, a familiar, calm voice drifted over from the edge of the woods, instantly pulling his reason back from the brink.

“Qiqi, are you okay? Do you feel unwell anywhere? Weren’t you inside the cabin?”

It was Baizhu.

Before the little zombie could even formulate an answer, the green-haired doctor pulled her into a tight embrace, letting out a long, shaky breath as if he were still terrified of losing her. “As long as you’re okay. That’s all that matters.”

Yet, beneath the surface of this touching reunion, a completely different conversation was taking place.

Privately, Baizhu initiated their mental link: [Qiqi, how is it? Did you get the data?]

Qiqi’s expression remained perfectly blank, her ruby eyes blinking slowly as she responded in her usual monotone: [Yes. Qiqi recorded Haibara’s performance after taking the temporary APTX4869 antidote.]

Conan whipped his head toward the corner near the woods, his eyes locking onto Baizhu hugging Qiqi tightly. Though the dancing shadows of the fire obscured the doctor’s face, Conan could visibly see the man’s shoulders slump in deep relief. It was obvious that Dr. Baizhu had been out of his mind with worry when he first saw the flames.

However, Conan’s sharp mind immediately caught the silver lining. If Qiqi was standing right here, completely unharmed, then Haibara—who had been locked inside with her—had to be safe as well.

Once Baizhu calmed down and gently released Qiqi, Conan could no longer suppress his frantic anxiety. He sprinted over to the little girl’s side, his hands gripping his knees as he panted. “Qiqi, how did you escape? Where’s Haibara?”

Baizhu stood up smoothly, quietly watching Qiqi answer the young detective’s rapid-fire questions. As he listened, his mind began to wander, piecing together the shifting variables of the timeline.

This time around, only Qiqi had been locked in that cabin alongside Haibara. He knew for a fact that, aside from recording the girl’s biological reactions to the temporary antidote and perhaps extracting a minuscule blood sample, Qiqi hadn’t done anything else.

More, she hadn’t taken a single photograph of Haibara after her body reverted into the adult form of Sherry.

If there is no video or photo, Baizhu calculated silently, then Bourbon shouldn’t be able to hack into Kogoro Mouri’s computer and see Sherry wearing the Mystery Train Pass Ring. He won’t get that crucial piece of intel.

Without that specific trigger, it was entirely unknown whether Toru Amuro and Vermouth would still board the Bell Tree Express. The future of the Red and Black clash had just been thrown into the fog.

Just then, the sound of heavy, uncoordinated footsteps echoed from the trail behind them. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta finally burst into the clearing. They had known Haibara and Qiqi were in danger, but their little legs had been running non-stop without rest. Completely drained of energy, they had fallen a step behind the older members of the group.

What the others didn’t know was that, just moments before seeing the burning cabin from afar, the three children had experienced a very strange encounter.

They had happened to cross paths with Ai Haibara.

Not long ago, after taking the temporary antidote, Haibara’s body had agonizingly stretched back into her adult form. Wielding a heavy fire axe, she had desperately swung at the chains locking the door, eventually splitting them open and dragging Qiqi out of the suffocating smoke.

Between fighting off a severe cold, enduring the bone-melting pain of the antidote, and tirelessly leading Qiqi away from the inferno, the adult Haibara was completely exhausted. She had tried her absolute best to avoid the crowd gathering near the cabin, intending to hide in the dense brush until the drug wore off. But in a brief moment of carelessness, she stumbled right into Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta.

“Eh? Big sister, you…” Mitsuhiko had started, looking at the strange, beautiful woman who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the dark woods.

Before he could even call out to properly ask if she needed help, the woman flinched. She quickly turned her face away, pulling her collar up, and practically fled down a side path, making it painfully obvious she didn’t want to be seen.

“Who is she? Her behavior is so strange!” Genta had grumbled, scratching his head.

Ayumi shrank back slightly. “Could she be a bad person too? Like the ones who locked up Haibara?”

“It’s possible,” Mitsuhiko had declared, puffing out his chest. “But don’t worry! I just took a photo of her with my phone. I’ll send it to the Mouri Detective Agency’s computer later and have Uncle Kogoro investigate her!”

“Don’t worry about that for now,” Genta had urged, pointing toward the orange glow in the distance. “Let’s hurry up and see what’s happening ahead!”

Back in the present, after hearing Qiqi’s disjointed but factual explanation, Conan’s brain worked in overdrive. He had already deduced that Haibara must have taken the temporary APTX4869 antidote in a moment of desperation. She was undoubtedly out of danger now, but the thought of her wandering the dark woods alone in her adult body still gnawed at his nerves.

Seeing Ayumi and the others finally arrive, Conan immediately jogged over to check on them. The moment they breathlessly recounted bumping into a ‘strange big sister’ who ran away from them, Conan’s eyes widened. He instantly knew that person was Haibara.

In his haste, Conan instructed Ayumi and the boys to stay put with Qiqi and Dr. Agasa. Without waiting for a response, he spun on his heel and rushed headlong into the dark woods to track her down.

Meanwhile, Ayumi, who was standing close to Qiqi, suddenly noticed a long, pale creature slithering rapidly through the grass toward them. She let out a startled gasp, taking a step back.

It wasn’t until the creature raised its head into the light of the fire that she recognized it. It was Changsheng, the white snake Qiqi had brought along to the campsite.

“I didn’t expect Qiqi to bring Changsheng along. I originally left her at home for fear of scaring you kids,” Baizhu said with a gentle smile. He reached out his hand, allowing the elegant white snake to glide smoothly up his arm, over his shoulder, and coil comfortably around his neck, resting her head near his collarbone.

“How is that possible? Changsheng isn’t scary at all!” Genta boasted loudly, seemingly having completely forgotten the fact that he had nearly jumped out of his skin the first time he laid eyes on the reptile.

“Exactly, Changsheng is very beautiful,” Ayumi nodded in agreement, her initial fear melting into curiosity.

As the children chatted, Changsheng flicked her tongue and leaned slightly closer to Baizhu’s ear, whispering a quiet report of everything she had witnessed while secretly trailing the adult Haibara.

When Baizhu heard about Mitsuhiko snapping a picture of Sherry and planning to send it to Kogoro’s computer, his golden eyes flickered. He cast a highly complicated look at the three oblivious children.

He hadn’t expected this. Even without Qiqi being the one to capture the footage, the universe had still found a way to send a clear photograph of Sherry straight to the Mouri Detective Agency. Was this the terrifying inertia of the plot? No matter how he tried to alter the variables, the core events fought tooth and nail to realign themselves.

Deep in the woods, Conan finally pushed through a thicket and found Ai Haibara leaning heavily against a tree trunk, panting for breath. He quickly exchanged information with her, confirming her safety and instructing her to stay hidden in the shadows until the antidote ran its course.

But the wheels of fate were already turning elsewhere.

Miles away, in the dead of night, the Mouri Detective Agency was completely silent. The streetlights outside cast long, distorted shadows across the floorboards.

A figure moved silently through the dark office. Toru Amuro stepped up to the desk, his fingers dancing across the keyboard as he bypassed the system’s security with practiced ease. The monitor flared to life, casting a pale, cold light over his sharp features.

His eyes locked onto the screen. There, freshly uploaded to the agency’s files, was a high-resolution photograph of a woman fleeing through the woods.

Amuro’s gaze narrowed, zeroing in on the woman’s hand. A slow, dangerous smirk crept onto his face as he recognized the face of the traitor, Sherry—and more, the unmistakable gleam of the Mystery Train Pass Ring resting on her finger.