Author's Note: Sorry for the late update but I couldn't update earlier since I wasn't able to continue writing until Sunday, February 24, the end of the aforementioned traditional holiday. As an apology, I'll reveal one little piece of information of future chapters: you'll be able to know why Haibara wasn't able to make a permanent antidote for the Apotoxin. But that won't appear before Conan and his gang meets the criminals of this case! So… please bear with me till then! :D
Disclaimer: Detective Conan can't be owned by me since I'm as old as itself!
Chapter 3: Decoding
At 7:59 P.M., inside Sherlock Holmes' Apprentices Detective Agency, seven detectives were scattered around the main desk where five letters were lying on the desk.
The bespectacled teenager looked at his watch again and said with a sigh "Please don't tell me that out of all people it's Kuroba who's late!"
The foreign-looking young man replied "It's still not 8 yet, so he must be right on time. That's his style after all."
As if on cue, smoke erupted from nowhere and a cheery voice echoed throughout the room "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the century's best magician!"
When the smoke cleared, a smirking young man is facing seven VERY angry detectives. Why you ask? Well, all of their hair now have different hair colors and is covered in something sticky and white. Worst of all: the boys' hands were all cuffed together while the girls' face was covered with something sticky and muddy. As Hakuba is busy trying to open the handcuffs using his skeleton key, Haibara is glaring daggers at Kaito and asking him in a dangerous tone "How do I take this off my face and hair?"
Kaito is sweating bullets under Haibara's unrelenting glare. He answered with a forced calm "you just need to wash your face with water and wash your hair with orange juice to make the glue and dye fade." After the girls left to wash, Kaito was immediately surrounded by the boys. He immediately regretted his prank from what he got: Conan kicked him HARD on his shin and was making him losing balance, Genta punched him on his arm, making it go limp, since Kaito blocked his stomach with it, Mitsuhiko just hit him over the head with his baseball bat, while Hakuba didn't even touch him, he just got a fish out of the fridge and threw it at him. All the boys smirked when Kaito screamed loud and literally jumped three feet high and… well since the roof wasn't that high, so his head was rewarded with a bang! And he fell down out cold.
When the chaos finally settled down and the magician woke up, they started opening the letters. The six letters were labeled respectively "Date", "Time", "Room", "Location", "Tickets", and "Instructions".
They started with the date, which was written in a code:
"At the memorial day of our dearest founder,
The Confu masters shall meet the detectives from East,
To silently mourn for the master in Taichi
With our comrades."
Hattori spoke first: "Um… does anyone know who the Confu master they're talking about here is?"
Mitsuhiko ran towards his computer. "I'll go research!"
Then Conan said: "Ok. While he is researching, let's proceed to the time."
So they opened the letter labeled as "time", it read:
"Under the moonlight,
When the clock hands make a victory sign
That's inclined towards the past,
The detectives from the seas shall meet
With the Dragon's descendants."
Again, Hattori spoke first: "Hey! This code looks like the heist note of the Memories Egg Heist! That one was letter "L" while this is letter "V"!"
Kaito suddenly smirked and said: "And that's why I've figured it out!"
That's followed by a series of shouts "Ehhhhh?!" "Already?!" "What is it?!" "Come on! Tell us!"
He calmly answered: "its 10:50 at night. The 'victory sign' line means the clock hands should make a 'V' sign. That can be 9:45, 10:50, or 11:55 since that's the only times at night when clock hands make that sign. It's 10:50 since that's the only time when the clock hands are "inclined".
"But why do they call themselves 'Dragon's descendants'?!" Ayumi asked.
"That's what most Chinese call themselves." Conan replied with a smile.
"Alright let's move on to Location." Genta announced.
So they opened the "Location" letter which reads:
"The rally point is unique,
Because it's given the name of
The only man-made structure
Throughout the history and world
That's visible from space."
This time, Conan spoke first: "Well, that will be easy to research. Genta, you go research this."
Hakuba said: "Good progress, now we only have the 'Room' code left."
As they proceed to open the "Room" letter, Mitsuhiko suddenly exclaimed "Found it! The Confu master is named Zhang Sanfeng, the founder of Wudang Confu group and creator of Confu style Taichi. His anniversary of death is on June 30th, which is in two weeks." (AN: No one really knows which day he died on, so I just made this up!)
Then Genta also exclaimed "I also found it! The structure is the famous Great Wall of China!"
"So that means that we will meet them at a place that's given the name "Great Wall" on that anniversary at 10:50 at night, right?" Ayumi said thoughtfully.
"Yup! That's right!" Kaito replied happily.
"Now, can we continue yet?" Haibara asked emotionlessly.
So they proceeded to open the "Room" letter; it reads:
"In the floor where the rich stays
And where the VIP rests,
Inside the odd room
That's the nearest
To the second digit,
The meeting shall happen."
"Well, this letter actually hinted what is the place that's given the name 'Great Wall': a hotel or something like that." Conan said.
"Hey I think I know what it is!" Mitsuhiko declared from his seat in front of the computer, "There's a seven-star hotel in Beijing that's called 'Great Wall Sheraton Hotel'."
"Oh well, I guess this is it then." Hattori replied.
"But what is the room number?" Ayumi asked thoughtfully.
"Mitsuhiko, check the floor plans of the hotel, see which floor is the VIP rooms on. It should be room #9 on that floor since that's the closest odd number before the first two-digit number."
"It's the 25th floor, Conan-kun!"
"Alright, so that means that we're to meet them on June 29th at 10:50 P.M. at room 2509 of the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing China. Any questions?" Conan announced.
"Actually, Conan-kun, I had this question for quite some time now. Just who are we going to meet?" Hakuba asked cautiously.
Conan hands him the letter the DB received in the morning and replied casually "Read and you'll understand."
While Hakuba was reading the letter with Kaito and, unfortunately, Hattori, the others went to open the remaining two letters: the tickets and instructions.
Reply to Reviews:
Kudo2315: I'm not really sure what do u mean…
Luckyschoolgirl: First, I know that last chapter was in a kind of rush, but that's because it wasn't really thought before. I focus on the case itself in this story. Second, I don't think I can update a long chapter next time since not much was left to do before they leave Japan, but I might include a little flashback involving how the rivalry between Hattori and Habuka deepened. Third, I don't like OOC so I will try as hard as I can to keep the characters IN character. And don't worry about humor since I have a prank planned out…
Mai-chan63: I'll give you another hint about future chapters: Conan makes a choice that probably will shock a lot of fans… That'll be all I will reveal for now, and it's actually will take place Far in the future.
ILoveFanfiction-AnimeAdik: Thanks. I'll try my best to update frequently but I won't make empty promises.
Gamelover45192: In response to your question, no she won't find out the truth in this story.
A.N.: Again I apologize for updating this slow… But the holiday is done so I might have more time to write. Hopefully. I'm open to all reviews. And thanks for all the reviews! I'm guessing that it'll be around two weeks before I update again. Depends on amount of schoolwork. So see you next time! Again, this is the UPDATED version.