Chapter 2236 - 2234: Shattered World
Everyone followed Fang Zheng into the forest to search for the Western Mansion hidden on the other side of the island.
Although it was currently a storm, no one chose to stay behind. The adults were interested in Beatrice’s gold; in the face of gold, a little wind and rain were nothing.
And the children were more curious about Beatrice’s residence. So even in the storm, the group moved with umbrellas and flashlights through the depths of the forest — fortunately, it was an island, so there was no worry about any uninvited animals in the forest.
Of course, to be on the safe side, they had Genji lead the way. Initially, Genji refused, but after Fang Zheng said, "Whether you want to or not, we’re going," he had no choice but to surrender.
With Genji leading the way, the group quickly reached the Western Mansion on the other side of the island.
"This is the Western Mansion where Master Beatrice resides."
Entering through the gate, Genji turned on the light and then spoke softly to everyone.
"It feels... like just an ordinary Western Mansion."
Sento put down his umbrella, looking around curiously.
"I originally thought a witch’s place would have something creepy, like bubbling cauldrons, weird black cats, some scary specimens. Now it seems this place is even more normal than our villa."
"After that lamentable tragedy, the old master sealed this place. I haven’t been here in a long time."
Looking at the mansion in front of him, Genji showed a few nostalgic expressions, while Fang Zheng glanced around, then gestured to Genji.
"Mind if we have a look around?"
"Of course, please do."
"Fang Zheng, what do you plan to find?"
At that moment, Kanon also curiously approached Fang Zheng and inquired, and Fang Zheng shrugged.
"A secret passage."
"... A secret passage?"
"Exactly."
Fang Zheng nodded.
"I took a look just now. From here to where our villa is, the path is incredibly tough. You mentioned before that when talking with Beatrice, she said Kinzou would come here once every two or three days. With that frequency, taking such a path is self-inflicted suffering. And Mr. Kinzou would also worry about being discovered by others, especially since many of you lived here at the time. If one day he went out to see Beatrice and someone happened to see him, they’d follow out of curiosity and ruin everything, right?"
"This..."
"So Kinzou must have built a secret passage to silently cross the island and meet with Beatrice. I’m curious about where the passage leads..."
"..."
Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s words, the others had expressions of exasperated confusion; they came looking for gold, but now Fang Zheng seemed more interested in the secret passage than the gold...
"Alright, everyone."
Fang Zheng turned to the group.
"Shall we search together slowly or split up, relying on our skills and luck? You didn’t come through the storm only to watch, right?"
"..."
Hearing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, everyone paused briefly, exchanged glances, and then Krauss stepped forward.
"Then let’s split up, according to the letter: whoever finds the gold first will become the head of the Yodaimiya Family. As for the gold distribution, we’ll follow what was agreed upon during the day, no problem, right?"
Hearing this, everyone nodded, but soon Krauss added a condition.
"But I want to add one more condition."
"What condition?"
"No matter who finds the gold first, we must give one-tenth from our share to Kanon, agreed?"
"Eh? Eh?!"
Upon hearing this, Kanon seemed a bit flustered.
"For me?"
"Of course, without your boyfriend, we wouldn’t have discovered this place. Everyone might still be busy trying to solve the epitaph right now."
Hideyoshi, Eha’s husband, said cheerfully in his unrefined Kansai accent, and everyone else nodded in agreement.
"But, this..."
Kanon seemed surprised by this remark and looked at Fang Zheng, who shrugged.
"It’s your money; you decide. Also, I have to remind everyone, I’m only guessing the gold is here, not certain. So if no one finds it... don’t blame me if my guess is wrong."
"We’re taking a chance on a possibility."
This time Kyrie spoke.
"No matter what, it’s a possibility. We’ve made our choice, and that’s enough."
"Great."
Hearing Kyrie’s answer, Fang Zheng squinted, his mouth slightly curled up.
"Then let’s split up and take action."
So next, the group split into family units to explore; Krauss’s group went to investigate the kitchen and dining room, while Sento’s family went to the basement, Eha’s group chose to search the servants’ quarters on the first floor, and Fang Zheng and Kanon wandered into the game room.
"Do you really have a way to find the secret passage?"
Accompanying Fang Zheng, Kanon asked out of curiosity, and Fang Zheng chuckled.
"Of course, finding the passage isn’t hard; you don’t need reasoning, clues, or anything."
"How do you plan to find it then?"
Conan interjected with a bemused comment, and upon hearing him, Fang Zheng casually picked up a cue from the pool table nearby.
"Easy, a thorough search; just tap near all the walls and floors, and you’ll know the answer."
"..."
Alright, this is indeed a very brainless, very simple, very convenient method that anyone can do.
The group then helplessly watched as Fang Zheng took a cue, probing forward bit by bit like a blind person feeling his way. Seeing this, Maria also happily raised her hand.
"Woo---Maria wants to join too!"
Saying this, Maria also picked up a small stick, tapping the floor next to Fang Zheng, while Kanon hesitated for a moment, then took a cue to tap as well. Watching the scene before him, Conan was silent for a moment, and then quietly picked up a cue from nearby.
No matter what, as long as it works.
And so, this group of people, like the blind, tapped around the recreation room in a circle, and then came to a rest room next to it, and then...
"Whoa, what are you guys doing?"
Hearing the tapping sound, Krauss, Eha, and others searching downstairs also came over, and seeing a group of people acting like blind people, they were taken aback.
"Looking for a secret passage."
"This can work?"
Watching Fang Zheng’s group calmly tapping the floor and walls, the others exchanged silent glances, and after a moment, Shizuka also went over.
"It seems quite fun, I’ll join too."
"I’ll give it a try too."
Renji also went over to join... To be honest, they weren’t interested in finding gold at all, but secret passages were just so much fun!
Quickly, even Sento’s family, who were searching in the basement, became attracted and joined in the floor-tapping game.
Because there really wasn’t much else to find, maybe... the gold was in the secret passage?
The group continued tapping as they walked, and finally, when they reached a rest room on the side of the Western Mansion, Fang Zheng’s cue sounded "dong dong dong" when it hit one of the walls.
"It’s here!!"
Hearing this sound, Conan was immediately excited too. He reached out, vigorously wiping the dusty wall in front of him, then reached out and tapped again.
"That’s right, it’s hollow behind here, there should be a secret door..."
"Really?!"
Now others gathered around, curiously looking at this wall, while Conan scanned the area, starting to think.
"Let me see, the arrangement of this room should reveal some information, there must be a clue..."
"No need for that."
However, before Conan could finish his mumbling, Fang Zheng stepped forward, clenched his fist, and punched the wall hard.
"Boom!!!"
With a muffled sound, the next moment everyone saw the wall in front of them suddenly cave in, then crack open a huge black hole, and a moment later, a heavy "clang" sound echoed—the sound of a door Fang Zheng had knocked off landing on the ground.
"......"
For a moment, everyone stared at Fang Zheng in silence.
"Oh, this iron door is old and rusty, a little push and it opened."
Under everyone’s gaze, Fang Zheng nonchalantly clapped his hands.
"Yeah, right."
Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Shizuka couldn’t help but retort.
"Who can punch an iron door flying bare-handed, from the sound earlier, that door must weigh over a dozen kilograms! You might be that Golden Witch!"
"But I’m a man."
Fang Zheng casually replied, then took a flashlight out of his pocket and turned it on, shining it inside, as everyone saw a pitch-black staircase revealed under the flashlight’s beam. Then Fang Zheng leaned in, feeling around the wall next to him for a moment, then with a "click," turned on a switch, soon, white light illuminated the originally pitch-black passage.
"No poisonous gas, let’s go."
Surprisingly, the passage ahead wasn’t narrow, and the air wasn’t stale, but for people like Krauss, this was quite astonishing.
"I didn’t expect dad actually built a place like this underground..."
"This shouldn’t have been built by him."
Fang Zheng shook his head, then shone the flashlight ahead.
"The layout here is clearly military; it must have been some kind of military base before."
"There might be vengeful spirits..."
Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Shizuka suddenly looked scared, while others also felt a chill down their spines for some reason.
"Impossible, your dad comes here for secret trysts all the time, even if there were vengeful spirits, they’d have ascended to the afterlife from anger by now."
"Ugh......"
Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Krauss coughed, after all it was his own father, speaking like this isn’t very appropriate.
But Krauss didn’t have time to say much, because at this moment, with Fang Zheng leading, everyone reached the end of the passage, then watched as he barehandedly punched open yet another "old and rusty" iron gate, and then......they found themselves in a luxuriously decorated guest room, everything here was lavish, and there was even a bed like one a princess from a fairy tale would sleep in.
But at the moment, in this room, there was something far more attractive than a fairy-tale princess.
It was layers upon layers of stacked gold.
"The Witch’s Gold!!"
Seeing this scene, almost everyone’s eyes changed, regardless of whether it was Krauss, Eha, or Ruffov and their families, they rushed forward, trembling with excitement around the mountain of gold before them.
"Ten tons, ten tons of gold!! The legend was true!! We found it! Big brother!!"
"Yes, ten tons of gold......hahaha, I originally thought it was just a story too, hahaha......"
Everyone seemed to be drawn by the magic power of the gold, staring intently at the golden mountain before them, shouting and shouting, nobody noticed that the ground was trembling slightly, dust falling from the ceiling, a faint voice echoing in the darkness.
"It’s not like this... it’s not like this... it’s not like this......!!!"
With the scream, in the next moment, the world suddenly shattered.

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