Oritis in the world of Detective Conan

Chapter 474 The True Abyss (Part 2)

"Don't move!" The cyborg reacted the fastest. He took a crowbar and smashed it hard on the out-of-control arm. Then the sentinel and the archivist came forward to help hold down the struggling collector.

With a creaking sound, the collector's arm was pried off by the prosthesis artist. The arm that was separated from the body was still able to move. The rope attached to it kept twitching, driving the broken arm straight to stab the stunned guide on the side.

The archivist was horrified: "No!"

At the critical moment, the stone man hit the hand hard with the pickaxe he carried with him, and the man on the top of the tower kicked it twice. However, the arm was not dead yet, and it grabbed the ankle of the man on the top of the tower and tried to climb up.

"Ah! Go down, go down!" The man on the top of the tower shook his legs frantically, and with the swing of his sickle, he finally knocked the arm to the ground.

Seeing that the arm was still wriggling, Sera Masumi reacted quickly and picked up the stone next to him and smashed it down hard. This time, the ghost thing finally stopped moving, and the strange ropes were scattered on the ground like dead snakes.

The collector was helped by the sentry and placed on a flat open space. Her body was still trembling with pain: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault." The prosthetist opened his toolbox and took out a spare prosthetic limb.

Conan noticed that there was a motionless doll in the toolbox. Noticing Conan's gaze, the cyborg explained, "He used to be my assistant, but under the erosion of the abyss, he no longer had any thoughts and was just an empty shell."

Afterwards, the prosthetist carefully installed the new prosthetic limb on the collector's hand. Sera Masumi watched carefully from the side. If the wood was the original human flesh and blood, then the moving ropes were similar to nerve structures.

"So, what's under all that wood?"

"That's a manifestation of the Abyssal Disease. These pieces of wood are absorbing everyone's life force. If we don't find the source of everything, this vibrant world will eventually become a pile of wood," the cyborg replied without looking up from his toolbox. "Furthermore, these things can also interfere with people's will. Do you know parasitic wasps?"

"The larvae of parasitic wasps live inside other organisms, manipulating their behavior until nothing but a hollow shell remains, just like the diseased world we live in today."

Sera Masumi and Conan gathered together and discussed in a low voice: "It seems that this is a world that has experienced mycelial disease and is now experiencing a new catastrophe. These seemingly bright and beautiful scenery are actually dead and gloomy."

Conan also sighed: "No wonder Darren said that the abyss is almost invincible. They can block the development of science and technology. This alone will make it difficult for humans to cope. Moreover, the abyss seems to have intelligence. I don't mean those 'diseases' but the abyss itself..."

During the conversation, Conan saw the stone man leaning against the big guy in a daze, and the archivist was holding the guide in his arms, carefully checking whether she was injured.

The storm passed quickly. Although the spreading disease cast a shadow over the road ahead, no one retreated. Soon, everyone passed through the wind-eroded ruins filled with rubble and gravel and officially arrived at the core area of ​​the wasteland.

This place was deserted, and there was no sign of life on the endless charred land, but the sharp-eyed sentry saw three figures moving in the distance.

"There's someone in the distance, I don't know what they're here for."

"Maybe they came out of the shelter." The man at the top of the tower wiped his sickle. "The environment here is so harsh, life in the shelter must be tough too."

Conan discovered that the magnifying function of his glasses still worked, so he tried to look in the direction the sentry pointed. It was a team of three: one dressed like a scholar, one in a long skirt, and one in uniform.

The big guy was very conspicuous in this wasteland, so when the three-person team discovered Conan and his group, they immediately moved in this direction.

"Stop!" The sentry raised his crossbow to his chest. "Who are you?"

"Don't be nervous, I'm just an ordinary scholar." A man dressed as a scholar stood up and spoke, but half of his body was eroded by another wooden figure.

"How could an ordinary scholar coexist with the creatures of the abyss?" The collector obviously did not believe this statement.

The scholar (wax sculptor - heteromorphic) was somewhat helpless: "She was my sister. After she died, I preserved her body in an attempt to save her, but I got nothing except this unresponsive wooden doll."

The scholar is followed by a singer (Madame Red - Hour of Glory) and an orderly (Fire Investigator - Unburned Pages).

The singer's neck has become completely wooden, and she can no longer sing beautiful songs. Now she is like an exquisite work of art, but in this wasteland, works of art have no practical value except to make people miss the glory of the past.

Behind the orderly was a long-dead mass-produced robot guard (Guard No. 26 - Leader of the Wooden Guards). He looked around, as if he was worried that someone would try to steal the robot.

The cyborg only needed to glance at the composition of the people on the other side to know everything. "Are today's scholars so reckless as to come to the core area to survey without any supplies at all?"

"We have no other options. The nearest shelter has been captured, and there are moving pieces of wood everywhere!" the scholar said excitedly.

"So you escaped?" The sentry retracted his weapon.

The man on the top of the tower pointed them to a clear path: "Go west, pass the wind-eroded ruins, and there may be a usable shelter in the green waterway."

"I see. Thanks for the info," the scholar thanked the man atop the tower and warned, "It's best not to go too deep into the core area. Many scholars have never been able to figure out what's inside."

The archivist declined the scholar's offer: "Thank you for your reminder, but that's where we're going, and we won't back down."

The scholar nodded and left first. The singer couldn't say thank you, so she lifted her skirt and bowed to everyone.

"Well, you are really brave. I hope you can discover some big secrets in the core area." The orderly dragged the robot guard's immobile body with difficulty and kept up with the scholar's pace.

"It seems there will be unknown dangers ahead. We'd better be prepared before moving forward." The cyborg gave the order calmly.

After they reached a place where they could see the huge pit, they chose a suitable place to set up camp and began to cook dinner.

The man on the top of the tower chewed his dinner while complaining, "I won't go down with you guys later. He and I both hate dark and cramped places."

The stone man didn't need to eat. He sat quietly next to the man on the top of the tower with his hands on his knees, nodding in approval.

"Okay then, let's have a good rest tonight, and we'll go down to find out what's going on tomorrow. Can you stay up there to provide us with support?" The prosthetist had already prepared the spare prosthetic limbs.

"can."