No matter what, since the police had come, Duanmu Huai didn't object to letting them in.
When they entered the carriage and saw Duanmu Huai, the two railway policemen were both startled, but fortunately they still knew their limits and didn't make any excessive reactions toward him.
From the railway police, Duanmu Huai finally learned what had happened.
It turned out no one had been murdered.
Someone had disappeared.
Disappeared?
On a train moving at 180 kilometers per hour???
Duanmu Huai subconsciously glanced out the window. Although nothing could be seen, the rhythmic clattering of the train could still be heard.
Could the guy fly or something?
But inspection was inspection. A train compartment wasn't that big, so Duanmu Huai didn't mind. After all, he didn't think these people would find a corpse under his bed or in his wardrobe. Suzume had been lying nearby the whole time, and Lorena was guarding outside.
For people of this world to pull something off under those conditions?
That would be a real miracle.
Sure enough, the railway police searched the compartment but found nothing unusual. After apologizing to Duanmu Huai, they left the carriage, and he went back to sleep.
Although someone disappearing on a moving train was indeed strange, he wasn't Conan.
If someone wanted to investigate it, they could go ahead.
He didn't want to stir up unnecessary trouble.
However, Duanmu Huai might think that way, but that didn't mean everyone else did.
Early the next morning, just after finishing a hot breakfast, Duanmu Huai's compartment received an unexpected visitor.
"I heard you are a detective! Please, you must help me!"
Looking at the woman crying in front of him, Duanmu Huai felt speechless.
Seriously? When I was in Arkham City I was bored to death and couldn't get a single case. The moment I leave the city, cases start delivering themselves to my door?
Could Arkham City have bad feng shui or something?
"Alright, first tell me what happened."
The woman introduced herself. She worked for a financial magazine as a junior employee and was traveling on a business trip with her mentor.
Her mentor was a financial reporter.
The reason they were on this train was because the businessman they had been trying to interview—Mr. Philip—had agreed to give them an exclusive interview, and he had even prepared train tickets for them.
For reporters, an exclusive interview was a rare opportunity.
So she and her mentor boarded the train together.
After dinner the previous night, her mentor was invited to Philip's first-class compartment to conduct the interview. She stayed behind at their seat, waiting for him to return.
About an hour and a half later, her mentor came back from the interview.
But his face was pale, as if he had encountered something terrifying.
Naturally she asked what had happened.
Her mentor only glared at her and told her not to ask questions. He then ordered her to pack all their luggage and said that when they reached the transfer station the next day, they would get off the train immediately.
Before going to sleep, her mentor also warned her very seriously.
If anything happened to him, she must be careful of Philip.
The woman had been frightened by her mentor's serious tone. She nodded and didn't ask further questions, but she was still anxious and curious, so she barely slept that night.
Then around midnight she got up to go to the bathroom.
But when she did, she discovered her mentor was gone.
At first she thought he had gone to the restroom as well. But after searching around, she couldn't find him anywhere.
He wasn't in the restroom, the dining car, or anywhere else.
At that moment she remembered what he had said before going to sleep.
So she hurried to the railway police for help.
And that was how the incident of Duanmu Huai being woken up in the middle of the night had happened.
And now that she had come to him…
"So your mentor still hasn't been found?"
"Yes."
The woman nodded with red eyes.
"They searched everywhere but found nothing. But I know it must have been Philip!"
"Hmmm…"
Duanmu Huai began to think.
Obviously there was now a suspect.
If the mentor had deliberately told her that sentence before going to sleep, it meant he must have discovered something he shouldn't have known.
As for the disappearance, it was most likely that Philip had silenced him.
But then the question became—
How did he do it on a train this big?
At this point it was necessary to explain the structure of the train.
At the very front was the locomotive.
Behind it was the staff carriage.
Then came a second-class carriage.
Then a first-class carriage.
Then the dining car.
And finally Duanmu Huai's luxury carriage.
That couldn't be helped.
After all, he occupied an entire carriage by himself, so it had to be placed at the very end.
Otherwise if it were in the middle, the train would basically get stuck.
Since this was a sightseeing train, there weren't many passengers.
The second-class carriage had about ten passengers.
The first-class carriage had six passengers occupying three rooms.
Philip stayed alone in one room.
A married couple occupied another.
And a family of three occupied the third.
Then there was Duanmu Huai and Lorena.
Second-class was an ordinary sleeper carriage.
First-class was a soft sleeper.
And Duanmu Huai's extravagant private compartment was something only rich people could afford.
But no matter what, a train carriage was only so big.
The railway police had searched from one end to the other and found no trace of the woman's mentor.
That was why she had become so panicked.
Later one of the officers, seeing how distressed she was, told her that a detective was staying in the luxury carriage.
She could try asking him.
In simple terms—
They didn't want to deal with the headache themselves, so they pushed it onto Duanmu Huai.
"Fine. I'll go take a look."
After all, riding a train was boring anyway.
This wasn't the era he came from where you could use a tablet and browse the internet out of boredom.
Even mobile phones were still new technology.
Staying in the room all day was dull.
Since he had nothing else to do, he might as well take a look.
However, moving through the train was not very friendly for Duanmu Huai.
Everyone knew train doors were narrow.
The corridor between carriages was also narrow.
Duanmu Huai had to turn sideways and use the same determination as adventure movie protagonists squeezing through ancient ruins before he finally managed to reach the second-class carriage.
The second-class carriage looked similar to a hard sleeper compartment.
Two levels of beds, upper and lower.
But since there weren't many passengers, it was still acceptable despite being slightly cramped.
The woman and her mentor had been sleeping on two lower bunks.
Luggage bags and suitcases were placed around them.
Clearly they had brought quite a lot of equipment.
"These contain the equipment we use for reporting and photography."
The woman explained somewhat awkwardly.
For their line of work, photography equipment was essential, and it had to be good equipment.
Not cheap travel cameras worth only a few hundred.
Some cameras cost thousands or even tens of thousands.
That was also one of the reasons she had accompanied her mentor.
After all, the equipment was expensive.
If it got lost, it would be a huge problem.
"Did your mentor leave anything behind?"
"No."
The woman shook her head.
According to her, when her mentor disappeared, his coat and wallet were gone, as if he had gone out somewhere.
That was why she originally thought he had gone out to smoke or use the restroom.
But after searching everywhere, she couldn't find him.
"Then when he went to interview Philip, he must have brought something with him."
Duanmu Huai remembered that reporters usually carried recorders or cameras.
At the very least they took notes.
"No. I've searched everything, but I didn't find any of my mentor's belongings."
"Search again."
"Okay."
Although surprised by Duanmu Huai's request, the woman nodded.
She began opening the suitcases and travel bags again, searching through them one by one.
Duanmu Huai stood there watching her actions.
In fact, he had no intention of searching himself.
On one hand, his body made it inconvenient.
On the other hand, he had a more suitable assistant.
"Meow."
Sure enough.
After the woman finished searching the suitcase and dumped out the contents of a travel bag, the black cat lying on Duanmu Huai's shoulder suddenly lit up with interest.
It leapt down onto the bed and grabbed the travel bag with its paw.
"Wah! What's going on?!"
The woman was startled by the sudden appearance of the black cat.
Duanmu Huai's eyes lit up.
"Wait. Check what's inside that bag."
"Huh? There's nothing in it…"
The woman was confused.
She reached into the bag where the black cat had grabbed it and felt along the edge.
Then she froze.
Looking up at Duanmu Huai, she said:
"Mr. Detective, there seems to be a piece of paper hidden inside!"
"Take it out."
"Okay."
She reached into the bag and turned it inside out.
Only then did Duanmu Huai notice that the travel bag actually had a hidden compartment sewn into it.
It had to be said, her mentor was quite experienced.
Although such a compartment couldn't hold much, hiding a small piece of paper inside would easily escape notice.
The woman pulled out the note and glanced at it.
Her face suddenly changed drastically.
She looked at Duanmu Huai.
"Mr. Detective, this…"
"What is it?"
Duanmu Huai took the note from her hand.
When he saw the contents, his eyebrows raised slightly.
It was a financial transaction record.
It recorded Philip transferring money to a certain organization.
And the name of that organization was—
Silver Twilight Lodge.
That was a cult organization!
Duanmu Huai knew about the Silver Twilight Lodge.
On the surface it was an elite social club for high society.
But in reality it was a cult.
Unlike other cults, the Silver Twilight Lodge didn't worship any specific outer god.
Instead, they had a "the more the better" philosophy.
From Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth, Abhoth, to Mi-Go and countless other horrors—
They worshipped them all.
It could be said that most of the troubles in this world—if not all—were caused by this damned organization.
Clearly, the woman's mentor had discovered that Philip was connected to this cult.
And so he had been silenced.
In any case—
First step: arrest the suspect.
Duanmu Huai didn't need evidence.
After all, he was an Inquisitor.
What evidence did an Inquisitor need?
He stormed toward the first-class carriage, kicked open Philip's cabin door—
And then…
"Where is he???"
Looking at the empty room, Duanmu Huai froze.
(End of Chapter)