It was a warm autumn morning in New York, but the air in Blackwood Forest carried a mysterious chill. Conan took leave from Ran under the pretext of spending the weekend with Dr. Agasa and his friends on a scientific nature trek. Ran was happy to see Conan enjoying his childhood, unaware that the bag he carried contained tools capable of breaching the most sophisticated systems.
In the lab before departure, Dr. Agasa was putting the finishing touches on his new inventions.
"Look, Conan, this is the Pulse-Tracking Watch. It doesn't rely on traditional GPS which can be jammed; instead, it uses very low radio frequencies. And these are the Thermal and Magnetic Scanning Glasses; they will reveal any wire hidden behind walls for you."
Conan smiled bitterly. He never imagined he would need such tools for a school outing. But the presence of Hera, with her skeptical gaze, constantly reminded him that the world was not a safe place, even on a wilderness trip.
The Team Meeting and the Start of the Adventure
Inside Dr. Agasa's small van, the place was filled with noise. Geko was busy organizing a massive food bag, while Miso stared at his tablet trying to pick up strange signals. As for Mary, she was taking notes on types of trees, but her eyes were monitoring Hera, who sat in absolute silence.
"Why are you so quiet, Hera?" Mary asked curiously.
Hera replied while looking out the window: "Nature hides complex mathematical laws beneath its beauty. I am just trying to read them."
Geko whispered to Miso: "She's a weirdo just like Conan!"
When they reached the depths of the forest, Agasa set up the tents and began preparing the barbecue. But Miso suddenly shouted: "Doctor! My device is going crazy! There is a very strong electromagnetic interference coming from that direction, even though there are no cell towers here!"
Conan's eyes gleamed. "Magnetic interference in the middle of the forest? That means there are massive engines or servers running underground."
The Abandoned Treasure: The Mansion of Digital Silence
The children followed the signal through a narrow path covered with thick branches until a strange building appeared before them. It wasn't an ordinary cabin, but an old stone mansion merging Gothic architecture with modern touches of steel and tinted glass.
"This place has been abandoned for years," Mary said, pointing to the ivy covering the walls. "But look at those thick copper wires going underground. Those are ultra-high-speed data transmission cables!"
Conan approached the massive door. There was no traditional lock, but an old-fashioned scanner that was still working slowly. Agasa used a small device to generate electromagnetic pulses that opened the door with a terrifying creak.
They stepped inside to find themselves in a vast, dusty lobby, but what caught their attention was the true "treasure" in the center of the hall: hundreds of metal storage bins bearing the logo of OmniTech, a tech giant that mysteriously disappeared in the early 2000s.
"This company was trying to digitize human memory twenty years ago!" Hera said as she examined one of the boxes. "It is said they succeeded in storing the first digital consciousness on crystal discs, then their headquarters burned down and the founder vanished."
Diving into the Dark Basement
While Geko and Mary explored the upper floor, Conan, Hera, and Miso descended with Dr. Agasa to the basement. There, they found the Server Room. The massive machines emitted a faint hum, as if they were still alive.
In the corner of the room, Conan found a half-open iron cabinet. Inside were blue crystal discs glowing with a faint light. Beside them were old paper journals containing complex mathematical equations and maps of secret communication networks linking New York and Seattle.
"This isn't just a technological treasure," Conan said, cautiously lifting a crystal disc. "This is the prototype for an internet network entirely independent of satellites... a network that relies on the earth's neural fibers."
Suddenly, the screens in the basement began to flicker with distorted images of a human face speaking without sound. Miso screamed: "Look! The system senses our presence!"
The Cliffhanger: The Magnetic Trap
As Conan tried to place one of the discs into Agasa's reading device, the ground shook violently. The metal boxes fell, and a loud mechanical sound echoed from the basement ceiling.
"Doctor! The doors are closing!" Geko shouted from the upper floor.
Suddenly, the faint hum of the servers turned into a sharp electrical shriek. Everyone felt a strange gravity pulling the metals from their pockets and watches.
"It's a giant magnet!" Hera screamed. "The system activated the data protection protocol! It will erase everything, and it will crush us along with these devices!"
The equipment in the basement began to ignite, and the blue light of the crystal discs started turning a deep crimson red. At that moment, a message appeared on the main screen in bold letters:
[User Unknown. Vacuum Room will be activated in 60 seconds. Goodbye, intruders.]
The lights went out completely, and total darkness prevailed except for the warning red light. Conan held the crystal disc in one hand and Dr. Agasa with the other, while the voices of Geko and Mary gradually faded behind the steel doors that had completely sealed shut.
The Detective Team had fallen into the heart of a technological trap never designed to be opened. Will Conan's intelligence and Agasa's inventions succeed in breaking the Vacuum Code before they are crushed under the magnetic pressure? And what is the true secret hidden within the OmniTech discs?
Don't want to wait too long? 🤯 Go beyond the limits and join the Ultimate Tier on Patreon! Get instant access to up to 30 Advanced Chapters and see how Shinichi cracks the next mystery before anyone else. Support the legend for the price of a couple of coffees! ☕️
🚀 Join the Ultimate Tier:
https://patreon.com/AlexRishy