Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

Seeing Ryuno's surprised expression, Conan immediately turned his head and looked in the direction Ryuno was looking.

To his surprise, he saw "Shinichi Kudo" leaning against the door frame of the office.

Upon seeing this, Conan's brain immediately stopped working, and his expression changed drastically.

At this moment, Ryuno walked up to "Shinichi Kudo" and chuckled, "Kudo, you have no idea, I almost mistook Conan for you just now! It's really funny to think about it now."

"What are you thinking? How could I possibly become that brat?! Really..."

"Oh, right, since I've seen you, I might as well tell you. The school teachers have already started to criticize your absence from class..."

"..."

Conan froze, watching the two chatting happily.

After exchanging a few words, Ryūno said goodbye and prepared to leave: "Alright, I don't have anything else to do, so I'll head home now. Kudo, Conan, I'm off!"

After saying that, Ryūno walked straight out of the office.

After seeing Ryūno leave, "Shinichi Kudo" also stepped out of the agency's door.

Just then, Conan, who was standing to the side, finally understood the situation.

He followed "Shinichi Kudo" down the stairs, hands in his pockets, and said, "Wait a minute—Kaito Kid."

"You almost fooled me! I never expected you to come and help me."

Upon hearing this, Shinichi Kudo stopped and listened quietly to Conan's words.

"Speaking of which, you stole that egg just to return it to its rightful owner, didn't you?"

“You already knew that the egg was made by Mr. Kiichi, who was known as the ‘magician of the end of the century,’ which is why you wrote that in the announcement.”

While listening to Conan's words, Kaito Kid conjured up pigeons and placed them on his person.

"Oh? What else did you discover?"

Upon hearing Kaito Kid's question, Conan smiled confidently: "Miss Natsumi Kosaka's great-grandmother was actually Maria, the third daughter of Nicola II."

"In order to avoid being discovered by others, Mr. Kiichi divided the egg into two parts. One was placed in the city, and the other was hidden in a secret room with Maria's body."

"He has been waiting for his descendants to discover this secret."

After listening to Conan's reasoning, Kaito Kid chuckled and said, "Here's a piece of advice: some things in this world are better left as mysteries forever."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Since you're so capable, is there another riddle here that you can solve?"

Why should I become Shinichi Kudo to help you with this?

After asking the question, Kaito Kid snapped his fingers and instantly disappeared from Conan's sight.

Watching the pigeons soaring high in the sky, Conan murmured, "This isn't even a mystery; the answer is too simple... The only reason you helped me was because I saved your pigeons, wasn't it?"

"Since you helped me, I'll let bygones be bygones for hitting me on the head for now..."

After saying that, Conan turned and went up the stairs.

three minutes later

Ryūno stepped out of the shadows, looked at the wall beside him, and said softly, "The magic of disappearing in an instant is indeed amazing~ But...aren't you cold?"

Upon hearing this, a corner of the "wall" first appeared, and then it transformed into a human figure.

"I...I'm not...not cold!" Kaito Kid stammered.

It was raining at the time, and gusts of autumn wind were blowing around us from time to time.

Seeing that Kid was already shivering from the cold, Ryūno shook his head: "Alright, you should go home too. Don't you have school tomorrow? Thanks again for keeping your promise."

After saying that, Ryūno left Kaito Kid with a profound look on his back.

Upon hearing the words "high school student" again, Kaito Kid's heart skipped a beat.

Watching Ryūno's retreating figure, Phantom Thief Kid trembled and said, "You... how did you know I was a high school student? Do you... do you really know my true identity?"

Longye didn't turn around, and slowly said, "Didn't you say that some things are better left as mysteries forever?"

The next moment, Ryūno also vanished from Kaito Kid's sight.

Watching Ryūno vanish in an instant, Kaito Kid remained silent for a long time.

He was awakened by another gust of cold wind.

"Disappeared in an instant? How...how did that happen!?"

"This doesn't seem like magic..."

Although he hadn't figured out how Tatsuno disappeared, Phantom Thief Kid hugged himself tightly, ready to go home immediately.

same moment

Metropolitan Police Department First Investigation Division

Officer Shiratori pushed open the door and entered the interrogation room.

Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi are currently questioning Urako Seiran.

Upon seeing Inspector Shiratori enter, Inspector Megure immediately exclaimed excitedly, "Oh! It's Shiratori! You've done a great job this time!"

Upon hearing this, Officer Shiratori looked at Inspector Megure in confusion: "Inspector, what are you talking about? I just got back from vacation in Karuizawa..."

"Um???"

"..."

Chapter 125 My Friend Is Not Human

A week later

At Professor Agasa's invitation, Tatsuno takes Ai Haibara to a mushroom inn located in the mountains.

Ran didn't come because she received an invitation from her mother to stay at Eri's apartment for a few days.

After getting off the bus, Tatsuno and his companion immediately saw Professor Agasa waving at them.

Beside him were four familiar figures.

Soon after, Longye and his group were led by the administrator to the front of the gathering area.

The administrator began explaining to the group—

"Although this is a free-gathering area, it is not completely without restrictions."

"Adults can pick a maximum of 3, and children can pick a maximum of 2."

"Afterwards, the hotel will immediately cook the matsutake mushrooms you picked for you~"

"Okay!" x3

Seeing the children's eager expressions, the administrator smiled.

He then pointed to the barbed wire fence beside him and added, "Also, if you cross these two fences, you'll be in the hunting area. Don't go in!"

Upon hearing this, Professor Agasa asked in confusion, "The hunting area?"

The administrator immediately leaned close to Professor Agasa and Tatsuno and whispered, "Because there are bears here."

Upon hearing this, Professor Agasa and the others immediately became somewhat nervous.

If there are bears around, why bother picking matsutake mushrooms? Isn't that too dangerous?

Seeing the doubts on everyone's faces, the administrator put his hands behind his back and said confidently, "Don't worry! There won't be a single bear on this side of the barbed wire!"

After saying that, the administrator left.

Longye and his companions also began searching for matsutake mushrooms.

A few minutes later, Genta complained while digging in the dirt, "Ugh! I'm so angry! That hotel guy said there were lots of matsutake mushrooms here, but there's not a single one!"

After a while, the group still hadn't found any matsutake mushrooms, and Genta started complaining again.

Seeing this, Conan looked at the surrounding trees and said, "Actually, there are clues. Look closely at our surroundings. Some of the pine needles have already turned yellowish-green, haven't they?"

"Matsutake mushrooms usually attach themselves to the roots of red pine trees to absorb nutrients, so they look tired and weak. You are more likely to find matsutake mushrooms under these trees."

"besides…"

After hearing Conan's explanation, the Junior Detective League members followed Conan's advice and began searching for matsutake mushrooms.

Looking at the confident Conan, Ryūno softly praised, "Conan, you know so much. No wonder I consider you..."

Upon hearing Ryūno's praise, Conan immediately broke out in a cold sweat: "Aha, hahaha, it's because they were talking about matsutake mushrooms on TV the other day~"

"Oh, is it so?"

Before Ryūno could answer, Ai Haibara, who was standing to the side, smiled and looked at Conan.

Conan was taken aback after hearing Ai Haibara's words.

For some reason, he sensed a strange feeling of being seen through in the little girl's eyes.

Speaking of which, Ai Haibara has always given people a very mature feeling...

Could it be that she was shrunk like me?

Thinking of this, Conan shook his head, dismissing the bizarre idea from his mind.

How is it possible~

Perhaps it's because his identity was recently exposed by Phantom Thief Kid, making him a bit paranoid now...

He stopped thinking about it and turned to look for matsutake mushrooms.

Shortly after

Everyone found some matsutake mushrooms in their hands, more or less.

Just then, Conan suddenly realized that Genta was missing and immediately asked, "Have you seen Genta? Where did he go?"

Upon hearing this, everyone noticed that Yuan Tai was already gone.

Just to be on the safe side, the doctor suggested that everyone return to the place they had just been and look for Eun-tae.

Along the way, the group still couldn't find Genta.

At this moment, Conan observed the soil on the barbed wire and deduced, "The soil on the barbed wire is still very fresh, and judging from this height, a child must have climbed over it just now."

Professor Agasa immediately thought, "This is bad. I've already taken Genta's detective badge to repair, so we can't contact him now."