The Different Color Tracks in the Detective Conan World

In April, cherry blossoms were in full bloom in Tokyo. Pink and white petals fell like snowflakes, clinging to Lin Mo's black trench coat. He stood at the intersection of Beikacho, watching the traffic light turn from red to green, the traffic rushing past with its hustle and bustle, and for a moment he still felt that it was all a dream that was too real.

Three days ago, he was a sophomore majoring in criminal investigation at a university in China. He stayed up until the early hours of the morning to finish a paper on "psychological profiling of locked-room crimes" and fell asleep on his desk piled with materials. When he opened his eyes again, he was a nineteen-year-old youth named "Lin Mo"—his ID showed that he was an exchange student who had just returned from overseas and was temporarily living in an apartment in Beikacho 5-chome.

Even more outrageous, he discovered that he was in the world of "Detective Conan".

"Ring ring—" The phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. The screen displayed the name "Ran Mouri," with the contact name "Landlord's Daughter." Lin Mo took a deep breath and answered the phone, trying to make his tone sound natural: "Hello, Ms. Ran?"

"Lin Mojun, where are you now? My dad said the firm received a commission, and the client wants a young person to help run errands. If you happen to be nearby..." Ran Mouri's voice was gentle and apologetic.

Lin Mo looked down at the falling cherry blossom petals at his feet, a helpless smile playing on his lips. Sure enough, in this world, escaping a case was virtually impossible. "I'm at the 3-chome intersection, I'll be right there."

After hanging up the phone, he quickly crossed the zebra crossing and headed towards the Mouri Detective Agency. As he passed a dessert shop, the strawberry cake displayed in the window made him pause—he remembered a girl with brown hair who seemed to really like it.

As soon as he reached the bottom of the office building, he saw Ran Mouri standing at the door waiting for him, accompanied by a girl in a school uniform with a high ponytail—it was Sonoko. "Lin Mo-kun, this is my good friend, Suzuki Sonoko," Ran Mouri introduced.

"Oh? You're that legendary handsome exchange student who came back from abroad?" Sonoko looked Lin Mo up and down, her eyes full of curiosity. "You do seem different from ordinary guys, you have a kind of... well, mature vibe?"

Lin Mo smiled politely: "Hello, Ms. Suzuki."

"Just call me Sonoko!" Sonoko patted his shoulder casually. "Perfect timing! This assignment is for the art museum owned by our Suzuki family. Apparently, someone received an anonymous threatening letter saying they'd destroy the museum's prized possession today. My dad sent Uncle Mori to check it out. Why don't you come along? You might encounter something interesting!"

Lin Mo thought to himself: "Interesting things are most likely murder cases." But he still nodded: "Okay."

Once inside Kogoro Mouri's beat-up car, Conan was indeed there. The little guy sat in the passenger seat, wearing black-rimmed glasses. When he saw Lin Mo, his eyes behind the lenses narrowed slightly, revealing a hint of scrutiny.

"Brother Lin Mo, are you coming too?" Conan asked in a childish voice, but his tone seemed to be testing the waters.

"Yes, Miss Lan said she needs help." Lin Mo leaned back in the back seat, his gaze casually sweeping out the window. "I heard the art museum received threatening letters?"

"Yeah," Kogoro Mouri said, one hand on the steering wheel and the other stroking his chin, "but it's definitely a prank. Who would dare touch anything from the Suzuki family?"

Sonoko chimed in, "That's not necessarily true! That painting, 'Star Trails at Dusk,' is worth over 100 million yen! And the messenger said they'd use 'blood' to commemorate it—that sounds terrifying!"

The car quickly arrived at the Suzuki Museum of Modern Art. The interior was simply yet elegantly decorated, and several staff members were patrolling diligently. The director, a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses named Matsumoto, saw Kogoro Mouri and his group and immediately greeted them: "Detective Mouri, you've finally arrived! Look at this…"

He handed over a threatening letter written in printed font, the content of which was similar to what Sonoko had said, and the signature was a strange symbol.

Lin Mo's gaze swept across the exhibition hall, finally landing on the central painting, "Star Trails at Dusk." On the canvas, the deep night sky was filled with stars, a shooting star streaked across the horizon, ending in a gradient of twilight, the brushstrokes so delicate that one could almost feel the warmth of the starlight.

"Whose work is this painting?" Lin Mo asked.

"It's the last work of the painter Toru Ishikawa, who suddenly disappeared fifteen years ago," Director Matsumoto sighed. "He was a genius, but unfortunately he disappeared shortly after completing this painting and never appeared again."

Just then, a cool female voice came from the side: "In Ishikawa Toru's paintings, there is always a loneliness that others cannot understand."

Lin Mo turned her head and saw a girl in a white dress standing not far away, holding a sketchbook and sketching "Star Trails at Dusk". She had long, curly hair like seaweed, fair skin, and eyes like autumn lake water, carrying a hint of aloofness and melancholy.

"Haibara-kun? What are you doing here?" Ran Mouri asked, somewhat surprised.

Ai Haibara looked up, her gaze lingering briefly on Lin Mo before shifting away: "The Doctor brought me here to buy art supplies, and we came in to take a look around." Her tone was calm, yet it inexplicably made her seem unapproachable.

Lin Mo's heart skipped a beat. It was Ai Haibara. Just like in the anime, she possessed a maturity and vulnerability beyond her years.

Conan quietly walked up to Ai Haibara and whispered something. Ai Haibara's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, and she glanced at Lin Mo.

"Is Lin Mojun also interested in art?" Ran Mouri asked with a smile.

"I wouldn't say I'm interested, but I find the color transitions in this painting quite unique." Lin Mo's gaze fell on the lower left corner of the painting, where there was an almost invisible signature. "Ishikawa Toru's signature... seems a bit different from the one in the files?"

Director Matsumoto paused for a moment, then said, "Really? I hadn't noticed..."

Just then, a commotion erupted in the exhibition hall. A young man in work clothes rushed in, shouting in a panic, "Director! Something terrible has happened! There's blood in the storage room... there's blood in the storage room!"

Everyone's hearts were in their throats. Kogoro Mouri immediately shouted, "Where is it? Take us there!"

The storage room was at the far end of the exhibition hall. The door was ajar, and a faint smell of blood wafted out. Pushing the door open, one could see a pool of blood on the floor that had not yet dried. Several paintbrushes and a palette were scattered around it. The red paint in the palette was mixed with blood streaks, a shocking sight.

"Whose blood is this?" Director Matsumoto's face turned pale.

"Check the staff in the building!" Kogoro Mouri made a quick decision.

After taking inventory, it was discovered that Tanaka, the security guard responsible for watching "Star Trails at Dusk," was missing.

"Could Tanaka have been attacked?" Sonoko covered her mouth.

Conan crouched down and carefully examined the shape of the bloodstains: "It doesn't look like an attack. The bloodstains are very neat, more like someone deliberately spilled them here." He dipped his finger in the bloodstain, smelled it, and added, "Moreover, this blood smells of turpentine."

Lin Mo walked to the corner of the storage room, where there was a vent and signs of forced entry on the fence. He looked out the window and saw that the storage room window faced the back alley of the art museum, where there were several blurry footprints.

"Haibara-kun, you've been in the exhibition hall the whole time, did you see anyone suspicious?" Lin Mo suddenly asked.

Ai Haibara looked up: "Ten minutes ago, I saw a man in a black coat hurriedly leave from the back alley. He was about 1.8 meters tall and wearing a hat and a mask."

Conan's eyes sharpened: "A black coat? It looks a lot like what you're wearing, Lin Mojun."

Lin Mo ignored his probing and continued, "The bloodstains in the storage room are a smokescreen; the killer's target is probably still that painting, 'Star Trails at Dusk.'" He turned and walked out. "Let's go see if the painting is still there."

Back in the exhibition hall, "Star Trails at Dusk" was still hanging on the wall, seemingly unchanged. But Lin Mo walked up to the painting, suddenly reached out and pressed on the right side of the frame, and with a "click," the frame popped open a crack.

"This is..." Everyone was stunned.

Lin Mo carefully took the painting out of the frame and found a yellowed piece of paper pasted on the back of the painting. On the paper, a few lines of words were written in pencil, along with an address.

"This is Toru Ishikawa's notebook!" exclaimed Curator Matsumoto. "I recognize his handwriting!"

The note read: "The secret of the star trail lies at the position of the fifth meteor. The traitor will use blood to cover up the truth. Go to Sunset Cafe to find the answer."

"Sunset Cafe? There's one in Beikacho 2-chome!" Ran Mouri said.

Conan looked at the paper, then at Lin Mo: "How did you know there was a mechanism in the picture frame?"

"Because the weight of this painting is wrong," Lin Mo explained. "The original used a special canvas, which is much heavier than a regular canvas, while this one... is too light. Also, Haibara said she saw a man in a black coat leave, and the timing coincides with the bloodstains found in the storage room, which means that the other party deliberately distracted us so that they could take the opportunity to switch the paintings."

He paused, then looked at Director Matsumoto: "Was Ishikawa Toru's disappearance fifteen years ago related to this painting?"

Director Matsumoto's eyes flickered for a moment, then he finally sighed: "Actually... Ishikawa Toru was my teacher. After this painting was finished, he discovered that I had secretly imitated his signature and sold his other works as my own. He was going to call the police, but in a moment of confusion... I locked him up and announced to the public that he had disappeared."

"Where did you lock him up?" Kogoro Mouri asked sharply.

"It was in the museum's basement... but he passed away six months ago." Director Matsumoto's voice was filled with regret. "I've been living with guilt ever since, never imagining he would leave clues in the paintings..."

"Then what about the threatening letter and the bloodstains?"

"Perhaps the teacher's family has found some evidence and wants to expose me..."

At that moment, Inspector Megure arrived with the police. After hearing what had happened, he decided to go to Sunset Cafe first. Lin Mo, Conan, Ran Mouri, Sonoko, and Ai Haibara followed.

Sunset Cafe was a quiet little shop, run by a gentle middle-aged woman. Upon hearing their purpose, the proprietress paused for a moment, then took an old box from under the counter: "Yesterday, a young man did come here and said that if anyone brought the note from the painting, he should give them this."

Inside the box was a diary belonging to Toru Ishikawa. The diary detailed Matsumoto's betrayal and mentioned that he had a daughter named Yuki Ishikawa, who was nineteen years old and studying at a university in Tokyo.

"Ishikawa Yuki..." Lin murmured the name, suddenly recalling the girl sketching at the art museum earlier—Ai Haibara's sketchbook depicted "Twilight Star Trails," and her eyes held a loneliness similar to that of Toru Ishikawa described in her diary.

He looked at Ai Haibara and saw that she was looking down at her diary, her fingers trembling slightly.

"Haibara-kun, you..." Ran Mouri was about to ask when Conan pulled her aside.

Conan whispered to Lin Mo, in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Don't make wild guesses, Haibara..."

"I know she isn't," Lin Mo interrupted him, "but she must know Ishikawa Yuki."

Ai Haibara suddenly raised her head, her sharp eyes fixed on Lin Mo, as if her secret thoughts had been exposed.

Just then, the door to the café was pushed open, and a girl in a beige trench coat walked in. She had similar features to Toru Ishikawa and was holding a photograph in her hand, which was the original photograph of "Star Trails at Dusk".

"I am Ishikawa Yuki," the girl's voice was tinged with weariness. "I have been searching for my father for fifteen years, and I have finally found a clue in his paintings."

It turns out that the threatening letter and the bloodstains in the storage room were all done by Ishikawa Yuki. She wanted to divert attention, retrieve her father's original handwriting, and incidentally expose Matsumoto's true colors. The man in the black coat was someone she hired to help her, but she never expected things to backfire.

The case came to a close, and Director Matsumoto was taken away by the police. Ishikawa Yuki looked at her diary and tears streamed down her face.

"I'm sorry for causing everyone trouble." She wiped away her tears and said to Lin Mo, "Thank you for discovering the secret in the painting."

"It was nothing," Lin Mo smiled.

As they left the café, the setting sun was slowly sinking, painting the sky a warm orange-red. Ran and Sonoko were talking ahead when Conan ran up to Lin Mo: "You seem to be really good at this?"

"I studied a little bit of criminal psychology in school," Lin Mo said, half-jokingly.

"Really?" Conan clearly didn't believe it, but didn't press further. He simply looked at Ai Haibara, who was walking on the other side, and asked, "Haibara, why didn't you say anything just now?"

Ai Haibara looked at the sunset in the distance and said softly, "It's nothing, I just feel... some truths are better left hidden." Her gaze swept over Lin Mo, carrying a complex emotion.

Lin Mo knew that this was only the first case he had encountered in this world. In the future, there would be many more cases and many more encounters—perhaps he would meet Miyano Akemi at a train station on a rainy day, perhaps he would run into Sera Masumi at a banquet, or perhaps, while tracking clues about the Black Organization, he would fight alongside some unexpected person.

Cherry blossoms continued to fall, landing on his shoulder, carrying a faint fragrance. Lin Mo looked up at the sky dyed red by the setting sun, a resolute smile playing on his lips. No matter how many dangers and mysteries this world held, he would persevere, not only to survive but also to protect those who deserved it.

And the girls with their diverse personalities around him seem to be the most special scenery on his journey.