Conan Rick's Investigator

Conan, with his crescent eyes, secretly complained in his heart: So this is how you get your home runs...

"right here……"

Nagara Haruka walked slowly over, looking at the symmetrically designed large villa in front of him, muttering to himself.

The somewhat superstitious Mao Lilan quickly asked: "Excuse me, is there something wrong here?"

"This house gives me a very ominous feeling..."

As he spoke, Nagarahara pulled out a tarot card with a picture of a collapsing tower from his pocket and said calmly, "I have a feeling that a great disaster is about to happen here..."

At this moment, Koizumi Hongzi, who had been secretly observing the beautiful fortune teller, suddenly spoke.

"I thought the super popular fortune teller who's always on TV had some special abilities... but that's all he's got?"

There was a lot of tension in the words, and Nagara Haruka immediately turned to look at Koizumi Akiko who said this.

She looked up and down at Koizumi Hongzi, who was dressed in red and black, and her slender eyebrows twitched slightly. "Excuse me, who are you..."

"It doesn't matter who I am, just remember there are always people better than you."

Koizumi Akako's answer was arrogant, which made Nagahara Haruka a little uneasy.

"You seem to be in the same business as me...but isn't that a bit arrogant?"

Facing Nagarahara's counterattack, Koizumi Hongzi snorted coldly, "Who is so arrogant? Isn't it better to have a competition?"

"How do we compete?" Chang Liangyao was also aroused by the desire to win.

"You just said that a disaster would happen here. Can you predict the specific type of disaster?"

Facing Koizumi Akako's question, Nagara Haruka opened his thin lips slightly, but ultimately did not say anything.

"Humph……"

"Let me tell you, this journey will kill people!"

Koizumi Hongzi's words shocked everyone. Almost everyone gasped and showed surprise on their faces. Only Qin Zhibo was relatively calm.

This... you'll know once you see Conan...

Of course, Koizumi Akako did not predict that someone would die based on the laws of science. Instead, when she set out this morning, she used crystal ball divination to determine that she would encounter a dead person on this journey.

However, Koizumi Akako didn't know who the deceased was.

Maori Kogoro, who was standing by, felt a little embarrassed and helpless after hearing Koizumi Anko's divination. He said awkwardly, "This, this is too unlucky..."

Photographer Masanori Katagiri quickly tried to smooth things over, "It's really cold here. I think everyone should go inside first."

At this moment, the two main doors of the villa opened at the same time, and the twin maids walked out one by one.

Shimokasa Honami: "Mr. Maori, your companions, and Mr. Qin, please come in from the east entrance and rest."

Shimokasa Minaho: "Mr. Katagiri, Mr. Matsudaira, Ms. Nagara, and Ms. Koizumi, please come in through the west entrance and rest."

Matsudaira Mamoru was confused and asked, "Why do we have to enter from both sides?"

The twin maids explained one after another as if they had telepathy. The general meaning was that guests entering through the east entrance stayed in the east wing, and guests entering through the west entrance stayed in the west wing.

"If this custom is not followed in this mansion..."

"There will definitely be disaster afterward..."

Ran Mori and Mamoru Matsudaira, who are usually superstitious, were a little scared and asked why this happened.

The twin maids answered their questions in unison.

"Because this is... the mansion where the Cursed Mask resides..."

As if to highlight the terrifying atmosphere here, a group of crows perched on the roof of the villa suddenly took off at this moment, making unpleasant cries.

……

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Under the leadership of Shimokasa Honami, Qin Zhibo and the Maori family entered the east entrance.

Qin Zhibo asked why he and Koizumi Hongzi were companions but were not assigned to the same room.

The maid replied that the "Hongzi" in Koizumi Hongzi's name was the same as the "Hongzi" in Soho Hongzi's name, so it was more appropriate to arrange her in the room on the west side.

"So, Teacher Su Fang lives in the room on the west side?" Qin Zhibo added a clue.

"Exactly..."

As soon as he walked through the entrance, Qin Zhibo saw all kinds of masks placed on the walls on both sides of the corridor, including white and red masks, golden sun masks...

Here, there is a strangely shaped mask hanging on the wall almost every two meters.

The Maori family was surprised by the number of masks displayed here. The maid explained again: "Teacher Sufang has always had a hobby of collecting masks."

"Everyone, please come this way..."

Qin Zhibo looked around at the masks here. There were no less than 30 pairs displayed in this corridor alone. It would be difficult to confirm them one by one using a magic extractor.

Bringing Koizumi Akako here was the right decision...

Going up the stairs, Qin Zhibo and the Maori family were led to the mask room by the maid.

When the white door of the Mask Hall was opened, the white door opposite was also pushed open by someone, and it was Koizumi Akako and others who entered from the west entrance.

Qin Zhibo instantly understood the internal structure of the room. The east and west sides of the villa were connected by this masked hall.

At this time, Mao Lilan bent down to look at the masks in the glass cabinet and exclaimed: "Wow! It's amazing, there are so many masks here..."

Just as Mao Lilan admired, the display cabinets here are filled with all kinds of masks, including ordinary masks, animal half-face masks, leather masks, stone masks, wooden masks, gold masks, silver masks...

There are about a hundred masks on display here, making it a real mask museum.

Everyone began to stroll through the Mask Hall, admiring the masks there.

Qin Zhibo quietly walked over to Koizumi Hongzi and asked in a low voice: "How is it? Any clues?"

Koizumi Hongzi was bending over to look at a stone mask in the glass cabinet. After staring for a few seconds, she straightened her back again.

"It's not clear yet..."

"I need to cast some magic to confirm if there is any 'Pale Mask' as you mentioned."

"Then hurry up."

Qin Zhibo was a little anxious. After all, once a murder happened, this place would probably be blocked by the police, and it would be inconvenient to do anything.

"Fool……"

Koizumi Hongzi scolded Qin Zhibo, "I can't let on that I have magic. If I cast magic here, these people will definitely see through it."

Qin Zhibo looked back at the people who were touring the Mask Hall. It would be difficult to perform magic in front of them.

"But since you don't want to be exposed, why are you angry with that fortune teller?"

Koizumi Hongzi glanced at Nagarahara, who was admiring an animal half-face mask not far away, and said with a hint of pride, "I just can't stand her half-baked divination..."

"Oh... so she has some real skills?"

Although she was reluctant to admit it, Koizumi Hongzi nodded, "That woman must have some inspiration..."

"But she's still a long way from me."

Just as Qin Zhibo and Koizumi Hongzi were whispering, Conan, the curious boy, had successfully opened a new area for everyone.

Conan picked up the remote control on the table and pressed the "←→" key, and the curtains scattered on several walls of the Mask Hall slowly opened.

The drive shaft drove the dark red velvet to retract to both sides, and rows of pale masks appeared on the shelves.

Pale Mask!

Qin Zhibo was attracted by these masks at first sight because the color of these masks was that very pure pale white.

The mask's eye corners are very narrow, which easily reminds people of the Western impression of Asian eyes, except that it is a completely inhumane way.

There was no nose on the pale mask, and its mouth was slightly curved upward like a crescent moon, revealing an arrogant sneer that made the viewer feel terrified.

There are hundreds of masks like this displayed in the entire mask hall!

"What the hell are these masks!?"

"Why are there so many?"

Everyone in the exhibition hall was surprised by the number of masks. At this moment, a voice came from the door and explained, "These are all Xiaobul's masks..."

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Su Fanghongzi, the owner of the villa and the organizer of the charity gala, standing at the door, accompanied by a female secretary wearing glasses.

"You are Ms. Soyoko Akako!" Kogoro Mori said in surprise.

"Your presence truly brightens my humble abode." Su Fanghongzi approached the group with a gracious smile. "I wonder what you all think of my most prized collection? Do you think it's acceptable?"

Maori Kogoro, who had a relatively normal aesthetic, scratched his head, and the smile on his face was a little far-fetched. "How, how should I put this..."

Instead, Qin Zhibo came over and praised seriously, "The masks here are truly eye-opening. Could you please tell us about the origins of these masks?"

Conan was a little surprised. He didn't expect Qin Zhibo's aesthetic taste to be so unique...

Hearing that someone appreciated her collection, Su Fang Hongzi was very happy and immediately began to introduce it enthusiastically.

"These masks are the two hundred masks that the Spanish engraver, Chobel Dress, completed shortly before his death."

Nagara Haruka walked over at this time and added lightly: "It is also known as the 'Cursed Mask' by the world."

"Well, there's that theory..." Sufang Hongzi continued, "Shawbul Dress was an engraver with a tragic life. Although he was gifted, he fell into a trap set by his jealous brother."

"In the end, his reputation, status, and even his wealth were all robbed."

"So, filled with utter despair in human nature, Xiaobul kept carving these masks, as if possessed by something."

"Just after he carved the 200th mask, he ended his life with a dagger. The masks scattered around his body were all stained with blood, as if they were sucking his blood..."

After hearing the background story of this mortal's gradual descent into madness, Qin Zhibo felt that he had won.

Among these masks should be the "Pale Mask" required for the mission.

At this time, Nagarahara continued to add: "Xiao Buer's reputation was vindicated after his death, and these masks were scattered into the hands of different people, but these people all ended up in tragedy..."

"The general manager of a British bank accidentally fell off a cliff while riding a horse the day after receiving one of the masks and died."

"Another French jeweler was attacked by robbers and lost his life."

"Since then, it has been rumored that these masks will suck the blood of their owners, and collectors around the world are shunning them..."

Mao Lilan's shoulders trembled a little. She shrank to Mao Li Kogoro and asked, "So you have collected 200 masks now? That won't be a problem!"

Su Fang Hongzi smiled slightly and comforted him, "Don't worry about that. I've already asked a powerful psychic to seal the curses of these masks..."

After hearing this particularly extraordinary background story, Conan subconsciously felt that it was all nonsense.

But then I thought about my previous experiences, and it seemed like maybe it was...

Conan walked to the mask display rack, held his chin up and stared at the masks on it carefully, and suddenly discovered something.

This mask is surprisingly similar to the one worn by the "Night Baron"...

Could it be that my dad copied the design of this mask?

However, after a closer look, Conan found that these masks were somewhat different from the descriptions in Kudo Yusaku's book.

The corners of the mouth on the "Night Baron" mask have a greater upward curvature, and the corners of the eyes droop deeper.

Furthermore, the gaps between the eyes and mouth of this mask are too narrow, and there's no nose. It feels like it wasn't designed for humans to wear...

On the other side, Qin Zhibo asked Koizumi Hongzi, "Do you feel that there is a seal set by the psychic here?"

Koizumi Hongzi shook her head decisively, "No."

Qin Zhibo guessed it. After all, there are so many psychics who are seeking fame and reputation, and most of them are just looking for psychological comfort.

At this time, Maori Kogoro frowned and said to Sufang Hongzi: "But Ms. Sufang, the evil thoughts of humans in the real world are probably more terrifying than any curse..."

"On my way here just now, I was blocked by a big tree, and this piece of paper was nailed to it."

Kogoro Mouri took out the threatening letter from his pocket and showed it to everyone.

When the others saw the threatening letter, they also said that they had received the same letter, including a rock singer named Lanchuan Dongshi who arrived last.

He took out the letter from his hand and said that it was received by the company and the content was no different from other threatening letters.

Maori Kogoro reasoned, "The red word 'curse' on this letter was in a newspaper ten days ago. This means that the person who sent this letter knew about the charity gala ten days ago."

"Excuse me, Teacher Su Fang, who were the people who knew about this incident ten days ago?"

As soon as Maori Kogoro said this brilliant reasoning, Maori Ran objected, "Dad! This is Mr. Qin's reasoning!"