Conan Rick's Investigator

According to the magic notes left by Heiba Daoyi, among all the people he has taught so far, only one student has been able to reach this level and can be considered a true disciple.

In order to practice making plaster statues, Kuroba Kaito made no less than dozens of plaster statues of human heads. Among them, the face of "Michael Bay" was an improvisation he had created in the past.

The production officially began. Kuroba Kaito took out the plaster statue of "Michael Bay" and placed it on the workbench. He heated the silicone, poured it, modified it, added hair, modified it again, and let it cool...

Kuroba Kaito was very skilled in disguise, and within two hours, he had completed five identical "Michael Bay" human skin masks.

Qin Zhibo put on one of them and took a photo in front of Kuroba Kaito's camera to use as an ID photo.

Another twenty minutes later, a driver's license with a slightly warm surface came out.

"Thanks, I'll pay for these with my image rights."

"But remember, it cannot be used for illegal or criminal purposes~"

Kuroba Kaito's face darkened.

You can’t break the law and commit crimes. Isn’t that the same as not saying anything?

After seeing Qin Zhibo off, Kuroba Kaito came to the portrait and looked at the life-size painting of the Moon Thief again.

After thinking for a while, Kuroba Kaito picked up the phone and made an international long-distance call to the Phantom Thief Lady - Kuroba Chikage.

"Kaito? It's the middle of the night here... Ahaha~" Kuroba Chikage yawned lazily on the phone.

"Mom, are you still in Las Vegas? Isn't your work finished yet?"

"Well... I still need some time to get to work. By the way, why did you suddenly think of calling me at this time? Are you facing some emotional problems? It's Aoko..."

Kuroba Chikage was teasing his son, but Kuroba Kaito wasn't in the mood for a joke. He got straight to the point, "Mom, where did those two life-size portraits of Dad come from?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line before a reply came in: "I heard it's an artist friend that Daoyi knew when he was young. He mainly creates figure paintings and sculptures."

"Daoyi once asked him for advice on making a human skin mask, and even studied with him for a while..."

"As for the name, it seems to be 'Pickman'?"

Chapter 542: There are so many elementary school students...

Pickman?

Kuroba Kaito narrowed his eyes slightly, his mind full of thoughts.

Could it be that these two paintings he created for his father?

Does he know that his father is Kaito Kidd?

"Okay, Mom, go to sleep!"

"Hello? Hello..."

Kuroba Kaito hung up the phone in a hurry, flipped over and flashed to the desk, turning on the computer again.

After exiting the search page for Karasuma Renya's treasure, Kuroba Kaito searched for Pickman's information again.

On a knowledge website called Noah's Ark, he found a related knowledge entry:

Richard Upton Pickman, an American post-Impressionist painter in the late 19th century, is known for his strange and fantastical paintings, which incorporate elements of hell and exaggerated realism.

[Representative works: "Ghoul Feast", "Eating Ghoul", "Subway Stories", etc.]

The content of the entry is very simple. Unlike other painters, whose artistic achievements have been evaluated in various ways by countless descendants, there is almost no historical evaluation of Pickman.

However, what Kuroba Kaito was concerned about was not the artistic aspect, but Pickman's age.

A painter in the late nineteenth century, even if he could live until eighteen years before his father became Kaito Kid, he would be at least a hundred years old.

It is truly amazing that a centenarian can create such exquisite paintings...

Kuroba Kaito looked at the painting of Moonlight Thief in front of him and suddenly noticed that some of the oil paint at the corners had oxidized and fallen off.

I stood on the chair and rubbed it with my fingers, and found that there was another layer of oil paint under the peeling oil paint.

This is……

Picture within picture!

There is another painting underneath this one!

Kuroba Kaito immediately frantically found various tools and finally managed to remove the life-size portrait and its frame from the wall.

Although he was busy and sweating, Kuroba Kaito didn't have time to wipe the sweat off. He quickly removed the frame and turned over the back of the painting to check.

"This is……"

The old canvas revealed some oil paints of strange colors. The colors of these oil paints were in the same position as the portrait on the front, but the colors used were completely different.

This further confirmed Kuroba Kaito's idea that there was another painting underneath the Moon Thief, and the oil paint of the Moon Thief was covered on top later.

There are two ways to see the painting below. One is to destroy the oil paint on it, but this also means that the portrait of the Moon Thief will disappear forever.

Another method is to use an X-ray scanner specifically for fine arts, which can scan the original painting under the oil paint.

Only professional art museums have this kind of equipment.

……

Qin Zhibo came out of Kuroba Kaito's house and walked for a while. Just as he was about to reach out to hail a taxi, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

Qin Zhibo now carries two phones with him, but the one in his left chest pocket is the old one, while the one in his right chest pocket is the new one.

Although the ringtones of the two phones were the same, judging from the vibration of the phones, it was the right chest that was vibrating.

It's a call from the Black Organization!

Qin Zhibo did not dare to delay and quickly picked up the phone. Sure enough, he heard Gin's cold voice on the other end.

"Tonight at 9:00, Nishitama City Hall."

“I got it.”

After the call was hung up, the communication between the two sides remained extremely brief.

Qin Zhibo checked Nishitama City on the navigation system and found that it was about a two-hour drive from Tokyo.

It's already afternoon, and by the time I drive there, it will be almost evening.

In that case, why not set off now?

Qin Zhibo called Toru Amuro, who was still working in the office, and told him that he would not be able to go home before the end of get off work today, so he just had to close the door of the office.

After giving the instructions, Qin Zhibo stopped a taxi and headed straight to Nishitama City.

……

The taxi was driving very fast, and less than an hour after leaving Jianggutian Town, it arrived at a place that Qin Zhibo was very familiar with.

Longshen Mountain, ninety-nine consecutive bends.

Strictly speaking, entering the mountainous area of Ryushen Mountain means entering the area of Nishitama City.

Qin Zhibo was resting his eyes in the car seat, trying to gather his strength for the evening's mission, which was a criminal one anyway. Suddenly, the speed of the taxi slowed down until it stopped.

"What happened?"

The taxi driver's puzzled voice woke Qin Zhibo up. He looked up and saw that the road ahead was blocked by the police.

In the blocked road section, a large crane was working, lifting a car that had overturned on the roadside into the air with a steel rope.

At this time, an ordinary policeman came over and explained the situation to the taxi driver.

"There's been a traffic accident on the road ahead. Emergency repairs are underway. It will probably be open to traffic again in about ten minutes."

The driver nodded in understanding, lit a cigarette, and said indifferently, "It must be some rich kid from somewhere who came here to race for excitement..."

But as soon as the driver finished speaking, the police shook his head and denied it.

"Based on the current situation at the scene, we suspect this was a traffic accident. Someone hit the car from behind, causing it to fall off the cliff..."

The police selflessly shared the information and were actually secretly observing whether there was any paint peeling on the taxi, but unfortunately there was none.

As the car was lifted up, Qin Zhibo suddenly noticed that the car that had the accident was actually a valuable luxury car, a BMW.

This reminded Qin Zhibo of someone, so he quickly asked, "Is the driver still alive? What's his name?"

Social skills (eloquence), initiate√

Without a second thought, the police officer picked up the police manual and glanced at it before replying, "The driver was already dead when we arrived. His name was Watanuki Tomoichi..."

Qin Zhibo thought about it and remembered that the car thief he met in a nearby factory last night had this exact name.

The car thief is dead, and it was a hit-and-run case. The murderer is most likely the man who looked like Vodka's younger brother yesterday.

At this moment, the task reminder sounded at the right time.

[Side Quest: Find the murderer of this case]

[Task requirements: 1 hours limit]

[Task Reward: 400 General Skill Proficiency, 160 Social Credit]

-

When the task prompt appeared, Qin Zhibo knew that he had to take action.

There is still plenty of time before I go to Nishitama City to meet Gin in the evening, so I don’t need to rush.

At this moment, another policeman came over and talked to the previous policeman, asking, "Where did the person who reported the case go?"

"Are you talking about the famous detective Maori Kogoro? They let him go a long time ago, but I left my phone number..."

As soon as Qin Zhibo heard the name of Maori Kogoro, his body shuddered.

"Please wait!"

"The Maori Kogoro you're talking about, is there an elementary school student wearing glasses with him?"

The policeman was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "There's more than just one elementary school student, there are many of them..."

……

At the same time, Kogoro Mouri drove to the wooden villa on Mount Ryujin, took some cold beer and a fishing rod and was about to go fishing.

Conan, who hadn't fished for a long time, also wanted to try his hand at fishing, so he went along.

Mao Lilan wanted to take the three little ones with her, but today the three little ones unexpectedly said that they didn’t want to go out and just wanted to stay in the house and watch TV.

There was nothing Maori Ran could do about this, so she could only remind the three of them not to forget to lock the doors and windows, and then she left with Maori Kogoro and Conan.

After the adults and Conan left, the three little ones quickly sat down at the table and excitedly discussed their "free giveaway" plan.

"hurry up!"

"Guang Yan, have you really solved the secret code in the hands of the dead driver?"

"Of course! The answer is in the book I was just reading!"

Chapter 543: Ga... Qin Zi steals bullets

A day ago, Mao Lilan used the free invitation ticket to the wooden villa left by Professor Agasa before he went to the United States as bait, and asked Mao Li Kogoro to drive herself and the Junior Detective League to go on an outing to the Ryujin Mountains.

Normally, Kogoro Mouri is quite reluctant to take the Junior Detective League and a group of kids out for a trip, and it takes a while of coaxing before he agrees.

But this time, Kogoro Mori, contrary to his usual behavior, immediately agreed.

After asking carefully, Maori Ran found out that Maori Kogoro had originally planned to participate in the Nishitama City Twin Skyscrapers the day after tomorrow.

The owner of the twin skyscrapers in Nishitama City is Mio Tokiwa, who was a junior of Kogoro Mouri in college. She is only one year younger than Kogoro Mouri and is a beautiful woman who is still unmarried.

This made Mao Lilan very worried that she would have another stepmother and Kudo Shinichi would have two mothers-in-law, so she insisted on going with them.

In other words, this trip is planned to be divided into two days.

The first day was an outing in the Ryujin mountain area on the way from Tokyo to Nishitama City, and the second day was a direct trip to Nishitama City to visit the twin skyscrapers.

However, on the first day of the mountain outing, Haibara Ai said frankly that she was bored with mountain climbing and camping and did not participate.

However, on the second day, when visiting the tallest twin skyscrapers in Japan, Haibara Ai expressed some interest in visiting the "staircase" built by humans in an attempt to approach the kingdom of God.

Everyone was shocked by what Haibara Ai said, but Conan had already gotten used to it and was too lazy to complain.