Conan Rick's Investigator

Based on Qin Zhibo's understanding of him, he must be thinking that this female star earns so much money that she can't spend it all, and she is also very famous, so what misfortune can there be?

If you are unhappy, there won’t be many happy people in the world!

Mao Lilan was more serious and asked what this sentence meant.

"It means that life itself is bitter." Yukiko quickly answered, "Isn't that right, Sharon?"

"Yes, my life is a series of misfortunes..."

Sharon held up an umbrella and said calmly, "When I risked my life to appear on the big screen, my parents died in a fire..."

"The day after I won the Oscar, my husband passed away..."

"When my daughter debuted, I took the opportunity to promote her a lot..."

Sharon said that her daughter took advantage of her father's death in order to become famous quickly, so she severed the mother-daughter relationship with her and they have not been in contact for a long time.

The three people in the car who were eating melons looked very fascinated by what they heard.

But Qin Zhibo knew that this was actually a story made up so that Sharon and Chris would never appear at the same time.

As for the stories about parents dying in a fire and husband passing away, they were probably deliberately created.

Beautiful, strong, and tragic characters are all indispensable.

……

After exchanging pleasantries at the theater entrance, everyone finally parked their car in the parking lot and followed Sharon to visit the backstage of the performance.

Since Qin Zhibo is in Mao Li Ran's dream, he can only follow Mao Li Ran's perspective and cannot move freely.

Sharon pushed open the door of the backstage dressing room. Three female stage actors had already changed into their costumes and were putting on their makeup.

Dark-skinned actor: "It's Sharon! You actually came to see our show!"

Asian-looking actor: "I never thought that what our leader said would come true one day!"

The blonde wavy-haired actor said: "It's amazing, it's like a dream!"

The three actresses had different looks, and when they saw Sharon, they all came over like little fans.

Sharon spoke briefly to the three of them and then introduced Yukiko behind her.

Yukiko is also somewhat famous in the United States, not because she is a Japanese actress, but because of Yusaku Kudo.

The character in Yusaku Kudo's novel, Dark Night Baron, is world-famous. Because the character's identity has not been revealed yet, book fans all over the world regard Kudo Yusaku himself as Dark Night Baron.

In this case, Yukiko is naturally the "Baroness of the Dark Night".

In addition, Yukiko is a serious socialite. Although she has retired from acting, she has continued to appear in variety shows, and often replaces Kudo Yusaku to "show" her reasoning ability on TV.

Of course, Yukiko's reasoning was all stolen from her husband, but if there's any originality at all, there's no lack of originality.

Yukiko whispered to the actresses about Kudo Shinichi and Mori Ran behind her, but since this was Ran Mori's dream, she couldn't hear it, and neither could Qin Zhibo.

Just as these people were communicating enthusiastically, a discordant voice came from the side.

"What a shame! I thought that if His Excellency the Baron came in person, we could unravel that strange gift."

"I didn't expect it was just the Baroness and her children backstage to watch the fun. How disappointing..."

The woman had long straight golden hair that curved her eyebrows, and her face also had delicate makeup, and she looked like one of the actors who were about to go on stage.

However, this woman with straight golden hair was different from other actors. She didn't move forward when facing a celebrity like Sharon, so Mao Lilan didn't notice her, and Qin Zhibo didn't see her either.

"What strange gift are you talking about?" Kudo Shinichi asked with a serious face.

On the plane to New York, he experienced the thrill of reasoning cases for the first time, and if he had the chance this time, he would definitely give it a try.

Sharon next to her explained, "Just three days before the troupe started, I received a gift."

"It was an apple spray-painted with gold. On it were strange words like 'Dedicated to the Great King' written in some kind of animal's blood..."

"Great King?" Kudo Shinichi looked puzzled.

Sharon explained again, "This may be related to the troupe's signature play, The King in Yellow."

"This play is adapted from an 1895 play by a French playwright. The original work was immediately banned by the French government upon publication."

"The adapted version of The King in Yellow was revived on Broadway and became a huge hit, especially the 'King in Yellow'..."

Just then, a handsome man with blond hair, blue eyes and a tall figure walked in from the door.

"Okay, ladies, don't worry. It must be some bored idiot's prank."

"But, Keith..."

The man, wearing a gorgeous prince-style uniform, chatted with several actresses.

Yukiko asked curiously, "Who is he?"

Sharon crossed her arms. "He's the troupe's lead actor, Keith Flockhard. But he was approached to act in a movie, so today should be his last performance."

Qin Zhibo silently observed the people in the dressing room from the perspective of a non-existent person. He counted with his fingers and felt that someone would die next.

There are four women and one man. If they were to play "The King in Yellow", there would obviously be one more female actress.

Is this a hint that an actress will die?

If that was the case, Qin Zhibo felt that the unsociable Kim Chang-ji was the most likely candidate.

……

Next, there are 40 minutes left until the show starts.

Several leading actors, four men and one woman, took Sharon, Yukiko and others on a backstage tour.

Yukiko was a little worried that it would delay these people from performing on stage.

However, Sharon said there was nothing to worry about.

"Don't worry, for the first 20 minutes there will be a narration to help the audience create the atmosphere, introduce the background of the Yinti Kingdom, and recite some poems about Carcosa..."

As they were walking, Mao Lilan suddenly looked up at the ceiling. There were gorgeous costumes hanging in the shadows, which looked a little scary.

"What's that on the ceiling?"

Seeing this scene, Mao Lilan was not frightened at all, and asked in a very casual tone.

"Ah, the costumes for that performance took up too much space, so they're hung up there..."

As soon as Sharon finished speaking, one of the iron armor costumes on the ceiling suddenly fell and headed straight for the crowd.

Everyone reacted well and dispersed immediately, except for the wavy-haired actress whose skirt got caught on the sign on the wall and she couldn't get away.

Just when the armor was about to fall, Mao Lilan rushed over and knocked the man down.

The armor just fell and hit the ground.

The woman with golden wavy hair escaped but was extremely frightened and kept shouting that someone was trying to kill her.

The actor named "Keith" went to investigate and found that the rope holding the armor was broken. He laughed and said, "You think too much. It's just because the rope is too old that it broke."

Qin Zhibo walked over and took a look at the rope, and he knew that things were not that simple.

The cross section of the rope is very clean, obviously cut by humans.

Kudo Shinichi, who was standing nearby with a serious expression, had the same idea.

Several other female leads lamented that it was the troupe's mascot, a golden mirror, that saved the wavy-haired actress, but were stopped by Sharon.

"Are you mistaken? You're not thanking a mirror, but this girl, right?"

After hearing what Sharon said, the wavy-haired actor who was rescued remembered to thank Mao Li Ran.

Ran Mao Li smiled and said in broken English that it was okay, but her arm was actually scratched by the floor when she fell down just now.

Sharon handed her light pink handkerchief to Mao Lilan and said that if angels really existed, she would not be hurt.

……

Time passed quickly and several people were preparing to go on stage.

However, just when the show was about to start, Sharon waved her hand, indicating that she would not watch the performance.

"That 'The King in Yellow' is really interesting..."

"But something suddenly occurred to me. I'm afraid there will be an unprecedented storm tonight."

"I have something to do, so I'll leave first..."

After saying that, Sharon went "home to collect clothes."

Chapter 728 Mao Lilan's Dream (Part )

Sharon left the room, which made Qin Zhibo a little concerned.

If this were the real world, he could place a bug or something, but this was Mao Lilan's dream, and Qin Zhibo could basically only watch.

After Sharon left, Yukiko took her son and daughter-in-law and sat down in the audience seats in front of the stage.

……

After waiting in my seat for a while, the lights in the entire Ghost Theater suddenly dimmed, except for the lights on the stage, which became brighter.

The heavy curtain slowly opened, and a beautiful palace pavilion set stood on one side of the stage.

A room in the palace that lacked decoration, was dilapidated and old.

There is a terrace on the right side of the room that overlooks the lake on the other side of the stage.

Above the pink sky are two suns.

Beneath the sky, there is a pale blue lake backdrop. The deep and tranquil surface of the lake is made to shimmer with hidden ripples using some special stage props.

In this exotic setting, the melodious and lively Tuvan elegy sounded from the loudspeakers on all sides of the theater.

Halfway through the song, as the audience gradually gets into the mood, the narrator begins to recite the background:

Queen Cassilda was deep in thought in her room;

Mourn her lost blank past.

Her dream disturbed the waters of Hali Lake;

An ancient prophet sleeps in the lake.

……

“What a spectacular background~”

Looking at the exquisite scenery on the stage, Mao Lilan couldn't help but admire it sincerely.

Yukiko next to him also echoed: "We can't see such a grand stage where we live."

"After all, Japan's popular style of performance is smaller stage sets..."

While the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were discussing stage art, a discordant yawn was heard from the other side of Mao Lilan.

“Ah—ooh…”

"The King in Yellow" has not officially started yet, but Kudo Shinichi is already extremely impatient.

When it comes to art, Kudo Shinichi only remembers the history behind the art and does not know how to appreciate the art itself.

If he occasionally looks at masterpieces of art, such as "Mona Lisa's Smile" and "Sunflowers", as long as it doesn't take up too much time, he would still be interested.

But it's like this...

"It's a pity that he has a wooden head and just doesn't understand the value of this..." Yukiko complained.

Mao Lilan also leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Shinichi, you finally got here, so can you be serious?"

Facing the complaints from his mother and childhood sweetheart, Kudo Shinichi drooped his eyelids and said listlessly, "Don't take a third-rate stage play like this too seriously."

"If I really have the time, I might as well read more Shakespeare..."

"Oh? Really?" Yukiko tilted her head slightly and smiled, "Although this play was written by an unknown playwright, it has been banned several times."

“Legend has it that the play is divided into two acts, the first being relatively gentle, and the second the most impactful to the audience.”

"Audiences who watched the second act would be deeply shocked and eventually go crazy, which is why it was banned by the government at the time."

Upon hearing this, Mao Lilan looked a little surprised and said worriedly, "Then let's look at this... Is it okay?"