Chapter 123 Seventeen Cats

After meeting with Akae Nayue, Sonoko led everyone to leave the dinner venue which had not yet officially started, and took the sightseeing elevator all the way up to the exhibition hall on the top floor.

The birthday dinner was held in a newly opened hotel chain under the Suzuki Foundation. The banquet hall and exhibition hall were on the upper and lower floors. Guests attending the dinner could freely choose whether to visit the exhibition hall or stay in the banquet hall to continue socializing - no matter what, this was a banquet hosted by the Suzuki Foundation, and of course most of the guests were of extraordinary status, so this arrangement was very unusual.

The only unusual thing in the entire banquet was the exhibit placed in the center of the exhibition hall and the meaning it represented.

They walked past various exhibition cabinets. The paintings displayed around them were basically the same as the paintings they wanted to see. They were the private collections of the old man Suzuki Jirokichi. These collections, which were stunning enough when taken out individually, were now arranged together. The display cabinets were arranged like a huge circle, and they silently guarded the center of the circle.

This makes visitors even more curious about what the exhibits in the center of the circle will look like.

"This painting was officially given to my sister by Uncle Jiroyoshi as a birthday present this morning," Sonoko explained to everyone while standing in front of a display case covered with khaki cloth. "But in fact, Uncle Jiroyoshi bought this painting a month ago. At first, he planned to exhibit it himself to attract the attention of Mr. Kidd. Later, because my sister also liked it, Uncle Jiroyoshi decided to give the painting directly to my sister."

At this point, Sonoko held her face and chuckled twice: "Then, because I like Mr. Kidd very much, my sister discussed it with Uncle Jiroyoshi, and finally put this painting on display and sent an invitation to Mr. Kidd."

"It sounds like Mr. Jirokichi and Sister Ayako are both very confident that the Phantom Thief Kid will be interested in this exhibit?" Conan held Shirley in his arms and stood beside Xiaolan and asked obediently, "Why? Is there anything special about that painting?"

Originally, Conan wanted to put Shirley in his pocket by copying her, however, Akae Nazuki was an adult over 1.8 meters tall, and his coat pocket could fit a puppy, but Conan's pocket, a primary school student, could not fit that, so in the end, the two reluctant people had to hold their noses and endure it, pretending that each other did not exist.

"Of course!" Sonoko said proudly, "This painting was bought at a high price by Uncle Jirokichi from a poor painter he met by chance abroad. It was said to be the work of the other party's deceased grandfather. It was originally intended to be left as a family heirloom, but the painter was very short of money. However, even so, he insisted that the buyer of the painting could not cause any damage to the painting, which led to the fact that only Uncle Jirokichi, who really admired the painting, was the one who bought it."

The fact that the painting was bought at such a high price by Jirokichi Suzuki, who is used to fine things and artworks, is enough to show that the painting has an appreciation value that matches the price. So besides Jirokichi Suzuki, there should be others who want to buy it, so this means that other buyers are not willing to accept the condition of "not damaging the painting".

Who would choose to destroy a painting that they bought at a high price? This condition itself is strange, and it is even stranger for a buyer to not accept it.

Thinking back to himself, Chi Jiang Na Yue flipped through his memory and indeed found a report related to this painting from the corner of his mind - he was on a business trip in the United States when this incident in the main world happened. Later, according to the report, Kidd seemed to have failed due to an accident.

But no matter how he recalled it, he was sure that the reports did not mention what the accident was or why Kidd failed.

Never mind. He likes surprises and challenges anyway.

Yuanzi placed her hand on the cloth, and she gently pulled it. The cloth, illuminated by the soft white light deliberately created around it, fell to the ground, revealing the obscured display case and the eye-catching painting inside.

"'Saint in the Coffin', this is the name of this painting," Sonoko introduced.

The old gilded carved frame tells how heavy the history of the painting is. The content of the painting is just like its name, a blonde girl with half-closed eyes. The perspective is as if the painter opened the coffin and framed the scene from the top, so that everyone can clearly see all the details of the girl's face.

If it weren't for the mahogany coffin board next to her and the flowers scattered on the girl's face, almost no one would have thought she was lying in a coffin.

"Those flowers are German irises, and the purple-blue German irises symbolize 'holy'. It sounds very 'saintly', right?" Yuanzi, who had done her homework in advance, was in charge of explaining, "Then you can look at her eyes - the one on the left."

The saint in the coffin has a pair of sapphire blue eyes. If you look closely, you will find that there seems to be a star hidden in the left eye. The star lines coming from all directions converge beautifully at the center point and seem to sway smartly. The saint's left eye is as dazzling and charming as the finest satin.

Wait, it doesn’t seem like an illusion, the star line is really shaking?

Then, Yuanzi pressed a button next to the display cabinet, and the soft light changed from white to light yellow. At the same time - "Ah, it turned into dark purple!" Xiaolan's surprised voice came from above.

so it is.

Conan suddenly realized: "The saint's left eye is a gem!"

"Yes, and it's not an ordinary gem." Yuanzi clicked her tongue twice and shook her finger. "This is the color-changing starlight sapphire that was a flash in the pan at an auction abroad forty years ago. It's the Saint's Tears."

"The grandfather of the impoverished painter was the buyer of this gem. He carved and polished the saint's tears and disguised them as part of the painting. He embedded them deeply into the drawing board and then painted the "Saint in the Coffin" on this piece of wood."

No wonder.

Chijiang Nayue felt emotional: the value of this painting is not worth as much as that star sapphire, but the painter whose family has fallen on hard times does not want his grandfather's hard work to be destroyed, so he would rather sell a painting that might not be sold than take out the gem inside and sell it for a higher price.

It is no wonder that people think Kidd will definitely keep the appointment. After all, although the saint is not the one Kidd is looking for, the saint's tears are not necessarily the same.

As expected of that old man, only Suzuki Jirokichi would buy the painting as a birthday present for the younger generation and arrogantly use it to provoke Kid, knowing that the painting was inlaid with such expensive gems.

"That is to say, if Kidd wants to steal this gem, he needs to take the painting away with him?" Xiaolan exclaimed, "It seems that this is really not easy to do."

"Uncle Jirokichi has set up many devices in this exhibition hall. He said that even if Lord Kidd comes, he will never be able to escape. Although the ceiling of this exhibition hall can be opened, the control device is hidden by uncle. Even I don't know who hid it." Sonoko clasped her hands against her chest, her cheeks slightly flushed as she said in admiration, "But I believe in Lord Kidd's words and I can do it!"

What? To steal your gems? Conan was complaining like crazy in his mind.

Hey, Sonoko, wake up! Isn't this the reason why the old man didn't tell you where the control device was hidden?

In Conan's arms, Shirley, who seemed to have been forgotten, glanced at his chin, then turned her uninterested gaze to the girl next to Conan.

The black-haired girl also keenly noticed that the puppy was looking at her. She tilted her head with a smile, looking a little curious.

Shirley twitched her nose.

That's really strange, isn't it, Detective Edogawa?

How come your beautiful childhood sweetheart, who was probably also a cat, has such a strong...avian smell?

Shirley narrowed her eyes and calmly lay back in her original position, with no intention of reminding Conan, nor did she care how nervous the 'girl' was after being treated like this by her.

Oh no, from the previous conversation, it seems that the kid and the puppy know each other. Could it be that the puppy also remembers the smell of Mouri Ran, so it finds that his smell is wrong... ?

Xiaolan——Kaidou kept smiling and looked away silently.

He did get the news that the eyes in the painting were gems, so he followed the old man's wishes and sent a notice here. Today, in order to successfully obtain more information about the agency and gems, he pretended to be Suzuki Sonoko's best friend Mouri Ran.

The appearance of 'Mr. Miyamoto' who seemed to be a gentleman was an unexpected surprise for him, and the dog Shirley who came with him was an even greater surprise.

As the Phantom Thief Kid, Kaito's disguise naturally includes his smell. He even bought the same shower gel as Ran a week in advance for disguise, for fear that he would be recognized again by Conan who is very familiar with Ran Mouri.

Unexpectedly, this time he might be discovered by a puppy... The big dog that the old man kept didn't make him feel as dangerous as this puppy. What on earth did Mr. Miyamoto keep?

Kuaidou wiped the cold sweat off his forehead.

And he didn't know if it was his illusion... Not only was the puppy Shirley paying attention to him, but Mr. Miyamoto also seemed to have noticed that something was wrong with him.

Kuaidou carefully calmed his breathing, then raised his head and pretended to accidentally make eye contact with the store manager for a moment.

The store manager showed a hint of hesitation.

The store manager took a step closer to him, and as Conan looked at him eagerly, "I want to hear it too," he whispered to Kaito:

"If I get you the gem, will you come home with me?"

Quick Fight:?

The famous thief Kidd's pupils trembled, and he went into a brainstorm and began to think whether this was some kind of code. At the same time, the store manager thought for a moment and added: "My family is quite big, I can afford to support you, don't worry."

It turns out that it really means what it says.

...But who is worrying about that!!!