Chapter 126 Twenty Cats

While Furuya and the store manager were happily communicating, everything in the banquet hall was still going on.

"The store manager doesn't like crowded environments, so he went somewhere else to get some fresh air?" Kuaidou, wearing Xiaolan's vest, thought hard and made this barely tenable guess, "Maybe he also wants to stay quiet for a while, so we don't need to disturb the store manager."

The young detective seemed to be persuaded by these words, puffed up his cheeks and said in an annoyed tone: "I should have stayed with the store manager just now!"

"Look, Xiaolan seems to know the store manager very well." Conan suddenly raised his head while holding the puppy, and looked at the people next to him through the lens with his blue eyes, seeming to be very curious, "So how did Xiaolan know that the store manager doesn't like crowds?"

In fact, because he cared a lot about what the store manager said, Kuaidou focused most of his attention on the store manager along the way. He then realized that whenever there were a lot of people approaching, the store manager would move a few steps in their direction without leaving a trace, or try to stay away from the crowd as much as possible.

But if it were an ordinary high school girl like Xiaolan, she probably wouldn't be able to notice so much here. The store manager is not someone who would easily expose such things. If Kaito's observation ability was not many times higher than that of ordinary people, he would not have seen this.

That's why Conan asked that question.

"Well... I talked to the store manager a few words in the exhibition hall before, and he mentioned it unintentionally at that time." The black-haired girl was calm and composed, with no panic on her face. She smiled and answered with a small pear-shaped face. "Come to think of it, I didn't expect Conan-kun to be so close to the store manager. I think he even called you 'Little Detective', right? That's great."

Conan froze for a second: "Hahaha, that was the store manager brother joking with me, just joking! Because, because dogs like me too, I am trying to help the store manager brother find Shirley's previous owner!"

The little dog, who was inexplicably labeled as liking someone very much, lowered his head and rolled his eyes, thinking carefully about where to bite this guy.

However, in order to cooperate with Conan, who could be considered an ally, Shirley did not say anything. Instead, she lay down and pretended to be asleep, sending the signal of "I don't want to bother with you" with her actions.

Here, the big and the small were still talking and fighting with fake smiles, trying to find each other's flaws or cover up themselves. Over there, Suzuki Jirokichi, who was in the center of everyone's attention, went on stage with his niece who was holding his arm. After a brief introduction and greeting, he stroked his beard and snapped his fingers. Swish! The lights on the small platform also went out, and then a brighter light hit the screen in the center of the platform, projecting a video.

Conan, whose attention was drawn to that, stopped and tried to frown. He was standing on a relatively high platform, so he could see clearly what was on the screen over everyone's heads - was that the exhibition hall?

"Everyone, most of the items on display in this exhibition hall are my personal collections." Suzuki Jiroyoshi waved his hand and said with satisfaction, "The only exception is the one in the center, which I gave away as a birthday present. It is a painting called "The Saint in the Coffin" and the precious gem inlaid in the saint's left eye - the saint's tears!"

Then, he turned his palm and pressed down: "At the same time, that is also the target of the thief Kidd today!"

Sure enough, there were suppressed exclamations from the crowd.

On the other side of the real-time projection is probably an autonomous drone, which is retracting its subject in circles. The camera passes over the charming collections in the glass cabinet one after another, making people more curious and expectant about the collection in the center.

At the same time, someone suddenly asked why they used a drone to film the exhibition instead of opening the exhibition hall for people to view it on their own. Suzuki Jirokichi narrowed his eyes, smiled, and slowly gave an answer.

"Of course, this is to prevent Kidd from taking advantage of the situation." He shook his finger. "In fact, all the roads leading to the top floor have been blocked. The bodyguards and police I arranged are also guarding those places to ensure that no one can go to the top floor until Kidd's notice time has passed."

"Of course, unless Kidd can fly." The old man shrugged and said proudly, "But we all know that Kidd only has a hang glider, and a hang glider can't fly from bottom to top."

The image in the projection moved closer and closer to the center, until a corner of the display case that everyone was paying attention to was revealed. Most people in the banquet hall stared at the big screen with bated breath, and then -

The display cabinet in the panoramic photo was actually empty!

There was an uproar in the banquet hall.

Conan slightly widened his eyes and subconsciously looked at the girl beside him. She seemed not to notice his emotional fluctuations and turned to look at him with a puzzled smile: "What's wrong?"

Wait a minute, Xiaolan was with them the whole time and there was no chance for them to take action, so wasn't Kidd actually pretending to be Xiaolan?

Was it just his illusion? Impossible, he clearly felt the sense of disharmony in Xiaolan. Suddenly, the projection light went out, and the dark banquet hall was in chaos for a few seconds, and then a beam of light hit the empty walkway on the second floor, which was higher than the platform.

Tick, tick, tick.

The sound of leather heels hitting the ground was amplified and penetrated into everyone's ears.

A snow-white figure, with his hat brim pulled down, walked out of the corridor slowly and calmly. He raised his head so that everyone below could see the familiar face wearing a monocle.

"Thief Kidd!" Someone exclaimed.

"Adies and gentlemen..." The thief Kidd raised his hood and bowed exaggeratedly, which also cleverly revealed the picture frame in his other hand. He raised his index finger wrapped in a white glove and put it in front of his lips, and smiled slyly, "It's a showtime!"

As soon as the words fell, the bodyguards who were quietly approaching there and wanted to seize the opportunity to catch Kidd appeared in front of their eyes with white mist. They couldn't help coughing. The strange thief over there was not affected at all. Instead, he jumped onto the railing and threw his top hat into the air. At the same time, he also jumped down from the handrail on the second floor.

"Then I will take this saint away." The strange thief Kid said loudly.

After the bang, where was the figure of the Thief Kid in the sky covered by white mist? Only a group of white pigeons suddenly appeared, as if the Thief Kid had turned into a group of pigeons and disappeared from everyone's sight.

There is no doubt that this is a gorgeous magic show contributed by a strange thief - if you ignore the painting stolen by the other party and the gnashing teeth expression of the old man on the stage.

Conan stared at the group of white pigeons that appeared where Kidd disappeared. His eyes behind the lens suddenly narrowed and he turned his head abruptly. The girl who had been standing there had disappeared long ago, perhaps because she was dispersed by the crowd or something else.

But Conan didn't immediately rush to look for the 'lost Xiaolan'. He curled his lips and looked down at Shirley: "So you should have found it a long time ago, right?"

Shirley glanced at him lazily. "You've already discovered it? What do you mean? Your childhood sweetheart smells like poultry?"

Conan supported his forehead: He knew it.

That Xiaolan was really pretending to be Kidd!

As his thoughts flashed through his mind, he did not hesitate. While everyone in the banquet hall was getting anxious and panicked, he turned around and used his small size to sneak into the crowd.

Target – Exhibition Hall –

Kuaidou walked leisurely past an exhibition cabinet, his hands still in the pockets of his casually thrown coat. The hem of his girlish skirt rubbed against the display cabinet, making a rustling sound, as if it was providing him with some necessary background music for his actions.

He didn't stop until he reached the exhibition cabinet that he and Sonoko had visited that evening.

The Kidd who appeared in the banquet hall was, of course - not him!

and……

Kuaidou hummed a song in his heart, and easily opened the glass of the display cabinet with the fingerprints of Suzuki Jirokichi that he had copied earlier, and picked up the painting that was actually not that big.

Besides, who said that the exhibition cabinet is really empty?

He just made some small moves here in advance, and asked Mr. Terai to disguise himself as the thief at that time to divert everyone's attention.

Fortunately, for some reason the store manager recognized him as Kidd but didn’t tell anyone, otherwise Kaito felt like he would have been in trouble tonight…

Kuaidou was just about to admire his spoils and think about how to take out the gem without damaging the painting when he heard the elevator facing the exhibition hall ding and the door opened.

He turned back calmly and met the eyes of the big detective.

"Conan-kun? Why are you here?" The girl asked in surprise, "Are you worried about the painting too?"

"No, there's nothing to worry about the painting. You won't destroy it." Conan said bluntly, "After all, I will arrest you here and send you to the Metropolitan Police Department, the thief Kid."

The black-haired girl shrugged without arguing and quickly changed back into her snow-white thief outfit in the smoke.

"You found it pretty quickly, Detective," Kuai Dou teased.

Conan held Shirley in both of his hands and rolled his eyes at Kaito: "Stop it, you obviously guessed that I found you a long time ago."

The way he rolled his eyes was inexplicably very similar to that of Shirley who was speechless earlier.

Kaito is still smiling: "Well, that doesn't stop me from admiring your speed - right, Conan-kun?"

He used Xiaolan's voice in the latter sentence.

The fist is hard.

Conan looked at Kaito unhappily, and decided not to let him get so proud, so he slowly told him the secret he had discovered in the banquet hall before.

"You didn't come up from the stairs or the front door," he pointed to the wide-open window with his chin, and said cunningly, "but flew up from there."

This time, Kaito was really frozen, and his face was almost broken.

"Oh my, so in your eyes, I can do anything?" Kaito tried to remain calm and answered in a light tone, but before he finished speaking, Conan's next sentence came out.

"The white crow."

The child spoke word by word, his eyes fixed on Kaito's facial expression: "When the fake thief Kid disappeared, there was one white pigeon that was different from the others. It was a white crow...or rather, it was you who used this as a cover to leave the banquet hall, right?"

He didn't question it.

Kaito frowned calmly and looked at Conan, then suddenly realized: "As expected, Great Detective you..."

Conan paused, smiled brilliantly, and interrupted Kaito for the second time: "Because I like cats (emphasis)! So, from a cat's perspective, isn't it normal to catch and discover birds?"

The corner of Kuaidou's mouth twitched, as if he discovered something.

But before he could say anything, there was a shaking sensation under their feet and the sound of an explosion could be heard faintly in their ears.

Both of them changed their expressions. Conan looked at Kaito reflexively. Kaito curled his eyes helplessly and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender: "Hey, this wasn't me."

Of course he knew it wasn't this thief who did it, Conan thought unhappily.

Just from this point of view, how many people have set their sights on this place tonight? ?