“Straightforward…”

Conan had a stern face.

“Why, do you have any opinion?” Xiao Ai glanced at him.

“No, I wouldn’t dare.”

“Your face clearly shows that you are thinking ‘sharp-tongued woman’, but that’s all. Miss Lihua, her life might be in danger.”

Ai joked casually, but Conan didn’t know Winnet’s true face and couldn’t understand her intention. “How is this possible?” He shook his head. If there were a lot of murders happening around him every day, even a detective would not be able to handle it.

But she wasn’t completely joking, because Kuba Masumi, who was involved in the previous case, also arrived at the scene. Although she didn’t know what the other party came under, she knew the purpose – she wanted to kill someone, maybe it was the eldest daughter of the Shijing Group. Winette didn’t reveal too much to her, so she was not sure, but she knew that tonight was destined to be not so peaceful.

“What a coincidence, Miss Winnet and Xiaolan, you are both here.”

Kuba Masumi, dressed in a formal dress, greeted them. Unlike the last time they met, she was dressed more neutrally, with a hydrangea-shaped brooch hanging on her black suit jacket, a pair of transparent-framed lenses on her nose, and a small camera in one hand.

Winnet and Xiaolan were both surprised by her arrival. Meeting in different places for different reasons for two consecutive days was a bit too coincidental, and it was inevitable that some factors such as fate were involved. Xiaolan curiously asked Jiuye Masumi about her origins. Jiuye said that the banquet of the daughter of the Shijing Group was also a good place to collect materials – gossip in the circle. After hearing the reason, Xiaolan was a little confused. The last time Jiuye Masumi introduced himself, he was a freelance photographer who mainly photographed landscapes, which was quite different from her imagination.

While they were talking, Mifune, who had previously mocked Maori Kogoro, also came over. He smiled and put his arm around Kuba Masumi’s shoulder, which surprised Xiaolan even more. She thought that Kuba Masumi and Mikami Masato were a perfect match. “Um…” Xiaolan was about to ask, but Mifune took two or three steps forward and explained nonchalantly, “I was a failed suitor in the past, that’s all.”

His carefree attitude made Xiaolan’s eyes turn into small eyes again, and she was completely stunned.

Kuzuha Masumi looked at Mifune with a conflicted look on her face. She frowned and called his name, who shrugged. He took a step forward, lifted Winnett’s hand from bottom to top, and said with a confident smile: “Beautiful lady! May I know your name?” As he said that, he leaned down, but missed.

Winette pulled her hand away.

If it was just a courtesy, she could accept it, but she was not a married woman and now was not a relatively appropriate occasion. The other party also had only a vague understanding of this etiquette and did not know its specific intention.

“Mr. Mifune, I think you need to relearn this etiquette.”

Winnet still smiled, which made her look elegant.

Among all the ladies, she had the most amazing temperament, and just standing there, she was impossible to ignore.

“Mifune, you’ve got the wrong idea! Let me introduce you to Miss Winnet Moriarty, the daughter of the Durant Group and the person in charge of the group. To her, your status and money are not worth mentioning. If you want to impress her with your true feelings, such superficial chat-up won’t work.”

Kuba Masumi patted his shoulder.

Mifune did not feel embarrassed. He said, “I really should learn this well. Please forgive my rudeness, Miss Moriarty.” After he apologized, he seemed to have completely lost interest. Even Xiaolan couldn’t help but complain, “What a quick change.”

“Because I don’t like the eldest lady,” he said to Xiaolan, “I didn’t plan to come to Miss Lihua’s party, but my father was determined to make me pursue Miss Lihua, so I had to put in some superficial efforts.” He looked at Xiaolan with burning eyes, and after a while, he said, “It’s a pity that you still look like a high school student.”

Conan, who was watching from the sidelines, tensed his chest.

This guy……

He was relieved to see that the other party did not do anything bad to Xiaolan, and noticed that Haibara Ai also had a bad expression on her face towards him.

“Why…you hate that person too?” he asked casually.

“How can I not hate a frivolous and cocky man… But compared to a heartless man who suddenly disappears and has no trace of him, this type is still good.”

“You…”

Conan understood immediately that this was definitely talking about him – Kudo Shinichi.

However, she was right. If she continued to be a shadow who could not appear next to Xiaolan, she would disappear one day. She narrowed her eyes, stared at Xiaolan, and said to Xiaoai: “If you have the information of that kind of medicine, how long will it take to make the antidote?” He hoped to get an answer that people would look forward to.

Ai also looked at Winnet in front of her, absent-minded. “You are not a real child. All the guarantees about uncertain things are just a trick used by adults to deceive you. If you want me to lie to you, then the conclusion is within three years… It took me about this long to research it. If I reverse analyze it, it should not take more than this time. But–” She turned around and looked at Conan, “The premise is that there is a possibility.”

Conan nodded, “As long as you continue to research, it must be possible.”

“Yeah……”

“You are the developer of this drug. If even you can’t do it, I’m afraid there is no other way.”

“You have to understand that destruction is always easier than creation. Although what you want me to do is not that difficult, rebellious destruction is far from easy… Be prepared for failure. This is my advice.”

“I understand…I will find out about them as soon as possible.”

Conan thought that as long as he could get a sample of that drug, even if there were some missing information, he would be able to make a big step forward.

“Whispering?”

Suddenly, Winnett breaks into the conversation.

“No, it’s just about school holiday homework. Edogawa has a question for me.”

It’s amazing that you can lie without changing your expression… Conan thought, if he could also learn this skill, then there would be no possibility of being exposed in front of Xiaolan. Although it was just intuition, he always felt that Xiaolan was gradually realizing his true identity. Living together, some details would be highly magnified. If he was found to be too similar to Kudo Shinichi, his true identity might be suspected.

Moreover, he often makes some flaws inadvertently.

“That’s right.”

“Yes,” Huiyuan asked again, “How long are we going to stay?”

Judging from the situation at the scene, the party should be almost over. Because this is just a birthday party, not a grand celebration party, most of the people who came are not close to Shijing Lihua, Xiao Ai thought that tonight should be able to end smoothly.

“Mr. Maori seems drunk…”

Winnet changed the subject.

After she said this, Conan remembered Kogoro who had been eating like crazy since the beginning of the party. He looked towards the table and saw Kogoro leaning on a stool with his head down, snoring.

“Really? How could he be so drunk?” Xiaolan couldn’t help but complain.

After a while, just as Xiao Ai had thought, the banquet ended and the guests who came to celebrate left one after another. Apart from the organizers, only a few of Shijing Lihua’s suitors and them were left.

“There’s nothing we can do. We can only let him sober up first.” Xiaolan sighed, then looked at Winnett, “Miss Winnett, why don’t you go back first? Looking at my father’s condition, there’s nothing we can do for the time being.”

Conan started to feel a headache.

Only Uncle Kogoro can drive, and now he is so drunk. He might have to stay in this villa today.

You are so shameless that you want to stay here after eating.

“Okay… Although I want to say this,” Winnett looked at Sophia who was drinking alone, “but it seems there is no other way…”

Xiao Ai then felt a headache.

“Two lousy drunks.”

Without a driver, they couldn’t leave even if they wanted to. Winnet’s condition obviously made it impossible for her to drive. Although she could drive, an elementary school student driving was as ridiculous as a blind person driving. She quietly pulled Winnet’s skirt and said, “You didn’t do anything, did you?” She also glanced at Sophia who was half lying on the table and said, “Why is she so drunk?”

“It seems that because of Mr. Hebe’s incident, the original cooperation plan was postponed. We also have to accept the police investigation, and bad rumors about the company have spread. This is undoubtedly a fatal blow to a strong woman who is determined to run a good business.”

Winnet speculated on the explanation.

“Don’t you want to continue being affectionate with that girl?”

“Who?”

“Kudou’s girlfriend.”

“How is this possible?”

“It’s very difficult to stay completely rational in front of the person you like,” Xiao Ai said, “My woman is chatting with other women in front of me, and I can only watch like a child from behind. Don’t you think it’s a bit too much?”

“Eh……”

Could it be that Xiao Ai was jealous? Looking at Xiao Ai’s expressionless face, Winnet was a little confused.

At the same time, Conan, who went out for some fresh air, overheard the conversation between the chairman of the Yotsuba Group and Masashi Rokuda. The car had a flat tire, and Miss Rika decided to stay in the villa tonight, along with her four potential suitors.

Since the road up the mountain is quite long and steep, it is difficult to go down the mountain without a car. Miss Lihua didn’t want to squeeze in other people’s cars to go down the mountain, so this is what happened.

But what made him feel strange was that, except for Kogoro’s car, the tires of the other six cars were damaged.

It was almost as if they wanted to let this car go on purpose.

Sofia’s sports car also did not have a flat tire.

While he was thinking, Miss Lihua and her group returned to the villa. At this time, he heard the man named Nikaidou who stayed behind talking to himself.

“You don’t have to dream. Miss Lihua’s partner was decided two years ago.”

……

254 Contact

Conan muttered to himself: This Miss Lihua is really popular!

Seeing that there was no one outside, he also planned to go back to the villa. Although the simultaneous flat tires of the cars must have been a deliberate act by someone, considering that the targets were Miss Lihua and her suitors, he subconsciously felt that this might also be the work of a competitor, or simply something that one of these suitors had done – spending a night with Miss Lihua in the villa, of course, it could also be a simple prank.

As soon as he climbed up to the second floor, he met Winnett standing not far from the staircase. The second floor was a regular square shape, and the banquet hall was just opposite the corner of the staircase, so no matter which direction he went to the banquet hall, the distance was about the same. He roughly estimated the location and saw that Winnett’s purpose should be related to the toilet. He had not forgotten the guidance given by the old woman just now.

Conan greeted. “Sister Winnet?”

“It’s Conan…what’s going on?”

Under the influence of Ai, Winnett withdrew her hostility towards the original famous detective “Kudo Shinichi”. She now needs to ensure two things: first, her relationship with Ai in the organization cannot be leaked, and second, to ensure that the people around her are not affected by the organization’s actions. Kudo Shinichi is a living experiment of Ai and is very precious. She has retrieved the list of people who took this drug in the organization. The only one on the list who turned into a child is Kudo Shinichi.

“As for the toilet, there’s one across the street.”

Conan pointed to the outer edge on the opposite side. In the rectangular space, only the lighting on that side had no problems.

“Yeah, I’m waiting for Ai…it looks like the light bulb around here is broken.”

The toilet was relatively private and small, so she was blocked outside by Ai. However, she had no intention of following in. She lent the small flashlight she carried with her to Ai to prevent the surroundings from being pitch dark when she went to the bathroom.

“Um……”

While answering, Conan linked this incident to the flat tire of the car downstairs.

If coincidences happen at the same time, then it is definitely not a coincidence. His detective thinking is fermenting, and he looks like he is lost in thought.

“Conan?”

Seeing Conan’s detective-like expression, Winnett showed appropriate surprise, “You suddenly look like an adult who is deep in thought.”

Conan immediately laughed and fooled around.

“No, I just felt it was strange. Not only was the light bulb broken, but many cars downstairs also had flat tires. I was wondering if there were any goblins in this villa?”

“I used to like the story of the mischievous elves. But this time it must be a coincidence. This villa doesn’t look well maintained.”

“That’s right!”

Although Conan agreed verbally, he had a new question in his mind: How did Winette know that the villa was not well maintained? Did she infer it based on the problem with the light bulb? He thought that to confirm this, he should also observe the accumulation of dust in the villa, but her observation ability should be weaker than that of ordinary people.

With the sound of flushing, Ai opened the door and walked out of the bathroom. The moment she saw Conan, her eyes widened slightly.

“Aren’t you going out to wait for that uncle to sober up?”

She had almost called Winnet’s name just now.

“Miss Lihua decided to stay here tonight, and the men around her also made the same decision… I came back to see how Uncle Kogoro is doing.”

Conan explained.

Xiao Ai is not very interested in these things, but the word “overnight” gives her a bad feeling, as if a crime is about to happen.

“It looks like we’ll have to stay here for quite a while. That old man is drunk…”

Ai walked to Conan’s side and lowered her voice.

“You’d better pay attention, Detective. Something might happen tonight.”

“Uh?”

How could there be such a coincidence!

Conan thought Ai was worrying too much.

It is not surprising that her personality has become suspicious after escaping from that terrible organization. Judging from Ai’s usual state, he believes that her mentality is still shrouded in the terror of the remnants of the organization.

“Let’s go back to the banquet hall first. It’s dark here. Let’s keep our private conversation there.”

Whisper…

Conan was embarrassed. He didn’t want people to misunderstand how good his relationship with Haibara was.

During the time at Teitan Elementary School, he fully realized how precocious the kids were. They were completely different from when he was a child… Well, he actually couldn’t remember much about what happened back then.

The three returned to the banquet hall, and as soon as they entered, they saw everyone surrounding the still unconscious Maori Kogoro. Miss Lihua and his four suitors, as well as the managing director of the Shijing Group, Rokuda Masashi, and Kuba Masumi.

Just as Kogoro Mouri was about to stand up, he was immediately pushed back by Xiaolan – he was so drunk that he could not stand steadily.

“No, wait until you sober up before going back!”

Ichieda Takashi, who had introduced himself to Mori earlier, followed up with, “That is to say, great detective, you stay here and tell us the whole story of the case, okay?”

Rokuda Masashi followed suit.

“This is a really good idea.”