Stay away from Conan.

Mitarai Souaki, the most senior person in the Mitarai family of the Shiling Group, is also a master of kendo. As far as Gao Yuan knows, he hardly cares about the operation of the Shiling Group. Unless it involves some major family events, he probably won't show up...

At least, this was Gao Yuan's impression of him.

However, Gao Yuan did not expect that as soon as Kuroba Kaito's plan to impersonate himself was implemented, Kuroba Kaito failed and his disguise was directly seen through by Mitarai Sou.

As such, Gao Yuan had no choice but to say that he was not thoughtful enough.

"However, we don't have to worry about the news about the Siling Group now, because for some unknown reason, the Siling Group withdrew from the auction. Currently, the Suzuki Group and the Fujiang Group should be directly negotiating the price to purchase the collections, and no other forces will get involved."

Soon, after listening to Kuroba Kaito's complaints, he seemed to have calmed down. Kuroba Kaito actually brought back new news to Gao Yuan -

The withdrawal of the Sisubishi Group has made the auction meaningless now. The next step will be for the Suzuki Group to directly bid to buy out those collections, so those collections will eventually fall into the hands of the Suzuki Group.

So, for this result, although it means that the next step is to contact the Suzuki Group, but -

"Oh? Why did the Siling Group suddenly withdraw from the auction?"

Gao Yuan was very curious about this change:

"Did something unexpected happen?"

In response to Gao Yuan's question, Kuroba Kaito was obviously very depressed about the matter of the Siling Group, and replied angrily:

"I don't know. It was already difficult to escape from that old guy, so how could I have the time to pursue this information? Anyway, it's meaningless for me to continue to keep an eye on the Siling Group. Anyway, if you are curious about this matter, just go and ask it yourself!"

As he said this, Kuroba Kaito muttered to himself:

"It doesn't matter if I'm a fake and get discovered, but you are the real one after all!"

"Forget it, there's no need."

Gao Yuan thought about it and felt that there was no need to continue to keep an eye on the Siling Group. It made no difference whether he asked or not.

Besides, Gao Yuan didn't want to ask actively.

Therefore, the investigation of Keizaburo Axue's treasure will have to be carefully considered...

"However, this time it's not without gain..."

Just when Gao Yuan was thinking about his next move, Kuroba Kaito's next words interrupted Gao Yuan's thoughts.

Therefore, Gao Yuan couldn't help but ask:

"Oh? What is it?"

"Recently, someone finally found the note written by Keizaburo Afue where the treasure was hidden. There were only a few words written on it: 'Tokugawa Ronglong'."

Kuroba Kaito replied.

"'Dongwa Ronglong'? What is that?"

Gao Yuan obviously had never heard of this name, so he needed to see if Kuroba Kaito knew it. Otherwise, he would have to start his investigation from this name. "That was the name of a swordsmith from the 19th century..."

In the face of Gao Yuan's doubts, Kuroba Kaito naturally shared his information and some of his speculations:
"And it is confirmed that this swordsmith named Dongwa Ronglong has forged a total of six swords. Therefore, it is possible that clues to the treasure are hidden in these six swords."

"Either one of the six knives, or all six of them..."

Listening to Kuroba Kaito's story, Gao Yuan was also thinking about the situation all the time. So when the news of a swordsmith from the 19th century, who was roughly the same era as Hijikata Toshizo in history, appeared, Gao Yuan couldn't help but think about it and asked:
"So, where are the six knives? Are they among the collections of the Axe River Group?"

"The Fujiang Group only has two of them, and they are all included in this auction. As for the other four, I'm still investigating and can't confirm, but they may have been lost overseas."

Kuroba Kaito sighed softly, seeming a little helpless about the current situation he found out.

In this regard, Gao Yuan thought about it after listening to these analyses and said:

"You said... the news about Dongwa Ronglong was only found recently? It's related to treasures and even clues related to weapons that can turn the tide of the war. Don't you think it's a bit too sudden for this situation to appear at this time?"

Having said that, Gao Yuan's eyes turned around and he continued to ask:

"How does the current head of the Axe River Group react to this?"

"From what I heard, he seems to have secretly sent people overseas to look for the lost knives, but I'm not sure when there will be any results."

“That’s it,” Kuroba Kaito answered.

In this regard, listening to the current situation, Gao Yuan felt that this matter was really difficult to handle. After all, even if there were clues, if Dongwa Ronglong's knife could not be found, would the matter remain deadlocked?
After thinking about it for a while, Gao Yuan decided that he should wait until he saw the two knives forged by Dongwa Ronglong among the items that were being auctioned off by the Fujiang Group.

……

"Eh? The Fujiang Group is auctioning items related to Hijikata Toshizo..."

Shortly after Takato and Kuroba Kaito finished this discussion, when Hattori Heiji invited everyone to go to Hakodate City to watch his kendo competition during the holiday, Conan and Xiaolan, who were preparing to set off for Hakodate City, learned from Sonoko that Sonoko was going to Hakodate City to take a look at a bunch of collectibles that the Suzuki Group had purchased from the Axue Group.

So, when they heard that they could see the belongings of the historical figure Hijikata Toshizo, both Xiaolan and Conan seemed very interested in this and couldn't help but show expressions of surprise.

Sonoko didn't seem to mind it, and just explained further:

"Haha, it's nothing actually. They don't seem to be very valuable. Even if they are bought together, they are not worth much. It's just that the current generation of the Hokkaido Fujiang Group is not doing well. In order to recover funds, the head of the current generation of the Fujiang Group chose to sell these collections of their first generation of heads in a package. And our Suzuki Group only bought these things because we had some business dealings with the Fujiang Group before, and my father was willing to help them."

After listening to Sonoko's explanation, Conan couldn't help but smile bitterly.

After listening to Sonoko's explanation, Conan couldn't help but smile bitterly, thinking to himself -

"Not worth much? No matter how you think about it, it can't be cheap, right? The first head of the Fujiang Group must be a huge fan of Hijikata Toshizo, as he was so crazy about collecting all the items used by Hijikata Toshizo..."

"However, on this trip to Hakodate, we can not only watch Hattori's game, but also see the collection of Hijikata Toshizo. I feel that this trip is really the right one! After all, it's vacation, so we can also call Hattori and Kazuha to go shopping together!"

As for this, Xiaolan said with some anticipation... (End of this chapter)