Phantom Thief of Heart!but conan

Chapter 950 The Temperature of Memories

The long dark corridor leads underground, and secrets from a century ago come to mind mixed in the humid air.

Everyone gathered at the cave entrance, looking at the passage below that was sinking into darkness, and they all sighed with emotion.

"Such a deep passage was dug in the mountain, and even mechanisms were built, but no one knew about it... Your great-grandfather was a very creative guy." After looking at it with a flashlight for a long time, Qian Jiangyi praised in a dry voice with an unstoppable regret in his voice.

The people around who were curiously looking at the people below all looked at him.

There are no fools here, everyone can hear what he is trying to say.

In that era, he was able to build a castle of this scale, and had the time and money to construct such a large underground space underneath. He could even leave behind considerable assets after such extravagance to provide his descendants with a life of food and clothing. This shows how wealthy and accumulated this person was.

If his tools had not been confiscated by the police, or if the police had not followed him to the castle, he might have found a lot of "good stuff" by exploring secretly...

"He's just very rich." Maori Kogoro reached out and touched the dusty stone wall, and said bluntly, "There's not a lot of dust, which means that the air in this underground space is probably always circulating, and there's more than one exit. Ordinary rich people can't do this."

Kosaka Natsumi tightened the box at her side and wisely did not respond. She just said, "The castle is always maintained and is often open as a tourist attraction. It won't be shabby."

Her great-grandfather returned to Japan after the Russian Revolution and was suddenly able to build such a high castle. No one would believe that this had nothing to do with the Tsar's family.

To put it bluntly, he took advantage of his identity as a craftsman working for the royal family and took away a lot of treasures.

In the chaotic situation at that time, this choice was understandable for the sake of self-protection and escape, but it is not so good to look into it now.

Therefore, when everyone was secretly despising Qian Jiangyi, only Pu Siqinglan kept her hateful gaze on Kosaka Natsumi, especially her gentle and lovely face.

Sensing her emotions keenly, Tang Ze stepped forward and picked up the candlestick on the table, just blocking her view.

"Although everyone seems to have brought a lot of strong flashlights, after all, this is an underground space that no one has entered for decades. It is better to take a candle to check the oxygen situation."

"That's very thoughtful. You also have common sense for survival in the wild. You're very smart, classmate Tang Ze." Megure Jusan would not refuse and nodded happily.

Pu Siqinglan's gaze fell on Tang Ze's profile, and she instinctively covered her right eye. It took a lot of effort to control herself from stepping back.

She didn’t know if it was because her abilities had been affected, or because of the psychological trauma caused by several setbacks, but now whenever she saw this face, she would instinctively feel a swelling pain in her eyeballs.

Seeing her retreat, Tang Ze supported Kosaka Natsumi and stood with her in the crowd, walking towards the passage below, recalling his discussion with his teammates in his mind.

"Pusi Qinglan - although I don't know Scobin's real name, I'll call her that - her ability is closely related to vision. I think that she shoots people in the right eye because she yearns for Rasputin and has a sense of ritual, but it may also be related to her own situation."

This was Tang Ze's analysis when he inflicted serious damage to Pu Siqinglan for the second time.

"What is the basis for your judgment?" Asai Narimi asked back, and said, "But even if it's just a guess, it makes sense. Our special abilities are more or less related to our personal experiences and thoughts. Her obsession with her right eye has brought a visual bonus to her right eye, which is reasonable."

"It's mainly about the moment when her influence disappears." Tang Ze tapped his right eye. "To describe it, her ability gives me a feeling of 'solidification', as if the air around me suddenly turned into liquid, instantly increasing the resistance to movement. If this ability continues to develop, it might become like Medusa, turning people to stone with just one glance. Mainly, the moment her bullet hit me and caused her to suffer a counter-injury, that feeling disappeared."

"That is to say..." Zhu Fujingguang touched his chin and said thoughtfully, "Her power is indeed derived from the legend of Rasputin. The most famous labels of Rasputin are 'mysticism' and 'legendary immortality'. It makes sense to regard solidification as a kind of immortality..."

"Ah, this explains how she ended up in the zoo." Tang Ze scratched his hair and said in annoyance, "Eternal life, eternal life again. How afraid of death is she? Is it because she knows that she is doing evil and is destined to die soon?"

"…So, to this day, even though he has been identified as the one who accelerated the destruction of Tsarist Russia and is undoubtedly a historical sinner, he still has many public admirers who repeatedly try to prove that Rasputin is an incomprehensible reformer and that the parts about his extravagance and debauchery are just a stigma." Tang Ze held up the candlestick in his hand and continued to introduce, "In the final analysis, it also stems from the pursuit and fear of the mysterious power of metaphysics."

"So that's how it is." After listening to Tang Ze, Natsumi Kosaka nodded thoughtfully, "I should pay more attention to things about Russia. My knowledge of Russia is very limited. I'm sorry that I need you to introduce these things to me."

Tang Ze smiled, his expression slightly gloomy against the candlelight in his hand: "What about now? Are you more interested in Russia, or less interested? Their history is always separated from the present process. Perhaps they miss Catherine's golden age, and now there are many people who admire the Tsar. Relying on your great-grandfather's connection with the country and your family's support, you will actually be treated favorably and respected in Russia."

There was a hint of tentativeness in Tang Ze's words.

Just as he said, one only needs to carefully observe the photo reflected by the Egg of Memory to confirm her Tsarist bloodline.

——If you think about it a little more deeply, you will understand. If he had not gotten together with the daughter of Nicholas II, for no reason, the craftsman Kiichi Kosaka would never have inserted his family photo into the family photo of his employer. It would have been such a spoiler.

Originally, Natsumi Kosaka had no idea about this, so perhaps she would not have any other feelings except that she finally saw the photo of her great-grandmother, but Tangze felt that she had the right to make her own choice, so it was necessary to let her know.

Of course, if she has no interest in this, Tang Ze will respect her thoughts and not let those annoying questions disturb her life.

"I have some Russian blood, so I am curious about life there. And the Winter Palace, I am really curious about what the world's longest art gallery looks like." Kosaka Natsumi smiled and shook her head slightly, "But, that's not my hometown after all, and my family's intersection with them is a story from a hundred years ago. I can go and take a look, but forget about living there."

"You think very clearly."

"You are exaggerating..."

Kuroba Kaito, who was holding a flashlight to check the surroundings, couldn't help but look at Tang Ze a few more times when he heard this.

He knew about the Egg of Memory because, on the one hand, he did have some knowledge of the legendary craftsman Kosaka Kiichi and naturally knew about his family and descendants. On the other hand, it was because...

In short, apart from the simple idea of ​​returning the things to Natsumi Kosaka, he really hadn't thought about so many things. When he heard Tang Ze's temptation, he couldn't help but look strange.

Could it be that this guy has really developed a service spirit because he opened a commissioned website? Why is he playing a fake Kid and taking care of the after-sales service like this?
The huge team soon arrived at the end of the passage, and the beautifully painted double-headed eagle on the wall appeared in front of everyone.

Several flashlights illuminated the long-forgotten emblem. Tang Ze looked at the painting in front of him and couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Peter the Great's crown, the scepter and golden ball representing imperial power. No wonder the restorationists were so vocal. In order to overturn the previous path, they made a 180-degree turn and even directly used the double-headed eagle that was most closely related to imperial power. So there will always be many people who have wild imaginations about this.

Since there were so many people in the team this time, even if Conan did not jump out to deduce and analyze, enough flashlights were swept back and forth on the mural, and the "gem" on the crown was still illuminated.

The brightness meter received enough signals, the ground beneath their feet began to vibrate, and the road leading to the deepest part unfolded again.

"Oh, so it's a special mechanism that will be activated when there is enough light." Maori Kogoro looked at the beams of flashlight gathered on the crown. Countless light paths illuminated that area as if it were daytime. He couldn't help but complain, "By the way, were there flashlights in that era? Even if there were flashlights, the brightness couldn't be compared to the strong flashlights of today, right? Didn't the designer consider the problem of how to turn it on if there is no such strong light source in the future when it is built so deep underground?"

"Perhaps this is the confidence of a top craftsman in his skills." Bai Matan looked at the stairs that appeared in front of him as the machine moved, and said lightly, "He can build such a large project in the mountains. Obviously, he believes that the mechanism he built can last for ten or a hundred years, enough to carry the secret to the end of the next century."

"...Or maybe he didn't want to open this place again." Tang Ze took over his words and pointed to the archway in front of him. "That's the style of an Orthodox church. This place is more like a..." rather than a secret room.

"A tomb." Conan gave the most direct answer, "I'm afraid that a man from Russia is buried here. He designed many mechanisms. Perhaps in addition to leaving a glimmer of possibility for future generations to explore the truth, he also hopes that this person can sleep here and protect his descendants." Natsumi Kosaka, who was still in a daze watching this shocking scene, blinked as if waking up, and quickly realized what they meant. She couldn't help but quicken her pace and ran quickly towards this deeply hidden room.

This is a fairly open space. The exquisite vaulted ceiling and surrounding statues confirm the detectives' judgment that this is a tomb with an Orthodox style.

It turned out that Tang Ze was indeed foresighted. The candlestick he brought down was used to light the surrounding candles, completely illuminating this secret space.

On the altar in front, a large hexagonal coffin was placed with a huge heavy lock exposed on its front. Everything was in line with Orthodox funeral customs.

When Natsumi Kosaka hurriedly found the key and unlocked the door, although the scene was indeed solemn and tense, when the coffin was pushed open and the large bright red Easter egg was taken out from the bones, Conan couldn't help but twitch his mouth and complain in a low voice.

"...Anyway, even if he had to bury his wife in secret for religious reasons, and buried her with treasures, he also made it so that it could be opened, and left the key to his descendants. This is really, uh, too advanced."

He understands the truth, and perhaps there is hope that future generations will be able to discover the meaning of everything. However, it is a "treasure map" and it is stored separately. What is the difference between this and directly telling future generations that if they really can't make it, they can explode their ancestors' gold coins?
Even though the customs of the Orthodox Church may be slightly different, this is still an act of great filial piety.

"Maybe there are other reasons." Tang Ze smiled as he looked at the big egg that had seen the light of day again. He pretended to go over to watch and secretly kicked Kuroba Kaito.

Kuroba Kaito, who was dressed as a mature and steady policeman, controlled his expression and just looked back with a condemning look.

"Hey, how do you know so much about what happened in our ancestors' tombs?" Tang Ze said in a low voice that only the two of them could hear, "I was thinking that the Phantom Thief wasn't a tomb robber, right? What are you doing..."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" A vein briefly popped out on Kuroba Kaito's forehead. "I've never been here."

"That means your father was here." Tang Ze was not fooled by him at all and continued as if it was a matter of course.

Kuroba Kaito was really right: "..."

Tang Ze understood too much from his silence. He patted his arm and said comfortingly: "It's okay. Everyone has an unreliable father. Just don't kill yourself."

"Who knows him..."

While the Phantom Thieves were discussing more filial topics, the empty egg, which seemed to be left blank intentionally to hold something, was exposed to everyone's sight.

The size is obviously larger, and the empty space is obviously used to place the leg support. The subsequent reasoning is so logical.

"It's the same structure as a Russian nesting doll, with a small egg inside a large egg. Well, it's also reasonable as the finale of the entire series." Hattori Heiji observed the area and concluded.

"The master's design shouldn't be just this simple..." Conan took advantage of his height and looked at the bottom of the large egg which was also inlaid with glass. He turned his head and looked at the empty round base beside it. He nodded suddenly, "Ah, it should be a brightness meter."

"Well, who has a flashlight that can adjust the focus? I guess it's the same as before. It's hard for ordinary light sources to trigger it... Ah, okay, thank you, officer."

With the joint efforts of some of the smartest young minds in the world, the secret of the light beam and the big egg was quickly discovered two minutes later.

"What a pity." Looking at this egg that was obviously very sophisticated and carefully designed, Bai Ba Tan sighed, "If the little one was here, maybe we could see the whole picture of the master's design... Well, if I contact the Suzuki family now, will they be willing to..."

“…I have one here.”

Realizing the real intention of Tang Ze giving this thing to her in advance, Natsumi Kosaka felt her heart beating fast. The premonition of seeing a shocking scene soon made her heart beat extremely fast.

"Huh?" When he saw her open the small box that she always carried with her and reveal the "familiar" egg of memories, Hattori Heiji made a strange expression, "Did the Suzuki family give this thing to you privately? Hiss, why do I remember..."

Natsumi Kosaka quickly glanced at Tangze, lowered her head, and slowly placed it at the bottom of the other egg, fluently reciting the words they had agreed on before.

"This is not the one from the Suzuki family. This is the 1:1 replica they left in the museum to prevent Kid from appearing in the museum... Although the gold is fake, the internal structure was re-copied after they scanned it. As long as there is no overly concealed design, perhaps a similar effect can be achieved... This is, um, this is given to me by Miss Sonoko, who said it was kept as a souvenir and would be convenient for future display..."

In response to her words, several detectives exchanged glances with different expressions.

Before they could ask questions, Shiratori Renzaburo spoke first, "If it really needs to be handed over to one of you for safekeeping in the future, having a replica will indeed be more convenient for both parties to exhibit. Ms. Suzuki is very thoughtful."

With her heart pounding, Natsumi Kosaka quickly nodded in agreement with him. Not daring to say more, she gently closed the lid of the egg.

As others watched with bated breath and Tang Ze's expectant gaze, a magical scene appeared as promised.

The handicraft covered with mechanical designs was activated by sufficient lighting. The two layers of egg-glass-colored shell were illuminated brightly and transparently under the refraction of multiple lenses, making the golden statue inside very clear.

The emperor and his family, who were sitting on the sofa reading a book, slowly rose in the light. The joints of the little figures began to move. The emperor sitting among them raised his hand, and the papers began to turn.

Rays of light refracted along the designed paths, like an astronomical instrument, illuminating the intricate and exquisite glass structure of the large Egg of Memory onto the dome. Photos made up of magic lenses appeared above the head, slowly rotating as the pages of the book turned.

"This is, this is a photo..." Natsumi Kosaka clenched her hands and opened her eyes wide with excitement.

"So, what the emperor is holding in his hand is not a book, but a family album." Bai Ma looked up and observed them, nodding contentedly as if the puzzle had finally been solved. "Hence, this egg is called the 'Egg of Memories' and is composed of two drawings. It is indeed a masterpiece of great craftsmanship by several masters."

"Oh my god..." Qian Jiangyi raised his head and looked at these images that traveled through time, muttering to himself, "If these two are sold together, I'm afraid 20 billion will be enough... Hmm!"

Kuroba Kaito, who was standing behind him, kicked him rudely. When he gave him a suspicious look, he just said calmly, "Sorry, I slipped."

Ryu Kankawa stood behind Pu Siqinglan, whose back was stiff, and was about to raise them to capture this historic moment. As if intentionally or unintentionally, Tang Ze adjusted his standing angle, blocking part of the picture in his lens and preventing the photo of Kosaka Natsumi's great-grandparents from being included in the frame.

At the same time, he was the only one who didn't raise his head and kept chasing those pictures.

In the pitch-black darkness, his eyes turned red again.

Looking at this scene, Tang Ze sighed with satisfaction.

In his field of vision, the bright handicrafts exuded a dazzling light that almost blinded people's eyes. The undulating patterns, even at such a long distance, still conveyed the flaming warmth and longing to Tang Ze's eyes.

This is the temperature of memories.

No matter how similar the cognitive creation from the temple is to the original one, this is the real egg of memory, and it will always be different in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)