Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

The housekeeper looked at the group of young college students in front of her. Although she was a little puzzled, she nodded and said, "Please come with me. The master's bedroom is on the third floor."

The group followed Mrs. Akutagawa up the stairs to the third floor.

The layout of the third floor is even more luxurious than that of the second floor, with thick carpets covering the corridors, making it feel completely silent when you step on them.

Mrs. Akutagawa pushed open a heavy solid wood door and gestured for us to come in: "This is the master's bedroom."

Ikenami Takeshi led Hayashi Hideichi and Hattori Heizo inside first, and the others followed one after another.

Shinzo Mito's bedroom is located in the best spot of the villa, spacious, bright, and with a wide view.

The room's decor matches the overall Western style of the villa, but is more luxurious.

Expensive mahogany furniture, genuine leather sofas, Persian carpets, and crystal chandeliers all demonstrate the owner's substantial wealth and pursuit of enjoyment.

However, the most striking feature is not the bedroom itself, but a separate room connected to the bedroom: Shinzo Mito's private collection room.

"This is the collection room that the master likes to stay in the most."

Mrs. Akutagawa explained, stepping forward and pushing open the door to the collection room.

"It contains treasures he has collected over decades."

The group followed them inside and were instantly speechless with awe at the sight before them.

This collection room is over 100 square meters. The room has no windows, and the lighting relies entirely on carefully arranged, softly lit spotlights.

The air was filled with the faint scent of camphor wood and the distinctive aroma of old paper.

The four walls are covered with calligraphy and paintings by famous artists from all dynasties, ranging from ukiyo-e prints of the Edo period to landscape paintings from the Ming and Qing dynasties of China. The collection is dazzling and each piece is priceless.

The room is also filled with various antique ornaments, including bronze tripods, Tang tri-color pottery, blue and white porcelain vases, gilded Buddha statues, as well as some uniquely shaped Western clocks and sculptures, making it almost like a small private museum.

"Oh my god... are all of these... are they real?" Kawada Yuko temporarily forgot her fear from before, her mouth agape in shock at the sight before her, her voice trembling with surprise.

Yoshida Aoi also opened her eyes wide, looking at it curiously.

Mrs. Akutagawa nodded, her tone tinged with pride: "My husband's hobby is collecting antiques. These items were collected little by little over the decades, and each one has been professionally appraised; they are absolutely genuine."

She paused, then added, "The master cherishes these antiques very much. He doesn't even allow us servants to touch them casually. Even young master Falcon and Madam Peach can only look at them from the side; they can't touch them."

Ikenami Shizuka walked to a glass display case, pointed to a sky-blue vase inside, and whispered to Hayashi Hideichi, "I recognize this vase. It's a Ru ware porcelain vase from the Song Dynasty in China, and very few of them exist. A year ago, Mito Shinzo spent billions of yen at an auction to buy it, which made the news in Osaka at the time."

The astronomical price of billions of yen caused several students nearby to gasp in astonishment.

Although they knew the Mito family was wealthy, they never expected them to be so extravagant.

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuyi couldn't help but glance at the vase a few more times.

The bottle is as smooth and lustrous as jade, with an elegant color; it is indeed a rare and precious item.

Just as he was about to say something, he heard a very soft, cold snort from the side.

Although the cold snort was faint, it still reached the ears of Lin Xiuyi and Ikenami Shizuka clearly in the quiet collection room. The two turned their heads and saw that the one who had made the sound was none other than Ono Kayoko, who had been silent most of the time.

She stood at the edge of the crowd, her gaze fixed on the Ru kiln porcelain vase, her eyes filled with an indescribable disgust and mockery.

Noticing the gazes cast by Lin Xiuyi and Ikenami Shizuka, Ono Kayoko lowered her head as if burned by something, clenched her fists, and resumed her usual taciturn demeanor, as if her previous cold snort was just everyone's illusion.

Chibo Jinghua frowned slightly. She nudged Lin Xiuyi with her elbow, her eyes filled with doubt, clearly asking, "What's wrong with her?"

Lin Xiuyi shook her head slightly, indicating that she should not ask any further questions for the time being.

Ono Kayoko's unusual behavior is clearly related to these antiques or to Mito Shinzo himself, but now is not the time to delve into that.

The group strolled slowly through the collection room, admiring the priceless antiques.

Soon, they reached the deepest part of the collection room.

The light here is more concentrated, and the walls have been designed as built-in vaults.

The combination lock on it looks extremely sophisticated, and you can tell at a glance that the contents inside are very valuable.

Ikenami Takeshi's curiosity was piqued. He stepped forward, pointed to the safe, and asked, "Mrs. Akutagawa, what treasures are inside this safe? Could it be an antique even more precious than that Ru ware porcelain vase?"

Upon hearing this, Lady Akutagawa frowned slightly, almost imperceptibly.

She felt that this question was not very relevant to the investigation into Mito Jun's death and was somewhat overstepping her bounds.

But considering that the master was still in a coma in the hospital and the cause of the young master's death was still unclear, requiring the police to do their best to investigate, she hesitated for a moment, then lowered her voice and revealed a little information.
"There should be a samurai sword in here. I've never seen it before, but I don't know exactly what it looks like."

“All I know is that the master loved that samurai sword to an extreme degree, even more than any of the antiques in the collection room,” she recalled. “When he had nothing to do, he liked to come to this collection room, open the safe, take out the samurai sword, and carefully wipe and maintain it with special tools, sometimes for most of the day. Sometimes he would talk to himself while looking at the samurai sword, I don’t know what he was saying.”

Samurai sword?

Lin Xiuyi and Hattori Heizo exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of surprise in each other's eyes.

They all thought of the Tokugawa family samurai sword that had been lost from the Osaka Museum.

That sword is a rare artifact from the Tokugawa Shogunate period. The blade is engraved with exquisite patterns, and the hilt is inlaid with gemstones. Its value is immeasurable.

The museum theft case remains unsolved. Could it be that the missing samurai sword is actually in the hands of Shinzo Mito?
This speculation made both of them feel a little uneasy.

If that's the case, then Shinzo Mito's crimes go beyond just murder.

However, without any evidence, they couldn't persuade Takeshi Ikenami to search the safe.

After all, this is the Mito family's private property, and the police have no right to forcibly open it without a search warrant.

Hattori Heizo stared at the safe for a few seconds, but ultimately said nothing.

The most important thing now is to find out the cause of Mito Hayato's death. (End of Chapter)