Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

This discovery further confirmed Lin Xiuyi's suspicions about the car.

As a volunteer at the Terracotta Warriors exhibition area, Mr. Takahashi had access to internal information about the exhibition hall, including security arrangements, volunteer schedules, and even some details of the transportation plan.

If Shimazu Katsu really did orchestrate the theft of the Terracotta Warriors, then Mr. Takahashi was likely their informant within the museum.

Unfortunately, even so, there is still a lack of sufficient evidence to prove that Shimazu Katsu was the mastermind behind hiring thieves to steal the Terracotta Army.

Even if he voiced his guess, not many people would believe him.

Lin Xiuyi covered the white cloth again, stood up, and walked towards Ikenami Tsuyoshi, who had been anxiously waiting.

"How was it?" Takeshi Ikenami asked impatiently. "Was it the thief from last night?"

“It’s them,” Lin Xiuyi nodded firmly, “Their methods are exactly the same.”

Takeshi Ikenami's face instantly turned extremely ugly.

"Those bastards!" he angrily clenched his fist. "They couldn't get the Terracotta Warriors, so they're taking their anger out on the residents of Osaka! The police are going to get a lot of flak these next few days..."

Lin Xiuyi didn't need to ask to understand what he meant.

To ordinary Osaka residents, the tragedy was clearly caused by the police sending people to protect foreign cultural relics, which prevented the thieves from stealing anything. Enraged, they then sought revenge on the locals.

Although this logic is simple and crude, it is easily accepted and spread by the public.

Once this public opinion takes hold, Takeshi Ikenami, who was in charge of last night's operation, will face immense pressure.

Forget about getting promoted, it would be good enough if we didn't get demoted.

More seriously, the entire Osaka police force will be disgraced as a result, and cultural exchanges between China and Japan may also be affected.

After all, from China's perspective, if Japan can't even guarantee basic public security, how could it dare to lend out precious cultural relics for exhibition?
“The most important thing now is to find those murderers,” Lin Xiuyi’s voice pulled Ikenami Goji back to reality from his despairing thoughts. “Once they are caught, the truth will come out. The public will know that this is not the fault of the police, but the work of a group of vicious international criminals.”

Takeshi Ikenami gave a wry smile: "Easier said than done. Those guys are elusive. They just vanished from the port last night and committed this major crime today."

"They clearly have a meticulous plan and an escape route. How can the police arrest them when they don't even know their real identities?"

He paused, looked at Lin Xiuyi, his eyes filled with expectation.

"Lin, you fought with them last night. What do you know about them?"

"The thief I encountered in the tunnel who used thin wires to attack, although he was wearing a mask, should have been a young man in his twenties judging from his voice. He had a spider tattoo under his left eye," Lin Xiuyi recalled. "He used specially made thin metal wires as weapons, was extremely skilled, had received professional training, and may have had a military or mercenary background."

"This guy has an extremely strong mentality; he's calm to the point of being cold-blooded. Killing people is like completing a daily task for him."

"The thief we encountered later was skilled at disguise and imitation," Lin Xiuyi frowned. "I can't be sure if the face he showed when he was driving the truck was real."

"No matter what, let's start by investigating these two," Ikenami Takeshi said, angrily waving his fist. "Those in disguise are hard to find, but those with tattoos on their left eyes should be easy to find!"

Just then, a forensic officer rushed over: "Minister, we found a private ledger in Shimazu Katsu's study, and there's something wrong with the records on it."

"Do you have to bother me with something like this?" Takeshi Ikenami clenched his fists, his face brimming with annoyance and impatience. "Minister, you should still take a look. The contents... are very important."

The officer carefully handed over a black-covered ledger.

Ikenami Takeshi impatiently took the ledger, intending to just glance at it and move on. But after the first glance, his furrowed brows instantly tightened into a knot, and the annoyance in his eyes was replaced by astonishment.

"...On July 30th, five million yen was given to Takahashi to hire right-wing elements to vandalize the Terracotta Warriors in the exhibition hall."

A line of clear handwriting comes into view, the ink still fresh, clearly written recently.

Takeshi Ikenami's heart skipped a beat, and his fingers instinctively clenched the ledger as he continued to flip through the pages.

"On August 1st, one billion yen was spent to hire people to steal the Terracotta Warriors, with an agreement to pay the remaining five hundred million yen upon successful completion of the mission..."

These words exploded in Ikenami Takeshi's mind like a thunderclap.

His pupils suddenly contracted, and his face was filled with disbelief.

"This...this is impossible..."

He suddenly looked up, his voice filled with shock and bewilderment.
"The thieves who attacked the escort team and blew up the tunnel last night were actually hired by Shimazu Katsu? Has he gone mad?"

"In order to steal the Terracotta Warriors, they actually spent 1 billion yen to hire thugs, and even dared to openly vandalize the exhibition and attack the police?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuyi quickly stepped forward, peered into the ledger, and showed a similar expression of surprise.

Although he had long suspected that Shimazu Katsu was involved with thieves, he did not expect that the other party would be so unscrupulous as to openly record illegal and criminal acts such as hiring thieves and vandalizing exhibitions in the ledger.

This is far too arrogant. They could at least use an encrypted ledger or disguise it as a record of ordinary business transactions.

Such a straightforward record is practically putting the evidence of the crime out in the open.

However, this saved a lot of trouble.

With this ledger, his previous suspicions can be completely proven, and the public can be given a clear explanation.

Lin Xiuyi quickly repeated his guesses, which he had shared with Ikenami Shizuka in the car, to Ikenami Tsuyoshi in detail.
"...Shimazu Katsu coveted the Terracotta Army and secretly hired thieves to steal it. After the mission failed last night, the thieves, fearing he would reveal his secret, killed his entire family."

"Now that we have this ledger, this conjecture can be fully confirmed."

"Takahashi was a volunteer at the Terracotta Warriors exhibition area and was responsible for contacting the thieves, so he was also silenced."

"No wonder those thieves were able to ambush us in the tunnel beforehand last night and knew our transport route so well. It turns out that Shimazu Katsu was an inside man who tipped us off!"

Ikenami Takeshi immediately accepted Hayashi Shuichi's reasoning and understood all the previous doubts.

He first gritted his teeth in anger, making a grinding sound, but then he couldn't help but laugh, his distress vanishing completely.

"Excellent! With this ledger, at least it proves that Shimazu Katsu deserved to die; he brought the wolf into the house himself! We no longer need to worry about those media reporters making wild guesses and stirring up trouble!" (End of Chapter)