Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 800 The Enigmatic Invitation
Although Vermouth's identity was exposed, it made Conan extremely nervous.

For four or five days in a row, Conan suspected that everything he saw was related to the winery, and he wanted to go up to everyone and tear their faces off.

Ai Haibara is in a better position; with Natsukawa and Yoru protecting her, her safety is not an issue.

He became so engrossed in his research that he almost stayed at Professor Agasa's house and refused to leave.

Xia Chuan was also quite helpless about this.

He could tell that Ai Haibara was putting on a brave face, but for this little girl, it was the only thing she could do.

Knowing the situation, it wouldn't be appropriate to prevent her from doing anything.

There's a saying that goes, "Being busy keeps you from being anxious."

This statement is very much about involution, but it is effective.

Anya hasn't had a moment's rest these past few days either, as Xia Chuan has been using her as a radar to patrol the area around his home for any suspicious individuals.

The answer was satisfactory, and Gin did not arrange for anyone else to join.

With both the overt and covert routes discovered, he truly had no face to send anyone else.

Natsukawa was slightly smug, but he didn't completely disregard Gin.

Although Anya was used as a radar, she was still very happy because her father would give her a good treat after each radar mission.

After five days, Anya's face had visibly become rounder.

Xia Chuan felt deeply worried about this.

It's true that little girls are cute, but if this continues, they might turn into chubby little girls.

Fortunately, this situation did not last. On the afternoon of the sixth day, Conan found him with a heavy heart.

When the door was opened, Xia Chuan immediately sensed something was amiss from the other person's expression.

"Brother Xia Chuan, I received an invitation." Conan said impatiently before even sitting down.

"Did you receive the invitation as Shinichi Kudo? That's not normal. Even though you haven't appeared for a long time, there are still many people who recognize you. This can be considered a word-of-mouth effect."

"No." Conan sighed deeply and handed over the invitation.

The invitation envelope was made of high-quality parchment. When gently rubbed with your fingers, it was both tough and soft, with a gentle sheen and a fine, silky texture—clearly not an ordinary item.

On the front of the envelope were the words "To be opened by Shinichi Kudo" in large characters.

The back of the seal features a striking wax seal, a style reminiscent of old-fashioned European and American aristocratic letter-writing, often engraved with the writer's family crest.

Upon closer inspection, Xia Chuan suddenly paused.

This is a wax seal with a bird-shaped design.

When it comes to birds, the only thing that comes to mind for Natsukawa is the distillery, and he believes that this is why Conan brought the letter over.

Upon opening the envelope, the A4 sheets inside were neatly folded.

Before even reading the contents, my eyes were drawn to the name at the front of the paper.

"The outer cover is addressed to Shinichi Kudo, and the inside is specially marked with the note: 'Dear Conan Edogawa, just how many people have discovered you?'"

"Xia Chuan-ge, stop teasing me. My mom found this in the mailbox at home. It must have been mailed yesterday."

"There was no return address, and the postman didn't remember receiving such a letter. It must have been secretly slipped into the mailbox when no one was home."

After reading the contents of the envelope, gently put it down.

This is indeed an invitation.

Conan is invited to a "ghost ship" for an "untimely Halloween".

The signatory's name was Vermouth. It was a very formal invitation, but also carried a provocative tone—that was Xia Chuan's first reaction.

"This is clearly a trap, but what does Vermouth mean by sending you an invitation at this time?"

Xia Chuan squinted, recalling the plot.

In the original storyline, the ghost ship case brought together multiple forces, and Vermouth's disguise as Zhiming was also exposed during this period.

Although the plot has changed, the invitation was still sent, and Xia Chuan couldn't quite understand what Vermouth was up to.

The current Vermouth has lost her mystique, so Conan has every reason not to engage with her.

Xia Chuan looked down at Conan.

Okay, he takes back what he just said.

Conan's expression was extremely serious at this moment, and since they had come to him, the meaning couldn't be clearer.

This young man was completely under Vermouth's thumb.
If I remember correctly, inviting Conan to the so-called "inappropriate Christmas" was a ploy to lure him away; Vermouth's real target was Ai Haibara.

But that doesn't make sense. Ai Haibara is protected by him and Yoru now, so Vermouth has absolutely no chance to make a move. So what is her plan now?

After thinking for a while, I still couldn't get a satisfactory answer.

Xia Chuan suddenly regretted blowing up the winery base.

If it hadn't been blown up, he could have gone to the base to gather information from time to time. Right now, he only knew about one temporary stronghold, and he didn't even know about Gin and the others' strongholds. Naturally, he couldn't get a lot of information out of Vodka.

Just as Xia Chuan was thinking this, he suddenly noticed Conan's strange expression and pulled out two more letters from his pocket.

These are the same letters; one has been opened, while the sealing wax on the other remains intact.

"This one is from Uncle Kogoro, and this one that hasn't been opened has your name written on it."

Xia Chuan raised an eyebrow, took his own letter, and opened it to read.

Aside from the different recipient, the letters were almost identical, except this one invited him and Joel to go together.

"I only checked the mailbox at your house on a whim, but I didn't expect to actually find it."

"Isn't this too obvious?" Xia Chuan muttered to himself.

“I think so too. This letter is clearly a diversionary tactic. If we all go to that ghost ship, she will likely target Anya and Ai Haibara.”

"But what I'm curious about is, since this is a diversionary tactic, if she hadn't used her code name, we probably wouldn't have suspected that this matter was related to the distillery, and we might have lowered our guard. What was the point of her doing this?"

Conan ruffled his hair, and the moment the messy hair appeared, it visibly returned to its original style.

"Is there such a possibility?" Conan suddenly thought of something, and his eyes lit up.

"Knowing that it's an invitation from the brewery, if Natsukawa-nii is planning to go, he'll definitely be worried about Anya and Ai Haibara, so he'll bring them along."

"Because the invitation stated that family members could attend, that was actually their real purpose. Uncle Kogoro was also included in the invitation; she planned to take us all down with her!"

After receiving the invitation, he investigated and found that the ghost ship sailed out of Tokyo Port and passed through international waters. If the ship suddenly sank while in international waters, it would damage the small boats used for emergency escape.
Everyone will become rootless duckweed, at the mercy of the sea, with less than one percent chance of survival.

“That’s not all!”

Only after Conan's reminder did he realize that the matter was not so simple.

Whether or not to bring her two daughters along is probably part of Vermouth's plan.

Take them there, just as Conan said, sink the ship, and if Vermouth doesn't want Ran and Conan to die, she just needs to take the boat and rescue them at this moment.

If they don't bring them back, Anya and Ai Haibara will become targets for the brewery.

Without me and Joel, no one can protect them.

(End of this chapter)