Conan: I've been linked to the tech tree system.

But after the upgrade, it's different. Not only will it not be easily recognized as a disguise, but it will also feel like a real skin mask.

The only drawback is that it is not resistant to high temperatures. High temperatures or sudden temperature changes can easily cause the nanomaterials and the controlled robots to disintegrate.

However, it's not a big problem; generally, no one would put their body in flames or ice water.

Where is the person you called?

On a cliff not far from the Twilight Villa, Tono Toru, who had come down to rest, asked Tachibana Maya.

"Oh dear, I told them to meet at the foot of the mountain in their cars..." Tachibana Maya took out a monocular telescope from her backpack and looked down through the lens.

"Ah, there it is!"

Maya Tachibana put away her binoculars and prepared to continue her journey, when she suddenly noticed Toru Tono looking at her with a very indescribable expression.

"?What's wrong?"

Tachibana Maya tilted her head and asked.

"...I mean, can you please stop speaking with the face and voice of a scruffy middle-aged man, and stop using the tone and vocabulary of a young girl?"

Tohru Tohru felt an itch in his fists, wanting to punch her in the face.

"Don't worry about the details," Maya Tachibana waved her hand dismissively. "It's the 21st century, there are all kinds of people now. Maybe this way of me is more to some people's liking..."

"Tsk."

Tohru Tohno couldn't take it anymore and flew down on her own.

The middle-aged man with a full beard kept saying "Watashi, Watashi" and used "Ara" as a particle. It was really disgusting.

......

At the foot of the mountain, about one kilometer from the Twilight Villa, there were indeed several very low-key off-road vehicles parked. It looked like the convoy that Tachibana Maya had found, which was said to be "very reliable".

Let Tachibana Maya go over to negotiate, while Tohru Tono walks towards the Twilight Villa on his own.

The villa, entirely made of gold, would be a huge undertaking just to find a way to cash in on it... not to mention stealing the entire villa right under the noses of the Black Organization.

However, thanks to the fact that it was difficult to move, the boss was obviously aware of this and did not place any personnel here. Gin probably knew that the detectives had entered because of the surveillance cameras all over the annex.

In other words, there are no guards around the villa, and as long as you don't make a big commotion, no one will come to check.

This is the perfect opportunity to switch the prince with a cat.

Toru Tono bypassed the surveillance cameras and walked to the vicinity of the back door.

Not a single light was on in the twilight villa; the pitch-black environment made Karasuma's raven crest appear even more eerie.

Toru Tono walked around a wide open space that served as a parking lot.

He had done reconnaissance when he came to Twilight Villa before, and the sewers were connected to the lake outside the back door.

Finding the water pipes that looked somewhat rusty and obviously in disrepair, Tohno Toru took out a small box.

[Nanoscale Gold Etching Robot: A robot manufactured using a special process. The robot, only 3nm in diameter, carries carbide nanotubes and employs molecular-level replacement technology to deploy a deformation sensor array inside the gold shell, replacing 0.01% of the gold mass within its range each time. It uses dynamically adjustable support points; when gold is removed from a certain area, the nanotube support pillars in that area are activated. It also features a built-in active noise reduction module to eliminate low-frequency noise below 30Hz generated by structural micro-vibrations.]

Tohru Tono slammed the box onto the water pipe and pressed the button.

This robot, so small it's invisible to the naked eye, is his latest masterpiece, specifically designed to transfer gold.

This stuff is produced in huge quantities and can be disguised as water purification particles. It seeps into the entire Twilight Villa through drainpipes or vents, then replaces the gold particles and is transported through its own underground capillary pipes to its own treatment station located 500 meters away.

Toru Tono calculated that several hundred kilograms of gold could be transported out in 24 hours. Considering that the villa was so large, it might take several months to completely empty it, given that the robots could automatically reassemble it.

If all this gold were to flow into the underground market, it might arouse suspicion, so about half of it needs to be kept as a reserve... If the rest were disposed of, the income would conservatively be several tens of billions of yen.

Logically speaking, the production and R&D costs of such nanorobots are astronomical. Although it would still be profitable to use them to move so much gold, the time cost would be considerable, and it's hard to say when it would be ready... But Toru Tono, with the help of the system, can actually develop such an invention quickly and at almost zero cost, which is a perfect match for his expertise.

He's about to become a millionaire.

Tohno thought to himself.

After monitoring the operation of the nanobots and confirming that there were no abnormalities, he returned to the foot of the mountain, one kilometer away, with satisfaction.

It seems that Tachibana Maya has already reached an agreement with the people in that car team and is having a pleasant conversation.

Tohno walked over, and for some reason, he felt that the person who was talking to Tachibana Maya always had his eyes lingering on certain parts of her body.

If Tachibana Maya were still in her original form, Tohru Tono would find it perfectly normal.

The problem is, she looks like a middle-aged man...

Forget it, don't keep thinking about it, it'll only make you feel disgusted.

Tohru Tono walked over and interrupted their conversation, saying, "I'm counting on you guys," before leading Maya Tachibana away.

He planned to rotate a new batch of "silent" black market mercenaries every so often to move the gold, lest someone see the inexplicable abundance of gold here and be tempted to rob it.

Although Tohru Tono wasn't afraid of this rabble, these people were like mosquitoes that sneak into your bedroom when you open the door in the summer—not very harmful, but extremely insulting, and they would buzz around your ear all the time, keeping you awake.

In short, be careful to avoid mosquito bites.

Chapter 155 Japan Has an American Island

"American Island?"

Tohru Tono was very confused when Hattori Heiji, a dark-skinned black chicken from Osaka, came to his door and dragged him to a place that sounded very Japanese.

He could understand the Japanese islands, but what was the American islands anyway?

"Hey, haven't you heard of it? It's that little island that the locals call 'the mermaid's habitat'."

Heiji Hattori sat on the sofa, drinking coffee with an enthusiastic expression: "After receiving the request, I specifically took leave to come to Tokyo to see you and that guy Kudo."

"Never heard of it, not interested." Toru Tono sat to the side, sighing and rubbing his forehead in exhaustion. He'd been working so hard lately that he had dark circles under his eyes.

After I've sorted things out here, I must go on a trip every day to comfort my wounded heart.

"And another thing, isn't skipping class the norm for someone like you, a high school detective? You can't use this to blackmail me into going back to the past."

"Oh dear, but Kudo already agreed to come with me, right? Wouldn't it be great if we, detectives from Kansai and Kanto, teamed up?"

"Don't try to be like Conan... You so-called detective from Kansai, didn't you also miss the Twilight Mansion case last time?"

"Tch, don't even mention it." Hattori Heiji sounded dejected when the topic came up. "You guys were having fun there, but our school insisted on having midterms at that time... and they even said this test was very important, and specifically told my mom so I wouldn't run away..."

Hattori Heiji sighed, "It's not that I don't want to go, life is just tough."

Then he rallied: "So let's make up for not going last time!"

"Sorry, not interested."

Tohru Tono remained uninterested.

Even if Conan went there, there would probably be at most a case worth 200 points... not enough for him to be complained about by Misaki Ichijo, who was also extremely busy when he came back.

Although points accumulate gradually, they are also something that doesn't increase every time... Tohno Toru really couldn't muster any enthusiasm because he was still far from having enough points to level up.

Seeing that Tohno Toru remained unmoved, Hattori Heiji had no choice but to unleash his ultimate move.

"I also heard that on the island I'm going to, there's an old lady who lives there by eating mermaid flesh in order to achieve immortality."

"Immortality?"

Tohru Tono looked up as if he had heard the key words.

Hattori Heiji snorted inwardly, a smug expression on his face.

He knew that no detective could resist the temptation to uncover the truth!

"Yes, it caused quite a stir three years ago. It's said that the long-lived woman named Shimabukuro is over a hundred years old and is the symbol of that Mermaid Island."

"This time, a letter of request came from someone named Kadokyo Saori. Although my name is clearly on the envelope, the letter inside begins with 'Dear Mr. Tohno Toru.' The whole thing is strange, which is why I came to find you..."

As Tohno listened, he suddenly felt that the words sounded familiar.

Mermaid Island?

He remembered that this chapter seemed to be slightly related to the main storyline. Many years ago, Shiho Miyano and Gin Vodka were also sent by the organization to that island as guests to explore the truth of so-called "immortality".

Of course, they returned empty-handed after arriving on the island. The so-called "immortality" was just a farce. If there really was such a thing as immortality by eating mermaid flesh, the Black Organization could definitely dig them up and slice them up for experiments no matter where the mermaids were hiding.

However, they participated in the Dugong Festival on Mermaid Island, which can be considered as leaving a trace of their visit. As a detective who can uncover the truth of things that "everything that has happened will leave a trace", Conan saw Shiho Miyano's name on the list of guests and learned that "Kurosawa Jin" and "Uozuka Saburo" are the real names of Gin and Vodka.

It's not very useful, since Gin and Vodka wouldn't just casually sign their real names on the roster if real names were such a sensitive thing.

Toru Tono doubted whether this so-called name was actually in the police database.

We could have Amuro Tooru or Tachibana Shinji investigate later...

"Hey, are you going or not?" After Tohru Tohru's silence for a while, Hattori's tone grew increasingly impatient. "Do you know this Ms. Kadokawa Saori? Why is it your name that's sending me the letter? Are you looking down on me?"

"...In that case, I should still go...I don't know this person. Maybe someone mentioned me to her."

Tohru Tono also seemed a bit strange.

"Then why not just send you a letter directly instead of having me act as a middleman?" Hattori Heiji squinted.

"I guess it's because your reputation as the famous detective of Kansai is so great that they're using me as a backup plan," Toru Tono casually complimented him.

"So that's how it is, hahaha..."

In a way, Heiji Hattori and Kogoro Mouri are no different; they get carried away by a few compliments.

"In that case, let's set off!!"

After laughing enough, Heiji Hattori stood up again and put on his baseball cap: "Kazuha came with me this time too. I told her to go to the Mouri Detective Agency to find Ran. Let's meet up there?"

"Wait, I'll call someone over too."

Tohru Tono got up and walked towards the basement.

A moment later, they dragged out a "Haibara Ai" who was yawning and looked impatient.

"Everyone's here, let's go."

Tohru Tono pushed her toward the gate.

"Wait, wait, wait." Hattori Heiji's head was a little confused. "You...you lived together?"

“Yeah, since the lab is in the basement of my house, I’ll just use this place as staff quarters for now.” Tohno glanced at him. “She’s next to my ‘older sister’.”

"Ah, oh oh..." Osaka Black Chicken seemed to be thinking of something and his mind went blank for a while before he finally answered.

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