Conan Rick's Investigator

Before Yukiko could reply, Kudo Shinichi took over the conversation, "Don't worry, this thing is like an antique. If there is no mysterious story behind it, it won't sell."

"Besides, if this play really had the power to drive people crazy, the relevant authorities would definitely ban it."

Kudo Shinichi easily refuted Yukiko's "story" with his own dialectical materialism.

However, Yukiko did not give up and continued to explain: "The version being performed now is a revised version, which has deleted the second act. Of course, there will be no safety issues."

"But I heard that the playwright who adapted the original work, 'The King in Yellow,' became a bit of a psychopath after completing the adaptation, telling everyone he saw the 'King in Yellow,' 'Hastur,' and so on."

"It's fake, just a marketing tactic."

Kudo Shinichi made a decisive judgment, "If this script really has the magical power to distort people's minds, why is the original script owner fine?"

"If the original owner knew that this monster was harmful to people, would they allow it to be performed again?"

Yukiko raised a finger and explained, "I heard from Sharon that the original script was donated by an anonymous donor. The only requirement of the donor was that the theater company put the story on stage, and there was only one signature..."

"Count Crow..."

Strange names are more likely to make people think, and Kudo Shinichi was the same, he thought about it for a while.

But after thinking about it, he had no clue and could only grumble: "Crow...does he think he's Edgar Allan Poe?"

At this moment, the foreign old man next to Kudo Shinichi turned his head to look at Kudo, raised his finger and made a hushing gesture.

The narration part was over, and the foreigner kept asking him to be quiet.

Kudo Shinichi nodded in understanding, then turned to look at Mouri Ran and Yukiko and made a hushing gesture.

"Shh-"

Ran Mouri and Yukiko looked at each other helplessly. It was obviously you who spoke the loudest, right?

……

Qin Zhibo listened to the entire conversation between Kudo and the other two, without missing a single word.

"The King in Yellow" is an adaptation of the original "The King in Yellow". It does not have a second act and is a relatively safe version.

But what concerned Qin Zhibo was the person who donated "The King in Yellow", who signed it as "Count Crow".

Qin Zhibo once saw in Kyousuke Senken's notes in the Twilight Annex that there was a book called "The King in Yellow" in the Twilight Annex, and it was there forty years ago.

The owner of the Twilight Villa is none other than the wealthy Karasuma Renya, whose family symbol happens to be a crow.

In the second half of Senjian's notes, the part written by the Xiagai Zerg after they drilled into Senjian Kyousuke's brain, Qin Zhibo also saw some of the Xiagai Zerg's memories.

The Shaggai first descended upon Earth somewhere in the Severn Valley of England.

In order to provide the surviving Zerg with a stable living environment, the Xiagai Zerg reached some kind of deal with the son of a noble who owned this river valley.

The Xiagai Zerg helped the nobleman's son to kill his father, and after the nobleman's son ascended the throne, he used the privilege of hereditary fiefdom to ensure the living space of the Xiagai Zerg.

At that time, Qin Zhibo guessed that this noble son was most likely Uramaru Renye.

The British aristocracy's title system has five levels, namely duke, marquis, earl, viscount and baron, among which earl is the oldest level in the title system.

Raven, Earl...

Could it be that the donor is Uramaru Ren?

……

With the end of the prologue, the first act of the whole play officially begins.

Qin Zhibo, a non-existent person, can also see this stage play again through the perspective of Mao Lilan.

As someone who has actually watched "The King in Yellow", Qin Zhibo can see the difference between this "The King in Yellow" and the original.

First of all, the costumes and props. The style of the Broadway troupe is more modern and fashionable, but lacks some exotic ideas.

The second is the cast composition. In addition to the four women and one man seen backstage before the performance, there are of course other actors.

However, the looks of these actors are relatively ordinary, and their roles are not that important, far less eye-catching than the images of four women and one man.

Among them, the troupe's leading male actor named "Keith" plays the eldest prince.

A dark-skinned actress plays the queen.

Wavy-haired actress who plays the princess.

Asian actress who plays the captain of the palace guard.

Actress Kim Jang-ji plays the high priest.

This last actress was the one that surprised Qin Zhibo the most, because in the original work "The King in Yellow", the role of this high priest was quite important.

As the eldest prince's advisor, he uses minor spells like invisibility and constantly spreads the news of the coming of the Yellow King and the imminent return of the lost city of Carcosa.

But when the Yellow King really arrived, the high priest turned and fled out of fear, and was killed by the Yellow King.

This is a character who is like Ye Gong who loves dragons.

However, the original work depicts a male priest, and his image is a little timid.

In "The King in Yellow", the male priest became a female priest with a pair of seductive eyes.

The image of this character is quite different from the original, which made Qin Zhibo have some guesses in his mind.

Could it be that she is the one who is going to die soon?

……

The performance on the stage was carried out in an orderly manner, and the audience below were almost all watching the performance attentively.

Originally, Kudo Shinichi was not interested, but he couldn't leave the seat and had no phone to play with, so he could only force himself to focus on the performance on the stage.

As a result, after just a quick glance, I was unconsciously attracted by the story.

The first scene of Act I introduces most of the important characters and further explains their relationships and background.

For example, the queen with a lot on her mind, the queen's brother who wants to usurp the throne, the eldest prince who believes in the Yellow King's prophecy, the princess whose mind is only focused on pleasure, and the captain of the guard who has a crush on the eldest prince...

There is also the overall background of the story. The high priest gave a final prophecy that the queen's successor will be the last of the kings, and the King in Yellow will return to establish a new dynasty.

The actors on stage performed very seriously, and used the small stories that happened in each different scene in an orderly manner to outline the different characters' personalities and their relationships with each other.

Kudo Shinichi gradually became fascinated by the show, as did Yukiko and Mao Li Ran beside him.

Soon, the performance of Act I, Scene I ended.

Qin Zhibo also watched the performance from the perspective of Mao Lilan. Except for the big change in the actor of the high priest, the story content remained basically unchanged from the original.

The first act and scene of The King in Yellow is very gentle, and Qin Zhibo guesses that there won't be many adaptations.

The most important second act was completely deleted, so the only part that underwent major changes was the second scene of the first act.

……

After waiting for half a minute, Act 1, Scene 2 began.

The setting was transformed into a magnificent palace, and a magnificent court party was presented on the spacious stage.

At the request of the princess in the first scene, the palace will hold a masked ball, and all princes and foreign envoys are invited to attend.

The actors wore European-style long skirts and gowns, dancing gracefully and neatly in the middle of the dance floor.

This scene made Mao Lilan very excited.

In fact, Mao Lilan has had a princess dream since she was a child. She wanted to experience the life of a princess and dance with her prince charming in the middle of the dance floor under the attention of everyone.

Of course, the face of this prince charming has been consciously photoshopped by Mao Lilan to look like Kudo Shinichi.

However, the atmosphere of the dance party on this stage is somewhat weird.

Everyone wore a pale mask with a texture like mutton-fat jade, and people of different identities could only distinguish each other through clothing and lines.

As the performance progressed, outside the balcony where the scene was set, the stars turned black one by one.

When the envoys who called themselves the "Yellow Seal Brotherhood" entered, the stars in the "sky" had all turned black, like holes in the sky.

The plot takes a sharp turn for the worse with the appearance of the Brotherhood members.

The good scenery on the stage was gone, and the members of the Brotherhood began to read the letter from the "Supreme King":

The dead king who hunts the gods;

The obscured sky;

The bones of the earth god trembled and shuddered;

The stars at rest;

And Hyades was silent as ice;

For they saw the King, appearing with his might;

……

The poem is very long and conveys only one meaning, that is, the Yellow King is about to return and will replace the rule of the existing king.

Reading this poem in the palace was naturally regarded as a rebellion, and the queen immediately ordered the entire city to arrest the envoys, without sparing a single one.

In order to see through the true face of the envoy, the climax of the first act of the whole play also comes.

"Your Excellencies! My Lords! Ladies!"

"It's time for the truth to come out! It's time to show your true colors!"

"Take off your masks and see who is dancing with you!"

The actress who played the queen shouted loudly and powerfully, and the actors on the stage raised their hands to take off the masks on their faces.

The performance of this scene was very spectacular, and the audience in the audience, including Kudo Shinichi and Mori Ran, were very excited.

However, all the actors had taken off their masks, except for the Brotherhood members who had not removed the pale masks on their faces.

The Queen continued to question, but only received the answers "I don't have a mask" and "I am the truth".

At the Queen's repeated request, the brotherhood members compromised.

"If you insist, then please look in that mirror..."

"It is the only thing that can reveal my true appearance..."

The actor playing the fraternity member pointed to the center of the stage, where a large golden mirror suddenly appeared.

At this moment, violent white smoke suddenly rose from all around the stage.

Of course, this is not a fire, but a stage effect created by dry ice.

In the thick smoke, the messy scenery and unimportant actors on the stage were quickly removed, leaving only four actresses posing in various postures in the mist covering the ground.

The princess played by Wavy Hair almost has a mental breakdown and lies in front of the mirror.

The queen, played by Dark Skin, stood in the center of the stage in disbelief, her hands covering her head.

There are also the high priest played by Kim Jang-ji and the captain of the guard played by Yazhou, who are on both sides.

All four actresses turned their backs to the audience, struck exaggerated poses, and looked into the mirror.

In the mirror, a yellow figure floated in the center of the mirror.

Yellow raggedness crossed the mirror's gold frame and stretched across the entire stage backdrop.

Strange ripples appeared on the windless robe, and the hidden figure had a head wearing a pale mask and a slightly floating hood.

"Did you see it?"

"I am the truth, I am the King in Yellow!"

The actor's roar came from the loudspeaker, and then the thick fog on the stage filled up again.

When the fog cleared, the King in Yellow in the mirror had disappeared.

There was an uproar in the audience, and everyone was shocked by this magical stage performance.

However, the next scene was even more shocking.

As the mechanical structure operated, two steel wires pulled the figure behind the mirror slowly upwards.

The King in Yellow was actually floating in the air.

It’s just that the crimson flower on the chest is a little eye-catching against the yellow robe.

The King in Yellow...

Really "ascended to heaven".