Anime, but the Phantom Thieves of Heart

In this situation, since a similar scene appears, there is only one possibility!

The owner of the palace saw Kudo Shinichi being chased!

This means that the 'Ze Yuezhi' just now is very likely in that 'Ryotei'?!

But soon, his excitement disappeared. After all, according to his method, it didn't matter whether he saw the criminal or not. It was enough to be able to lock onto the other party's "palace".

On the contrary, Kudo Shinichi should be looking forward to meeting the other person, right?

After all, he is the hardest to see among the three suspects.

Unfortunately, he couldn't tell Kudo Shinichi about this clue. After all, he couldn't explain why he knew about it.

While Sosuke Sagara and the others were driving fast, just as Lan Ke had expected, on the second floor of the "ryotei" without a sign, Ze Yuezhi, wearing a shirt and with an elegant smile on his face, was silently listening to the complaints of the man in front of him.

Although he was silent, his timely response made the man in front of him not feel looked down upon at all. Instead, he felt that the other party was listening very seriously.

This undoubtedly made him in a good mood, and he even talked more after drinking.

"Recently, 'Sakurada Gate' has been reportedly investigating some case. I don't know why they sent someone to find me. More importantly, they haven't contacted anyone here. I don't know what they're doing..."

The so-called 'Sakurada Gate' refers to the main gate of the Imperial Palace. Since the Metropolitan Police Department is located nearby, people often use it to refer to the 'Metropolitan Police Department'.

The other party was just complaining, but Ze Yuezhi narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

Unfortunately, before he could think about it any further, he was interrupted by a voice.

"By the way, President Zeyue, regarding the 'Ceremony'..."

Fiberglass

Hearing this, Ze Yuezhi still had a smile on his face, and it even became two points brighter. However, if you look closely, you can notice that the muscles on his face are quite tense, not as natural as before.

It was obvious that the other party did not like this so-called "dharma assembly" very much, but because of his identity, he naturally could not show such emotions.

"I haven't heard of any news about a 'dharma assembly' recently. You know I'm not a 'believer.' Although you, Mr. Congressman, are extremely devout, please be patient..."

"Of course~Of course~"

Looking at the other person's ambiguous smile, Ze Yuezhi felt extremely disgusted and even wanted to vomit.

However, the other party's wife and daughter are quite nice, otherwise there would be no need for him to be so enthusiastic even if he had to pretend to be nice to them for the sake of the company.

辷澪ー二⒉ノ╲⒊澪⒐汃

Just as Ze Yuezhi was toasting with the congressman, Sosuke Sagara also sent Lan Ke to her destination. However, when Lan Ke and Kudo Shin got off the car, she had already changed back into her school uniforms.

"Contact directly if necessary."

QQ: 814 903 798

Although Sosuke Sagara was also concerned about the safety of the two, he did not give them endless reminders, but just said a simple sentence.

But this simple sentence made the two of them feel particularly at ease.

As the taillights of the car gradually disappeared from sight, Lan Ke was ready to say goodbye to Kudo Shinichi.

Although there were not many monsters killed today, both the exploration in the "palace" and the final rapid charge consumed a lot of Lan Ke's energy. Now he just wanted to have a good rest.

"See you tomorrow."

Lan Ke said goodbye to Kudo Shinichi as usual, but at this moment.

"and many more!!"

"?"

Facing Lan Ke's puzzled look, Kudo Shinichi, who took the initiative to call Lan Ke, opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, but finally made up his mind.

"Lan Ke! Thank you for today... woo~!"

Kudo Shinichi couldn't help but cover his shoulders halfway through his words and looked at Lan Ke with an incredible look on his face as he retracted his fist, as if he didn't understand what Lan Ke meant.

"Man, man, why are you being so shy? You're not a girl, why are you shy?"

Seeing Lan Ke's face that looked like he was about to get goosebumps, Kudo Shinichi couldn't help laughing and almost laughed out loud.

The originally serious atmosphere also dissipated.

"Sorry, I went to investigate alone before."

Although it was still an apology, this time Kudo Shinichi's expression and voice were much more natural.

"It's good that you know you're wrong. Although I don't know much about reasoning and solving cases, I know that even Sherlock Holmes needs Watson's help. You, a rookie detective, are still very inexperienced!"

Faced with Lan Ke's teasing, Kudo Shinichi couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"Holmes and Watson..."

He kept muttering to himself and finally laughed.

"Indeed, I won't do that next time!"

Almost at the same time when Kudo Shinichi smiled, the sound of waves appeared in his mind.

"RANK UP! RANK 2!"

"Learned Ability: Third Eye"

"The third eye——when you focus your attention, you can notice things you wouldn't normally notice (treasures, mechanisms, clues)."

Looking at the flaming words that suddenly appeared in his field of vision, Lan Ke seemed a little stunned.

He was not surprised by the possibility of raising his rank, but what really surprised him was the 'ability' he obtained from Kudo Shinichi.

But if you think about it carefully, it doesn't seem strange.

After all, as a "detective", Kudo Shinichi is best at solving cases, and excellent observation skills are one of the necessary conditions, so it is not surprising that he can improve the opponent's RANK to obtain related abilities.

But Lan Ke soon realized that because the other party had amazing observation skills, if he behaved too abnormally, the other party might notice something was wrong, so he simply chose to talk about "business".

"Although your father is a renowned writer, Kudo, he likely had no contact with that 'Zawakoshi', so you might not even receive an invitation. Asking for one would be too obvious, and might even be noticed."

"Mr. Kujo knows about our investigation. If he's willing to help, it would save us a lot of trouble."

It was obvious that Lan Ke was referring to the fact that during lunch break, Suzuki Sonoko explained to the two that Jotaro Kujo was the heir of "Jostar Real Estate Company".

As expected, when Lan Ke started talking about business, Kudo Shinichi's attention was instantly attracted, and naturally he didn't care about Lan Ke's brief pause just now...

Chapter 48: The Oiran and... Saber?!

As expected, when Lan Ke returned home, Jotaro Kujo was sitting in the study as usual, and a steaming lunch box was placed on the dining table.

When Lan Ke put down his schoolbag and sat down, Jotaro Kujo also sat down opposite Lan Ke very naturally and glanced at the sword bag placed aside, as if he was confirming something.

"How's your investigation going with that kid from the Kudo family?"

Opening the lunch box and looking at the dinner which was as sumptuous as usual, Lan Ke felt his appetite grow. While eating, he briefly recounted what happened tonight.

1㈡②捌30㈨⑧

Of course, he did not mention the fact that he had brought Kudo Shinichi all the way out, he just said that he had escaped with the other party and mentioned the matter of the 'Zeyue Real Estate Anniversary Celebration'.

Although Lan Ke hopes to capture the palace before the 'anniversary celebration', it's better to be safe than sorry.

Indeed, for him, 'attacking Ze Yuezhi's palace' was not urgent. After all, he would not be expelled even if he did not attack it for the time being. But the problem was that if Ze Yuezhi was not dealt with, he would not be able to prevent the victims from appearing.

Even if... the other party realized that 'someone might be investigating him' and restrained himself.

There was no way he was going to gamble on that possibility!

So even though he knew that as long as he could help Ze Yuezhi "change his heart", the "Phantom Thieves of Hearts" would become famous, he still chose to help Kudo Shinichi to the best of his ability.

After all, he felt that reducing the number of victims was more important than making his debut as a 'Phantom Thief'.

Anyway, as long as I don't send out a notice, no one will know that there is actually a "phantom thief" in this matter, and naturally there will be no "failure".

This can be considered as his preparation for both scenarios.

So at least for now, everything is still under Lan Ke's control.

Compared to Lan Ke who was eating with hearty mouthfuls, Jotaro Kujo on the other side was silently tapping the table with his fingers.

Although he had never been to the "restaurant" that Lan Ke mentioned, he had heard of it. He heard that the person behind the scenes was a "consortium" that had once funded several congressmen.

"Your actions this time are too reckless..."

Jotaro Kujo instinctively wanted to teach Lan Ke a lesson, but as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he found that he couldn't continue. After all, he seemed to be much more reckless than Lan Ke and the others back then.

Lan Ke and his men only attacked a restaurant, but back then they directly attacked the lair of an armed group.

After a brief pause, the words in his mouth changed.

"Don't go near that restaurant for now. I think things are going to be tense there. As for Zeyue Real Estate, I'll take you and the kid from the Kudo family there when the time comes."

Jotaro Kujo didn't know much about "Zeyue Real Estate", but since "Joestar Real Estate Company" had a branch in Neon, he thought "Zeyue Real Estate" should have sent an invitation letter.

As the theoretical top manager of "Joestar Real Estate Neon Branch", Jotaro Kujo basically doesn't care about the company's management except for the necessary audits, and has not even been to the company for some time, but as long as he wants, nothing is a problem.

Lan Ke seemed a little unbelievable, not expecting that the problem he was most worried about could be solved so easily.

But if you think about it carefully, considering your current "identity", it doesn't seem strange.

However, since Jotaro has never mentioned this matter, Lan Ke will not take the initiative to mention it. After all, doing so will always give people the feeling of repaying a favor.

It turns out that Jotaro Kujo's "palace" is a real treasure trove. It's a pity that he has more important things to deal with right now and he has no time to explore it.

"Can't Ze Yuezhi just explode on the spot?"

Lan Ke once again made such complaints in his heart.

The next day, Lan Ke welcomed his first weekend after arriving at Kujo's house.

But to his surprise, when he was eating breakfast and thinking about what reason he should use to go out, Jotaro Kujo told him that he would not be back at noon today and asked him to order takeout or go out for lunch.

Lan Ke, who had no idea that Jotaro Kujo went to the company for her, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and said it was no problem!

At the same time, Kudo Shinichi planned to go to the Metropolitan Police Department to exchange information with the police.

Of course, he is acting as his father's agent. At least for now, Kudo Shinichi does not have the ability to directly interfere with the police investigation.

Sitting in the toilet of the subway station and turning off the chat software, Lan Ke looked at the last message sent by Kudo Shinichi, "I'm here, but the police officer who came to pick me up today has a weird hairstyle." Lan Ke had no idea who the other party had met and naturally had no time to remind the other party. He just said "Come on" and turned off the phone.

For some reason, I always have a strange feeling of déjà vu as if I told my family that I was working overtime, but actually went out fishing with friends.

After shaking his head to get rid of this strange idea, Lan Ke activated the 'Other World Navigation' and entered the 'Zeyuezhi Palace'.

Compared to the unfamiliarity he felt when he first came here, Lan Ke, who had been there once, was very familiar with the place this time. He even changed into "local clothes" halfway. However, what he didn't expect was that as soon as he walked into the gate of "Yoshiwara", he found that something was wrong.

First, the number of shadows in the 'Palace' has increased significantly, and second, there are a large number of gorgeous decorations on the streets of 'Yoshiwara'.

This was obviously different from what Lan Ke had imagined.

Originally, he was worried that Ze Yuezhi, who had become aware of Kudo Shinichi's existence, would increase the "alert value" in the palace due to his vigilance.

Unexpectedly, not only did the alert level not increase, but the place was decorated with lights and colors in preparation for the festival.

Just as Lan Ke was daydreaming, a cry of surprise suddenly came.

"'Oiran Dochu' has begun!!"

Following the cheers, the already crowded crowd swarmed in one direction. Many of them, who were supposed to be managers from Yoshiwara, formed a human wall to prevent people from getting too close.

Looking at the crowds in front of him, Lan Ke did not go to join in the fun. Instead, he found a store near the main road, climbed to the roof in no time and took out a telescope.

It was obvious that Lan Ke had made a lot of preparations for the strategy of conquering the 'Palace'.

Following the direction of the crowd, Lan Ke soon noticed that a large group of people were approaching from a distance. He thought it should be the so-called "Oiran Daozhong" team.

Although he knew that the "palace" might not be exactly the same as the outside world, since he knew that the palace this time was "Yoshiwara", Lan Ke naturally looked up a lot of related information, such as the so-called "Oiran Dochu".

This term can be directly translated as 'the courtesan parades through the streets'.

Yoshiwara is the largest official red-light district in Japan. There are hundreds of brothels of various sizes, and the number of prostitutes is in the tens of thousands. They often have their own unique titles according to their net worth. The most valuable ones are generally called "Taifu". Prostitutes of this status are not something that ordinary people can see.

The title of "Oiran" does not belong to the class of prostitutes, but is more of an "honorary title". Generally speaking, the prostitute with the highest value and the greatest reputation within a period of time will be given the title of "Oiran".

Wherever there are people, there are conflicts, and the same is true among prostitutes.

In order to gain more prestige, higher value and better treatment, some "Taifu" will "parade the streets" so that ordinary people can see their appearance to increase their prestige. The more people watch, the higher their prestige. The number of participants can even be used for comparison with each other.

Although this 'Yoshiwara' is just a false temple, it is also a projection of the temple owner's inner world, like the previous 'ryotei'.

Lan Ke Xiangxing, an important figure in this hall, must have a close relationship with Ze Yuezhi in the outside world!

Thinking of this, Lan Ke couldn't help but take out his cell phone.