Ke Xue: Xiaolan delivers goods to your door at the beginning

Just then, Koizumi Akako, who had been quietly observing the beautiful fortune teller since earlier, suddenly spoke.

"I thought those super popular fortune tellers on TV would have some special abilities... but is that all there is to it?"

The words were full of hostility, and Nagara Haruka immediately turned to look at Koizumi Akako, who had said them.

She sized up Koizumi Akako, who was dressed in red and black, her slender eyebrows twitching slightly. "Excuse me, who are you...?"

"Who I am is not important. Just remember that there are always people better than you."

Koizumi Akako's arrogant reply made Nagara Haruka somewhat uneasy.

"You seem to be in the same line of work as me... but doesn't saying that sound a bit arrogant?"

In response to Nagara Haruka's counterattack, Koizumi Akako snorted coldly, "Who is being arrogant? Why don't we just have a match?"

"How should we compete?" Nagara Haruka was also aroused by the desire to win.

"You just said that a disaster will occur here. Can you divine the specific type of disaster?"

Faced with Koizumi Akako's question, Nagara Haruka parted his thin lips slightly, but ultimately did not speak.

"Humph……"

"Let me tell you, this journey will kill 420 people!"

Koizumi Akako's words shocked everyone. Almost everyone gasped and showed surprise on their faces, except for Lin Xiaofeng, who remained calm.

Well... you'll know once you see Conan...

Of course, Koizumi Akako did not predict the death based on scientific laws, but rather determined through divination using a crystal ball this morning that she would encounter the dead on this journey.

However, Koizumi Akako did not know the specific identity of the deceased.

Kogoro Mouri, standing to the side, felt somewhat embarrassed and helpless after hearing Akako Koizumi's divination. He awkwardly said, "This...this is too unlucky..."

Photographer Masaki Katagiri quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "It's rather cold in here. I think you should all go inside first."

Just then, the two main doors of the villa opened simultaneously, and the twin maids came out one after the other.

Honami Shimokasa: "Mr. Mori, your companions, Mr. Hayashi, and Ms. Koizumi, please enter the house and rest through the east entrance here."

Minaho Shimokasa: "Mr. Katagiri, Mr. Matsudaira, and Ms. Nagara, please enter the house and rest through the west entrance here."

Matsudaira-no-kami asked, puzzled, "Why do we have to enter from both sides?"

The twin maids, as if they had a telepathic connection, explained one after the other, roughly meaning that guests entering from the east entrance would stay in the east wing, while guests entering from the west entrance would stay in the west wing.

"If this custom isn't followed in this mansion..."

"Disaster will inevitably follow..."

Kogoro Mouri and Mamoru Matsudaira, who were both somewhat superstitious, were frightened and asked why this was happening.

The twin maids answered their questions in unison.

"Because this is... the mansion where the Cursed Mask resides..."

As if to accentuate the eerie atmosphere, a flock of crows perched on the villa's roof suddenly took flight, emitting unpleasant cawing.

508. The Bizarre Mask

Following local customs, under the guidance of Honomi Shimokasa, Xiaofeng Lin, Akako Koizumi, Kogoro Mouri, and Conan entered through the east entrance.

As soon as Lin Xiaofeng passed through the entrance hall, he saw all sorts of masks displayed on the walls on both sides of the corridor: a white and red mask, a golden sun mask...

Here, there is a strangely shaped mask hanging on the wall almost every two meters.

"Please come this way..."

Lin Xiaofeng looked around at the masks; there were no fewer than 30 displayed in this corridor alone.

As they ascended the stairs, the group was led by a maid to the masquerade hall.

As they pushed open the white door of the masquerade hall, the white door opposite was also pushed open by someone else, and it was Koizumi Akako and her group who entered from the west entrance.

Lin Xiaofeng instantly understood the interior structure of the room; the east and west sides of the villa were connected by this masquerade hall.

At that moment, Kogoro Mouri bent down to look at the masks in the glass case and exclaimed in admiration, "Wow! This is amazing! There are so many masks here..."

Just as Kogoro Mouri exclaimed, the display cases here showcase all kinds of masks, including ordinary masks, animal half-face masks, leather masks, stone masks, wooden masks, gold masks, silver masks...

There are about a hundred masks on display here, making it a veritable mask museum.

The group began to stroll through the masquerade hall, admiring the masks there.

Lin Xiaofeng quietly walked up to Koizumi Akako and asked in a low voice, "How's it going? Any leads?"

Koizumi Akako was bending over and staring at a stone mask in a glass case. After a few seconds, she straightened up again.

"It's still unclear..."

“I need to use magic to determine if the ‘pale mask’ you mentioned is here.”

"Then let's hurry up."

Lin Xiaofeng was a little anxious, because after the murder, the place would probably be sealed off by the police, making it inconvenient to do anything.

"Fool……"

Koizumi Akako scolded Lin Xiaofeng, "I can't reveal that I possess magic. If I use magic here, these people will definitely see through it."

Lin Xiaofeng glanced back at the people looking around the masquerade hall. It would be difficult to end the situation if he used magic in front of them.

"But if you don't want to be exposed, why are you getting angry with that fortune teller?"

Koizumi Akako glanced at Nagara Haruka, who was admiring an animal half-face mask not far away, and said with a hint of pride, "I just can't stand her half-baked fortune-telling..."

"Oh... so she does have real skills after all?"

Although reluctant to admit it, Koizumi Akako nodded, "That woman must possess some kind of inspiration..."

"But she's still a long way from being as good as me."

Just as Lin Xiaofeng and Koizumi Akako were whispering to each other, Conan, being a curious young man, had already successfully opened up a new area for everyone.

Conan picked up the remote control on the table and casually pressed the "←→" button, and the curtains scattered on several walls of the masquerade hall slowly opened.

The drive shaft pulls the dark red velvet cloth to both sides, and rows of pale masks are displayed on the shelves.

Pale mask!

Lin Xiaofeng was immediately drawn to these masks because their color was a very pure pale white.

The mask has very narrow corners for the eyes, which is reminiscent of the Western perception of Asian eyes, except in a completely inhumane way.

The pale mask had no nose, and a mouth curved slightly upward like a crescent moon, revealing an arrogant sneer that sent chills down the spine of onlookers.

And there are hundreds of masks like these displayed in the entire masquerade hall!

"What are these masks?!"

"Why are there so many?"

The crowd in the exhibition hall was astonished by the sheer number of masks. Just then, a voice from the doorway explained, "These are all Shambles' masks..."

Following the sound, everyone looked and saw Su Fanghongzi, the owner of the villa and the organizer of the charity gala, standing at the door, accompanied by her bespectacled female secretary.

"You must be Ms. Su Fang Hongzi!" Kogoro Mouri exclaimed in surprise.

"Your presence is truly an honor to my humble abode." Su Fanghongzi approached the group with a kind smile. "What do you all think? Do you find my most prized collection acceptable?"

Kogoro Mouri, whose aesthetic sense was relatively normal, scratched his head, his smile somewhat forced. "Well, how should I put it..."

Lin Xiaofeng walked over and praised in a serious tone, "The masks here are truly eye-opening. Could you please tell me about their origins?"

Conan, standing to the side, was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected Lin Xiaofeng's aesthetic sense to be so unique...

Hearing that someone appreciated her collection, Su Fanghongzi was delighted and immediately began to introduce it with great enthusiasm.

"These masks are the two hundred masks that the Spanish sculptor, Chauble de Riss, is said to have completed shortly before his death."

Nagara Haruka walked over at this moment and added casually, "He is also known as the 'Cursed Mask' by the world."

“Yes, that’s one way of saying it…” Su Fanghongzi continued, “Shoble Dres was a sculptor with a tragic background. Although he was exceptionally talented, he fell into a trap set by his brother who was jealous of him.”

In the end, his reputation, status, and even his property were all taken away.

"So, filled with utter despair for humanity, as if possessed by something, he kept carving these masks."

"After he finished carving the two hundredth mask, he ended his life with a dagger. At that time, all the masks scattered around his body were stained with blood, as if they were sucking his blood..."

After hearing the backstory of this mortal gradually descending into madness, Lin Xiaofeng felt almost certain of success.

Among these masks should be the "Pale Mask" needed for the mission.

At this point, Nagara Haruka added, "Shobul's reputation was only vindicated posthumously, and these masks were scattered among different people, but all of them ended up in tragedy..."

"The general manager of a British bank died the day after he received one of the masks while riding a horse, falling off a cliff."

"Another French jeweler was attacked by robbers and ultimately lost his life."

"Since then, rumors have circulated that these masks can suck the blood of their owners, and collectors all over the world avoid them like the plague..."

Ran Mouri's shoulders trembled slightly as she shrank closer to Kogoro Mouri and asked, "So you (damn it) still have two hundred masks in your collection? Will that be okay?!"

Su Fanghong smiled slightly and reassured her, "There's no need to worry about that. I've already asked a powerful spiritual medium to seal the curses on these masks..."

After hearing this particularly extraordinary backstory, Conan subconsciously felt that it was all nonsense.

But then I thought about my past experiences, and it felt like maybe, perhaps, possibly...

Conan walked up to the mask display shelf, tilted his chin up, and stared intently at the masks. Suddenly, he noticed something.

This mask is actually somewhat similar to the one worn by the "Dark Baron"...

Could it be that Dad copied the design of this mask?

However, upon closer inspection, Conan discovered that these masks differed somewhat from the descriptions in Yusaku Kudo's book.

The "Dark Baron's" mask features a more pronounced upward curve at the corners of the mouth and deeper downward drooping at the corners of the eyes.

Furthermore, the gaps between the eyes and mouth on this mask are too narrow and long, and it doesn't even have a nose. It feels like it wasn't designed for humans to wear... *looks up*.

509. The Cursed Mask of Shambles

On the other side, Lin Xiaofeng asked Koizumi Akako, "Do you sense any seals set up by spiritual mediums here?"

Koizumi Akako shook her head firmly, "No."

Lin Xiaofeng had guessed it; after all, there were so many spiritual mediums who sought fame and fortune, most of them just looking for psychological comfort.

At this moment, Kogoro Mouri frowned and said to Akako Suhou, "However, Ms. Suhou, in the real world, the evil thoughts of humans are probably more terrifying than any curse..."

“I was blocked by a big tree on my way here, and this piece of paper was nailed to it.”

Kogoro Mouri pulled out a threatening letter from his pocket and showed it to everyone.

The other three people, upon seeing the threatening letter, also expressed that they had received similar letters, including a rock singer named Aikawa Touya who arrived last.

He pulled out a letter from his hand, saying it was received by the company, and its contents were no different from other threatening letters.

Kogoro Mori deduced, "The red 'curse' on this letter is from a newspaper ten days ago, which means the person who sent this letter knew about the charity gala ten days ago."

"Ms. Su Fang, who were the people who knew about this ten days ago?"

As soon as Kogoro Mouri uttered his brilliant deduction, Ran Mouri objected, "Dad! This is Mr. Hayashi's deduction!"

Conan nodded vigorously, "Yeah! Yeah!"

Kogoro Mouri pretended not to hear, but inwardly he was lamenting why his daughter was siding with outsiders.

Su Fanghongzi glanced at her secretary behind her, who then looked at everyone present and said, "Apart from the two detectives, everyone else here received the invitation ten days ago..."

Having exhausted all his deductions using Lin Xiaofeng's reasoning, Kogoro Mouri was somewhat unhappy.

In addition, what frustrated Kogoro Mouri even more was that he had only received the invitation three days earlier, which meant that he was not a very important guest.

Fortunately, Lin Xiaofeng was there to keep him company, which made Kogoro Mouri feel a little better.

……

Thanks to Su Fanghongzi's insistence, no one called the police, and the banquet proceeded as planned.

"To be honest, I am very grateful to everyone here for agreeing so readily to attend this charity gala that I am hosting."

Su Fang and Hongzi raised their glasses in a toast, and the others also raised their glasses in return.

During the event, Su Fanghongzi explained her philosophy for organizing the charity gala, which was to raise funds for children who lost both parents in a car accident.