"Hey... Wakuda, did you remember correctly! What's going on?" Ohuchi looked at the dug-out earth bag and continued to yell at Wakuda, "There are no paintings at all!"

Cold sweat and hot sweat alternately dripped down Wakuda's cheeks and neck. He said tremblingly, "I don't seem to have dug this deep..."

It was already after 5 o'clock, the sun was setting in the west, the sky was getting dark, and the gorgeous sunset intertwined in the sky, creating an oil painting-like texture.

"Oh no!"

A police officer hurried over and shouted, "The stolen painting...has returned to its original place..."

"What did you say?" Kenmochi Isamu and the Okouchi Police Department looked in disbelief.

Several people immediately rushed to Lavender Villa to see what was going on.

On the card, under the British top hat and funny beard, the following is written.

"What a soap opera. Next time there is a real Phantom Thief, I will come and take the painting away... Please don't be careless!"

There is also a signature on the bottom: Phantom Thief Gentleman.

"how so!"

"The Challenge of the Gentleman Phantom Thief, will the real Phantom Thief finally appear?"

"Things are getting interesting! The showdown between the famous detective and the phantom thief." Art reporter Daigo Maki said excitedly, "It's really exciting!"

"You came just in time!" Kindaichi said with a straight face, as if he was going to catch the Phantom Thief Gentleman, "I won't let you steal any of the paintings here!"

After wiping his lenses, Saoki put on his rimless glasses again, looked at the small card, and touched his chin with his left hand, "Senior, why do I feel a little strange."

"Are you talking about why the Phantom Thief returned this self-portrait of Kamou Gozo? I think it's because it's not his goal! After all, it's someone else's farce."

"No," the Jarhead high school student pointed to the small card on the wall, "There's something wrong with this little card!"

"Is there anything?" Kindaichi looked at the card again, "I don't think there is anything wrong."

"Have you seen the card that Uncle Kenmochi took out earlier and was sent to Kamo Painter's house?"

"I didn't look carefully! What's the matter?" Kindaichi picked his nose nonchalantly.

"There seems to be a slight difference in the handwriting of the signature," Saaki speculated while recalling.

"Even if it's the same person, they may not write the same signature."

"Well, I'll ask Uncle Sword Holder later which one he wants to compare with!"

"It's up to you. Our duty is to catch the hidden Phantom Thief Gentleman. Get up and work hard! Saaki-kun." Kindaichi patted him on the shoulder, touched his stomach and told him to go to eat.

"Um!"

After the others had almost left, Zuomu, who deliberately stayed at the end, quickly walked to the door and privately stopped Kenmochi Isamu who was about to leave.

"Uncle Sword Holder?"

"Uh... Sagi-san, aren't you going to go have a meal? Everyone has left." Kenmochi Yong, who had short hair, looked at the other people's backs as they walked away.

"I'm still confused about the Phantom Thief Gentleman. After Sakura-senpai and I arrived," Saoki pointed to the ground, "there should be police officers staying to investigate when and how the Phantom Thief Gentleman returned.

Painting? The Okouchi Police Department didn’t say anything just now!”

"This... seems to be unclear?"

"Isn't it clear? I thought he was deliberately hiding some information," Sagi frowned, holding an ink umbrella, "Then after discovering that the painting was returned by the Phantom Thief Gentleman, did the police search for Haruhiko Kazuda in the lavender field?

Strange footprints other than the footprints?"

"This... doesn't exist!" After a pause, Jian Chiyong's tone was fairly certain.

"If you enter Lavender Villa to return the painting, you must either go through the front entrance or the floor-to-ceiling window of the back door," Saaki speculated, scratching his cheek with his nails, "It seems that the gentleman thief chose the front entrance, but how could he do it in full view of everyone?"

He swaggered into the villa from the bridge! By the way," he seemed to suddenly think of something, "after Sakura-senpai and I arrived at the villa and found that the paintings had been stolen, who of the other guests of the Kamou painter was alone?

Have you been here?"

"No...no! Oh, it seems that two police officers reported that they encountered a police officer with a very unfamiliar face." The sword-wielding police officer raised his head slightly and recalled.

"So, is it a disguise? Hiding a small painting under clothes?"

"This... is very possible!" The middle-aged police officer seemed to be awakened by Zuomu's words.

"Did the two police officers say anything special about the strange police officer's face?"

"This is just an ordinary face. They didn't pay much attention to it, but they just thought it was inappropriate afterward."

A look of disappointment flashed across Zuomu's face, but he continued to ask, "What about the time? When the two police officers noticed him passing by and entered the villa?"

"One of the police officers looked at his watch when he left. It was probably around five and a half minutes!"

"That's more than forty minutes ago." Saoki glanced at the black watch on his left wrist, which showed the time: 5:45 pm.

"What's the use? If you know the time?"

"Well...a bit..."

Seeing the high school student with Jarhead looking thoughtful, Sword-wielding Hero put his hand on his shoulder and said comfortingly: "If you can't think of it right now, don't think too much about it, go ahead and fill your stomach!"

"It's okay... Uncle, let's go first, I'll be back later. And... please lend me the card that was sent to the three families of Pu Sheng Gang!"

"Oh...is this one?" Jian Chiyong took it out of his arms and handed it to the high school student.

"That's right!"

"Okay! I'll go first then!" Jian Chiyong said as he walked out of the door, said hello to the two police officers standing guard outside, and left directly through the paved stone road.

Saoki, who was standing at the door, turned around and looked at the self-portrait of Gozo Kamao quietly.

He did have the intention of using the ink umbrella to capture the critical moment to find out the true identity of the Phantom Thief Gentleman, but after talking with Kenmochi Isamu, it seemed inappropriate to use the "backtracking" skill here. The police uniform and the disguise

Face, in the case of blurred pixels, no useful information can be obtained at all.

But he also considered another place where the Phantom Thief appeared, next to the tree where the painting was buried. According to his speculation, after following Wakuda, the Phantom Thief identified where he was buried, and must have waited for him to leave before taking out the painting.

, otherwise when the Aomori Prefecture Police Department comes with more police officers, it will be easy for others to dig out the paintings.

Therefore, the time for return was after visiting Lavender Villa in Okouchi.
Chapter completed!