The air was a little quiet. At this time, Jiang Xia shook the brochure in his hand empathetically: "Mr. Hashimoto must have read this."
Conan: "..."
Maya Hashimoto's eyes lit up: "That's right!"
This is not a lie - although he didn't read it carefully, he did hold the book in his hand to fan himself because he thought it was too hot in the car.
Jiang Xia flipped the brochure and stopped at one of the pages: "This is the Shiguyuan tourism brochure. I just looked at it. It contains some introductions to the members of the Fantasy Magic Troupe."
Everyone gathered around the table and looked down curiously. They saw that it was a magnificent photo made up of two pages of paper put together. The background of the photo was a stage, and there were several oval photos of people hanging above the stage.
.
The photos are arranged one by one, each one looks more familiar than the last.
"Aren't these the magicians who performed in the dining car just now?" Suzuki Sonoko quickly recognized them, and she pointed at them one by one, "That annoying fake prince, Mermaid, a comedian-like prop master with purple eye circles.
psychic, and... huh?"
Her fingertips stopped on the leftmost photo. She looked left and right but didn't recognize it: "Who is this aunt in the cheongsam? It seems she has never appeared before."
Officer Takagi: "Oh, she's the one..."
“Buzz——!!”
A shaking sound started up, interrupting the policeman's words.
Everyone was stunned for a moment and looked at Jiang Xia.
After several glances, Jiang Xia touched his pocket and took out the old mobile phone with a black and white screen - he had been holding this mobile phone since the last time he answered the call.
"It seems that the magician has new inspiration." Jiang Xia clicked on the speakerphone, "Hello?"
The man opposite laughed mysteriously: "Everyone, do you like the blizzard of roses I sent you?"
"Not bad." Jiang Xia said sincerely, "But why is it a snowstorm and not rain?"
"..."
The "Hell Puppet Master" was silent for a moment, not wanting to let such boring questions lower the atmosphere he had finally created. He pretended not to hear and continued as if nothing had happened: "The next performance is about to begin. It is the one you have been waiting for."
For a long time..."
"Huh? He didn't answer your question just now!"
Suzuki Sonoko felt that she had discovered a blind spot. She slapped her palm and felt that she was extremely smart: "I understand, this phone call is a recording!"
"...My dear lady, this is not a recording." The "Hell Magician" tried his best to maintain the elegance that a gentleman should have, but somewhere in the carriage, a fog-like murderous aura silently swelled.
He calmed down his mood and tone, and continued to smile with a hint of malice: "Okay, please don't interrupt. I'm calling to inform you that the death magic you have been waiting for is about to happen.
Let’s begin—please enjoy.”
"Really?" The audience was not as supportive as expected. Suzuki Sonoko looked suspicious, "Last time you said this car would be lifted into the sky by a bomb, but it didn't. You won't sneak away from us again this time, right?
.”
"..."
The hell puppet master silently made a note to these garrulous actors, and then he finished his lines with a will as strong as iron: "The stage is in Room 5 of VIP Car No. 1, and the theme is red roses and colors.
Colorful balloons. Although the props are simple, the content is quite exciting. I named it - disappearing from the sky."
Suzuki Sonoko: "Well, your naming ability..."
"Toot, toot, toot"
The phone was hung up.
Jiang Xia glanced at her appreciatively, then stood up: "Let's go and take a look first."
…
The stage that "Hell's Puppet Master" talked about is some distance away from here.
The group of people ran in that direction along the narrow corridor with no sound, and a trail of curious tails followed them as they ran.
After finally arriving at the place, Jiang Xia opened the door. Before he could stand firm, he suddenly heard an exclamation coming from the front.
"ah--!!"
A figure stood at the door of Box 5, looking at the opened door in horror - it was the trainee magician performing puppet magic.
She seemed startled by the scene in Box No. 5. She backed away suddenly, stumbled and slid against the wall and sat on the ground.
"Are you okay?"
While expressing concern, Jiang Xia ran closer. Turning around and looking into the room, she saw that the box had been covered with roses at some point - roses stained with dew and with branches were piled up layer by layer, forming a bed.
Half a meter high platform.
And in this bloody sea of flowers, a middle-aged man wearing a top hat, black robe, and a mustache lay in the middle, surrounded by roses and countless floating colorful balloons.
"Isn't this the leader of the magic troupe!" Officer Takagi took a closer look and his face changed slightly, "His face..." was unnaturally pale. Although it was not polite to say this, he looked like he was dead.
.
While he came to a conclusion in his mind, he also wanted to try to rescue him. However, just as he was about to go in, Officer Takagi hissed and retracted his legs.
——The rose vines covering the box have not been treated and are covered with sharp thorns. Countless vines are crowded here, turning into a thorn fence like a copper wall and an iron wall. It is impossible to destroy this scene full of strange beauty.
At this moment, there was a soft whistle, and a few wisps of faint smoke came out from the side of the corpse.
"Oops!" The crowd of onlookers who squeezed in to watch the excitement fled away at a speed that was no slower than when they gathered together. "Run quickly, there is a bomb!"
The bomb had already begun to smoke, and the explosion was obviously imminent. The two experienced policemen reacted quickly, slamming the door of the box shut, and then threw other people at the door to the side.
Almost the next moment, there was an explosion of "Bang!" coming from the box.
Immediately afterwards, amidst the horrified screams of the crowd, a series of "bang bang bang" sounded one after another, one after another.
"……Um?"
Maya Hashimoto, who had been lying on the ground with his head in his arms early and was about to roll away from the field, was suddenly startled when he heard the sound.
Although the "explosions" were dense, the intensity sounded... a bit miniscule, didn't it?
——Not to mention bombs, a pistol equipped with a silencer would probably sound louder than this explosion.
"It was those balloons that blew up." A voice expressed his inner guess. Jiang Xia finally got rid of Officer Sato's iron arm with polite force and stood up from the ground. He picked it up and was almost crushed into a cake.
Conan turned around and looked at the box, "The rising smoke should not be a prelude to the explosion, but just some smoke."
With that said, he walked to the door of box No. 5 and raised his hand to push the door open.
Others approached cautiously, looked around...and then froze on the spot.
——A sealed box, on a high-speed train. The body of the leader of the magic troupe actually disappeared from a box surrounded by passengers.
