Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

Edogawa Conan doesn't like sweets very much, so he put down the cake with wine in it after eating less than half of it.

However, Haibara Ai ate the whole plate slowly and even turned around to remind Professor Agasa not to eat too many alcoholic desserts and to be careful about his blood sugar and liver.

Maori Kogoro ate most of it out of courtesy. When he saw the others put down their plates, he stood up and said, "Then I'll go to the banquet hall to check. Is it convenient to go backstage?"

The person in charge nodded and said, "The contestants will change their clothes and put on makeup in this room. There are only some props in the backstage. You can go in just by telling the staff over there."

It would be easy to sneak in and do something tricky... Edogawa Conan muttered to himself.

Aoyagi Hiromitsu and Miss White also stood up to say goodbye. The FBI agent, who was acting as a translator today, said, "The competition will start in half an hour, so we won't bother the players any more."

As soon as these words were spoken, Dr. Agasa realized that these contestants needed to get dressed, and hurriedly left the room with the others.

The banquet hall where the competition was held was also on the 20th floor, and it could be reached by passing through the corridor and the elevator hall in the middle. The contestants would take another backstage passage, and they went directly to the main entrance.

Although Kogoro Mouri seems unreliable, he is actually quite clear about the social etiquette of adults. When he saw Aoyagi Akimichi accompanying important people from the United States, he only talked to a few other people.

"I'll go check backstage later. Doctor, please keep an eye on Conan and don't let this kid run around."

Edogawa Conan rolled his eyes and listened to Dr. Agasa's casual agreement, then turned his gaze to the corridor.

Suddenly, his attention was attracted by a painting on the wall.

The door of the banquet hall opened, and Aoyagi Akimitsu went in first with his female companion. Maori Kogoro went backstage, and Suzuki Sonoko went straight to chat with the employee of Suzuki Group who was responsible for the broadcast, the person in charge of the competition and several adults who were invited.

Dr. Agasa was about to follow them in, but when he saw Edogawa Conan staring at a painting on the wall, he stopped and asked, "What's wrong?"

Haibara Ai had already seen the plain faces of several contestants in the lounge, and had been smelling the perfume for a long time, so she was not very interested in the upcoming wedding dress show.

She looked from the perspective of Edogawa Conan and quickly recognized the content of the painting.

"The Golden Apple of Discord."

As a science geek who believes in science, Dr. Agasa doesn't know much about various legends, but he does feel familiar with this name.

Edogawa Conan looked at the painting and quickly recalled the myth.

Legend has it that at a wedding banquet of a sea goddess, she invited all the gods except the goddess of discord, Eris, who held a grudge against her and sent a golden apple to the scene with the words: To the most beautiful goddess.

"Hera, who represents power; Athena, who symbolizes wisdom and victory; and Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and desire. They all want the apple. It's a difficult choice between the three."

Huiyuan Ai said lightly: "It seems that even the noblest goddesses on the sacred mountain can't resist the temptation of 'the most beautiful'..."

Edogawa Conan sweatdropped, "This is just a low-level provocation. After all, everyone has different aesthetic tastes, and the most beautiful in their hearts is definitely not the same."

"Yes." Huiyuan Ai nodded, "But faced with such a low-level provocation, even Zeus, the king of gods who always loves beautiful women, didn't dare to choose. The final choice fell on the head of a human prince."

This is the scene in the painting before us.

The gods were watching in the clouds, and the chosen human prince stood in front of the forest on earth, facing three goddesses with different styles, and handed the glittering apple to Aphrodite.

This is really a low-level but effective provocation.

——No matter who is chosen, it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the other two. They will not be disgusted with the mastermind behind sending the golden apple, but will only hate the chosen goddess and the unlucky person who is forced to participate and make a choice.

That choice eventually led to the Trojan War, which resulted in numerous casualties. Edogawa Conan was not interested in mythology, but he was interested in this story because he had watched a magically adapted Golden Apple stage play last year, in which people died.

To the most beautiful goddess.

To the most beautiful person.

The moment he saw the painting, Conan Edogawa immediately thought of the threatening letter.

Was the sender inspired to write the letter by this story?

If it was an ordinary threatening letter, these contestants... at least those with nothing to hide could stand together and face the outside world; the arrival of the credible one seemed to have touched upon some hidden thoughts in their hearts.

"You are so self-indulgent! Do you think you will be targeted?"

Just like what Shou Hualian said when she was arguing with another girl - the criminal wants to kill the most beautiful person. You are so scared, are you worried that you will be chosen?

This is the finals, and all the girls standing here are regional champions. Their self-confidence makes them worry that they will be selected, but their shame makes them unwilling to speak out about their worries. They don’t want to be considered narcissistic, and they may even ignore some dangers that have already emerged.

Edogawa Conan sighed, turned around and wanted to enter the banquet hall, intending to sneak a look backstage.

It’s not that he doesn’t trust Uncle Maori, but the other party is really unreliable sometimes... The reliable Mr. Qingliu is someone else’s bodyguard and cannot be asked to help casually.

Huihara Ai was about to follow, but Dr. Agasa didn't move. He saw that they were all staring at the painting, so he also looked at it for a long time. At this time, he suddenly asked a question: "So it happened at night."

"What night?" Haibara Ai stopped.

"I'm talking about the background." Dr. Agasa pointed to the area in the middle of the painting. "I've seen some paintings with Greek mythology backgrounds. The whole painting was very bright, but this one is a pitch-black night... Look, there's even a moon above it."

Edogawa Conan was stunned and raised his head quickly.

Before, he had been observing the human prince in the lower right corner making the ultimate death choice among three options, and almost overlooked that the background of the painting was actually at night.

——And the incomplete crescent moon hanging high in the night sky is the most conspicuous existence in the entire picture.

"It looks like it was painted by a modern painter. It's a very good painting, but unfortunately the subject is a bit vague..." Dr. Agasa continued.

Huihara Ai looked away without commenting. She suddenly remembered something and turned to Edogawa Conan: "Edogawa, you said on the phone this afternoon that you wanted to discuss something with me and the doctor. What is it?"

"Actually it is……"

Edogawa Conan was about to answer.

As a result, as soon as he opened his mouth, an indescribable pain suddenly came from deep inside his body!

His eyes widened instantly, and he felt his heart beating abnormally and violently. Along with the pain came a burning sensation, so hot that it seemed to melt all the bones in his body!
This feeling... This feeling is...

Amidst Dr. Agasa's exclamation, Conan Edogawa convulsed all over and fell to one knee on the ground.

He saw Haibara Ai not far away, also holding onto the wall with her hands on her chest and a pale face.

——There is no mistake. When he was drugged and became smaller by the organization, he felt the same way!

"Doctor..." He said with difficulty, "Take us to an empty room quickly. I doubt we should..." (End of this chapter)