Although they are all separated by transparent glass display cases, this degree is enough to feel the subtle and unusual atmosphere exuded by one of the paintings as long as Alice feels it carefully and carefully.

"Oh, I'll take a look!"

Levi was holding the probe to test the paintings hanging on the other side of the wall, and as soon as Alice heard this, he turned around and approached the probe to the oil painting of a free-range teenager on it.

Drip, drip!

The sound emitted by the detector suddenly became dense and the volume increased.

"Sure enough, this is it!"

Lévy didn't even have to look at the values displayed on the detector's screen. In fact, he himself could already feel the breath of special energy emanating from the painting in the display case. He is naturally stronger than Alice in this regard, and everyone feels it, how can he not feel it?

"This painting is a copy of the person you're looking for?"

Alice looked at the painting curiously. She had never seen the original painting, and she had never even heard of the name of the painter written on the introduction below the painting, so naturally she could not tell whether the painting was real or fake. After all, although Alice could sense some special aura in the painting, she had never learned how to judge the age of an unearthed artifact. Even if Alice is a magician who is proficient in magic, she does not have the ability to tell whether an object was made by a modern person or an antique that has been buried underground for a long time.

Modern technology is becoming more and more advanced, and the technology of counterfeiting antiques is becoming more and more sophisticated. It is said that some forged antiques nowadays, even if they are examined with professional instruments, are likely to come to the erroneous conclusion that the item was indeed preserved hundreds of years ago.

It's all too normal for laymen like Lévy and Alice with no expertise to be deceived by professional fraud gangs.

"It's very likely, but we still have to see if it'...... specifics"

Levi said as he reached out his hand to the display case, where a black crack suddenly appeared in front of the glass. Levi's hand reached through the crack, reached out from the display case, and delicately removed the painting hanging on the wall.

"That's it, that's it. ”

With the painting in his hand, Levi tested it again with the detector. The values displayed by the detector were a bit complicated, and he couldn't understand what they meant. However, this detector does not only look like a mobile phone, but it is actually a mobile phone. The data detected on this will be transmitted in real time to the computer of Tio Prato, a cat-eared girl in the school city on the school island. By the time Tio had looked at the data, he would at least know when the painting had been made.

"It's just an ordinary oil painting, it looks like something special?"

Alice took a closer look, and there was nothing special about the painting itself, except for the fact that it exuded something unusual.

"Maybe the answer to some riddle can be found in the pattern of this painting?"

Lévy thought about the plots of those detective novels again. Thinking of this, he immediately used his mobile phone to take a very clear photo of this painting, and then passed it to Kuroki Kanya, who pointed him here.

The detective's job had to be left to the professional detective, and Lévi didn't think he had the ability to find any useful clues from here.

"If there's something hidden in the pattern, then just see the painting, don't you have to steal the original?"

Alice once went to the library with Eve and Yuki Nagato, and saw the albums about art appreciation. I surf the Internet on my mobile phone and computer at home, and I have also seen pictures of these famous paintings displayed on the Internet.

"Probably the secrets that are only found in the original, but can't be found in the reproductions? For example, what codes and marks are hidden in the inner layer of the canvas. Maybe it's not a mystery at all, but it's just me saying it casually. ”

Lévi handed the painting to Alice, who seemed to be quite interested, and waited for the reply from Kuroki Kanya and Theo.

"Whatever the reason, at least I don't think it was the thief who came to commit the crime on a whim. Just knowing this is not in vain. ”

It was not the whim of the thief himself, indicating that someone asked him to steal the original of the painting. Indeed, at least the organization behind the thief needs such a picture. Although it is not known why this painting is needed, it is still a clue that may be used in the future.

"But how do you know that it wasn't the thief who liked the painting and came to steal it?"

Alice asked, holding the painting.

"The thief was indeed a man who was very persistent and loved art. But if it was the man who did it, as I thought, it shows that it was not his intention. ”

"Do you know the thief well?"

Alice, who had just felt that she couldn't find the secret in the painting and had become uninterested, raised her head again when she heard Levi say that.

"If you want to know ...... It can be regarded as an acquaintance. But it's not too ripe. The reason why I think so is because the thief has a habit. He would always leave a poetic text and symbol reminder at the crime scene, and then sign it and wait for others to track down the whereabouts of him and the artwork he stole. ”

"Leave a hint and a signature, so if someone else looks for it according to the prompt, can they really find something?"

Originally, Alice was a little concerned about the profession of 'thief'. It was even more fun to hear Levi say that. Could it be that if you crack the hint left by the thief, you can still get the stolen thing back, or even catch him? What is the purpose of doing this? Wouldn't it be in vain to steal it because it likes art, and if someone finds it and takes it back?

"If you want to arrest him, I don't think you can catch him. But it is said that if you crack his hint, it is indeed possible to recover the stolen things. Of course, the premise is that it has to be within a certain period of time. If it had been too long, I don't think it would have been where he was hiding in the first place. ”

Of course, Lévy had heard all of this from Theo.

However, Tio didn't seem to actually have much contact with the thief nicknamed 'Strange Thief', and all she knew was probably some rumors that had been widely circulated in their world, as well as from the girl Ling who also belonged to the association and was cared for like her sister.

"But this time the thief you mentioned didn't seem to leave a hint. ”

Alice looked at the painting again and again, and then looked very carefully at the inside and around the display case where the painting had been hung.