"I see." Jiang Xia poked at the egg roll on his plate, then set down his chopsticks. "Got it. Go raise the money first. We'll think of a way to handle the rest."
Doctor Endo hung up the phone gratefully.
Across the table, Professor Agasa, who had been holding his breath, finally started moving again. He cautiously stole a fried shrimp, then suddenly thought of something. "First crabs, then whales... Could the kidnappers have taken that child to an aquarium? I heard Ai say they're very good at looking after children. Kidnappers these days are really so attentive toward kids."
Haibara Ai sighed. "But judging from what Mr. Endo said, Keita first saw lots of crabs, and then immediately saw a whale spouting water... Aquariums rarely have layouts that put crabs and whales together, right? Besides, whales have to surface to spout water, while crabs rarely move around in those places. It sounds rather contradictory."
Professor Agasa scratched his head. "Maybe the staff were feeding the whale with crabs?"
"..." Haibara Ai's face hurt just listening to him. She raised a hand and rubbed her cheek. "No aquarium would use that kind of recipe book for a whale. I think models are more likely—although crab exhibits and whale exhibits are rarely adjacent, I remember some aquariums displaying all kinds of models in their lobbies to showcase their collections."
"I see!" Professor Agasa eagerly took out his car keys. "Then shall I take you to the aquarium?"
Conan hesitated. "But even if they really were at an aquarium just now, once the kidnappers heard the hostage mention things like 'crabs' and 'whales,' they would definitely worry about exposing their location and move as soon as possible. I think Keita might not have been referring to actual crabs and whales. When he