After receiving the call, Inspector Megure rushed to the scene. Soon, he saw a pile of rubble—and Jiangxia Tongzhi, standing there with his head bowed in thought.
Out of habit, Inspector Megure headed straight toward Jiangxia. When Jiangxia looked up, Megure quickly made a "pause" gesture—asking him not to shout the culprit's name out loud.
Whoever had the guts to plant a bomb in a packed downtown venue might still have more explosives on them. Megure worried that if Jiangxia revealed the bomber's identity on the spot, the perp might just decide to go full broken-pot mode and take the police down with them.
He was hoping Jiangxia would quietly point out the bomber, so the police could go arrest them low-key. But despite Megure's hopeful approach, Jiangxia didn't say anything about a culprit.
Instead, he looked more serious than usual and said, "A child's missing. You've seen him before—Edogawa Conan."
Inspector Megure blinked. Of course he remembered that kid. The little guy might have a low presence, but his frequency at crime scenes rivaled Jiangxia's.
Now that he mentioned it, Megure noticed Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki behind Jiangxia. Both girls looked like they were about to burst into smoke from anxiety. They'd brought Conan with them, and they were so used to the kid running around that when he wandered off earlier, they hadn't thought much of it.
It wasn't until the bathroom exploded and the entire hall descended into chaos that they realized the small human who usually clung to their legs was nowhere in sight. They'd assumed he was with Jiangxia. But then Jiangxia showed up carrying a few bottles of juice—and no Conan.
After a full round of "Wait, where's Conan?" "Wasn't he with you?" "I thought he was next to you," the three of them had begun searching frantically. But even after circling the building and waiting for the cops and fire department to arrive, there was still no sign of Conan.
Now the bombing incident came with a bonus missing child, and Megure felt his brain size double in real time. If little Conan had fallen and been trampled in the crowd, they might be looking at a second murder case.
Megure quickly assigned officers to join the search. At the same time, he understood why Jiangxia hadn't solved the bombing case yet. Everyone said Jiangxia cracked cases like he had metaphysical powers—but really, it was just his killer observation skills and uncanny ability to pull clues out of thin air.
Still, even metaphysical detectives needed some clues. And in this case? The suspect and the suitcase were both blown to dust. They didn't even know if this was a suicide bombing or a murder. Hoping for a one-second resolution from Jiangxia right now was just setting him up to fail—especially when he had other urgent business, like finding a potentially squashed detective child.
Right then, the president of Full Heaven stepped forward, still looking spooked. He handed over a threatening letter he'd received a few days ago. The message: Cancel today's game conference, or don't blame me for taking extreme measures.
The president looked full of regret. "Our company's a big target. We've gotten threats before. This one had a calmer tone than the others, so I figured it was just another prank. If I'd known…"
Inspector Megure turned his focus to the president and started grilling him about who might've had a grudge.
Meanwhile, Jiangxia slipped away under the pretense of continuing the search for Conan. But not before glancing at the collage-style threat letter. He recognized it right away—Buzzcut's work again, meant to set the stage for Nakajima's demise.
Secretly planting bombs in public places? Yeah, that was tough to solve. Tracking down a suspect like that needed tons of follow-up and a big pile of luck.
To be fair, the whole plan wasn't bad. The only issue was Buzzcuts's infinite-level bad luck: running into Conan and a couple of Black Organization members at the same time.
Jiangxia didn't say a word. He slinked off quietly—not because he planned to solve the case, but because he didn't want the police to raise an eyebrow and go, "Huh, weird how that famous detective just noped out right after a bombing."
Basically, he showed his face here just to hand in a believable excuse slip.
After all, catching Buzzcut or Nakajima later would hinge on those briefcases—and those bags were currently in his custody. He'd gone through a lot of trouble to swipe and stash them. No way was he about to hand them over to the police.
And unless he said something, neither of the parties who lost the bags would bring them up—one had a bomb in theirs, and the other had just made a big hush-hush transaction. Even if the truth came out later, Jiangxia would be long gone and the bags would already be in evidence-unfriendly storage.
With a solid excuse for not solving the case, Jiangxia regrouped with Ran and Sonoko to help look for Conan. Really, the kid was such a multi-purpose treasure. Not only could he summon murders and activate perps' killing intent—he also made for a handy scapegoat when Jiangxia needed a reason to bail.
Thanks to the police joining the search, things picked up speed. Once they confirmed that Conan wasn't on the first floor, some officers went to search outside while others headed upstairs.
A few minutes later, they finally found Conan—passed out but alive on the second floor.
Ran nearly collapsed with relief. After a quick check and some routine questioning, the group was allowed to leave the building.
Outside, Jiangxia glanced at his phone, made a polite excuse about a client, and parted ways with his classmates.
On the quiet path where he'd hidden the briefcases, he met up with Gin. Along the way, Xiaobai assumed the role of senior ghost and gave the other two spirits a lecture on the art of recognizing and managing lingering murderous aura.
Upon hearing Gin's name, Miyano Akemi immediately curled into a depression spiral and retreated into Jiangxia's pocket.
The Tengu ghost, on the other hand, had no wine-based trauma. He listened intently and even plucked out a feather to take notes.
…
Back on Gin's end, his phone buzzed with an incoming address.
He and Vodka were already parked near the explosion site. After scanning the area and seeing no one suspicious near Jiangxia, Gin gave Vodka a nod to bring the car around so they could retrieve the Organization's requested data.
The moment the black Porsche pulled up, Jiangxia opened the door, hopped in, and was gone. Vodka hit the gas without hesitation. The whole pick-up operation lasted less than a second. Hardly anyone was around—and no one noticed a thing.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 29/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:1/10*