(Double Chap) TL NOTE: One double chap will count as 2 as discussed before.
The more business cards you hand out, the better your odds of running into someone who needs a corpse picker.
While quite a few of the powerful people here had no love for detectives, they were still high-society folks who cared deeply about appearances. So when handed a business card, they would nod, smile, and accept it with etiquette—even if deep down they wanted to hurl it into the fireplace.
They definitely weren't going to tear it up on the spot and sneer, "Detectives, get lost!"
...Which was a shame. Jiangxia Tongzhi, ever the diligent ghost-picker, actually hoped for that kind of scene. After all, based on years of experience in the Detective Conan universe, people who pulled that sort of stunt had a high probability of bumping into a murder case. And where there's a murder case—there's a ghost.
But even if no one acted like that and just quietly pocketed the cards, it wasn't a total loss. Sooner or later, when something bloody happened, they'd remember this one guy who gave them his card. And even if they couldn't find it anymore, they'd at least remember Jiangxia.
With that comforting thought, Jiangxia happily flowed into the crowd, memorizing faces and making sure no one escaped his business card spree. A one-man networking machine. A corpse-picking storm.
…
Meanwhile, at Professor Agasa's house.
Haibara Ai was watching TV and snacking—bored out of her mind.
After Jiangxia's latest warning, she'd been grounded at home for several days. Normally, this wouldn't have bothered her—she was naturally buddhist about social interaction. But ever since she started school and joined the Detective Boys on their chaotic fieldwork, she'd grown used to being out and about. Now suddenly back to her hermit life, even the most pointless celebrity street shows started to seem... oddly watchable.
She stared at the screen as the camera panned down a busy street. On the side of the road, a car came into view.
Long hood. Glossy black body.
A Porsche.
Specifically—Gin's beloved Porsche.
Haibara's expression changed instantly. Her pupils dimmed like someone turned off her inner lights.
A second later, she remembered she was safe at home, kilometers away from the location in the live broadcast, and her stiff expression began to relax.
...But at that moment, another thought popped up—Jiangxia.
This broadcast was happening on Hokushuku Street in Beika Town, right near the Beika City Hotel. And today, Jiangxia just happened to be attending Director Sakamaki's memorial service at that very hotel.
Could this be connected?
While her brain was doing full-speed calculations, Conan's voice floated in from the side. "What's up? Is the TV acting up?"
Haibara turned her head and said offhandedly, "That car… it's the same model as Gin's."
As a proud ex-Organization cadre, Haibara had picked up a little hobby of casually leaking Organization info. Whether it was cadre codenames or executive parking preferences, she was all too happy to dish. The Porsche? Fair game.
But what she didn't expect was for Conan to freeze, then suddenly grab his newly repaired skateboard, yank a wire from Agasa's experiment desk, swing open the front door, and disappear like a gust of wind.
Haibara: "?"
She blinked, stunned by the sheer speed of that exit, and then shot to her feet.
Gin's Porsche wasn't something you saw every day. Haibara had never come across another one like it during her entire time in Tokyo. Admittedly, she didn't go out much, but still—it was a rare car.
What if that really was Gin's car?
And what if Conan tracked it, ran into Jiangxia, and Gin showed up in person—and recognized Conan, the kid he had personally poisoned?
Haibara's paranoia—already at professional levels—was now on red alert.
She bolted to Agasa, who was halfway through his lunch, grabbed the car keys, and shouted, "Drive! We need to stop him before something ridiculous happens!"
…
Beika City Hotel.
Jiangxia had made a few loops around the banquet hall, passing out all the business cards he'd brought.
Now, he was flipping through his own cardholder, which was stuffed with business cards from the guests. His expression was complicated—half joy, half worry.
Joy because he had scored a lot of new contacts. Some were even familiar names. Networking: accomplished.
Worry because… no one had ripped up his card in front of him. No one had spat on him. Not even one person had triggered an instant-death flag.
Even when he handed a card to Pisco, nothing happened.
Pisco hadn't recognized him. Apparently, this member of the Organization didn't know Jiangxia's codename—Ouzo—and just treated him like a regular detective.
Jiangxia didn't show it, but he was relieved. If Pisco had realized who he was, and then the assassination failed, the guy might panic and try to blow everything up, including his own team. Jiangxia didn't need that kind of pot dumped on his head.
…
Soon, the memorial was about to officially begin.
Jiangxia sipped his juice and scanned the hall. It was packed. Celebrities in black formalwear whispered in small groups. Everyone looked important. Everyone looked unfamiliar.
And suddenly, Jiangxia felt uneasy.
In the original timeline, two people had died here: Councillor Nomiguchi, the target of the Organization, and Pisco, who got exposed during the hit and was personally eliminated by Gin.
But that had only happened because three chaos-generating characters—Conan, Haibara, and Vermouth—had been present at the scene.
Now? None of them had shown up.
In the original timeline, Haibara and Conan came because they stumbled across Gin's unattended car. Conan bugged the car, Haibara accidentally left a strand of her hair behind. Later, Gin discovered it and instantly recognized Sherry's scent. He went hunting. One thing led to another, and both Haibara and Conan ended up at this exact memorial.
But in this timeline, Haibara was staying home. No one had pointed out the car to Conan.
So Conan had no reason to be here. No chaos magnets. No accidents.
Jiangxia leaned quietly in a corner of the banquet hall, watching Pisco hold a wine glass with elegant flair, his face practically glowing with "trust me, I'm reliable" energy.
And Jiangxia regretted it.
He should have found a way to trick Conan into coming.
Pisco's exposure in the original timeline was practically a miracle of timing. Just as he aimed at the chandelier and pulled the trigger, a tabloid reporter happened to be sneaking photos of a couple—and caught Pisco's silhouette in the background, gun raised.
If that reporter hadn't gotten lucky—or had taken the photo from a slightly different angle—or even clicked the shutter a few seconds earlier or later…
Then Pisco wouldn't have been exposed.
And if Pisco wasn't exposed, he wouldn't have been killed by Gin.
And if that hadn't happened, then his junior, Irish, wouldn't have died either.
This wasn't a blind box.
This was a buy-one-get-one-dead kind of blind box.
Jiangxia's gaze paused on the people with cameras.
He couldn't rely on that kind of luck this time.
So, when the lights dimmed, he planned to build a righteous anonymous puppet and stealthily borrow someone's camera.
If no reporter happened to catch Pisco in the act, then anonymous would take the shot.
Although exposing the matter might earn the anonymous puppets even more hatred from the Black Organization…
It wasn't exactly uncharted territory. Miyano Akemi's puppet had already sabotaged their mission on the Shinkansen once, so Gin definitely had a grudge lodged somewhere in his icy heart. One more offense wasn't going to make things that much worse. The damage was already done.
…
While Jiangxia was discreetly scanning for a camera to borrow, something stirred at the banquet hall's edge.
The door cracked open just slightly—and two children, both shorter than adult kneecaps, quietly slipped inside. They ducked into a corner and started observing the room like tiny surveillance drones.
Half an hour earlier, Haibara Ai had frantically called Professor Agasa to chase after Conan. But Professor Agasa, being a law-abiding citizen (and not a stunt driver), couldn't exactly leap over the traffic like Conan did on his skateboard.
By the time they caught up, Conan had already found Gin's Porsche and was crouched by the car door, doing something extremely suspicious with a wire.
Haibara nearly died of fright. Her soul almost left her body and filed for early reincarnation.
She sprinted over with supernatural strength and physically dragged him away.
Right then, across the street, Gin and Vodka appeared—just about to cross over and return to their car.
Hearts pounding like they were being chased by a Tengu, Conan and Haibara managed to escape by the skin of their teeth. There was no time for a thorough cleanup.
Which was how Haibara accidentally left a strand of hair behind.
Later, she overheard through the bug that the Organization was planning to use the very drug she had made to carry out a hit. She just couldn't resist.
That was one reason she had come to the banquet.
The other reason? She had no idea how to stop Conan through legitimate means.
Given the circumstances, Haibara thought about it and realized she might be able to act as a buffer.
—Conan never knew how to protect himself, but when it came to others, he was surprisingly careful.
If she didn't go, he might barge in and talk to Jiangxia directly, probing for information and accidentally catching Gin's attention in the process.
But if she went, Conan would worry she'd be recognized by Gin—he'd instinctively keep his distance from others and instead sneak off to deal with her, the "walking danger source," alone.
So after some mental prep and a resigned sigh, Haibara Ai came to the scene.
…
The banquet hall was a sea of black formalwear. People were packed together like sardines at a funeral fashion show.
Haibara tiptoed behind the crowd, trying to peer between adults' legs in search of Jiangxia, conflicted all the while.
She didn't have high hopes—but deep down, she really did want to stop the Organization's plan. She also wanted to get her hands on APTX4869 again. When eavesdropping earlier, she'd heard Gin on the phone say, "That drug can be used if necessary."
And since Jiangxia was here, this assassination probably had something to do with him. If she intervened, it might mess up his mission.
But then she remembered—the target seemed to be a pretty important figure. With Jiangxia's current rank as a mere peripheral member, could he even be assigned to this job? Unless someone handed him a sudden promotion out of nowhere…
Then again, his schedule mostly involved chasing cats and tripping over dead bodies. No real cadre would have this much free time.
Also, Gin had clearly mentioned the codename "Pisco" during that phone call.
Haibara recognized it. She'd heard it ages ago—back when Jiangxia was still a tiny bear child. So there was no way he was Pisco.
Which meant: even if Jiangxia was involved, he probably wasn't the lead. If the plan fell apart, the Organization wouldn't be pinning the pot on him.
...Probably.
Still, could she even stop the hit?
Haibara tugged the brim of her hat low and sank deeper into the shadows.
…
Outskirts of Beika City.
After Gin wrapped up his call with Pisco, he noticed a reddish-brown hair in the car.
Immediately, he thought of Sherry.
He started searching the interior and, just as expected, found a bug.
He crushed it without hesitation, then abandoned his original destination. Before heading to the assassination site, he needed to find a quiet place to thoroughly check his beloved car. Only after confirming there were no more surprises would he continue with the plan.
After a while, the inspection turned up nothing else.
But among the scattered silver strands, Gin plucked another short, reddish-brown hair.
Cold weather. Peak hair-shedding season.
Gin stared at the strand left by Haibara, a cold smile slowly spreading across his face.
"Today will be her day of death."
Vodka, well-trained as ever, reached into the trunk and pulled out a lint roller. He skillfully rolled up all the loose hair and tossed it away. And as expected of a tool person, he kept up with the scene's energy and didn't let his boss's dramatic line hang in the air.
"Think that woman will really show up?"
"Of course," Gin replied as he lit a cigarette, voice low and tinged with amusement. "She's not the type to sit around when something like this is happening."
"And even if she doesn't show," he added, "we'll know she's nearby. We can narrow the search zone."
Vodka nodded solemnly. He could tell from Gin's tone that his question had hit the mark. That was the role of a qualified second-in-command—to throw out just the right line so the leader could sound brilliant while explaining his thought process.
Hmph. Ouzo had none of this awareness. No matter how favored he was, he was still just an inexperienced junior. He had a long way to go if he ever wanted to be the driver.
As he thought of Ouzo, Vodka suddenly froze. A lightbulb moment struck.
"Big Brother, didn't Sherry take care of Ouzo after that car accident last year?"
He leaned in, voice lowering with excitement. "If she's the save-people type, why not use Ouzo as bait? Like, put a gun to his head and yell to the shadows, 'Sherry! Come out or he dies!'"
Vodka paused, then added thoughtfully in his mind, "...And if the gun accidentally went off after she showed up—"
Gin's brows twitched. His instinct said the idea was crude. Too obvious.
But then again… maybe not completely without merit.
Sherry seemed cold on the outside, but she was actually soft, hesitant, annoyingly innocent. Not the typical Organization type at all.
She might fall for a trap that simple. A move most people would find laughable could work on her.
That said, with her sloppy tailing skills, if she even came near the scene, she'd be discovered quickly. There wasn't much need for a hostage plan…
Still, it could serve as a backup if the original plan failed.
Always good to have a Plan B.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 32/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:3/10*