The library was pitch black and silent at night.
Jiang Xia, as usual, borrowed the Ghost Infant's night vision.
After getting a clear view of his surroundings, he oriented himself and walked straight to the elevator.
...
In Jiang Xia's memory, there was only one case that occurred in a library.
—The librarian was dealing drugs and was discovered by one of his employees. The librarian then killed that employee and hid the body on top of the elevator.
Originally, the body was well hidden.
However, this afternoon, Conan happened to come to the library with a few of his classmates to do homework.
Although Conan didn't know where the body was, he acutely sensed its presence.
Furthermore, learning that an employee was missing from here, he increasingly felt that the missing employee might already be dead, and someone had hidden his body in the library.
So, after the library closed, a group of children secretly stayed inside, wanting to find the employee's body.
At the same time, the librarian also noticed through the lights that someone hadn't left the library.
So now, the librarian was carrying an iron pipe, intending to search in the dark for the “rats” hiding in the library and silence them.
...
First-floor lobby.
Jiang Xia quickly arrived at the elevator and looked up at the electronic screen above.
From the numbers displayed, the elevator was currently stopped on the third floor.
Jiang Xia raised his hand and pressed the button, brazenly summoning the elevator down.
Although this was likely to cause a disturbance, unlike the several children desperately hiding, Jiang Xia had no intention of “not alarming the librarian.”
On the contrary, he hoped the librarian would quickly notice the abnormality and willingly come to him, bringing the ghost and shikigami along.
...
As the elevator descended, Jiang Xia walked towards the nearby stairs.
By the time he reached the second floor, the elevator had already stopped on the first floor.
Jiang Xia walked to the elevator door, pried it open, and looked down.
He saw a body lying face up on the top of the elevator, its eyes wide open in death. A rope was wrapped around the body's neck, and a small pool of blood spread out beneath the back of its head. It looked like the person was first strangled and then thrown into the elevator shaft.
There was no shikigami clinging to the body's leg.
“...” He didn't know if a ghost hadn't formed, or if it had, but the ghost was clinging to the librarian's leg.
Jiang Xia disappointedly released his hand, allowing the elevator door to close again.
It seemed he still needed to go find the librarian and retrieve his ghost.
...
Jiang Xia looked at the ceiling, listening to the faint movements in the distance of the building.
He remembered that on the librarian's way home from work, the bratty kids of the Detective Boys had turned on the lights in the library, causing the librarian to realize someone was inside and return with a gloomy expression.
In other words, during this time, the librarian should be playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek with the Detective Boys, a game of “if Uncle catches you, he'll strangle you.”
Thinking of this, Jiang Xia took out his phone, glanced at the elevator which would block signals, and turned to walk towards the stairwell.
He called Inspector Megure.
Inspector Megure, as a kind Police Inspector who liked to take younger brothers under his wing, had long ago given Jiang Xia his private number.
Calling him was more convenient than calling an operator; there was no need to leave basic information like name and contact details, and he could directly initiate the summoning.
...
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
Inspector Megure was working overtime again tonight.
He was searching for the missing library employee.
At this moment, upon answering the phone and hearing Jiang Xia say that he had found a body in the library's elevator, Inspector Megure immediately realized that what Jiang Xia was talking about might be the target he was looking for.
...
During the day, Inspector Megure had already led a team to search the library once but failed to find the body.
Now, learning that the body was actually on top of the elevator, and thinking that he had even ridden that elevator... Inspector Megure silently got goosebumps all over.
“I'll be right there.” He hurried out of his office and called a few subordinates.
Suddenly, he was a little puzzled: “It's this late, why are you at the library? ...Never mind, we'll talk about that later, just get out of there as soon as possible! The killer dared to hide the body on the elevator, which means he might be an insider at the library, very familiar with the environment there, and because of a guilty conscience, he might continue to stay in the library after closing. You—”
“Ah—!!!”
Suddenly, a blurred child's scream came from the background sound on Jiang Xia's end.
Inspector Megure heard it through the phone and was stunned: “What was that sound just now? Are there children in the library?!”
On the stairs, Jiang Xia's footsteps also paused slightly.
He looked up, through the gaps between the stairs, and towards the top: “Possibly.”
...
Saying this, Jiang Xia slightly quickened his pace.
At the same time, he didn't forget Inspector Megure's question and casually patched up his actions:
“I misremembered the library's closing time. When I came to return the books, the library was already closed. But I saw the lights in a room on the third floor suddenly turn on for a few seconds, and I could vaguely see children's figures on the French windows. I was worried that some children might have missed closing time and were accidentally locked inside, so I broke in to check the situation...”
Inspector Megure was almost dying of anxiety: “Don't talk anymore! If the murderer is really in the library, talking like this will expose your location!”
“Mm, okay.” Jiang Xia obediently lowered his voice and whispered into the receiver, “Then I'll go check it out first. You guys hurry.”
He hung up the phone.
“Wait...” Inspector Megure wanted to remind him to be careful and strategic... but Jiang Xia hung up too quickly.
Calling back now would be dangerous because of the ringing. He could only put down his phone and anxiously urge his subordinates: “Hurry up!”
The enthusiastic Detective was walking towards the ruthless murderer; he might be in danger!!
Oh, right, and those bratty kids who broke into the library.
...
Library top floor, a little earlier in time.
While Jiang Xia was dialing Inspector Megure.
Conan walked down from the machinery room, wiping dust from his hands.
He walked to the elevator, forcefully pried open the elevator door, and then pressed the switch next to the elevator.
Afterward, Conan turned around and said with satisfaction to his three first-grade classmates: “I found the body—when we rode the elevator during the day, the reason it showed overload was because there was an ‘invisible passenger’ in the elevator.”
...
As he spoke, the elevator gradually ascended.
The body on top of the elevator slowly appeared in the beam of Conan's flashlight.
The other three children's faces turned ashen, and they simultaneously let out a terrified scream.
Conan didn't realize that all of this was too heavy for the three children.
He frowned: “It's too cruel. This person must have been killed by the librarian. We need to hurry and...”
The words “report it” hadn't even left his mouth.
A light suddenly rose from beneath his feet.
—After the elevator lifted the body, it continued to ascend, gradually revealing the bright elevator car below.
A person full of murderous intent was standing there.
The elevator doors were wide open at this moment. As the elevator ascended, Librarian Tsugawa's head appeared before the children, then his neck, his body... The librarian stood in the elevator car, clutching a metal pipe, and bared his teeth in a sinister smile.
Conan's heart tightened, and he quickly turned to give the children a few instructions.
Then, as Librarian Tsugawa stepped out of the elevator, Conan used his deductions about “hiding drugs” and “murdering an employee” to divert Librarian Tsugawa's attention.
The other three children took the opportunity to slip into the elevator and press the first-floor button.
The elevator began to slowly descend.
When the elevator had descended more than halfway, and the elevator car was less than half a meter overlapped with that floor, Conan performed a sliding tackle, passing under the librarian's crotch, and narrowly slid into the elevator.