The next day.
Jiang Xia had originally planned to continue his plan from last night—to go to Maruta Denjiro's house, the unscrupulous creditor who was secretly selling mortgaged goods, to check out the situation.
However, there were several scheduled clients at the office, so Jiang Xia could only spend another day working.
In the afternoon, after Jiang Xia returned the two cats the delinquents had found to their owner, he closed the office and left.
...
He followed the address on Maruta Denjiro's business card and eventually arrived at a detached house with a yard.
—This was the home of the creditor, Maruta Denjiro.
“...” The yard was quite large.
Although Maruta Denjiro was a wealthy man, like most people in this world, he had no surveillance cameras or security guards in his yard, making intrusion as easy as a stroll.
Jiang Xia first circled to a nearby hill to get an overhead view of the yard's layout.
After memorizing the positions, he put on his hat, mask, and other gear, then lightly scaled the wall and headed straight for the side room's warehouse.
This level of security didn't require the use of puppets.
—Now he was a Spiritual Medium who had to support two ghosts. Miyano Akemi's new skill recovery was linked to killing intent, so it was better to save it whenever possible...
...
Jiang Xia entered the warehouse, compared the pottery photos given to him by the client, and easily found the target on the shelf.
This pottery had a three-layer hollow structure. Jiang Xia opened it from the middle and dropped in a high-tech transmitter.
Once fully charged, the transmitter could last for nearly forty hours.
If this pottery were ever sold, Jiang Xia would immediately know and could then notify the client as agreed.
From then on, he only needed to come once every two days to replace the transmitter, allowing him to constantly track the porcelain's location.
...
A few days passed.
When the signal from the receiver started to become intermittent again due to low battery.
Jiang Xia once again arrived at Maruta Denjiro's house, intending to replace the transmitter.
He skillfully made his way to the low part of the wall, pulled up his hood, put on his mask and gloves, and jumped to grab onto the courtyard wall.
Just as he peered over, he suddenly saw a man and a woman emerge from the side house of the Maruta family—both familiar Police officers, Takagi Wataru, and Sato Miwako.
Officer Sato happened to glance at the top of the wall and unexpectedly met Jiang Xia's gaze.
However, due to the obstruction of the hood, strictly speaking, this “eye contact” was one-sided.
—Jiang Xia saw Officer Sato's eyes.
As for Sato Miwako...
She only saw the outline of eyes shrouded in shadow.
Officer Sato froze for a moment, then sharply shouted, “Who's there?!”
With that, she rushed over quickly.
As soon as the Police officer spoke, several burly men rushed out of the house. Jiang Xia quickly scanned them and realized they were all Police officers.
Jiang Xia: “...”
It was like being late and climbing over the school wall, only to find a temporary teachers' meeting being held at the base of the wall—this...
Jiang Xia felt a bit awkward and let go, dropping down.
Through the wall, he could hear Officer Sato shout, “Stop!”
Jiang Xia thought for a moment and stopped.
Illegal entry was indeed against the law. But in this world, such behavior was rarely pursued, especially when the perpetrator was a Detective.
Furthermore, strictly speaking, Jiang Xia hadn't actually entered the house today.
He had only illegally climbed onto someone's wall.
There was really no need to act like a perverted serial killer and engage in a sudden, passionate chase with the Police.
...
However, people's thoughts are sometimes not aligned.
Sato Miwako in the yard clearly hadn't expected that by simply shouting “Stop,” the suspicious person would actually stop running.
Thus, when Jiang Xia “stopped” at the base of the wall.
A shadow suddenly passed over his head.
“?”
Jiang Xia was startled and looked up, only to see Officer Sato gracefully vault over the wall. She then, without a glance, swiftly leaped over Jiang Xia like a hurdler, landing gracefully four or five meters away.
Immediately after, without stopping for half a second, she dashed out along the street.
“Um...” Jiang Xia raised a hand towards her, wanting to call out to her. But as soon as he spoke, she had already disappeared.
Jiang Xia looked at that overly agile figure: “...”
At this moment, a few small particles of dirt and stone fell from the wall beside him.
Jiang Xia silently looked up.
This time, he saw another subordinate of Inspector Megure—Takagi Wataru.
Officer Takagi was laboriously climbing onto the top of the wall, just about to jump down.
However, when he looked down, he saw that the face-covering “suspicious person” hadn't run away but was standing at the base of the wall, looking up and watching him climb over.
Officer Takagi was stunned.
The two of them, one above and one below, silently looked at each other for nearly half a minute.
A moment later, Takagi Wataru hesitated and asked, “...What are you doing standing here?”
The “suspicious person” also hesitated and replied, “Didn't you tell me to 'stop'?”
Officer Takagi: “...” Indeed...
No, he actually wanted to ask why the suspicious person was climbing over someone else's wall.
However, since the “suspicious person” hadn't run and had a rather good attitude, that could wait.
The immediate priority was to call back Officer Sato, who had run off somewhere...
Takagi Wataru sat on the wall, took out his phone, and dialed his esteemed senior, Sato.
...
Five minutes later.
In the courtyard of Maruta Denjiro's house.
Jiang Xia and Sato Miwako walked in one after another.
Besides the Police, Jiang Xia was pleasantly surprised to find several acquaintances here—Mouri Ran, Mouri Kogoro, and Conan.
...
The reasons for the various groups appearing here were different.
Jiang Xia's commission was to help the client's wife keep an eye on Maruta Denjiro, to prevent this unscrupulous creditor from selling off the collateral prematurely.
And Mouri Kogoro also received a commission; the client was Maruta Denjiro himself—Maruta Denjiro suspected his wife was having an affair and asked Mouri Kogoro to find evidence.
The Police were here not because of a commission, but because—Maruta Denjiro was dead.
Just this afternoon.
...
Of course, considering his own commission included the element of “illegal entry,” Jiang Xia did not immediately reveal the truth.
He casually made an excuse: “I was just passing by and heard a commotion here, and then I saw a Police car outside, so I was curious and climbed the wall to take a look.”
Sato Miwako was half-skeptical: “Then why were you covering your face?”
Jiang Xia pulled his mask up further and pulled his hat brim down, sighing like a vampire burned by the sun: “Sunlight allergy.”
Officer Sato: “...?”
She originally thought Jiang Xia was bluffing her.
But after a brief recall, Sato Miwako suddenly realized that every time she saw Jiang Xia, it was either at night, indoors, or indoors at night... In short, she had indeed never seen Jiang Xia sunbathing.
...
Beside them, Conan, with dead-fish eyes, watched their conversation, wanting to speak but holding back.
He used to play at Dr. Agasa's and, while standing on the balcony looking out at Mihua Town, had often seen Jiang Xia carrying a lounge chair and sprawling out next door to sunbathe.
However, in the end, Conan still didn't expose him.
—According to his judgment, Jiang Xia should not be the murderer.
When Conan was playing in the yard earlier, he had actually seen the killer's feet from under a bush.
That person was wearing very proper trousers and leather shoes. Completely different from Jiang Xia's attire.
Moreover, Jiang Xia was a Detective; he would never do something as self-incriminating as “killing someone and then being unable to resist returning to the scene.”
...
Although Officer Sato still had some questions.
But at this moment, in the small room where the crime scene was located.
Inspector Megure had finally had enough of Mouri Kogoro's startled deductions.
He pushed open the sliding door with a headache and glanced over here. Then he waved his chubby hand at Jiang Xia, with a hint of expectation.
—Inspector Megure had also heard about Jiang Xia climbing the wall and knew he was suspicious.
But suspiciousness aside, this didn't conflict with listening to Jiang Xia's deductions.
After all, solving cases relied on evidence, and in the past, when Detectives made deductions, no one asked them to first prove their complete innocence.
In fact, it was not uncommon for major suspects to show off their deductions on the spot to prove their innocence.
Compared to them, at least Jiang Xia solved cases quickly and professionally...