Conan stared blankly at the scene: “……”
Jiang Xia solves cases too quickly; his speed is like he secretly has the answers… From the moment he entered the room until he found the culprit, did it even take a minute?
“……” Conan recalled Jiang Xia climbing over the wall and suddenly wondered if Jiang Xia had coincidentally witnessed the murder.
However, Conan quickly dismissed this possibility.
—Given Jiang Xia's consistent attitude towards criminals, if he had seen the crime in progress, he would definitely have gone over and kicked the criminal until they rolled around on the ground, or at the very least, caught them and hit them with a stick or two.
…This means these deductions must truly have been made by Jiang Xia.
Conan’s mind wandered for a moment.
When he came back to his senses, he noticed Jiang Xia looking at him.
Conan was silent for a moment, then sighed, his feelings a bit complex: “You… are quite impressive.”
Jiang Xia, however, shook his head: “I merely stood on the shoulders of dwarves.”
Conan: “……?” He's even quite humble.
It’s just that there’s something wrong with the quote he used.
Shouldn’t it be “standing on the shoulders of giants”?
Could Jiang Xia be trying to say that this case was too simple and didn't require standing on giants to easily solve it?
…
On the other side, Inspector Megure, seeing the inscription on the cabinet, finally no longer doubted Jiang Xia's conclusion that Suwa was the murderer.
While having someone test Suwa's clothes as Jiang Xia had just instructed, he asked Suwa, puzzled: “Weren't you here to repay the money today? You had already raised the funds, so why did you suddenly kill him?”
Suwa had been staring intently at Jiang Xia.
At this moment, hearing Inspector Megure's question, he shifted his gaze and sighed: “It was because of the sword I pawned to him.”
“A sword?” Inspector Megure was startled.
There happened to be a cloth-wrapped sword nearby.
Inspector Megure casually picked it up and examined it: “Are you talking about this one?”
Suwa looked at the sword in his hand and snorted angrily:
“Of course not this broken sword! It’s my family heirloom, ‘Kikuchiyo’!
“—This afternoon, I came to repay the money as agreed. But Maruta Denjiro had already sold my sword, saying he would use it as interest for the loan.
“He dared to treat my treasure like that. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became, so I picked up a decorative sword from his house and, when he turned to count the money, I cut him down from behind, just like…”
As Suwa said this, his eyes sharpened, and he suddenly spun around, grabbing for the sword in Inspector Megure's arms, intending to use it to strike Jiang Xia and teach that boy who exposed him a lesson.
However, contrary to his plan, Suwa failed to snatch the sword.
—The sword Inspector Megure was holding was suddenly taken by someone else. So Suwa's palm landed softly on an untrained, loose chest muscle.
Inspector Megure: “!!!”
Suwa: “?”
He was startled and opened his squinting eyes in confusion, meeting Inspector Megure's incredibly terrified gaze.
Suwa: “……” …Where’s the sword?
He looked closely and realized that Jiang Xia had walked next to Inspector Megure at some point—just now, as Suwa reached for the sword, Jiang Xia had acted first, snatching the sword into his own hand.
At this moment, the young Detective, holding the sword in his arms, retreated a few steps, moving behind a beautiful short-haired female officer.
Then he poked out half his head and subtly fanned the flames: “How outrageous, assaulting a Police officer. Truly unrepentant.”
Sato Miwako had been stunned for a while, but now she was finally startled awake by the words “assaulting a Police officer.”
Seeing that Suwa was still grabbing her respected Inspector Megure, Sato Miwako’s eyes narrowed, two veins bulged on her forehead, and she pushed off the ground with her high heels, rushing over like a rocket.
“Wait…” Suwa was intimidated by her astonishing aura and quickly withdrew his hand, but it was already too late.
The furious Sato Miwako wrapped her arms around his waist, let out an angry shout, and slammed Suwa onto the floor with a crash.
…
A few meters away, Jiang Xia looked at Suwa's dazed, spiraling eyes, confirmed that he was no longer capable of fighting, and then tossed the sword aside.
Then he walked to the collapsed floor, pretending to care for Suwa, but secretly taking a very faint wisp of killing intent.
This had dropped from Suwa.
Suwa probably didn't intend to kill again; he just planned to make a show of striking to vent his anger. His killing intent wasn't strong enough, and the amount of killing aura was very small, falling off when Officer Sato slammed him down.
Jiang Xia felt a little regretful.
However, even a small mosquito is still meat, and he didn't disdain it, happily storing his unexpected gain.
Nearby, seeing Suwa exposed and slammed into the ground by the Police, the Shikigami's obsession was relieved. It let go and floated gently down from the corpse.
Miyano Akemi and noob consciously scurried over, lifted the Shikigami, and handed it to Jiang Xia.
…
A few minutes later, the Police carried Suwa away.
While the scene was still chaotic, Jiang Xia walked towards Mrs. Maruta, who had just lost her husband but was holding her lover's arm, her face full of sweetness.
He observed for a moment, felt that Mrs. Maruta was in a good mood, and then directly asked: “How do you plan to deal with the remaining collateral?”
Mrs. Maruta had just gotten rich and lost her husband, so she was in quite a good mood. Moreover, Jiang Xia had inadvertently helped her beloved lover—who was also the family doctor among the suspects—clear his name, so she viewed Jiang Xia with particular favor.
Mrs. Maruta remembered Jiang Xia climbing over the wall and vaguely guessed his purpose, covering her mouth and chuckling “hoho” twice: “Don't worry, I won't sell off collateral indiscriminately like that greedy man—those not due yet will be kept until the borrower repays, and those that are due will wait a few days before being sold…”
As she said this, Mrs. Maruta suddenly remembered something.
She looked at her husband's blood on the ground and hesitantly changed her mind: “Never mind, I won't sell them even if they're due. I'll just keep them at home.”
Jiang Xia: “……” I always feel that this woman has vaguely glimpsed a corner of the truth of the Conan world…
However, this way, the commission was resolved through a strange twist of fate.
Jiang Xia left with peace of mind.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to secretly go to the warehouse, retrieve the transmitter from the ceramic pot, and take it with him.
…
The commission to “keep an eye on the collateral” had been completed, but it wasn't yet the agreed time with the client.
If he went to report early, and something else happened later, it would seem unprofessional…
So Jiang Xia didn't contact the client immediately. He just organized the relevant information, planning to hand over the report when the client came looking for him.
…
A few days later, Jiang Xia received a call on his usual phone.
It was from Suzuki Sonoko.
Her voice was shy: “Jiang Xia, Jiang Xia! Remember to come to the ‘Rex’ band’s celebration party tonight, we agreed on it last time!”
As soon as this band was mentioned, a sarcastic male celebrity with an arrogant expression and Saiyan-like hair immediately appeared in Jiang Xia's mind.
“I'll definitely be on time,” Jiang Xia calmly stated that he wouldn't flake.
Suzuki Sonoko then felt relieved and happily hung up the phone.
…
The Rex band's gathering place was chosen at a secluded KTV.
The celebration party was scheduled for the evening.
It got dark very early, and Jiang Xia followed the address all the way there.
Along the way, he successively saw an iron tower outlined with colored lights, an electronic signboard with a bulging middle section, a bow-shaped rooftop advertising light, a five-pointed star Ferris wheel, and a very eerie building with the large characters “Ghost Cherry” hanging on it.
Jiang Xia: “……” So familiar.
He looked up at the “Ghost Cherry” building, suddenly remembered a case, and really wanted to detour to take a look.
However, recalling the newspapers he had read recently, Jiang Xia remembered that there was no related information published: which meant that the time was not right, and going now would probably yield no results.
And he had an appointment tonight.
If he was late for the first gathering, and Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko mistakenly thought he came reluctantly and considerately stopped inviting him…
Then he would definitely miss many cases.
Jiang Xia felt that wouldn't do.
Thinking this, he memorized the location of the “Ghost Infant” building, then continued on to the KTV to avoid being late.