Jiangxia bent down and grabbed Okuda Tomoaki by the collar, hauling him up from the ground.
Then he turned to the Detective Boys and said, "I need to ask him something privately, so please don't follow."
The three bear children nodded, dazed.
Jiangxia dragged Okuda Tomoaki away.
Left behind in the quiet room, the kids exchanged glances. They were very curious about Anonymous and Okuda Tomoaki. But just now, the "big sister" had an aura about her—like if they disobeyed, she'd drag them into some small, dark room for "packing and processing." So they didn't dare move.
Now that Anonymous had vanished from sight, the three of them huddled together and curiosity began to resurface.
Genta whispered, "Aren't you curious about what they're saying? It might be about treasure!"
Haibara Ai heard the eagerness in the bear children's voices.
She remembered Anonymous's firm "Do not follow," and considered stopping them.
But just then—a terrifying scream tore through the air from some unknown room. It echoed strangely through the walls, rising and fading in turns.
The three kids jumped in sync. Before they could recover, a series of blunt thuds followed—like something heavy hitting human flesh—dull and rhythmic. The screaming trailed off, thinner and thinner, until it was drowned out completely by the sounds of the beating.
Haibara Ai: "…"
She had just been about to sneak over with the three children, but now: "…"
Just moments ago, in Haibara's mind, Anonymous's silhouette had overlapped with the shadow of Miyano Akemi.
But with Okuda Tomoaki's tortured howls, those two images abruptly pulled apart.
…They're both great sisters, sure, but still—something's off.
Dr. Agasa had also turned pale.
He remembered when he accidentally hit Anonymous with his car. Even though Conan and Haibara tried to comfort him, saying Anonymous probably jumped in front of it on purpose, the doctor still felt guilty.
So now, every time Okuda Tomoaki screamed, Dr. Agasa trembled. He couldn't shake the feeling that after the gun-wielding villain, he would be next—the bad driver who broke traffic laws. He shivered and clutched a mop handle tightly in his arms for dear life.
The three kids, who had never had experience with being "touched by porcelain," were in slightly better shape than the doctor.
Though still spooked, their thoughts began drifting elsewhere.
Mitsuhiko whispered, "That big sister's punches sound just like Brother Jiangxia's."
Ayumi agreed. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, comparing Jiangxia and Anonymous: "Maybe that's just something good-looking people have in common! Last time we met Sister Ran on a busy street, she beat up a mugger—it looked just like that."
The other two kids nodded in awe.
Then Genta and Mitsuhiko suddenly had a realization. They turned to Ayumi and Haibara at the same time: "Don't grow up to be like that!"
Ayumi: "Hmm…" But that older sister with the gun was so cool. So were Brother Jiangxia and Sister Ran.
Maybe she'd gotten it backwards. Maybe the more someone could fight, the better-looking they were.
In that case… when she got home, maybe she should secretly sign up for karate lessons?
Yoshida Ayumi was thrilled at the idea.
…
Jiangxia was in a small dark room, randomly holding a stick he'd picked up, and working over Okuda Tomoaki.
Meanwhile, back in the hotel—
The paper submission deadline, as dictated by Boss Kanaya, was supposed to be before dinner.
But the boss didn't show up until after everyone had finished eating.
The group could only sit around the restaurant and wait, bored out of their minds. Since their phones and reference materials had been confiscated, they had no choice but to zone out.
Jiangxia's puppet was there too, sitting quietly among them, completely in place—just a bit more distracted than everyone else.
After a while, the sound of a car engine came from outside.
Everyone looked toward the source. About ten meters away, they saw Boss Kanaya slowly driving a car out of the garage… heading toward the cliff's edge.
Kento Tagano adjusted his glasses and muttered, "Wait, are we skipping straight to the reasoning-answer segment?"
Hattori Heiji and Conan both got a bad feeling. This didn't seem like a game at all.
They watched as Boss Kanaya's car didn't stop—it jolted, then accelerated toward the cliff's edge. Their expressions changed instantly. They climbed out of the window and rushed toward the vehicle, trying to stop it.
The others followed in a panic.
Farther off, Jiangxia received the news from Xiaobai. He paused his "session" with Okuda and had his consciousness return to the main body, getting up to join the others.
Just as he stepped outside, a thunderous explosion shook the air—Boss Kanaya's car plunged off the cliff and burst into flames at the bottom.
Jiangxia blended into the crowd, finished his part of the group reaction, then switched his consciousness back to the puppet in the villa and resumed "interrogating" Okuda Tomoaki.
Okuda Tomoaki had been on the run for years—his mental fortitude was better than Jiangxia had expected.
Luckily, there was no rush to switch to full "Sherlock Holmes mode" just yet—Kanaya's death was just the first case. More were coming. Jiangxia wasn't in any hurry to jump into deductive action.
Some of the victims really were unlucky. But as a ghost-hunting medium, Jiangxia's conscience mostly applied to himself.
He wasn't going to stop the other detectives from saving people.
As for saving random passersby with spoilers… yeah, that was outside the psychic job description.
Given his usual case-solving speed, it might seem weird for Jiangxia to stay quiet this time—but hey, people get busy. And with so many detectives on-site, they'd probably piece together a decent explanation themselves.
And everyone knew: more than 90% of serial murder cases in this world come with the unstoppable death buff. If other detectives don't get questioned, neither should he…
…
Hattori Heiji and Conan, for their part, didn't notice anything off about Jiangxia.
One of them dove straight into the mystery like usual, while the other slapped on soundproof earmuffs, zeroing in on clue-spots with full focus.
The two high school detectives scanned the tire tracks on the ground, looking for watermarks.
But it was dark out—one was wearing black and blended into the night, and the other had that natural "clue-finding" stealth aura of -9999 visibility.
Before they spotted the abnormality in the tracks, they once again crashed into each other head-first—just like the time they were looking for poison needles at the diplomat's house.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 30/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:1/10*
Glossary
Touched by porcelain – A slangy phrase meaning someone falsely accused or framed, like "scammed by a faker."
Packing and processing – Slang implying someone's about to get thoroughly beaten up.
Buff – A gaming term used comically here to mean an unstoppable trait or fate.
Puppet – Jiangxia's ghost medium body; he can switch consciousness between forms.