Ran Mouri looked closely at Jiangxia Tongzhi. She felt like he was speaking a little more slowly than usual, and his movements seemed slightly sluggish. But still—he was clearly doing much better than before.
Ran was a little confused at first. But then she figured it out: maybe all these deaths had lit a fire under him. He didn't want victims to keep dying for no reason, and he was probably worried others would be attacked. So now he was trying to pull himself out of the slump and find the murderer... yeah, that had to be it.
No wonder Jiangxia once said solving cases gave him a sense of purpose. Clearly, it worked immediately.
Ran was quite touched. She resolved to work harder to take Jiangxia out to relax more often in the future.
The two turned and walked toward the main hall.
Hattori Heiji and Conan, lacking Ran's teleportation skills, were a few steps behind her and Jiangxia.
Heiji eyed Jiangxia's back. His recovery speed felt... alarmingly fast. Realistically, the scorched corpse and the wreckage should've hit Jiangxia harder than this…
After thinking for a moment, Hattori finally came up with a phrase that captured his unease:
"…A final burst of life before death?"
Conan's eye twitched. That didn't sound like a hopeful phrase. More like a curse.
Taking advantage of his childlike appearance, he stomped on Hattori's foot in protest, then trotted up to catch Jiangxia and Ran.
Hattori looked down at the tiny footprint on his brand-new shoes: "…"
Tokyoites: -1 impression.
…
The others returned to the hall one by one.
Among the quiet group, Toshiaki Fujisawa was the most visibly restless.
His panic was impossible to miss. One sharp-tongued guest shot him a side-eye and muttered, "Coward."
Fujisawa Toshiaki snapped, "Like you'd be any better if it were you! I almost died!" He slammed a note down on the table.
Jiangxia glanced at the note. It read:
[If you want that collector's book, come to the garage tomorrow at 5 a.m. The book is under the seat in the back.]
The others read it too. When they saw the location, their expressions changed—Ayako Oki's body had been found right there.
So it really did seem like someone had been watching Fujisawa Toshiaki.
Hattori Heiji looked serious. "Have you offended anyone?"
Fujisawa snapped back, "Who could I possibly have offended?!"
The moment he said that, the lights in the hall went out—power outage.
Darkness swallowed the room.
A panicked waiter's voice called from the distance: "The fuse blew… Hang on, I'll fix it right away!"
In the chaos, Jiangxia quietly activated his ghost vision. The pitch black room lit up in his eyes like day.
He immediately saw Kento Togano stand up, quickly and silently, dragging out a chair.
At the same time, Fujisawa Toshiaki, gripped by terror, lit a lighter. He needed a little light—any light—to feel safer. After all, he'd just received a death note. Of course he was the most scared.
In the darkness, the flame's sudden glow was painfully obvious. Like he was saying, "Hello! Yes! Please murder me!"
Kento Togano sneered inwardly. He smashed the glass with the chair—faking a break-in to make it look like the killer wasn't one of them.
Then he grabbed the ice pick he'd hidden earlier and lunged at Fujisawa, who was practically lit up like a target.
But the expected scream and dramatic death scene never came—instead, a shadowy figure dove out and tackled Fujisawa, and the ice pick only pierced his forearm.
Kento Togano cursed silently. The hit had failed. And now that Fujisawa had fallen, the lighter had gone out. Without the flame to guide him, he couldn't find a clean hit. He had to retreat, for now.
He turned to sneak back and wipe his fingerprints off the chair he'd used to smash the window.
But just as he took a step, he bumped into someone.
Kento Togano froze. Before he could react, a hand grabbed his collar and yeeted him off his feet—he slammed into the ground hard. A split-second later, there was a faint click, like something unfolding.
Jiangxia calmly extended his baton and looked down at the clear murderous aura around Kento Togano, plus the two ghosts clinging to his legs. His Mood +1.
Regular batons weren't long enough—hard to beat someone already on the floor. So Jiangxia had asked Dr. Agasa to upgrade his.
The result: a black-tech extendable baton.
Though, truth be told, the doctor had probably made some creative modifications. The upgraded baton didn't feel as lethal somehow. But it definitely didn't hurt any less.
Jiangxia didn't bother taking it back for a rework.
After all, he wasn't trying to kill people. In theory, lower lethality meant it could be used longer—so the person on the receiving end had more time to reflect on their life choices...
…
The moment the lights went out and Fujisawa lit the lighter, both Hattori Heiji and Conan felt a sense of danger.
They tensed, and then noticed the gleam of a hidden ice pick in the dark. They rushed forward and tackled Fujisawa just in time.
Once the lighter was snuffed out, they thought the worst was over.
But then came the heavy thud of a body hitting the floor.
Followed by a rhythm of flesh being struck.
And screaming. The blood-curdling kind.
Hattori Heiji froze. Was the murderer going for a second target?
Conan was on alert, ready to throw something to stop it—but then paused. The rhythm of the beating... it was oddly familiar.
He didn't even need to see it. Just from the sound, he knew—this was Jiangxia's signature beatdown. Perfectly paced. Stylish, even.
Aside from Conan and Ran, who both had a strong hunch, everyone else in the hall was panicking. The screams were that bad. Honestly, if the guy suddenly stopped yelling and turned out to be dead, no one would've been surprised.
Fujisawa Toshiaki, still clutching his arm, groaning in pain, was suddenly drowned out by the full-volume shrieks of whoever was getting destroyed on the other side of the room.
...Made his own stab wound feel like a mosquito bite.
At last, the waiter managed to flip the switch, and the lights flickered once—then came back on.
Hattori Heiji jumped up, ready to dash over and intervene.
But then he saw who was doing the beating—and froze mid-stride.
Jiangxia stood there with his baton, towering over a thoroughly wrecked man shaped object.
"…You?!" Hattori blurted out, stunned. Then the dots began to connect. "Wait... was he the murderer?!"
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 39/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*
Glossary:
Black-tech – Slang for impossibly advanced or borderline sci-fi technology (usually made by Dr. Agasa).
Death flag – A trope where a character unintentionally marks themselves for doom (e.g., by acting nervous or drawing attention).
Ghost vision – Jiangxia's ability to see ghosts or spirits, used like a supernatural detective tool.