I'm Not Feeling Well, So I'm Taking a Day Off / I'm Going to Do Some Under-the-Table Investigating

He hadn't initially thought about it in that direction, but after Conan brought it up, he quickly noticed something strange about the meeting.

"Speaking of which, there are indeed some suspicious points," Heiji Hattori.

"They seem particularly sensitive about my first love, and even though Jiang Hang spent money to buy things from them, their attitude was a bit too enthusiastic," Heiji Hattori analyzed. "And there's something I just thought of."

Heiji Hattori held up one finger, looking at Jiang Hang and Conan.

"When you were at Sannō Temple, Jiang Hang inquired about that letter, right? Ryuen mentioned that he sought out you, Jiang Hang, the recently famous detective, on the advice of those benefactors, hoping you could come to Kyoto to investigate the disappearance of the Buddha statue."

Jiang Hang nodded. These were indeed the words Ryuen had said. If they hadn't been going on a trip and hadn't politely declined the commission, he might have actually accepted it. After all, investigating the case while traveling around Kyoto sounded quite pleasant.

Heiji Hattori continued, "It's already strange that they didn't go to the police, but instead went to a detective to solve this case. However, considering the Buddhist abbot of Sannō Temple, we won't discuss that for now. But more importantly, why did they go to Jiang Hang first?"

Heiji Hattori pointed at himself. "They clearly know that I am a high school detective in Osaka, that I have helped the police solve many cases in the past, and that they have even read the magazine where I was recently interviewed. They also know about my first love. In contrast, they seem to know very little about Jiang Hang. At least, if Jiang Hang were standing in front of them, they would not recognize Jiang Hang."

Heiji Hattori's words sounded as if he was implying that he was more famous than Jiang Hang, but all three of them knew that Jiang Hang was not one to seek the limelight. Apart from appearing in some small newspapers in the early days when he needed exposure, Jiang Hang began to avoid those ubiquitous media reporters after his reputation as the Jiang Hang Eagle-Eyed Detective gradually spread.

Jiang Hang knew that Heiji Hattori's point wasn't about this, so he waited for Heiji Hattori to finish speaking.

At this point, Heiji Hattori brought up the most crucial question, "So, given that they clearly know me better, why did they recommend to Master Ryuen that the detective they should hire be Jiang Hang, and not me?"

"Because in the beginning, they probably didn't want you, the famous detective from Osaka, to get involved in this case," Jiang Hang continued Heiji Hattori's words, which drew the attention of Conan and Heiji Hattori to him.

"Have you discovered something?" Conan asked.

Jiang Hang nodded. He had been looking through photos he had taken during his investigations in various places throughout the day on his phone. Just now, he finally found an undeniable clue in one of the photos.

"I think you haven't really seen the photo of the Buddha statue that was stolen from Sannō Temple. I didn't pay much attention to that photo either until just now when I realized something. If I'm not mistaken, it can explain the subtle attitude of those two people." Jiang Hang put the photo out and looked at Heiji Hattori. "Hattori, for you, this must be a somewhat sad story."

Listening to Jiang Hang's words, Conan and Heiji Hattori both focused their attention on the famous Buddha statue with a history of hundreds of years.

They had naturally seen Buddha statues before, especially in Kyoto, a place full of temples and shrines, where all kinds of Buddha statues could be seen everywhere. In addition, their attention had been focused on deciphering the code, and they had not carefully examined the photo of the Buddha statue.

But after Jiang Hang's prompting, the two detectives also carefully examined the photograph.

Almost simultaneously, the two of them looked up at Jiang Hang, as if they had discovered the most important clue shown in the photo.

However, compared to Conan, Conan's expression was somewhat subtle, while Heiji Hattori's expression looked rather comical.

He took the crystal bead he had kept for many years from his pocket and placed it on top of the photograph.

In the photo, the Byakugo in the center of the forehead of the Yakushi Nyorai Buddha statue becomes particularly conspicuous at this moment.

"No way," Heiji Hattori's lips twitched, seemingly incredulous at the fact.

Jiang Hang shrugged. "I have examined it carefully. Judging from the shape and age of this crystal bead, it matches this Buddha statue perfectly."

"If I'm not mistaken, the 'first love' you saw didn't actually drop anything. This is the 'Byakugo' that Genji Fireflies accidentally lost during the transport of the Buddha statue she stole, and you happened to find it while you were visiting the temple, and kept it on your person for eight years."

Of course, there's also the possibility that Heiji Hattori's so-called first love was actually the daughter of one of the thieves, and that after they stole the Buddha statue, she removed the Byakugo (white hair mark) from it and accidentally lost it. However, that Buddha statue was a very valuable item, and although the Byakugo looks like just a small crystal bead, it's a very important part of the statue. If it were removed, the value of the statue would probably drop by several times. Therefore, this possibility is not high, and Jiang Hang ruled it out.

At this point, Heiji Hattori could deduce the origin of the crystal bead on his own, without even listening to Jiang Hang's analysis.

He looked at the crystal bead with a slightly complicated expression. "I never imagined that a bead I picked up at random, thinking it was dropped by my first love, would actually be such an important thing."

"But it is precisely because of this that the Buddha statue, whose value has depreciated, has been held by those guys who are unwilling to suffer losses for a full eight years." Jiang Hang patted Heiji Hattori on the shoulder, telling him not to be too discouraged.

Heiji Hattori wasn't too discouraged. He had only ever hoped to see his so-called first love again and return the crystal bead to her. Now that the crystal bead had become a key clue in the case, his already elusive "first love" had become even more elusive.

Heiji Hattori shook his head, then refocused his thoughts on the case.

"In other words, Saijō Taiga of the used bookstore and Sakura Masazo of the antique shop are indeed members of the Genji Fireflies. Those people who were murdered may have been killed by the two of them."

Heiji Hattori said this, while also seeming to have some new doubts. "But if that's the case, why did they send that letter to Sannō Temple?"

Chapter 356: Not feeling well, taking a day off.

I'm planning to go to the hospital tomorrow morning, and I'll update this after I get back.

Chapter 357: Chapter 354: I'm going to conduct some shady investigations.

However, before Conan and Jiang Hang could make their own deductions, Heiji Hattori made his own.

"If I'm not mistaken, they couldn't find the crystal bead, so they couldn't sell the Buddha statue for a good price and therefore couldn't find a good buyer. In the end, they had no choice but to hide the Buddha statue."

"Then last week, I was interviewed by that magazine and they took a picture of the crystal bead and put it in the magazine. As it happened, they saw it, so they thought they could find a way to take the crystal bead from me. That way, they could put it back on the Buddha statue and sell it intact."

Heiji Hattori made this judgment. "Then, because of some accident within that gang in recent years, perhaps their leader passed away and did not tell them the location of the Buddha statue and the treasures they had stolen over the years, so they still don't know where the Buddha statue is hidden and can only rely on that coded map to make inferences."

"However, they have been unable to solve the mystery on that cipher map, so they still don't know the location of the Buddha statue and can only rely on other detectives to investigate."

"At the same time, in order to avoid me possibly discovering the truth about the crystal bead during the investigation, they even deliberately avoided me, the detective who is closer to them, and found you, the famous detective in Tokyo, to help them."

"However, they didn't expect that after you refused their request, you would actually come to Kyoto for tourism and run into this incident. The person who was murdered in Osaka was the owner of a barbecue restaurant that I used to frequent and knew. I came to Kyoto to investigate his case."

Heiji Hattori said this, while shaking his head slightly. "But if you think about it this way, the owner of that antique shop shouldn't be a member of the thief gang, otherwise why would he tell us about this? He could have kept it a secret. If it weren't for him, we might not have been able to find out about Sannō Temple even after investigating for several days."

However, Jiang Hang refuted Heiji Hattori's new speculation. "It's impossible to be sure right now. After all, there have been internal conflicts within Genji Fireflies's gang of thieves. I think the two of them may have joined forces to eliminate the others first. But it's clear that they don't completely trust each other. Maybe the antique shop owner had only heard of your Your Name before and hadn't read the magazine. He only found out about it tonight after taking us to that bookstore."

"At the bookstore, when Saijō Taiga told you about your situation and you took out this crystal bead, look at Sakura Masazo's expression. He was initially surprised, and then he kept glancing at Saijō Taiga. If he was simply unaware of the situation, there was no need for him to look at Saijō Taiga with such a questioning gaze."

"Besides, when I was at Sannō Temple, I asked around very clearly. After Ryuen received that letter, the first person to suggest to him that we find a detective to help solve the mystery and mention my name was Saijō Taiga from the used bookstore. It was only after he made that suggestion that the other people who knew about this matter agreed."

"Based on the current situation, it is highly likely that Saijō Taiga is a member of Genji Fireflies, and he is very likely to be an important figure in that group. As for the antique shop owner, Sakura Masazo, he is also quite suspicious, but he seems to be the kind of person who is responsible for disposing of the stolen goods after Genji Fireflies completes the theft, which is why the two of them joined forces."

"As for the other person who knows about this, but we haven't met him yet, the theater's young master Mio Harutarō, is also a suspect. But we can't be sure until we meet him, so let's keep him on our watchlist for now." Conan analyzed from the side, looking at Heiji Hattori.

After waiting eight years for his "first love," Heiji Hattori probably thinks about what he could do if he met his "first love" every time he comes to Kyoto. But suddenly, the crystal bead he picked up back then, which was left behind by his "first love," has been transformed into the precious bead on the head of another Buddha statue.

It seems that Heiji Hattori is still somewhat heartbroken because his "first love" dream, which he had waited eight years for, has been completely shattered.

"I never imagined that my first love would encounter something like this. Even this clue is gone, and it seems that it is impossible to find him again."

Conan didn't let Heiji Hattori continue sighing. He reminded him, "Instead of worrying about your 'first love,' I think you'd better worry about your own affairs right now."

He continued, "Regardless of whether Saijō Taiga and Sakura Masazo are members of Genji Fireflies, the fact that Sannō Temple suddenly received that letter is definitely because Genji Fireflies's members saw your interview in a magazine and knew that this crucial Byakugo was in your hands. Without a doubt, they are now eyeing this 'Byakugo' in your hands and want to find an opportunity to take it away from you."

Conan frowned slightly. "According to their original plan, they should have found the Buddha statue from its hiding place first, but now that you've appeared, if that Saijō Taiga is really a member of the Genji Fireflies, they might target you first to avoid any unforeseen complications."

"The internal conflict within Genji Fireflies has already resulted in the deaths of five of their own. To achieve their goals, this group certainly wouldn't mind losing a few more lives. They might even be discussing how to deal with you right now."

"Even just now in that used bookstore, if there hadn't been four of us there, and if it hadn't been so late, and if there hadn't been a lot of passersby outside the shop, they might have attacked us if they hadn't been able to resist when you took out this crystal bead."

Thinking of this, Conan couldn't help but glance at Jiang Hang beside him, and looked somewhat regretful.

It was only because the other party restrained his urge to attack that he succeeded. Otherwise, even if he were a master of swordsmanship and archery, he would probably be no match for Jiang Hang, a humanoid Gundam who could Hidden Blade.

Although Conan has never personally witnessed Jiang Hang's Hidden Blade bullets like Takagi Wataru has, among the people he knows, Jiang Hang is the pinnacle of combat ability. While Ran is not bad in terms of combat ability, she is clearly no match for Jiang Hang in terms of combat experience.

Not to mention that Jiang Hang has always been hiding two high-tech hidden Hidden Blade in his wrist.

If Jiang Hang were to turn into a so-called psychopathic killer, it would probably take an entire army, regardless of casualties, to bring Jiang Hang under control.

In short, if Saijō Taiga and his group had made their move at the used bookstore, they could have resolved the incident immediately. After that, all they would have needed to do was decipher the coded diagram and retrieve the Buddha statue that had been stolen eight years ago.

Meanwhile, Heiji Hattori also considered the possibility that Genji Fireflies's men might try to attack him.

He touched his nose, looking very confident. "Want to attack me? Then let them come. I've been wanting to test my skills against them in kendo anyway. I've never been afraid of anyone in that area."

Heiji Hattori is a master of kendo, and the murderer is also described by the police as a master of kendo. Naturally, he would want to completely defeat his opponent in his area of expertise and then make his arrest.

"So, you're prepared to act as bait to lure them in?" Conan asked.

Heiji Hattori nodded and picked up his crystal bead. "After all, we are only making inferences based on the existing clues and their actions. There is no real evidence pointing to the other side. Genji Fireflies has committed dozens of crimes in the past ten years but has never been caught by the police. They will definitely be very vigilant in this regard. It will not be easy to make them reveal their flaws using normal methods."

"But now, I have what they want most in my hands. As long as they want to take it from me, they will inevitably come to me. At that time, they will naturally show their true colors. So now it is us who should be patient."

Conan then retorted, "The other party is not only proficient in swordsmanship. Have you forgotten that among those he killed, there was one who was killed by a single arrow to the heart? If he really wanted to kill you, he could have just hidden in the shadows and shot you with an arrow. I think you'd better be careful and avoid going to sparsely populated places these next few days, lest he give you an opportunity."

Heiji Hattori shook his head. "At least we're still helping them solve the puzzle on the picture. They won't make a move until we solve the puzzle or they realize something's wrong."

Heiji Hattori looked at Jiang Hang, seemingly wanting to hear his opinion. "Jiang Hang, what do you think we should do now?"

Jiang Hang, who had been waiting on the sidelines for Heiji Hattori and Conan, the two famous detectives, to come to a conclusion, twitched at the corner of his mouth.

"Now, I think you guys should go back to your rooms and get some sleep. It's already so late. Let's talk about tomorrow's problems after we wake up tomorrow. If those guys really do something dangerous, we can just leave it to the police to handle."

Upon receiving Jiang Hang's reply, Heiji Hattori pursed his lips, seemingly somewhat dissatisfied. "How could I possibly encounter any danger? You can rest assured. After I get up tomorrow, I'll investigate a few more places and try to solve the riddle on that map by tomorrow."

With that, Heiji Hattori said goodbye to Jiang Hang and went back to his room.

Hearing Jiang Hang's words, Conan's eyebrows twitched, looking somewhat helpless.

His ideas were different from Heiji Hattori's.

This is exactly Jiang Hang's style: he finds out something, then simply hands the information over to the police, letting them handle the follow-up, and then he can easily walk away.

Although it might seem unbecoming of a detective, Jiang Hang simply didn't care about such things.

However, Conan still managed to glean the underlying meaning from Jiang Hang's words.

If the Genji Fireflies do anything dangerous, the case will be handed over to the police; otherwise, they will obviously handle it themselves.

Conan thought for a moment and realized that the "danger" Jiang Hang mentioned probably didn't refer to the kind of danger where Heiji Hattori might be attacked from the shadows, but rather the kind of danger where a building would be blown up, which could be considered a terrorist attack.

As things stand, it seems unlikely that the member of that Genji Fireflies would do something like that.

So, does Jiang Hang support the three of them continuing the investigation in this case?

Since Jiang Hang was so confident, Conan didn't argue anymore. After all, he wanted to see how far Jiang Hang could go if he got serious.

Jiang Hang never expected that Conan would interpret a casual remark he made as something else entirely.

However, just as Conan thought, if the people on Genji Fireflies's side only use bows and arrows and swordsmanship, then it doesn't seem like there's any real danger.

After all, as the assassin bloodline continuously improves Jiang Hang 'Jiang Hang physical abilities, although his body is not yet at the level where he can jump off buildings without injury, he no longer needs to worry too much about dealing with various firearms, thanks to his daily practice of dodging bullets in the training space.

As for ordinary bows and arrows, even if Jiang Hang wasn't paying attention, he could probably catch them with his bare hands using his Mind's Eye alone. Not to mention that Jiang Hang is already cautious, and after arriving at a place, he would immediately use his Eagle Eye to roughly scan the surrounding area, and would never let danger enter his vicinity.

After Heiji Hattori left, Conan looked at Jiang Hang, who showed no signs of sleeping, and suddenly asked him, "If I'm not mistaken, you'll be going out again later to continue investigating Saijō Taiga and the others, right?"

Jiang Hang looked at Conan, not surprised Jiang Hang Conan had seen through his actions.

When he was in Tokyo, he would often go out at night under different aliases to do things that "punish evil and promote good." Although he had never told anyone about this, there had been a lot of urban rumors circulating in Tokyo recently. Jiang Hang had not made any special attempt to hide it when he was at his agency, so it was normal for Conan often visited his agency, to have some speculations about it.

"I'm planning to go over there and check things out a bit, and maybe conduct some shady investigations. What, do you want to come with me?"

Chapter 358: How come you're so skilled?

Before this, Jiang Hang usually went out alone at night.

After all, he has done quite a few things at night after putting on his disguise.

From initially driving away thugs and robbers, and then casually catching a few thieves at night, to later throwing smoke bombs and hitting Mafia members with club Mafia during gang fights.

As Jiang Hang's own strength increased, he did more and more things.

He destroyed drug warehouses of Mafia, disrupted arms deals between Mafia, and anonymously handed over any shady dealings he encountered to the relevant authorities for them to handle.

Of course, if they don't handle it, Jiang Hang wouldn't mind taking care of it himself.

If the Mafia leaders and even high-ranking political figures who were tricked by Jiang Hang knew that he was the one who did all these things, he himself wouldn't have anything to fear, but his firm and the people around him wouldn't be able to live peacefully anymore.

So Jiang Hang was always alone when doing these things. At most, Shizuka Sakaki and Koharu Yoshino had some guesses, but they never asked Jiang Hang, and even if they did, Jiang Hang would not admit it.

However, Jiang Hang is currently in Kyoto, and he doesn't plan to cause any big news tonight. Conan can be considered the first person to go out with Jiang Hang to investigate at night.

After all, Conan is small in stature, so he is not easy to be noticed. Moreover, when necessary, Conan can be asked to help with the deduction.

Although the process was somewhat shameful, Conan wasn't the type of person to care about such details.

As long as Jiang Hang doesn't make any fundamental mistakes, Conan doesn't really mind this method of collecting evidence.

Although Conan knew long ago that Jiang Hang was very skilled in this area, Conan still looked at Jiang Hang with a strange expression when Jiang Hang casually bypassed the surveillance cameras in the hotel from the 10th floor, climbed out of the window, used his Hidden Blade and grappling hook to slide down the stairs, and then sneaked into the antique market they had visited during the day without being discovered by anyone. Conan then quietly pried open the door of Sakura Masazo 'Jiang Hang antique shop with a wire in a few moves.

Judging from Jiang Hang's skillful and experienced level of expertise, he doesn't seem like a detective at all, but rather more like one of those famous phantom thieves.

"Before becoming a detective, you weren't some phantom thief who switched careers, were you? You're way too skilled at it."

Conan even wondered if any phantom thieves had suddenly disappeared overseas recently.

Jiang Hang simply rolled his eyes at Conan. What do you mean by "phantom thief"? This is just the most basic operation for an assassin.

Whether it's Assassin's Footwork or Lockpicking skills, these are all things he painstakingly honed over a long period of time in the training space.

Because the group had been discussing things in the room for a long time, it was already past midnight when Heiji Hattori returned to his room.

They had rushed here and it was already past 1 a. m. At this time, the shops in the antique market had naturally already closed.

As for the surveillance cameras installed on the streets, they naturally couldn't escape Jiang Hang's observation.