This Is Basic Deduction (Bullshit), My Friend

Although my deductive skills might not be as good as yours, and my IQ probably isn't as high either, you're still too green if you think you can pull one over on me.

Koharu Yoshino had mustered the last of her courage to drive Jiang Hang, Conan, and the others to the vicinity of that haunted house. While she was at it, she secretly glanced at what the house actually looked like.

The surrounding streets were all lined with villas and mansions. Clearly, anyone who could afford a villa here was no poor person.

The so-called haunted house stood near the middle of the street and even came with a small garden. It was easy to see just how prosperous the family who had lived here five years ago had been.

But after five years, the villa had long since lost its former luster. Ivy was nearly climbing onto the roof, and weeds had sprouted all over it after years without maintenance.

Even standing outside, they could feel the desolation and decline of this "haunted house."

Jiang Hang did not find it scary at all. Looking at the villa, he merely thought that no matter how rich he became in the future, he would never buy one. It was far too troublesome to maintain, and just getting from the bedroom to the hall for breakfast every morning would take several minutes. For a slacker like Jiang Hang, that was simply a nightmare.

His own detective agency was better. It was not small, and more importantly, it was comfortable to live in.

But to Koharu Yoshino, this villa was rather frightening.

And now that it was sunset, the red sun sinking below the horizon cast slanted light against the side of the villa, drawing out long shadows. Koharu Yoshino could not help imagining a flock of crows circling above the villa, crying mournfully.

This was much scarier than the haunted house at the Amusement Park!

Goodbye. Farewell.

She barely dared to linger nearby. She immediately backed the car out of the street, and before leaving, she pretended to be calm as she told Jiang Hang, "If anything happens, just call us."

Even if something really happened, you probably wouldn't dare come over even if I called. I'd be better off contacting the police directly.

Jiang Hang complained inwardly, then walked up to the villa's front gate.

As expected, the front gate was locked.

"The gate's locked. Looks like we'll have to look for another entrance."

Jiang Hang muttered that aloud, while Conan muttered something in his heart.

"You know Lockpicking, don't you? A lock like this shouldn't be difficult for you."

Naturally. Five years could turn a once-tidy villa into a dilapidated wreck, but that was far from enough time for the lock to rust shut. Besides, this was not some particularly high-end lock. With Jiang Hang's beginner Lockpicking skill, he could open it with a little time.

But this was out on the street, and several elementary school children were standing beside him. He had no intention of showing off his Lockpicking skills in front of them.

He should be a little more proper at a time like this.

Eagle Eye—Reveal, activate.

Jiang Hang had used this ability many times already. The reason he had been so successful lately at taking commissions to find lost items was entirely because of this skill.

Although its effective range was not very long, almost all information within this area appeared before his eyes.

Places people had touched, leaving fingerprints behind; paths people had walked, leaving footprints; even how many times an artist had painted over a spot beneath an oil painting during its creation—he could clearly determine all of it through Reveal.

Unfortunately, Jiang Hang was an uncultured commoner without a shred of artistic talent. He had no interest in antiques and no relevant knowledge either. Otherwise, with this branch ability of Eagle Eye, he could have easily made a guest appearance in the treasure-appraisal genre.

He soon discovered the secret of the villa. Ten meters was not enough to scan the entire building directly, but he could see most things around its exterior. Combined with Eagle Eye's normal long-distance vision, the villa had very few secrets left from him.

To be honest, an assassin's Eagle Eye was not very useful for bizarre, unconstrained cases, because it could not help Jiang Hang infer a murderer's method. Only detectives like Conan, who relied on raw ability, could grasp a culprit's psychology, deduce their methods, and find them.

But for cases that were not especially complicated, Eagle Eye alone was enough to let him know everything.

There really was something going on in this villa. The Detective Boys were impressive after all.

Though he was not yet sure what was inside, Jiang Hang was already regretting agreeing to bring them along.

He glanced at Conan. The boy was still feeling helpless about having to come explore this "haunted house."

Jiang Hang felt that it was about time to mess with Conan's mindset.

You wanted to trick me, didn't you? Now I'll turn the tables and let you see what acting really is.

"This villa really does have a problem." Standing in front of Conan, he deliberately muttered to himself.

Conan froze for a moment, then looked at Jiang Hang, who was holding his chin as though pondering something.

From the look of it, was he really here to solve a case and look for clues?

Conan immediately sharpened his focus, seemingly wanting to know what Jiang Hang had discovered to make him say that.

But there really were no useful clues near the entrance. Conan stared with his big eyes for a long while and still could not spot anything wrong.

What exactly had this guy discovered?

At that moment, Jiang Hang headed in another direction.

It was an alley between two villas. It was now overgrown with weeds, and it seemed the owner of the neighboring villa could not be bothered to clear them either. Five years had been enough for the weeds to grow up to a person's knees.

"Just as I expected. I'll take a look inside. Don't come in yet. It would be bad if there are snakes inside."

With that, Jiang Hang stepped into the alley.

There were obviously no snakes nearby. It was just that his beginner Disguise skill made him feel that he ought to put on a bit of an act.

He quickly found a small wooden door, a little over a meter tall, hidden beneath the weeds. The children from the Detective Boys also gathered around.

"I see. I understand now." Jiang Hang once again deliberately said that in front of Conan.

Jiang Hang's antics were making Conan feel as though his obsessive tendencies were about to be forced out of him.

He carefully examined the wooden door, which looked somewhat like a dog door. This really was an important clue.

The door did not look very old. Judging from the hinges, it should have been installed within the past few years, certainly no more than five years ago...

No, Ayumi had said that after the murder five years ago, the original residents had moved away from the villa. This place was supposed to have been unoccupied ever since.

And normally, no one would deliberately install a wooden door over a dog door. This had clearly been prepared specifically for someone...

In other words, someone had actually been living in this villa over the past few years?

Could it be that a homeless person had found this villa and learned it was supposedly haunted, so no one usually came close? Had they simply moved in and installed this concealed wooden door to make it easier to come and go without being discovered?

But Conan felt that Jiang Hang was pointing to more than just that.

So what exactly did you understand? Just say it already!

This Is Basic Deduction, My Friend

After successfully messing with Conan's mindset, Jiang Hang casually sent Koharu Yoshino a message.

"There are no ghosts in the haunted house, but there might be a case. Do you want to come broaden your horizons?"

After teasing Conan, Jiang Hang teased Koharu Yoshino as well. He felt much better afterward.

They entered the long-abandoned villa through the wooden door.

"Once we're inside, remember to follow me and don't get separated. This house is huge, and nobody has maintained it for so long. We might run into something dangerous inside."

He did not want the members of the Detective Boys to get excited and run around the moment they entered, only to deliver themselves one by one to the person hiding in this house. He was far too familiar with that sort of setup. Even though he had no memory of this particular case, it felt like that was exactly how things would develop.

They entered the villa through the side door directly opposite the small wooden door.

Seeing that only one person's fingerprints were brightly highlighted on the doorknob, Jiang Hang said nothing.

He tried to find the nearby power switch, but the main breaker was probably turned off. After all, whoever lived here did not want to be discovered. The faucet itself, however, was well hidden, so there was no need to worry about others noticing it. Jiang Hang tried it, and sure enough, water came out.

He had thought the person living here drew water from a well. Apparently, they had not gone that far.

He glanced at Conan.

Good. This guy was probably starting to agonize over who lived here.

But Jiang Hang was not going to let Conan continue. He had come here to complete a case, and after entering the villa, the system had already notified him that this was the scene of a case.

If Conan solved it first, this trip would have been for nothing. In Jiang Hang's Eagle Vision, clues were brightly highlighted everywhere in this house. With Conan's brain, he could probably solve the case after seeing just a few of them.

Jiang Hang led the children deeper into the villa.

Originally, the children who loved courting death had wanted to explore the villa on their own. But after Jiang Hang caught them several times, they could only obediently follow him.

Naturally, he did not want to bring children to such a dangerous place. If he could, he would rather send these little troublemakers home right now and inspect the villa alone.

But who knew what dangerous things these kids, so enthusiastic about courting death, might do?

Although the Detective Boys had spent years courting death in the anime without anything happening, now that this "butterfly" had appeared, even a casual flap of his wings could put them in danger. That was absolutely not something Jiang Hang wanted to see.

So he could only keep a close eye on them. At least by his side, they were safe. At the same time, he kept using Eagle Eye to ensure that none of them ran into the so-called Villa Ghost.

As they went deeper into the villa, the sky gradually darkened. Combined with the fact that sunlight could barely enter this place to begin with, the building easily gave off an eerie, chilly feeling.

Genta and the others might have acted braver than anyone outside, but after personally experiencing this hollow, uncanny atmosphere, they were still only six- or seven-year-old children. It was perfectly normal for them to be afraid.

At some point, aside from Conan, the little kids had all tightly grabbed Jiang Hang's clothes and pants.

After deliberately finding several obvious clues along the way, Jiang Hang felt that the haunted house exploration game should be over. Only then did he head toward the most concealed location shown in his Eagle Vision.

After walking for several more minutes, he suddenly stopped as though he had discovered something.

He checked the area around him, then stomped lightly on the spot before finally confirming it.

"Let go for a moment. There seems to be something here. I'll check it."

As Jiang Hang spoke, the children hurriedly hid behind him.

He bent down and soon found an inconspicuous indentation in the floor.

This was the handle of a hidden door. And judging from the area around the indentation, it was the sort that was used often.

"So it really is a secret passage. Do all rich people like digging secret passages into their homes?" Jiang Hang complained, then exerted some force and lifted the hidden trapdoor in the floor.

Below it was a staircase descending into unfathomable darkness, though he naturally knew what was down there.

"I think you should probably not go down there. According to the usual stories, there might be countless imprisoned skeletons buried below."

Seeing the children grow interested in the stairs beneath the hidden door, Jiang Hang did not take them down. Instead, he shut the trapdoor again.

The children, who had been curious about what was below, immediately began trembling again.

He only knows how to scare children. What an awful guy, Conan thought helplessly as he watched Jiang Hang frighten them.

But that was not what concerned him. What concerned him was how Jiang Hang had found this hidden door, and what secret lay beneath it. He had followed Jiang Hang around the villa for a long time and only vaguely formed an idea, but he still lacked the decisive evidence.

He knew very clearly that Jiang Hang had led them straight here at the end. He had barely paused at any of the branching paths along the way. It was very likely that he had discovered the secret passage shortly after entering.

"How did you find such a well-hidden door, mister?" In order to learn the reason, Conan did not hesitate to act cute again, hoping to get an answer from Jiang Hang.

"This is basic deduction, Conan," Jiang Hang said, once again messing with Conan's mindset.

What kind of basic deduction was that? You were clearly just using Sherlock Holmes's line to show off!

Although he could not understand at all how Jiang Hang had found the hidden door, Conan quickly recalled what Ran had told him: Jiang Hang was very good at finding things.

Conan had to admit that from the abilities Jiang Hang had displayed during their meetings, the other man was indeed much better than him when it came to finding things.

Then, under Conan's astonished gaze, Jiang Hang took out his phone.

He had originally planned to call Inspector Megure, but after thinking about it, although he could now basically confirm the culprit of the murder from five years ago, only two or three days had passed since his last call to Inspector Megure. Jiang Hang felt that perhaps he was calling too frequently.

So he decided to call Officer Takagi instead.

Really, he just thought Officer Takagi was easier to deal with as a useful errand boy. Unlike Inspector Megure, who would ask all sorts of questions over the phone.

"Hello, this is Jiang Hang. Officer Takagi, you aren't busy right now, are you?"

"Huh... You're having dinner with your uncle? Sorry, sorry. If you're off today, I'll call Inspector Megure instead."

"It's fine? Really? Then I'll briefly explain the situation. You can bring some people over to search the place. No one's been here for years anyway, so searching it shouldn't be too troublesome, right?"

Jiang Hang briefly explained the case from five years ago, said that he had found clues and needed them to bring people over to search the place, then hung up.

Conan stared dumbfoundedly as Jiang Hang finished the call.

"Brother Jiang Hang, did you find the real culprit behind the case from five years ago that quickly?"

"I'm ninety percent sure. Someone who knows about this hidden door and has lived here for five years can only be one of this house's original residents, right? A homeless person wouldn't pay the water bill for a villa."

"Why would they do that? Once you think about it, there aren't many possible answers, are there? Leave the rest for the police to investigate."

"But shouldn't detectives solve problems? You've already reached the final step of unraveling the mystery. You're only one step away from finding the culprit, yet you're giving up just like that. Don't you think that's a shame?" Perhaps because Conan was accustomed to personally solving every mystery he encountered, he could not understand Jiang Hang's behavior of getting ninety percent through a puzzle and then giving up.

As he spoke, he even forgot to maintain a child's tone of voice.

Seeing Conan's anxious expression, Jiang Hang smiled. Conan did not know that Jiang Hang had already seen everything through Eagle Vision.

"Then let me tell you a little more. Outside the villa, I saw that one window was open. But if that window had been left open the whole time, it would have broken long ago. Yet the area around it was quite clean. Tokyo had only gotten rain a few days ago, so how could that spot possibly be so clean? That window must have been opened recently."

Only Eagle Vision could reveal that. No matter how good a normal person's eyesight was, they could not see as clearly as he could.

"On the third floor of the villa, I noticed a room covered in dust, so I didn't go in. But there were faint footprints on the floor, and I saw a picture frame inside. It had been sitting there for years, yet it was still clean enough to reflect light. If the person living in this villa were someone else, there would be no need for them to do that."