Don't Overthink It

Jiang Xia lightly kicked aside the dead leaves and studied a half-dried muddy footprint on the ground.

Its owner wore roughly a size 43 shoe, equivalent to size 265 in Japan's usual sizing. The tread bore anti-slip spiral patterns, with worn edges.

More similar footprints lay ahead.

Jiang Xia knew they had been left by a bag snatcher.

Today, Jiang Xia had set out fully prepared, originally intending to handle an important matter of his own.

Who would have thought that halfway there, he would be summoned away by a call from his superior—the bag of an important Researcher in the organization had been snatched. Jiang Xia's superior, the Model Worker codenamed Gin, remembered that Jiang Xia knew this area well and temporarily assigned him to retrieve it.

Jiang Xia casually parked the Motorcycle he had ridden over and followed the muddy footprints ahead.

A woman's cool voice came through the earpiece by his cheek. "The robber was half a head taller than me. The ends of his hair were dyed red, and there's a burn scar on the back of his right hand near the thumb."

Miyano Shiho's description was very detailed, and her tone remained calm and unruffled... not at all like that of an unlucky person who had just had her bag stolen and been shoved to the ground.

"I understand." Jiang Xia had a good grasp of the people in this area. The moment he heard about the red-dyed hair and burn scar, he had already narrowed it down to one particular delinquent.

He estimated the distance. "I should be able to get the bag back. It won't take long. Give me five minutes."

Miyano Shiho gave a soft "Mm."

After hesitating for a moment, she wanted to add, "Be careful."

But by the time she opened her mouth again, the call had already been disconnected. A brief series of beeps sounded from the receiver before silence returned.

"..."

Miyano Shiho silently looked at her darkened phone screen.

Whenever Jiang Xia spoke with Gin or other executives, he always properly waited for the other party to hang up first. But this time...

Though it could be explained away as "time being tight."

Miyano Shiho could not help feeling that the real reason was that Jiang Xia did not want to hear her voice for even one second longer.

Jiang Xia did not understand other people's complicated feelings. He only wanted to finish his overtime work quickly, then get on with his own business.

He removed his earpiece and slipped it into his pocket. After turning through several winding streets, he arrived in front of an old three-story Apartment Building.

The Apartment Building was painted green, enclosed by a low wire fence, and had a battered locked entrance door. Its security was fairly decent.

Though it could only keep out law-abiding citizens.

Jiang Xia's gaze swept over a row of mailboxes, confirming the red-haired man's room number.

Then he climbed the coarse-grid wire fence, which was exceedingly friendly to thieves, all the way to the top. With a step and a leap from the edge of the mesh, he lightly vaulted onto the Third Floor Balcony, intending to give the red-haired man a righteous surprise attack.

Jiang Xia was an utterly ordinary transmigrator. In his previous life, his name had also been Jiang Xia.

After arriving here, his new body's name had been similar to his old one. His surname was Jiang Xia, except an additional given name had been added in keeping with local custom, becoming the very Japan-like yet somehow slightly off-sounding "Jiang Xia Tongzhi."

The original owner's mental state had not been particularly healthy. When Jiang Xia arrived, the man had slit his wrist badly enough to nearly sever half of it and had almost failed to pull through.

In contrast, Jiang Xia Tongzhi had left behind a well-trained body, with strength and reaction speed far beyond those of an ordinary person.

That gave Jiang Xia some small comfort.

Though his left hand was slightly sluggish, Jiang Xia had the physical boost of Conan Logic. In less than five seconds, he landed on the bag-snatching red-haired man's Balcony.

Inside, the red-haired man sat with his back to Jiang Xia, facing the TV. He laughed like a duck at a goofy variety show while noisily counting the bills in his hands.

The TV was very loud. Jiang Xia gently slid open the door, walked up behind him, and brought down a Hand Chop.

The cackling laughter stopped abruptly. The red-haired man collapsed face-first.

The PRADA women's Wallet on his lap also fell to the floor.

In Jiang Xia's previous world, knocking someone out with a Hand Chop was a matter of luck—if you were lucky, you could knock them unconscious; if you were unlucky, you could send them straight to the crematorium.

But in the Conan World, there had never been a case of death by Hand Chop. It was as if everyone had a switch built into their Neck Side, and hitting it could knock them out with one press.

Jiang Xia stepped around the unconscious red-haired man, picked up the money scattered across the floor, gathered it together, and put it back into Miyano Shiho's Wallet before leaving with the bag.

As he walked out of the Apartment Building entrance, Jiang Xia checked the electronic watch on his wrist. It was 15:49:57.

There were still over forty seconds until the five minutes he had promised Miyano Shiho.

So Jiang Xia spent some time petting a passing stray cat to kill time. At exactly five minutes, his phone rang once.

—Gin had sent him a meeting address.

The moment Jiang Xia finished reading it, the Email automatically deleted itself, as elusive as the Call Records from earlier.

"..."

This Villain executive was clearly very strong, yet excessively cautious...

Jiang Xia shook his head and stood up. After getting his bearings, he carried Miyano Shiho's bag and headed toward the place Gin had specified.

The Black Organization, as the boss-level Villain organization of the Conan World, had always left those in the know with an impression of mystery, secrecy, and ruthless methods.

And from Jiang Xia's observations over this period, that impression was indeed not far from the truth.