(`)
Beside him, Conan gave a slight, silent nod. This was exactly what had puzzled him as well. He had wanted to ask earlier, but Uncle Mouri seemed worried that an elementary school student would embarrass him in front of Miss Yoko, and had been staring at him gloomily the whole time. Conan wisely realized that the moment he opened his mouth, he would probably get thumped on the head... Fortunately, there was a classmate here who wouldn't get thumped and could ask whatever he wanted.
The young patrol officer froze when he heard Jiang Xia's question.
Then, as if he had suddenly thought of something, he panicked and waved his hands repeatedly. "I didn't plan this! I was just being used!"
"...?" Jiang Xia suspected that Vodka had somehow remotely infected him with Persecutory Delusion. "I never said you planned it. Just explain why you did those things."
The patrol officer silently breathed a sigh of relief and nodded nervously. "Actually, while I was on patrol, I suddenly received a call. Someone reported seeing a figure inside that building and told me to go check immediately—the building was unsafe, and no one was allowed inside. I was worried something might happen, so I rushed over right away.
"When I got there, I first saw a tall man standing beside a car downstairs. Then I heard movement from the iron stairs above. You know how loud those kinds of stairs are when someone runs on them, especially since they were already damaged—the thumping was even louder. I looked in the direction of the sound and vaguely saw a figure up there..."
He described what he had seen at the Abandoned Building once more.
But before he had even finished, Inspector Megure had already jumped to his feet excitedly. "You received