What Are You Doing to That Police Officer?

Conan stared blankly at the scene. "..."

Jiang Xia solved cases way too fast. It was practically like he had secretly stashed away the answers... From entering the house to identifying the killer, had even a minute passed?

"..." Conan recalled the scene of Jiang Xia climbing over the wall and suddenly wondered, could Jiang Xia have happened to witness the Murder Scene?

But Conan quickly ruled out that possibility.

—Given Jiang Xia's usual attitude toward criminals, if he had seen the murder take place, he definitely would have gone over and kicked the criminal until he rolled all over the ground. At the very least, he would have caught him and whacked him a couple of times.

...In other words, Jiang Xia really had deduced all this himself.

Conan drifted off for a moment.

When he came back to himself, he happened to find Jiang Xia looking at him.

After a moment of silence, Conan sighed, his feelings somewhat complicated. "You... are pretty impressive."

But Jiang Xia shook his head. "I merely stood on the shoulders of a dwarf."

Conan: "...?" He was actually pretty humble.

It was just that there seemed to be something wrong with the quote.

Shouldn't it have been "standing on the shoulders of giants"?

Could Jiang Xia have meant that the case was so simple that he could solve it easily without needing to stand on a giant's shoulders?

Meanwhile, when Inspector Megure saw the carving on the cabinet, he finally stopped doubting Jiang Xia's conclusion that Suwa was the killer.

On one hand, he arranged for someone to examine Suwa's clothes as Jiang Xia had said.

On the other, he asked Suwa in confusion, "Didn't you come here to repay your debt today? You had already gathered the money, so why did you suddenly kill someone?"

Suwa had been staring gloomily at Jiang Xia.

Hearing Inspector Megure's question, he looked away and sighed. "It was because of the Knife I pawned to him."

"The Knife?" Inspector Megure froze.

There happened to be a cloth-wrapped knife nearby.

Inspector Megure picked it up and examined it. "You mean this one?"

Suwa looked at the knife in his hand and snorted angrily.

"Of course not some worthless knife like that! I mean my family heirloom, Kiku Chiyo!

"—This afternoon, I came to repay the money as agreed. But Maruden Jirou had already sold my knife, saying he would treat it as interest on the loan.

"How dare he treat my treasure that way? The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. So I picked up the decorative knife in his house and, while he had his back turned counting money, slashed him from behind, just like..."

At that point, Suwa's eyes sharpened. He suddenly spun around and grabbed for the knife in Inspector Megure's arms, intending to use it to slash Jiang Xia and teach that brat who had exposed him a lesson.

However, things did not go according to plan. Suwa failed to seize the knife.

—The knife Inspector Megure had been holding was suddenly taken away by someone else. Suwa's hand went limp, and he ended up grabbing a lump of untrained, loose chest muscle.

Inspector Megure: "!!!"

Suwa: "?"

Startled, he opened his Squinting Eyes in confusion and met Inspector Megure's utterly terrified gaze.

Suwa: "..." ...Where was the knife?

Looking closely, he realized that Jiang Xia had somehow moved beside Inspector Megure. Just as Suwa made his move to snatch the knife, Jiang Xia had acted first and swept it into his own hand.

The young Detective now held the knife in his arms, backing up several steps until he was behind a beautiful, short-haired Female Police Officer.

Then he poked half his head out and quietly fanned the flames. "How awful. You actually assaulted a police officer. You really refuse to repent."

Sato Miwako stood stunned for quite a while before the words "assaulting a police officer" finally jolted her awake.

Seeing Suwa still grabbing the Inspector Megure she respected, Sato Miwako's gaze turned sharp. Two Blue Veins bulged at her temple. She pushed off the ground with her high heels and shot forward like a rocket.

"Wait—" Suwa was intimidated by her astonishing presence and instantly withdrew his hand, but it was already too late.

The furious Sato Miwako wrapped her arms around his waist, let out an angry shout, and with a thunderous crash slammed Suwa straight into the floor.

Several meters away, Jiang Xia looked at Suwa's dizzy spiral eyes. Only after confirming that the man had no fighting ability left did he toss the knife aside.

Then he walked over to the collapsed section of floor. Pretending to be concerned for Suwa, he secretly took away a wisp of extremely faint Killing Intent.

It had fallen off Suwa.

Suwa probably had not intended to kill anyone else. He had only wanted to make a feint with the knife to vent his anger. His killing intent had not been strong enough, so there had been very little Killing Intent, and Officer Sato's throw had shaken it loose.

Jiang Xia felt a little regretful.

Still, even a mosquito was meat. He did not disdain it and happily stored away his unexpected gain.

Nearby, seeing Suwa exposed and smashed into the ground by the police, the Shikigami's obsession eased. It let go and slowly floated down from the corpse.

Miyano Akemi and Xiao Bai obediently pattered over, lifted the Shikigami, and handed it to Jiang Xia.

A few minutes later, the police carried Suwa away.

While the scene was still chaotic, Jiang Xia walked over to Mrs. Maru, who had just lost her husband and was holding her lover's arm with a Face Full Of sweetness.

He observed her and felt that Mrs. Maru was in a very good mood, so he asked directly, "How do you plan to deal with the remaining collateral?"

Mrs. Maru had just gotten rich and lost her husband, so she was in quite a good mood. Besides, Jiang Xia had inadvertently cleared her precious lover—the Family Doctor among the suspects—of suspicion. She found Jiang Xia especially pleasing to the eye.

Remembering Jiang Xia climbing over the wall, Mrs. Maru vaguely guessed what he wanted. Covering her mouth, she gave two hoho laughs. "Don't worry. I won't sell collateral around like that greedy man did. I'll keep anything that hasn't matured yet until the debtors repay their money. Once it matures, I'll wait a few days before selling it..."

At that, Mrs. Maru suddenly recalled something.

She looked at her husband's blood on the floor and hesitated before changing her story. "Forget it. Even after it matures, I won't sell it for now. I'd better just keep it displayed at home."

Jiang Xia: "..." He somehow felt that this woman had vaguely glimpsed a corner of the truth of Conan World...

Still, this meant the Client's commission had been resolved through a strange twist of fate.

Jiang Xia left in peace.

Before leaving, he did not forget to secretly visit the storage room and retrieve the Transmitter from the Ceramic Pot.

The commission to "keep an eye on the collateral" had been completed, but it was not yet time for his appointment with the Client.

If he went to report back early and something else happened afterward, it would seem rather unprofessional...

So Jiang Xia did not contact the Client right away. He simply organized the relevant information and planned to report back when the Client came looking for him.

A few days later, Jiang Xia received a call on his usual phone.

It was from Suzuki Sonoko.

Her voice was shy. "Jiang Xia, Jiang Xia! Remember to come to Rex Band's celebration party tonight! We agreed last time!"

The mention of that Band immediately brought to Jiang Xia's mind a sharp-tongued male celebrity with an arrogant expression and hair that looked very much like a Saiyan's.

"I'll definitely be there on time," Jiang Xia said steadily, making it clear he would not bail.

Only then did Suzuki Sonoko relax and happily hang up.

Rex Band's gathering was being held at a KTV in a remote location.

The celebration party was scheduled for the evening.

Night fell early, and Jiang Xia followed the address all the way there.

Along the way, he saw an iron Tower outlined with Colored Lights, an electronic sign that bulged in the middle, a rooftop advertising light shaped like a Bow Tie, a five-pointed-star Ferris Wheel, and a very eerie building bearing the huge words "Ghost Cherry."

Jiang Xia: "..." It looked awfully familiar.

He looked up at the Ghost Cherry building and suddenly remembered a case. He really wanted to detour over and take a look.

But after recalling the recent Newspapers he had read, Jiang Xia remembered that none of them had reported any relevant information. In other words, the time was not right yet; if he went now, he probably would not gain anything.

Besides, he had plans tonight.

If he was late to their first gathering and Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko mistook it for reluctance on his part, then thoughtfully stopped inviting him...

He would definitely miss out on a lot of cases.

Jiang Xia decided that would not do.

With that in mind, he remembered the location of the Ghost Infant building and continued toward the KTV so he would not be late.