New Puppet

Madonna's original plan had indeed been exactly as Jiang Xia had "guessed" before.

—Inside the cooler in the corridor was a sturdy n-shaped block of ice meant to reduce friction. She had also brought Hemp Rope, planning to knock the store manager unconscious, hang him from a tree in the yard, and make it look like he had "committed suicide by hanging."

The job required quite a bit of strength, but although Madonna looked delicate, she had once been an excellent wrestler. It was not difficult for her.

"They really are all completely different from their characters." Haibara Ai yawned. With faint dark circles under her eyes, she could not help muttering, "Did the people in charge of casting deliberately make them play roles that were the exact opposite of their personalities to temper them?"

"From another perspective, being able to gather a team like this also takes talent." Jiang Xia had used a Persona earlier and followed the previous signal point to find Madonna's car. While no one was around, he removed the Transmitter he had placed there before. The adhesive on the Transmitter happened to be the same color as the car body, and Madonna had overlooked it in her panic.

Jiang Xia snapped out of his distraction and checked the time. "Let's go. It's time to head back and rest."

Jiang Xia had insisted on acting as the store manager's Double only because he wanted close contact with the source of the Killing Intent, hoping to find a chance to squeeze out a little more.

And now, Conan had indeed lived up to expectations. The instant he uttered that sarcastic "How strange," the perfume-scented Killing Intent swelled by another round.

...Now that the Killing Intent had been collected, Jiang Xia was no longer quite so motivated about