The cat puppet was very small. As long as it did not expand into a leopard, it consumed very little Killing Intent. Even if the distance from the main body increased, as long as it was not absurdly far, the expenditure was usually no greater than that of a humanoid puppet.
However, once the distance increased, the delay in communication between them inevitably became much worse.
Before Jiang Xia could hear the cat's meowing ghost language, Mouri Ran's voice rang out beside him. "Jiang Xia, someone died downstairs!"
Conan: "!"
Jiang Xia reacted in sync: "!"
The two Detectives, one real and one not, rose at the same time. As they listened to Mouri Ran describe what had happened, they followed her to the elevator and rode it down.
The three of them went all the way from the top floor to the first basement level, then hurried to the lounge.
The elderly guard seemed to have finally realized something was wrong. He was peering uncertainly around the lounge entrance, trying to figure out what had happened.
Yusuke Nakamura had already fled from the room containing the body. He was sitting collapsed outside the door, his head buried in his hands, looking devastated and grief-stricken.
The three high school students ran over and stopped in front of him.
Vermouth, dressed as a delinquent girl, emerged from somewhere as well and silently blended into the group.
Jiang Xia examined Yusuke Nakamura's lower leg and asked with concern, "What happened?"
"Mr. Jiang Xia, Yukiko, she..." Yusuke Nakamura trailed off and let out a sorrowful sigh. He looked toward the lounge door as if he could not continue, then merely shook his head.
Following his gaze toward the lounge, and combining it with the information Mouri Ran had just provided, as