Chapter 3588 3600 [The Dog Team]

Conan shook his head and said to the two staff members in front of him, "Uncle, could you please empty all the trash collected on this street? ...No, not just this street, but the trash within a 200-meter radius of this apartment building!"

The two staff members were stunned: "Huh?"

Conan said anxiously, "There might be something very important mixed in with this trash!"

“Little friend.” The two staff members shook their heads, walked past the unruly child, and continued to get on the bus. “We understand how you feel about losing your toy, but we can’t go through the trash that has already been collected. Where are your parents? Go find them.”

Just then, a flurry of footsteps sounded from across the street.

The staff thought it was the child's parents who had arrived, and looked up to speak. However, when they turned around, they saw a large group of people rushing towards them, including several people in police uniforms.

Staff: "...?"

Wow, so many parents?

Or is this child's identity not simple, but a legendary juvenile murderer?

Just as they were wondering what was going on, one of them exclaimed in surprise, "Jiang Xia!"

Jiang Xia glanced over and nodded: "Hello."

The man immediately perked up, instinctively raising his hand to wipe his hands, as if to pull out a pen: "My mom watches your show all the time, you..."

“We’ll talk about that later!” Officer Sato interrupted the mini impromptu fan meeting, turning to point to the apartment building where the deceased was located. “Have you collected the trash in that building yet?”

The two workers nodded, puzzled. "We just finished collecting the trash. This is the last bit of garbage in this area. We're about to head back."

Officer Sato thought for a moment, then pointed to an empty parking lot ahead: "Could you please drive the cleaning truck there and put all the trash in the truck in the open space?"

The two were stunned. They looked at the police ID she showed, and then subconsciously glanced at Conan: Could this not be an ordinary brat, but... a brat from a police family?

As he was deeply shaken, Jiang Xia spoke up: "A murder occurred in the apartment building ahead. The murder weapon is very likely hidden in this pile of garbage."

Officer Sato nodded: "The victim was murdered last night and lived alone. Theoretically, by the time someone discovers her body, this garbage should have already been collected—the murderer wanted to use you to dispose of the murder weapon."

Two staff members: "?!"

“Well…” they exchanged a glance, “let’s call our superiors and report this first.”

...

The two staff members excitedly described their experiences to their colleagues, while waiting for their superiors to report to their superiors.

At the street corner, a Mazda drove into the vicinity and stopped silently.

—The Metropolitan Police Department is some distance away, but it's not rush hour yet, so the car is relatively spacious. Amuro Tooru's driving skills are on full display, and he quickly arrived here.

Looking around, Amuro Tooru silently frowned: He didn't seem to see anything related to fireworks.

After thinking for a moment, he picked up his phone again, opened his contacts, found Jiang Xia's name... and then closed it.

Amuro Tooru paused for a moment, then came to his senses as he looked at the phone background that had reappeared in front of him.

—Wait a minute, I was supposed to make a call, so why did I exit?

"Was my prejudice against Jiang Xia a little too deep?" A busy, multi-talented undercover agent pressed his temples, pondering wearily.

"No matter what, this reaction is too exaggerated. It's just a minor incident, but I'm actually resisting contact with Jiang Xia because of it... It seems that too many things have happened recently, and I need to adjust my mental state."

As he spoke, Amuro Tooru put down his phone and picked up his laptop.

Anyway, Jiang Xia is on the street not far away, so I can find him anytime. Let's check the surveillance footage first.

His fingers tapped away on the keyboard, and soon an image appeared on the computer screen—it was a surveillance camera installed at the entrance of Amuro Detective Agency.

"When I left yesterday afternoon, the envelope wasn't on the ground by the door yet. I remember the time was..."

Amuro Tooru rewound time to the moment he left, pressed fast forward, and paused the video when he saw a figure.

Soon, at varying intervals, figures of people, cats, and dogs appeared on his screen.

—In the evening, a few unfamiliar high school girls passed by the store and gathered around it, chattering and laughing as if it were a tourist attraction. Then they took a group photo with the store entrance as the background, each of them holding a flashy business card like the ones from Jiangxia.

—As dusk approached, some runaway cats and dogs passed by. They lay by the door for a while but were not picked up. So they got up and skillfully strolled towards Beika Town, showing great self-management skills by changing their pick-up location.

—Late at night, a group of ladies who had just come out of a bar passed by together. They peeked inside, drunkenly, exchanged a few words, and left with great regret.

Amuro Tooru: "..." When did my detective agency become so lively?

He remained silent as he continued watching, when suddenly, a tiny shadow flew in from off-screen.

"!?" Amuro Tooru slammed the pause button, returned the playback to normal speed, and dragged the progress bar forward.

The scene played again, and this time he saw it clearly—what was thrown at him was a small envelope, the very one he had picked up that morning.

It seems the messenger had some counter-surveillance skills and managed to evade the hidden surveillance camera at the door.

After a moment's thought, I was about to rewind to where the letter had been thrown and replay it, zooming in to look for any flaws.

Just then, the scene shifted, and another figure walked over.

"?" Amuro Tooru snapped out of his daze and looked at the screen with surprise and delight: Could it be that the guy who threw the letter has OCD, felt that he threw it off-target, and wanted to disguise himself and run in to throw it again?

However, the next second, as he saw the screen clearly, the thought vanished into thin air.

The new figure that appeared was not the person he had imagined, but a Border Collie that came running from the side.

This pastoral looked quite familiar; it seemed to be one of the pets kept by the psychologist he was seeing. He wondered when it had become a frequent runaway.

Seeing the envelope being thrown at him, the Border Collie ran over, picked it up, and happily turned and ran off-screen.

A curse could be faintly heard from outside, and soon after, another envelope was thrown over.

...Then the Border Collie ran over again and took it back once more.

The cursing suddenly became even louder.

Toru Amuro: "..."