Chapters 3549 and 3561: [Jewelry]

The restaurant entrance.

While Gin was surrounded by four adults, his vehicle drove away completely.

Watching the car disappear, Conan dejectedly stopped struggling: it was impossible to catch up now.

"But why would Gin be around here?" His movements stopped, but his mind couldn't stop; Conan's thoughts raced.

"Could it be because the commercial district has a large flow of people and is full of eyes and ears, so he chose to make the deal here? — If that's the case, if I'm lucky enough, I might be able to catch another of Gin's trading targets nearby!"

"Also, it seemed like Gin was the only one in that car earlier. Where did Vodka go?"

Looking around warily, Conan recalled something with mixed feelings: "Come to think of it, I rarely seem to run into Gin and Vodka at the same time anymore. Even though those two were always together when I first shrunk..."

When exactly did this change begin?

After thinking hard for a while, Conan suddenly became alert: "If I remember correctly, it seems to have started when Vodka, under the alias 'Mr. Yamada,' infiltrated Jiang Xia's side."

"Could it be that Gin also knew that he had too much of a criminal aura, so he deliberately kept his distance from Vodka to avoid arousing Jiang Xia's suspicion?... These despicable guys!"

Beside her, Sonoko Suzuki, watching Conan's expressions change countless times in a second, scratched her hair clip in bewilderment and said, "You're such a strange kid. Have you been possessed by an evil spirit? How about I take you to a shrine to have a look sometime?"

"What shrine?" a voice came from afar. A person walked over from across the street and interjected, "I want to go too."

The two policemen who were about to leave froze when they heard that familiar voice.

The next moment, the two turned around in surprise: "Jiang Xia!"—You've finally arrived!!

Jiang Xia glanced at their expressions, as if she understood something: "You've encountered a very troublesome case?"

Miwako Sato and Officer Takagi stood side by side, nodding like chicks pecking at rice.

Jiang Xia did not disappoint them, skillfully extending his hand: "Let me see."

Officer Takagi reached into his pocket and realized that apart from the three photos of the victims, he hadn't brought any other documents with him.

Fortunately, there weren't many useful clues in this case to begin with. So he handed over the photos and then briefly recounted what had happened.

Sonoko Suzuki arrived late and didn't hear what happened.

Now, after listening to Jiang Xia's account of the three serial attacks, she hissed with deep empathy and touched her forehead: "This is too much. They beat people up without any grudge, and with such brutality."

Jiang Xia looked at her raised hand, his gaze falling on her wrist as her sleeve fell down: "Where did you buy this bracelet?"

"A bracelet?" Sonoko Suzuki looked at her wrist and laughed. "It looks good, doesn't it? I knew I made the right choice with this color!"

Following Jiang Xia's gaze, Sato Miwako hesitated and touched her chin, "This bracelet... looks kind of familiar?"

“Your feeling is right.” Jiang Xia raised his hand and tapped Suzuki Sonoko a few times. “Sonoko’s bracelet, ring, and the heart-shaped necklace around her neck are almost identical to the jewelry worn by the three victims in the photo.”

Sonoko Suzuki was stunned: "?!"

Officer Sato's eyes widened, and after a brief moment of stunned silence, she took out the three photos again, quickly flipping through them, her expression turning serious:

"It really is like that! — This ring on Ms. Mizutani's hand, the bracelet on Ms. Endo's wrist, and this blue heart-shaped necklace that Ms. Ishiguro is wearing..."

“They each wore only one piece, so it wasn’t very obvious, but if you look closely, all three items are exactly the same as the jewelry Sonoko was wearing.”

"This, this..." Sonoko Suzuki lowered her head abruptly, glancing at her ring, then at the necklace, and finally at the bracelet on her wrist, feeling somewhat at a loss.

People who wore these three types of jewelry were all attacked... Just thinking about it made the jewelry I had just liked seem to be shrouded in a bloody shadow.

She frantically removed the three items, her mind racing through all the horror and crime dramas she'd been binge-watching lately. Her voice trembled slightly with fear and excitement: "I... I've been marked by a criminal? And triple-marked at that?!... He actually values ​​me so much, he has such good taste!"

Conan snapped out of his daze and said speechlessly, "You're overthinking it. You didn't wear that kind of black sexy outfit—what Jiang Xia is trying to say is that you and those three victims may have been to the same jewelry store."

"I see!" The two policemen had also been led astray by Suzuki Sonoko. Realizing they had misunderstood, they cleared their throats somewhat awkwardly, then casually steered the investigation back on track, asking Suzuki Sonoko, "Which store did you buy these three items from?"

Sonoko Suzuki shook her head: "It wasn't bought, it was a promotional gift from the department store—you could get a small gift worth 10,000 yen by submitting the receipt at the exit and meeting the minimum amount."

Inspector Megure had walked over at some point. Upon hearing this, he turned to look at the shopping mall next to him, his expression extremely grave: "In that case, we finally have a commonality among the three victims—they were all customers of this department store."

Unlike the "black sexy outfit," this location-related characteristic is undoubtedly much more valuable—it suggests that the killer likely frequented this department store!

Realizing this, Inspector Megure's heavy heart finally began to lighten.

He couldn't help but look at Jiang Xia, thinking to himself: Brother Jiang Xia is really effective! He's only been here a short time, and the case has already made such progress.

“It seems we’ll catch the criminals soon this time.” Inspector Megure smiled. “It’s fortunate that we nipped the serial attackers in the bud and no one died.”

Conan, however, remembered something else and looked at Jiang Xia: "Which direction did you come from just now?"

Jiang Xia raised his hand and pointed to the street diagonally opposite.

Conan's heart skipped a beat: If he remembered correctly, Gin seemed to have come from that side as well... Could it be that the outlaw is trying to contact Jiang Xia again?

Thinking of this, he became wary and asked tactfully, "Did you see any suspicious people when you came over?"

“A suspicious person?” Jiang Xia thought for a moment. “I didn’t notice. I just came out from the client’s place and received a call from Xiao Lan. She seemed to be lost in the underground parking lot. The signal was bad, so I couldn’t hear clearly whether she had found her way or not. So I rushed over to check on the situation.”