Soon, police cars roared in, and a large number of police officers surrounded Nanbeihu Railway Station. Passengers were evacuated urgently, and squads of police officers in riot gear rushed onto the platform to conduct a thorough search of the trains that were parked or about to arrive.
The atmosphere was extremely tense.
No corner was overlooked.
Suddenly, a police officer discovered a suspicious object under a seat in a train car.
"Bomb found!" he reported anxiously over the walkie-talkie.
Everyone was on tenterhooks.
The bomb disposal team approached cautiously and finally, with trembling hands, carried out the suspected bomb device and moved it to an open area.
However, just as the explosion-proof experts were preparing to detonate—
"Bang!"
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a burst of colorful fireworks that shot out from the device and slowly drifted down into the air.
Everyone: "..."
Subsequently, more "bombs" were found in different locations on the train.
"Report! One found here!"
"They're here too!"
"There were also suspicious items in the connecting area between the carriages!"
However, after all the "bombs" were detonated, without exception, they were all fake, pure counterfeit and shoddy products.
It either sprays out fireworks, emits colored smoke, or even pops up a small flag that says "idiot".
This was a carefully orchestrated decoy by the criminals! A farce that thoroughly mocked the police.
The police were made fools of!
Everyone's face turned extremely ugly, and a sense of anger and powerlessness at being fooled spread.
...
As Sato Miwako listened to the report from her colleague at Minamibei Station, who was both exasperated and terrified, through the communicator, her face instantly turned extremely pale.
"Fake...all fake?!"
She slammed her fist on the steering wheel, and the horn blared a long, piercing whine. "We've been tricked! That bastard!"
Overwhelmed by immense disappointment and anger at being mocked, she felt she had grasped a glimmer of hope, only to discover it was a carefully laid trap by the criminals, wasting precious police resources and time.
"Calm down, Officer Sato."
Yuzuru's voice remained calm, as if he had expected this all along: "Since it's an 'overtime,' the criminal naturally won't let the game end so quickly. He's enjoying toying with the police."
A sharp glint flashed in Ai's icy blue eyes. She picked up the notice again and tapped the words on it lightly with her fingertips: "'This overtime is about to begin'... 'The match will officially begin at noon tomorrow'... The key is the words 'about to' and 'officially'. We may have overlooked the time difference."
She looked up at Miwako Sato: "The police's previous investigation was based on the assumption that 'the match has already started.' But what if the clues they're giving now point to 'preparatory activities' or 'warm-up areas' before the 'match' begins?"
Miwako Sato was taken aback: "Warm-up area?"
“That’s right.” Ai pointed to another sentence on the announcement, “'Even if you try to find someone to stop me, it’s all in vain. I will eventually turn the tide and win.' It sounds like a confident declaration before a game. And ‘stepping on bases stained with blood’… Besides being a scoring point, what is the base first and foremost before the game starts?”
Yuzuru Hanyu chimed in with a knowing smile: "It's the starting point, where the players stand and wait for the game to begin."
Sato Miwako's eyes suddenly lit up: "The starting point?! Could it be..."
“The police previously focused their investigation on the train itself and the station interior,” Ai calmly analyzed. “But what if the bomb wasn’t on the train that had already started moving, but rather on… a train that hadn’t yet departed, was stopped at the platform, and was waiting for the ‘race to begin’ signal?”
"A base stained with blood..."
Miwako Sato muttered to herself, her mind racing, "Trains waiting to depart... platform... blood... red... that's it, the Tokyo Loop Line! Those trains with red locomotives are now neatly parked in the depot at the terminal, waiting for tomorrow's dispatch. That's the real 'steel home plate'! And the 'bloodstains' refer to their color!"
The train of thought went smoothly instantly!
Miwako Sato immediately grabbed the communicator, her voice trembling with excitement: "Inspector Megure! This is Sato! Immediately send men to seal off the Toto Loop Line terminal depot! Repeat, seal off the depot immediately! The bomb is very likely there! On those trains with red locomotives!"
The communicator came through with a shocked and enlightened voice from Inspector Megure, followed by the cacophony of rapidly deploying tasks.
Sato Miwako put down the communicator and let out a long sigh of relief. She felt the huge weight on her chest finally lift a little. Although the pressure was still immense, at least the direction was clear.
Through the rearview mirror, she glanced gratefully at the calm-looking girl and the smiling boy in the back seat.
"This time... we really owe you all a lot!" she said sincerely.
"It's just a small act of kindness to serve the citizens."
Yuzuru smiled. "Now it's time for the police to show their skills. Good luck, Officer Sato!"
The red Mazda roared again, turned around, and sped towards the Dongdu Circular Line terminal depot.
However, Ai, who was sitting in the back row, suddenly frowned.
"What's wrong?" Yuzuru propped his head up with his hand, smiling as he looked at her. "Does something seem off?"
Ai shook her head, pulled the notice out of the atlas again, looked at it carefully once more, and said softly, with a hint of uncertainty:
“I still have a feeling… I’m overthinking the bomber’s code. Given his penchant for toying with the police and enjoying seeing them make a fool of themselves, this ‘warm-up location’ clue is very likely… still a trap he set.”
"Oh? Is that so?"
Yuzuru knew perfectly well that this clue was still bait, but looking at Ai Haibara beside him, who was frowning in thought, he chuckled and said, "In that case, the safety of the 12 million people of Tokyo, our world's smartest Ai Haibara, is entirely in your hands~"
"Hmph~"
Hearing someone's exaggerated and nonsensical praise, the little girl subconsciously snorted and turned her face away.
Hearing someone's praise, the little girl gave a soft hum.
That's too much, she's not that smart anymore. At best, Ai Haibara is only the third smartest person in the world. (Inner monologue: I need to be humble~)
As for who are the top two?
That would of course be the most brilliant and beautiful young female scientist from the Miyano and Hanyu families—Shiho Miyano/Shiho Hanyu!
However, Shiho Hanyu can only be ranked second.
Because of the long-term and subtle influence of a certain unscrupulous deity, Shiho Hanyu's mind occasionally contains not only scientific data, but also some lewd thoughts and poses, which seriously affect the purity and stability of his intelligence!
Therefore, the first one must be the purely rational Shiho Miyano.
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