Chapter 21 Relentless Pursuit
After school, Shinichi did not go home as usual.
Although the police have closed the case and determined its nature, he is still unwilling to give up and wants to find out the truth.
"RX-7, RX-7..."
Where exactly is that guy hiding?
Shinichi muttered to himself as he walked and thought.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up—
Hey! Isn't there a white RX-7 parked up ahead?!
Shinichi was so excited that his blood was boiling.
He was about to go forward to check, but then he changed his mind:
What if it's not the person I'm looking for?
Just as Shinichi was about to find a place to hide and wait for the car owner, the car owner walked over humming a tune:
Golden bangs peeked out from under a baseball cap, and a smile graced his tanned face. He was dressed in a sporty casual outfit.
The man was carrying a bag of vegetables, the most eye-catching of which was a large bunch of fresh, vibrant celery?
This friendly and approachable image is far removed from the sinister and cunning face that Shinichi imagined.
For a moment, Shinichi thought he had mistaken someone for someone else.
The man buying groceries happened to see him too, and a puzzled look appeared on his face.
The moment their eyes met, both of them were stunned.
Shinichi stared intently at the other person, the person he had been searching for for so long was now right in front of him. But his brain had not yet developed the neural pathways to process such a sudden event.
The boy stood frozen in place, bewildered and at a loss.
Old ginger is spicier.
After a brief moment of surprise, the man casually tossed the car onto the truck, stepped on the gas, and sped away.
It was only then that Shinichi realized:
Hurry and chase after them!
But how can a person catch up with a car?
If we're only talking about speed, the two are obviously incomparable.
However, putting aside the current situation, Shinichi still has a chance of winning:
Because it's currently the time when adults get off work and children get out of school.
Commonly known as "evening rush hour".
"If he wanted to escape, he would inevitably choose the route with the smoothest flow, the least traffic congestion, and the fewest traffic lights."
Shinichi calmly considered the situation and opened a real-time traffic map to predict the other party's driving route.
Seeing the sports car turn right at the intersection ahead, Shinichi didn't hesitate and rushed into a shortcut on the right:
People can walk, but cars can't drive in.
This was certainly a risky decision, because if he misjudged or the other party anticipated his prediction, Shinichi would miss his target.
However, confident in his reasoning abilities, Shinichi is willing to take a gamble.
Sure enough, just as Shinichi was about to reach the exit, he saw the white sports car flash by.
"Damn it! I was so close to catching up!"
Shinichi leaned against the wall, panting heavily.
His prediction was correct, which gave him a great deal of encouragement.
But I simply didn't have the energy to keep running.
What should we do?
Just then, Shinichi was pleasantly surprised to find a skateboard in the nearby trash can.
He pulled it out and looked at it: the board was practically brand new, but there were several obvious scratches on the surface and a small piece was missing from one of the edges.
"That's probably why the master doesn't want it anymore, right?"
"If you don't want it, that's perfect, give it to me!"
Shinichi was secretly delighted, and with his skateboard in hand, he continued his long journey to catch up with the RX-7.
Thus began a unique chase between the former top student of the police academy and the future savior of the Japanese police force.
After missing the mark three times, Shinichi finally caught up with RX-7 on his fourth attempt.
Shinichi was overjoyed as he watched the sports car drive towards him.
He stood in the middle of the road and raised his skateboard above his head to signal the other driver to stop.
Who would have thought that the car neither stopped nor turned around, but instead accelerated and rushed straight towards Xin!
The instinct for survival made Shinichi involuntarily take two steps back.
These two steps saved his life:
A white sports car roared past, and the skateboard in Xin Yi's hand was knocked away and sent flying. It fell to the ground and was run over hard, shattering into pieces.
Shinichi stared in shock at the Mazda speeding away, only then realizing what a vicious and ruthless villain his opponent was!
Shinichi looked up and exclaimed: Damn it! There are no security cameras here!
However, it would be ridiculous for the blond man to think that such a threat of death could scare Shinichi away.
In a new perspective, the prisoner's actions were nothing short of provocation, which only fueled the boy's fighting spirit.
Shinichi vowed to catch him today!
But what can we do now that we've lost our skateboards?
"I've noted down that person's license plate number, but how do I find them?"
Just as Shinichi was caught in a dilemma, he saw a traffic police patrol car at the intersection ahead and came up with a plan.
Shinichi quickly ran over and asked, "Officer, did you see a young man driving a white sports car just now?"
"Yes, there is one. What's wrong?"
Shinichi originally intended to say "Catch the thief," but fearing it would cause unnecessary trouble, he changed his words to, "That older brother dropped his wallet, and I wanted to return it to him, but he drove off and I couldn't catch up. Could you help me find him, officer? I remember his license plate number."
Yumi Miyamoto, who had been checking for drunk driving all day, was originally in a bad mood, but seeing such a cute and sensible boy, she naturally felt happy.
She could have informed her colleagues to hand over the wallet. But considering how rare it was to have such a rare opportunity to return something to its owner, wouldn't it be more meaningful for the child to return it to the owner himself?
So the female traffic police officer said she was willing to personally drive the patrol car with Shinichi to find it.
Shinichi was extremely excited by this unexpected opportunity: "Hmph! Let's see where you run this time!"
Miyamoto contacted his colleagues and told them to stop the white sports car when they saw it: "The owner has been found and is waiting at the intersection ahead!"
Upon hearing this, Shinichi was already itching to confront him.
Shinichi and the blond man meet again, and their silent contest begins.
After hearing the traffic police's explanation, the man's facial expressions were quite varied.
However, Shinichi, who was determined to win, miscalculated one thing.
"Little brother, please return the wallet to this gentleman!" the beautiful traffic policewoman said with a smile.
Shinichi inwardly groaned:
Help! Why did I mention wallet? I only have one wallet on me!
Shinichi really wished he had the magician's skills to conjure a wallet out of thin air.
However, this is impossible; lying and saying that you didn't find it is too suspicious.
So, under the encouraging gaze of the traffic policewoman, Shinichi reluctantly took out his wallet and handed it to her.
Shinichi thought the other man would say something like, "This isn't my wallet." However, the blond man's reaction was unexpected.
The man skillfully opened the wallet, rummaged through its contents, and nodded with satisfaction, saying, "It is indeed my wallet, nothing is missing. Little brother, thank you so much! Consider this money a token of my gratitude!"
As he spoke, the man pulled out two of the largest denomination banknotes from his wallet and handed them to Shinichi.
The series of movements were fluid and natural, without any trace of acting.
Shinichi, bewildered, accepted his money and even thanked the man.
Traffic officer Miyamoto was very satisfied with this, and drove away in his patrol car in a good mood.
After the traffic police left, the blond man also turned to leave.
Shinichi shouted in exasperation, "Hey! Stop right there!"
"Huh?" The man looked innocent, and Shinichi just wanted to punch him.
"Have some shame! That's clearly my wallet! Are you really planning to steal it?"
Just as Shinichi was trying to get his wallet back, a tall man suddenly gave him a big bear hug from behind.
"Oh my! Isn't this Kudo-kun? Let me see if you've gained any weight recently? Hmm - I think you've lost weight!" Hagiwara enthusiastically hugged and kissed the boy, and even reached out to rub his head and pinch his cheeks.
"Officer Hagiwara?" Shinichi, blushing and with nowhere to hide after being made to blush by this socially awkward officer, asked embarrassedly, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here for a class reunion! It's nearby, Kudo-kun, do you want to come along? Jinpei-chan's here too—"
"Ah... let's forget about the class reunion," Shinichi replied, scratching his head.
Although he really wanted to see Inspector Matsuda, the timing seemed a bit off.
"Alright then, I'll be going now!" Hagiwara said with some regret, and just as he was about to leave, he looked down and asked, "What's this on the ground? Did Kudo-kun drop his wallet?"
Shinichi was shocked when he heard this and quickly looked around.
But where is the RX-7 now?
Shinichi's wallet was lying on the ground, and a tissue was even placed underneath it as if to prevent it from getting dirty.
Shinichi initially genuinely believed the other person was acting out of good manners, but he later realized that the tissue was actually used to wipe fingerprints.
"Damn it! He got away just like that!"
Shinichi was naturally very unwilling, but he didn't want to repeat his old tricks and bother the traffic police.
Therefore, he decided to go back to the place where the blond man bought groceries to inquire about the situation.
To Shinichi's disappointment, the cashier said that the person had only been there once before and he had never seen him before.
"Really? Are you sure, sister?" Shinichi pressed on relentlessly.
"If I'd seen such a handsome young man before, I'd definitely remember him!" the cashier replied with a smile.
Shinichi cursed wildly in his mind:
He's a shameless scoundrel with a murder charge on his hands, yet he pretends to be harmless and goes around swindling people!
That's absolutely outrageous!
After working hard for half a day, Shinichi returned home dejected and empty-handed.
He turned on his computer to check if the surveillance footage from the burning building had captured any new clues, but was shocked to find that the footage was gone!
"How is that possible? I was perfectly fine before I went to school this morning..."
Shinichi frowned, guessing at a possibility:
Perhaps they were discovered by the blond man's accomplices, so they removed the surveillance equipment.
But why at this particular time?
Could this be related to the man I just met?
Without delay, Shinichi decided to rush to the burning building to find out what was going on.
However, when he reached his destination, he was stunned by what he saw:
Where are the buildings now? Only ruins remain.
"How could it be demolished so quickly?"
Why didn't I know about this?
Shinichi quickly made a deduction:
Perhaps the building contained some clues that the police had overlooked, and to avoid being discovered, it was demolished immediately after the case was closed.
"It's only just been demolished, so there might still be clues!"
Shinichi went to inquire where the demolished buildings had been transported.
The answer was a waste dump.
Without a second thought, he rushed over.
"Just you wait! I definitely won't let you get away with this!"
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