Chapter 386 Are You Biting the Tire?
As it turned out, Boss Tiantu's move had some effect.
—— Astronomy magazine's editor-in-chief Heihachi Mikami looked at the unreachable phone call and thought of the bones in the mountains. He felt a chill on his back: "What a mess this is. I won't accompany you any more!"
Having said that, he turned and left.
Jiang Xia glanced at the ghost clinging to his legs and didn't try to stop it.
Sure enough, five minutes later, the editor-in-chief came back dejected.
This time, his face was livid, and he gestured irritably: "The tires of all the cars are deflated!"
Xiaobai, who was lying on Jiang Xia's shoulder, was startled and turned to look at Jiang Xia: Master sent another puppet to bite the tire?
Jiang Xia pretended to adjust the clothes on his shoulders and pushed back Xiaobai who was looking out in doubt.
Of course it wasn't him who did it this time; it was clearly the fault of Tiantu boss.
…
The phone is not working now, so whether you want to call the police or leave, you need a car.
Rob thought of the truck he had driven: "Our car is parked nearby, we can help call the police."
The editor regained his spirits. "The truck must have more than one seat. Take me down the mountain. I don't want to stay in this weird place."
Although his subordinate Erchuan Zhao didn't say anything, he also stood next to Robert and looked like he wanted to leave.
Truck?
Jiang Xia looked at the people who wanted to leave, and the three shikigami on their legs - two for Robert and one for the editor-in-chief - and remembered that when he got off the truck just now, he pushed a small piece of puppet clay into the keyhole to prevent Robert from escaping, but did not try to stop him.
Anyway, they can't leave unless we stop them.
To be exact, no one can leave today until all the ghosts are picked up...
Of course, even though I know it, I still have to express it on the surface.
Jiang Xia then stopped them as they were leaving: "No. There are suspected evidence of death next to the body - one of you might be the murderer of Mr. Kono. You should wait until the police arrive before leaving."
The editor-in-chief snorted coldly: "I am innocent and I am not afraid of investigation. If the police come, let them go to my house to look for me. You have no right to detain anyone!"
As he spoke, he stormed off like an irritable old man who was annoyed by an anonymous sender.
The editor was not actually afraid of the police. After all, it had been a year since he pushed Kono off the mountain, and he believed that he had not left any evidence sufficient to convict him.
So compared to the police who only rely on evidence when doing things, he is more afraid of the mastermind who wrote the invitation letter to trick him into coming here - who knows, maybe that person is trying hard to avenge Kono.
When Rob heard this, he glanced at the editor-in-chief hesitantly.
As a fellow murderer who had crossed a certain line, he vaguely sensed something was wrong.
But after hesitating for a moment, he left with the editor-in-chief and editor.
——Police force is limited. If the editor-in-chief or any of the editors escapes during the chaos, the police will have to divert their attention to searching for the person who escaped in order to find the murderer who killed Kono.
This would reduce the number of police officers concentrated in Spider Mansion, making it more difficult to find the real murderer who killed Takeda Shinichi and Negishi Akio.
In addition, Rob planned to drive to Spider Mansion to borrow a phone to call the police. Calculating the time, Takeda Shinichi's body should have been found by now. If he went back now, he might be able to clean up the scene while the chaos was going on, further reducing the probability of his exposure.
…
Haibara Ai looked at the three people who insisted on leaving and was a little worried at first.
But soon, she looked up at Jiang Xia, who was frowning slightly and seemed a little anxious but actually did not take any action, and she keenly felt that something was wrong.
...Although she had almost never seen Jiang Xia beating people, when Huihara Ai tried to communicate with the children and asked them not to be afraid of Jiang Xia and to be more enthusiastic towards him, she couldn't help but hear from the children some stories about Jiang Xia beating... ahem, stories of being brave and righteous.
If it were any other detective, they might not be able to do anything about ordinary citizens who insisted on leaving.
But Jiangxia is different.
Haibara Ai always felt that if Jiang Xia really wanted to stop them, the two people who were clamoring to leave would definitely be lying on the ground now.
But Jiang Xia didn't move...
Haibara Ai looked to the side.
Seeing that no one was paying attention here, she couldn't help but ask Jiang Xia in a low voice: "Do you have any other plans?"
Jiang Xia also answered in a low voice:
"No. It's just that what he said makes sense. I really have no right to detain anyone."
Huiyuan Ai: “…”
...Really? She didn't believe it.
After a while.
Huibara looked at the door sadly, and was not surprised to see that the three people who went out to drive came back in the same dejected manner.
She silently looked up at Jiang Xia.
Jiang Xia looked at the three people who came in and showed a little surprise.
Huiyuan Ai rolled her eyes: Well, there is a little bit of drama, but it's not a big problem. Detectives seem to have similar habits. At least Jiang Xia is better than Conan in acting. It's not embarrassing... She compared it with the "Jiang Xia Observation Notes" in her mind, and felt that there was nothing to add, so she nodded secretly.
The three people who came back all looked unhappy.
Rob had been looking down at his car keys.
At this time, seeing that everyone else in the hotel was looking at them, he sighed: "The key can't be inserted. The keyhole seems to be blocked by something."
The editor-in-chief, who was leaving in a hurry, had a livid face: "It must have been the guy who deflated the tire!"
Hearing this, Rob's face turned grim: "But we decided to drive a truck here to see the stars at the last minute..."
As he spoke, his voice gradually became lower.
Because he suddenly realized that his decision to drive the truck out tonight was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but was planned long ago - in order to trigger the hanging mechanism and to provide proof of his alibi.
Rob couldn't help but wonder in his heart, could it be that his murder was secretly observed by some existence without his knowledge?
Jiang Xia glanced at Robert's panicked expression.
In order to keep this foreign friend nearby and not run into the mountains in the middle of the night, he kindly helped solve this problem:
"It's possible that the mastermind had been watching the corpse. When he saw us, he ran over and tampered with the truck... How cunning."
Having said that, Jiang Xia confidently released the maintenance of the little bit of puppet clay blocking the keyhole - since Robert had confirmed that the key could not be used, there was no need to expend murderous energy to maintain the puppet clay.
…
There was no way to leave, and no way to get through on the phone. There was no other place to stay nearby.
The group of people, each with their own thoughts, decided to stay in the hotel temporarily, planning to wait until dawn tomorrow and then walk to the nearest house to borrow a phone.
They each returned to their rooms, and thinking of the death message left by Kono that the Junior Detective Team had just told them, everyone tried to figure out how to place it.
The three unexpected guests temporarily entered Dr. Agasa's suite.
Jiang Xia took six matches, four long and two short, and sat on the tatami in the living room to kill time. He successfully killed nearly an hour, but then made himself sleepy and yawned as he sat there.
He spent the whole night picking up ghosts. Although he had taken a ghost mint in the early morning to replenish his energy, it was now dark again. He had to take another nap or have another ghost mint to refresh himself.
But there was no rush now, he was just a little sleepy, not tired. Besides, he wasn't busy solving the case anyway, so he just wanted to find a suitable excuse to slow down...
Next to her, Haibara Ai, who habitually stays up late, was fiddling with the matches on the table that were folded into four long and two short ones, simulating the death message left by Kono.
She also yawned from time to time, covering her lips with her hands, and yawning seemed to be something that was easy to synchronize.
Therefore, soon, Haibara Ai noticed Jiang Xia's abnormality.
After she yawned, she turned her head and stared at Jiang Xia in confusion: "Are you sleepy?"
Haibara Ai remembered that Jiang Xia had always had a very healthy lifestyle. Except for a few times a month when he would sneak out in the middle of the night to hang out with his younger brothers, he would go to bed early at other times. He lived a healthier life than Dr. Agasa - usually from the window of Dr. Agasa's kitchen, the lights in Jiang Xia's room would be turned off before 11 o'clock.
When Jiang Xia heard his neighbor's question, he supported his head with one hand and held a match in the other hand, and answered casually:
"I didn't sleep well - I ran into Conan on the way here last night, and then there was a murder case in the early morning, so I had to stay up all night."
Huiyuan Ai: “……?”
The Junior Detective Team also looked over silently.
Several real and fake children all had similar doubts at this time.
The Junior Detective Team fell into deep thought: From what he just said, why does it feel like Brother Jiang Xia is treating Conan as the god of death? Isn't this Brother Jiang Xia's own problem?
...But now that I think about it, Conan does appear at the crime scene almost every time.
No, wait, Conan is not here, but there are corpses at the foot of the mountain...
As expected, Brother Jiang Xia has bigger problems.
Only Haibara Ai fell into a higher level of contemplation.
Although her thoughts were briefly synchronized with the Young Detectives, she soon remembered another thing because she knew more.
——Before becoming Conan, Conan was the famous detective "Kudo Shinichi" who often encountered murders.
I heard that at that time, Kudo and Jiang Xia were not very familiar with each other and did not have much interactions, and Haibara Ai remembered that Jiang Xia rarely encountered murder cases before... So it seems that Conan has bigger problems.
This time Conan was not around, but Jiang Xia encountered a murder... Maybe because she had just separated from Conan, she had some bad smell on her body. Well, for example, bad luck.
Thinking of this, Huibara Ai subconsciously stretched out her little hand and patted Jiang Xia's back a few times as if brushing off dust.
Then, seeing his sleepy look, he asked, "Why don't you go to sleep for a while? As for the death message... Anyway, no one can leave now, and there is still some time before dawn. It doesn't matter if you wake up and read it later."
Jiang Xia shook his head. It was different. There were three shikigami still clinging to other people's legs, and it was estimated that there would be a new one later... He refused gently: "There are still puzzles that have not been solved. If this happens, I won't be able to sleep."
"Hmm..." Scientist Haibara Ai remembered what she was thinking when she encountered a difficult problem, nodded in understanding, and did not persuade him anymore. Instead, she ran to the small refrigerator next to her and chose carefully.
She picked up a can of coffee first.
After hesitating for a moment, he put it down and took out a box of milk.
...Although she could understand Jiang Xia's attitude of not wanting to sleep, she felt that forcing herself to drink coffee to stay awake was unhealthy and her efficiency was also worrying.
It’s better to replace it with milk.
Milk has some sleep-inducing effect, at least it makes people fall asleep more easily than coffee. Maybe after Jiang Xia drank it, he fell asleep while thinking about the problem, and then woke up a few hours later, solved the puzzle in a few seconds, and found the real murderer... This won't delay the case and is also good for the body.
The more Haibara Ai thought about it, the more she felt that this was a good idea.
She nodded secretly, picked up the milk and went out, ready to borrow a cup from the store and use the microwave.
Walking through the corridor and passing the second room on the right, Huibara Ai accidentally glanced inside.
Then he was stunned for a moment.
——The door of the room was ajar, but there seemed to be no one in the room.
She remembered that this was Erchuan Zhao's room. It was so late and Erchuan Zhao was not in the room. He didn't lock the door and looked like he went out in a hurry... What was he busy for?
Huihara Ai gradually became confused.
She hesitated for a moment, then let go of the milk in her hand, which rolled to the door.
Then she followed, pretended to pick up something, pushed the door open and took a look.
The one-bedroom apartment of more than 20 square meters was in full view. There was indeed no one in the room, and the curtains were not closed.
Haibara Ai swept her eyes across the room and finally stopped at the window - this window faced the mountain behind.
At this moment, there was a figure walking unsteadily in the mountains... Nonomiya Etsuko!
...What's going on?
If it were a more impulsive child who was eager to find out the truth, that child might have opened the window and jumped out by now.
Although Haibara Ai can be a little reckless sometimes, she knows what she's doing most of the time.
She did not alarm the people outside, but picked up the box of milk, ran back to the room, and went straight to Jiang Xia, saying quickly: "I just passed by Mr. Erchuan's room and saw that the door was open and there was no one in the room - looking out the window there, I could see Miss Nonomiya walking in the woods."
Yuanshan Heye, who was dozing on the sofa, was awakened by the sound. He sat up and looked at the little girl in surprise.
He's obviously just a first-grade kid, but how come he's more skilled than her when reporting the situation...
Thinking about what happened just now, Yuanshan Heye found that this child seemed to be very familiar with Jiang Xia, and he immediately understood.
——It must be because he and Jiang Xia encountered many corpses that he was forced to develop this skill.
…It seems that behind every high school detective stands an innocent police tool who slowly transforms. Thinking of this, Toyama Kazuha silently touched his cell phone and the faded “1” and “0” buttons on it, and looked at Huihara Ai with a look of intimacy as if he were looking at a companion.
After hearing what Huibara Ai said, Jiang Xia stood up immediately without delay.
As he walked through the corridor and passed by Erchuan Zhao's room, he turned around and looked outside the house through the window.
What met my eyes was a pitch-black jungle, and the figure of "Ms. Nonomiya" that Haibara Ai mentioned was no longer visible.
Moreover, after arriving at the front desk, the group discovered another strange thing.
——Not only Futagawa Hajime and Nonomiya, but also the owner of Amado and Mikami Heihachi, who had left the inn at some point.
Yuanshan Heye thought of the empty room and the equally empty hall along the way, and his face turned a little pale.
This scene where everyone else disappeared and she was the only one left reminded her of a ghost story she had read before.
(End of this chapter)
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