Chapters 3622 and 3634 [Unraveling the Mystery]
A group of police officers stared blankly in the direction Amuro Tooru had left: "He's really gone?"
Jiang Xia also looked in that direction, and suddenly remembered that Curaçao seemed to have run in that direction.
His eyes lit up slightly, and he shoved the picture book into Officer Sato's hands, saying solemnly, "I'm leaving this to you. Something has come up, so I have to leave for a bit."
With that, he chased after Amuro Tooru in the direction he had left.
Police officers: "???"
Wait, it's one thing for that dark-skinned boss to leave, but you can't leave!
Fortunately, after running a few steps, Jiang Xia remembered something and waved in their direction with a clear conscience: "Call me if you need anything."
Then his figure receded into the distance and soon disappeared.
Officer Sato, holding the picture book: "..."
Inspector Megure, who stretched out one hand but grabbed no one, was speechless.
That wretched Amuro, how dare he lead such a corrupt young person!!
Officer Takagi looked left and right, then quietly comforted his superior, whose face was grim: "Inspector, look on the bright side. They might have discovered the bomber was nearby, so they went to arrest him."
"Hmm..." That makes some sense, Inspector Megure's expression softened slightly.
But then he remembered something and looked at the bomb in the trash can, its countdown timer flashing: "But we can't ignore this. What if they haven't caught anyone over there?"
Officer Sato, on his own, opened the picture book: "Let's pretend we didn't meet Jiang Xia today and solve this using the usual approach—first, find out which of the three parks has the bomb."
Her gaze swept over the three options: Blue Sky Fountain Park, ISOBE Floral Garden, and Golden Pine Park, and quickly settled on the middle park.
"If you write ISOBE in Chinese characters, you can write it as 'isobe' or 'isobe', and then convert it into katakana, and that is Aesop."
Inspector Megure seemed to understand: "The tortoise and the hare from Aesop's fables?"
“That should be it.” Officer Takagi strongly supported Sato Miwako’s reasoning. He picked up the bomb bag himself. “There are still more than ten minutes left on the countdown. We’ll make it. I’ll run there with it!”
Although there were police cars nearby, the message for the bomb rice read "Run!" and the theme of the puzzle was also the tortoise and the hare race. Inspector Takagi was worried that if he tried to sneak over by taking a car, something bad might happen.
Seeing this, the others didn't delay any longer—although they really wanted to dispose of the time bomb on the spot, there were countless other bombs hidden behind it, so for the sake of future stability, they had no choice but to leave it at that for now.
"Get in the car!" Inspector Megure called to the others to follow Takagi.
Editor Asagaya snapped out of his reverie and said, "I'll go take a look too; maybe I'll remember something."
Inspector Megure nodded, and soon a long line of police cars set off one after another, following Officer Takagi who was running, and drove towards the nearby ISOBE Flower Garden amidst the shocked and puzzled gazes of passersby.
Sitting in her car, Officer Sato remembered Jiang Xia's parting words—to call if anything happened—and immediately opened her email, preparing to send these messages. She would wait five minutes; if Jiang Xia didn't reply, she would call again.
However, at that moment, the cell phone that came with the picture book suddenly rang, and messages kept pouring out.
[Tick-tock, boom—!]
[15 minutes until explosion]
[You're going to get someone killed!]
[Run! Run! Detective!]
Officer Sato: "..." This criminal has such a twisted sense of humor, what grudge does he hold against the detective?
She snorted and included all of that in the email.
...
"Finally...we've arrived..."
Officer Takagi, seeing the ISOBE Flower Garden getting closer and closer, sprinted over and stopped at the entrance, panting heavily.
For a moment, he suddenly wondered if Jiang Xia didn't want to run in such a disheveled state, which was why she suddenly left.
"No, it was Amuro who left first. Jiang Xia must have something else to do."
After correcting his thoughts, Officer Takagi looked down at the time bomb and found that there were still 11 minutes left on the countdown.
"I'm actually a pretty fast runner." He was momentarily pleased, but then his expression turned blank. "But now that I'm here, what's next?... Oh no, my phone is still with Officer Sato!"
Just then, a police car braked in front of them, and Sato Miwako ran out, her face pale.
She handed the phone to Officer Takagi, and new messages started flooding in again:
[Tick-tock, boom—!!]
[10 minutes until the explosion!]
[Go for it! Go for it, Detective!]
Officer Takagi was stunned: "I'm already here, what does he mean?!"
"Perhaps the puzzle was solved incorrectly." Officer Sato didn't even have time to write the email for a moment, and directly dialed Jiang Xia's number. "Let me ask Jiang Xia!"
...
On the other side.
A dozen minutes ago.
Curaçao struck an innocent pedestrian and rushed out of the coffee shop. Only after disappearing into an alley did she feel a slight sense of relief.
Curaçao quickly walked out from the other side of the alley and looked up to find that, in addition to the police car that had just sped by, there were also some local police officers on this side of the street, who were searching for something.
Before the police noticed her, she stopped running, steadied her pace, and walked slowly along the street towards the parking lot, like an ordinary passerby.
"Why are so many people being mobilized? What exactly is Uzo doing?"
After observing the young officers discreetly, Curaçao's mind raced, and he vaguely felt that he understood something.
"This kind of commotion either indicates the capture of a murderer who has fled nearby, or the search for evidence or explosives."
"Their eyes rarely fell on passersby, but instead kept glancing into nooks and crannies, so they weren't looking for people, but for things."
"Furthermore, these police officers all seem to be in a hurry, as if they're in a rush. Rather than searching for physical evidence, it looks more like they're looking for something time-sensitive... like a time bomb?"
The word "bomb" flashed through her mind, and Curaçao instantly remembered this morning when she was standing on the street waiting for someone when she was suddenly pounced on by a leopard that appeared out of nowhere, and then the pachinko parlor next door exploded.
"A series of bombings? Besides the pachinko parlor, the zoo was also bombed, so a leopard escaped?"
Having determined the nature of the case, Curaçao felt relieved: although the explosion was troublesome, knowing what Uzo was up to meant he could take targeted preventative measures—it was better than having to be prepared for every possible emergency, like before.
Just then, she noticed that the police officers who were searching the streets suddenly changed their expressions and all ran in one direction.
"Looks like the bomb has been found... Good, I'll leave while they're busy examining it."
Curaçao, feeling quite pleased with his luck that day, arrived at his parking spot.
She opened the car door and was about to get in when she suddenly remembered something crucial, and her movements paused slightly.
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