Jiangxia Tongzhi finished dealing with Amuro Toru, scattered Xiaobai's puppet, and his consciousness slipped back into his own body.
His main body was still lying on the sofa.
He closed his eyes, felt the cushion height was just right, noticed there was still a quilt covering him, so he didn't open his eyes—comfortably kept sleeping. After all, the murderer was supposed to start working tonight, so no need to lie around too long.
...
In the lobby, host Satoru Maeda was secretly observing the surroundings while chatting with the other participants.
Seeing Jiangxia hadn't shown up, Satoru's heart relaxed bit by bit. Looks like those sleeping pills really worked.
Famous detectives are powerful, but they need clues to solve cases. Now that Jiangxia was knocked out cold, his chance of cracking the case was much lower than if he were awake.
Plan pass√
Thinking this, Satoru boldly started his own murder plan.
He gradually talked less with others. When nobody was paying attention, he slipped back to his room and messaged Tokio Ebihara to "come chat." Ebihara had some dirt on him—blackmail material—so he wouldn't refuse the invite.
When Toko Ebihara arrived, Satoru gave him beer laced with sleeping pills to get him drunk. Then he went upstairs to stage the scene in Ebihara's room, making it look like a fall.
After that, Satoru returned to his room, dressed Tokio Ebihara in the "Night Baron" costume, threw him out the window, and pretended Ebihara fell from the building while disguised as the "Night Baron."
During this, Satoru called the front desk from his room to get an alibi.
...
Meanwhile,
The sleeping pills' effect didn't last long.
Conan pressed his forehead, sat up confused, stared at the bedroom door, and briefly pondered the classic "Who am I, where am I, and what am I doing?" questions.
After a moment, he jumped up, opened the door, and rushed into the living room.
The living room was bathed in warm yellow light. Haibara Ai sat quietly reading a book. On the sofa beside her, Jiangxia was wrapped in a quilt, looking like he had just woken up too.
Conan glanced at Jiangxia, guessing he felt the same as he did. Why did Jiangxia sleep later but wake around the same time? People's bodies differ—some need six hours of sleep, others ten and still feel tired all day. Compared to studying how the same sleeping pill affects different people, Conan was more concerned about who was here—and why they'd pour medicine into their pots for no reason.
Haibara Ai looked the most normal on the scene.
Conan asked her about what happened, when suddenly he heard a strange noise.
He looked suspiciously toward the dark window and walked over: "What's that sound?"
Haibara raised the tourist brochure she held: "It's a sea breeze called 'Jifeng.' The higher up you are, the stronger the wind. So our room's wind sounds super loud."
She paused, remembered Jiangxia's earlier instructions, and pretended to be clueless: "What happened to you just now?"
"There's something wrong with that pot of water," Conan said. The room felt a bit stuffy, so he wanted to open the window and check out the strange 'Jifeng.'
Jiangxia got up to help, but the window was quickly pushed open.
Conan stuck his head out and took a breath of fresh air.
At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the window downstairs was open too.
The drowsiness from the sleeping pills left Conan a little numb, but he lowered his head to see which friend was so classy as to enjoy the sea breeze at night with him.
As soon as his friendly gaze landed there, the room's bright light revealed a man in a black cloak and a white smiley mask being carried and thrown out the window.
The "Night Baron" fell down, quickly disappearing into the night.
When he reappeared, it was in the little square below—a statue of an iron knight on a warhorse, sword held high.
The Baron of the Night landed on the statue, pierced through the chest and stomach by the sword. Blood sprayed out like a fountain.
Conan stared at the corpse, then slowly looked at Satoru, who was poking his head out the downstairs window, bowing to check the murder results: "…??!"
...
Haibara Ai called the police slower than Ran Mouri usually would.
But at least faster than average.
Not long after, the police arrived.
Since he was witnessed throwing the man, the host's entire plan was exposed instantly. His "alibi" became an ironclad proof he was the murderer.
Satoru never expected this outcome. He was dragged off by police, swearing half of his colorful curses at the detective, and the other half at the unscrupulous pharmaceutical company.
Conan stood in the sea breeze, watching his retreating back, feeling a bit messy.
Is this an illusion? Why do all recent suspects seem so over-the-top, either caught in the act or interrupted mid-spell...
Well, maybe they were just too stressed facing Jiangxia. When the killing methods are so complicated, one wrong step and the whole plan falls apart—like today's Satoru, who couldn't even figure out how long the black-tech sleeping pills last...
If Jiangxia keeps evolving like this, soon suspects won't dare commit crimes in front of him. Conan thought, complicated as always.
...
The anesthetic's effect lasted longer than the sleeping pills.
When Amuro Toru woke up, everything was over. The police car was already driving away with the suspect.
Amuro stood up cautiously, checked the surroundings, and saw he was in his own room. He checked his body and luggage, nothing missing, and was a little confused.
...Could the "child who touched the porcelain" be just a tool sent by the host to help solve the case?
Even the kids get used as pawns? Madness...
Amuro pressed his still-dizzy head and went downstairs to the crowd.
The police car was gone, and Jiangxia was standing by the square's edge, looking up at the knight statue.
Amuro asked quietly, "Did the murderer say anything about the little boy?"
Jiangxia withdrew his gaze, looking at him suspiciously.
Conan, next to Jiangxia, felt moved and immediately looked over: "Little boy?"
Amuro rubbed his head absently: "Not you."
Conan: "..."
I know, I wasn't talking about me.
He hesitated but didn't push further. While Jiangxia and Amuro talked briefly, Conan glanced at Amuro's cuffs thoughtfully, noticing a faint pinhole on his wrist.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 51/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*