Unlike the detective team, the two robbers were not calm — the gems they'd been dreaming of had ended up in someone else's hands, and on top of that, they'd just been outed as criminals.
They exchanged a grim look, clearly ready to shout, "Yes, we're the remnants of the 'Goblin' gang!" and then dramatically point a gun at a random bystander to force Jiangxia to hand over his watch.
Too bad they never got the chance.
Out of nowhere, a blur of light cut across their peripheral vision. Toru Amuro — who'd been a few meters away just a second ago — was suddenly right in front of them.
The guy in the middle — as we call him Parted-hair — had alarm bells blaring in his head. He reflexively raised his hand and pulled the trigger—
Nothing.
In the corners of the gun that the human eye couldn't see, its inner mechanisms were now clogged with puppet clay of suspiciously supernatural origin.
The gooey substance made the simple act of pulling the trigger feel like trying to push molasses through a syringe. Internally, the passage of time inside the gun seemed to slow to a crawl.
This kind of precise sabotage — stuffing every gap in a gun with clay without setting it off — was no easy feat. One wrong move, and the weapon might have gone off anyway.
But Jiangxia had spent enough time hovering around the robbers earlier to methodically gum up their weapons.
The puppet clay, of course, came from the shikigami he had under contract — specifically, the leg-pulling one.
Now that Jiangxia had a growing collection of shikigami, the quality and quantity of puppet clay he could conjure — and his control over it — had improved dramatically.
One day, when he had enough shikigami at home, maybe he wouldn't have to cram one into Amuro's trunk just to keep a spare puppet nearby. He could simply harden puppet clay into a knife.
Amuro suddenly felt a chill go down his spine.
He had flicked his body away from the robber's line of fire, expecting the gunshot to follow. But when nothing happened, he assumed the robber had only been faking it.
Then he looked back.
Parted-hair was staring at his jammed gun in horror. This wasn't a fake-out — the gun really had failed.
"…Seriously? This is the infamous 'Goblin' gang?"
Amuro felt like he'd been overthinking things.
With a casual punch to the gut, he took Parted-hair down and grabbed the gun in one smooth motion.
As the man curled up on the ground, gagging, Amuro turned to deal with the second robber — only to find that Jiangxia had already floored the goatee-wearing one and was standing on his back to keep him down.
At the same time, Jiangxia tilted his head 45° and looked up at the ceiling. "Go check the upper floors. I keep hearing something on the roof… Also, judging by the light traces around the house, the real resident here doesn't seem to be two middle-aged men — it's more likely a woman."
Translation: The robbers probably locked the homeowner up. Go rescue her.
Amuro nodded and dashed upstairs.
Jiangxia, as expected, stayed behind to guard the gangsters.
Parted-hair was still conscious, just completely winded and unable to get up. The goatee guy wasn't going anywhere either, what with Jiangxia stepping on him.
Jiangxia took out his swing baton and gave them a bright, cheery smile.
...
Haibara Ai was rummaging through the house for a rope. She figured it'd be better to tie the gangsters up properly, rather than making Jiangxia keep his foot on them the whole time. That had to be exhausting.
She had just opened a cabinet when she heard a dull thud and a muffled scream behind her.
Startled, she whipped around.
Nothing terrible had happened — just Jiangxia, calmly whacking the two gangsters with his swing baton like he was pest-controlling a pair of cockroaches.
The sound wasn't loud. The baton seemed to be silenced somehow, and the gangsters' mouths were stuffed. In short, it was all very… professional.
Haibara watched him in stunned silence. The baton rose and fell in her wide eyes. Her small hands twitched awkwardly, unsure where to put themselves.
She should probably stop this. After all, violence wasn't exactly something to encourage.
But… maybe Jiangxia was just putting on a performance.
There was a suspected organization cadre upstairs. Maybe Jiangxia was trying to blend in — showing loyalty by beating up enemies of the group, all to avoid having his cover as an innocent person blown.
…Yes. The more she thought about it, the more that made sense.
Otherwise, there's no way Jiangxia would suddenly go around beating people like this.
Definitely the organization's fault.
Doing her best to ignore Jiangxia's barely disguised joy, Haibara turned back to her rope-hunt.
Once she found it, she'd have a reason to tell Jiangxia to stop.
Still… this was the first time she'd seen Jiangxia knock someone out in front of her. And yet, it felt strangely familiar somehow…
...
Elsewhere, fellow onlooker Conan was much calmer than Haibara.
Jiangxia had asked Amuro to go upstairs. That had immediately struck Conan as suspicious, so he stuck around — and sure enough, this happened.
…Eh. It's fine. The guy was a gangster with a gun. It's not like Jiangxia was going to kill him.
More importantly, neither Conan nor Haibara had the strength to stop Jiangxia if they tried. Better to just keep an eye on things. If it looked like one of the gangsters was on the verge of dying, he'd yell for Amuro to come back.
Amuro was a full-grown adult. He could probably hold Jiangxia back if needed.
That said, a new theory popped into Conan's head.
Jiangxia had waited for Amuro to leave before he started beating people up. Did that mean Amuro was a genuinely good person — the kind who'd stop Jiangxia from hurting even gangsters?
…No, that's too simple. Maybe Jiangxia just didn't want to be interrupted while he was enjoying himself.
Or maybe he genuinely wanted to save the hostage and punch some bad guys, and this was his best-of-both-worlds compromise.
...
The villa wasn't small. Amuro scoured the second and third floors before finally finding Nakamura locked in the attic.
He picked the lock and helped her out.
Thankfully, the poor granddaughter wasn't hurt — just numb from being tied up for so long.
A few minutes later, the two came downstairs.
But as Amuro hurried down the stairs, he suddenly remembered: while he'd confiscated Parted-hair's gun, he hadn't checked Goatee for weapons.
What if Goatee had a gun too, and just hadn't drawn it yet?
That could be dangerous. Hopefully Jiangxia hadn't been caught off guard.
He rushed back to the first-floor study, only to realize he needn't have worried.
Both robbers were lying unconscious on the ground.
Jiangxia had apparently knocked them out as a precaution — smart move.
Still, Amuro couldn't help noticing how… rattled they looked, even in unconsciousness. Their expressions were weirdly unsettled. Not like people who'd just been knocked out cleanly.
Then again, considering how close they were to getting their hands on a priceless gem before being ruthlessly smacked down — well, who wouldn't be traumatized?
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 18/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*