Although it turned out the "bloody head" incident was just a misunderstanding, the cautious Conan still kept it in mind, thinking it might be worth telling Inspector Megure.
That way, if Amuro Tooru really did have problems—like illegal gun possession—they could catch it early.
After Conan finished explaining, he saw Inspector Megure's expression grow serious, which put him at ease. The police would definitely follow up.
But Inspector Megure was thinking something different.
From his point of view, there probably wasn't much wrong with the detective agency's boss. After all, many detectives apply for gun permits. And if the boss really had a problem, with Jiangxia's sharp instincts, he'd have already called the cops—or beaten the culprit up and interrogated them about where the gun came from.
More importantly, Inspector Megure was more focused on subtly reminding Jiangxia's boss—if they ever met—not to help Jiangxia get a gun permit.
As a cop who often arrived first at crime scenes where Jiangxia showed up, Megure knew beneath Jiangxia's kind exterior beat a heart that absolutely hated evil.
If the police were even a bit late, they'd find only unconscious criminals—or unlucky suspects looking completely defeated, answering every question without a fight.
Jiangxia could do all that damage with just a baton; if he had a gun…
No way. That must not happen.
This was about protecting the criminals, protecting Jiangxia, and most of all protecting the cops who worked overtime on murder cases.
Jiangxia was a rare good junior cop, just a bit short-tempered in private. But young people get impulsive, and he definitely shouldn't end up in juvenile detention…
…
With the bullet Conan provided, this threat could no longer be dismissed as a prank.
The TV station prepared the 50 million cash demanded by the culprit. Inspector Megure ordered the staff to place the money at Gate 18 as requested, planning to nab the culprit on the spot when they came to get it.
However, the second culprit who went to retrieve the money kept his phone on call mode. As soon as the police arrested him, the insider culprit guarding the cameras immediately noticed.
The insider cameraman demanded the police release the guy—and on top of that, demanded another 1 billion in cash. He also threatened that if the TV station didn't deliver the money before the final whistle, he'd randomly kill a lucky audience member at the end of the game.
…
Jiangxia sat near the center of the stands—not too high up, but enough to spot anyone moving suspiciously compared to the other audience members.
Plus, his seat was close to Gate 18.
So when the second culprit—hat and mask pulled low—went to get the money, Jiangxia immediately noticed. He watched for a moment and then ignored him. This second culprit had no killing intent; he was just there for the cash.
For killing intent, Jiangxia had to rely on that insider cameraman.
The insider cameraman used to be an ambitious robber planning a grand bank heist. He and his small gang spent three years and all their money on the perfect plan.
But on the day of the heist, when they showed up fully armed, the bank was hosting an event called "Let a Star Be a Bank Branch Manager for a Day."
The unexpected cameras and security guards ruined the whole plan—and all their investment.
The cameraman's girlfriend committed suicide because of this. He stared at her corpse for a long time, blaming Nichiuri TV—if the station hadn't held that dumb event, the robbery would've gone smoothly, his girlfriend wouldn't have died, and he wouldn't be so broke.
So one year later, for revenge, the cameraman demanded 1 billion from Nichiuri TV.
That's a huge amount of cash he couldn't raise quickly, so the station was bound to fail to pay.
This meant his real goal from the start wasn't the money, but to kill someone randomly, then send a story to the papers saying, "Nichiuri TV refused to pay, so he killed someone," to bring the station public shame.
Jiangxia thought this ridiculous murder motive was almost laughable—and wanted to see what kind of genius this culprit really was.
Though the option to "wait for the culprit to kill someone, then pick up the ghost" existed, Jiangxia decided to focus on the killing intent.
That ridiculous killing intent was clear even from a distance—good quality, too.
Besides, this time the culprit planned to kill someone randomly… Thinking about that, Jiangxia glanced at Ran Mouri, who was wandering the field looking for Conan.
The whole place was full of hostages, but with Ran here, the culprit's so-called "random" victim would most likely be her—just like many culprits unconsciously plant bombs under Ran's feet.
…
In such chaos, Jiangxia felt it was his duty to watch out for his classmates, who seemed magnetically drawn to incidents.
With that in mind, he stood up when no one was watching… Suddenly, a soft voice beside him asked, "Where are you going?"
Jiangxia froze and turned his head to see a kindly smiling senior sitting next to him. He made an excuse about "going to the restroom," then under the senior's suspicious gaze, quickly slipped away.
Jiangxia circled around the back a few times, and once he was sure the senior couldn't find him, he moved through the shadows, eventually reaching near the insider cameraman.
…
Meanwhile, the police atmosphere was tense.
After the second culprit got the money and left the venue, Inspector Megure sent people to follow—but unfortunately, they lost him.
At the same time, the police guessed the culprit still inside wanted more than the 1 billion cash: he wanted to kill someone.
This escalated the case from simple blackmail to planned daylight murder.
Since the second culprit had fired a gun earlier but was unarmed when caught, Conan guessed the two culprits met and transferred the handgun.
Inspector Megure had the earlier footage pulled up.
But none of the cameras showed any interaction between the two culprits; they only occasionally filmed the second culprit getting the money, and then often panned away right after.
This caught Conan's attention. He suddenly thought the culprit hidden in the venue was an insider—a cameraman. That explained why he avoided filming his accomplice and blended into the crowd unnoticed by police.
Conan smiled knowingly.
Using various clues, he pinpointed the culprit's location and rushed over to confront him.
But when he reached the camera position in the shadows and looked down, he froze.
There was only an empty camera—and the staff member guarding it was gone.
Conan's smile vanished, and his heart sank. Had the insider cameraman anticipated the situation and abandoned the post, blending into the crowd before the police noticed?
If so, things were going to get tricky. The game was almost over; they had to find him fast.
Conan, who had planned to work alone, sheepishly returned to the control room and told the police about his deduction and the cameraman's escape.
Someone running away was never good.
But compared to blindly searching, now that they knew the culprit's face and name, the investigation had a big advantage.
Even though the culprit's exact whereabouts were unknown, the police could trace the direction he took on the footage and hopefully figure out his escape route.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 53/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*