Chapter 217: Kid Doesn’t Want to Be Robbed Again

Faced with Jiangxia's eager, faintly threatening stare, the Tengu dared not make a sound.

It fluttered its wings nervously, took a deep breath… and after much effort, it did in fact get bigger.

From a small pillow... to a slightly more inflated pillow.

Jiangxia let out a tired sigh at the barely noticeable change.

"Forget it. From now on, when feeding the ghosts, I'll just copy the mermaid's rations to be the same as Tengu's. At least it's consistent."

Troublesome as this trip was, it hadn't been without rewards.

The puppet had been strengthened—always a nice surprise.

And of course, signing a new ghost came with some basic perks. As expected, the mermaid lit up a skill.

She could grant someone the ability to breathe underwater.

If Jiangxia summoned the mermaid puppet and placed it within a meter of the target, the "water breathing" effect would last until the puppet ran out of murderous aura.

If he didn't summon the puppet—just freeloaded off the skill—the effect would last about five minutes.

Although this fish was a bit hard to deal with and kept eyeing his ghost mint stash, her skills were practical. At least she didn't pull weird stunts like Xiaobai or the Tengu.

On top of that, a new ghost also meant a new puppet form.

Jiangxia looked at the mermaid ghost's large, attention-grabbing tail and felt conflicted. This new vest… he probably couldn't walk the streets in it.

As expected, when he threw the mermaid ghost into the puppet clay, the resulting puppet took on the mermaid form with zero hesitation.

Thankfully, monster gender seemed pretty vague. The puppet's form, influenced by Jiangxia's soul, ended up fairly neutral. The original shell-bikini was replaced by a flat, scaly chest plate covering the ribs.

Jiangxia let out a subtle sigh of relief. If the puppet had stayed as a full-on shell-wearing mermaid… even if the vest only showed up underwater, the shame would've been off the charts.

"As it is now, I can just barely maintain my lower limit of dignity…"

With the day's spoils tallied, Jiangxia turned off the lights and went to bed, thoroughly satisfied.

…

The next afternoon, as the sea finally calmed, the police arrived by boat.

After examining the two corpses and hearing the islanders' accounts, they agreed the deaths seemed accidental—but also suspiciously well-timed, as if someone was orchestrating things behind the scenes.

In the belongings of Naoko, they found a message from "Saori" on her phone.

As a result, Kadowaki Saori became the prime suspect. Her "disappearance" now reeked of "on the run."

Hattori Heiji and Conan weren't convinced. Both suspected Saori might already be dead.

But clues were scarce, and reasoning was impossible without more evidence.

Alas, the long holiday was ending. School awaited.

The detectives could only sigh and reluctantly book their return tickets.

…

At the same time, Shimabukuro Kimie was quietly packing her bags. She left a letter in the shrine and prepared to board a boat to the outside world.

Until now, she'd stayed on the island to fulfill her mother's last wish—playing the part of the "mermaid" so the island could survive off tourism.

Back then, she'd believed mermaids didn't exist. She thought she had to pretend—to give people a believable illusion to keep the legend alive.

But now? Now that real mermaids existed… maybe it was time to let the actual mermaid take over the job.

…Okay, that was all just an excuse.

The truth was, she just didn't want to stay here anymore.

When the police carried out Naoko's body, half the island turned up to watch.

Shimabukuro Kimie had blended into the crowd, unsure of her own emotions—wanting one last look at her enemy.

It was dark, and the old folks from the neighboring islands looked grim. They didn't notice her standing behind them as they whispered: "Naoko Kuroe might've gotten her just punishment. Probably the dead soul of Shimabukuro Naoko staring her down."

That's when Shimabukuro Kimie realized… her neighbors weren't as clueless as they seemed.

They knew the truth. They knew the mermaid was a role. Some even vaguely suspected what had caused the fire three years ago. But for the sake of the island's prosperity, none of them said a word.

That night, Shimabukuro Kimie didn't remember how she got home.

She knelt before the shrine, thought all night, and in the end, decided to leave.

She no longer wanted to protect the island or its people.

The world was big. She was still young. She wanted to see what else was out there.

…

On the boat leaving Mermaid Island, two groups unexpectedly ran into each other.

A bunch of high school students stared in shock at the shrine maiden with a massive bag, looking like she was relocating her entire life.

Hattori Heiji and Conan both thought of the two "accidents"—clearly human-caused, just disguised well—and their eyes flickered with suspicion.

But Shimabukuro Kimie looked far too relaxed and cheerful to have just killed someone.

Especially with three detectives sitting right next to her.

Plus, didn't she just offer Jiangxia a piece of cake a minute ago? Unless she was the kind of psycho who could kill and then casually hand out desserts… it didn't add up.

Yeah, probably just a coincidence.

Maybe she wasn't "fleeing." Maybe she just liked to travel heavy.

…

Jiangxia returned home with a new ghost in his pocket.

The next day at the detective agency, the first thing he did was check the mailbox.

Still no serial murder invitations.

Jiangxia had been disappointed at first, but now he was just numb.

With a heavy sigh, he cleared out the mailbox full of ads.

That's when his eyes caught a headline in the paper:

—Phantom Thief Kid strikes again!

This time, Kid's target was a sapphire.

Jiangxia carefully jotted down the date and location. He planned to show up and collect the energy core.

Ever since discovering that Kid's heists generated those tasty little energy cores, Jiangxia had paid close attention to his appearances.

—He'd even shown up twice already, disguised as the Tengu, and stolen two of Kid's targets.

The energy wasn't massive, but compared to regular robbers, the haul was solid.

…

That night, Kid tightened his gloves, adjusted his gear, and set off for the venue.

Usually, if his only opponents were Nakamori and his bumbling cops, Kid treated gem heists like fun little puzzles.

But after that last encounter on the Suzuki family yacht… everything had changed.

Everything.

*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.

Progress: 32/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.

Progress:2/10*