Chapter 229: Jiangxia, What Happened to You?!

Since no one ever actually called him "Tongzhi," Jiangxia didn't think much of it when he casually introduced himself.

He didn't expect Ran Mouri to remember it so clearly — not only did she recall the number, she even threw out three different versions of "ten."

…When it comes to helping solve a case, this classmate is seriously a god-tier teammate.

The police and Kogoro Mouri found two people who might be the "ten" they were looking for, but the real attacker never came for Jiangxia or the club's mistress. Didn't even dare.

That night, several officers went to the club to guard Towako.

Meanwhile, Jiangxia got physically dragged into crashing at the Mouri Detective Agency by Ran Mouri herself.

Ai Haibara gave a trademark unimpressed half-moon eye roll but was also forcibly taken home by Ran — Dr. Agasa had just been attacked and was still in the hospital. In Ran's eyes, there was no way she'd let a "first-year elementary schooler" live alone right now. She wasn't taking any chances.

So now, two people from the Black Organization — both not exactly scared of the attacker — suddenly found themselves meeting again at the Mouri Detective Agency.

Jiangxia and Haibara exchanged looks, each sighed deeply, then silently decided to just go with it.

…

In a display cabinet in the Mouri house sat a collection of autographed celebrity photos.

Early the next morning, as Jiangxia passed the cabinet, his eyes paused on one particular photo.

It was a signed picture of a famous golfer.

His name: Tsuji Hiroki. An old friend of Kogoro Mouri.

Strictly speaking, Tsuji Hiroki was the real "Ten," and also one of Sawaki's primary targets.

—Back at a party, Tsuji Hiroki had once made an overly "funny" joke at Sawaki's expense. Sawaki, a sommelier with questionable mental elasticity, believed the stress from that incident was what caused him to lose his sense of taste. At least, that's what his doctor said.

In short, Sawaki decided Tsuji Hiroki needed to die.

Now, "Tsuji" isn't a super common surname, and the reading "tsuji" doesn't even sound close to "ten" in Japanese.

So of course, the ever-oblivious Kogoro Mouri stared at the character for a while and still failed to connect the dots—even though the photo was literally right there in front of him.

Not helping matters was Tsuji Hiroki's ridiculously cursive signature. The character for "Tsuji" looked like it had been drunk while writing itself. There were extra strokes. It was a mess.

In the original timeline, Conan had happened to glance at this photo and that's how he realized "Ten" was referring to Tsuji Hiroki.

Thinking of this, Jiangxia looked away and stopped staring at the autographed photo.

—He had the uncomfortable feeling that if he kept looking, he might accidentally steal it and stash it away.

The ghost that should've shown up with that photo already had, and it had been happily picked up. Conscience: unbothered. Ghost: thriving.

But if he started creating ghosts where there weren't any yet… that was a shortcut straight to full villain arc.

Being a blackened psychic was just too exhausting. Better to relax a little for now.

That said, Jiangxia still harbored a quiet hope: If Conan doesn't realize Tsuji Hiroki is the next victim, then maybe I'll get to pick up one more ghost...

Unfortunately, Conan stayed true to his legendary "brings death everywhere" tradition.

While Jiangxia was sitting at the dining table with his back to the photo, lazily sipping the creamy corn soup Ran had cooked—

A shocked voice rang out behind him.

"Tsuji Hiroki… Tsuji?!"

Conan. Of course.

Jiangxia's hand froze mid-spoon. He stared at the soup like it had betrayed him. Mood: -1.

Conan, blissfully unaware of Jiangxia's spiritual downturn, was already racing into detective mode.

"'Tsuji' has the character for 'ten' in it. Could he be the next target?!"

Haibara noticed Jiangxia's spoon had stopped moving and subtly dragged Conan away, trying to preserve at least some peace during breakfast.

"Not every name with 'ten' in it is a target. Didn't we agree the key condition was they had to have a connection to Mouri?"

Inspector Megure is Kogoro Mouri's boss. Kisaki Eri is his wife. Dr. Agasa has known him for over a decade.

Based on that standard, Haibara figured an "autographed acquaintance" like Tsuji Hiroki was barely in the same league.

But Conan, being Conan, countered: "Uncle and Tsuji Hiroki aren't just some fan-idol pair. We met him at that restaurant a while ago—they're definitely old friends."

Ran overheard the sudden tension and poked her head out of the kitchen.

"What's going on?"

…

Turns out, Kogoro Mouri did have Tsuji Hiroki's contact info. But when they called him, he didn't pick up.

They rang his house next and found out he'd already left for the airport 30 minutes ago to take his helicopter out for a joyride.

Apparently, Tsuji always did this kind of thing to de-stress before a big match. Totally normal. Totally not suspicious.

Everyone rushed to the airport, Jiangxia included.

When Inspector Megure explained the situation, Tsuji Hiroki just brushed it off.

He was confident in his piloting skills and insisted the helicopter had just been inspected. Nothing to worry about.

But seeing how serious Megure was, Tsuji laughed and pointed to the cabin.

"Well, I was ghosted today. Flying alone is kinda boring. If you're that worried, how about someone ride with me? Maybe you, Inspector Megure, or…"

He glanced around the group and paused on Kogoro Mouri. Mouri's expression instantly soured.

Tsuji remembered inviting Mouri for a ride before—only to be shot down every time.

Maybe he just wasn't into helicopters.

So instead, his gaze slid over to Jiangxia.

"In that case, I'll take the up-and-coming young detective with me."

Jiangxia: "…"

Nope. He did not want to get on a deathtrap with this doomed golfer.

He almost blurted out, "I'm afraid of heights."

But then he glanced at Ran nearby and remembered all the high-altitude incidents involving her and Suzuki Sonoko. Planes, airships, all kinds of disasters...

If he claimed fear of heights now, there was no escaping being roped into future death rides as their designated "safe" chaperone.

That was a trap.

…

Inspector Megure thought the idea wasn't half bad — helicopters were tightly secured, and any sabotage attempt would be pretty hard. It was more likely the attacker would try something on the ground, maybe ambush them at the destination.

So Megure agreed to ride along, while dispatching a few officers to the other airport to meet them.

Jiangxia, seeing everyone nodding along, sighed quietly.

Forget it. If something has to go wrong, I still have plenty of ways to prevent it.

Break the plane… or break the pilot.

Either one works. The trip will be canceled either way.

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

Progress: 4/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

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

Progress:2/10*