Chapter 237: Supermodels Don’t Talk About Martial Arts

Jiangxia's heart was doing cartwheels.

Fortunately, under his slightly nervous gaze, the murderous auras around him gradually became firmer and more focused.

Sawagi firmly believed that "technology is the primary productive force"—no matter how fast Jiangxia could react, or how good he was, at the end of the day he was still just one person. And theoretically, one person couldn't take on bombs.

With that comforting thought, both Sawagi and his co-conspirator(Jiangxia) let out a discreet breath of relief.

…

Unlike them, the police were still getting bad vibes. From the anonymous letter Sawagi had received, to the crossbow bolts discovered in the liquor storeroom… if you were trying to arrange all that, it was hard to imagine bypassing Katsuyoshi Asahi.

Whether the murderer had teamed up with Katsuyoshi Asahi or outright taken him hostage, it spelled bad news.

To err on the side of caution, Inspector Megure suggested, "Let's leave for now. Once we're ashore, we can bring more officers and conduct a proper search."

At the moment, only he and two officers from the Criminal Department were present—and Megure himself was injured. Civilians outnumbered police, and if anything happened now, they wouldn't be able to protect them.

No one objected to the plan to "evacuate."

So the group retraced their steps back toward the main entrance.

But just as they were passing the restaurant, Jiangxia suddenly stopped.

He stepped through the doorway, glanced inside—and slowly formed an expression of surprise.

"What is it?!"

The others followed his gaze—and the crowd collectively gasped.

—Inside the giant fish tank that lined the hall, a corpse floated serenely in the water. Under the bright tank lights, the face was clearly visible.

…It was Katsuyoshi Asahi, the very person they'd been looking for.

Pinned to the dead man's collar was a playing card.

It was hard to make out from this distance, and the card had soaked in the water for some time, but everyone could guess: it had to be the nine of spades.

…In the middle of this serial murder case, yet another victim had popped up—this time with maximum dramatic flair.

The whole nature of the case shifted in an instant.

Everyone present realized they should probably start taking today's events seriously.

But of course, now that they were finally trying to focus, it was clearly too late.

—After some investigation, they discovered that the exit door had been firmly locked, the cell phones had no signal, the landline had been cut "as per usual," and the escape tunnel was blocked off with concrete.

In short, they were stuck. No way out, no way to call for help.

They ran through every possible exit scenario, and just as expected, came up empty.

In the end, all they could do was return to the restaurant and discuss their next steps.

…

The undersea restaurant was huge. Even just this one floor had multiple rooms and long passages.

Since the place was newly built, no one was familiar with the layout—so they held out hope that a hidden exit might be lurking somewhere.

The women and children were told to stay put and rest in the dining area, while the rest of the group fanned out in search of clues.

Jiangxia picked a direction at random and wandered off.

Sawagi Kohei stared after him—half stunned, half relieved.

Just a moment ago, he'd been worried about how to pull off his plan if Jiangxia stuck to him like glue again.

But surprise! The biggest problem had walked off on its own.

Only after Jiangxia's silhouette vanished down the corridor did Sawagi snap out of it.

He crept to the corridor entrance, glanced both ways, and—confirming Jiangxia wasn't lurking outside the door—finally let out a full breath.

Then he got weirdly emotional—maybe the trap he'd set for "Eight" had actually tricked Jiangxia?

Or maybe Jiangxia had decided Sawagi was the culprit and gave up trying to escape, choosing instead to follow the only remaining route...

Either way, Sawagi Kohei had gotten exactly what he wanted: the chance to act alone.

He couldn't help thinking—today, luck really was on his side.

Avoiding the others' line of sight, Sawagi quickly headed to the power room, found the main switch, and yanked it down.

The hall went black.

Then, following a pre-memorized route, he dashed straight back toward the restaurant.

…

The sudden blackout plunged the room into darkness, and Nana Osanai instantly panicked.

But Sawagi had already spotted her using her glow-in-the-dark nail polish.

He lunged, stabbed her squarely in the heart, and vanished again into the shadows.

As he ran toward the main entrance, he accidentally kicked something—it rolled across the floor with a clink, like a soda can.

He ignored it and bolted out the door.

Then, acting like a concerned civilian, he returned to the restaurant with the others who'd come running at the sound of Nana's scream.

Kogoro Mouri quickly found the light switch and flipped it back on.

The restaurant lit up again—revealing a fresh corpse lying on the floor.

Jiangxia also rushed back and took a look.

As he stared, a snow-white shikigami slowly emerged from behind Nana Osanai's body.

It hovered for a moment over her corpse… then glided silently toward Sawagi Kohei, who'd just returned, and clamped tightly onto his calf.

Jiangxia's eyes locked onto Sawagi's leg.

So far, there had been three ghosts: Murakami, Asahi Katsuyoshi, and now Nana Osanai.

On top of that, Sawagi Kohei was radiating murderous intent—half aimed at Nishina, and half aimed at Jiangxia himself.

Jiangxia continued to size him up. Sawagi, noticing the stare, grew visibly excited—and his murderous aura intensified.

Jiangxia blinked. Then stared harder.

Sure enough, the murderous aura ticked up another notch.

Jiangxia: "!"

…

While Jiangxia was happily cultivating murderous aura farming techniques,

Conan had noticed his earlier gaze at Nana Osanai's back.

Curious, he looked closer—and saw that her clothes were wrinkled in one area.

It looked like the fabric had been pulled, even slightly deformed.

With a sinking feeling, Conan examined the area near her collar.

Pulling it aside, he revealed a purple handprint on her left shoulder blade—the kind left by someone grabbing her hard from behind before stabbing her.

Conan stared at the mark for a moment.

And then, he felt a cold chill crawl up his spine.

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

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

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

Progress:2/10*