Chapter 323: AFK Button

When Minoru Ebina heard the gunshots and rushed toward the deck, he glanced back—only to see Jiangxia Tongzhi leaning against the corridor wall, lost in thought.

It was a little odd, but there was no time to ask. Ebina brushed past him and kept running.

Behind him, the "dazed" Jiangxia's eyes suddenly flicked to life.

He pushed off the wall, watching Ebina's retreating figure with a complicated expression, then followed at a leisurely pace.

…

Near the restaurant, not far from the deck, Conan Edogawa, Heiji Hattori, and Toji Samezaki had just returned from a late-night walk when they heard the same "gunshots" from outside.

They raced up the stairs to the deck—and found the flag on the lookout post ablaze, flames licking the night air.

At their feet, a banknote was stabbed into the deck with a knife. On it, two dramatic lines of calligraphy read:

"Poseidon, God of the Sea, granted me life; my shadow has been resurrected."

Jiangxia stepped onto the deck just in time to see the message—when a round figure zipped past him.

It was Sadao Kujirai, his potbelly jiggling with every step.

So that's what the "gunshot" had been—it was just Brother Kujirai using a cigarette fuse to set off firecrackers.

At that moment, the so-called mastermind crouched next to the knife-stabbed note and stared at the words he himself had written. His face contorted with horror as he shrieked, "It's him! Saizo Kanou is still alive! Help—he's coming for me!!"

Everyone turned to look at him, their expressions morphing from confusion to suspicion in record time.

But before they could ask questions, another timed device went off somewhere else on the ship.

A thunderous boom shook the stern. Thick smoke billowed up.

…

It was the box for the emergency escape ladders that had exploded.

People hurried to the scene, and through the flames, they glimpsed a blackened human form curled inside.

Jiangxia stared at the blaze, at the charred corpse… and suddenly realized this might be the perfect excuse to go AFK.

As this thought floated in his mind, he noticed Conan and Heiji at the front, whispering to each other. Then they looked around—and their gazes landed on him.

Their expressions relaxed slightly, tinged with relief.

From what Xiaobai had relayed, it seemed they'd been worried Jiangxia would be the first target, considering his suspiciously good track record with solving murders.

Jiangxia: "…"

Honestly, he hadn't felt anything… until now. But now that it was pointed out, he suddenly felt cheated out of being threatened.

Kujirai, meanwhile, was smirking to himself when a chill ran down his spine.

He turned and found Jiangxia—Tokyo's own spectral-eyed detective—watching him with that distant, unreadable gaze.

…

The fire died down.

From the corpse's wristwatch and some melted makeup bits on the face, someone recognized the victim—it was a passenger named Korehisa Kanie.

As people began double-checking alibis, Nagisa Isogai raised her chin thoughtfully.

"Besides those two guests who've been holed up in their rooms, there's one more unaccounted for," she said. "Mr. Kameda said he was seasick at dinner and went back to rest. No one's seen him since."

…Jiangxia glanced at the crispy corpse again. Actually, you just saw him, he thought.

He looked over at Conan and Heiji, who were already arguing their way into a deduction frenzy. If Ran Mouri were here, Jiangxia mused, she'd probably take one look at the explosion, make a dozen emotional leaps, and immediately ask if I wanted to go rest in my room… Perfect AFK cover.

Truly, you don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Next time I investigate anything, I'm bringing a thoughtful girl along.

Jiangxia had barely finished that wistful thought when the arguing duo suddenly turned to him.

"What do you think? Which scenario makes more sense?"

Jiangxia: "…?"

The three of them stared at each other. It slowly dawned on Jiangxia that Conan and Heiji didn't agree on something, and were hoping for a tie-breaker.

Unfortunately, he hadn't been listening. And none of the ghosts were interested enough to eavesdrop either.

As he considered guessing "both wrong," Conan's eyes narrowed.

Right—there'd been an explosion and a corpse. Jiangxia's reference book might be offline today.

He remembered that whenever things got chaotic like this, Jiangxia's deduction ability always seemed… sealed. Like his cheat code had a cooldown period.

That made Conan both hopeful and nervous. Hopeful because he could focus on solving the case without being outpaced. Nervous because if something worse happened, they couldn't rely on the usual backdoor brain hacks.

Better find real evidence.

The two detectives leapt into action and left.

Jiangxia didn't bother following. He saw Minoru Ebina retreat to his room and slouched back into his chair, sending his shikigami and puppets out to do the footwork.

…

Ebina stepped into his cabin, which was empty and silent. He sat down and stared at the bomb on the floor.

The recent explosion, the banknote—it all convinced him that Saizo Kanou's people were aboard.

Which meant his mutual destruction plan could still work.

He closed his eyes, wondering how it would feel to blow up.

That's when he heard it.

Rustle.

A strap stretched tight. Something was lifted off the floor.

Ebina's eyes flew open.

A woman in a black dress was standing in front of him, holding the bomb.

She gave a casual nod, unlocked the deadbolt, and strolled out.

"…?"

Wait, how'd she get in? Was this even his room? Whose room was this?

MY BOMB!?

A flurry of thoughts crashed through his brain. He jumped up and ran out.

Down the corridor, the woman's silhouette glided forward, strangely unhurried.

But no matter how hard Ebina ran, he couldn't close the distance. For a second, it felt like she was floating.

By the time he realized it, they were already on the deck.

The sea wind whipped his face.

He watched, dumbstruck, as the woman lifted the bomb with one arm and flung it. The heavy case flew through the night in a graceful arc, then plunged into the ocean with a splash.

It sank quickly, vanishing into the waves.

Behind him, Jiangxia heard several ghosts gasp in unison.

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

Progress: 52/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

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

Progress:2/10*