Chapter 24: The Case is Solved, Let It Be at That

Ji Yi was deeply moved. This was one of the few cases where he could remember the entire sequence of events almost perfectly.

While he certainly couldn't recall the specific code, he remembered everything else: the culprit appearing near Tokyo Tower, and the gold coins being hidden in a building with a view of the bridge. If he couldn't recover the stolen loot with that information, he figured he might as well quit his job.

What was truly absurd, however, was that when the police stormed the hideout of Cabane, the leader of the thief gang mentioned in the tip-off, the man was already hog-tied.

"..."

Whether it was back when he watched the manga or now, seeing it in reality, Ji Yi was left speechless.

It wasn't unusual for a leader to betray his underlings and run off with the loot, but it was strange that this leader was so "honorable"—he ran off with the money instead of killing them. The underlings were even more bizarre; after finding their leader and failing to extract the location of the loot, they didn't kill him, but instead chose to take the "treasure map" and call the police.

Do you guys actually have a code of ethics?

Furthermore, if Cabane hadn't said a word, how could they be so sure that the nonsensical drawing was a treasure map? Just because it had the Italian word "ORO" on it?

Looking at it this way, the fact that he later willingly followed a bunch of brats and believed they could find the treasure seemed almost reasonable... What kind of baffling human behavior is this?

But that didn't matter. What mattered was that Ji Yi knew those three idiots would go to Tokyo Tower tomorrow, take the wrong bag from Ayumi, and lead the Detective Boys to discover the treasure map.

Since you've decided it's a treasure map, can you show it some respect? You’re just leaving it lying around? Can't you keep a piece of paper on your person?

Thinking boredly, the interrogators from the International Investigative Division walked out. It wasn't that Ji Yi looked down on them, but the police in this timeline were just incompetent. The ones with any real skill had all been promoted to senior management and did no actual work; they were hopeless.

Perhaps the Italians didn't care for the standard "katsudon" (pork cutlet bowl) interrogation technique, as the group had spent ages trying to break the suspect to no avail.

The more Ji Yi thought about it, the more ridiculous it felt. How did those three idiots dare to track Conan to retrieve the gold coins after handing Cabane over to the police? Weren't they afraid that Cabane would have confessed and the police would be waiting for them to walk right into a trap?

Even more insane was the fact that Cabane actually kept his mouth shut. What for? It wasn't like he was tied up, handed to the police, and suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia, reigniting the brotherhood of the old gang and deciding to sacrifice himself to let his partners have the gold. If this weren't the world of "Conan-logic," and if he didn't remember the plot, he would have suspected they were up to something else, hiding a much larger conspiracy.

In short, even though it was still working hours, Ji Yi found an excuse and slipped away.

There was no need to worry about the "Oh, how did you suddenly find the gold?" question; if he didn't find a reasonable explanation, others might get suspicious. The answer was simple: "Just lucky."

Besides, unless someone was intellectually disabled, who cares how you found the stolen goods? A police officer recovering stolen property—isn't that perfectly normal? If someone really pressed him on how he found it, they would be the ones acting suspicious.

As for not remembering the exact code, he only knew it was in a building near Tokyo Tower with a view of the bridge. Isn't that clear enough? If he couldn't find where the loot was hidden with that, he might as well pack up and move back to Yokohama, turn the old family home into apartments, and just laze his life away.

It didn't take long. Once the photos of the hiding spot were placed in front of Cabane, the man spilled everything.

"The Inspector is really amazing. He was out for such a short time and found the hidden gold coins directly," Wataru Takagi, who had participated in the entire case, said while chatting with his colleagues.

See? Normal people only focus on: "The loot was recovered, the criminal confessed, how great."

With Cabane's confession, composite sketches of the other three robbers were quickly produced. Combined with the clear knowledge that they would head to the vicinity of Tokyo Tower for their "treasure hunt," even if the police were incompetent at deduction, they were perfectly capable of simply staking out the area and making arrests.

And so, when Ran was taking a group of elementary school students to exchange their Kamen Yaiba models, they happened to stumble right into the police arrest scene.

Conan saw it, understood the situation, and walked away. The people were caught, and he had already learned the details of the case from the news. It wasn't anything interesting. Rather than wasting time on this, he should think about when to go to the Professor's house next and ask Shuichi Akai for new information about the Black Organization.

As for the police being able to solve cases independently... shouldn't that be expected?

Back at the Metropolitan Police Department, the Italian robber gang was all caught, and everyone was happy.

"See? What you Italian police couldn't do, our Metropolitan Police Department did with ease!" That seemed to be the mindset of the higher-ups, so they gave all participants holidays and bonuses.

As the person who contributed the most to the case—aside from the three abstract, idiotic thieves who "reported their own boss"—Ji Yi naturally received a very generous reward.

Before the holiday, Ji Yi noticed Takagi wanted to ask Sato out, but after hesitating for a long time, he didn't dare to speak. By the time Yumi dragged Sato away, he could only return home dejectedly.

That was quite amusing. As for his own holiday plans... he had none. Going out wasn't as good as sleeping until he woke up naturally at home. And once he slept until he woke up naturally... it was basically like closing his eyes and opening them again, and suddenly, "Huh? Where did my big vacation go?"

However, he still told everyone he was returning to Yokohama. After all, if people knew he was staying in the city, who knew if he'd be dragged back to work after the "Grim Reaper" (Conan) started working his magic.

Yet, things proceeded unexpectedly smoothly. It wasn't until he returned to work that he learned Conan had been dragged away by Ran Mouri and Sonoko for a "stormy mountain villa" style adventure.

It turned out to be the "childhood trauma" series he remembered so well. It was that classic work where Ran’s failure to knock led to the three-naked-men incident, which in turn caused the Bandaged Man to target her.

Speaking of which, counting the train bombing case, if Conan hadn't been following, hadn't Ran already "restarted" twice? It was a good thing the plan to drag Conan away from the Mouri house and keep him at his own place had been rejected... Otherwise, it would have been too tragic for Uncle Mouri to lose his daughter in middle age... Oh, wait, without Conan, the uncle would have already "restarted" in the train case... No, wait, Shuichi Akai came online early, so the uncle should have survived the Shinkansen bombing...

The plot had been changed so much; this wasn't a butterfly effect anymore, it was a full-blown tornado.

In short, it was great that this was a "Conan-logic" world where everyone was safe and sound. If he had been thrown into a world like the Chicago P.D. Intelligence Unit, that would have been a true hell. Compared to "adult" crime procedural dramas, besides the shocking crime rate, everything else about Beika Town was paradise.

Then, Ji Yi received a phone call from Ran Mouri, the first-year limited edition of the "professional reporter for thirty years."

Someone had been poisoned at a karaoke bar.