BONUS CHAPTER#8
Conan instantly forgot what he was about to say and instead slipped into his usual habit of observing and thinking.
Luminous colored contacts?
Magic props?
Wait... something black behind it...
Just now, Jiangxia had caught him in a move like catching a ball on a pass. So from his angle, Conan could only barely make out the tip of a deliberately folded wing sticking out over the shoulder of the Mist Tengu puppet.
He didn't recognize what it was, but instinctively felt curious. He was about to straighten up for a better look when the person holding him sensed this and suddenly raised a hand.
A quick chop to Conan's neck.
The overly curious detective collapsed immediately.
…
The deep forest at night was pitch dark. Kogoro Mouri, lit only by the torchlight on the suspension bridge, watched Conan flying through the air.
He ran to the cliff edge in alarm and shouted a few times but got no response.
After a moment's hesitation, Kogoro checked his phone, then glanced at the "slingshot" elastic suspenders beside him. Gritting his teeth, he tentatively leaned into the middle of the strap.
On the other side of the bridge, Jiangxia, watching through night vision, thought: What are you trying to do?!
He guessed Kogoro's landing direction, then casually hung Conan on a nearby tree branch to free his hands, planning to knock Kogoro out as soon as he flew over—before he could even adjust to the darkness.
But Kogoro clearly respected Newton's laws more than Conan did. When testing the strap's elasticity, he first grabbed it behind his waist, apparently just feeling out the force before actually launching.
The feedback disappointed him—the force only sent him one or two meters, less than he could jump himself.
He looked confused, apparently not understanding why the same strap made such a difference for two people. Eventually, he blamed Conan's lighter weight.
In the end, he muttered anxiously, cursing the brat, then rushed back to his car to call the police.
Jiangxia watched Kogoro's car speed away and breathed a sigh of relief.
No need to find a hiding spot for Kogoro anymore.
And now there was a police-calling tool, so Jiangxia wouldn't have to fly somewhere with signal to call them himself later.
Feeling pleased, he reached out to take Conan down from the tree.
But as soon as he turned, he met a pair of forcedly calm, terrified eyes.
—Kaito Kid had appeared at some point and was now standing three or four meters behind him.
…
Kid looked at Jiangxia, then stiffly at the child hanging from the tree branch, who looked suspiciously like the Tengu's emergency snack. He opened his mouth, then lowered and raised his hand repeatedly, apparently too shocked to find words.
Their eyes met, and for two seconds Kid stared into the Tengu's cold eyes in the snow. Then he snapped back to reality and remembered the item he had specially brought just in case.
Moments later,
Jiangxia saw Kid pull out a delicate porcelain bottle, about half the size of his palm.
The phantom thief carefully offered the bottle, while his other hand secretly reached for Conan on the branch.
Jiangxia was puzzled but, seeing Kid act so naturally, he also naturally took the bottle.
Kid breathed a quiet sigh of relief, then quickly grabbed Conan from the tree.
He showed a subtle "plan successful √" expression.
—As a phantom thief who constantly faced unexpected challenges, Kid always prepared backup plans.
Today, he had brought this small bottle—a relatively valuable artifact he'd found at home.
Based on Kid's experience getting robbed during his heists, the Tengu not only ate jewels but also oil paintings. In short, it seemed to eat anything valuable.
So Kid brought an item that wasn't too precious to attract the Tengu from far off, but valuable enough to buy time and satisfy its hunger here. Judging by how the Tengu was focused on robbing Kid instead of snatching up the easily caught humans nearby, Kid guessed it wouldn't eat people unless it was extremely hungry. Humans apparently tasted awful to it.
Thinking this, Kid glanced at Conan—who was worth about one porcelain bottle in its eyes—and thought the Tengu was a surprisingly self-controlled yokai, even choosing the smallest food… No, wait, that wasn't the point. The point was if that bottle wasn't enough, Kid would need to quickly find proper treasures to protect the "emergency food supply" in the villa.
While Kid fantasized about the yokai's diet, Jiangxia examined the porcelain bottle in his hands, then double-checked with his ghosts.
Finally, he confirmed there was no energy core inside.
Suddenly, he remembered Kid's earlier exchange, looked at Conan in Kid's arms, and realized something, his eyelids twitching.
Jiangxia had thoughtfully hung Conan on the tree because he figured the poor kid had a bad cold and throwing him into the snow might make it worse.
He hadn't expected Kid to think it was the Tengu's way of hanging up humans to eat—and that the phantom thief must have been wearing man-eating glasses.
Still, Jiangxia figured this wasn't a bad thing. Kid had not only made up a story for the Tengu's presence but now even gave Jiangxia a reason to leave.
Jiangxia had wanted to pretend to chip the porcelain bottle and toss it back to Kid, but after realizing there was no energy core inside, so it couldn't look like a dim "leftover,"
He simply tucked the bottle under his arm like a snack, nodded at Kid, and pretended the deal was done.
At that moment, a cold wind blew, scattering snowflakes.
Kid closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, the yokai was gone.
He instinctively looked around, but the ground was empty. No sign of the porcelain bottle discarded after being eaten.
Had the Tengu taken it away?
Was it really that short on food lately?
Several question marks popped into Kid's mind.
At the same time, he thought: no more procrastination.
He had to quickly steal the targets he had recently identified.
Now his thievery wasn't just about Pandora anymore—it was about saving innocent human hostages like Conan from the Tengu's maw.
Yes, literally human hostages.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 13/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*