"?"
The little girl smacked her lips.
A mouthful of dirt and blood.
Something wasn't right. Her eyes snapped open in shock.
Jiangxia stood up and smacked her on the forehead. "Don't try to take advantage of people just because you're young."
The little girl flushed and retorted, "I-I just wanted to say thank you! That's how they always do it on TV!"
Jiangxia remained unmoved. "Nonsense. You're clearly just jealous of my face."
The girl looked guilty but shouted anyway, "I am not!"
Jiangxia ignored her denial, took a puff from a cigarette that had long gone out, and slowly exhaled a dramatic puff of nonexistent smoke.
"Don't get all touchy-feely just because you feel like it. I'm in a good mood today, but if I wasn't, I'd report you for hooliganism and have you thrown in jail."
Little girl: "!"
She hadn't studied law yet, and no one had ever taught her that "kids can't just break the law however they want."
Faced with Jiangxia's deadly serious expression, and thinking of the scary gangsters in jail she'd seen on TV, she trembled, lowered her head, and quietly began poking her fingertips together with tears in her eyes.
After a moment, she sniffled out an apology. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"
Jiangxia nodded. "Good. Just be more careful next time."
The little girl, still hanging onto him, slowly slumped back against his chest.
She looked up with a simple, innocent smile that clearly said, "You're really not turning me in? You're such a good person!"
Conan, who had silently watched the entire exchange: "…"
Although…
But…
Sigh. Forget it.
He sat down and clutched at his temples, where his blood pressure had spiked.
Just now, when the little girl had suddenly lunged at Jiangxia, Conan had nearly leapt out of his skin. He was afraid that Jiangxia had become addicted to beating people, and he couldn't control it, so he gave the little girl a blow and sent the hostage away directly.
Luckily, Jiangxia had held back.
Well… sort of. He only traumatized the child emotionally.
…
Jiangxia tossed the stick aside and carefully retrieved his leftover cigarette butt.
Then, surveying the wrecked warehouse, he pulled out his phone.
He had Kogoro Mouri's number in his contacts, and he'd also memorized Ran Mouri's.
Ran had written it on a note and forced it into his hand, saying something like "we're neighbors now, we should help each other out."
Jiangxia had never actually called them, but he remembered the number anyway.
Can't help it—his memory is just that good…
Still, at this point in the story, Jiangxia supposedly doesn't know that Conan is connected to Kogoro Mouri.
Even though it's hilarious to mess with Conan, Jiangxia knew better than to push it.
After all, he was rather tangled up with the Black Organization.
And Conan's black-and-white judgment radar was a total cheat code. The guy could sniff out a shady guy across a continent.
Right now, during this special phase of "Conan sees everyone as a Man in Black," it was best to lay low.
So instead of calling Ran, Jiangxia turned to the two kids and asked for their parents' numbers.
The little girl, desperate to prove her innocence, rattled off a string of numbers as fast as possible, then looked up with a mix of hope and embarrassment.
Jiangxia patted her head in praise.
Then, while the little girl floated in a bubble of imaginary pink joy, he called her dad and gave a very brief summary of the warehouse situation.
Of course, he added a few… artistically refined details to the bit about beating up the kidnapper.
The girl's parents and Kogoro Mouri were both nearby and arrived quickly.
The police showed up too—the school guard had quietly called them when the delinquents first snuck in, which saved everyone a lot of time.
When talking to the cops, Jiangxia stealthily flicked away his cigarette butt and put on the face of a model student. He insisted he was "just passing by the school" when he heard someone calling for help and heroically went in.
The police, hearing it was a rescue, didn't pursue the "breaking and entering" part.
They even praised the boys a little, urging them to keep up the spirit of helping others—but maybe don't beat up the bad guys so hard next time. Just knock them down gently, okay?
Ran Mouri spotted Jiangxia and came over to say hi.
Though there were still a bunch of delinquents with colorful hair loitering around Jiangxia, which made her—like any good, rule-following student—a bit nervous at first.
But when she heard they'd helped save a kidnapped child, her heart softened. She reminded herself not to judge people by their appearance.
Ran didn't stick around too long. She soon took Conan to a nearby clinic—he was still covered in blood and looked awful.
Jiangxia thought he'd be fine.
Kudo Shinichi didn't have much in terms of brute strength, but the kid was ridiculously durable for some reason. Who knew why…
The little girl's father hugged his long-lost daughter, then walked over to Jiangxia to thank him seriously—and handed him a check.
Kogoro Mouri stood to the side, looking mournfully at the commission fee that should've been his.
But he was too embarrassed to snatch it out of a high schooler's hands.
Fortunately, the rich client from before had already paid him quite a lot.
Jiangxia looked at the check. He didn't decline. He took it, planning to cash it when the bank opened and split it with the gang.
…
Even though the delinquents didn't get to do the motorcycle joyride they'd been hyped about, saving a kidnapped kid was a pretty satisfying adventure.
And with all the police around, it wasn't exactly the best time to bring up late-night street racing anyway.
So the group of punks copied their boss, put on their "good student" act, and scattered like they were heading home after cram school.
Jiangxia was ready to go home too.
But as soon as he got on his motorcycle, something felt off.
He stopped, pushed the bike a little, and found the rear tire had bulged out at some point.
"…"
He looked back at the fresh tire marks in the warehouse and sighed.
Being a messenger of justice really takes its toll.
Thankfully, all his underlings had already left.
No one would see the sorrow behind the hero's back.
…
Bulging tires tend to burst, so riding wasn't safe anymore.
But then, Jiangxia's bike broke down every other week anyway. He was used to it. His heart was calm.
He pushed the motorcycle away from the school and headed for the garage in a very Buddhist way.