Chapter 231
"I see! So the treasure map points to here! Conan is amazing!"
Yoshida Ayumi, Edogawa Conan's elementary school classmate after he became small, happily looked at the fish-shaped lights on the bridge across from them: "But what treasure is actually hidden?"
Edogawa Conan held the treasure map in his hand. After finding that specific angle, he looked around and finally found several packages hanging from the overhead beams.
He followed the rope that was hanging them up to find its source, located the fixed cable near ground level, ran over to shake it, and the packages above swayed a few times and dropped something.
The crisp sound drew the children's attention, and several kids immediately ran over to pick up what had fallen.
"Wow, it's gold coins!"
Edogawa Conan hadn't expected this random treasure map to actually hide gold coins.
But speaking of gold coins... he seemed to understand what was hidden here.
If he remembered correctly, today's news reported that an Italian robbery group had stolen 15,000 gold coins worth 600 million yen from Italy. The leader Cabane had fled to Japan and was arrested three days ago, but three accomplices were still at large, one of whom was Japanese—probably that guy who accidentally switched bags with them at Tokyo Tower.
Because Kojima Genta thought the treasure map was fun and secretly hid it, that Japanese man had chased after them asking if they'd seen it, but then he disappeared.
Well, after all, this treasure map was actually quite simple—just a few simple drawn shapes that even elementary school students could draw. The only concern was whether the paper itself had some cipher, which was why they wanted it back.
Anyway, with this number of gold coins now, they should quickly call the police—
"The Consultant was right—the gold coins really are hidden here!"
The Japanese man they'd met at Tokyo Tower during the day appeared behind them at some point, muttering incomprehensible words.
"Worthy of the Consultant, giving the answer so quickly after seeing the treasure map. I was worried for a moment that he might have misread it... Good thing I didn't waste time and went straight to find the Consultant, otherwise wouldn't someone else have beaten us to it!"
Edogawa Conan was somewhat puzzled.
Consultant? What consultant?
But this wasn't the time to ask about that. After being stunned for a moment, he quickly called to those real elementary school students: "Run!"
The news said there were three accomplices at large who hadn't been caught! There was only one here!
Unfortunately, elementary school students had their limits. Soon they were all tied up by those three fugitives.
After all, they were not only adults but also had guns. For elementary school students, not being scared stiff was already pretty good.
But these three people might be stupid—even having reached here, they still hadn't noticed the gold coins hanging overhead and were still questioning these elementary school students about where the gold coins were.
"Who would have thought elementary school students could also crack the cipher. If I'd known, I would have just followed you instead of going to find [Consultant]... Whatever, since you've all made it here, where are the gold coins! Where are the gold coins?"
Edogawa Conan was somewhat speechless, but this was good for them, so he used this opportunity to stall for time and gather intelligence: "Didn't that consultant tell you?"
"...The Consultant is busy with important matters—how could he explain in such detail?"
The Japanese man naturally made excuses for the so-called [Consultant]: "I was in there for just one minute total. The Consultant glanced at the treasure map and told me to go to the top floor of this building called 'Oni-zakura' to find what I wanted, then stopped talking. I didn't dare keep asking..."
As if recalling something terrible, the Japanese man unconsciously shuddered, showing awe on his face.
After he went in, [Consultant] just sat behind the desk, chair half-turned, showing only a profile, not even looking up, and directly asked: "What is it? Speak directly."
...He immediately swallowed all those pleasantries.
He felt like even his breathing was disturbing the other party, wishing he could become a photosynthetic plant.
To avoid bothering [Consultant], he took out the paper with the cipher drawn on it and carefully placed it on the desk surface, pushing it over with his fingertip.
He hadn't even had time to say anything when [Consultant] just lazily glanced over, and in the blink of an eye reported the location.
Honestly, he was actually a bit suspicious at the time.
From when [Consultant] saw the cipher paper to reaching a conclusion, was it even more than one second?
They had struggled to study the cipher for two whole days after getting it and figured out nothing! What could [Consultant] see in one glance that they couldn't figure out no matter how hard they tried?!
But after [Consultant] reported the location, he lowered his head to continue reading, seemingly not planning to pay him any more attention.
This confident attitude of take-it-or-leave-it, with no additional explanation anyway, made him very shaken.
...Perhaps people were so capable precisely because they could outwit the police and be respectfully called [Consultant] by everyone in the underworld.
For [Consultant], maybe most things in the world were boring things that could be seen through at a glance. He understood nothing yet presumed to try to fathom [Consultant] with his small brain—simply overestimating himself!
After figuring this out, he respectfully took back the paper with the cipher drawn on it.
Then he remembered he seemed to not have had time to mention payment.
Probably for [Consultant], decoding ciphers was like listening to a casual joke—completely effortless entertainment. But as the beneficiary, he couldn't show nothing, or he'd worry about being retaliated against by [Consultant's] followers for disrespecting [Consultant].
So he took out all the cash in his wallet, carefully placed it on the desk, then backed all the way to the door before returning to the outside world and finally breathing a sigh of relief.
Although [Consultant's] reputation and the aura that had just intimidated him made him feel the cipher might be correctly decoded, since he hadn't gotten the goods yet, he still had a tiny bit of doubt in his heart.
But when he brought his accomplices to the location [Consultant] mentioned, he saw a group of kids picking up gold coins there!
Praise [Consultant]!
How could he have doubted [Consultant]—his awareness was insufficient! If there was a next time, he absolutely wouldn't have any doubts!
Edogawa Conan asked in confusion: "What is this [Consultant] you're talking about? He solved the cipher in one minute?"
"...Not even one minute, actually just a glance."
Edogawa Conan: "...Are you kidding me?! This is a cipher that can be solved with one glance?!"
Since these elementary school students seemed to have solved the cipher to find this place, the Japanese man who hadn't dared ask about the process at [Consultant's] simply asked shamelessly: "What's wrong with this cipher? Why can't it be solved with one glance? Doesn't it hint at the address here?"
"...How to put it, this cipher doesn't directly tell you the address here."
Not only was Edogawa Conan planning to stall for time anyway, but he couldn't help wanting to explain clearly when it came to this kind of puzzle-solving topic.
"These patterns on the cipher... like the Tokyo Tower shape at the top with a moon drawn next to it—that hints that you can only understand this cipher at night. The shapes below are all shapes of neon lights on certain shop signs in Tokyo that you can only discover at night. Following these signs all the way, you can find this place..."
The Japanese man listened in confusion: "Huh? So what?"
Edogawa Conan said helplessly: "So unless he could directly visualize a Tokyo map in his mind and even memorize all the signs in the city, so he could immediately locate this building the moment he saw the cipher, otherwise even if ordinary people understood this hinted at nighttime, they'd have to go street by street looking for shops..."
The Japanese man pondered for a moment.
Edogawa Conan asked: "Do you understand?"
Although he would also memorize some places' roads and many special features, he really couldn't memorize all the neon lights of street shops! Who would be so idle!
Even when he saw this cipher, he initially went in the wrong direction and didn't realize the key point of [nighttime]!
Solving it in one second—this was simply not something a human could do!
But after finishing his pondering, the Japanese man nodded: "Worthy of [Consultant]—he definitely has a photographic memory, so this cipher had no difficulty for him at all!"
Edogawa Conan: "...Who exactly is this [Consultant]?!"
The Japanese man showed an expression of reverence mixed with inexplicable fear: "A very great person. Children don't need to know."
Just then, those two Italians suddenly shouted something in Italian, calling the Japanese man over.
The three of them stood there looking up, with one pointing above and talking, seemingly finally discovering the bags hanging up there.
Edogawa Conan's heart sank.
This was bad. Once these people got the gold coins, they would kill them all to silence them. They were tied up now—if they wanted to escape...
Suddenly, someone patted Edogawa Conan's shoulder from behind and whispered:
"Quiet, don't talk. I'm police. I'm untying the rope now. It's dangerous here—you'll leave with me immediately."
Edogawa Conan was stunned.
...He hadn't had time to call the police yet—where did this police officer come from?
Although confused, he immediately gave the other elementary school students a look: "Listen! Be quiet!"
Several elementary school students nodded repeatedly, their expressions unconsciously relaxing.
Soon they felt the ropes binding them loosen, and the police officer behind them said:
"Good, now while their attention isn't on this side, quietly follow me."
Edogawa Conan couldn't help asking: "What about them..."
"Someone else will handle it."
Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the people who had been looking up discovered the situation here and started shouting: "Hey! How did the brats get away?!"
Edogawa Conan made a quick decision and yanked the mechanism of the rope holding those gold coin bags. The next second, the three people standing under the bags were hit squarely.
With the weight of those gold coins, they wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.
The police officer rescuing them was stunned: "...This is really... If I'd known this would happen, I would have called fewer people over."
Another burly man in a suit emerged from the shadows: "We're already here... Besides, there are three people here—one police car can't fit them all."
"You're right, Squad Leader."
The police officer who rescued the children responded, then waved to the back: "Come over, it's all handled."
The children stared wide-eyed as two more police officers appeared.
This time, Edogawa Conan finally recognized one of the two police officers and couldn't help calling out: "Officer Takagi!"
"Oh, you... aren't you that child from Mr. Mouri's house?"
Takagi Wataru scratched his hair with a silly smile: "What was your name again?"
Before Edogawa Conan could answer, Yoshida Ayumi excitedly answered:
"He's called Conan! He's a detective!"
At this moment, for some reason, the other three police officers all turned to look at Edogawa Conan simultaneously.
One black-haired curly police officer said speechlessly: "...How is there another detective named Conan? Will this ever end?"
Edogawa Conan: "...???"
—What do you mean "another"? What's with that disgusted tone?! Could there have been a detective with this name before me?!