By evening, Jiang Hang had just helped an elderly woman cross the street and was preparing to grab dinner before heading out for his nightly exploration mission.
If it hadn't been for a group of excited elementary school children suddenly running past him—one of them crashing straight into him—Jiang Hang might have almost forgotten that this world still contained Conan.
Well… almost.
In reality, when Jiang Hang had used Eagle Vision earlier to observe the surroundings, he had already spotted the very conspicuous red glow among them. Walking directly into their path had been entirely intentional.
Children rarely watch where they are going, and with Jiang Hang's Assassin Steps, everything happened perfectly naturally.
Looking down at the chubby boy clutching his head in pain, Jiang Hang couldn't help but mutter inwardly.
Only a week has passed, and the Junior Detective League has already formed?
"Sorry!"
The one who had collided with him was naturally Genta Kojima, but the one apologizing was Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya, who had been walking behind him.
"Genta, you have to watch where you're going! You ran into someone. Hurry up and apologize properly!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to," Genta said with absolutely no sincerity. Then he quickly shifted the blame.
"It's Conan's fault! He suddenly started running so fast. I was trying to catch up and didn't see where I was going!"
Since the collision had been deliberate on Jiang Hang's part, he simply reached down and helped Genta up.
"When you're walking, try not to get distracted," Jiang Hang said gently. "You might get hurt if something happens."
He crouched down and brushed the dust off Genta's pants.
At that moment, Jiang Hang noticed that Conan Edogawa had also turned his attention toward him.
"You are…" Jiang Hang said slowly when he saw Conan, pretending to think carefully as if recalling something.
After all, they had briefly encountered each other in front of the Kudo residence a week ago. There was a good chance Conan still remembered him, so acting slightly familiar would reduce suspicion.
"Haven't we met somewhere before?" Jiang Hang asked.
On Conan's side, he was momentarily confused.
But as a brilliant detective, his memory quickly kicked in.
A week ago, after he had shrunk into a child and couldn't enter his own house, this very man had noticed him and even asked if he needed help.
At the time, Conan—still shaken and extremely cautious—had immediately run away.
He hadn't expected this man to remember a child he had only met once.
Conan was a little surprised.
Still, he pretended not to know anything.
"I don't know," Conan replied innocently. "Have you seen me somewhere before, big brother?"
"Maybe I remembered wrong," Jiang Hang said, shaking his head casually.
That settled the matter. It hadn't been his real objective anyway.
At that moment, Jiang Hang's gaze shifted to the note in Conan's hand.
For ordinary people, holding a piece of paper was nothing unusual.
But when the person holding it was Conan, and the Junior Detective League was involved, Jiang Hang immediately recalled an early case from the series.
If he remembered correctly, a criminal gang had stolen a large number of gold coins. Before the gang leader was arrested, he had left behind a cryptic treasure map.
The gang members wanted to recover the hidden treasure, but for some reason the map ended up in Conan's hands.
In the end, Conan deciphered the clues and found the hidden gold.
That was roughly how the story went.
Jiang Hang never quite understood why a gang leader in the twenty-first century would bother creating a cryptic treasure map.
Still, since he had already run into this situation, there was no way he could just ignore it.
"By the way, are you kids playing some kind of treasure hunt game?" Jiang Hang asked with a smile. "Elementary school activities these days are really impressive."
However, Genta immediately snorted in dissatisfaction.
"This isn't just a game!"
"If we solve the puzzle and find the treasure, I'll get to eat the most delicious eel rice bowl in the world! Hahaha!"
"The most delicious eel rice bowl in the world?" Jiang Hang chuckled. "That does sound like a great treasure. Want me to help?"
"Believe it or not, I'm actually a detective."
Truthfully, Jiang Hang wasn't interested in the treasure at all.
With a ridiculously wealthy system backing him up, he could earn ten million yen in a single afternoon just by spreading positive energy.
Why would he care about some hidden gold coins?
If anything, the eel rice bowl Genta mentioned sounded far more appealing.
"Wow! Big brother, you're a detective just like Uncle Mouri?" Ayumi Yoshida said with sparkling eyes.
"You look so young too. That's amazing!"
She turned toward Conan.
"Conan, maybe we should show the treasure map to big brother! Maybe he can figure out where the treasure is right away!"
You believe him just because he said he's a detective? Conan complained internally.
I've never heard of any famous detective around here.
And a detective who gets excited about eel rice bowls can't possibly be reliable.
Conan sighed inwardly.
He himself—known as the Heisei Holmes—hadn't even managed to solve the cipher yet.
If some random self-proclaimed detective on the street cracked it immediately, where would that leave his dignity?
Unfortunately, despite his objections, he was still just a child in the group.
The other kids had already agreed.
Reluctantly, Conan handed the so-called treasure map to Jiang Hang.
Then he asked in an innocent childlike voice:
"Big brother, how long have you been a detective? Have you solved any big cases?"
"Haha," Jiang Hang laughed casually. "My detective agency actually opened today."
"So technically, this might be the first case I've ever accepted."
The moment Conan heard that, Jiang Hang's credibility in his mind instantly dropped to the same level as Kogoro Mouri.
Jiang Hang studied the paper.
At the top was a drawing of a tower, with a moon beside it.
Below were several strange shapes that seemed unrelated to each other.
At the very bottom, next to the last symbol, were the letters:
oro
"Oro…" Jiang Hang blinked.
In Italian, that word meant gold.
As for why he knew Italian, the answer was obvious—the system that had originally planned to send him to Florence had included Italian language mastery in the initial rewards.
"Treasure labeled in Italian…" Jiang Hang murmured thoughtfully. "Does that mean the person who hid the treasure might be Italian?"
Although Jiang Hang barely remembered the details of the original story, Conan looked genuinely surprised when he heard this.
Conan himself had spent quite a while searching through books before discovering that word's meaning.
Yet this ordinary-looking young man had recognized it instantly?
Maybe this guy was slightly more reliable than Kogoro Mouri after all.
Unfortunately, Jiang Hang's abilities basically stopped there.
If this had been a murder case, Eagle Vision might have revealed useful clues.
But a pure logic puzzle like this treasure map?
How was he supposed to know what those drawings meant?
He only knew that a gang had hidden gold coins somewhere. The rest of the details were completely forgotten.
So Jiang Hang simply started improvising.
"Well…" he said slowly. "This tower is probably Tokyo Tower."
"So the first step should be going there."
"I can't fully deduce the rest yet, but since the moon is drawn to the right side of the tower instead of underneath it…"
"Could that mean the treasure can only be found at night?"
Jiang Hang hadn't expected much from his random guess.
But the moment he finished speaking, Conan suddenly froze.
Then Conan slapped his hands together.
"I get it!"
Jiang Hang's body stiffened.
As expected of Conan.
He can actually extract the key clue from my nonsense.
Watching Conan suddenly adopt a mysterious, thoughtful expression, Jiang Hang felt an overwhelming urge to scream.
So what exactly did you figure out?!
Hurry up and say it!