Quick Question: Would you guys rather the 3 chapters be released together, or throughout the day like now?
Jangxia Tongzhi was on his way to Maru Denjiro's house when his phone suddenly rang.
Judging by the ringtone, it was the organization-issued device.
Jangxia pulled over on his motorcycle and answered.
Gin's voice came through the receiver: "Head to Beika City Hotel immediately. There might be a billion yen in cash stored at the front desk. Get it and wait for me at the clock tower in the west district."
And with that, he hung up.
Jangxia: "…"
He stared at the phone in silence for a few seconds, then turned his bike around and headed to the hotel Gin had mentioned.
At the last intersection, Xiaobai had suddenly wiped the corner of his mouth and happily announced that he could smell Gin.
Jangxia twitched his fingers, wanting to send something up to sniff instinctively, but after glancing at the road, he gave up—it was a bit too far, and Gin was sitting inside a car.
Thinking about it now, Gin probably saw him too and picked a nearby tool person on the spot. Just like how teachers randomly grab students walking by to help move stuff.
On the way to the hotel, Jangxia mulled over the phrase "a billion in cash" and figured out what was going on.
From memory, the only incident involving the organization, a hotel, and a billion yen all at once was the robbery pulled off by Miyano Akemi.
—After grabbing a billion yen, Akemi had planned to use the money to buy her sister's freedom from the organization.
But worried the organization would screw her over, she didn't bring the money to the deal. She left it hidden in the hotel where she'd been staying.
Gin must've either predicted that move or noticed during surveillance that she wasn't carrying that much cash—so he guessed the money was still stashed in the hotel.
…
Stealing a suitcase from a hotel didn't sound that hard.
But Jangxia remembered that Miyano Akemi had gotten Conan's help to recover the billion yen after it was stolen by her accomplices.
With Conan involved, what should've been a basic "grab the cash" mission instantly got upgraded to a nightmare-tier, time-attack stealth quest: "Steal the money before the police show up, don't get caught, and absolutely do not blow your cover."
Getting caught by the cops or exposed in any way = possible execution by Gin.
And if you die at Gin's hands… you'll only be able to take his corpse afterward.
Still, Jangxia preferred a younger host body that matched his own age. Gin was too busy anyway, constantly buried in missions. If Jangxia had to take over that body, he already felt exhausted just imagining it.
Luckily, even with tons of surveillance, sneaking into a hotel and walking off with a suitcase wasn't that tough for a psychic.
Jangxia arrived quickly at the Beika City Hotel.
But instead of heading in, he slipped into a nearby café, ordered a Coke, and picked a seat close to the bathroom.
After making sure no one else was inside, a few Shikigami slid out from beneath his feet and slipped through the bathroom door crack.
Xiaobai also wriggled in, then merged with the Shikigami and formed into a puppet of a little boy.
Outside, Jangxia flipped open a magazine and positioned himself like he was reading.
Then, his consciousness entered the puppet.
The puppet's clothes were generated based on the personality of the possessing ghost.
Jangxia could tweak the look a bit, and how much he could adjust depended on how many paper shikigami he used.
He raised the puppet's collar to cover the neck, messed up the hairstyle, and erased any distinct features. Then, he opened the bathroom window and climbed out.
The puppet's body was small.
But Jangxia had poured his own strength into it, so it was way stronger than an ordinary kid.
He ran to where his motorcycle was parked and pulled a few items from beneath the seat—stuffing what he could into his pockets, tucking larger stuff under his shirt or in the front of his hoodie.
Then he sprinted toward the hotel's back cargo lane and bumped straight into a delivery truck that had just finished unloading and was about to pull out.
The driver freaked when he saw a kid suddenly sprawled in front of his truck. He jumped out of the cab in a panic to check.
Jangxia used the opportunity to knock the guy out cold, dragged him away, and hid him.
After hijacking the cash transport truck, Jangxia slipped into the hotel lobby and planted bombs at a few pre-scouted spots.
It was dinnertime, and the lobby was packed with guests. Suddenly, explosions rang out, throwing the entire place into chaos.
The front desk staff rushed to lock the cash storage, then evacuated in a panic—leaving the space behind the counter empty.
Jangxia tugged down the brim of his hat, slipped behind the counter, and looked up at the massive luggage locker.
There weren't many bags—most guests preferred to leave their luggage in their rooms rather than with the front desk.
Jangxia scanned the area and quickly spotted three identical suitcases.
He yanked one down, cracked it open a little, peeked inside, and saw it was packed with cash.
After confirming it was the right one, he struggled to stack the three suitcases—each taller than him—onto a luggage cart.
Before rolling out, Jangxia glanced around, then picked up a large handbag nearby.
He dumped its contents onto the floor, tossed the now-empty bag onto the cart, and pushed it out discreetly.
The delivery truck he'd hijacked was still sitting out back.
Jangxia loaded the cash and the handbag into the truck, climbed into the driver's seat, and started the engine.
This puppet was way too short to drive properly.
Jangxia floored it anyway, tearing through back roads with minimal traffic until he reached a quiet spot.
He parked, left the puppet body behind, and shifted his consciousness back to his real body.
Back in the café, he stood up, paid the bill, and strolled out.
He jogged through the alleyways for a bit, now wearing a hat, mask, and gloves. When he reached the parking area, he found the delivery truck with the loot just as he'd planned.
Jangxia climbed in, grabbed the puppet from the passenger seat, stuffed it into the large handbag, zipped it shut, flipped the bag into the back seat…
Then, with everything in place, he drove to the location Gin had specified.
As he drove, he popped a ghost mint to replenish his energy—running around using a puppet was seriously draining.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 23/60(approx)*
Glossary:
Tool person: A pawn or someone being used for errands or grunt work.