In the world of Detective Conan, however, he was bound to the Naruto System.

Chapter 280 Team Building

Chapter 280 Team Building

In the transparent elevator of the Starlight Hotel, Conan stared intently at the tables and chairs in the empty square below. When the angle was right, he widened his eyes and pressed his entire body against the glass.

"That's right, from this angle it really does look like a crab, and if the airship passes Mihara Park and is level with the chimney of the cleaning factory, it really does look like a whale spouting water!"

Although there is no whale airship now, it is not difficult for Conan to imagine the scene since he has seen what the airship looks like and knows its flight path.

"Looks like this is the right area."

Akutagawa Hiko pulled out a photo from his pocket and casually ruffled Conan's hair: "Now we can only use the brute force method. Let's start from the twentieth floor and ask our way up, one floor at a time."

The two jogged along, asking questions as they went, and finally learned Guitai's location from a cleaning lady in the hotel room; it was on the 24th floor.

The two exchanged a glance, and Akutagawa Hiko pulled out a spider-shaped monitor and let it slip through the crack in the door. Both of them stared intently at their phone screens.

"It's Keita!"

Conan breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the kidnapped child was not harmed and was happily entertaining himself with Kamen Rider toys, while a woman was frowning and watching over him.

On the other side, a man wearing a baseball cap was on the phone, constantly threatening and urging Endo to prepare the remaining 20 million yen as soon as possible, or he would kill his son.

It seems that Endo is indeed trying to buy time for the two of them.

Akutagawa took Conan's bowtie voice changer, adjusted it, cleared his throat, rang the doorbell, and knocked on the door. A sweet voice came from the voice changer: "Hello, room service."

The two people inside the room clearly lacked the vigilance expected of outlaws. The man cursed as he opened the door, and Conan took the opportunity to slip in silently from the man's blind spot.

"We didn't order room service. Get out of here right now, or we'll file a complaint!"

Before he could finish speaking, the man suddenly noticed that the person in front of him was not a waiter who was easy to handle, but a tall, unfamiliar man.

Without wasting words, Akutagawa Hiko delivered a karate chop to the man's neck.

The kidnapper in front of them did not possess the physical abilities to break the laws of science; he simply let out a muffled groan and collapsed to the ground.

Akutagawa dragged the man into the room. Conan had already dealt with the woman, while Keita cowered in a corner, trembling: "Who are you? Why did you hurt Uncle and Auntie?!"

Conan rolled his eyes and was about to explain when Akutagawa Hiko handed the already connected phone to Keita.

"Not all children are reasonable. Let Mr. Endo explain to his son. Finally, we can call the police and let Inspector Megure handle the aftermath."

Inspector Megure arrived at the scene quickly.

Since the kidnappers had been subdued, they didn't bring many people with them. Besides Officer Takagi, there were only two very familiar-looking background police officers.

"Brother Akutagawa, that's not very kind of you. You only called us now to tell us about this kidnapping case. You have no idea how those unscrupulous media outlets will fabricate stories about us."

While the police officers were escorting the two robbers to the police car, Inspector Megure said, half complaining and half joking, clearly having suffered greatly as a result.

After all, in pursuit of traffic, not only the recently emerging self-media, but also various newspapers can produce a bunch of articles that are fabricated out of thin air, difficult to justify, yet very eye-catching.

"Sigh, I had no choice but to do this. At Mr. Endo's insistence, calling the police might backfire and completely cut off our only channel of contact with the kidnappers."

That's the logic, but if those unscrupulous media outlets were reasonable, they wouldn't be so despised.

They cannot simply and crudely issue orders to prohibit or rectify the situation, otherwise it will inevitably attract a greater public outcry and widen the rift between the police and the public.

Despite people saying that the Japanese police are a bunch of trash, paid for by taxpayers but ineffective, there is still some trust in them because of their efforts.

Fortunately, Endo arrived and was willing to step in, which somewhat stopped the media from attacking him.

"This is the only way—"

Back at the office, Akutagawa Hiko was full of questions.

Is Subaru Okiya preparing to be a permanent resident at the agency?

"Boss, it's like this. I've come to realize how weak I am. I have no power to protect myself in this dangerous world. So I've decided to take a break from school for a while and focus on learning from you."

Akutagawa nodded and did not refuse. Anyway, the room in the office was empty, and if an emergency occurred, the men could squeeze together.

Afterwards, Toshiya Tadokoro, having finished tidying up the mailbox, came over with a letter in his hand. It was a reply slip and invitation for a Sherlock Holmes-themed tour.

Although this isn't a letter of authorization, since the boss personally wrote the application and the other party is now extending a warm invitation, it must fall into the category of something that the boss has to handle personally.

When he received the reply, it took Akutagawa some time to remember that "a few days ago" he had spent some time filling out a Sherlock Holmes-related questionnaire and signing up for a tour group.

Akutagawa Hiko doesn't have a compelling reason to go right now, but it's a rather rare serial murder case, and he'd still like to join in the fun.

However, Akutagawa Hiko wasn't entirely sure whether the serial murder case actually occurred at this year's Sherlock Holmes fan gathering; it depended on whether Conan was invited. If he remembered correctly, Hattori Heiji had also signed up.

As for whether Akutagawa Hiko would accept the invitation, that remains to be seen.

After all, in the beginning, Heiji Hattori only signed up for the event because he wanted to find the missing Shinichi Kudo and knew that Shinichi Kudo was a Sherlock Holmes fan.

Heiji Hattori seems to prefer Ellery Queen to Conan Doyle.

After learning that Conan is Shinichi Kudo, he seems to have lost his reason for coming here.

However, Akutagawa received a call from Osaka, which dispelled his doubts.

Clearly, Hattori from Kansai still wanted to compete with Kudo from Kanto, even in the Holmes trivia, where he should be at a disadvantage.

Moreover, he thought that if he could manage to stand out from the crowd of Sherlock Holmes fans, he might be able to use the first edition of the Scarlet Letter he had won to tempt Conan into a contest of deduction.

Akutagawa Hiko neither agreed nor disagreed with this idea, saying it would just be a team-building activity.

Moreover, after so many days, Akutagawa Hiko was also very curious whether Hattori Heiji had collected any information about the Black Organization.