"??? " Baishi Hui felt as if he had misheard something.
"Sonoko! Snap out of it!" Ran turned to look at her best friend.
Seeing her expression, she felt a jolt in her heart, thinking, 'Oh no, she's infatuated again!'
She quickly reminded her, "Now is not the time for you to be infatuated!"
"I'm not infatuated! He wants to kidnap me, which means he has feelings for me!" Sonoko replied to Ran with a giggle, "He definitely has a thing for me, otherwise, why would he specifically kidnap me out of so many rich people?"
Upon hearing this, Ran suddenly felt as if the sky had fallen. She shook Sonoko, trying to wake her up, "Wake up!! He doesn't mean that!! Right? Shirashi-kun!!"
Saying that, Ran turned to look at Baishi Hui, trying to get his approval.
Baishi Hui nodded cooperatively.
"Even so, this Shirashi-kun still needs my help!" Sonoko giggled, pushed Ran away, walked over, and whispered softly, "Shirashi-kun, how much ransom do you need?"
"…" Baishi Hui experienced Sonoko's infatuation for the first time.
No wonder she was so easily tricked into coming out by a love letter.
"No need, I don't want to continue making mistakes," he shook his head and refused.
"But, aren't you still in debt to loan sharks?" Sonoko even showed concern for him, saying, "If you don't pay back this money, they'll probably keep bothering you, right?"
"…" Baishi Hui couldn't refute her. This matter also gave him a headache.
As soon as he transmigrated, he was inexplicably saddled with a kidnapping charge, not to mention a mountain of debt!
And it was from loan sharks!
Just hearing the name, he knew these guys wouldn't let him go until they had squeezed every last drop out of him!
"Oh, don't put too much pressure on yourself," Sonoko gently advised, "I can tell you're a good person, otherwise you wouldn't have kidnapped us and then let us go… Right, Ran?"
She turned to look at her good friend.
"...Mm." Ran hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
She could also tell that the person in front of her, who was about the same age, wasn't a completely bad person.
There was still hope for him!!
"How about this, I'll give you a sum for the ransom first, and you can pay off the loan sharks. When you earn money later, you can pay me back then," Sonoko proposed.
This proposal greatly tempted Baishi Hui.
Paying off the loan sharks first, and then when he became a well-known Detective, earning money would be much easier.
At that time, wouldn't it be fine to pay Sonoko back with interest?
Moreover… maybe he could even exploit a bug and complete the system mission this way.
Thinking of this, Baishi Hui said, "I owe 100 million Japanese Yen to loan sharks. This amount is a bit much. If I can't pay it all at once, the interest will keep compounding!"
"One… 100 million Japanese Yen?" Ran couldn't help but exclaim when she heard the amount.
"100 million Japanese Yen?" Sonoko also exclaimed when she heard the number.
"It wasn't originally 100 million Japanese Yen, but with compounded interest…" Baishi Hui made a helpless expression.
"Oh, I thought it was more," Sonoko patted her slightly heaving chest and laughed, "I can still come up with that much money."
As soon as she said this, Baishi Hui was stunned.
He admitted that he was inexperienced and didn't know how wealthy the daughter of a zaibatsu could be.
But now, he had a preliminary understanding.
100 million Japanese Yen, and she could just come up with it herself?
How much money do you actually have?
Truly inhumanly wealthy!!!!
"Wait a moment, I'll have the butler bring it over now." Sonoko said, taking out her phone and making a call, "Butler, please get 100 million Japanese Yen from my safe."
"Then bring it to Minhua Park."
"Thirty minutes? Mm-hmm… Call me when you arrive."
After hanging up the phone, Sonoko put her phone away and laughed, "Alright!! The butler will bring it over in thirty minutes."
"…Thank you." Baishi Hui didn't know what to say, so he could only silently reconstruct his worldview.
Is this the world of the rich?
100 million Japanese Yen, just like that?
It's truly enviable!!
Sonoko said enthusiastically, "Oh, you're welcome! We're friends!"
A rich woman's smile is always so infectious.
This friend, I'm definitely keeping you!
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Half an hour later, at the entrance of Minhua Park.
Baishi Hui received the heavy money box from the butler. This was not just money, but also Sonoko's trust in him.
"Thank you, Suzuki-san." He turned to look at the smiling Sonoko and said seriously, "I will return this money to you as soon as possible."
"You're welcome, Shirashi-kun." Sonoko waved her hand and laughed, "Use this money to start a new life!!"
"Mm-hmm, you absolutely must not do anything wrong again," Ran also admonished.
"Definitely!" Baishi Hui gave an affirmative answer.
"Alright, you go pay the money now! We'll see each other at school tomorrow," Sonoko waved goodbye.
"Okay, see you at school tomorrow!" Baishi Hui didn't waste any more words, took the money box, and left.
Sonoko felt that she had used a trivial amount of money to save a classmate who had gone astray.
This made her feel very satisfied internally, and her entire soul felt uplifted!!
Sonoko turned to Ran and said, "It's still early, how about we go shopping again?"
"Sounds good!" Ran readily agreed.
Sonoko told the butler to go back first, while she continued shopping with Ran.
While shopping, the two of them unexpectedly Ran into Shinichi.
"Oh? Why are there only two of you?" Shinichi was very surprised. He knew about Sonoko receiving a love letter.
He thought of something and teased, "Sonoko, don't tell me you got played? Nobody showed up!!"
"Who said that? I waited! And it was a handsome guy!!" Sonoko was annoyed by Shinichi's "I see through everything" expression.
"Ah? Someone actually showed up?" Shinichi was shocked. He kindly reminded her, "Then you need to be careful. Maybe that guy is approaching you because he's after your money!"
"By the way, what's his name? I'll do a background check for you!"
"Who knows, maybe this guy is deep in debt and wants to extort money from you to pay it off!"
As he spoke, he suddenly noticed that both Ran and Sonoko's expressions weren't looking good.
This made Shinichi pause, and he guessed, "Don't tell me… I hit the nail on the head?"
"Shirashi-kun isn't that kind of person! There's a reason he did what he did!!" Sonoko quickly retorted.
"Yes, yes!! Shirashi-kun just acted impulsively and did something wrong!" The kind Ran also chose to believe Baishi Hui.
"…You…you two!!" Shinichi's heart sank when he saw their reactions, realizing that something was wrong!
These two might have been tricked!!
He quickly said, "Tell me, what exactly happened!!"