New Eridu, Outer Ring——
"What's wrong with his appearance? I think Luocha's face is pretty great!" Recalling Luocha's nearly flawless features, Caesar couldn't fathom why "appearance" itself could be a target of suspicion for Mr. Welt.
Luocha was practically more handsome than the male leads in the romance movies she secretly watched. He didn't need to strike poses or rely on cinematic angles to highlight his looks. Just standing there, with the wind gently fluttering his white clothes, offering a soft smile in the sunlight, was an unbeatable charm no one could match.
Compared to him, those movie stars were just plain and tacky.
"Idiot Caesar, of course Mr. Welt isn't suspecting him just because of his looks," Lucy chuckled. "Didn't you see? Luocha clearly has some deep connection with Mr. Welt. We don't know the details yet, but this lady is certain that Luocha's up to no good!"
"Hm… really?"
Though Lucy's judgments were usually spot-on, this time Caesar chose to trust her instincts!
Words could deceive, but the gentleness and care Luocha showed were far more convincing than mere language!
["Uncle Yang! I thought you were going to reveal some earth-shattering secret, but you're just judging by appearances. Uncle Yang, judging people by their looks isn't good," March 7th teased, adopting the tone of a seasoned advisor.]
[Stelle: "I think he's pretty handsome…"]
["Sorry, I mean… ugh, it's hard to explain. Let's just say my 'instincts' tell me this Luocha might be trouble…" Welt tried to find a more acceptable phrasing, but seeing the confused expressions on Stelle and March 7th's faces, he gave up.]
["Sorry, it's just my speculation."]
["No worries, instincts are a key partner in the Commissioner's Office investigations. You say someone with his face must be a bad guy? Fine, I can accept that. But… I'm an officer, after all. I can't just go bothering someone based on that reason…" Da Hao looked troubled.]
["If I get dismissed from the department due to complaints, it'll leave a stain on my record, and it'd be hard to recover for centuries," Jing Yan explained kindly from the side.]
["Right, exactly… wait, what? Anyway, if you all want to investigate, I can make an exception and grant you access to the Fourfold Viewing Mirror."]
[Several images related to Luocha were preserved on the Fourfold Viewing Mirror. After Stelle rearranged them, March 7th was surprised to find one image of "two shadowy figures following a little girl" oddly familiar. "Huh? This? Isn't this a scene from The Fisherman's Case?"]
[Stelle, confused: "What plot are you talking about?"]
["The Fisherman's Case! That detective novel! There's a scene exactly like this one in it."]
[March 7th patiently explained to Mr. Welt, "It's the origin story of the Fisherman. He was originally an alchemist at the Alchemy Commission, but he got tangled up with the mysterious Tea-Drinking Society. Two men in black from the society caught him alone and forced him to drink poison."]
["This poison had an effect like the Vidyadhara's rebirth, making the Fisherman young again, turning him into a child. From then on, the young Fisherman pursued the Tea-Drinking Society while solving all sorts of bizarre cases."]
Detective Conan——
Ai Haibara covered her mouth, chuckling, and glanced at Conan beside her. "Say, this Fisherman doesn't also live with his childhood sweetheart, does he? And have a watch-shaped tranquilizer gun?"
"How could there be such a coincidence?" Conan's forehead broke out in a cold sweat. When March 7th described the Fisherman's story, it felt like she was reciting his own past.
Family, I'm sweating buckets…
"Hm, I think there's a possibility," Haibara mused, resting her chin. "The Xianzhou's technology far surpasses Earth's. Maybe they've been observing us from a place we can't detect? We might not feel it, but everyone could be monitored daily…"
Haibara tilted her head, smiling lightly. "And… Kudo, you're probably a key surveillance target, right?"
"Spare me that third-rate sci-fi novel setup," Conan forced a smile. "It's… uh, probably just a coincidence, right?"
["Why would a tea party be so ruthless…" Stelle muttered weakly.]
[Welt nodded in agreement. "Indeed, their tea might be on par with Himeko's coffee…"]
["The Tea-Drinking Society is just a codename. Do bad guys call themselves the Bad Guy Society? They'd pick a less menacing name to cover their tracks, right?"]
[Welt pondered briefly. "So, March, you're saying those two men in black are members of the Tea-Drinking Society, and that little girl is… a rejuvenated Luocha?"]
[March 7th furrowed her brow, lowering her voice dramatically. "It's possible this is a fanatical Fisherman's Case fan committing a copycat crime. After being shrunk, Luocha followed those two men… This case is getting scarier. It might even be a kidnapping!"]
Teyvat, Inazuma——
"Hm… I see now. If March were a detective, half of Inazuma would probably end up in the Tenryou Commission's cells."
"But she reminds me of Paimon. Last time, after reading Fontaine's mystery novels, Paimon insisted on solving cases with me."
At the Tenryou Commission, Heizou Shikanoin was leisurely sipping tea with Sara Kujou. Hearing March 7th's "entertaining" deductions, he nearly spat out his tea.
"Didn't you say your cases rely on intuition?" Sara Kujou said calmly. "So, what's your take on the truth behind Luocha?"
"Hey, I'm not a god. How could I see the truth through a screen? Wait, no… even gods couldn't do that, right?"
Heizou shook his head. "Anyway, that little girl and Luocha probably aren't connected, let alone the same person. Forget hair color— their genders don't even match."
"There are too few clues right now. If we had more footage, I might be able to give it a shot."
["Hold on, everyone… I just realized, this kid is Yinshu, the shopkeeper of Sanyu Bookstore," Jing Yan said after scrutinizing the image for a while.]
[Welt pulled up nearby footage, but none provided more valuable information. He decided to take the two to investigate on-site, hoping Yinshu might have more clues.]
[Yinshu was near the bookstore. After explaining the context, she confirmed she vaguely remembered the scene.]
[She'd seen the two men in black and a blond outlander at a clearing. Later, she went home to read, and the men in black left along the same path. As for the blond outlander… her mind was so focused on reading that she didn't pay much attention.]
[However, he did visit the bookstore later, flipping through a few books before handing one to Yinshu—a paper book… none other than The Fisherman's Case that March often mentioned!]