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"Boss, this place is on fire! Our job isn't false, resolving the target will be simple afterwards, but getting out will be rather troublesome."
The group of nearly ten thugs from Southeast Asia climbed to the upper floors via the emergency fire escape.
They saw the fire was intense, black smoke billowing thickly; three floors were already engulfed in fierce flames.
Although they had already run to higher floors and didn't need to worry about the fire below, if they caused trouble here, how to withdraw would also be a problem.
The dark, thin leader's eyes revealed killing intent. He said, "In our line of work, reputation is very important. If the mission isn't completed, who will hire us next time?"
"Over one hundred million yen isn't a small amount either. Completely unnecessary to kill an ordinary girl, the risk must be taken."
"The Japanese police are just a bunch of wastes. Are you actually afraid of those wastes?"
Hearing this, his subordinates all chuckled darkly.
They were all madmen who licked blood off the knife's edge for money. In their eyes, the Japanese police truly were just a bunch of wastes, soft like women.
"Alright, act directly! Make the incident big! After finding and resolving the target, withdraw immediately!"
The dark-skinned man licked his lips. Two claw knives appeared in his hands. He executed a flashy knife flourish and directly attacked a young woman nearby who had just escaped the fire and was regaining her composure.
The claw knife was extremely sharp, instantly slicing a huge gash across the abdomen and chest of the woman who hadn't even reacted yet.
The wound was deep enough to see bone; blood spurted out profusely. The dark-skinned man's eyes were full of savage pleasure. After killing one person, his bloodshot eyes turned towards the second person to kill.
The other killers/thugs from Southeast Asia followed their boss like tigers entering a flock of sheep, hacking at anyone they saw.
The people who had just escaped the fire scene, still calming their tense hearts, were stunned for a moment upon seeing the sudden arrival of these killers, then immediately turned tail and ran, screaming in terror.
"Murder! Killers!"
Most of the people running out from the library were students or young people. The upper floors of the entire building were packed with people, chaotic and noisy like a wet market.
Some held phones, cursing loudly, demanding the fire department quickly send fire trucks and rescue personnel.
Others, not minding stirring up trouble, took out their phones and started live-streaming the fire scene.
Conan, hiding in the crowd with a group of small children, twitched his ears. He seemed to hear shouts of "Murder!" coming from downstairs.
Hearing the shouts, not only was he not afraid, but his expression lit up with joy. Could it be, besides arson, there's also a murder scene?
Isn't this a great opportunity for me, the great detective, to step in?
Although Uncle Mori isn't here, making it inconvenient to use him to solve the case, casually finding someone on the scene should solve the problem too.
Thinking this, he immediately squeezed out of the crowd and ran downstairs.
Right now there's a fire downstairs, the culprit is among these people! He absolutely can't escape!
Seeing Conan rushing out anxiously, his group of companions didn't know what Conan was going to do, but they hurriedly followed along too.
"Conan, where are you going?"
Seeing these little brats following him, Conan felt speechless. He said: "I heard someone shouting 'murder' downstairs. Probably a homicide occurred."
Hearing there was a homicide, these little children weren't afraid either, instead saying excitedly: "Great! This is our big chance to show our skills! Detective Boys, attack!"
"Heheh..." Conan's mouth twitched. But seeing this group of kids had all followed, he had no choice but to lead them downstairs together.
"Hmph. Although there are many people here, culprit, you can't escape!"
Conan pushed up his glasses confidently. He was certain he could find the hidden culprit through clues.
Then, he regretted it.
Because there was no need to find the culprit at all.
This wasn't some murder case where the culprit killed someone then fled or hid. This was... an indiscriminate massacre!
Nearly ten dark-skinned men, wielding strange small knives, were brutally chasing down the screaming, fleeing crowd.
Whoever they caught up to, they just slashed down!
Although the small knives' lethality wasn't very high, making it hard to kill someone with one cut, they didn't care. As long as they could see blood, as long as they could injure people, they were satisfied.
Conan felt his hands and feet turn ice-cold.
He... he shouldn't have courted death by running here!
He had thought the case he encountered was like the past ones, where just finding the culprit in the crowd meant the other party would surrender and be taken away by the police.
But this time, what he saw was a group of true, desperate thugs!
"Hey, a group of little kids! Come, little friends, don't be afraid! Uncle will make it painless for you!"
A dark-skinned man laughed loudly, licked his lips, his eyes vicious as he charged towards Conan and the others.
"Ahhhh——" Genta, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko¹⁴ let out terrified screams. Conan, at the nick of time, suddenly kicked out, sending a nearby decorative object flying.
The decoration flew like a meteor, hitting the man's stomach, making him stumble back several steps.
Conan looked confident, initially thinking his kick could directly knock the opponent out.
However, the dark-skinned man grunted twice, clutched his stomach, stood back up, and roared angrily: "What the hell was that!? Kids, you're dead! I'm going to skin you alive!"
Conan was stunned.
He thought his usually infallible kick could solve the problem, didn't expect the opponent only felt a little pain, completely fine otherwise.
The murderers he faced in the past were just ordinary people with poor resistance to attacks, naturally couldn't withstand that kick.
But now he was facing truly trained thugs. Such an injury was fundamentally nothing!
Conan took two steps back, face full of fear, screaming hoarsely at Ayumi and the others: "Run! Let's run quickly!"
A group of small children ran back the way they came, crying loudly.
We're never playing Detective Boys again! We don't want to be skinned! Kamen Yaiba, save me!
"Yukino, here!"
Yukinoshita Haruno pulled her younger sister along with the crowded throng, following them up four floors above the level where the fire started.
Reaching here, the scorching heat was gone. Although fierce flames were still burning downstairs, their lives were no longer in danger.
"Where's Fujiwara-kun?" Yukinoshita Haruno realized Fujiwara Toru wasn't beside her. She anxiously looked around.
Yukino, still terrified and pale, bit her lip and said softly, "Probably just too many people just now, we got separated from him."
Haruno thought it made sense too. There were so many people just now; she only held onto her sister, not Fujiwara Toru. Pushed by the panicking, fleeing crowd, it was easy to get separated.
She also regretted a bit at this moment; she should have grabbed Fujiwara Toru then. Could only blame her own girlish reserve.
But quickly, Haruno let go of her worry, shaking her head. "Fujiwara-kun should be fine. He ran out of the fire scene with us. No matter which floor he's on now, he should be safe."
Yukinoshita Yukino nodded lightly. She also felt Fujiwara Toru should be fine. Although they got separated, they had run out of the library together just now; there shouldn't be a problem.
Haruno took out her phone and quickly typed.
A few seconds later, she received a message, her expression turning serious. "Fujiwara-kun is downstairs. He didn't go up. He told us not to move around randomly, no need to look for him, just wait for rescue."
Yukinoshita Haruno looked around. There were still too many people here; finding Fujiwara Toru would be very difficult. Listening to him and waiting here for rescue was the most correct choice.
"Didn't expect to encounter something like this just coming out once with Yukino." Haruno thought, relaxing slightly, then teased her sister.
She looked at her younger sister; her fair face had gotten somewhat blackened from the thick smoke earlier, looking quite comical, making her unable to resist laughing out loud.
Yukino snorted lightly, retorting, "You're the same! Your nose is all black from the smoke too."
Saying this, the distance between the two sisters seemed to narrow considerably.
This experience of escaping together seemed to have brought the two sisters much closer.
Just then, they heard panicked screams from the chaotic crowd nearby. "Murder! There's a group of madmen killing people everywhere!"
"What? A vicious murder incident occurred in the Tokyo library? A group of people are randomly attacking people with knives?"
"Okay, we'll head out right away! By the way, let me ask one more thing: those thugs don't have firearms like fully automatic M16s, right?"
The people from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Violent Crimes Investigation Section 3 were already spooked by the large-scale attack in the Tokyo suburbs last time.
Hearing another large-scale violent incident occurred, they subconsciously thought: Don't tell me the opponents are flying helicopters around bombing everywhere again!?
"Didn't hear gunshots? Okay, okay! That's good!"
"Quick! Stop dawdling! Everyone move out quickly!"
The department's police officers reacted swiftly, grabbing equipment and setting out.
Ever since the suburban research institute incident last time, these police officers had all been equipped with higher-spec bulletproof vests.
Although if they encountered the same kind of attack as last time, these bulletproof vests would be useless, it was still better than nothing.
Police cars, sirens blaring, arrived on the streets of Tokyo.
But contrary to Inspector Megure's expectations, a large fire had broken out at the crime scene!
The fire department was currently deploying ladder trucks, using high-pressure water hoses to try their best to extinguish the fire. But because the fire had continuously burned through three floors and the location was somewhat high up, it would likely take some time to completely extinguish it.
Inspector Megure found the person in charge from the fire department, asking when the fire could be put out.
Just then, Officer Sato stepped forward urgently. "Inspector Megure! Someone posted a video from inside the building online! They are asking for help!"
Inspector Megure quickly took Sato's phone. The contents inside made him furious, his eyes nearly splitting.
It was from a girl hiding in a corner.
In her video, a group of violent individuals, holding strange knives, were killing and hacking at anyone they saw!
One could only see over twenty people lying on the ground. Some showed no signs of life; some had blood streaming from wounds, letting out painful screams.
And the girl posting the video was even crying, speaking tremblingly to the screen: "Someone... someone come save us! There's a group of madmen killing people everywhere here! Someone come save us! I don't want to die!"
This short video of only a dozen seconds, posted on "X", was immediately forwarded countless times, causing a huge uproar on the Japanese internet.
"Where are Japan's police officers? Where are those police officers!? So many people died, those thugs are still killing, but why can't I see any police officers!"
"This bunch of wastes wasting taxpayer money! They should go to jail! Their corruption problems should be thoroughly investigated! They are all just pigs! A bunch of bloodsucking parasites!"
"Oh god, so many people actually died!"
"I'm at the scene! There's a fire in the building at the scene! The police officers fundamentally can't go up!"
"Excuses! All excuses!"
Inspector Megure, filled with a sense of justice, looked at the netizens' verbal attacks. His expression was unsightly, and also somewhat panicked.
Because he was indeed standing right here, unable to do anything.
The phone rang again. Inspector Megure answered the call. This call was actually from the Superintendent General of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, the highest position in the police department, Superintendent Hakuba.
As soon as he answered the phone, he heard Superintendent Hakuba roaring, spittle flying: "What are you bunch of rice buckets doing!? Just standing there watching?"
"When did our Japanese police department get such a bunch of wastes like you! You should all be fired!"
"The internet is right to curse! You're just a bunch of pure rice buckets who only know how to take taxpayer money but do nothing!!!"
Inspector Megure held the phone, being cursed at, not daring to talk back, quickly forcing a smile.
Superintendent Hakuba said urgently:
"Quick! All of you get moving! This is practically becoming a live broadcast! Chairman Fujiwara of the National Public Safety Commission just called me! The Commission attaches great importance to this matter!"
"If you still want to remain police officers, don't just stand there like idiots!"
Inspector Megure jumped upon hearing this.
The Superintendent General is the highest title for police officers, but the Superintendent General also needs joint approval from the Prime Minister (head of the cabinet) and the Public Safety Commission before taking office.
Meaning, the true highest authority in the police department is the Public Safety Commission!
For this matter to actually be noticed by the Public Safety Commission, it truly was a major incident!
The previous Tokyo suburban research institute incident, although casualties were heavier and the battle more intense...
But the scene back then wasn't broadcast live. Plus, it was located in the suburbs. The public actually didn't know much about the details, so the public opinion backlash wasn't large.
But this time was different! This was Tokyo's core area! This violent attack and murder incident was even broadcast live! The resulting public opinion impact was completely incomparable!
Inspector Megure roared, spittle flying: "Who's coming up with me!"
Over a dozen police officers volunteered. Inspector Megure picked officers he had relatively good relationships with, like Takagi and Sato, grabbed guns, and charged into the building.
The on-site supervisor from the fire department shouted loudly: "There's fire upstairs! You fundamentally can't get up there!"
Inspector Megure paid no attention. Was this a matter of fire? This was a matter of principle for police officers!
Even if they really couldn't get up, they had to wait at the fire scene, not just stand here doing nothing!
This vicious case occurring in Tokyo instantly received national attention.