"What are you looking at?"
The fat robber, who had just hung up the phone, noticed Fujino staring at him.
"What kind of little moves could I possibly pull?" Fujino said speechlessly, a hint of mockery in his tone. "The guns are in *your* hands, no need to be so nervous, right?"
The fat robber frowned, glanced at the gun in his hand, and felt like that made sense.
Thinking it over, he threatened, mixing firmness with leniency, "I'll be honest with you, we don't want to hurt anyone this time. Don't try any little tricks. Once the police honestly release our boss, I guarantee not a single hair on any of you will be harmed."
*Not a single hair harmed? You mean you'll just blow everyone straight to heaven, right? If I didn't already know you hid bombs on the bus, I might actually believe your nonsense today.* Fujino glanced at the fat robber, inwardly scoffing.
"Hand over all your phones, quick..."
The skinny, tall robber behind him was confiscating everyone's phones in the bus.
His gaze settled on Akai Shuichi, who was sitting in the middle of the back row. He just felt like the guy's eyes were a bit gloomy.
But thinking he was the robber, he emboldened himself and said unkindly, "Yeah, I'm talking to you! Hand over your phone, quick!"
"Cough, cough... I don't have a phone," Akai Shuichi said calmly, giving a light cough to indicate he didn't have one.
After all, strictly speaking, he was on a mission, and bringing a phone on a mission was pure suicide.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" The skinny robber clearly didn't believe him. What era was this, and someone didn't have a phone?
He pointed the gun at Akai Shuichi's head. "Stand up and take out everything in your pockets."
Akai Shuichi clearly felt a bit displeased by the robber's nagging. As an FBI agent who had long lived in the free United States, he was particularly sensitive to having a gun pointed at his head. At the same time, he was a little surprised by the guy's insistence on getting a communication device.
His subconscious wanted to just take the guy down... But remembering he was currently on a mission, he could only helplessly pull out his pockets, taking out a 'black lump' from inside.
*And you said you didn't have a phone?! Do you really think I'm stupid?* The skinny robber stared at the small black lump with a screen, immediately feeling annoyed.
He frowned, displeased. "Didn't you say you don't have a phone? What is this?"
Akai Shuichi replied calmly, "A voice recorder..."
"A voice recorder, really?" He clearly didn't believe Akai Shuichi's explanation.
"It's just a voice recorder," Akai Shuichi threw out a fabricated reason directly. "I'm a bit forgetful sometimes, so I use the voice recorder to keep track of my schedule... If you don't believe me, I can play it for you."
"Never mind! Even if it's a voice recorder, it's not allowed!" The skinny robber was a bit embarrassed about his misunderstanding. After taking the 'voice recorder', he turned to an old man next to him wearing an earphone. "Old man, what's that on your ear?"
"This is a hearing aid..." The old man was clearly frightened by the voice recorder incident and explained haltingly, "My hearing hasn't been very good since I was young, and I've always worn a hearing aid. This thing is very expensive, and if it gets bumped, it'll break. Look, it doesn't even have a microphone, it's not a communication device..."
"Tch." The skinny robber clicked his tongue, not wanting to do anything else that would make him lose face. He turned to the fat woman next to him. "Hey fatty, aren't you too loud?!"
"What's it to you...?" The fat woman clearly didn't feel any fear towards the robber and chewed her gum loudly. "What kind of manners do you have? Haven't you ever chewed gum? You can't do it without making noise... I advise you to give up earlier, anyway, you'll be caught sooner or later, might as well escape now..."
"Bang!"
Before the fat woman could finish, the robber shot at her. The bullet didn't hit the fat woman directly but grazed her shoulder, piercing the seat back next to her.
But it clearly scared her badly. "I get it! I'll spit it out right now!"
"Hmph, wouldn't it have been better to just listen earlier?" The robber sneered, took the fat woman's phone, then turned around and shouted to everyone, "You people must be very clear about your situation by now. As long as you don't move around randomly, we'll be fine. But if you dare to show any suspicious behavior, watch out, bullets have no eyes!"
Jodie had been quietly observing the two robbers. Seeing the robber who had just threatened Akai Shuichi walk over, she also withdrew her gaze.
At the same time, she casually changed the position of her crossed legs, extending her small foot, wearing boots just above the ankle, slightly into the aisle.
"Bang!"
The skinny robber unconsciously tripped over her extended foot and lost his balance, falling face-first onto the ground.
However, instinctively, he gripped the gun tightly, not letting it go.
Jodie slightly frowned at this, feeling a bit disappointed that her plan hadn't fully succeeded. Conan and Akai Shuichi also felt a bit of regret.
This sudden fall startled everyone and also attracted the attention of the fat robber up front. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
The skinny robber didn't reply, just pushed himself up from the ground and turned around, glaring viciously at Jodie. "You damned bitch..."
Jodie lowered her head, her glasses reflecting a pale white light, as if possessed by the God of Death elementary schooler.
"Jodie..." Vermouth, sitting next to her, couldn't help but prompt.
At this point, Jodie seemed to have just woken up, raised her head to look at the robber, and put on a pitifully innocent expression.
Standing up, she boldly grabbed the guy's handgun, constantly moving forward, trying to distract the robber, apologizing repeatedly in a mix of English and Japanese. "Oh! My god... I didn't even notice..."
The skinny robber couldn't help but break into a cold sweat at Jodie's reckless behavior. He quickly pushed her away, then said fiercely, "Watch out next time! Get back to your seat right now!"
*Seriously, her acting is quite convincing...* Fujino stood near the front of the bus, watching silently. He clearly saw that while Jodie was close to the robber distracting him, she had flipped the safety on the gun.
FBI women are quite terrifying, in a way.
This should create an opening to act.
Fujino's gaze fell on the two large bombs the two robbers had placed inside the ski bags nearby. Aside from the guns, they were still quite a threat.
In his memory, there weren't just these two people hijacking the bus this time; there was actually a third accomplice. That third person held the remote control to detonate this entire bus.
The countdown on the remote should be one minute.
One minute was clearly not enough time to defuse the bomb. With his single-for-years hand speed, disarming it would be simple, but the main issue was he didn't know the specific structure of the bomb. If it was a particularly complicated structure, forget one minute, it would probably take at least two minutes or more. That was a physical limitation. If he accidentally triggered the detonator, everyone would be finished if they didn't run.
"You little brat, what the hell are you doing?!"
While Fujino was thinking, the robber suddenly used the gun butt to fiercely smash Conan on the head, knocking him hard to the ground.
In the process, Conan's pendant-phone, which he had just been about to use to call the police, fell to the ground.
"You brat, playing with high-tech!" The skinny robber picked up the pendant-phone from the ground, examined it, then pointed the gun at Conan's head. "Were you trying to contact the police just now?"
Conan's pupils widened. He sat there at a loss, not knowing what to say. He was completely stunned.
"Hmph," the robber snorted. "If I catch you doing anything strange again, next time won't be just a beating... I guarantee it will be unforgettable."
With that, he turned and walked towards the front of the bus. He temporarily had no intention of killing a child; if they killed a hostage, the police wouldn't just stand by. Killing one is still killing, killing two is also killing, counter-terrorism deaths are the same principle, then they can just bow and be done with it later. Right now, what he needed to do was buy time for his boss to be released, then quickly escape and blow everyone up...
Recalling his thoughts, he took a deep breath, pulled out the pendant-phone, and examined it curiously. He hadn't expected technology to develop so quickly now, where a voice recorder is like a phone, and a phone is like a pendant. It was truly ridiculous that such an earring could be a phone. If he hadn't been alerted, he probably wouldn't have even noticed.
*Technology is getting more and more advanced these days...* He mused inwardly, tucking the earring into his pocket, planning to take it back for a good look.
"That's not Conan-science..." Conan scratched his head, puzzled by how he was discovered. He had taken out the pendant-phone to call the police while the guy had turned around. But he hadn't even pressed a button yet, and he was somehow found out.
*Did he have eyes in the back of his head?* That was clearly impossible.
"Could it be...!" Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something, turning his eyes towards the people behind him, his glasses flashing with a chilling white light. "There's a mole..."
*Finally figured it out?* Fujino slightly shifted his gaze, his peripheral vision sweeping towards the fat woman in the back row. That watch-like thing she was wearing on her hand must be the bomb controller. As long as he could control that thing, everything else would be easy to deal with...
Lost in thought, Fujino slightly closed his eyes, starting to search for a way out of the current situation. Taking on all three alone wasn't very realistic; even if he were as fast as someone with top-tier gear from a game like 2077, equipped with abilities like thousand substitutions or long-range military tech cheats allowing for time stops, twin fists are no match for four hands [a proverb meaning two people are stronger than one].
*Looks like I'll have to trouble Kuro again...* Fujino opened his eyes and thought of Kuro. In the current situation, using Kuro was arguably the most suitable option. It wouldn't be too flashy in front of the Beika deities, and he could take all the credit for subduing the criminals by himself.
As for the Beika Batman... Let them figure it out themselves. They could rack their brains and still never figure out what that thing truly was.
And the Beika Batman, along with a high school detective and a helpful passenger, subdue the criminals on the bus. Doesn't that sound perfectly reasonable? Fujino thought it sounded very reasonable.
With a thought, his shadow beneath his feet began to move in a strange way, like liquid. The dark liquid seemed sticky as it flowed towards the bus door, then climbed onto the roof, transforming into a human figure...
"This is Sato."
In the red Mazda following the bus, Sato Miwako drove with one hand, reporting the situation over the radio, while looking towards the top of the bus. "The bus is currently heading towards Takaido, speed around 50. There seems to be a white figure on the bus roof... Takagi, can you identify what that is from your position?"
"This is Point E, Takagi. I see the hijacked bus," Takagi reported from a building nearby, holding binoculars and looking at the bus passing by. "There are two criminals in total, wearing ski suits, ski goggles, and hats, can't see their faces, and they seem to be armed with guns... As for the white figure, there really is a white figure on the bus?!"
On the other end of the radio was the bus company. The atmosphere in the dispatch center was heated, with staff constantly making calls, likely reporting the situation to higher-ups or the media.
Megure Juzo stood in front of the receiving station.
"A white figure?" Megure was clearly surprised by Takagi's report. Hearing 'white figure', he couldn't help but think of that elusive 'large bat' who caused him countless overtime shifts and made his superiors furious late at night.
"Takagi, can you identify the white figure?"
"That's strange, I can't seem to see its face. Let me look closer..." Takagi aimed his binoculars at the bus again, squinting hard. "I see it clearly! That white figure... it seems to be the Beika Batman."
"That guy is involved too?" Megure Juzo couldn't help but sigh. "How does that guy always find criminals one step ahead of us...? Is he planning to act now?"
"Not yet, he's been on the roof for a while now," Takagi reported honestly. "Inspector Megure, what should we do now?"
"Takagi, you stay put there for now. Judging from the bus's route, they plan to drive in circles, so you should be able to see it again in a while," Megure said seriously, issuing orders. "Don't worry about the Beika Batman for now. That guy, however you look at it, is just a strange person who only targets criminals; he likely won't pose a life threat to the passengers."
"Understood!"
Just as Takagi's reply came in, Shiratori Ninzaburo walked up from behind and whispered to Megure, "Inspector Megure, the higher-ups have just made a decision... the safety of Fujino-kun and the passengers must be prioritized. So, Shimao Kunio, who is currently in police custody, will be released if we cannot handle the situation without risking lives."
"Damn it... is this the only way now?" Megure Juzo gritted his teeth. "If we act rashly, the other side might kill hostages... And they have an explosives expert among them. If there are bombs, everyone on the bus will die."
Shiratori also looked worried at this point. "That Beika Batman guy has also gotten involved. If he acts rashly without knowing there might be bombs on the bus, then it could be dangerous."
"Right now, we can only try to find a way to let that guy know about this." Megure Juzo broke into a cold sweat, picked up the radio, and ordered Sato Miwako, "Sato, find a way to get that guy not to act rashly. Ideally, you should establish contact and cooperate with us to rescue the passengers on the bus."
Putting down the radio, he felt a sense of powerlessness. He could only hope that the seemingly omniscient Beika Batman knew about the potential bombs on the bus and could quickly subdue those two. Despite feeling strange about it, he somehow felt that the other party could accomplish this, even if he was a vigilante who carried out his own brand of justice. It was mainly because they currently had no other options.
This feeling of powerlessness truly made him feel uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, Sato, who had received the order, wasn't feeling much better. She was driving right now; how was she supposed to make contact? Even if she used her police ID, writing with one hand while driving wasn't easy...
Just as Sato Miwako was feeling troubled, a crumpled paper ball suddenly hit her car window. Fortunately, she was an experienced driver and stayed perfectly steady. If it had been an ordinary person, they would have been startled. She looked up, trying to see where the paper ball had come from.
Then, she saw the white-robed figure wearing a bat mask (the Beika Batman) taking a whiteboard out from under his robe and writing something on it.
Sato Miwako: "..."
*Is he trying to pass a message?* Looks like it...
*So where did this thing come from?!*
(End of this chapter)