"So the triangular neon light was in that position?"
A light bulb went off in Conan's mind, and all the clues connected.
"I know!" Conan suddenly looked up, excitedly pointing to the abandoned warehouse by the bridge. "The Maple Leaf Gold Coin is in there!"
With that, Conan and the Detective Boys prepared to set off again.
"Wait, Conan! And the other children."
Rin reached out and stopped Conan, then squatted down to the panting, sweaty children and said with concern:
"The detective game can wait. You all run yourselves ragged. Take a rest first, Nee-chan will buy you ice cream."
"But…" Conan was anxious. Faced with the riddle he had already solved, he was eager to confirm it.
"No buts. The abandoned warehouse is pitch black. It would be an adult's dereliction of duty to let you children go to such a place alone."
Rin patted the children's heads and then pointed to Ran, who was battling Sonoko and Ellen in the arcade.
"Let's wait until Ran-neechan and them finish this round, then we can all go treasure hunting together."
Under the temptation of ice cream, Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi all defected.
"Of course we want free ice cream. We'll have the energy to hunt for treasure after we've rested," Genta said first, raising his fist at Conan.
It was as if he would punch Conan if he dared to refuse.
"Let's listen to this onee-san, Conan. She's doing it for our own good," Mitsuhiko took the opportunity to ask Rin for her name and introduced the other members of the Detective Boys.
During this break, Rin informed Nicole and the others via Fairy about the location of the Maple Leaf Gold Coin that Conan had deduced.
By the time Rin and Conan's group set off again, it was 10 minutes later.
They arrived at the second floor of the abandoned warehouse.
Conan was about to point out the location of the Maple Leaf Gold Coin hanging from the rafters.
"Nobody move!" A rough shout came.
Three masked thugs with handguns blocked the stairwell.
The mustachioed man leading them scanned everyone with fierce eyes, finally settling on Conan: "Kid! Tell us! Where is the Maple Leaf Gold Coin hidden?!"
Under the cold muzzles of the guns, the Detective Boys huddled together in fear. Genta and Mitsuhiko silently stepped back, shielding Conan.
"Who are you?" Ran's face was pale, but she still spread her arms, blocking Conan.
Sonoko stammered, "They're an Italian gangster group. I saw their wanted poster on a street TV before."
"Gangster group…" Ran was completely terrified.
Because Ellen was present, Rin appeared relatively calm, but to fit in, she also pretended to be very scared, hugging Sonoko.
Only Ellen seemed oblivious to the tense atmosphere, standing by herself, unwrapping a lollipop and eating it.
Woo-wah—Woo-wah—Woo-wah—
Just at this critical moment, a piercing siren sounded, approaching from a distance. Through the window, Inspector Megure could be seen leading his men to surround the place.
"Damn it! How did the cops get here so fast?!" The mustachioed leader's face drastically changed.
"Boss, what do we do?" The tall, thin gangster panicked, his hand holding the gun trembling.
"How about we fight them?" Another short, fat gangster loaded a bullet into his gun, aiming at the stairwell.
"Idiot, don't shoot."
The mustachioed leader's eyes were ruthless as he looked at Ran and her group.
"There are too many police. We can't beat them. Grab hostages first! With hostages in hand, they won't dare to act rashly!"
The tall, thin gangster scanned the crowd and noticed Ellen, who looked completely defenseless and a little distance from the others. He thought she was the easiest target.
"You're the one!"
The tall, thin gangster let out a sinister laugh and lunged at Ellen, his large hand grabbing fiercely at her slender shoulder. "Come here, little lady!"
"Ellen! Watch out!" Ran screamed.
Conan also thought Ellen was about to become a hostage.
Bang—
A dull thud sounded.
Ellen sidestepped and lashed out with her tail.
Under the interference of the World's Will, Ellen's tail whip appeared to Conan and the others as a side-kick.
The tall, thin gangster who had lunged forward was like someone hit by a speeding truck, flying backward in an exaggerated manner.
With a crash, he slammed heavily into the concrete wall several meters away, then slid down softly, his fate unknown.
The entire warehouse instantly fell silent.
The short, fat gangster and the gangster boss stared in disbelief, their jaws almost dropping to the floor.
Inspector Megure and the police officers who had just crashed through the window were also stunned. Are high school students this fierce now?
Ran was the first to react, exclaiming in surprise, "What incredible leg work! Is Ellen also a karate master? I barely even saw that kick!"
"Useless! You can't even handle a scrawny schoolgirl."
The gangster boss snapped out of his shock and violently pushed the short, fat gangster next to him.
"You go! Grab her for me!"
"Me?"
The short, fat gangster stumbled, looking at his fallen comrade, and pointed at himself.
The gangster boss said angrily, "Are you suggesting it should be me? This schoolgirl is just a little good at kicking. You watch her legs, a slide tackle, and she's yours!"
The short, fat gangster thought that made sense.
How strong could a high school student be? The tall, thin gangster was just careless and didn't dodge.
He guarded against Ellen's kick, let out a roar, and charged at Ellen like a wild bull.
Ellen showed a look of disdain, bit through her lollipop with her fangs, spun around, and lashed out with her tail again.
"Bang!"
Another dull thud.
The short, fat gangster flew like a kite with a broken string, arcing through the air, and landed precisely on the tall, thin gangster who was slumped against the wall, piling up on top of him.
The police officers were completely petrified. Inspector Megure even rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
"Another useless one!" Seeing the police already surrounding them, the gangster boss disregarded everything and lunged at Ellen again. "I'll take you down myself!"
The outcome was without suspense.
Another dull thud.
The gangster boss flew backward in the same exaggerated manner, following in his subordinates' footsteps, crashing heavily beside the two, and passed out with his eyes rolling back.
"Quick! Quick! Control them!"
Inspector Megure snapped out of his daze and hastily directed his subordinates.
The police officers swarmed forward, quickly handcuffing the three unconscious gangsters.
Conan quickly jumped out and found Inspector Megure, pointing to the cloth bag hanging from the warehouse rafters: "Inspector Megure, the Maple Leaf Gold Coins that these gangsters robbed are hanging up there."
"What?"
Recovering the Maple Leaf Gold Coins was a great achievement. Inspector Megure quickly called for assistance. "Takagi, quickly organize people to retrieve the Maple Leaf Gold Coins."
The police immediately took action.
Takagi took down the canvas bag, squeezed it with his hand, and said excitedly, "It really is Maple Leaf Gold Coins."
"But the weight seems a bit off."
In front of everyone, Takagi opened the bag.
A pile of shiny Maple Leaf Gold Coins was revealed.
The only pity was that each of these Maple Leaf Gold Coins had a "best before" date printed on it.
"Wh-What?!"
Inspector Megure was stunned and quickly took out a Maple Leaf Gold Coin, peeling back the golden foil wrapper.
"These are all chocolates inside."
"Cho-Chocolates?!"
The trio of gangsters, who had regained consciousness after being handcuffed, cursed angrily, unable to accept the fact. "Impossible! We clearly robbed Maple Leaf Gold Coins! How can they be chocolates?!"
Conan was equally incredulous, pretending to be a greedy child and running over.
"Wow! It's chocolate, I want to eat it!"
Before the police could react, he quickly grabbed a Maple Leaf Gold Coin chocolate from the bag, his eyes quickly scanning the markings on its packaging.
Production date: Three days ago.
"No, Conan, these are all evidence and need to be taken back." Officer Takagi, who had become familiar with Conan, snatched the Maple Leaf Gold Coin from Conan's hand and put it back in the bag.
Conan lowered his head with a disappointed expression.
He began to brainstorm.
The Maple Leaf Gold Coin chocolates' production date was three days ago.
This meant that the Maple Leaf Gold Coins had only recently been swapped.
Conan turned to look at Rin, somewhat suspecting that she had been intentionally stalling for time earlier.
But then he reconsidered. Ling had no time to commit the crime. She had been with everyone the whole time and hadn't made any phone calls.
So he ruled out her suspicion and turned to Officer Takagi.
"Officer Takagi, you responded so quickly this time. Who called the police?" Conan asked casually.
Takagi replied offhandedly, "It was a kind person with dark skin. The caller said he saw Italian gangsters following a group of children here, so we acted immediately."