Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

"You're security guards, how come you were subdued so easily?"

As Tomizawa Chikage tied a tight knot in the bandit's rope, she interjected with a slightly teasing tone.

In her view, security guards should at least have some ability to resist.

"We didn't expect this either!"

Another thin security guard sighed helplessly; his lip was cracked, and he gasped for breath every now and then as he spoke.

"Normally after the mall closes, there are only the two of us in the whole building. We're used to the quiet, and we never expected anyone to break in."

"Moreover, they have weapons, and we are unarmed, so we can't fight them at all."

"Don't interrupt, let them continue."

Lin Xiuyi glared at Fu Zeqianying, signaling her to be quiet.

The girl pursed her lips, stopped talking, leaned against the wall, and stared warily at the doorway.

The chubby security guard swallowed hard and continued, "After tying us up, this group started searching for valuables in the mall and even asked us for the location of the warehouse."

"About ten minutes ago, I don't know where they heard the news, but they said that a girl had left a necklace worth tens of millions of yen in a shopping mall, so they came back and questioned us, asking if we had seen the necklace."

"We really didn't know!"

The thin security guard looked aggrieved, his eyes reddening.
"They didn't believe us, so they whipped us with belts until we couldn't take it anymore, and then we remembered the safe in the manager's office..."

"There were four thugs in total. Besides the one on the ground, where did the other three go?" Lin Xiuyi asked.

"They're probably all looking for the necklace upstairs, right?" the thin security guard replied uncertainly.

"correct!"

The chubby security guard suddenly remembered something.
"I vaguely heard them say that the girl who lost her necklace also went into the mall, but I was in so much pain at the time that I didn't hear it clearly."

Lin Xiuyi frowned as he looked at the two security guards. They were strangers to each other, and the two security guards were clearly not the people who had called the izakaya earlier.

So, the person making the call was very likely the "girl who lost her necklace"?

Did she encounter danger in the mall, which is why she called for help?
Lin Xiu glanced at the two security guards; one had a swollen arm from being slapped, and the other was limping. Clearly, they couldn't be relied upon for help.

"You two stay here and keep an eye on this bandit. Don't let him wake up. After we leave, lock the door from the inside. Even if you hear any noise outside, don't come out."

After giving instructions to the two security guards, Lin Xiuyi turned to look at Tomizawa Chikage.

"Let's go upstairs to find someone and make sure the girl is safe first."

"Be careful!" the chubby security guard hurriedly warned. "The stun guns we kept in the duty room were also stolen by those thugs. One of them was even wearing our security uniform. Be careful if you encounter them!"

Lin Xiu nodded, noted the information, and led Fu Zeqianying out of the security guard's office.

As soon as she closed the door, Tomizawa Chikage couldn't help but lower her voice and ask, "Hey, who do you think called the izakaya just now? Knowing the izakaya's phone number means they must be someone you know, right?"

"how could I know?"

Lin Xiuyi's gaze swept across both sides of the corridor, his ears carefully listening to the sounds around him.
"The most important thing now is to find the person; we can talk about the rest once we're safe."

"Tch, aren't you usually pretty good at this? How come you're clueless now? Great detective?"

Tomizawa Chikage pursed her lips, about to say something more, when Hayashi Shuichi suddenly covered her mouth. As a seasoned thief, the girl instantly realized there was definitely movement nearby!
She immediately shut her mouth, held her breath, and listened carefully.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the voices of two men came from the depths of the corridor. The voices were not loud, but they were particularly clear in the quiet mall.

"Damn it! Where did that girl go?!"

A man's frustrated complaint
"We've searched the entire second floor, but we haven't seen a soul! Could it be that she didn't come down from the third floor?"

"Impossible! My brother and I both heard noises in the stairwell just now; she must have run downstairs!"

Another voice immediately retorted,
"Maybe she's hiding behind some shelf? Let's search carefully again and make sure we catch her! Otherwise, if she runs out and calls the police, we're finished!"

Lin Xiuyi and Tomizawa Chikage exchanged a glance, both seeing wariness in each other's eyes.

Those two voices clearly belonged to the remaining bandits!
They are looking for the girl and have already reached the vicinity of the first-floor corridor!
Lin Xiuyi gently released his hand from covering Tomizawa Chikage's mouth and gestured with his eyes for her to hide behind the nearby shelf.

The two quickly slipped into the nearby shelf, held their breath, and cautiously peered through the gaps in the goods towards the end of the aisle.

The footsteps grew closer, and the beams of flashlights swayed back and forth between the shelves, clearly indicating that the bandits were heading this way.

"It's all your fault! If you hadn't let that girl in on your own initiative, we would have already taken the valuables and left!"

One of the bandits spoke with anger, clearly venting his frustration at not being able to find anyone on his companion.
"If we don't find the necklace tonight, all our efforts will have been for nothing!"

"You're blaming me? If we find the necklace, aren't you going to give me a share of the money?"

Another bandit immediately retorted, his tone full of defiance.

"I was just trying to get everyone to make more money! Who knew that girl could run so fast and hide like a mouse! Besides, if you hadn't misheard the noise, we wouldn't have wasted so much time on the third floor!"

The two argued as they walked past the shelf where Lin Xiuyi and Tomizawa Chikage were hiding.

One of the robbers held a flashlight, its beam flailing erratically in front of him, occasionally sweeping across the shelves.

Suddenly, a blinding beam of light swept straight toward the spot where Lin Xiuyi was hiding.

He instinctively held his breath and suddenly looked down. The beam of light grazed the top of his head, almost blinding him.

Fortunately, the robbers were busy arguing and did not notice the abnormality behind the shelf. The beam of light swept over them and then quickly moved away.

After confirming that the thief had walked past the shelf, Lin Xiu waved to Fu Zeqianying.

The girl immediately understood and picked up a mop for sale next to her.

The two tiptoed out from behind the shelves.

Lin Xiuyi moved towards the bandits on the left, while Tomizawa Chikage circled around to the right.

At this moment, the two bandits were still arguing about "who should be responsible," completely unaware of the danger behind them.

"It's all because of you..."

Just as the thug on the left was about to continue complaining, Lin Xiuyi suddenly stepped forward, covered his mouth with her left hand, tightly strangled his neck with her right arm, pressed her knee against his lower back, and pulled him backward forcefully.

Caught off guard, the bandit dropped his flashlight with a clatter to the ground.

He struggled to resist, but Lin Xiuyi held him firmly, rendering him unable to move... (End of Chapter)