No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

Kitahara Masaki smiled as he watched the children who had started tormenting Takagi again.

----------------

"So now I, a first-grader, have to pretend to be a little kid who's about to transfer to a new kindergarten?"

Kitahara Maki was holding Haibara's hand as they walked toward the kindergarten where Yan Qiufu attended.

"There's nothing I can do about it. If a grown man like me suddenly appeared in front of the kindergarten, it would be too conspicuous. If the kidnappers saw me, the child might be killed. So I only revealed my police identity after we went inside."

The questioning went very smoothly. Haibara, pretending to be a little child, actually seemed like a student transferring to a new kindergarten. When it came time to tour the classrooms, Kitahara Masaki explained his true purpose and asked the teacher to take him to the area where the children usually drew. After being led to the rooftop, Kitahara Masaki took out a portrait and said:

"Alright, now for the important part—what exactly is this thing that Yan Qiufu drew?"

Kitahara Masaki looked at the portrait. The blob in the lower left corner really baffled him. As an adult, he couldn't understand what it depicted. But since it was something that Kamijou Akio considered most distinctive, it must be different from the other scenes, especially since he had painted the same thing twice.

"Ah—I'll leave it to you. From here, what scenery do you think looks like this image?"

He also brought the other children along to help him find the scenes Yan Qiufu had drawn.

"Ah! It must be that one!"

"Hey, it's not an eel restaurant."

"Yeah, I think so too."

The three real elementary school students quickly found something different from the surrounding buildings—a tall water tower with a huge clock in front of it.

"If you look at these two things together, it really resembles what he drew! Look, this eye-like thing is a clock, and the fence on top is the water tower's railing. Once they overlap, it looks like the scene in the painting!"

"is it?"

"Otherwise, Kitahara-ge, what do you think Yan Qiufu's brother drew?"

"Uh, a medieval European one-eyed knight wearing a helmet."

*Pfft*

Conan and Ai Haibara couldn't hold back their laughter after hearing the answer. It was unexpectedly funny that such a completely different answer came from Kitahara Masaki's mouth.

"What?! Kitahara-kun, you're not even looking at this painting properly!"

"Hmm, adults really have a poor imagination."

"The famous police officer couldn't figure out what a child was drawing at all. How useless!"

Kitahara Masaki smiled kindly. "They've really got a hard fist. These kids are quite good at treating low blood pressure patients." This combination of punches almost knocked out Kitahara Masaki's blood vessels.

Fine, considering they helped me find the answers, I won't tell their teacher about extra homework this time. We'll deal with it next time. Anyway, it's not a bad thing to make them do a few more math problems; let these kids experience what happens when they anger adults.

"Ahem, Takagi! Come over here and take these kids home!"

It naturally refers to these three little devils who raise blood pressure.

"Everyone! You should all know by now that the place where the hostage is being held is a place where you can see the water tower and the clock, and the two are overlapping. Considering these factors, the target location should be on the street in front of the clock. And to be on the safe side, we should also search the buildings around the water tower and the clock. After changing into disguises, we should start the search immediately!"

After assigning tasks, Kitahara Masaki also joined the investigation. After all, this was a case of a child being kidnapped, and children are innocent no matter what, so it was best to close the case as soon as possible.

They walked down the street with Conan and Ai, getting residents to open their doors by saying, "Bring your child to participate in a questionnaire survey," and then used a drone to scan and eliminate potential victims.

"Kitahara-nii, you get really into cases involving children."

Kitahara Masaki was silent for a moment before replying:

"Perhaps it's because I didn't have a good childhood myself, but it's hard for me to accept that a child might develop some kind of mental illness because of adults' conflicts. Because that child is always innocent, why should they be made a victim?"

Damn it, it's just those kidnappers.

Chapter 157 Master Kitahara, cut through his mid lane!

"Kitahara-nii, it's getting dark soon."

“I know. It seems we need to speed things up. Let’s leave the apartments and residences in densely populated areas for last, since the kidnappers will most likely hold the hostages in less crowded places. Let’s check out the less crowded areas first.”

To outsiders, Kitahara Masaki looks like a father with two mischievous kids, but under this 'father's' coat lies a sharp dagger and a revolver with a full magazine.

During the thorough investigation, an abandoned warehouse did indeed appear highly suspicious to Kitahara Masaki. Not for any other reason than that the drone scan revealed a child-shaped figure inside.

The person who answered the door was a young man. Kitahara Masaki looked at him, and he looked at Kitahara Masaki. For a moment, they were speechless. Conan and Ai Haibara both sensed something and took several steps back at the same time.

After they both stepped back several steps, Kitahara Masaki and the highly suspicious young man were on the verge of a confrontation.

The young man threw a right jab at Kitahara Masaki's head, but Kitahara, already fully focused, dodged the punch and used his agility to close the distance into the young man's arms. The young man, not expecting his opponent to be so fast, couldn't dodge in time and was struck in the groin by Kitahara's knee. Seeing this gruesome sight, even Conan, a male spectator, seemed to feel a phantom pain and clutched his groin.

The young man didn't faint immediately. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at the expressionless man in front of him, waiting for the tearing pain to slowly subside.

Having failed in his first attack, Kitahara Masaki quickly retreated, dodging the young man's subsequent grabs.

Kitahara Masaki moved with light steps, circling around the young man as he tested whether this was the young man's full strength. His feints and punches left the young man dizzy.

The young man was half-bent over, defending himself and slowly recovering from the pain in his lower body. Now that he understood that his opponent was a tough nut to crack, he no longer focused on simply defeating him.

Hey!

Salty sweat dripped down his eyebrows and into his eyes, causing the young man to blink unconsciously.

Kitahara Masaki rushed forward almost simultaneously, his movements as swift as lightning. He feinted with his left fist to dodge the young man's blocking arm, while his right palm struck straight at his opponent's throat.

Conan and Ai Haibara seemed to forget to breathe for a moment, astonished that the fight was just as thrilling as in the movies, as soon as Kitahara Masaki noticed the young man's raised right hand.

The experienced young man straightened his back, and the opponent who was originally aimed at his throat crashed into his bulging muscles. Then, ignoring Kitahara Masaki's left fist, he hooked his right hand directly at his right shoulder.

The young man's right hook reached up onto Kitahara Masaki's right arm, a sinister smile playing on his lips. In his imagination, Kitahara Masaki's right shoulder was gouged out, his hands were clamped down, and he ended up with a comminuted fracture of his arm.

"What the hell are you laughing at?"

Instead of retreating, Kitahara Masaki advanced, his right hand following the young man's hook, moving swiftly like a snake so the young man had no time to change his move. His right hand fingers transformed into a bird's beak shape, striking the young man under the armpit before he could hit him.

The excruciating pain numbed half of the young man's body, making him suddenly realize that the man in front of him seemed to have even better joint locks than he did.

However, the young man was a veteran of many battles. He endured the excruciating pain and charged forward, knowing full well that if he retreated, he would be met with a barrage of blows aimed at his right side. With his momentum, he might be able to force Kitahara Masaki back.

But Kitahara Masaki wouldn't let him have his way. Before the young man's left hand could even grab Kitahara Masaki's waist, Kitahara Masaki's left elbow had already risen up with great force, slamming into the young man's face with a loud bang.

Two front teeth flew out with the young man's scream. His head snapped back from the impact, while his body continued to lurch forward, followed by a series of unsettling sounds from his spine.

Ka!

The young man fell in an odd position, his eyes filled with deep resentment.

"goodbye!"

A slap landed on the young man's head, the sound of bones cracking echoed again, making Conan and Ai Haibara swallow hard.

Looking at the young man who had completely passed out, Kitahara Masaki looked at his fist, which was covered in blood. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was the criminal.

"Don't just stand there, call an ambulance right away. If you get him to the hospital in time, he might still be able to be saved."

"Oh no, an ambulance, an ambulance, damn it, Haibara, what's the ambulance's phone number again?"

While two stunned young viewers hurriedly called an ambulance, Kitahara Masaki walked into the abandoned warehouse. Sure enough, a little boy with wide eyes was staring blankly at Kitahara Masaki, whose hands were still dripping blood.

"Oh, it's just ketchup. Big brother, I'm here to take you home. Your grandpa is very worried."

"I...I...Big brother, please don't...please don't kill me!!!"

The kid suddenly burst into tears and collapsed to the ground. This unexpected turn of events left Kitahara Masaki speechless. It seemed as if he was the one who had left the kid with psychological trauma...

This left Kitahara Masaki feeling somewhat helpless. He had never known how to treat children, and now he had even made one of them cry. How was he supposed to comfort him?

"Ai, please save me..."

Haibara, who followed him in, was dumbfounded as she watched this killing god who had just been almost beaten to death being completely overwhelmed by a wailing little child.

"Oh dear, what a mess this is... Alright, alright, don't cry, little brother, big brother is here to save you—"

Kitahara Masaki waited until the child stopped crying before carrying him out. When the ambulance arrived, besides the guy who was beaten to the point of barely breathing, the child naturally needed to be taken to the hospital for a thorough check-up.

Once inside the ambulance, the doctors and nurses seemed to want to speak but couldn't find the words. Finally, one of the doctors asked:

"Officer Kitahara, is the injury on your hand serious? Do you need me to take a look?"

"No need, the blood on it is all from this person, I'm not injured."

Kitahara Masaki shook his hand, completely ignoring the stuff still stuck to it. The doctor sitting next to Kitahara Masaki silently looked at his clothes, half of which were covered in blood, and then at the prisoner lying on the stretcher receiving oxygen.

Upon hearing this ruthless answer, the doctor and nurse nodded repeatedly, like chicks pecking at rice, indicating that they completely understood.

Chapter 158 Casting a Long Line to Catch a Big Fish

"Ah! Akio!"

When Yan Jiansan saw his grandson eating an apple safely, he exclaimed his grandson's name and hugged him tightly.

"Grandpa, it's so uncomfortable for me to be hugged like this."

"Um—Akifu, are you alright? Did the person who took you away do anything to you?"

"Grandpa, are you talking about that clown brother? He bought me crayons to draw with, saying he wanted you to buy my drawings, so I drew a lot of pictures for him! Did you receive them, Grandpa?"

"I received them all, I received them all."

After confirming with the doctor that his grandson was healthy, Yan Jiansan bowed to Kitahara Masaki to express his gratitude, asking him not to take the old man's previous nonsense to heart and hoping that Kitahara Masaki could forgive him.

However, Kitahara Masaki's initial intention was not to prove anything, nor was it to get an apology; he simply took action upon hearing that the hostage was a child.

“Mr. Yan, you don’t need to be like this. I just did what I should do. The most important thing is that the child is safe and sound. However, I must remind you that the person in charge of guarding Qiu Fu has a certain martial arts background and cannot be an unknown kidnapper.”

Yan Jiansan, being an old man with keen insight, immediately understood the implied meaning.

"Officer Kitahara, are you implying that the person who took Akio away might have been acting on someone's behalf?"

"Yes, and I asked your secretary before, and he told me that Akio's kindergarten was not a prestigious school."

"That's right. I just want that child to grow up carefree and don't want him to be exposed to that decadent lifestyle too early."

"And you always pick them up and drop them off yourself, right?"

"Yes, as that child's only relative, I must spend more time with him...this!"

Yan Jiansan finally realized that the Yan family, a low-profile, long-established conglomerate, was no longer worth reporting on in the news or newspapers. They were now clinging to a sunset industry with only a few factories left. Moreover, even an average family could afford to send Yan Qiufu to kindergarten with a little effort, let alone the fact that the elderly Yan Jiansan personally took him to and from school every day.

Even so, kidnappers still managed to abduct Yan Qiufu, even demanding a price of one billion Japanese yen. Unless they had conducted a thorough investigation or knew someone about the Yan family beforehand, kidnappers would not normally target him.

“But I’ve rarely attended parties or cocktail parties in recent years. Not to mention making enemies, I’ve also had far fewer social interactions. And I can swear that I have never defaulted on my workers’ wages or sold substandard products to others.”