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"Bro, you've worked hard. Late-night snacks are on me tonight."
Steven looked at the body he'd already hidden away. Leaning against the car window, he smiled warmly at the man in the lead, all while discreetly flicking three strands of hair into the truck.
"Respect, brother."
"You pick the place. I'll follow behind."
"Got it!"
The leader happily chose a restaurant and told his underlings to drive ahead and lead the way.
Steven turned around and lit a cigarette. A strange smile flashed across his lips.
Not long after—
The small truck merged onto the main road, heading toward downtown.
It was the dead of night. The once-lively city was quiet now. Aside from a few homeless people and drunken troublemakers, most ordinary folks were fast asleep.
Steven gradually slowed down, keeping a safe distance from the truck. Then he snapped his fingers.
Snap!
Boom!
The truck exploded in an instant. "417" vanished in a cloud of smoke as brilliant flames bloomed across the night sky like fireworks.
Steven didn't even bother to look back. He floored the gas and sped off, quietly taking credit for a job well done.
The stage was set. All that was left was to wait for Miyano Akemi to make her move.
As a professional outlaw, Steven knew one thing very clearly: once a pawn outlived its usefulness, it had to be discarded without hesitation. Mercy only led to failure.
This plan was too important. Leaving any witnesses behind, ones who might draw the attention of the island nation's police or the Organization, would ruin everything.
"First Thanos snaps his fingers and wipes out half the universe. Now I snap my fingers and blow up a truck. Does that make me Thanos too?"
"After getting this powered-up ability, explosions are way too easy to control. Timing, strength, all of it. If conditions were right, blowing up the entire island nation with a snap might not even be impossible."
Muttering to himself, Steven turned on the car's music.
When he returned to the villa, Vermouth was sleeping soundly.
Smack!
After washing up, Steven casually gave her perky backside a slap.
"What are you doing? Ugh, you're annoying!"
Vermouth opened her sleepy eyes, irritation in her voice.
"Wrong position. Get up and sleep again."
Steven grinned mischievously.
"Huh?"
Vermouth froze for a moment, then quickly realized what he meant.
...
The next day, noon.
"What? A money transport van from Beika Bank was robbed? Ten billion yen stolen?"
"Are you kidding me? We still haven't found any leads on the explosion last night, and now there's an armored car robbery? Those damn criminals are trying to work us to death!"
"Takagi, Sato, the explosion case goes to Officer Shiratori. You two come with me to Beika Bank and investigate the robbery."
Inspector Megure slammed his fist down in frustration.
The truck explosion early that morning had already left three dead. Now ten billion yen had been stolen right under his nose. Two major cases back to back in his district had him stretched thin.
If he didn't crack this quickly, it could seriously affect his career.
Thankfully, Beika's residents were used to chaos by now. No panic, at least.
By the time Megure and the others arrived, the robbers were long gone.
They searched the scene but found nothing useful.
Just as Megure was running out of ideas, he looked up and spotted Mouri Kogoro at the bank, there to deposit money, with Ran and Conan beside him. His eyes lit up immediately.
With a famous detective around, catching the culprits would be much easier.
"What? Ten billion yen was stolen?"
Mouri Kogoro's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Ten billion yen. Enough booze to last him a lifetime.
"Yeah. It was money being transferred from the main branch to various sub-branches. Every last bit was taken."
Megure didn't bother hiding anything, clearly hoping Mouri could solve the case.
"Ten billion…"
Mouri muttered, completely shutting down.
In a corner nearby, Steven stood disguised as an ordinary passerby, quietly observing the police investigation.
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you'll never lose.
Even though he had a god's-eye view of the entire crime and knew the truth, he still chose to keep an eye on things just to be safe.
Seeing Mouri spacing out, Megure lowered his gaze to the small boy holding a skateboard.
"Conan, that license plate number you told me earlier, you're sure about it, right?"
"Yeah! I'm absolutely sure!"
Conan answered confidently.
After the robbery, he'd chased the fleeing criminals himself. That was why he was so certain.
Although he'd tripped during the chase and lost them, never getting a clear look at their faces, the clue he provided gave the police a solid direction.
"So there were two masked robbers, one with a handgun and one with a shotgun."
Megure stroked his chin, relieved they'd run into Conan and finally gotten something useful.
Then he turned to the armored car guards who were being questioned.
"At least the good news is that none of the guards were seriously injured."
At the same time, Conan's attention shifted to one guard who was answering questions.
"When the armored car arrived, we followed protocol and got ready to unload the cash. Then suddenly, there was a gunshot, and the window shattered."
"I tried calling the driver's cabin, but there was no response. I thought they must have already been killed."
"So I had no choice but to open the door."
That's strange.
As Conan listened, he immediately sensed something was off.
He'd been inside the bank at the time. He'd clearly heard the gunshot and the sound of glass breaking, then rushed to the parking entrance to peek inside.
By then, the robbers were already moving the cash out of the armored car.
This guard shouldn't have had time to call the driver's cabin at all.
Unless…
Even in a child's body, a great detective's mind was still sharp.
Steven watched Conan sink into thought and knew he'd spotted the flaw.
"Officer, you have to understand. I really had no choice!"
The guard panicked, desperately trying to shift the blame.
"Guard uncle!"
A sudden voice drew everyone's attention.
Conan stood there, hands behind his head, looking at the guard with an innocent smile.
"I think you're really, really lucky."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
The guard frowned.
"Well, the windows on armored cars are all blacked out, right? You can't see inside at all."
"Yeah."
"So if the robbers fired without seeing inside, not only did they fail to hit you, they just happened to hit the bag with loose bills. That stopped the bullet from ricocheting everywhere. Either your luck is incredible… or they already knew exactly where that bag would be. Isn't that right?"
As the back-and-forth continued, Conan all but confirmed his suspicion.
The guard in front of him was the inside man.
"....."