Chapter 165: Conan: Fisherman? Or should I just recite my ID number?

Xin Ailidu, Outer Ring—

"What's wrong with his looks? I think Luosha's appearance is great!" recalling Luosha's almost flawless face, Caesar couldn't understand why "looks" itself could become Mr. Walter's object of suspicion.

Luosha is simply more handsome than the male leads in the few shoujo movies she secretly watched; he doesn't need to deliberately strike a pose, nor a cinematic angle to highlight his features. As long as he stands there, the wind fluttering his white robe, a slight smile in the sunlight, that alone is an unbeatable move no one can match.

Compared to him, those movie stars are nothing but mediocre and vulgar.

"You idiot Caesar, Mr. Walter certainly wouldn't suspect someone solely because of their looks," Lucy chuckled. "Didn't you see? This Luosha clearly has some connection with Mr. Walter, though we don't yet know what exactly… but I can be sure this Luosha must be full of bad intentions!"

"Hmm… is that so?"

Although Lucy's judgments are usually correct, this time Caesar is willing to trust his own intuition!

Words can deceive, but the gentleness and thoughtfulness Luosha shows are far more persuasive than any speech!

"Uncle Yang! I thought you were about to reveal some earth‑shattering secret, but it turns out you're judging by appearance. Uncle Yang, judging by looks is not good!" San Yueqi pretended to be an experienced person, even reversing Tian Gang to start urging Uncle Yang.

Xing: "I think he's quite handsome…"

"Sorry, what I mean is… um, it's hard to explain, I can only say my 'intuition' tells me that this Mr. Luosha might have a problem…" Walter tried to rephrase it more acceptably, but seeing Xing and San Yueqi's puzzled expressions, he simply gave up.

"Sorry, it's just my speculation."

"It's fine, intuition is also an important partner for the Di Heng Si's investigations. You say anyone with his face must be a villain; I can accept that. But… after all I'm a steward officer, I can't use that as a reason to harass the parties involved…" Da Hao looked somewhat embarrassed.

"If you're dismissed from the department due to a complaint, it will leave a stain on your record, making it hard to make a comeback for centuries," Jing Yan explained considerately from beside.

"Right, that's the logic… no! What are you saying… Anyway, if any of you want to investigate, I can make an exception and grant you access to the Four‑Direction Viewing Mirror."

The Four‑Direction Viewing Mirror contained several images concerning Luosha; after Xing rearranged them, San Yueqi was amazed to find one clip of "two dark shadows stalking a little girl" looked oddly familiar: "Huh? Isn't this a scene from the 'Fisherman Case'?"

Xing, looking confused, asked: "What scene are you talking about?"

"The 'Fisherman Case', that detective novel, has a scene exactly like this footage."

San Yueqi patiently explained to Mr. Walter: "It's the origin story of the Fisherman. He was originally a Dan Shi of the Dan Ding Si, but later got tangled with the mysterious Tea Party; the two men in black from the Tea Party took advantage of his solitude and forced poison into him."

"The poison has an effect like 'sustaining brightness and shedding skin', causing the Fisherman to reverse aging and become a child. From then on, the child Fisherman pursued the Tea Party while solving various odd cases."

Detective Conan—

Ai Haibara covered her mouth with a smile, glanced at Conan beside her: "By the way, this Fisherman wouldn't also be staying at his childhood friend's house, would he? And have a watch‑shaped tranquilizer gun?"

"How could such a coincidence happen?" Conan broke out in cold sweat on his forehead; when San Yueqi recounted the Fisherman's story, it was as if he were reading his own past.

Sweat poured over his family members…

"Hmm, I think there's a possibility," Ai Haibara rested her chin, pondering slightly: "The technology of the Celestial Vessel far surpasses Earth's; perhaps they're observing us from places we can't detect? Though we don't feel it, in reality everyone is being monitored daily…"

Ai Haibara tilted her head, smiled lightly: "And then… Kudo, you're the main subject being monitored, right?"

"Let's drop that third‑rate sci‑fi setting," Conan forced a faint smile, "It should… uh, just be a coincidence, right?"

"Why is a tea gathering so ruthless…" Xing muttered weakly.

Walter nodded in agreement: "Indeed, their tea seems as strong as Himeko's coffee…"

"The Tea Party is just a code name; would villains call themselves the Villain Party? They should pick a less terrifying, more discreet name, right?"

Walter thought for a moment: "So, Xiao San Yue means those two men in black are members of the Tea Party, and that little girl is… the reverse‑aging Luosha?"

San Yueqi furrowed his brow, lowering his voice gravely: "Perhaps this is a copycat crime by an avid fan of the 'Fisherman Case'. After Luosha was shrunk, he followed those two people… The case is getting scarier, maybe it's still a cult kidnapping case!"

Teyvat, Inazuma—

"Hmm… I think I see it. If we let Xiao San Yue be the detective, probably half of Inazuma's people would end up in the Tianling Enforcement's prison."

"But she does remind me of Paimon; last time Paimon read a Fontaine detective novel and claimed she wanted to solve cases with me."

Within the Tianling Enforcement, Lu Ye Yuan Pingzang was leisurely drinking tea with Jiu Tiao Shaluo, listening to San Yueqi's so‑called "witty" deduction, and almost couldn't hold back a retort.

"You claimed that solving cases relies most on intuition," Jiu Tiao Shaluo said lightly, "So, in your view, what's the truth behind Luosha…?"

"Hey, I'm not a deity; how could I see the truth through a light screen? No, no… even a god couldn't do that, right?"

Lu Ye Yuan Pingzang shook his head, "In short, that little girl and Luosha probably have no connection, and they can't be the same person. Aside from hair color, their genders don't match at all."

"The clues are still too few; if we get more footage, maybe I can give it a try."

"Hold on, everyone… I just realized, this child is the junior manager of San Yu Shusi…" Jing Yan examined carefully for a while before realizing.

Walter retrieved nearby video records, but none contained further valuable content, so he decided to take the two of them out for on‑site evidence gathering, to see if Yin Shu has more clues.

Yin Shu was near the bookshop; after recounting the background, she indeed had a faint recollection of that footage.

She saw the two men in black and a blond foreigner on an open field, then went home to study; the two men in black simply left together, and regarding the blond foreigner… she was too focused on studying to observe closely.

However, he eventually came to the bookshop, flipped through a few books and handed one to Yin Shu; it was a paper book… precisely the 'Fisherman Case' that San Yue often mentioned!