Detective Conan: The Teyvat Syndicate — Chapter 345

Chapter 345: Life-on-the-Line Love Broadcast 5

“No! It’s not just the wind!”

At that critical juncture, Conan Edogawa was the first to spot the sudden anomaly in the weather surrounding Officer Takagi. The gusts had intensified far too rapidly, whipping violently from top to bottom in a localized downdraft directly above the bound detective. The pattern was unmistakable.

“There’s a helicopter approaching him!” Matsuda Jinpei voiced the exact deduction a split second later.

Conan whipped his head around, staring up at the sunglasses-wearing bomb disposal expert. It was incredibly rare for anyone to match his deductive speed so perfectly. Matsuda was clearly cut from a different cloth than the bumbling, good-natured Takagi. The man possessed a razor-sharp intellect and terrifying situational awareness. ‘He’s almost as good as I am,’ Conan mused, a brief flash of narcissistic pride crossing his mind despite the mounting tension.

On the tablet screen, the camera angle violently shuddered before shifting to a wider perspective just beneath the suspended wooden plank. The roaring blades of a sleek, dark helicopter cut into the frame, steadily closing the distance to where Takagi Wataru lay bound and helpless.

“Who is that?” Inspector Megure leaned heavily over the desk, shooting a bewildered glance toward Superintendent Matsumoto. Had the higher-ups already managed to scramble a covert search-and-rescue team all the way out to Hokkaido without his knowledge?

The chopper hovered, fighting the harsh winter winds as it maintained a precarious distance from the fragile wooden structure. Through the high-definition feed, the glare on the cockpit glass shifted, revealing the distinct features of the pilot at the controls.

“It’s Big Brother Diluc!” Klee bounced on her toes, jabbing a tiny finger at the glowing screen with uncontainable glee.

Ayumi leaned in, her eyes widening in recognition. “It really is Klee’s brother.”

Mitsuhiko frowned, adjusting his collar as he tried to process the logistics. “But why would he suddenly show up all the way out there? How did he even find Officer Takagi?”

Klee raised her hand high, practically vibrating with pride. “Klee told Big Brother Diluc everything and asked him to help! Just like he promised, he and Big Brother Venti found the nice police officer super fast!”

Genta slammed a fist into his open palm, his face lighting up with a massive epiphany. “I get it! It’s just like those Darknight Hero stories Klee is always talking about! Big Brother Diluc is the real-life hero from the legends. That has to be how he tracked down the bad guys!”

The large boy threw his arms out dramatically. “He heard Klee’s call for help, swooped in out of nowhere like a phantom in the night, and now he’s going to save the day!”

In mere seconds, Genta had constructed an entire comic-book narrative from start to finish. Conan, still reeling from the sheer impossibility of Diluc’s sudden arrival in Hokkaido, shot the larger boy a completely deadpan stare.

‘Give me a break,’the shrunken detective thought, his eye twitching.’The Darknight Hero is obviously just a bedtime fairy tale made up to keep kids entertained. Genta’s imagination is running totally wild.’

“The chopper can’t advance any further. The rotor wash will tear that flimsy structure apart.” Inspector Megure exhaled a heavy, ragged breath. Seeing a familiar face on the screen offered a fleeting moment of comfort, but the grim reality of the situation quickly crushed it. They were agonizingly close, yet utterly powerless to intervene.

Every ticking second left Takagi suspended over the abyss. Megure turned his heavy gaze downward, preparing to ask Klee to contact her brother for their exact coordinates so he could scramble a local Hokkaido rescue unit.

‘Please, just let this hold together for a few more minutes…’ Megure prayed silently.

The universe immediately rejected his plea.

“Dammit, look at the underside!” Matsuda barked, his voice slicing through the tense silence. His sharp eyes locked onto a terrifying detail beneath the plank. “The downdraft from the rotors is tearing the adhesive! The bomb is coming loose!”

On the screen, the thick industrial tape securing the explosive package began to peel away. The heavy device swayed violently in the freezing wind, hanging by a single, strained strip of adhesive. It threatened to plummet into the void at any given second.

“Takagi!” Miwako Sato slammed her hands onto the table, leaning so close to the tablet her breath fogged the glass. Her knuckles turned stark white. She stared unblinking at the swaying explosive, her teeth grinding together as she silently begged the fragile tape to hold.

“Yahoo~”

The side door of the hovering helicopter suddenly slid open. A boyish youth with twin braids framed by the howling wind leaned casually out over the terrifying drop. He offered a bright, entirely out-of-place smile, cheerfully waving down at the bound and gagged detective.

Takagi Wataru lay frozen on the freezing wood. His eyes bulged out of his skull, staring up at the smiling teenager in absolute, unadulterated shock.

A second later, raw panic overrode his confusion. The bomb! The downdraft was going to kill them all! He thrashed against his bindings, desperate to scream a warning to the reckless kid hanging out of the chopper.

Thick duct tape sealed his lips shut. Only muffled, frantic grunts escaped his throat. He thrashed his head wildly from side to side, his eyes screaming a desperate message: Stay back! It’s a trap! It’s going to blow!

The youth—Venti, who Diluc had dragged along for this exact type of aerial madness—gripped the frame of the cabin door with one hand. He cupped his free hand around his mouth, completely ignoring the detective’s frantic, terrified thrashing.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Officer!” Venti shouted over the deafening roar of the rotors, his voice carrying a strange, melodic clarity through the storm. “There’s nothing to be afraid of! I’m coming down to get you right now!”

Without another word, Venti simply let go of the door frame.

Under Takagi’s utterly horrified gaze, the boy stepped out into the empty air, plummeting into a dead free fall.

Time seemed to fracture. Less than a second ticked by. Takagi lay paralyzed, his brain completely short-circuiting at the sheer insanity of a teenager casually stepping out of a hovering aircraft without a parachute. His wide eyes remained locked on the dark underbelly of the chopper, his mind refusing to process the reality of the suicide jump.

In that frozen fraction of a second, Venti descended. He dropped through the howling winter winds with terrifying speed, yet his movements possessed an unnatural, weightless agility. He touched down onto the narrow, swaying wooden plank with the silent grace of a swallow alighting on a branch.

The sheer kinetic force of the drop caused his lithe frame to sway slightly, the wood groaning in protest beneath him. But with a subtle, almost invisible shift of his weight, the Anemo Archon instantly killed his momentum, standing perfectly balanced on the edge of the deadly drop.