Qianben Xixi naturally noticed Conan's speechless, complaining expression in the front row and understood exactly what he meant. But… heavens above, she really wasn't trying to flirt.
If she said she had just been unable to resist commenting on the other person's hairstyle and accidentally voiced her thoughts out loud, would anyone believe her?
Unfortunately, neither Conan nor Shuichi Akai believed it, because neither of them saw any issue with that naturally curly fringe.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem." To avoid awkwardness, Shuichi Akai raised his hand and coughed lightly a few times before explaining, "This is natural curl."
Alright, you have natural curl, I get it—it's just that the curl looks a bit unnatural. Qianben Xixi silently complained in her heart while nodding calmly on the surface.
"What a miraculous natural curl," she said.
Shuichi Akai: …
Ah, she accidentally voiced her thoughts out loud again.
"Sorry, it's my first time seeing it," someone tried to explain. "I've never seen it before, so I was a bit curious."
Shuichi Akai could only nod and continue lowering his head, going "ahem, ahem, ahem."
For a moment, the atmosphere was awkward—so awkward that Conan could practically dig out a double-decker bus with his toes on behalf of the driver.
"Um… Sister Natsuya," Conan prepared to use his wisdom to lighten the mood for someone, but the situation was a bit too difficult, leaving him momentarily at a loss for words.
"What's up?" Qianben Xixi, completely unaware of the other's inner turmoil, instead looked at the top of his head in surprise and said, "Your hair grew back so fast? Weren't you sporting a buzz cut just a few days ago when I saw you?"
"You must be mistaken," Conan replied with a half-moon eye expression. "It grew back a long time ago."
Qianben Xixi: …
She felt there was no way to communicate anymore. Conan, who clearly had a buzz cut just a few days ago, now had his hair back to its original style—truly very Ke Xue.
"Well, I must have remembered wrong…" Qianben Xixi was about to say something more when she was interrupted by another round of coughing from next door.
"Do you need some cough medicine?" she couldn't help but ask again. "The old gentleman coughing in the front has some. Conan can help you borrow it—they're together."
Hey, hey, why do I have to help you make a move when you're the one flirting? Conan continued complaining inwardly, but on the surface, he put on his childlike act and said, "Big brother, I can go ask for it for you. The professor has medicine."
"No need, ahem, cough…" Shuichi Akai refused. He really didn't want to take any medicine, since he wasn't sick—the coughing was just a disguise for his surveillance. But now, faced with these two enthusiastic bystanders, he found it a bit hard to keep up the "coughing" act.
"Alright, then, big brother, if you need it later…" Conan's words were cut off halfway by the sudden sound of a gunshot.
His pupils contracted sharply as he quickly turned to look.
Two men in ski suits stood at the front of the bus, each holding a gun.
One of them raised his gun overhead and fired another shot into the air. Once everyone's attention was on him, he shouted loudly, "Robbery! Nobody move!"
The bus erupted into chaos.
"I said don't move! Everyone stay in your seats and hand over all your valuables! Including your phones!"
Qianben Xixi: …
She knew it—what was coming had finally arrived.
[System, convert all the cash on me into JJ Coins.]
She called out to the System in her mind. Although she didn't think the robbers had a chance of succeeding, just to be safe, she chose to put her money in the System where it was more secure.
[System: Dear player, your conversion command has been executed. The converted amount is: 1250 JJ Coins.]
Feeling her wallet deflate, Qianben Xixi then secretly took out her phone and sent an email to Gin. Her seat was in the last row by the window, blocked by the row in front—a blind spot where the robbers couldn't see at all.
[Accidentally ran into a robbery, don't message my phone. —Asti]
After quickly sending the email, she cleared all the data on her phone with one click.
Ever since learning about her identity on the Black Side, she had installed a program on her phone to deal with situations like this. She hadn't expected it to come in handy so soon. But then again, wherever the Detective Boy was, such incidents were unavoidable.
Qianben Xixi couldn't help but admire her own foresight as she swiftly removed the SIM card and powered off the phone.
Soon, after confiscating the belongings of all the passengers in the front rows, the robbers made their way to the last row where she was.
Although things had gone smoothly up front, there were passengers who were heartbroken over their lost possessions. The aunt sitting by the window to her right, blowing bubblegum, initially refused to hand over her pearl necklace. It wasn't until the robber fired a shot near her that she finally resigned herself to her fate.
However, one thing that surprised her was that after being forced to hand over all her valuables, the aunt started chewing her bubblegum again, seemingly carefree.
"You, hand over your phone and wallet!" The robber was now right in front of them, addressing both Qianben Xixi and Shuichi Akai. "Don't try any tricks, hand everything over!"
Shuichi Akai glanced at the man before slowly taking a wallet from his coat pocket and tossing it into the black bag the robber was holding.
"Your phone?" the robber frowned. "Hand over your phone too!"
"I don't have a phone," Shuichi Akai said, coughing twice.
"Tch, cheapskate," the robber cursed disdainfully before turning his gaze to Qianben Xixi beside him. "You, hurry up!"
"Oh." Qianben Xixi took her wallet from her pocket and threw it over.
Robber: "Phone?"
Qianben Xixi: "I don't have a phone either."
The robber sneered coldly. "Don't play games with me. A trendy young girl like you, how could you not have a phone? Hand it over quickly. Don't make me angry, or you'll regret it."
He waved the gun in his hand. "Got it? Hurry up!!"
Qianben Xixi: …
Why the double standard? She was a cheapskate too! This was just unfair!
Besides, did the man next to her look like a phone-less cheapskate? Was this robber blind? He believed him the moment he said he had no phone, but when she said it, she was playing tricks.
Qianben Xixi shot a resentful look at the person beside her before pulling out her phone and tossing it into the bag.
She strongly suspected that the man next to her must be an important character in the Kexue World. Otherwise, the robber wouldn't treat them so differently.
[System, what's his name?]
Qianben Xixi asked in her mind.
[System: Please explore the Kexue World on your own, player. We wish you a pleasant gaming experience.]
Qianben Xixi: …
It seems this broken system is unreliable, so she leaned her head slightly to the right and whispered.
"What's your name?"
Hey, hey, even at a time like this, you still can't resist hitting on someone…
Conan in the front row was utterly speechless and couldn't help glancing back again. This man was wearing a mask, so there was no telling what he looked like.
Shuichi Akai, who was focused on figuring out how to resolve the crisis while keeping an eye on Vermouth and Jodie in the front row, was also taken aback by the question. He turned to look at her.
This woman was a bit strange—he had no idea what she was thinking. If it was flirting, there was no sign of interest in her eyes. But if it wasn't flirting, why did she seem so curious about him?
"Ahem, Shuichi Akai," he replied anyway.
"Oh, Shuichi Akai." Qianben Xixi suddenly had a moment of realization. She remembered now—he was the FBI agent who had infiltrated the Organization.
"You know me?" Shuichi Akai frowned, searching his memory but finding no trace of this person. It couldn't be that he'd forgotten—after all, her appearance was far from ordinary. Among the people he'd met, she could easily rank in the top three. There was no way he would forget.
"No, I don't," Qianben Xixi shook her head. "It's just that your name sounds familiar, like I've heard it somewhere before."
Shuichi Akai: …
Conan eavesdropping in the front row: …
Someone save him—what kind of cliché pickup line is that?! Can't you take this seriously and think about what we should do now?
Conan was growing increasingly anxious in the front row. Beside him, Ai Haibara, for some reason, was too scared to utter a word. The only teammate he could rely on was now desperately trying to flirt with the man next to her, seeming completely unreliable.
Ah, this is too much for him.
Fortunately, even the robbers couldn't stand the sight of the two whispering in the back row.
Could you at least show some respect for him, the robber? This is a robbery, okay? At least pretend to be scared!
One of the robbers grew furious. He fired another shot into the bus ceiling and shouted at the two in the back, "You two! If you want to flirt, go home and do it! I'm robbing this bus, got it? Robbing! Show some respect!"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned curiously toward the back row.
When they saw it was Shuichi Akai and Qianben Xixi, Vermouth and Jodie in the front row were nearly stunned.
Conan gave a deadpan look: So embarrassing, so embarrassing. I can't even bear to watch.