Plus, he carried the legacy aura of his ancestor Sherlock Holmes. People hiring him were definitely not a small crowd. Given his intelligence and skills, Zhang Yang was sure the ones who went to him for help were all wealthy or influential.
After all, he was the first to ever track down Kaitō Kid.
Even if part of it was luck, Holmeska still had some real skills.
"Six hundred million dollars is just too tempting. No one thinks they have too much money."
Zhang Yang shook his head with a sigh, put down his phone, and got ready for a shower and sleep.
Meanwhile, Bruce and the others had returned to the Enforcement Bureau, but their first move wasn't to interrogate Daweika and Jeff.
During the crowd dispersal, Zhang Yang had called Bruce and left a number. So now Bruce was hoping to use France's intelligence department to dig up something from that number.
If possible, he even wanted to track Zhang Yang's location.
"Bruce, Kaitō Kid wouldn't make such a rookie mistake."
Harrison wasn't holding out much hope. In all their past cases, any criminal with half a brain wouldn't leave behind a traceable number.
Especially not Kaitō Kid. No way would he leave a number that could be used to find him.
Under the three men's watch, a tech from the Enforcement Bureau's intel department quickly gave the results.
"Sir, sorry, but this number looks like a virtual one."
"And it only made a single call near the Musée Guimet's cell tower. Other than that, there's no usage history at all."
Bruce took a deep breath. He'd already expected this.
But Victor couldn't let it go. He didn't want to give up the only lead they had.
"It's a virtual number—does that mean we've hit a dead end?"
The agent shook his head, looking regretful.
"Victor, it's like someone used a fake ID to register. There's no way to trace it afterward."
The three men walked out of the intel department feeling defeated. That number Zhang Yang had used was their only clue.
From start to finish, they hadn't even caught a glimpse of Kaitō Kid's shadow, and the items were already gone.
The more Victor thought about it, the more furious he got. He cursed under his breath.
"Shit! This is insane!"
"Kaitō Kid is like a ghost. If every heist goes like tonight's, we'll never catch him!"
Tonight's op was full of holes. No prep, no planning. Total mess.
Bruce and Harrison were used to it by now, so they didn't want to waste energy on pointless frustration.
"Victor, maybe we should go interrogate the two A-Class fugitives instead."
"I still don't get why Kaitō Kid tipped us off about them."
Harrison just couldn't figure it out.
What he knew of Kaitō Kid was that he worked alone. He never got involved in others' business.
Every move he made had a purpose.
So Harrison believed Zhang Yang's warning about those two fugitives had to mean something.
The three of them headed straight to the interrogation room and began questioning Jeff and Daweika that night.
After intense pressure and coaxing, the two finally spilled everything about the competition.
Bruce was stunned when he heard that someone had set up a contest to catch Kaitō Kid.
"What the hell? A contest to catch Kaitō Kid?"
"Almost six hundred million dollars? Who's running this thing?"
At this point, Daweika had no reason to hold anything back.
But when it came to who exactly organized the event, even he had no clue.
"Chief Bruce, the contest was posted by a sponsor on the dark web."
"Everything on the dark web is anonymous, so nobody knows who the sponsor really is."
Bruce's face turned grim. A contest on the dark web.
It had been a while since he'd heard anything about the dark web. He used to hear about it all the time, but ever since the cat-and-mouse chase with Kaitō Kid began, he hadn't heard much about it at all.
The dark web wasn't exactly a secret. Pretty much everyone knew it existed as part of the internet.
And "dark web" was just a label—there wasn't only one.
Some existed only within a specific country. Others spanned internationally.
But what made it so tricky was that the dark web didn't have a fixed location online. It was hard to track, and even harder to trace.
Sometimes, even if someone located a dark web server, logging in could still be impossible.
Harrison scowled and pressed further.
"Who else is in this contest? How did the invite get to you?"
The people on the dark web were all over the place. There were all kinds.
Plenty of polished, glamorous tycoons turned out to be complete lunatics online.
On the dark web, if you had money, you could find someone to do anything.
It was the one place where cash really could make anything happen.
And if something couldn't be done on the dark web, there was only one reason—the payment wasn't high enough.
Daweika shrugged and answered in a flat tone, "Sir, how would I know who else is competing?"
"They emailed us the invite. As for who organized it or who else got invited, we've got no clue."
It was pretty clear Daweika really didn't know anything more. Bruce and Harrison believed him.
The anonymity of the dark web was unquestionable.
A contest worth six hundred million dollars being hosted on it… Bruce and Harrison were both worried about what might happen next.
They'd already encountered two A-Class fugitives. There were definitely more participants on the way.
Who were these people?
It wasn't just Zhang Yang asking that question anymore. Now Bruce and Harrison were deeply troubled by it too.
Back in the hotel, after his shower, Zhang Yang noticed a private message in Kaitō Kid's inbox. It was from the Dragon Nation Embassy.
But not the one in France.
The message wasn't to thank him for returning stolen artifacts either. It was a warning.
It told him to stay alert—the embassy had picked up on the contest and flagged a dangerous individual.
"Mr. Kaitō Kid, a contest has appeared recently on the dark web. The goal is to capture you. First place gets up to six hundred million dollars. The event officially starts in three days."
"We've identified an extremely dangerous person who's already on his way to France. His name is Maket. He was arrested for robbing a bank vault in Britain. Two years later, he escaped prison and later joined a terrorist organization."
"According to reliable intel, he received an invite and is already en route to France. We're doing what we can to monitor the contest. Please stay alert and watch your back, Mr. Kaitō Kid!"
Zhang Yang frowned as he finished reading.
The message came from the Dragon Nation's embassy in Britain. The intel was probably legit.
"Maket? Robbed a bank, escaped prison, and joined a terrorist group?"
Zhang Yang clicked his tongue in disbelief.
'Another total lunatic...'