Slacker Assassin's Multiverse Daily Chapter 10

"Stop. Things haven't reached the point of no return yet. It's not too late to stop now." Jiang Hang did not know of the grudge between the two men. He frowned at the wailing man's attempt to use money to make someone else risk their life for him even at death's door, but no matter what, this was still a human life.

The man lying on the ground hurriedly began begging the "armored knight" through tears.

"Director Ochiai, I know what you want! I promise you, I'll agree to everything! I won't demolish the art museum, and I won't sell those artworks either. Please spare me! I won't tell anyone about what happened today!"

Upon hearing the other man call his name outright, a flicker of hesitation passed through the eyes behind the armor.

He looked at the young man standing before him, the sword in his hand trembling slightly.

Yet in the end, he still shook his head. For the first time, his voice came from beneath the armor.

It was deeply aged, as though a man had lost every last bit of spirit and strength, clinging on solely through his final shred of will.

"Do you think you can still deceive me? This isn't the first time... Do you have any idea what kind of resolve it took for me to do this...?"

"To destroy a demon, one must become a demon oneself. And this... is my resolve."

His gaze fell upon Jiang Hang.

"I'm sorry, young man... for letting you see such a sight."

Jiang Hang had already sensed that something was wrong when the man spoke those first few words. When he saw him raise the bloodstained blade and swing it down at the man on the floor again, he tried to stop him—but he was too late.

Blood splattered across the cold armor, and the man on the ground lost his life.

After doing all this, the person inside the armor seemed to have lost all his strength. He let go of his longsword, staggered back a few steps, then collapsed onto the ground as though he had lost his balance.

Jiang Hang watched the entire scene unfold. His throat moved, but he could not say a word.

For the first time, someone had died right before his eyes—alive one moment, dead the next—and in such a manner.

Yet he did not feel nauseated or sickened by what he had seen. Perhaps it was because the killer's all-or-nothing resolve in that final moment had left him deeply shaken.

After a long while, he slowly walked over to the corpse.

Perhaps there had still been a chance to save him just now. Now, he had completely stopped breathing.

He looked at the killer who had done all this before him.

Perhaps the other man had originally had a plan to escape punishment. But seemingly because of Jiang Hang's arrival, coupled with the victim calling out his name earlier, he now appeared to have given up on fleeing. He merely sat silently on the ground, staring at the corpse before him.

"Was this really the only path?"

Jiang Hang looked at the killer, wanting an answer from him.

In response, the armored killer slowly removed his helmet, revealing his true face.

He was an elderly man. It was difficult to imagine that, at his age, he could still wear such heavy armor and wield a longsword to kill someone.

"I became the director of the Beika Art Museum during the bubble economy, and I had started working at the museum when the Beika Art Museum had only just been established. Altogether, it has been nearly fifty years. Even though this art museum does not have any particularly precious collections, most of the beautiful memories of my life are in this museum, among its artworks." Director Ochiai calmly recounted his past, with no intention whatsoever of defending himself.

That sword strike just now seemed to have burned him out completely.

"Of course I knew the museum's situation. I knew the original owner had run into financial trouble, and that selling the museum was unavoidable. I was happy, too, when someone was willing to take it over."

"But... this man deceived us. Before buying the museum, he clearly said that he would keep it running and find a way to revive it. Yet not long after he bought it, he revealed his true colors. He wanted to tear this place down and turn it into a hotel. He even wanted to package up and resell every artwork in the museum... I could never tolerate such a thing."

There seemed to be a trace of relief in his eyes.

"I saw this man for what he was long ago. His greedy nature could not be changed. And from the moment I truly acted, the outcome was already decided. His so-called promises were merely to save his own life. If I let him live, it would be one thing if he took revenge on me, but this museum and the artworks within it would also be dragged down by me... I could no longer stop."

He let out a heavy sigh, then turned his gaze toward Jiang Hang.

"After this happens, it will surely make the news..."

Jiang Hang nodded and said, "The visitors who came to the museum before will probably feel saddened when they learn about this."

But what was even sadder was that, if this had not happened, those visitors likely would never have known that the museum was about to be demolished.

And a few years later, after the hotel had been built, aside from those living nearby, probably even fewer people would continue to remember this art museum.

Those words were too cruel, so Jiang Hang did not say them aloud.

"This is my fault..." Director Ochiai shook his head, looking utterly desolate. "But I had already made up my mind. Even if I became a demon, I would not regret it... Young man, can you tell me your name?"

Jiang Hang fell silent for a while before solemnly replying, "Jiang Hang. Just an ordinary detective. I'm sure you already knew what the consequences of doing this would be, so there's no need for me to say more."

Deep down, Jiang Hang could understand him. In fact, when Director Ochiai had struck, if Jiang Hang had not cared about being injured, there had still been a slight chance that he could have saved that man from the sword.

But in the end, he did not do so.

Director Ochiai had placed everything he had into that final fatal strike. With such resolve, even if Jiang Hang had truly stopped him, Director Ochiai's next move would either have been to kill both the injured Jiang Hang and that man, or to commit suicide right before Jiang Hang's eyes and end it all.

If Conan had encountered such a situation, no matter who the killer and victim were, he would have done everything in his power to save them.

But Jiang Hang could not do that—at least, he found it difficult to do so when facing a criminal like Director Ochiai.

And when facing Director Ochiai, he would not help him escape his crimes. He would only sit with him at the scene, as he was doing now, and wait for the police to arrive.

As for what came afterward, that was a matter for the law.

"Jiang Hang... a detective?" After hearing Jiang Hang's introduction, Director Ochiai suddenly burst into laughter. He seemed both delighted and carefree. "What an interesting outcome. A detective and a criminal—there could be no more perfect work of art than such a pairing. I'll remember you, Mr. Jiang Hang."

His gaze settled on a painting not far away. Jiang Hang followed his eyes and saw a painting of a hero, drenched in blood after a fierce battle, turning away after defeating a demon.

"If a demon appears in this world, then a hero will surely arise to destroy it. Yet in the process of destroying the demon, the hero stained with the demon's blood will eventually become a demon himself. That is why this painting is called Heavenly Retribution. Ironic, isn't it? In my original plan, he would have died like the demon in this painting. But it seems there is no chance of that now."

He had mentioned the word "demon" several times. Presumably, it was because of this painting.

His gaze returned to Jiang Hang, and he stared deeply at him, as though he wanted to firmly etch Jiang Hang's appearance into his memory.

"If you ever become an extraordinary detective, and someone wants to write your biography, then even though I'm merely an insignificant murderer, don't forget to include me..."

Jiang Hang seemed to understand the unspoken meaning behind those words.

The hero who slew the dragon would eventually become an evil dragon. A detective who walked the edge of the law could, while dealing with all manner of cases, fall into darkness at any time and be unable to pull himself back out.

No one would write any so-called biography for that kind of detective.

Perhaps the other man had seen something in him.

Jiang Hang nodded and agreed to Director Ochiai's request.

If that day truly came, he would bring his autobiography to him, whether the man was still in prison by then or no longer among the living.

Though he was merely an assassin wearing a detective's guise.

Bowing to darkness and serving the light sounded romantic enough.

But if possible, he wanted to walk beneath the light while still being able to hide in the darkness when necessary. That seemed even more romantic, didn't it?

Conan: Isn't This Supposed to Be a Detective Story?

After receiving Koharu Yoshino's report, and then Jiang Hang's phone call on the way with a more detailed explanation of the case, Inspector Megure naturally arrived at the crime scene quickly.

There was little to say. The murderer, Ochiai, confessed and surrendered on the spot, readily explaining both his motive and method of murder.

Throughout the man's account of the case, Jiang Hang barely spoke. When Inspector Megure asked why he had been at the crime scene, he simply mentioned the rumor he had heard and said that he had come to investigate, only to happen upon the murder.

He offered virtually no opinions of his own. Once the police arrived, he left the remaining examination work to them.

Sneaking into the closed museum was not much of a crime. Even though he concealed the fact that he had picked the lock with a piece of wire, the police would not hold him responsible for making such a choice in the face of a murder case. At most, they would give him a verbal warning. He simply could not be bothered to make trouble for himself.

In a rather dramatic turn of events, Kogoro Mouri and his group finally arrived just as Inspector Megure ordered his men to take Director Ochiai back to the station for interrogation.

"Inspector Megure?" Kogoro Mouri looked puzzled, clearly not expecting to encounter him here.

"It's you," Inspector Megure said, somewhat surprised upon seeing Kogoro Mouri.

Kogoro Mouri had once been his colleague, but the man had been unreliable even when he was a police officer. After resigning to become a detective, there had been no news of him for a long time. Only recently had he helped solve several cases, causing Inspector Megure to revise his opinion of him somewhat. Still, remembering Mouri's unreliable nature in the past gave Inspector Megure a headache.

Still, they had once been colleagues, and Mouri had recently helped him out a few times. So Inspector Megure briefly explained the murder that had occurred here.

The moment he heard there had been a murder, Conan, standing beside Kogoro Mouri, wanted to sneak into the crime scene to look for evidence. It was a habit he had developed over many years. After becoming smaller, he was less likely to be noticed, which gave him a slight advantage in this regard.

However, the moment he quietly slipped into the museum, someone grabbed him by the back of his collar and lifted him up.

"Conan, the murderer has already surrendered, and the case is over. There are only police officers inside documenting the crime scene now. You should hurry back to your sister Ran."

It was Jiang Hang. In the anime, he had seen Ran or Kogoro lift Conan like this countless times. He had long wanted to try it himself, and now that he finally had, it felt pretty good.

Hearing Jiang Hang's words, Conan was instinctively startled at first, then immediately became suspicious.

Why would he say that?

He currently looked like nothing more than an ordinary elementary school student. Even if Jiang Hang caught him, shouldn't he have said something like, "It's dangerous inside, children shouldn't go in"? Words like "the case is solved" and "crime scene" clearly should not be said to a child, right?

Could it be that he had noticed something strange about him?

Come to think of it, he had only been small for half a month, yet he really had become too lax. If this continued, more people would definitely notice.

At that thought, Conan's body stiffened.

That was right—Jiang Hang had done it deliberately. Conan was the sort of person who would risk his life to solve a case. The only reason the Black Organization had not discovered him yet was because it had far too many traitors within it.

He also knew he could only frighten Conan for the moment. The next time a case came up, Conan would definitely forget all about this.

There would be even more incomprehensible stunts later on.

For example, he would repeatedly pull ridiculous tricks to turn back into Shinichi and go see Ran, as if he were afraid the Black Organization might fail to notice him. And his mindset for concealing his identity from Ran gradually underwent the bizarre shift from "I'm worried Ran will be in danger" to "I'm worried Ran will beat me to death on the spot."

Still, Aoyama had initially only planned to draw a short-to-medium-length manga. It was only because Conan became so wildly popular that it turned into an extremely long series. The main plot, which had originally been fairly tight, began getting padded out in every possible way after reaching its middle stages.

The most unfortunate ones were the Black Organization. Over the course of more than twenty years, they went from an intimidating boss organization to a famously embarrassing one. Apart from Gin and his underling, who still diligently did what villains were supposed to do, every other character who appeared was either a traitor or an undercover agent. It was truly humiliating.

After once again mocking the manga's plot in his heart, Jiang Hang stuffed Conan directly into Ran's arms, letting Conan receive a thorough face-washing lesson from Ran.

You should thank me properly again. Normally, you wouldn't get to enjoy benefits like this.

As he muttered that to himself, he saw Conan's face turn bright red, looking as though he might get a nosebleed at any moment.

"Conan, you went running around again, didn't you?" Ran did not notice Conan's blissful expression. Instead, she hurriedly apologized to Jiang Hang in embarrassment.

"It's fine, it's fine. Kids are naturally energetic," Jiang Hang said, waving a hand indifferently.

Noticing that Jiang Hang had come out of the crime scene, Ran asked curiously, "I heard Inspector Megure say that the culprit surrendered. Could it be that you solved the case, Mr. Jiang Hang?"

Having finally calmed down, Conan immediately pricked up his ears, wanting to learn from Jiang Hang's words what had happened and how he had found the culprit.

After the Maple Gold Coin Case, he had already placed Jiang Hang very highly in his mind. Though Jiang Hang was still not as good as himself, he was a detective not to be underestimated.

"It was nothing. Calling it solving the case would be too much. I just happened to enter the crime scene and found the culprit before he had left," Jiang Hang said. No matter who heard it, they would not credit it to his deductive ability. They could only call it a coincidence.

Jiang Hang glanced at Conan, knowing that the boy's obsessive streak had definitely been triggered. Unless he heard the details of the case, he probably would not let it go. Jiang Hang, who never liked leaving people hanging, satisfied Conan's obsession and briefly explained what had happened.

However, in his explanation, Jiang Hang omitted the fact that Director Ochiai had personally killed the victim in front of him. Instead, he said that when he entered the crime scene, the murderer had already killed the man.

After hearing the account, Ran only felt that Jiang Hang had been terribly unlucky. She also worried about what would have happened if the murderer had attacked Jiang Hang as well.

As for Conan, after listening to Jiang Hang's account, he only felt disappointed.

That was it? Just that?

That was the first thought that came to Conan's mind.

When he heard that the curator had disguised himself as a suit of armor to commit murder, Conan had already come up with several different methods of committing the crime and imagined several possible lines of deduction. Yet the key to solving the case was that Jiang Hang happened to run into the murderer, and once the murderer realized he'd been discovered, he simply confessed on the spot?

At the very least, there should have been a fight scene to show off the protagonist's abilities. Ending things so blandly—no one would pay to watch that if it were made into a movie.

This had nothing to do with deduction at all!

Having grown accustomed over the years to arriving at crime scenes, watching murderers put on all kinds of disguises, then searching for the clues they had left behind and battling wits with them until he finally exposed the true culprit, Conan felt an overwhelming urge to complain about Jiang Hang.

It was then that Koharu Yoshino emerged from the restroom on the other side.

It was obvious that she was not in good condition.

After the police arrived, she had gathered her courage and entered the crime scene. Then, unable to hold it in any longer, she had run into the restroom.

It was only after staying there for nearly twenty minutes that she started to feel a little better.

"Jiang Hang... you really scared me to death earlier. First you picked the lock with wire, then you suddenly told me to call the police before running inside to confront the murderer... Do you have any idea how terrified I was—"

She had only wanted to complain to Jiang Hang a little, but then she suddenly noticed Ran Mori standing beside him and quickly shut her mouth.

No matter what, it wouldn't be appropriate for other people to know that he had picked a lock with wire.

But while Koharu Yoshino had fallen silent, Conan frowned.

Picked the lock?

He remembered now. Jiang Hang had indeed told them earlier that he had specifically come to the museum to investigate the rumor of a suit of armor that walked around at night.

Their group had passed by this exhibition hall earlier as well, but because there was a sign outside saying it was closed, they hadn't paid it any attention and had gone straight to the halls farther back.

What Conan hadn't expected was that Jiang Hang had actually meant it—he had picked a lock just to investigate the rumor about the walking armor?