No One Can Be Right All the Time / The Passionate-Killing Culprit

If Mr. Rob had primarily used Japanese in his interactions with Takeda Misa at the Takeda Family, then Takeda Misa might have genuinely interpreted "shine" as meaning "go to hell."

Just like in Chinese pinyin, siren looks like a dead person at first glance, but in English, as the source of the name 'Siren', it also means 'steam whistle', 'charming', and 'seduction'.

If a foreigner who has just learned Chinese pinyin uses the word "siren" to describe someone, it's highly likely that the word will be misinterpreted.

Jiang Hang's explanation elicited gasps of surprise from the audience.

"So, perhaps Takeda Misa misunderstood Mr. Rob's message, which is why she became disheartened and ultimately chose to commit suicide?" Although this wasn't Vermouth's standard answer, hearing it from Jiang Hang made Rena Mizunashi feel that it was highly credible.

Even she, an undercover agent, couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow for the deceased Ms. Takeda Misa.

Jiang Hang remained silent for a while, but ultimately did not give a definite answer, "This is just my speculation based on the fact that Ms. Takeda Misa suddenly committed suicide shortly after Rob left. There is no evidence, it can only be said to be a hypothesis."

"Ms. Takeda Misa has been gone for three years, and it is impossible to verify what she was thinking back then."

"And even if my hypothesis is correct, this can only be considered the last straw that broke the camel's back. What we need to figure out now is the origin of this tragedy, which is the argument that led Takeda Misa to resign from the hospital and have suicidal thoughts."

Rena Mizunashi glanced at the time; only about 10 minutes of the half-hour Q&A session had passed. "There is still plenty of time before the Q&A session ends, Mr. Jiang Hang, please continue to think slowly."

"Actually, I only have two questions left now. One is what secret Takeda Shinichi discovered that made him treat his wife and daughter so brutally."

"The second question is whether the death of Negishi, who recently died at the Spider Mansion, is related to the suicides of Takeda Misa and Takeda Kinuyo two years ago."

Hearing Jiang Hang's words, Rena Mizunashi shrugged and shook her head slightly. "Although I really want to say it, you have to deduce these kinds of clues that directly involve the core of the case yourselves."

"As a host, at most I can tell you whether your reasoning is correct after you make a hypothesis."

At this point, it's actually a bit like the game of Turtle Soup—you're given a scenario and an outcome, and then you have to guess the detailed process in between.

Jiang Hang didn't hold back either, directly asking questions based on what he had previously investigated.

"In that case, I'll be direct. Is Takeda Misa Takeda Shinichi's biological daughter?"

Rena Mizunashi was wondering how long it would take Jiang Hang to find the key point, but unexpectedly, Jiang Hang asked this rather bold guess with just the first question.

Unfortunately, according to the rules of the show, she can only give Jiang Hang the correct answer now.

She began to realize that the task Vermouth had given her, which was meant to make things difficult for Jiang Hang, was probably not going to be completed.

This recently famous detective's intuition and thinking ability are just too sharp.

Thinking this to herself, Rena Mizunashi shook her head helplessly, then asked Jiang Hang, "Why did you ask such a question right from the start?"

Jiang Hang answered frankly, "When the couple quarreled, the father vented his anger on his own daughter, making her go to the hospital for stitches. After that, he, as the father, did not show any concern whatsoever."

"After Takeda Misa's mental breakdown and suicide, her mother Takeda Kinuyo also passed away along with her daughter."

"Given this situation, it's not surprising that people suspect Takeda Kinuyo of having an affair and that Takeda Misa isn't their biological daughter."

Rena Mizunashi narrowed her eyes, still somewhat unwilling to give up the idea of leading Jiang Hang astray. "So, are you trying to find Takeda Kinuyo's affair partner next?"

Chapter 439: Chapter 435: No one can be right all the time.

"Takeda Kinuyo's affair partner... there's no need to rush that. I already have a slight clue," Jiang Hang narrowed his eyes. Of course, he could tell that Rena Mizunashi was trying to lead him to the fact that Takeda Kinuyo's affair partner was the recently deceased Negishi.

In fact, this is the first guess that most normal people would make after receiving these clues.

After all, according to normal logic, the cases selected by the program team must have been carefully chosen.

Since this case involves three "suicide" cases spanning three years, there must be some connection between these three cases.

Since Jiang Hang, the detective, has deduced that Takeda Kinuyo's infidelity was the key factor leading to the suicide of the mother and daughter, then Takeda Shinichi and mysteriously committed suicide three years later, seems very much like Takeda Kinuyo's affair Negishi.

Following this line of reasoning, the most likely person to make the move would naturally be Takeda Shinichi, the "victim" who had been cuckolded for many years.

In fact, Shizuka Sakaki and the others had considered this possibility at the beginning.

However, after learning from Jiang Hang that Takeda Misa's real biological father was actually the second son of the Takeda Family, they gave up on this speculation.

Upon hearing Jiang Hang's response, Rena Mizunashi knew that the famous detective in front of her was not so easily tricked.

But she didn't feel too frustrated. After all, the task wasn't mandatory to make Jiang Hang lose face on the show. She had already done what she could, but Jiang Hang just wouldn't budge. What else could she do?

On the contrary, seeing the organization suffer a setback even gave her a secret sense of satisfaction.

Having been an undercover agent in the organization for so long, she was like a dancer on the edge of a cliff, where the slightest misstep would send her plummeting into the abyss.

Now, there's someone who even the organization can only secretly do small things behind her back, but doesn't dare to directly kill her. If she weren't afraid of being misunderstood by the organization, she would have even invited him to dinner after the recording of this program.

Therefore, after receiving Jiang Hang's reply, Rena Mizunashi simply nodded slightly. "It seems that Mr. Jiang Hang already has his own ideas. So, what questions would you like to ask next?"

Jiang Hang carefully examined the information about the Takeda Family in front of him, hoping to find something they hadn't been able to investigate before.

At the same time, he didn't forget to make his assistant's presence known.

He looked at Shizuka Sakaki beside him. "Is there anything else that you find suspicious, or what do you think of Takeda Kinuyo's affair partner?"

Shizuka Sakaki looked at the information in front of her with some hesitation.

She knew more than 80% of the information on it and had discussed it in detail with Koharu Yoshino and Imai Midori, while the remaining less than 20% was something she didn't know before.

Logically speaking, the key points of the case might be more likely to be found in the information she didn't know, but she was also worried that her questions would be completely unrelated to the truth of the case, and that she would be wasting her time asking questions.

Jiang Hang may have taken this into consideration, which is why he gave her a chance to show herself.

Knowing all along who Takeda Kinuyo's affair partner was, answering this question was practically a free point for her.

However, Shizuka Sakaki is still quite thin-skinned. She already felt embarrassed for asking about Ranta Miyuki when she already knew the answer, but since they were the ones who contacted Ranta Miyuki themselves, she didn't feel too much pressure telling her.

Now, to let her present Jiang Hang's findings as her own deductions in front of so many people...

After hesitating for a moment, she honestly addressed the camera, saying, "I feel that Ms. Takeda Kinuyo's affair partner is not the deceased Mr. Negishi, because the information shows that Mr. Takeda Shinichi only started working with Mr. Negishi eight years ago. At that time, Ms. Takeda Misa was already a teenager, which is more than ten years ago. Therefore, Ms. Takeda Kinuyo's affair partner should be someone else... but I can't deduce who it is."

This was a judgment she made based on the existing clues, and it was plausible to say it out loud, but she felt a little embarrassed to say it again.

After Shizuka Sakaki's explanation, the audience realized that since there was a difference of more than ten years in time, it seemed that the deceased Negishi was indeed not Takeda Kinuyo's lover.

However, this approach not only failed to solve the problem but also created more doubts.

Who exactly was Takeda Kinuyo's father with when she had Takeda Misa?

Was Negishi's death a suicide or a homicide? Was it related to the case three years ago?

Listening to Shizuka Sakaki's words, Jiang Hang knew that she was embarrassed to directly reveal Takeda Ryuji's identity. He muttered to himself that girls were indeed much more thin-skinned than him, then nodded slightly and picked up where Shizuka Sakaki left off.

"I already have a general idea in mind, but I remember there's an audience guessing segment at the end of the show, right? I'd like to wait until then to share my guess. What do you think?"

Rena Mizunashi nodded. "It seems you are very familiar with the process of our program. This is indeed one of the questions in our reasoning segment this time, so the audience can take this opportunity to think about this question. If you can answer all the questions correctly in the following reasoning stage, you will have the opportunity to win a surprise grand prize provided by our program team!"

After Rena Mizunashi finished interacting with the audience, Jiang Hang continued, "Let's get back to Mr. Negishi's suicide case. Does the production team have any more detailed information about Mr. Negishi?"

Upon hearing Jiang Hang's question, Rena Mizunashi nodded with some regret.

"I'm sorry, our program team has tried to collect information about Mr. Negishi, but he had no family or children. Most of the people he frequently contacted during his lifetime were unwilling to talk about him when the program team interviewed him. Even the Takeda Family didn't know much about him, only that he was Takeda Shinichi's most trusted collaborator."

Upon receiving this answer, the audience felt that this case seemed much more difficult than those in previous episodes.

After all, the guests invited in the previous episodes were mostly mystery novelists or crime drama actors, so the cases chosen by the production team could not be too difficult for the sake of the show's effect.

To put it bluntly, it was a case where "the Japan police alone could catch the culprit."

Now, faced with a case that even the Japan police can't solve, the audience members, who are at best mystery novel enthusiasts, are naturally getting into a brain-teasing phase as they have to deduce and judge almost all the clues themselves.

There wasn't much of a reaction from Jiang Hang.

Although he could only be considered a mystery enthusiast before his transmigration, he gained so many abilities after transmigrating. His learning ability was also greatly enhanced in the learning space of the system, and with the addition of Meditation Method to improve mental strength, his mental power is now completely different from what it used to be.

Even if he might not be as quick-witted or have a flash of inspiration as a proper detective like Conan or Heiji, he still has the Hawkeye ability, which is like a cheat code, as well as the ingenious ideas of a time traveler. The combined strength of these factors in Conan's world is probably only comparable to Yusaku Kudo, who has the highest level of reasoning ability.

While the audience below the stage were grumbling about how difficult the case was, Jiang Hang sensed something inexplicable in Rena Mizunashi's words.

Why was he unwilling to talk about Negishi during the program's interview?

The other members of the Takeda Family were not familiar with him either, only knowing that he was Takeda Shinichi's most trusted partner.

This passage may not seem particularly special at first glance, but a little thought about the collaboration between Takeda Shinichi and Negishi reveals its incongruity.

Who Takeda Shinichi? He is the current head of the Takeda Family.

What does the Takeda Family do? They have survived from the Sengoku period to the present day by making puppets.

If this were on a TV program, Takeda Shinichi might be labeled a puppet sage.

As a partner of the Takeda Family, Negishi's task was to sell the Takeda Family's puppets to various places, which is what is known as sales.

Moreover, he was one of the top salespeople in the industry.

After all, according to the records, before Takeda Shinichi cooperated with Negishi, the Takeda Family, although possessing puppetry skills that had been passed down for hundreds of years, was just a small workshop hidden deep in the mountains.

However, after less than two years of cooperation with Negishi, Takeda Shinichi, under considerable pressure, demolished the temple that the Takeda Family had worshipped for many years and converted it into a warehouse. He then expanded the production scale, and the price of the puppets sold through Negishi's hands soared.

According to the data, a puppet made and sold by Takeda Shinichi was priced at over 500,000 yen. Moreover, the traditional puppets, which were relatively simple to make, relied on strings to move, and were very easy to break, were priced at more than twice as high as those puppets with internal mechanics that could be remotely operated, and could easily sell for over a million yen.

Moreover, the repair costs are equally astonishing.

The information mentioned that a one million yen doll is not covered by warranty if damaged, and each repair would cost more than 700,000 yen. Who knows if this doll is made of gold?

However, there are quite a few people who are willing to have Takeda Shinichi repair their equipment. In fact, the person who had the most repairs went to Takeda Shinichi more than ten times over a few years, spending nearly ten million yen on repairs alone.

Given the Takeda Family's situation, selling just one or two traditional dolls a month would have been enough to ensure Takeda Family lived a very wealthy life.

From this perspective, Negishi's marketing skills as a top salesperson must be quite formidable.

But that's where the problem lies.

Why are the former clients of such a highly capable top salesman, who almost single-handedly earned tens or even hundreds of millions of yen for the Takeda Family in eight years, unwilling to be interviewed by television stations or to mention Negishi?

If it's just a simple puppet, there shouldn't be anything wrong with bringing it up, right? Or is there something else going on here, and these people are afraid that if they continue to be questioned, something that will be detrimental to them will be revealed, which is why they are acting this way?

But what kind of shady dealings could someone who sells dolls possibly have?

Jiang Hang pondered for a moment, roughly outlining a few possible directions in his mind, before taking advantage of the remaining time for the Q&A session to ask Rena Mizunashi his last question.

"If the police can determine that Mr. Negishi committed suicide, then there should be a copy of the autopsy report from the police. I can't see the body now, and the case file only says 'the police determined it to be suicide after on-site investigation.' I can't keep pondering the word 'suicide'."

"Also, please provide photos of the warehouse where the crime scene was located. If you have more detailed photos, please provide those as well."

Upon hearing Jiang Hang mention the autopsy report, Rena Mizunashi knew she could no longer keep up the charade.

However, she still jokingly said to Jiang Hang, "So even you famous detectives need autopsy reports? I thought you detectives never needed this kind of external help, that you could just walk around the scene and find evidence of the murderer's crime."

Jiang Hang answered frankly, "I have always believed that before doing anything, you should think about what impact your actions will have, and then decide whether or not to do it."

"It's like a doctor. Even if a doctor on the operating table succeeds in a thousand surgeries, just one mistake could lead to the loss of a life in his hands."

"We detectives are the same. Even if I have deduced correctly a thousand times in the past, it doesn't mean I won't make mistakes. Just one wrong deduction might make an innocent person a scapegoat. Therefore, I am quite accepting of any means that can help me better explore the truth."

These words sound like lines spoken by the male protagonist in a crime drama, but when Jiang Hang says them, they sound more heartfelt.

If those who are more sentimental, or those who have been helped by Jiang Hang in the past, saw the way Jiang Hang spoke, they might even be moved to tears.

Just like Shizuka Sakaki, who was sitting next to Jiang Hang, her eyes were fixed on Jiang Hang, and she couldn't see anything else at all.

Even Rena Mizunashi, who knew Jiang Hang's hidden identity, couldn't help but believe Jiang Hang's words at this moment.

Chapter 440: Chapter 436: The Murderer of Passion

Jiang Hang knew very well that he couldn't be considered a good person in the strict sense. After all, what good person would maintain a cooperative relationship with a transnational criminal organization while also recruiting criminals to form an assassin organization?

But what he just said was indeed his own thought.

He knew perfectly well what he was doing and what the possible consequences of his actions might be.

When Jiang Hang first transmigrated to this world and didn't know much about it, he only wanted to live a peaceful, carefree life, relying on the "transmigration error fund" given to him by the system to leisurely enjoy his second life.

Later, Jiang Hang discovered that this world contained Conan and a whole bunch of characters from anime and Japanese dramas. He didn't think too much about it, but he felt that he was too old when he transmigrated, so he couldn't transfer to Toyonosaki or Soubu High, which were almost the epicenter of crossover anime fanfiction in his previous life, and have a wonderful encounter with those heroines.

However, with the establishment of the detective agency, and the arrival of two female protagonists he quite liked before his transmigration Shizuka Sakaki and Koharu Yoshino, as his assistants, Jiang Hang almost stopped paying attention to the plot developments of those school anime.

At most, I'd occasionally sneak a peek at the Otonokizaka Academy, which is currently facing closure, and secretly become one of μ's' first-generation viewers.

Afterwards, Jiang Hang's strength rapidly increased with each new commission, and the number of industries under his name continued to grow. Naturally, his vision also broadened little by little.

From the very beginning, when he wanted to follow Conan to eliminate the Black Organization, he had to spend a lot of energy making various contingency plans in advance just to save Miyano Shiho. Now, the Black Organization no longer poses any threat to him.

Under these circumstances, Jiang Hang's thoughts naturally changed.

To cultivate and develop their own power, and gradually take over the achievements of the Black Organization over the past half-century.

Achieving this is no easy feat, but Jiang Hang has only been here a short time, and his strength has already begun to develop in the direction of a humanoid heroic spirit. What he lacks is the foundation of the Assassin Brotherhood. It doesn't matter if we slow down the timeline for this, since apart from the Miyano Sisters and Yusuke Sakata, the organization is currently just an empty shell with nothing.

To make it work, we'll need to put at least a few more people inside.

However, finding suitable people to bring into the organization is not something that can be accomplished in a short time, and Jiang Hang is prepared for a protracted battle.