The Arsonist's True Motive

Besides Conan, Jiang Hang also planned to send these materials to the famous detectives he knew.

After all, a case of this magnitude, which extends to the entire Japan and even Southeast Asian region, involving mass induced suicides, certainly warrants a detective world "Avengers Assemble."

Speaking of which, since the last gathering at the Twilight Mansion, although he has maintained simple contact with those famous detectives with whom he had "life-and-death friendships," he really hasn't found a way to further develop their relationship.

This case could also be seen as an opportunity.

However, while he had this idea, Jiang Hang still needed to consider the specifics of how to proceed. Most importantly, he needed to confirm that there was indeed a mysterious force behind these Suicide Websites.

If all of this were just a disorganized mess of small groups each messing around, then Jiang Hang could easily take them all down with a little more effort. Even if he sought help from others, those small groups would simply be within the range of the famous detectives' operations, making it easier to strike.

Now, Jiang Hang plans to first clarify the case involving Natsuki Kosimizu.

The other party is currently searching for the "famous detective" who made a mistake in reasoning and caused the death of her friend, but what if her friend's suicide, or even the suicide of the victim in that case, was deliberately orchestrated?

It's been a year, so it's not exactly new. Among the Suicide Websites he currently owns, there's one that's been around for over two and a half years.

However, the website doesn't have much traffic and is probably only circulating among a small number of people. Moreover, the website administrators are very careful not to recruit members in the same place on a large scale. Therefore, even though the website has caused dozens or even hundreds of suicides in the past year or so, the number is diluted and it is not considered big news when compared to other prefectures and cities in Japan.

Naturally, the police also had a hard time finding information about this website.

Jiang Hang had already disguised his identity and was preparing to go undercover as well. He wanted to gain the trust of the website administrator and see if he could infiltrate their group to gradually find out their background.

This kind of thing can't be accomplished overnight, but Jiang Hang has plenty of time and patience. With his Eagle Eye ability, he has a chance to sense the criminal's psychological state when committing the crime after arresting them. With this ability, plus the cover of Advanced Disguise skills, he can completely disguise himself as a master of seduction.

When Jiang Hang used his disguise skills to make himself look like a psychopath in the dark, Miyano Akemi, who knew Jiang Hang was working at an art museum and had specially poured him a cup of coffee, was startled by Jiang Hang's sinister appearance the moment she entered the basement. She almost spilled the coffee on Jiang Hang's face on the spot.

She only realized what had happened after learning what had happened from Jiang Hang, who had restored everything to its original state.

A slightly blushing Miyano Akemi thought for a moment and naturally decided to join the operation: after all, she was now a member of the Brotherhood, and even Yusuke Sakata could go on missions. Her current disguise skills allowed her to go out at will without being discovered. Although she might not be able to do other dangerous things, she had no problem gathering intelligence online.

"Since you want to pretend to be a PUA master to the website administrator, you should also need a target to lure. I know you can play multiple roles without any problem, but at least let me help you with some of the work."

After listening to Miyano Akemi's words, Jiang Hang pondered for a moment.

Miyano Akemi is a talented person, but she sacrificed her study time to take care of Miyano Shiho while working for the Black Organization. Later, she became somewhat love-struck because of her relationship with Shuichi Akai.

Now that she has left the organization, her younger sister is capable of handling things on her own and doesn't need her to worry too much, and having decided to completely sever ties with Shuichi Akai, Miyano Akemi has indeed recently shown a completely different aura than before.

These days, whenever Jiang Hang visits the art museum, he secretly overhears the museum staff whispering that Miyano Akemi's work demeanor has become increasingly authoritative, making the original staff afraid to slack off during work hours.

Adding some more tasks to Miyano Akemi seems like a good idea.

However, Miyano Akemi has suffered trauma after all—the loss of family, betrayal in love, and abandonment by her organization. Although Miyano Akemi seems fine now, Jiang Hang is genuinely worried that she might be led astray by the people on those Suicide Websites filled with negative emotions.

"It seems I'll have to learn some psychology on the side, and I'll need to come back every now and then to do psychological assessments for them." Jiang Hang thought to himself, and then agreed to Miyano Akemi's request.

"Then let's do it this way. But your scenes aren't urgent for now. I'll also get you a separate computer so that your IP address won't be easily identified."

These people who run Suicide Websites are obviously aware that what they are doing is practically murder without actually doing it. Therefore, they are all extremely cautious and afraid of death. Gaining their trust, even just the initial trust, is not an easy task.

Given Jiang Hang's personality, once he decides to do something, he obviously won't be perfunctory; he'll make sure everything goes perfectly.

After receiving Jiang Hang's affirmative reply, Miyano Akemi's expression seemed more relaxed than before.

It seems she genuinely felt uneasy because she hadn't done anything of value for Jiang Hang after he rescued her.

Now that she feels she can help, she naturally feels much more at ease.

Jiang Hang was unaware of Miyano Akemi's thoughts at that moment. His attention remained focused on those websites, recording information about those who had suicidal thoughts or might say goodbye to this world at any time, while also trying to get closer to the website administrators.

He almost didn't even notice when Yusuke Sakata returned from the mission.

"The mission was successfully completed. When I arrived, the man was talking to a reporter from that magazine about you. I snatched the phone and threatened him."

Upon hearing Yusuke Sakata's report, Jiang Hang finally looked up.

"What was the result?"

"Kubo Rokuro hasn't backed down yet; he even tried to resist. I taught him a lesson, but he doesn't seem entirely convinced."

"But the magazine over there backed down immediately after hearing the name of the Pioneer Foundation, saying that it would not publish any news related to you, including this Suicide Website incident. After that, I told Kubo Rokuro to take care of himself and then I came back."

Yusuke Sakata's answer was brief, and Jiang Hang wasn't particularly surprised by his explanation.

Kubo Rokuro, being young and impetuous, would sometimes still argue back even with a knife to his neck. Not to mention, Yusuke Sakata wouldn't kill someone over something like that.

While Yusuke Sakata told him to keep quiet and not to have any opinions about the case, he was probably still thinking about the public's right to know, which is what the news media should be doing.

However, the gossip magazine's reaction was much more genuine.

After all, the name of the Pioneer Foundation is still quite useful.

While most people might not know what this Foundation is, since the magazine specifically mentioned to Kubo Rokuro that they were paying too much attention to his news, he is clearly one of the few people who know about the Pioneer Foundation.

Since they knew about the Pioneer Foundation, it was a wise choice for the gossip magazine to back down first after hearing that the Pioneer Foundation had discovered his plans. The two sides were worlds apart in size. What else could they do but back down? They couldn't possibly have a small company with a market value of less than a few hundred million yen go head-to-head with a conglomerate with assets of tens of billions of US dollars.

Chapter 455: Chapter 451: The Arsonist's True Thoughts

However, even though the gossip magazine had backed down, Jiang Hang wasn't going to let those unscrupulous media outlets off so easily.

"I'll put you in charge of this gossip magazine matter. Find out who's behind the magazine, and then gather as much evidence as possible of their illegal and criminal activities." Jiang Hang looked at Yusuke Sakata.

Yusuke Sakata. When he was a policeman, he had also recruited many informants and undercover agents, but those informants and undercover agents were all targeting yakuza groups in Osaka and large companies that might be involved in economic crimes.

Instead of planting spies among celebrities, this gossip magazine took advantage of UDI, an organization that accepts bodies of people from all over the country for unusual deaths, to plant a thorn in its side, hoping to use it to obtain detailed information on sensational cases.

In fact, they actually did it.

After all, UDI is a legitimate official organization. Its original purpose was to address the shortage of forensic doctors in Japan and the high crime rate, which resulted in many unnatural deaths being hastily closed without autopsies. They never imagined that their efforts to speak out for the deceased would lead to someone eyeing their organization's future so early in the process.

In the story, Kubo Rokuro provides the magazine with information on several controversial and sensational cases. If he hadn't been influenced by UDI's work atmosphere and turned to the light, he probably would have continued to leech off UDI as it was just starting to gain momentum.

Even in the end, the gossip magazine received no punishment whatsoever. In fact, when one of their own reporters was accused of instigating murder, they were still gleefully using their colleague as a news gimmick, taking the exploitation of human suffering to the extreme.

Now that Jiang Hang has arrived, he naturally won't let that happen again.

Yusuke Sakata accepted the task, and Jiang Hang, of course, was not stingy. He immediately gave Yusuke Sakata five million yen in activity funds, and could add more money later if needed. These days, Jiang Hang could get eight million yen as a reward for helping an old lady cross the street, so he was not short of money.

Yusuke Sakata couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

When he was a policeman, he worked himself to the bone for a month and his salary was less than 300,000 yen. Even after taking into account the benefits and subsidies of civil servants, the salary he could take in at the end of the year was less than the funding given for a random mission in Jiang Hang.

Yusuke Sakata was not a greedy person. If he were a little selfish, he could have used what Numabuchi Ki'ichirō told him to threaten the politician who killed his father and extorted tens of millions of yen from him without any problem.

However, he was still somewhat touched by Jiang Hang's trust in him.

Since Jiang Hang has such faith in his abilities, he can't let him down.

He immediately began making plans, pondering which direction to begin his investigation from.

The next morning, Jiang Hang, who had spent the night studying psychology in his study space, saw a photo sent to him by Seiji Aso as soon as he opened his eyes.

The photo shows Kubo Rokuro looking listless, with red and swollen eyes, as if he had been beaten up.

Seiji Aso was still asking Jiang Hang if he needed help figuring out how the other person's injuries were caused. Jiang Hang just smiled when he saw the photo and replied, "No need. I know what I'm doing. I'm sure Seiji Aso has a pretty good idea too."

Besides Seiji Aso, what surprised Jiang Hang was that Mikoto Misumi, with whom he had just exchanged contact information yesterday, seemed to have suddenly remembered that she hadn't paid him yet. So, she sent him a message early this morning asking how much the fee for yesterday's request was.

It is indeed his duty to charge for his services. Even if Jiang Hang could earn hundreds or thousands of times more money than the commission fee by doing something casually for someone, he would charge regular fees to those who came to him for legitimate purposes, except in special circumstances.

However, since the client this time is Mikoto Misumi and UDI behind her, if we want to maintain a good working relationship with them and continue to take cases from them, the fees naturally cannot be calculated in the normal way.

After a brief moment of thought, Jiang Hang gave his reply.

"For cases involving investigating extramarital affairs, I have a clear fee schedule, usually around 10,000 to 100,000 yen. But yesterday's case was a criminal case, which can enhance our agency's reputation. Also, as a special consultant to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, I can get some subsidies from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department."

"If you really feel bad about it, please reimburse me for yesterday's gas expenses, and then treat me to a meal sometime later."

Although gas prices in Japan might be a bit higher than in China when converted to gasoline, the cost of living in Japan is much higher than in China. Yesterday, the gas cost me at most 1,000 yen, which is about the price of a convenience store bento box.

As for inviting someone to dinner, that's more of a polite formality. After all, Jiang Hang has heard "I'll treat you to dinner next time" countless times from before to after his transmigration, and in the end, he can count the number of people who actually treat him on one hand.

But Mikoto Misumi is an honest person, and she directly said that she could have a good rest for a day after this incident was over. As a celebration, she was going to go to a very famous yakiniku restaurant in Shinagawa with some of her colleagues tonight.

She sincerely invited Jiang Hang to come over for barbecue tonight, and promised to reimburse Jiang Hang for yesterday's gas expenses.

Faced with Mikoto Misumi's invitation, Jiang Hang hesitated only for a moment before accepting, as he also wanted to see how Kubo Rokuro would react to seeing him.

After securing dinner for the day and assigning tasks to Shizuka Sakaki and Koharu Yoshino, he headed to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to continue his investigation into the serial arson case.

However, although Jiang Hang had already told the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department about the suspect's physical characteristics and clothing, it was not an easy task to pinpoint a target in a city with tens of millions of people.

In addition to this arson case, there have been other criminal cases in other parts of Tokyo. Inspector Megure, who is in charge of the arson case, was called away by Jiang Hang yesterday to handle other cases. They have been busy all night dealing with those Suicide Websites, but they have not yet compiled all of them. Therefore, the progress of the arson case is still quite slow.

Upon seeing Jiang Hang's arrival, Inspector Megure looked somewhat aggrieved. After all, his team had put in a lot of effort for yesterday's case, but there was no progress in the arson case. They had also had a minor conflict with other teams because of yesterday's case, and this morning the section chief had called them in for a small meeting.

The meeting began by criticizing the team that was originally in charge of the charcoal suicide case, telling them to be more rigorous in their approach to the case and not to ignore any doubts in order to save time, which almost led to the loss of a murder case.

Afterwards, Inspector Megure was also mentioned. Although it was a compliment, it also implied that people in the same department should help each other more and not treat their colleagues as competitors. They should also share any case information in advance to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

"Yesterday was an unexpected situation. After all, the situation was quite urgent. If I had arrived even a little later, that girl's life might have been in danger." Listening to Inspector Megure's mutterings, Jiang Hang patted the middle-aged man on the shoulder. "Besides, you are Chief Matsumoto's best subordinates. The officers in other groups don't have your rich experience. When I encounter a case, the only police officer I can think of is Inspector Megure."

Jiang Hang recalled the psychology he had studied the previous night and then applied it directly to Inspector Megure, giving him all the encouragement he could.

Having received Jiang Hang's praise, Inspector Megure seemed to have his fighting spirit rekindled.

To be honest, Inspector Megure's greatest talent over the years has actually been currying favor with powerful figures.

Before Yusaku Kudo went to the United States, Shinichi Kudo gained a foothold in the investigation department and became a police inspector with Yusaku Kudo's help. A few years after Yusaku Kudo went to the United States, Shinichi Kudo also grew up and helped him solve many difficult and unsolved cases.

Although Kudo Shinichi has been out of the public eye for the past few months, seemingly being targeted by someone, the arrival of the newly Famous Detective Jiang Hang and the Sleeping Kogoro has almost seamlessly replaced Shinichi Kudo's original work.

With the combined assistance of four renowned detectives for over a decade, Inspector Megure's team boasts an astonishing case-solving rate, and in terms of the sheer number of cases, they far surpass others.

In particular, Jiang Hang, this low-key famous detective, usually doesn't like to show off and never speaks ill of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in public. He even voluntarily gave credit to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on several occasions. Before becoming a special advisor to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, he was even unwilling to appear on detective shows to promote his agency.

It's worth noting that the other detectives all have a tendency to like showing off to some extent. Shinichi Kudo a young man, Kogoro Mouri is somewhat flamboyant and vain. Only Yusaku Kudo has become much more composed after getting married, but as a world-renowned writer, it would be difficult for him to keep a low profile even if he wanted to.

Only Jiang Hang would say such comforting words at this moment.

"Brother Jiang Hang, I knew you were the one who understood me best," Inspector Megure clenched his fists, his previously tired body now filled with passion again, ready to continue fighting those evildoers to the very end.

After giving Inspector Megure a bunch of inspirational platitudes, Jiang Hang rested his chin on his hand and fell into deep thought.

Psychology proved to be far more useful than he had imagined. Combined with Eagle Eye's meticulous observation skills, the subtle movements of those around him could not escape his notice. And it was precisely these subtle movements that allowed him to better grasp the thoughts in others' minds at that moment.

"What if we used it to simulate the psychology of a murderer during a crime?"

With that thought in mind, Jiang Hang laid out all the information and clues about the arson case in front of him, then closed his eyes and began to construct the suspect's thought process based on his image of the criminal.

This job is not easy. First of all, it is only equivalent to one night of study, which is equivalent to the level of an average person studying for about twenty days.

Psychology is a complex subject, but twenty days is enough to gain an understanding of its various aspects and then reach a basic level in one of them.

Secondly, to build a person's mindset, one must first have a sufficient understanding of the other person. Jiang Hang is currently relying on what he saw at the scene using his Eagle Eye, plus Ryo Yamada's eyewitness testimony.

There are still many uncertainties involved. Using this data to construct something is fine as a reference, but it's too much of a stretch to consider it as a clue.

As Jiang Hang pondered this, he began to gradually construct the image of the prisoner in his mind:

First, the perpetrator is a male around 30 years old and 178 cm tall.

What was the perpetrator's intention in choosing to set fires in different areas of Tokyo?

Does choosing to light a fire with a match instead of a lighter at the scene of an arson incident indicate that the person is an old-fashioned and conservative individual?

He was carrying a murder weapon and was killing someone for the first time in Shimokitazawa. However, the other party must have made a decision long ago: if anyone might affect his actions, he would not hesitate to kill them to continue his plan.

From this perspective, the murderer must have been an extremist.

Of course, if he weren't an extremist, he wouldn't have gone so far as to run around Tokyo setting fires.

Wait... running around randomly?

Jiang Hang paused his thought when he reached this point.

A person who is both conservative and extreme will not use random methods to decide where he will commit his next crime.

The murderer must have decided on the area to carry out the crime based on some kind of criterion.

Jiang Hang unfolded a map of Tokyo on the table and then began to point out the four areas where the murderer had appeared on the map one by one.

First is Ikebukuro, located in the upper left of Tokyo.

Then there's the Asakusabashi in the upper right corner.

The third one, Tabata, is directly above Tokyo.

The fourth one Shimokitazawa, is located to the lower left of Tokyo.

If the murderer was identified in the order of left, right, and center, then the next possible location would be the lower right of Tokyo.

However, this case cannot be simply explained by this pattern, nor is it in line with the killer's character.