Slacker Assassin's Multiverse Daily

A scumbag who had gotten where he was through blackmail might have built up an enormous network of connections over the years, but in the end, that so-called network was founded on the crooked path of extortion.

As long as someone found his weakness, that seemingly impregnable network would shatter in an instant.

In fact, if Jiang Hang wanted to, once he got hold of the hard drive the man had hidden away, he could spend a little effort turning that web of intertwined interests from Xiao Zhongda's into his alone.

And in his hands, that network would only become more stable than it had been under Xiao Zhongda.

But the man was already so desperate that Jiang Hang decided not to tell him that. It would be bad if he had a heart attack or something and dropped dead on the spot.

Even so, under the double blow to his body and mind, Xiao Zhongda passed out in Jiang Hang's hands after only a few minutes.

"Is that all? What a fragile guy," Jiang Hang muttered, tossing the other man onto the floor like a dead pig.

Xiao Zhongda's reaction left Jiang Hang rather disappointed. He had been in need of a punching bag to practice on.

A guy like this had lived in comfort for years. The moment he ran into a little trouble, his first thought was to kill someone to keep them quiet. He really had not been beaten up enough by society.

Jiang Hang had only just started. He had not even finished warming up, yet the man could no longer take it.

Watching Jiang Hang finish all this, Chihiro Ayasato felt her head fill with questions.

Over the past few days, she had dealt with Jiang Hang quite a bit. When she had first learned about him from Eri Kisaki, she had assumed he was some rich young master who had run off to become a detective.

After getting to know him, she had learned that not only was Jiang Hang wealthy, he was also genuinely an exceptionally capable detective. In less than a month, he had helped the police solve quite a few cases. More importantly, his character was remarkably "noble." Whenever the residents of Beika City mentioned Jiang Hang, they were practically overflowing with praise.

And now, she had witnessed an even more unbelievable side of him.

That near-flawless voice-changing technique, and the fact that he had known she was being monitored by Xiao Zhongda—even seeming to know the location of the bugging device long beforehand.

More importantly, she had painstakingly investigated Xiao Zhongda for years, only to end up helplessly giving him a minor setback while still having to face his retaliation in the future.

Yet Jiang Hang had investigated for merely a few days, found the man's greatest weakness, and driven Xiao Zhongda into a complete mental breakdown with just a few words.

How exactly had he done it?

Ignoring the turbulent waves churning in Chihiro Ayasato's heart, Jiang Hang skillfully dialed Officer Takagi's number.

"Officer Takagi, it's Jiang Hang. A friend of mine was nearly murdered in her own home. Luckily, I got there in time and stopped it, or something terrible would have happened... The suspect? I've subdued him already. I have footage of him before and while he was preparing to commit the crime. Do you have time to come over now?"

Chapter 65: One Billion Yen Robbery

Xiao Zhongda was taken away by the police looking utterly dejected.

Chihiro Ayasato would surely notify those important figures as well, telling them that they no longer needed to worry about Xiao Zhongda's desperate final retaliation.

With the police's subsequent investigation, Xiao Zhongda, who had committed "attempted intentional murder," would likely receive an even more "fair" sentence.

As for what kind of retaliation Xiao Zhongda would face from those important figures after entering prison, Jiang Hang neither wanted nor cared to know.

Under the cover of night, he simply retrieved the hard drive and ledger Xiao Zhongda had hidden away, then handed them to the still-shaken Chihiro Ayasato.

He had never given any thought to things like networks of connections.

He was lazy by nature and disliked maintaining such false relationships. As long as those people knew he existed and did not come looking to cause him trouble, that was enough for Jiang Hang.

Jiang Hang also gave Chihiro Ayasato an explanation.

There was no need to explain too much. The more one said, the more mistakes one made, and Jiang Hang, who possessed the Advanced Disguise skill, understood that very well.

People were good at filling in the blanks themselves. No matter how unbelievable Jiang Hang's performance in this matter had been, one sentence—"a detective's instincts, along with a little help from the Foundation"—was enough for Chihiro Ayasato to come up with an even more reasonable explanation on her own.

As for her heartfelt gratitude, Jiang Hang accepted it without hesitation.

Meanwhile, the system blandly issued him the reward for a Four-Star Case.

Jiang Hang had initially wondered whether Xiao Zhongda's influence would earn him something like a Five-Star Case from the system. But now it seemed that Xiao Zhongda's influence was indeed not as great as Jiang Hang had imagined, and Five-Star Cases were not something that could be produced so casually.

Besides the usual monetary reward, the system also awarded him a skill called "Smoke Bomb Creation."

Having grown accustomed to the system's usual style, Jiang Hang did not think much of the reward.

In fact, when he saw that the skill was merely a direct transfer of knowledge and did not require him to enter the training space to master it, he could not help letting out a sigh of relief.

The effects of those advanced skills were truly powerful, but the difficulty of the training for the advanced skills he had received recently had left him with something of a psychological shadow. If he were given another advanced skill right now, he would probably think it over several times before choosing to accept it.

A smoke bomb was fine. It was not much use for his public identity as a detective, but he would soon be "facing off" against Kaito Kid. Perhaps this smoke bomb could produce some unexpected effect.

Besides, compared to the rewards given by the system, being able to prevent the tragedies and regrets he had been unable to save before his transmigration—things he could only watch happen—was already the greatest reward to Jiang Hang.

Looking at the hard drive before her and the ledger that recorded who knew how many secrets, Chihiro Ayasato was somewhat taken aback.

"Are you sure you want to leave something this important for me to handle?" Chihiro Ayasato asked Jiang Hang uncertainly.

"Isn't it just the dirty laundry of a bunch of big shots? I have zero interest in this stuff." Jiang Hang treated the hard drive Xiao Zhongda had valued as his life as nothing more than nonflammable electronic trash. "Seeing all kinds of negative news on TV every day is already annoying enough. This thing is filled with dirt on those big shots—I wouldn't even want to look at it if you gave it to me. You're a lawyer, and this is your area of expertise, so handle it however you like."

Jiang Hang flicked his hand toward the hard drive and ledger as though he found the bad luck clinging to them distasteful.

"Destroy it if you want. If you want to use it to drag someone in there down, you don't need to care what I think."

Chihiro Ayasato immediately shook her head. "Of course these things have to be destroyed, and as soon as possible. Otherwise, this year's legislators and opposition parties won't need to do any work. They can just stare at this thing and worry themselves sick."

"But to destroy it, we'll need to invite some witnesses... Otherwise, those people at the top won't feel at ease." Chihiro Ayasato felt quite helpless about Jiang Hang directly tossing this hot potato into her hands.

Jiang Hang had no intention of getting involved in how Chihiro Ayasato would invite those witnesses or destroy the materials afterward. He merely reminded her to stay safe and not let anyone set their sights on her again.

After that, Jiang Hang's life finally returned to peace for the time being.

Every day, he took on a few lost-item requests, whether valuable or not, cleared out the "daily tasks" from the bulletin board, and whenever he felt like slacking off, he took half the day off to catch up on new anime at his detective agency.

Koharu Yoshino had privately whispered to Shizuka Sakaki that Jiang Hang might have dumped Chihiro Ayasato after sleeping with her, since he had not gone to see Chihiro these past few days.

Of course, that was merely the sort of nonsense Koharu Yoshino chatted about when she was being silly. Recently, Shizuka Sakaki had been pestering Jiang Hang every day to teach her that voice-changing technique of his, the one that let him turn his voice into whatever he wanted.

She felt that if she could master such an advanced technique, she would have a place of her own in the voice acting industry.

As a result, she had been especially respectful toward Jiang Hang lately. She was practically ready to bow down and take him as her master, so there was no way she would dare mock him like that.

Over the past few days, Jiang Hang had also spent quite a bit of money to cut in line for the test and obtain a Japanese driver's license. From now on, he would no longer need to ride a bicycle or have Koharu Yoshino drive him whenever he wanted to go somewhere.

That day, after returning someone's lost wallet and earning two million yen from the system, Jiang Hang was about to call it a day and head home when he spotted a commission regarding Conan refresh at the top of the notice board.

"The other two criminals in the One Billion Yen Robbery have been killed. If Masami Hirota, the last remaining one, is not the true culprit, then she will be the next victim. You must hurry to where she lives!"

This commission was also classified as an everyday character-level task. Though the description sounded urgent, all Jiang Hang had to do was take Conan wherever he wanted to go. If Jiang Hang had not specially set the notice board to follow information about Conan, he would not even have noticed this commission.

"The One Billion Yen Robbery? So this case was connected to Conan too... Sure enough, whenever bad news comes up, I can just pin the blame on Conan," Jiang Hang muttered, recalling the one-billion-yen goal he had set for himself a few days ago. He activated Eagle Eye and quickly found a red child-shaped figure among the crowd of gray-white silhouettes, speeding in a certain direction on a solar-powered skateboard.

"Let this veteran driver give you a lift. The One Billion Yen Robbery... Masami Hirota... I don't really remember this case, but since I'm such a kind-hearted person, I'll help Conan solve it while I'm at it." Muttering to himself, Jiang Hang started the engine and chased after Conan.

Professor Agasa's Magical Gadgets

It had to be said that the things Professor Agasa invented were incredibly fantastical.

Jiang Hang had already complained about the tranquilizer needle, which appeared the most often, back when he was young. And he could let it slide that the Voice-Changing Bow Tie perfectly concealed Conan's original voice.

What was truly absurd were Conan's shoes and that skateboard.

Those shoes that enhanced leg strength had been normal enough in the early days, when they were only used to knock out criminals. Later, they could knock down trees, which was still somewhat acceptable considering Conan's combat ability. But eventually, they developed to the point where they could interfere with the trajectory of falling satellite debris. Who knew how such a tiny thing could contain that much power?!

As for that skateboard, it was no less outrageous than the shoes.

It ran purely on solar power, yet it could reach a top speed of eighty kilometers per hour. It could even keep running for thirty minutes at night using the charge gathered during the day.

If Jiang Hang could take this technology back to his original world, he felt he could become the "Father of Energy" for a new era just by relying on it.

Putting those complaints aside for now, although Conan's miraculous gadgets were fantastical, Conan's luck did not seem particularly good today.

It had rained earlier that afternoon, and the sky was still overcast. His skateboard could not operate at full power, or else it would not have been easy for Jiang Hang to outrun Conan in a race.

Driving his AE86, Jiang Hang caught up to the single-mindedly rushing Conan. Pretending they had run into each other by chance, he rolled down the window and called out to him.

"Hey, Conan, it's dangerous to skateboard on a main road. If you're in a hurry, how about I give you a ride?"

Conan had not expected to run into Jiang Hang at such a time.

After recalling Jiang Hang's talent for finding things, Conan only hesitated briefly before getting into Jiang Hang's car with his skateboard.

As soon as he got in, Conan quickly used his newly acquired Tracking Glasses to pull up the other party's current location and told Jiang Hang where to go.

"Please drive faster. If we're late, it'll be too late." Knowing that Masami Hirota might be in danger at that very moment—or might flee at any time—Conan could no longer be bothered to pretend to be a child. He directly told Jiang Hang about the One Billion Yen Robbery.

After listening to Conan's explanation, Jiang Hang finally understood the full course of events.

In short, a woman named Masami Hirota might have taken part in planning the recent One Billion Yen Robbery. However, one of the criminals responsible for driving the getaway car had become greedy and fled with the money.

The day after Jiang Hang returned from Moon Shadow Island, she had come to the Mouri Detective Agency and asked Kogoro Mouri to help find her "father who had run away from home." In reality, she was looking for the criminal who had absconded with the money.

With Conan's help, Masami Hirota had eventually succeeded in finding her "father."

But two days later, Ran Mori had been worried about how the "father and daughter" were doing after their reunion, so she called to check on them. The number Masami had given them had become disconnected, and only then did they realize something was wrong.

After asking Inspector Megure about the situation, they learned that the man had been shot dead, with only a tube of lipstick left at the scene.

Following an investigation, the police confirmed that the murdered man was one of the criminals from the One Billion Yen Robbery. At the same time, they discovered that another robber had also been killed in the same manner.

The police suspected that Masami Hirota was the murderer and were preparing to issue a warrant for her arrest.

But based on several pieces of evidence, Conan realized that Masami Hirota might have been deliberately framed.

At that point, Conan remembered that he had accidentally planted a "bug" on her when they first met. To prevent Masami Hirota from being killed as well or from escaping, he had been in such a rush.

While driving, Jiang Hang glanced at Conan's high-tech glasses from the corner of his eye.

Only then did Conan seem to realize how he had just behaved, along with the fact that his glasses were not something an ordinary child could possibly have.

He immediately began playing dumb.

"Um... actually, I was copying Shinichi. Jiang Hang, you know Shinichi, right? And these gadgets of mine were all things I got from Shinichi's neighbor, a really amazing inventor!"

With that personality of yours, it was honestly a miracle you had survived over a thousand episodes without being discovered by the Black Organization.

Then again, perhaps Conan had come to consider him trustworthy after several incidents, which was why he had told him these things?

In any case, watching Conan flusteredly try to explain himself was quite entertaining to Jiang Hang.

So Jiang Hang did not question Conan's explanation at all. Instead, he asked what Conan intended to do once they found her.

"So, you're a first-grade elementary school kid, and you plan to go find a woman who might be a murderer all by yourself? Even if you find her, what are you going to do? Convince her to turn herself in?" Jiang Hang casually gave Conan a rap on the head. He had actually gone alone without even Kogoro Mouri and Ran Mori, the two strongest fighters, by his side.

Still, the feel of smacking Conan's head was surprisingly nice. It was practically a stress-relief tool.

"You really are a genius at courting death. If I hadn't happened to see you, you'd have just run over there to give yourself up as a free kill, understand?"

Conan was equally depressed. When he had thought of this, he had not considered it reckless at all. He had only believed it was something he ought to do as a detective.

It was only after Jiang Hang gave him that scolding that he remembered he was a child now. Even though Professor Agasa had given him quite a few powerful gadgets, that did not change the fact that he was currently a child.

Thus, Conan could only silently endure Jiang Hang's "lesson."

Jiang Hang soon brought Conan to the apartment building the other party had mentioned.

According to Conan's information, this incident would most likely involve firearms, so Jiang Hang first used his sharp eyes to confirm the location the other party had described.

To prevent any unexpected mishaps, Jiang Hang took a specially made small case from his trunk.

His sleeve blade, Sword Cane, and the various medicines and smoke bombs he had prepared over the past few days were all stored inside.

Having undergone Mind's Eye's inhuman training, as long as he did not immediately face a barrage of machine-gun fire, he would not be hit by ordinary firearms so long as he remained focused.

But in the training space, he could start over after dying. Reality was not like that. He was no invulnerable body now—if a bullet hit him in the head, he would die on the spot.

Getting careless around guns just because he possessed Mind's Eye would be the stupidest thing he could do.

Was I Hitching a Ride on Conan's Main Plot?

Although Conan was somewhat curious about the small case Jiang Hang carried, many detectives had items they kept on hand. He merely assumed it was one of Jiang Hang's crime-solving tools and did not ask about it.

Following the tracker's displayed location, Conan quickly led Jiang Hang to where the other party lived.

It could pinpoint an exact location on a particular floor. Conan's tracker seemed like quite an impressive gadget.

Looking at the locked door, Conan instinctively thought of Jiang Hang, who could pick locks.

He looked at Jiang Hang, seemingly indicating that it was his turn to step up.

However, Jiang Hang merely glanced around, pulled on a pair of gloves from his pocket, then found a key beneath a potted plant by the door.

"..."

Whenever Conan was with Jiang Hang, he felt as though his brain could not quite keep up.

He expected Jiang Hang to do one thing, yet what Jiang Hang actually did was always completely different from what he had imagined.