I'm the Zu'an Pianist / The Oda Group
In an effort to lure Kaito Kid into the trap, he practically wrote "Challenge Kaito Kid" directly in the advertisement. However, even on the day the exhibition opened, Kaito Kid didn't send any advance notice.
The Kaito Kid avoided a fight seemed to confirm Jiang Hang's status as "Kid's Nemesis." With the hype from Jirokichi Suzuki's side, the exhibition attracted a lot of attention.
But Jiang Hang couldn't be happy at all, looking at the experience bar at the art museum that was just a hair's breadth away from leveling up to level 3.
If Kaito Kid comes to challenge the museum this time, and he successfully stops Kaito Kid's actions, then the Level 3 Museum is probably safe, right?
Despite his actions of profiting from both Jirokichi Suzuki's exploits and Kaito Kid's popularity, Jiang Hang has actually made quite a few sacrifices.
Because of the hype surrounding Jirokichi Suzuki, it seems that some female fans of BL (Boys' Love) fanfiction have started creating doujinshi (fanfiction) featuring him and Kaito Kid online.
Heaven knows how complicated Jiang Hang's feelings were when he found out that he could one day become the protagonist of a fanfiction. But in order to improve the level of the art museum industry more quickly, he could only sacrifice his looks and let those online trolls continue to hype up the CP.
Previously, Kaito Kid had never backed down when faced with provocations from others, but unexpectedly, this time the other party actually backed down. It seems that he had put too much pressure on Kaito Kid when dealing with him as a tool in the past, or it is possible that Kaito Kid also knew about the doujinshi, so he was still afraid to appear in front of Jiang Hang.
In the past two months, it seems that when choosing his targets, Kaito Kid has deliberately avoided Beika City and the surrounding towns.
Jiang Hang knew that Kidd was probably still practicing his disguise skills at home, hoping to fool him before challenging him at the Beika Art Museum.
It seems that Jiang Hang won't be able to ride on Kid's coattails anytime soon. He's starting to wonder if he should pretend not to see through Kid's act the next time they meet, just to give Kid some confidence.
Or he could go find Kaito Kid right now and tell him to stop struggling, just be a tool, cooperate with him every few months to maintain the CP hype, and that would be the end of it.
However, Jiang Hang is ultimately a young man of principle and would not do such a thing.
So, shaking off those strange thoughts, Jiang Hang continued to scratch his head, trying to figure out who "that guy" really was.
Chapter 245: Chapter 243: I am a pianist from Zu'an
For Shizuka Sakaki, this is the first time she has spent the night at the home of a male relative.
Even though this was still her workplace during the day, and she knew that Jiang Hang had let her stay in the firm's guest room for the time being to protect her, after her worries about the Nisame Association gradually subsided, Shizuka Sakaki felt uneasy again.
To avoid worrying her family and friends, she hasn't told anyone about this yet. She does know about Koharu Yoshino, but she's too embarrassed to ask her questions like, "What should I be careful about when spending the night at a boy's house for the first time?"
Especially after taking a bath in the office bathroom at night, she was still debating whether it would be better to just share a bathtub with the whole family like back home, or to boil a new tub for Jiang Hang.
If she didn't change the water, her girlish modesty would make her feel ashamed. Although using the same bathwater was quite common in Japan, where thrift is encouraged, she still couldn't help but think of some strange things.
But if she were to change the water, she would feel like she was being too fussy.
"What if Jiang Hang thinks I'm looking down on him..." After taking a bath and changing her clothes, Shizuka Sakaki struggled with this question in the bathroom for a long time.
Finally, she waited until the bath water was almost cold before stepping out of the bathroom and hesitantly asked Jiang Hang, who was still trying to decipher the code on the invitation.
"Um... Jiang Hang, the bath water is getting cold. Would you like me to reheat it for you?"
Jiang Hang put down the invitation in his hand and looked at Shizuka Sakaki, who had been in the bathroom for almost an hour before coming out.
As a single guy who has never had a girlfriend, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Wow, it really takes girls this long to take a shower."
Then he waved his hand at Shizuka Sakaki: "No need, I'll just take a shower before I go to bed."
Jiang Hang never had the habit of taking baths, and being a lazy, homebody who disliked trouble, he could spend more time playing mobile games instead of taking a bath.
Hearing Jiang Hang's answer, Shizuka Sakaki, who had been struggling in the bathroom for almost twenty minutes, felt her face getting slightly hot.
After giving Jiang Hang an awkward but polite smile, Shizuka Sakaki walked over to Jiang Hang and, seeing him scribbling away, asked him about the invitation.
"It's a rather strange invitation. Besides me, it seems to have invited Kogoro Mouri as well. I'm wondering who sent it. Why don't you come and take a look at this invitation for me?"
Jiang Hang had to maintain his high-class image in front of Conan, but he didn't need to work so hard to maintain his persona in front of Shizuka Sakaki Jiang Hang the others.
He even handed the invitation directly to Shizuka Sakaki. Apart from Eagle Eye, Shizuka Sakaki and Koharu Yoshino's intelligence gathering abilities were no worse than his. Perhaps he could discover some problems through Shizuka Sakaki.
When Jiang Hang called her over, Shizuka Sakaki hesitated, saying somewhat unsurely, "If even you, Jiang Hang- kun, don't know, how could I possibly know..."
When she saw the strange signature at the end of the invitation, she spoke to Jiang Hang with some uncertainty.
"Forsaken by God... this must be referring to Satan or some kind of demon. I don't quite understand the latter part; does it refer to some kind of lesser demon?"
Jiang Hang shrugged. Of course, he could think of this place too, but there were quite a few things related to demons. However, he hadn't figured it out yet. It seemed that even if the two of them, who were both terrible at decryption, got together, they still couldn't unravel the secrets on this invitation.
"I don't know much about God and demons, so I'll just leave this invitation here for now. Anyway, it's next week, so I'll have plenty of time to study it."
After putting the invitation aside, Jiang Hang originally planned to take out his phone and start playing mobile games or practice his hand speed in a MOBA game, as usual, before going out to investigate the Nisame Association later that night.
But when he saw Shizuka Sakaki beside him, who had just finished showering and had a slightly flushed face, he hesitated.
It's late at night, and the two of them are in the same room. Is it really appropriate for him to leave Shizuka Sakaki and go play games on his own?
Shouldn't we do something more appropriate for the atmosphere at this time?
To be precise, it seems he had been waiting for this day for a very long time.
Thinking of this, Jiang Hang's throat involuntarily moved.
"That Sakaki..." His gaze met Shizuka Sakaki's eyes.
Shizuka Sakaki seemed to sense a subtle change in the atmosphere of the room after Jiang Hang put away the invitation.
When she met Jiang Hang's straightforward gaze, her heart started racing.
She nervously kneaded her hands in front of her.
"W-what's wrong?"
Jiang Hang breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Shizuka Sakaki slightly avert her gaze.
Then he tentatively asked the girl a question.
Want to play games together?
"Ha?"
The girl's eyes widened slightly, her emotions already building up. So it turned out Jiang Hang just wanted to invite her to play a game together?
It is well known that 80% of the players on the Japanese server of a certain game are Chinese.
So when the still-newbie Shizuka Sakaki was playing a game with Jiang Hang, she saw Jiang Hang type out a series of pinyin that she couldn't quite understand with amazing speed after being let down by his teammates.
When Shizuka Sakaki asked Jiang Hang, completely bewildered, what they were talking about, Jiang Hang simply told her that it was just a friendly exchange, pointing out each other's shortcomings, and that she shouldn't overthink it.
Seeing Jiang Hang typing with a smile on his face, Shizuka Sakaki still believed the nonsense Jiang Hang was telling.
Anyway, Shizuka Sakaki couldn't understand what the four letters "NMSL" meant. She only saw that after Jiang Hang typed those four letters, the chat in the game just wouldn't stop.
Even after the game ended, this friendly exchange didn't stop. And to Shizuka Sakaki's puzzled look, the person who had just spoken to Jiang Hang pulled Jiang Hang into a room for a one-on-one duel and even typed the words "shu de jiao die".
According to Jiang Hang, the other person knew he hadn't played well in the previous game, so he wanted to learn from him.
"Jiang Hang, you're really helpful." When she saw Jiang Hang sparring with his opponent while typing "instructions" for him, Shizuka Sakaki couldn't help but exclaim.
Chapter 246: Chapter 244: Oda Group
One evening, I played a few games with Shizuka Sakaki. After gradually getting the hang of it, Shizuka Sakaki, who couldn't understand Chinese pinyin, still had a lot of fun and gained a deeper understanding of Jiang Hang's kind heart.
It turns out that Jiang Hang is just as enthusiastic even towards strangers in the game. Even if he loses the game, he will still guide his teammates who didn't play well in the previous game.
Jiang Hang, who possesses assassin blood and the ability to see through Mind's Eye, gained three sons that very night.
Why did I run into so many idiotic teammates tonight? They fed the enemy faster than I killed them.
Jiang Hang muttered to himself, thankfully Shizuka Sakaki didn't understand Chinese. In her eyes, he was still that refined, easy-going, and positive detective.
However, having finished playing the game, Shizuka Sakaki's mood had calmed down, and it was time for him to get down to business.
After Shizuka Sakaki went to her guest room to rest, Jiang Hang glanced at the information about the Nisame Association that Conan had sent him, then changed his clothes and left the agency.
In addition to the main body, the Nisame Association also has several gangs or branches.
There are also gang struggles within the Nisame Association, such as the lucrative drug trade and arms dealing. Even though everyone knows that they are likely to be targeted by the police, these gangs still want to get involved in the face of huge profits.
Within the Nisame Association, those willing to do dirty work for the Nisame Association naturally have an easier time obtaining these channels. For example, the cadre who was in contact with Kyosuke Kazato was Black Dragon Society cadre who took the initiative to handle Nisame Association transactions, while the cadre who contacted Tsugawa Shuji for drug transactions was from the Oda Group.
According to the information provided by Conan and Officer Takagi, these two gangs have been among the most active within the Nisame Association in recent years, and are also among the biggest thorns in the side of the Japan police.
It must be said that the Nisame Association is really shrewd. They control equally lucrative gray-market transactions that are not easily targeted by the police, while they outsource the black-market transactions that are more likely to be targeted by the police to others, taking only a cut and a fee.
If something really happens and they get caught by the police, they can simply walk away and shift the blame to the gangs that have merged into them.
Once the storm has passed, they'll support another gang within the organization to take over. After all, there's never a shortage of people in the Mafia willing to take risks for money.
Therefore, Jiang Hang's current task is less about dealing with the Nisame Association and more about eliminating the Nisame Association Oda Group, which lost hundreds of millions of yen worth of drugs due to Shizuka Sakaki's interference.
Jiang Hang brought Altair along as well, and they arrived near the territory of the Oda Group, intending to conduct some simple investigations into the Oda Group.
However, it seems that Jiang Hang is quite lucky. The Oda Group is planning something big tonight. Dressed in dark clothes, he stood on a high-rise building and noticed that the Oda Group leader Oda Taisei, got into a car and headed to a certain place.
Following him, more than a dozen Oda Group underlings also left their territory in various inconspicuous ways.
Jiang Hang didn't know what the Oda Group was planning, but he still had Altair follow the car that Oda Taisei was riding in through the air. For Altair, who was already very intelligent, this was something he could do even without using the Shared Eagle Vision. Jiang Hang only needed to wait for the car to stop and then know where the other party was going.
It didn't take Jiang Hang long to get the answer he wanted.
Kabukicho, Tokyo.
As the entertainment hub of Tokyo, even though it's already past midnight, the people of Kabukicho are just getting started with their active time.
Nightclubs, love hotels, brothels, and bars—these are the iconic buildings of Kabukicho. And on the streets of 1-chome, heavily made-up call girls are the most common sight.
Of course, male escorts are also indispensable.
Basically, in Kabukicho, both men and women can find something to do.
This wasn't Jiang Hang's first time visiting Kabukicho; in fact, he'd been there quite a few times.
Of course, he wasn't here to have fun, but to complete exploration tasks and find suitable commissions.
After all, how could a place teeming with pink-themed industries not breed any evil?
In fact, Kabukicho has been a major gathering place for Japan Mafia for decades, and these things have been depicted in many films, television shows, games and anime.
Within the Nisame Association alone, several gangs have their strongholds here, and some gangs that have not joined the Nisame Association also frequently roam around this area.
As Jiang Hang watched Oda Taisei, the leader of the Oda Group, lead a few of his underlings into a nightclub, his eyes began to scan the surroundings.
He simply scanned the area with his Eagle Eye and, apart from the underlings who were sent outside to monitor the surroundings and to indicate that the nightclub had been booked out, he also spotted no fewer than ten armed men in the vicinity watching the nightclub!
After focusing his attention, Jiang Hang quickly deduced their identities from various details.
These people had deliberately covered their ears to prevent others from noticing the earpieces they were wearing. In addition, the handguns they carried were all Japan police-specific models. If nothing unexpected happened, they were probably all plainclothes police officers.
It seems the Oda Group has really made a big move today to attract so many police officers.
"After being let down by my terrible teammates so many times in the game tonight, am I finally going to be able to win in real life?"
Standing atop a high-rise building in Kabukicho, looking at the plainclothes police officers, Jiang Hang could easily tell that they probably intended to arrest the Oda Group today.
He arrived at just the right time; perhaps the Oda Group would have been taken care of by the police before he even had to lift a finger.
He didn't have to wait long. In Jiang Hang's sight, a car stopped in front of the nightclub that had been booked by the Oda Group. Judging from the habit of the person who got out of the car putting his hands together in front of the group of underlings, the other party should be from Southeast Asia.
With his Eagle Eye camera fully activated, Jiang Hang could clearly notice that after this person got out of the car, the plainclothes police officers around him all showed some unusual reactions.
Considering the situation in Southeast Asia and the main responsibilities of the Oda Group in the Nisame Association, which drug lord is the Oda Group going to talk business with here today?
With the idea of waiting for the police to make a move and then secretly helping them, Jiang Hang fully activated the ability to Presence Concealment, completely hiding himself away.
Chapter 247: Chapter 245: Are you playing Infernal Affairs here?
According to Jiang Hang's original plan, he wanted to avoid too many losses on the police side when a conflict broke out between the police and the Oda Group.
Therefore, Jiang Hang sneaked into the nightclub without anyone noticing, intending to coordinate with the police from the inside.
At this moment, he used the simplest method to disguise himself as an inconspicuous person among the Mafia members. In addition, with the intermediate Presence Concealment ability to reduce Jiang Hang's presence, as long as he stood in the corner and kept a low profile, even the person he was impersonating would not notice that there was an imposter of himself on the field.
His attention was now focused on the heart of the nightclub.
Oda Taisei, a key member of the Nisame Association and the head of the Oda Group, sat on a sofa next to the nightclub, chatting and laughing with the Thai man.
For safety reasons, everyone's cell phones were collected and placed on a table to the side, where they were guarded by several Mafia members.
The Thai man seemed to know that Oda Taisei hadn't had a good time lately, losing billions of yen in the drug market due to various issues. He even asked Oda Taisei in broken Japanese whether the transaction could be guaranteed to be safe.
"Mr. Oda, I've heard that the Japan police have been keeping a close eye on you. Will there be any problems this time?"
When his recent losses were mentioned, Oda Taisei's expression did not change.
"I'm prepared," he said with a smile to the Thai man, adding that he would pay as long as the drugs they brought were safe, and that the disposal of the drugs would be the responsibility of the Nisame Association, and they would not be involved.