The Doctor Is the Problem — Please Vote with Monthly Tickets

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Mouri Ran clung to the bridge framework and landed with the agility of someone running across rooftops.

But by the time she reached the scene, Jiang Xia had already stopped.

From Mouri Ran's perspective, Jiang Xia was standing beside the killer, who still had a faint breath left in him. He looked at the child behind the tree, his expression fairly calm, yet he somehow seemed a little unhappy.

Remembering how quickly the child had hidden behind the tree, Mouri Ran guessed that the kid's evasive behavior had hurt Jiang Xia's feelings.

...That kid was so mean.

Mouri Ran walked over to Jiang Xia and thanked him on the child's behalf. "Thank you for saving that child."

After a moment, she could not help adding, "Um... when you act righteously in the future, don't hit quite so hard. Just subdue them and let the law punish them."

Jiang Xia: "..."

He recalled all the times Mouri Ran had smashed a utility pole with one punch, cracked a wall with one kick, and sent criminals spinning into the air with Rozan Sho Ryu Ha...

...Doesn't your conscience hurt?

Jiang Xia turned to look at Mouri Ran's angelic, delicate face.

Then he looked at her seemingly slender fist.

Silently swallowing the words he wanted to say, he nodded. "I understand."

The other three had not climbed the bridge framework. They had obediently taken the long way around and run down.

There happened to be a Police Station nearby.

By the time the three arrived, the police had already gotten there as well.

Ogino's Dad did not receive salvation. Seeing that his plan had failed, he let out an unwilling roar.

Dr. Ogawa held his son tightly and watched Ogino being escorted into a police car with mixed feelings. After settling his son down, he decided to immediately transfer 25 million yen to Ogino's account at the bank. He did not want anything to do with this blood money any longer.

The next day, Jiang Xia went to the Police Station again.

To add to his statement.

And, while he was at it, to see whether Ogino's Dad had dropped any killing intent.

When he finished and left the Police Station, Jiang Xia checked the time and found that it had just passed noon. It was still early.

There was no exam today, so he did not need to attend class.

He had just planted another batch of Ghost Mint ingredients, and the new ones had not grown yet, so there was no need to hurry home either.

Out of habit, Jiang Xia turned toward the Amuro Detective Agency.

For now, there had not been many murder cases that found their way to the Detective Agency.

But reputation needed time to build. Maybe one day, a client carrying killing intent would be recommended there by an old customer who had come looking for a cat.

Besides, apart from murder cases, there was also a chance of waiting at the Detective Agency for a randomly appearing Amuro Tooru—the police Undercover Agent planted in the organization.

Jiang Xia was still thinking about Doctor Kazato's hotpot-flavored killing intent.

And since Kazato Kyosuke's intended victims were police officers, Amuro Tooru might get involved.

If the police took the initiative and arrested him, then after Doctor Kazato was caught, Jiang Xia would only need to wander around the Police Station once for Xiao Bai to extract the killing intent.

In a law-abiding society—especially in this world—killing intent did not seem that hard to harvest.

Jiang Xia arrived at the Detective Agency entrance and took out the front-door key.

But when he approached, he found that the door was not locked. Someone was inside.

Puzzled, Jiang Xia passed through the entryway and looked into the room.

There, he saw Amuro Tooru, who was unusually present at the Amuro Detective Agency.

He had even brought a Client. He was sitting across from the Client, listening intently with the air of someone preparing to accept a case.

Jiang Xia: "..."

...Something fishy was going on.

If Amuro Tooru was handling the reception personally, then the person across from him was likely someone with a story—and that story could lead to a case involving ghosts and killing intent...

Thinking that, Jiang Xia quietly approached, wanting to listen to the details of the commission.

However, Amuro Tooru spotted him with sharp eyes and stopped him. "Wait outside first."

"..." Jiang Xia nodded. "All right."

He retreated to the outer room and thoughtfully closed the door behind him.

The doors and walls here had all been soundproofed. Once the door was shut, he could not hear the conversation inside.

...But did a bit of soundproofing material really think it could stop a Spirit Medium with ghosts?

Jiang Xia sat down on the waiting Bench and summoned the Ghost Infant.

Xiao Bai climbed onto Jiang Xia's shoulder with practiced ease and pressed itself against the side of his head.

Jiang Xia's hearing instantly shifted to the ghost.

Then Xiao Bai obediently pounced at the Soundproof Door and squelched through it.

The voices in the room suddenly became crystal clear in Jiang Xia's ears.

As Jiang Xia eavesdropped through the ghost, he gradually figured out what had happened.

A few days ago, the Client's home had been burgled. No money or jewelry had been taken; only a valuable piece of Pottery had gone missing.

At first, he had thought it was a thief with taste, someone who only stole works of art.

But the next day, near his home, the Client discovered the Pottery's fragments. It had been deliberately smashed to pieces.

"..." It was not for money or art, and the Pottery had been violently shattered right after being stolen, as though someone were venting their anger... This purposeless behavior sent chills down the Client's spine.

He reported it to the police, but they could find no clues.

Later, when the Client was complaining about the matter to a friend at a café, a passing waiter suggested that he try hiring a Detective.

So they had come to the Amuro Detective Agency. That helpful waiter was, of course, Amuro Tooru, who had "happened" to be working at the café.

While listening to the case, Jiang Xia searched through the plots he remembered reading, but he could not recall any similar incident.

There were a few cases involving Pottery, but the details did not match.

Jiang Xia: "..." It might not be related to a case at all, but simply an organization mission. Of course, it could also be a Public Security mission.

Not long afterward, Amuro Tooru took down the Client's contact information and escorted him out.

Jiang Xia recalled the Ghost Infant, and his hearing returned with it. He got up to help Amuro Tooru see the Client off, hoping to find a chance to start a conversation.

After seeing the Client out, Amuro Tooru turned around and noticed Jiang Xia following behind. He suddenly remembered that Jiang Xia had taken leave to go to the hospital yesterday.

So he casually asked, "How was it? Nothing wrong with your health, right?"

Jiang Xia hesitated as if he wanted to speak but could not.

Amuro Tooru froze.

He had only asked casually, because Jiang Xia looked perfectly normal. He had probably gone to the hospital only for a routine physical examination.

But why did his employee look like that now...

Sensing Hidden Circumstances, Amuro Tooru focused a little more. "What happened?"

Could the physical examination have found a Terminal Illness...

Jiang Xia shook his head. "It's nothing much. It's just that the Doctor who examined me... I keep feeling like he's killed someone before."

Amuro Tooru: "?"

Jiang Xia continued, "And my intuition tells me that it isn't over yet. Something similar might happen again in the future."

Amuro Tooru: "..."

He instinctively rolled up his sleeves, and his gaze sharpened.

There were two possibilities at the moment.

One was that Jiang Xia was a genius at reading people. From one brief conversation, he had recognized that the Doctor was a dangerous Serial Killer.

The other was that Jiang Xia was not as normal as he appeared, and something like Persecutory Delusion was lurking beneath the surface.

Amuro Tooru: "..." Either way, it was worth being wary of and needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.

In the first case, deal with the Doctor. In the second, send the employee to the hospital and have the organization reimburse the treatment costs while they were at it.

After speaking, Jiang Xia felt that Amuro Tooru's expression was a little strange.

Cautiously, he took another step back and raised the stakes. "Also, that Doctor has a Gun in his bag. I wouldn't mistake that."

The Gun had actually been seen by Xiao Bai. Ghosts possessed a unique advantage when it came to searching—they could pass through luggage and inspect bags that had not yet been opened.

Amuro Tooru said, "Is that so..."

At last, Amuro Tooru reacted to the specific piece of information about the Gun, gradually leaning more toward the idea that the Doctor had a problem.

During psychosomatic treatment, even if a Doctor deliberately tried to control himself, it was difficult to completely hide certain habits and mindsets.

He had heard that some people were extremely sensitive in this regard. And Jiang Xia was not an Ordinary Citizen with depression—on the contrary, he was connected to the organization and had encountered plenty of murderers.

Amuro Tooru: "..." As he recalled, the Psychosomatic Medicine Department at Beika Yakushino Hospital was very famous.

As far as he knew, quite a few police officers registered there as patients. If the Doctor wanted to, it would not be difficult for him to coax information out of the police, or even influence those officers in turn.

If such a Doctor really had a problem...

Amuro Tooru slowly realized the seriousness of the matter.

However, no matter what he thought inside, he definitely could not show it on his face.

After all, he was not a police officer right now. He was Bourbon from the organization. If the police ran into trouble, he should have been happy.

"You're overthinking it." Amuro Tooru lowered the sleeves he had rolled up and said with apparent indifference, "Still, if that Doctor makes you think that way, then he's not suitable for you. Go to a different hospital next time."

Jiang Xia nodded and said no more.

If he kept talking, his intentions would become too obvious. Then, in order to hide his identity, his fellow Undercover Agent would definitely not touch Doctor Kazato, and Jiang Xia would have to handle it himself.

Amuro Tooru was still very busy today. And after chatting with Jiang Xia for a few moments, another task had been added to his already overwhelming workload.

He did not linger and soon left.

On the way, Amuro Tooru sent Doctor Kazato's information to his subordinates and told them to investigate.

Of course, he emphasized that they had to act discreetly. Even if they truly found something, they had to make Kazato Kyosuke "accidentally" expose himself. No one could be allowed to know that this was a targeted investigation.

Otherwise, Jiang Xia would say that the man had a problem one moment, and the police would arrest him the next... Given Jiang Xia's sharpness, he would very likely notice something was wrong.

At the Detective Agency, Jiang Xia was about to lock up and leave when he happened to glance at the Magazine rack in the entryway and paused.

There was a familiar book on the shelf.

Jiang Xia walked over and pulled it out. It was the Detective Handbook he had borrowed from the Library.

He had brought it with him when he applied for the job.

Later, after actually making his way into the Detective Agency, Jiang Xia had forgotten to take the book with him again.

Beika Library had a fairly short borrowing period. Ordinary Citizens could only borrow books for fourteen days.

Jiang Xia checked the date and found that it was not overdue yet. Who knew how long he would have to wait before randomly landing within these fourteen days again? He might as well return it while he could...

Thinking that, Jiang Xia checked the time and found that it was not yet Closing Time.

So he mounted his Motorcycle and headed straight for the Library.

Jiang Xia sped all the way to the Library.

There was still more than half an hour before Closing Time.

Yet when he approached, the front doors were locked. It had already closed.

Jiang Xia froze, then walked over to the notice board beside the entrance and checked it. Today happened to be a holiday, so the Library had closed two hours early.

"..."

Holding the book that needed to be returned, Jiang Xia looked at the darkness inside and felt a little disappointed.

He was about to turn and leave.

But at that moment, Xiao Bai suddenly perked up, raised a hand to poke Jiang Xia, and began muttering a report.

There was something inside the Library.

Not only was there killing intent, there also seemed to be a recently deceased Shikigami.

Jiang Xia: "!"

This Library did not have any anti-theft window bars.

Jiang Xia circled half the Library and found a locked window at a secluded corner of the building.

He stopped in front of it and raised a hand.

Several Shikigami flew out lightly, slipped through the crack in the window, and landed on the Library floor. They gradually gathered into a white puppet resembling a Clay Person.

The puppet clumsily crawled onto the window and laboriously stretched out its tiny hand, twisting the lock open with a click.

Jiang Xia put on his gloves, pulled the window open from outside with a swish, and leaped into the Library.

The instant he landed, the puppet collapsed back into Paper Shikigami and disappeared into the Pattern Seal over his heart.