The Corpse Collector in Conan
Chapter 8

Let Me Film Your Face

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11d ago

Jiang Xia recorded Chizawa Yuko's entire break-in.

After Chizawa Yuko entered, he picked up the Video Camera and silently headed over.

Chizawa Yuko entered Yoko's home and casually switched on the lights.

Then she walked straight into the bedroom and scattered a large handful of Threatening Letters stained with chicken blood across Kinoshita Yoko's bed.

Having done her evil deed, Chizawa Yuko examined the bed strewn with Blood Letters. Thinking of Kinoshita Yoko's recent miserable state, she felt like an absolute genius.

She brushed back her hair, revealing a delighted smile, and prepared to leave.

But the moment she turned around, she came face-to-face with a pitch-black lens.

"..."

Chizawa Yuko froze, a chill shooting straight to the top of her head.

—At some point, someone had appeared at the bedroom door. He wore a Face Mask, hood, and gloves, wrapped up tight from head to toe. Even his eyes were hidden in the shadow of his brim, making his face impossible to see.

He leaned casually against the Door Frame. When he saw Chizawa Yuko turn around, the young man nodded at her. Out of the Video Camera's view, he silently gave her a thumbs-up, as though he were extremely pleased with her performance just now.

It had originally been a fairly positive gesture.

But as Chizawa Yuko stared at the Video Camera, her heart went cold.

Breaking and entering, harassing and threatening a colleague with bloodstained Threatening Letters... Once footage of what she had done got out, her career would be over. She might even be sent to prison!

...But thankfully.

Chizawa Yuko thought that she was wearing a Scarf and sunglasses, with the Scarf pulled high enough to conceal much of her face.

As long as she was not caught on the spot and her full face was not recorded clearly, she could completely clear her name afterward. She could claim someone else had disguised themselves as her and staged it, framing her.

—In short, she had to escape quickly. She absolutely could not get caught!

She looked at Jiang Xia blocking the doorway and planned to grab something and throw it at him, knock him down or scare him away, then rush out the door in one go.

With that thought, her gaze shifted slightly and landed on a footstool nearby.

She was just about to lunge for it, grab the stool, and smash it hard over Jiang Xia's head.

But at that moment, in the instant her attention wandered, Chizawa Yuko's vision blurred—Jiang Xia suddenly closed in, yanking off her Scarf and sunglasses in one motion and stripping away all her disguises.

Chizawa Yuko's face was immediately exposed in full before the lens.

"..."

The moment she realized this, Chizawa Yuko's head buzzed. Like a madwoman, she flailed wildly, trying to smash the Video Camera.

Of course, she failed. Instead, Jiang Xia grabbed her by the collar and slammed her onto the bedroom carpet.

Jiang Xia pinned Chizawa Yuko's struggling hands beneath his knee. Holding the Video Camera in one hand, he freed the other, grabbed her face, and gave it a hard pinch.

—Thanks to the activities of a certain famous Phantom Thief, quite a few people in this world knew about the Disguise Technique.

If he did not pinch her like this in front of the Video Camera, Chizawa Yuko might later claim that someone had disguised themselves as her.

Jiang Xia had originally thought that as long as he pinched Chizawa Yuko's face on camera, showing that she was not disguised and that the pinched skin naturally reddened, he could prove that the person he had filmed really was Chizawa Yuko.

However, Jiang Xia soon discovered in surprise that something was wrong.

—He really had not managed to tear off any disguise.

But Chizawa Yuko's skin had not turned red either.

Jiang Xia withdrew his hand in confusion and found that his black glove was covered in a thick layer of makeup powder.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Jiang Xia reached over again, unwilling to believe it, and gave her another pinch.

Chizawa Yuko's face still did not turn red.

Maybe she had put on too much powder.

"..."

...In that case, he could not prove that it was her real skin.

Jiang Xia looked at his dirty glove, then at Chizawa Yuko, who was still screaming beneath him, and fell into brief thought.

A moment later, he remembered that when he had passed through the living room earlier, there had been a box of wet wipes on the Coffee Table.

An illusory Inspiration Bulb went biu above Jiang Xia's head.

He picked Chizawa Yuko up like a Chick, moved her to the living room sofa, and pinned her down again.

Then he grabbed a wet wipe and vigorously scrubbed her face.

This time, it finally came off.

Chizawa Yuko's skin was rubbed red beneath the lens. Such an utterly natural change was something the current Disguise Technique could not achieve. It proved that this was her real face.

Chizawa Yuko felt something wet on her face.

She opened her eyes suspiciously. At a glance, she saw the wet wipe in Jiang Xia's hand, covered in her makeup.

Chizawa Yuko stared blankly at the wet wipe, then at the Video Camera still shoved in her face.

Once she realized what had happened, she suddenly let out an incomparably furious scream.

Jiang Xia was startled by her abruptly raised volume and instinctively brought a Hand Chop down on her Neck Side.

The scream cut off abruptly.

Chizawa Yuko's beautiful eyes rolled back, and she fell asleep with a Face Full Of unwillingness.

The surroundings fell quiet again.

Jiang Xia withdrew his hand and let out a long breath.

Holding the Video Camera, he looked down at Chizawa Yuko and hesitated for a moment. Since he had already started, he decided he might as well finish the job.

So he took out more wet wipes and thoroughly wiped Chizawa Yuko's face clean, recording the entire process.

Only then did he stop filming.

With this footage, whether he sent Chizawa Yuko to prison for reform or threatened her into stopping the harassment, it would be enough.

However, there was one problem...

Jiang Xia pulled up the footage he had just recorded, replayed it, and paused on the final frame.

He looked at Chizawa Yuko's makeup-free face, then recalled how she usually looked on Posters, and suddenly felt a little lost.

The difference between before and after seemed a little too great?

...Could this really prove that Chizawa Yuko was not someone else in disguise?

"..."

But he had already wiped it all off. It was not as though he could put her makeup back on.

Jiang Xia recalled the despair in Chizawa Yuko's eyes just now and realized that she herself seemed to care a great deal about that portion of the recording.

...So it probably was not a big problem.

The plan could still proceed as usual.

End of Chapter
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