Sodium Aluminate!

"Good morning, Tang Ze. Are those your new clothes?" Azusa Enomoto asked, wiping down the bar counter and looking up with a smile as Tang Ze descended the stairs wearing a trench coat with an English style.

"Yes, good morning, Miss Enomoto." Tang Ze, dressed in familiar casual wear, felt great about himself. As he greeted her, he picked up a rag and started helping her wipe the table.

Tang Ze was engrossed in his work, but Azusa Enomoto couldn't help but stifle a giggle.

Tang Ze's choice of attire, suitable for a thirty-year-old man, looked rather childish on his eighteen-year-old, baby-faced self. It didn't make him look older; instead, it made him appear even more immature.

Perhaps because his face is so cute, he wants his clothing style to be more adult-like?

Azusa Enomoto shifted her impression of Tang Ze further towards that of a cute child, still suppressing her smile as she complimented him, "You have great taste, Tang Ze."

Oblivious, Tang Ze cheerfully helped open the shop door and hung the "Open" sign.

Naturally, he wasn't going to school today.

Having transferred to Teitan High School three days ago and had two days off, Tang Ze was a big supporter of Conan's world's holiday schedule, if nothing else.

Tang Ze organized his gear, said goodbye to Azusa Enomoto, and headed out towards Maru Denjirou's Palace.

Maru Denjirou was probably on edge after last night's calling card, and the Maru residence was likely swarming with people right now.

It was a shame that the swords of Conan's world couldn't cut through the officials of P5.

Weaving through the alleyways, Tang Ze reached a corner and tapped his phone.

He stepped into the empty streets of the cognitive world, his figure instantly vanishing into the shadows.

A dozen seconds later, a figure chasing Tang Ze entered the same corner.

He looked at the empty alley, raising an eyebrow with little surprise.

Tang Ze Zhao indeed possessed anti-reconnaissance and anti-tracking abilities; Shuichi Akai confirmed this once again.

"Click," the sound of a gun being cocked.

Shuichi Akai immediately dodged the incoming bullet and looked towards the alley behind him.

Tooru Amuro, holding his gleaming HK P7M8, aimed at him with malice.

"Rye, why are you here?"

Tang Ze, of course, didn't know that his two pursuers behind him had collided because of his maneuver. He cheerfully switched to his Phantom Thief form and rushed towards Maru Denjirou's house.

The Palace's complete vigilance manifested as a group of red-eyed shadows patrolling in an eerie red light. Maru Denjirou's shadows were no longer swaggering on the streets, and the Maru residence's main gate was tightly shut.

Accustomed to playing games, Tang Ze felt no panic, even finding the lack of background music a bit unexciting.

Since the Palace's terrain didn't change with the owner's alertness, his infiltration route was still viable. If he were discovered due to the increased number of patrols...

Then he'd just kill all the shadows who spotted him!

As a seasoned gamer, Tang Ze deeply understood that if everyone who saw him died, it would still count as infiltration.

Scaling walls, climbing rooftops, leaping, and stealthing – it was all done in one fluid motion.

Perhaps it was a bonus from awakening, but this untrained adolescent body in the cognitive world allowed Tang Ze to exert his full strength, moving with lightness, agility, and ample power.

Even though the courtyard had twice the number of personnel as yesterday, and the shadows' searchlights covered the entire yard in red light, Tang Ze easily moved along the rooftops and climbed into the inner courtyard.

The entire main house, surrounded by numerous samurai shadows, was enveloped in a red mist. Maru Denjirou had donned general's armor, holding a katana, and scanned the courtyard with narrowed eyes.

"Damn, the atmosphere is so grim."

Tang Ze leaned against the eaves and looked down, then reached up to grasp the mask on his face.

Then he leaped.

While still in mid-air, the mask in Tang Ze's hand transformed into flames, and the ferocious Twenty Faces rose from behind him.

Infiltration? What infiltration?

Tang Ze glanced at his skill list, which was full of Twenty Faces, and flashed a provocative grin at the roaring Maru Denjirou.

Do you even understand the value of a third playthrough?

Last night, he hadn't just focused on beating Lavenza. He had taken out his fully registered Persona Compendium, packed with conveniently arranged skills, and used his savings of a whopping ninety million yen to synthesize rapidly.

A Twenty Faces with a full skill list, possessing every type of elemental skill, was born just like that.

"Come on, scum," Tang Ze swung his hand back, grabbing a short sword and holding it in front of him. "Let me see what kind of trash you are."

His dismissive tone immediately enraged Maru Denjirou. Maru Denjirou took a step forward and roared, and the surrounding samurai closed in.

"Sneaky brat! I will sever your hands, your legs, and your head one by one, and hang them to dry before my gate, so you understand the consequences of provoking a Daimyo!"

After delivering this lengthy line, Maru Denjirou, clad in armor plates, exploded, his black mud cracking and falling to reveal his true, distorted form.

One after another, swords of varying lengths, like ribs, encased the suspended armor in the center. A longer nodachi stood upright behind it, plunged into the ground.

More golden seals and helmets, symbols of power and authority, were drawn by the black mud and floated around the monster of clashing blades, like a spiderweb laden with prey.

"Ugh, why is it a spider? That's kind of gross," Tang Ze pouted, assuming a fighting stance. Twenty Faces let out a hoarse laugh, its dark mist tentacles fully extended. "You talk too much. You really lack the presence of a villain. Let's go, Twenty Faces, Persona—!"

"Huh? The meeting's canceled?" Mori Kogoro looked at his calendar, confused. "Didn't Mr. Maru say he was only available to meet today?"

"I am truly sorry, Mr. Mori," came the wry voice of Maru Denjirou's secretary from the receiver. "After dinner yesterday, Mr. Maru's residence received many threatening letters. Mr. Maru is very anxious today and has canceled all his meetings."

"Threatening letters?" Mori Kogoro, who had been somewhat displeased, immediately turned serious. "Was it a personal threat?"

"Ah, that... it's a bit difficult to define..." the secretary hesitated. "Some think it's a prank, while others believe it's competitors creating a diversion..."

"Can you tell me the details?" Mori Kogoro straightened up, as if catching the scent of a case. "Threatening letters are no small matter."

The sound of letters flying all over the street was quite loud. The secretary thought for a moment and decided not to hide anything further. "Is it convenient for you to receive a fax? I'll fax the threatening letters to you. We would be extremely grateful if you could help us find the troublemaker."

Conan, whose ears perked up at the mention of "threatening letters," quietly moved to Mori Kogoro's desk. He grabbed the edge of the desk and pushed his head up, wanting to hear what they were talking about.

After hanging up the phone, Mori Kogoro impatiently rapped Conan on the forehead. The fax machine began to whir and spit out paper.

"What is this? A warning letter?" Mori Kogoro frowned, looking at the sentences on the fax, pieced together from various newspaper clippings with lead-printed letters.

"'Phantom Thieves of Hearts'..." Conan, who had persistently poked his head out, looked at the warning letter with him and read the final content.

...What kind of chuunibyou declaration is this letter?

Conan's mouth twitched, but he subconsciously remembered this strange signature.

Ah, the part about writing about the Palace was indeed rushed, rushed, rushed, I'm a king of rush.

But there's no helping it, it's not a major case, so we still need to follow the procedure. I'll try to speed things up and won't add any unnecessary combat.

(:з」∠) Thank you all for your continued reading and tips. This newbie bows to you all, bang bang bang.