Chapter 10 What is a Magician!

"Twenty-five minutes exactly, just enough to bump off the ballet," Jiang Shu laughed, freeing one hand to high-five Su Xiaoou.

"Ha ha, you should've seen that snooty woman's face, it went all contorted with rage," Su Xiaoou giggled, imitating her.

"Let's go, move our stuff back to our Magic House first," Jiang Shu said as he headed to the elevator to the fourth floor, and he heard praise from Sister Mei in his earpiece.

"Your magic show was pretty good, I'll add a chicken leg to your meal this month," Sister Mei chuckled, "How about I arrange a solo magic performance for you next Wednesday night?"

"That works," Jiang Shu switched on his mic to agree, then voiced his own requirement, "But don't make it too long, an hour is enough."

"Sure, I'll make the arrangements," Sister Mei naturally had no objections.

"What's this, Sister Mei is giving you your own show?" Su Xiaoou exclaimed excitedly.

"How did you know?"

"That's how Sister Mei does it, she gives a solo show to those who perform well on their first try, and a quarter of the ticket revenue is yours, that's a lot of money!" Su Xiaoou jumped up, which also meant she was going to make a fortune, because Jiang Shu had already told her if she did a good job as an assistant, the more money he made, the higher her salary would be.

Normally, an apprentice was just in charge of meals and lodging, basically a free labor force, much like grad students in a past life.

"Oh, that's not bad," Jiang Shu walked into the office and then suddenly remembered something and sternly asked, "Hey, where's my knife? The one for the performance."

"Oh, it's still backstage, I'll go get it!" Su Xiaoou stuck out her tongue and ran off quickly.

The office immediately fell quiet again, and Jiang Shu found the time to check his Character Card, which seemed to have undergone some changes.

Character Card·Magician

Milestones:

Completed first magic performance: Past And Present Life, obtained the entry "Mysterious".

Completed magic: Cutting Shadows and Flowers

In the Entry Value section of his card, there appeared a main entry and two derivative entries.

- Passive·Mysterious: You always have a mysterious aura around you, intimidation +1, charm +1, reputation +1.

-- Passive·Deception - Past And Present Life: Observe past and present lives through dreams.

-- Passive·Deception - Cutting Shadow: When you cut shadows, the physical entity will suffer equal damage.

"Creak—"

The thick wooden door of the office was pushed open, a shadow cast into the room, followed by a bright and clear female voice—

"Scheming frog, always feeling your belly!"

Jiang Shu froze, stopped what he was doing in his hands, and stared blankly at the girl at the door. She was about 1.6 meters tall, slim, with chestnut mid-length hair, wearing a black hoodie and casual pants, her attire rather loose, complemented by the big hood on her sweatshirt, looking very cute.

Is this... Conan switched genders?

In that instant, Jiang Shu's emotions were extremely complex, a strange yet peculiarly familiar sensation spreading through his heart.

"Who are you...?" he still asked first.

"Kirie Tsukimiya, affiliated with Seventh Police Station, T2 level technician," Kirie slightly lifted her head, then added, "And also the best technician in the entire police station."

Seventh Police Station... A T2 level technician... So young?

"So we're colleagues?" Jiang Shu extended his hand, "Jiang Shu, T4 magician, and Crime Consultant for the police station."

"I know, I know," Kirie nodded, then lifted her head higher, looking down her nose at him, "I cracked your magic after watching it just once, you're not as amazing as Wolf said."

"Oh?" Jiang Shu couldn't help but chuckle, though unclear why, he could feel the competitive spirit burning fiercely within the girl before him, "Then tell me, how did I do it?"

If it had been in a previous life and he encountered someone who wanted to debunk his magic on the spot, Jiang Shu would naturally curse under his breath and immediately stay away, but in this world devoid of magic, he actually felt the novel thrill of a high-level player watching a newbie, so he was eager to hear more.

Of course, this was also related to the impeccable appearance of the girl in front of him; after all, attractive people always receive preferential treatment wherever they go.

"First is the selection of the guests." Kirie's eyes shone with intensity, "You can easily direct your paper airplanes to any spot in the audience by adjusting the angle of the wings and with some sleight of hand."

Jiang Shu nodded, not denying it, "Right, I can indeed do that."

"At the start of the performance, each audience member could choose a gift fruit plate upon entry, and by that time, you had gleaned the information about Li Yuntang's favorite fruit," Kirie extended a finger, "As for the animal, that might have been noticed by you through some other details."

"So, you directed the plane towards the position that was prepared before the performance began." She stated confidently, then extended another finger, "As for the number, what you said at that time was very interesting, 'Close your eyes and reminisce, and let the number appear,' instead of 'just say a number at random'. You must have employed some psychological tactics."

Jiang Shu watched her with interest, "What do you mean?"

"I've tried it myself, such wording makes one reflect, not just throw out any number. This also makes it easy for people to think of a number they've recently memorized well, like..." Kirie locked eyes with him, pausing, "their own seat number. In fact, all three of them subconsciously mentioned their own seat numbers, or numbers close to them."

"Interesting, go on," Jiang Shu smiled, still not denying anything.

"After identifying the unique guest, since you only have T3 police access, you could only rapidly infiltrate the police database through your prosthetic eye and discover Li Yuntang's true identity after comparing physical appearances!" Kirie's petite and delicate face showed a triumphant smile, confident she was nearing the truth.

"Meanwhile, behind the scenes, your magic apprentice had written down this information, and through a mechanism prepared in advance, delivered it to the table, switching out the envelopes... and then, it was time to witness the miracle!"

Her voice had risen with the last sentence, the confident, boastful smile reappearing on her face.

At the same time, her mind was stirred, this guy before her, is he an excellent hacker, hypnotist, psychology master, prop maker, and stage performer at once?

Hiss—

And to think, all this is just for a T4, how terrifying is the profession of a magician!?

Such an unassuming profession requires learning so much; what should its entry value be?

The more she thought, the more amazed she became; generally speaking, the more knowledge a profession requires, the stronger its irreplaceability. But why does a profession from the Entertainment Series need such strong irreplaceability?

What kind of job is this?!

"Uh..."

Jiang Shu, on the other hand, scratched his head awkwardly. What is all this about? If he had all those skills, why would he still perform magic? It isn't that he looked down on his profession, but rather...

It wasn't necessary.

He laid the thumb cot and the envelope from his pocket on the table, pushing them towards Kirie, "Actually, it can be done with just a few small props."

"Ah?" Kirie was stunned, picking up the two items to look at them. The thumb cot had a short pen refill stuck to it, and the envelope showed nothing out of the ordinary.

"This is called a secret writer," Jiang Shu explained, "When I placed the card behind my back, I didn't write the number yet. After hearing Li Yuntang say eighty-five, only then did I write eighty-three in my pocket because the writing in my pocket was ugly, and that's why I had mentioned earlier that the writing on the back wouldn't look good. Causal exchange, it's just a simple time misdirection."

"Ah?" Kirie was stunned again, her confident smile gradually disappearing. She was a bit confused, "Then..."

"As for the envelope, I knew beforehand that Li Yuntang might come, so I had checked the audience's ticket purchases. After filtering the information and making some deductions, I found Li Yuntang and then prepared this letter and stuffed it into the envelope in advance," Jiang Shu shrugged, "The difference in the envelope was also uncertain; I just slightly adjusted it based on the situation on site."

"It's so simple? No... it can't be! You're lying to me!" Kirie couldn't make sense of it; she faintly felt she had really guessed wrong, but...

How could she be so wildly off the mark!

Right, he must be deceiving me! Let me think...

"Wait! You just said the difference wasn't predetermined... so the '2' wasn't written in advance?" Kirie immediately noticed something amiss—

"Right," Jiang Shu nodded.

"Then it still means you swapped the envelopes! Didn't you say the envelope was prepared beforehand?"