**Chapter 76: The Assassin’s Robe**

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By the river, Fujino dragged the old monk to the water's edge, pressing his head down into the river.

As the old monk regained consciousness, he struggled briefly before Fujino pulled him up and dragged him to the edge of the cliff.

"I'll give you one last chance. If you don't talk, I'll throw you off," Fujino said, grabbing the red rope tied around the old monk and lifting him over the cliff's edge.

"Ah!"

Seeing the chasm below, Tenyu's voice rose to a piercing scream.

The scream continued for a while.

Eventually, the old monk's legs buckled, and he fainted from fear.

During his unconscious state, some liquid seeped from his pants.

Fujino: "..."

This old man's psychological endurance is that weak?

Scaring him to the point of wetting himself?

The rope was no longer usable.

With a sigh, Fujino pulled the old monk back to the river and performed a forced wake-up.

The old monk's resistance was impressive; he showed a remarkable stubbornness, embodying the spirit of an old monk who refused to admit wrongdoing.

However, with Fujino's persistent efforts, the old monk finally broke down and confessed to the details of the crime, including his motives and methods. Fujino recorded everything on his phone.

Satisfied with the evidence, Fujino nodded.

He covered the old monk's head with the black cloth bag again and continued to enhance his swordsmanship skills.

Seeing dawn approaching, he stopped.

Then, using the batarang, Fujino rendered the old monk unconscious once more, placed him in the trunk, and drove toward downtown Tokyo.

Through testing the batarang on both the old monk and the young monk, Fujino discovered:

The batarang does degrade over time but retains its functionality until fully decomposed. The anesthetic effect diminishes with each use. The first use could make the target unconscious for nearly two hours, the second for about an hour, and the minimum effect, after multiple uses, was fifteen minutes. Once the effect drops to fifteen minutes, the batarang degrades without leaving a trace.

The anesthetic effect remains constant, regardless of the target's age or size. In essence, all are equal before the batarang.

…

In the early morning, at the Metropolitan Police Department, the operator received a peculiar call.

Someone claimed a criminal had been left at the police station's entrance.

The caller identified himself as Batman, and his voice resembled that of Batman.

Just as the operator thought it might be a bizarre prank or code, Officer Takagi, who had just finished a late shift, discovered an elderly man lying on the ground at the entrance.

The man was disheveled, drenched with icy water, and bound with red ropes. Besides the ropes, there was a slender red string around his neck, holding a tape cassette and a paper with a bat symbol.

The bat symbol paper read in Microsoft YaHei font: "Murderer of Chūnen Monk from Sandstorm Temple, two years ago."

The tape contained a video of the elderly man confessing to killing Chūnen Monk and describing the crime in detail.

Whether he would be convicted or not was up to fate.

…

In the morning, at Fujino's home in Mihua Town, on the fourth-floor bedroom.

After a long night, Fujino finally sat on the sofa when a system notification rang in his ears:

[Congratulations, Host, on completing the bounty mission. You have earned 200 Detective Reputation Points, 3 million yen in reward, and a Random Equipment Package.]

[The Random Equipment Package has been delivered to the warehouse. Please check it.]

Fujino took a deep breath, opened the system warehouse, and was drawn to the icon of the package.

[Random Equipment Package: Contains random quality and ability items.]

The equipment in the package could be of varying quality, ranging from purple to blue or even white. It was all uncertain.

"I wonder what this random package will yield."

After a moment of contemplation, Fujino took another deep breath and opened the package.

Golden light flowed from the package, and after a realistic cutscene, a white robe gleaming with golden light appeared before him.

"Golden item?"

Fujino stood up from the sofa, staring at the white robe with a golden sheen.

Golden items were usually extraordinarily powerful.

He was reminded of his spatial storage, which was also a golden item.

Suppressing his excitement, Fujino sat back down and touched the robe. Information about the robe appeared:

[Assassin's Robe: The robe of a top assassin, embodying the Brotherhood's spirit! A robe once worn by a top assassin, wearing it makes you a master assassin in the shadows! 

Appearance: White robe with a red belt, though it has some strange stains, it is indeed an authentic robe.

Effects:

- Night Ranger: Greatly reduces presence, with effectiveness influenced by the environment and user's condition. Also inflicts psychological pressure on those who discover you.

- Passing Assassin: No one can see your true face.

- Shadow Assassin: Your first attack is guaranteed to be a critical hit with a 200% increase in damage if you are not detected.

- Assassin's Peerless: If detected during covert activities, all your attributes are increased by 100%.]

"100% attribute increase, reduced presence, concealed appearance… Golden items are indeed formidable."

Fujino marveled at the effects of the Assassin's Robe and decided to take it out of the system warehouse.

"This robe looks somewhat familiar."

Examining the robe, he felt a sense of familiarity. "Assassin's Creed?"

As described by the system, the robe was a medieval white robe with red accents, and it had some stains, possibly blood.

After donning the Assassin's Robe, Fujino went to the bathroom mirror.

In the mirror, his figure was reflected, but his face was completely hidden in darkness.

"I wonder if the effect will trigger when I wear the mask…"

Fujino adjusted his chin and then took out the Batman mask from his space.

Looking at his reflection in the mirror, the darkened hood revealed a shadowy Batman face.

It seemed that the "Passing Assassin" effect only activated when he revealed his true face. When wearing a mask or hiding his face, the effect did not trigger.

With this thought, Fujino looked at himself in the medieval robe and mask in the mirror, feeling somewhat odd. "This combination seems a bit strange…"

**(End of Chapter)**