Chapter 94: Death is a New Beginning

Fujino's expression remained unchanged, only slightly tightening his grip on the now limp hand.

He reached out and closed her dilated eyes.

Standing up, he lit a cigarette.

Although he had seen many corpses and had long been numb to death, there were times when the passing of life still made him feel a profound sadness.

After a moment of standing still, Fujino slowly exhaled a cloud of lingering white smoke: "But death is not the end... it is a new beginning."

He gazed at the lifeless Miyano Akemi lying on the ground.

Fujino silently took out the soul lotus seed from his personal space.

"I wonder if this thing will work."

Fujino brought the soul lotus seed close to Miyano Akemi and whispered.

[Detected a compatible target, do you choose to absorb the target's soul into the Millennium Lotus Soul?]

The system's prompt sounded in his ear.

Hearing this, Fujino took a deep breath, "Absorb."

[Activating Millennium Lotus Soul skill effect for the host]

As the system prompt sounded again, the soul lotus seed in Fujino's hand suddenly emitted a dazzling light.

The light gradually detached from Fujino's hand and floated directly in front of Miyano Akemi's body.

With the flickering of the light, a ghostly and ethereal figure slowly floated out from Miyano Akemi's body.

In the light, the figure appeared... naked?

Fujino, watching the figure, couldn't help but awkwardly touch his nose.

As a gentleman, how could he look at such things?

Of course, he would use his peripheral vision.

Although it was just a figure of light, the figure's hands were crossed and hugged in front of her, her entire body curled up, making most of it invisible.

Yet, there was a sense of vagueness.

After a moment, the light shattered, and streams of light poured into the soul lotus seed.

These lights gradually emitted a brilliant glow, appearing unusually warm.

In those fragments, Fujino seemed to see some images.

It felt like when he first crossed over.

Those images seemed to be fragments of memories.

Although the images were obscure, he could still make out a few...

When the light merged into the seed, the originally withered seed suddenly seemed to come to life.

The red color of the seed turned green.

"Is it done?" 

Fujino took the seed floating down from mid-air and murmured.

Putting away the seed, he turned his gaze back to Miyano Akemi's now cold body.

Miyano Akemi had entrusted him with protecting her sister Miyano Shiho, and he had taken her soul as a price.

In a way, it was a fair exchange.

Though Miyano Akemi seemed dead now, her soul was preserved within the soul lotus seed, allowing her to continue living as a soul...

Even if Gin displayed incompetence, he was still an A-level combat power designated by the organization.

Vodka was at least B-level.

Moreover, both of them had well-performing firearms.

If he risked his life, he might save Miyano Akemi while severely injured.

But then what?

If Miyano Akemi didn't die, the organization would threaten her with her sister.

Given Miyano Akemi's personality, she would probably throw herself back into danger.

Then it would circle back to the dilemma of saving or not saving.

And in the end, he and Miyano Akemi had only just met.

Was it worth risking his life for a stranger?

In this situation, this was the best solution he could think of.

Putting his thoughts aside, Fujino walked slowly to Miyano Akemi's cold body.

After a bit of searching, he did not find the safe key as described in the original work.

Seeing this, Fujino frowned.

He remembered that in the original work, Miyano Akemi's key was indeed taken.

But that was just a fake key; the real key was hidden by her...

Could the real key have been discovered and taken by the organization?

After pondering for a moment, Fujino gave up on the idea of the key and began collecting other items.

Miyano Akemi had not brought much, aside from a wallet and a mobile phone.

"A flip phone?"

Fujino took out a pink flip phone from her pocket and was surprised.

Miyano Akemi's phone was a pink flip phone.

Normally, there shouldn't be flip phones now...

He remembered that during the recent recording with Yoko Okino and Yuko Ikezawa, people were still using old-fashioned portable smart devices.

Now it had suddenly turned into a flip phone?

Really, Conan logic.

After a bit of mental grumbling, Fujino started browsing through the chat records.

The chat records were simple, mostly daily conversations with someone noted as "Miyano Shiho."

From these daily chats, Fujino learned that the sisters did not meet often.

When they did, there were always people from the organization guarding them...

It seemed true that she only knew about the organization's signature color.

However, in the messages, Fujino noticed a particularly intriguing one.

[Big brother... if I could leave the organization, would you sincerely date me? P.S. Akemi]

"Akai Shuichi?"

Fujino read the message content and took a deep breath.

This message was sent a day ago but had received no reply.

The "big brother" mentioned in the letter was Shuichi Akai's alias, Moroboshi Dai.

It could be said that Miyano Akemi reaching this point had a lot to do with Shuichi Akai's influence.

Five years ago, he abandoned Jodie and used Miyano Akemi as a pawn to infiltrate the organization.

Two years ago, when he had gained some reputation within the organization, he started his net-closing plan.

But he got exposed and had to flee, leaving Miyano Akemi in the organization.

Honestly, Fujino couldn't understand Shuichi Akai.

Maybe from beginning to end, she was just a pawn in Shuichi Akai's eyes.

Fujino, as a transmigrator, could never understand what these secret agents were thinking.

Speaking of agents, Shuichi Akai was also Miyano Akemi's cousin...

Miyano Akemi's mother was Elena Miyano, and Elena's sister was Mary Sera, Shuichi Akai's mother.

What a complicated relationship.

It's a waste of talent not sending them to Germany for advanced studies.

Sighing deeply, Fujino put Miyano Akemi's phone into his personal space.

After confirming that there was nothing else left, he put on his cloak and mask again, and disappeared into the twilight as if he had never been there.

...

A dozen minutes later, Conan arrived late.

"Damn it!"

Conan threw his skateboard aside, walked to Miyano Akemi's cold body, and angrily pounded the concrete ground.

Feeling the heart-wrenching pain in his hand, he forced himself to calm down.

Taking a safe key from his pocket, he gripped it tightly.

Then, he took out his phone and dialed a number: "Please connect me to Inspector Megure of the first investigation division."

(End of this chapter)