Chapter 255: Gin’s Mental Journey

Haibara Ai adjusted her expression and calmly said, "I told Jiangxia I used to be a rich second-generation, but got schemed against in a property dispute. I just spotted an old enemy nearby—my hair color is too distinct, too easy to recognize—so I wanted to change my look."

Conan: "…"

This sounded suspiciously familiar.

Wasn't this the plot of that 8 o'clock soap opera that had been airing lately?

Good thing Jiangxia doesn't like TV…

Wait, no. That excuse is full of holes. Even if Jiangxia hasn't watched the original show, he'd still see right through it.

…Then again, maybe it's a good thing Jiangxia prefers to make his own wild guesses instead of asking straight questions. Just like how he figured out Conan = Kudo Shinichi long ago but never bothered to call it out.

In that sense, Jiangxia was actually… weirdly considerate?

Haibara, meanwhile, reflected on her own performance and thought it wasn't half bad. She resolved to go spin this explanation into a full story with Jiangxia later. For now: No one talk to me while I improvise.

While the two children were whispering about "big" matters that felt important but were, in fact, completely useless…

Jiangxia had already finished check-in. He and Amuro Toru headed off to a quiet corner and briefly exchanged their reasons for joining the Izu Mystery Tour.

Amuro was indeed here to investigate the "Night Baron" virus, just as Haibara had speculated.

Jiangxia, on the other hand, gave his cover story: A neighbor's friend had an extra slot, a kid wanted to tag along, and Jiangxia felt like taking a trip.

In truth, Jiangxia's real target this time was Tokio Ebihara—a man sitting comfortably in the hotel lobby, blissfully unaware that this "Izu Mystery Tour" would be his last.

But Jiangxia wasn't worried about Amuro connecting the dots later.

First of all, Jiangxia wasn't the one doing the killing. He was just going on an innocent little vacation with Conan, the usual way, and—purely by coincidence—there would be a murder. Totally ordinary.

Secondly, Amuro might not even know Tokio Ebihara was a hit marked by the Organization. Sure, the target list wasn't classified exactly, but "not classified" didn't mean it was posted on bulletin boards. The Organization had plenty of people it wanted dead. When Amuro did recon, he'd be more focused on the important stuff—the big fish.

And even if, somehow, Amuro realized Tokio Ebihara was a target… He'd probably just chalk it up to the guy being incredibly unlucky.

After all, there was a long tradition of Organization members or targets getting tangled up in random murder cases. Some were even dragged into trouble by their dogs. This was, unfortunately, normal.

The real reason Amuro couldn't sniff out Uzo's "true identity" wasn't that his instincts were worse than Gin's—it was that the two had access to different information.

Back when Jiangxia was still a low-level grunt, Miyano Akemi had defected. To cover for her and avoid Gin's... excessive interest in "co-existence," Jiangxia had used the Xiaobai puppet as a decoy. Then, to complete the illusion, he pretended to strangle the puppet and stuff it in a bag like a psycho. Along the way, he also twisted and crumpled some innocent bear children to make the scene more convincing.

That incident alone left a... strong impression on Gin. To him, Jiangxia was no longer just a quiet rookie—he was clearly a guy with history.

Combine that with Gin's chronic suspicion disorder—he sees a coincidence and immediately wants to deduce the entire cause-and-effect chain like some edgy magician—and Jiangxia's image in his mind had shifted.

So when Gin gave Jiangxia the mission to "assassinate a diplomat," and then somehow that diplomat's wife stabbed the guy to death with a poison needle—and it turned out she had a past connection with Jiangxia—it was over. Gin instantly locked in the headcanon: Jiangxia, criminal mastermind. Screenwriter of death.

Every case that followed only deepened Gin's belief.

But Amuro? Amuro was transparent. He was only occasionally suspicious. He didn't have the backstory, the exposure, or the chronic gin-flavored paranoia.

So Jiangxia figured it was perfectly safe to keep milking these cases whenever Amuro was around, without worrying too much about being found out.

Amuro, hearing Jiangxia's story about "taking a neighbor's kid out for fun," didn't find it suspicious at all.

If anything, he felt a little relieved. Jiangxia seemed to be lightening up after stepping back from his duties with the Organization. Making friends. Playing with neighborhood kids. Taking more trips… exactly what a young person should be doing.

The thought made Amuro a bit nostalgic. He remembered his greenhorn days in the police academy. The best friends he'd made back then.

Too bad they were all dead now. Especially his closest one—killed by the Organization.

…That damned syndicate in black. One day, he'd see them all rot in prison.

Meanwhile, back in the Izu Princess Hotel lobby.

Jiangxia paused slightly. To his surprise, Amuro suddenly gave off a bit of murderous aura.

And not just any—this was high-quality murderous aura.

Jiangxia's eyes subtly lit up. After all, he'd seen how Gin operated as a walking cursed object, constantly supplying rich spiritual energy. Amuro might be a vintage bottle too!

…Unfortunately, the aura had no clear target. As Jiangxia watched, the ghostly presence drifted by, and the aura faded away almost immediately.

The Tengu fluttered in mid-air. It hovered blankly, flapped its wings once, and floated right back to Jiangxia.

The mermaid ghost was more irritable. She circled Amuro like a little prison warden, arms crossed, inspecting. When she confirmed there was no active murderous intent, she gave him two light whacks with her tail to blow off steam, then swam away sulkily.

Amuro, of course, felt none of this.

He did, however, notice Jiangxia's slight sigh.

Amuro snapped out of his memories. Jiangxia seemed less interested now, a little disappointed.

Amuro was startled. He realized he might have looked a bit grim while reminiscing. Jiangxia probably thought he was being scolded for slacking off.

"I was just thinking about the mission," Amuro said calmly, trying to reassure him. "Don't mind me—go do your thing."

But Jiangxia didn't leave. Instead, he asked, "Want some help?"

…Even if this boss's killer aura wasn't reliable, he could at least serve as a murder case magnet.

From Jiangxia's experience so far, every time he crossed paths with Amuro, two ghosts appeared on average.

This boss was like a walking double-XP booster—randomly refreshed, but always worth the click.

*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.

Progress: 36/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.

Progress:2/10*