Chapter 366: The Mastermind Psychic

Double Chapter

BONUS CHAPTER 9-10

The four children made their way toward the art room.

Behind them, a middle-aged man crept along, back slightly hunched, footsteps light. His expression was grave, and his shiny bald head gleamed faintly under the moonlight pouring through the window. Every so often, he reached up to touch it, eyes darting nervously around—either keeping watch or lost in thought.

Further behind, about ten meters away, two other figures stood quietly at a corner, observing the scene up ahead.

It was Jiangxia and "Amuro Tooru."

Nothing had actually happened yet, but under the eerie quiet of night, the image of an adult secretly tailing a bunch of kids—especially with that expression and that body language—was enough to trigger a full string of illegal activity associations.

Jiangxia's eyes settled on the moonlit gleam of the man's bald head, and he instantly got the gist of the situation.

If he remembered right, this was the head of student affairs from Conan's school.

A few days ago, the man had lost his precious wig. Mortified, he didn't dare show his bare scalp in daylight. So he came to school at night, hoping to find the thing quietly and restore his dignity.

But then tonight, he happened to spot four kids sneaking around campus. Worried that someone might catch a glimpse of his uncovered scalp, he decided to scare them off before continuing his search.

As Jiangxia recalled this, the little mermaid beside him wagged its tail in glee.

He turned—and sure enough, the faint killing intent that had almost fizzled out on "Amuro Tooru" was flaring up again, thick and bright.

Vermouth's face was calm, but her eyes were sharp and dangerous as she glared at the man following the kids.

Jiangxia immediately understood—she had no idea that the man was a schoolteacher. From her perspective, he was just some shady adult stalking children at night.

And his target... included Conan.

Hmm?

Jiangxia reached out and lightly touched the now-bubbling killing intent radiating beside him. He glanced at Conan, who had just entered the art room through a pair of windows, and paused thoughtfully.

Business opportunity detected.

As the bald teacher closed in on the Junior Detective League, Jiangxia quietly crept forward a few paces too.

Then he stopped at a corner, released one of his ghosts into the art room, and shifted his vision to it—using the ghost's eyes to watch what was happening inside.

—

Inside the art room, Conan didn't turn on the lights. He didn't want to alert anyone who might be lurking nearby. Instead, he flicked on his flashlight and began inspecting the plaster statues scattered throughout the room.

Sure enough, there was a faint mark on the base of one statue, and another on the table it sat on—just as described in the creepy school rumor. It matched the account from the student who'd claimed the statues had moved on their own.

So the ghost story might actually have some truth to it.

Conan frowned in thought and leaned in closer to examine the statue.

That's when he spotted a sticky smear on the statue's forehead—like something had been glued there.

Curious, he reached out to touch it.

The flashlight beam shifted slightly.

Something felt… off.

Conan froze.

The plaster statue's forehead split open without warning—revealing a gaping mouth, packed with rows of jagged teeth. The fangs hovered directly above Conan's outstretched hand, just seconds from clamping down and chomping his fingers off.

The mouth twisted at the corners into a slow, sinister grin.

Conan stared in disbelief.

—

A scream suddenly tore through the silent school corridor.

The shrill voice of a terrified child echoed off the walls.

Jiangxia snapped back to his own eyes just in time to see "Amuro Tooru" jolt in surprise beside him. She reflexively stepped forward, about to rush toward the sound—but stopped herself at the last second, hesitating for some reason.

Jiangxia mirrored her expression, calmly staying put.

The killing intent around Vermouth flared again.

…Kudo really was a tool of many uses.

—

Back inside the art room, Conan stood frozen for a moment—but recovered quickly. He was startled, sure, but he wasn't the kind of guy to get scared silly by a clay mouth with bad dental hygiene.

His three companions, however, were another story.

They hadn't seen the statue's transformation. All they saw was Conan suddenly screaming at a normal, harmless statue.

So now they were huddled together in a corner, looking at him like he'd lost it.

Conan warily examined the same statue.

The mouth was gone.

It was back to being a plain, slightly dusty plaster bust.

He tapped it. Nothing. No fangs, no bitey grin. Just cold, white plaster.

Unwilling to let it go, he leaned in and kept poking and prodding the thing, trying to figure out what just happened.

The others remained frozen in place.

Ayumi, eyes wide, whispered, "Should… should we go find Brother Jiangxia?"

She would honestly rather take a scolding—or even a light smack—than stay one more second in a room where even Conan got scared.

Conan, however, was now deeply intrigued.

He couldn't immediately find any mechanical triggers, and carrying the statue out wasn't really an option.

So he whipped out his phone and used its dying battery to take photos from every angle.

None of the other statues had mouths. That made the mystery even weirder.

Could the trick be based on some chemical compound that changed texture with light or heat? Something that expanded, then evaporated under certain conditions?

He couldn't be sure. But he had evidence now.

Finishing his impromptu photoshoot, Conan tapped the statue one more time, then stood up.

"Let's go check the infirmary next," he said, and strode off.

He'd heard a story a few days ago—someone had supposedly seen the anatomical model in the infirmary sprinting down the hallway.

Considering everything so far, it was likely all these ghost stories were part of the same setup—a mastermind with advanced chemical skills, hiding somewhere in the school.

The other kids exchanged worried glances, then reluctantly followed.

Better to stick together than end up the next spooky rumor.

—

They reached the infirmary quickly.

Compared to the art room, it was oddly cozy—no creepy statues, just a pile of boring medical equipment.

Ayumi relaxed a little.

While the others searched for the anatomical model, she decided to help by lifting a sheet that was covering something along the wall.

What she uncovered was…

An adult-sized anatomical model.

With no skin.

The thing's muscles and blood vessels were all on full display, a raw and glistening red like it had been skinned alive.

Ayumi stared up at it, frozen. Then—

"AaaaaaAAAAHHHH!"

She let out a full-throttle, soul-shaking scream and bolted out the door at cheetah speed.

Conan flinched at the noise, then ran after her.

The other three boys charged after them, turned two corners, and stopped short by the stairs.

They'd clearly seen Ayumi turn in here, but…

She was gone.

And there were no footsteps heading up.

"…Ayumi?"

Conan called out into the empty corridor.

No reply. Only a faint echo came back.

The three boys stood frozen, their ears filled with the frantic thump of their own heartbeats.

Mitsuhiko sniffled and whispered, barely audible, "Ayumi… Ayumi must've been swallowed by the legend…"

Someone had vanished into thin air. Even Conan, who had stayed calm up to now, was starting to feel the tension.

But he still didn't believe in ghost stories. "Those 'legends' are man-made. Someone must be hiding in the school—and they took Ayumi."

He swept his flashlight around, scanning for clues.

Before he could finish searching, Genta suddenly let out a pig-like squeal.

Conan snapped his head around—Genta was trembling, pointing toward the window of the building across the way.

This school building was shaped like a square with an open center, like a mouth. From their corridor, they could see straight across to the opposite side.

And there, pressed against the glass of the window, was a skinless "person"—staring right at them.

The anatomical model from the infirmary.

Conan clenched his teeth and charged toward the other building.

Mitsuhiko and Genta, still in panic mode, instinctively followed.

—

Once the noisy kids had disappeared down the corridor, the wooden door to the first-floor utility room slowly slid open. Three figures stepped out.

Jiangxia pulled his arm away from Ayumi and looked down at her.

When she had bolted out of the infirmary in terror, Ayumi had been trying to hide in a random corner.

Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—she ran headfirst into Jiangxia, who was coincidentally lurking in the corner like a professional stalker.

The moment she bumped into something solid in the dark, Ayumi opened her mouth to scream.

Before she could let out a sound, Jiangxia reflexively clamped a hand over her mouth.

...He didn't know why he did it. Maybe too many anime reflexes had fried his response system.

Only after doing it did he realize there were other people in the room. He glanced awkwardly at them.

Ayumi, though, had frozen solid. Even after he released her, she didn't make another peep.

As for Vermouth, she didn't seem the least bit surprised. The moment Jiangxia grabbed someone, she instinctively checked the surroundings left and right—like it was just another Tuesday.

No one else felt awkward, so the awkwardness quietly dissolved.

Jiangxia, being a quick adapter, immediately returned to his usual indifferent calm.

He waited silently in the dark for a while, and once the three kids ran off into the night, he gently placed Ayumi down beside him.

Ayumi looked up. When she saw it was Jiangxia, she paused in stunned silence, then shrank back slightly.

She looked around, hoping to find a classmate to cling to—someone who could be scolded along with her.

But both ends of the corridor were empty. The farther stretches disappeared into shadow, like something out of a horror movie.

Ayumi trembled, remembering the dead-eyed plaster statue in the art room… and that skinned anatomical model glaring through the window.

She shuffled forward hesitantly, stopped just short of bumping into Jiangxia, and raised her small arms to quietly hug his leg.

She would rather be yelled at by Brother Jiangxia than be eaten by that creepy model or flayed alive and turned into one.

At least Jiangxia was good-looking. And he didn't kill people.

Jiangxia found himself suddenly burdened with a temporary follower.

He glanced down at Ayumi, pale and silent, clearly terrified out of her wits. He decided that this level of clingy bear child was still within tolerance. So he reached down and scooped her up with one smooth motion.

As he walked forward, he noticed his shadow in the dim light stretching long across the corridor.

Now that he had Ayumi in his arms, the outline of the shadow looked… delightfully distorted and menacing.

Jiangxia nodded to himself, satisfied.

...Actually, letting her ride on his shoulders would make the silhouette even scarier.

But the kid was wearing a skirt today. Never mind.

After adjusting his carrying posture using the shadow for reference, Jiangxia prepared to follow the other three children's trail.

But before he could take a step, he noticed "Amuro Tooru" frowning thoughtfully beside him.

Vermouth glanced at him and said in a low voice, "I saw it too—through the gap in the door earlier. That anatomical model was definitely staring in this direction, face pressed against the window. But…"

She pointed across two windows, indicating the side corridor at a right angle from their current position.

Based on her earlier observation, the man who had been following the kids was hiding behind that side window.

Which meant someone else had moved the anatomical model.

In this not-so-large school building, there were now at least two other people lurking in the shadows.

Jiangxia furrowed his brows ever so slightly, syncing up his reaction to match Vermouth's.

Then, when she wasn't looking, he stole a glance at her.

...He'd thought for sure that with her weird affection for Conan, Vermouth would've rushed in immediately to protect him from danger.

But she was surprisingly calm.

Was this some kind of elite Black Organization parenting strategy? Or just cold rationality?

Actually, the second option made sense. From Vermouth's perspective, the person tailing Conan only saw a few kids—plus one mystery person (Jiangxia). If that person really intended to kill, they'd have already rushed over with a mop.

There was no need to set up a spooky jump scare with a skinless doll.

So maybe Vermouth had calculated that if she charged in recklessly, she'd expose her concern for Conan to Ouzo—her fellow cadre—and that could ruin her cover.

Even now, disguised as Amuro Tooru, her reactions were being closely watched. A suspicious move could raise eyebrows.

She was holding back—with considerable effort.

And as a result, the killing intent swirling around her was steadily rising.

Jiangxia watched this all silently. His mood improved by the second as he continued heading toward the infirmary with Ayumi in his arms.

His face wore a stiff mask of worry, but inside, he was utterly relaxed.

Based on how the night had unfolded, he already had a pretty good idea what case this was.

The two sneaky "villains" lurking around were the bald head-of-student-affairs, who only cared about finding his lost wig…

…and the children's new homeroom teacher: Sumiko Kobayashi.

Teacher Kobayashi looked nearly identical to Officer Sato on the outside, but her personality couldn't be more different.

Where Sato was bold and unflinching, Kobayashi was introverted and highly strung. Lately, she'd been stressing out about the upcoming parent-teacher conference.

So every night, she came to school secretly and rehearsed the conference using dolls, anatomical models, and plaster statues—pretending they were the parents and students.

…In another sense, that kind of behavior took a lot of guts.

A woman cut from the same mold as Officer Sato, just... processed a little differently.

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

Progress: 17/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

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

Progress:3/10*