Chapter 381: The Organization Has Their Eyes on Jiangxia?! 

Double Chapter

When the mermaid shikigami swam over earlier to sniff out the two blobs of killing intent on the platform, she'd also caught a glimpse of Izumo Keitaro and his manager's tickets—so she knew their destination.

So when Gin asked just now, Jiangxia had no trouble replying.

He quickly texted back: [Confirmed]

The phone stayed silent for nearly a minute. Then Gin's reply came: [Good]

…That meant Gin agreed to disarm the bombs and let Jiangxia try his "quiet" method first.

Jiangxia wasn't surprised.

Gin always liked to solve problems with brute force—big bombs, big bangs, fewer loose ends. But this time, quietly letting the God of Death handle it was clearly more efficient.

If an entire train car went up in smoke, they'd have to sneak off and switch trains in the middle of the night. But if they went with "Ouzo's" method, Gin and Vodka could just nap in their sleeper berths and wake up to find the target conveniently dead—no extra fuss.

Jiangxia pocketed his phone and thought about the next step.

He'd need to find a chance when Gin and Vodka left their compartment to send Xiao Bai in and defuse the bombs stashed in their bags.

If those giant bombs went off in a crowded place, they'd create a tidal wave of frantic ghosts—way too much work for an innocent, gentle spiritual medium just trying to pass through…

—

In the next compartment, Gin stared at the "Confirmed" message, deep in thought.

Next to him, Vodka risked a peek at the screen, fidgeted, and mumbled,

"Big Brother, are we really just gonna let him handle it? The timing's tight. The compartments are locked, the target's not exactly the friendly, chatty type… and it's such a tight space. What if Ouzo screws up and drags us—"

"Rushed," Gin echoed, voice low. He quickly replayed all his recent exchanges with Jiangxia in his head.

A few seconds later, he let out a cold little chuckle:

"No wonder he mentioned the Hokutosei when we first discussed the itinerary—he'd already set his sights on Izumo Keitaro."

Thinking back, among all the targets they'd handed over to Ouzo, everyone else was in Tottori Prefecture or even further out. Only Izumo Keitaro was relatively close.

And for Ouzo—who'd gotten so bored he'd run off to drag race with strangers—Izumo was a much more tempting morsel than targets hundreds of kilometers away.

So if Ouzo hadn't pounced on him, that would've been suspicious.

This "chance encounter" was no accident.

Vodka's eyes widened.

"…This was Ouzo's plan too?!"

He suddenly felt the Hokutosei ticket in his pocket digging into him like a thorn. And the gun in Gin's coat? That was now a very scary gun indeed.

Gin, long used to Vodka's jump-scare reactions whenever Ouzo's name came up, ignored him. He just nodded slightly to himself.

It wasn't blind trust, either. There was logic behind this:

—The train passed through Yokohama, Nagoya, and other stops before reaching Tottori. Passengers boarding in Tokyo didn't have to ride all the way to the end.

From the moment Gin and Vodka had spotted Izumo Keitaro on the platform until he'd disappeared into his compartment, they'd watched him like hawks. He'd never once discussed his final stop.

Yet Ouzo, who got on later, was dead certain Izumo was headed for Tottori—without exchanging a single word.

Knowing Ouzo's track record, Gin would bet real money today's "coincidence" was entirely engineered.

While Gin pieced all this together, Vodka was left to process it in stunned silence.

They'd picked this cozy sleeper car, stumbled into one of their targets by sheer "luck," and now Big Brother was telling him it was all Ouzo's trap from the start.

Vodka felt like Ouzo's shadowy hands were tugging on invisible strings—he could almost feel them tightening around his neck.

But on the bright side, Vodka reminded himself, there were clues. Ouzo had mentioned wanting to ride the Hokutosei before. It had seemed like an idle comment about the weather, nothing serious—but it was a breadcrumb.

And as long as there were breadcrumbs, it wasn't hopeless.

He could still catch Ouzo's slip-ups and stop him from assassinating them next… probably.

Vodka shivered, trying to squash the goosebumps crawling up his back.

After a second, he muttered: "Still, he should've told us in advance. What if he messes up? He's got no discipline—"

Gin snorted. "If he gave us the whole script, how would we react naturally when the show finally airs? In his eyes, we're 'audience' too."

…Understanding was one thing. Encouraging this was another.

But honestly, after working with other weirdos like Bourbon and Vermouth, Gin's patience for "eccentric mystics" had grown a lot.

Compared to those two, Ouzo was practically a hardworking cadre. He didn't snark back constantly, didn't waste funds on dumb indulgences, and never skipped work without reason. If anything, he was too dedicated.

And he was still young. Bad habits could be sanded down over time.

As Gin talked Vodka through it, he also clarified his own thoughts.

A few minutes later, he pocketed his phone, crouched to disassemble the temporary bomb, and decided to trust the "train job" to Ouzo—for now.

After all, that was partly why he'd brought Ouzo along: to see what shape this young prodigy was really in.

Ouzo wouldn't even dirty his own hands to kill someone—so the chance of exposure was basically nil.

And if he botched it? Gin and Vodka were on the same train; there'd be plenty of time to finish the job themselves.

And if the worst came to worst—well, they could always reassemble the bomb and vaporize a whole carriage.

But if it came to that… Ouzo would be far too disappointing.

Here's hoping it didn't come to that.

Jiangxia successfully stopped Gin's carpet-bombing plan and quietly let out a sigh of relief.

As for their assassination target, Boss Izumo—well, Jiangxia figured it wouldn't be a big deal if that guy "accidentally" died on the train tonight anyway.

—The manager traveling with Izumo Keitaro practically radiated killing aura, like he was itching to make a move.

Plus, from the info Jiangxia had scooped up earlier, Mouri Kogoro's wedding was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

If Mouri Kogoro was dragging his family all the way to Tottori Prefecture, there was a good chance he and Conan were already on this very train.

Jiangxia guessed that by the time he'd finished packing, Conan and his lot were probably already onboard.

Come to think of it, it was really annoying that people without killing aura were so hard to spot.

If only everyone had a visible cloud of killing aura around them—each with its own unique scent—being a spiritual medium would be a breeze…

He spent a few seconds happily imagining this ideal world.

—

The Hokutosei train pulled out of the station just as the sky was darkening.

The dining car was already rolling out meals.

Jiangxia first sent out his ghosts to drift through the compartments, using their eyes to check on things.

Once he had the lay of the land, he packed up his bag, left his sleeper berth, and headed for the dining car.

The moment he stepped inside, a surprised voice called out from diagonally ahead: "Jiangxia?"

…Ran Mouri.

He followed the sound and, unsurprisingly, spotted the Mouri family at a table.

He nodded in greeting, strolled over naturally, and pulled out an empty chair—it was a four-person table.

—

Halfway through dinner, Gin and Vodka arrived too.

They slid the door open and stepped into the dining car. With a glance, they immediately spotted Jiangxia, surrounded by three strangers.

Seeing this cozy scene, Gin's first instinct was that Ouzo was targeting those three.

But after a closer look—no Izumo Keitaro among them.

So he figured one of them must be plotting to kill Izumo instead.

At that table sat a child, a young girl, and a middle-aged man.

A child taking down an adult like Izumo seemed unlikely—though with Ouzo, you could never rule out turning a bear child into an assassin.

Gin's eyes narrowed on Kogoro Mouri and his mustache—prime suspect material, if you ignored the detective's actual job.

There were already scattered passengers eating at other tables.

So Gin didn't bother to play "I don't know you" by sitting far away. Instead, he settled right at the table next to Jiangxia—directly behind Kogoro.

Perfect. He could eavesdrop on every word Ouzo said, observe his state, and see how he manipulated others to get blood on their hands.

Satisfied, Gin picked up the menu.

—

At Jiangxia's table, he sat across from Ran and Kogoro, with Conan beside him.

Gin and Vodka, meanwhile, faced Jiangxia and Conan, directly behind the unsuspecting Ran and Kogoro.

Jiangxia spotted them the moment they sat down.

Well, to be precise, he'd felt Gin's killing aura the second the door opened.

Seeing them choose the table right next to his, Jiangxia felt slightly puzzled.

Why sit so close?

He didn't mind, but Conan… well, he'd be fine. A little scare might even boost his God of Death aura.

Jiangxia mulled this over, then calmly glanced at the two men in black and went back to chatting with Ran, unfazed.

Vodka, however, visibly tensed when Jiangxia's eyes brushed over him, sitting up like a startled bear child caught doing something bad.

And he wasn't the only one stiffening up.

When Jiangxia shifted his gaze back, he caught Conan freezing mid-bite, eyes locked on Gin and Vodka.

The fake child stayed stone-still for ten whole seconds, then grabbed his teacup and gulped half of it down, clearly trying to wash away the shock.

Jiangxia also took a sip of his tea, pretending not to notice these two with the mental fortitude of wet paper. He focused on the Mouri family instead.

Vodka's overreaction didn't matter—he was a bottle of liquor from a shady secret organization. Being on edge was part of the job description.

As for Conan… well, he was technically still a first-grader. Getting distracted by suspicious people and zoning out was par for the course. This kind of abnormality wasn't fatal.

—

Gin, for his part, didn't give the stiff bespectacled child so much as a glance.

He finished ordering and quietly eavesdropped.

But what he heard made his eyebrow twitch.

Instead of traps or carefully laid snares, Ouzo was just chatting about normal school stuff—exams, clubs, the new English teacher.

…So this was just one of Ouzo's classmates.

Seemed like Ouzo sitting there wasn't part of some sinister plan, just a coincidence.

On second thought, that made sense. Ouzo would've done all the real setup ahead of time. The killer and the method were already in place.

Approaching Izumo Keitaro directly would only raise flags.

But blending in with normal classmates and nosy bear children? That lowered suspicion nicely.

Gin nodded to himself.

—Good. A stable, low-key plan. At least this yinbi wasn't completely unreasonable tonight.

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

Progress: 14/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

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

Progress:4/10*