Chapter 3: Call the Model Worker if You Need Anything

Under Gin’s gaze, Jiang Xia walked over to the Porsche and handed over Miyano Shiho’s wallet.

As he withdrew his hand, he hooked his fingers nonchalantly, stealing a bit of the killing intent clinging to Gin.

If he could, Jiang Xia would have liked to harvest more.

But killing intent wasn't something you could just grab in handfuls. To take it all, certain conditions had to be met. Otherwise, he could only collect the tiny bit that naturally overflowed.

In this situation, a flick of his fingertips yielded about the same amount as reaching out to grab it, but the latter might result in the vigilant Gin putting a bullet through his head—hardly a cost-effective trade.

……

When Gin took the wallet, he caught a glimpse of the movement of Jiang Xia’s fingers out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't pay it any mind.

Every time Jiang Xia handed him something, he would make that little hooking motion when pulling his hand back.

The first few times, Gin had been secretly wary.

But later, as it happened more often, he guessed it was some sort of uncontrollable physical reflex, much like how a lame person can't help but limp when they walk. Jiang Xia was likely the same—after all, he had once had such a deep gash on his left wrist, and the hand is a delicate part of the body that is difficult to recover fully after such an injury.

Gin briefly checked the wallet and handed it toward the car, letting the owner check if anything was missing—Miyano Shiho had already rolled down the window when she saw Jiang Xia earlier.

Miyano Shiho was a genius scientist in the Organization, codenamed "Sherry."

……In the future, after taking the poison and shrinking, she would probably change her name to "Haibara Ai."

Sherry was consistently cold and sparing with her words. However, this time, she wasn't intentionally hiding in the car to be mysterious. She had twisted her ankle when the mugger pushed her earlier, making it difficult to get out of the car.

At the time, her bodyguard had been a bit of a distance away, and his reaction speed was well-deserving of his status as cannon fodder—by the time the bodyguard came to his senses, the passing purse-snatcher had already vanished without a trace.

Losing the money didn't matter, but the wallet contained Sherry’s various forms of identification and the research institute’s access card; these could never be allowed to leak out.

The situation was urgent, but fortunately, the Organization lost bits of data every few days... The bodyguards were very experienced and immediately pulled out their phones to call Gin.

When there’s trouble, call the model employee; you can never go wrong.

After hearing the sequence of events, Gin remembered that Jiang Xia was familiar with this type of neighborhood, so he had summoned him.

……He hadn't expected Jiang Xia to solve the case in seconds. That saved a lot of trouble; the efficiency was much higher than them staking out the place to find the person.

……

While Sherry was flipping through the documents in her wallet, Jiang Xia secretly pinched the fresh killing intent he had just harvested, preventing it from running back to its original owner.

On the surface, he reported with a very serious expression

"The purse-snatcher is named Yamada Satoshi. He has no steady job and makes a living by doing odd jobs and committing petty theft and robbery. Two years ago, he rented a low-cost 'haunted house' nearby, so he often hangs around this area—I don't think he was targeting intelligence; he was likely just looking to steal money."

This sounded like he was making excuses for the thief.

However, Jiang Xia quickly made it clear that he had no such intention

"He is currently at 2-chome, 21-ban-chi, 305. He’ll probably be unconscious for about half an hour. He’s quite heavy, and carrying him all the way here would be too conspicuous, so I didn't bring him along... If you’re worried, you can stop by there on your way out and take him back for interrogation."

Gin nodded, neither praising nor criticizing.

Jiang Xia not killing the man immediately could barely be considered thoughtful—since the thief was a repeat offender in this area, perhaps some of the passersby who witnessed the robbery knew him.

If the thief were to suddenly drop dead on the spot today, "Sherry," who had just been robbed by him, might be linked to the murder, inviting trouble—after all, Sherry was a beautiful mixed-race woman with a unique temperament; one look was enough to remember her for a long time.

Gin: "..." Even so, anyone who had snatched Organization secrets had to die.

Thinking of this, Gin casually assigned a task to Jiang Xia: "Keep an eye on him for the next few days. Make it look like an accident within a week..."

"Ahem."

Sherry in the car suddenly cleared her throat.

Although the way she expressed it was subtle, the meaning was clear: pick someone else.

"..." Gin frowned and bit down on the cigarette butt at the corner of his mouth.

Jiang Xia always felt that the phrase "women are such a hassle" was on the tip of the model employee's tongue.

But in the end, Gin swallowed the words back.

……The wishes of a precious genius scientist like Sherry were still worth considering. Besides, it wasn't a big deal.

Gin then took out his phone, sent a message, and chose a different tool.

Then he looked up at Jiang Xia: "It's nothing now, you can go back."

"Alright." Jiang Xia nodded and turned to leave.

At this moment, Sherry suddenly called out to him and handed a bag out from the car.

Jiang Xia recognized the contents of the bag at a glance.

Supplements.

Brain supplements. Very bitter.

Homemade by Sherry, the only one of its kind in the world. She liked to keep some in the car, and she had even mailed some to Jiang Xia separately in the past, but Jiang Xia had rejected them all.

————

Jiang Xia didn't actually dislike Miyano Shiho.

Judging from the fragments of memory he had parsed, Jiang Xia Tongzhi didn't hold any grudge against her either.

——In the car accident that Jiang Xia’s parents encountered, when the truck rolled over them, the couple and Sherry were all in danger of being crushed into meat patties.

At the time, the couple had fiercely pushed Sherry out of the crushing range, delaying their own escape.

But in reality, looking at the footage of the accident, even without the "pushing Sherry" action, they were positioned further back and would still have been hard-pressed to escape.

——It looked more like a targeted murder than an accident.

So, this matter couldn't really be blamed on Sherry.

However, not blaming her didn't mean he had to cozy up to her or maintain a good relationship—in his memory, although Sherry and Jiang Xia Tongzhi knew each other before the accident, they weren't close and didn't have much interaction.

Jiang Xia felt this kind of relationship was quite good; there was no need to take it further—Sherry was a core member of the Organization, and there would be no shortage of trouble and troublesome people around her. As for Jiang Xia, a down-on-his-luck medium without a ghost... he just wanted to maintain a peaceful life for now.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xia lowered his head, looking at the beautiful and cute Sherry in the Porsche and the beautifully packaged but unappealing supplements in her hand, and didn't reach out to take them.

He simply declined politely: "No need, you're too kind."

Sherry’s hand holding the bag stiffened slightly.

After a brief pause, she expressionlessly withdrew her hand, tossed the bag of medicine back onto the seat with a thud, crossed her arms, and turned her head away.

……Then, unable to let it go, she turned back.

Her gaze lingered on the wristband on Jiang Xia’s left hand for a moment before quickly moving away, her voice cold and clear

"I heard from Dr. Kazato that you haven't been to your follow-up appointments on time—the next appointment is on the 23rd, remember to go."

"Dr. Kazato" was a doctor in the psychosomatic medicine department at the Beika Yakushino Hospital.

Gin, standing nearby, heard this and shifted his gaze back and forth between Jiang Xia and Sherry.

He hadn't thought there was anything wrong with Jiang Xia before. Hearing "doctor" now, he realized that this useful peripheral member hadn't fully recovered yet.

Gin said in a deep voice: "We don't need a ticking time bomb that could die at any moment. If one day you can't carry out a mission because of your mental state—human experiments are currently in short supply of subjects."

"..." Jiang Xia glanced at the increased killing intent on him and nodded with slightly brightened eyes, "I understand."

Gin didn't say anything more.

He did think Jiang Xia was a useful subordinate, but he was just useful, not irreplaceable. So, out of respect for Sherry, a reminder to "seek medical attention in time" was enough.

……

Having retrieved Sherry’s bag, Gin and Vodka returned to the car, and the three of them left shortly after.

Jiang Xia feigned watching them go for a while.

As soon as the black Porsche turned the corner, Jiang Xia turned and walked away, heading straight for his motorcycle.

In the past, he might have stayed for a while, carefully searching the area where Gin had stopped to see if there was any extra killing intent dropped.

But since last week, Gin was no longer his only hope for activating his abilities.

That’s right, Jiang Xia now had a new target.

It was the recently rising teen idol and triple-threat artist—Yoko Okino.

Jiang Xia had actually gone out today with the intention of finding Yoko Okino.

It was just that he had been pulled away by Gin to be a tool halfway there.

……Fortunately, the matter was resolved quickly, so he didn't have to put off his real business until next time.

……

The matter of changing his "Golden Finger activation spare tire" started last week.

At the time, Jiang Xia was on his way home from school. When he passed an electronics store, he glanced casually at a display TV in the window and his footsteps faltered.

——On the TV, Yoko Okino’s cooking show was playing.

And Jiang Xia saw that wrapped around her wrist was a translucent, crystal-bracelet-like object.

The "bracelet" was squirming slightly, and a human shape could vaguely be made out.

Jiang Xia recognized it immediately: this trembling lump was actually the "ghost fetus" he had been looking for for a long time.

……It was just much smaller than a normal ghost fetus.

A normal one would be at least as big as two hands put together. But this one was exceptionally petite... perhaps because it was still just an embryo when it died.

But it was already quite good.

A ghost fetus was the best medium for a medium to exert their power; even in his past life, it was a rare and highly sought-after item. Without it, a medium would be as miserable as a summoner with zero summons.

And if he had it...

Seeing a ghost fetus for the first time in a year, Jiang Xia felt both comforted and moved.

……The God of Luck hadn't left him.

He was still him, that witty and handsome lucky dog.

……

Recalling the ghost fetus on the TV, Jiang Xia soon arrived at where he had parked his motorcycle.

At this moment, his phone suddenly rang.

The technological timeline of this world was erratic, sometimes advancing, sometimes regressing, with no pattern.

Currently, Jiang Xia was using a most ordinary 3G phone.

He hopped on his motorcycle, glanced at the caller ID, and answered the phone: "I had something to take care of just now, I'll be there soon."

A voice full of excitement came vaguely from the phone: "Understood, Big Brother!"

Jiang Xia didn't speak again, hung up the phone, put on his helmet, and sped away.

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(End of chapter)