Chapter 26: Aren't We Good Partners? Please Vote for the Monthly Ticket

Chapter 26: Aren't We Good Partners? Please Vote for the Monthly Ticket (ω＼)

Jiang Xia walked into the "haunted house."

Outside, dark clouds were piling up, and the interior was extremely dim. Without a flashlight, one could see almost nothing.

Borrowing the Ghost Fetus's night vision, Jiang Xia moved silently along the pitch-black corridor.

...

Soon, at the end of the corridor, he found a floorboard that had been pried open.

This appeared to be the entrance to a secret passage. A set of stairs extended downward.

Driven by a hint of curiosity, Jiang Xia leaned in closer. After observing for a moment, he could faintly smell the scent of killing intent wafting from the passage.

"..." He nodded with satisfaction and stepped inside.

...

Following the stairs all the way to the bottom.

At the end of the tunnel, a lit basement appeared.

Jiang Xia remembered that this was the place where the mourning son, who had failed to surrender after murdering his father, was being held by his mother.

At this moment, the basement door was open.

The faint sound of Conan's reasoning could be heard from within.

...

Jiang Xia lightened his footsteps, walked to the door, and took a peek inside.

In the center of the room, a row of iron bars partitioned off a cell.

The homeowner's son was currently sitting in the cell, disheveled and unkempt, clutching an old-fashioned Shinto doll on his lap—presumably transformed from his father.

Outside the bars, there were three people in total.

—Conan, his female classmate Ayumi Yoshida, and a white-haired, very thin woman.

...

Jiang Xia's gaze swept across the room and quickly landed on the woman whose back was turned to him: "..."

That waist-length silver-white hair made Jiang Xia's fingers twitch reflexively, as if he wanted to grab a handful of it.

However, upon steadying himself, he realized the woman's killing intent was very faint. It could barely be classified as "snack-sized," and wasn't even as fresh as the killing intent from the previous kidnapper.

The Ghost Fetus looked at the white-haired woman before it and, after a moment of daze, looked slightly disappointed.

However, it wasn't as picky as Jiang Xia; it was satisfied as long as there was killing intent to eat. Thus, it remained highly motivated, jumping down to the ground to prepare to collect it.

...

A few meters away, inside the basement.

The white-haired woman held a knife, glaring at Conan and Ayumi, who were cornered against the wall. Her emotions were exceptionally volatile.

Because her back was to the door, she didn't notice the extra person, Jiang Xia, standing there.

Conan, however, did see him.

His voice faltered for a split second during his reasoning, but he quickly resumed as if nothing had happened.

It was just that this fake elementary schooler clearly hadn't controlled his emotions well.

When he spoke, his voice was much more forceful than before.

Fortunately, the white-haired old woman's mental state was poor, so she didn't notice Conan's abnormality.

Ayumi hid beside Conan, looking at Jiang Xia timidly, also remaining silent.

It was unclear whether she had become resourceful in the face of danger or was simply too terrified to make a sound.

Of course, it might also be the common illusion experienced by "pretty-face enthusiasts"—the big brother at the door didn't look like a bad person.

...

Conan was clearly the type of detective who, once caught up in reasoning, would prioritize finishing his deduction even if it cost him his life.

In truth, the white-haired old woman hadn't intended to kill anyone at first.

Genta and Mitsuhiko, lying in the yard, had only been knocked unconscious by her.

She figured that even if these first-graders reported it, the police wouldn't bother.

But Conan was different.

—Conan had not only seen the person in the dungeon, but he had even guessed that his son was the murderer from years ago.

"A hobo hiding in a haunted house" was entirely different from "a fugitive murderer hiding in a haunted house."

If it were the latter, even if the report came from a child, the police might actually show up.

...

Thus, as the white-haired woman listened to Conan's reasoning, a genuine killing intent began to emanate from her.

When Conan said, "The one who killed your husband was actually your son," the old woman finally snapped.

"Shut up!" She grabbed Conan by the throat, her face contorted as she raised a kitchen knife.

Ayumi let out a scream and covered her eyes in terror.

Conan was also stunned: "..." Wait a minute?

The script wasn't quite what he had imagined.

—He had clearly seen Jiang Xia just now!

Shouldn't the normal situation be: he deduces the truth, Jiang Xia simultaneously subdues the old woman, and then the two of them share a knowing smile before pulling out their phones to call the police?

...But where was Jiang Xia now?

Conan struggled to look back, but the old woman blocked his entire field of vision. The furious white-haired woman let out a roar and swung the knife down heavily.

Just as the tip of the blade was only inches away from Conan, someone finally grabbed her wrist from behind.

Jiang Xia wrenched the kitchen knife from the woman's hand and pressed down hard on her shoulder.

The woman let out a cry of pain, "Ah!", and slumped to the ground, half her body numb.

Accompanying her cry was the faint sound of police sirens from outside.

—Jiang Xia had called the police before entering.

"..." Jiang Xia glanced outside at the sound: *Perfect timing, as expected of the police in this world.*

He tossed the confiscated knife into a corner, suddenly noticed a mop by his feet, and picked it up.

—Although the tunnel door was open, it would certainly take the police some time to find the entrance.

While waiting for the police to arrive, he needed to hurry and "knock" the killing intent loose.

—Conan's ability to draw aggro was truly not to be underestimated. The more this fake child reasoned, the more killing intent the white-haired woman produced... The current amount of killing intent far exceeded what it was when Jiang Xia first entered.

Looking at the person covered in killing intent, Jiang Xia raised the mop expectantly.

At that moment, the white-haired woman sitting on the ground clutched her shoulder and turned back to look at Jiang Xia with a face full of resentment.

The two locked eyes.

In the next second, the killing intent swirling around the old woman "pattered" onto the floor of its own accord.

...Perhaps she had weighed their respective combat power and quickly realized she could no longer continue killing, so she could only abandon the thought.

The Ghost Fetus, which had been waiting nearby for a long time, couldn't help but let out a cry of joy.

It scurried over, rolling the fallen killing intent into a fluffy mass like cotton candy, and brought it back to present to Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia crouched down, pulled out a cigarette pack containing Ghost Mint, tore open the seal, and let the killing intent soak in.

(End of Chapter)