Chapter 7: Come to Uncle's House to See the Inventions

According to Jiang Xia’s previous investigation, that flashy sports car in the surveillance footage belonged to Stalker No. 1.

Stalker No. 1 was currently on the way to Yoko Kinoshita’s house.

Therefore, after gathering his tools, Jiang Xia hopped onto his motorcycle, preparing to head to Yoko Kinoshita’s apartment.

As he twisted the throttle and surged out of the courtyard, he saw Professor Agasa walking toward his house, clutching a bizarre-looking device.

……

Hearing the roar of the motorcycle, Professor Agasa looked up, saw Jiang Xia, and waved happily, wanting to invite him over to try out his new invention.

Jiang Xia did a quick mental calculation of the time. He spent 0.1 seconds torn between "stopping to hear what the old man has to say" and "ignoring him and moving on," then decisively chose the latter.

The Professor’s inventions were strange; out of a hundred, eighty-eight would either explode or leak electricity...

Although Jiang Xia usually chose to wear protective gear when checking out Professor Agasa’s inventions—since he could occasionally scavenge something useful—he was in a hurry today.

He was very busy.

He didn't want to get blown up.

Jiang Xia twisted the throttle, and the motorcycle roared past Professor Agasa without mercy.

The Professor was enveloped in exhaust fumes. He waved his hand, coughed twice, and watched Jiang Xia’s rapidly disappearing back with a regretful sigh. It felt like Bo Ya rushing to Zhong Ziqi’s house with his zither, only to see Zhong Ziqi galloping away overnight halfway there.

Professor Agasa: "..." No, that wasn't right. Jiang Xia wasn't that kind of person.

If he acted like that, it must simply be that he hadn't seen him.

After all, Jiang Xia was wearing a helmet, which obstructed his vision...

Professor Agasa comforted himself, feeling much better.

He patted the new invention in his hands and decided to let it go for today; he would take it to show Jiang Xia tomorrow.

Hopefully, it wouldn't be broken by then.

Professor Agasa hugged the machine and headed back the way he came.

Just as he reached his front door, he suddenly noticed his neighbor on the other side—Shinichi Kudo—also arriving home, his face beaming with happiness.

Professor Agasa’s eyes lit up, and he greeted him, "Did something happy happen? Want to come to my place and see my new invention? We can chat while you look."

Shinichi Kudo rubbed the back of his head, feeling embarrassed, and answered the first half: "What happy news could there be... It’s just that I made a bet with Ran earlier and lost, so I have to take her to Tropical Land this weekend."

Then, his expression shifted, and he coldly and decisively rejected the second half of the Professor’s invitation: "No."

Clearly, he also knew that the Professor’s inventions had quite a few safety hazards.

"..." Professor Agasa let out a long sigh. *Sigh, these unruly kids.*

Jiang Xia was much more considerate of the elderly; other than his poor eyesight, he had no other flaws.

Failing to find any sense of validation, the Professor hugged his new invention and returned home, feeling very lonely.

……

Jiang Xia’s house was not far from Yoko Kinoshita’s.

He quickly arrived at the apartment building where Yoko Kinoshita lived, parked his motorcycle, and looked up to observe the building.

At this moment, Stalker No. 1’s car was still on the road.

……

Jiang Xia had seen Yoko Kinoshita’s schedule and knew she had a live broadcast that afternoon, so she wouldn't be home too early.

The apartment building where Yoko Kinoshita lived had over thirty floors, and the entrance door was locked.

Jiang Xia had learned how to pick locks, but he hadn't yet found an energy source sufficient to repair his wrist. His hand wasn't steady enough to flick a lock open with a single touch... Picking locks wasn't efficient, and it was easy to get caught halfway through.

However, even without picking the lock, this matter was easy to solve.

Jiang Xia lingered in the vicinity for a short while.

When another resident returned to the apartment, Jiang Xia followed behind them and entered the building—if asked, he planned to pretend he had forgotten his key.

As the entrance door closed, the innocent auntie he had followed noticed something was wrong and turned her head vigilantly.

Seeing who was behind her, her expression softened slightly.

When they got into the elevator, she even helped Jiang Xia press the open button, nodding at him with a smile.

……

Yoko Kinoshita lived on the 25th floor.

To be safe, Jiang Xia got off the elevator on the 27th floor and took the fire escape down to the 25th.

After confirming that the hallway on the 25th floor was empty, Jiang Xia took out his camera in the dark stairwell, adjusted it, and hid behind the door.

A few minutes passed.

The elevator dinged—someone had arrived on this floor.

A series of high-heeled footsteps walked out of the elevator, passed the stairwell door, and headed straight for Yoko Kinoshita’s apartment.

Jiang Xia, hidden behind the stairwell door, peeked out.

He saw that the person was a slender woman whose silhouette was very similar to Yoko Kinoshita’s.

This was the person Jiang Xia had labeled "Stalker No. 1." Yoko Kinoshita’s rival—Yuko Ikezawa.

Jiang Xia silently aimed his lens at her.

As it seemed, the reality of this world really did align with the anime he had watched.

There were just tiny differences in the details, such as "Miss Yoko" having a different surname and having had a miscarriage...

Regardless, with spoilers, everything was much simpler.

……

Jiang Xia activated his fake "precognition" ability.

—If he remembered correctly, the "stalker" who made "Miss Yoko" suffer so much was actually two people.

One was the young lady currently walking in sky-high heels to do evil, Yuko Ikezawa.

The other was Yoko Kinoshita’s ex-boyfriend.

The ex-boyfriend wanted to get back together.

As for Yuko Ikezawa, it was pure jealousy because Yoko Kinoshita was more popular than her, and she wanted to mess with her beautiful and professional colleague.

A while ago, Yuko Ikezawa had stolen the spare key to Yoko Kinoshita’s house from her manager and began her series of harassment.

……

Jiang Xia quickly sorted out the situation and felt that this matter was easy to resolve.

After all, Stalker No. 1 and No. 2 were just two weaklings; if worse came to worst, he could just put a sack over their heads and beat them up.

More important than dealing with them was, in the process, making the little ghost fetus realize the reality, give up its "obsession" with playing matchmaker for its parents, and obediently leave with a reliable medium...

……

Yuko Ikezawa only looked around with a guilty conscience when she first stepped out of the elevator.

After that, she skillfully used the stolen key to open Yoko Kinoshita’s door.

People are prone to nervousness when in an unfamiliar environment.

But Yuko Ikezawa had been here several times already.

Now, coming to Yoko Kinoshita’s house felt as easy as going home, even happier than returning to her own.

Therefore, she wasn't very alert.

And she completely failed to notice that a camera in the shadows was quietly aimed at her.

(End of chapter)