Chapter 21: Let Go! (Please vote for monthly tickets)

Chapter 21: Let Go! (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Borrowing the Ghost Fetus's vision was equivalent to possessing night vision.

Jiang Xia stepped into the pitch-black exhibition hall, passing through a group of bizarrely shaped sculptures as he walked toward the deepest part.

The smell of blood grew increasingly heavy.

Reaching the end of the room, he looked to the left and saw a massive oil painting hanging on the wall. In the painting, a demon was being nailed to a cliff by a knight's sword.

Looking further to the right, a corpulent middle-aged man was hanging on the wall, nailed in the "exact same pose as the demon." Blood had splattered across the wall, streaming down in rivulets, and a pool of blood had already gathered at the base of the wall.

Jiang Xia's gaze swept over the middle-aged man's corpse and quickly settled on his lower leg.

A fresh soul was clinging to it there. It was palm-sized, looking like a shikigami cut from a sheet of white paper.

Jiang Xia had just seen a similar one this morning; he hadn't expected to encounter another one right after coming out for a walk this afternoon.

...

In the classification of mediums, when people die, some souls dissipate immediately, while others with extraordinary talent can turn into Ghost Fetuses.

There is also a third type that lies somewhere in between.

—This paper-like shikigami thing.

Ghost Fetuses usually possess a relatively strong sense of self and remember parts of their lives; they are the hardest to lure away but also the most useful.

As for this leg-clinging shikigami in front of him... it possessed little consciousness, possessing only an exceptionally heavy obsession.

Most of them acted on instinct.

After being generated, some would cling to their own corpse nearby, while others would drift toward the killer and cling to the killer's leg.

Although the Ghost Infant's vision had been borrowed, its other senses remained.

It sensed the aura of the leg-clinging shikigami and couldn't resist approaching. It reached out its tiny hands, wanting to pull it down to bring it to Jiang Xia.

...

Jiang Xia observed from a few steps away.

He saw that although the leg-clinging shikigami was trembling due to the Ghost Infant's proximity, it held on tightly.

When the Ghost Infant applied force, it accidentally crumpled a small part of it.

The infant froze, let go, and secretly tried to smooth out the wrinkled part.

Watching this scene, Jiang Xia sighed inwardly.

...As expected, it couldn't be torn off by force.

He would have to follow the proper procedure: send the killer away first, allowing the soul to dissolve its obsession and fall off the killer's leg on its own.

...

As a "prophet," Jiang Xia naturally remembered this case in the exhibition hall.

—It began when the owner of the exhibition hall went bankrupt and sold the entire place to Boss Manaka.

And Boss Manaka was the unlucky uncle currently nailed to the wall in front of Jiang Xia.

—He died after buying the hall because he felt that art was nothing but scrap metal and wanted to convert the exhibition hall into a restaurant.

The curator in charge of managing the hall, Curator Ochiai, had worked here for decades. Upon learning of the situation, he was exceptionally furious and developed murderous intent toward the new owner.

Thus, this afternoon, Curator Ochiai, wearing knight's armor that obscured his face, waited in this "Hell Exhibition Hall."

He had invited Boss Manaka here, and then nailed him to the wall.

...

While recalling the backstory, Jiang Xia surveyed the bloodstains throughout the hall, feeling that this case wouldn't be difficult to solve.

Of course, the first step was definitely to call the police.

Jiang Xia took out his phone, about to dial 110.

Suddenly, he heard some movement coming from the corridor.

—Several people were walking toward this exhibition hall while chatting.

Jiang Xia listened carefully and found the voices quite familiar—they sounded like his two classmates, Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki.

"..." Jiang Xia's hand paused slightly over the phone. He silently glanced at the terrifying corpse beside him and the sword embedded in it.

He then realized that if he didn't want to hear a duet of screams, it would be best not to let them in...

...

On the other side.

In the corridor outside the Hell Exhibition Hall.

Ran Mouri hesitated and stopped in her tracks.

She looked at the passage leading to the "Hell Exhibition Hall" and tilted her head in confusion. "I remember there was a 'Do Not Enter' sign here just now?"

Sonoko Suzuki leaned in beside her, thinking for a moment with an air of importance. "Maybe there was an exhibit under maintenance just now, and it's fixed now?"

The two looked curiously into the dark exhibition hall. Exchanging glances, they remembered the purpose of their visit today.

Recently, there had been a terrifying rumor in the area.

—Whenever it reached late at night, the knight's armor in this "Beika World Exhibition Hall" would come to life and wander around the halls.

So, they had come with the idea of "visiting a haunted house."

They had even brought Conan along to bolster their courage.

...

However, after wandering all afternoon, they hadn't encountered the "Ghost Knight" once.

Now that they had toured the entire museum, the only place they hadn't entered was this "Hell Exhibition Hall."

Seeing that the "Do Not Enter" sign was gone, Sonoko Suzuki was instantly tempted.

"Since we're already here, let's go in and take a look. Maybe that mysterious armor is hidden in this hall!"

At their feet, Conan, with dead-fish eyes, said wearily, "Forget it. We've been walking for half the day. Aren't you guys tired?"

His weak protest was completely ignored.

The two girls exchanged glances, nodded to each other, summoned their courage, and dragged him toward the interior of the hall.

Conan let out a weary sigh, struggling to stand up straight.

However, at that moment, the force pulling him suddenly vanished.

—Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki stopped in their tracks. Instead of moving forward, they actually took a step back, looking as if they were about to huddle together in terror.

Startled, Conan looked up alertly toward the front.

In the dim exhibition hall, a sinister figure was stepping out from the darkness.

Conan was startled: "!"

...But very quickly, he realized that the so-called "sinister" look was merely an illusion caused by the dim lighting.

In reality, the person emerging from the hall was walking normally, with a posture and gait that were perfectly ordinary—and even somewhat familiar.

Conan: "..." Huh?

...Familiar?

...

Jiang Xia stepped out of the darkness and leaned against the doorway. Looking at the shivering, huddled Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki, he asked somewhat confusedly, "...Are you guys cold?"

"N-no." Seeing Jiang Xia, Ran Mouri let out a sigh of both disappointment and relief.

Disappointed that she hadn't encountered a ghost.

Relieved that... well, she hadn't encountered a ghost.

Beside her, Sonoko Suzuki's mental process was entirely different.

"Jiang Xia?" She skipped the disappointment phase and went straight to doubled joy, greeting the handsome young man in front of her enthusiastically. "Are you here to see the moving armor too?"

As she spoke, she pointed to the darkness behind Jiang Xia. "Is it in this hall?"

Although Sonoko Suzuki had concluded through various previous attempts that Jiang Xia's "攻略" (romance/conquest) difficulty was SSS-rank and extremely hard to win over, that didn't stop her from enjoying looking at handsome faces.

To a veteran "face-connoisseur," as long as Jiang Xia appeared before her, Sonoko's mood would skyrocket like she had taken a shot of hormones.

Moreover, looking at him more often helped her maintain her high standards when flirting, which was quite practical...

As Sonoko spoke, she wanted to pull Ran Mouri into the hall to explore.

With Jiang Xia there, the effect of bolstering their courage would certainly be much better than Conan's.

...

However, the two girls had only taken one step before being blocked by Conan in front of them.

They looked down in confusion, finding the young boy's expression somewhat complicated.

Conan looked at Jiang Xia, his expression solemn. "...Why is there blood on your shoes?"

The others froze and all looked down at Jiang Xia's shoes.

Including Jiang Xia himself.

Jiang Xia was wearing a pair of black sneakers today; the uppers were very clean, with only a bit of fresh dust on the edges.

Sonoko and Ran breathed a sigh of relief, suspecting it was just a prank by the brat.

However, at that moment, they saw Jiang Xia look down at the ground and suddenly, as if remembering something, take a half-step back.

When he lifted his foot, a very faint, blood-colored footprint was left where he had just stepped.

"Ah." Jiang Xia felt a bit awkward. He simply took another step back, returning to the carpeted area of the hall, and said with a hint of apology, "I didn't notice, I stepped in something."

As he spoke, he took out a handkerchief and crouched down, seemingly intending to wipe the bloodstain off the floor.

Conan: "..."

He dashed forward to stop Jiang Xia, halting an action that looked suspiciously like "destroying evidence"

"Where did this blood come from?!"

Conan had strong observational skills and was short.

As soon as Jiang Xia approached, he had noticed a subtle difference in the color of the carpet where Jiang Xia had stepped.

After confirming it was blood, and having seen similar things before, Conan initially suspected a neighbor was hiding and cutting themselves again.

But upon closer inspection, he saw that Jiang Xia looked healthy, was moving normally, and there were no strange wet marks on the black wristband on his left hand.

...

But considering the fact that even after walking across the carpeted hall, a bloodstain still remained on his shoe...

The amount of blood he had just stepped in must have been quite significant... A death had likely occurred here!

...

Unlike Conan, Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki were not as observant. By a stroke of luck, they weren't nervous.

They simply thought Jiang Xia had accidentally stepped in some red paint left by the staff—after all, this hall had previously had a "Do Not Enter" sign, suggesting it was under maintenance.

Seeing the "brat" stop Jiang Xia from wiping the "paint," they also took out their handkerchiefs and approached, intending to help Jiang Xia wipe away the footprint.

As they got closer, they realized the color of the footprint did indeed look very much like blood.

Both of them nodded inwardly: *Mm, as expected of the Hell Exhibition Hall, even the paint they use is so unique...*

As Sonoko wiped it, she asked curiously, "What did you step in? Paint? Pigment?"

Jiang Xia replied apologetically, "A pool of blood."

"Oh, blood..." Sonoko paused, her voice suddenly rising. "A POOL OF BLOOD?!!"

She looked up in shock.

She saw Jiang Xia crouching at the edge of the crimson carpet, watching her wipe the floor while pointing toward the interior of the hall. "Someone is dead, nailed to the wall. You guys..."

Jiang Xia was about to say, "You guys better not go in, it's a bit scary."

Before he could finish, Conan dashed past him into the exhibition hall.

At the same time, Conan pressed a button on his wrist, turning on the flashlight attached to his all-purpose watch.

—The first batch of equipment the Professor made for him had arrived.

(End of Chapter)