Conan’s Corpse Picker

Accompanied by a strange squirming feeling, eight hard and sharp spider legs slowly stretched out from Jiang Xia's back and waved them unskillfully in the air.

Jiang Xia controlled the puppet he possessed and let the spider legs reach in front of him.

Jiang Xia glanced at their cold light under the moonlight, then continued to stretch it forward, letting one of them rest lightly on the outer wall.

The moment he grabbed the wall, a strong adsorption force suddenly appeared on the tips of his legs.

Almost at the same time, Jiang Xia discovered that the murderous energy was being consumed faster.

"..."

The spider form's ability to climb walls seems to be coin-operated?

After realizing this, Jiang Xia briefly fell into deep thought.

After a second, several other spider legs stretched out from the window one after another, groping for hold of the wall.

...You should also try inserting coins.

It was not because of curiosity, but after much thought, he still felt that he should be familiar with the puppet before officially using it, so that he would not make mistakes in the future.

…

In the darkness, a figure with eight thin legs sprouted from behind, climbing carefully along the wall of the building.

Gradually, the figure in white kimono became faster and faster, and finally swept back and forth across the wall like a speck of light, light and leaving no trace.

Jiang Xia didn't slow down until he almost used his new legs, and stopped by the window of his room.

He carefully looked at the hook-like spider legs on the wall, recalled the speed of movement just now, and was quite satisfied.

Now that all monsters in the water, land and air have vests, he may be invincible in terms of running distance in the future - judging from the speed just now, Toru Amuro's car may not even be able to outrun this spider in the short term.

After understanding how to use the new vest, Jiang Xia was about to return to the room.

At this time, the mermaid and foggy dog ​​who were following him seemed to have discovered something. The two ghosts murmured and communicated for a while, then pointed Jiang Xia in a direction.

Jiang Xia looked over there. After thinking for a moment, he controlled the spider legs to bypass the hotel and stopped at a window on the second floor on the opposite side.

...When I tried the leg just now, the speed was too high. The biggest feeling during the whole process was "the sea breeze is so strong today" and "I climbed so fast".

Now that he stopped and observed carefully, Jiang Xia gradually discovered that something was wrong - through the wall, he could vaguely feel a murderous aura in the room.

In addition, going deeper, there seems to be an even more alluring aura.

...Murderous aura and shikigami?

Has your luck been too good recently... Jiang Xia touched her arm silently, feeling like she was holding Ou Qi.

…

The humanoid part of the Spider Golem is very light and moves like a weightless paper man.

Jiang Xia first asked the ghost to sneak into the suspicious murderous room in front of him and take a look.

After confirming that the owner of the house was asleep, Jiang Xia hung herself on the side of the window, then gently stretched out a sharp claw, put it on the window, and stirred along the gap.

The old-fashioned window bolts fell down.

The window slowly slid open.

The eight spider legs behind Jiang Xia unfolded and unfolded silently. When he landed again, he was already inside the house.

This room is a one-bedroom with a simple layout, a low coffee table, and an equally low bed on the left hand side.

Lying on the bed was a middle-aged man with brown hair. He looked like he was not sleeping well. He was gnashing his teeth in his sleep, as if he wanted to catch someone and take a bite at any time.

Jiang Xia glanced at him, and then quickly fell on the coffee table beside him.

——Maybe he wanted to count the items before leaving, but the owner did not put the luggage in his bag.

At this time, there were two sets of fishing rods, a pair of insulated gloves, and a lighter neatly placed on the table. Jiang Xia took a closer look and found that the fishing rod was made of carbon and was very light.

...can also conduct electricity.

"..."

Putting these things together, Jiang Xia felt that his memory bank had moved.

... He seemed to have encountered a case he had seen before.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Xia did not touch the items on the table. Instead, she directed the ghosts to float into the owner's bag and looked at the business card holder.

There is a stack of business cards stuffed in the business card holder, among which the top few duplicates belong to the owner of the house. His name is "Kazuyuki Kawai" and he is the president of Kawai Public Works Store.

Jiang Xia recalled this somewhat impressive name and nodded secretly.

——He remembered that in this case that had not happened yet, Kawai Kazuyuki wanted to use the recreational activity of "fishing" to cause an electric shock accident. Fortunately, on the cruise ship, a certain financial president who oppressed him with loan sharks "accidentally died".

...It seems that on the way to Moon Shadow Island, it is really possible to pick up something else along the way.

But in that case, you have to find an excuse not to take the boat sent by the organization.

By the way, before that, there is one more thing that needs to be confirmed.

…

Jiang Xia raised her hand to call the ghost back, drove the puppet, and silently walked to the door of the room.

He pushed the door open, used his hook to restore the door bolt behind him, and then came to another door on the right.

It is customary to let the ghost in first and take a look.

After confirming that the owner of this room was also asleep, Jiang Xia used his old tricks to unlatch the door and push the door open.

Then, his eyes solidified slightly.

——In this room, there is also a middle-aged man sleeping. This man has a square chin, a tall aquiline nose, and deep nasolabial lines on his face, which are very clear even when he is not smiling.

Combined with what just happened, these characteristics made Jiang Xia quickly think of a name: Yamazaki Tsuneo.

——That is, the unscrupulous moneylender and the president of Yamazaki Financial Corporation who Kawai Kazuyuki next door planned to assassinate.

Of course, to Jiangxia, Yamazaki Tsuneo's name is not important, his character is not important, and his status is even less important.

The important thing is - this man actually has a large piece of shikigami on his legs, so densely packed that it almost covers his calf. Counting carefully, there are seven in total.

Seven.

"..."

Jiang Xia stared for a while without saying a word.

Then he left the room silently, restored the doors and windows, and climbed down the stairs along the wall.

Avoid the lights and make your way to the beach.

Eight legs are indeed faster than two legs, and when they only walk on flat ground and don't climb vertical walls, they don't consume as much murderous energy as before.

Jiang Xia secretly adapted to the new way of walking while approaching the dock.

The moist smell of sea water hits your face, and the sound of small waves crashing on the shore is heard. In the dark atmosphere, two yachts could be seen moored in the small port.

One of them is a commercial ship with "Haiyuan" painted on the hull. At this time, there are no lights on the ship and no one is around.

There were people moving on the other boat.

Jiang Xia put her sight on the ghost and let the ghost float into the second boat for a walk. I saw two men in black suits who looked very ordinary. They seemed to be on duty on the ship.

...It seems that this ship is sent by the organization.

Jiang Xia's eyes flickered as he looked back and forth between the two ships.

Organized boats are certainly safer and more convenient.

But now, as long as you change a mode of transportation, you can easily pick up eight shikigami along the way... This is like switching from driving to taking the bus to work for one day in a month, and you can get an extra month's salary. Same, it's hard not to be moved.

...After all, he is not a big ghost dealer, and you can never pick up too many ghosts.

——Judging from the brochure Jiang Xia received when he checked into the hotel, the "Haiyuan" next to the organization's ship was a traveling merchant ship.

In this current season, there are not many interesting places around, but there is a main island near Yueying Island. There are fish gathering in the southeast corner of the island, which is suitable for fishing. The Haiyuan's recent destination is also there.

The house owner who had prepared a conductive fishing rod and insulating gloves and had a murderous aura just now planned to use the Haiyuan and fishing as a recreational activity to kill the ghost-filled president.

Jiang Xia thought about it and realized that if he did not take the Haiyuan, but took the organization's ship to Yueying Island, waited for the case to happen, and then went to the island to solve the case, then he would probably only be able to pick up one dropped by President Duogei himself. Shikigami - Once the president is electrocuted by Kawai, the seven old shikigami on his legs will lose their obsession and fall to the ground. Then they will probably squirm into the sea and disappear, making them difficult to find.

...In short, Jiang Xia felt that he had to go and catch a boat ride on the Haiyuan.

And...it would be best for Gin to hitch a ride with him.

After all, once Jiang Xia takes the Haiyuan, after the electric shock case occurs, whether he is solving the case or simply watching, it will inevitably be delayed for a while.

This place is different from Tokyo. Everyone in Tokyo is familiar with it and can just go there. But here, he might have to follow the police procedures - based on Jiang Xia's experience accumulated during this period, similar regulations will be looser in places where there are many detectives, while in some places they will be stricter. Jiang Xia rarely comes to Tottori County and doesn't know much about the market here.

Therefore, if Gin and Gin split up their operations tomorrow and he takes too long to pick up the shikigami, Gin, who arrived at Moon Shadow Island on the organization's ship first, will most likely be busy picking up several people on the island who were supposed to be picked up by others. Kill all human murder targets to increase efficiency.

In this case, Jiang Xia would lose a few shikigami, and the gain would outweigh the loss...

If you think about it carefully, it's not too difficult to invite the boss to join you. At most, you will have to endure the boss's anger.

And the boss's anger is actually a good thing... To be honest, if he didn't want to be expelled from the organization; if he didn't want to be shot by Gin in a rage, and then forced to take Gin's busy body to work for him, Jiang Xia would have wished that his boss would get angry...

The figure in a white kimono stood on the beach, quietly looking at the ship in the sea, thoughts surging in his mind.

After a moment, Jiang Xia turned her head and looked at the sharp spider legs protruding from her back, and nodded slightly as if she made up her mind.

…

the next morning.

Jiang Xia opened her eyes under the quilt in the hotel and stretched out comfortably.

There was a knocking sound at the door.

Jiang Xia turned her head, got out of bed and walked over to open the door.

I saw two dusty men in black standing in the corridor.

Jiang Xia looked at both sides of the corridor and saw no one, so he turned sideways to let his boss and his boss' younger brother into the room.

After receiving Ginjiu's email last night, Jiang Xia also sent back an email, briefly explaining the news on his side, including his current location.

"Leave at 6 p.m. and arrive after dark." After Gin and Vodka entered the house together, they signaled Vodka to close the door and confirmed their next trip to Moon Shadow Island.

Then he looked at Jiang Xia and said in a deep voice: "The Spider Mansion case was solved by another person."

There are relatively few cases in Tottori Prefecture, so if something happens occasionally, it will be reported very quickly. The case that happened last night has appeared in today's morning newspaper.

From Gin's point of view, a case like Spider Mansion, with its legendary bonus and eerie image of the deceased, is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to increase its popularity - Uzo needs to continue to improve in order to be able to reach those picky targets in the future.

This is also the reason why Gin watched the death of Takeda Shinichi yesterday and completely stopped caring about Jiang Xia's concealment of information in advance.

But when I saw the news this morning, the report actually said that the person who solved the case was a Kansai detective, while Uzo solved another old case.

...As the person who planned the entire script, if Uzo really wanted to solve the case, he would never be overtaken by others, so this must be his own idea. Thinking of this, when Gin asked this question, there was inevitably a bit of questioning in his tone.

Jiang Xia said naturally:

“If anyone else knows about this drug trafficking route, they may see that the deceased in the cases I encountered along the way happened to be people on this route, and they may associate the two together.

"And if the person who raises suspicion happens to be in the organization and has access to the organization's elimination mission, it will be even more difficult for him to deduce that I am related to this matter - don't you say that even within the organization, it is best to hide your identity? ?”

"..."

Gin nodded slowly.

There is some truth.

...However, given that the person who said these words was Uzo, it is very likely that these remarks are just his excuses.

——For example, yesterday, Uzo left the Spider Mansion in a truck with the murderer. Gin originally thought that this was Uzo trying to create an alibi, or taking the opportunity to beat Rob.

...Unexpectedly, this person took advantage of every opportunity to rush to another case.

By analogy, the more real reason why the case could not be solved may be that Uzo actually enjoyed the process of killing more than solving the case. So last night, between "cracking the Spider Mansion case and increasing its popularity" and "appreciating another case", he chose the latter.

No wonder Uzo solves a case so quickly every time and seems to be memorizing a script... It turns out that he is really perfunctory.

...But this time, although Uzo couldn't help but go elsewhere to watch the killing, he at least did not delay the most basic business. And the reasons he gave are indeed reasonable.

Gin simply smoothed over these things and didn't ask any more questions for the time being.

When he saw the report this morning, he was indeed a little dissatisfied.

But actually after meeting Uzo, his anger calmed down a little for some reason. Gin secretly thought, now it seems that people who are too capable will probably have some shortcomings of going their own way... But then again, "independent planning of actions" is not a complete shortcoming - the organization cultivates autonomy. A murderous genius, not a puppet to be pulled.

He barely suppressed his anger at Uzo for once again taking matters into his own hands.

Afterwards, Ginjiu took out an exquisitely packaged square gift box from his bag and handed it to Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia took it and opened it, finding a pack of snacks inside.

"...?"