Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 889 Rum's Revenge

"Why can't he be a politician?"

“Politicians are stingy, and the tasks they issue are usually not this urgent. Although you two are both Japanese civil servants, your status is just so-so. I don’t think any politician would target you.”

Seemingly realizing that she had said something wrong and belittled the other party, Luther Heather quickly explained, "Of course, this is just information provided to us by the ants. If you have other political identities, it's hard to say."

Xia Chuan ignored the feeble attempts to make amends.

"A wealthy person?"

He narrowed his eyes, convinced that he hadn't offended any Japanese tycoons, nor had he sent any tycoons to prison; if anything, it was Kogoro Mouri.

However, his identity as Huang Hun offended countless businessmen and politicians.

After asking so many questions, there are really only two possibilities left.

One day, a wealthy man who had offended Xia Chuan discovered that Xia Chuan was actually the spy Huang Hun and hired an assassin to kill him.

Second, the assassin Rum hired was there to annoy him, since he had "killed" the other party's favorite and most capable henchman.

The latter is more likely, because Rum knows that these assassins can only annoy him at best, and can't actually kill him.

According to the rules of the underworld, if a mission fails, it is considered that the employee is not capable enough and there is no compensation. On the contrary, the employer can get back 90% of the commission, and the 10% spent is the commission taken by the broker.

It may seem like it will cost a lot of money, but in reality it's only a few hundred million yen. For Rum, the head of the European branch, getting a few hundred million yen doesn't seem like a difficult thing.

That being said, being a broker is indeed a sure-fire way to make money.

Of course, this time is different. Having received this 10% commission, Ant has been added to Xia Chuan's kill list.

Early the next morning.

Xia Chuan arrived at Frank's residence alone.

Frank's dark circles were quite severe, either from staying up late or from being completely drained, but Xia Chuan thought the latter was more likely.

Frank only worked overtime all night last night. Staying up all night is normal, it's impossible for him to do something like this.

"How's it going? Have the ants found anything from their investigation?"

Xia Chuan had one hand in his pocket and the other holding a coffee.

Having an ice-cold Americano in the morning is great; it's refreshing, helps with digestion, and is quite nice.

"The situation is a bit serious."

Xia Chuan didn't respond, but instead focused his gaze on Frank's face and teased, "Looks like you've been living the good life lately. I didn't even notice last night."

Frank was in no mood for jokes, his expression serious: "Your identity may have been exposed."

"What do you mean?"

Xia Chuan put down his coffee, his smile vanishing. Given Huang Hun's identity, he couldn't afford to be careless.

"After investigating overnight, my informant obtained some information about you from Ant."

You can even find ants?

"Of course, I am the top comprehensive intelligence dealer in the underworld, without exception. How can he, a hired broker who focuses on making a profit from the middleman's difference, compare with me?"

"Really? So much time has passed, how come there's been no progress on the gardener's matter?"

Xia Chuan had almost forgotten about this person. If it weren't for his girlfriend telling him yesterday while he was chatting with Joel that the Gardener had been contacting her again and seemed to be assigning her a task, he would have remembered this assassin agent who had never shown his face but was already on his kill list.

“That’s different. The gardener is very wary and extremely cautious when accepting missions. However, I’ve already obtained some clues, and I believe we’ll be able to find him soon.”

Frank couldn't help but feel a surge of pride before steer the conversation back on track: "The assassination mission for you came from a wealthy European club. I investigated the identities of those people, and at least a dozen of them have been targeted by you before."

The so-called "trouble" probably refers to someone whose intelligence was stolen by Xia Chuan, or someone who was once Xia Chuan's disguise target, and then did some things that are very shameful for a wealthy person while wearing his face.

Xia Chuan had done this kind of thing quite a few times before. After all, it was necessary for the mission, and he thought these people should be able to understand. But now it seems they didn't understand.

Of course, it's also possible that he slept with the wealthy man's daughter or wife, but it was all for the sake of the mission, so Xia Chuan can't remember anymore.

"Don't talk about things like this carelessly, it wouldn't be good if Joel heard it."

Frank gave a disdainful look. "That's how married men are. Do you even want to have a wedding?"

"Why wouldn't I want to?"

Xia Chuan spread his hands, indicating that he was fearless.

Frank silently rolled his eyes, looked down at the documents on the table, then picked up the first one and handed it over.

"This is the list of people on the club's joint bounty. Huang Hun's identity is in grave danger. Do you think of anyone who might know your identity?"

Xia Chuan silently picked it up and glanced at it. European and American names are generally quite long, and he didn't recognize many of these names.

“They have a grudge against me, but they probably don’t know everything all at once. I feel there might be some hidden secrets we don’t know about.”

"what do you mean?"

“This club is in Europe, and Rum’s sphere of influence is also in Europe. At this stage, he is probably the only person who knows or suspects my identity and has a grudge against me.”

"Tch, isn't that just because you're bored and have nothing better to do than to vaguely acknowledge your identity at Domoto Music Academy?"

"Can that be called admitting identity? It could also be interpreted as misleading the public, right? But the situation is critical. Doing this is also to scare Rum away. Who knows if there are snipers or RPGs aiming at us from further away, besides the helicopter?"

Xia Chuan sighed helplessly: "It seems that we can't contact the IRS for a while. It must be because someone among them exposed the IRS and Twilight's joint investigation, which is why Rum discovered some clues."

Frank nodded slightly, then shook his head as if remembering something, saying, "If it were him, why wouldn't he spread the news everywhere and only tell a group of wealthy people? Besides, these wealthy people aren't really that rich; they can't afford to hire top-notch assassins."

"Now that the killer's activities have been discovered, and the investigation has confirmed the involvement of Ant Group and the Rich Club, it will be easy to trace him back to him. Isn't this just shooting ourselves in the foot?"

This is what Frank can't understand. Rum isn't stupid either. If he were Rum, he would definitely make a move to kill the target instantly, rather than attracting Xia Chuan's attention.

"That's because he didn't expect my intelligence partner to be so capable, investigating the matter almost completely in just one night."

"In fact, he probably wasn't entirely sure either. If I wasn't Twilight, he would not only offend me, but also Twilight. Twilight and I were already enemies of the distillery, and if we were together, the pressure on them would be even greater."

After pondering for a long time, Xia Chuan relaxed a little. Perhaps the situation wasn't as dire as he had imagined. Rum was still unsure of his own identity. If he didn't want Twilight to get angry, he had to first confirm whether he and Twilight were the same person. Otherwise, Karasuma Renya wouldn't allow him to be too provocative.

"Then what should we do? If we retaliate, won't Rum think you're Twilight?"

"No, we should fight back fiercely!"

They've been beaten so badly they're forced to retreat to their honeymoon hotel. It wouldn't be Xia Chuan's style not to retaliate.

“I understand. Anticipate their predictions. He definitely thinks we won’t retaliate, so you deliberately retaliate to confuse them.”

Xia Chuan opened his mouth, wanting to say that he hadn't thought that much about it and was just being petty.

He stopped himself from speaking, thinking that Frank's understanding was also correct, and even more pleasing to the ear.

"By the way," Frank clicked a few times on the computer, and an interface popped up: "This assassination is far from over. Other assassins have been assigned to kill you."

"However, the missions were all issued through Ant, but my informant couldn't find out the identities of the other assassins. He could only say that they received the missions at the same time as the group from last night, and the location was Poseidon Island, so it should be within the next day or two."

Upon hearing the news of the assassination attempt, a cold glint of disgust flashed in Natsukawa's eyes, like a wild beast whose afternoon nap had been disturbed. He tapped his knuckles on the table and said impatiently, "It's alright, just observe carefully. Kyogoku Makoto and Kaito can help protect the others, and Kudo Shinichi can quickly spot anyone with a problem."

A lazy, mocking smile curled at the corner of his lips. "With me and Joel included, any more assassins would just be easy prey."

"Tsk tsk tsk, how did it suddenly become so sought-after? I'm even thinking of exchanging my own head for the bounty."

Xia Chuan's ability to make self-deprecating jokes proves that the problem isn't serious.

"Who says otherwise? But haven't you always been a hot commodity in the eyes of assassins? The bounty on the dark web for the spy Twilight is as high as one billion. If you hadn't been inactive for the past year, that amount might have continued to rise."

Frank's tone was slightly sarcastic.

On the other hand, despite being at the peak of her career with countless high-paying missions coming her way, Xia Chuan chose the IRS mission.

"Don't look at me like that. If I hadn't come to Japan, I wouldn't have met Yoel. Look at your dark circles, that's my fault too, okay?"

Frank's face flushed red, but Xia Chuan's words made perfect sense, and he couldn't find any reason to refute them.

Yes, he's living a much better life now than he did in the US.

"The first wave of assassins can be considered a test. The assassins that come next may be stronger. Be careful and don't be caught off guard."

Frank was still a little worried because many people in the world had died because of their arrogance and conceit. Who could predict the future? Who knew that the person who came might be one of the top assassins on the dark side?

Although those wealthy individuals weren't as rich as one might imagine, if it came to crowdfunding, Ant Group would certainly be willing to go to the trouble of finding a more powerful killer.

"Do not worry."

Xia Chuan finished his coffee in the last sip, crumpled the paper cup into a non-recyclable waste, and said with a relaxed and carefree air, "Release the Ants' information so that the Red Team can surround and wipe them out."

The ant was really just an ant, and its intelligence capabilities were vastly different from Frank's, especially now that Noah's Ark provided the software, finding people was much easier.

As soon as Ant's information is exposed, countless members of the Red Team will rush to arrest him.

"While we're at it, we'll find some people to kidnap a few wealthy individuals and get the truth out of them. We need to verify whatever we're guessing; what if it's not Rum? We can't wrong an innocent person."

"understood."

"Let's hold back for now. After all, few people know about this. It's reasonable for Huanghun not to know the situation. We'll deal with the ants first and then spread the word about it."

"That's why I said I hate money power the most."

"Thank goodness it wasn't Batman."

Xia Chuan shrugged, still shaken. "Let's leave it at that for now."

"OK, wish us luck then."

The morning sea breeze caressed my cheeks like silk, and the sunlight was warm but not scorching, like a gentle embrace.

Barefoot on the sand, the fine grains tickle the soles of my feet; I inhale the salty air deeply, my chest filled with a refreshing sensation.

The gentle sound of waves washes over your ears, and as far as the eye can see, the sea is as blue as a melted gem. Your skin is immersed in the breeze and soft light, and every cell is enjoying the tenderness of this world.

While enjoying the beauty of the island, Anya and the others embarked on another mystery-solving journey.

In such a place, playing fun games, everyone is happy and joyful.

"Shinichi is amazing. Yesterday we couldn't figure out the meaning of the first puzzle, but you arrived and found the first stamping point in less than an hour."

Ran never hesitates to praise Shinichi Kudo.

"Actually, it's not so bad. After all, I'm a detective. Solving mysteries is an essential skill. I'm going to be a detective like Sherlock Holmes."

Even Shinichi Kudo couldn't help but smile smugly when praised by his childhood friend.

But in reality, it took a whole night to solve the puzzle.

Just as he could stay up all night reading Sherlock Holmes novels, he always found it hard to fall asleep when faced with a puzzle, and he could only sleep after finding the answer.

This resulted in his mental state not improving after a night; on the contrary, he became even more exhausted. He was only able to stay in the room because of his detective's composure.

"Strange, why are there two tens digits on this seal? Shouldn't it be a flintlock musket and a pirate scimitar?"

Sonoko Suzuki asked in confusion, "Hey, Kudo-kun, do you know why?"

"These two numbers may represent something else, but we'll have to wait until all the seals are collected to find out."

He answered seriously on the surface, but inwardly he was speechless with dissatisfaction and secretly cursed Sonoko for taking him for granted.

Isn't this just a case of a dog relying on its master's power? Kyogoku Makoto, standing beside him, was even more vigilant than his bodyguards, his gaze sharp as he surveyed his surroundings, as if he wanted to devour someone. Especially since he, the famous detective, was being targeted by hostility for some reason; it was very strange.

"Hey, Sonoko, what are you doing? Shinichi's cold isn't even better yet. It's already amazing that he solved the first puzzle so quickly. We couldn't solve it all yesterday afternoon."

Sonoko pouted. She clearly wanted to help Ran take the lead, but the other girl was being disrespectful and even spoke up for Shinichi Kudo.

Sigh, it seems this woman is beyond saving!
No, no, I'm Xiaolan's best friend. Three hundred years ago, we were as close as Anne and Mary, bound by life and death. I absolutely cannot watch Xiaolan fall into a passive and miserable situation in the future.

(Ask for monthly ticket)

(End of this chapter)