Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

The editorial office, which should have been filled with the sounds of keyboards clicking and telephones ringing, was now deathly silent.

Several monitors that were still playing news footage had been neatly gutted, their internal components scattered all over the floor.

The entire newspaper office was utterly ravaged.

The Metropolitan Police Department's forensic personnel were busy, but everyone's face showed helplessness.

No fingerprints or footprints were left at the scene, and even the surveillance footage seemed to have been maliciously deleted, leaving only a static screen.

The red and blue lights of the police cars downstairs flashed, but they couldn't penetrate the gloom on the top floor of the building.

In a secluded teahouse a few kilometers from the newspaper office, the heavy wooden doors were tightly shut, isolating the outside world from the noise.

With a loud bang, a middle-aged male boss in an elegant suit slammed his teacup down on the table, splashing tea onto the expensive tablecloth.

"This is outrageous! It's utterly lawless!" The male boss was so angry that his beard trembled. "To attack a news organization in broad daylight is a blatant violation of freedom of speech!"

Sitting opposite him was a capable female boss. Although she also had a livid face, she was obviously much calmer than the male boss.

She gracefully picked up a handkerchief and wiped her mouth, her eyes revealing a hint of world-weary weariness.

Hey~
I'm almost used to it.

Since that man returned, where is freedom of speech in Japan?

"Freedom? In this circle, there is no such thing as absolute freedom." The female boss sneered.

"Don't be naive. Haven't you realized yet? This isn't an ordinary crime; it's revenge."

The male boss paused for a moment, then lowered his voice and asked, "Revenge? What are you retaliating against?"

They haven't reported any news about Zhengyi recently.

Nowadays, there is almost no news about Zhengyi in newspapers.

Only a few newly established tabloids, when publishing their first issue, would routinely praise Zheng Yi to express their stance, thus allowing Zheng Yi to keep a low profile.

"What else could it be but that?" The female boss took out a crumpled newspaper from her bag and threw it on the table.

"The title 'Two Mysterious Men Force Their Way into the Women's Restroom' is one thing, but you also included a blurry photo."

The male boss frowned and said, "But... this order was entrusted to us by that person."

He insisted on making the front page, and even emphasized that it should be a major feature, so that everyone in Tokyo would know.

“That’s the problem,” the female boss sighed. “Look at your title, it’s so perfunctory, it’s completely just going through the motions. And the content is dry and not engaging at all.”

The key issue is the photo; you can't tell who these two men are at all.

Since the goal is for all of Tokyo, and even all of Japan, to know about this, it means these two people have a conflict with that person, and we absolutely must ruin their reputation.

"so?"

"So!" the woman slammed her hand on the table and said loudly, "We need to find clear photos and uncover the identities of these two people before we can satisfy that person."

"You mean..." The male boss's eyes widened, "that the newspaper office being vandalized was Zheng Yi's doing?"

Was it because Zheng Yi was dissatisfied with what they had done that he came to warn them?

"Who else could it be but him?" A hint of apprehension flashed in the female boss's eyes. "Besides Zheng Yi, who else could do something so flawless?"
When the police went to the newspaper office to investigate, they were very perfunctory, as if they were afraid of uncovering something. Besides Zheng Yi, who else could make them so wary?

The man frowned.

Aren't those police officers always perfunctory and incompetent?

For most cases, they can't find anything out.

The female boss said through gritted teeth, "He must be dissatisfied with the extent of our coverage."

Although the report was sensational, it still left room for maneuver and did not go too far.

That person felt we were incompetent, so he used this method to warn us: since you don't dare to reveal the whole truth, I'll make sure you don't even have a chance to speak.

The male boss gasped, cold sweat pouring down his back: "Then... what do we do now?"

"What should we do?" The female boss gave a bitter smile. "Do you want to go to jail?"

The male boss shook his head frantically: "No, of course I don't want to."

"Then prepare tomorrow's newspaper." The female boss stood up and straightened her collar.

"This matter is not over yet. We must report this news as a major story tomorrow, reporting it throughout the day and night, so that more people know about it. We also need to investigate the identities of those two people."

……

The next morning, a black Porsche was parked in a dark alley near a bar.

Gin sat in the driver's seat, a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers, his face grim and terrifying amidst the swirling smoke.

The radio was broadcasting the news: "...On May 20th, at a certain restaurant..."

"Humph."

Gin sneered and stubbed out his cigarette in the car ashtray.

"These ignorant fools. They destroyed their newspaper and they still don't know how to back down."

Vodka picked up the newspaper, which also reported on the incident of forcibly entering the women's restroom, which made him very angry.

Thanks to Tobelmod, many members of the organization now know about his and Gin's forced entry into the women's restroom.

Those guys didn't dare to speak in front of Gin, but when it came to Vodka, they would make sarcastic jokes or directly mock him, which infuriated Vodka.

But he couldn't lose his temper, because it would be too embarrassing for him.

The newspaper's lack of restraint has further enraged Vodka.

He just didn't understand. They had already smashed these guys' newspaper offices once, so why weren't they afraid?

Could it be that their methods were too mild, and those guys thought they weren't as ruthless as Zheng Yi?

"Brother, these guys are really courting death," Vodka said angrily.

"Humph!"

Gin said coldly, "It's not that they don't know what's good for them, it's that someone forced them to do this."

Few people knew of his reputation, but everyone knew of Zhengyi's reputation.

In that case, Zheng Yi's threat is much greater than his.

It's understandable that these guys revere Zhengyi.

Vodka whispered, "Brother, some of my underlings have discovered that some people are investigating us."

"Who?" Gin asked, frowning.

Could it be someone from the police or the FBI?

That damn Zheng Yi, because of his antics, has once again attracted the attention of the police and the FBI.

“No,” Vodka shook his head and said, “It’s the people from those newspapers.”

"A newspaper?" Gin was taken aback.

Why would it be people from those newspapers?
Gin was completely baffled.

Vodka cautiously guessed, "Maybe those guys want to dig deeper into that news?"

He wasn't sure either.

Although it seems like these newspapers are acting recklessly, they may not realize that these individuals have special identities and want to dig deeper into the news.

"Brother, what should we do with them?" Vodka asked.

"kill."

……

Late at night, in the stark white light of a news studio in Dongyi, a company specializing in in-depth reporting.

The editors had long since left, leaving only the editor-in-chief staring at the computer screen, trying to extract clear images of the two "mysterious men" from the blurry surveillance footage. "Click."

With a very slight sound, the door lock was opened silently.

The editor-in-chief was completely oblivious, still focused on the pixels on the screen.

Suddenly, a chill swept over him. He instinctively looked up and caught only a glimpse of the hem of a silver-gray trench coat and a pair of cold, icy eyes.

"who……"

His voice caught in his throat, and he didn't even have time to utter a second gasp.

When the first rays of sunlight shone into the studio the next morning, the police found a scene of utter chaos and the editor-in-chief lying in a pool of blood.

There were no signs of a struggle, no extra fingerprints, only a few bullets deeply embedded in the wall and computer screen.

The Metropolitan Police Department's forensic team was dispatched again, but this time their expressions were even more grim than before.

Even the sleeping Kogoro was brought in this time, but the culprit still couldn't be found.

In a secluded teahouse a few kilometers from the newspaper office, the atmosphere was even more somber than yesterday.

"boom!"

The male boss slammed his teacup heavily on the table again.

"He's gone mad! He's absolutely insane!" The male boss's voice trembled with tears. "He...he's still not satisfied!"

The female boss's face was also deathly pale, and she clutched the handkerchief tightly in her hand.

The male boss suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with terror: "We...we need to call the police! We need to tell the police that we can't go on like this, or we'll be next to die!"

"Call the police?"

The female boss looked at him as if he were a fool, a hint of desperate mockery flashing in her eyes.

"Wake up."

The male boss slumped in his chair, drenched in cold sweat. Indeed, calling the police was useless and would only serve to remind Zheng Yi.

If he calls the police, he could very well be the next one to die.

"Then... what do we do? Are we just going to wait to die?"

"No, we still have a choice."

The female boss took a deep breath, a resolute glint in her eyes.

"Since he is not satisfied with our previous reports and feels that we did not dig deep enough, then we will dig even deeper."

Since he wants the identities of those two people, then we will reveal their identities to the public.

Only by making this a big fuss, so that the whole of Japan knows about it, will Shoichi be satisfied and let us go.

The male boss slumped in his chair and scratched his head.

“Actually, it might not be Zheng Yi who did it this time,” the man said. “When Zheng Yi killed people before, there was always a scapegoat. This time there wasn’t, which means the murderer might not be Zheng Yi.”

“You don’t understand.” The female boss shook her head, her tone carrying an almost morbid certainty.

"No scapegoats, no clues, it's eerily clean. What does that mean? It means that Zheng Yi is furious to the extreme. He doesn't want to play those tricks anymore. He just wants us to know that this is the consequence if we don't do as he says."

The male boss was stunned.

The female boss stood up, straightened her slightly disheveled collar, and her eyes revealed a ruthless determination.

"So, we have no way out. Prepare tomorrow's newspaper. Headline, bold, extra-large font."

Not only should we report the news of the forced entry into the women's restroom, but we should also include the identity information of the two people we've just 'unearthed.'

“But we don’t have those two people’s identification information,” the man said softly.

Although we've already started looking, how could we possibly find it in just one day?

“Then guess, but make it sound real. We need to let everyone in Tokyo know who these two perverts are,” the woman said.

They need to let Zhengyi know about their efforts.

It's a bit vague for now; we'll confirm it once we find out their true identities.

The male boss looked at the female boss and finally lowered his head in dejection.

……

Another day, the black Porsche was parked in the dark alley again.

Gin sat in the driver's seat, his face even more gloomy than yesterday.

The newspaper in his hand was crumpled and crumpled, and the headline on the front page was extremely glaring.

Shocking! The identity of the mysterious man who forced his way into the women's restroom has been revealed! It turns out to be...

The article not only described in detail the "bloody revenge last night," but also vividly fabricated his and Vodka's "tragic background" and "abnormal psychology."

"These damned fools..."

Gin's voice was terrifyingly low, almost as if it were being squeezed out from between his teeth.

He had never seen such a foolish and audacious newspaper.

He had already killed people and demonstrated the killing in the most direct way, so why were these people not only unafraid, but instead became even more ruthless?

They even fabricated stories about his and Vodka's backgrounds.

This is absolutely outrageous!
Vodka sat in the passenger seat, his face alternating between pale and flushed.

He glanced furtively at Gin and whispered, "Big brother, this time..."

Gin didn't speak, nor did he listen to what Vodka was saying.

His mind is now filled with Zhengyi.

Has the deterrent power of the Zhengyi sect really reached this level?

Even though Gin has already drawn his sword, these people still think that Zheng Yi is more terrifying, so they are willing to risk being killed to make the news as good as Zheng Yi's satisfaction.

This is utterly absurd!

Gin felt an unprecedented sense of absurdity.

Vodka.

"Big brother!"

A savage glint flashed in Gin's eyes. "Tomorrow."

"Yes!"

Gin crumpled the newspaper in his hand into a ball and threw it out the car window.

The newspaper fluttered in the air for a moment before finally landing in the puddle, its glaring headline becoming blurred and illegible due to the sewage.

This matter is far from over.

Another day, the offices of three newspapers in Tokyo were bombed.

The police sent many people to investigate and hired many detectives, but they still couldn't find the murderer.

The response given to the newspaper was always "under investigation".

Strangely, this incident still didn't make the front page of the day, and it didn't even appear in the newspapers.

The newspapers acted as if nothing had happened, and as usual, all the headlines were still in-depth reports about the forced entry into the women's restroom.

It's as if no matter what happens, this news is always the most important.

When Gin saw how stubborn these newspapers were, he praised them for their tough backbone, saying that they still wouldn't back down even after all this, which was worthy of someone in the news industry.

And so the revenge continued. (End of Chapter)