Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

The light from the computer screen shone on Miwako Sato's face.

She paused the video at the frame where Zheng Yi and the princess brushed past each other, zooming in on the scene.

She put on her headphones, turned the volume up to the maximum, and played the conversation between Zheng Yi and the Princess over and over again.

But no matter how many times Sato looked at it, he couldn't see anything.

Every word Zheng Yi said was perfectly normal and contained no hidden meaning.

The prince and princess both behaved very appropriately, befitting their royal status, and showed no signs of marital discord.

"How did he do that?" Sato rubbed his temples.

To figure anything out, you'd need at least a psychology expert, along with a few quick-thinking detectives.

However, Sato shook his head.

This is a case involving the investigation of Zheng Yi's criminal process. The people in the Metropolitan Police Department were afraid of trouble and unwilling to take it on, so they passed it on to her. Not to mention outside psychologists and detectives.

They didn't have the courage to offend Zhengyi.

After drawing the curtains, Sato continued looking at the computer screen, writing down all the conversations on paper.

……

Zheng Yi was eerily quiet; no one contacted him, as if no one suspected he was the mastermind behind the prince's murder.

But no one looked for him, and he didn't go out. He stayed at home with Momiji Shiho and lived peacefully for several days.

Hongye ran over in slippers and said, "You murdered a prince, and you really think there's nothing wrong with that?"

"Who said I murdered the prince?"

"princess."

"Can we trust the murderer's words?" Zhengyi asked.

Seeing Zheng Yi's increasingly fierce gaze, Hong Ye reluctantly shook her head.

“But many people believed it,” Hongye said. “Don’t worry, I’ll put in a good word for you.”

Thank you.

"There's no sincerity at all." Koyo pouted, then stared at Shiho.

She wanted to see when Shiho would transform.

"When exactly is Ai coming back?" Hongye asked.

Shiho shook her head: "I don't know, and I don't know how long the effects of the medicine will last."

Shiho asked Koyo impatiently, "You're a high school student, why are you hanging out with us all day? Don't you go to school?"

Hongye leaned back on the sofa without saying a word. "Did I get in your way? Why do you want me to leave so badly?"

……

On September 13th, although the news of the prince's death was still spreading like wildfire, it no longer affected Zheng Yi.

Without any evidence, only the princess's accusations, it is impossible to prove that Zheng Yi is the mastermind behind it all.

In the end, the royal family had no choice but to conclude that the princess was the murderer.

Inside the banquet hall of a Kyoto hotel.

Zheng Yi leaned lazily against the velvet sofa in the corner, swirling a half-full glass of juice in his hand, and was very perfunctory towards the political and business celebrities around him who were trying to curry favor.

Shiho and Koyo sat on either side of Shoichi.

Having stayed at home for so many days, I was feeling restless and decided to accept the invitation to attend tonight's charity gala.

Suddenly, a muffled thud came from the center of the banquet hall, followed by the sharp sound of shattering glass.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw the president of Starlink Technology lying stiffly on the floor, foaming at the mouth, with a cell phone tightly clutched in his hand.

His once ruddy face had now turned into an eerie bluish-purple.

Beside him was a broken wine glass.

"what--!!!"

The screams instantly pierced the banquet hall.

After the initial panic subsided, everyone present surprisingly focused their attention on Zheng Yi in the corner.

Zheng Yi was about to take a sip of juice to moisten his throat when he felt hundreds of piercing gazes on his back and was taken aback.

He glanced at the corpse on the ground, then at the terrified yet knowing looks around him, and said helplessly:

"Gentlemen, someone's dead! Call the police! What are you all looking at me for?"

"Uh, yes, yes, yes."

Only after Zheng Yi spoke did they start calling the police.

Hongye whispered in Zhengyi's ear, "Did you do this again? The prince just died, and you couldn't resist again so soon?"

Zheng Yi tapped Hongye's nose with his finger: "I don't even know that person, why would I kill him?"

Shiho looked suspiciously at the corpse not far away and said, "That person's company seems to make mobile phones."

Judging from the intensity of her sister's overtime work, Zheng Yi's company doesn't seem to be expanding its business.

The crowd began to whisper, the voices low but spreading like a tide.

"So... it was Zheng Yi who made the move?"

"Although Starlink Technology has been gaining momentum recently, it doesn't have any business conflicts with Justice Group, does it?"

"Could it be that he's planning to enter the mobile phone industry? When he was preparing to enter the automotive industry, he first killed the president of a car company and then acquired his company. That's how it started."

"possible."

Police quickly cordoned off the scene and initially determined it to be cyanide poisoning.

The police were utterly incompetent and couldn't find the culprit at all. In the end, it was the detectives from Kyoto who arrived and quickly found the killer.

The murderer knelt down to repent, then was arrested and imprisoned, and the case was closed.

This process is all too familiar.

After the murderer was arrested by the police, the people in the hotel all glanced at Zheng Yi, intentionally or unintentionally.

Isn't this exactly how Zheng Yi kills people?
Many people began to lament.

Zhengyi is about to wreak havoc on another industry; I wonder how many more companies and individuals will suffer.

Zheng Yi was furious.

"I feel like someone is setting me up," Zheng Yi said in a low voice.

"What was the purpose of framing you?" Shiho asked.

Can I arrest you?
Zheng Yi said, "It could ruin my reputation."

Momiji and Shiho both stared at Shoichi's face.

Your reputation is already bad enough; they have no need to go to such lengths.

Shiho turned her head in confusion.

I didn't see Conan here, so why is there a murder case?

"Could it really be a coincidence?" Shiho whispered.

Perhaps it was just an ordinary murder case.

“No.” Zheng Yi shook his head and said, “I don’t think it’s a murder case.”

"What murder case is this, exactly like Conan's scenario? Could it be that the royal family is targeting me?" Zheng Yi whispered.

There have been persistent rumors that Sumitomo Masakazu murdered the prince and is still at large, a rumor that has caused the imperial family great embarrassment.

It's possible that the royal family disliked Zheng Yi because of this and wanted to target him, first by tarnishing his reputation and then by taking other actions.

"I don't think so," Hongye said, shaking her head.

Zheng Yi had a feeling that someone was stirring up trouble in the dark, and he looked at the people at the banquet with suspicion.

Those people were terrified when they saw how ugly Zheng Yi looked, wondering who had offended this devil.

The following day, major financial media outlets ran eye-catching headlines on their front pages:
"Bloodshed in the Tech World" and "The Sudden Death of Star News President Marks the Beginning of a Tech Slaughter."

The business community is on edge, especially the presidents of emerging technology companies. They haven't dared to sleep these past few days, fearing they might become the next target.

Even many companies in the mobile phone industry have started paying protection money to Zhengyi and hiring Zhengyi Security to protect themselves.

Everyone believed that Zhengyi was about to carry out a bloody reshuffle of the mobile phone industry.

The sudden news of the merger caught everyone off guard.

Three days later, before the Tokyo Stock Exchange opened.

Starlight Technology held an emergency board meeting and announced that due to the sudden death of its president, which caused a sharp drop in the company's stock price, and in order to avoid affecting the company's normal operations, the company has reached a comprehensive merger agreement with Toshiba Group. Effective immediately, Starlight Technology officially becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toshiba Group.

At the press conference, Toshiba's representative read the statement with a blank expression, while the reporters below looked at each other blankly.

How dare Toshiba steal Zheng Yi's thunder? Are you out of your mind?

"When are you planning to take down the president of Toshiba?"

"Why would I kill the president of Toshiba?" Masakazu asked, puzzled.

Hongye blinked and said, "Toshiba snatched the company you wanted from you. Don't you want it to pay the price?"

"This is ridiculous. When did I say I wanted that company?"

Zheng Yi rolled his eyes at Hong Ye, turned over, and continued reading.

He's now cultivating his character and has lost interest in the company; further expansion is pointless for him.

Moreover, mobile phone technology companies seem complicated and not suitable for someone like Zheng Yi who is only interested in things for a short time and only likes to make easy money.

Hongye crossed her arms over her chest.

You say you're not interested and don't care about Toshiba's actions, but in your heart you've probably already sentenced Toshiba to death, right?
She believes that Zheng Yi will soon take action against Toshiba.

Taking on such a large company again is surprisingly exciting for Hongye.

Hongye nudged Zhengyi's arm and said, "So whose shell will you use for your mobile phone company this time? Will you choose a new one, or will you steal Toshiba's?"

"I'll take yours."

Many people outside the company think the same way as Hongye: Toshiba dared to steal what Zhengyi wanted, it was already courting disaster.

Now, we can just wait for news of Toshiba's president or some other company being suddenly assassinated.

Many reporters have already started camping out at Toshiba to gather news.

But contrary to what they expected, someone did die, but it wasn't someone from Toshiba who died; it was the president of a company that manufactures electronic screens.

It's still the same old story: the police are incompetent, the detective finds the killer, and the killer repents and goes to jail.

Then, a few days later, the company announced that it had been acquired by Toshiba.

The two reporters squatting at Toshiba looked at each other and said, "We... seem to have wronged Zheng Yi."

For the first time, those shameless people spoke the most conscientious words, finally admitting that they had misunderstood Zhengyi.

"It seems that Toshiba was behind this murder. They're imitating Zheng Yi's methods to develop their company; they've learned bad habits from Zheng Yi," the reporter said.

"How should the news be written?"

Toshiba is a big company too.

Moreover, judging from the speed at which cases are closed, it's clear that Toshiba wields considerable influence within the police system.

An older journalist lamented, "Japan is doomed. More and more people are starting to emulate Zhengyi. Does Japanese business have any future?"

Under Zheng Yi's 'example', the giants became even more unscrupulous. Like greedy beasts, they opened their bloody mouths and devoured these tiny hopes along with the soil on which they depended for survival.

"It's not as serious as you say, is it?" the young reporter said in a low voice. "Didn't someone imitate Zheng Yi before? It didn't cause any big fuss."

"Different."

The veteran reporter said, "Last time, those people used this method to deal with Zhengyi, the founder of Zhengyi. Of course, they were no match for him."

But this time, it's the big corporations that are targeting the small businesses, and those small businesses have no power to fight back; they can only be killed and devoured.

After Toshiba set this bad precedent, things started to get interesting in Japan.

Newspapers frequently featured stories of editors being murdered.

Of course, there are also many company presidents who go to jail for instigating murder because they didn't learn the skills properly or didn't have enough influence in the Metropolitan Police Department.

The newspaper staff had another hearty meal.

This person dies today, that person dies tomorrow; there's never a day without work.

Although the atmosphere in Japan is currently very oppressive, making Japanese society seem somewhat chaotic, it's not without its benefits; at least it has stimulated the economy.

Many companies began to expand rapidly, and acquisitions between companies became more frequent.

Moreover, security companies, including Justice Security, are so busy with their business that they have to expand urgently to meet the needs of society.

Zheng Yi put down the newspaper in his hand with a worried expression and sighed.

"Who are you making that face for?" Hongye asked.

“I’m not doing this for anyone’s benefit; I’m genuinely worried about the future of Japanese business,” Masakazu said.

He said indignantly, "Toshiba set a very bad precedent, and many other companies followed suit. Now Japanese business is in complete chaos."

Countless company presidents have fled to the United States, Europe, and even Africa; everyone is living in fear!
The economy is bad now, and they're still messing around; it's simply outrageous.

Hongye stared at Zhengyi in disbelief.

This head doesn't seem to be from Toshiba.

Toshiba is just your imitator.

As Shoichi spoke out for justice, Shiho brought over the washed dates.

Zheng Yi picked one up and stuffed it into his mouth, saying indistinctly, "If you still don't do something about it, then Japan will be doomed."

“It should be addressed,” Hongye said.

However, there are too many companies acting recklessly these days, and managing them is no easy task; it won't be quelled in a short time.

"but."

Suddenly, Zheng Yi looked at Shiho and said, "With so many people dying these days, I feel that the funeral industry has great potential."

Shiho's eyelids twitched; she sensed that her sister was about to start working overtime again.

She stared at Zheng Yi and said, "After returning to Tokyo, I plan to have my sister accompany me on a trip."

"No way," Zheng Yi said unhappily. "Why are you acting like a child who never grew up, always looking for your sister?"

Your sister also has her own life; you need to become independent as soon as possible.

Shiho wanted to slap Ichiro across the face.

Ignoring Shiho's look that seemed to want to bury him alive, Masakazu began searching for companies in the Japanese funeral industry.

"Too many people are dying these days; it would be good to organize a 'second monument half price' promotion," Zheng Yi muttered under his breath. (End of Chapter)