Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

The station's loudspeakers were broadcasting announcements about train delays, creating a noisy atmosphere mixed with the commotion of the crowd.

"Someone's dead!!"

The crowd retreated like a tide, forming a circle.

Conan crouched beside the corpse, his sharp gaze sweeping over the man on the ground.

That "suspicious person" who was rushing around and wrapped up tightly just minutes before.

At this moment, the man's mask had been squeezed off, revealing a pale and bloodless face.

His eyes were wide open, his pupils dilated, and his right hand was gripping the collar of his shirt tightly.

Conan stood up and, using his small stature, quickly surveyed the scene before the police arrived.

"Make way! Police are on a case!"

Accompanied by crisp footsteps, Inspector Megure and the other police officers pushed through the crowd and entered.

Sato crouched down, examined the body, and frowned.

"There are no external injuries. Judging from the symptoms, it seems like a sudden cardiac arrest or poisoning..."

Just then, a gasp of surprise came from the crowd.

"Hey, look! Doesn't this person look just like the guy in that news story?"

Which news?

"That's the one who was just on the financial channel! Teru Kimura, the president of Tokyo Hirozen."

Rumor has it that he just rejected a takeover bid from the Justice Group and is preparing to flee!

The whispers instantly turned into a noisy discussion.

Sato's ears twitched, and his expression changed instantly when he heard the words "Justice Group".

"The Justice Group...it's that guy again."

She muttered a curse under her breath.

The forensic pathologist entered the scene to conduct an examination, and the results were exactly what Sato had expected.

Acute heart failure.

But the forensic report was like a fart to everyone.

If you can believe everything a forensic doctor says, then you might as well believe that Zheng Yi is pure and innocent.

But is it possible for Zheng Yi to be pure and innocent?

The crowd was buzzing with discussion.

"Everyone, this case has nothing to do with Mr. Zhengyi." A clear child's voice suddenly interrupted.

Sato looked down and saw Conan standing there, his hands in his pockets, looking completely calm.

"Conan? What are you doing here?" Sato was taken aback.

“The professor and I came to the station for some business.” Conan pointed to the body on the ground. “Besides, this case is not a business vendetta, nor is it revenge by some righteous group. It’s just a coincidence.”

"A coincidence?" Sato frowned.

Conan walked to the body and pointed to what the deceased was tightly clutching in his right hand.

"Look, everyone, what the deceased was clutching in his hand was a train ticket that had been crumpled up."

Conan picked up the ticket with tweezers.

"This is a limited express train ticket to Hokkaido. The deceased also had a large amount of cash and a fake passport on him. Clearly, he was preparing to escape."

"What does this prove?"

“That means he was very flustered.” Conan pushed up his glasses. “He was so flustered that he didn’t even look where he was going, and just now, he bumped into me.”

Conan pointed to his shoulder.

"The impact of his collision was significant, but I was not injured. However, according to the preliminary autopsy, the cause of death was acute heart failure."

"You mean, he scared himself to death?" Takagi interjected.

“That’s right.” Conan nodded. “The deceased suffered from a serious heart condition, which can be inferred from the medicine bottles he carried and the color of his fingernails.”

In a state of extreme fear and anxiety, his heart reached its limit.

"The moment he bumped into me, although there were no external injuries, the shock from the impact, combined with his inexplicable fright, directly caused his heart to stop beating."

"So... he was scared to death by himself?" Sato asked incredulously.

“Yes.” Conan sighed and looked at the pitiful man on the ground. “He thought he was running for his life and that he was surrounded by enemies.”

But in reality, no one was chasing him, and no one was threatening him; it was just the demons in his own heart.

Conan's words made Sato laugh.

Whether someone is threatening him or not, he knows better than a kid like you, doesn't he?
Sera Masumi squeezed in as a current police advisor.

She walked up to Sato and said with a half-smile, "Officer Sato, you're not trying to pin this on Masakazu again, are you?"

Sato frowned: "Sera-kun, what do you mean by that? I just want to find the real culprit, not to pin the blame on anyone."

"Oh~" Sera Masumi nodded meaningfully.

Sato's eyelids twitched.

She still thought she was making trouble for Zheng Yi in order to get his attention.

Like the previous cases, this one ultimately accepted Conan's explanation, concluding that Kimura Teru had scared himself to death.

This argument doesn't convince many people.

……

The sky over Tokyo was shrouded in thick, leaden-gray clouds.

Most of Tokyo Hakuzen's shares have been acquired by the Justice Group.

According to leaked information, Zheng Yi bypassed the cumbersome board vote or equity transaction process and instead stormed into Tokyo Hakuzen's annual shareholders' meeting on a rainy night with a group of bodyguards in black suits.

He didn't say anything, but simply slapped a pre-prepared equity transfer agreement onto the chairman's face and said casually, "Sign it, or go to your coffin. I'll give you three minutes."

Three minutes later, the shareholders, trembling all over, signed their names.

But this is pure rumor.

Zheng Yi is still in Kyoto and hasn't returned yet. The person who barged in with bodyguards was a woman, not Zheng Yi himself.

Perhaps because the funeral industry is considered unlucky, Zheng Yi did not have the company renamed with the prefix "Justice".

This blatant case of commercial blackmail instantly detonated a nuclear bomb in the Japanese business world.

As a result, all the funeral companies were in an uproar.

They felt that if one side were to fall, the other would be vulnerable, and they all united to fight against Zhengyi.

Those industries that had suffered greatly from Zhengyi's tyranny also joined in, wanting to fiercely denounce Zhengyi.

"This is a trampling of Japanese commercial civilization!"

"This is mafia-style plunder!"

"We cannot stand by and watch a thug destroy the business order we have worked so hard to build!" The outcry first erupted in the Tokyo area.

An emergency closed-door meeting was held in Osaka by the Osaka-based Business Association, attended by many companies, including some giant corporations.

The atmosphere at the meeting was so heavy it was suffocating.

"Mr. Shoichi Sumitomo, why do the business owners who compete with you all die from accidental murder?"

"Mr. Zhengyi, there have been several bombings recently, destroying many buildings. Is your construction company involved?"

"Are the threats against several business leaders by terrorist organizations related to the security company you recently registered?"

These questions, which were once asked by the media but were evaded by Zheng Yi with shameless remarks such as "God feeds us" and "the police are incompetent," have now become the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of all entrepreneurs.

"He's not just after money," a vice president of the Kansai Economic Federation said somberly. "He's building a business empire built on violence. Today it's the funeral industry, tomorrow it could be our steel, our electronics, our logistics!"

If he succeeds, Japan's market economy will cease to exist, replaced by a "Shoichi-style reign of terror!"

The meeting ultimately reached an unprecedented resolution.

The following morning, the front pages of several of Japan’s largest-circulation newspapers featured a joint statement entitled “Anti-Sino-Analog”.

This 5,000-word manifesto, with its fierce wording and resolute attitude, is arguably the most extreme example of its kind in postwar Japanese business circles.

"Shoichi Sumitomo is the cancer of the business world!"
They wield violence as an axe, human life as worthless, and the law as nothing.

What they call 'competition' is not technological innovation or service improvement, but the physical elimination and asset plunder of their peers!
What they call 'merger and acquisition' is actually the act of robbery and extortion by gangsters!
We, the respectable businessmen of Kansai and Tokyo, swear to never coexist with this scoundrel!

We urge the government to intervene immediately and call on the police to thoroughly investigate the source of their funding and their violent acts!
We urge the international community to pay attention to the deteriorating business environment in Japan!
If this scoundrel is allowed to run rampant, the future of the Japanese economy will surely be ruined by his greed!
Until this villain is eliminated, there will be no peace for commerce!

If this trend isn't stopped, order will collapse!

At the end of the article, hundreds of well-known Japanese companies signed their names.

From steel giants to ramen chains, from century-old shops to emerging internet companies, they have set aside their usual rivalries and formed an unprecedented "unified front."

Zhengyi also saw this newspaper in Kyoto.

He asked Ai to fetch paper and pen, and wrote down all these people's names.

Okay, okay, don't rush, you can do it one at a time.

"Anyway, one book?"

He chuckled softly, his fingers tapping lightly on the line of text.

"Have these old guys finally succumbed to the urge to stick together for warmth?"

Japanese businesses need vitality; those who can't adapt to modern business should be swept into the dustbin of history!
Hongye ran excitedly to Zhengyi and said, "More than 300 companies have already signed this statement. Their stocks all fell after the market opened today, and market sentiment is very panicked."

The police and the cabinet also issued statements saying they would closely monitor your movements.

Zheng Yi is about to cause a major upheaval!
"It seems they've harbored resentment towards you for a long time, and this has finally erupted," Ai said.

“I don’t think it’s my fault,” Zheng Yi said.

Zheng Yi looked at another newspaper and said, "I've done this so many times, there's no reason why I should only incur public wrath this time. Actually, the culprit is Toshiba."

This bastard started imitating me, which is why our competitors were surprised.

How many people can I kill if I act recklessly all by myself? Besides, I've been cultivating my character for a long time, and those guys have almost forgotten about my past actions.

But Toshiba began to poorly imitate me, making everyone in the business world feel uneasy.

"What are you going to do?" Hongye asked. "Play dead? Or teach them another lesson?"

“It’s definitely going to be a fight of violence,” Ai said. “Shoichi isn’t the kind of person who’s afraid of trouble.”

Zheng Yi looked at the long list of names he had just memorized and felt a headache coming on.

So many people have opinions about me, it's not easy to deal with them.

He was practically making an enemy of the entire nation of Japan.

"How about I apologize to everyone?" Zheng Yi said.

"what?!"

"what!!"

Ai and Momiji stared at Masakazu in utter shock.

This isn't like you at all.

Zheng Yi sighed and said helplessly, "I'm not that principled either. Seeing so many people opposing me makes me very anxious."

Fear?

Ai and Momiji's gazes became even more enigmatic.

Do you also feel anxious and uneasy?
Zheng Yi pointed to the list in the newspaper and said, "Look at this, how many people oppose me? How can I not be terrified?"

Hongye glanced at it briefly and said softly, "But there aren't any significant companies listed there."

The "weight" she was referring to was the kind of weight that Japan's major conglomerates possessed.

Hongye said in bewilderment, "And Toyota isn't even mentioned. Didn't you previously criticize Toyota relentlessly? Why didn't they stand up and join forces with them to condemn you this time?"

“Because Toyota wants to emulate me,” Masakazu said.

Those influential figures, seeing Toshiba imitate him, are probably itching to get their hands on his work and starting to miss their lawless days.

"Sigh!" Zheng Yi sighed, "In the end, he was still bent over by this damned world."

Ai and Momiji exchanged a glance, both looking at Masakazu with disdain.

Why does this world deserve to die?
Isn't it all because of you?

The next day, Zheng Yi published some comments in the Justice Daily.

The gist is that the accusations from competitors are false; he operates with integrity and has never done anything illegal. His success was entirely due to his own efforts, without any help from his family.

but,

Since his competitors have said this, it means they have higher expectations for him, this young business leader, so he must also hold himself to higher standards.

Regardless of whether there were any acts of violence in the past, there certainly won't be any in the future.

Moreover, this acquisition of Tokyo Hakuzen is also aimed at reforming the funeral industry. Currently, the funeral industry suffers from vague pricing and opaque fees, resulting in actual costs often far exceeding customer expectations.

Zheng Yi has decided to implement a transparent pricing strategy so that every customer can enjoy the best service.

Upon seeing Zheng Yi's apology statement, the businessmen who had banded together celebrated.

Public anger is hard to defy, and the damned Seiichi has finally been defeated by those who uphold justice. Japanese business can now develop healthily again.

Many people also lamented that Zheng Yi shouldn't have persisted a little longer!

Now that they no longer have this most hated target, they can no longer engage in those highly efficient business activities.

After seeing the newspaper, Conan felt very sad for Shoichi.

“Brother Zhengyi did nothing wrong, but so many people forced him to apologize. He must be very upset.”

“That’s right,” Dr. Agasa said. “Didn’t Rena Mizunashi say that many things were framed by the organization for Shoichi, and that Shoichi has taken on too much for the organization?”

"Yes, the Black Organization is truly wicked." (End of Chapter)