The Daily Life of a Salted Fish Assassin in Anime Crossovers

Japanese creators have always been fond of putting effort into the names of their characters. Leaving aside some creators with negative motives, Gosho Aoyama likes to reference famous detectives and Gundam when designing character names.

For example, the name Conan Edogawa is a combination of two mystery writers, and as the 'Holmes of the Heisei era,' the main setting of Conan's stories, Beika City, is pronounced in Japanese based on the Romanized pronunciation of Baker Street, where Holmes lived.

If the origins of these names and the works of those famous detective writers were all written down, it would probably not even fill a single page.

The lawyer, Kisaki Eri, whom Jiang Hang is about to visit, is named after the King of Logic, Ellery Queen.

It's okay if you don't know much about mystery novels. We won't talk about the Ellery Queen case here. You just need to know that he was a detective character created by two cousins.

What these cousins ​​love to do most is to openly challenge the readers after giving them clues related to the case, making them make reasonable deductions to determine the real culprit, just like Queen in the book, given the same clues. In most cases, the readers are convinced of their culprit's identity.

Ellery Queen was such an "arrogant and assertive" detective and creator. And Eri Kisaki, whose name is derived from him, was just as assertive as he was as a lawyer.

With over a decade of experience, maintaining a 100% winning record is the greatest asset a lawyer can have.

Heaven knows what a battle of titans it would be if she and Masato Sakai's character, Komikado, who also has a 100% win rate but uses even more ruthless methods, clashed in court.

Last night, Jiang Hang made an appointment with Eri Kisaki's agency. Perhaps because Ran and her mother had mentioned it, he received a response from them this morning.

Eri Kisaki's office is decorated quite simply; it's just an office in a high-end office building.

In the other party's office, there was a whole wall of bookshelves. Jiang Hang glanced at them and saw that they were all professional books related to law. Just looking at these books seemed to make the client feel much more at ease.

Seeing this, Jiang Hang couldn't help but wonder if he should also get a few bookshelves. But would filling them with detective novels give his clients any confidence?

Eri Kisaki was already working in her office when she saw Jiang Hang arrive. She stood up and led him to sit down on the sofa.

Eri Kisaki's image gives off an exceptionally strong, icy beauty vibe. Standing next to the usually carefree Kogoro Mouri, it's hard to see any resemblance between them as a couple.

"Hello, Attorney Fei, I'm Jiang Hang, a detective. This is my business card." Jiang Hang handed Fei Yingli his business card. He had made a bunch of these before, but he hadn't given out many yet.

Eri learned about Jiang Hang from her daughter, which was rare for her daughter to mention another man besides Shinichi.

She didn't think her daughter had developed feelings for the rookie detective, but she had simply gleaned some information about him from Ran.

He is helpful and has only been in the industry for a short time, but he has already helped the police solve several cases.

An interesting detective, at least he seemed much more reliable than Kogoro; that was her first impression of Jiang Hang when she first met him.

She accepted the business card and glanced at it casually.

The Pioneer Detective Agency... is different from most people who use their own names as the name of their agency, but that's not unusual.

The content of the business card was very simple. The only thing that caught her attention was a line of text written in beautiful font above the pattern on the card.

It's not English...and not German, is it...Italian?

Eri Kisaki planned to look up the meaning of that line of text after the meeting ended.

Chapter 30: Self-Satisfaction

At Eri Kisaki's law firm, Shizuka Sakaki felt somewhat uncomfortable in the serious environment, especially when the very charismatic female lawyer occasionally glanced at her.

She felt that her body was stiff from sitting upright for so long.

Wow, this is amazing! Is this the legendary elite lawyer?

When Eri Kisaki's secretary, a woman named Midori Kuriyama, brought her a cup of hot tea, Shizuka Sakaki felt that her smile and gratitude were somewhat dry.

On the way, she learned from Jiang Hang how formidable he was, and after she tried searching for information about him herself, she found that the results were even more exaggerated than what Jiang Hang had described.

For Shizuka Sakaki, who had barely met any professional lawyers growing up, Eri Kisaki, who was practically at the top of the legal profession, was arguably the most impressive person she had ever seen up close.

However, this was also an extremely rare learning opportunity for her. She kept observing the tone of voice of the two people, hoping that she might have the opportunity to show these things during the audition in the future.

Jiang Hang was rather casual, as if Eri Kisaki's aura couldn't overpower him at all. However, this wasn't surprising to Shizuka Sakaki. Although her boss was a homebody in terms of personality, he was also a homebody who had seen a lot and was mysteriously rich. He certainly wouldn't have any problem handling this kind of situation.

When Eri Kisaki speaks, she maintains the logic expected of a lawyer, explaining a matter clearly and logically in just a few sentences, making it difficult for anyone to find fault with her statements.

At least Shizuka Sakaki, the little assistant who's still trembling with fear, couldn't do that.

"The art museum murder case? I saw it on the news this morning. So that's how the case went."

Eri looked at Jiang Hang.

"As the detective who got the murderer to confess, I don't think you want me to help that curator with his case. Such a case would be meaningless to you."

“Yes, I wouldn’t do that either, and he already knew what would happen to him,” Jiang Hang nodded. “What I want to ask about is the art museum.”

He paused, his expression turning serious, and continued, "Although it may be disrespectful to the victim to say this, I would like to ask Attorney Fei if there is any way to preserve that art museum?"

"Oh, so that's the kind of request it is?" Eri Kisaki didn't seem too surprised. She asked, "A normal detective wouldn't have such an idea. Can you tell me why?"

"There's no particular reason, maybe it's just for a sense of self-satisfaction," Jiang Hang honestly stated his thoughts. "To be honest, I don't have much of an artistic talent. I walked around that art museum, and at most I thought some of the models inside were quite nice. If that art museum is really going to be demolished and converted into a hotel, and the artwork inside is going to be sold, I might even buy some of my favorite pieces to display in my studio as a facade..."

"But that art museum, and all the artworks inside, were the things an old man cherished most in his life. For these things, he made the most serious mistake that he could not undo."

“I don’t pity the other person, but I sensed their inner obsession. If I didn’t know, I could have continued to pretend I didn’t know, but I saw everything on the spot. I felt I could do something, otherwise I think I would feel a hurdle in my heart for a long time to come.”

"But if I have taken action on this, even if the final result is not changed, then at most I will only have some regrets. To be honest, this is just my personal self-satisfaction and self-comfort."

“I understand. ‘Seeing them alive, one cannot bear to see them die; hearing their cries, one cannot bear to eat their flesh.’ You personally witnessed such a scene, so it’s only natural to have such thoughts,” Eri nodded gently.

“I have another question,” Eri Kisaki said, holding up one finger.

"Even if the art museum is preserved, it will still face the situation of stagnant visitor numbers leading to insufficient revenue. It may be able to hold on for a short period of time, but in the long run, this situation will definitely recur. Have you considered this possibility?"

"That's actually easier to solve. If it's just a lack of money, I'm also prepared to donate a sum of money to the museum for its daily maintenance expenses. The Beika Museum isn't a large museum. Under normal circumstances, tens of millions of yen a year should be enough to maintain normal operation and maintenance."

"Donate? How much are you planning to donate?" Fei Yingli frowned slightly. Judging from Jiang Hang's words, his family background seemed to be quite extraordinary.

"Let's start with 50 million yen. I don't know if that's enough. If not, 100 million yen is no problem. Of course, I'll need a lawyer to help me ensure that the money isn't used for other purposes. I wouldn't dare trouble you with this, but I would be very grateful if you could recommend a suitable lawyer for me."

Fifty million yen—the monetary reward Jiang Hang received for the art museum murder case—sounds like a lot, but when converted to US dollars, it's actually less than five hundred thousand US dollars, and one hundred million yen is just over nine hundred thousand.

Jiang Hang felt that asking Eri Kisaki for such a small amount of money would lower Eri Kisaki's status, so he simply asked her to recommend a suitable lawyer for him.

Jiang Hang couldn't help but feel that he hadn't done enough to promote positive energy. He had been accepting commissions on the bulletin board for a week, and only managed to save 150 million yen with just three cases. Thinking about Boss Wang's small goal of 100 million yen, he could barely reach that amount in yen.

The system compensation is still the best; it can fulfill the small goal of 100 million in one go. I wonder when the system will give me another compensation.

Hearing Jiang Hang casually mention fifty million or one hundred million, Fei Yingli was still somewhat surprised.

Of course, 100 million yen is nothing to a conglomerate. She has handled cases for some conglomerates, which are at least in the tens or hundreds of billions of yen range.

But Jiang Hang was just a young man in his early twenties, and obviously had no connection with those large conglomerates. The fact that he could produce 100 million yen without batting an eye was already quite astonishing.

However, now is not the time to investigate the other party's identity. Eri Kisaki made this note to herself and then nodded.

"The annual operating and maintenance cost of such an art museum is about 20 to 30 million yen. In addition, the art museum has other sources of income. With some investment and other income, 100 million yen can generally keep the art museum going for ten years without much problem. It seems that you have also considered this."

Ten years is a long time; Jiang Hang originally thought he could only hold out for two or three years.

"In that case, I will consider your request. However, as a lawyer, I cannot and will not make any guarantees before giving you a confirmed answer. I hope you can understand. If you have any questions, I can also introduce you to one of my juniors, who is also a very excellent lawyer."

Although Eri Kisaki has maintained an undefeated record so far, it is precisely this cautious approach that has brought her to where she is today.

"I should be the one apologizing. I've come here for my own satisfaction, Attorney Fei." Jiang Hang shook his head, indicating that he wasn't in a hurry and could wait until Fei Yingli made her decision.

Chapter 31: Don't set up a flag for me that I'll be a partner in justice.

After Jiang Hang left, Eri Kisaki dialed Inspector Megure's number.

"Inspector Megure, this is Eri Kisaki. May I ask if I can meet with the murderer in yesterday's art museum murder case?" She got straight to the point.

On the other end of the phone, Inspector Megure's voice sounded flustered, as if he hadn't expected Eri Kisaki to be involved with the other party.

Even if the other party is a suspect with irrefutable evidence, they are still just a suspect. With Eri Kisaki's methods, even if the police have overwhelming evidence, there is still no guarantee what will happen in court.

This is the kind of pressure that Eri Kisaki, the undefeated queen with a 100% win rate, can exert.

Eri Kisaki, of course, understood why Inspector Megure was nervous, and she offered a casual explanation.

After learning that the other party wanted to learn about the museum from her, rather than to defend her, Inspector Megure breathed a sigh of relief and said he would arrange a time for Eri to visit her.

After noting down the meeting details in a memo, Eri Kisaki picked up the business card that was on her desk.

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted..." This is a line of Italian text written on Jiang Hang's business card.

In simpler terms, it means that everything is fake and everything is permitted.

It's a passage with a philosophical flavor, and it does have a bit of Nietzsche's style in it.

Is this his motto in life? No... The other person's style of doing things is completely different from this. Is it a family motto or some other kind of admonition? And it's in Italian. The other person is clearly of Chinese descent. Wouldn't it be more normal for him to use Chinese characters?

Is there some reason she doesn't know about?

After looking up the meaning of a sentence in Italian, Eri thought to herself.

For someone like her, there's always a tendency to try to understand other people's psychology, and Jiang Hang is no exception.

She has already sent people to gather information about Jiang Hang; in any case, he is definitely not a simple detective.

Eri Kisaki couldn't help but think of her "third-rate detective" who only ever made her angry, and sighed before returning to her normal work routine.

Of course, she had no idea that this was what Jiang Hang found interesting, so he deliberately put it up there. The reason he chose Italian was because he felt that if people couldn't understand it, it would be as if they were impressed but didn't know it. Chinese and English are very common, but not many people know Italian, so Jiang Hang ultimately chose Italian.

Anyway, the place he was originally going to travel to was Italy to play with Uncle E. Now that he's here, it's normal for him to write a dogma in Italian to commemorate it.

So don't try to guess what's going on in a nerdy guy's head, especially when a social elite who likes to scrutinize people is facing a nerdy guy who has disguised himself well.

What she wanted to delve into was merely a figment of Jiang Hang's imagination.

Meanwhile, in Jianghang, after leaving Eri Kisaki's office, Shizuka Sakaki drove back by herself.

"Jiang Hangjun, is there anything else you haven't done?"

"No, I'm just browsing around to see if there's anything I can help with," Jiang Hang waved his hand. He hadn't done his daily check-in tasks yet, nor had he gone out to promote positive energy. Besides, he was going to have to donate a hundred million yuan soon.

A daily commission only costs one million yen. If he doesn't work hard now, he won't be able to scrape together three hundred million yen to buy his own agency by the end of this month.

Thinking about this, Jiang Hang felt quite pressured. At such a young age, he had to run around for money. Life was really too difficult.

Sakagi Shizuka's lips twitched slightly. After spending a few days with Jiang Hang, she had also figured out a bit about Jiang Hang's personality.

In terms of personality, the other person is a complete otaku. On rainy days or when there is nothing to do outside, the other person stays in the office watching new anime.

That day, Shizuka Sakaki secretly glanced at him and saw that Jiang Hang was watching the latest yuri-loli anime. During certain scenes, a strange smile would appear on his face; seeing that smile at night might even send chills down one's spine.

However, Jiang Hang's behavior is completely different from that of a typical otaku.

He maintains a consistent exercise routine every day, regardless of the weather, and is exceptionally kind-hearted. No matter if someone loses something, encounters trouble, or even if the upstairs auntie runs out of soy sauce while cooking, as long as Jiang Hang notices, he will rush over to help without hesitation, making it completely difficult for people to understand what kind of person he is.

Thinking about Jiang Hang's plan to donate 100 million yen to that art museum at Eri Kisaki's office, it would bring him no benefit whatsoever. He even directly stated that he had absolutely no interest in those artworks, which was merely to comfort himself.