The Daily Life of a Salted Fish Assassin in Anime Crossovers

In Mizunashi Rena's mind, the organization probably wanted to use this method to make Jiang Hang lose face on the show and have the audience question whether his identity as a "famous detective" was real.

To be honest, this method is indeed a rather insidious and despicable frame-up.

However, for an organization that shows no mercy, this approach does seem a bit too "gentle".

However, Rena Mizunashi didn't dwell on this point too much, because she did know from Jiang Hang's information that the newly minted famous detective was backed by another international force, the Pioneer Foundation.

Rena Mizunashi certainly knew about the Pioneer Foundation. After all, although this organization was little known to ordinary people, or even excessively low-key, it still carried considerable weight for an intelligence organization like the CIA.

What puzzled her a little was that, in her impression, the Pioneer Foundation had always maintained a rather laid-back attitude since its establishment. It was quite puzzling that someone like Jiang Hang, who bore the identity of the Pioneer Foundation, would suddenly come to Japan and open a detective agency.

Perhaps it was because of this concern that the organization did not directly kill Jiang Hang.

As for what secret plans Jiang Hang and the Pioneer Foundation behind him are preparing, and whether the Pioneer Foundation is behind Jiang Hang's identity as a famous detective, that's not something Mizunashi Rena should concern herself with.

All she can do now is find an opportunity to pass this intelligence to the CIA so that those bigwigs can make the decision.

As for Rena Mizunashi now, since the task assigned to her by the organization does not involve Jiang Hang's life, there is naturally not much to worry about in terms of her style of doing things.

After all, as a CIA agent, her biggest task right now is to infiltrate the Black Organization to gather important intelligence for the CIA, while keeping her identity hidden as much as possible.

If the organization orders her to get rid of Jiang Hang, then she will have to find a way to save Jiang Hang's life—at least try to ensure that Jiang Hang does not die at her hands.

But it's perfectly fine to just make things difficult for Jiang Hang on the show.

After all, she is currently hosting the most popular detective program in Japan, and Jiang Hang, a genuine famous detective, is considered the most important guest after the program's revamp.

Given guests like these, it's not surprising that the questions their production team sets are a little harder than usual.

If the famous detective Jiang Hang fails to solve the mystery, it shouldn't be the fault of the production team, but rather Jiang Hang's own lack of ability.

Ultimately, as an undercover agent who puts her life on the line, Rena Mizunashi still looks down on the detective profession, which allows people to live openly in the sunlight and enjoy the adulation of others.

Of course, if Jiang Hang is indeed a capable person, Mizunashi Rena wouldn't mind maintaining a relatively good relationship with him in private.

"So this isn't my fault. I was just following orders. I won't make things too difficult for you on the show. If you can really solve the mystery the organization gave you, then I won't have had someone deliberately create a video to smear you. That way, I can give the organization an explanation," Rena Mizunashi thought to herself.

She recalled the question the organization had given her.

The mystery of the Spider Mansion's spider web-like secret room.

It sounds like a very intriguing case title. You can imagine that detective enthusiasts would be curious about the truth just by hearing the name of the case.

Whether this famous detective is merely a figurehead or truly talented remains to be seen once the show begins.

With this thought in mind, Rena Mizunashi looked at Jiang Hang, who was listening to the program crew explain the program process not far away.

......

Jiang Hang was unaware that he was about to face a surprise specially prepared for him by Vermouth. Even when he felt Rena Mizunashi, the CIA agent, giving him an interrogative look, he didn't take it too seriously.

He was listening to the explanations from the program crew while chatting with Shizuka Sakaki, who seemed a little nervous, sitting next to him.

Sakaki Shizuka was nervous for a simple reason: she was going to be Jiang Hang's assistant and accompany him to record the show.

This wasn't actually the production team's initial idea. Jiang Hang contacted the TV station himself and explained his requirements, which led to Shizuka Sakaki's opportunity to appear on stage.

After all, Jiang Hang had always been well aware of his little assistant's dream of becoming a voice actress. Right now, she could only do voice acting for monsters at Da Bao Film Studio, which was obviously a waste of her current abilities.

Now that there's an opportunity to appear on a variety show, Jiang Hang certainly won't miss it.

Of course, he wouldn't show favoritism to either Yoshino or Muharu; Jiang Hang also asked Yoshino about her thoughts.

When Yoshino Koharu joined the agency, she mentioned that she wanted to be a special person and didn't want to blend into the crowd. This opportunity to appear on television was naturally a rather unique experience.

But in the end, Yoshino Koharu, who was only slightly apprehensive about dragons, told Jiang Hang that it would be fine for her to be an audience member, and that the opportunity to show her face should be given to Shizuka Sakaki, who had always wanted to become an idol voice actress.

After that, she began to use the disguise techniques she had mastered over the past few months to do Shizuka Sakaki's makeup.

Sakaki Shizuka is very beautiful, and there would be no problem for her to debut as an entertainer. However, when Jiang Hang participated in the program, he disguised his appearance to be ordinary, but for Sakaki Shizuka's makeup, he asked Koharu Yuno to treat it with the same level of sophistication as the Red and White Ball, the highest stage in Japan.

Simply put, the goal is to create an amazing impression on everyone who sees Shizuka Sakaki for the first time.

After stunning the audience with her looks, if Shizuka Sakaki then showcases her hard-earned voice-changing skills on the show, Jiang Hang can easily imagine how much popularity she will gain from this episode.

"Stop drinking water. It would be a real hassle if you suddenly needed to use the restroom during the recording," Jiang Hang said, trying to comfort Sakaki Shizuka, who was restless and drinking water.

"I know... it's just that it's my first time on such a formal show, and I'm still a little unaccustomed to it," Shizuka Sakaki replied softly. It was indeed her first time standing on a stage under the spotlight, especially dressed up like this. She could hardly believe that the person in the mirror was herself.

"Why don't you come up with me, Yuno? If there are more of us, we probably won't be so nervous..."

Yoshino Koharu, who was checking Shizuka Sakaki's makeup as a "makeup artist," quickly waved her hand.

"No, no, no! We agreed that this time you'd be showing your face to the national audience. I spent an hour doing your makeup. The show is about to start, and I don't want comparison photos of our makeup to appear online later." Koharu Yuno's natural beauty is no less than Sakaki Shizuka's, but she's only wearing simple work makeup and isn't as serious about Sakaki Shizuka's face as she is now. The two of them do look quite different. Under these circumstances, even if Jiang Hang, the boss, called her up, she wouldn't be willing.

Jiang Hang also spoke to Shizuka Sakaki in a praising tone: "With your looks, you will definitely go for the idol voice actress style in the future, otherwise it would be a waste of your face. So you have to show your best side in your first appearance. I think with your ability, you can definitely do it."

With the two men's flattery and reassurance, Shizuka Sakaki's emotions stabilized somewhat.

It was in this atmosphere that the recording of this episode began.

Amid a simple yet elegant opening speech and enthusiastic cheers from the audience, the unremarkable Jiang Hang walked onto the stage with the elegantly dressed Shizuka Sakaki.

At Jiang Hang's special request, the production team provided excellent lighting effects, and the cameras captured the still somewhat immature Shizuka Sakaki from multiple angles. The best shots would then be combined during the final editing.

Even Rena Mizunashi had to admit that Jiang Hang, the famous detective from the Pioneer Foundation, had a good eye for choosing assistants. Especially since he deliberately made his own face ordinary while making Shizuka Sakaki's makeup incredibly glamorous, the contrast between the two of them when they appeared even better highlighted her appearance as an assistant.

However, Jiang Hang controlled this dynamic very well. Apart from the initial stunning appearance of Shizuka Sakaki, Jiang Hang maintained control throughout the show, making it clear to all viewers that he was the true protagonist of the program.

In Mizunashi Rena's mind, Jiang Hang didn't seem like a famous detective who was specially hired by the Metropolitan Police Department as a consultant and was making his first official appearance on a variety show stage. Instead, he seemed more like a veteran performer with decades of experience, and everything on stage seemed to be under his control.

Only at this moment did Rena Mizunashi truly put aside her previous contempt and begin to take this famous detective seriously.

The first half of the program was basically about Jiang Hang and several members of the Pioneer Agency introducing themselves. During this process, Mu Chunyuno, who was sitting in the audience, was briefly filmed a few times, letting the audience know that the Pioneer Agency currently has two assistants.

What followed was a routine questioning session, but this process made Jiang Hang seem a little strange.

He had watched a few episodes of the show before coming, so he knew that the Q&A segment was basically just some meaningless mutual flattery. But on his end, he always felt that Rena Mizunashi sitting across from him was digging traps in these questions more than once, and if he was not careful, it might cause controversy among the audience.

Besides some ethical, moral, and legal issues, the other party also quite directly raised a philosophical question similar to the trolley problem during the inquiry.

Fortunately, Jiang Hang was somewhat of a keyboard warrior in his previous life, so he was still able to respond cleverly when faced with such "difficult" questions.

Like the trolley problem, the problem states that a trolley is traveling in front of a fork in the road, with five people on one track and only one person on the other.

If no changes are made, the trolley will run over and kill the five people on the first track.

The person answering the question must make a decision: whether to pull the switch to steer the trolley onto another track, sacrificing one life to save the lives of the other five. This is the trolley problem.

This kind of question, which uses lives as a price for comparison, seems problematic no matter how it's answered.

If you don't make a choice, five people will die, but their deaths won't be caused by you. If you make a choice, you will personally kill one person.

Of course, Jiang Hang wouldn't be foolish enough to fall for it.

He first asked Rena Mizunashi a whole bunch of questions, both casual and serious.

Why couldn't the tram stop? What were the identities of the people who were supposed to die and the other person? Why were they there? And who was the murderer who caused all of this?

After asking a whole bunch of questions so "seriously and carefully" that he was almost confused by all the questions, he casually mentioned that he was just a detective and that all he had to do was find out the culprit who caused all of this.

As for the most crucial issue of "sacrifice," after Jiang Hang asked so many questions earlier, it has actually been gradually downplayed by Jiang Hang in the audience's eyes.

Feeling that her difficult request had been resolved in such an unfriendly way, Mizunashi Rena had to admit that Jiang Hang was indeed a meticulous man, and most importantly, he knew how to play dumb.

When faced with difficult questions, his answers were often ambiguous, and even further questioning would not yield a definitive response.

What a smooth operator.

However, the next stage won't be one where simply being tactful will get you through safely.

With this in mind, Rena Mizunashi recited an advertisement in practice before moving on to the show's most popular segment, "solving the case on the spot."

Immediately afterwards, the lighting and atmosphere of the entire studio turned eerie, seemingly setting the stage for the case that was about to unfold.

"In Tottori Prefecture, there is a place that locals call the Spider Mansion... This is where this case took place."

As Rena Mizunashi recounted the details of the case, Jiang Hang finally understood why Rena Mizunashi had targeted him so much before.

Oh, it was Vermouth's mission. That makes sense.

Chapter 437: Chapter 433: A New Character in the Case

At the memorial service two days ago, Vermouth did tell him that if Jiang Hang was willing to let him off the hook, she would find out the truth about the case at Spider Mansion and tell him in two days.

However, because of the case of Shigehiko Tomoguchi and the subsequent events, Jiang Hang had been busy surfing the internet for the past two days and had almost forgotten his real purpose for seeking out Vermouth.

When Jiang Hang received a call from the production team asking if he could move the recording time to today, he initially thought the production team was trying to capitalize on the show's popularity.

Unexpectedly, Vermouth had prepared a "surprise" for him here.

It seems that Vermouth wanted to make things difficult for him after discovering that he had managed to get the Black Organization to work for him with almost no effort.

After all, Vermouth did fulfill her promise to Jiang Hang, only the method, time, and place were slightly off.

The tricky questions that Rena Mizunashi just asked him were most likely instigated by Vermouth.

Rena Mizunashi herself was probably a bit confused, not understanding why the organization would go to such lengths to make things so complicated.

It has to be said that Vermouth was indeed the highest-ranking woman Jiang Hang had ever encountered in his two lives, past and present.

Jiang Hang had only interacted with her a few times in private, but she seemed to have figured out his temperament. She knew that he wouldn't fall out with her over such a "trivial matter," let alone take his anger out on the Black Organization. That's probably why she did this.

In fact, Jiang Hang was not angry at all; he even found it somewhat interesting to solve cases in such a novel way.

Moreover, after asking the system and learning that solving the case in this way would count as completing the mission and earning him a reward, he couldn't wait to come to the show more often to complete more missions.

Of course, it's one thing for Jiang Hang himself not to be angry, but it's another thing for Vermouth to respond in this way.

After this matter was over, he naturally had to keep it in mind and repay Vermouth tenfold when the opportunity arose in the future.

In short, let's see what useful clues and information Vermouth has found out for him in the past few days.

Of course, in addition to that, he also had to remind Shizuka Sakaki next to him not to show such a shocked expression.

After Jiang Hang reminded her, Shizuka Sakaki realized that they were on the set of a TV show recording and she needed to manage her facial expressions.

She managed to hide the shock on her face, but the doubts in her heart did not disappear.

Why was this request presented as a mystery on this detective show?

Could it be that this was all Jiang Hang's arrangement?

Speaking of which, she and Yuno Kiharu had been investigating this case for almost a week. Although they already knew about the family secrets of the Takeda family, they still felt sorry for Kinuyo Takeda and Misa Takeda, who committed suicide two years ago.

However, without going to the scene, the clues they received were always missing some crucial information, making it impossible to determine whether the latest suicide case was a case of the deceased using the Spider Mansion as a means of suicide, or whether the victim was murdered and the act was staged as a suicide.