Crossover Anime: How a Shameless Person Lives

The former dean's full name was Edogawa Ranpo.

He was a famous detective in Japan in the last two decades.

He enjoys immense prestige among the police and the public.

They have solved numerous major cases, as well as some strange and rumor-related cases.

All of these cases were solved by the handsome old man in front of us.

Examples include: [Hugging Man], [Human Chair], [Puppet Master], [Shadow Beast], etc.

Having traveled all over the country and solved so many cases, he naturally encountered some strange things that couldn't be explained by science.

Most of those "superpowers" are harmful to both oneself and others.

……

Let's go back to the present.

The old dean's pupils contracted slightly, and ripples of emotion stirred within him.

The coat, which should have been still, was now slowly rotating in a way that defied common sense, with the edges of the fabric slightly curling up, as if being kneaded into a vortex by an invisible hand.

The old dean didn't think he wouldn't notice if someone was using props in front of him.

and so……

"Superpowers? Or a curse?" The old dean looked at Mercury with a gloomy expression.

My fingertips tapped lightly on the armrest of the rattan chair.

That was a habit he had developed over many years of solving cases; whenever faced with extraordinary phenomena, he would use rhythm to suppress his inner turmoil.

Mercury recounted the entire story of Black Nest Town to the old dean.

And it focuses on the "god" who can cause "cognitive distortion," "physical distortion," and "time distortion."

He spoke with such conviction, as if he had witnessed it himself.

"Forehead……"

"Of course I've never seen it, I've only heard about it."

"Who told you that?" the old dean asked.

"My friend."

"..."

Seeing that the brat didn't want to talk, the old dean didn't ask any more questions.

It's good to have some secrets; everyone has secrets.

"Black Nest Town...?"

After a moment of contemplation, the old dean said in a deep voice, "You should try not to use this ability. According to what you said, I suspect that the so-called 'god' has the ability to corrupt."

Although I don't know why you gained this ability, it might be a trap. Don't use it again until you figure it out.

"Okay." Mercury nodded readily.

He then demonstrated another of his abilities.

The power known as the King of Salt.

In an instant, everything touched by the hands, or more precisely, by the skin, turned into tiny grains of salt.

The old dean's gaze fell on the coffee table that had turned into salt grains, and his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

"Salt..." he repeated softly.

"It's not dissolving, it's not corroding, it's transforming. The things you touched have turned into salt."

Mercury nodded: "As long as I subjectively want to do this, the contact surface will be 'salinated,' the area is not large, but... it is undefendable."

Metal, wood, stone, even living things—anything I touch, I can turn into salt.

"Is there a story behind this ability?"

Mercury shook his head and said, "This ability is a secret. I want to know how to develop it, or in what direction."

He didn't consider himself a fool; he even had some cleverness.

But there's still a gap between them and those with top-tier intelligence.

If conditions allowed, he would even have considered kidnapping some scientists to devise a professional plan specifically for him.

Just like with fitness, you always need a coach to help you create a fitness plan.

This isn't a fantasy novel, so there's no such thing as enlightenment.

Having a set of training methods or development directions from scientists in the early stages is always better than figuring it out on your own.

Whether it can be transformed into some insincere abilities later on depends on how strong the abilities given by Mother Earth are.

The old dean slowly closed his eyes, as if recalling some distant archives.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, his gaze sharp as a knife: "Have you ever tried using it on a person?"

"No," Mercury shook his head.

He only caught frogs and insects for experiments on the way here.

It has never been used on humans.

"Can you sense the salt in the distance? Or control it remotely?"

"Not at the moment."

"Now? That means you haven't had this ability for very long."

The image of two monsters fighting instantly flashed through the old dean's mind.

Mercury, on the other hand, was like a little guy who snatched two of the powers from the fire.

Of course, this was just the old dean's guess based on Mercury's personality, and there was no substantial evidence.

"Does this ability have a name?"

"The King of Salt"

Upon hearing this, the old dean stood up, and the rattan chair creaked slightly.

"The 'King of Salt'..." the old dean said in a low voice, "This is not the ability to control salt. Perhaps you can control it in the future, but right now it is more like an extreme manifestation of 'matter rewriting'."

It's not corrosion, nor decomposition; you're using some unknowable rule to 'define' the essence of matter as salt.

This is a distortion of reality, at least in its current outward appearance.

Mercury's pupils constricted slightly.

He had never thought about it from this perspective.

In his view, this was just a superpower given to him by his mother, Earth, just like that system panel.

Just develop it step by step, like an anime character.

But the old dean's words pushed it to another dimension.

It's not destruction, it's rewriting!

"Have you ever wondered why it's 'salt'?" the old dean suddenly asked.

"Um?"

"Why not iron, not carbon, not water? Why salt of all people?"

Mercury paused for a moment, then shook his head decisively.

"Salt has never been just a seasoning in human civilization." The old dean walked to the bookshelf and pulled out a yellowed old book.

"In the East, the first person to discover salt was called the Salt Master, a tribal leader under the Yan Emperor Shennong."

In the West, it is a symbol of preservation, a testament to contracts, and a medium of purification.

In many ancient religions, sprinkling salt signifies exorcising evil, sealing, and severing karmic ties.

In ancient Greek mythology, the enduring friendship and wisdom of the rock-dwelling rivals were considered a gift from Poseidon, the god of the sea. Salt was used in sacrifices to symbolize purity and eternity.

"Grandpa, do you mean you want me to develop in the direction of exorcism?"

The old dean shook his head.

"No, I'm not asking you to become an exorcist."

Closing the book, the old dean gently ran his fingertips over the faded text on the cover—"The Symbolic Significance of Salt in Civilization."

"What I'm trying to tell you is that what you're touching may not be salt itself, but rather a fragment of some kind of 'authority'."

"Perhaps you should try it and see if your salt can cause harm to some strange things, or just simple physical damage. That's important."

Ordinary salt cannot ward off evil spirits.

The old dean turned around and looked directly into Mercury's eyes.

"You didn't name it 'King of Salt,' did you?"

He nodded.

"That's right. This kind of naming is like ancient emperors receiving their mandate from heaven, and their names are revealed by themselves."

Mercury's breath hitched.

He never really thought about it deeply.

The system panel coldly displayed "Ability: King of Salt," and he accepted it without a second thought.

I never thought to delve into the meaning of this name.

"Salt, your ability appears to be turning matter into salt, but its true nature is still open to discussion."

Next, the former dean gave a development strategy.

"The first step is control: the scope of control, the depth of control, and the objects of control."

You can try practicing salting only the surface of an object, or only salting specific components, such as turning only the cellulose in wood into salt while leaving the structure intact.

Mercury seemed to be deep in thought.

"The second step is perception."

"Since you can rewrite matter, can you also perceive the 'state' of matter? Try closing your eyes and 'feel' the presence of salt."

The distant sea? The underground salt layer? The electrolytes in the human body? Only if you can perceive them can you talk about 'summoning' or 'manipulating' them.

This idea is a bit fantastical, but superpowers are inherently unscientific, so the old dean made this suggestion based on his knowledge.

What follows is the main attraction of the fantasy genre.

The old dean paused, then suddenly lowered his voice: "The third step... understanding the meaning of 'King'."

"Since the name 'King of Salt' appeared out of nowhere, then you are not the one who 'uses' salt, but the 'King of Salt'."

The king is not a user of tools, but a rule maker.

Your current "salinization" is like wildly hacking away with a knife.

But a true 'king' should be one who commands.

……

……

……

(The old director is from Edogawa Ranpo's Ijinkan manga.)