Solving cases with Detective Conan's science? No, I'm a cultivator!

At Teitan University, it would be quite interesting to become Shinichi Kudo's teacher.

However, he won't do it for too long; at most, he'll only be able to make Shinichi Kudo shrink.

Gin disrupted the timeline with a single blow. By then, being an office worker might mean working every day, all year round...

2-22, Yoneka-cho.

Upon entering Beika Town, Kitagawa Taki immediately sensed its unusual nature—the town's spiritual atmosphere was noticeably stronger than that of other cities.

Professor Agasa's house is an oval building with a large floor area and a modern style.

Completely different in style is the Kudo family home on the left, a two-story classical European-style building.

Professor Agasa opened the door and said, "Taki, I've already tidied up your room."

Kitagawa Taki nodded in thanks: "Thank you, Doctor."

Inside the house, the first floor contains the living room, sitting room, and kitchen, while the staircases leading to the basement and the second floor are spiral-shaped.

Having lived here for a period of time, Kitagawa Taki feels quite familiar with the environment.

Professor Agasa is quite wealthy, but his expenses are high due to his frequent experiments and inventions.

There are several of Professor Agasa's workshops and laboratories in the basement.

Stepping into the former room, the decorations were unremarkable and very simple. The most eye-catching feature was a bookshelf filled with all kinds of books.

Kitagawa Taki glanced at them briefly, noting that detective novels were the most numerous, including the Sherlock Holmes stories, the Hercule Poirot series, Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, and the complete works of Edogawa Ranpo...

This hobby overlaps with that of Kitagawa Taki in his previous life; he also enjoys reading mystery novels and watching TV series, especially the Sherlock Holmes series.

He has read the Sherlock Holmes novels many times and watched many related TV series.

Most interestingly, he also discovered Yusaku Kudo's Dark Night Earl series of novels on the bookshelf.

Yusaku Kudo is a world-renowned mystery novelist in Detective Conan, and Baron Noire is one of his representative works, which Taki Kitagawa is quite interested in.

So, Kitagawa Taki took out the Dark Earl series of novels from the bookshelf and started reading. To his surprise, he became completely engrossed...

------

Over the next two months, Kitagawa Taki took the teacher qualification exam and the driver's license exam.

It's worth mentioning that Japan uses right-hand drive vehicles, so at first, Kitagawa Taki was quite unaccustomed to it, and it took him a while to get used to the traffic rules.

At the same time, he solidified his cultivation at the first level of the Qi Refining stage and practiced three low-level Dao techniques: Fireball Technique, Water Arrow Technique, and Earth Spike Technique.

During this time, he also learned some things about the mystical side of this world.

Japan has many Onmyoji, exorcists, shrine maidens, and so on, as well as many urban legends and yokai tales, but in the past two months he has only seen ordinary ghosts.

He also visited some well-known Onmyoji and exorcists, but he could only sense the spiritual power existing in their flesh and blood. Their so-called magical artifacts were just ordinary stuff.

It's not that only cultivators possess spiritual power; it's just that ordinary people cannot use spiritual power. Only by cultivating techniques to draw qi into the body and absorb spiritual energy into the dantian can one use spiritual power.

While the spiritual power of ordinary people is fixed, it varies in level. The higher the spiritual power, the easier it is for a person to see ghosts.

……

That day, Kitagawa Taki found an old newspaper while tidying up the house.

The information in the newspaper caught his attention.

Kitagawa Taki pointed to the information in the newspaper and asked, "Doctor, have you heard of this island?"

Professor Agasa took the newspaper, glanced at it, and exclaimed, "Ah, it's that American Island! It's said that there's an old lady on the island who ate mermaid flesh and became immortal, so the island is also known as Mermaid Island. It caused quite a stir two years ago!"

Then, changing the subject, he said, "But those are all just scams, mostly gimmicks that Mermaid Island came up with to attract tourists."

Kitagawa Taki retorted, "Eating mermaid flesh and achieving immortality, is this really not Yaobikuni?"

Dr. Agasa laughed and said, "That's just a legend. How could immortality be possible?"

Kitagawa Taki chuckled inwardly. It wouldn't be long before a shrunken Shinichi Kudo appeared before him. That would be very unscientific!

Professor Agasa asked curiously, "Taki, why are you asking this? Are you interested in this island?"

Kitagawa Taki nodded and said, "I want to go and see it, just like a vacation. Doctor, are you coming?"

Dr. Agasa declined, saying, "I won't go. I've made some progress on a research project recently."

"By the way, Taki, if you want to go, you can go in a couple of days. Mermaid Island will be holding the Dugong Festival in two days. It's a pretty famous event."

……

Immortality is one of the highest pursuits of cultivators.

Immortality is relatively easier to achieve; as long as one reaches the Foundation Establishment stage, one can refine the Youth Preservation Pill and achieve eternal youth.

Immortality—that's a legendary realm.

Kitagawa Taki didn't know how long the lifespan was after reaching the Golden Core stage, but it was definitely a long way from immortality.

If it were true that one could achieve immortality by eating mermaids, that would be defying the heavens. Regardless, Kitagawa Taki had to go and see for himself.

Chapter 4, Sherry~

the next day.

Kitagawa Taki has packed his bags and is ready to head to Mermaid Island.

Mermaid Island is located in Wakasa Bay, Fukui Prefecture, and you have to take a ferry to get there.

Kitagawa Taki drove Professor Agasa's Beetle toward the port where he would board the ship.

Because Tokyo is about 500 kilometers away from Fukui Prefecture, Kitagawa Taki had to set off earlier than planned.

Nearly 6 hours later, Kitagawa Taki finally arrived at the port where he boarded the ship.

"I'm so tired!" Kitagawa Taki opened the car door, got out of the car, and stretched.

I checked the time; it was already past 3 p.m.

So, Kitagawa Taki found a small inn nearby and planned to rest for the night before taking a boat to Mermaid Island early the next morning.

The next day.

Kitagawa Taki got up early in the morning, finished breakfast, and hurriedly went to the port to buy tickets and board the ship.

Today is the annual Dugong Festival on Mermaid Island, so many people who have come from far and wide have crowded the harbor.

Kitagawa Taki arrived early and successfully boarded the first ferry.

The ferry sailed slowly across the vast sea. Kitagawa Taki leaned against the railing, gazing at the distant island.

A gentle sea breeze carries a refreshing scent.

Just then, two men and a woman walked together to a spot not far from Kitagawa Taki.

The group spoke in hushed tones, but as a cultivator, Kitagawa Taki's senses were far superior to those of ordinary people, and he heard every word of their conversation.

"Brother, is it really necessary for us to investigate such an absurd rumor?"

The man referred to as "Big Brother" glanced at the other woman but said nothing.

The woman said calmly, "Rumors can also be based on facts."

Upon hearing that someone else was also there to investigate the rumors about Mermaid Island, Kitagawa Taki turned his head and glanced at the three of them.

Two men in black and a young woman.

The man was tall with long silver hair and wore a black top hat, which covered most of his face.

The other man was burly and wore sunglasses and the same black top hat.

The remaining woman was young, stylishly dressed, beautiful, and had short brown hair.

Kitagawa Taki recognized the three of them at a glance based on their obvious features.

Isn't this just like Gin, vodka, and Shiho Miyano?!

Gin's murderous aura was even stronger than that of Shuichi Akai, clearly indicating that he was a ruthless killer.

In comparison, vodka is much weaker.

Kitagawa Taki stared at the group without any attempt to hide it, and the three of them naturally noticed his gaze.

Shiho Miyano glanced at Taki Kitagawa and thought the man was quite handsome and had a good sense of style.

Vodka whispered, "Brother, that kid's been staring at us. Is there something wrong with him?"

Gin said coldly, "Ignore him, he's just an ordinary person."

He had just observed Kitagawa Taki and did not detect the slightest hint of danger.

Vodka nodded and said, "I thought that kid looked like a pretty boy."

After several months of recuperation, Kitagawa Taki has become much fairer.

Upon hearing Vodka's words, he looked away, his face full of exasperation.

'I'm just a little fairer and a little more handsome than you, how come I'm a pretty boy?'

I silently made a mental note about the vodka.

Kitagawa Taki was not surprised that these three people would be here.

It's quite normal that the distillery would come to this island, which is suspected to have elderly people who can live forever, to investigate, since they seem to be researching elixirs of immortality.

Several tens of minutes later, the ferry finally docked at Mermaid Island.

Shiho Miyano walked ahead, with Gin and Vodka following closely behind.

Kitagawa Taki followed the group at a distance. When he saw Vodka finally step onto the ground, he used his Earth Spike Technique to trip Vodka with a small earth spike.

"Ouch—" Vodka fell face-first into the mud, making quite a commotion, and everyone around him couldn't help but look at him.

Vodka quickly got up, dusted off his clothes, and wiped his face with a handkerchief, only to find that his chin was scraped.

Gin glanced at Vodka silently, then walked away without looking back.

Vodka saw his older brother leave and quickly followed, feeling quite annoyed. He clearly felt like he had kicked something, but when he looked down to check, he couldn't see anything, making him look foolish in front of his older brother for no reason.

As a high-ranking executive at the distillery, Vodka was quite skilled, so how could he trip and fall while walking?

Shiho Miyano looked back and felt a little strange. Although the ground was a dirt road, it was quite flat. How could such a big person fall on flat ground?