The cross-dressing master in the world of Detective Conan

Chapter 77 Reflections on Power and Humanity

"Xiao Lan, let's go take a shower together. Let me check your figure first to see if it meets the requirements."

After Kaoru Kazama left, only Sonoko Suzuki, Ran, and Conan remained in the living room. Her older sister, Ayako Suzuki, went to the kitchen to prepare a late-night snack.

"Yuan, Yuanzi, what are you talking about? What do you mean by 'putting a check on Shin's behalf'? What does this have to do with him?"

Xiao Lan's face was flushed red, like a steamed crab, and her hands were waving around haphazardly, which gave her a uniquely cute appearance.

Then look at Conan. As soon as he heard Sonoko say those words, his face slowly turned red, and his eyes gradually became glazed over, as if he was imagining something. Then, blood gushed out of his nose with a "pfft".

"Conan, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Seeing Conan tightly covering his mouth and nose, looking as if he wanted to strangle himself, Ran hurriedly asked with concern, but there was a hint of deliberateness in her question. After all, it was thanks to Conan's action that she was able to escape from that awkward conversation.

"I bet this kid is just getting excited about your body."

The prophetic emperor, Yuan, inadvertently discovered the truth: the seven-year-old body contained the soul of a seventeen-year-old, and a precocious one at that. Such a reaction was to be expected.

"Sonoko, don't talk nonsense. How could that be? He's only seven years old. Maybe the air conditioner is set too high."

Ran denied Sonoko's words while tenderly hugging Conan and checking him over, giving Conan another taste of what facial cleanser is like.

"Um, Sister Xiaolan, I'm fine, don't worry, I just feel a little hot."

Conan finally realized what was happening, or rather, he struggled to regain his senses amidst the combined pleasure of his own fantasies and Ran's face wash.

Seeing Conan like this, it's hard to imagine whether he can maintain his integrity if he is seduced by a beautiful female suspect in the future. Although he is precocious, he is still too young after all.

At this moment, Kaoru Kazama was not actually asleep. With a lot of doubts in her mind, how could she possibly fall asleep peacefully? Besides, it was only a little past eight o'clock, and it was still too early to go to sleep. She just lay quietly in bed with her eyes closed to rest.

It's that time of the month again for me to reflect on life. Maybe it's because I've become a cross-dresser, but there are always a few days each month when I can take some time out of my busy work and life to clear my head and think about life.

Of course, he wouldn't experience any physical discomfort, since he was essentially still a man, even though he appeared to be a woman. He couldn't change that, and he even felt a secret sense of satisfaction. Humans always have a certain degree of narcissism; who doesn't like to look good?

Even if you ask those slovenly homeless people on the street, they would prefer to be dressed in a suit, looking like a respectable beast, rather than in rags and with a scruffy beard.

"Host, this mission may encounter some unforeseen changes. Please be mentally prepared to avoid uncontrollable situations!"

A long-awaited system notification sounded in Kazama Kaoru's mind. He was surprised and a little confused. He sensed that Takahashi was behaving strangely. There was something wrong with this person. However, it was rare for the system to give him a notification.

"It seems like you haven't issued any missions lately. Could it be that the last mission is that so-called 'spread the glory of cross-dressing masters to the world' nonsense mission?"

"Host, please do not call the tasks that this system has carefully planned and issued nonsense. This is an insult to the intelligence of this system and to your weak judgment."

"What you're saying sounds very sophisticated, but I really don't understand the meaning of your main quest. Are you asking me to change the way people in the Detective Conan world perceive cross-dressing men?"

Kazama Kaoru curled his lip. He felt that it couldn't possibly be something so aimless. As a system, it should consider input and return. There's no such thing as a free lunch, not even a cheat system. Why would the other party wholeheartedly help you without taking any reward?

Even if the system itself has no intention, Kazama Kaoru believes that the developers of those systems would not do something so easy as to give away freebies. The resources and energy required to develop such a cheat system must be considerable.

"System, although I really want to tell you my true intentions, you don't have the authority to access that level of information yet. So, for your safety, I advise you not to know."

Although his tone remained calm, Kaoru Kazama detected a hint of warning in it. It seemed that the system was indeed hiding a lot of things, which explained the silence that had occurred earlier. It appeared that the system had been doing a lot of things in secret.

"In short, we're in this together now. If I had any ill intentions towards you, I would have done it when you first transmigrated. After all, you were just an ordinary person back then, and you didn't know anything about the situation. With just a little manipulation of cause and effect, you would have died mysteriously for some inexplicable reason, just like those people who died in the story, wouldn't you?"

Upon hearing this, Kaoru Kazama smiled faintly. It wasn't that he couldn't understand the system's threatening meaning; he smiled not because he was terrified, but because he knew the system had something in mind, so there was no need to be arrogant.

The most terrifying people are never those who have clear goals and use various means to achieve them, but rather those who seem to have no needs or intentions, and who appear to be selfless, because you can never figure out what they really want.

"So, host, you don't need to feel uneasy. We will be on the same side, and that will not change. It was a foregone conclusion from the moment I bound myself to you, and I am powerless to change that. Therefore, as a community of shared interests, we have a great need to cooperate."

The system's voice remained calm, but unlike before, it finally revealed some purpose and intention, which reassured Kazama Kaoru quite a bit. He wasn't naive; at least he couldn't understand what benefit the system bound to him would gain if he died.

Based on this perspective, the system's intention is simply to use its identity to achieve certain goals. Of course, Kaoru Kazama still doesn't know what those goals are, but as long as they don't harm him, he won't interfere with anything else.

As long as his peaceful life is not disturbed, everything is fine. Having power is a wonderful but also terrifying thing, because it will gradually make you feel that you are invincible, thus ignoring life. Kazama Kaoru has been trying to restrain the development and growth of this kind of thought.

The moment he gained Misaka Mikoto's abilities, he felt like a god, wielding immense power over lightning and magnetic fields. He could sense that if he wanted, he could even alter the Earth's magnetic field and hold the lives of all living beings in the palm of his hand.

This feeling of controlling everything is wonderful, but it's also easy to lose yourself. At least for a moment when he had great power, he had a slight contempt for humanity.

At that moment, he felt he could understand the thoughts of those who called humans reptiles, inferior beings. After all, they were on different levels, so there was no need for communication or exchange.

Just like when humans slaughter animals, they don't ask if the animals are willing. The law of nature, the survival of the fittest, is actually another form of bullying the weak and fearing the strong, submitting to the strong and bullying the weak. This phenomenon is probably deeply engraved in the bones of all living beings. When Kazama Kaoru possessed that kind of powerful ability, this idea was amplified to a very terrifying degree.

That's why Kaoru Kazama always dresses as Misaka Mikoto and lives a seemingly peaceful life in the city, all to suppress those thoughts. There are beings stronger than him, and he doesn't want to become one of those mindless villains one day.

Unbeknownst to her, the rain outside had stopped, and Kazama Kaoru's thoughts also ceased. The mental burden miraculously disappeared, along with the system's presence. It was as if, after that communication with Kazama Kaoru, it had once again deeply concealed itself, just like before.

The only difference was that, before Kaoru Kazama's eyes, the system's taskbar reappeared after a long absence, and the task name on it was—

"Subduing Dunzi"

Chapter 78 The Scientific Explanation of Ghosts

"Subduing Dunzi"

This task silenced Kazama Kaoru. He wouldn't have been surprised if the task had asked him to find out why the bandaged monster had become stronger, or to uncover the hidden mastermind behind it all.

Given the nature of this system, he could even understand if it made him do something shameless or outrageous. After all, the system had already forced him to wear women's clothing, so he had long since given up on any morals. Why would he care about anything else?

But the mission that was issued was to subdue Atsuko. Atsuko was someone that the film club members kept secret. In fact, it was because Ikeda Chikako stole someone else's work and became a famous young playwright that she eventually hanged herself in despair.

To be honest, this is tantamount to ruining someone's future. In his previous life, when he watched anime, he thought this woman was really too ruthless to do such a thing to her classmate, who was also a club member.

Based on this psychological impact, Kaoru Kazama can probably guess why such a mission was issued. Obviously, Atsuko is very likely not dead, and may even be in the same location as them at this moment.

He immediately focused his suspicions on the strange fat man. When he fought him before, no matter how hard he hit him, he couldn't knock him unconscious, and even his electric shocks were ineffective. He began to guess that this was clearly not something a normal human could do.

"Could it be that I haven't transmigrated into an ordinary Conan world, but a modified version of Conan world with all sorts of monsters and demons?"

Kazama Kaoru's imagination has been completely unleashed; this task from the system has sparked endless wild thoughts in him.

"Host, you can have your imagination, but don't go too far. The situation you're imagining doesn't exist. Dunzi is indeed dead, and there's no such thing as a vengeful spirit."

"Then why did you even issue a quest to subdue Dunzi? Isn't that clearly misleading me?"

Kazama Kaoru unceremoniously shifted the blame to the system, without giving a second thought to the problem of her overactive imagination.

"Actually, it's not entirely true that Dunzi doesn't exist. The fat guy's situation is quite special right now. He's constantly being interfered with by a specific kind of radiation vibration. This interference can replace his thinking when necessary, and normally it helps him shield himself from pain, fatigue, and other negative states. He's practically a mini-superman, but the methods he uses are quite ruthless."

It's clear that the system is very confident, which is why it looks down on such methods.

But Kaoru Kazama is different. He worked himself to the bone fighting that bandaged monster, but the system finished him off with just a few words. Isn't that a disregard for his hard work?

"That specific radiation vibration is equivalent to a magnetic field. Putting aside other things, according to your human explanation, this can indeed be regarded as the soul of that person named Dunzi. However, even if this magnetic field affects the bandaged monster's mind, it does not mean that Dunzi's soul has attached itself to the bandaged monster's body. Please remember this point, host."

"I see. So, while it seems like the spirit resembling Dunzi is causing trouble, the main culprit is actually that fat guy, right?"

Kazama Kaoru wasn't stupid; he just hadn't been exposed to the theories in this area. After listening to the system's long-winded explanation, he could roughly understand what he was going to face—a mutated, strapped-up monster, who would at most undergo a drastic personality change.

Actually, Kaoru Kazama didn't really have a real connection to ghosts, not because he was too thick-skinned, but because he couldn't imagine what kind of chemical reaction would occur if ghosts appeared in the Conan world, a world that leans towards reality and rarely has demons and monsters.

Could it be that the entire staff of the Blacksmith Company will eventually be possessed by ghosts, becoming extremely difficult to deal with, leading to the annihilation of Conan's team and the collapse of the Conan world?

"Hehe, if the Conan world collapses, you'll be finished too, host. I don't have the ability to take you on a time-space transfer."

The system seems unusually talkative today, perhaps because it was holding back its aloofness for a while. Ever since Kazama Kaoru obtained this system, it seems to have become quite talkative, always taking pleasure in teasing Kazama Kaoru from time to time.

"Knock knock knock, Sister Xiaoxun, are you asleep?"

Kaoru Kazama, who was having a great chat with the system in his mind, suddenly heard a knock on the door, followed by Ran's voice.

"Not yet, has something happened?"

"It's nothing much, just that Sonoko's older sister made some snacks and brewed some black tea, and asked if we wanted to have some?"

Most young girls would probably be interested in this, maybe even have some snacks, but Kaoru Kazama decided to go anyway in order to get a closer look at the bandaged monster.

He sprang off the bed with a somersault and went to the door to open it for Xiaolan.

"Oh, Sister Xun, so you weren't sleeping?"

Looking at the energetic Kazama Kaoru, Ran couldn't help but feel a little confused. It was almost eleven o'clock, and she thought Kazama Kaoru was already asleep.

"Because I'm a bit picky about sleeping in a bed, I haven't fallen asleep yet. Let's go downstairs and get something to eat. Someone should come up to pick us up tomorrow."

Kaoru Kazama, coming downstairs, was not surprised to find that Conan hadn't gone to sleep either. Sometimes Ran was quite strange; she was very strict with Conan in every aspect, clearly treating him like a child, but when it came to staying up late, even though most parents wouldn't allow their children to stay up so late, Ran seemed not to notice and ignored it.

"Hey, isn't this Conan? Why aren't you resting yet? It's not good for kids to stay up so late."

Kazama Kaoru suspected that Ran might also have a vague feeling about Conan's true identity, which was why she wanted him to stay with her as much as possible. After all, if someone can't sleep at night, something must have happened. Even if Ran is a high school girl and a karate expert, it's understandable that she would be scared.

"Oh, it's because he was a little hungry, so I brought him down to get something to eat."

"I remember you two were in the same room, Xiaolan. You didn't sleep with this kid, did you?"

Kazama Kaoru vaguely recalled this part of the story, and it seemed that Conan actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

"Well, this is all because of Conan. Because of what happened, he kept saying he was scared. After all, he's still a child. I had no choice but to sleep with him."

Conan's signature deadpan expression reappeared. He had seen his childhood friend's ability to fabricate stories and shift blame back in second grade, so there was nothing strange about it; he was simply used to it.

Kazama Kaoru glanced at the corner of the wall and saw Takahashi, who was tied up tightly. From an angle that others couldn't see, three tomoe slowly rotated in Kazama Kaoru's pupils, and his originally dark eyes slowly turned into a bright red.

Fortunately, the people here cannot sense chakra, otherwise the extremely ominous chakra brought by activating the Sharingan would definitely be noticed.

Chapter 79 Curious Kaoru Kazama

At that moment, Kaoru Kazama had his back to them, so he wasn't afraid of his Sharingan being discovered. He then quietly turned his head towards Takahashi.

After being caught, this kid only said a few words to Chikako Ikeda, and then sat in the corner with his eyes closed, not saying a word, and it was unclear what he was planning.

"Tsk tsk, it seems the Sharingan really can't see through that kind of existence. Is it just a magnetic field?"

In any case, Kaoru Kazama's Sharingan couldn't detect anything unusual. Of course, it's also possible that the bandaged monster didn't have any chakra. He just looked like a normal person, except that his cellular energy was slightly more active, like he had taken stimulants.

"Subduing Dunzi? That's a tricky problem. He himself said Dunzi isn't a ghost, so how am I supposed to subdue him? Could Misaka's abilities do it?"

Kazama Kaoru regretted it a little. If he had known he would get into such trouble, he would have brought more outfits. Now that he had been given such a troublesome mission, Misaka Mikoto's abilities were clearly insufficient.

"Host, you don't need to worry. According to the way things are done in your world, every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt its debtor. As long as you can fulfill that Dunzi's wish, you will have completed your mission. You won't need to take care of anything else."

Kazama Kaoru was completely bewildered by the system's words. This was clearly a scheme to help that guy get revenge. Did it mean that after he had gone to great lengths to subdue this bandaged monster, he would be released to continue dismembering Ikeda Chikako?

Putting aside the fact that it would be a waste of effort, even as a police officer, you shouldn't do this!

"It's not as complicated as you think. All you need to do is create an illusion, making this bandaged monster, whose mind is currently being controlled, believe that he has helped Dunzi get revenge."

"To be honest, the dominant thought in his mind right now isn't that chubby guy, but rather that cowardly fat guy. After this ordeal, his mind is easily shaken. It wouldn't be difficult for your Mangekyou Sharingan to create an environment specifically for him."