Conan Rick's Investigator

Koizumi Hongzi cleared her throat and said solemnly, "A voodoo doll is a medium of evil magic within voodoo. It's often used in rituals of revenge, hatred, and harm."

"There are many ways to make them. Straw, paper, cloth, etc. all have the same effect. However, there are also voodoo dolls made from parts of living people. The curse effect and magic power of such voodoo dolls are stronger."

"This kind of voodoo doll has the victim's soul trapped inside it, and requires a life sacrifice every once in a while to prevent the soul from going to hell."

"Or the voodoo doll will take the evil-minded person to hell, and resurrect another soul in the voodoo doll. As long as they wait for the right body, they can reshape their life..."

"In short, voodoo dolls are an extremely evil practice, and voodoo itself is an evil religious sect."

"You should know this. We've encountered this before..."

After Koizumi Hongzi's reminder, Qin Zhibo's brain also recalled those somewhat distant memories.

He once solved some problems for the popular actress Yoko Okino.

During that period, Yoko Okino had very bad luck. She fell down the stairs, the ceiling fell off while she was going to the toilet, and a flower pot fell from the building while she was walking on the side of the road, leaving her body covered in injuries.

It was Koizumi Akako who noticed something was wrong with her and suggested going to her house to take a look. Only then did they discover the magic circle left by Okino Yoko's ex-boyfriend with fluorescent paint before he committed suicide.

After searching for information, it was determined that this magic circle was a voodoo spell originating from voodoo.

As long as you grab the target's hair when they die, they will be affected by this technique no matter where they are.

Since her ex-boyfriend sacrificed his life, Yoko Okino also had to pay the price with her life.

However, this process is not instant death, but a period of torture. Maybe one day of bad luck will cost Yoko Okino her life.

Finally, Koizumi Akako used magic to create a lethal potion and asked her agent to give it to Okino Yoko to drink.

When two different systems of power exist in the same body, they will compete with each other for the power to kill the target, which is like fighting poison with poison.

"Is that the voodoo? The one about Yoko Okino's ex-boyfriend..."

"You finally remembered it. It hasn't been that long..." Koizumi Hongzi complained about Qin Zhibo's memory.

But in fact, for Qin Zhibo, that incident happened a long time ago.

Koizumi Hongzi continued, "Voodoo originated in West Africa. It is a primitive religion that blends ancestor worship, animism, and spiritualism. The word 'Voodoo' means 'soul' in the Fang language."

"That's why most voodoo spells revolve around spirits."

"Besides voodoo dolls, there's also something called a 'resurrected corpse,' which is also a specialty of voodoo. It can be done by giving people pufferfish toxin, putting them into a state of suspended animation. They become unconscious and insensible, yet able to work and be controlled by their masters."

Koizumi Akako was like a teacher who offered after-school activities to students, and she also mentioned "resurrected corpses".

However, Qin Zhibo was more concerned about voodoo spells at this time.

"Voodoo spells can curse others from an infinite distance. So is there any voodoo spell that can kill someone instantly without leaving any trace?"

"Something like a heart attack..."

Koizumi Hongzi on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, then said weakly, "How should I know?"

"But maybe there will be..."

Qin Zhibo thought about it and felt that if Ding Jin Fangxiong died from a voodoo curse, then everything would make much more sense.

Ding Jin Fangxiong expressed his wish to the "Curse of the Dead", and the people of "Curse of the Dead" provided him with the identity of his enemy and the method of making a voodoo doll.

However, when Ding Jin Fangxiong was caught by the police, he was killed by the people who were "cursed by the dead" using voodoo spells to prevent the police from tracing them by following the clues.

There is also Yoko Okino's ex-boyfriend, the channel through which he obtained the voodoo spell should also be the "Curse of the Dead".

Qin Zhibo looked at the chat history on the computer screen and saw the time was midnight.

It seems that the only way is to log in to this website in person at midnight.

However, before midnight, Qin Zhibo still has 4 hours to do other things.

Qin Zhibo dealt with the food waste on the table, pulled up the blinds on the second floor, and summoned his [Standard].

There are no childish lines or cool lighting effects.

The dark stand user sneaked out from Qin Zhibo's body and stood behind Qin Zhibo.

The main function of this stand user is to learn. Qin Zhibo summoned it for the purpose of learning.

But before that, Qin Zhibo had an idea to verify.

The Stand User cannot be seen in the mirror, which means that other people cannot see the Stand User.

However, the actions taken by the Stand User can indeed have an impact on real objects, but these actions are often slow and clumsy.

Therefore, Qin Zhibo guessed that the stand user should be a semi-material thing between matter and non-matter, or an energy body or something like that.

Just like the twin skyscrapers that encountered Roinger, it is usually invisible to the human eye.

If this is the case, is there any way for a Stand User to sneak into a certain body and control its actions?

It just so happened that there was something in Qin Zhibo's prop bar that could be called a "body" - a puppet doll.

Qin Zhibo summoned a puppet, and a puppet that looked exactly like Qin Zhibo stood beside him with its butt sticking out.

Until now, Qin Zhibo has never studied this thing seriously.

Just touch it with your fingers, and the texture of the fabric and the touch of the skin feel like a real person.

It's just that this thing can't move, it can only stand there like a fool, making humans or other animals unable to resist the urge to hammer it.

"If you weren't so handsome, I wouldn't be able to help but hit you."

Qin Zhibo complained to the speechless puppet, then began to control the stand user and walked towards the puppet.

When the two touched each other, an incredible scene happened.

The Stand User's pitch-black body seeped into the puppet's body like ink, creating a layer of black ripples on the surface.

Immediately afterwards, the black color sank beneath the body surface, and the entire Stand user completely disappeared.

However, from the status of the props in the prop bar, Qin Zhibo knew that the stand user had not been taken back, but existed in the body of the puppet.

"go ahead."

The puppet took a step forward.

"Back off."

The puppet took a step back.

In fact, Qin Zhibo does not need to use words to command the stand user, he just needs to express his thoughts silently in his heart.

After mastering the skills a little, Qin Zhibo ordered the stand-in to control the puppet to perform more complex movements.

"Get me a glass of water."

The Stand user walked to the table, poured the water from the kettle into the cup, and then brought the cup to Qin Zhibo.

Although the movement was a bit awkward and the hands and feet looked like they had just grown out, at least it was usable.

It is difficult for a Stand user to complete actions alone, and slightly more complex actions, such as pouring water, are almost impossible to complete.

A Stand User can only become proficient in his movements when he starts learning a certain skill.

But why is it so much easier to perform the movements alone after putting on the puppet?

Qin Zhibo thought about it and felt that the original setting of the Stand User should never change, and its characteristics were zero strength and speed.

Perhaps, the combination of Stand User + Puppet makes use of the Stand User's high growth potential?

Qin Zhibo browsed through the skills he had so far. If a stand user wanted to learn something, he could only choose one of these skills to learn.

Suddenly, a skill came into view——

Arts and Crafts (Puppetry)

Qin Zhibo acquired this skill at the Spider House in Puppet Ridge, Tottori Prefecture.

The Takeda family there is a family that makes puppets. The dead leader of the Takeda family dropped this skill, which allows one to make and control puppets.

However, Qin Zhibo felt that this skill was useless and had never been specially trained in it, so he put it aside.

Could it be that this skill is working?

"Pour the water from the cup into the toilet, then pour another cup of water."

This time, Qin Zhibo gave a more complicated command and asked the substitute to execute it.

I saw the puppet doll that looked like me slowly pick up the cup of water and walk into the toilet, and I heard a "splashing" sound from inside.

Coming out with an empty cup, the puppet picked up the kettle and poured some water into it.

After completing this series of actions, Qin Zhibo watched his skill proficiency in Arts and Crafts (Puppet) jump up.

Proficiency +1

Now Qin Zhibo can be sure that the Stand User is not acting alone, but this process is regarded as a kind of "learning".

The Stand User is the embodiment of his own will, and the puppet is a kind of puppet, so the Stand User is learning puppetry with the help of the puppet.

This process just takes advantage of the Stand User's high growth potential in learning, while ignoring the Stand User's own lack of mobility.

"I really don't want to poke~"

This wonderful coincidence made Qin Zhibo a little excited, because the significance of this discovery was so great.

Originally, the Stand User was just a learning machine and could do nothing but study.

But now, as long as there is a puppet as the body of the Stand User, he can use the Stand User's learning and growth to do something.

Theoretically speaking, as long as one's puppetry proficiency level is high enough, the Stand User's strength and agility will achieve double A in strength and speed in another sense!

As expected, high growth attributes are the key!

However, the puppet also has a disadvantage, that is, the puppet has a health bar. Once the health bar is emptied, it will enter a 7-day cooling period.

Qin Zhibo had never calculated how resistant the puppet was to beatings, but it had already "died" three times.

Once he was bitten to death by a spider in a spider's nest in Kuulei Ridge, Tottori Prefecture, once he was bitten to death by the mountain bear Jubei, and the most recent time he was scratched to death by Luo Yinger in the Twin Towers.

It can also be said that the puppet saved Qin Zhibo's life three times.

Qin Zhibo patted his brother's shoulder and put the puppet back into the system.

As the puppet disappeared, the Stand user remained in place as if filtered out by filter paper.

Although puppetry is very effective for the combination of [Standard User + Puppet Doll], Qin Zhibo does not plan to let it practice this tonight.

In fact, ever since I came back from the United States, the publishing house has been urging me to release the revealing chapter of "At the Mountains of Madness".

To be honest, Qin Zhibo is not short of money now. If he really writes novels to make money - it's okay, but there is no need.

But with a Stand User, everything is different.

This thing can completely write a book for itself. After all, its own skills and the stand user's skills are shared when learning.

Qin Zhibo "sacrificed" the lives of three writers and acquired level 3 art and craft (writing). This level is enough for a stand user to complete a novel of decent quality.

Of course, the theme of the novel still has to follow Qin Zhibo's ideas, just like a composition with a given topic.

Qin Zhibo gave the boss chair to the stand-in, and took out paper and pen from the drawer and placed them on the table.

"Just write about a mountain of madness..."

The Stand user skillfully picked up the ballpoint pen on the table and began to write.

Target Skills: Arts and Crafts (Writing)

【Start learning】

[Learning...]

The topic Qin Zhibo gave was "Crazy Mountains", and sure enough, the stand user wrote the title "Crazy Mountains" at the beginning of the paper.

It’s just that the Stand user’s handwriting is very ugly and twisted like a chicken claw. It’s good enough that you can understand it.

Qin Zhibo guessed that this was probably because he lacked a skill in calligraphy, which led to the Stand's handwriting being so ugly.

Unable to find the dying calligrapher, Qin Zhibo could only make do with it and wait for the substitute to finish writing before printing it out.

Fortunately, the content written by the Stand User was indeed At the Mountains of Madness, which was similar to what Qin Zhibo had inquired from Danvers in Arkham Asylum in the United States.

This is not a simple storytelling, but contains some rhetorical techniques and artistic processing, which is enough to be called a novel story.

The writing level of level 3 is indeed not a lie.

Qin Zhibo nodded with assurance and walked to the chair opposite the desk and sat down.

Just now, Qin Zhibo not only took out paper and pen, but also took out "Kyousuke Sengen's Notes" from the drawer.