The Corpse Collector In Conan

25: AS A MATURE PSYCHIC

One of the most common tasks that detective agencies receive is "finding lost pets."

These cats are all caught after receiving the commission.

Since Jiang Xia came, there have indeed been more guests at the Amuro Detective Agency.

However, the work he received was still finding cats and dogs, as well as keeping an eye on mistresses.

*****

Jiang Xia did not hand over the case as he told Amuro.

He wanted to keep building his reputation and network.

Therefore, the commission to find pets was transferred to his group of shady friends.

At first glance, these delinquents looked cool and busy. 

But in reality, they often felt bored.

Racing cars and playing video games every day can get tiresome. 

So many of their gatherings were just a group of people getting together, looking fierce for a while, and then going their separate ways when the time was up.

But with the new and exciting task of finding cats and dogs, their otherwise boring walks around the streets suddenly became interesting.

Not to mention the generous pay.

No one would refuse money, and delinquents also have to make a living.

If their motorcycles break down, they need repairs. If their hairstyles are messy, they need to get them done. 

The owner of the game arcade won't let them play for free either... In short, they worked extra hard.

*****

However, Jiang Xia did not set the delivery point for the pets at the detective agency.

Because he still remembered the background he had made up when he came to apply for a job with Amuro.

What kind of hooligan would come to the store where he worked to vandalize it...

If one day, innocent delinquents came to deliver a cat but were misunderstood by Amuro as intending to vandalize the store... that would be a big problem.

*****

So the cats and dogs that were found will be directly sent to Jiangxia's home, and then he will take them to the office. 

It's easy to handle the commission for pets.

But for the case of monitoring the mistress, it involves customer privacy, so Jiangxia cannot outsource it and can only do it himself.

Luckily, he has been very idle lately.

Moreover, if he goes out more often, he may come across a murder case.

*****

Jiangxia carried the cat and entered the office, then called the client to come and pick it up.

After sending off several cats, Jiangxia waited for the clients to bring him murder cases.

Unfortunately, he received only commissions for finding lost pets.

Jiangxia sighed as he stared at the stack of cat and dog photos he had just received. 

Perhaps the efficiency of the underworld in finding pets was too high, and word of mouth had begun to spread among the clients.

*****

Unable to receive any good cases, Jiangxia looked at the commission list and planned to go out in the afternoon to secretly take photos of the mistress.

However, before he had a chance to go out, Amuro Tooru suddenly sent him a message.

Jiangxia opened it and found that it was from the part-time job emperor who had some urgent business to attend to. 

So he asked Jiangxia to take over his part-time job for today - delivering packages.

One must accept the work given by the boss.

Only by giving and taking can a harmonious and stable relationship be established.

*****

Jiangxia got up and went out.

As he closed the door of the office, he hung a reservation book on the door and looked forward to it:

"You are already a mature book. You need to learn how to attract clients with murderous intentions."

A gust of wind blew by, and the book opened and then closed again.

Jiangxia took it as a nod.

*****

Following the address given by Amuro Tooru, Jiangxia found the logistics company, picked up the map and cargo list, and a car.

With a car full of goods, he delivered them for several hours.

This part-time job was not difficult.

But during the process, Jiangxia's mood continued to decline.

Every customer who signed for the package was very ordinary: there was no murderous intent, no ghosts, and they did not seem to be threatened with their lives.

In the evening, after delivering the last package, Jiangxia returned to the car, feeling down.

He was about to return to the company to report his work.

However, at this moment, the child ghost sleeping on his shoulder suddenly woke up and poked him excitedly.

Jiangxia was stunned.

He listened to the muttering of the child ghost and got off the car, following the direction pointed out by the child ghost and turning a few corners.

After passing through a dark and gloomy alley, he stopped and saw a gloomy western-style building on his right.

The building had several floors and a large courtyard, but it had not been well maintained. 

The whole house was gloomy, and the courtyard was full of weeds, with ivy growing wildly on the walls.

Combined with today's gloomy weather, at first glance, only one word could accurately describe it.

—Haunted house.

*****

Jiang Xia walked to the gate of the courtyard and looked inside through the rusty iron fence.

Then he was surprised to find two people lying in the messy grass in the yard.

They were two children, about six or seven years old. 

Both of them had their eyes closed, but their chests were slightly moving, indicating that they were not dead but just passed out.

These two children had somewhat strange body shapes: one was as fat as a triangular rice ball, and the other was as thin as a pole.

This gave Jiang Xia a strong sense of déjà vu. 

He quickly thought of two people: Conan's classmates, Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya and Genta Kojima.

These two, along with Ayumi Yoshida, a little girl, and the strategist Conan, formed the "Detective Boys" of Teitan Elementary School.

Jiang Xia: "..." 

Since Mitsuhiko and Genta were lying here, today was probably the first collective activity of the Detective Boys:

Exploring the haunted house.

***** 

Jiang Xia shifted his gaze away from the two children and looked up at the Western-style building, which had been vacant for several years.

It was said that a brutal murder had occurred here, and since then, wild beast-like roars could often be heard from the house, making it very famous in the area.

*****

But in fact, Jiang Xia's false "predictive ability" told him that there were no ghosts here, only a mother and son hiding here.

Five years ago, the male owner of this western-style building was angrily scolding his son, but was beaten to death by his son with a headshot.

After discovering this, the mother disguised the crime scene as a "robbery and murder" and then hid in an underground secret room with her son, planning to wait out the prosecution period before returning to society.

Later, the son gradually could not stand the life of a mouse and wanted to surrender, but the mother did not agree. 

She locked her son in the dungeon and insisted on waiting for the end of the prosecution period.

The "roaring wind" heard by the nearby people was actually the son's sad roar from underground.

*****

Today, the four first-graders of elementary school from the "Junior Detective Club" broke in without permission, ready to conduct a "haunted house adventure", unaware of the situation. 

Thinking of this, Jiang Xia looked at the two children in the courtyard from behind the gate. 

At present, it seems that the Junior Detective Club's adventure is coming to an end.

Genta and Matsuhiko were knocked out and thrown into the yard. 

Conan and Ayumi were probably still in the haunted house, struggling to survive. 

Jiang Xia thought for a moment, took out his phone, and skillfully called the police. 

Then he easily climbed over the fence and quickly made his way to the side door of the villa. 

Jiang Xia remembered that the Junior Detective Club had sneaked into the haunted house from here. 

However, at this time, he tried to turn the doorknob, but the door was locked. 

It seemed that the hostess had taken some defensive measures after throwing out the two little troublemakers who broke into the haunted house. 

As a member of the organization, Jiang Xia felt that he should take out his tools and quickly pick the lock. 

However, picking locks was not his specialty, and he needed to look like a psychic. 

Jiang Xia withdrew his hand and stepped back. 

Two paper shikigami flew out from under his feet, slid through the door crack, and silently entered the house. 

Soon, behind the door, the two shikigami overlapped and gradually expanded, forming a puppet like a "white clay man". 

This kind of puppet had no thoughts and was completely controlled by the psychic.

If the child ghost was thrown into the puppet, it could shape into a human-like exquisite puppet. 

But for now, there was no need to be so precise, just to open the door. 

Jiang Xia felt the location of the clay puppet behind the door. 

After a moment, the "little white" inside the house stood up slowly, groped for the doorknob behind the door, and opened the lock with a click. 

The task was completed, and the little puppet collapsed silently and turned back into a paper shikigami that ordinary people couldn't see. 

The paper shikigami instantly returned to the space of the tattoo on Jiang Xia's chest. 

Jiang Xia reached out again, and this time he successfully opened the door.