The Corpse Collector In Conan

26: AREN'T WE FRIENDS?

Jiang Xia entered the "Haunted House".

Outside, dark clouds were piled up, and inside the house was also very dark. 

Without a flashlight, he could hardly see anything.

Jiang Xia borrowed the night vision ability of the child ghost and silently walked along the pitch-black corridor.

*****

Soon, he found a floor that had been lifted up at the end of the corridor.

This seemed to be the entrance to a dark passage. 

There were some steps leading downwards.

Jiang Xia approached curiously, observed for a moment, and faintly smelled the scent of murderous aura from the passage.

"..." He nodded with satisfaction and walked in.

*****

He went down the steps all the way.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a brightly lit basement.

Jiang Xia remembered that this was the place where the son killed his own father and wanted to surrender himself because of filial piety but couldn't, and was imprisoned by his mother.

At this time, the door of the basement was open.

The voice of Conan's reasoning could be faintly heard from inside.

*****

Jiang Xia tiptoed to the door, and took a look inside.

In the middle of the room, a row of iron railings separated a prison cell.

The owner's son, at this moment, was sitting unkempt in the cell, with an old-fashioned figurine on his leg, which was probably his late father.

And outside the railing, there were three people in total.

- Conan and his female classmate, Yoshida Ayumi. And an old woman with white hair and a very thin figure.

*****

Jiang Xia scanned his surrounding and quickly settled on the woman's back: "..."

Her waist-length silver-white hair made Jiang Xia's fingers twitch, reflexively wanting to grab onto something.

However, upon closer inspection, he noticed that the woman's murderous aura was very weak. 

It could only barely be categorized as "barely satisfying," even less so than the fresh murderous aura of the last kidnapper.

The child ghost also looked at the white-haired woman in front of him, with a slightly disappointed look after a moment of surprise.

However, it wasn't as picky as Jiang Xia and was satisfied as long as there was a strand of murderous aura to eat. 

So it jumped down with enthusiasm, ready to pick a fight.

*****

A few meters away, in the basement.

The white-haired woman held a knife and glared at Conan and Ayumi, who were trapped in the corner by her, her emotions abnormally agitated.

She had her back to the door and didn't notice that Jiang Xia had arrived.

Conan did notice.

His voice paused slightly during his deduction but quickly continued as if nothing had happened.

However, this fake elementary school student was clearly not in control of his emotions.

When speaking, he had more strength in his voice than before.

Fortunately, the white-haired old woman was mentally unstable and didn't notice Conan's abnormality.

Ayumi was hiding next to Conan, looking at Jiang Xia timidly, also not making a sound.

It's unclear whether she had become quick-witted in the face of danger or was too frightened to speak.

Of course, it's also possible that she had fallen into the illusion that is common among "face-connoisseurs" - the big brother at the door didn't seem like a bad person.

*****

Conan is obviously the type of detective who, once caught up in reasoning, will even risk his life to finish his deductions before he dies. 

Actually, in the beginning, the white-haired old lady didn't intend to kill anyone. 

Genta and Mitsuhiko lying in the courtyard were only knocked out by her. 

Because she thought even if these first-grade kids went to report the case, the police wouldn't bother. 

But now, Conan is different. 

——Conan not only saw the person in the dungeon, but he even guessed that the murderer back then was her son. 

"The haunted house hides a vagrant" and "The haunted house hides a roaming killer" are completely different. 

If it's the latter, even if a child reports the case, the police may come.

So at this moment, the white-haired woman listened to Conan's deductions, and a real murderous aura emerged from her body. 

When Conan said, "The one who killed your husband was actually your son," the old woman finally exploded. 

"Shut up!" She grabbed Conan's neck, and her face twisted fiercely while raising a kitchen knife. 

Ayumi exclaimed in fear and covered her eyes. 

Conan was also stunned: "..." Wait a minute? 

Why was the script different from what he had expected? 

——Didn't he clearly see Jiang Xia just now! 

Shouldn't it be the norm for him to deduce the truth, Jiang Xia simultaneously controls the old woman, and finally, the two smile at each other in tacit agreement while taking out their phones to call the police? 

... But now, where is Jiang Xia? 

Conan struggled to look back, but the old woman blocked his entire field of vision. 

The angry white-haired woman let out a roar and swung the knife down heavily. 

When the tip of the knife was only a few inches away from Conan, someone finally grabbed her wrist from behind. 

Jiang Xia took away the kitchen knife from the old woman and pressed it hard on her shoulder. 

The woman screamed in pain and half of her body went numb, collapsing on the ground. 

Along with her scream, there was also the faint sound of police sirens coming from outside. 

——Jiang Xia had called the police before he came in. 

"..." Jiang Xia glanced outside and said to himself, "As expected of the police in this world." 

He threw the snatched kitchen knife into the corner and suddenly found a mop at his feet, so he picked it up casually.

Although the door is open, the police will definitely need some time to find the entrance. 

Take advantage of the police not having arrived yet and quickly loosen the murderous aura. 

Conan's ability to incite hatred is really not to be underestimated. 

The more this fake child deduces the more murderous aura the white-haired woman emits... 

The current amount of murderous aura has far exceeded that when Jiang Xia first entered. 

Jiang Xia looked at the woman covered in a murderous aura and raised his stick expectantly. 

At this moment, the white-haired woman sitting on the ground covered her shoulder, turned her head, and looked at Jiang Xia with a face full of unwillingness. 

The two of them stared at each other. 

In the next second, the murderous aura wrapped around the old lady's body obediently fell to the ground with a snap. 

...Perhaps after weighing each other's power levels, she quickly realized that she could no longer continue to kill. 

So she could only give up the idea of killing. 

The child ghost, who had been waiting on the side for a long time, couldn't help but let out a surprised cry. 

It ran over, rolled up the fallen murderous aura like cotton candy, and brought it back to Jiang Xia. 

Jiang Xia squatted down, took out a cigarette case containing ghost peppermint, tore open the sealed packaging, and let the killing intent seep in.