Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

This overwhelming praise enveloped Tokyo for a whole month.

At first, the media were trembling with fear, afraid that their praise would not be enough and would offend the unfathomable leader of the "Justice Group".

But as time went on, they found that Zheng Yi did not seem to be taking any further action.

Then, the brushstrokes began to subtly change.

What began as fear-driven praise gradually evolved into a habitual form of flattery.

Those media outlets even fabricated stories about him reviewing documents in his office late at night and continuing to work despite having a fever.

Even the sports section couldn't resist mentioning Zheng Yi.

They all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Zheng Yi didn't react.

Zheng Yi has definitely forgiven them.

So, a month later, these media outlets started to have some sense of shame.

Finally, one morning, when Miwako Sato picked up the newspaper again, she found that the headline was no longer full of praise for Masakazu, but had returned to normal news reporting.

She was stunned.

Takagi noticed this as well, and he breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "It seems this farce is finally over."

Yes, it's over.

The media seemed to have reached a tacit agreement: they tentatively reduced the number of praising articles by one, then two, then three days... then a week.

Calm and calm.

Zheng Yi made no move to retaliate, as if he hadn't noticed these changes at all.

The media also breathed a sigh of relief.

They were finally convinced that the fearsome Lord of Justice had magnanimously forgiven their previous offenses.

"Mr. Zhengyi is truly magnanimous."

A newspaper editor remarked privately.

“Yes,” another editor chimed in. “He’s a man of principle. As long as we don’t cross his line, he’ll protect us like a kind father.”

The editors around him glanced at this guy and thought it was contemptuous.

This spineless coward writes articles praising others, and he even believes them himself.

But they couldn't show it verbally; they all nodded in agreement.

"Yes, yes, yes."

……

At home, Masakazu sat in a chair, guiding Ai in writing her autobiography.

"You shouldn't have written it like that; you're thinking too badly of me."

"You're inherently bad."

"Then you can't write it so bluntly."

"Oh."

Ai nodded and made some changes to the earlier part of the story.

She was very respectful to her sugar daddy.

Zheng Yi nodded in satisfaction and patted Ai's fluffy head.

Ai shook her head in dissatisfaction.

"Beep beep beep~"

The phone rang.

After glancing at the caller ID, Zheng Yi answered the phone.

He listened to the person on the other end of the line without showing any outward reaction.

After the other person finished speaking, he nodded and said, "I understand, I'll be right there."

"What are you going to do now?" Ai asked, looking up.

“Another person has died,” Zheng Yi said.

Ai nodded, seemingly unconcerned.

Deaths are such a common thing that Ai Haibara doesn't even bother to ask about them.

However, Zheng Yi had to go and see; the dead person must be someone connected to him.

It's probably another unlucky guy who's in business competition with Zhengyi.

Zheng Yi's current frequency of 'killing' has decreased, but it's not that he has stopped 'killing' altogether.

Possessing a 'powerful weapon' naturally breeds murderous intent.

Zheng Yi patted Ai's head and said, "This should be considered a good thing for you. You have two less competitors."

Ai's hair stood on end from being touched.

"Does that mean there's only one writer left to write your autobiography?" Ai asked.

She quickly guessed who the deceased was.

Based on the pattern of one person dying and one person going to prison.

The remaining one seems to be the extra one.

wrong.

Zheng Yi originally intended to invite six people, but Hashimoto was someone who squeezed in.

“Not one, but two.” Masakazu looked at Ai with a kind expression.

Ai got goosebumps when Masaru looked at her.

"Didn't you only invite seven people in total?"

Shoichi looked at Ai and said, "Have you forgotten yourself too?"

"You even killed me?" Ai glared angrily at Masakazu.

I never imagined that one day I would be on Zheng Yi's murder list.

“I have never killed a single person with my own hands, nor have I given any orders to murder anyone.” Zheng Yi’s eyes drifted to the sky.

He was pure and innocent.

"Hmph! Conan is so useful, of course you're pure and innocent!" Ai said.

In front of Ai, Masakazu held up his middle finger and swore to the heavens, "I swear, I will never do this to you..."

"Shut up," Ai said, pointing at Masakazu's fingers.

Who swears an oath by only extending the middle finger?

Are you really not mocking God?
Zheng Yi grabbed Ai's wrist and said, "Now that someone has died, you are the beneficiary. I strongly suspect that you are the murderer."

Ai's eyes have turned into crescent moons, and she has no intention of playing along with Masakazu's antics.

"When I get back, I'll lock you in jail and torture you severely," Zheng Yi said fiercely.

He patted Ai's head again and headed straight for the TV station.

He wanted to see what kind of death he would have this time.

He parked his car downstairs at the TV station.

"Brother Zhengyi".

Conan greeted Shoichi warmly.

"Shoichi?" Sato looked at Shoichi in surprise.

The Metropolitan Police Department didn't 'invite' Seiichi over this time; he actually came on his own.

Zhengyi looked at Sato and said, "After all, they are writers I hired. It is only right that I come to visit them when something happens to them."

He looked at Takahashi and Daiyama, who were still alive.

"At least let me know whether I have two fewer employees or three fewer employees."

Takahashi said with a smile, "Is Mr. Shoichi worried that Ishimoto was murdered by me and Oyama?"

“I am indeed worried. I’ve put so much effort into writing that autobiography; surely I can’t possibly not finish it,” Zheng Yi said.

Da Shan laughed and said, "Maybe you'll only lose one employee."

Zheng Yi shrugged, neither confirming nor denying.

"Let's leave this to a professional detective to decide." Masashi looked at Kogoro Mouri.

He quickly learned why Kogoro Mouri had come.

Takahashi, Oyama, and Ishimoto are the editors and writers of the TV series "Detective Magure," which ran for several years.

Those cases were all written by these three people.

However, since these three people had all accepted Zheng Yi's commission, they devoted most of their energy to writing Zheng Yi's autobiography.

I've started to lose interest in creating "Detective Magure." It's been a long time since we've had any particularly outstanding cases.

The ratings dropped rapidly.

This made the producer very anxious.

This show is a cash cow for the TV station; if something goes wrong, it will be a huge problem.

So she quickly invited Kogoro Mouri over.

Let these three editors and authors discuss the details of the case with the great detective Kogoro Mouri and see if they can find any inspiration.

Whether or not inspiration was found is unknown, but at least one editor/author died.

While drinking coffee, Ishimoto died of poisoning immediately after finishing the coffee.

Police quickly cordoned off the scene.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the coffee contained a high concentration of potassium cyanide, and the time of death was approximately 12:15 PM.

"That's impossible!" Da Shan suddenly looked up and said, "I made the coffee; there's no way someone could have poisoned it."

"Hmph, of course the murderer won't admit it." Kogoro crossed his arms.

Who else could the deceased be but you, the one who made the coffee?

“You must be jealous of Mr. Yagami’s talent, which is why you killed him,” Kogoro Mouri said.

Daiyama's face remained unusually calm, showing no sign of being flustered by Kogoro's words.

"Isn't what you're saying a bit too subjective?" Da Shan asked.

Kogoro looked at Daiyama and said, "Shouldn't things like preparing coffee be done by the TV station staff? Why are you, an editor and writer, taking on this task?"

"Because I'm a complete newcomer to Mr. Takahashi and Mr. Ishimoto, I wanted to do as much as I could to help," said Oyama.

do not know why.

While Kogoro Mouri was solving the case, Sato, that woman, kept watching Shoichi.

Zheng Yi sat in the chair, feeling somewhat uncomfortable being stared at.

He picked up the teacup on the table, then put it down again.

Someone just died from poisoning, so it's best to avoid drinking anything indiscriminately.

"Perhaps someone smeared poison on the cup," said Daiyama. "Mr. Ishimoto was just unlucky to have chosen that poisoned cup."

"You mean, random killings?" Inspector Megure asked, frowning.

This case is very strange.

It really looks like a random killing.

Dashan prepared four drinks.

He drinks Japanese tea, while Ishimoto, Takahashi, and the producer all drink coffee.

After bringing the coffee over, Dashan had just given the maker a cup when he realized he'd forgotten to get sugar, so he went out to get some.

Ishimoto chose his own cup of coffee.

Even if the murderer is Oyama, he cannot be certain that the person who committed the murder was Ishimoto.

Because he had no way of predicting which cup Ishimoto would choose.

Assuming he is the murderer, then both Takahashi and Ishimoto have a 50% chance of dying.

Takahashi also laughed and said, "Speaking of which, I was the one who chose the coffee first, and I gave the poisoned one to Ishimoto. I guess I'm a suspect too?"

"This?" Kogoro scratched his head, lost in thought.

"Let Conan handle the task of finding the culprit," Shoichi said, chatting with Takahashi and Oyama about writing his autobiography.

Conan ran back and forth.

Zheng Yi sat down in the chair and said, "Why don't you just confess your crimes quickly, so as not to waste time."

He crossed his legs, looking languid.

“Mr. Shoichi, the murderer may not be one of us,” Takahashi said.

Zheng Yi nodded indifferently and continued to discuss his autobiography with the two of them.

After some time, Kogoro, who had been sleeping, finally came online.

"The murderer is Mr. Dashan."

Despite being identified again, Da Shan remained unfazed.

He calmly said, "If I were the murderer, I shouldn't have gone out while Takahashi and Ishimoto were choosing coffee."

“Even the most meticulous plan can have unexpected events. I should have been in the meeting room, organizing Mr. Takahashi to choose that poisoned coffee.”

"No, you don't care about that at all."

Conan, hiding in the shadows, spoke in Kogoro Mouri's voice: "Whether you kill Takahashi or Ishimoto, it's all the same to you."

"If either of these two editors dies, the number of episodes you can create will increase significantly."

Nowadays, when creating TV dramas, it's common for Takahashi and Oyama to each write four or five episodes before Oyama can write one episode.

Conan continued, "So, that's why you orchestrated this murder."

"It looks like a murder with only a 50% probability, but actually your target is not Ishimoto at all."

"You don't care who you kill."

"So you went out to make this case look more like random murders, to confuse the public and clear yourself of suspicion."

Da Shan's face remained expressionless.

Then, Conan revealed Oyama's modus operandi and found evidence of his crimes.

Faced with the evidence, Dashan had no way to refute it.

He hadn't intended to refute it anyway.

“You’re right, I was the one who poisoned him,” Da Shan said.

"I'm already twenty-nine years old, and my original plan was to become a very popular editor before I turned thirty."

"But with Takahashi and Ishimoto ahead of me, as the third editor, I had no chance to stand out."

Daiyama looked at the sleeping Kogoro.

He added, "There's one more thing you deliberately didn't mention."

He looked at Masakazu and said, "Both Takahashi Ishimoto and I were chosen by Mr. Masakazu to write our autobiographies, so we can be considered competitors."

"If one of the three dies, then one of the remaining three will definitely win the billion yen."

Daiyama smiled and said, "Even if Takahashi wins that billion yen, once he has so much money and is financially independent, he probably won't continue creating anything."

"Then, for 'Detective Magure,' I'm the only editor left."

Killing one of them doesn't just increase the chances of getting ahead.

Instead, it's about truly standing out.

Zheng Yi sat in a chair with his arms crossed.

It has nothing to do with me.

Dashan confessed to his crimes, the case was closed, and two more writers were eliminated.

The Metropolitan Police Department couldn't find any trouble with Masakazu.

Everything went so smoothly.

However, just as the police were making their arrest and preparing to leave, Masakazu suddenly looked at Takahashi.

"Mr. Takahashi is really lucky."

Zheng Yi said, "Mr. Ishimoto is dead, and Mr. Oyama is in prison."

"Now, Mr. Takahashi has become the sole editor and writer of 'Detective Magure'."

"Furthermore, Mr. Takahashi is the only contestant left in the 1 billion yen competition. Apart from you, I don't know who else I can give the prize money to."

Masakazu twisted his waist, stole a glance at Sato, and then whispered:

"If it were me, given the police's prejudice against me, they would definitely think that I, as the biggest beneficiary, was doing something shady."

He patted Takahashi on the shoulder and said:

“But you are different. The police have no prejudice against you and will not suspect you.”

Takahashi looked at Shoichi, speechless.

What's the reason behind your sudden sentiment?

It couldn't possibly be a genuine expression of emotion, could it?
Sato and Inspector Megure, who were about to leave, also stopped in their tracks.

They all looked towards Takahashi.

His eyes held scrutiny and vigilance.

Takahashi: ... (End of Chapter)