The Daily Life of a Salted Fish Assassin in Anime Crossovers

I hadn't noticed anything before.

Now that it's brought up, the young man in the photo does seem to have a bit of the look of Toichi Kuroba.

Kuroba Toichi is most skilled in card magic and escape magic, and it was precisely these two skills that made him the Phantom Thief Kid.

If he hadn't been so familiar with Kaito Kid's style, he might have actually suspected that the case back then was because Kuroba Toichi felt his position was being challenged, which is why he targeted him.

However, the suspicion against Kuroba Toichi can naturally be ruled out.

Therefore, only one possibility remains, which is the only reason why the magician who died 14 years ago would be highlighted as key information by Hawkeye.

"Because of his resentment towards Kuroba Toichi, and realizing that his disciple was becoming more and more like Kuroba Toichi, he was consumed by jealousy again. In the end, before his disciple could follow Kuroba Toichi's path to the very end, he used dishonorable means to kill his disciple..."

"Fourteen years later, one of his disciples, having some connection with Kinoshita Yoshiro from back then, decided to kill his teacher to avenge Kinoshita Yoshiro after discovering the truth of what happened back then."

Jiang Hang made his own deduction, and this whole monologue of reasoning surprised Shiho Miyano, who was standing next to him.

Although they had seen this several times before, this series of assumptions that suddenly unfolded without any obvious proof were almost all confirmed as the truth by the end of the case.

In other words, the reason this case occurred is because of a mistake that Tsukumo Motoyasu made 14 years ago?

Thinking of this, Shiho Miyano couldn't help but look at Jiang Hang.

She was familiar with this person's style; he was never a champion of justice.

On the contrary, he has always admired Holmes's saying, "When the law fails to deliver justice to the parties involved, private revenge becomes justified and even noble from that moment on."

After Jiang Hang confirmed the cause of the case, how will he deal with the real culprit?

Chapter 498: Chapter 494: The Truth from 14 Years Ago

Although Jiang Hang has not yet deduced the murderer who killed Tsukumo Yasushi, at this point, the investigation does not necessarily have to focus on the numerical codes.

Finding out if any of the three disciples had any connection with Kinoshita Yoshiro will also help us identify the murderer.

Compared to cracking codes that require brain teasers, this method may be a bit more complicated, but it is more suitable for Jianghang today.

Especially after Jiang Hang acquired hacking skills, the internet in this era held almost no secrets for him.

Just as Jiang Hang handed over the task of deciphering the code to Shiho Miyano and was about to go to his car to get his computer for further investigation, Ichizo Sanada suddenly appeared in the basement.

Upon seeing the white line on the ground, a look of confusion flashed across the face of the young man in his twenties.

“I heard from my teacher’s wife that you think the disconnected number on the phone might be his last words, so I came to take a look.”

He bypassed the spot where his teacher's body had been and began telling Jiang Hang the numbers from the day the police investigation took place.

This string of numbers does indeed seem meaningless; even the police didn't record it in their files. Only someone with an exceptionally good memory like Sanada Kazumi could remember it so clearly.

After comparing the figures, Jiang Hang confirmed that there was no change from the current numbers.

Either the murderer is Sanada Ichizo, who is standing right in front of us.

Either the murderer didn't realize what the string of numbers represented, since the police had already closed the case as a suicide, and the murderer didn't think the case would undergo any new changes, so he didn't come back to make any more changes.

Jiang Hang asked Miyano Shi to stay there and think for a while, while he had a brief chat with Sanada Ichizo in front of him.

The man in front of me, Sanada Ichizo, is 27 years old this year. He became a disciple of Tsukumo Motoyasu nine years ago.

According to online comments, the other person is skilled in card magic and had already mastered the art several years ago. However, he was able to stay here to continue researching new magic tricks because of Tsukumo Motoyasu's appreciation.

In terms of talent, the person in front of him is one of the top disciples under Kujuku Genko.

However, magic is an industry that requires a high level of talent.

The more top-tier a magician is, the more they feel the gap between themselves and those international masters.

Sanada Ichizo's talent is roughly on par with that of Tsukumo Motoyasu. With years of hard work and perseverance, it wouldn't be too difficult for him to become a world-class magician in his thirties or forties.

However, compared to Toichi Kuroba, who became a global sensation just a few years after his debut, and Yoshiro Kinoshita, who followed closely behind Kuroba and was only one step away from achieving a Grand Slam, the gap is quite obvious.

Did Sanada Ichizo, whom Tsukumo Motoyasu treated like a son, have a motive to kill?

Thinking about it carefully, there is indeed some, but it's definitely not much.

After all, less than five years had passed between Kinoshita Yoshiro's death and Sanada Ichizo's acceptance of him as a disciple.

It's highly unlikely that Sanada Ichizo was Kinoshita Yoshiro's younger brother and that Tsukumo Motoyasu himself was unaware of this.

Only the two people who recently joined Tsukumo Motoyasu's school are more likely to change their names and identities after more than a decade of ups and downs and attempt to take revenge on Tsukumo Motoyasu.

If we're talking about the motives of Sanada Ichizo, judging from Jiang Hang's years of experience researching Detective Conan, it's likely that his teacher always treated him as a substitute for Kinoshita Yoshiro. After years of accumulating resentment, he eventually learned the truth about what happened back then, and his inner convictions collapsed instantly, leading him to choose to kill his teacher.

Anyway, this reason for murder would be quite reasonable even in Detective Conan.

However, when Jiang Hang asked why he chose to specialize in card magic, which even his teacher wasn't very good at performing, Sanada Ichizo's answer was quite straightforward.

"It's not that the teacher isn't good at card magic, it's just that when he was performing card magic in front of a certain magician, he made a major mistake for some reason. In the end, the other magician saved him with an even more ingenious card magic trick. After that, he was unwilling to perform card magic in front of others anymore."

"Only a few people know that the teacher has only gradually come to terms with things in recent years, which is why he hasn't been involved in card magic much."

"Before this, although the teacher had never performed card magic in public, I dare say that his research on card magic is absolutely the best in the world. Not only me, but also the senior student Kinoshita whom the teacher often mentioned, our card magic was taught by the teacher little by little. Even the card magic that I have shown after my debut was largely developed by the teacher and me together."

Although Sanada Ichizo did not reveal the magician's identity.

But Jiang Hang felt that the magician was probably Kuroba Toichi, the lifelong nemesis of Tsukumo Motoyasu.

If that's the case, then it's not surprising that Tsukumo Motoyasu has such a strong obsession with Kuroba Toichi.

He was surpassed by a younger colleague, his genius title was stolen by the other party, and he was even helped out by the other party when he made a mistake in his performance on the show.

Clearly, Kuroba Toichi's actions did not trigger the "turn enemies into friends" buff. Instead, they thoroughly aroused the sense of shame in Tsukumo Motoyasu, who was also young and impetuous at the time, and from then on, he never performed card magic in front of others again.

"When your teacher took you in, he probably wanted to train you to be the next Kinoshita Yoshiro, right? Did you realize that at the time?"

A slight change appeared on Sanada Ichizo's face.

"Actually, it's alright. Ever since that world-famous magician passed away eight years ago due to a magic accident, after being depressed for several months, the teacher has relaxed his requirements for us disciples a lot."

"Just like the escape magic that Kinoshita-senpai is also good at, I've only learned about 30% of it from my teacher, and I'm still far from reaching the level that my senior was at back then."

When Sanada Ichizo said this, a hint of regret flashed in his eyes, it was unclear whether he felt regret for his teacher or for himself.

So it was only because of Toichi Kuroba's death that Motoyasu Tsukumo was able to let go of his obsession.

Observing Sanada Ichizo's expression throughout the conversation with eagle eyes, Jiang Hang was basically able to determine that the man in front of him was not the culprit in this case.

The guy in front of me, in a way, is the kind of person who puts all his energy into magic and doesn't care much about other things.

“Kuroba Toichi was indeed a magician who suppressed an era,” Jiang Hang lamented, reflecting on Kuroba Toichi’s “sins,” and continued to question Sanada Ichizo.

This time, his questions became much more pointed.

"So, you probably already know the truth about your teacher's death," Jiang Hang asked, then offered his speculation. "Or perhaps your teacher even told you that something bad might happen to him in the future, which is why you were so certain that your teacher committed suicide, even with so many suspicious circumstances at the scene."

Sure enough, after Jiang Hang asked the question, a look of surprise flashed in Sanada Ichizo's eyes. He seemed not to have expected that Jiang Hang would have figured out so much in just ten minutes after arriving in the basement.

He truly deserves to be called Japan's foremost detective by the news.

Even so, Sanada Ichizo quickly regained his composure after a brief change in expression—something his teacher had told him when he accepted him as a disciple.

As a magician, in order to prevent others from seeing through your hand, you must always maintain a poker face without any expression.

Unfortunately, even maintaining a poker face requires talent.

Even his teacher has repeatedly lamented that he himself could not fully achieve that level, and that only a handful of people can truly reach that level.

“I don’t know what you mean, Mr. Jiang Hang. If you already have evidence that the teacher was murdered by someone else, you can take the evidence to the police. I have nothing more to say.”

With that, Sanada Ichizo prepared to leave the basement and return to his room upstairs.

However, at that moment, Shiho Miyano, who was standing nearby, finally figured out what the code meant.

The code itself isn't complicated; it just requires someone to come up with it.

Shiho Miyano reached out and poked Jiang Hang, then simply gestured a few times on the number buttons of the phone.

With just one glance, Jiang Hang understood what Shiho Miyano meant.

He called Sanada Ichizo, who was about to leave, and revealed the true identity of the culprit in this case.

"This was done by that pockmarked lady, wasn't it?"

Sure enough, upon hearing this, Sanada Ichizo's steps visibly halted once again.

"I'll say it again: if you have evidence, then go find the police."

"What I'm talking about is evidence; it's what your teacher told me in his last words."

Sanada Ichizo finally turned around, wanting to know what the meaning was of the incomprehensible number his teacher had left behind at the end.

"You can come and take a look at this phone."

Jiang Hang pointed to the telephone in front of him, which had ordinary buttons on it.

"But if you link these seemingly unremarkable numbers together using the buttons on a phone, you'll find that they can actually form words."

"The first two strings of numbers follow this pattern, which is a D and a C. The last two strings of numbers are simply written on the phone as the two katakana characters 'mako' (the pronunciation of 'mako')."

Shiho Miyano then added to the discussion.

"If I'm not mistaken, DC means 'Da Capo' as the piece to be played from the beginning on the sheet music. After all, there's a piano in the basement, and I imagine that Koujiro Yasushi used to practice piano pieces there often."

"So the meaning behind your teacher leaving this message is probably to warn us that Ma Zi might continue to target others after killing him."

Upon hearing this, Sanada Ichizo's expression finally broke down completely.

"How is that possible? Ma Zi has already taken her revenge, why would she still target others?"

Sure enough, this guy knew the truth.

It's likely that when the police came to investigate the scene of Tsukumo Motoyasu's death, they covered up the scene for Miyoshi Asako because of what Tsukumo Motoyasu had told them before.

Jiang Hang calmly looked at the other person: "Now, tell me everything your teacher told you before he died, why he calmly accepted his death knowing he was going to be killed."

"I'm afraid only by figuring out these things can I understand why he would leave such a message on the phone after saying those things to you."

"Don't worry, now that I'm here, I won't let anyone else get hurt."

At this point, Sanada Ichizo's mind was in complete turmoil.

But he also knew that now was not the time to dwell on these things.

After taking a deep breath, he began to explain everything to Jiang Hang.

"Actually, I discovered it by accident."