Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

...The condition that must be resolved before noon tomorrow remains unchanged. What has changed is that a message must be given within half an hour, otherwise it will be over. The original condition was that if the previous condition was not met, the man in black would take over.

in other words.

The original deadline of noon tomorrow has been shortened to half an hour.

...Isn't this even harder?!

If that's the case, then why the hell pretend to be all 'I've already tried my best to back down'? You almost made yourself believe it! Ugh!

Amuro Tooru, who was internally cursing a thousand times, wished he could drown the person in front of him with his spittle, but out of the qualities of a public security officer, he held back.

"Alright, officer, stop standing there. You have twenty-nine minutes left."

With the Black Fox's well-intentioned reminder, Amuro Tooru could only sullenly run to the side.

They began a full-scale attack on their own side.

Black Fox sat down again, waiting for the result from Amuro Tooru's side.

Bored, Black Fox took out a pipe.

Yes, it's that kind of long, thin old-fashioned pipe with a head at the front.

This is an antique that Sano found while he was out and about a long time ago.

The main problem is its all-black appearance; it looks too vixen-like.

Sano paid for it in full without hesitation and then participated in a prize draw on the spot.

And unsurprisingly, I won.

Enhancement item name: Psychedelic Pipe.

Grade: B.

effect:

Psychedelic (Any target other than the user who inhales the smoke of this enhancer will have their willpower attribute reduced proportionally; the more they inhale, the greater the reduction, up to a maximum of 50%).

Restrictions: None.

Note: Secondhand smoke is harmful, please be cautious!

Hmm... It's not quite impressive, but it's not completely useless either.

Lately, I've been feeling something strange.

It's practically useless, tasteless but a pity to throw away... That was Sano's first thought after seeing the effects of this thing, but anyway, it doesn't do any harm.

It's a piece of equipment after all, so Sano certainly wouldn't just throw it away to gather dust in the warehouse.

"call……"

After taking out another match and lighting the tobacco in front of him, Black Fox began to smoke. White smoke rose and gradually spread in all directions. Unlike ordinary smoke that would dissipate after only a few meters, even after it had drifted dozens or hundreds of meters, wisps of white smoke could still be vaguely seen spreading in the air. If time allowed, it might not be entirely impossible to turn this entire shopping mall into a heavenly palace shrouded in immortal energy.

Then, only ten minutes had passed.

The subtly unusual atmosphere in the surrounding air was already impossible to ignore.

...This is certainly not referring to Black Fox's secondhand smoke.

Snipers began silently searching for positions, while plainclothes police officers mingled in the crowd closed in and tried to persuade nearby passersby to leave. It seems that there are still some good guys among those in command on site. Was it intentional?

However, Black Fox remained seated, unmoved by the situation.

After a while, Amuro Tooru, who was focused on communicating with his superiors, also noticed something was wrong. His expression immediately changed, and he rushed over.

"Don't get agitated!"

Sensing that the danger was greater here, he subconsciously chose to reassure Amuro Tooru first. As soon as he spoke, Black Fox couldn't help but laugh.

"Why should I get excited? I'm not blind. I spotted these guys from the start, but I just couldn't be bothered with them. However, if they make the first move, then don't blame me. I really don't want to cause any bloodshed..."

Looking at the black fox pretending to sigh, Amuro Tooru didn't expect that his superiors would actually give orders while dealing with him in order to avoid being discovered. He could only say, "Sorry, I actually planned to tell you from the beginning to avoid misunderstandings, but I forgot later."

He then hurriedly left, intending to speak with his superiors in person.

Black Fox continued to wait.

But Amuro Tooru's departure was one of never returning.

Sano had no idea what the situation was on the other end, and he didn't care what the official attitude would be. If they disagreed with his demands, he would fight until they agreed, or even beat them to a pulp if necessary.

Let the official government disappear, and create a new one, an obedient one.

Is that difficult?

At least Sano doesn't think it's a complete fantasy.

Half an hour has passed.

The police officers inside the mall became tense, their nerves on edge.

Black Fox finally got up.

“I said.”

After glancing around, Black Fox raised his voice: "Is there anyone who can make a decision? Do you want to fight now, or wait until we take action before stopping you? At least give you a chance to write your wills?"

"..."

After a moment of silence, Inspector Megure stepped forward.

...After such a huge mess, if they don't even give their subordinates an explanation...

The official system will no longer be able to function, at least not in the short term.

Therefore, even an official of low rank like Inspector Megure had a general understanding of the inside story... well, a terrorist organization full of talented people.

That's about it.

Surprisingly, they actually managed to fool them, and now they're happily getting to work.

...Poor Inspector Megure, he was just lucky to run into me. If it were anyone else, he would have been just filling in the holes for the official team and dying.

Chapter 676 Black Mask vs. Self-Defense Forces

Meanwhile, on Inspector Megure's side...

Although informed of the danger posed by these two individuals—that either one might be more powerful than a fully armed army of a thousand—and despite being believed to be members of the Black Death terrorist organization, having just displayed terrifying combat capabilities just hours before…

But I didn't witness it with my own eyes.

Although when those colleagues returned, they were all absent-minded and talked to themselves like madmen, describing the situation at the time.

Despite the worldview that Inspector Megure had cultivated over the years, he still felt more confident in the firearms in the hands of his hundreds of colleagues—what carbon-based life form could be more powerful than bullets? If such a thing existed, it would only mean that there weren't enough bullets.

I believe my colleagues think the same way.

After hesitating for a while, Inspector Megure began to call out.

"Both of you are suspected of participating in terrorist activities. Please come with us to assist in the investigation. If you resist, we have the right to shoot you on the spot!"

The voice just fell.

Kurosawa seemed about to draw his wooden sword, which immediately made Kazami Yuya, who had brought a group of public security officers mixed in with the ordinary police to observe the situation, and Conan, who had secretly followed along, tense up.

However, the next second, Black Fox stepped forward and grabbed Black Sawa's hand.

"...Officer, you should know that I'm here today to negotiate, right?"

Inspector Megure blinked: "I know, so what?"

"So you're ignoring negotiations and planning to attack us now, is that really fair?"

"This……"

Inspector Megure hesitated for a moment, then said, "Isn't it a matter of course for the police to arrest people?"

"It's true that the police have a duty to arrest people, but you were unwilling, or afraid, to do so before. Why are you now so confident in making arrests? Is it because you think you have more people and a greater advantage?"

Black Fox pointed out the issue of the official reluctance to disclose too much information to subordinates.

There's an old saying in China: "In war, one should not kill the messenger." I've never been a big fan of fighting either. How about we see who has more men on each side?

"……what?"

Inspector Megure and Yuya Kazami were both stunned. They never expected Black Fox to give such an explanation. Putting aside whether the logic was clear or not, the key point was that there was something wrong with the way it was compared... The authorities had arranged for hundreds of people to participate.

Saying too much is not too much, saying too little is not too much.

If it were Black Death, who belonged to the same organization as Black Fox, and all the members of that Black Death were brought here, there would be no comparison... But the problem is that we had already conducted a preliminary investigation and had been carefully monitoring them ever since, and had not detected any suspicious figures at all.

How can Black Fox win?

Can you conjure up hundreds of people out of thin air?

Under the bewildered gazes of hundreds of people, Black Fox raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

This made Kazami Yuya and Conan shudder.

...If they hadn't waited two seconds without any movement, the two would have started to suspect that the black fox was actually rye in disguise, and that the so-called headcount comparison was achieved by detonating a bomb, which blew up the people present, leaving less than two people.

Immediately afterward, just as the two of them, like the others, began to wonder about the meaning of the snap, a chilling feeling suddenly arose.

There was no reason behind it; it was purely instinctive.

Almost simultaneously, all the police officers inside the mall turned to look behind them.

Then all that came into view was red.

Red eyes.

...Originally, because they were worried that Black Fox would notice something was amiss, the ordinary passersby in the mall did not interfere, even though the authorities had made arrangements in advance. Even when they spontaneously tried to persuade people to leave during the operation, the efficiency was predictably low.

all in all.

There were still quite a few passersby in the mall.

Originally, everyone thought that Black Fox chose this location for the negotiations to use these passersby as shields, hoping to make the authorities hesitate to act, so they were all a little worried that if a fight really broke out, something might be accidentally injured.

Looking at the results now...

Those passersby who had been quietly and normally shopping, and even the staff of the mall and shops, all stopped what they were doing and stood motionless, their faces expressionless, staring intently at the nearest police officers with bloodshot eyes, creating an eerie atmosphere.

Conan's pupils contracted, and he quickly looked away from the two red-eyed monsters staring at him, then looked around, in front, behind, left, right, upstairs, and downstairs.