Anime, but the Phantom Thieves of Heart

After confirming that there was no one around, Lan Ke used the 'Alternative Dimension Navigation' to rush to the subway station. After killing monsters for a while and confirming that the time was almost up, he went to the gate to swipe his card and started killing monsters again. He waited until the tram time was almost up before leaving the subway station.

At first glance, the process seems a bit cumbersome, but in order to ensure that his identity is not exposed, Lan Ke still repeats the same steps as before without getting tired.

But when he was about to leave the subway station, he suddenly stopped in front of a stationery store...

"click~"

With the sound of keys turning, Jotaro Kujo, who was sitting in the study typing on the keyboard, couldn't help but pause, but he didn't stand up.

Then he heard footsteps, and a figure appeared at the study door.

"Mr. Kujo, I'm sorry to have troubled you today."

In response to Lan Ke's apology, Jotaro Kujo did not comment, but just took off his glasses and turned to look at Lan Ke.

The other person's expression is not serious. This action is more to express one's inner respect for someone. After all, doing things while talking to someone is not very polite no matter how you look at it.

"It's nothing to bother with. You came back quite late today, so go to bed early."

Jotaro Kujo's voice wasn't cold, but it wasn't gentle either. However, it gave people a sense of security as always.

Under normal circumstances, Lan Ke would usually thank him and turn around to leave to his room to rest. He would not be overly intimate, but would also show respect to him. In the eyes of Jotaro Kujo, who is not good at communicating with others, this is the most suitable way for him to get along with his benefactor's child.

But today, Lan Ke took out a ballpoint pen from his schoolbag and placed it on Jotaro Kujo's desk.

"?"

Faced with Jotaro Kujo's puzzled expression, Lan Ke felt a little embarrassed.

"On the way back, I happened to see a ballpoint pen with marine animals printed on it in the stationery store. Last time, Mr. Kujo, you mentioned that you were a member of the diving club back in Teitan, and you're still a 'Professor of Oceanography.' I figured you must be very fond of marine animals. As for the ballpoint pen, I think you'll be able to use it in your work, so it wouldn't be a waste..."

It was obvious that Lan Ke was planning to imitate the "gift-giving" in the game to increase his favorability, but he had no experience in this area. It was okay when dealing with his own assistant, but he was obviously not used to facing Jotaro Kujo, his elder.

Jotaro Kujo looked at the ballpoint pen in front of him and didn't know what to say for a moment.

Although his father, a rock singer, is a bit unreliable, his mother dotes on him immensely. In addition, his grandfather is a silly daughter/grandson-obsessed man, so Jotaro Kujo has never lacked gifts since he was a child.

Later, when I was in high school, I met a group of friends who I could trust. After that, I often received gifts during festivals or when someone went out traveling.

But for some reason, Lan Ke's ballpoint pen, which did not look like a famous brand, made him feel uneasy.

This is probably because he knows very well that this ballpoint pen should be a gift bought by the other party with his first job salary?

"Whoo~"

Accompanied by a long breath, Jotaro Kujo tried hard to force a smile.

"It just so happens that I usually use up my pen quickly. I'll use it well. You should also rest early."

Lan Ke was a little disappointed that the expected 'RANK UP' prompt did not appear on Jotaro Kujo's body, but judging from the other party's expression, he seemed to be quite satisfied.

Lan Ke didn't say anything more. He just said, "I'm going to rest first" and left the study.

But at the same time, Lan Ke was also thinking about another problem——how to improve Jotaro Kujo's RANK?

Simply giving gifts doesn't seem to be very effective.

"As expected, the crux of the matter lies in the relationship between the other party and my daughter Jolyne."

The problem was that Lan Ke couldn't find a suitable point to ask about Jolyne's situation. After all, there was nothing in the room related to Jolyne except her personal belongings. The problem was that Higashikata Josuke had already graduated and became a police officer, so he must have a daughter. The only question was how old Jolyne was now, and how should Lan Ke intervene?

His goal was to raise the opponent's RANK, not to cause trouble for himself.

Lan Ke has an urgent desire to improve his own strength.

At first glance, it seemed that he had never encountered a 'story mission' so far, nor did he have a 'mission deadline'. Even according to his assistant, he didn't know when the 'God', who was theoretically his opponent, would appear.

But in fact it is not the case.

For example, in the previous 'Ze Yuezhi Incident', although the system did not give a deadline for the task, the problem was that the existence of 'Leticia' forced Lan Ke to speed up the progress.

At first glance, reality doesn't seem to have clear deadlines like in games, but the biggest difference between reality and games is "uncertainty."

In the game, if a certain node is not triggered, the plot will not move forward, but this is not the case in reality.

Once a crime is confirmed, there is a high probability that the subject will continue to commit crimes.

If crime is compared to a "malignant tumor" in society, then Lan Ke must "change its heart" before it further damages society and "remove" it before the evil spreads further.

In order to achieve this goal, he needs to upgrade the level of his 'personality mask', increase his combat experience, and also his 'social skills'.

But there is no rush for this kind of thing.

Anyway, let's take a rest first. After all, there are still a lot of things to do tonight.

At the same time, in the study on the other side, Jotaro Kujo took out a pendant from his arms, looked at the photo on it for a long time without saying a word, until finally a faint voice came with a sigh.

“Am I growing up?”

It's a pity that no one here can answer his question...

Chapter 33: Fair Trade

"Captain~"

"Captain?"

"Captain——"

As the calling voice in his ears became louder and louder, Lan Ke finally opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a cute head. After a brief moment of surprise, he finally realized that he was on the "Velvet".

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he seemed to have been waking up on the "Velvet" recently, so much so that he almost forgot the feeling of his original bed. From this perspective, he was really wasting money. After all, unlike a certain Potter, Jotaro Kujo had specially prepared a full set of high-end bedding for him.

But now I can see the cat every day when I wake up, so I can’t say whether it’s a loss or not.

But he soon put these trivial matters behind him. After all, Tina calling him to get up meant that the agreed time had arrived.

"I'm leaving first~ Tina, you should have a good rest~"

I don’t know if it was because she was shy or simply sleepy, but Tina didn’t respond to Lan Ke. She just kept shaking her tail and occasionally swept across Lan Ke’s wrist. She seemed to be in a good mood.

As usual, Lan Ke took a shortcut from the "cognitive world" and rushed to the Dokushima family. He skillfully appeared from an empty corner and then glanced outside with his "third eye".

Although Lan Ke had confirmed it once when he came to 'work' before, he still had to be on the safe side. After all, the Dokujima Dojo was different from the previous times he 'infiltrated'.

Leaving aside the 'Palace' and 'Cognitive Space', the 'Cathedral of Santa Maria' is not equipped with surveillance in order to protect the privacy of believers; the 'Zeyue Building' cannot be equipped with surveillance due to the personal reasons of its owner, and the same is true for the other places. After all, the targets that Lan Ke can target are basically guilty and will definitely not go to places where they can leave 'evidence' for themselves.

This also brought convenience to Lan Ke. He only needed to send a "notice letter" and did not need to meet the target.

But this time it was different. Although Busujima Saeko's father was the head of a school that had been passed down for hundreds of years, he did not reject modern technology. Just the fact that there was a surveillance camera at the gate would allow one to get a glimpse of what was happening just by opening the door. Although Lan Ke did not find any cameras in the kendo hall, Lan Ke had reason to suspect that the "Bukujima family" had a special surveillance room, otherwise there would be no need to hire someone specifically to open the door.

The reason why it is not set up in the kendo hall is probably to protect the privacy of the apprentices.

As expected, when Lan Ke left the kendo hall and saw the "back house", he also saw light spots distributed on the courtyard, walls and corridors, symbolizing "traps".

However, it was not a problem for Lan Ke. After all, although there were a lot of surveillance cameras, this was a normal residence after all, and there were blind spots in the surveillance room. With the help of the "warning range" marked by the "third eye", Lan Ke reached the back house from the courtyard openly.

According to 'Bukujima Saeko (Shadow)', the other party also didn't know where the 'cross' was placed, so it shouldn't be placed where it could be seen in daily life... Actually, this is normal. After all, according to the other party, no one in the Busuki family was interested in it, and they kept it simply out of courtesy.

"Is it probably placed in a storage room?"

The move to the stables forest Qiqi

With this idea in mind, Lan Ke didn't enter the main house at all. Instead, he walked around the outside of the main house, and soon he found the place that seemed to be the target.

The reason why it is suspected is that the main house is a large building, and there is also a small building besides it. Lan Ke suspects that it is where Saeko Busujima lives. These places are standard Japanese buildings, and the doors are also sliding doors.

But now what he faced was a building without windows and with a large locked wooden door.

It looks quite consistent with his impression of a "warehouse", but Lan Ke used the word "suspected" because the building in front of him was too big. It was estimated that the first floor was more than 100 square meters, there were three floors above ground, and an unknown number of floors underground. No matter how you look at it, it would be a bit of a waste to use it simply as a warehouse, right?

But considering the outrageous area of ​​the Busujima family, Lan Ke was unsure for a moment.

But since you have doubts, just go in and take a look.

Lan Ke took out the 'Alternative Dimension Navigation' and prepared to do the same as last time at Emiya's house, breaking the door lock in the 'cognitive world' to enter the building directly, and then returning from the 'cognitive world' to the 'material world' to enter it.

But at this moment, he discovered that the 'other-dimensional navigation' was no longer usable.

After a brief moment of daze, Lan Ke reacted instantly. It should be similar to the last time with "Kaito Kidd". Someone must be monitoring him.

But here's the problem.

The last time he sent out a notice, it was strange that Kaito Kidd came to join in the fun, but it was understandable. But this time he didn't send out a notice again. Who was "ambushing" him here?

Could it be that the previous surveillance exposed him?

It shouldn't be possible. After all, he had used his 'third eye' to confirm it several times. So the only explanation was that someone guessed that he would appear here tonight even though he didn't send a notice.

And the only person who fits this possibility... is only one.

"Ms. Busujima, since you've been waiting for a long time, why don't you come out and see me?"

Because of the mask, Lan Ke's voice became a little low, and it seemed particularly weird when combined with his oppressive thief suit and the almost dark environment late at night.

But he didn't know whether it was because he couldn't bear it anymore or he simply thought that Lan Ke had discovered him, but he actually walked out of the house next door.

But when Lan Ke saw the other person, he was stunned for a moment, because today's Busujima Saeko gave him a completely different feeling.

She was still wearing the same plain kendo uniform as always, the only difference was that her long hair, which always hung over her shoulders, was tied up in a high ponytail with a hair tie, and... she was holding a knife in her hand.

That’s right, it’s not a bamboo sword or a wooden sword, but a real sword!

Even when Lan Ke confirmed through his 'third eye' that the knife was 'glowing', he wondered if the knife was an 'antique'?

While Lan Ke was looking at Lan Ke, Busujima Saeko was also looking at Lan Ke.

Although she suspected that the 'Phantom Thief of Hearts' might come, she couldn't be sure without receiving a letter of warning.

Of course, even if she received the notice letter, she probably wouldn't call the police. After all, there was something she wanted to confirm with the other party, and it would be difficult to confirm if the police were present.

Just looking at the strange man in front of her wearing a bird-beak mask, Busujima Saeko still couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

In addition to the fact that the opponent in the "urban legend" can "steal a heart" and even directly change a person's personality, it is also because she has personally fought against the opponent. She can't forget the feeling of powerlessness that came with trying her best but still can't win.

But it was precisely because she had faced the other person in person before that she was able to muster up the courage.

She knew that the other party might not be as "scary" as the rumors said, and that they could communicate. In fact, she was more inclined to believe that the other party's "stealing of hearts" was actually "punishing evil and promoting good."

More importantly, she wanted to confirm a certain question with the other party, and the only person who could give her own answer was the other party.

But all this was just her speculation. When she had to face the other party in person again, she still felt an indescribable sense of oppression, as if she was facing a large predator.

This is a survival instinct that comes from living things.

But she finally mustered up the courage.

"Mr. Kaito, this is what you are looking for, right?"

As he spoke, he took out a cross from his arms.

jiu liu ling yi er liu er qi ling

Although there were no precious decorations on it, the silver cross emitted a faint halo under the dim moonlight, and it was obvious at a glance that it was not an ordinary item.

And more importantly, its appearance matches the description of "Bujima Saeko (Shadow)".

There is no doubt that this is exactly my goal!

But at this time Lan Ke did not feel happy at all, instead he frowned slightly.

Because he didn't know how the other party knew it, or was he just...testing him?

Direct denial?

Or just admit it?

After thinking for a moment, Lan Ke nodded.

"Yes, it is exactly my target, but I am curious, Miss Busujima, how did you know that my target was it?"

Although Busujima Saeko was obviously waiting for him, and even had a knife in her hand, there was no hostility from her, so Lan Ke judged that she was able to communicate, and obviously wanted to contact him about something. Since they could communicate, then everything would be easy.

As expected, the other party did not reject the olive branch extended by Lan Ke.

"If I answer your question, can you answer one for me?"

"Answer one question each? Fair trade, but I'll only answer questions I feel I can answer, if... you don't mind."

As Lan Ke's low and oppressive voice came, Busujima Saeko, who was holding the cross in her hand, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Just like Lan Ke didn't know what the other person was thinking, Busujima Saeko also didn't know what Lan Ke was thinking, and she didn't know whether the "cross" in her hand had any meaning to the other person. After all, she had tried many methods before, and even asked someone to check it out. It was just an ordinary silver cross, not a valuable thing at all.

But judging from Lan Ke's expression, this cross really did hide some secret.

However, the other party probably won't tell me, so————