After a while, Gin figured that with Ouzo's comprehension skills—if you could call them that—he should've picked up on the scolding buried in his words by now. Maybe even reflected a little. So Gin continued, "There wasn't any loss this time. Next time, take notice."
The organization was planning a short-term collaboration with a certain group. Negotiations were nearly done, the terms almost finalized.
Then, right as they were about to close the deal—bam. Patriarch Hatamoto got brutally murdered by Ouzo.
When Gin found out, he thought, Great. Now things are going to get complicated.
But to his surprise, the Hatamoto patriarch's will handed everything—business, assets, legacy—to his pure, innocent granddaughter. Said granddaughter had no clue what any of it meant, had zero interest in money or running a company. She ignored the elite legal team's pleas and just wanted to wrap everything up and get away from her family and their mess.
…The organization had stumbled into a leak.
While this turn of events was fortunate, it also gave Gin a new level of "appreciation" for Ouzo's talent.
Up until now, in Gin's mind, the people Ouzo seduced, corrupted, and pushed into the abyss of crime were mostly everyday civilians.
But ever since that evaluation mission involving the "assassination of a diplomat," and then the job to take out the only daughter of the Yotsui Group's chairman, Ouzo had clearly gotten a taste for bigger prey. No more hunting common folk—he was going after the rich and powerful like it was a buffet.
Gin also recalled how, during a visit to the Nagato family, the chairman of the Nagato Group just so happened to lose his only son. And his son-in-law died in a conveniently "accidental explosion." The chairman himself made it out fine, but both of his promising heirs? Gone.
There was no evidence. Still, Gin had a very strong feeling Ouzo was involved.
Sure, Ouzo's abilities were impressive. That was good for the organization.
But if he ever accidentally offed someone important to the org itself, they'd be in trouble.
...Still, no need to crack down too hard. Even if Ouzo was becoming a bit of a European Emperor in terms of luck and collateral, his rank was still low. He hadn't come into contact with any key political figures or major players in the organization's inner circle.
And unlike some of the other headache-inducing members, Ouzo at least followed orders. After this little reminder, he'd probably behave.
Even so, Gin felt it was a bit of a waste letting Ouzo just wander around casting wide nets.
He glanced at his schedule, typed for a moment on his laptop.
A minute later, Jiangxia's phone buzzed.
He pulled it away from his ear and saw an email from Gin—looked like a list.
Gin's voice returned through the receiver: "Your main task now is to build prestige without blowing your cover. Get close to politicians—gradually. Don't rush. If you rise too fast, you'll raise suspicions.
"Also, I sent you part of our current assassination list. Read it in five minutes. Memorize it. If you still want to sharpen your skills on some 'high-level targets,' pick someone off this list."
Jiangxia replied with all the enthusiasm of someone told to eat raw broccoli: "...Okay."
Unless Conan gets caught and locked away, stopping the killing is basically just a pipe dream, he thought.
Still, better to play along. Honestly, not that many deaths had been directly caused by the organization lately.
Worst-case scenario, he figured, I'll just shoot Gin a heads-up before picking up any ghosts. If it's someone who really can't die, I can hold my nose and save them. Pick up some murderous aura instead and farm reputation points on the side...
After hanging up, Jiangxia perked up and opened the list Gin had sent.
Five names in total.
Too high-level, and it wouldn't be posted in bulk like this.
So while the list was packed with big names from the business world, there was only one poor programmer thrown in, and no politicians.
Each name came with a bracketed date—that'd be the deadline for assassination.
As Jiangxia scanned through, he spotted two familiar ones.
Looks like Gin has evolved beyond being a simple high-end murderbot. Now he's moonlighting as a ghost courier too. Truly a tool person among cadres.
Moments later, the email shredded itself.
Being a psychic master, Jiangxia had a kind of built-in mental storage drive. Even though he was still half-asleep, memorizing the list was a breeze.
He recalled the two names he recognized, matched them to the cases in the original timeline, and decided to visit one of the relevant locations tomorrow to investigate.
…
The next day, Jiangxia popped a mid-grade ghost mint to compensate for his sleep deficit, then began digging through the news.
—One of the names Gin sent yesterday was "Kazuyoshi Asahi."
According to Jiangxia's (totally not fraudulent) prophetic powers, Kazuyoshi Asahi might be targeted by a serial killer.
He figured he'd start by searching news about the other familiar name on the list: "Murakami Jo."
Turned out the guy was just about to be released from prison.
Murakami had been arrested ten years ago by Mouri Kogoro. At the time, he loudly swore he'd make Kogoro pay once he got out.
But now, after a decade in jail and some hard thinking, Murakami had mellowed out. Killing Kogoro wasn't on his to-do list anymore.
However, an old "friend" of Kogoro's, Sawaki Kohei, had other plans. He was going to use Murakami's past as cover for a new murder spree—then dump the pot on Murakami.
This "friend," Sawaki Kohei, was a gifted sommelier. Wine tasting was his passion, his career, and his one true love.
But not long ago, Sawaki had a car accident, and afterward, he lost his sense of taste. The doctors blamed trauma and stress.
Sawaki Kohei blamed a certain actress who caused the accident—and a few other people who'd piled pressure on him during that time.
Conveniently, the names of his targets could each be associated with numbers.
After meeting Murakami, Sawaki Kohei got "inspired." He planned to commit murders in descending order from 13 to 1—like a deck of playing cards—and sneak his real targets in among them.
Jiangxia remembered that "Kazuyoshi Asahi," the name on Gin's list, happened to be number Nine in Sawaki Kohei's little card game.
If events played out like in the original timeline, this mission would be a win-win: complete the job, scoop up some ghosts. Beautiful.
But, Jiangxia thought, with me involved… things might not go exactly by the book anymore.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 44/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*