Chapter 2163 - 2161: Detective Ran (The Useless Cat That Failed Evolution Due to Oversleeping)

To Fang Zheng, dealing with Kyohei Kazeto was a mere trifle, and afterwards, he returned to his work—after all, business had been busy recently.

"Well done."

Looking at the contracts and reports in his hand, Fang Zheng nodded with satisfaction, gazing at Akemi before him.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"It’s alright, as Mr. Fang Zheng said, problems solvable by money aren’t really problems... but I originally wanted to acquire a few American companies..."

"Leave them to their fate."

Fang Zheng was well aware of why Akemi specifically brought this up; ever since he made that statement to the world, U.S. stocks plummeted, and NASDAQ was a mess. Moreover, even though the U.S. Government stated they would spare no effort to combat those evil terrorists, Fang Zheng’s supported guerrilla warfare left them scrambling. Even without much effort, sabotaging trucks and railways could stagnate economic flow, and once economic flow stalls, America won’t be far from ruin.

Now many companies are planning to withdraw from America, and many multinational corporations intend to move their headquarters to Asia or Europe.

After all, nobody wants to be on a cruise ship or airplane one day only for it to be suddenly blown up.

Despite the U.S. Government having sent personnel from various channels to try and identify Fang Zheng, this mysterious figure, Fang Zheng simply didn’t respond. His stance was straightforward—no negotiations, no compromises, not stopping until they’re finished. If America dared to deploy a nuclear bomb, he’d just ensure it never left North America, believing that was what mattered.

Anyway, Fang Zheng had already wreaked havoc on North America more than once, what’s wrong with another time? Fang Zheng wanted to be this world’s ultimate BOSS, and nobody could change that.

As a result, people and capital fled America en masse. Despite tightened airport security, it was futile, as Fang Zheng had operatives outside armed with surface-to-air missiles to bombard passenger planes, predominantly targeting domestic flights. America, with no planes, bombed railways, and destroyed trucks, was basically half-paralyzed.

This left American representatives helplessly furious, denouncing these terrorists as shameless and disrespectful of human rights at the United Nations conference. Yet, Fang Zheng turned a deaf ear—human rights were none of his concern. They acted as if they respected any conventions during invasions, but now it hits close to home, and they’re clamoring for human rights and conventions?

Dream on.

Besides, in Fang Zheng’s eyes, Americans weren’t worthy of human rights conventions.

"Our next main business will be in Asia, followed by Europe."

Fang Zheng pointed at the contract in his hand, glancing at Akemi.

"Focus primarily on real estate acquisitions, securing more plots. Go for good locations, and don’t overlook bad ones either—those outskirts, grab them if possible. Even if American companies move, their options are limited; using property for transactions will simplify things a bit."

"Alright, anything else?"

"Hire a few assistants."

"Assistants?"

"Exactly."

Seeing Akemi looking surprised, Fang Zheng shrugged.

"You shouldn’t be handling everything yourself. Little Ai has complained to me many times that you’re too busy to be home. Besides, this is all routine business matters—anyone can handle them."

"Is it really fine? Isn’t confidentiality required?"

Hearing this, Akemi was somewhat taken aback. She was from the Black Organization, after all, accustomed to internal confidentiality actions. Thus, after joining Fang Zheng, she instinctively thought secrecy might be similar to the Black Organization, personally handling everything as such.

"Of course not, there’s no need for secrecy. You see, we have two maids at home; what’s there to keep secret? Real confidential tasks don’t need you doing them. For now, you only need to live your lives well. Look how Little Ai enjoys her elementary school life. You should relax too. Let’s take some time to wander around. Although it’s hard to go abroad now, we could go to some secluded mountains, a hot spring inn, or beach island... Oh right, you just reminded me—we should buy a private island. We can vacation there without worrying about running into some Shinigami Elementary Student spoiling our mood."

"No problem."

Akemi smiled and nodded. Truthfully, after thinking it over, she realized it was true. Her work, while important, was just regular business important within its scope. Fang Zheng had never made her do jobs typical of the Black Organization that couldn’t be known to outsiders.

Such as robbing banks...

"Ring ring ring..."

At that moment, Fang Zheng’s phone rang. He glanced at the phone and made a gesture to Akemi, who nodded before turning to leave the office. Only then did Fang Zheng answer the call.

"Hello? Ran? It’s rare for you to call me, is something the matter?"

"Um...Mr. Fang Zheng, sorry to bother you, do you have time? I have something I’d like to discuss..."

"Certainly."

Since Ran rarely called him, Fang Zheng naturally agreed and went to the agreed cafe, only to find not just Ran but Conan and Sonoko were also there...

Afterward, Fang Zheng learned the situation from them. Yesterday, Ran and Sonoko narrowly avoided a car accident. The driver was a woman named Chie Yoshino, who claimed she wasn’t feeling well, thus driving poorly and nearly causing a tragedy. Of course, this wasn’t the significant part; what mattered was Ran heard from Chie Yoshino that she had insured herself for a billion yen recently. Although her husband seemed very caring and loving on the surface, certain details made Ran feel he might not truly love Chie Yoshino as he appears to.

"I see."

Fang Zheng put down his coffee, looking at Ran.

"So, you suspect it’s an insurance fraud attempt, setting up a plan to kill Chie Yoshino, correct."

"Mm..."

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s answer, Ran somberly nodded, and Sonoko quickly added.

"It could also be due to poor construction. I’ve asked someone I know to inspect it."

"You hope it’s poor construction, am I right?"

However, Fang Zheng’s subsequent words shocked Conan and Sonoko both, while Ran nodded in agreement.

"Yes, as Mr. Fang Zheng said, if it turns out to be poor construction... that’d be fortunate. If not..."

"It’d indicate Mr. Yoshino wants to kill his wife after persuading her to take out a billion yen accident insurance policy. The motive is clear; outsiders might see Mr. Yoshino’s care for his wife as mere pretense. Thus, even if Mrs. Yoshino dies in an accident, nobody would suspect her husband killed her."

Upon hearing this, Conan also grew excited.

"But we haven’t figured out his method yet. Although Ran thinks Mr. Yoshino deliberately used polluted materials to build the house, I feel like..."

"But what you care about isn’t such a trivial matter, right."

However, Fang Zheng didn’t pay any attention to Conan’s words and was staring at Ran.

"The method doesn’t matter; what worries you isn’t that, right."

"Hmm..."

Upon hearing this, Ran nodded again.

"I’m really scared; what if... my suspicion is correct? I don’t know how to tell Mrs. Yoshino... She truly loves her husband and wishes to always live happily with him, and she puts in a lot of effort for that. But if I tell her that her husband is actually just trying to use her, attempting to kill her to get insurance money, I can’t imagine how devastated Mrs. Yoshino would be..."

"........."

Listening to this, Conan opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say. He originally thought Ran was troubled by the inability to discern the criminal’s method, but in reality... it wasn’t the case.

This is the difference between men and women, learn from it, kid.

Fang Zheng glanced at Conan; women are ultimately emotional creatures, especially kind-hearted girls like Ran, she’s nothing like you, this cold-hearted deduction maniac.

"You’ve been through quite a few cases before, so why do you have this thought?"

"Though I did follow Shinichi and dad..."

Saying this, Ran quickly glanced at Conan.

"I’ve been through many cases, but how should I put it... I felt like I was just an observer then. Indeed, I sometimes felt pain for the culprits’ situations and felt sad over their conflicts and misunderstandings, but I always didn’t know how stressful it would be when I’m standing right here..."

Saying this, Ran clenched her fists tightly and placed them on her chest.

"I’m so scared; if my deduction is correct, then I’ll ruin Mrs. Yoshino’s happiness. But if I ignore it, Mrs. Yoshino might end up losing her life because of it. This stress is so overwhelming; I don’t understand what kind of mindset Shinichi and the others have when solving cases... but I’m really scared. Should I tell Mrs. Yoshino? Should I report this to the police? Maybe I can discuss it with Mr. Yoshino, tell him I’ve already seen through his scheme, make him stop? I... I don’t know what to do..."

"Ran..."

Looking at the greatly troubled Ran, Sonoko and Conan were silent at this moment.

"Excellent."

However, Fang Zheng’s reply shocked all three.

"Excellent?"

"That’s right, it shows that you’re considering the issue from this angle, Ran. Now there’s only one question left, which is your conviction."

"Conviction...?"

"Yes, indeed detectives need to uncover the truth, but it doesn’t mean they have to speak it out. You’ve gone through numerous cases and should be aware that many culprits commit crimes for unavoidable reasons, such as the law failing to punish them, leaving them only able to seek revenge themselves... But what’s your thought? Do you think these people deserve it, or should you let them off?"

"I..."

"That’s your conviction, it revolves around what you ultimately want to uphold. The police are enforcers of the law, so regardless of right or wrong, they must enforce the law. Hence even if a culprit has many hardships, if they’ve broken the law, they will be arrested, independent of their personal intentions— this is the police’s duty. However, detectives are not the same way. As you said, you could hide it from Mrs. Yoshino and then threaten Mr. Yoshino, saying you’ve seen through his act and want him to stop. But is it truly effective? Can it truly save Mrs. Yoshino’s family and life?"

"........."

"This is a question only you can find the answer to, but as for the method, I can tell you right now."

"Eh? Really?"

Upon hearing this, Conan was shocked; he knew Fang Zheng was not particularly fond of reasoning.

"Of course, it’s actually quite simple. See, according to what you said, Mrs. Yoshino invested one hundred million in accidental insurance. Yet insurance companies are enthusiastic when you pay but are full of excuses when you demand payment. So according to what you said, Ran, not only is this time-consuming and laborious, but it’s also unlikely to be acknowledged within the payoff range by the insurance company. Since Mr. Yoshino is an insurance sales agent, he’s surely aware of this more than anyone, so the method you mentioned actually involves high risk, and the insurance company might refuse to pay by claiming it’s not an accidental incident."

"This..."

Hearing this, Conan was baffled too; he originally thought Fang Zheng would look for the criminal method from some angle, but it turned out to be a commercial angle--- Well, admittedly, this was a perspective they hadn’t considered.

After all, they’re still students.

"Thus, the simplest and most straightforward is to arrange a car accident. Considering you mentioned Mrs. Yoshino frequently feels dizzy and unwell, along with needing to drive from here to Shizuoka for work, in hot weather... The chance of an accident is high. I think there’s a significant possibility that something was tampered with on her car."

"I understand now!"

Upon hearing this, Conan’s eyes lit up.

"Ran... Sister! Do you remember what Mrs. Yoshino said when we first met her?"

"Yes, she mentioned recently the weather fluctuates between hot and cool, and she’s fine as long as she isn’t going to school or if the weather is cool..."

At this point, Ran was also taken aback.

"Could it be... the air conditioning?"

"That’s right, he must have sprayed some toxic substance on the car’s air conditioning, so Mrs. Yoshino feels unwell."

Conan nodded forcefully.

"Mrs. Yoshino also said she’s fine if not going to school or if the weather is cool, and she usually wouldn’t turn on the air conditioning in such weather, so there’d be no issue. But when the weather is hot, she must turn on the air conditioning, which makes her feel unwell! Also, even if an accident occurs, it won’t be easy to detect the problem!"

"It appears you’ve found your answer."

Looking at their expressions, Fang Zheng chuckled.

Next, let him see the result of this detective pair’s first collaboration.