**Requesting Power Stones for power!! Pls :)**
The public security in this island nation isn't quite the same as the straight-laced, rule-abiding criminal police.
The cops here have wings—figuratively—and tend to flap them just a little past the edges of the law. Sliding open doors and picking locks? That's the Tuesday standard. Bureaucratic red tape? Much less of a thing.
In other words, if Toru Amuro really wanted to investigate, then with his skillset, even an average murder case wouldn't end in a dead end.
Yes, Amuro's technically a police officer. But he's also a ruthless undercover boss from a shady organization—yet even so, he can't crack a run-of-the-mill homicide?
...But okay, he is still called a "detective."
And in Jiangxia's opinion, anyone with a "detective" buff should just be kicked to the sidelines of a case and left there—they'll insert themselves eventually. Probably start working overtime to crack the mystery. Super low-maintenance.
Jiangxia told Amuro the details of the case.
Then he casually tossed out a hint. "Say you know someone committed a murder, and you can even guess the general method they used—but there's no physical evidence. What would you do?"
Amuro Toru picked up a photo, his tone calm. "It's hard to erase all traces of a crime. If you can deduce the method, then follow the suspect's movements, figure out what they were thinking, simulate their actions, retrace their steps. Something will show up."
"…" So he wasn't planning to get involved, huh?
Jiangxia patiently tossed out another hint. "What if you still don't find anything?"
"Then stop looking." Amuro casually tossed the photo back on the table. "Not every case can be solved, y'know."
This guy, Zero, was a professional undercover operative.
Each of his identities came with its own character.
Zero is Zero. Amuro Toru is Amuro Toru. Bourbon is Bourbon.
They're different.
Facing Jiangxia—a known member of that organization—Amuro spent about 0.3 seconds deciding which persona to use. In the end, "Bourbon" felt like the right fit.
But as soon as he finished talking, Amuro glanced sideways at Jiangxia with surprise.
He hadn't expected this kid to be so obsessed with solving cases.
When they agreed on the part-time gig, Amuro had dug up Jiangxia's background.
Turnes out Jiangxia's story checked out.
He really did have psychological issues, backed up by actual medical records. So, no, Sherry wasn't overreacting.
And then there was something else surprising—after being discharged and returning to school, Jiangxia's grades steadily climbed.
Then they kept climbing—right to the top. And just... stayed there. Quiz, midterm, finals—every subject, full marks. Every. Single. Time.
Amuro stared at the bug-tier transcript pile in silence.
It hit him then: he might've picked up a hidden talent.
Okay, maybe not "graduated-with-a-doctorate-at-12" level genius.
But at this rate, Jiangxia was headed for a top-tier university and a cushy role contributing to society.
And talents like that should belong to the country.
What's he doing staying in some shady black-clad organization, burning bright in the dark?
Sure, Sherry was hard to reach—too many guards around her.
But Jiangxia? Completely unsupervised.
And he didn't even seem that loyal to the organization. More like he had nowhere else to go, so he hung around acting like an emotionless task robot.
Thinking of this, Amuro jabbed the photo and said, scornfully:
"Why stress about it? You're not getting a commission fee anyway. Just throw the clues to the police and let them dig up the evidence. Those tax leeches eat off public money, they oughta earn it."
A nice little message delivered—Rely on the police instead, kid.
Amuro figured that, at Jiangxia's age, ideas were still moldable.
If this one police report turned out well, Jiangxia would get a taste for it. "Call the police when something happens"—get that burned into his brain. Do it a few more times? Bam, he's practically friends with law enforcement.
Jiangxia blinked at Amuro in surprise and noted to himself: Scolding himself: 1/1 today.
At the same time, he tried looking at the situation from a god's-eye view—trying to figure out Amuro's intentions.
Suddenly, he had a flash of insight. Seemed like he'd guessed Amuro's plan.
…
Jiangxia switched gears and put on the same disdainful expression Amuro had just used.
"True. There's no way to catch the guy, but at least we can throw a wrench in things. Let them know the criminal's right in front of them—and they still can't touch him."
Amuro's eye twitched slightly at the corner.
...Did this guy just insult the police?
Still, he couldn't exactly blame Jiangxia.
These views were clearly planted by the organization.
The evil black-clad group spent all day doing nothing good, corrupting the next generation…
Sooner or later, they'd all be wiped out like the societal plagues they were.
But regardless of what Amuro thought, his face stayed smiling.
Jiangxia, meanwhile, walked over under that smile, scooped up the photos from the table, and took off.
Once he was gone, Amuro locked the office door behind him.
Then he forwarded the case Jiangxia mentioned to his team and told them to work with the police in Gunma Prefecture—the site where the body had been found. Jiangxia's clues would be submitted to them.
...Time to rebuild the police's rep in front of the younger generation of the black-clad org. Let these kids leave their shadows behind.
He hit "Send."
A "Received" pinged back immediately.
Amuro stashed the phone with a satisfied look.
But then Jiangxia's earlier words about the police popped back into his mind, and he stopped mid-step on his way out.
To be fair… he did know his subordinates were kind of unreliable.
After thinking it over, Amuro decided he'd go in person.
The first impression was important.
Jiangxia clearly didn't have much faith in the police. If this report flopped, there'd be no second chance.
And hey, he didn't have anything urgent on his plate the next few days. Might as well take a field trip...
With that, he locked up the office and headed straight for the parking lot.
…
Just as Jiangxia stepped onto the street, he found himself facing the police department.
After submitting the evidence, he didn't return to the office right away.
Didn't want to interrupt Amuro's dispatching efforts.
Instead, he wandered around the neighborhood, giving Amuro enough buffer time to make a few phone calls.
As he passed a certain street, the ghost baby perched on his shoulder suddenly shot upright, jabbing at something excitedly.
Startled, Jiangxia followed the direction it was pointing—and spotted an old building, clearly past its prime.
—The Museum of Medieval Art.
...The museum?
Jiangxia thought about it. Yeah, this sort of place was definitely a hotspot for crime.
And judging by the ghost baby's excitement, this one might still be fresh.
Jiangxia gave the excited little ghost baby a pat and felt slightly emotional.
Ever since he got this detective buff, life had been going a lot more smoothly.
Definitely worth the long journey.
He walked briskly toward the museum.
…
After buying a ticket, Jiangxia entered and studied the exhibition layout.
Gradually, he remembered where the ghostly presence was likely coming from—or in other words, where a corpse might be.
The museum was nearly bankrupt, and there were hardly any visitors.
Jiangxia walked down the deserted corridor toward one of its biggest attractions: the "Hell Exhibit."
It was completely dark inside.
The hallway lights barely lit the doorway. Go any deeper and you were swallowed by pitch-blackness.
…Even if the place was going under, wouldn't they at least pay the electric bill? Suspicious. Very suspicious.
In other words: ghost pickup opportunity.
Jiangxia entered the exhibit with high hopes.
Inside, it was truly dark. Jiangxia hadn't brought a flashlight—but that was fine.
He pressed his fingers together, touched the ghost baby's eyes, then swiped his hand in front of his own eyes.
His vision immediately sharpened.
Psychics are naturally a bit chuuni. Everyone likes giving their skills dramatic names. High-level bosses are no exception.
So, skill names often don't make any sense.
This particular ability Jiangxia just used was officially called "Ghost Xingmu: Reverse."
Where there's a "Reverse," there's a "Forward."
"Ghost Xingmu: Forward" transfers the psychic's vision to the ghost's body.
That way, the ghost can sneak into danger zones and gather intel undetected.
Same principle applies to hearing, smell, taste, strength… all transferable.
But unless absolutely necessary, these "Forward" skills rarely get used.
Because early on, there's a big downside.
—When you transfer vision or hearing to the ghost, your body loses that ability.
So the already-fragile psychic gets even more vulnerable.
Only in the later stages, when ghosts level up, can the psychic stop transferring abilities entirely—and instead boost the ghost or puppet directly.
For Jiangxia, that kind of ghost upgrade was still a long way off.
But thankfully, as a psychic who hadn't seen a ghost in over a year, he now had a very calm mind.
At least now, he had a ghost.
Is raising it to full star form really that far away?
And this world wasn't that dangerous—even entry-level ghosts could do the job.
Things were already way better than a year ago.
A proper psychic should learn contentment.
Then grow silently and collect all the ghosts...
Glossary:
vest – a disguise or alternate identity (used like "mask").
rua – onomatopoeia for patting or squishing something cute.