Phantom Thief of Heart!but conan

Chapter 789: Never Lie to Tang Zezhao

"Three, two, one——"

Tang Ze slowly opened his eyes as instructed, stared at the painting behind the desk for a while, then slowly turned his gaze towards Muharakawa.

Under the other party's slightly nervous gaze, Tang Ze blinked and sat up as if nothing had happened.

"Is your hypnosis treatment over?" Tang Ze rubbed his neck and smiled. "I do feel a little more relaxed."

Isn’t it true? It’s a wonderful thing to have fun without spending any money. It’s definitely relaxing.

"Well, it's over. Tang Ze, you are unexpectedly the type who is very receptive to psychological suggestion, and the effect is better than I thought." Kiharakawa looked at Tang Ze's expression carefully and responded with a gentle and tolerant smile.

His expression was soft and his tone was gentle, as if he was really discussing Tang Ze's treatment plan, but Tang Ze vaguely heard a hint of hidden meaning.

——Since you are Karasawa Ikawa's child and hold his most crucial research results, is it really reasonable that your secret can be discovered so easily? Or is this disguise also part of the protection mechanism designed by Karasawa Ikawa in advance?

Tang Ze raised his hand, rubbed his temple, and pretended to be distressed: "Really? I don't know. It may be because of coming to Tokyo. I always feel that in the past few months, my condition is much worse than before."

To people who don't know Tang Ze's situation, this sentence means that Tang Ze is not adapting to the change of city life, but to people who know the situation, it has another meaning.

Especially those who know the secrets behind Tang Ze Zhao's arrest.

Kiharakawa nodded thoughtfully and wrote something on a new page of notes.

Even though he couldn't see clearly what he wrote, Tang Ze had already anticipated his thoughts.

As expected, his next question directly asked about the case: "Well, so you didn't get any psychological counseling when you were detained for the case, and the same was true after the trial?"

This means that he is doubting that Tang Ze's original psychological defense has been attacked.

What is Occlumency? Is it really the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts?
Although Tang Ze was complaining in his heart, his performance on the surface was still impeccable. He pretended to be confused and recalled things. After a moment, he shook his head hesitantly.

"No, I don't think so. I don't remember any similar situation."

The wording he chose was vague. Compared to a definite denial, this time it contained many more doubts that he himself seemed unable to figure out.

This performance actually dispelled Kiharakawa's concerns. He nodded and picked up the pen again.

"That means there was a problem with your original processing procedure. I will file a complaint with the relevant department. They delayed your treatment, causing your mental state to deteriorate after arriving in Tokyo. This is a dereliction of duty." Without answering Tang Ze's confusion, he attributed it like the final word.

Tang Ze lowered his head and said nothing.

Kiharakawa was deliberately trying to divert his attention, not wanting him to recall his experience when he was arrested.

This person knows what might have happened in those two months and is trying to prevent Tang Ze from doubting his own memory.

"Okay, it's getting late, and the club activities are almost over." Looking up at the time, Kiharakawa sorted out the materials on his lap, and took the initiative to stand up to signal the end. "Although this treatment is not in-depth, I think it will be effective for you. Let's stop here for today, go to bed early at night, and try to maintain a regular schedule. Feel free to contact me if there are any changes."

"Okay, please."

Conan, who had been holding the door handle tightly for a while, let out a breath, loosened the handle that was almost warmed by himself, and quickly jumped behind the corner to avoid being discovered by Kiharakawa.

His earphones fed back a rustling sound, as if the bug was rubbing against some flat surface.

Then there was the sound of Karasawa thanking Kiharakawa again and saying goodbye, which was clearer and closer than the previous voice.

This indirectly confirmed Conan's guess. Tang Ze discovered the bug that Xiaolan had put for him and knew that he was eavesdropping on the treatment, so he accepted the treatment plan with an unknown safety factor without hesitation.

Not only that, he even took care of the cleanup work for Conan.

Xiaolan should have put the bug on the folder given to Kiharakawa or near the desk. I don't know how Karasawa took it away naturally.

Soon, with the sound of the door opening and closing, Tang Ze walked out of the consultation room, looked around, and headed towards the direction where Conan was hiding with a clear goal.

After confirming that Kiharakawa had no intention of leaving the room to follow, Conan stuck his head out, took the initiative to greet Karasawa, and walked out with him from a direction out of sight of Kiharakawa's office.

"Next time you need something like this, you can just tell me." Tang Ze handed the small sticker back to Conan, "Lan-san has tried hard, but it's still quite eye-catching."

With the help of Dr. Agasa's black technology, Conan's eavesdropping equipment has been upgraded to a very small micro device, which is less than one centimeter in size excluding the sticker.

Mao Lilan, who had no experience in this, hesitated for a long time and decided to use notebook stickers to combine it with the organized documents, use it as a page mark, and stick pink flowers on the edge of the paper.

There was nothing wrong with the form, but it was not in line with her past habit of organizing documents. Worried that Kiharakawa would realize something was wrong, Tang Ze took the opportunity to take personal belongings and took the little flower away.

Conan squeezed the eavesdropping device in his hand and observed Tang Ze's expression for a while.

Since Tang Ze already knew that he had overheard Kiharakawa's hypnosis, he didn't have to worry about how to ask indirectly and could just ask directly.

"Do you still have any memory of what happened before? Did Dr. Kihara really hypnotize you?"

Based on the voice and language alone, Conan had no way of judging whether Karasawa had lied during the entire treatment, but from the conversation, it seemed that Kiharakawa had a way of judging.

Therefore, if Tang Ze really could not remember what he revealed to Kiharakawa under hypnosis, then he could only rely on guesswork and inference to understand the key process in which he did not see any specific actions and could not know what happened.

Tang Ze took the bug away on his own initiative and told Conan that he had discovered him eavesdropping, so that he could ask this question.

"Of course." Tang Ze blinked twice and patted Conan's head soothingly, "I am Tang Ze Ichikawa's son. He underestimated me and my father too much."

Conan first breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "So did his hypnosis work?"

"It worked." Tang Ze looked at Conan's expression and answered affirmatively, "I was indeed hypnotized."

This is the truth. The debuff has not been completely removed yet and is still counting down.

Although Tang Ze was not actually affected by hypnosis and circumvented Kiharakawa's lie detector test with some cunning words, he did not want to cause any misjudgment to Conan and make the other party mistakenly believe that Kiharakawa was an ordinary person who posed no threat.

Karasawa was not affected simply because he was Karasawa, the strongest mask user. Even if that kind of hypnosis had many conditions for activation and was not arbitrary mental control, Kiharakawa's lethality to ordinary people must be enormous.

Conan has to be wary of this person.

Substituting this information into his memory and recalling everything he had just heard, Conan quickly glanced at Tangze's profile, and couldn't help but recall the words that Kiharakawa had repeated over and over again when he was excited.

"The end point of cognitive science..." Conan, who had witnessed this power more than once, looked tense. He couldn't help but reach out and grab Tang Ze's wrist, wishing he could pull him down and examine him carefully.

Did Karasawa demonstrate the same power in front of Kiharakawa that Joker showed him? In what way, and at what cost?
"Yes, the end of cognitive science." Tang Ze looked down at Conan and smiled, repeating the question he had asked him in the past, "Do you have any wishes, Conan?"

Feeling the huge amount of information from this short sentence, Conan's round eyes widened even wider, looking like an emoticon, which made Tang Ze couldn't help laughing.

This isn't the first time he's hinted at it, and it seems that because Conan has always assumed that he's being persecuted, he rarely thinks in that direction.

However, he has already laid the groundwork for his character, and it is time for Conan to realize that he is not an ordinary person.

"Are you thirsty? Do you want something to drink?" Tang Ze suddenly changed the subject and asked an unrelated question.

"Hmm?" Conan was stunned for a moment, not understanding why the topic changed so quickly, but he still responded instinctively, "I'm a little thirsty."

"Okay, then, how about coffee? You have always liked coffee." Tang Ze asked again as if chatting.

"Well, of course..."

Before Conan could figure out why the topic had jumped so much, he felt Tang Ze, whose wrist he had grabbed, turn his hand over and grab his hand, which was now less than half the size of Tang Ze's. The next moment, a can of ice-cold coffee appeared directly in the palm of their clasped hands.

This was the first time that Tang Ze did not try to use the commuter bag as a cover, and took something out of the prop column in front of Conan.

Conan instinctively grabbed the can of coffee, looked at the can that looked like it had just been taken out of the refrigerator and before water droplets had condensed on the outer wall, and opened and closed his mouth silently a few times.

Many fragments flashed through his mind.

Tang Ze's commuter bag that looked like a treasure box. Tang Ze suddenly pulled out a large can of drink from his sleeve. Tang Ze smiled and said that he was also a magician, and suddenly produced a poker in his hand...

"you you--"

Pointing at himself, Tang Ze dropped the bomb lightly.

“The power of making your wishes come true.”

----

"It's not good to lie to children like this."

The members of the Phantom Thieves who were sitting around the restaurant couldn't help but shake their heads after listening to their leader's important speech about deceiving innocent detectives.

If you count carefully on your fingers, when it comes to disguise, this small-time detective who appears to be Conan Edogawa but is actually Shinichi Kudo is the one who was deceived the most by Karasawa.

Other friends who did not have much connection with Karasawa's core actions, such as the Mori family, Suzuki Sonoko and others, only knew Karasawa and Joker, and at most one Kitagawa Yusuke. Even if they were also unaware, they were not deceived to a certain extent.

As for Conan, Conan knows every one of Tang Ze's aliases, even Joker's daily identity is a customized special alias, but he still hasn't had the chance to see through even one of his identities.

Even the Unjust Organization knows that Goro Akechi/Kumel is equivalent to the current Akira Karasawa. Conan is not even as good as the organization.

"I'm not lying." Tang Ze raised his eyebrows and showed a golden cherry blossom with three petals left. "Just tell me if I can make my wish come true!"

Karasawa needs to reveal to Kiharakawa and Conan that he has special abilities, but he cannot show any offensive power, otherwise it will contradict his image of being chased by the organization.

Therefore, he focused on showing only the part of himself that lacked the ability to attack but could arouse people's imagination.

That is the "wishes come true" wishing machine.

Although the act of "creating objects" is misleading, and Tang Ze's ability to fulfill other people's wishes is not manifested in this way, Tang Ze is indeed not lying in essence.

The desire stone fell from his body and was rubbed out by his velvet assistant. He is used to accept other people's wishes and activate them. How can it not be considered a wish come true?

"But the fact that you can take things out of thin air doesn't necessarily mean you have the power to fulfill wishes, right?" Asai Narimi, who had seen Tang Ze take out a gun with his bare hands, shrank back. "If Conan really thinks you're a magician, how can you make things happen for him?"

Tang Ze's power is more like "storing things in an invisible space". It is impossible to create something that does not exist out of thin air.

If someone makes a wish and he doesn't have anything in his hand, this ability will naturally "fail", so how can he continue to talk?

"I didn't say that he wished for that thing." Tang Ze spread his hands, looking innocent, "Whether it's him or Mu Yuanchuan, I didn't tell any lies."

He just asked Conan if he wanted coffee, and he didn't say where the coffee came from, so how could it be considered a lie?
As for what kind of misunderstanding Conan had after considering the context, that was not something he needed to consider.

"As for if I can't take it out next time, I am the wishing machine myself, and the right to interpret the rules of the game belongs to the copyright owner." Tang Ze looked like a complete bad planner.

"Next time Detective-kun asks you to make something that you don't have, and you can't do it, how are you going to explain it?" Shimabukuro Kimie opened her eyes wide, "You're not strong enough?"

"If you are sincere, your wish will come true." Tang Ze said bluntly without blushing, "If you can't do it, it means your heart is not sincere. I suggest you reflect on yourself."

Having fully experienced this guy's style of doing things, Matsuda Jinpei still found it difficult to resist the urge to cover his face, so he sighed deeply.

With Tang Ze's ability to tell lies to people and lies to ghosts, even if there is an emergency, Tang Ze should be able to fool them...

"Let's get down to business." Matsuda Jinpei, who didn't want to continue the topic, brought the focus back to the topic. "You think the direction of the Muhara River Hall has been decided. What are the details?"

Kihara River is likely related to the organization. As we all know, people in the organization are on guard against attacks at the cognitive world level, which is a difficulty.

Putting aside the organization, he is also the first target they have come into contact with who may have special cognitive abilities. Whether this will cause changes in the hall and whether it will increase the difficulty of the strategy are issues worth considering.

This is a goal that needs to be carefully analyzed and should not be taken lightly.

"First of all, this guy's obsession must be related to my father, there is no doubt about that." Tang Ze shook his finger, not wanting to elaborate on this imitator who almost dressed himself up as another Tang Ze Ichikawa, and directly stated the conclusion, "What is more difficult to determine is actually how he thinks about my father."

Worship? Admire? Follow?

Resentment? Dissatisfaction? Jealousy?

It is difficult to know what kind of interactions there were between Karasawa Ikawa and Kiharagawa. Now, facing this almost pathological imitator, all Karasawa can do is observe his true thoughts and attitudes through his words and deeds.

Today's hypnosis treatment allowed Tang Ze to confirm some of the contents.

So he said it, it’s still unclear who is the one who is truly seen through.

"Many of his expressions are quite distorted and even somewhat self-contradictory. He must have a lot of negative emotions towards my father, and he made it clear that even though my father has passed away, he still wants to win the competition and stand at a higher position. But if we only use the word competitor to describe his relationship with my father, it doesn't seem to be completely accurate."

Tang Ze turned the pen in his hand and slowly wrote a few key words on the paper.

"I think he doesn't have completely negative feelings towards my father. He used to admire my father, and this should not be false. It is an objective fact that he has become a shadow of my father. If he really hates him, how could he be willing to see himself in the mirror every morning who is the same as his enemy?"

"Then it sounds like it's closer to jealousy? Maybe he wants to be recognized in all aspects, or even completely devour Karasawa Ikawa's life and replace him." Shimabukuro Kimie, who had been attacked by similar emotions, frowned and guessed.

"Love turns to hate, probably." Tang Ze pointed at the paper in his hand. "It should be noted that he actually had the opportunity to leave my father's influence and not be shrouded by the shadow. He took the initiative to change his plan and follow my father, repeatedly changing his life goals."

"Maybe it's a more complicated emotion." Miyano Akemi stared at the photo on the table, looking at the familiar face of Kihara Kawa, and sighed sincerely, "My uncle is a genius. His thinking is not something that ordinary people can keep up with. All his ideas and his style of doing things are wild and unconventional. He doesn't consider how rough and difficult it is for others to walk on a road that is as flat as the ground for him."

Miyano Akemi, who had truly experienced this feeling, raised her head and looked at Karasawa.

Now, she sometimes has this feeling and feels ashamed that she may not be able to share the worries of her leader.

"It is very difficult to catch up with him. Not to mention ordinary people, even if you are a genius, if you are not one in a million, just standing behind him is enough to consume all your abilities."

Facing her complicated look, Tang Ze responded with a soothing smile.

This is actually not a question of followers. If Karasawa Ichikawa has always acted the way Karasawa remembered, then he has never been a qualified leader.

He is always ahead of everyone else and never looks back. He is an arrogant genius. He is not suitable to lead any team. It is normal for Kiharakawa to have a mental breakdown following him.

"So I said, I may have a general direction. After all, such a genius, but because of some ordinary people's mundane matters, such as family, such as children, easily gave up the crown that was within reach and changed the direction and plan of his career..." Shaking his head, Tang Ze's tone was a little sympathetic, "Kiharakawa, he is probably going crazy because of this gap."

A genius who was far more gifted than himself, who could reach the crown that others could never reach in their lifetime just by standing on tiptoe, and who was never troubled by academic problems, but because of some trivial things, he fell into the mortal world and casually abandoned the excellent talent that no one else could match...

It's no surprise that Kiharakawa, who was convinced by him and even regarded him as his life goal, broke down.

Tang Ze wrote two words on the paper half with pity and half with sarcasm.

"Mirror".

(End of this chapter)