Phantom Thief of Heart!but conan

Chapter 820: Jealousy Engraved in the Bone and Blood

The moment he stepped into the mirror maze, Tang Ze only saw countless mirror images of himself walking forward from all directions, as if countless selves were standing in front of each mirror at the same time.

The maze, which is a visual spectacle in reality, is magnified and distorted in the palace, showing an even greater visual oppression. Every optical fiber is infinitely refracted and projected, interweaving into a kaleidoscope-like bizarre picture.

The maze does not look unusually tall from the outside, but once you walk in, you will see mirror walls towering to the top facing each other at incredible angles. The layers of images that are constantly replicated make it impossible to tell the direction and height, and it is confusing and dizzying.

Tang Ze frowned and looked at Jinpei Matsuda who was following closely behind him.

This is just the direction of the entrance. At present, I can still distinguish the mirror wall from my real self. Once I walk further in, I don’t know when the mirror image will attack me from the inside, so getting lost is almost inevitable.

The two people with visual special abilities inexplicably reached a consensus through their eye masks and sunglasses, and then Tang Ze pulled off the scarf around his neck and shook his wrists.

The scarf turned into a rope and stretched backwards flexibly, wrapping around everyone's wrist one by one, connecting everyone into a chain.

"That's good, so we don't get lost." Tang Ze held the end of the rope, like a teacher taking the kids out for a spring outing, "Don't touch the mirrors around you. If you get attacked, remember to warn in time."

This is also one of the difficulties of this maze. In a normal mirror maze, when you can't tell the difference between the mirror image and the exit, you can just raise your hand and touch it to see the answer. But in this unfriendly place, you will be attacked if you touch the mirror image.

Zhu Fu Jingguang switched the gun in his right hand, shook the rope in his left hand twice, and commented helplessly: "I don't know whether this guy is strong or not, but his ability to cause trouble to others is indeed first-class."

The abilities of many people in their group are closely related to flexibility. If they walk like this, they won't get lost, but they will definitely be restricted.

Tang Ze's ears moved, and he keenly caught a faint sound of collision and smiled.

"It doesn't matter. I'm just as capable of causing him trouble."

----

After Kiharakawa made that collapsed and hysterical sound, the response he received was not Ireland's thoughts or observations, but two more solid punches.

As I said, Ireland's interrogation skills are not strong at all, which means that he can't tell whether the other party is genuine or pretending.

So his style is actually quite straightforward.

If you can't tell the difference, just treat them as acting crazy and give them a few punches first.

Seeing that Muharakawa, who was beaten to the point of vomiting bile, was still cowering, as if the scene he was describing was even more terrifying than the gangster who was beating him, Ireland put away his fist and pulled Muharakawa's head up a little doubtfully.

"What are you talking about? What found you? Playing sick doesn't work with me." Ireland flashed his gloved fist while speaking.

Without the organization's supplies, he really had very little equipment left, but he still prepared some things with him during these days of disguise as Adachi Toru. Before rushing to the hospital to find Kiharakawa, he quickly collected some things.

Before seeing actual results, Kumail probably won't care about his life or death. He has to be prepared to be self-reliant.

Kiharakawa, whose mouth was drooling from the beating, stared at Ireland with bloodshot eyes and said with all his might, "You don't understand. I'm about to be exposed. My soul will be traumatized, and my personality will be tampered with..."

Then, in accordance with their so-called justice, it was corrected beyond recognition.

If it weren't for Ireland's appearance and attack, he guessed that he wouldn't have ended up like this.

He is different from ordinary people who are attacked by the Phantom Thief of Heart. After all, he has studied cognitive science for many years and has some protective measures and his own experience. In order to prevent being attacked from the spiritual level, he even gives himself psychological hints for a long time to resist various spiritual attacks.

Not only did he study these, he was even studying how he should attack others, and he had already obtained preliminary results on many people.

Now he also has Tang Zezhao, he is only one step away from a real harvest, but at this moment...

Kiharakawa was indignant and wanted to angrily ask Ireland whether he was in cahoots with the Phantom Thief of Heart, but when he saw the other party's sturdy body, he swallowed his unpleasant words.

"You don't understand at all. What's the point of telling you all this..." Mu Yuanchuan closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Now there is no mirror here, and he cannot be in a similar working environment as Senior Tang Ze. His psychological suggestion is suffering an unprecedented blow. He must concentrate his attention, think carefully, and find a way to regain the confidence that is omnipotent and belongs to a genius...

Ireland looked at his refusal to cooperate, completely muggle-like, and raised his hand callously.

This time, his fist landed directly on the side of Kiharakawa's face, once again interrupting Kiharakawa's attempt to read the message.

"I'm talking to you, why are you playing dead?" Knowing that his interrogation skills were limited, Ireland didn't bother to ask questions. He directly began to state the conclusion he could confirm, "It was you who had nothing better to do than to instigate Motokami Kazuki to avenge his sister, right?"

At the end, Ireland's voice was almost squeezed out from his teeth, and it was full of true feelings from the heart.

According to the information provided by Kumail, after surrendering himself, Motokami Kazuki said that his psychology had undergone two changes. At first, he actually thought about giving up revenge, and he briefly reached a consensus with Mizutani Kosuke, but soon, under the guidance of a psychologist, his anger was completely ignited and he entered a state of sober madness.

It is precisely because of this distorted state that he formulated such a cruel, yet inexplicably rigorous murder plan.

Ireland, feeling that it had suffered an unprovoked disaster, was getting angrier and angrier the more it thought about it.

His anger was not even directed entirely at Kiharakawa, but also at Okakura Masaaki, the secretary of the representative who could be killed by an ordinary person and also a member of the hidden organization.
Although you are indeed a clerk, you are a clerk who comes from a criminal organization!

That Ben Shanghe Shu, although he is strong, he is just an accountant. How could you be easily subdued and killed by an accountant!

However, no matter how dissatisfied he was, Okakura Masaaki was dead, and the murderer Motokami Kazuki was in the hands of the police, so his anger could only be directed at Kiharagawa in front of him.

"If you have the ability, you can climb up on your own, like Mr. Karasawa Ichikawa did, prove your worth, and the organization will naturally give you what you want. If you don't have the ability, you can just accept your fate. Doing such disgusting tricks can only prove your incompetence." Ireland gritted his teeth, trying his best to convey his sarcasm.

You can never become Tang Ze Ichikawa. No matter how much you pretend to be like him, it’s still fake.

Kiharakawa caught the key words in his words and quickly widened his eyes.

"W-what, you know...so, you are also the one..."

It was not difficult to tell from his surprised expression that he wanted to take the initiative to confess his identity to ease possible misunderstandings and conflicts, but what greeted him was another solid straight punch from Ireland.

"Not anymore, thanks to you," Ireland said grimly.

----

“…It hurts just looking at it.”

Watching the lens in front of him that was about to change direction shatter on its own after a moment's pause, Zhu Fu Jingguang rubbed his arms and accurately expressed his feelings.

The hall of Muhara River is flexible and changeable, which they have experienced more than once in outer space.

Logically, this rotating lens should have automatically changed direction and rotated to another angle like the ones outside before they quickly passed through the passage, blocking the next exit they might find, but before it rotated into place, it shattered gently.

No one attacked it, they had just stood in front of the mirror, so the only one who was shattered was Muharakawa himself.

"There's nothing we can do. The method he uses to increase his strength is inherently too weak." Tang Ze waved away the debris that was about to fall on him, watching it shatter into crystal clear powder in the refracted light. "That's not his own strength. Once it's interfered with by external forces, it will be discounted."

Kiharakawa has spent too long in the shadow of Karasawa Ikawa.

Just as the shape of the temple depicts, to this day, the deceased Karasawa Ichikawa is still the Jehovah in Kiharakawa's mind, the god and idol that can never be surpassed.

He admired Karasawa Ikawa, but also envied Karasawa Ikawa, and even dreamed of becoming Karasawa Ikawa.

His appearance that was too similar to that of Ikawa Karasawa, and his unconcealable desire for Karasawa himself, all stemmed from his inferiority and jealousy, so when he lost his safe environment and could no longer maintain the deception to himself, his defenses naturally collapsed.

"The progress is faster than expected. Ireland is quite skillful." Jinpei Matsuda gave a fair evaluation of this unlucky guy who took a lot of beatings for himself.

"Let's keep going. I seem to see the altar in the middle." Tang Ze squinted his eyes and used his third eye to search the passage. He raised his hand and pointed to the corner reflected from behind the broken lens.

This was a completely different scene from the previous light, which meant that if they walked in this direction, they would reach the real core of the maze. The group followed Tang Ze's accelerated movements in unison, crossed the central axis exposed in front of them, and walked to the center of the maze.

After turning a corner, the real secret treasure appeared in front of everyone.

Unlike the biblical theme displayed by the huge sculpture above the head, the shadow standing on the altar is a bit out of place.

He was wearing a white coat that represented his status, but the ornament hanging in a Y shape around his neck was not a stethoscope like a doctor should wear, but a white wool cape worn by high-ranking clergy such as bishops.

Muharakawa, who had his back to them and was looking up at the shadow of the statue in the sky, heard the noise behind him and slowly turned around.

On his face, he was not wearing anything related to Christianity, but a red mask.

His brows were furrowed, his eyes were wide open, and the corners of his mouth were cracked all the way to his ears, but there was no trace of a smile. Only endless wails and curses seemed to be heard between his cracked lips and teeth.

What is more obvious is the pair of high and sharp horns, which make it easy to identify its identity at a glance.

"Prajna?" Tang Ze blurted out at the extremely distorted mask.

"Prajna? That fits his image quite well." Miyano Akemi raised the fan to cover the lower half of her face, hiding the downturned corners of her mouth.

The ghost who fell into the devil's way due to jealousy and hatred and lost his own face is indeed very consistent with the image of Kihara River.

Kiharakawa on the stage turned his head and looked straight at the group of uninvited guests who broke in through the two deep and dark holes in his mask.

"You finally found your way here, thieves." The hall master did not seem surprised by their appearance. His voice was cold and low, and it was unknown whether there was any Irish influence in it. "You will not succeed in defying my will."

Tang Ze raised his eyebrows when he heard the rumbling and echoing words.

He was speaking in the voice of Karasawa Ichikawa, so he used the word "my will" first.

After saying this opening remark, the hall master standing on the high platform raised his hands.

Everyone's hands reached out to their masks, staring at the direction of Muhara River, ready to join the battle at any time.

Tang Ze raised his head and looked at the sculpture in the sky.

The Creator, whose fingertips were originally connected to Adam, suddenly changed the position of his hand and made the same movement as Kiharakawa who was bending his fingertips below.

The next moment, shadows like puppets suddenly fell from the sky, and a circle of shadows suddenly stood around the empty altar.

"I knew it wouldn't be that simple." Matsuda Jinpei grabbed the temple of his sunglasses and pulled them off. "Be alert."

Tang Ze carefully observed these puppets that seemed to be hanging from the stage for a while, and a concept flashed through his mind briefly.

The term "ex machina" originally comes from stage plays, which refers to the use of stage machinery to place the actor who plays the god directly on the stage...

"Shade! Lunar!" The moment this inspiration flashed through his mind, Tang Ze immediately raised his voice.

The two people who were already accustomed to fighting in accordance with his instructions did not think twice and acted completely according to their muscle memory.

Asai Narimi threw aside one side of his haori, revealing a neat and unobstructed shirt underneath, then immediately drew his bow and drew his arrow, ready to aim.

The next second, Xingchuan Hui held the bow, and his whole body turned into a phantom, with the center of gravity completely shifted to the arrow.

"Ignore these artificially controlled 'mechanisms' and keep your eyes on the shadow himself!" Tang Ze raised his hand and pointed the tip of the knife at Muharakawa in the sky. "Those disguises are all illusions. The true image of this shadow is a 'mechanism puppeteer'!"

As soon as he finished speaking, as he expected, Muharakawa's health bar revealed his true form in his view.

[Shadow Kiharakawa·Manipulator].

----

"I, I'm telling you, I'm telling you! Stop hitting me! Puff—"

Muharakawa, who was luckily let go by Ireland, had just touched the ground with his feet, and before he could tell east, west, south, or north, Ireland's fist came at him again.

It wasn't that Ireland's reaction was too slow and he couldn't retract his punch. It was mainly because his main purpose at that moment was to vent his anger and beat people, and he didn't care whether Kiharakawa would fight back or not.

Recruit? Even if he did, it would have nothing to do with him.

Ireland had been forced to defect because of the disaster, and the person he really wanted to persecute, Tang Zezhao, had long been nowhere to be found. Even if he did something to Kumail who was pretending to be Tang Zezhao, it had little to do with him.

Anyway, Kumail's order was just to teach him a lesson, and he didn't expect to get any information from Kiharakawa.

Ireland simply treated his voice as noise and completely ignored it.

As long as you don't kill him completely, and direct the anger towards Kumail, beating him half to death to vent your anger or something, there's absolutely no problem at all.

“Stop, stop now!” Gradually feeling that his condition was beginning to deteriorate seriously, Kiharakawa staggered back, trying to distance himself from Ireland, and let out a scream as if someone was strangled by the neck, “I, I’m going to—”

Before he could finish his words, he raised his hands to cover his mouth and nose, the fear and despair in his eyes almost turning into reality.

The next moment, black, muddy substance gushed out from his seven orifices and flowed across his face, which was already red, swollen and cracked from the beating, instantly smearing his face with an extremely horrible look.

Ireland, who had witnessed similar scenes, frowned and finally put away his fist.

So what Kiharagawa has been talking about for a long time, is he referring to the fact that he is being targeted by the Phantom Thieves of Hearts?

Then, Kumail asked him to find Kiharakawa at this time because he knew that he had become the target of the Phantom Thieves of Heart, or...

Before he could figure out a solution, a message came from the phone on his waist.

Only one person will contact this brand new number at the moment.

Ireland immediately pulled out his phone and checked for new messages.

[Okay, we're almost there. You're pretty skillful, you've passed. I'll send you a location, that's your new safe house, go there and wait.]

After reading the content on the screen, Ireland instinctively raised his hand and touched his clothes to make sure that there were no hidden cameras or the like left by Kumail.

How did this guy determine so accurately that he had completed his mission and could leave even though he was not at the scene? Was there any surveillance on the phone, or was there something wrong with Kiharakawa himself?
Ireland frowned and thought for a few seconds, but soon gave up the idea of ​​competing with the cunning man in brainstorming. He picked up the ropes and other kidnapping supplies on the ground and stood up.

Forget it, there is no point in thinking about these things. He is just an employee who eats the emperor's salary and is loyal to the emperor. What's the point of figuring it out?
Without any lingering feelings, Ireland ignored Kiharakawa who was rolling on the ground, cleaned up the scene, and turned around and left.

On the other side, in the hall, Tang Ze was stepping on the shadow Muharakawa.

Around the altar, the ground was littered with broken puppet remains. Asai Narimi and Hoshikawa Teru, who had gone out to attack the enemy directly, and his other teammates were stepping on the puppet fragments on the ground and gathering towards them.

Tang Ze lowered his head, looked at the struggling shadow Muharakawa, and drew out his Tang sword.

He tentatively fiddled with the blade of the Tang sword in his hand twice, and after confirming that it did not move, he cut the red mask off Muharakawa's face.

The Prajna mask, which had no knots or straps at all, finally fell off his face after being cut by a sharp knife.

There was only one reason why it stayed on his face without any fixation.

"Your jealousy is really ingrained in your bones and blood. How does it feel like to have a mask on your flesh that you can't even take off, Dr. Kihara?"

(End of this chapter)