Zongman: I have really retired!

"stop fighting!"

Even though Xia Youjie had a headache and throbbing veins, he still suppressed his voice and spoke as softly as possible.

After all, they are still children. As a retired person, he has to be more tolerant to the next generation, right?

Although he felt something was wrong, how could he feel like he was re-employed after retiring and taking care of the children part-time when his retirement life was obviously supposed to be a mess?

"It's not that I don't want to go back, but my two idiot parents are too busy and have no time to care about me. I also boasted that I could live in Yokohama for a year, but in less than half a year I went back in despair. It’s ugly!”

Edogawa Ranpo sat on the sofa and muttered softly. He just sat there confidently and said those words, like a cat owner who made a mistake but didn't regret it.

"Then how did you live in Yokohama before?" Xia Youjie couldn't help but sigh and asked.

"Originally, my parents found a place for me, which was the police academy in Yokohama, but they probably thought my parents were dead, so they kicked me out."

Edogawa Ranpo explained with a nonchalant expression, as if he didn't care at all how he could survive in Yokohama without any friends after being kicked out.

Osamu Dazai could tell that he really didn't care about his life after being kicked out. Was he confident? But this guy is indeed very smart. In fact, as long as he restrains his bad temper, he can get along well in the chaotic city of Yokohama.

Dazai Osamu put his chin in his hands and asked Edogawa Ranpo like a child: "Then why do you have to follow us? You should have been waiting for us there on purpose."

Zhongyuan Zhong was also alert for a moment. Although he was young, he had stayed with Xia Youjie for a long time and he didn't understand Xia Youjie's special situation at all.

"Hey, are you an undercover guy?"

Nakahara Chuuya looked at Edogawa Ranbu warily, with his arms folded across his chest, and a red light symbolizing gravity flashing faintly on his body. This was an attack posture, as if the opponent could take action in the next second if he just said the word "yes".

A tense atmosphere spread in the room, but Edogawa Ranpo looked at Nakahara Chuuya as if he was looking at a fool, took a deep breath under everyone's gaze, and said nervously:

"Is this it? You should ask Xia Youjie's good uncle, who is also Dazai-kun's guardian. It was he who said that if he had no place to go, he would come to you."

His tone was a little evasive and awkward, as if he was admitting something very embarrassing.

The weird atmosphere in the room was suddenly broken. Fukuzawa Yukichi, Nakahara Chuuya and Oda Sakunosuke were confused, and they had no idea how this guy was related to Meng Shuxu.

But Dazai Osamu had expected it. After all, it was such a coincidence. His guardian seemed to be hiding a lot of things from him, but it didn't matter. He would know one day. There was something hidden in Dazai Osamu's lowered eyes. Of course the profound meaning.

"That's it... Then you can stay for now..."

Xia Youjie gritted his teeth, but in the end he left Edogawa Ranpo. Anyway, this guy could only stay for a year before leaving, so he just had to endure it.

It was probably Meng Shuxu who had tricked him again. He couldn't let a helpless minor live on the streets of Yokohama, where gangs were fighting everywhere. If something happened, it would be too late to regret it.

And Meng Shuxu actually asked this guy to come to him, so he must have his purpose. Xia Youjie didn't like to be manipulated, but it was a blessing to have someone to help you handle everything without having to use your brain.

Well, it was a good thing for him to lie down. Xia Youjie believed that Meng Shuxu would not really harm him.

…………

"You were born with wings, so why do you want to crawl all your life like an insect? (Note 1) "

This is what Meng Shuxu said to Edogawa Ranpo.

Edogawa Ranpo grew up with genius parents and was an only son who was inexperienced in the world. My father is a legendary and well-known detective in the police industry. He has amazing observation and reasoning abilities and is known as "clairvoyance". Her mother is just a housewife, but she has reasoning skills that are not inferior to Ranpo's father.

In order to prevent Ranpo from taking the wrong path and preventing him from hurting anyone, Ranpo's parents became enemies of the world. After learning that Edogawa Ranpo had the ability to observe, remember, and see through the truth in an instant, Ranpo's parents decided to Abu's parents used their superhuman minds to allow Ranpo to grow up as an ordinary person before he had a mature mind, allowing him to take what he saw for granted.

The acquaintance of Edogawa Ranpo and Meng Shuxu was an accident.

Because Japan's successive battlefield defeats led to the collapse of domestic order, the police system that protects people's lives, health and safety is in trouble.

Various violent demonstrations and killings occurred one after another. Everything happened too fast, and the problems of the Japanese police system were holding back the situation, making Luanpo's father increasingly busy. Because of the heavy workload, even Edogawa Ranpo's mother was forced to help her husband, and it was common for the two of them to stay up all night together.

They were really unable to deal with Ranpo's education issues, so Ranpo, who was too bored, sent the friendship letter he wrote in password through the Internet.

It is unfortunate to say that during that time, Meng Shuxu had just begun to recruit people to rectify the network and information dissemination, because he knew the importance of the network, and he wanted to develop his own strength by controlling the network to experiment with his overtaking plan in corners.

And Edogawa Ranpo's friendship letter written in secret language was sent to Meng Shuxu as intelligence transmitted by a foreign spy.

Meng Shuxu unlocked the code. When he discovered the other person's intelligence, he became interested in him. He likes to chat with smart people.

Meng Shuxu and Edogawa Ranpo are the same proud and arrogant people who have no sense of good and evil. They are both guys who act as they please, so they chat very well together.

From then on, Meng Shuxu and Edogawa Ranpo became pen pals. Edogawa Ranpo didn't know who the other person was because Meng Shuxu hid his own information and always played word games to get Edogawa Ranpo's information.

No matter how smart Edogawa Ranpo was, he was still just a teenager. How could he play with the wily Meng Shuxu, and he almost revealed his old ways.

In the letter, Edogawa Ranpo complained about his parents' busy schedule and daily life, as well as his own understanding of the world. He fully expected to be recognized by Meng Shuxu, but Meng Shuxu gave him this sentence:

"You were born with wings, so why do you want to crawl all your life, like an insect or an ant?"

(Note 1: You were born with wings, so why do you want to crawl forward all your life, like an insect or an ant?

-- Jalal al-Din Rumi)