The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

Chapter 1023: Local climate and soil nurture local people

"Mr. Akechi, you are also going to participate in this conversation..." Kogoro Mori looked at the person standing at the door with a surprised expression.

He was invited by the media that cooperated with the magazine, and the person he was talking to was an older, veteran author. He did not expect that there would be a third person participating in the conversation.

"Ah, I will indeed participate, but it may not be what you think." Tang Ze showed his usual gentle smile and explained, "Of course, my qualifications are not enough to participate in the conversation with the teachers. The newspaper invited me to be the host of the conversation."

"So that's what's going on..." Kogoro Mori suddenly realized and secretly praised the newspaper in his heart.

It's not about their design, but their financial resources.

Goro Akechi, due to his excellent public relations skills and the way he deals with the media, has taken on many jobs that Kogoro Mori could not handle. In addition, he has an excellent image on camera and has always been a darling of the camera.

If a media invites Goro Akechi to appear on a show, it is almost the same as inviting him to participate in a TV variety show.

This offer should be more expensive than inviting him...

While Kogoro Mori was sighing, Yoshiki Morokuchi turned his head, looked at the overly young and handsome face of the boy at the door, and frowned.

As an author of mystery novels, he is certainly familiar with this detective who has become famous in recent times.

It was because he recognized it that his feelings were so subtle.

There are many different opinions on the actual level of this young man, and how much glory he has gained from public opinion and the love of the general public that he does not possess.

But one thing is very clear, the appearance fees of celebrities with this level of exposure are very expensive.

——And as a project to promote his new work, this invitation is included in the marketing expenses that need to be spent.

In other words, his money was used to a certain extent.

Zhukou Yigui stroked the diamond ring on his finger, his expression slightly displeased.

Anabuki Haruei, who had exchanged a few words with Akechi Goro at the door, keenly caught his expression and secretly thought that something was wrong.

She quickly stood up and, not daring to delay any longer, went out to get a ruler for Zhukou Yigui.

Tang Ze politely turned aside to let her pass by. As they passed each other, he quickly glanced at her with his third eye.

The murderous intent, which was so strong that it was almost materializing, spread from Anabuki Haruei.

Knowing that this capable career woman might be the murderer of the upcoming murder, Tang Ze secretly thought it made sense.

How should I put it? When you meet such an unreasonable and neurotic boss, it is understandable that you would be so angry that you would kill him.

He walked in, greeted Maori Kogoro and Morokuchi Yoshiki in the same polite manner, and then looked around.

Since the reception room was a place for two people to meet and not a formal conversation scene, there were no extra seats prepared, so he had to find a place for himself to sit for a while.

Soon, Ran Mouri and Conan were seen sitting in the corner, trying to reduce their presence.

"Miss Lan, and the little detective." Tang Ze put on a warm smile and approached the two of them, "We meet again."

Conan's eyes followed the swinging of his black gloves, but he didn't say anything.

I don’t know if it was his illusion, but every time he followed Kogoro Mori out, as long as he met Akechi, the direction of the case would become very strange.

It is certainly not a pleasant experience to have another detective solve the case first, but there are only a few crazy people like Ito Suehiko who hire many detectives at once. Most detectives meet in situations such as sudden cases, so there is nothing wrong with some of them being faster or slower, and some being higher or lower.

What really makes him feel delicate is often the way the case is handled.

Goro Akechi is a high school student, but his methods of handling cases are often full of sophistication and smoothness. Otherwise, the case will directly change direction, and there will be undoubted suicides, accidents, etc.

Only after Conan had a conscious decision and knew their "working principle" did he have a vague guess.

"Little detective, you seem to have a lot to say to me." Tang Ze sat down next to them with a smile, "Don't worry, I'm not here to steal your business."

Tang Ze didn't expect this meeting.

In Beika-cho, it is normal for a boss with a personality like Morokuchi Masuki to have a short life.

The reason why he could live peacefully to this age was mainly because he was lucky enough to meet an editor who was submissive and would never refuse his excessive requests.

As a result, this unfortunate guy was bullied to death in the workplace, and his death was quite unjust, and he quietly became the nourishment for his growing reputation.

Due to the good treatment of best-selling authors in Japan, even if part of the truth about the death of the former editor is exposed, readers and publishers will not blame the other party for the death of an editor. Instead, they will exaggerate this workplace oppression as part of the author's personality, creating an image of a literary tyrant who has the final say and is uncompromising with his creation, because this is good for sales and publicity.

If the unlucky guy's death really had any impact on Zhukou Yigui, it was that it made him have the illusion that he was really the emperor, making the next unlucky guy unable to resist his murderous intent.

Tang Ze originally didn't care whether he died or not.

Even if such people can write excellent works, it will not cause any loss to society whether they die or not.

And now, he is actually still indifferent, but Tang Ze did not expect that there is a shadow of organization behind this guy.

"From the mission's perspective, the organization hopes you can warn Morokuchi Yoshiki." This is what Amuro Toru said when he put the job offer in front of Tang Ze, "And from my perspective, I hope you can find more evidence against him and bring him to ruin."

"The organization even accepts such a best-selling author..." Tang Ze, who had just finished the task of accompanying the naughty child, picked up the invitation and sighed.

He didn't mind taking a last-minute job, mainly because he had just taken off his makeup and hadn't even had a sip of coffee when another job came up. He felt like he was being chased by Conan all day.

"For a best-selling author like him who has been admired by so many people and has gained worldly recognition through his mystery novels, it is normal for him to think highly of himself and to disregard the rules to a certain extent and not mind stepping into the gray area." Amuro Toru pointed at the name on the invitation with a somewhat cold tone, "He may not understand the true meaning of the organization, but through his hands, the organization has already radiated to related fields. It's really troublesome."

Tang Ze picked up the invitation in his hand and recalled the familiar name while drinking coffee. After a while, he remembered the general situation of the case.

"People who are greedy for money, lustful, and extravagant are indeed the easiest to be controlled by the organization." Tang Ze curled his lips, "Do I have to accept this invitation? I really don't want to save this kind of guy."

"Help?" Toru Amuro stopped fiddling with the coffee pot and glanced sideways.

"Yes. If we don't interfere..." Tang Ze took out his mobile phone and searched for Morokuchi Yoshiki's name.

Not surprisingly, he saw the promotion for Morokuchi Masuki's new work on social media in the magazine, as well as the announcement that Kogoro Mori would be invited to discuss the new work during the pre-production period.

"'A Conversation between Writers Morokuchi Masuki and Maori Kogoro on the New Dawn of Suspense Novels'..." Karasawa read out the long title, and then said with certainty, "If nothing unexpected happens, he will not survive tonight."

"Snapped!"

Before Conan could react to his confident tone, a crisp sound of falling was heard behind them.

The three people looked over in the direction of the sound and saw Zhukou Yigui, who had already picked up a ruler to measure, smashing the ruler to the ground in anger.

"Why is the font of my name one millimeter smaller than that of other writers!" Zhukou Yiqi roared, "Are you looking down on me?! I am the biggest support for your magazine's current sales! How dare you ignore me like this!"

Anabuki Haruei looked anxious, and hurriedly explained: "Of course not, it's just that when the layout was being made for the preview, they thought it would look better this way... This font size is more harmonious in the layout..."

"Then why don't you also reduce the names of other writers?" Zhukou Yiqi, who was totally unconvinced, said louder, "You can't even do this? You are useless!"

As he spoke, he slapped Anabuki Haruei's face with the neatly folded newspaper in his hand.

Even through her foundation and makeup, you could see a red mark immediately appear on the side of her face.

"...This is too..." Mao Lilan frowned slightly, not wanting to say anything unpleasant directly to the host.

She is not a fool. After learning some psychology knowledge, she can vaguely feel the subtlety of the atmosphere.

It was obvious that the person who brought the newspaper was not his editor, but Dejima Kakuji who was responsible for writing the newspaper. However, Morokuchi Masuki got angry at the editor without thinking.

Apparently, this is because the editor, with whom he has a direct working relationship, is easier to bully than the writers and photographers.

In addition, Anabuki Haruei is a woman, so it is less likely for her to engage in confrontational behavior in the workplace, so she naturally became accustomed to this kind of bullying.

"It turns out that my prediction was correct." Conan looked away, "It is indeed..."

It is indeed quite insane to scold and even hit one's editor in front of so many people just because of the font size of a title.

And this is entirely dependent on his status as a great author, which is a real, condescending bullying.

Anabuki Haruyo, who felt almost like he was slapped in the face, took a deep breath, quickly lowered his head, and bent down humbly to apologize.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't do my job well." Anabuki Haruei was obviously used to this kind of treatment, and said with a lowered eyebrow, "I will definitely pay attention next time."

"Hmph! There won't be a next time!" After venting his anger, Zhukou Yiqi snorted coldly, and his emotions eased a little. "Your predecessor, Qiu Ba, who was responsible for contacting me, was very good. Any request of mine was implemented and carried out. Unlike you..."

When he mentioned Akiza, Anabuki Haruei, who had lowered his eyes, blinked rapidly a few times.

"Mr. Morokuchi is a person who pays attention to details." Maori Kogoro hurriedly tried to smooth things over, "I think it must be because the previous editor was too good, so it is difficult to replace him..."

His original intention was to find an excuse for Zhukou Yiqi's outburst, indicating that there was nothing wrong with the current editing work, but that the previous editor was too good and could not achieve that effect, and the author could not tolerate it.

But Zhukou Yigui seemed to have found a way out and continued speaking along the lines of what he was saying.

"He is indeed excellent. He is a very serious and responsible person from the moment he starts collecting information." Zhukou Yigui made a sighing expression, "Whether it is professional knowledge related to criminal methods or investigations into past cases, he will do his best to help me collect it, saving me a lot of trouble in collecting materials..."

"Oh, there are indeed some files and stuff. The police or the participants will not disclose specific information at will..." Seeing that he looked very emotional, Kogoro Mouri also spoke.

"...Compared to him, there isn't a single useful editor in today's magazines." Zhukou Yigui said this, raised his eyelids, glanced at the several media practitioners present, and said meaningfully, "He can really be called a man who will not stop until his death..."

The expressions of the three people all changed, and there was silence for a while.

Maori Kogoro blinked, catching the message in his words: "You mean, he is, dead?"

"Yes, a few months ago, he was found dead in his home." Zhukou Yiqi nodded and sighed, "In a secret room that was locked tightly."

Mao Lilan and Conan looked at each other and their brows furrowed even deeper.

His expression seemed full of regret and nostalgia, but his body language was very relaxed.

Apparently, although this editor named Akiba had received high praise from him, he actually did not feel any regret for the other's death.

"Commit suicide?" Kogoro Mori also frowned.

"That should be it? That's what the police said. As for the rest, this isn't a mystery novel I wrote, so who knows the truth?" Morokuchi Masuki said calmly, "Originally, I wanted to use this as a theme to write a related novel, but editor Anabuki didn't quite support my idea."

"...His sudden death caused a bit of a stir in the publishing industry." Anabuki Haruei raised his head with a stiff expression. "If you write something like this right after he passed away, it wouldn't be good for you or the reputation of the magazine. It would also easily cause some rumors about his death..."

"A novel is just a novel, not a fact." Zhukou Yiqi waved his hand, looking unconvinced. "Besides, I wrote that it was to commemorate the death of the former editor. Maybe someone would think that the magazine is nostalgic. If so, it would attract a lot of attention and sell well."

Anabuki Haruei did not agree with his words, but just lowered his head again.

Tang Ze saw that although she didn't move and seemed to be trying hard to control the urge to clench her fingers, her back couldn't help but stiffen slightly, like a wild beast about to attack and trying hard to control the movement of extending its claws. He understood what was going on.

It was probably at this moment that she felt a real and strong desire to kill.

Or, as the saying goes, the land and water determine the people. Facts have proved that living in different places has a direct impact on people's lifespan.

For example, Morokuchi Masuki, he might live to be a hundred years old if he were in other places, but in Beika Town, he would not live to see retirement.