Chapter 131 The weather is cold, let’s go bankrupt

"It's okay. These aren't important matters. Bai Ma will definitely get through this," Cheng Xiaoyu said. "So, do you two want to go play with your peers nearby, or join our adult discussion?"

Kudo Shinichi: "Of course we discuss things together. Even though I've been an elementary school student for over a year, I'm not really an elementary school student."

"That's right, don't treat us like children." Kuroba Kaito asked Cheng Xiaoyu, "Ghost Shadow, is there anything else you haven't told us?"

Cheng Xiaoyu: "Of course there is. Do you think I've lived for thousands of years in vain? So what do you want to ask?"

Kuroba Kaito: "You see, the reason why Kudo Shinichi and I look so similar is because we are relatives. One of our parents is twins, and then there's Maoli Ran and Nakamori Aoko..."

Everyone: ...

Kaito, you found a blind spot.

Are there any other blood relatives within three generations that we don’t know about?

Cheng Xiaoyu spread her hands and said, "I don't know either. How about you take the Maori family's photo and go to the Nakamori family and ask? I also want to know if they are related by blood."

"Let's think about this later." Kudo Shinichi said, "I'll tell Xiaolan about the sudden increase in close relatives on my side. See if I can persuade her to do a DNA test with the girl on your side who looks very similar to her."

Kudo Shinichi has seen through it all. In this makeshift world where some patriarch forgets to tell their children that they have brothers and sisters, the only thing they can trust is DNA paternity testing.

Kuroba Kaito: "So something happened at the zoo?"

Since the four adults know each other and even the ghost is involved, the purpose of this recognition must be on himself, Kudo Shinichi, and the zoo that has not been caught yet.

"They are really going to die."

Cheng Xiaoyu told him everything about the one-hour memory erasure magic she had developed and improved from Koizumi Hongzi, as well as her recent attempt to cast a net to catch fish with the intention of using the "mark and recapture method."

"...That's right. Because there are so many people and time is tight, I need to restart the interrogation process at the Kudo residence. But asking Kudo Shinichi for help would inevitably reveal your identity in the process. You know me, I don't have the habit of unnecessarily exposing someone's painstakingly maintained identity, so I went to discuss this with both of your parents, and this reunion meeting is the result of that discussion."

There was a reason for this, and the depression that Kudo Shinichi and Kuroba Kaito had originally felt dissipated.

Because they realized that this seemingly ridiculous family reunion meeting was actually based on the ghost's respect for the will of both parties.

......This contrast forms a rather tragic contrast with the biological parents who were so amused at home that they forgot to tell them about the incident.

So can people be less scheming and more sincere with each other?

"I'm very grateful for your respect for my family's reputation." Kuroba Kaito said, "But why are you so anxious all of a sudden? Is there something new going on?"

As the first person present to come into contact with the ghost and the one who had the most contact with it, Kuroba Kaito knew that although Cheng Xiaoyu always said that she wanted to slack off and shirk the work, she always did the most work, and she actually didn't like to bring irrelevant people in to reduce her workload.

In her words, if you ask people to work overtime, you will be struck by lightning.

Although she looks carefree, she is not impatient when it comes to making plans.

But these two points are now contradictory.

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

In the current winery's fishing plan, a safer way than to close the net now is to cast a long line to catch a big fish. In this case, slowly and efficiently arresting people and interrogating them is not a disadvantage, but safer and not very tiring.

But Ghost, contrary to her usual practice, chose to close the net shortly after it was cast. To make up for the lack of clues, she had to capture everyone on the line, interrogate them, record their intelligence, and then release them...

This hasty approach results in more tedious work, more people involved, and greater computational complexity.

Ghost can't do it, or she "can't do it within a certain time limit", so she has to ask the Kudo family to help.

Considering that Ghost is responsible for maintaining time and space, nothing good will happen if this deadline comes.

Kudo Shinichi had obviously thought of this as well. Thinking back to the incidents that Ghost Shadow had solved before, his face turned unhappy. "Is the world going to be in crisis again?"

How disastrous is this world going to become?

"That's not the case," Cheng Xiaoyu said. "Remember when I said that if I couldn't escape this world within a certain timeframe, I'd become the next infiltration point for other colleagues to handle? That's why I don't want my work to cause trouble for other colleagues."

Kudo Shinichi couldn't help but sigh: "In this regard, the moral level of demons is actually higher than that of many humans. I will help you, but if you really haven't finished it, don't feel too much psychological burden. This is not your problem."

After all, Ghost Shadow encountered all kinds of sudden hellish situations during this trip, and the work in the winery and the zoo was still done by high-dimensional creatures. This incident should be considered an occupational injury for her.

"Actually, it's not my mental state that I'm worried about. I'm surprisingly in good spirits near the end of the shift," Cheng Xiaoyu said. "I'm mainly worried about your mental state. Kuroba Kaito should be able to understand me better in this regard."

ah?

Kuroba Kaito pointed at himself: "Me?"

"Yes, that's you," Cheng Xiaoyu said. "You don't want another lord-level demon of the same level as me, who acts more decisively than me, to appear in this world, do you?"

Kuroba Kaito:?!

Kudo Shinichi hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation yet. The ghost had overturned his impression of demons too much, and he had no specific concept of supernatural combat power. "But if it's your colleague, he shouldn't be a very evil person..."

"No!" Kuroba Kaito interrupted Kudo Shinichi. "It's not a question of whether it's bad or not, it's a question of power! A lord-level demon of this level and who acts so decisively will definitely have a huge impact. Even if it has no impact on the stability of the world, it doesn't mean it won't have an impact on the humans living on a small planet in the vast world."

"Is that so?" Kudo Shinichi said, "I have no idea of ​​the level of this supernatural power. Could you explain it to me?"

"If we refer to the hierarchy of the sorcery world, the power of a lord-level demon is determined by whether or not they can single-handedly destroy an entire nation. However, lord-level demons are only the upper limit of the hierarchy as humans understand it, and are by no means the upper limit of demonic power. And Ghost, she once gave me a piece of her own magical crystal, and after testing..."

Kuroba Kaito recalled what Koizumi Akako had told him about the test results of Oni's magic crystal, which was also the reason for him and his parents to believe that Oni had no bad intentions.

"Test results show that she possesses the power to single-handedly overturn the entire Earth."

And that's even just the part she's willing to show.

The fact that she has this power but doesn't abuse it or hurt anyone without reason is enough to prove that she is not a bad person, and the statement that she "has no interest in Pandora" is also true.

"That's an exaggeration. I haven't reached the level of a planet-destroying enemy, nor can I destroy the entire planet's biosphere," Cheng Xiaoyu said. "I can only destroy Earth's existing ecology and civilized species."

Theoretically, after Cheng Xiaoyu used the power of ghosts to bring ultimate darkness to the entire earth, even if he did nothing, he could cause the same effect as the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, or even worse.

After all, during the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period, which was caused by dust from a meteorite impact blocking the sun, the longest period of darkness in one place lasted for more than ten years. But if Cheng Xiaoyu wanted, she could keep the world dark as long as she was alive.

This does not include the situation where she let the ghost army with home buffs hunt her in the dark.

Kudo Shinichi: "...Ghost, I don't mean to target you, but this level of power really shouldn't appear in this world, let alone two of them."

"You don't need to stack armor. I know what you say is true. I've always said so myself. It's precisely because of this situation that all the demons in this world have gone to live in Hell. They don't share the same space with humans, and they can't appear in the world without special means."

Cheng Xiaoyu explained.

"And it won't cause the kind of extinction event you're talking about. Wineries and zoos don't have that kind of power. Just because you have the ability to destroy the world doesn't mean you have to do it. Destroying the world is exhausting, too!"

"For example, if you have the ability to kick someone in the head, would you win a football match by kicking your opponent to death? Of course not! It would be faster to kick the ball into the goal. In the process of your full-strength shot, you may cause some injuries to your opponent, such as bumps and falls. These injuries will not cause disability or death, but being kicked by a football with such force will definitely hurt, so you should try your best to avoid accidentally kicking people, right?"

"But you can't guarantee that everyone will do the same, and you can't blame those who do. You know your common goal is to get the ball through the post. Your opponent will recover in a few days anyway. On the football field, where life and death are at stake, who cares about those ten minutes of pain? Even the life and death of a few cells is insignificant."

"The question now is, would you rather just tear out a few diseased cells that should be dead and are just hiding, or kill a few healthy, innocent cells that are trying to survive with them? Although the difference is so small that it can be ignored, I choose the former."

"Now the question is, Kudo Shinichi, how did you choose?"

Kudo Shinichi: "...I understand. I will fully assist you in handling the information about the zoo."

The New Year is coming, let the zoo go down quickly to accompany the winery.