Chapter 50 The Alley (10) Zhu Yi looked at the system panel...

Zhu Yi stared at the live feed on the system panel and fell into an eerie silence.

"Strange tales of sudden power increases are really hard to control."

"This is not a reason for me to shirk responsibility."

"But it is still under my control."

"But I have already hurt innocent people."

Zhu Yi muttered to himself, his originally indifferent gaze gradually turning blank.

"There was no choice from the start, but I will help you."

"It was clearly my fault."

"Let's do it together."

"Together."

...

Ishishita Taro realized that the heart-wrenching scream pierced the heart of everyone present.

"Daddy...Daddy!" Ishishita Taro's scream turned into a broken, distorted sob. His small body froze on the spot. The fat man was the first to react and immediately ran over to hug Ishishita Taro and ran to a safe place.

"Don't cry, or it will eat you too."

"dad!"

The fat man quickly covered Ishishita Taro's mouth and found a relatively safe corner to hide in.

"Shh! Listen to your uncle, don't cry." The fat man comforted Ishishita Taro, who was trembling in his arms, without letting go of the hand covering his mouth. Letting go now might attract the monster's attention.

“Mr. Ishishita…” Kunikida Doppo clenched his fist.

"Damn it!" Atsushi Nakajima wanted to rush forward recklessly, but Izumi Kyoka stopped him and shook her head.

A look of extreme shock and confusion flashed across Edogawa Ranpo's eyes. His super-reasoning seemed to have hit an invisible wall just now, and his logic was briefly thrown into disarray: "No... something is interfering."

The monster's enormous shadowy body writhed continuously, and the pained expression on its ever-changing face dominated, with Kenichi Ishishita's face becoming dominant. The terrifying aura emanating from the monster surged several times over.

At the same time, the intense love and deep regret that Kenichi Ishishita failed to convey to his son before his death became its most terrifying fuel.

The monsters became more dangerous and ferocious.

"Roar—" The monster let out a deafening roar. The fat man, who was holding the child, was so frightened by the monster that he collapsed to the ground, because the monster was charging straight at them, and its target was Ishishita Taro.

"Protect the child!" Fukuzawa Yukichi moved. His sword flashed, and a sharp sword aura slashed through the shadow of the monster, but the effect was minimal.

Atsushi Nakajima and Kyoka Izumi fought desperately, their tiger claws and blades leaving shallow marks in the shadows, but these marks would be filled in again.

Almost all attacks were ineffective against this monster.

“If this continues, we’ll really be wiped out…” The skinny man’s voice was hoarse, then he seemed to remember something: “Fatty, run back! Run back to where we came in!”

Without hesitation, the fat man took advantage of the Armed Detective Agency members helping him buy time and ran towards the passage he had just entered, carrying the child.

"You idiot, run faster!"

Just as the fat man was about to reach the entrance of the passage, the entrance suddenly closed. He was just one step away from getting out of this space.

"I'm so grateful to you (the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming)."

"It's over." The fat man's face was ashen. He turned around, holding the child, and gave up resisting the monster that was walking towards him.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

The monster suddenly stopped, everything in the space came to a standstill, the red-faced sun stopped shaking, and even the negative emotions permeating the space seemed to be forcibly smoothed and suppressed by an invisible hand.

A powerful, cold, and emotionless will descended, its power enveloping the entire area, and everyone could feel something terrifying watching them.

"This is...?" Dazai Osamu looked up, his heart pounding at the power that directly affected the rules of ghost stories.

Edogawa Ranpo's eyes widened. His extraordinary intuition and reasoning abilities allowed him to discover something amidst the vast amount of information.

...

Edogawa Ranpo felt something warm liquid flowing down his face, and he reached out to touch it.

“Ranpo… Mr. Ranpo.” Atsushi Nakajima’s eyes were filled with terror.

Edogawa Ranpo looked down and saw that his hands were covered in glaring red.

“My eyes are bleeding,” he said. “My nose is bleeding too, and so are my ears.”

"Ranpo!" Fukuzawa Yukichi quickly walked up to the other person, grabbed their shoulder, and showed a rare look of panic.

"President... I'm fine." Edogawa Ranpo sniffed. "Something is dealing with this ghost story."

As if to prove his words.

The enormous monster, which had devoured Kenichi Ishishita and whose power had surged, emitted pure white light from within its body.

The negative memories, colorful shadows... everything in the space that constituted it was rapidly decomposed and purified in that white light, turning into some kind of energy and dissipating into the air.

This process was incredibly fast.

In just a few breaths, the monster was wiped out by that power right before everyone's eyes, leaving no trace.

Along with it, the negative emotions in that space, as well as the structure of the maze itself, also disappeared.

The surrounding scenery also peeled away and disappeared like a faded oil painting, revealing the original rough brick walls of Echo Lane and the cold moonlight.

They all stood in that ordinary alley, as if what they had just experienced was truly a collective nightmare.

Only the unconscious stranger on the ground and the bloodstains on the child the fat man was holding silently testified that the tragedy that had just occurred was real.

"Is it... over?" The fat man slumped to the ground, muttering to himself.

"It's over." The skinny man slid down against the wall, his eyes glazed over.

The girl with glasses covered her face and sobbed softly, both from lingering fear and from sadness for the father and son who had suffered such misfortune.

The members of the Armed Detective Agency stood there, looking at each other, their faces devoid of any joy of victory, only heavy-heartedness and confusion.

The monster disappeared, the labyrinth collapsed, and everyone except Kenichi Ishishita survived.

The monsters were not destroyed by their own power, but by an unknown force of unknown origin and purpose, originating from something far more terrifying.

“Mr. Ranpo, you…” Kunikida Doppo wanted to say something, but Edogawa Ranpo shook his head to indicate that he was fine.

Yosano Akiko sighed and walked over to Ishishita Taro, squatting down to try to comfort the child who had suffered such great trauma.

Dazai Osamu slowly walked to the spot where the monster had disappeared; it was now empty.

He looked towards the dark ends of the alley, his iris-colored eyes filled with an unprecedented solemnity.

Edogawa Ranpo stood beside him and said in a low voice, "He took what He wanted, and the price..."

He didn't continue, but his gaze swept over the stunned Ishishita Taro, his meaning unspoken.

Fukuzawa Yukichi sheathed his sword and said in a deep voice, "Leave here first, settle the child, and notify the police and the Special Abilities Division. This matter is not over yet."

Yosano Akiko checked on Ishishita Taro and the other comatose child and found that apart from the mental trauma they had suffered, they were physically unharmed.

The group, exhausted from surviving the ordeal, silently left the now peaceful Echo Alley.

No one noticed that in the shadow of a tall building at the other end of the alley, a pale-faced young man slowly appeared. His wine-red eyes glanced indifferently at the crowd leaving the alley, especially the child who had lost his father and was being held in Kunikida Doppo's arms.

Before his eyes, the numbers on the system panel were rapidly changing, eventually settling on a satisfactory value.

Everything was proceeding according to his optimal plan. Although there was a minor hiccup, the strange tales were completely eliminated and the energy was maximized, enough to support his return and initiate the initial world repair.

Except for... the death of Kenichi Ishishita.

He had minimized the impact as much as possible; he hadn't even shown himself, nor had he engaged in any unnecessary interactions with the detective agency. All operations were completed remotely through the system, clean and efficient. He was merely a behind-the-scenes cleaner, a necessary evil acting for a higher purpose.

[Energy reserves are sufficient. Should we begin preparations for inter-world teleportation?] The system's cold notification sounded in his mind, interrupting his thoughts.

"...Wait a little longer."

The Armed Detective Agency team has returned to the agency.

Yosano Akiko is treating Edogawa Ranpo for the aftereffects of bleeding from all seven orifices. Although it looks horrifying, it seems to be just a rupture of capillaries caused by excessive mental stress, and there is nothing seriously wrong with it.

Taro Ishishita and another child were placed in the rest room and temporarily cared for by Doppo Kunikida.

President Fukuzawa Yukichi is on the phone with Sakaguchi Ango, who has arrived at the scene.

Everything was proceeding smoothly towards the conclusion of the incident.

While the rest of the detective agency were busy dealing with the aftermath of the incident, Dazai Osamu and Edogawa Ranpo remained outsiders, refraining from participating in the cleanup efforts.

Dazai Osamu stood alone by the window of the detective agency, gazing in the direction of Echo Alley. Edogawa Ranpo had somehow walked up to Dazai Osamu. Instead of following Dazai's gaze toward the alley, he looked up at the excessively clear blue sky: "We've been disturbed by something. You've noticed that too, haven't you?"

"Hmm—" Dazai Osamu drawled, his tone unreadable. "That feeling seems to have weakened lately. Ahhh, if that's really the case—"

“Going to them now would be a wasted trip,” Edogawa Ranpo interrupted him.

Dazai Osamu turned his head to the side, a helpless smile curving his lips: "I suppose so."

“He took what he wanted.” Edogawa Ranpo suddenly opened his emerald green eyes, no longer displaying his usual nonchalance. His sharp gaze went straight to Dazai Osamu by the window, and he said, word by word, “The price is a child’s father—the man who should have gone home, and all of our…trust.” He deliberately emphasized the last two words.

Dazai Osamu didn't turn around, but simply gave a soft "hmm".

“However,” Edogawa Ranpo changed the subject, looking back at the sky, his tone regaining its confident certainty, “he is still in Yokohama.”

It wasn't a guess, but a firm affirmation: "And he's about to leave."

As he finished speaking, a gust of wind blew in from the window, lifting the stray hairs on Edogawa Ranpo's forehead and also stirring the hem of Dazai Osamu's robe hanging at his side.