Chapter 5 The Doppelganger in the Mirror (5) In the agency, ...
Inside the office, Takeichi was leisurely eating his late-night snack when his phone screen lit up. It was a message from Dazai Osamu. He glanced at it and looked away, continuing to focus on finishing his food.
After swallowing the last bite, he took a tissue to wipe his mouth before picking up his phone and typing a reply on the screen.
I'll be there shortly.
After thinking for a moment, Takeichi opened the system panel. The ghost story value was currently only 12%, and most of the ghost story value was contributed by Kunikida Doppo.
"What a good person," Zhu Yi thought with admiration.
"001, let's go out." Zhu called out to the black cat resting on the sofa. The black cat impatiently flicked its tail, opened its eyelids a crack, and glanced at him with its amber eyes, its face full of reluctance.
"I'll buy you chicken breast and cat treats," Zhu Yi said, softening her tone as she approached the sofa.
The black cat shook its whiskers, slowly got up, arched its back, and stretched.
Zhu Yi thought the other person was willing to go out with her, but to her surprise, the guy turned around and walked to the other end of the sofa, curled up into a ball of fur and lay down again, deliberately sweeping his tail towards his face, clearly not wanting to pay attention to her.
“You’re not as obedient as Xiaohua.” Zhu Yi sighed helplessly, then added another bargaining chip: “How about adding a big shrimp?”
The black cat's ears twitched, but it kept its face buried in its paws, pretending not to hear.
"Add another can!"
Finally, it opened its eyes, its tail held high, and turned to look at Zhu Yi with bright anticipation in its eyes, but its body remained still on the sofa.
"You little greedy devil." Zhu Yi was amused and compromised, "Alright, alright, I'll add another can of food."
The black cat raised its head, walked up to Zhu Yi, and lightly jumped onto his shoulder, rubbing its furry cheek against his side, making a satisfied purring sound in its throat.
Zhu Yi raised his hand and scratched its chin. The little guy squinted comfortably, and the tip of its tail wagged proudly.
"Oh, right, I also need to pour some cat food for Xiaohua so she won't be hungry when she comes back."
After settling everything at the office, Zhu Yi closed the door: "Alright! Let's go!"
So Zhu Yi took a taxi and arrived near the hotel.
As soon as I got out of the car, I saw Dazai Osamu and Edogawa Ranpo standing not far away, surrounded by a number of unfamiliar faces. They seemed to be discussing something in hushed tones.
Dazai Osamu noticed Takeichi's gaze and waved at him.
Besides Dazai Osamu and Edogawa Ranpo, there was another person that Takeichi was familiar with: Sakaguchi Ango, who had obtained his business license. Standing beside him were many government officials holding weapons, and judging from the scene, they were clearly on a mission.
Ango Sakaguchi also noticed Takeichi and walked straight toward him.
"Mr. Sakaguchi, you're here too." Takeichi waved to the other person. He had a deep impression of this Mr. Sakaguchi, not only because the other person was from the Special Ability Department, but also because of the unique corporate slave vibe he had, which always carried a lingering weariness.
Ango Sakaguchi nodded, a slightly tired smile appearing on his face.
Takeichi felt a little guilty. In order to earn ghost story points and obtain a license, he had made Sakaguchi Ango work overtime to investigate the ghost stories he summoned. Later, the existence of the ghost stories was confirmed, and even the agency's license was obtained for him step by step by Sakaguchi Ango.
This time, the commotion was probably too big, so the higher-ups sent someone to investigate again, which means working overtime.
That's terrible.
Zhu Yi felt some sympathy.
“You brought the cat with you.” Sakaguchi Ango looked up at Takeichi’s shoulder, his gaze falling on the black cat. He had witnessed the cat’s abilities before, and its information file was even stored separately by the Special Abilities Department.
Dazai Osamu approached at some point, glanced at Takeichi, then at Sakaguchi Ango, and said with a smile, "You two know each other?"
“Mr. Sakaguchi helped me a lot, and we even worked together for a while,” Takeichi answered honestly with a smile.
Sakaguchi Ango:......
Dazai Osamu looked at Sakaguchi Ango with a half-smile, then calmly pushed up his glasses, deliberately avoiding Dazai's gaze.
Ango Sakaguchi knew that once they made eye contact, the moment he opened his mouth, all his information would be extracted by the other party in just a few words.
He was too familiar with the other party's operations.
“I came here because the disappearance of multiple people has attracted the attention of the higher-ups, so they specifically sent me to check on the situation.” Sakaguchi Ango gave an official smile. “We were originally planning to contact you, but it seems you’ve taken on other people’s requests.”
Zhu Yi said, "Don't worry too much about the missing. They are probably trapped in other parts of the room. The malice is only directed at one of the missing people and will not cause widespread harm to others."
Dazai Osamu, standing nearby, was staring at the black cat perched on Takeichi's shoulder.
The black cat was sizing up Dazai Osamu, and Dazai Osamu, sensing the gaze, also looked back at it curiously. From the conversation between Takeichi and Sakaguchi Ango, Dazai Osamu knew that this cat was not as simple as it seemed.
To the astonishment of Ango Sakaguchi and Osamu Dazai, the cat suddenly jumped onto Dazai's shoulder, turned its head and proudly raised its head towards Takeichi, its eyes filled with a smug look of condescension.
“001 likes you very much,” Zhu Yi said softly.
Of course, he didn't say the second half of the sentence, "He probably thinks your shoulders are more suitable for a cat tree."
"Is that so? The name 001 sounds like a number." As soon as Dazai Osamu finished speaking, a cat's paw smeared his face, and 001 let out a cry of displeasure.
"It hates it when people say its name sounds like a number." Zhu reached out to hug it without changing her expression, and forcefully pulled the cat off Dazai's shoulder.
The next second, several clear cat paw prints appeared on his face, and Zhu Yi howled.
Thus, Takeichi, his face covered in blood, was led by Dazai Osamu to the Armed Detective Agency.
"Is this the professional you were talking about?" Yosano Kyoko looked him over.
Zhu nodded: "Yes."
As he spoke, Zhu Yi took out business cards from his pocket and handed them out one by one, revealing a fawning smile: "Strange Tales Consulting Agency, officially certified, you can always trust us."
He looks like a con artist trying to sell something.
Everyone noticed the official logo on the business card and looked at Ango Sakaguchi in unison.
Sakaguchi Ango:......
Ango Sakaguchi avoided eye contact, feeling embarrassed by Takeichi's degrading behavior.
"Do ghosts really exist in the world?" Izumi Kyoka walked up to Takeichi, tilted her head slightly to look at him, and asked with a hint of seriousness in her voice.
Zhu Yi was stunned.
“It’s not so much a ghost as a strong obsession left behind by humans in the world.” Zhu Yi’s eyes softened as he explained softly.
*
The group entered Hiroki Sakamoto's room. Takeichi looked around and turned to the Armed Detective Agency members behind him, asking, "Whenever your clients mention 'it,' where do they say 'it' will appear?"
"Dream."
"...And a mirror?" Atsushi Nakajima recalled Hiroki Sakamoto's account and added uncertainly.
“Mirror.” Zhu Yi frowned slightly. He first walked to the French window, raised his hand and touched the glass. Then, as if he had thought of something, he turned around and quickly walked into the bathroom, stopping in front of the sink.
"Is this the place?" He held the black cat in his arms and looked up at the mirror. Only his own reflection was in the mirror. Then he put the cat in front of the mirror, but the cat's reflection was not in the mirror.
The black cat flicked its tail and meowed.
Zhu Yi picked the cat up and hugged it again, patted its back, turned and walked out of the bathroom. Facing the searching gazes of the crowd, Zhu Yi nodded to them: "Found it."
On the other side, as the elevator doors slowly closed, Kunikida Doppo's back was still covered in cold sweat.
After Kunikida Doppo got on the elevator, he found that opening the elevator door would take him back to that familiar corridor. After turning the corner, he would see the room he had just escaped from, except that the corridor was empty.
Kunikida Doppo dared not relax at all. The thrilling scene just now had kept his nerves on edge. He immediately retreated back into the elevator and pressed the close button and the button for the first floor.
Not long after, Kunikida Doppo came out of the elevator again, into the same familiar corridor and room.
Well, it seems he's encountered a maze of ghosts.
Having already experienced numerous frights, Kunikida Doppo has become immune to these things. He seems immune, but in reality, he's out of options.
Kunikida Doppo tried every possible method he could think of, and searched the corridors back and forth, but he still couldn't find a way out.
etc.
Only Sakamoto Hiroki's room and the room he escaped from hadn't been searched. Could the clues be hidden in one of those rooms? Kunikida Doppo thought this was highly likely.
Especially recalling Atsushi Nakajima's reaction at the time, when he said he was going to inspect Hiroki Sakamoto's room, the other party reacted unusually strongly, and there were also those strange bodyguards guarding the door of the other party's room... as if to prevent others from entering, when he walked in that direction, the bodyguards and Atsushi Nakajima started to block him.
Could the exit be in Hiroki Sakamoto's room?
Kunikida Doppo thought about it more and more and it seemed possible, but why was the corridor empty now?
Were they lying in ambush in the dark?
Kunikida Doppo gritted his teeth and decided to go all out!
He didn't want to be trapped in this strange place for the rest of his life.
Kunikida Doppo cautiously walked towards the corridor. It was very quiet around him, and the closer he got to the room, the more nervous he became.
He was afraid that those strange things might emerge from some corner.
Whether it was his imagination or not, Kunikida Doppo felt a cool breeze blowing on his back. He turned around and looked.
The overhead light in the corridor suddenly went out with a "zzzt," and the silent darkness made Kunikida Doppo feel extremely uneasy and apprehensive. But since it was pitch black all around, he couldn't find where Sakamoto Hiroki's room was, so he took out his phone and used the tiny light from the screen to illuminate the area.
Kunikida Doppo took a few steps when something cold touched the back of his neck. He looked back at his phone.
Atsushi Nakajima's face suddenly loomed close to Kunikida Doppo's, their noses almost touching. From Atsushi Nakajima's bloodied and mangled face, he could tell that the other was smiling. The smile grew wider and wider, stretching from the corners of his mouth all the way to behind his ears, with wriggling maggots and rotting bits of flesh emerging from his mouth.
Kunikida Doppo frowned, his nose filled with the stench of rotting blood.
Kunikida Doppo: He knew it.
Kunikida Doppo remained silent for a moment, then calmly raised his fist and knocked the other man to the ground again.
[Atsushi Nakajima] slammed hard onto the corridor, letting out a painful howl.
Kunikida Doppo slowly approached his opponent, his face expressionless. Under Atsushi Nakajima's terrified gaze, he punched Atsushi Nakajima in the face again and again, causing the man's head to gradually cave in.
Kunikida Doppo's face remained eerily calm as he delivered another heavy punch. His opponent twitched a few times and then fell silent.
Kunikida Doppo stood up, shook his hand, and flung the bits of flesh stuck to his fist onto the floor.
The crowd outside the mirror who witnessed the whole thing: ...
Atsushi Nakajima: Trembling.
Dazai Osamu: It's best not to provoke Kunikida these next few days. (Sullenly)
A note from the author:
----------------------
Either you explode from repression, or you become abnormal from repression.
Some things have been modified.
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