Chapter 184 Forty Vigilantes

When Conan was knocked unconscious, Furuya Rei didn't notice anything unusual until he saw the little boy standing motionless on the screen for a while, and then he realized that the surveillance had been replaced without him noticing.

I just don't know why, he can still connect to Conan's communication channel. There is silence over there. When he urgently activates the monitor on his uniform, the picture is still clear, showing who is carrying the little detective... This means that Conan is safe now.

In comparison, the situation with Akae Nayue was not good. Furugaya Rei couldn't contact him at all, and Asa also turned off the live broadcast, so everyone only knew that Wuming was near the center of the explosion, but no one knew whether Wuming was alive or dead.

Furugaya Rei wanted to activate the positioning system in Wuming's uniform, but probably because of the explosion, all the positioning systems on Wuming's side were destroyed, which made Furugaya Rei even more worried.

But at this point, he can only trust his friend's ability and focus on the more dangerous Conan.

After Rei Furutani reconnected to Conan's communication channel, he heard what Asa said directly. Coincidentally, he thought the same thing as Conan - Asa had indeed been watching, at least since Conan entered the Suzuki Tower!

On the other side, Conan, who was alone in a room with Asa, did not continue to pretend to be dizzy. He carefully opened his eyes, immediately prepared for defense, rolled away from where he was, and slightly distanced himself from Asa: "Why did you capture me? What is your purpose?"

"I'm so sad." Asa made a gesture of holding her heart, "I just wanted to chat with Little Bird. Your name is Little D, right? What a cute name. I thought Little Moon would call you 'Robin'."

Before making the joke, Akae Nayue had already confirmed that there was no Batman movie and comic series in this world, so the person he was teasing did not understand the meaning of this sentence. Instead, it was Furukaya Rei who was eavesdropping in the base who understood it and frowned strangely.

Of course, Rei Furuya also knows that there is no Batman in this world, so why did Asa mention the code name of Batman's assistant Robin? Or did he connect this code name with the nameless assistant D?

What is Asa hinting at? Or, where did Asa come from?

Honestly speaking, Conan didn't believe a word the other party said. Instead, he became even more alert, his whole body tensed up. From Asa's perspective, the little detective was now like a scared little bird.

Oops, doesn't this make him want to play with the kids even more?

"Well, you're too serious. How about we have a lighthearted tea party?" The red-haired young man smiled brilliantly, not caring at all that he was wearing a neat and tidy suit. He sat cross-legged on the spot, resting his elbows on his thighs, tilting his head and looking at Conan with a smile, "Look, I didn't even take off your stickers, let's see your true identity. Can you talk to me for this reason?"

Asa's tone was not inquiring, but rather like he was saying, "Don't even think about leaving if you don't want to talk."

Conan had a headache. He didn't know why Asa wanted to chat with him, nor did he know what they had to talk about.

Is it because he is Wuming's new partner? Is it because a vigilante and a criminal have to sit together and talk about his mentor?

Okay, he admitted, that sounded weird.

Conan thought so.

Until, Asa seemed to see through his inner thoughts, and like a magic trick, he took out a disguise mask from the lining of his suit and slowly unfolded it in front of Conan.

"Now?" Asa said, his voice changed. "So, are you willing to chat with Brother Asa now?"

The latter's face changed.

This face looks ordinary if it is pulled out alone. It will be lost in a crowd in a short while. However, combined with the red hair and the voice...

"Asazuki?!" Conan blurted out with a look of disbelief on his face.

The Chaoyue he met on the rooftop was actually Asa?

"Oh, you finally found it!" Asa's voice sounded very happy, "Yes, that's right, it's me? Chaoyue is also me, Asa is also me~"

Even though Rei Furuya in the base already knew the news, the shock he received when he heard Asa admit it in person was extraordinary.

"As a reward..."

The red-haired young man smiled and said, "Let me tell you a new story."

"Ten years ago, I inherited a flower shop. But who knows, I have no interest in running a flower shop. If it was a flower that grows its head in the ground, I might like it." Asa said in a reminiscent tone, "Please understand me, this world is too boring. At that time, I thought - in this case, why not find some fun?"

"The result is that I have been trying to find fun for half a year, but to no avail! The criminals in this city are so boring, it's really annoying."

Asa sighed.

"Finally, I got tired and annoyed. I felt that this was too boring. Anything was fine. I just didn't want to live. Let my life end before I had too much desire to destroy this boring world! After all, if I destroyed the world, wouldn't my life be even more boring? I thought so."

"Then, on that early summer night, when I was about to find a random river to sleep forever." Asa's tone softened, and a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes that had been looking empty, "I picked up the injured boy, Little Moon."

As Conan listened, he suddenly discovered a fact.

He had never connected Chaoyue and Asa before, so he didn't react to this - the Little Moon mentioned by Asa refers to his mentor, while the Little Moon mentioned by Chaoyue is a killer of an organization.

...Is this a story or a real past? But the age doesn't match. Wuming is only seventeen years old this year. How could he have been a teenager ten years ago?

Conan couldn't believe it, nor did he dare to think further.

Anyway, let's think about the story first. According to the version Asa told before, the process should be that Chaoyue redeemed the killer boy, but the version Asa told now sounds like a complete subversion of Chaoyue's image. No matter how you think about it, it is obvious that the position should be changed.

In other words, the one who was truly redeemed was Chaoyue/Asa?

Then, Conan heard Asa laugh grimly: "I discovered his inner struggle and pain, saw his shining soul sinking into the mud - God, don't you feel it?"

Asa's laughter became louder, and Conan was stunned: "This is really... This is really funny!!"

"I really want to know if he continues like this and sinks deeper into the mud, will his soul be destroyed, or will he still be beautiful?" Asa's cheeks flushed red, and he said fascinatedly, "I like this too much. His pain is so beautiful that it makes me dizzy."

...what?

These words were like a heavy hammer, hitting Conan's head hard. For a moment, his ears were buzzing and he felt like he couldn't understand what Asa was saying.

What did he say? Was he enjoying the boy's pain as a delicacy? Was he appreciating the dying struggle of the boy who did not want to stay in the darkness and longed for salvation as an opera?

At this moment, a very despicable thought flashed through Conan's mind: he really didn't want Wuming to be that boy anymore. He couldn't accept that a vigilante who so gently guarded the city would have a time when others admired his pain. That was too...too torturous...

When people encounter bad things, they don’t want these things to happen to their important people, right?

His stickers could blur the outline of his face, but they couldn't hide his expression, so Asa saw the suppressed sadness and anger on Conan's face.

"Oh my, oh my? Are you angry about that child?" Asa lowered his head, staring at Conan with his emerald eyes without any warmth, but the corners of his mouth were raised, and his smile became more brilliant, "Don't be so disappointed, I'm not a bad person, Asa brother loves Xiaoyue, okay?"

"I know he is broken. All it takes is a hand and a gentle push to break him into powder. But careful mending will allow him to continue to live in tatters."

"I know that the person who controls him monitors his every move, and I also know that the other party will hear everything I say to him, but, haha! I still said it, I said let's run away together, leave this city, go anywhere you want, and leave that person's control! I said you are worthy of being loved, and that person is destroying you! I said let's go to see the moon together, little moon!"

"How cute! The child actually believed it. He lacked the experience of being loved, so even though he had doubts about my presence, he still believed it in the end." Asa laughed until tears came out. "Are you curious? Curious about why I did this?"

Under Conan's clenched teeth and patient gaze, Asa suddenly paused for a few seconds, his laughter shrank into a smile, and then solidified into a mask on his face.

"This world is boring as hell. It breaks my heart to think that such a beautiful soul will eventually become boring. So, I want to get that. I want to bury the soul of Little Moon with me." Asa closed the distance between himself and Conan, "I want to be the hand that gives a gentle push."

As his cold, sticky gaze snaked across the skin of Conan's cheeks, Conan heard Asa say in a declarative tone: "I want to use my death to create the 'worst day'. If he experiences this, will he become like me? Will he be completely immersed in all kinds of filth? Of course, I will be dead by then and will never know."

Not being able to see what the final outcome of that soul will be, also means that Asa can die with a joy that will never be in vain. How wonderful.

"Later, there was an unexpected surprise. The old man actually controlled him and let Xiaoyue kill me personally. Oh my god, it was a genius idea." Asa said happily, "I was so happy. The feeling of dying in Xiaoyue's arms and the burning pain when his tears flowed into my eyes, it was too happy, right? That was definitely the best moment of my life."

"But, look, what's going on?" Asa's voice suddenly turned cold, and the difference was so great that Conan shuddered. "I should have died ten years ago, the happiest time of my life. Why am I resurrected ten years later?"

Asa didn't want to be resurrected at all. He should have died happily and never knew what happened to the boy's soul. But he was pulled back? Doesn't this mean that he will see the boy's fallen soul? Wouldn't all the happiness he had before be gone?

"So, I want to take revenge on my little moon."

Asa smiled: "He once regarded Asazuki as his hope. Asazuki redeemed him and invited him to see the moon. But I am Asa, not Asatsuki. I don't have 'Tsuki'."

If you want to destroy a person, first destroy the hope in his heart.

So, Asa destroyed the 'Chao Yue' in Wuming's memory, and he took the initiative to tear off that layer of disguise.

As Conan's blank gaze became increasingly dull and overloaded with information, Asa said, "But I regretted it when I saw him. The little moon still has such a beautiful soul. Even though he knows that he pushed Tokyo to fall into the crime capital and knows how evil he is, he is still so tough. He is so cute. I want to destroy him again more and more. For this, I have prepared many games for him."

After he finished speaking, Asa turned his face towards the door of the room they were in.

"That's the end of the story, my little moon, won't you come in?" the red-haired criminal said sweetly, "I've been waiting for you for a long time, and you finally come to catch me."

"Oh, are you afraid that your current disciples will hate you?"

Asa made a coy expression: "Don't be so pessimistic, dear, look, even if he's gone, you still have me~?"

The person outside the door hadn't made any movement yet, but Conan's body jumped up faster than his brain could react, and he shouted angrily, "No!!!" completely out of conditioned reflex.

He is Wuming's only (emphasis) partner!!!