Isn’t this completely unchanged?!
Edogawa Satoru, who had pulled himself out of the memory of the book pages, breathed heavily like a fish twitching on the shore.

“Tell me, what did you see?”

Ranpo held Xiaowu’s hand holding the book page, and the warmth wrapped around Xiaowu like water. Xiaowu turned his head, and big tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes and hit Ranpo’s hand.

It hurts.

Does being burned by fire really hurt so much?
“Brother, Mom and Dad are dead.” He opened his eyes wide and looked at Ranpo, his eyes as if he had just woken up from a dream, “What happened after that?”

But he immediately realized:

Where is the after?

Didn’t mom and dad die with him?

There will be no future after death.

Edogawa Satoru lowered his eyes.

Until now, I had never thought about this kind of thing, and I put all the pressure after my parents passed away on my brother.

that’s terrible.

“Brother,” he grabbed Ranpo and pulled him into his arms, hugging him tightly, “I’m sorry, you must have endured more… I’m sorry, I didn’t notice… I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

Ranpo felt the tears hitting his head in confusion, and when he heard the sobbing voice of his silly brother, he pushed Xiaowu away helplessly.

He covered Xiao Wu’s cheeks with his hands, and played with her hair on both sides with his fingertips, saying word by word: “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You don’t have to apologize to me. If there’s anyone to apologize between us, it must be me.”

“elder brother?”

My eyes were red from crying.
When you saw him before, it must have been very hard to endure, right?
The color of her hair also changed, and she chose all blue contact lenses.

Ranpo counted the changes in his brother in his mind, and a gratified smile flashed across his face.

My little brother, who was a crybaby when he was young, has really, really, really grown up.

I will soon die in this world.

“Xiaowu, if anyone needs to apologize, it must be me.” Ranpo spoke before Xiaowu could speak, “Listen to me carefully.”

“You have already watched the surveillance video, so you understand my thoughts.”

[The phrase “had to kill him”?]
“I have done so many things so far with only one purpose: to make you leave this world.”

Xiao Wu finally couldn’t help it: “I don’t understand.”

“Book.”
Ranpo only said one word, but Edogawa Satoru understood it immediately.

Edogawa Satoru is a product of books.

And what he is reading now is a book.

“The contents of the book cannot be known by more than three persons, or they will perish; the creator of the book cannot be aware that he is false.”
He was almost in a daze, his soul floating in the air, and he didn’t even know what he was saying.

[Is this the grand death I was expecting?]
no.

no!
What he has always believed in and expected is the long-awaited reunion with his brother, the heartfelt talk to each other to unravel the mystery, and the sharing of his unshakable faith in each other.

“No,” Edogawa Satoru finally calmed down, “Gojo Satoru said that you want to kill me, but you also want to save me! I know you don’t just want to kill me, tell me, brother, stop teasing me!”

After having enough fun with his brother, Ranpo looked at Xiaowu who was about to burst into tears if he continued to tease him, raised his hand and patted Xiaowu’s head as he used to, then ruffled his hair, and finally held him in his arms.

He said seriously, “Yes. You must believe that I love you. You must believe me, always believe me, always believe in your brother.”

Ranpo picked up the first page and told Xiaowu his story.

–

The doorbell rang, disturbing the quiet afternoon.

Ranpo opened the door and saw several men in uniform standing outside. One of them bowed slightly and said, “Little boy, is your father home?”

Ranpo judged them to be harmless and shouted into the house, calling his father out.

Father Edogawa frowned: “Special Powers Special Agents Department?”

“Yes.” The man handed over a piece of paper, “We would like to entrust you to investigate something.”

Ranpo was driven outside and was swinging on the swing by himself.

In the evening, Dad told Ranpo that he and Mom were going to Tokyo.

The next day, they died in a car accident.

“Ah…” The black-haired boy stood beside the car. The car was burned into a black mass, and the wreckage made a creaking sound.

The police not far away whispered:

“It’s so pitiful. Both my parents died in this car accident.”
“I don’t know how this person will survive. He looks quite old, so the orphanage probably won’t want him…”
“It’s so tragic. Only a few bones are left…”

“Am I pitiful?” Ranpo looked back, his heart empty, neither crying nor feeling sad. He turned his head and returned his attention to the car. His brain and eyes were faster than his soul, and he was already analyzing the cause of the accident.

It was an accident.

A complete surprise.

“You are a famous detective.” He stared blankly at the charred corpse, not knowing who he was talking to.

Suddenly, he bent down, pushed aside the corpse with his fingers, and grabbed something.

A small piece of skull.

Superpower Business Department, Dad, Skull.

He understood: “Come to Tokyo to investigate this child, and take mom on a honeymoon?”

Funerals are such a hassle.

He didn’t want to kneel anymore because his feet hurt. He stood up and glanced at the guest who came to his house that day.

He will continue to do his father’s work.

He stopped those people.

“Little boy, this is none of your business.” The man refused with a smile, “Even your father can’t find out.” “What if I find out?” Edogawa Ranpo asked calmly.

Fireflies flickered in the cracks of the eyes, and that moment of determination aroused the interest of the special forces department.

“If you find out, I can agree to one of your requests within my power.” The man raised his lips, “I still have some power – but there are others who are also investigating, kid, you better act quickly.”

He took out his business card: “Contact me when you’ve checked.”

——Special Powers Special Agent Department, Huihara Ye.

If Edogawa Ranpo is determined to investigate, there is nothing he cannot find out.

He sent the skull for a DNA test and quickly found that it belonged to Gojo Satoru.

A dead man.

A dead person who died very close to his parents and whose DNA was exactly the same as that of the baby in the car.

More importantly, this is a dead person whose body has disappeared.

Interesting, very interesting. Ranpo began to be really interested in this matter.

He threw himself into it with all his passion, not knowing that there was a bottomless abyss ahead.

–

“Gojo Satoru died too? Because of me? He and I lived and died together?” Edogawa Satoru clenched his fingers nervously, staring at his brother, “And then?”

He is still so impatient and likes to hear the results directly; just like before, when he doesn’t understand something, he comes to his brother to “cheat”.

Ranpo continued speaking.

–

But what does Gojo Satoru’s death have to do with what his parents are investigating?
Edogawa Ranpo was able to track down Gojo Satoru and find his grave, but the grave was empty and there was no more information about him.

It is unclear whether I learned about the world of curse through Gojo Satoru, or whether I learned about Gojo Satoru through the world of curse.

It took Edogawa Ranpo more than three months to figure out the composition, organizational distribution, and personnel situation of the sorcery world without alerting it. He also learned about the existence and organization of the curse spirits, on the premise that he himself could not observe the curse spirits.

Yes, the world of spells with less than tens of thousands of people can be divided into several major factions, fighting each other. Spell masters have the power to destroy the world and are not even controlled by the government. Curse spirits are invisible to ordinary people, and killing people is easy.

It is not difficult to find this information, but the difficult part is that the first step to enter the world of sorcery is to be a sorcerer. Edogawa Ranpo has neither money nor time, but he lacks opportunities.

Pan Xing taught him how to help.

Edogawa Ranpo did not believe in free lunches. When he met the leader of Panxing Sect, he made it clear that he was investigating this just to find out who his family members had contact with before they died and why his parents went to Tokyo to take away an abandoned baby and then went straight back to Yokohama.

The leader picked up the teacup, covered the lower half of his face, and drank it all in one gulp: “I can take you in, but don’t regret it.”

He was also confused.

On the day Gojo Satoru died, he was just on a business trip as he had accepted a mission from the Jujutsu World Supervisory Department as usual.

They just happened to meet.

Why did he die?
Then Edogawa Ranpo got the news that “Gojo Satoru committed suicide” and “the charred baby in the car was split from Gojo Satoru.”

Edogawa Ranpo didn’t understand at first, but then he understood when he thought about Yokohama.

Long live understanding.

He called Huihara Ye and told him his guess.

He thought that the Special Forces Division was investigating who had changed the “happening” – Gojo Satoru shouldn’t have committed suicide. There were always taboos for special powers involving time, space, and cause and effect, and the tense and leisurely attitude of the Special Forces Division was like looking at a large weapon without lethality.

This conjecture has existed since the beginning, and the most difficult part is to enter the world of sorcery to prove it.

Huiyuan Ye burst into laughter after hearing this.

He said, “Well, you guessed right. Now you can make a small request.”

“I want a book.” said Edogawa Ranpo.

There was silence on the other end of the phone: “How did you know about the book?”

It would be strange if you didn’t know.
“Books” are no longer useful to Yokohama, Japan, or the whole world, because books have no effect on the world.

Edogawa Ranpo didn’t want to talk about the information that was easily obtained in Yokohama, so he urged, “Can you give it to me?”

If the Special Powers and Secret Service Department is not able to do it, he will look for someone else, such as the government and an unknown great writer who are said to share the responsibility of “books” with the Special Powers and Secret Service Department.

Be it threats or inducements.

He will try without hesitation.

“What a bold suggestion – of course you can.” Huiyuan Ye asked in a low voice, “But can you afford it?”

“Send me a report, tell me why you want the book, what it’s about, and what fate it’s going to change. If it’s reasonable, I can give you one.”

Edogawa Ranpo was stunned.

It doesn’t feel real. It’s too easy and fake.

He looked out the window, the afterglow of the sun was shining on the swing in the yard, and weeds were beginning to grow on it. He suddenly felt very sad.

The person on the other end of the line was still chattering: “What you write about will be the life and death of another world, but it has nothing to do with us. I can give you the pages of the book.”

Books cannot change the present world, but they can create another world.

“But can you afford it?”

“I’ll take care of it.” Ranpo promised, his voice firm and powerful.

He is willing to bear the life and death of the whole world for his family.

Huihara Ye sneered: “Just a kid.” He looked at the contents of the report in his hand, which was all about protecting his parents.

His mind changed.

Well, it’s okay to agree.

(End of this chapter)