Conan: Ran, I really am Shinichi, you have to believe me!

Page 5

Seeing this kid bragging in front of the reporter, Shinichi Kudo's face turned extremely sour and looked very unpleasant.

Shinichi Kudo's pale face perfectly complemented Jiang Chengbei's radiant and smug expression, creating a striking contrast between a victor and a vanquished in a photo. The reporters were quick to snap away.

"Today is a good day. Today is not only the day I, Detective Conan, officially debut, but also the day I, Edogawa Conan, defeat Kudo Shinichi. The new generation surpasses the old, and the old generation dies on the beach..."

"Shut up! You didn't defeat my reasoning. I've also deduced that the culprit is Seba Takatsu!"

Faced with Jiang Chengbei's shameless attempt to step on him to rise to power, Shinichi Kudo finally couldn't hold back any longer and loudly addressed the reporters:

The reason I didn't reveal my reasoning earlier is because I was drugged by some shameless scoundrel and fell into a coma!

This shameless scoundrel secretly solved the case while I was unconscious, and what's even more despicable is that the evidence he used was stolen from me!

The conflict erupted. The two parties involved gave conflicting accounts, leading to a twist in the story and a hot topic. Reporters surrounding Kudo Shinichi and Jiang Chengbei shoved microphones at them, urging them to share their stories as soon as possible, the more heated the better.

Jiang Chengbei didn't disappoint the reporters. Before Kudo Shinichi could finish speaking, he grabbed the microphone and launched into a sarcastic remark:

"Oh, washing machine, you can't accept defeat, can you? It seems you're not happy that a high school student like you lost to an elementary school student like me?"

"Drum washing machine, it hasn't been long since this happened, you haven't already forgotten what you said while hiding in the corner, have you?"

"What did I say? Didn't you just knock me out? How could I say anything when I was knocked out?"

Because Shinichi Kudo was under the influence of anesthesia, he was completely unaware that Jiang Chengbei was impersonating him.

When he woke up, Jiang Chengbei had just proven that Seiyu Zunde was the murderer. So, based on everyone's fragmented conversations, Kudo Shinichi hadn't yet learned the whole story. He only knew that Jiang Chengbei had taken the credit and anesthetized him, unaware that someone was impersonating him.

"Drum washing machine, you can't accept defeat. You just said something and you're already pretending to forget it and denying it so quickly. In the end, you still feel that you, a high school student, are losing to an elementary school student and you can't save face, so you don't want to admit it."

After Jiang Chengbei finished speaking, the surrounding reporters also chimed in:

"That's right. When you couldn't solve the case and were hiding in the corner, you were so ashamed that you almost buried your head in your thighs. You didn't even dare to raise your head to speak. We took a lot of pictures back then."

"Also, you said back then that the case was too difficult and that you couldn't solve it yourself. That was very clear. The police officers and guests present heard it clearly, and even we outside the villa heard it vaguely."

"What?! I was anesthetized and I can still talk?" After hearing everyone's story, Shinichi Kudo was shocked: He doesn't have a split personality, he can't talk while he's asleep!

"Impossible, I didn't say those things. I was ambushed and knocked unconscious. Those words weren't mine; it must have been me at the time..."

"Someone must have been impersonating you back then. Is that what Shinichi Kudo was thinking of saying?" Jiang Chengbei suddenly interrupted before Shinichi Kudo could finish speaking, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"That's right, that's exactly what I meant. You were the one who impersonated me and said those things, weren't you? Edogawa Conan!"

"Huh? A front-loading washing machine? My voice is clearly different from yours, how can I impersonate it?"

"Huh? This..."

The current Shinichi Kudo is not yet the knowledgeable Conan he will become. He has not yet seen Professor Agasa's voice changer, nor has he heard Kaito Kid's voice. He doesn't know that voice changing is a skill, nor does he know that someone can imitate his voice. Therefore, he is speechless for a moment after being confronted.

"Alright, alright, everyone stop pressuring the washing machine. He's still a child, a high school student. He's emotionally fragile and easily hurt. He can't accept being defeated by an elementary school student. Let's stop pressuring him and let him calm down."

Listening to Jiang Chengbei's casual conversation, the reporters who had been watching immediately fell silent, unsure of what to say.

From the moment we left until now, wasn't it you, the elementary school student Conan Edogawa, who's been relentlessly stepping on Shinichi Kudo to climb to the top? How come you're now blaming us reporters for everything?

Although this elementary school student is unruly, foul-mouthed, and a master of causing trouble, these are all things that reporters like, because that's what they have to write about.

Conan Edogawa vs. Shinichi Kudo – they'll be the headlines tomorrow.

In order to write more, the reporters surrounded Jiang Chengbei and Kudo Shinichi and continued to ask them questions.

"Edogawa, are you really only six or seven years old? How can you be so smart at such a young age? How did you find the real culprit and even defeat the high school detective Shinichi Kudo?"

Facing the reporter's question, Jiang Chengbei calmly adjusted his bow tie, cleared his throat, and said:

"It's very simple. Because I, Conan Edogawa, am an unregistered person, without parents, born and raised by nature."

If you were like me, growing up without anyone to raise you, having to struggle for food and clothing on your own, and being forced into such a desperate situation, I think you would have done the same, otherwise you wouldn't have survived until now.

For Shinichi Kudo, deduction is just a hobby, but for me, Conan Edogawa, it's my life, my livelihood. Whether I can earn money and survive depends on it.

"Kuniichi, Edogawa-kun, you're amazing!"

"Ah? Edogawa-kun, you're an orphan? That's so touching, sob sob sob..."

"Baka! What is our government doing? What is the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare doing? How does the Metropolitan Police Department manage household registration? How can they let a kid like Edogawa end up on the streets, having to earn his own living?"

……

After hearing Jiang Chengbei's fabricated story, everyone was agitated and had all sorts of opinions.

Seeing the reporters' indignation, and knowing that tomorrow's headlines might shift from the conflict between the two detectives, Edogawa and Kudo, to criticisms of government inaction, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's dereliction of duty, and the Metropolitan Police Department's incompetent household registration management, Inspector Megure quickly came out to clarify, stating that he had adopted Conan and that Conan would no longer suffer those tragic fates.

Chapter 6 Jiang Chengbei's Kind Neighbor

"Young Edogawa, today you defeated Shinichi Kudo, who is known as the savior of the Metropolitan Police Department, and became the savior of Sherlock Holmes in the Heisei era. So, have you investigated your own background?"

When faced with the reporter's questions, Jiang Chengbei continued to spout nonsense: "I don't have many clues about my background as Edogawa Conan."

All I know for now is that the male genes in my family are very strong. No matter who I marry, whether they are Chinese or foreign, whether they have black, blonde, or blue hair, or what color their eyes are, the boys they have all look the same – they all have generic faces.

Whether they are father and son, brothers, cousins, or even further back, they are all cut from the same mold, all bearing the same generic face.

"What?!" Upon hearing Jiang Chengbei's words, Shinichi Kudo was completely taken aback and looked at the bespectacled kid in shock: Could he be the one his delinquent father had made a mistake in the past?

If that's the case, then it explains why his appearance, clothes, hairstyle, and everything else are exactly the same as mine when I was a child.

Moreover, his reasoning ability is just as strong as his own, which fits the assumption that he inherited it from his bad father.

Fortunately, the only difference is that this kid is nearsighted and has to wear glasses at such a young age. At least I am better than him in this respect.

Thinking of glasses, Shinichi Kudo took another closer look, and then he realized that they were not nearsighted glasses at all, but just ordinary non-prescription glasses, for decoration. This made him even more depressed.

……

After spending some time completing his task of getting on the front page with Shinichi Kudo tomorrow, Jiang Chengbei decided to leave.

Seeing that Jiang Chengbei wanted to leave, Megure thoughtfully instructed Takagi Wataru to come and take Jiang Chengbei back to the Metropolitan Police Department, and to pick him up and take him home after he finished dealing with the scene.

Of course, after taking Jiang Chengbei to the Metropolitan Police Department, Megure also instructed Takagi Wataru to go back to the police station and check Edogawa Conan's information to see if what he said was true, and also to see if there were any missing children the same age as Edogawa Conan.

Just like Conan in the future, he would use the toilet as an excuse when something happened. His simple "I need to go to the toilet" left Takagi Wataru standing outside the toilet like an idiot for half an hour.

After Jiang Chengbei was no longer by his side, Inspector Megure pulled Shinichi Kudo aside and talked to him about the strange child.

"Inspector Megure, in my opinion, Edogawa Conan, that name is obviously fake. This kid must have made it up. What parent would give their child a name that would make them laugh at by their classmates?"

Inspector Megure, do you really want to adopt Conan Edogawa, this kid who's always lying?

“If he really is an orphan without a guardian, I will adopt him and do my best to raise him into a good person.”

"Inspector Megure, you are such a good person."

I always felt that Edogawa and I had a special relationship, especially when he called my name, there was always a foreign accent to it.

He speaks with a genuine Tokyo accent when he's talking, but when he calls my name, he sounds like a foreigner.

A front-loading washing machine, a washing machine, what the heck, it smells like garlic?

……

While Shinichi Kudo and Inspector Megure were talking about him, Jiang Chengbei had already climbed out of the bathroom window and then secretly climbed over the wall to leave the Seiba family's villa.

Thanks to Seiyu Zunen's wall-climbing skill, Jiang Chengbei's agility and jumping ability have been greatly improved, making it easy for him to climb over walls.

After leaving the Seiba residence and confirming that no one had noticed him and that he was not followed, Jiang Chengbei hid in the shadows and took out Conan's exclusive high-tech gadget—a solar-powered skateboard—from the system warehouse.

Since the system provided Jiang Chengbei with the peak Conan, the solar-powered skateboard equipped with batteries was already a rechargeable model, so it could be used even without sunlight. Therefore, late at night, Jiang Chengbei would ride the Conan skateboard around the Seiba residence like a ghostly youth.

Guided by the tracking glasses, Jiang Chengbei quickly found the bag of bearer securities and gold and silver jewelry that he had kicked out, and then glided away with them.

After taking the bearer securities from his bag and burying the remaining gold and silver jewelry somewhere, Jiang Chengbei slid towards home.

Since he transformed into Conan upon entering the Conan world, Jiang Chengbei still doesn't know what he actually looks like in the Conan world.

Since he always stays near Shinichi Kudo when he enters the Conan world, he hasn't gone home yet to see what his home in this world is like.

Anyway, the system said he had no parents and was all alone, and it also gave him his home address. He was curious, so when he had some free time, he decided to go home and take a look.

Besides, it's late at night and he has nowhere to go, so he should just go home and sleep.

As for going to the Megure family and becoming his son, that was something Shinichi Kudo agreed to. What does it have to do with Jiang Chengbei?

He had it all planned out: once Shinichi Kudo became Conan, he would take the real Conan to Inspector Megure's house and make him behave like Inspector Megure's son, so that he wouldn't have to live with Ran in the future.

After buying a Tokyo map from an ordinary store and speeding through the streets and alleys of Tokyo for a while, taking many wrong turns, Jiang Chengbei finally found his way home on a high-tech skateboard that was faster than a car.

The apartment provided to Jiang Chengbei by the system is in a building that looks like a tenement building, which is a row of apartments connected by a long corridor on each floor.

In the previous life, it was rare to see tenement buildings used as residential buildings in Jiangcheng North; school buildings in the tenement building style were the most common.

However, this is the world of Detective Conan, and tenement buildings are quite common in Detective Conan. But they are not called tenement buildings here. Those located in the suburbs are called housing estates, and those located in the city center are called luxury apartments.

Jiang Chengbei's apartment building has seven floors, and his family lives on the fifth floor. Jiang Chengbei glanced curiously at a car parked on the road in front of the building.

Strangely, there were two men in black in the car, chatting idly in the driver's and passenger's seats. It was so late, why weren't they going home to sleep? They must have nothing better to do.

When Jiang Chengbei went upstairs and arrived at his door, he saw that his own doorplate read "504 Jiang Cheng" and the doorplate of the next room read "503 Guangtian".

Looking at the surname on the doorplate, Jiang Chengbei grumbled in dissatisfaction. He was clearly surnamed Jiang and named Chengbei, but he didn't expect that the system would change his surname and given name after he went abroad. Now his surname was Jiang Chengbei.

Just as Jiang Chengbei took out his key and inserted it into the lock, the door to room 503 next door opened, and two beautiful women walked out: one with long, straight black hair and the other with short, brown hair.

The woman with short brown hair was cool. She glanced at Jiang Chengbei indifferently and then turned away without doing anything else.

The beautiful woman with long, straight black hair wasn't surprised at first, but when she saw Jiang Chengbei using a key to open the door, she exclaimed in astonishment:

"Little brother, who are you? How do you have a key to Xiao Bei's house?"

Who am I? I am Jiang Chengbei. Why can't I have my own house key?

Oh, right, I'm currently in the form of Conan Edogawa, but I'm an unregistered resident, so never mind.

Helpless, when faced with a neighbor checking household registrations, Jiang Chengbei could only resort to Conan's ultimate move: tilting his head back and grinning foolishly.

"Oh dear, I'm Conan Edogawa, I'm a distant relative of... Little North Brother..."

"You're a distant relative of Xiao Bei, how come I've never seen you before?"

The woman with long, straight black hair clearly didn't believe Jiang Chengbei's words. She pounded on the door and called out, "Xiao Bei, are you home? Your distant relatives are here."

"Oh dear, Brother Xiao Bei isn't here. He's working overtime at the convenience store tonight and hasn't come back yet, so he gave me the key so I can come back and rest first."

"Is that right?"

"That's right. If I weren't a distant relative, how would I have the key?"