Chapter Ten: Activation of the Otherworldly Navigator

Tang Ze looked around the Beika shopping street and took a photo with his phone.

Given that it was a rather well-known spot, this peaceful street probably had no idea what the future held in store for it.

Never mind, he lived in Cafe Poirot himself; he was in no position to mock others for being surrounded by ominous vibes.

Sighing, Tang Ze wandered into a random clothing store.

He truly needed to stock up on clothes. The weather here changed in quite unpredictable ways, so having extra casual wear was a sound decision.

He did have plenty of outfits in his item slot, but those were all gear with stat bonuses; wearing them for daily life felt strange, and they didn't really match his personal style.

After all, he was not a real high schooler. His style leaned more toward "yuppie"—he preferred khaki or dark gray coats and trench coats, paired with black, white, or gray undershirts.

It was just a pity that his face looked a bit too youthful, which didn't quite mesh with his mature taste in clothing.

Having finished the chore of shopping, Tang Ze headed toward a newsstand to buy a couple of newspapers. He wanted to observe recent criminal cases, see if there were any new developments regarding Shinichi Kudo, and then decide where to go and whether he should "happen" to run into the Death-bringing Elementary Schooler.

Just then, a figure suddenly tumbled out of a second-hand shop toward him.

Tang Ze immediately stepped back and shifted into a boxing defensive stance, only to realize that a thin, middle-aged man had been shoved out of the shop and was staggering backward.

"Careful." Realizing it wasn't an attack, Tang Ze steadied the man before he could fall flat on his back.

"I told you to stop pestering me!" The chubby shop owner, who had followed the man out, stood with his hands on his hips and roared, "The buyer has already locked in the sword; it's impossible to resell it to you! How many times do I have to say it?"

"But the mortgage deadline I agreed upon with Maru Denjiro hasn't even passed yet! You have no right to sell 'Kikuchiyo'!" The long-faced man with a thin mustache on his lip was red-faced and arguing his case, "This is a breach of contract!"

"You mortgaged it to him, not to me! That’s none of my damn business!" The shop owner’s voice was much louder than his. "If you step foot into this store again, I'm calling the police!"

With that, the owner turned and headed back inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

The man, still steadied by Tang Ze, glared at the storefront, his knuckles white and his chest heaving—clearly, intense emotions were erupting within him.

Seeing the man stand up straight, Tang Ze released his grip.

Having regained his composure, the man noticed Tang Ze's curious gaze, managed a strained smile, and thanked him.

As he turned and walked toward the intersection, Tang Ze watched his slightly hunched back and the way his hands remained clenched in tight fists, sensing that his suppressed emotions were becoming increasingly violent.

"Maru Denjiro..." Tang Ze repeated under his breath, pinching his chin between his thumb and forefinger, adopting the classic detective's contemplative pose. "I feel like I have some impression of that name. Is he a murder victim, or perhaps a killer?"

Before Tang Ze could recall the details, the phone in his pocket vibrated twice.

Strange, he had it on ring mode, didn't he?

Thinking this, Tang Ze took out his phone and focused on it; his pupils constricted.

Right in the center of the screen, the red and black Meta-Nav app was glowing, and a window had popped up.

[Name: Maru Denjiro]

A Palace? Maru Denjiro actually had a Palace?

No, he needed to find a more secluded spot. It would be quite a spectacle if he accidentally triggered a transformation in the middle of the street.

Tang Ze looked up to scan his surroundings, confirmed that no one was paying him any mind, and ducked into the narrow back alley between two shops.

The Meta-Nav, as the name implied, was a navigation program that could access another world.

In the context of Persona 5, there was a space within the collective unconscious of humanity. When someone developed a powerful desire capable of distorting their surroundings, that individual would become isolated from the collective unconscious, forming an independent personal space—a Palace.

These people often perceived a specific location as something else entirely; based on this imagination, that location would appear in the cognitive world in a distorted form.

Therefore, the program couldn't be launched just by wanting to. You had to provide it with precise coordinates—specifically, who the owner of the Palace was, and which location they had distorted into what.

Since the name "Maru Denjiro" had triggered the app, it meant this man definitely possessed a Palace.

Tang Ze began to search his memory carefully. Combined with the argument he had just witnessed between the man and the shopkeeper, he quickly pinpointed a case.

Maru Denjiro was a member of the most high-risk profession in the world of Conan: a company president.

As a wealthy man with his own firm, he had a strange hobby of loaning money at high interest rates. Furthermore, he often sold off collateral without authorization even before the debtors had technically defaulted. That guy who had just been fuming with rage was likely the killer of this case, Suwa Yuji, a master of kendo. His family’s heirloom sword, "Kikuchiyo," had been sold off by Maru Denjiro without permission. In a fit of rage, Suwa had stabbed him through the heart.

However, the most absurd part about Conan cases, even more so than the crimes themselves, were the bizarre "dying messages."

Take this Maru Denjiro, for example: even after being backstabbed with a sword and nearing death, he had stubbornly picked up the blade and carved the killer's name into a cabinet with knife marks. That was a cabinet as tall as a person! If you had the strength to hack at a cabinet, you might as well have slashed the killer, or put in the effort to crawl out of the room—you might have even survived!

Doing a quick mental calculation, Tang Ze knew his time was limited. If he waited until Kogoro Mouri received the request and showed up, the Palace owner would be beyond saving under the radiation of the "Death-bringing" aura.

Having recalled the general details of the case, Tang Ze guessed and entered a line of text into the second field.

[Location: Maru Residence]

There was no error message, so that was indeed the right case.

There was only one question left: what did Maru Denjiro perceive his own home as?

Tang Ze tentatively entered several nouns into the location field—bank, vault, safe, and other money-related terms—but none worked. He then tried some entertainment venues, like clubs or bars, but only received feedback that the location did not exist.

"Ah, blind guessing is still a bit difficult," Tang Ze muttered to himself, continuing to rack his brain for details.

Right, he had the impression that this family was very wealthy because they lived in a Japanese-style house with a courtyard and had many servants, indicating the master was either rich or powerful.

Since it was a traditional Japanese house, perhaps it was perceived as some kind of traditional architecture?

Changing his line of thought, Tang Ze tried a few more times. After a moment of deliberation, he hit upon an idea.

[Location: Daimyo Mansion]

As the last character was entered into the box, a flat, electronic female voice emanated from the phone's speaker.

"Location locked. Navigation starting."

His vision flickered imperceptibly. Tang Ze exhaled and peeked his head out to exit the alley.

Sure enough, the bustling commercial street outside was now completely deserted; everything had gone dead silent. After observing for a moment, Tang Ze stepped out of the alley, finally able to speak his mind aloud.

"A loan shark who thinks he's a Daimyo—how shameless, Maru Denjiro." Tang Ze clicked his tongue, glanced at the Meta-Nav screen showing the route map, and headed toward his destination.

What Tang Ze, who believed he had done everything stealthily, did not know was that in a building a hundred meters away, Shuichi Akai was staring intensely at the alleyway he had entered. Seeing that no one had emerged, he furrowed his brows.

The confidence of a top-tier sniper allowed him to confirm that there was no one in the shadows at the end of that alley.

[Target has left the field of vision. Is there any other defensive deployment near the target?]

[Yes, but all have lost visual contact. The target likely possesses keen counter-surveillance awareness; those tracking or monitoring him have likely been discovered.]

[Have them withdraw. He has likely discovered and evaded us; continuing to track him is meaningless. Leave the surveillance to me.]

Shuichi Akai issued the order, his brow remaining knit.

How had Tang Ze managed to shake off everyone, including a sniper watching from a vantage point, in just a few minutes?