Beside the small river, Fujino dragged the old priest, forcing his head underwater.
The old priest sputtered awake, struggling for a moment.
Futilely. Fujino then hauled him up and dragged him towards the cliff edge.
"I'll give you one last chance. If you don't talk, I'm throwing you off."
Saying this, Fujino grabbed the red rope binding the old priest and dangled him over the precipice.
"Aaaah!"
Staring down at the sheer drop below, Priest Ten'ei let out a bloodcurdling scream.
The screaming continued for some time.
Suddenly, the old priest's legs went limp. He'd fainted from sheer terror.
Simultaneously, a trickle of liquid darkened his trousers.
Fujino: "..."
Seriously? This old man has such weak nerves?
He actually pissed himself?
This rope is definitely ruined now.
Sighing, Fujino pulled the old priest back from the edge.
He dragged him back to the river for another forceful 'wake-up call'.
Honestly, the old priest was stubborn, embodying the 'old bald donkey won't admit anything' spirit.
But after a night of Fujino's... persuasive 'sleep aid' techniques, the torture finally broke him. He confessed everything about the events from two years ago.
His motive for murder, the method used – Fujino recorded it all on his phone.
With the confession secured, Fujino nodded in satisfaction.
He pulled the black sack back over the old priest's head and proceeded to rack up some more... Swordsman proficiency points.
As dawn began to break, he finally stopped.
Using another Batarang to knock the old priest out cold, Fujino hoisted him up, stuffed him into the trunk of his car, and drove back towards Tokyo.
--- Batarang Test Data acquired from tranquilizing the old priest and the young monk: ---
The Batarangs do biodegrade, but it takes time.
Before fully degrading, thrown Batarangs can be reused, but the anesthetic effect diminishes significantly.
First use: Target unconscious for nearly two hours.
Second use (recovered dart): Target unconscious for about one hour.
Through experiments on the old priest,
Fujino determined the minimum anesthetic effect lowered the duration to fifteen minutes.
After reaching this minimum potency, the Batarang would then fully biodegrade without a trace.
Notably, the anesthetic effect was consistent.
It didn't lessen for the elderly or become lethal for children.
Basically, before the Batarang, all beings were equal.
Early that morning.
The Metropolitan Police Department's switchboard operator received a strange call.
Someone claimed a criminal had been delivered to the station's front door.
The caller identified himself as 'Batman', and his voice even sounded like Batman.
Just as the operator was dismissing it as a prank call or some kind of code,
Officer Takagi, just finishing an overtime shift, discovered an elderly man lying on the ground right outside the entrance.
The old man's clothes were disheveled and soaked with freezing water. His hands and feet were bound with red rope.
Besides the bindings, another thin red cord was tied around his neck...
Attached to this cord was a cassette tape and a small piece of paper cut into the shape of a bat.
Printed on the bat-shaped paper in Microsoft Yahei font were the words: "The murderer from the Sanneiji Temple incident two years ago".
The cassette tape contained a recording of the old man confessing to the murder of Monk Chunnen and describing his methods.
Whether the police could actually convict him based on this, the 'deliverer' didn't particularly care.
Morning, Beika Town, Fujino's fourth-floor bedroom.
Fujino, having worked through the night, had just returned home and sat down on the sofa when;
A series of system notifications chimed:
[Congratulations Host! Bounty Mission Complete! +200 Detective Reputation, 3,000,000 Yen Bounty, Random Equipment Pack awarded.]
[Random Equipment Pack has been delivered to your inventory. Please check.]
Hearing this, Fujino took a deep breath, opened his system inventory, and his eyes were immediately drawn to the gift-box icon.
[Random Equipment Pack: Contains an item of random quality and random abilities.]
A random equipment pack. It could contain Purple, Blue, or even White junk.
Completely unpredictable.
"Wonder what I'll get this time."
After a moment's thought, Fujino took another deep breath and opened the pack.
Streams of brilliant golden light flowed out.
After a brief, flashy animation, a set of pristine white robes shimmering with golden light appeared before him.
"A Golden item?"
Fujino stared at the luminous white robes, abruptly standing up from the sofa.
A Golden item!
He actually pulled a Golden item!
In his experience, Golden items were usually absurdly powerful.
Case in point: the Pocket Dimension!
Suppressing his excitement, Fujino sat back down. With a trembling finger, he touched the robes' icon, revealing its details:
[Assassin's Robes: Robes of a master assassin. Brotherhood spirit!
The same style robes once worn by a legendary master assassin. Wearing these robes, you too become a master assassin of the shadows!
Appearance: White robes with a red sash. Despite some strange-looking stains, they are definitely first-hand.
Effects:
Nightstalker: Significantly reduces presence. Effectiveness influenced by environment and user's state. Simultaneously causes psychological pressure on those who detect you.
Passing Assassin: No one can perceive your true face.
Shadow Strike: When undetected, your first attack is a guaranteed critical hit, increasing damage by +200%.
Assassin's Resilience: If discovered while performing stealth activities, all your stats increase by 100%.]
"All stats +100%... reduced presence... conceal face... Golden items truly are terrifying."
Fujino murmured, awestruck by the Assassin's Robes' skills.
He immediately materialized the robes from his inventory.
"These robes look kinda familiar,"
he muttered, examining them.
"Assassin's Creed?"
As described, the main body was a white, medieval-style robe, accented with red fabric. There were indeed some faint stains in places.
Bloodstains?
Putting on the Assassin's Robes, Fujino went to the bathroom mirror.
His reflection stared back.
But his face was completely obscured by shadow within the hood.
"Wonder if the effect triggers if it's not my face under the hood..."
Fujino stroked his chin, then retrieved the Batman mask from his pocket dimension and put it on.
He looked in the mirror again.
Now, within the shadowed hood, the dark mask of Batman peered out.
Just as I thought.
It seemed the [Passing Assassin] effect only activated to hide his real face.
Wearing a mask, or otherwise concealing his identity, didn't trigger the facial concealment specifically.
Putting the thought aside, Fujino looked up at the reflection – Batman wearing medieval assassin robes.
He couldn't help but feel,
"This combination... looks kinda weird?"