Chapter 119: The Aftermath of the "Zuo Wang Dao"
Despite his bold words, Gin knew that his original plan had already run into serious trouble.
The lackeys he sent out had not only failed to achieve any results, but they couldn't even manage to exhaust or delay the target. They had all been flattened, and worse, turned into puppets by Shinichi Kudo.
However, there were still gains. Gin now realized that when facing a monster of Shinichi Kudo's level, any number of weaklings was meaningless. If he were to make plans in the future, he would have to avoid this mistake at all costs.
Assuming there even is a future.
Gin's eyes remained icy, but his heart felt heavy. Though he was a man of absolute evil, his intelligence was extraordinary; he never hesitated when it came to deciding whether to fight or retreat. In the past, if Shinichi had shown such off-the-charts strength, Gin would have terminated the mission and retreated immediately.
There was no shame in that. To a professional, killing wasn't about impulse or passion; it was a technical job requiring extreme calm and rationality. Intelligence gathering, analysis, and targeted tactical deployment were essential. Missing an opportunity once or twice was never a problem as long as the task was eventually completed.
But now, Gin had no room to retreat. Not only because it was the Boss's will, but because Gin himself... did not want to retreat.
For the usually cold Gin, this was a rare "emotion" that defied logic. Was it the rage of an undefeated man stung by a previous failure? Was it the irrepressible hatred a living being felt when facing that pitch-black will of absolute evil? Or was it something more complex?
Gin didn't dwell on it. He wasn't swayed by these emotions for long, because the roar of a violent dragon echoed in his ears.
The Dragon of the Killing Calamity was roaring! It said:
KILL SHINICHI KUDO AT ALL COSTS!!!
Coincidentally, this mirrored the thought in Gin's own heart. The killing intent of Heaven and Man fused into one, forming a majestic force.
At that moment, the black clouds of slaughter carrying various demons broke through the boundary of illusion and manifested in the mortal realm. They stretched across the sky, turning the world into a landscape of shadows. Roars of killing intent and eerie whispers echoed like thunder between heaven and earth.
The ordinary residents of Beika and surrounding areas looked up at the sky, some paralyzed by fear, others filming the demonic dance with their phones. However, a small portion of them—after the initial shock—began to display strange expressions.
That massive evil and the boundless killing intent behind it acted like a magnet, attracting and summoning certain individuals.
These people, for one reason or another, had already been infected by the "Heavenly Killing Intent." Criminal thoughts had sprouted in their hearts, and many had even begun planning their methods. In the original timeline, after Shinichi became Conan, these people were the "Xiao Heis"—the low-level monsters Conan would defeat one by one.
But right now, they felt a higher level of Evil. Their fortunes surged, and they felt a premonition. Committing a crime alone is inconvenient; maybe I should find an organization or some like-minded partners.
This thought alone changed everything. The impact on the future was beyond words.
Shinichi Kudo watched the sky manifest into the mortal realm. He felt the majestic killing intent sweep over him, locking onto him firmly.
But that wasn't the point. From within the black clouds, a massive ghostly entity poked its head out and roared at him. This ghost was a metallic construct, covered in blood so thick it looked like rust. Its metal tentacles writhed like an octopus, occasionally combining to form various firearms.
Then, the metal ghost assembled its tentacles into a gargantuan sniper rifle and aimed it straight at Shinichi!
"Sniping?"
The sky had already revealed the future as an open hand. But even without the omen, the "Sinful Blood" flowing through his veins from Moriarty's heart allowed Shinichi to sense the incoming murder.
Shinichi shifted his body slightly. A sniper bullet grazed past him! However, when it hit the ground, it exploded like a bomb, revealing that this was no ordinary shot.
In the distance, the Organization member Korn, a top-tier sniper, discarded his usual coldness for a fanatical grin. Behind him, the ghost with writhing metal tentacles had manifested as his Stand.
"So this is what it feels like to be a Stand User? Incredible. Come, baby, let's see how far you can go."
He didn't change his position. With a twisted smile, he aimed again. The previous shot was a normal bullet buffed by the Stand's presence, hence the explosion. But that wasn't his Stand's true ability.
He focused, sinking his breath, maintaining calm amidst the frenzy. Behind him, his Stand mirrored his shooting posture and expression.
To the people of the Conan bubble, a Stand—though it had only existed in the world's backend—felt as natural as a limb. Once it manifested, mastering it was as easy as breathing. Especially for veterans of the Organization; their Stands had already fought countless battles in the backend, responding to their host's will for years. That combat experience was naturally transmitted to the host upon manifestation.
"Baby... give the enemy a beautiful stain of blood!"
Under his breath, the Stand named [Stain Baby] responded!
Killing intent shot out like a rainbow. In that instant, Shinichi felt a cold prickling pain between his eyebrows, as if a blade were resting against his eyes. He tilted his head. Despite the distance, he seemed to "see" the sniper.
Strictly speaking, he didn't see him; his eyes hadn't evolved into X-rays. He sensed the sniper's sins. Vaguely, Shinichi saw visions of person after person dying under that man's scope.
But professional killing didn't define this man's evil. After every hit, Korn wouldn't relocate immediately. He would pause, watching the victim fall through his scope. Seeing the blood flow, he would grin manically inside while maintaining a cold exterior. To him, a blood-stained corpse was a beautiful sight. That was why he joined the Distillery and took mission after mission. The money wasn't the reason; the "blood-stained scenery" he created was.
Shinichi's eyes grew darker. Boundless shadows roiled in his pupils. This was a level of evil he had never encountered. In the past, every criminal he met had a motive—money, love, hate. But this sniper acted purely for interest.
That accumulation of sin was so deep and solidified that even the Perfect Crime authority could not subdue or control him. Or rather, the current Shinichi lacked the "grand capacity" to bring such evil under his rule. What Shinichi couldn't do, his authority couldn't either.
"Moriarty... I'm beginning to understand. There truly exists a 'Chaotic Evil' that just wants to see the world burn for no reason."
Shinichi muttered. Mo Yu, who had been squatting nearby like an outsider, finally responded:
"Not everyone fits into Order. Some people embrace Chaos. But this guy with a little quirk is nothing. You're just inexperienced. When you leave this 'Newbie Village' of Japan and go with Brother Yusaku to the crime sanctuary of America, the serial killers and high-society perverts there will truly open your eyes to the diversity of the human species..."
Shinichi didn't reply; he didn't have time. Korn pulled the trigger again.
A crimson light crossed the two-kilometer distance with blinding speed. Shinichi wasn't afraid of bullets. The Sinful Blood allowed him to sense any criminal act before it happened. Evading a sniper was natural. He couldn't walk through a hail of bullets untouched yet, but a single sniper was no longer a threat.
The problem was: Korn wasn't shooting bullets. The crimson light flashed by, and suddenly, bloodstains appeared on Shinichi's clothes.
The stains moved like living things, gnawing through his clothes and burrowing into his flesh. Shinichi instantly deduced [Stain Baby]'s ability: it fired invisible "Blood-Spot Parasites" that attached to the enemy, making them bleed out through a thousand holes. It wasn't a single-target strike; it targeted an area.
"Mr. Future Holmes, you look quite disheveled. Need me to step in?" Mo Yu asked with a smirk.
Shinichi didn't answer. The darkness in his pupils surged. In the next instant, a former Distillery goon who had submitted to Shinichi's rule began to tremble as something was siphoned from him. A Stand appeared behind Shinichi.
This goon was an elite thug. His crimes were standard—battery and murder—but his style was "an eye for an eye." If he had a conflict with another gang, he loved returning the same injury they gave him. This trait manifested in his Stand: [Reciprocating Snail]. Its ability was simple: reflect the same injury back to the target.
Instantly, blood-spot parasites began gnawing on Korn!
But that was just the start. A second Stand appeared behind Shinichi: [Eloquent Iron Jail]. This belonged to a criminal who always made his subordinates take the fall. Its ability: transfer its own status to a subordinate. The parasites on Shinichi vanished, reappearing on the "Scapegoat" criminal instead.
The Emperor who reigns at the pinnacle of all crime. It was a title, but also a description of his power. He controlled all sin and wielded all evil. If Shinichi willed it, the empire of sin he had conquered would become his strength.
As Shinichi took this proactive step, the heavens surged. A wind of killing intent howled in reality, carrying the shapes of countless sins. These sins twisted and wriggled, eventually forming a Giant Blood-Red Eye that looked down upon all things from the gale.
The black clouds in the sky began to scatter under the gaze of that eye!
But in the next second, a dragon's roar erupted. The clouds collapsed and condensed into a massive body, while the demons within became scales. An ominous, heaven-blotting black dragon, riding the mists of darkness, danced across the sky.
This happened because an attack helicopter was screaming toward them at top speed.
Shinichi suddenly laughed. "The 'Black Bullet' capable of piercing my heart... is finally here?"
Inside the helicopter, Gin was silent. As an assassin, he usually preferred being low-profile, but he had never been this loud! If every mission resulted in weather-changing omens visible for a hundred miles, Gin felt he'd have to retire. Or the Boss would fire him because the Organization was exposed wherever he walked.
But those thoughts didn't linger. Because the monster named Shinichi Kudo was right in front of him!
Gin leaned out of the helicopter. His Stand, the Black Dragon, pulled its gun. Gin raised his own gun. Finally, the Sky-Blotting Dragon formed by the omens also pulled a "gun."
The Stand's gun, the Assassin's gun, and the Heaven-and-Earth gun all aimed at Shinichi. The sheer scale of killing intent was indescribable.
But Shinichi only laughed louder and brighter, a hint of madness creeping in. Under that manic smile, his eyes showed something beyond logic: a searing killing intent.
"Gin... you and your Organization, as anomalies created by the world-line shift, are the darkness I personally forged. You are my sin. Therefore... you should leave this world with me!!!"
Shinichi's voice echoed through the world. For a microsecond, Gin's eyes wavered.
The Distillery's resolve to kill him at all costs had two reasons: the Magical Die, and the report Gin had submitted based on Mo Yu's words.
In the Fourth World-Line Divergence, the Distillery was born.
End of Chapter
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