2: Chapter 2 Borrowing money from "good friends"

The sound of police sirens completely vanished around the street corner, and the figures of Conan and that blonde woman had long since disappeared.

Only the continuous sound of rain remained in the alley, washing the ground until it gleamed, reflecting the mottled shadows of the buildings on both sides.

Lin Long slowly stepped out from the shadows. The damp air carried a post-rain chill that brushed against his still somewhat stiff body. He raised both hands; his palms were empty. The wisp of shadow that had once entwined the robber had long since hidden away without a trace, but a faint, almost non-existent icy touch seemed to linger on his fingertips.

"Shadow Sovereign... Shadow Trooper Corps..."

He murmured softly, his voice sounding somewhat ethereal in the empty alley.

Memories of his past life were crystal clear—every day he had shuttled through the city's streets and alleys on an electric scooter, delivering food under the scorching sun and dispatching packages in torrential rain. His greatest worries were nothing more than late-delivery deductions and negative customer reviews.

He had been physically weak, with a personality that wasn't exactly cowardly but certainly couldn't be called tough; he was the type who wouldn't make the slightest ripple if thrown into a crowd.

But now, he stood in the world of Conan.

A world where simply walking down the street could lead to stumbling upon a dismemberment case, where having a few words of argument with a neighbor could lead to being held a grudge and poisoned, and where even drinking a bottle of soda required checking if the cap had been tampered with beforehand.

Beika Town—this place was jokingly called "Little Gotham" by fans. On the surface, it was a bustling metropolis, but beneath it lay countless quagmires of sin; one slight misstep could lead to eternal damnation.

"Without power, it's hard to even survive three days here."

Lin Long clenched his fists, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force. The robbery just now was only the tip of the iceberg. He could feel a large amount of faint "malice black qi" floating in the city's air, like tiny needles pricking one's heart with unease.

In his mind, the system's prompt sounded again, cold and mechanical:

[Current malice black qi: 73 points. 27 more points needed to unlock "Shadow Guards".]

27 points.

Lin Long took a deep breath, suppressing the restlessness in his heart. The urgent priority was to gather these last 27 points of malice black qi to unlock the Shadow Guards.

Only by possessing power of his own could he gain a firm foothold in this peril-filled place.

He hesitated no longer. Using the cover of the night and the curtain of rain, he walked quickly out of the alley and merged into the night of Beika Town.

The streets on this rainy night had few pedestrians, and the halos of the streetlights stretched long over the wet ground. Lin Long kept his head down, trying his best to avoid the direction of surveillance cameras—though he didn't know if the surveillance system in this world was advanced, caution was never wrong.

His gaze swept quickly over the pedestrians. Occasionally, faint black qi would emerge in his vision—some weak as a candle flame, others thick as a lump of ink.

He stopped at the entrance of a 24-hour convenience store. Inside the glass window, a clerk in a uniform was boredly scrolling through a phone. In a corner, two yellow-haired hoodlums were pointing and gesturing at magazines on a shelf, speaking foul words, their eyes occasionally glancing at young girls passing outside the store. An uncomfortable, greedy black qi emanated from them.

[malice black qi: 12 points per person.]

The system gave clear values. Lin Long's eyes flickered. Although these two hoodlums hadn't done anything substantially bad yet, their malice was already obvious enough.

He didn't act immediately. Instead, he circled to the small alley behind the convenience store. Several trash cans were piled there, emitting a sour, rotten smell—it was perfectly situated in a surveillance blind spot.

He concentrated his will. The familiar icy sensation surged within him again, and a wisp of shadow, slightly thicker than before, quietly slid out of his palm. Like a nimble snake, it crawled along the cracks in the wall and slipped into the convenience store.

At this time, the two hoodlums were holding a bottle of beer and intentionally bumped into a passing female student, laughing loudly as they watched her panic.

The shadow silently entwined their ankles. The two of them felt as if they had suddenly been tripped by something. With an "Ouch," they fell to the ground. The beer bottle in their hands shattered, splashing beer all over them.

"What the hell!"

One of the yellow-haired guys cursed as he tried to get up, but he felt a numbness in his ankles and couldn't exert any strength. Hearing the commotion, the clerk ran over. Seeing the mess everywhere, the clerk immediately picked up the phone to call the police.

The two hoodlums panicked instantly. They didn't care to investigate the cause of their fall and scrambled out of the convenience store. The black qi on them mostly dissipated along with their panic.

And in Lin Long's mind, the numbers quietly jumped: [malice black qi: 73 → 85 → 97.]

3 points left.

Lin Long wasn't impatient and wandered nearby patiently. A rainy night is a breeding ground for sin; there would always be some blind fool who would deliver themselves to him. Sure enough, at the entrance of a game center on a street corner, he saw a man using his drunkenness as an excuse to pull at a streetwalker's arm, his breath smelling of alcohol as he spoke foul words.

[malice black qi: 5 points.]

The shadow set out again, this time directly entwining the man's wrist. The man only felt his wrist go numb, and his strength immediately gave way. The streetwalker took the opportunity to break free and run away.

The man was stunned for a moment, looking at his empty hand. Thinking he had drunk too much and his hand had gone soft, he cursed and staggered toward a dark area.

[malice black qi: 97 → 102.]

[Congratulations to the host! malice black qi has reached 100 points. Unlocked Shadow Trooper Corps: Shadow Guard (Basic Form)! Current summonable quantity: 1.]

As the system prompt fell, Lin Long felt the shadow energy within him suddenly boil, as if something had been activated. He concentrated his will and silently thought "Summon." A shadow over half a meter tall immediately rose from the shadow at his feet, quickly condensing into a humanoid silhouette.

This was a Shadow Guard.

It was entirely composed of pure shadow, with no facial features or extra characteristics, only a pair of eyes flickering with an eerie light. Its figure was slender yet looked capable, as if it were one with the surrounding darkness. It stood quietly before Lin Long, emanating an aura of absolute obedience.

"Not bad."

Lin Long nodded with satisfaction and tried to give an instruction: "Go wait behind those trash cans over there."

The Shadow Guard made no sound. Its figure flickered, and like a drop of ink merging into water, it silently slid behind the trash cans, completely hiding its form; even that bit of eerie light vanished.

If Lin Long couldn't clearly perceive its existence, he wouldn't have discovered a "person" was hidden there at all.

With the Shadow Guard, his sense of security instantly improved significantly. Lin Long didn't stay any longer. He had the Shadow Guard follow him in secret while he found a capsule hotel that looked relatively safe. He curled up in the narrow space and spent his first night after crossing over.

Over the next two days, Lin Long completely transformed into Beika Town's "Night Walker."

He caught up on sleep at a cheap hotel during the day and roamed the dark corners of the city with his Shadow Guards at night.

After unlocking the Shadow Guards, the efficiency of absorbing malice black qi greatly increased—the Shadow Guards could leave his direct control and independently search for targets carrying malice. Although they could only absorb a tiny amount of black qi each time, they were superior in their stealth and efficiency.

During these two days, he witnessed the "prosperity" of Beika Town:

In the alleys of the red-light district, he saw secret transactions between drug dealers and buyers. A Shadow Guard quietly stole a small bag of powder from their transaction. Watching both sides grow suspicious of each other and start a fight because the goods had vanished, Lin Long reaped the benefits, absorbing nearly a hundred points of black qi.

At the back door of an underground casino, he stumbled upon several loan sharks beating a gambler who couldn't repay his debt. A Shadow Guard used a shadow to trip one of the leaders, triggering a chaos. Amidst the brawl, he absorbed enough malice and also conveniently "picked up" the wallet the other party had dropped on the ground.

Even outside a high-end residential area, he discovered a paparazzi taking secret photos of a celebrity's privacy. A Shadow Guard sneaked into the other party's car and destroyed the memory card. Watching the paparazzi break down, he also harvested dozens of points of black qi.

In just two days, the malice black qi in Lin Long's mind had accumulated to over 500 points, and the summonable quantity of Shadow Guards had increased to three.

More importantly, his control over the shadows became increasingly proficient—Shadow Guards could climb walls, pass through narrow gaps, move at high speeds in the shadows, and even pick up small items.

"It's time to solve the 'money' problem."

In the early morning of the third day, Lin Long stood in front of a 24-hour ATM, looking at the few remaining yen banknotes on him, and frowned. Although the capsule hotel was cheap, staying there long-term wasn't a solution. He needed a safer, more comfortable base and needed to buy various daily necessities—all of which required money.

His gaze fell on a phone—this was a second-hand phone he had "borrowed" from the wallet of the loan shark who had been tripped by the Shadow Guard. All personal information had already been cleared by the Shadow Guard.

On the screen was the intelligence he had gathered using the Shadow Guards over the past two days: there were several small gangs near Beika Town that made a living through protection rackets, high-interest loans, and smuggling contraband. They acted arrogantly and had offended many people, but because they hadn't caused too much of a stir, they hadn't been a major focus for the police.

One of them, a gang called the "Mad Dog Gang," had its base in an abandoned warehouse in the east of the city. It was said they had recently extorted a hot pot restaurant and had a lot of cash on hand.

"You're the ones."

A cold smile curled at the corner of Lin Long's mouth as he spoke to the shadow behind him,

"Shadow One, go to the warehouse to scout the situation. Stay hidden and do not alert anyone."

A dark figure slid out from the corner of the wall, nodding silently, and disappeared into the night in a few leaps. Lin Long hailed a taxi and gave an address near the warehouse.

Half an hour later, the East City Industrial Zone.

The area around the abandoned warehouse was deserted, with only a few dim streetlights barely illuminating the potholed road. The warehouse's iron doors were tightly shut, guarded by two thuggish-looking men with cigarettes in their mouths. They glanced around from time to time, their waists bulging—clearly carrying weapons.

Shadow One's intelligence had been sent back: there were about ten people in the warehouse, all armed, and the cash should be kept in an iron cabinet in the inner room.

Lin Long hid in an abandoned factory building across the street, observing the situation inside the warehouse through the vision shared by Shadow One. He took a deep breath and issued instructions:

"shadow two, shadow three, take out the guards at the door without making a sound. Shadow One, circle to the back of the warehouse and disable the surveillance and ventilation ducts."

The three dark figures moved like ghosts.

shadow two and shadow three glided along the ground, silently approaching the two guards from behind. Before the guards could react, the two dark figures lunged up, wrapping around their necks and wrists. The guards felt their vision go dark, their throats blocked as if by something solid; they collapsed softly without even a grunt and were dragged into the nearby shadows by the Shadow Guards.

At the same time, Shadow One had already destroyed the surveillance lines at the top of the warehouse and used shadows to block the vents, making the air inside the warehouse grow stale.

"Move out," Lin Long ordered in a low voice.

The three Shadow Guards shot forward like arrows, slipping through the cracks in the warehouse doors and windows. Inside, several members of the Mad Dog Gang were gathered around a table playing cards. Beer bottles and cigarette butts were scattered on the floor, and the air was thick with the mixed stench of smoke, alcohol, and sweat.

Bang!

Suddenly, the lightbulbs on the ceiling flickered a few times and went out completely.

"What's going on? Did a fuse blow?"

Someone cursed and stood up to try and turn the lights back on.

Just then, the sound of falling tables and chairs and terrified screams rang out in the darkness.

"What is that?!"

"My hand! My hand is caught!"

"Help! There's a monster!"

The warehouse fell into chaos. Using the darkness and the terrain, the Shadow Guards continuously tripped, bound, and intimidated the gang members with shadows. They couldn't see their enemies or touch anything solid; they could only swing their machetes and steel pipes wildly in the dark, colliding with and trampling each other as fear spread like a plague.

Lin Long stood at the warehouse entrance, clearly "seeing" the scene inside. He didn't let the Shadow Guards deal lethal blows; he only had them subdue these people—killing would draw a major police investigation, which wasn't worth the trouble, and the Soul Points of these people were of little value to him right now.

Ten minutes later, the warehouse went completely silent.

All the gang members were tied to pillars by shadows, their mouths gagged, their eyes filled with terror and despair. Shadow One opened the iron cabinet in the inner room, and as expected, there was a lot of cash inside, including several stacks of unsealed Japanese Yen smelling of ink.

[Large amount of negative emotions (fear, despair) detected. Can be converted into malice black qi. Absorb?]

"Absorb."

Lin Long felt a surge of dark qi, larger than any before, flood into his body. The values in his mind jumped wildly: [500→800→1200→1500...] finally stopping at 1876 points.

"A good harvest."

Lin Long walked into the warehouse, ignoring the terrified gazes, and had Shadow One pack all the cash into a bag. At a rough estimate, there were at least ten million yen, enough for him to spend freely for a while.

He left no trace, even having the Shadow Guards clean up any possible fingerprints or footprints. Before leaving, he looked at the leader of the Mad Dog Gang tied to a pillar and said in the few Japanese sentences he had just learned:

"I'll borrow this money. If you dare to extort anyone again, it won't be this simple."

The leader's eyes widened in terror, seemingly trying to remember his appearance, but Lin Long's figure soon disappeared outside the warehouse, leaving only three nightmare-like shadows standing silently in the dark until they confirmed the surroundings were safe and slowly dissipated.

...

The morning of the third day, Tokyo Grand Hotel.

On a soft, large bed, Lin Long slowly opened his eyes. Sunlight poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, warming his body—a world of difference from the capsule hotel of the previous two days.

He stretched, stood up, and walked to the window. Outside was the bustling Tokyo streetscape, with heavy traffic and crowds of people, a scene of peace. Who would have thought that just a few hours ago, in another corner of this city, a "rob the rich to help the poor" operation led by shadows had just taken place?

The past two days of "wandering" in Beika Town had allowed Lin Long to fully recognize the nature of this world. Calling it a "Little Gotham" wasn't an exaggeration at all—crime was as ubiquitous as the air, merely hidden beneath a polished surface. Robbery, theft, and fraud were commonplace, and even more serious murders happened almost every day. The police were overwhelmed, and wherever Conan went, sirens would follow.

But for Lin Long, this was the best "hunting ground."

He walked to the desk and opened a laptop—a new one bought with the "borrowed" money. On the screen was the information he had organized: Shadow Trooper Corps currently has 3 Shadow Guards available for summoning, 1876 malice black qi points, 12 million yen in cash, and no fixed residence or identification under his name.

"Next, it's time to solve the identity and base issues."

Lin Long tapped his fingers on the table, his eyes flashing. Without legal identification, many things were inconvenient; and while the hotel was comfortable, there were too many people and prying eyes, making it unsuitable as a long-term base, especially for storing "special items" that might be unlocked later.

He opened the system interface and looked at the 1876 malice black qi points, calculating in his mind: "Unlocking the next unit 'Shadow Sharpshooter' requires 5000 malice black qi and 100 Soul Points, still quite a bit off... however, I can first enhance the Shadow Guards' abilities."

[Shadow Guard Enhancement (Basic): Each enhancement consumes 100 malice black qi. Can increase Shadow Guard speed/strength/stealth. Current available enhancements: 18 times.]

"Enhance speed and stealth first." Lin Long decided immediately. In this world, speed and concealment were often more important than pure strength.

Following his command, 1800 malice black qi points were consumed, and feedback of increased energy fluctuations from the Shadow Guards reached his mind. Although the changes weren't visible to the naked eye, Lin Long could feel their movement speed was faster and their ability to blend into shadows was stronger, almost reaching complete optical invisibility.

"Excellent."

Lin Long nodded with satisfaction and got up to wash up.

At breakfast, he turned on the TV. The news was reporting that the Mad Dog Gang's base in East City had been broken into by unknown persons, all members were tied up, and cash was stolen. The police initially judged it as a gang conflict, but no clues were left at the scene, and the investigation had stalled.

Lin Long held his coffee cup, a trace of a smile on his lips. This was only the beginning.

He set down the cup, picked up his phone, and dialed a number—one he had the Shadow Guards find, belonging to a broker who specialized in handling identification and property transfers for "special people." Of course, the other party was also a fellow walking on the edge of the law, with malice black qi no less than those from the Mad Dog Gang.

"Hello, is this Mr. Tanaka?"

Lin Long said in slightly stiff Japanese, "I want to obtain a complete set of identification documents and buy a secluded house... Yes, cash transaction, price is not an issue."

A fawning voice came from the other end of the phone. Lin Long listened, his gaze gradually becoming deep.

With the Shadow Guards and startup capital, the next step was to truly take root and establish himself in this city of sin.