One minute ago.

Conan felt refreshed after finishing a song.

In the past, he would always be robbed of the microphone after singing only a few lines in such settings.

However, today, perhaps because he was a child, others did not suppress his enthusiasm.

Therefore, it was only after he finished singing that Conan belatedly realized the atmosphere in the KTV room was not quite right.

—The lights in everyone else's eyes had completely faded, and they were all sitting like stone statues. No one applauded him after he finished singing.

“…” Conan was silent for a moment, then somewhat guiltily put down the microphone and slipped back to his seat, waiting for the others to awaken from their petrification.

…

The KTV room was very dark.

Conan only remembered that his seat was occupied by Suzuki Sonoko when he walked to the sofa.

However, at this moment, as he approached, Conan discovered another anomaly—there was actually a living being in the room.

—Although Jiang Xia didn't applaud, he wasn't frozen like a statue. Instead, he was sitting calmly on the sofa, idly shelling sunflower seeds.

Conan immediately felt a bit awkward and asked, just to make conversation, “Was it good?”

Jiang Xia didn't react at all, not even looking at him.

“…?”

Conan gradually felt that something was wrong, so he tried to pat him, reminding Jiang Xia to snap out of it.

As soon as he reached out, Jiang Xia grabbed his hand with a strong reaction and swung him onto the sofa.

…

Conan was stunned for a moment. When he came to his senses, he was immediately terrified—no matter how he looked at it, this seemed like Jiang Xia's preparatory move for hitting someone!

His mind buzzed, and he was about to shout, “Ran, help!”

However, before that.

Jiang Xia held up an ashtray and examined it for a moment. He seemed to recognize him, released the hand that was holding him down, and casually put the ceramic cylinder down.

Conan: “…” He felt as if he had just walked past the gates of hell…

He let out a sigh of relief and climbed up from the sofa.

At the same time, he thought to himself: Jiang Xia seems a bit off—it's as if he can't hear anything. And just now, when he spoke to Jiang Xia, his voice was clearly loud and wouldn't have been drowned out by the music.

Comparing this to the current state of the others, and Jiang Xia's calm reaction…

Conan suddenly remembered something, and his face turned pale.

Could Jiang Xia have been…

Deafened by his singing??

…

Conan: “…”

Thinking about it carefully, this, this actually had a scientific principle: for example, his singing broke through the lower limit of human tolerance, thus activating some self-protection mechanism in Jiang Xia…

Conan gradually began to feel uneasy.

However, he also thought with a glimmer of hope: Jiang Xia didn't hear him speak just now, it might simply be that he was distracted.

To confirm, Conan raised his voice and asked again, just to make conversation, “Um, how was my singing just now?”

…

Ten-plus seconds ago.

After Jiang Xia noticed Conan stopped singing, he recalled the Ghost Fetus into the Tattoo and simultaneously retracted his hearing.

But the KTV room was particularly noisy, with loud music.

Having just switched from a quiet street, Jiang Xia hadn't quite adjusted yet and only vaguely heard the latter half of Conan's sentence, “How was xxx?”

“…” Jiang Xia also realized that his reaction just now was not quite right.

Considering Conan's observational skills, Jiang Xia thought Conan was probably asking him “How is your hearing?”

So he calmly nodded, indicating that he would not be defeated by mere singing: “It's fine.”

Conan: “…”

It's over.

He didn't deafen him,

…But he seemed to have made him stupid.

Conan's conscience trembled.

He touched his bank card and suggested with a pang of heartache: “…Why don't you go to the Hospital first?”

Jiang Xia: “?”

…

While the two were talking at cross-purposes.

Because Conan stopped singing, the others also gradually unfroze.

“Hospital?” The first to regain activity was Kimura Tatsuya.

He was clearly drunk and chuckled drunkenly: “If you're going, remember to take Yamada with you.”

He pointed to the large member next to him: “Take him to get his IQ tested—he's so tall but acts like a child, can't do anything without me, useless!”

Saying that, Kimura Tatsuya ordered a children's song and mockingly told the large man: “Go sing it, the most suitable song for you!”

The atmosphere in the room immediately stiffened, and everyone except Kimura Tatsuya felt a bit awkward.

…But there was one ghost who felt no awkwardness at all at this moment, but rather was quite happy.

Xiaobai peeked out from behind Jiang Xia, looked at Kimura Tatsuya, then at Mari Terahara, eager to move.

Jiang Xia looked down at it: Is the matchmaker's urge buried in its bones about to erupt…

Speaking of which, he clearly hadn't spoiled anything for Xiaobai, yet Xiaobai could tell that Kimura Tatsuya and Mari Terahara had an unusual relationship… Does it also have a built-in function for detecting secret crushes?

That's not bad, it could be used as a CP detector.

If he encounters a difficult person in the future, he can find that person's secret crush and abduct them as a hostage…

Xiaobai suddenly felt a chill down its spine, a ominous premonition that its pink world was being targeted by dark forces. It sat up vigilantly, looking left and right.

Jiang Xia's face was full of righteousness, and he casually patted it. When Xiaobai looked at him, he gave it an encouraging look.

—Judging by the current situation, to get the high-grade killing intent from Mari Terahara, having Xiaobai use a “forced confession” skill might be the most convenient method.

…

After mocking the big guy, Kimura Tatsuya went on to mock all his acquaintances.

Kimura Tatsuya was about to leave the band, so he wanted to use this method to point out the members' shortcomings and make them self-reliant.

Of course, as usual, Mari Terahara was his main target for mockery.

After mocking everyone, it was almost time for the party to end. Kimura Tatsuya had other work.

He was about to leave, but then, the prelude to a song suddenly played from the speakers—

Blood Red Venus.

This was Kimura Tatsuya's song, which he had sung many times at concerts.

Drunk Kimura Tatsuya immediately got excited and wanted to finish singing before leaving.

He strode to the small stage in the room, dramatically threw off his jacket, and began to sing and dance passionately.

…

A few meters away, Mari Terahara stood at the door, watching this scene with complex emotions.

She wanted to poison Kimura Tatsuya.

And that fatal cyanide, she had applied to the elbows of Kimura Tatsuya's clothes. Now, after Kimura Tatsuya finished a set of movements, the cyanide had already gotten on his dominant hand—later, when Kimura Tatsuya ate something, he would naturally ingest the poison and “commit suicide” by taking poison.

This song,

Blood Red Venus,

would be Kimura Tatsuya's last.

Mari Terahara watched reluctantly for a while.

During the instrumental break, she excused herself to make a phone call and turned to walk outside.

On the one hand, she needed to reduce her suspicion of poisoning. On the other hand, she was also worried that if she stayed in the room, she would be unable to stop the plan.

Kimura Tatsuya immediately noticed her movement.

It was just the instrumental break of the song, so he didn't need to sing.

He looked at Mari Terahara's back, a little angry, and opened his mouth, wanting to blurt out, “Ugly freaks really don't deserve to listen to my songs!”

However, when his upper and lower lips met, what came out was a deeply affectionate: “Mari! I love you!!!”

Jiang Xia: “…”

He glanced at Xiaobai, who was excitedly clapping next to him.

…He shouldn't always show it brainless romance dramas. In the future, he should watch more other things to expand its vocabulary for confessions. This phrase “I love you” is really a bit cliché.

However, facts proved that this cliché approach was actually quite effective.

Mari Terahara's eyes widened in shock when she heard those words, and she froze in place.

Everyone else in the room was also stunned.

Including Kimura Tatsuya.

“…”

Kimura Tatsuya's face immediately turned crimson. He never expected that he would actually speak his true feelings: …It must be because he drank too much! Drunkenness really ruins things!

Kimura Tatsuya panicked for a few seconds, then barely managed to compose himself. He wanted to add a harsh sarcastic remark to regain control of the situation.

But today, his mouth didn't seem to obey him.

He clearly wanted to say “ugly freak,” but when he opened his mouth, it was a more detailed confession:

“I've liked you for many years! I invited you to be my manager back then because I wanted to see you all the time. I like you no matter what you're like!”

Kimura Tatsuya's face turned red and then pale as he heard his own words, filled with shame and indignation.

However, his mouth continued: “But I didn't expect that you would go for plastic surgery because of my invitation. I don't like you changing and sacrificing for me. Every time I see your current face, I regret not telling you directly back then. If I had confessed to you earlier, you wouldn't have had to give up your original appearance because of me. All these years, I wasn't actually angry with you because I saw you, I was angry with myself…”

At this point, Kimura Tatsuya suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He raised his hand and clamped his mouth shut.

…This way, he couldn't speak! Hahahaha!

Mari Terahara, who had been silently weeping: “!!!”

…cyanide!

He still had cyanide on his hand!!