Chapter 38: My Dear, Wake Up and Take Your Medicine

The man with the red headband then looked at the woman in the cheongsam and said, "As for you, weren't you suspended by Interpol? Why are you still getting involved in this kind of business?"

The woman in the cheongsam sighed helplessly. "Don't even mention it. My disciple is currently going through a rebellious phase, ran away from home, and came all the way here. The Metropolitan Police Department knew I had crossed paths with the Shadaloo organization, and as soon as they found out I was here, they notified me immediately."

[...]

Listening to their conversation, Lin Bei was somewhat baffled.

Although he had already guessed their backgrounds from their attire, based on what they were discussing, Lin Bei could be virtually certain that he was right in the middle of the storyline of Street Fighter 6.

First Conan, and now Street Fighter.

Street Fighter and The King of Fighters frequently featured guest appearances in each other's universes, and these two franchises alone already encompassed the vast majority of fighting game characters.

On top of that, the Tekken and Mortal Kombat series had also had crossovers with Street Fighter.

Having already encountered Chun-Li and Ryu, it would probably seem quite reasonable if Fire God Liu Kang and Jin Kazama were to suddenly appear before Lin Bei one day.

At the thought of Jin Kazama, the expression on Lin Bei's face suddenly froze.

For he remembered a certain detail he had previously overlooked: the older sister who lived in the house right behind his, the one passionately devoted to growing flowers and keeping small animals, seemed to share the surname Kazama. It was also she who had given Lin Bei a profound appreciation for the beauty of nature.

It surely couldn't be such a coincidence, could it?!

A single drop of cold sweat trickled down Lin Bei's forehead.

Some things simply didn't bear close scrutiny. Only now did he realize that in his daily life, he had apparently overlooked a great many things.

Seeing that Ryu and Chun-Li were walking in his direction, Lin Bei cast aside all hesitation and hastily dragged Takumi Fujiwara and Itsuki Takeuchi away with him.

He had zero desire to get entangled with the protagonist crew, especially that death god of a grade-schooler who brought fatalities wherever he went and whose head made a distinct cracking sound whenever he nodded off.

Yet Lin Bei's near-flight response still caught the attention of Ryu, Chun-Li, and the death god schoolboy.

Not to mention Ryu and Chun-Li—having lived through a series of harrowing events, both had long since become master-class martial artists capable of founding their own schools.

Ryu, in particular, having integrated the Murderous Intent with the Void Power, could hardly be contested as the strongest under heaven.

As for why the death god schoolboy noticed Lin Bei, it wasn't due to any keen observational skills on his part, but rather because he had noticed Ran glancing at Lin Bei several times just moments before.

This champion of jealousy instantly switched his alertness to maximum, and only relaxed slightly once Lin Bei had bolted.

---

Running nearly a full street away and confirming that no one was pursuing them from behind, Lin Bei finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Being in top physical condition, he hadn't broken a single drop of sweat despite running so far, but Takumi Fujiwara and Itsuki Takeuchi were in a completely different state.

Itsuki Takeuchi was a textbook example of a worthless shut-in, and Takumi Fujiwara wasn't doing much better—otherwise, he wouldn't have completely retired from the street racing scene after a single car crash.

Panting heavily, Takumi asked, "Lin-san, why did you run off in such a rush?"

Lin Bei glanced at Takumi and Itsuki, and figuring he had a pretty decent relationship with the two of them, he offered a warning: "Listen up, you two. If you ever run into those people from earlier again, run as far away as you can."

Itsuki asked perplexedly, "Why?" K

Lin Bei said with a deadpan expression, "Because those people are jinxes incarnate. As long as you get close to them, bad luck is bound to follow!"

Upon hearing this, Itsuki let out a few hearty laughs, but seeing Lin Bei's dead-serious expression and complete lack of joking intent, his laughter gradually faded.

He swallowed hard and stammered, "Lin-san, are you serious?"

Lin Bei rolled his eyes. "Do I look like I'm joking with you guys? If you don't believe me, go back and check the newspapers, look up the news related to Kogoro Mouri, and you'll find they always stumble upon murder cases. They basically bring death wherever they go. Itsuki, surely you don't want to get mixed up in a murder investigation, do you?"

*Gulp.*

Itsuki shook his head vigorously. Any normal person would want nothing to do with a murder case.

Takumi had remained silent throughout. He had an exceptional memory, and once Lin Bei brought up Conan and the others, he recalled the news articles he had seen in the paper a while back. That man named Kogoro Mouri did indeed seem to constantly run into murder cases, even earning the moniker of "The Police Savior."

Now that he thought about it, that group really did act like a plague of bad luck.

Muttering amongst themselves about the death god schoolboy and his entourage of human tools, the three of them continued walking forward.

Before long, Takumi suddenly stopped in his tracks and grabbed both Lin Bei and Itsuki by the arm.

"Lin-san, look ahead!"

Lin Bei was in the middle of an engaging chat with Itsuki, but upon hearing Takumi's words, he instinctively looked forward.

And there, standing directly in their path, was Ryu.

Lin Bei frowned and instinctively scanned his surroundings. Sure enough, Chun-Li was standing behind them. The two of them had formed a pincer movement, blocking their escape route.

Observing their expressionless faces, Lin Bei knew instantly that today's matter wouldn't be resolved easily.

He personally didn't mind; worst case scenario, once he gathered the power of multiple worlds, even if he couldn't defeat these two master-level martial artists, escaping would certainly pose no problem.

However, Takumi Fujiwara and Itsuki Takeuchi were ordinary people—the kind who had never even been in a fistfight.

Throwing them into a clash with Ryu and Chun-Li would be no different from feeding sheep to wolves.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Bei cupped his fists toward Ryu and Chun-Li and said, "Excuse me, would you mind letting these two friends of mine leave first? They're just ordinary high school students."

Seeing Lin Bei's textbook-standard martial arts salute, a spark of interest flashed in Chun-Li's eyes.

She had merely noticed Lin Bei's eccentric behavior and brought Ryu along to see if she could glean any clues from him.

She hadn't expected him to deliver such a pleasant surprise.

Chun-Li hailed from China, and the martial arts she practiced traced their lineage back to Hung Gar, Wing Chun, and Tam Tui, even though she had long since synthesized these three styles into her own unique path.

Yet her opening stance whenever engaging opponents remained the standard posture of Wing Chun, and the heavy iron rings on her wrists were specialized training tools from Hung Gar's Iron Wire Fist used to build explosive force.

Recognizing that Takumi and Itsuki were indeed ordinary civilians just as Lin Bei had claimed, Chun-Li gave a wave of her hand, signaling that they were free to go.

Lin Bei exhaled a breath of relief and told Takumi and Itsuki, "You two head on first. I'll give you a call after I get back."

Takumi furrowed his brow deeply and asked with concern, "What about you?"

Lin Bei flashed a grin. "Don't worry, they aren't bad people. They probably just want to ask me a few questions."

That only made Takumi's frown deepen even further. If they weren't bad people, why make them leave first?

Even so, he ultimately chose not to argue with Lin Bei, knowing that staying behind with Itsuki would only create more trouble for him.

"Be careful then!"

With that, Takumi leaned in close to Lin Bei's ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I'm going to call the police right now. Don't do anything rash."

A warm feeling welled up in Lin Bei's chest. He patted Takumi's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, everything will be fine!"