The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 50 - 51 The New Moon Hall Theft Case
Chapter 50: Chapter 51 The New Moon Hall Theft CaseKirie Tsukimiya left the Magic House feeling strange, unable to say whether she was satisfied with the current outcome.

On the one hand, the deal was done, she had become Jiang Shu’s g... friend, and at least now she didn’t have to worry and could finally stop having that ”Here’s Johnny” nightmare; but on the other hand, she felt both discontent and angry.

Thus, caught between reluctance and fear of resisting, Kirie found herself in a deep dilemma.

Suddenly, though, a path occurred to her.

She wanted to rise to the top, yes, that’s right, to rise to the top!

---

After a refreshing shower, Jiang Shu felt invigorated. While drying his hair with a towel, he opened Fripper.

He had a clear goal, to see how others were praising him.

Now, three hours after the performance, many people had uploaded videos of Jiang Shu’s magic. With the foundation laid last time, the speed with which it hit the trending searches had increased significantly.

Jiang Shu clicked on the highest viewed video and glanced at the title—”Magic×Immortal Technique√, Jiang Shu’s Magic Performance, Everyone Stand Up!”

”Ha, not a bad title,” he thought as he recognized the uploader’s name—”Little Deer’s Home.”

Oh, it was the sensationalist from last time.

Jiang Shu remembered that Little Deer’s Home was the one who had spoken up for him in a video, likely a journalist from a literary newspaper, if his memory served him right.

Which meant this person had come to watch this performance too.

He started watching the video at double speed, occasionally dragging the progress bar because he really didn’t want to see himself showing off his fancy card-cutting skills.

It was explosively cool to perform, yet cringingly embarrassing to watch.

However, truth be told, the combination of card-cutting with this magic act had incredible visual appeal.

After watching the video, Jiang Shu’s biggest takeaway was...

A sea of question marks.

The screen was full of question marks, question marks of every color, even special bullet comments forming question marks, making the video-watching experience with comments terrible, as nothing could be seen of his performance on stage.

He then blocked comments with the keyword ”?” which cleaned up the video quite a bit; the remaining comments mostly involved ”Immortal Technique.” About 70% were affirmations while the other 30% were skeptical, with simple doubts like ”just special effects,” ”obvious editing,” or ”all staged.”

Such comments were also within Jiang Shu’s expectations, and he didn’t have much of a reaction.

Leaving the video for the comment section, the first thing he saw was a top comment—”Is it so hard to acknowledge others’ greatness?”

Jiang Shu frowned, feeling as if he had heard this before, and sure enough, upon looking at the nickname, it was just as he thought.

Nickname: Beta

The second top comment read: This might be difficult for you amateurs, but as someone experienced, I can responsibly tell you, it’s not about being difficult; this is immortal technique.

Nickname: You Look Familiar, Alpha.

The third top comment: Front row tickets for sale (I never inflate my word count lightly)...

Nickname: Pay Up, Ding

Jiang Shu looked at Beta, Gamma, and Ding beside him with a peculiar gaze, so you guys have monopolized the hot comments?

Thankfully, the comments below were much more normal. Many spectators gave firsthand accounts, asserting that Jiang Shu’s magic was definitely not special effects, nor was there use of stooges or editing.

Of course, the comment section under such videos was always murky, so Jiang Shu lost interest after a few glances.

Fortunately, he didn’t see any videos related to magic secrets revealed because the lovely people of Lonely City were still questioning the authenticity of the magic.

”Ding—” The notification sound for an incoming message rang in his earphones. Jiang Shu exited the app and looked at the message, and of course, it was from Wolf.

Wolf, too, had received a complimentary ticket from him for this magic show, but once again, Wolf didn’t come.

When Jiang Shu had realized this, he guessed that Wolf might have encountered another emergency.

Wolf: I was actually planning to go today, but suddenly a new case came up at the station, and I had to go out to the field, busy all day. But to give credit where credit is due, your magic act really is something. I’m starting to regret not attending in person.

Jiang Shu: No worries, there will always be other chances.

Wolf: The main thing is I went to the scene and found nothing, essentially a wasted trip. I suspect it might be the work of the Deception Group.

Jiang Shu: What makes you say that?

Wolf: There aren’t many cases that give me a hard time, and it’s only when dealing with the Deception Group that I’m utterly clueless.

Jiang Shu: Oh, not a Deception case then, no worries, keep it up.

Wolf: ...

Jiang Shu: ...

Wolf: ...

Jiang Shu: How about this, let me have a look? I can’t promise I’ll see anything.

Wolf: Alright, I was hoping you’d say that.

Jiang Shu: Send me the case files.

Wolf: Done!

”This guy...” Jiang Shu thought back to when he first met Wolf, who was decisive and abhorred evil, ”When did he start behaving like a lackey?”

In no time, he received the electronic case file from Wolf; the first page bore six large characters—”New Moon Hall Theft Case.”

Clicking through, Jiang Shu began to learn about the case.

New Moon Hall, built twenty years ago, was a classical music hall that hosted only two performances a month. Additionally, it operated a membership system, allowing only those truly passionate about classical music to join.

Furthermore, New Moon Hall also served as a collection point, storing numerous classical instruments and items once used by classical musicians, such as scores, music theory books, and jewelry.

This time, a music box collected in New Moon Hall had been stolen.

The artistic value of this music box was extremely high, so it was monitored by a dedicated camera in the exhibit hall, which was not connected to the internet. The footage was stored in an old-fashioned memory card within the camera body.

Hence, there was no possibility of a hacker hacking into the camera.

According to the surveillance video, the music box had not been touched inside the glass case, but when the hall closed for the day, the curator found that the music box had been replaced with a fake.

Jiang Shu’s first thought was the Huang Kong bank robbery; similarly, the music box could have gone missing a long time ago. However, the curator claimed that he had checked the night before as he was especially fond of the music box and had taken a good look at it.

New Moon Hall was the private hall of the curator, and the music box was his personal possession, so the possibility of an inside job was out of the question.

That meant the theft occurred sometime between the closing last night and today’s closing, within that twenty-four-hour span.

Last night, everything was normal with the hall’s security; today, only a group of kindergarten children had visited the hall, and all outsiders had been through security checks, largely ruling them out as suspects.

No abnormalities were detected, yet the theft occurred amidst this tranquility.