Chapter 349

Shuichi Akai couldn't help but ask, "Is this based on known information or intuition?"

"Of course, it's known intelligence."

At this moment, Shuichi Akai's suspicion level almost surpassed the peak he had when he met Saiki Usuba at the Kudo residence—the conversation had gone this far, so it seemed that Potts had already recognized him and even found out that he and Jodie were boyfriend and girlfriend, and had been playing him all day, right?

Then he heard Bo Yezaki say, "Judging from your quiet and taciturn manner, I can tell at a glance that you must keep things to yourself and refuse to talk to others, right? If you're like this in a relationship, it's no wonder your girlfriend is angry."

Akai Shuichi: "…………"

This is the known information!

Although he felt that his communication with Judy had gone fairly smoothly, he couldn't really refute her if she kept things to herself, so he could only remain silent.

I just thought Potts knew everything, but now I realize it was a misunderstanding... No, it might not be a misunderstanding, maybe it's just Potts's twisted sense of humor...

While Shuichi Akai was suffering, the police finally arrived and, with the help of Conan Edogawa and Wataru Date, solved the case.

The case is not complicated. Simply put, someone in the restaurant kitchen owed the deceased money. Knowing that his wife was unhappy with his infidelity and mistress, and felt that her husband was just spending money on his illegitimate child and mistress, they conspired to commit this crime.

When ordering food, the woman would make some special requests, which were actually code words. The person in the kitchen would then know which order it was and could easily tamper with it.

The poison was hidden in the ice, which could easily trigger heart disease. The person in the kitchen would find an opportunity to put it in. As long as the woman drank more at the beginning to clear the drink and herself of suspicion, she would be out of trouble and could just wait to receive the inheritance.

In cases where the deceased had a heart condition and was not insured, Japanese police are not usually too concerned about a scene that appears to be a heart attack. After all, investigating such cases is quite troublesome, and closing the case as a death from a heart attack is better for all parties involved.

The case here is closed, and Usui Saiki has finally finished toying with Akai Shuichi and is now in the mood to toy with others: "You really feel safe drinking that beverage? Aren't you afraid it will poison you?"

The woman remained silent.

She was worried, of course, but the other party swore it was safe. They even demonstrated it to her by using colored fruit juice as poison, pouring it into ice cubes and freezing it. It seemed that as long as you drank it early, it would be safe. The ice cubes melted very slowly in the chilled drink.

Moreover, she really couldn't stand her current life anymore. Her husband was never home and openly lived at his mistress's house, but she had to save face and couldn't expose him. She had to keep saying that her husband treated her very well, otherwise she would be ridiculed by the other wives in the neighborhood...

Especially recently, her mistress gave birth to a child, which completely made her lose all hope in her husband, turning her love into hatred, and now she only wants her husband to die.

Usoppei said, "You're really lucky. If it were me, I would conspire with the debtor to kill you, saying that killing you would relieve the debt. After you die, once it's exposed, we can say that we wanted to kill him but made a mistake, thus solving two problems at once..."

Everyone: "…………"

Conan Edogawa: "...Usui-nii, you..."

The thinking is too dark, but this kind of development is indeed quite common...

But why does Brother Bo Ye's habit of scratching prisoners look so familiar?

Oh, by the way, Mr. Hanchuan also likes to toy with prisoners. Is this a common trait of geniuses? Why doesn't he have this problem?

Anyway, the case is indeed solved, but I can't have dinner.

After finally finishing his handover with his colleagues who had come to investigate the case, Ida Wataru turned around and saw Usaba Saiki chatting and laughing with his girlfriend.

Date Kou: "...Ahem, Mr. Usoppei, Natalie, what are you talking about?"

Natalie laughed and said, "He said you prepared a gift for me, and now he must be having trouble deciding how to give it to me... Is that true?"

Date Wataru: "...!!! Yes... I prepared a gift."

And the fact that Mr. Bo Ye said it aloud made him even more distressed!

Date Wataru gave Usaku Saiki a slightly resentful look, but Usaku Saiki proudly replied, "You're welcome. My nickname is 'Friend of Women'."

"...I see." Date Wataru was speechless. A friend of women, so she doesn't care about men's lives, huh?!

Shuichi Akai watched this scene from the side, and the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch. During the "fortune telling," he complained about his attitude towards his "future girlfriend," and he clearly favored women over men in the organization. If Potts hadn't failed to save Akemi, he would have almost believed this nonsense.

Could this be a persona that Potts has created for himself, portraying himself as an ordinary person?

Shuichi Akai thought that given Potts's peculiar thought process, it was quite possible.

After comforting Natalie, Usoppei turned around and saw that Conan Edogawa and Shuichi Akai were still there: "Aren't you guys leaving? I think we should skip this get-together. We might run into a case while we're out together."

Conan Edogawa: "…………"

Shuichi Akai was quite happy to oblige; he needed a space away from Potts to rest: "Alright, maybe next time."

Bo Yezaki waved his hand and left without looking back.

Conan Edogawa followed Shuichi Akai to the other side, staring at him and suddenly asking, "Did Usopp-nii make things difficult for you?"

“A little,” Shuichi Akai admitted.

He was deciding in his mind whether or not to tell Conan Edogawa that Usaku Saiki was Potness.

Conan Edogawa spoke first: "Sorry, Usopp-san... your personality is a bit nasty, but there's a reason for that. He told me to be careful of you, that you seem a bit strange."

Akai Shuichi: "..."

How can this be a case of the guilty party accusing the innocent first?!

"But when I asked him what was wrong with you, he just said something like, 'You're not angry at all...' So you weren't angry at all just now?"

Shuichi Akai: "...Hmm."

Having grown accustomed to tolerating Potts, it has now become a blunder!

The fact that he would mention Conan Edogawa indicates that Potts has a strong liking for Conan Edogawa, which might be something that can be taken advantage of.

With that in mind, Shuichi Akai immediately decided that he should keep the fact that Potts = Saiki Usaku a secret from Conan Edogawa!

Does he still remember that Potts once complained that Conan Edogawa's acting was terrible?

If he were to reveal Conan Edogawa's true identity to Potts, Potts would definitely discover it, and many things would become inconvenient.

As for now, let's keep it a secret for now. Maybe we can pass on the wrong information to Potts through Conan Edogawa, or it might be useful in the future.

So Shuichi Akai comforted Conan Edogawa, saying, "It's alright. I've seen plenty of people with strange tempers."

After hearing what Shuichi Akai said, Conan Edogawa stopped taking it seriously.

He didn't even ask, "Mr. Akai, did you meet Usui when you were undercover?" because Usui Saiki's evaluation of Akai Shuichi and Akai Shuichi's reaction made him think that the two of them had never met.

If Usopp really is a member of the organization, how can Mr. Akai sit still now? He should at least give him a heads-up, right? This is someone he knows!

However, the FBI remained calm and trusted their own judgment. They believed there was no need to discuss it now, since Potts's stance might not necessarily be entirely on the organization's side. They needed to observe Potts's usual behavior from the perspective of an ordinary person.

On his way back, Usoppei checked the missed calls and called Bourbon back.

Bourbon said resentfully, "So you finally remembered me?"

"I'll hang up if there's nothing else..."

"Wait!" Bourbon quickly stopped him. "I heard you suggested to Gin that Kir kill Shuichi Akai..."

Bo Yezhaiji was speechless: "This happened so long ago, and you're only finding out now?"

“No, I wanted to ask,” Bourbon frowned, “is Shuichi Akai really dead?”

Usoppei turned into a small alley: "You actually suspect this? Gin personally watched over it, and he didn't suspect anything. What do you suspect? Don't tell me you suspect Kir is an undercover agent?"

Bourbon scoffed, "How could that be?"

He wasn't very familiar with Gil, and he couldn't tell whether she was an undercover agent or not. But when Scotland went to clean for Usui Saiki before, the message he brought back was that Usui Saiki said, "She will definitely come back. The organization trusts her a lot... Even Gin, if he tests her, won't doubt Gil too much." So Bourbon had already concluded that Gil was deeply trusted by the organization, and that she had a reason for the organization to trust her so much.

Usakabe Saiki then asked, "So you suspect that Gin, who is in charge of supervising the construction, is an undercover agent?"

"...That's even more impossible."

"Then why would you have doubts about whether Shuichi Akai is dead or not?"

Bourbon: "...I just think it's a bit strange that such a troublesome FBI agent died so easily."

To be precise, he couldn't help but suspect that there was something wrong with anything that Usakabe Saiki had intervened in or proposed.

In particular, the exposure of Shuichi Akai back then was almost entirely due to Saiki Usuba's underhanded tactics. If Saiki Usuba really didn't want Shuichi Akai to escape, Bourbon believed that Saiki Usuba had the ability to keep Shuichi Akai in the country.

But Usakabe Saiki let them go, even though it was the FBI from the United States whom he had never liked.

At the time, Scotland thought that Usui Saiki was probably just showing favoritism because Akai Shuichi was, after all, an undercover agent.

But just a few years later, Usui Saiki brought back Akai Shuichi, whom he had let go, and killed him!

It's hard for those in the know to believe there's nothing wrong with this.

But the person killed by Kir, whom the organization trusted, was supervised by Gin, and Scotland was also present. Even the video footage from that time was sent to the Boss... If Shuichi Akai is still alive, there are too many problematic aspects.

Bourbon is quite conflicted.

He made this call partly to get an answer for himself, and partly to tell Scotland to stop worrying about Usaku Saiki's stance. That kid wouldn't show any mercy just because he was an undercover agent; he only cared about his mood!

Usoppei glanced at the nearby names displayed on the [Universal Navigation] app and replied casually, "Akai Shuichi is indeed dead. Don't ask anymore. I'll hang up now if there's nothing else."

After saying that, he hung up the phone decisively.

The next second, something pressed against the lower back of Usaku Saiki, followed by the sound of a gun being released.

A familiar voice sounded from behind him.

"Don't move. You must be Potness."