Chapter 555

After using the system, Usoppō Saiki used his hacking skills to begin deleting his traces of use.

This is where his cleverness in using the gun prop earlier became apparent—he had exchanged hacking skills for Han Chuan Shenliu, which Han Chuan Shenliu inherited, saving him the points he would have had to temporarily exchange with the system!

You see, when he first bought skills for his alternate character, he was able to buy so many thanks to the newbie discount in the newbie gift pack. It wouldn't be worthwhile to buy them for his main character now, and it would hurt to buy one-time skills. Of course, it would be better to just copy them directly.

After finishing, Bo Yezaki returned the computer to Binga and planned to go to sleep.

Vermouth came over to check on Usaku Saiki and, seeing that he was still in the mood to play on the computer, was relieved and turned to leave the submarine.

She had to disguise herself as Sherry and travel around the world to prove to Gin that the cross-age recognition system had a bug, that the little girl wasn't Sherry, and to avoid bigger problems later.

Very busy!

Binga, seeing that Vermouth was about to leave, quickly took the opportunity to slip away as well. He didn't want to stay in the submarine with Potts for too long, as he felt a lot of pressure.

Go home and work overtime! It's not like we don't have computers!

He wouldn't have wanted to come if he hadn't been asked to provide backup this time!

Not long after Binga left the submarine, cursing and swearing, he received a call from Bourbon.

After Rum's death, his power was divided up, and Bourbon was one of the people who took over. Binga was not very convinced, feeling that Bourbon's seniority was only seven years, which was not very old, and his strength was just so-so. Why did he become his superior?

However, since there were others sharing the spoils with Bourbon, Binga's envy, jealousy, and hatred were more dispersed, and he didn't hate Bourbon as much as he hated Gin... After all, he was already his superior, so of course he had to perform well first, and he couldn't just act recklessly and defy his superior.

So when Binga received a call from Bourbon, he obediently answered the phone: "Bourbon."

Bourbon received a message from Morofushi Hiromitsu, asking him to find out what was going on with Usui and Sherry, who had managed to scare Shinichi Kudo, who could even fool Gin, so badly.

He tried calling Bo Yezaki but couldn't get through, so he called this subordinate instead: "Binga, how's the mission going?"

Binga reported truthfully: "Everything went smoothly. We've already brought the little girl who corresponds to Sherry in the system back to the submarine."

"Hmm." Bourbon asked again, "I heard Potts joined the mission? Is he alright?"

Binga couldn't hold back any longer: "Can I apply to not go on missions with Potts anymore? He got impatient waiting for me, so he shot himself, and then he said he watched 'Akagi' and wanted to try out a certain plot so he drove off a cliff... I was so scared he'd watched some movie about a submarine sinking! I ran out as fast as I could!"

Bourbon was stunned: "You mean, he shot himself?"

“Yes! I heard from Vodka that Potts used to wander around the base with a gun, asking people to shoot him and stuff. He was very mentally unstable…”

Bourbon immediately recalled that when Morofushi Kagemitsu faked his death, Usaba Saiki had forced a gun into his hand and kept saying provocative things to make him think that Usaba Saiki had betrayed Morofushi Kagemitsu and caused the death of his childhood friend, seemingly trying to make him shoot...

At the time, he thought it was just Usakabe Saiki's bad taste, trying to scare him or something, but now it seems he was being too hasty.

Could it be that Potts forced Sherry to shoot herself again? Or did she really shoot herself?

But what is he after?!

Given Potts's status, could he possibly refuse something only if he were seriously injured?

Thinking about it this way, it seems that Usakabe Saiki has mental problems, and maybe he's not faking it...

Bourbon was horrified upon closer examination.

He checked again to see if the little girl was alright and how badly Potts was injured.

Binga: "The little girl wasn't injured; she's been unconscious the whole time. But I don't know how badly Potts was injured. It felt like he was bleeding a lot; blood was still dripping down inside the submarine. But he was still jumping around, and after his wounds were bandaged, he wanted to play on the computer..."

Bourbon narrowed his eyes slightly.

Although Usui Saiki may have some mental issues, he, like Vermouth, still has great faith in Usui Saiki's intelligence.

Especially at such a sensitive time, he believed that Bo Yezaki was definitely not doing something meaningless, but rather had some purpose.

Considering that the system can be used to find people... could it be...?

Bourbon's heart was pounding uncontrollably. He quickly tried to convince himself not to get his hopes up. Even if he wanted to find the Boss, he needed to at least get his hands on the photo first...

But didn't Bo Yezaki visit the elders on behalf of the Boss? Maybe during their conversation, he could glean some information... about the Boss's identity... or see some group photos...

Bourbon quickly suppressed his excitement, silently reminding himself that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. There was no such thing as a free lunch. The elders were all very tight-lipped; how could Usakabe Saiki possibly gain their trust by just meeting them once?

...Maybe Usoppō Saiki was just having fun; after all, he went crazy and his mind might not have recovered yet.

After getting all the information out of him, Bourbon realized that Binga was no longer of any value, so he hung up the phone and called Morofushi Hiromitsu instead.

Morofushi Hiromitsu was speechless after hearing this: "I understand, I'll tell the little detective... But what about Sherry's kidnapping now?"

Bourbon said, "Tell him not to call the police. The Japanese Public Security Bureau has taken over this case. I'll report to my superior."

Coincidentally, his superior, Kuroda Hyōe, was in charge of matters related to Pacific buoys this time. If all went well, he might be able to catch Binga while he was at it.

Although he was the superior, Binga was more senior and not particularly cooperative. In addition, Bourbon was not directly involved in this mission, and Binga refused to tell him his identity in the Pacific buoy. His position was unstable, and he couldn't be too forceful to ask him directly... Sigh, I hope my colleagues will be more reliable this time.

That night, of all those who knew about the events that night, only Usakata Saiki slept well; everyone else did not.

Especially the organization members on the submarine, some of whom didn't sleep all night.

Vodka specifically instructed the logistics personnel not to let Potts touch the buttons and levers, fearing that he might end up sleeping in the deep sea. However, he was also worried that those of lower rank wouldn't be able to stop Potts, so he simply stood guard there himself, keeping his eyes open and not daring to sleep.

Ai Haibara was locked in a room with the kidnapped programmer and managed to sleep until morning. When she woke up, the programmer asked her with concern.

Are you alright?

Ai Haibara looked around in alarm, and after the programmer explained what was going on, she understood.

The programmer hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

She actually wanted to ask the little girl who looked so much like Shiho Miyano about the blood on her body... but she was afraid of touching on a sore spot, like how the organization members had killed her family in front of her during the kidnapping...

But seeing Ai Haibara's dazed look, she decided to keep quiet.

Ai Haibara couldn't help but feel dazed, because now that she had come to her senses, she remembered the last thing she saw before she lost consciousness: Usui Saiki bleeding profusely.

She was worried about whether Bo Yezaki was still alive, and she felt that if she asked the organization members this question, it might cause trouble for Bo Yezaki. Then, as she thought about it, she remembered that she was in a precarious situation herself, which made her even more distressed.

To distract herself, she chatted with another kidnapped person.

It turns out that the person who was kidnapped before her was the inventor of the cross-age system, and also her elementary school classmate. Because he wanted to know the current situation of "Shiho Miyano", he used a photo of her when she was a child when testing the system, and as a result, he also found the current "Ai Haibara".

The elementary school classmate found it strange, so he took a screenshot and saved it to a USB drive.

It's likely that Vodka saw that screenshot while checking the USB drive and reported it to Gin, which is why she was captured. Otherwise, the organization's first reaction after obtaining the system wouldn't have been to look for her first...

However, her elementary school classmate did not invent this system to trick her, and they had already been targeted by the organization. They were like sisters in misfortune, so Ai Haibara was not angry, but just felt a sense of sympathy for each other.

As Ai Haibara chatted, she adjusted her posture and suddenly felt something hard. She touched it and found it was her detective badge.

"…………"

Although she still didn't understand what was going on with Usopp, considering that Usopp had actually returned the detective badge to her and hadn't informed the organization, Ai Haibara decided to trust him.

Even if I were kidnapped, Professor Agasa and the others would definitely be worried... I hope they can come up with a better reason to keep it from the others.

Conan Edogawa also thought of this problem, and his solution was to say that Ai Haibara was sick...

The others were surprised and wanted to visit, but they said that Professor Agasa had taken Ai Haibara to visit a doctor they knew nearby, so it was inconvenient for others to go. That's how the matter was settled.

Conan Edogawa wiped his sweat and began to think about what reason he could use to stay.

At this moment, Shuichi Akai, disguised as Subaru Okiya, came to the rescue.

He pretended to be there for fun and happened to run into Conan Edogawa and his group. Conan Edogawa then quickly said that he wanted to play with Mr. Okiya.

They weren't strangers anymore, and besides, Subaru Okiya was a guest staying at the Kudo residence. Ran Mouri felt that someone Shinichi Kudo trusted was definitely safe, and she could entrust Conan Edogawa to Subaru Okiya with peace of mind.

Professor Agasa entrusted the children to Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki, saying that he would take Ai Haibara back with him later.

And so, Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri took the children back to Beika Town, leaving behind only Professor Agasa, Conan Edogawa, Shuichi Akai, and Hiromitsu Morofushi, who had secretly followed in disguise.

They held a meeting.

“Mr. Morofushi has confirmed that Haibara is safe.” Conan Edogawa frowned. “As for why Usui-san wanted to kidnap Haibara himself… I think it’s probably because if he didn’t do it himself, it would be too much of a commotion if someone else kidnapped Haibara, and they might hurt others. Usui-san was choosing the lesser of two evils.”

Morofushi Kagemitsu: "I think so too."

Shuichi Akai: "...Then how did he get covered in blood?"

"Maybe I'm seeing things. After all, it's nighttime, and the only light is from the moon..."

That being said, Conan Edogawa wasn't entirely convinced, but people's memories are constantly being revised. After learning that Ai Haibara was alright, he was even more puzzled about the bloodstains on Saiki Usakuba's body. For now, he could only guess that he had misread it.

Zhu Fujingguang hesitated to speak.

He didn't tell Conan Edogawa about shooting for Saiki Usuba because the act sounded too crazy; even Shuichi Akai, who knew Saiki Usuba, would probably be shocked.

We're all working together, so it's best not to expose anything that could undermine our trust.

After all, the idea that everyone would rely on a mentally ill person to manage things within the organization seemed inexplicably unreliable, so he decided against saying it now that might undermine morale.

As a result, Conan Edogawa keenly noticed Morofushi Kagemitsu's subtle silence and immediately recalled the similar quietness that Shuichi Akai had shown when Bordenis was mentioned several times before.

Conan Edogawa originally wanted to get down to business first, but he couldn't help himself when he saw Morofushi Kagemitsu's attitude.

"Mr. Akai, Mr. Morofushi, you both clearly knew all along that Potts was actually Usopp, so why didn't you give me a single piece of information?!"

Shuichi Akai said quietly, "Why don't you think back again... Did I really not give you any hints at all?"