Chapter 572

After receiving the invitation to the dinner party from Saiki Usaba, Conan Edogawa was overjoyed, feeling that he had finally received a response.

What's wrong with the organization?! Can they find a cure?! What does Bo Ye plan to do now that he's become the heir? These are all questions!

It's one thing for Usopp to disappear all the time, but now he's gone missing along with Mr. Akai, Mr. Morofushi, and even Mr. Amuro, who was doing well at his part-time job. This leaves him with no way to get any information, which is unacceptable!

Of course, Conan Edogawa isn't the only one struggling with this.

Yusaku Kudo finally finished his manuscript amidst the editors' throng and emerged to find his son looking pale. He thought something terrible had happened, but the answer he received was, "Usui-nii has become the organization's heir."... Huh?

No... what exactly was the process he went through during his seclusion to achieve such a miraculous result?

Yusaku Kudo also inquired about the situation with the FBI, whom he knew, but they knew nothing about it. When he asked further, they were told that they were not allowed to get involved in the matter.

After hanging up the phone, Yusaku Kudo pondered for a moment and remarked to Conan Edogawa, "This proves two things: first, the organization's reach is very far; second..."

"second?"

"Bo Ye-kun is very capable."

"...That's really impressive. He's clearly a member of the organization, yet he managed to keep it from me for so long! His acting skills are amazing!"

Yusaku Kudo couldn't help but retort, "It's one thing if I'm not familiar with him, but you're so familiar with him, and you mentioned so many details that made you suspicious, yet you still chose to ignore them... You can't entirely say it's because Usui-kun is a good actor, right?"

Conan Edogawa was speechless when his own father belittled his observation skills.

It was because of this setback that Conan Edogawa didn't want to mention it to Heiji Hattori, feeling that he would be ridiculed again.

After much thought, he could only vent to Ai Haibara, but Ai Haibara's mind was no longer on the organization; she was only thinking about how to give feedback to the Japanese Public Security Bureau and get her sister back.

As for the antidote...

"I don't think the organization could develop an antidote in less than a year since I left... Or rather, since the Boss's goal is to rejuvenate, he would definitely avoid the existence of an antidote. Otherwise, he could just use the antidote to assassinate him in the future, right?"

Ai Haibara analyzed rationally: "If Usopp can find the previous experimental data, he can call me back to develop it. What I lack now is a lot of data, otherwise the previous antidote wouldn't have been just a half-finished product... Rather than that, what you should be worried about now is how to explain to your Ran that after Shinichi Kudo went back, Conan Edogawa disappeared."

Conan Edogawa: "...You went abroad?"

“Going abroad doesn’t mean you’re dead,” Ai Haibara said disdainfully. “It’s not that you can’t become someone who can only make phone calls from now on, but video calls will probably be popular in the future. If you don’t want to become the kind of scum that Ran-nee raised for a year and then disappeared without a trace because of the lack of contact, you should think about what to do.”

Conan Edogawa: "…………"

I originally just came to vent to Ai Haibara so I wouldn't feel so down, but after we talked, I felt even more down.

So when Usoppai finally agreed to contact Edogawa Conan, he was genuinely excited and even arrived at the agreed location ahead of time.

Perhaps because they wanted to discuss a topic that wasn't suitable for public conversation, Bo Ye chose a private room at the hotel, which was unusual for him. As for why it wasn't at Bo Ye's home, Conan Edogawa figured that it was quite normal for Bo Ye to prefer eating out since he didn't like cooking.

But after knocking on the door and entering the private room, Conan Edogawa was stunned.

Mr. Morofushi, Mr. Amuro—yes, he still doesn't know what this undercover agent's name is—Officer Hagiwara, Officer Matsuda, and Officer Date are all there, but not Usui-san.

"Come in, you've come to the right room," Kenji Hagiwara greeted him. "Everyone isn't here yet."

Matsuda Jinpei gave a subtle chuckle from the side.

Just as Conan Edogawa was about to say something, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Shinryu Samurai walking towards him. As he walked up to him, Samurai asked in confusion, "Why aren't you going in?"

"Ah... I'll go in now."

Conan Edogawa walked in blankly and, with the thoughtful guidance of Kagemitsu Morofushi, found an empty seat and sat down.

Uh, this gathering was started by Brother Bo Ye, right? The main topic is about the organization, right? But why do I feel like most of the people here have nothing to do with the organization?

He already knew that Mr. Hanchuan was connected to the organization, so his appearance here... well, it's not particularly surprising.

After taking his seat, Conan Edogawa couldn't help but ask, "Inspector Hagiwara, Inspector Date, Inspector Matsuda... are you also connected to the organization?"

Kenji Hagiwara coughed and said, "Well, how should I put it? We were colleagues of the two undercover agents next to us, so this is kind of a get-together."

Conan Edogawa suddenly realized.

That's true. Now that Brother Bo Ye has become the heir, there's really no need to worry too much about the undercover agents. As long as they don't go too far, Brother Bo Ye can protect them.

But if that's the case...

Conan Edogawa asked hesitantly, "How much... do you guys know?"

"Everyone who needs to know already knows," Matsuda Jinpei retorted. "Especially you, Kudo Shinichi, right? Your acting is really terrible, has anyone told you that?"

"...Brother Bo Ye said it."

Conan Edogawa has been criticized a lot in this regard, and since the situation is relatively stable now, he wasn't too surprised when his identity was suddenly exposed; he was just a little annoyed.

But since we've mentioned Brother Bo Ye...

Conan Edogawa casually asked, "When will Usui-san arrive?"

As soon as he spoke, Conan Edogawa keenly noticed that the expressions of the police officers had become very subtle.

As for Sukawa Shinryu's expression, Edogawa Conan didn't pay much attention to it, because Sukawa Shinryu was sitting right next to him, and he would have to turn his head to see him clearly. Sukawa Shinryu was probably just expressionless, so there was no need to go to all that trouble.

Ida Ko was a kind man; he hesitated to speak.

Because his old classmate who was undercover had returned, he unusually didn't spend time with his fiancée but instead came early to join everyone for a gathering. Therefore, he already knew that Hanchuan Shenliu was actually Usaku Saiki.

Ida Wataru wasn't particularly familiar with Kankawa. Even though they were both in the First Investigation Division, Ida Wataru was transferred there after Kankawa resigned. He was never available for dinners with Kankawa, so while he was shocked, he didn't have many thoughts about it since they weren't closely involved. He just thought that Kankawa Shinryu was indeed a talent capable of doing big things, managing to take down his old classmate's undercover organization without making a sound.

But Ida Kou didn't care; others did.

Matsuda Jinpei even pulled Date Wataru aside in the restroom and whispered, "I remember you've seen what he looked like before, right?"

Date Wataru's expression was complicated: "Yes... he called himself Detective Conan back then..."

"Don't mention it," Matsuda Jinpei said firmly. "It's fine if you're not familiar with him, but if you bring it up, he might suddenly start using the process of elimination and bring up the fact that I didn't recognize him before!"

Whether he could recognize her or not wasn't really a problem, but he couldn't lose face in front of Furuya!

He had even changed the subject before, fearing that Han Chuan might want to bring it up...

Date Wataru was speechless: "...I understand."

His childish pride is why Hagiwara's sister never accepted Matsuda's confession; he just doesn't seem mature enough.

In short, Date Wataru wanted to say something, but he felt that he was the one least related to this matter, so it might not be appropriate for him to speak first.

Conan Edogawa asked suspiciously, "What's wrong? Is Usopp-san going to stand me up?"

The police officers: "…………"

Usaku Saiki had already returned to his original appearance, but before coming here, he changed back to look like Samikawa Shinryu, saying he wanted to give Edogawa Conan a surprise... Is this something to be said?

However, seeing Conan Edogawa's cluelessness, they roughly understood why Saiki Usaba had kept it so well hidden before.

It certainly makes one wonder how long it will take for the other party to discover the truth.

Rei Furuya, seemingly empathetic towards Conan Edogawa, sympathetically reminded him, "Everyone's here."

Conan Edogawa: "?"

After a two-second pause, Conan Edogawa, using his manga protagonist-like deductive skills, realized the problem.

His gaze slowly swept over the group of people, finally settling on Han Chuan Shenliu.

The young man with deep red hair quietly lowered his eyes and looked at him calmly.

It can only be said that habits are terrible. After being deterred by the look in his eyes the first few times he tried to observe, Conan Edogawa had already gotten into the habit of not observing Shinryu Saikawa's face.

Such an impolite scrutiny would have caused Conan Edogawa to instinctively look away in the past due to the intense pressure, but today…

Whether it was due to his strong willpower or the fact that the other party did not deliberately put pressure on him, Conan Edogawa was able to see Shinryu Samikawa's appearance clearly for the first time without any interference.

Conan Edogawa: "…………"

Conan Edogawa: "???"

Seeing Conan Edogawa suddenly become shocked and remain petrified with that shocked expression, Saiki Usaba gave a lazy smile.

"Did you see it clearly?"

Conan Edogawa's voice cracked: "Thin-thin Leaf Brother?! Huh? Huh??? Wait a minute??? But, Mr. Hanchuan... um?! Eh?!"

At this moment, Conan Edogawa felt like his worldview was about to shatter.

Even the fact that Kaito Kid is actually his cousin wasn't as exciting as this news.

Because he thought they were two different people, and both of them seemed quite familiar to him, it turned out to be the same person—what kind of fictional work would have such a "forced face blindness" setting?!

When a magical girl transforms, she becomes unrecognizable just by changing her hairstyle. When a superhero changes his clothes, even with his eyes covered and his highly recognizable chin showing, no one recognizes him. In fact, when he wears glasses and takes them off, people think he's a completely different person... He even complained about being forced to have face blindness, but it turns out that he's the one with face blindness!

At this moment, Conan Edogawa finally believed his mother's lies.

It turns out that what she said before—that skilled actors can completely transform themselves simply by changing their demeanor and temperament—was actually true…

Conan Edogawa's thousand words were condensed into this heartfelt question: "Is playing tricks on people fun?!"

I'm impressed!

I thought he was an older brother I knew from childhood, but he turned out to be a member of the organization and even became its successor. That's not all, now he's turned into a policeman I've known for almost a year!

You're like an onion, aren't you? You peel off one layer, and there's another!

Usakabe Saiki sincerely said, "How could I have persisted for so long if it wasn't fun?"

Conan Edogawa: "…………"

Usoya Saiki: "Besides, you wouldn't recognize yourself, so why would I specifically tell you?"

Conan Edogawa's mind was in complete disarray, but he readily accepted Saiki Usaba's righteous attempt to shirk responsibility.

Because whether it's Brother Bo Ye or Mr. Han Chuan, their image in his eyes is that of a nasty person who likes to make unfunny jokes... How awful! Thinking about this makes me even more upset!!!

Upon closer inspection, these two characters are indeed very similar! Why didn't he ever suspect anything?! Just because their personalities are different?!

Bo Ye could fool him so easily just by pretending to be expressionless?! That can't be! Han Chuan Shenliu's aura really doesn't seem fake! —By the way, it seems Bo Ye grew up on the battlefields of the Middle East…

Conan Edogawa suddenly realized something.

So that's how it is?! How could someone who grew up on the Middle East battlefield be normal? That kind of aura is something they developed on the battlefield! And Brother Bo Ye just hides that part of himself well, so he can act like an ordinary person...

Despite making many excuses, Conan Edogawa still couldn't forgive himself for not discovering it.

"...No, why did you do that?!"

Usakabe Saiki remained calm: "Didn't I tell you? I need to investigate the Japanese Public Security Bureau. My original identity is inconvenient and would attract the attention of the organization, so I have to use a fake identity."

Conan Edogawa felt even more distraught as he recalled the conversation, because he remembered that Saiki Usaba had indeed said those words to him, but he had never connected them to his role as a police officer.

"But why don't you apply to the National Police Agency's police academy when you're researching the Japanese public security system? Wouldn't the chances of becoming a police officer there be higher?"

Kenji Hagiwara chimed in, "He took the exam, but failed the interview. He even came to ask me what to do. That's how we got to know each other... In the end, I suggested he try for the Metropolitan Police Department's police academy."

Jiang Gu Ling & Zhu Fu Jingguang: “…………”

So it was because of you...

Conan Edogawa's lips twitched as he squinted at Saiki Usaku: "While there was a legitimate reason at first, it must have just turned into pure perverse humor later on, right?"

"I just wanted to see who could spot it, and I didn't expect that no one could tell. Looks like my acting skills are pretty good." Bo Yezaki, as the winner, was very calm.

Suddenly, Rei Furuya asked in a low voice.

Was your sudden shooting and jumping off a cliff to commit suicide a while ago also an act?

The unsuspecting others: "???"