Gao Yuan turned his head with the sensitivity of a cat and saw Yoruichi Toyama standing next to him, waving his hand with a grin.

"It feels awkward... but the feel is not bad."

"Didn't Ai tell you? The name 'Takato Yoichi' has been removed from the wanted list."

"There is a death certificate issued by a hospital in Okinawa."

Unable to contain his astonishment, Gao Yuan turned back to look at Mingzhi.

The detective who had been relentlessly pursuing him had no objection whatsoever to escaping legal punishment.

“Don’t look at me.” Mingzhi shrugged, his tone deliberately annoyed.

“You are now a person under the key protection of the public security, and everything is handled by them. There is no room for me, an ordinary criminal police officer, to interfere.”

The "public security officer" refers to Mr. Amuro.

Although Gao Yuan didn't know the inside story, he could guess what it was.

It is said that he was also in charge of setting up Ai-chan's laboratory.

It's all because of... that drug!

Recalling what Ai, or rather Shiho, had said back then, Takato felt nothing but utter irony.

"...You wouldn't want to know its purpose..."

"...The organization has already used it to kill many people..."

What kind of twist of fate led me to take those medicines she had abandoned with me in the end?

How can someone who has been a failure since birth still believe that they have the luck to die after being warned by fate time and time again?

I should have realized this long ago: what is "unfortunate" for most people but "lucky" for me will definitely not happen to me.

According to Ms. Ai, there have been only three cases to date of people who survived taking that drug and whose bodies regressed to a childlike state.

I am that rare third case.

The third ridiculous example.

It's rare to get the police to step in and erase one's status as a wanted criminal.

It's ridiculous that what was meant to be eternal liberation has become an even heavier shackle.

To use a criminal who should have been sentenced to death as a lab rat to find a solution to that terrible drug and allow the two teenagers who suffered from it to return to normal life.

That makes perfect sense.

"So," Gao Yuan said leisurely with a somewhat indifferent smile, "what reason could possibly lead the elite police officers of the Metropolitan Police Department and the shrewd detective to summon someone like me, who doesn't even have a name, to this place?"

"Shouldn't I be under the jurisdiction of the public security bureau now?"

Mingzhi remained suspended in mid-air, and the documents he was about to hand over were slammed onto the table with a "thud".

He rolled his eyes at the same time, glancing at Yoruichi Toyama and Ai in turn, seemingly considering who to vent his anger on.

Of course it's aimed at me, young master! ...

Yoruichi's lips twitched, and he made a gesture to appease the situation.

"Alright, don't be angry. Hasn't he always been like this?"

While offering this advice, he gestured for Ai to come and help as well.

Ai walked over expressionlessly and gently tugged at Gao Yuan's sleeve.

"To be precise, you are the one I applied to the police to get access to the laboratory."

"It should be under my jurisdiction."

Sister, you're not trying to persuade him, are you?

Are you adding fuel to the fire?

Yoruichi Toyama couldn't hold it in any longer and coughed repeatedly.

Mingzhi took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Never mind, I'm not angry," he muttered, but his voice was loud enough for everyone present to hear.

"I can understand the feeling of wanting to die but not being able to. I thought I was finally free, but instead I was put in even heavier chains."

“However,” he put his glasses back on, staring intently at the somewhat surprised Gao Yuan, “Mr. Puppet Master, the sins you have committed are far from atoned for.”