Chapter 213, Seventy-Third Cycle (43)

The weather was unusually sunny, and the temperature also warmed up.

Hospitals in Hokkaido have been unusually busy these past few days.

Not only did some people catch colds from suddenly arriving in frigid regions, but others suffered skiing injuries and minor injuries from panicking to avoid avalanches.

The one who was most seriously injured was probably Conan Edogawa.

However, thanks to timely treatment, his hypothermia stabilized quickly. But his lung injury from the previous gunshot wound has weakened his immune system, and he now has a cold that requires special attention. Therefore, he needs to be hospitalized for observation for two days.

Rei Furuya was fine, of course. He only got a minor scrape on his arm when he was protecting Conan Edogawa from the sharp rocks. He didn't even need to go to the hospital.

The reason it was "originally" is because he was taken directly to the hospital by three "helpful police officers" for a thorough examination.

So he and Conan Edogawa were transferred around for a long time like two seriously injured patients before they were finally allowed to rest in a ward.

Conan Edogawa needs to be hospitalized for two days for observation, but Rei Furuya is really fine. After being bandaged up and drinking some warming drinks, he can leave the hospital directly.

It was already 2 PM, the time when the sun was at its strongest.

After dealing with everyone else, only three police officers and one... doctor remained in the ward.

Zhu Fu, the doctor in disguise, closed the door, turned around and the smile on his face disappeared. He pushed up his glasses, which had no prescription, and walked over.

Date Wataru, Hagiwara Kenji, and Matsuda Jinpei stood with their arms crossed around the bed, forming a circle, looking like they were conducting a trial.

Jianggu Ling: "..."

Rei Furuya raised his hands in surrender: "I'm sorry, I was wrong, but I really did it this time because I was confident, and I didn't get hurt in the end, did I?"

Matsuda Jinpei scoffed, struggling to suppress his urge to punch someone.

Morofushi Kagemitsu looked at his bandaged arm: "You call this not injured?"

Rei Furuya sighed helplessly, "This kind of minor injury is nothing."

Although it's infuriating, it's true that these injuries are nothing to the four of them, who are police officers.

"What about the time you took it upon yourself to cross the bottom line of the world line?" Date Wataru asked with a grim face as he took out a screenshot on his phone. It was the punishment that the world consciousness had given to Furuya Rei at that time. It was a four-star level of pain. Any worse and he would have died suddenly and restarted the world.

However, Furuya Rei did not intend to go all the way to the end. He planned to stop at the very end and moved very slowly, leaving enough time for subsequent reactions.

I never expected an avalanche to happen.

Rei Furuya tilted his head and changed the subject: "Do you think blizzards and avalanches are the result of world lines converging?"

"Don't change the subject. You wouldn't dare do something like this again, would you?" Kenji Hagiwara reached out and turned his head back, his smile dangerous. "Hmm? Furuya?"

Jianggu Ling: "..."

He dared not say anything that was meant to divert the world's attention and warnings about them, and could only continue to try to change the subject.

Rei Furuya immediately put on an innocent yet serious expression: "No, this was really an accident in the heat of the moment, and it caused such serious consequences. I definitely won't do anything reckless next time."

After saying that, he immediately added, "However, we also happened to discover something this time: even in such a dangerous situation, as long as Conan, as the protagonist, actively participates, even the most impossible situations can be turned into safe ones."

The four of them also became serious and focused.

Rei Furuya seized the opportunity to continue, "And judging from the situation this time, we are really different now than before. When we all participate in the main storyline and become important characters, when the protagonist Conan Edogawa connects with us, the way the world consciousness warns us will be different."

“I think this might be a good thing. We have more room to make changes. As long as the bottom line isn’t really crossed, the world’s consciousness won’t kill Conan and Akai, who are the main characters. Of course, we, who are acting reasonably with them, won’t face certain death.”

Rei Furuya looked at them and couldn't help but smile.

"More importantly, we successfully altered some of the plot this time, and even those alterations are within the tolerance range of the world's consciousness," he said happily. "We succeeded! Everyone's efforts have paid off!"

Morofushi Kagemitsu's brows were still furrowed, and he was about to speak when he was suddenly interrupted by a bell.

Rei Furuya picked up his phone and glanced at it, discovering it belonged to a subordinate of the Public Security Bureau who had participated in the pursuit of the FBI the previous night and was in Yuya Kazami's car.

Seeing the ugly expression on his face, as if he had suddenly remembered something terrible, Morofushi Kagemitsu changed the words he was saying.

"Who is it?" he asked.

Jianggu Ling: "..."

Rei Furuya gritted his teeth: "It's probably Shuichi Akai."

He was about to hang up when he was stopped by a familiar stabbing pain in his heart.

The three people in the room immediately started beeping alarms on their phones.

Matsuda Jinpei, who was closest to Furuya Rei, rushed over and clicked the call button.

As a result, Rei Furuya's heart returned to normal.

Rei Furuya, staring intently at Matsuda Jinpei's menacing face at close range, thought, "..."

Actually, he originally wanted to test how much heart pain he would experience if he didn't answer the phone.

But under the piercing gazes of the four people in front of him, Furuya Rei obediently placed his phone on the bed sheet, turned on speakerphone, and then lowered the volume to a level that only they could hear.

"Hello?" he asked, feigning ignorance. "What's wrong? Is there something you need?"

A soft chuckle came from the other end of the phone, which had been quiet, followed by a deep male voice so familiar it made people grind their teeth.

"Long time no see, Bourbon."

Shuichi Akai went straight to the point and stripped away all his layers of disguise.

"No, should I call you Amuro Tooru now, or Furuya Rei?"

Even though he had expected it, Rei Furuya's blood pressure still skyrocketed: "Akai Shuichi!!!"

Even with his fists clenched in anger, he didn't forget to act, shouting sternly, "You're still alive! How did you get this phone?!"

“We actually went back before the accident last night, and we originally planned to talk to you then,” Shuichi Akai said. “After the accident, your companion left first, and we happened to find this phone when we arrived. It was probably dropped by your companion in the panic of the accident.”

Shuichi Akai was actually sitting in his car downstairs at the hospital, and he could see Rei Furuya's ward through the window, but he couldn't go there now.

"...When did you find out my true identity?" The person on the other end seemed to calm down a bit and realize the biggest problem.

Shuichi Akai leaned against the car window and chuckled: "Although I started to have doubts when you were in the organization, your biggest mistake was accidentally revealing your nickname 'Zero' to that boy."

The other person stopped talking, but you could tell from their breathing that they were emotionally unstable.

"Are you alright?" he asked, then felt it might sound mocking, so he explained, "I was referring to your companion whose car I smashed the rearview mirror and sniped the tires. I hope you won't blame us, since you were the ones who came to us first, and if I hadn't done that, someone might have really died."

The more he talked, the more something seemed off. Fearing that the person on the other end would explode, Shuichi Akai, ever the opportunist, immediately added, "So don't hang up. I have an important deal to tell you."

"Speak." Sure enough, a man's voice came from the other end of the phone, a voice that sounded like he wanted to bite him to death after taking a deep breath.

Hideaki Akai remained unfazed: "If you're willing to have a proper talk with me, I'll hand over [that gun] to your police force, how about it?"

Shuichi Akai thought he was using his gentlest voice to coax her; he'd never been this careful with his girlfriend, yet he still managed to upset her every time...

“Because I caused your companion’s car to be totaled, I gave you a small apology as a token of my remorse.” He explained first, then continued earnestly, “That’s the gun that Kusuda Rikudō used to commit suicide. If we trace how he got the gun, we should get some information.”

"This is Japan. Instead of the FBI, who are our guests, why don't you, the hosts, do the investigation?"

After this coaxing, he finally heard the person on the other end of the phone speak a little better: "Hmph, so you guys know this is Japan and not America, huh? FBI, anyone who didn't know better would think you were the Interpol!"

Shuichi Akai pretended not to hear and continued, "In exchange, you'll stop trying to capture me and hand me over to the organization."

The person on the other end of the phone gave a cold sneer and then fell silent.

Shuichi Akai lightly lit a half-lit cigarette: "I know you probably want to bring me back to the organization, make some contributions, and advance your position. But are you really sure that would be more useful than having me, alive and working for the FBI, join the fight against the organization?"

"You're quite confident, aren't you? No wonder you're from the FBI." A cold voice came from the other end of the phone. "But do you really think I need your help to destroy the organization?"

“It’s not about helping, it’s about cooperation. We’re not enemies.” Shuichi Akai sighed. “I hope you don’t let your focus on the immediate goal cause you to misjudge what the real target should be.”

“Rei Furuya, you are one of the men I don’t want to be enemies with,” he said sincerely.

"besides……"

Rei Furuya's heart skipped a beat in the hospital room, and he was about to hang up the phone when Kagemitsu Morofushi, as if he had expected it, easily stopped him.

So all five people in the room clearly heard Shuichi Akai slowly utter his last words on the phone.

"I still feel very sorry about what happened to him."

After saying that, Shuichi Akai hung up the phone decisively and drove away.

The five people in the ward stared at the disconnected phone and fell into a brief silence.

"He wouldn't mean..." Kenji Hagiwara glanced at Rei Furuya and then at Hiromitsu Morofushi, his bright eyes filled with gossip.

"Shut up." This time it was Furuya Rei's turn to hold him down and cover his mouth.

Although it's a good and worthwhile way to replace the original inevitable death plot with this kind of staged scandal, he still gets restless in front of these guys.

His friends couldn't hold back and burst into laughter.

The air was filled with a cheerful atmosphere, except for Rei Furuya, who was so ashamed and angry that he wanted to kill Shuichi Akai.

He covered his face in despair, unable to bear the ridicule from his wicked friend any longer. He simply packed his things, stuffed them into his pocket, and ran away.

Rei Furuya needs to talk to Conan Edogawa before he can go back.

Conan Edogawa's hospital room wasn't far from him; it only took three minutes to get there.

The ward door was closed, and surprisingly, there was no one else inside.

Rei Furuya turned around to check his surroundings, then reached out and pushed open the door to the hospital room that had a sign that read "Conan Edogawa".

The hospital was quiet at this time. Although the weather was cold, the sun outside the window was incredibly bright, and the scorching heat was melting the snow little by little.

The sky was also very blue.

The thin, dark-haired child on the hospital bed was looking out the window. The sunlight reflected off his large glasses, making it impossible to see his expression.

Rei Furuya slowly walked over and finally stopped by the bed.

The child then slowly turned around, looked up, and revealed a helpless yet smiling face.

“Liar,” Conan Edogawa said.

He had clearly processed everything and was now denouncing the terrible adult for deliberately lying to and intimidating elementary school students.

Rei Furuya then smiled.

“You have no right to talk to me like that,” he shrugged and laughed.

So Conan Edogawa shrugged, just like him, indicating that there was nothing he could do about it and that they were in the same boat.

However, judging from the relaxed smile on his face, he was still happy and relaxed because the two of them had finally opened up to each other and trusted one another.

It wasn't just because he received help from a powerful public security organization in his own country, but also because Furuya Rei himself was very serious, strong, and gentle.

After laughing, Conan Edogawa became serious again, sat up straight, and thanked him once more.

Having already heard the Mori and Kudo families express their gratitude repeatedly, Furuya Rei simply smiled, pulled out a chair, sat down, and then reached out to pat the child's head.

"I'm glad you're alright. If you need anything again, feel free to ask me for help. I know a lot of things and can be of some help in any way." That's all he said.

He understands Conan Edogawa's feelings very well; many dangerous things are indeed things that only they can do.

Moreover, it is something we have to do, something we absolutely must do, and something we absolutely must succeed at.

What they need to be careful about is protecting their own safety while doing those things, because there are many people who care about them and will be sad and worried.

Therefore, he wouldn't stop Conan Edogawa from doing dangerous things; he would only stand by and watch to make sure Conan didn't get seriously injured.

Well, after all, they are not only a group of con artists, but also despicable accomplices.

"Thank you, Mr. Amuro. I happen to have something I need your help with right now." Conan Edogawa didn't stand on ceremony. He turned around to check if it was safe around them, then quietly leaned over and whispered in his ear as if he had something important to tell him.

Rei Furuya smiled, tilted his head, and leaned closer to listen to what he had to say.

“Mr. Amuro, can you tell me about Scotland?” Conan Edogawa asked softly.

Rei Furuya's smile gradually faded: "..."