Chapter 254 Seventy-Threeth Cycle (84)

Ai Haibara discovered that Conan Edogawa had come over early this morning, looking serious and solemn, but he didn't say anything, and when asked, he seemed hesitant to speak.

This guy definitely has something going on.

That is, when Ayumi and Mitsuhiko excitedly introduced the improved drone by the professor, Conan Edogawa only gave a slight reaction.

He stared at him speechlessly with his half-moon eyes and complained, "It can fly at an altitude of 10,000 meters for more than half an hour, and at that altitude there is a network to shoot high-definition images in real time. This is already a world record for drones, right?"

"Because it uses satellite communication technology," Ai Haibara said.

Conan Edogawa: "..."

Conan Edogawa's lips twitched, and he muttered under his breath, "This invention is practically challenging the bottom line of the law."

Ai Haibara turned and looked at him for two seconds, then said, "Putting me aside, how dare you, a lawless madman, talk about the Doctor?"

Conan Edogawa: "..."

Conan Edogawa pretended nothing had happened and went over to watch the footage from the flying machine with the three real children. Then, he suddenly stroked his chin and fell into serious thought.

"Doctor, could I borrow this for a couple of days?" he asked.

"Huh? Why?" The three children were unhappy that their toys had been taken away, but when they turned around and saw Conan Edogawa's expression, they became excited. "Conan! Is there another case?!"

Conan Edogawa struggled to get rid of them, but no matter what he did, he couldn't fool Ai Haibara and finally had to tell the truth.

"Didn't I spend the other day checking CCTV footage with Genta and the others? It was to investigate the mystery of why Mr. Amuro's special cake at Poirot Cafe mysteriously melted."

Conan Edogawa sat on the sofa, far away from the little robot, and slowly clenched his fists.

“In the street surveillance footage of the time period that Mitsuhiko was in charge of monitoring, he said he saw a black Porsche.”

Ai Haibara's hand trembled, almost spilling her coffee. She turned sharply to look at him: "Could it be—"

Conan Edogawa nodded, his expression also very grim, and gritted his teeth, saying, "After Mitsuhiko mentioned it yesterday, I went to specifically check the surveillance footage of that segment, and it was indeed Gin's car."

Seeing that Ai Haibara's expression had turned terrified and she was starting to panic, he quickly added, "But judging from the surveillance footage, only Vodka was there, and he only stayed across from Poirot's Cafe for less than a minute. Maybe it's just a coincidence? Or maybe it's because of Mr. Amuro? It happened several days ago, so it should be fine."

Ai Haibara took a deep breath: "Did you ask him? What did he say?"

Conan Edogawa shook his head: "No, Mr. Amuro just happened to be on leave today. I couldn't find him, and he didn't reply to my messages."

Both of them fell into a brief silence.

The television over there is broadcasting today's news channel.

TV stations have been hyping up next week's Tokyo summit and the Cygnus unmanned probe, and today's host happened to be outside the venue introducing this topic.

"As you can see, police are already checking the area for security. On May 1st, the day of the summit, the Metropolitan Police Department, responsible for security, will deploy even more police officers, up to 22,000, to ensure the safety of Kyoto..."

Before the host could finish speaking, a huge explosion suddenly occurred in the venue, which served as the background.

Everyone turned around in shock.

The red and black flames and ash instantly engulfed everything, and the huge shockwave almost made the host, who was standing so far away, lose his footing. He could only stare blankly at the explosion site, unable to recover for a moment.

Conan Edogawa and Ai Haibara, who were originally deep in thought, were instantly drawn to the live stream and immediately ran over, frowning as they watched it closely.

Almost a minute passed before the host reacted, gripping the microphone tightly, turning around, and grabbing the cameraman's hand to straighten the tilted camera. He shouted, "Ladies and gentlemen! As you can see! A massive explosion has just occurred at the international conference venue where the Tokyo Summit will be held next week!"

The scene was chaotic.

"Just now, we obtained the surveillance footage from that time!"

"The explosion occurred at the Ocean Edge integrated resort. Since it hasn't opened yet, there were no customer injuries. However, according to reliable sources, a group of police officers were just conducting security checks at the venue, and the specific situation is still unknown—"

Conan Edogawa frowned and turned to say, "Could this be a terrorist attack? Is it another organized attack? But why? If it is them, what is their purpose? This is too strange. The summit hasn't even started yet. If they were going to carry out a terrorist attack, wouldn't they choose May 1st? Doing this in advance would only make security on the day of the summit even tighter, wouldn't it?"

Dr. Agasa was also drawn by the commotion and said, "Indeed, so it must just be an accident, right? Wait, why is it related to that organization? Has something happened?"

Conan Edogawa was about to explain, but when he glanced at Ai Haibara's expression, he froze and asked, "What's wrong? Haibara?"

Ai Haibara's hands gripped the hem of her dress tightly: "Just now... after the explosion, the surveillance camera footage, although it was only for a moment, or maybe I saw it wrong, but I think I saw that person..."

Conan Edogawa frowned: "Who?"

Ai Haibara looked up, her eyes trembling.

“Toru Amuro,” she said.

*

Conan Edogawa still couldn't contact Tooru Amuro by the next day.

During his period of worry, he also thought that Haibara and Mr. Amuro's relationship might be much better than he thought, and that there must be something they were hiding from him.

But that's not the point right now.

Conan Edogawa is quite used to the fact that many people around him have secrets, after all, he himself is one of them.

The key question now is whether Mr. Amuro has actually been in trouble.

Based on reasoning, Mr. Amuro should have been at the explosion site yesterday, and he learned that the police were in charge of the inspection work during the explosion.

The surveillance footage that Haibara saw yesterday was not an illusion. They quickly went to watch the video playback and indeed saw the blond youth flash by in the fire.

The flames stirred his blond hair, revealing his incredibly sharp, purplish-gray eyes—it was Amuro Tooru.

Or rather, at that time, his identity was that of a public security police officer named Furuya Rei.

As for the police casualties caused by the explosion, there has been no specific information to this day, suggesting that the police have intentionally suppressed the reporting.

Even the surveillance video that only vaguely captured the blond youth for 0.2 seconds was quickly deleted, which clearly indicates that the public security police took action.

Even Officer Takagi, who is in the First Investigation Division, doesn't know the specifics. He only knows that the Public Security Bureau suffered heavy casualties this time, both in terms of personnel and reputation. Therefore, the Public Security Bureau is now mainly responsible for this matter, and they say they will definitely find the culprit.

Heavy casualties...

Could something have really happened to Mr. Amuro?

Conan Edogawa was extremely anxious and worried, so he went everywhere to investigate.

However, Officers Matsuda, Hagiwara, and Date were all selected for security work at the Tokyo Summit and were so busy that they couldn't be reached by phone or even contacted.

He got all that information from Officer Takagi.

If it weren't for the vodka incident still hanging over him like the Sword of Damocles, making him worry that his casual actions would attract the organization's attention, Conan Edogawa would have wanted to go straight to Amuro Tooru's house to check it out.

If they hadn't used a drone to go to the explosion site and captured some clues that day, he would have already wanted to fly a drone to check out the area near that person's house.

The police stopped him.

The one who got into trouble was Kogoro Mouri.

On April 28, at 4:56 PM, Kogoro Mouri was taken away by police as a suspect in the bombing at the Tokyo Summit venue.

But how could that be!

"Wait! This must be a misunderstanding! Uncle would never do such a thing!"

Conan Edogawa chased after them all the way out of the building, but even his good relationship with the police was useless because the "evidence was conclusive."

Even if Conan Edogawa is certain that the fingerprints at the explosion site and the relevant data on the Mouri Detective Agency's computer are faked and a setup, he simply cannot prove it.

And why? Who did it? And for what purpose?

"jingle--"

The door to Poirot's Cafe behind him was pushed open, and the crisp sound of the bell was like a thunderclap, instantly calming Conan Edogawa's chaotic mind.

In those two seconds of turning around, countless pieces of information flashed through his mind.

Through the swaying vision, a blond young man with bandages on his face and hands pushed open the door and walked out.

"...I'm so sorry, I didn't see the message. My phone broke after I accidentally fell and is currently being repaired."

"It's alright, it's alright. But Mr. Amuro, you're injured, shouldn't you take a couple more days off to rest?"

"No need, please don't worry, I'm actually fine, I can come to work tomorrow."

He was wearing a simple white shirt, not the apron from Poirot's Café. He smiled and said goodbye to the people inside, then turned to leave, seemingly oblivious to the child staring intently at him.

"Wait!" Conan Edogawa suddenly shouted, chasing after him. "Mr. Amuro!"

The blond youth turned a corner and entered the alley next to him.

Without hesitation, Conan Edogawa chased after him and came face to face with a blond, dark-skinned youth whose upper half was in the darkness and whose lower half was in the twilight sunlight.

The man stood there in the alley, calmly watching him, clearly waiting for him on purpose.

Conan Edogawa took a deep breath, suddenly pulled his phone out of his pocket, found the photo of the policeman named Kazami that he had just taken, and held it up to show him: "Mr. Amuro, this person is a public security policeman like you, right?"

The blond youth in front of him tilted his head: "Why do you say that?"

"You're all injured." Conan Edogawa put away his phone, clenched his fist, took a step forward, calmed himself down, lowered his voice, and cautiously observed his surroundings, saying, "You were all injured in yesterday's bombing at the Tokyo Summit venue, right? You were in charge of checking the venue's security at the time, weren't you?"

The blond youth remained silent.

Conan Edogawa continued, "The fingerprints of Uncle Kogoro at the scene, and the criminal data on his computer, were actually all faked by Mr. Amuro, right? If it was Mr. Amuro, it couldn't be simpler, and there would be a reason for doing so."

"What reason?" he asked.

"In order to prevent this from ending as an accident, in order to give the police time to investigate the truth and arrest the culprit, and in order to prevent possible terrorist attacks from happening at the subsequent international conference, you temporarily fabricated a suspect so that this matter could be investigated and taken seriously by the higher-ups, right?" Conan Edogawa gritted his teeth.

The blond youth stared at him quietly, his expression gradually becoming serious, without offering any rebuttal.

"But why drag Uncle Kogoro into this?" Conan clenched his fist. "Even if you're confident you can clear his name after finding the culprit, this is still going too far! What if you don't find the culprit? Is the Public Security Bureau capable of doing something like this?"

“I would only do such a thing if I was confident.” The blond, dark-skinned youth looked down at him, offering no explanation, and simply said, “The police will handle the illegal actions of the police properly. As long as the outcome is good, the flaws in the process are tolerable.”

"You guys are really going too far!" Conan Edogawa couldn't help but step forward. "Do you know what? You even appeared on TV dressed as a police officer in a suit! What if the organization finds out?"

Seemingly surprised that the topic had shifted so quickly, directly from a confrontation to concerns about his safety, the blond youth's expression softened, but his eyes became even more resolute.

“Even if there is danger, there are some things I have to do,” he said. “There are some things I would risk my life to protect.”

After saying that, he added, "Don't worry, the organization hasn't found me."

Conan Edogawa's expression suddenly changed, his stern gaze turning into a victorious smile.

He said, "So, this matter is indeed related to the organization, right?"

Toru Amuro: "..."

Conan Edogawa continued, "Since it's not Mr. Amuro, then the organization's target is Uncle Kogoro."

Amuro Tooru stared at him for two seconds, then crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, sighing helplessly, and asked, "Where did you find out? What happened?"

Conan Edogawa's expression immediately turned serious: "Gin's car stopped for a while on the street opposite Poirot's Cafe last week, and I saw vodka in the downstairs window. I initially thought it was you, Mr. Amuro, who had been discovered. Since you're alright, it's probably me or Uncle who's being targeted. But I haven't felt any danger lately, and it was Uncle who ended up getting into trouble, so he must be the target."

“After all, Gin had previously led a group to snipe Uncle Kogoro once before,” he said. “Although it was an accident, and although they retreated afterward and seemed not to care about Uncle Kogoro anymore… given Gin’s personality, it’s quite normal that he would remember Uncle Kogoro and decide to take him down if he ran into him again.”

The blond youth nodded slightly: "That's about right."

Conan Edogawa breathed a sigh of relief, then said nervously, "So, Mr. Amuro, you had Uncle Kogoro arrested by the police as a suspect to protect him, right? If Gin and the others know that Kogoro Mouri is a public figure who is being worried and talked about by the whole nation, he might give up for a while?"

The blond youth shook his head and said, "That's only part of the reason. Your previous reasoning was also correct. It's just that the two problems happened to coincide and were solved together."

Conan Edogawa choked.

"So, the Tokyo Summit bombing has nothing to do with the organization? So Mr. Amuro, you still don't know who the culprit is?" He became agitated again. "Or is there something you can't tell me? Are you worried that if I know the inside story, you won't be able to put on a good show for the enemy? There must be other details involved, otherwise it just doesn't make sense—"

“No.” The blond youth shook his head, walked over and patted him on the shoulder. His purplish-gray eyes were filled with a complexity and heaviness that he could not understand. He said seriously, “On the contrary, I have great faith in your abilities, Conan-kun.”

After saying that, no matter how much Conan Edogawa shouted after him, he didn't stop and drove away without looking back.

The black-haired child left behind frowned and pondered, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't come to a conclusion.

Therefore, when he happened to meet the policeman named Kazami the next day, he didn't think twice and pretended to be a reckless child to install a listening device on him.

April 29, 12:30 PM.

With incredible luck, Conan Edogawa overheard a conversation between Yuya Kazami and Tooru Amuro shortly after the bug was installed.

— Kazami Yuya is indeed Mr. Amuro's direct subordinate!

"Kazami, how is she?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Furuya, you were right. That person was indeed an undercover agent. Fortunately, you noticed something was wrong in advance, Mr. Furuya, otherwise our police would have suffered heavy casualties this time."

"Good. Don't move for now. Don't let anyone else know that the casualties on the police side are fake, not even the Metropolitan Police Department. As for that undercover agent, keep an eye on him. We'll take action together after the others are confirmed. He's still useful for now."

"Yes, we have now started investigating other suspected spies on the Ministry of Public Security's list, but so far no big fish have been caught."

"Speed ​​up, the organization seems to have already noticed."

"Okay, the results should be available within three days."

"It's best to finish before May 1st, so as not to affect the Tokyo Summit."

"Yes, we'll speed things up. But, Mr. Furuya, you need to be careful too. With such a large operation, if there are still spies from that organization, they might risk their lives to find your information and send it back to the organization. The spy we captured a few days ago almost sent back information about a Public Security mole codenamed 'Zero,' but luckily Mr. Date happened to be in town and discovered him..."

Conan Edogawa's pupils contracted sharply.

"It's alright, I have the means to deal with it. You can investigate as you see fit, don't worry about me."

"But, Mr. Furuya..."

"This is a rare opportunity. We must catch and eliminate all the parasites this time. If we miss this chance, there won't be another one."

"……I see."

"Wait, but there's still something I don't quite understand..."

"What? Don't beat around the bush, just ask whatever you want to ask."

"Yes, yes! What I want to ask is, why did we have to use Kogoro Mouri to make this matter so complicated? If we don't care about the methods, if it were us, the police, we could just use any other forceful and illegal means to conduct a search, right?"

"Kazami, do you know that although both methods are illegal, the consequences they cause are worlds apart?"

"Um?"

"As public security police with great power, we also need to shoulder the same weight of responsibility. You must remember that no matter whether we use legal or illegal means, we must never forget that our original intention is always to protect this country."

"Yes! I won't forget!"

"Besides the initial intention, the outcome is equally important. I'm confident I can handle the illegal methods used to involve Kogoro Mouri and resolve the consequences. However, if we forcefully use our public security status to conduct an illegal search, it will cause countless consequences that I cannot resolve—for example, the Metropolitan Police Department officers will become even more dissatisfied with us and may even refuse to cooperate with our search. Such consequences will not benefit our joint efforts to protect the country, and may even cause major problems for next week's Tokyo summit. Do you understand?"

"I see! I understand now, Mr. Furuya!"

Even after their conversation ended, Conan Edogawa's mind remained unsettled.

Five minutes later, the black-haired boy sitting in the chair let out a long sigh, then helplessly curled the corners of his mouth.

"Really..."

*

Because Miss Momiji wanted to eat a dessert from Tokyo, Iori Muga personally went to Tokyo to buy it for her, even though it was raining.

It's almost dark now, and it's raining. The road here is very remote, and there are almost no pedestrians.

Iori Muga drove across a river, then turned back.

He stared at the man sitting by the river in the distance, head down, getting soaked in the rain, looking like a devastated drowning dog. After three seconds of silence, he finally got out of the car with his umbrella and walked over.

Even though he was in a bad mood, Kazami Yuya, who had just learned his lesson, still turned around warily and looked over. When he saw the person's face, he immediately showed a surprised expression.

"It's you? What are you doing here?" He knew that his classmate from police academy had resigned from the public security bureau and gone to work as a butler for the eldest daughter of the Ooka family. "Why did you come all the way from Kyoto? Is there something you need?"

Surely this guy wouldn't know about the police cracking down on undercover agents after he resigned, right?

"I just came to Tokyo to buy something." Iori Muga stood beside him, head bowed. "But you, shouldn't you be busy right now? What happened? Why are you secretly hiding here crying all by yourself?"

"I didn't cry!!!" Kazami Yuya instantly bristled, then lowered his head and clenched his right wrist, inappropriately plunging into his own world.

Iori Muga remained silent, simply waiting quietly.

Two full minutes later, Kazami Yuya whispered, "It's nothing, I just made a mistake I shouldn't have made, and then I got a severe scolding from my boss who's a year younger than me."

Iori Muga slightly curled the corners of his mouth: "Furuya-kun is indeed very strict when it comes to serious matters, and you are indeed often careless."

Kazami Yuya: "..."

Kazami Yuya sighed, turning back to look at the river surface rippling with raindrops. He thought that while he couldn't tell his former colleague, who had already resigned, about the secrets of the Public Security Bureau, he could probably talk about his personal relationship issues.

After all, it's rare to find someone who knows the inside story, and he's really torn right now...

“Mr. Furuya is really amazing. I’ve never met anyone so amazing. I’m actually very happy that such an amazing person has become my boss,” he said. “But maybe I’m just not smart enough. There are some things he does that I really can’t understand. Even though I can’t understand them, I trust him because he’s Mr. Furuya.”

“You can’t do it this way,” Iori said. “You’re not only his subordinate, but also an observer sent by higher-ups to monitor him. If he does anything that crosses the line while he’s undercover, you must be rational and report it. Even if it’s for his own good, you should do it. Otherwise, if the higher-ups don’t trust your opinion, you’ll both be in trouble. Your fairness, integrity, stubbornness, and resistance to being swayed by other emotions are your strengths, the main reasons you’ve become Furuya-kun’s important subordinate. Kazami, don’t let these strengths disappear.”

“I don’t trust him unconditionally because I admire him emotionally,” Kazami Yu retorted, displeased. “It is through my objective and calm observation, examination, and even questioning that I have determined that he is a policeman whom I and everyone else can trust. His love for the country and his dedication to protecting the country and its people are even stronger than any other policeman I have ever met.”

Even if he is now deeply mired in darkness?

“Even though he is mired in darkness,” Kazami Yuya said firmly, “or rather, it is precisely because he is currently mired in darkness and walking alongside those extremely vicious thugs in order to protect the country and the people that he is all the more worthy of our trust and respect.”

Iori Muga laughed.

Kazami Yu didn't see that he was already a bit carried away and continued, "Even though he's been an undercover agent in the organization for three years and then another three, even though he almost became the organization's second-in-command, even though he did many terrible things when he was Bourbon, I, and even the directors, still trust him! Every time the directors call him Bourbon, it's not to remind or doubt his stance, but to show their trust. It means that the directors are giving him the right to do even more outrageous things, because they trust that he can stay true to himself and that he can clean up any mess he makes, so they are giving him the authority to act boldly."

Iori said, "So what's bothering you? I thought you were unhappy with your boss."

"No way!" Kazami Yuya immediately retorted, but then fell silent again.

After a while, he finally spoke haltingly and incoherently, "It's precisely because I trust such a perfect Mr. Furuya that I'm so concerned about that matter. It's... it's about what happened after you resigned. You probably don't know, but... someone committed a crime, got arrested, and was interrogated by the police. Mr. Furuya went, and then that person committed suicide. What I'm concerned about is that the person didn't deserve to die. How could someone as capable as Mr. Furuya not know that his actions might lead to the other person's suicide? So it's entirely fair to say that Mr. Furuya drove the person to their death. This matter is different; it's really different from when he was Bourbon. Mr. Furuya was a policeman then, and even police officers can't kill people. I'm really concerned; I can't even accept this, and I've been worried about it constantly..."

Iori Muga was very direct: "You're worried and afraid that someone as capable as Furuya-kun might be corrupted by the organization without you even realizing it, thus disregarding the law and life, ultimately leading to an even more terrible disaster. You can't accept even the slightest possibility that your perfect boss, whom you trust and admire, might betray your beliefs and fall into darkness. You don't want to see a future where he's hostile to you and being hunted by the police, right?"

Kazami Yuya gritted his teeth and said, "I..."

Iori Muga: "You did a great job. In your position, you need to care about things like this. It's already a rare strength of yours. But you're still so afraid of Furuya-kun. Kazami, since you care so much, why don't you just go and ask him directly?"

Kazami Yuya looked up, a little taken aback: "Huh? But, but I..."

Iori Muga laughed: "I also believe in Furuya-kun. I think there must be a misunderstanding in this matter. If you want to know the truth, just ask him directly. He will answer you. If he can't answer, then there really is a problem. You can worry about it then."

"But... but if it really is a misunderstanding... actually, I also think it must be a misunderstanding. I even investigated and followed up on the follow-up, but it really doesn't seem like it... I mean, if I really misunderstood, wouldn't that be incredibly rude? To guess about my boss like that, Mr. Furuya will definitely hate me and might even give me a severe scolding..."

As Kazami Yuya spoke, his shoulders trembled slightly, and he gripped his wrist, which bore red marks, tightly.

"It's because I've been holding a grudge about this that I told that kid about it after he planted a listening device on me and leaked important information. Mr. Furuya said, 'Is this how a public security officer behaves?' I was so provoked that I told the kid about it. If I do something stupid again, Mr. Furuya will definitely hate me, and he might even despise me, making it impossible for me to continue working for him..."

A 30-year-old man, who usually has a stern and serious face to the point of being cold and unapproachable, is now speaking as if he is about to cry, and he looks genuinely scared and sad.

Iori Muga: "..."

Forget it, this guy is hopeless. Let Furuya-kun teach him slowly.

But that child... could it be Conan Edogawa again?

*

On the other side.

Conan Edogawa didn't care much about the fact that Mr. Amuro had discovered his bugging device or that Mr. Amuro's subordinates said that Mr. Amuro was terrifying.

He didn't care about it.

He believed that Mr. Amuro would not kill someone without a reason, and there must be some inside story.

Moreover, the world is not black and white; as long as the starting point and the outcome are good, that's fine.

Mr. Amuro could not be an enemy; that's enough for him.

As darkness fell completely, Conan Edogawa repeatedly pondered the information he had overheard at the police meeting before pushing open the door to Professor Agasa's house.

Hiroki Sawada happened to be home this time.

Conan Edogawa took a deep breath, walked over and sat down next to him. He took out a few tissues, slowly dried his rain-soaked glasses, put them on, and then looked at the black-haired boy who was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"Hiroki, is that anonymous website Noah related to Noah's Ark?"

Conan Edogawa carefully observed all his expressions.

"Is this IoT attack related to you?"

After saying that, he took out his phone and placed it on the table.

"Also, did you install the hidden monitoring software on my phone?"

Faced with Conan Edogawa's three questions, Hiroki Sawada was taken aback, and then burst out laughing.

Noah's Ark, which was standing nearby, also started laughing.

Their laughter left the usually serious Conan Edogawa completely bewildered.

Conan Edogawa: "?"