Chapter 49 (and Chapter 48): Please come to the police station to pick up your child...

Troubles sprouted up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

Hehe, so delicious :)

While Zhuge Tongzhi watched with trepidation as Morofushi Kagemitsu used his culinary magic to conjure up three dishes and a soup, and ate his dinner with a mixture of pain and happiness, Conan was alone at Professor Agasa's house, facing an enraged Ai Haibara.

"You mean, you went to test the drug on your own without my knowledge?"

Ai Haibara's hand stopped on the laptop keyboard on the table. The girl with short brown hair turned to look at Conan, who was taking half a bottle of liquor out of his bag, and raised her voice unfriendly: "And you can't even tell me where you got this method from?"

"Ah, yes." Conan took out the empty bottle of Lao Bai Gan liquor from his bag and placed it on the table. He took a picture of the bottle with his phone and sent it to Hattori Heiji, worried that the careless guy might have bought Lao Bai Gan from another region.

"After all, it was a request specifically made by the other party." He said, looking down as he typed a pre-arranged code to confirm safety in the chat box with Zhuge Tongzhi. The other party quickly replied with a message of affirmation.

Conan, relieved that the meeting had been abruptly canceled, turned to Ai Haibara, who was frowning, and reassured her, "Don't worry, that person won't betray us."

After revealing their identities to each other, Zhuge Tongzhi asked Conan to keep his identity a secret.

In this complex world, everyone has their own stance and grievances. The more people who know that she is a victim of drug A, the more uncertainty there will be.

Therefore, when unsure of his own identity and stance, Zhuge Tongzhi always carefully maintained the demeanor of a precocious child, neither testing Morofushi Hiromitsu's attitude nor ever thinking of revealing his identity as Kudo Shinichi to Conan.

Her simple yet beautiful wish has always been to survive until she accumulates enough progress points to go home.

But since Alcohol made the decision to let Conan know his true identity, and Conan directly exposed himself via text message, Zhuge Tongzhi, who originally wanted to play dumb, had no choice but to trust the great detective's character.

However, after placing their trust in each other, she lived up to expectations and gained a reliable ally and partner.

But apart from that, she doesn't want any more people to know about it.

Conan understands Zhuge Tongzhi's caution and naturally wouldn't betray his comrade. Faced with Ai Haibara's rather oppressive gaze, he simply ran to the refrigerator to get a drink.

"Ha, Shinichi Kudo." Ai Haibara looked at Conan's retreating figure, avoiding any answer, took a deep breath, and slammed her hand on the computer screen onto the keyboard, her voice trembling uncontrollably: "Do you know how dangerous this is?"

"Use your detective brain, Edogawa. Can anyone who has access to APTX4869 be a good person?" The girl, who came from the Black Organization, clenched her fists. Her bangs cast a shadow in front of her eyes, instantly pulling her into a quagmire from which she could not escape in the brightly lit house.

Conan took a bottle of soda from the refrigerator and, together with Professor Agasa who had noticed Ai Haibara's unusual mood, turned to look at the brown-haired girl who was becoming agitated.

"You think you've confirmed their stance, but in reality, it's just bait to kill us!" she said sharply, jumping off her chair. Her usually calm, icy blue eyes were now tinged with the gray of fear.

Amidst the harsh scraping sound of the high stool being pushed aside, Professor Agasa walked up, waving his hand helplessly, trying to ease Ai Haibara's obviously tense mood, but clearly with little effect.

"I'm sorry, Haibara, but I can't tell you who that person is." Conan pried open the soda can in his hand, took a sip of his drink with a crisp popping sound, and said, "If you trust me, please believe that the other person is on our side."

Moreover, he himself was unwilling to tell Ai Haibara his true identity, even though he might be able to learn about Ai from another member of the organization.

Because Ai Haibara had not shown any unusual reaction to Zhuge Tongzhi before.

Conan speculated that it might be because Alcohol no longer remembered his past in the Black Organization, and therefore no longer displayed the aura unique to members of the organization.

However, Ai Haibara, who left the brewery, relies heavily on this sense of danger. If she knew that a codenamed member who had also taken the A drug had been by her side for a month and knew her identity all along, it would be a huge problem.

So, what would Ai Haibara, who has always had a tendency to give up on herself, think?

I can't tell her.

Conan walked over, sipping his soda, and under Ai Haibara's gaze, pushed the baijiu towards the girl, saying in a deep voice, "Through experiments, we discovered that if you drink baijiu while you have a cold, you can temporarily return to your original appearance."

"It takes about two hours to revert back, but it's unclear whether it depends on individual constitution."

He tapped a few buttons on his phone and sent the memo that Zhuge Tongzhi had written on the return train to Ai Haibara. "The details are all in the document."

After being repeatedly evaded about the issue, Ai Haibara took a deep breath, and under Professor Agasa's worried gaze, picked up her computer from the table and walked straight towards the bedroom.

"Edogawa, I think we both need to calm down." As she brushed past Conan, the girl with short brown hair ended the conversation in a cold tone.

The bedroom door slammed shut, and Professor Agasa, dressed in his pajamas, looked down at Conan, who had downed his soda and was about to leave. He said softly with a hint of helplessness, "Shinichi, this is indeed a difficult thing to accept right away."

"I know, Professor." Conan changed his shoes in the entryway, kicked the ground slightly with the toes of his sneakers to make them fit better, and looked up at the chubby Professor Agasa with a smile.

“But that person is also a partner I trust, and trust is mutual, isn’t it?” As he spoke, he looked at the desktop where Ai Haibara had just placed her computer.

Professor Agasa scratched his thick, bushy mustache and followed Conan's gaze. His already kind voice was filled with affection: "Yes, Ai is just a bit stubborn on the outside but soft on the inside."

"Then I'll head back now, Professor Agasa."

"Okay, be careful on the road, Shinichi."

Watching the elementary school student run back to the Mori Office, Dr. Agasa touched his bald head and went to put the empty glass bottle of baijiu (Chinese liquor) into the cabinet.

The plastic bottle that once held half a bottle of strong liquor is no longer there.

…

The following afternoon, Zhuge Tongzhi knocked on the door of the Mori residence.

A girl carrying a backpack full of calcium and vitamin D supplements stood at the door, listening to her guardian sincerely express his gratitude and apology to Kogoro Mouri and Ran Mouri behind her, while giving Conan inside the door a deadpan look.

Conan controlled his expression, adopting the look of a curious child as he looked at the rarely seen Midorikawa Hikaru, as if he were addressing a classmate's parent.

"Okay, I'll definitely take good care of Kiri-chan when I have some free time now." Midorikawa Hikaru smiled, his blue-gray puppy eyes crinkling, his little braid swaying as he bowed slightly, sincerely responding to Kogoro Mouri's teasing.

After expressing his views from a father's perspective, Kogoro Mouri waved his hand and said nothing more when he saw that the other party had taken it seriously. Ran Mouri, however, asked about the other party's studies with concern.

Hikaru Midorikawa gave a wry smile, explaining that his advisor had high standards and demanded a lot from him in terms of practical research, which was why he had only been able to find the time to do so now.

"If Mr. Midorikawa is too busy, why don't you let Kiri-chan come and stay here when you have some free time?" the kind and lovely girl immediately suggested.

"After all, she and Conan are good friends." Ran Mouri had been paying close attention to this girl who lived alone in Tokyo. After saying that, she turned to Conan beside her and said, "Right, Conan?"

"Ah, yes." Conan, who was suddenly called out, met Midorikawa Hikaru's gaze. He couldn't help but notice the probing look in those gentle eyes, so he subconsciously raised his voice and laughed, "Zhuge is a member of the Junior Detective League."

"That would be too much trouble for you, Miss Mori." Midorikawa Hikaru looked at the girl in front of him who was waving her hands and saying no, and smiled slightly. "I have been bothering you a lot these past few days, but I am indeed limited in my abilities. Even if I make a guarantee now, I am afraid I will still have to trouble you in the future."

"How about this, I hope to make up for the child support payment." A pleasant male voice rang out in the apartment building corridor. Even though the speaker's face could not be seen, one could hear the apology and sincerity in his voice.

“No need for that, Mr. Midorikawa…” Ran Mouri was only halfway through refusing when Kogoro Mouri, who had rushed over from the side, interrupted her, laughing loudly, “Oh dear, having a child at home makes you more experienced in taking care of kids, hahahaha.”

"Wait a minute, old man, that's not what you said when you wanted to kick me home." Conan thought to himself as he watched Kogoro Mouri laughing so hard his throat was almost visible. "If it weren't for my mom giving me a huge sum of money to support me, I wouldn't be able to stay here."

Standing between the two adults, Zhuge Tongzhi tightened his grip on the backpack straps. After listening to Zhu Fujingguang announce a considerable sum, he silently converted it into RMB in his mind and then gasped.

Oh no, I hope I don't have to pay this money back.

"Well then, I'll head to school first, Kiri-chan. I'll come pick you up when I leave." With a few words, Morofushi Kagemitsu settled things with Kogoro Mouri. He then put his hands on his legs, bent over, and looked at the short-haired girl who was obediently wearing a medical shoulder brace.

"Okay, Xiao Guang, keep it up!" Zhuge Tongzhi raised his clenched fist and encouraged his guardian in a sweet voice.

Please focus your energy on interrogating the Irish pub!

A police officer who doesn't work more than three jobs at the same time isn't a good police officer. I don't have to go home tonight, since I just paid the child support fees anyway.

Suddenly, Zhuge Tongzhi, who had developed a strong liking for sleeping on the floor, prayed in his heart. After being patted on the head by Morofushi Kagemitsu, he was led into the detective agency by Mouri Ran.

Kogoro Mouri wanted to watch TV here, so the two kids who had agreed to do their homework together went upstairs to their bedroom.

But this was definitely not a convenient place to talk. After frantically typing on their phones for a while, the two of them made an excuse to go to the library to look up information and stepped out of the office amidst Ran Mouri's instructions and the sound of a TV variety show playing on the loudspeaker.

After going down to the first floor, Zhuge Tongzhi pulled Conan around the side of Poirot Cafe that never went past it, and only breathed a slight sigh of relief after turning a corner.

"Are you alright, Zhuge?" Conan walked beside the girl with his backpack, watching her frantically rub her short hair, and asked with some concern, "Did that Midorikawa Hikaru threaten you?"

"No, I even had breakfast today." Zhuge Tongzhi took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, answering weakly, "But he seems to still be playing the adoption game with me. I'll just keep playing along for now."

Two elementary school students stood by the bus stop for a while, and then nimbly jumped on the bus after it stopped—they were indeed going to the library, but not to do their elementary school homework, but to borrow the computers there.

"He's an undercover agent for the Public Security Bureau, isn't he?" Conan brought up the incident when Zhuge Tongzhi suddenly dragged a strange man into the inner area of ​​the jewelry exhibition, and said with certainty, "That artist was him, wasn't he?"

"Hmm." Zhuge Tongzhi muttered noncommittally. She didn't know whether Zhu Fujingguang had regained his police identity, but she had indeed led the person into the inner area according to O's instructions.

The girl shrugged and replied, "We don't know Ireland's objectives, but he certainly does, and there's no harm in bringing him in."

The library wasn't far away, and the bus arrived at the station soon. The two children jumped off the bus and onto the platform, heading towards the Mihana Library right in front of them.

"Still can't you tell me his identity?" Conan asked persistently, following behind the girl who hadn't directly answered the question about his identity.

“There’s a lack of opportunity, Great Detective.” Zhuge Tongzhi shook his finger, firmly rejecting his question. “You should try to find out the truth yourself first.”

"First, perhaps you could start by investigating the FBI."

Before testing a police officer who acts with principles but whose actions are somewhat ambiguous, it's best to have your own trump cards up your sleeve, such as getting in touch with a black rye who also defected from the organization after his identity was exposed.

"I remember you said your aunt and uncle are in America right now, and you even asked if you wanted to join the witness protection program... right?" As she spoke, Zhuge Tongzhi noticed a slightly strange look on Conan's face, and her voice suddenly became hesitant, "What's wrong?"

“No, actually, something happened during the week you were unconscious.” Conan swiped his reader card at the entrance and led Zhuge Tongzhi to a more secluded corner of the children's reading area. “We got on a bus, and on the bus…”

Zhuge Tongzhi hid his face behind a huge children's book, listening to Conan's soft narration, his eyes widening more and more.

"So you not only know Shuichi Akai, but you've also helped him fake his death in front of Gin?" The black-haired girl's voice rose uncontrollably, then she managed to lower it again amidst Conan's desperate gesturing for her to be quiet. She said in a soft but urgent voice, "Then you already know who Rena Mizunashi is?"

“My CIA mole in the Black Organization is codenamed Kir,” Conan nodded in acknowledgment. “However, they also required me to keep my identity a secret, which is why I haven’t told you before.”

Now that Zhuge Tongzhi has given away the clues, Conan, who knows the inside story, has realized that she knows Laiyijiu's identity, so there is no need to keep it a secret anymore.

So, in the short week since I went offline, you've already connected with the FBI and CIA, made contact with that big silver bullet, and invited it to stay at the Kudo residence?

"Your speed in gathering intelligence is indeed as fast as a bullet, Conan." Zhuge Tongzhi looked at the incredibly efficient boy before him with awe.

She thought for a moment, then asked, "Did you tell Ray about the clue you found? Didn't he tell you anything?"

“I didn’t mention your situation.” Conan shook his head. “I did consult Mr. Akai about other things I had doubts about.” For example, the time when Ai Haibara sensed the organization’s presence outside Zhuge’s hospital room.

Because there were indeed two bottles of wine in the room that day. Zhuge Tongzhi recalled the scene Noah's Ark had described to him, fiddled with the book cover in his hand, and said, "What did he say?"

“Mr. Akai didn’t say anything. He had to go back to the United States to handle some things and only recently returned to Japan,” Conan said, shrugging as he looked through his contact records with Shuichi Akai.

"Ah." Hearing Conan mention another day when he hadn't gotten any information, Zhuge Tongzhi twitched his lips and said in a salty tone, "As expected, he's a true red team."

We've been lying to each other every day.

All you riddle tellers, get out of Beika Town!

“In that case, I can give you a clue.” Determined not to let the police fall behind in joining Director Ke’s team, Zhuge Tongzhi watched as the girl slammed the book shut, her bangs blowing aside in the wind, and held up a finger, saying, “My guardian…”

The words had barely left his mouth when a sharp scream pierced the cheerful clamor of the children's reading area—

Someone's dead!!

Conan, standing beside him, jumped up abruptly, flipped himself over the sofa by pushing off with one hand against the back of the sofa, and quickly rushed towards the crowd, shouting in a clear, childlike voice, "Protect the scene!"

"Zhuge! Call the police immediately!"

"New route detected. We have automatically planned a path for you based on your travel direction."

"Next Stop: Revenge in the Library (In Progress)"

Zhuge Tongzhi, still raising his finger to create a mysterious atmosphere: ...

"Zhuge!"

"Hey—hey! I'm coming right now!" The short-haired girl helplessly threw the picture book with its whimsical illustrations onto the carpet, flipped over the brightly colored sofa with one hand, ran through the crowd towards Conan, and quickly pulled out her phone with the other to dial the police number for the First Investigation Division that she had saved beforehand.

"Moshi moshi, this is Zhuge Tongzhi, who is here to report a crime. A murder has occurred at the Mihua Library."

“Okay… The specific location is the children’s reading area in section C on the first floor.” Zhuge Tongzhi looked at Conan, who had begun to carefully examine the appearance of the deceased, and said to Date Wataru through the microphone, “…Yes, Officer Date, I’ll go tell the manager.”

The short-haired girl ran like the wind to the main management desk on the first floor, handed her phone (which was still on a call) to the administrator who was completely flustered by the sudden incident, and waited for Date Wataru to use his authority remotely to arrange the sealing off of the scene. People related to the case were quickly gathered together, and Conan began to sweetly coax information out of them one by one.

Zhuge Tongzhi leaned against the counter, listening to Ida Hang's convincingly mature voice coming from the phone. His obsidian-like bright eyes darted around as he recalled the video he had sent the night before.

Hmm... I wonder if I received it successfully.

With Morofushi Hiromitsu keeping a close eye on her, she couldn't just go to the police station for no reason. But luckily, she was always looking for cases with Conan, so today was a good opportunity to visit the First Investigative Division.

The girl took the phone from the administrator, jumped back to the ground, and ran towards the center of the crowd. The blue and white navigation box in the center of her vision was updating simultaneously, with the arrow pointing to the deceased's handbag.

"Turn right in 3.2 meters ahead; the target is below and to your side."

Solve the case quickly, and hopefully ask a few more questions before Morofushi Kagemitsu arrives.

Zhuge Tongzhi, no longer bothered by pretense in front of Conan, was making plans in his mind and headed straight for the deceased's handbag. A blue and white arrow flashed, pointing to the mineral water inside.

She put on the disposable rubber gloves she got from the cleaning lady, and she and Conan simultaneously reached out in that direction.

Although the body has shrunk, the mind remains sharp.

Any problem can be solved —

There's only one truth!

…

Evening, outside Poirot Cafe.

After ordering food and secretly exchanging information with Furuya Rei, Morofushi Hiromitsu, carrying the dessert in his hand, left the restaurant and turned to walk up the stairs to the second floor, where the Mouri Detective Agency was located.

Shortly after ringing the doorbell, Ran Mouri, holding her phone, opened the door. Seeing Hikaru Midorikawa standing there, she quickly realized that he had come to pick up his child.

However, the two children went to the library to look up information and haven't returned yet. Ran Mouri was just about to call Conan to ask when there was a knock on the door.

Hikaru Midorikawa smiled and handed over the dessert as a token of his gratitude, while Ran Mouri held up her phone to show her contacts. Just as they were about to explain themselves, two ringtones sounded simultaneously in the narrow hallway.

Ran Mouri's phone screen redirected to a call from Miwako Sato, and the same thing happened to the phone that Hiromitsu Morofushi took out of his pocket. The man stared at the caller ID, Wataru Date, for a moment in silence.

"I was wondering why Conan hadn't come back so late." Upon receiving the call from the First Investigation Division, Ran Mouri breathed a sigh of relief as if she had just realized something. She explained to the clueless Hikaru Midorikawa, "The two of them couldn't stay at home, so they went to the library to study. Oh, they ran into a case."

"Hmm..." Morofushi Hiromitsu glanced at the girl in front of him who had already quickly started communicating with Sato Miwako, pressed the call button and answered. Date Wataru's rough voice, with a slight static, came from the phone, and he spoke politely and courteously.

"Hello, is this Mr. Midorikawa? Your son, Zhuge Tongzhi, is currently giving a statement at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department."

"Since the child is still a minor, if you have time, please come and pick him up now. The Metropolitan Police Department's address is xxx."

“…Okay, Officer, I’m coming right now.” Morofushi Kagemitsu hung up the phone, handed one of the two desserts to Mouri Ran, and said with a wry smile, “Miss Mouri, please put this in the refrigerator first.”

"It looks like we'll have to go to the Metropolitan Police Department together."

-----------------------

Author's Note: Ai Haibara after returning to her room: Deep breath (Damn it, I'm still so annoyed)

P.S. Ai-chan is really amazing for being able to manually concoct an antidote with zero data and zero equipment.

…

As is well known, there are two types of graduate students at the University of Tokyo:

So busy that I can't get in touch with them for days

A person who stays at home every day stewing beef

…

Congratulations to Hiro Dana on his upcoming arrival of an FBI agent! (Applause)

Actually, Lyle has a pretty good relationship with Scotland; Bourbon disliked Lyle from the start, haha.

…

Thank you for the landmines and irrigation OuO

I'll try my best to update tomorrow!

Mwah