Chapter 58 Undercurrents

"Jingguang, Ling, I've come to tell you something," Gao Ming said solemnly as he sat down and looked at the two small animals.

Jingguang and Ling also suddenly tensed up, which contrasted sharply with their clothing, further amplifying the sense of incongruity.

Gao Ming had to force himself to look directly into his younger brother's eyes, trying hard not to notice the little ears on the hood of the onesie and the fluffy little tail behind them that always moved around unconsciously.

"Brother, has something happened to those trafficked children?"

“Jingguang, you’re overthinking it. Those children have been rescued and are just waiting for their biological parents to claim them so they can go home.”

Jingguang nodded in relief, and seeing Ling's slightly confused expression, explained, "Ling, Octopus committed multiple crimes in various places this time. We found his communication records with his accomplices on the snow mountain, and following the clues, we intercepted the cargo ship carrying the children out of the port. They were all rescued. Yangsheng has also gone home with the squad leader."

"I see, that's great!" Zero exclaimed with relief, then asked after a moment's thought, "Brother Gaoming, is what you're telling us related to Maruyama Ken's possession of a gun?"

“That’s exactly why I’m here,” Gao Ming said calmly after regaining his composure. “According to our investigation, the gun came from stolen goods previously seized by the Nagano police.”

"It came from the Metropolitan Police Department?!" Kagemitsu and Zero exclaimed simultaneously.

Gao Ming nodded heavily and continued, "Yes, I was also very surprised at first. I never expected such a thing to happen. However, Manager Kuroda told me that there used to be a huge weapons trading platform in Nagano that was responsible for purchasing weapons and equipment from various channels and then reselling them to other criminals. The platform would earn the difference in price and service fees. This platform was called the Woodpecker Society."

“But I remember the woodpecker society was wiped out many years ago?” Jingguang asked.

"The remnants have not been eliminated, and the embers have been rekindled," Gao Ming replied.

"Brother Gaoming, does this Woodpecker have influence within the Metropolitan Police Department?"

“We’ve discovered that the Takeda Group appears to be involved in gun smuggling, but we don’t have concrete evidence yet. So we can’t act rashly and alert them. I will continue to investigate this case with Superintendent Kuroda, and I will inform you both of any progress.”

"Then I'll leave it to you, brother! Are you hungry, brother? Do you want me to make you dinner?" Jingguang asked, mustering his courage. Although they were brothers, Gaoming had never tasted his younger brother's cooking because they hadn't seen each other for many years.

"Brother Gaoming, Jing's cooking is especially delicious! You definitely can't miss it!" Ling also tried her best to save face for her childhood friend.

Gao Ming was somewhat tempted, so he replied, "Then let's have spaghetti!"

Jingguang rolled up his sleeves, put on his apron, and went to the kitchen to cook.

Ling and Gao Ming were left speechless for a moment.

Finally, Gao Ming broke the deadlock, sincerely saying, "Thank you, Zero-kun."

"Huh? What are you saying?"

"I think you understand what I mean. I am grateful for your care over the years."

“Brother Gaoming, you’re mistaken. It should be Jing who has taken better care of me,” Ling replied earnestly. “Actually, there’s no need for thanks. We’ve always been good friends. We support and help each other. If two people walk together, they can make even the longest and most difficult journey possible. Brother Gaoming, please rest assured, we’re both doing very well.”

A moment later, Jingguang came over with his spaghetti, which was crucial to his reputation, and was surprised to see his brother and Ling chatting and laughing.

He lowered his head and cautiously glanced at his brother, carefully observing the other's facial expression, his heart pounding with nervousness!

Finally, after receiving high praise from his brother, Jingguang was able to relax.

After dinner, the cats and dogs went back to their beds to whisper secrets.

"Jing, when did Chief Administrator Kuroda find out you were alive? He must have known, right?" Zero asked abruptly as soon as he entered the bedroom.

He had kept it a secret for the past three years, but it was exposed at this point.

"Zero, isn't Kuroda a trustworthy person? You don't need to overreact like this."

“It’s not that I don’t trust him, but last time, Administrator Kuroda was transferred from Tokyo to Nagano because he advocated a thorough investigation into the mastermind behind the online rumors about the bombing. Doesn’t that mean the mole has already set his sights on him and can’t wait to make a move? It would be very dangerous if it were discovered that he was in contact with you or your brother at this time!”

"Regarding this, Supervisor Kuroda has his own thoughts. He requested the transfer voluntarily, and it wasn't entirely due to colleagues ostracizing him," Jingguang said with a smile. "As for how Supervisor Kuroda discovered me, it was quite a coincidence: because he heard Conan say that he had met someone who looked a lot like his brother, he guessed that it might be me. Supervisor Kuroda was on the helicopter that came to rescue us, and he understood everything as soon as he saw me."

"It's that little detective again!" Zero said irritably. "But why is Supervisor Kuroda coming to Nagano?"

"Because he had a premonition that the bombing notice's implication of the Winter Olympics might be sending some kind of signal, and perhaps that was their real target."

Ling lowered his head and remained silent, lost in thought.

Jingguang continued, "Speaking of which, I've also made some discoveries these past two days. I carefully read through Octopus's communications with his accomplices and found something very interesting: their most frequently used language is neither Japanese nor English, but Spanish. Also, according to Ai, Octopus received a phone call at the end, which sounded like it was in Spanish, but she didn't quite understand it; it might be some kind of dialect."

"Spanish? Are all the prisoners Hispanic?" Zero recalled the octopus's appearance; it certainly didn't look Asian.

"According to the police investigation, the prisoners on that ship were all from Latin American countries. I also discovered that the person 'receiving' the goods from Octopus was a man named Apu, who also seems to have another name: Mai-Tai. Has Zero heard of this person within the organization?"

"This name sounds so exotic! Jing suspects that this cocktail called Maitai is also part of the organization?" The dog tilted its head and started thinking. Jing Guang suppressed the urge to put the hat on the other dog.

“I’ve never heard of this person!” Zero finally replied.

"Ah, alright then, Ai doesn't know either... It seems we can only take the most direct approach."

"What does Jing want to do?"

The cat squinted, revealing a cunning look, and said, "The others don't know that the octopus is dead yet."

Zero nodded knowingly and said, "Then we need to learn a new language quickly!"

"Oh, right, there's one more thing. Although Ai has never heard of Mai Tai, she knows about Numabuchi Kiichiro."

"Numabuchi Kiichiro? The driver who caused the accident that killed Chiki Ryo-senpai?"

“That’s right! Ai said she remembered seeing Numabuchi’s file in the organization. He was initially trained as a member of the Whiskey Reserve Team. However, he failed the assessment and was dropped and thrown into the bio-lab for human experimentation. Numabuchi tried to escape but was caught and brought back. The organization later conducted mind control experiments on him. I think that car accident was instructed by the organization to be done by him.”

"Jing, does this mean that the question that has troubled us for many years has been answered? I never thought that a member who was eliminated from the reserve team would end up in such a miserable state."

"Yes, it seems the organization won't stop until they've squeezed every last bit of value out of them. Luckily, we weren't eliminated."

Unlike Sherry, who is born with a liquor license, or Pisco, who gains an early advantage through investment, ordinary people today need to go through rigorous screening processes to get a job at Karasuma Sake Brewery.

The first step is initial screening, which mainly examines the physical and mental qualities of candidates. Only those who are in good physical health, physically strong, and free from mental illness can advance to the next stage and become part of the reserve team.

Based on gender, the men who passed the initial screening were assigned to the Whiskey team, while the women were assigned to the Champagne team.

Because Amuro Tooru and Yuikawa Hikaru joined the organization around the same time, they both became members of the Whiskey 7th Squad, with the numbers W7-331953 and W7-331968 respectively.

However, if they want to upgrade this series of numbers to the code names "Bourbon" and "Scotland", they will have to face the second stage of the preliminary selection.

The preliminary selection primarily assesses whether candidates are capable of performing the tasks assigned by the organization. The whiskey and champagne candidates need to undergo training, perform tasks in simulated real-world environments, and finally deliver their results in a real-world setting.

Only members who pass this stage of the assessment can retain their membership in the liquor industry, and only a few outstanding individuals will have the opportunity to receive a code name, while the others will remain just a string of numbers.

Kagemitsu and Rei never knew where those who failed in both stages went, but now, after hearing about Numabuchi Kiichiro's experience, they finally understood.

"The good news is that we have further confirmed the organization's connections with the Ministry of Public Security. The bad news is that the organization is doing all the dirty work, making it much more difficult to obtain conclusive evidence of the crimes," Zero concluded.

"That's true. Now we can only pin our hopes on Kazami and Kawahata."

"How are they?"

"Kazami is under house arrest, and Kawabata has been locked up. As you requested, they were arguing amongst themselves during separate interrogations, and then changed their stories during joint interrogations. The investigation is progressing slowly, with no progress for a long time. There are a lot of underhanded tactics by the Ministry of Public Security, and everyone is on edge. It's still hard to say who our biggest target is. What are Zero's plans for the next step?"

"Same plan as before, no action. Let them speculate. It would be best if they were betrayed by one of their own. I want to see what kind of trouble they can cause at the Winter Olympics."

"There's another very thorny problem right now: what should we do about Shirley?"

Zero replied with an air of certainty, "Since Sherry is here, then we will settle things here as well."