Chapter 61 Silver Bullet

As night fell, Conan suddenly came to Ai's room.

"Is there something you need?" Ai asked, noticing Conan's hesitation and a hint of doubt in her eyes.

"Haibara, is there any progress in the research about that matter? Ah, I mean, why did your body return to normal?" Conan asked cautiously.

Because Ai strictly followed Hikaru's orders and never revealed the antidote for APTX4869 to Conan, the young detective is still in the dark and foolishly believes that it was just an accident.

Ai sighed softly, "The situation was too complicated at the time. Not to mention that external environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and air pressure at the fire scene are difficult to simulate, even my own physical condition of having a fever all day was very uncontrollable. Therefore, it would be difficult to provide strong evidence by conducting experiments on mice. I am considering conducting experiments through other means."

Conan didn't understand the intricacies, but upon hearing the words "other methods," he volunteered, "If we're short of test subjects, we can use me! I don't mind at all!"

Ai rolled her eyes in exasperation: "What nonsense are you spouting? I'm not some crazy scientist who conducts unauthorized human experiments! That's dangerous; you could lose your life in a heartbeat!"

"I know you're not that kind of person, Haibara, but now that we have a chance, we should seize it, shouldn't we?" Conan pleaded.

Ai replied with her usual dismissive response: "I'll let you know as soon as there's any progress in the experiment."

"Then... there's nothing I can do to help?"

"Just don't cause me any trouble."

After saying that, Ai wanted to see the guest out, but Conan refused to leave.

Ai frowned and asked, "Why are you in such a hurry to recover your body? What if the organization finds out? Or did you see that friend from Osaka successfully confess her feelings, and now you want to confess too?"

Conan blushed instantly and vehemently denied it: "How could that be? I'm not a love-struck fool like Heiji!"

"Then you should stop interfering in this matter," Ai said firmly.

Seeing that Ai was about to see the guests off again, Conan asked, "Wait a minute, I have an even more important question to ask! Do you know Wakasa Rumi?"

Ai asked with a surprised expression, "Why would you think that?"

"Because I noticed that the woman looked at you unusually during the day, and didn't you tell me you sensed the organization's presence?"

"It was just a fleeting glimpse, maybe it was just my imagination. After all, I've been away from there for several months. Do you suspect she's part of the organization?" Ai asked nervously.

"Although Amuro said he didn't know her, I still think that woman is very suspicious. She usually stays in her room and doesn't come out. I don't know what she's secretly doing behind my back."

"Okay, thanks for the reminder. I'll be careful." Ai looked up at the other person and asked, "Any other questions?"

Conan scratched his head and tentatively asked, "Actually, about APTX4869..."

Ai sighed inwardly, then interrupted angrily, "I told you I would do the experiment as soon as possible!"

"No, no, no, Haibara, you've misunderstood. I'm not asking about the antidote, I'm asking about the poison," Conan hurriedly explained.

"Huh? Why are you asking this?"

"I just want to know how the drug that turned my body into this state was made! And also to learn about the latest medical research." Conan adopted a humble and eager-to-learn attitude.

Xiao Ai shook her head helplessly and first asked a question: "How much do you know about regenerative medicine?"

"Huh?" This question touched on a blind spot in the little detective's knowledge.

“Alright, I’ll explain it to you in the simplest terms possible.” Ai said with the patience of a kindergarten teacher teaching a child, “Simply put, APTX4869 is based on my parents’ previous research. It’s a technology that can induce ordinary somatic cells to become pluripotent stem cells. My mother calls it: the silver bullet.”

Conan nodded as if he understood, then suddenly remembered something and asked, "I think I remember now! Wasn't there a Nobel Prize-winning study on this topic?"

Xiao Ai nodded with satisfaction: "That's right, that's a breakthrough in regenerative medicine. In the past, stem cell cultivation could only rely on embryos, but this research shows that the body's own mature somatic cells can also be reversed into pluripotent stem cells, and these stem cells can then be used to differentiate into various other cell tissues. This provides an ideal treatment option for diseases such as diabetes, leukemia, and cancer. Patients can be cured simply by undergoing autologous cell transplantation, without experiencing the rejection reaction that occurs with allogeneic transplantation."

"diabetes?"

"Yes, if we can cultivate mature pancreatic islet cells and then perform autologous transplantation, the cure for diabetes will be much simpler."

"Diabetes can cause blindness, right?"

"Well, diabetes has many complications, and retinopathy is the most common one. Why are you asking about this?" Xiao Ai looked at the other person strangely.

"N-nothing, please continue."

"However, the research that won the Nobel Prize was not without its flaws. The main problem was that although it was feasible to induce somatic cells to become stem cells, the actual operation was quite complex and cumbersome, and these stem cells also had the risk of becoming cancerous."

"So this is the problem your parents want to solve?"

"Yes, in the tape my mother gave me, she said that their research had made great progress. But the results were questioned by the academic community."

Why?

“Because his colleagues couldn’t replicate their experiments, many people accused my father of falsifying his experimental data. As a result, my father was ostracized and kicked out of his original research institute, and suffered a lot of unwarranted accusations.” Xiao Ai’s tone became heavy. “For scientists, academic reputation is their academic life. Once their reputation is ruined, their academic career is over.”

"Was it at this time that the organization extended an olive branch to your parents?"

"Mom didn't go into details, but I think that's probably true. However, Mom and Dad's expectations were quickly dashed. They discovered that the organization didn't care about their research findings and instead wanted to do something completely anti-scientific."

"For example, immortality, or bringing the dead back to life?"

Ai smiled dismissively and said, "I really don't know how anyone in the 21st century could still have such unrealistic and fanciful ideas!"

"But human cells all originate from embryonic stem cells, right? If this process can be reversed, why can't aging or death be reversed?"

Ai sighed helplessly, "It seems you really lack medical knowledge. 'Reversal' at the cellular level is completely incomparable to the entire human body. APTX4869 is, frankly, a byproduct of experiments stimulating stem cell production. It's unacceptable both ethically and theoretically."

"Because human cells have a limited number of divisions and a limited lifespan. More importantly, as time goes by, the coordination between cells will deteriorate, and the vast system on which humans depend for life will inevitably collapse. This process is irreversible."

"Modern medicine can at most extend lifespan and cure patients. Anti-aging measures such as limiting telomere shortening are ultimately only treating the symptoms, not the root cause. Humans have evolved to this point, and biologically, they simply do not possess the conditions for immortality. Even if you take cnidarians like the green hydra and the immortal jellyfish as examples, they are not truly immortal; once their bodies suffer irreparable damage, they cannot repair themselves. Therefore, death is the inescapable fate of carbon-based organisms living in three-dimensional space."

Conan was somewhat shocked after listening to this long speech. He asked curiously, "As a scientist researching regenerative medicine, haven't you ever thought about this?"

"It's precisely because this is my profession that I cannot accept such foolish ideas from others who disregard the facts! If it were truly possible to manipulate other people's lives at will and bring them back to life, then humanity would ultimately lose its reverence for life, turning death, the most solemn farewell, into something as casual as a game." Ai answered firmly, her expression suddenly softening. "Of course I hope Mom and Dad can come back. But I know it's impossible, so instead of hoping for a resurrection, I'd rather think about another heaven, where we will meet again."

"Yes, I definitely will!"

Ai glanced at Conan indifferently and asked, "Why don't you ask me anything else?"

Conan hesitated for a moment, then asked tentatively, "Haibara, you were very young when your parents passed away, weren't you?"

"Are you asking why Mom and Dad were so heartless as to choose suicide, leaving me and my sister behind?"

"Oh, well, I didn't mean any harm. I was just curious why you didn't have to answer. I understand things about faith and ideals..."

Ai said, "Actually, Mom entrusted us to someone she could trust. Mom and Dad wanted to use their deaths to give us a chance to be free, but they failed in the end."

Conan asked in shock, "Who is that person?"

"I was too young at the time and have no memory of it at all, but my sister said that she was a gentle and quiet woman who would play shogi with her. I think her name was Yayoi. Although she looked kind, she was actually very skilled. My sister was very impressed by the time she kicked a bad guy unconscious."

"Is that woman part of the organization?"

"Probably, otherwise I wouldn't have had the chance to take care of my sister."

What happened to her after that?

"It's said he's dead."

Are you sure?

"I've only heard about it, but my sister hasn't seen her since then, so I think it must be true."

Conan, lost in thought, asked, "Haibara, the Haneda Koji case hadn't happened when your parents passed away, right?"

"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I was just asking casually..." The little detective's skills in feigning madness were becoming increasingly refined.

"You don't have any other questions, do you?" Xiao Ai gave the other person a resentful look.

"Actually, there's one more, the very last one!"

"Okay, tell me quickly."

"What if I were in the same situation as you were when you were abducted, and my body was out of control?" Conan asked seriously, realizing that Ai's lie was working and he was already starting to plan ahead.

Ai looked at him meaningfully and said, "Edogawa, if you honestly don't go looking for trouble, the probability of encountering that kind of thing is extremely low."

However, Ai's words proved to be prophetic.

If Shinichi Kudo provides a textbook example of how "if you don't court death, you won't die"—then Conan Edogawa would certainly be on the best list.