·117｜Exclusive from Jinjiang·117

Gin sends you its warmest greetings.

Amuro Tooru was dressed in a formal suit, with a dark gray vest. He stood under the light, gently swirling the metal cocktail glass in his hand.

The blue wine was poured into a stemmed glass, and he smiled at the woman in front of him, saying, "Excuse me, I'll take my leave now."

Amuro Tooru turned and left, walking along the staff passage into the stairwell.

This is a medium-displacement passenger cruise ship, where Gin will be conducting a transaction tonight. Amuro Tooru's mission is to investigate a member of parliament on board and then compile the information to hand over to Rum.

But Amuro Tooru had other plans.

He hid in the darkness, pulled a little dumpling he had borrowed from Kenji Hagiwara from his bulging pocket, and placed it on the ground: "Yomi, I'm counting on you from now on."

The little dog shook its head and let out a very soft "woof".

The door opened, and Gin and Vodka were about to leave the room when Amuro Tooru rushed forward and blocked Gin at the doorway.

The silver-haired man's expression darkened after he saw Amuro Tooru's face clearly—he disliked Vermouth and Bourbon, those two mysterious guys.

"Get out of the way."

"Oh dear, Gin is really ruthless."

Amuro Tooru smiled dangerously, stopping Gin and circling around him. Behind Gin, a small, white, fluffy creature, no bigger than his leather shoes, nimbly slipped into the room through the crack in the door.

Seeing that Hagiwara Yomi had successfully infiltrated, Amuro Tooru made a few more perfunctory remarks, gave a provocative smile, and turned to leave.

After Amuro Tooru walked away, he took out his phone and sent a message to Yomi in the room: "How's the situation?"

"Don't worry, it'll be fine!"

In two years, Hagiwara Yomi had mastered the art of switching between her baby form and her human form. A short while after Gin left, she transformed back into her human form and began rummaging through his room.

Since mastering this skill, Hagiwara Yomi has become the perfect candidate to assist Amuro Tooru in stealing information.

Just like Conan, who takes advantage of being a child, pretends to be innocent and cute, and openly extracts the information he wants from adults.

No one would doubt a baby who looks like it has just been weaned; they would only worry that the little guy might spit up milk if he ran around a bit.

The most egregious instance involved Amuro Tooru attempting to copy data from a software engineer's computer, but he didn't know the unlock password. Following his usual modus operandi, he would first gather information about the engineer, then find an opportunity to tamper with their room or computer to obtain or deduce the password.

Just like when he deals with Kogoro Mouri in the future.

This time, however, the puppy-like Huang Quan, with its short legs, rubbed against the software engineer's legs and acted cute, getting picked up and cuddled. A few minutes later, Huang Quan sat openly on the desk, watching the man enter the password into the computer, and even ate all of his jerky.

"The password is... three vouchers for the Mihua Dessert Shop buffet, and you're not allowed to tell the second-year graduate student that I turned into a dog and acted cute towards other people, or I'll never help you again."

Amuro Tooru shook Yomi's hand:

--"make a deal."

Moreover, Huangquan Puppy has another advantage: she can freely enter secret rooms and passages that are inaccessible to humans.

From then on, whenever Amuro Tooru encountered a particularly difficult intelligence-stealing task, he would run to the Hagiwara family's window, grab the Yomi puppy, and run away.

Kenji Hagiwara has gotten used to receiving text messages from his wife on his way to work that say, "I'm off to save the world, remember to miss me~".

Regarding his wife's constant sudden departures, Kenji Hagiwara has only one request: the soft bread must be returned safely.

Therefore, in this operation, Amuro Tooru decisively rushed to the Hagiwara residence and retrieved Yomi.

The fluffy little dumpling searched the room for a full half hour before Gin and the others finally returned.

As they approached the room door, Vodka instinctively stepped forward and opened the door for Gin: "Brother, look at how happy he is, he doesn't know he's about to die."

Gin chuckled coldly a few times, but said nothing.

Just as Gin entered the room, and Vodka followed him in, a little ball of fluff emerged from under Vodka's feet, nestled against the corner of the wall.

She ran a short distance before a man's hand scooped her up from the ground.

Amuro Tooru led her into the staff break room, locked the door behind him, and placed the puppy Yomi on the sofa: "Yomi, what did you find in Gin's room?"

The woman, who had suddenly transformed from a dog into a human, sat on the sofa and pulled her phone out of her pocket: "I didn't find much useful information, but I took pictures of it all."

Hagiwara Yomi was unfamiliar with the organization's internal workings and not good at deduction, so she was completely confused by the content captured on the phone. After handing the phone to Amuro Tooru, she rested her chin on her hands and looked up at the television news hanging in the corner.

The Nikko TV news program has a new, beautiful female host named Rena Mizunashi. She smiles gently and broadcasts news that Yomi finds insignificant.

Tokyo has its quiet moments, though. Compared to the daily news of another murder case in a certain area being solved by the police, today's news was surprisingly bland. For example, the aquarium in Beika District, which had been open for ten years, officially closed down, and the animals inside were either sent away or released back into the wild.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan tilted her head, feeling that the name of this closed aquarium sounded strangely familiar, as if she had been there before.

After sending the photos to his email one by one, Amuro Tooru patted Yomi's head and said, "Go have fun. I'll come find you when we're almost ashore and then I'll take you down."

To evade detection, Amuro always had Yomi be led into the places he needed to investigate in the form of a dog.

For example, on this cruise ship, Amuro Tooru registered with a ticket, while Yomi, being smaller, simply sneaked in. Even if something unexpected happened during the mission, Gin wouldn't be able to find Yomi's name on the registration list.

Hagiwara Yomi has completed her mission. Now she just needs to wait for the ship to reach the shore so that she can transform back into a puppy, be put in a bag by Amuro Tooru, and be taken off the ship. In the meantime, she can move around freely and play on the ship.

Having received Amuro Tooru's permission, Hagiwara Yomi grabbed her bag and ran off. This cruise ship wasn't the largest, but everyone on board was wealthy, and the food and amenities were top-notch.

Having come all this way, Hagiwara Yomi was determined to enjoy herself to the fullest, especially the food.

But Hagiwara Yomi never imagined that she would witness Gin committing murder.

Bathed in the glow of the lights, the corridor, adorned with a red carpet and exquisite decorations, was resplendent in gold. Hagiwara Yomi wandered around aimlessly with her hands behind her back, only to find herself lost.

As she was about to turn around and go back the way she came, she caught a glimpse of a familiar dark figure as she passed the ballast water tank.

The obese man sat on the ground, trembling uncontrollably. He crawled backward, supporting himself with his hands on the floor, pleading, "Please, please, don't kill me."

Gin gripped his gun, pointed it at the man, and grinned as he pressed the safety latch.

Hiding in the shadows, Yomi Hagiwara held up her phone and secretly pressed the shutter button before attempting to escape—thanks to Tooru Amuro's help in getting her to have a silent phone with shooting capabilities comparable to a DSLR camera in Japan, a country where shutter sound is mandatory.

She put her phone in her pocket, crouched down, and tiptoed, ready to escape.

She had to escape before Gin fired, because...

"Bang--"

The gunshot rang out, but stopped abruptly like a dud.

The moment Gin fired, the scene before Huang Quan's eyes changed rapidly. The next second, she was already standing between Gin and the man on the ground, her index finger firmly blocking the muzzle of Gin's pistol, staring wide-eyed at him.

Gin: "...?"

Vodka: "...??"

Hagiwara Yomi: "…………"

Help! She triggered the skill "100% Finger Blocking the Gun Hole"!

What should I do? I just want to disappear right here!!

Hagiwara Yomi's fingers were slender; she inserted half a knuckle of her index finger into the gun barrel, completely blocking Gin's gun port. She covered her face with the Dark Duke mask she had taken from the reading room; cold sweat had already soaked her back.

Huang Quan stared nervously at the man in front of him, whose face had darkened. He could even see a materialized killing intent and anger emanating from him.

After a brief moment of shock, Gin's expression grew increasingly cold and piercing. His gaze towards Yomi, filled with intense killing intent, seemed to ask her if she wanted to die for daring to mock him.

After all, no one can plug a gun hole with their finger!

No!

Under Gin's deathly gaze, Yomi slowly withdrew his finger from the gun hole and began to back away shakily.

Fortunately, Kudo Yu published a new book, so Hagiwara Yomi's identity wasn't exposed in an instant.

As a mystery novelist who has sparked a new wave of interest worldwide, Yusaku Kudo's books are always prominently displayed in bookstores and libraries, and this cruise ship is no exception. The cruise ship staff even thoughtfully provided merchandise featuring the Duke's mask from Yusaku's new book, "Duke of the Night 2."

Huang Quan is a devoted fan of the "Duke of the Night" series, and when she saw masks for sale in the reading room, she bought one immediately. Now she is using the mask to cover her face, backing away little by little to increase the distance between herself and Gin.

On the other side, Vodka, finally regaining his senses, moved his jaw, which had nearly dislocated from its agape in terror, and timidly uttered, "B-Big Brother..."

"Shut up, vodka."

Gin's face seemed frozen, colder than a December polar glacier. He then turned his gun towards the woman who had retreated and was trying to escape.

Gin smiled cruelly, and slowly pulled the trigger with a hint of anger.

"Bang--"

After the gunshot, the woman who should have fallen to the muzzle was not only unharmed, but also teleported back to Gin and once again stuck her index finger into the gun barrel.

Gin: "..."

Hagiwara Yomi: "..."

Looking at the face so close to hers, blacker than the bottom of a pot, Hagiwara Yomi felt a wave of suffocation wash over her. She figured she wouldn't be able to leave until Gin ran out of bullets; if he fired, she'd be forcibly pulled back.

Huang Quan dared not speak or make any unnecessary movements, fearing that Gin would find fault with her. But to Gin, her silence was like a silent provocation, which angered him so much that he began to grind his back teeth.

Gin glared fiercely at Yomi, then pulled the trigger again. The bullets that had been fired from the magazine lined up in the barrel, completely filling it.

Veins bulged on Gin's forehead, and his eyes grew increasingly terrifying. He curled his lips into a cold laugh: "Ha. Vodka, shoot. Kill this woman."

"Yes, brother."

Vodka drew his gun, pointed it at Yomi Hagiwara, and pulled the trigger with a sinister grin. He seemed confident, but only Vodka himself knew how panicked he was when he fired that shot.

The instant Vodka fired, Hagiwara Yomi's arm blurred through the air. Her other hand moved with lightning speed, swiftly and accurately blocking the gun barrel.

Vodka: "..."

Hagiwara Yomi: "..."

Through a thin white mask, Hagiwara Yomi and the stunned Vodka simultaneously turned their heads to look at Gin.

Wow, that's great!

Gin has truly gone berserk this time.

[Author's Note]

Kazami: (eagerly and aggrieved) Mr. Furuya, I'm your right-hand man, aren't I?

Gin: Utterly insane!!

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