Chapter 15: Woman, your lies are as varied as your lipstick colors^^...

"What's wrong with you?" Huiyuan asked in a low voice, making sure no one else could hear, alert but also a little helpless. "You're not suddenly interested in antique phonographs, are you?"

Finally. Huibara's exclusive questioning has arrived, the #privatetheater has begun, and the sugar index has begun to soar.

You know it, I know it, the subtext is: "What are you trying to do?"

Vermouth's azure eyes narrowed dangerously. The air seemed to be sucked out of the air, and the noise in the cafe faded away in an instant.

At this moment, Vermouth was thinking of the two women who had a crazy and desperate... conversation in the bedroom of a luxury apartment in Manhattan a year ago, drinking Margaux wine.

At that time, Miyano Shiho had not yet defected from the organization and was a genius scientist burdened with guilt and despair.

But now…

Vermouth looked at the small girl in front of her who was covered with thorns.

Her ice-blue eyes were identical to those of eighteen-year-old Miyano Shiho. Stubborn and lucid, they showed the wisdom and a hint of vulnerability that comes from being pushed into a corner.

It’s really... so cute.

Vermouth suddenly felt that this miniature version of Miyano Shiho was even more intriguing than the adult version. Like a furry, seemingly harmless Persian cat, yet suddenly baring its claws and sharp teeth if you approached. Noble, alert, and adorable.

I want to hold her in my hands, knead her, and watch her hair stand on end. I don't want her to be discovered by others, but to be my own secret.

Vermouth leaned down, her slender fingertips reaching out, gracefully touching Huiyuan's short brown hair. "This small body is packed with so much fire. How interesting."

"Don't touch me." Huibara turned her head away suddenly.

But those slender fingers still brushed against my earlobe. An electric current surged through my body, and time faltered. Fragments of memory entered my mind—

The laboratory late at night, the smell of disinfectant, and... the feeling of Vermouth's fingers slowly combing through her hair.

"Children who lie will be caught and eaten by the Big Bad Wolf, okay?"

"That's better than falling into the hands of a bad woman." Huiyuan raised his eyes, his gaze cold, "At least the big bad wolf never wears human skin."

Vermouth chuckled and laughed brightly. "You're still as sharp as ever, my dear Sherry. Oh, I said it wrong. Now I should call you... Chibi ("little one" in Japanese) Sherry? Or Mini Sherry?"

"That's enough."

"Pocket scientist?"

"Vermouth."

“Shh—” Vermouth gently placed her index finger on her lips. “I’m Tina now. A harmless tourist from New York.”

As the saying goes, do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you. Vermouth is also very reluctant to be called by the code name of the organization in public.

Huiyuan was too lazy to keep up the good fight and gave her a look that said, "Are you kidding me?" "Harmless? You? Haha, that's the funniest joke I've heard this year."

"Ah, is it funnier than if you shrunk down to the size of a seven-year-old elementary school student?"

silence.

The rain outside the window had turned into a downpour at some point, hitting the glass loudly, as if it was going to completely submerge this small, tight space.

“Hmm…” Vermouth tapped her chin with her fingertips. “You weren’t so innocent before. Your cheeks turned red all of a sudden.”

"It's because the capillaries in this body are too thin, idiot." Huiyuan turned her face away. The tone of her voice when she said "Baka" didn't sound threatening at all, but rather like she was being coquettish.

"Oh?" Vermouth's smile deepened.

Rain pattered against the glass. The heat lingered in the coffee shop, scattering the entire floor-to-ceiling window in a white haze, blurring the gray world outside.

"You're so annoying, Wu Lu Sai! What on earth do you want from me?" Huibara said unhappily.

Vermouth smiled and lowered her voice seductively: "Maybe I'm just passing by. Or maybe, I want to see if you are enjoying... Rice Flower's daily life."

Oh, woman, your lies are as varied as your lipstick colors. (Complimentary)

Her eyes swept over Huibara's elementary school clothes and slowly lingered on the children's schoolbag with the same cartoon character pendant as Ayumi.

"This transformation is truly astonishing. Miyano Shiho, the brilliant biochemist and creator of APTX 4869, has been reduced to solving trivial mysteries alongside elementary school students."

School uniforms and childlike backpacks... The old fox examines the little kitten, secretly jealous, and madly outputs identity jokes. #Identity Difference Lily# #The Royal Sister Raising Children's Daily# #The Conflict Aesthetics of Career Line and Cultivation System#

Qiaodou Madai, if you think about it carefully, isn't this just a variation of "How are you doing now? Do you miss me?" #Sister's Test

Kill like crazy, kill like crazy. Bayonetta's precise attack, every word stepped on Huibara's sore spot, with a kind of "you shouldn't be like this" regret and... teasing?

It may seem derogatory, but it actually means, "You deserve better, like... me?"

Bayley's PUA-style ambiguity. It's teasing on the surface, but actually caring. It hits the target precisely.

Haibara felt her cheeks flush with anger, but also something else, perhaps shame, at being looked at like this by someone she had known at the peak of her physical and intellectual powers.

"At least I'm free," she retorted, her voice calm despite her inner turmoil. "And why should you continue to be a puppet of those people?"

Ai-chan fought back. Piaoliang: "I'm free, and you're still working illegally for the winery. Aren't you jealous?"

A textbook example of tsundere speech, Ai Dian Slay. This sentence is likely to touch a sore spot for Sister Bayonetta.

Vermouth narrowed her eyes, a hint of danger in them: "You have no idea about my reasons."

Chinese translation: What do you know, little girl? I'll scare you to death if I tell you my difficulties.

"I know enough."

Huiyuan: I know you are interested in me (not really). I know you don’t want to be a tool, but you don’t say it.

"Really?" Vermouth leaned closer to Huibara, her blonde hair hanging down and her red lips almost touching Huibara's ear. "Indeed, that night in New York, you seemed to want to get to know me. Very... very interested."

At this moment, Huiyuan's heart is most likely:

A. Damn it! She saw through my curiosity. How embarrassing!

B. Humph, I just want to know your secret as a woman, don’t think in any wrong way.

C. (Heartbeat) Is she… is she flirting with me? What should I do? Waiting online, it's urgent.

D. New York? What New York? I have amnesia, I don't remember. (Pretending to be calm.jpg)

When Takagi approached and flipped through the records with a slightly confused expression, Haibara's rebuttal, which was about to come out, came to an abrupt end.

Officer Takagi, you came at the perfect time. (Gnashing teeth)

Takagi: Who am I? Where am I? Why would I interrupt such a beautiful scene? (Takagi's cosmic confusion.jpg)

Tool man Gao Mu is always at the forefront of destroying the atmosphere. (dog head)

"That college student left." He didn't know to whom he was reporting. "He said he had to prepare for the exam."

College student: I’m just a tool without any emotions. It’s too dangerous to be involved in the case, so I’ll just run away.

"Did you keep his contact information?" Mitsuhiko asked. At this moment, he seemed to be playing the role of Conan.

Guangyan, you are indeed a little detective. But straight guys, don't you see the undercurrent of the two people next to you? (dog head)

Takagi nodded. "But he does seem confused about the whole thing. I don't think he had anything to do with it."

Officer Takagi's intuition is sometimes accurate, and sometimes... well, in the world of science, you can't trust your intuition too much. (flag pre-order)

Sato emerged from the back office, a leather-bound ledger in his hand. "According to this record, this Edison phonograph was purchased at an auction in Yokohama three weeks ago. The previous owner was named Nakamura Ryutaro."

Policewoman Sato is online. Efficiency is high.

"RN." Vermouth and Haibara said at the same time, and then exchanged glances.

Unanimous. Max tacit understanding. Ready to go to the bridal chamber.

This exchange of eyes can be imagined as a 10,000-word short drama: "Did you think of that too?" "Yeah." (The air is filled with pink bubbles)

RN = Ryutaro Nakamura. This is the IQ online group.

Huiyuan wondered if this person was related to the Nakamura Museum. However, this surname was very common in Japan.

"That's right," Sato nodded. "He seemed to be a collector of military memorabilia. He died last month at the age of 97."

97 years old, a very old age. I wonder if that gramophone is hiding some shocking secret.

"What about LC?" Huiyuan asked, continuing to think sharply. RN was solved, what was LC?

Sato shook his head. "There's no mention of those two initials in the account book."

The clues are broken? No, this is the beginning of the puzzle.

The old man, who had discovered the gramophone was missing, suddenly snapped his fingers: "Lawrence Connery. That must be it."

The old tool man is online: "Snap" with a snap of his fingers, and (part of) the truth is revealed. Classic NPC assist segment.

Grandpa: Wait a minute, I think I remember. I know the answer to this question.

Everyone's eyes turned to him. (Spotlight) Grandpa, please start your performance.

Everyone turned their heads at once, like a group of cats waiting to be fed, their eyes filled with the desire to "speak quickly".

"Who?" Takagi asked.

Takagi: I'm the best at supporting roles. I've been doing this for over a thousand episodes, so who knows? (Exclusive BGM: thump thump thump~)

"Lawrence Connery was an Irish diplomat stationed in Japan before the war," the old man explained, his tone growing excited. "My grandfather mentioned him in his notes. There were rumors that he was actually a spy, gathering intelligence for the Allies."

Oh wow. Diplomat + spy. That's got something going for it.

LC = Lawrence Connally. Case solved.

The name Connery sounds like it is related to spy movie characters like "007".

Grandfather's notes and the like are the source of clues passed down from ancestors, so it's convenient and needs no explanation. (Universal setting in the Science Universe)

"Collecting intelligence for the Allies" involves too many elements, and I'm afraid it will involve some major international case.

"In 1941, Japan's diplomatic relations with Western countries deteriorated rapidly," Mitsuhiko added, sounding serious as if he were giving a history lesson. "Many foreigners left Japan out of fear for their safety."

The Mitsuhiko Encyclopedia is now online, please check it out. As expected, he's one of the brains behind the Junior Detective Team. The historical background is clearly laid out, and the case gradually becomes clearer.

Vermouth's interest seemed to grow, but she still maintained the innocent curiosity of an American tourist passing through. "So, before leaving Japan, this diplomat Connally might have hidden something important in the phonograph?"

"Something that has been hidden for more than eighty years." Huibara pondered, her little scientific head already calculating various possibilities.

Switching to scientific research mode in one second, what a damn rationality.

The high-IQ CP started to pull.

"What could have been preserved for so long and is still important enough to be worth stealing?" Sato asked.

Is it love? Is it old love? (bushi)

"Information," Vermouth said, her eyes meeting Huibara's. They stared at each other. Sparks flew. It was the crackling of electricity. Her eyes were drawn.

"Some secrets never expire," Bellemode said, and in the whole audience, only Huibara could understand the double meaning.

Some secrets, like what happened to them on that snowy night in New York, of course, had different values ​​and different dangers at that time.

"Maybe we should check to see if there have been any other pre-war antiques stolen recently," Sato said, reaching for his phone. "There might be some pattern here."

The tool man Sato comes online to create conditions for the two bosses to have a sweet and romantic world together.

Huibara frowned. Why was Vermouth so cooperative in the investigation?

Logically speaking, Vermouth is a well-known senior killer in the Black Organization, a feared queen of change, and a Hollywood legend that haunts countless movie fans.

Sister Bei’s three personas: Gin’s colleague, Shinichi’s godmother, and Shiho-chan’s prospective girlfriend (dog head holding a rose.jpg)

But Huiyuan clearly remembered how this seemingly invincible and strong woman could be restrained and even... dominated by an eighteen-year-old scientist like herself.

"A scientific research record about how I turned the boss of the winery into a soft girl by relying on my charm and daily fitness." Is this the legendary PUA of the high school tyrant?

What’s even more amazing is that Vermouth doesn’t seem to resist this... feeling of being dominated and controlled.

Bei Jie's dangerous statement: "Is this the new S, M position you invented?" (System automatically censored)

She even seemed to enjoy it.

The Queen's magic switch has been activated. You should hear the sound of a silver chain shaking. Everyone, this is the legendary younger top from the fishing department, Shiho-sama.

"About the Organization's Top Killer is Actually a Masochist" (Conan Universe's Shocking Reversal)

But now I think about it, was the killer being held hostage, or did the hunter deliberately step into the trap?

"Top Alpha's Mutual Taming" - This is where the voiceover from "Animal World" should be inserted: The rainy season has arrived, and the Siberian tiger and the snow leopard are beginning to test each other...

Thinking of this, Huibara's heart suddenly trembled, and she actually felt a secret pleasure about this.

She was suddenly startled and hurriedly shook these thoughts off.

Ai-chan's Brain: Danger. Detected a virus attack from Sister Bei. Activating the Tsundere Firewall.

Just like when she was at Dr. Agasa's house in the middle of the night, looking up chemical formula information online, she was caught off guard and clicked on some indescribable website. She was panicked and swiped her finger on the touchpad for a long time before she closed the embarrassing pop-up window.

"Shock! Genius girl accidentally enters Yuri forum late at night" Subtitle: Then silently clicked on the collection (pink flash barrage filled the screen)

This wave, this wave is a fantasy linkage between learning materials .avi and orthodox reasoning.

Huibara raised her head, and Vermouth's green eyes were already waiting there, as steady as a falcon overlooking its prey, or like a farmer waiting for the rabbit to come to him.

In Vermouth's eyes, perhaps the 19-year-old Miyano Shiho is still a little white rabbit.

A little white rabbit that can jump and is quite hot to the touch.

No, if you think about it carefully, that night in New York was just something that happened less than a year ago.

At this moment, the seven-year-old elementary school student Haibara Ai didn't know that Shinichi's mother had also fallen into this step by step.

Nineteen-year-old genius biology doctor Shiho Miyano would rather believe that that incident and that night were just a reckless act of her youth.

Simple, fleeting stupidity, that's all.

It's just the hormonal rush of adolescence.

I'm just attracted by beauty.

This is probably a scene of self-hypnosis by a scientist: using "youthful recklessness" to cover up "love at first sight", and using "recklessness" to replace "sinking". The Nobel Prize owes her a literary rhetoric award.

In this world, there are many occasions when we try to cover up our heartbeats with the words "that's all", but the effect is like covering the crater of a volcano with plastic wrap.

From "reckless" to "stupid" to "beautiful", it may be a trifecta of failed self-persuasion.

I wonder if when Huiyuan was convincing herself, did she have a flashback to the scene where Vermouth emerged from the bath soaking wet? Rose bath flirting version.

The Ethical Dilemma of Scientists: Whether Having Sex with a Female Organizer Belongs to the Field Research of Human Experimentation

But she had been telling herself in the past few months that this mistake could be forgiven.

After all, she was a world-class beauty, the kind that earned her tens of millions for a Hollywood film.

As long as the hobby is women...it should be difficult for normal people not to fall into it...

In short, Haibara Ai felt that maybe she wouldn't be like that, because that night, she blamed herself to the point where she couldn't forgive herself.

After all, the number of people in this world who can resist Vermouth's series of romantic arrangements that are as exquisitely designed as works of art can probably be counted on one hand.

The academic paper "On the Matter of My Tower of Reason Being Entangled by the Movie Queen Rose" is currently under peer review and is expected to be included in Nature Liliology.

No, perhaps calling Vermouth's romantic arrangements a trap for the witch would be more accurate, Huiyuan secretly complained in her heart.