Chapter 170
Generally speaking, people who have been involved in the underworld tend to trust their own judgment more because they have seen so much deceit and treachery.
The same goes for Vermouth.
However, she also knew how to inquire from various sources and adjust her thinking in time. Therefore, after realizing that Bourbon's attitude was unusual, she simply made a phone call to ask for more details.
"What has Potnis done to you?" Vermouth asked lazily. "You're really targeting him."
This is a rhetorical technique, slightly provocative, designed to provoke the other person into defending themselves and making them more willing to reveal the information they want to know.
Bourbon was certainly aware of this obvious tactic, but he couldn't hold it in any longer, and since it wasn't something he couldn't say, he started speaking directly: "When you asked me before, didn't I tell you? He keeps asking me if I'm an undercover agent..."
If it were someone like Shuichi Akai, who is from Scotland or only recently acquired the code name "Rye Whisky," they might be able to understand his feelings better. Even vodka or gin could agree with him on the point that "Saiki Usaba is annoying."
But Vermouth had never witnessed the scene or been identified as an undercover agent, so she couldn't empathize with the situation. She had only heard this verbal description... The first time she heard it, she just thought that Usaku Saiki had a bit of a temper. Now she felt that if ordinary people didn't want to see you, what was wrong with picking a fight?
"He probably just doesn't like seeing you and is deliberately trying to annoy you. Anyway, no one will believe him if he says it. You're not an undercover agent, so what he says won't affect you. Why are you arguing with a kid?"
Bourbon: "…………"
The kid you're talking about is over twenty years old...!
Vermouth became more and more convinced that this was true: "I heard that he also reported Gin for being an undercover agent? How could Gin be an undercover agent? It's obviously a lie. He must have been unwilling to do the mission Gin asked him to do, so he's causing trouble for Gin. If you don't go looking for him, he definitely won't report you."
Bourbon was greatly shocked, never expecting that the troublesome and ever-changing witch Vermouth could be so blind.
He immediately cited a counterexample: "If he really didn't want to see us, why did he take the initiative to come to me? In January of this year, he even asked me and Scotland to go to the hot springs with him."
"When he actively sought you out, did he report you as an undercover agent?"
"...No, not that."
Vermouth snorted: "Doesn't this prove that as long as you don't cause him trouble as members of the organization, he won't have any complaints about you?"
Bourbon gave up trying to explain.
People who already have their own stance are the hardest to persuade; they only believe what they see... So how did that kid, Usui Saiki, even act in front of Vermouth?!
Vermouth said earnestly, "He wants to be a normal person, and if you treat him like a normal person, you can get along well... although I would advise you not to go to him unless necessary."
Bourbon: "...Understood."
After hanging up the phone, Bourbon couldn't help but take a deep breath.
It's normal for ordinary people... people who have returned from the Middle East battlefield to have such thoughts, but if they knew that their adoptive father was a public security spy, could they still be so willful and only care about their own happiness?
But if Bo Yezaki didn't know, then what was the meaning of the question he wrote back then, "Is my adoptive father a policeman?" in order to test the cult leader's mind-reading ability? Was it really just to flirt with the cult leader? Or was it to flirt with him and Jing Guang?
Bourbon pondered for a moment and suspected that Usaku Saiki had guessed that he and Kagemitsu would be curious about what he had written, so he deliberately wrote this kind of controversial content.
They didn't even need to sneak around looking for the envelope. If they were lucky, the cult leader could pick it on the spot, and once he found out it was in a foreign language they couldn't understand, they would naturally be able to go up and see what was written on the paper...
...So you made it all so complicated just to make them suspect whether Usaku Saiki was an undercover agent?
Whether his and Jingguang's identities have been discovered, and whether Bo Yezaki is trying to make contact with them, all affect the judgment of the purpose behind this behavior... and we're back to square one.
Or let's just forget about it. It seems like Alex is stuck in the Middle East and probably won't get any particularly important information about any organizations. Making contact doesn't seem to make any sense either. We can't exactly dig up Alex's coffin now and bury him under his real name again...
Bourbon thought indifferently that once the organization was dismantled, it wouldn't matter whether Bo Yezaki knew about it or not.
Although he felt a little sorry for his undercover predecessor, he was almost going crazy from studying Usaku Saiki's ideas all day long!
Usoppei took the car home, counting the doubt points he had accumulated that day, and felt quite pleased.
Especially since Vermouth and Bourbon each contributed another wave, it was a pleasant surprise. He didn't feel so annoyed that he had to go to work tomorrow.
As for Shinichi Kudo, since he hasn't had any contact with the organization yet and there's nothing suspicious about his daily life, it doesn't seem necessary for him to meet with them frequently. Like Heiji Hattori, it would be enough for them to just call each other occasionally.
Now he is like a farmer who sows seeds in spring, looking forward to a bountiful harvest in autumn.
The next day at work, Usakata Saiki noticed that Sato Miwako still seemed a bit down, so he casually asked, "Still struggling with yesterday's case? Your part is just about finding the culprit; the rest isn't your responsibility."
“I know, but I only heard a little about what happened afterward, and it doesn’t feel good.” Sato Miwako sighed. “Didn’t they say that the doctor who gave the medicine to the deceased died? Then the police who took over the case investigated and found that the doctor seemed to have handled more than just these kinds of drugs that are legal abroad but illegal in China; he was even involved in drug trafficking… Now that the doctor has been murdered, I don’t know what to do… In broad daylight, they’re so blatant in trying to silence someone…!”
Kenji Hagiwara said, "I heard that based on the clues left behind, they have found the encrypted notebook and identified the person who might be the informant."
“It’s all because of this informant,” Miwako Sato sighed. “The informant is dead too, from the case reported to the police on Tsukikage Island last night, but he died of cardiac arrest… No matter what the forensic doctor did, it was cardiac arrest…”
Bo Yezhai: "…………"
He died of cardiac arrest, and the killer sounds like Light Yagami…wait, what about Tsukikage Island…?
Just then, Usakabe Saiki's phone rang. To his surprise, the caller was Sergeant Jinma from the Mobile Investigation Team.
When he was in the Mobile Investigation Unit, he was well taken care of by Sergeant Jinma. After he left, although Jinma didn't call him often, he still received a greeting card during holidays. Occasionally, when the Mobile Investigation Unit had a gathering, Ibuki Ran would invite him to come along so they could meet.
This sudden contact seemed rather abrupt, and Bo Yezaki suspected that something major had happened, so he quickly answered the phone: "Squad Leader Jinma?"
"Ahem, you're already in the First Investigation Division, so don't call me squad leader anymore." Squad Leader Jinma's tone was a little hesitant. "Um, Hanchuan-kun, just wondering, are you busy today? Do you have any cases on your hands?"
"There aren't any cases. Is there anything you need, Senior Jinma?"
"...Um, well, I have a friend in the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department. They have a case where an informant died of cardiac arrest. They're not sure if it's a coincidence or something else could have happened, so they'd like to ask you to take a look... It's okay if you don't want to, after all, helping them wouldn't be the credit for the First Investigation Division..."
This description sounds familiar.
Unable to resist asking, "Is it the Moon Shadow Island case?"
"Huh? You knew?" Sergeant Jinma's tone immediately relaxed. "Then I'll save myself the trouble of explaining. Actually, there's no need to bother you with this. It's just that they won't give up..."
After all, the doctor had just been silenced, and his subordinate immediately suffered a cardiac arrest. It all felt strange, and he suspected it wasn't a coincidence.
There have been cases in the past where people have been deliberately caused to have heart attacks and die, and the insurance companies only discovered these incidents because they didn't want to pay out the claims and had to hire detectives to investigate. This shows that heart attacks can be deliberately induced, and we cannot conclude that it was an accident based on this alone.
Then, the person in charge of this case in the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department is very familiar with Sergeant Jinma of the Mobile Investigation Unit. He heard that Shinryu Kanakawa has a good relationship with the Mobile Investigation Unit now, and yesterday he even asked the Mobile Investigation Unit's information team for help, so he came to ask Sergeant Jinma for help.
They only ask the First Investigation Division for help when they have absolutely no other choice. If there is no problem, then they should just consider it as them being overly suspicious. If there is a problem... well, they can't find out the problem on their own, so asking for help is the right thing to do.
To be honest, it's a bit embarrassing to ask for help. If the police were irresponsible, they would just close the case as an accident. But if they were too responsible, they wouldn't let go of any clues, even if it meant asking the First Investigation Division for help.
After thinking for a moment, Usakabe Saiki replied, "I'll go ask Inspector Megure."
Squad Leader Jinma breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that this meant that Hanchuan Shenliu himself was inclined to agree, and quickly said, "Okay, okay, as long as it doesn't affect your work."
Inspector Megure hesitated for a moment after hearing what Usuiha Saiki had to say.
This kind of private secondment doesn't really benefit the First Investigation Division, but he was also very responsible and worried that there might be other reasons behind the cardiac arrest, such as it being deliberately induced. If that were the case, it wouldn't just be a matter of one life.
Ultimately, Inspector Megure agreed to lend personnel to the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department, and also asked Kenji Hagiwara to come along, so that Akira wouldn't waste time due to various misunderstandings when she went to help.
Upon hearing this, Sato Miwako immediately relaxed: "Since Hanchuan-kun is going, I can rest assured... Be careful. This is the information I collected about Tsukikage Island; you might find it useful."
Although she knew her part was over, she couldn't resist investigating after hearing about what happened on Moonshadow Island. Anyway, she had just finished a case and was relatively free... Now was the perfect time to hand over the information to the person who was going there, so nothing would go to waste.
To get to Moonshadow Island, you need to take a boat. While on the boat, Usui Saiki and Hagiwara Kenji studied the information collected by Sato Miwako.
"A famous pianist named Keiji Aso came from there. After his tour, he returned to Tsukikage Island, where he killed his wife and daughter, set his house on fire, and played the Moonlight Sonata until he died... Apart from that, there doesn't seem to be any other famous person or event on this island."
Kenji Hagiwara frowned: "This rumor seems a bit strange, like it's missing a lot... But we're here to help the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department investigate the drug trafficking line, it's unrelated to this case."
Usakabe Saiki picked up the email that someone from the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department had just sent him.
"The person who died of cardiac arrest was found lying on the piano in the mansion where Keiji Aso performed on the island. It is said that the person who found him did so because he heard someone playing 'Moonlight Sonata' and wanted to go in to check, but unexpectedly found the body."
Kenji Hagiwara: "...Huh???"
No wonder my colleagues in the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department are so persistent! This is really strange!!!
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