Chapter 256, Seventy-Third Cycle (86)
"Ah, Mr. Amuro is indeed a very skilled driver, but also a bit reckless," Ran Mouri recalled, her expression complicated. "That time Conan was kidnapped, Mr. Amuro drove us to chase the criminal, and he actually used his car to sideways and force the vehicle to stop. I was terrified when the car crashed into me..."
Conan Edogawa, who also remembered, was speechless.
Yes, he was in the car across the street at the time, and he was so scared that he almost ruined his performance.
Eri Kisaki remembered it too, and snorted, "It was that time, huh? That guy told me that Amuro Tooru even reached out and hugged you so that you could get over the dangerous passenger side? He almost misunderstood that Amuro was taking advantage of you and got angry and yelled at you."
Conan Edogawa: "??????"
Huh? What?? That kind of thing happened back then?? How come he didn't know anything about it?!
Ran Mouri, of course, had no idea that someone next to her was jealous, and said with a helpless smile, "Mr. Amuro isn't that kind of person. It was just that the situation was urgent at the time, and there was no other way."
Conan Edogawa silently turned around and looked at the phone that was charging.
The phone is not responding.
Conan Edogawa walked over, poked the phone camera twice with his finger, snorted, and continued investigating the case.
*
Noah's Ark: "Jealous, aren't you?"
Hiroki Sawada: "He's jealous. As expected of Shinichi. It's been a long time since we've seen the jealous king since Dr. Araide and Eisuke Hondo left."
Noah's Ark: "Send it to the group chat?"
Hiroki Sawada: "Let's share this in the group chat and have a laugh together."
Noah's Ark quickly and vividly described the incident in the group chat.
Then everyone laughed at Rei Furuya.
From being teased for his driving skills that frightened everyone to being envied by children.
Jianggu Ling: "..."
Are you not busy enough?
Great, then he can confidently delegate more tasks to them.
Half a minute later, everyone in the cherry blossom group screamed and wailed in unison.
Satisfied, King Juan closed the group chat, served a sandwich to the customer, and then went to deal with the police matters, checking on the progress of the undercover operation. Afterward, he contacted the organization, spoke briefly with Vodka and Vermouth, reassuring them that the plan was proceeding smoothly.
"Hello, please give me a cup of Poirot's signature coffee."
"Okay, please wait a moment, it will be right away."
*
May 1st.
The Tokyo Summit convened on schedule. High-ranking officials from various countries were escorted by police into the venue and returned safely to their temporary hotels. No terrorist attacks occurred.
Instead, it was the National Police Agency, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the Public Prosecutor's Office within the police force that experienced IoT attacks.
The news did not get out, mainly because the attack exposed too many dirty corruption and betrayals of the country and the people that could not be made public. In just a few hours, more than a dozen police officers and prosecutors of varying ranks were arrested.
I heard this is just the beginning; they're catching the big shots first, and later they might investigate, interrogate, and arrest some smaller ones.
This is not information that the police want the public to know. Even if they were to release it, they would do so after the matter is resolved. Causing social chaos now would be problematic.
Conan Edogawa knew this information because he was so focused on Amuro Tooru's work of catching undercover agents that he quickly noticed something was wrong and learned some superficial information from Wataru Takagi.
Takagi Wataru didn't quite understand what was going on either, and even just thought it was a simple attack by a computer expert to retaliate against corrupt officials.
It was probably because of the advanced technology, and because Sakura and most of their staff were busy maintaining security for the Tokyo Summit and investigating the IoT attack and bombing, that things went so smoothly.
Although it's unbelievable, it's a good thing that those parasites have been caught.
Conan Edogawa seemed lost in thought.
He finally met Date Wataru and Hagiwara Kenji after that, but Matsuda Jinpei was still not there.
"So you weren't just in charge of security for the Tokyo Summit, were you?" Conan Edogawa stopped two policemen who looked like they had just finished get off work, and looked up at them seriously. "You were also involved in catching those 'parasites,' right?"
He emphasized the word "parasites," indicating that he knew their real job was to catch the organization's moles planted in the police force. No wonder he couldn't get in touch with them these past two days; it must be an extremely confidential mission.
"Alright, alright, we know our little detective is amazing, but this isn't something you should be exploring right now." Kenji Hagiwara squatted down, rubbed the child's head with his eyes crinkled, and said helplessly, as if we were really busy, "We still have things to do, and so do you."
Ida Kou also said, "You'll know once it's all over."
Conan Edogawa immediately forgot what he was about to say and hurriedly asked, "Isn't this over yet?"
Something flashed through his mind, his eyes sharpened, and he suddenly asked, "What did Officer Matsuda go about?"
Kenji Hagiwara tilted his head innocently: "I don't know. Jinpei is a policeman in the Explosives Division, and he doesn't work with our First Investigation Division. Oh, no, even if we did work together, we usually wouldn't know anything about his job. That's the rule, after all."
Conan Edogawa: "..."
Do you think I believe you?
You even know about Rei Furuya's work in the Public Security Bureau's Zero Group! You're the most unruly of all! Using rules as an excuse is just too perfunctory!
But Conan Edogawa really couldn't do anything about their perfunctory attitude.
Although he didn't know what else was left to do, judging from their urgent busyness and serious attitude, he realized that it was no small matter.
Conan Edogawa initially thought it was a problem with the organization and wanted to go directly to Amuro Tooru to ask.
But Amuro Tooru took the day off today, and he couldn't be found anywhere. When he sent a message on his phone, the other party easily brushed him off, saying that there was no problem on their end and that Kogoro Mouri was safe, at least for the time being.
Conan Edogawa breathed a slight sigh of relief.
It seems that Gin has indeed given up on targeting Kogoro Mouri, in order to avoid causing too much social impact and attracting the attention and investigation of countless people.
Or perhaps the organization is already aware that its undercover agents and spies have been caught and is too busy to deal with the still uncertain situation involving Kogoro Mouri?
Even so, Conan Edogawa still felt as if a giant sword of Damocles was hanging over his head, and it was very close, ready to fall and destroy everything at any moment.
Conan Edogawa pressed his brow, put his glasses back on, and his eyes regained their calm and sharpness.
The most important thing now is what has already happened.
Since it's not an organizational matter, what else is still unresolved and requires his attention and attention?
"I'm truly sorry, I was completely unable to help this time. In that case, I won't accept the money." Tachibana Kyoko had come to say goodbye.
Kogoro Mouri has been confirmed to have been framed and will be released soon; there is no need for a lawyer to intervene.
Eri Kisaki said earnestly, "Attorney Mirror has been busy for two days and helped us so much. How can we let you work for nothing?"
Ran Mouri nodded and whispered, "And, Mr. Yoshioka also had that kind of thing happen..."
They knew a little bit of information: Yoshioka Kunihiko was arrested by the Public Security Bureau, which seemed to be related to the Internet of Things attack and internal police matters.
They didn't know the specifics, but they heard the man shout that he really had nothing to do with XXXX.
Conan Edogawa looked up the name and found that it belonged to a second-level prosecutor in the prosecutor's office. It also seemed that the person had been arrested by the police for embezzlement and instigating others to commit many illegal and criminal acts.
That's all the information he could gather.
Conan Edogawa frowned slightly, sensing that something was amiss.
He followed the departing orange mirror out the door, even planning to pretend to fall on her before she went downstairs to install a listening device.
"Ah—" Conan Edogawa's exclamation stopped halfway through.
The short-haired woman in the suit walking ahead suddenly turned around as if she had eyes in the back of her head, caught the child who was lunging at her, and grabbed his hand that was holding the button-shaped listening device.
Conan Edogawa froze instantly: "?!"
However, under his wary and terrified gaze, the woman simply withdrew her hand and smiled.
"Kids, please be careful going down the stairs. Don't run in the stairwell." After saying that, she turned and left.
It was as if she hadn't noticed the black-haired child's strange movements and the strange thing in his hand.
Conan Edogawa stood there stunned for two seconds, frowned and pondered for three seconds, and finally chased after them again.
Tachibana Mirror had already reached the parking lot downstairs. A man was standing next to her car, smiling and talking to her.
Conan Edogawa's eyes slowly widened.
He knew that man.
Haneba Futaka was an employee of Tachibana Kyoko's agency a year ago, before it was dissolved.
But wasn't Haba arrested a year ago for illegally hacking into a game company? He even committed suicide after being interrogated by the police.
……etc!
Police interrogation...suicide...murderer...
Mr. Amuro!
Conan Edogawa suddenly looked up, his gaze fixed intently on the two people who had already gotten into the car and left.
He seemed to know exactly what Mr. Amuro's plan was.
But... is that really possible? To be able to orchestrate things to such an impeccable degree and then close the net with lightning speed—if that's true, then Mr. Amuro is far too terrifying, isn't he?
But what exactly is it that we need to be wary of that is not yet over?
It wasn't until 7:30 p.m., two hours later, that Conan Edogawa learned what was still going on.
—The Cygnus spacecraft, an unmanned space probe, is malfunctioning and is about to crash into Tokyo!
Conan Edogawa looked up at the dark night sky, speechless for a moment.
No matter how hard he racked his brains, he never imagined the attack would come from outer space!
Conan Edogawa wiped his face hard, turned his skateboard up to maximum speed, and rushed over to find Tooru Amuro.
When he found the person, the blond youth was standing on the top floor of the Metropolitan Police Department building, with Matsuda Jinpei, Hagiwara Kenji, and Date Wataru talking to him.
Conan Edogawa rushed over to speak, but the blond youth raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then took out a black cell phone from his left pocket.
Rei Furuya clicked to connect and said, "BOSS."
Conan Edogawa's eyes widened immediately, and he was about to lean in to eavesdrop when Jinpei Matsuda grabbed him and stopped him.
As soon as the call connected, the old man's voice came through, a mixture of exasperation and a desperate attempt to remain calm and composed.
"Bourbon, what are you doing? How's the matter I asked you to investigate going?" Karasuma Renya asked.
“We were almost there, but the Swan suddenly crashed, and the resulting chaos interrupted my investigation,” Rei Furuya said. “I’m truly sorry.”
At the same time, his phone in his right pocket also started vibrating.
Conan Edogawa, who was already excitedly struggling to get closer and almost pressed against him, also heard it.
"Okay, I definitely won't let you down." Furuya Rei replied after listening to the rambling on the other end, then took out the white phone from his right pocket, hung up the black phone, and answered the call on the white phone at the same time.
“Councilor,” he said.
Conan Edogawa's eyes widened even more.
"Furuya, why are you taking so long to answer the phone? What are you doing?" Kuroda asked.
“I was observing the Swan’s trajectory from the rooftop of the Metropolitan Police Department building,” Rei Furuya said. “I’m sorry, we were just discussing plans to prevent the Swan from landing in Tokyo, and I didn’t notice the phone for a moment.”
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, then a serious voice said, "Success is the only option; failure is not an option."
"Do you understand?" he said in a deep voice, his tone suggestive, as he slowly uttered his code name: "Bourbon."
“Understood,” Furuya Rei said.
Then, he put the white phone back and took out a gray phone from his chest pocket, quickly typing on the keypad.
Conan Edogawa, who was eager to know the contents of the conversation between Amuro Tooru (as Bourbon and Furuya Rei) and the bigwigs in both the underworld and the legitimate world, was suddenly stuck.
"..."
He already finds having two phones troublesome enough, but this person has three?!
Well, all I can say is that he truly lives up to his reputation as Mr. Amuro!
In the end, he still did not get an explanation from Mr. Amuro. With time running out, they could only focus their attention on the crash of the Swan.
Conan Edogawa shared his idea: "Let a drone carrying explosives forcefully change the Swan's trajectory toward the Pacific Ocean."
Amuro Tooru said helplessly, "This is truly a crazy plan."
Conan Edogawa's eyes burned with intensity, and a smirk played on his lips: "After all, there's no better way. So, Mr. Amuro, would you like to take a gamble with me?"
Amuro Tooru also smiled.
“Of course, I’ll see you through to the end,” he said.
At this point, it seemed that Matsuda Jinpei and the others had other tasks and had all left, leaving only the two of them on the rooftop.
Conan Edogawa, whose mind was overwhelmed by countless pieces of information, calmed down a little and suddenly said, "So, why couldn't even cherry blossoms stop the Swan from landing?"
The blond youth looked up at the burning, falling "star" in the night sky and said softly, "There are too many coincidences. Maybe it's just bad luck? Or maybe, in any case, fate decreed that the probe was destined to fall."
Therefore, no matter how you try to stop it, it's useless; you can only try to change the other party's trajectory and the consequences.
Conan Edogawa looked at him with some surprise: "Mr. Amuro, do you also believe in fate?"
The blond youth curled his lips into a smile, but the smile in his purplish-gray eyes didn't reach his eyes: "I just think that some things are too coincidental, and at the same time, I believe that anything can happen in the world."
Conan Edogawa was slightly taken aback. He knew very well that the other party understood that he was asking about that unspeakable matter, but he did not expect to actually get such a reply.
Conan Edogawa sighed thoughtfully, "I didn't actually believe in things like preordained fate before..."
“I believe in fate,” said the blond youth beside him.
The approaching "stars" burned and dyed most of the black night sky red, getting closer and closer, illuminating the earth.
Countless people on the ground looked up, shocked, stunned, panicked, frantic, and desperate, waiting for the wheels of fate to crush them.
The blond youth on the rooftop smiled and looked at the black-haired child in the moonlight, their eyes burning with a flame brighter than the stars.
“I also believe we can change our destiny,” Rei Furuya said to Conan Edogawa.
This scene stayed with Conan Edogawa for the rest of his life.
At that moment, his blood was boiling because of the other party's firm and fervent trust. He truly felt that they were omnipotent and that they could overcome any difficulty.
"Yes! We can definitely do it!" He nodded vigorously and smiled.
Conan Edogawa is unaware that in a few months, the very person who placed such trust in him, Rei Furuya, will shatter his confidence.
He can save everyone, but he can't save Rei Furuya.
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