Chapter 121 On the Importance of Visiting Relatives
As soon as school was over, Haibara Ai and Edogawa Conan met Akai Shuichi disguised as Okiya Subaru at the school gate and asked them to get in the car.
Teitan Elementary School is very close to Kudo's residence. Shuichi Akai, who was supposed to stay at Kudo's residence to guard against assassins, put on a disguise and drove out to pick them up. Something must have happened.
Haibara Ai and Edogawa Conan didn't waste any time. After saying goodbye to the other kids from the Junior Detective League, they quickly got into the back seat of the car. After the car started and started on its way, Edogawa Conan asked, "What happened?"
Shuichi Akai: "The ghost has adapted the soul-summoning spell he saw at Kaito Kid's fishing spot into a spell capable of communicating with the dead. He summoned Curacao's spirit and wants to ask some questions about the distillery."
Haibara Ai and Edogawa Conan's eyes lit up immediately.
They all spent some time with the amnesiac Curacao, and they witnessed Curacao's change of mentality and her sacrifice to save others. Conan Edogawa even saw Curacao's body covered with a white cloth being carried away.
Among them, Haibara Ai was particularly touched. She and Curacao were both members of the organization. They both had the courage to resist the organization and made the decision to sacrifice their lives for others. Curacao even took her to escape after discovering his true identity.
If it weren't for Curacao, I would have died on the Ferris wheel.
Haibara Ai: "How is Curacao...?"
She subconsciously wanted to ask if Curacao was okay, but then she thought that Curacao was dead, so what else could happen?
Shuichi Akai: "She was very friendly and cooperative. The ghost said that because she died not long ago, her soul is still intact. But it's a pity that Curacao doesn't remember the burial places of the traitors of other organizations, otherwise the ghost would have to dig up graves and continue summoning souls."
"As long as there are bones, can we summon the corresponding dead?"
Haibara Ai couldn't help but think of her dead sister and her parents.
Will she have a chance to see them again?
Akai Shuichi: "I don't know about this. After all, I'm not a professional."
He was unable to tell Ai Haibara, who was expectantly waiting, about the theft of the bodies of the Miyano couple and Miyano Akemi, and just kept driving.
Fortunately, Haibara Ai, who was overwhelmed by the surprise, did not ask any further questions. She and Edogawa Conan were now looking forward to returning to Kudo's house.
But when they entered Kudo's house, they found that the atmosphere inside was a little strange.
Especially Haibara Ai. As soon as she stepped into the Kudo residence, everyone inside looked at her, with emotions in their eyes that she didn't understand.
This actually calmed down the anxious Huiyuan Ai. She asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just want to ask you something." The ghost who was writing and drawing on the notebook stood up, squatted down and handed the notebook to Huiyuan Ai, "Can you tell what is on the next few pages?"
Haibara Ai took the notebook in confusion. There were neon words written on it, occasionally dotted with some words she had never seen before, but those words were circled, like some operating principles or concepts.
It's said to be a few pages, but there's actually not much content.
Haibara Ai quickly finished flipping through the pages and didn't find any problems, but...
"I feel like there's a sense of déjà vu about what's written there... To be more precise, the calculation ideas and techniques seem familiar to me. Perhaps I've seen something similar before. What is this?"
Cheng Xiaoyu took the notebook, made a few revisions, and handed it back. "This is the formula I just calculated. Can you see if there are any similarities with the research and development ideas or experimental procedures of APTX4869?"
Ai Haibara lowered her head and read the pages of scribbled words again. The words that she didn't recognize were circled, and words that Ai Haibara could understand were written next to them, such as "Life Spirit (promotes cell division\suppresses division\slows down aging)", "acidification", "washed to neutral, dehydrated, and redistilled".
Although the steps and principles recorded in it were very simple, Haibara Ai saw through it this time: "Apart from some operational differences, the experimental ideas recorded in this notebook are basically the same as APTX4869. Your calculations are very close."
Edogawa Conan came over to take a look; "Ms. Ghost, you also dabble in science? As you said, magic and science have something in common."
Cheng Xiaoyu: "I don't have the formula for [APTX4869], I'm not good at technology. This formula is the manufacturing principle of a fusion of the Rejuvenation Potion and the Longevity Potion, which I deduced based on the magic system of the local world."
She even wrote Pandora into it.
Haibara Ai was stunned: "Are you saying that the scientific research I have been conducting is actually magic?"
Cheng Xiaoyu: "No, if you must call it that, it's alchemy—the use of non-magical means to achieve phenomena that previously could only be achieved by 'magic'. It's the analysis and deciphering of magic."
Alchemy is a special existence that stands between magic and science, idealism and materialism.
It was born based on the idea of "mystery supremacy", but it ultimately resolved the mystery. It is an inevitable product of human's thirst for knowledge, and it is the prototype of "chemistry" in science.
After the explanation, Cheng Xiaoyu stood up and applauded. "Regardless of position, field, race, or world, as a seeker of knowledge, I sincerely congratulate you on completing research worthy of being recorded in the annals of world history. Miyano Shiho, you are undoubtedly a worthy alchemist."
Huiyuan Ai just said calmly: "My research is not finished yet."
"Improvement and promotion are matters of science; alchemy is simply about implementation," Cheng Xiaoyu said. "Okay, congratulations are over. You, the creator of APTX4869, have personally confirmed its properties. Now, I'm going to get down to business. I need the APTX4869 you made, and some blood from all of you for testing to verify some of my hypotheses. Do you agree?"
Everyone has no objection.
Huiyuan Ai put down the schoolbag on her shoulder, took out an APTX4869 pill from it and handed it over: "Do you have a blood collection device? If not, I can go to Dr. Agasa's house to get a blood collection device."
"Thank you, but this is all I have."
Cheng Xiaoyu took out five disposable seasoning boxes with lids for takeout from the pocket of her sweatshirt, and walked towards the dining table with APTX4869. When Haibara Ai came in, Cheng Xiaoyu was at this position, writing furiously in the small notebook.
Curacao's ashes are also placed there, along with the stainless steel basin that served as a necromancy device.
"Curaçao said she saw some of the winery's executives transformed into babies. Based on the timing, it's the result of the first-generation potion your parents made. There are several suspicious points in this matter."
Cheng Xiaoyu moved the stainless steel basin with the urn to the other end of the dining table, lined up the five seasoning boxes on the table, placed APTX4869 on the table, cupped her hands around it and released the detection magic, while asking No. 233 to start the analysis as well.
"First, the brewery's management knew that the drug developed by the Miyano family had the ability to rejuvenate people, and had even experienced it themselves. However, they concealed this fact while continuing to promote its use as a poison to destroy the body. This proves that the brewery's management has, or has in the past, a method or auxiliary drug that can rejuvenate people without causing death. This method must be used in conjunction with the drug developed by the Miyano family to achieve the effect of rejuvenating people and maintaining youth. Otherwise, it would be a poison that destroys the body and conceals the evidence."
"Secondly, the same drug rejuvenates at different ages. Excluding Gojo Satoru, who was fed a bugged drug by me, three distinct age groups have emerged among all those who have taken the drug so far: infants, children, and young adults. The main representatives are the infant executives seen by Curacao, you, and Vermouth. There's a strange split here, with several people of completely different ages regressing to the same child, while others, under the same variables, experience vastly different ages."
Haibara Ai: "Maybe it's because of different batches of medicine. Vermouth and the winery executives took the medicine developed by my parents. Maybe the effect of the medicine I researched is the reason why they became elementary school students."
Cheng Xiaoyu: "No, Akai Shuichi's mother was forced by the organization members to take the medicine made by your parents. As a result, after faking her death and escaping, she turned into a child like you and Conan, but in the form of a junior high school student."
Huihara Ai: Huh?
She looked at Akai Shuichi: "Why didn't you tell me about this?"
Akai Shuichi: "I just figured this out with Conan a while ago. They probably have their own plans, and it's not easy for me to interrupt them."
In addition, this matter does not seem to have anything to do with the fight against the organization, and for the safety of his family, he cannot go back and reunite with his family now.
Edogawa Conan: "If I don't take the auxiliary medicine and take the second-generation APTX4869 made by Huiyuan, I will become an elementary school student of this age, and if I don't die after taking the medicine made by Huiyuan's parents, my age will change randomly?"
"Perhaps."
Cheng Xiaoyu took his hand away from the APTX4869 pill, raised his hand to pick up one of the disposable sauce boxes, and started the next round of testing after non-invasively taking blood through the shadowed channel.
"But don't you find it strange? For so long, two generations of APTX4869 have been used in the distillery to destroy corpses and cover up evidence. This proves that the probability of immortality and shrinkage after taking it is extremely low."
Haibara Ai: "Yes, I have conducted experiments on mice thousands of times, and I have only observed this happening once."
Cheng Xiaoyu moved her hand away, and a thin layer of dark red liquid appeared in the empty sauce box. She wrote a mark on the lid with a pen and moved the box away. Then she took the next empty sauce box and did the same thing:
"Then this extremely small probability occurred three times within a year, and all of them were people around me."
"There must be something controlling the variables." Huiyuan Ai immediately understood what Cheng Xiaoyu meant. "I took the initiative to find Kudo Shinichi after I knew he had become smaller. The variable is likely to exist between me and Akai Shuichi's mother. What do we have in common..."
"Blood relationship." Cheng Xiaoyu said, "Because Akai Shuichi's mother and your mother are sisters, Akai Shuichi is your and Miyano Akemi's cousin in terms of blood relationship."
Huihara Ai: Huh?
Akai Shuichi: Huh?
The two looked at each other.
Edogawa Conan suddenly thought of the relationship between Miyano Akemi and Akai Shuichi: "Wait, doesn't that mean..."
"Yes." Cheng Xiaoyu said, "That means Akai Shuichi is in love with his cousin."
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