Chapter 285: Who could be so important as the missing engineer?
"Noah, turn on the camera."
Lin Xi put the phone on the corner of the table.
When he saw her face, Itakura Taku was obviously stunned.
"What?" he asked warily.
"You've misunderstood from the beginning, Mr. Itakura," Lin Xi said. "I'm not part of the organization, and your location hasn't been exposed. If you're interested, Kolda Town is also a pleasant long-term residence."
Kolda Town is the town where Itakura Takuzai lives.
"You're not one of those crows?" Itakura Taku looked her up and down. "Then who are you? Why are you looking for me?"
"I am..." Lin Xi's mind raced, remembering the doubts in Itakura Taku's diary about the reality of the world, "...a person who wants to uncover the truth of the world."
"I often feel like this world...isn't real enough, it's fake." Seeing Itakura Taku's increasingly serious expression, Lin Xi knew he was right. "Sometimes I have the illusion that we're all characters drawn in a comic book. Not just the people, but the scenery too, like a flat canvas."
"So I lived in doubt and fear. I knew no one would believe me if I said these things, so I didn't tell anyone. I just quietly observed and collected evidence to support my thoughts."
"And by coincidence, I found the diary you left in your rental house. You share the same idea as me, and you've gone even further than me—you and that organization know the truth about this world, right?"
Lin Xi looked at the camera with longing eyes, "What exactly is that software used for? What is the purpose of that organization? I... really want to know."
Regarding what she said, Itakura Taku felt a little sympathetic to her, but was also half-believing and half-doubting her words.
"You have to tell me first how you saw my diary."
So Lin Xi honestly told Conan how he discovered that Itakura Taku was related to the organization, but concealed Conan's existence and attributed all the credit for discovering the organization to Mouri Kogoro.
"I see." Itakura Taku touched his chin.
"I've been trying to contact you, but you hid too well. I went to your villa and found the 'Stone of Destiny' you made." Lin Xi had been observing Bancang Zhuo's expression. He became obviously nervous when he heard the "Stone of Destiny".
"Where is that CD now?" he asked.
"It disappeared," Lin Xi said. "I'm not lying. It disappeared out of thin air, right before my eyes."
Itakura Taku looked at her deeply.
Lin Xi saw pity in that look.
She couldn't help but frown.
After pondering for a moment, Itakura Taku spoke, "Your feeling is correct. This world is a book. Just like you said, a comic book or a novel... and to explain it in simple terms, the 'Slate of Destiny' is the 'plot' of the book 'World', which records the history, destiny, and future of mankind."
"Contrary to what you might think, I didn't create that stone tablet. It was given to me by the crows to use as source data for the software. They also came up with the name Wen Yi. Apparently, they discovered the true nature of this world before I did and have already produced some research results, the 'Stone of Destiny' being one of them. Through it, they can predict future trends and always do the right thing at the right time."
Itakura Taku paused. "I once asked Vermouth why she asked me to create the software. I was just an ordinary CG artist. She told me it was because I was the only one in the world who could create that software. It was written on the 'Slate of Destiny'."
"I was horrified at the time—the reason they came after me was because I was the one who created the software on the 'Slate of Destiny'!"
"I put the 'Stone of Destiny' in a CD case and planned to return it to Vermouth. Now that it's gone... forget it."
"As for the remaining two questions...it's hard to describe the software's function in a few words. If I were to use a metaphor to describe it, it would be like a pen designed to rewrite the 'plot' of a novel or comic book."
"Now you know why I said those crows were crazy. As characters in a book, they actually wanted to create a weapon that transcends their own dimension! Is there anything crazier than this?"
"And their purpose in doing all this is to use that software to change the 'future' written on a certain 'Slate of Fate' before it arrives. I originally didn't know what fate they were trying so hard to avoid, thinking it was the destruction of their organization itself, but later discovered that wasn't the case."
"They did so much just to save one person." Itakura Taku's expression became strange, "That person will die at some point in the future, and they want her to survive."
Silence, a long silence.
Lin Xi believed that her expression must be indescribable.
Oh, it's like everyone thinks that the purpose of a certain villain organization investing a lot of time and energy in something is either to establish a large monopoly or to rule the world, but it turns out that they are simply trying to save their cat.
Huh? Why did I think of cats?
Lin Xi packed up the strange ideas and threw them out of his head.
Okay, after what Itakura Taku said, she probably understood.
Everyone broke through the dimensional wall and found that they were characters in a comic book.
They are dissatisfied with their ending and want to take control of their own destiny.
How inspiring, it brings tears to my eyes.
As for the reason for changing someone's ending... Lin Xi remained skeptical.
That's ridiculous.
Who can be so important?
To be honest, for a moment Lin Xi narcissistically felt that the person who was destined to die was himself.
Well, after all, her goal has always been to complete the mission and return home. Once her identity is fully exposed in front of the protagonists, she should be close to being sanctioned.
But soon she got goosebumps from her own thoughts——
For her, they created this software that could have done so much more? What kind of heartthrob plot is this!
Itakura Taku probably read too many novels. His top priority now was to uninstall the online literature apps on his phone.
The person she was criticizing sat quietly across from the screen, his expression saying, "Anything else you want to ask?" If not, he was going to hang up.
Lin Xi blinked: "Mr. Itakura, I have one last question - what is the 'backdoor' in the software you mentioned in your diary?"
Itakura Taku gave a short laugh and said nothing.
Well, this seems to mean that you don’t want to answer.
What a pity... Lin Xi looked at the middle-aged man opposite him. This man is really a talent. She really wants to recruit him into the organization.
Unfortunately, that’s not his interest.
"Then I won't bother you anymore." Lin Xi nodded. "Please enjoy your vacation. Take care of yourself and take your medicine on time. You know your heart isn't very good—oh, and I want to apologize. I accidentally broke the mirror in your villa's bathroom. I'll have it fixed."
Itakura Taku revealed an indescribable expression: "Oh, thanks for the reminder, please leave the mirror alone, don't worry about it..."
Although he won't go back, the villa is still his asset after all. Can he please stop letting weird people in?
Moreover, although this guy used honorifics all the time, his expression and behavior showed no respect at all.
Hey, he didn't dare to tell her...
Lin Xi: OVO.
"Okay."
"Also, if you can get in touch with those crows, please tell them to stop bothering me," Itakura Taku said helplessly. "Working on software is really tiring, you know? I've lost a lot of hair in the past two years... I know they probably won't hurt me. After all, they were just trying to scare me and test my mental limits, but I really don't want to work anymore."
So please don't look at him with sparkling eyes and look like you want to recruit him, okay?
As a worker who was forced to work for a year, Taku Itakura is very sensitive to this expression.
Don't think he can't see that this guy is also in the same group as those crows - saying the same group is a bit exaggerated, maybe they are not the same organization, but what is the saying? "All crows are black" - even if she is not one of the crows, she is also very black.
Lin Xi nodded like a chick pecking at rice, and gave Bancang Zhuo a special follow.
In this way, his coordinates will glow and be very conspicuous, and Lin Xi can find his location at any time.
Itakura Taku inexplicably felt a chill: "Alright, I'm hanging up!"
The video was unilaterally cut off.
"Ms. Lin, do you need me to reconnect?" Noah asked.
Lin Xi shook his head.
A prompt indicating that the mission was completed popped up on the light screen in front of her.
『Completed』
The Vanishing Engineer
"The missing Itakura Taku was finally found in Northern Ireland, nearly 10,000 kilometers away."
"And he's created the software he calls 'the software that could change the world.' Let's guess when it'll be useful. A month, two months? ... Oh, hopefully never—but things don't always go as planned, do they?"
"Mission reward: 40,000 experience points."
Lin Xi was very satisfied with this reward.
Now nothing could make her happier than the abundant experience points.
It turns out that organizing to find Itakura Taku first will give more than simply fooling the children.
The only pity is that she still doesn't know what the Three Good Citizens badge looks like.
.
The next day.
Kudo House.
Yukiko Kudo placed the small porcelain cup on the porcelain plate, and the black tea in the cup shook as the white porcelain collided.
"So, it turned out that it was Miss Lin who saved you." Kudo Yusaku sat on the chair and took a sip of the black tea brought by his lover.
"Xiao Xin, you are so naughty!" Kudo Yukiko hugged Conan and rubbed his face like dough. "Do you know how dangerous this is!"
Conan was held on his mother's lap with a numb expression.
After seeing her son become smaller, Yukiko Kudo kept kissing, hugging and holding him high, as if she wanted to relive the time when she raised her child.
…That was one of the reasons why he didn't want them back in the first place.
"After we finish investigating the case of the Numayuan Chicken and Fishmonger, shall we..."
"Well, let's ask Miss Lin if she's willing to take me along," Kudo Yusaku said with great interest. "My editor is urging me to submit the manuscript for the next series, so I'd like to go get some inspiration."
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