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Conan saw Natsukawa Sora from a distance on the street, a man he hadn't seen for a while.

The other person was standing in the crowd, wearing a light-colored coat, which looked a little thin in this winter season. He stood quietly in the moving crowd, as if there was a thick wall between him and the world.

Conan didn't think much about it. He just wanted to say hello but found that the other party had no expression at all. He stood there like a puppet. The silence was so great that the detective couldn't help but speak up to break it. He shouted:

"Kong? Why are you here?"

The other party seemed to be aware of his call and returned to his gentle appearance, as if the silence just now was just an illusion.

"Conan," Noel reached out and rubbed the other's head, explaining, "I just finished my work and was about to go back."

"Are you done just now? Was it a date?" This made Conan think of what Xiaoguang said before, and asked curiously.

"Hmm?" Noel looked a little surprised when he heard this. Conan thought that the other party thought he didn't know, so he smiled and explained:

"Xiao Guang said you were dating a blonde with dark skin."

Blonde hair and dark skin? The direction was so clear that Noel instantly realized who the other party was talking about, and his expression suddenly became subtle.

Is that how Hikaru explained it to everyone? A big sister with blond hair and dark skin, is she so cute? Noel couldn't help but cover her mouth when she thought of this, but the laughter kept coming out from between her fingers. Noel simply gave up covering her mouth and laughed for a long time under Conan's puzzled eyes. She finally wiped away her tears and explained, "Indeed, she's super cute."

There's something wrong with your attitude no matter how you look at it... Conan looked at the other person coaxing the child with dead eyes, but didn't ask much. Although he really didn't think Kong Ge's personality would allow him to fall in love, the other person's attitude made him full of doubts.

"Conan, you'll know when you meet 'her'." Noel saw the curiosity in the detective's eyes and said with a smile.

"Really?" Conan felt relieved when he saw the other person's sudden cheerful mood. Kong Ge looked much better than before.

"Then I'll go first, Kong. Xiaolan is waiting for me at home." Conan turned to leave, but suddenly heard the other person's voice behind him:

"Conan."

The detective turned around and saw the man standing in the crowd, waving at him. He seemed to want to say something, but paused and said:

“Be careful about your own safety.”

"Got it." Conan was a little confused but understood that it was Kong Ge's good intention, so he agreed and continued walking forward.

After running for a distance, he couldn't help but look back again, and saw Kong Ge still standing alone in the crowd. The wind gently lifted his hair, revealing his eyes, as if nothing was in sight, silently looking at this world that was incompatible with him, and seemed a little... sad.

Am I overthinking this? Conan asked himself.

He thought of his own guesses again, and felt as if he had grasped something, but then it flowed away like water, leaving him with nothing in his hands.

I'll ask next time I get a chance, the detective decided.

But Noel did not go back to find Xiaoguang as he said. He wandered the streets with an empty stomach, recalling the plot.

Just now he thought of a detail in the comics, for example, Conan realized the connection between Itakura Taku and the organization because the other party mentioned Tequila's appearance, but this time the detective never met Tequila at all, and the latter was still staying in the public security. Therefore, even if Conan would intervene in the investigation of Itakura Taku's death, the other party would not notice that the person who contacted the other party was Tequila, and thus become interested in Itakura Taku's diary, and then trace the organization to compete with Gin.

This undoubtedly made Noel feel relieved. It was good news that a very troublesome matter was resolved.

However, at this moment, he received a call from Bermode.

"What's wrong, teacher?"

"Noel, do you know Itakura Taku?"

The name suddenly spoken by the other party made Noel pause for a moment, and he didn't even care about the other party's address for a moment. He asked back:

"I don't know. What's wrong?"

"You didn't know?" Vermode was obviously a little surprised, and then smiled and said, "That's nothing. Anyway, this man is dead. Gin is in a bad mood now. I suggest you stay away from him."

Has the organization received the news of Itakura Taku's death?

This news made Noel's eyes widen. Before Noel could say anything, Bermode asked, "How could you, Bourbon's partner, not know about this? This is the news he found out."

"After all, it has nothing to do with me." Noel replied.

"I just feel like you're putting too much trust in that golden fox, Noel?"

"He knows what you look like."

"Don't worry, he won't find anything." Norton paused and said.

"Are you going to get away with that?"

"After all, Bourbon didn't know about the experiment."

"Don't underestimate the curiosity of that fox." Vermouth reminded, obviously very wary of Amuro Toru. This reminded Noel of the evidence Bourbon found on Vermouth in the plot. This might be the reason.

After hanging up the phone, Noel rubbed his head. He probably knew what was going on.

It's the public security.

It seems that Tequila, who was caught by the police, leaked the information about Itakura Taku. Toru must have investigated him immediately and found him dead. No, wait, if it was Toru, he would not have died easily in an ordinary homicide. Could it be that he faked his death? The police arranged for him to fake his death, and Toru informed the organization as intelligence. If that's the case, the information about the organization from Itakura Taku should have been in the police. It's Toru Amuro, no, Rei Furuya.

However, since the other party reported it to the organization as intelligence instead of using it as bait for Gin to set up a trap, it seems that the public security department is still unsure.

I just don't know what happened to Itakura Taku. If he faked his death, did he disguise his body? If Conan was there...

———

Conan Edogawa looked at the corpse and found something wrong.

No matter how you look at this body, it doesn't seem to match the time of the murder, and the face also looks a little stiff...

"Brother Mori, this case has been transferred." Inspector Megure suddenly said after answering a phone call. Then several men in plain clothes asked the detective to leave in a friendly but firm manner, which made Conan even more confused.

Maori Kogoro seemed to have thought of something, and whispered something to Inspector Megure. After receiving a positive answer, he couldn't help but mutter, "It's those annoying guys again."

The case has the power to be transferred to the Metropolitan Police Department, the death is obviously problematic, and the attitudes of Inspector Megure and Uncle Mori...

It's the Japanese public security.

Conan realized this and his expression suddenly became serious.

Why would an ordinary software engineer trigger the Japanese police?

Is there something wrong with Itakura Taku?

The detective kept thinking about this question until he went home with Xiaolan. The girl's voice rang softly beside his ear, asking, "Conan, let me ask you, do people really change?"

The girl in the red coat stopped in the snow and asked the detective beside her softly:

“Does a person really change when he or she leaves?”

The girl raised her head, and Xue gently kissed her cheek. Conan couldn't see her expression, but he could only hear her usually gentle voice with a hint of sadness:

“This feeling of always waiting is too tiring.”

"Don't worry, Shinichi-nii-san won't change," the detective forced himself to put on a childlike innocent smile, comforting or perhaps assuring him, "He's still the same person you knew before."

"So, Sister Xiaolan, you don't have to worry."

"If Conan, you were Shinichi, I don't know how great it would be." Then, the girl just thought it was a strange idea, laughing and making fun of her own stupidity, which left Conan silent.

He wanted to continue saying something, but suddenly he saw a man wearing a knitted hat and a coat.

"Why are you crying again?"

To Conan's surprise, the man approached them and asked again:

"Why do you always cry?"

Xiaolan wiped her tears after hearing this and then asked:

"Can't I cry?"

"No, I just suddenly thought of a woman who looked very similar to you," the man in the knitted hat seemed to recall something, and his tone softened a little, saying:

"She always looks calm on the outside, but she cries secretly behind my back," the man concluded, "What a silly woman."

After leaving some inexplicable words, the man left. Conan, who had been alert the whole time, breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked the girl in confusion:

"Do you know each other?"

"Shinichi and I met him in New York."

Following Xiaolan's explanation, Conan finally recalled the past case in New York, and he also realized the other party's identity, a federal agent FBI.

Both the police and the FBI, this is really...

It's getting complicated.

———

"Why are you here again?" Noel, who had just returned home and was enjoying Xiaoguang's meal, opened the door and saw the green-eyed FBI. His mood began to deteriorate.

However, before Noel could rush away, Akai Shuichi said to himself:

"The FBI discovered an experimental base of an organization in the United States. It had been destroyed when we went there. Now the technicians are repairing it, but I think you know the laboratory," Akai Shuichi said while giving an address, and then asked, "You have been in and out of this laboratory in the United States."

"I do know," Noel waved his hand and said firmly, "Let's not talk about why I'm telling you. You've been undercover in the organization for so long. Have you found anything useful?"

Akai Shuichi turned a blind eye to the other party's provocative attitude and said in a fair trade:

"Someone has looked into your data in the United States." However, he did not use it as a bargaining chip, but said it directly.

"It's Bourbon. He's got his eyes on you."

"I know." Noel nodded, looking not surprised at all. This attitude made Akai Shuichi's olive green eyes darken a little. He asked directly:

"What are you planning, Noel?"

"I think this has nothing to do with you." Noel said and wanted to close the door. Yes, he did not invite the person into the house at all, but had a conversation with the other party at the door in the cold weather, and Zhu Fu Jingguang in the kitchen had obviously noticed this.

Akai Shuichi knew that the other party's attitude was stubborn and thought that it would be a fruitless return, but the other party suddenly said:

"I can give you the data from that lab, but you have to do something for me at the same time."

"What is it?"

"Protecting a detective."

The laboratory is just a research base of Shirley, and its main purpose is to conduct extended research related to Drug A. It is not a big deal to use it to exchange for an FBI agent's protection for Conan. Anyway, the other party will know Conan's identity sooner or later. On the contrary, no one knows what changes will happen to Conan in the next main plot, so this will at least give him an extra layer of protection.

"I'll let Xiaoguang send you the lab data and the detective's identity." After saying that, Noel couldn't wait to close the door, leaving the green-eyed FBI in the snowy night while he went to enjoy his dinner.

I don't think I agree yet...

Shuichi Akai paused for a rare moment, then found it a little funny. For them, protecting a person in exchange for the organization's laboratory research data was the most lucrative deal.