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"Brother Kong!" Conan couldn't help shouting. He suddenly moved forward and grabbed Noel's arm, and asked anxiously: "We know you were forced. Don't get me wrong. Officer Hagiwara and I just want to rescue you."

"You were forced to do this?" Noel's eyes flashed with doubt, and then he looked at the detective in front of him and asked softly, "Save me...?"

"Brother Kong, we have found out that you are indeed related to them, but we also know that you are definitely not the type to take the initiative," Conan explained hastily; "We came here just to exchange information. Once we bring them to justice, you won't have to be forced to do anything by them anymore."

"So that's what you think..." Noel looked at the worried detective and was silent for a moment. Then he sighed, raised his hand and touched the other person's head, and chuckled, "Okay, if you want to know something, ask me and I'll tell you."

"Before that, Xiaokong, are you injured?"

Kenji Hagiwara temporarily suppressed the other person's expression that he remembered just now, looked at him carefully and suddenly asked, then reached out his hand while the other person was stunned, gently pushed away the hair beside his ear, revealing a dark red mark.

"Is this... a burn?"

"Uncle, keep your distance." Noel turned away from the other's hand and said softly, "I've encountered a fire before, a long time ago."

Even if the body's self-healing ability did not completely repair the wound, the scars left behind would not look like they had just been experienced, so this statement was reasonable. Noel did not want to waste time on this issue and asked, "Do you still want the intelligence on that organization?"

"Brother Kong, tell us first, will leaking the information of that organization have any impact on you?" Conan asked seriously, not wanting to obtain information at the expense of others.

"No, after all, I'm just a..." Norton paused and said naturally: "A member of the lower level, I don't know much."

"My father was one of them, so I was forced to join them..."

It's a lie. I went there voluntarily just for a meal.

"But I'm not a code name member. You should know that their official members have wine names. I'm just a bottom-level member, so I don't have a code name."

Liar, I have had the code name for many years.

"You should have found out, Grappa, I appeared with him several times. I am his subordinate."

It's a lie. You can't get double salary even if you are your own subordinate.

"Then Brother Kong, that time at the memorial service, were you the one who stopped Grappa from attacking us?" Conan remembered the phone call that Grappa answered at the memorial service and made this guess, but even if he was not asked, he was basically certain of it. At that time, the only person who knew himself and Ai and knew Grappa, and was good at hacking technology and could know that he was in the room, was Brother Kong.

"I guess so." Noel knew that this was unavoidable, and it was a coincidence that made it fit in very reasonably. But as the saying goes, one lie needs a million to make up for it, and the next question followed.

"So what price did you pay?" The boy asked in a crying voice, his shaking body obviously unable to control his emotions.

"Nothing," Noel sat back in his seat, his expression back to normal, and explained, "I just happened to see you running to that room through the camera, so I told him that. My father is very familiar with him, so asking him to release a child is not a big deal for him."

"Instead of asking these, why don't you ask for the information you need, such as where their base is?" Noel changed the subject, but then said to himself: "But it seems that you can't use this information for the time being."

"What can I do for you?"

"Brother Kong, it's all right as long as you're okay." Conan said hurriedly, but he heard the other party talking to himself.

"If you want to know anything about the organization, just contact me directly. In this case, I am considered a semi-undercover agent?"

"Brother Kong, please protect yourself!" Conan said anxiously, his face full of disapproval.

"Just kidding. I can't do such a difficult job as an undercover agent."

They exchanged some more news, and then reminded Noel several times to protect his own safety before leaving.

Noel led the three people out of the house, then sat back on the sofa and lay there for a while. Suddenly, he thought of something, climbed up to the second floor, went to the bathroom, then unbuttoned his shirt and looked at himself in the mirror.

The hand with three nasty knife marks gently scratched the marks on the body. There were two deep red marks on the lower right side. One was as big as a teacup, which was the mark left by the steel bars that pierced through the body during the car accident. The other was from Gin's bullet, which hit the middle of the right side. And further up... Noel lifted up the left side of his hair, revealing a dark red, intermittent burn mark under his neck, which formed an overly strong contrast with his fair skin. There seemed to be another one on his back. Noel thought about it and turned around, trying to see what it looked like in the mirror. After turning around several times and finding that he couldn't see it, he had no choice but to give up and buttoned up his clothes one by one again.

He suddenly remembered the rumors in the organization at the beginning. Grappa was always wrapped in bandages. There must be scars all over his body. Maybe his face was completely disfigured and burned so badly that he couldn't be seen by others. He was also a madman with mental disorders. He was as quiet as a dead person and killed people everywhere like a schizophrenic the next moment. So remember, stay away from him...

Now it seems more like a prophecy, and I am moving towards this future step by step...

Noel looked at himself in the mirror and reached out to touch the face that was unrecognizable due to the scars covered by his hair. The light was reflected in the pale gray-green irises. The light blue home clothes weakened the sharpness brought by his height and facial features. Instead, his fair skin and light-colored lips exuded a harmless temperament.

This is how they see Sora Natsukawa.

Thinking of what he just heard from the Red Party, not only did they fail to discover Grapa's identity, but they once again confirmed the idea that Natsukawa Sora was the victim. But... why did this thing, which should have been a blessing in disguise, give rise to a faint sense of despair?

It is just like a prisoner who has been sentenced to a suspended death sentence and can no longer bear to live in the uncertainty of when he will die, and is relieved to learn that the execution will finally be carried out. However, he is told that the execution has been postponed because of his good performance.

What was born at that moment was not the joy of living a few more days, but the despair of having to wait again... Compared to this, it would be better...

Stop, stop thinking about this. At least now, the identity of Xia Chuankong is still useful. Noel frowned and rubbed his temples. He felt the weakness of his body again and sighed helplessly.

This time, after getting the medicine given by Silvani, he immediately found a place and poured it all out, all of it, without leaving a single drop.

As for whether Silvani or the boss would check this, to be honest, Noel didn't think much about it at the time. His mind was filled with such a careless and rubbish thought. But after thinking calmly, he could see that after the time when Grappa took control of his body, the two of them had a much higher degree of trust in him. After all, Grappa was indeed the most suitable weapon in their eyes, which seemed to be quite what they wanted.

Not wanting to think about these disgusting things anymore, Noel carried his weak body back to his room and then retreated into his closet.

But even though it is a closet, it has custom-made wooden partitions, a soft mattress, and a door with breathable blinds. The inside is filled with soft blankets and pillows. It has been transformed into a luxurious version of a capsule hotel, even more luxurious than the one in the United States back then. It even has sockets for charging mobile phones. These were all forced changes by Xiaoguang's family.

Noel lay inside and suddenly found himself unable to sleep at all. The nest where he used to sleep soundly every night seemed to be missing something. He could not adapt at all and even felt worse than the cardboard box on the street.

After tossing and turning in the luxury capsule hotel several times, Noel crawled out and slowly walked towards another room, which was an ordinary room pretending to be Xia Chuan's empty room but was actually uninhabited, and also had an ordinary empty closet.

Noel looked at the small cabinet, pushed open the door, and squeezed himself in. Frankly speaking, it was not very comfortable. His body was not as convenient as before. After entering the cabinet, he had no room to move and could only curl up.

But this small feeling of being alone in a space where nothing else can fit in is familiar. The small space means that drunkards who want to beat me up can't get in and can only curse outside. It means that stray dogs who come to snatch food or treat me as food can only stare at the room with hungry eyes and drool. It means that the raindrops that come in will be smaller and the wind that comes in will not freeze me to death. In short, except that it is uncomfortable to sleep squeezed in, everything else is good.

So lying in this hard cabinet, Noel finally fell asleep.

The next morning, he opened the cupboard and saw a strange yet familiar person sitting beside the bed. He was wearing casual clothes, had black hair, and his familiar blue-purple cat eyes were slightly upturned. Unlike when he was a child, he always pretended to be mature and cute no matter how stable he was. His temperament was gentle and steady, and he looked particularly trustworthy. This look was unfamiliar to Noel, but the worry in his eyes was too familiar. He even had faint dark circles under his eyes. He looked relieved when he saw that he woke up, which made it difficult for him to deny it.

Noel finally opened his mouth slowly and said, "Hello... Mr. Jingguang?"


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