Chapter 107 Detective Game
“Mr. Hino, this is a map. But it doesn’t look like a normal map; it’s more like a riddle.” The young detective said confidently, holding the anonymous letter received by the detective agency. “I think this is another game orchestrated by Osiris.”
"After changing the way you address me, something just feels off?"
The man thought to himself.
Upon returning to Japan, the Neko family father and son officially parted ways. Their identities reverted to Hino Ryo and Edogawa Conan.
Following the clues, the two quickly discovered the source of the anonymous letter: it was the same person who had gone on a date with Hagiwara—Vermouth.
Moreover, they discovered that many people associated with "Conan" had recently had contact with this mysterious woman:
One day, the professor took the boy detective club to the park. The woman gave the children several game prize tickets and told them not to scratch them before the prize redemption date.
Sonoko and Ran received a membership trial card from a beauty salon during its anniversary sale while they were shopping together. Even Azusa from Poirot Cafe received something similar.
"Conan, something's strange. Why hasn't Hagiwara received any letters or cards?"
"Perhaps he has already received it but is completely unaware of it."
"You mean there was a hidden meaning in what Vermouth said back then?"
“No, Inspector Hagiwara can’t recall saying anything special. I deduce that the map in the anonymous letter was the riddle, and the cards the others received were clues to their destinations. These codes were all conveyed to me in writing. Therefore, Inspector Hagiwara must also have something like that,” Conan said confidently. “It’s something everyone who goes to a restaurant receives: a receipt.”
However, to Conan's great disappointment, after receiving the receipt, he did not solve the mystery as he had hoped. He still did not know where the place indicated by the map was.
"Strange, could it be that we've gone in the wrong direction with our reasoning?"
"Impossible! Something must have been missed... Um, Officer Hagiwara, do you remember the order in which the dishes were served?"
However, even after Hagiwara finally managed to recall the order of the menu under the combined pressure and enticement of Conan and Kagemitsu, they still had no clue.
"Hagiwara, are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"It's absolutely true! Please, please stop asking, okay?" Hagiwara said aggrievedly, thinking to himself: If I had known it was like this, I would never have gone to that meal!
"Mr. Hino, I'll stay at the professor's house tonight," the young detective said to Hikaru after a busy day.
"Is everything alright? Or should I arrange it for you..."
“No need,” Conan interrupted. “I’m not in any danger. If Osiris wants me to play along, he needs to make sure I’m alive. On the contrary, Mr. Hino, you should be hiding!”
"Don't worry, Zero has already found me a new safe house."
Conan paused for a moment, then said, "Mr. Hino, I've been thinking a lot about your analysis of Osiris himself lately. I agree with most of what you said, but I'd like to add a few more points."
"Speaking."
"The motivation behind his behavior is actually quite simple; it's nothing more than the desire to satisfy some kind of desire. Humans, and even animals in a more general sense, have only two basic desires: one is survival, and the other is [sexual desire]." The young detective analyzed calmly, "Osiris's choice to remain a child means that he actively gave up the latter, so what sustains him is only the former."
"To live, and to achieve immortality?"
"Yes, but that's not enough. Let's dig deeper: Why did he want to live so long? Didn't he get tired of living? As I said before, he was a true pragmatist. I think he had an extremely grand plan, but the difficulty of implementation and the estimated time required forced him to extend his lifespan to the point of near immortality in order to ensure the smooth progress of the plan."
"What kind of plan is this?" Jingguang was shocked.
"I want to be relevant to all of humanity, even the whole world."
"What?!"
"Reproduction." Conan concluded calmly and steadily, then continued to explain, "Remember Ms. Horii's case? The experiments the organization has been conducting are actually changing traditional methods of reproduction."
"But surrogacy wasn't invented by an organization, was it?"
“I asked Osiris: What is your ideal world like? He replied: A world of children,” Conan said. “But children who haven’t reached sexual maturity are incapable of reproduction. So how will the species continue?”
"If every individual could live forever, there would be no need to rely on procreation to continue the lineage, right?"
"But then the world would become a stagnant pool. Osiris didn't like that; he loved the changes in the game, the endless fun... Moreover, he explained why he liked the world of children: because in that way, hell would become heaven. Although it's unclear what he meant, it's certain that he didn't see immortality as a blessing for all mankind; it was more like his personal vision."
"Hmm...please continue," Jing Guang said, his brows furrowed.
“You didn’t include everything the organization did to Yuuki in your psychological analysis, but I think that’s an important clue. Yuuki was a baby when he was abducted. D-Lab conducted some human experiments on him, which made him develop an antidote. Then they sent him to another family to raise him. More than ten years later, they kidnapped him again and finally returned him unharmed… Mr. Hino, don’t you think this is like a long-term biological experiment? Like how ornithologists attach tracking devices to migratory birds and observe and record data every now and then.”
"What psychological state of Osiris do you think this reflects?"
“Yuki is a target he’s interested in, so he’s willing to keep observing her. More than a decade isn’t an obstacle for him at all; he can wait, and he’s extremely patient. I’m a target he’s even more interested in, so he’s willing to maintain close contact with me. But as far as we know, there hasn’t been a second Yuki yet. I think there aren’t many people in this world who can arouse Osiris’s interest.”
"That's understandable! Everyone's energy is limited, and it's impossible to distribute your attention equally to everyone."
"So, what attitude does Osiris take towards people he dislikes?"
Jingguang hadn't thought about this question yet, and asked in return, "What do you think?"
“Ignore it,” Conan replied. “Didn’t Mr. Hino say before that he seemed to have endless energy and could deploy all plans properly and thoroughly? But that’s impossible. O’Sirius is definitely not in control of the whole situation by himself. At least when he’s playing games with me, I don’t think he has time to issue tasks to his subordinates.”
"So who do you think is helping him behind the scenes?"
“Mr. Hino, that’s not my point. What I mean is, if Bourbon happens to be the person he hates, do you understand what that means?”
"Huh? No, wait! You mean?!" Jingguang suddenly became excited.
“That’s right. Perhaps Osiris never personally reviewed Bourbon’s work emails; those things were all handled by his assistants. If we can find the real boss behind the scenes, then Bourbon can…”
"Move freely within the organization"
Jingguang quietly chimed in: "This reasoning is incredibly exciting, but is it even possible?"
"I know this may sound far-fetched, but it's the answer I came up with after thinking about it for a long time. Mr. Hino, first of all, let's be clear about one thing: people's psychology changes over time."
"I see."
"So here's the question: if Amuro is Osiris's brother, when did Osiris first find out about this?"
"I think it was when Bourbon first joined the organization."
"No, I think it was when I was a child."
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Let me ask you another question, Mr. Hino. What do you think Osiris's mental age is?"
"To be honest, I think he had a meticulous mind at the age of 10 that was no less than that of other people at the age of 30."
"But I think he's only 10 years old, or rather, he wishes he were only 10 years old. Otherwise, why would he keep looking like a child? It's his self-suggestion! So the so-called mirror doesn't refer to 30-year-old Amuro Tooru, but to Furuya Rei who is still in elementary school."
"You mean Osiris already knew Zero's real name?!"
"Even if he knew, it wouldn't matter. Mr. Hino, all my reasoning is based on the fact that Osiris dislikes Bourbon. Out of sight, out of mind; he's never really paid any attention to this 'younger brother.'"
"But what shackles did zero have back then?"
"When did Amuro-nii start wanting to become a policeman?"
"I had this idea before I met him, probably when I was six or seven years old!"
"Isn't that settled then?"
"So you're so convinced that the shackles of Zero are this country..." Jingguang couldn't help but retort. "There's still something I don't understand. At the hotel in Nagano, Osiris seemed very excited when his younger brother was mentioned; his eyes even lit up. I thought he and his brother had a very good relationship!"
"Was that something he was faking?"
"Really? I don't think so. I think that might have been the only time he ever showed his true feelings."
"Huh? I hadn't considered that..."
"Forget it, we still don't have enough information. Making guesses might lead us astray. It's too late, let's get some rest!"
"No, wait! I have something very important to say!" Conan shouted.
"Alright then, please continue." Jing Guang sighed, sounding slightly helpless.
“I haven’t finished talking about Bourbon and Osiris yet. I think Osiris’s attitude towards Bourbon is very complicated. Because if Bourbon really is his brother, then Bourbon’s existence is quite disadvantageous to him.”
"That gentleman has always presented himself as mysterious and unpredictable, manipulating everything like a god. But the existence of his blood brother has completely destroyed the mystery he has painstakingly maintained. If others knew about this, they would inevitably compare him to Bourbon in every way. A god being brought down from his pedestal and compared to a mortal is a situation that Osiris does not want to see. As for whether Bourbon is a policeman, it is completely insignificant compared to this."
"If Osiris is so worried about being discovered, shouldn't he have eliminated Bourbon? Why has he kept him alive until now?"
"Because children's games are all about fairness! I bet they made some kind of bet or promise when they were kids, which is why Osiris never went after Bourbon. The closest he came to achieving his goal was the Pisker incident, but Bourbon didn't reveal anything. I think Osiris must have been quite disappointed; perhaps the reason he gave Bourbon so many tasks was to wait for him to make a mistake."
"Conan, I'm really sorry, but this reasoning is probably not valid. Zero has never seen Osiris before!"
"Have we met Osiris before? He could just change his face and you'd recognize him?"
Jingguang was speechless and had to admit he had a point: "Okay, even if you're right, but..."
Conan interrupted impatiently, "I think Osiris must have kept this a secret from everyone except Alice. Because she was a friend he met before he became God. Including the behind-the-scenes helper I just mentioned, Alice isn't capable enough, but I think she must know something. In short, she's a crucial breakthrough point."
"Yes, we'll consider it."
"Also, yesterday when I was playing games, I joked with Osiris and said: I have several dads! And he replied: Coincidentally, I have more than one mom."
"Hey? What do you guys usually talk about?"
"That's not important. The key point is that if Osiris isn't lying, then we have to reconsider his background. Even Amuro's brother's. And if we consider the mirror metaphor, is their only shared blood relative really their father?"
Before Jingguang could recover from the shock, he vaguely heard Conan say, "That's all for my supplement to the profile of Osiris."
Jingguang felt increasingly uneasy as he listened. He thought to himself, "They've been rambling on and on today, as if they're trying to spill everything. It sounds more like they're giving their last words."
"Conan, do you really have nothing else to say?"
"there is none left."
"Alright, as an adult, let me say a few words to you! Children's games are about fairness, but adult competition isn't. Even if Osiris's mental age is only 10, his actual age is far greater than that. So, do you understand what I mean?"
"I see."
"Then...you really have nothing to say?" Jingguang vaguely sensed that Conan might have already cracked the code and knew the answer, and that he wanted to face Osiris alone: for the sake of fairness in the game.
"Mr. Hino, we've been working together for so long, why don't you trust me?" the little boy asked in an innocent and adorable tone.
"Conan, I didn't distrust you. I'm sorry, I was overthinking it. Let's call it a day then, and look at the map together again tomorrow, okay?"
"good!"
However, Conan disappeared the next day.
"Mr. Hino, are you asking about Shinichi?"
"Yes, he came to my place last night. But I didn't see him when I woke up this morning..."
"Was there a note? There's nothing! I kept calling him, but no one answered..."
Jing Guang on the other end of the phone was completely dumbfounded.
He searched for a long time but couldn't find the missing little detective.
From then on, the little boy named "Conan Edogawa" never returned to the human world.
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