Chapter 71 Passing on the Torch
The Nagano Winter Olympics have finally come to a close.
Looking back on this experience, Jingguang was shocked to realize that apart from the cat hat and a few photos from the ball, it seemed that nothing had been left behind.
Everything was like the snowman he rebuilt for Xiao Guang. Though there was a brief, vivid memory, it ultimately melted away, vanished, and disappeared without a trace…
"It's best to leave no trace; in the first place, nothing should be left behind."
Xiao Ai was severely injured. Although she jumped off the sled as it slid down the slope, she remained unconscious for a long time because she was too close to the epicenter of the explosion.
Nagano police settled her in a hospital. Learning from the previous experience, this time the medical staff underwent rigorous screening. Wakasa also took care of Ai at the hospital.
As for the non-existent "corpse," Akai was naturally responsible for handling its aftermath.
"Conan, you're saying that letter was written to Mori-senpai by two college students who were playing pranks?" Jingguang asked.
"Based on the current investigation, that's indeed the case." The young detective spoke cautiously, his words revealing immense resentment: he simply couldn't accept that his meticulously planned scheme had been ruined by two troublemakers!
"On the day of the ball, my uncle went to an izakaya near the ski resort for a drink at noon and ran into those two men. As soon as they heard the name Kogoro Mouri, they wanted to see if my uncle was really as powerful as the rumors said. However, my uncle saw through their little trick. The two men were not willing to give up, so they found out where my uncle was staying at the hotel, and that's how that threatening letter came about."
"This sounds like it has nothing to do with the organization, right? But the biggest question about that letter is that it didn't include a date. How did they explain that?"
"They said they've been going to izakayas almost every day recently, and always around noon. If you're a detective, it would be easy for you to find out about that."
"But even if it was a prank, the words in the letter were too exaggerated, weren't they? Especially the words about accepting the judgment of fate and having nowhere to hide. No wonder Ai thought that the organization had discovered her hiding place."
"What I'm concerned about is that when those two college students made the bet with my uncle, there were many people watching in the store. Moreover, according to the two of them, they were encouraged by others to write threatening letters and find out about my uncle's room, and some people even helped them."
"Does Conan suspect that there might be organized groups among the onlookers?"
"It's just a guess. If it were true, a lot of things wouldn't make sense..." The young detective fell into deep thought. "I feel like something's not quite right."
Jingguang reasoned, "We don't yet know if there is such a mastermind who knows Ai's identity and is related to the organization. There might even be more than one person, so let's call him Xiao Hei for now!"
"Ai's room is next to the doctor's, but on the night of the ball, she hid in the doctor's and Mori's room. In other words, if Kuro's target is Ai, then Kuro has already grasped a very core part of our plan: the three Sherrys at the ball, on the rooftop, and in the parking lot are all fake."
“It’s also possible that Kuro doesn’t know, and it’s precisely because of this uncertainty that he’s testing him,” Conan questioned.
“Okay, let’s assume Kuro is testing us. But according to Vodka, the mastermind behind the operation is Vermouth. Ai received the letter before the ball was over, and Vermouth never showed any suspicion that your mother was impersonating Sherry.”
"Maybe Vermouth was putting on an act for someone else?"
"That makes sense, but there's another problem. Apart from Bourbon, the other members of the organization communicate very closely. Vodka's mission was to hunt down Rumi Wakasa. Yet, after he was injured and went to the ski resort, he learned about Chianti and the others' movements very quickly. But Vodka didn't recognize Sherry at first. Conan, do you think Vodka was also acting?"
“Yes, that’s what I don’t understand the most! I feel like there was no acting at all, it was just a genuine reaction.” Conan sighed deeply. “Gin was lured to the snowy mountain by me, and Haibara had already received the letter by then. This means that if the Black Organization really wanted to kill Haibara, then the only person expected to do it would be Vodka. But how could Vodka not know? To put it another way, if the Black Organization only knew Haibara’s identity but wasn’t a member of the organization, that makes even less sense. Because Vodka going to the ski resort was just an accident. It’s impossible for anyone other than members of the organization to know.”
"So, it really was just an unfortunate coincidence after all?" Jing Guang sighed, but felt much more relaxed.
"No, I absolutely refuse!" Conan rolled around on the sofa. "This! Is! Impossible!"
"There must be something we've overlooked!"
Jingguang shook his head helplessly: "Alright, I'll go investigate the customers at the izakaya that day. But there were a lot of tourists, and everyone had been drinking, so gathering evidence might be difficult."
"I can help!"
"Let's leave this to the Nagano Metropolitan Police Department," Kagemitsu said with a smile, offering a lemon pie to coax, "Eat something, don't think about this now."
Seeing the lemon pie, Conan's mood instantly improved, and he happily began to eat the dessert.
Jingguang couldn't help but sigh, "You and Ling are quite similar in some ways. When you're in a bad mood, you can be cheered up with delicious food."
What is Amuro-nii's favorite food?
“Celery,” Jingguang answered without hesitation.
"ha?"
Jingguang's smile deepened: "Ling especially loves celery; we even planted it together when we were little. But it got dug up by the neighbor's dog after only a few days. Ling was heartbroken for a long time..."
"I never knew Amuro-nii had done something like that before." Conan imagined the scene and found it somewhat laughable. "Oh, by the way, how's the organization doing? Is Bourbon safe?"
"Well..." Jingguang hesitated for a moment, and Conan already knew the answer.
"Sorry, I messed it up."
“Conan, you don’t need to blame yourself. I invited you to join the plan, and we designed the plan together. Although there were major deviations during execution, the main responsibility lies with me, not you. I know why you blocked me, because you didn’t want me to fight Gin, right? So you chose to solve this problem for me.”
Conan nodded slightly: "Because I'm afraid... I'm afraid that if something happens to Hino-nii, Amuro-nii will lose control. If his identity is exposed, then everything will be over."
“Zero isn’t that fragile, and I’m not that easily hurt either. You and Ai are both smart and brave kids, but Zero and I don’t need you to protect us!” Jingguang smiled and patted the little boy’s head.
"Conan, please don't do this again next time, okay? This time, I want you to be a commander who oversees the overall situation, not a soldier who charges into battle. Although both roles are important, if a soldier is missing, his comrades can fill in, but a commander is a rare find."
"People are unpredictable, and situations change rapidly; you can't foresee everything. The more complex the situation, the more crucial it is to have someone make the decision: what's the next step? This decision is difficult because sometimes you have to give up something, and a wrong decision can ruin everything. But someone has to make decisions; otherwise, no matter how many people there are, they're just a disorganized mess. The most important prerequisite for decision-making is a thorough understanding of the situation on the ground, and the lack of timely communication was indeed my mistake. I guess I'll learn from this experience!"
Conan chuckled: "It was so wise of me that Hino-nii decided to deal with the dance first instead of worrying about me!"
"That's because I believe you know your limits and won't do anything reckless."
Conan looked up and asked seriously, "Hino-nii, why are you teaching me all this? Isn't this how public security assistants work?"
Jingguang thought for a moment and replied, “I don’t see Conan as an assistant. Although old criminals will be caught and die, new criminals will always emerge, and the organization is just a representative of all these criminals. Perhaps one day in the future, we will no longer cooperate, and you will face an even more evil and powerful force alone. At that time, you will be the one in command. If what I’ve taught you has come in any use, then everything I’m doing now has been worthwhile. Just like a senior public security officer said: Every seed of justice is precious. Protecting them and nurturing them is the responsibility of a senior.”
"Although it might hurt your feelings to say this, I never intended to become a police officer."
"The key point is not whether they are police officers, their profession, identity, or nationality are not important. What matters is their determination to uphold justice and their unwavering belief."
"Understood, I won't let you down." Conan gave a serious salute.
"Brother Hino, so what will happen to Bourbon?"
"The organization initially suspected Bourbon of being Pisco's henchman, but that suspicion has been cleared. However, the organization now suspects that Bourbon had dealings with the FBI."
"Huh? Why? Could it be because Akai ran into Gin?"
"Not only that, the fake Sherry on the rooftop failed to trick Akai, which also aroused suspicion within the organization."
"But doesn't Amuro-nii hate the FBI?"
"Yes, so this suspicion isn't too serious yet. If handled properly, we should be able to weather the crisis safely. The organization has given Bourbon a new mission, probably to test his loyalty."
"What mission?"
"Keep it a secret."
"Hey, how could you do this?" Conan pouted and asked again, "Wakasa should know a lot about the organization, right? Did you find out anything?"
"Wakasa's situation is rather tricky. She's suspicious of the police, so we don't want to interrogate her directly. Let's wait until Ai recovers and let her help gather information. Wakasa still trusts Ai."
"I can help too!"
"Conan, do you know how much psychological trauma you left on her when you impersonated Ai and instigated Wakasa to capture Gin? I think you'd better stay out of the public eye for now."
"Well, okay then..."
The little detective finished his lemon pie, but was still not satisfied and wanted to find something to do. So he asked, "How's the investigation into the Woodpecker Society going?"
"The cause of death of the four members of the Takeda Group has been determined: food poisoning."
"The same poison?"
"Yes."
"So the poison was administered during their detention? Because that was the only time they could have been poisoned together."
“Yes, investigating the chef, the on-duty police officer, and others didn’t yield any direct leads. However, from another perspective, we have identified a few suspects behind the scenes.” Jing Guang said, showing Conan three photos. “I think you should recognize some of them, right?”
Conan thought for a moment, then pointed to the leftmost photo and said, "Back then, in the case of Ms. Horii, I went to the Metropolitan Police Department to see the Superintendent General. I met this person there; he was sitting there very seriously, without saying a word."
"His name is Taro Ibe. He is a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Public Security with extensive experience, having served in the police force for over 20 years. In the Haneda case 17 years ago, he was the primary person in charge of liaising with the United States."
"The man in the middle was also there. He was very kind and approachable, and even asked me if I had gone to the wrong place?"
"His name is Takahisa Hashiba. He is the deputy of the Ministry of Public Security and has been working there for nearly 20 years. He was Kawabata's superior, and it was he who arranged for Kawabata to be transferred to the archives."
"But I don't remember this last woman very well."
"Her name is Yoko Shiotsuki, and she is currently the superintendent of the First Investigative Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. She is the one who succeeded Kuroda as superintendent. All three of them are related to the previous Woodpecker case. Moreover, the Takeda Group was Shiotsuki's subordinate when she was working in Nagano. During the Winter Olympics, Shiotsuki came to Nagano under the pretext of visiting relatives, but she stayed a little too long."
"Hmm, very suspicious..." Conan muttered to himself.
Which one?
"I thought everyone in that room was suspicious back then, and I still think so: every single one of them is suspicious." The little detective's eyes suddenly lit up. "I'll help!"
"Let the police investigate this matter."
"Then what should I do?" Conan asked, looking bewildered. "I messed up this time, so I have to do something to make up for it."
Jingguang tilted his head and thought for a moment: "Winter vacation is coming soon, how about we relax a bit?"
"Are you kidding me? With so much going on right now, how could I possibly relax?!"
“Isn’t Conan always interested in Dr.Virus? Why don’t you play it more? I hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but after seeing that the Ito Group bought the game from the Sakai Group, I think your intuition is right. It might really have some hidden secrets.”
“I’ve already reached number one in the Japanese server rankings, so there’s not much room for improvement, right?” Conan stretched out his arms and legs on the sofa in a “T” shape. “Besides, after playing for a while, I feel a bit empty.”
"Is this how all games are?"
"No, I've played other games too. But this one feels different to me, it's just... I can't quite put my finger on it, it's like something's missing."
Jingguang pondered for a moment: "Hmm, what does Conan want to do?"
"A mission! A mission from the organization!" the little detective pleaded. "I promise this time communication will be smooth, and I absolutely won't act on my own!"
Jingguang hesitated, "Conan, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that the location of this mission is really quite far away..."
"It doesn't matter how far it is! It's winter break anyway."
"I'm not talking about the distance, the main issue is the passport..."
"Huh? It's a multinational mission?"
"Yes, we're going to America."
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