Chapters 3515 & 3527 [Sherry and the FBI] Requesting monthly votes o(〃'▽'〃)o
After some communication, Ai Haibara was left with only deeper doubts and confusion.
Fortunately, another matter seems to have been answered clearly: her choice to stay will not cause trouble for Jiang Xia; on the contrary... Jiang Xia seems quite happy about it?
Ai Haibara followed behind Jiang Xia in a daze, all the way back to Beika Town.
Then she remembered something and took out her phone.
Now that a conclusion has been reached, it's best to give a reply as soon as possible. Otherwise, given her personality, if this matter isn't resolved quickly, she'll probably start a new round of agonizing over it once this initial excitement subsides.
...
At the hospital.
Judy ate an apple, looked out the window at the sky, which was still fairly clear, and finally felt alive again.
Just as she was cursing Vermouth in her heart, her phone vibrated and a call came in.
She picked it up and saw that the caller was Ai Haibara, whom she had just contacted.
"Looks like there's been a result." James stood up from his stool. "Hopefully, this plan goes smoothly and nothing like what happened with Subaru Okiya happens again."
Judy paused, then said, "You actually brought him up? I thought you'd find it embarrassing and would never talk about it again."
"..." James held back for a while, but finally couldn't help but speak with a slight throbbing in his veins, "When you talk to that witness later, be careful not to say anything you shouldn't say."
Judy gave him a "I knew it" look, then confidently answered the phone while making a reassuring gesture.
"So?" Knowing the girl opposite her was introverted, Judy spoke first, "Have you made up your mind?"
"Yes," Ai Haibara said firmly, "I refuse."
“Okay, we’ll do it now… um?” Judy paused, “You’re refusing? Why are you refusing? — Don’t worry, we’re experienced this time, and we definitely won’t let that squinty-eyed tragedy happen again.”
James: "!! Hey!!!"
"Last time? Squinty eyes? Tragedy?" Hearing this information overload, Ai Haibara's heart skipped a beat, and she was suddenly glad that she hadn't chosen to accept it.
Then she remembered something else—the man in the raincoat in the case just now seemed to have squinty eyes!
Just after encountering one squinty-eyed person, Judy brought up another one. Could it be... that there's some connection between the two?
"No, that's not right." After a brief moment of panic, Ai Haibara forced herself to calm down and quietly pondered:
"The thug from earlier wasn't actually squinting. He was just worried that Ayumi would recognize his eyes, which were sticking out of his raincoat, so he forced them to squint. After Jiang Xia beat him up, he opened his eyes."
"So the squinty-eyed guy the FBI was talking about definitely isn't today's thug, then..."
Another squinty-eyed image quickly appeared in Ai Haibara's mind.
—On the night of the full moon, the graduate student, Subaru Okiya, suddenly appeared and took them to the hospital while she and Jiang Xia were waiting for the bus.
"At the time, I felt he was very strange, something was off about him... He was actually connected to the FBI?"
"It sounds like he accepted the FBI's witness protection program, but that program unfortunately failed. But why would Judy say it was a 'tragedy'? He's still alive and can move around freely."
After hesitating for a moment, Ai Haibara looked at her phone, wanting to ask a question.
But before she could speak, a different voice came from the other end of the phone: "Judy has been going through some things lately and isn't in a good mental state. Let me talk to you instead—you just said you didn't want to accept the witness protection program? Can I ask why?"
Ai Haibara: "..." You should ask yourself that. Can you explain in detail what that female FBI agent meant by squinty eyes and tragedy?
She had intended to ask that question, but faced with the new stranger on the other end of the line, the rational researcher managed to restrain herself well.
As if she hadn't heard what was just said, she replied nonchalantly, "Changing my name and becoming someone else might make me safe for a while, but as long as the enemy doesn't give up hunting me down, the same thing will just keep repeating itself, and I'll be stuck living in that dark shadow for the rest of my life."
“And…” Ai Haibara recalled what Ayumi Yoshida had said to her when a group of children were hiding in the car earlier, and she repeated, “Running away won’t solve the problem, and I don’t want to keep running away anymore.”
“Is that so?” James sighed, but he wasn’t really surprised: when Judy’s words just slipped out, he had already felt a wave of dizziness and anticipated this outcome.
Since the other party didn't accept, that was the only option for now. After exchanging a few pleasantries, James hung up the phone.
"I didn't expect her to refuse."
Beside him, Judy was completely oblivious to James's complicated expression. She smiled, a smile that surprisingly held a hint of relief.
"While from an FBI agent's perspective, I would prefer her to participate in the witness protection program, I personally understand her current decision."
“Living like that, constantly being hunted down, for too long will drive you crazy. Only by transforming fear and anger into the motivation to fight back, and by turning yourself from someone who needs to be protected into a warrior against that organization, can we achieve true rebirth.”
Hearing her words, James said helplessly, "I remember when you were a child, you also refused the witness protection program like this, and said that you must join the FBI... So many years have passed, and you have finally achieved your wish."
To be honest, when Judy said that just now, he briefly had the urge to pack her up and send her back to New York so she could recover properly and not cause any trouble.
But thinking about it calmly, it seems there aren't any better replacements. Besides, Judy is still undergoing treatment; perhaps she'll become a little more reliable after she recovers?
Moreover, compared to FBI agent Camel, who ended Shuichi Akai's undercover career with a single sentence, Jodie's mistake is nothing serious. Training subordinates is not easy, so it's best to continue using them unless absolutely necessary.
Thinking of this, James sighed and said, "I have to go now. Take good care of yourself."
“Okay, you should also take care of yourself and get some rest. You look ten years older than before,” Judy said, then suddenly remembered something:
"By the way, those two high school kids contacted me again, saying they wanted to come and visit—kids at that age have very vivid imaginations, and if this drags on any longer, I'm worried there will be some strange rumors circulating in the class, like I'm seriously injured and on the verge of death."
“Wait a little longer, let them come the day after tomorrow.” James looked weary. “I’ll be there too—when you see me give you a look, shut up immediately and don’t say another word.”
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