Chapters 3540 and 3552 [Help!] Requesting monthly votes (づど)
Thinking this, Vodka took a deep breath and, after confirming that the three students had entered another shopping mall next door, stealthily stepped out towards his destination.
...
Meanwhile, on an escalator in another shopping mall.
Conan, leaning on the smoothly sliding handrail, glanced sideways at the entrance of the shopping mall. For some reason, he felt a heavy weight in his heart.
"Could I have some kind of organizational radar like Haibara?" The thought flashed through his mind briefly, but Conan quickly shook his head, muttering to himself silently:
"Why would a member of the Black Organization have nothing better to do than stroll around a shopping mall? And to be honest, I get this feeling all the time."
"Although I don't want to admit it, this situation... is probably because I feel anxious about my current situation after I shrank, which is why it happened."
"Otherwise, it couldn't be because I have organization cadres showing up around me every now and then, haha... But speaking of which, Haibara is indeed a cadre, even though she has already defected."
Thinking this, Conan looked around again and, finding nothing strange, relaxed and continued to follow Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki, choosing a gift to bring when visiting Jodie-sensei.
...
The shopping mall next door.
Vodka walked faster and faster... and finally, with a smoothness that even he himself could hardly believe, he entered the VIP elevator lobby.
"Huh? We're at the elevator already?" Even after pressing the call button and seeing the numbers on the screen steadily descend, Vodka hadn't fully recovered his senses. He glanced back, a hint of suspicion in his eyes:
"Normally, shouldn't I have dodged a 'suicide' person who was falling from a height when I first entered the building, encountered a purse snatcher running wildly when I passed through the lobby, and then found a corpse in the fitting room of the clothing store when I passed by... After going through countless hardships to get here?"
But now, just as he was ready to ignore everything and head straight for the sushi restaurant, none of the things he had anticipated happened.
It's too peaceful.
It was as calm as if Uzo hadn't been there at the party.
"Could it be..." Vodka stared at the elevator in front of him, "that the main event is inside the elevator? As soon as the elevator doors open, I'll see a gruesome corpse inside?"
Thinking this, he silently took two steps back to the side, to avoid being killed by some murderer who opened the door. Then, holding his phone in one hand, he quietly gripped the tranquilizer gun hidden in his pocket with the other.
Just as we were all waiting in anticipation, the elevator arrived with a ding.
The elevator doors slid open smoothly, revealing...
An empty elevator car.
No matter how you look at it, it's just an ordinary elevator. There's no body, no bloodstains, no murder weapon... nothing at all. It's just an ordinary elevator waiting for passengers to ride.
Vodka: "..."
As an organizational cadre who had endured too many setbacks, he felt not at all at ease, but rather even more uneasy.
"Should we...should we go in?"
Vodka stood to the side, staring at the open door, his mind racing: "Elevators are just sealed blocks of metal when something goes wrong; they're just too dangerous."
"But if you take the stairs, the stairwell environment looks just as suitable for a horrific murder to happen!"
"And what's more troublesome than being the murderer is running into a corpse and being mistaken for the murderer—how am I supposed to explain why I didn't take the elevator and instead had to climb the stairs in the stairwell?"
"What's worse is that Gin is nearby, and if the police suspect us in front of Gin..."
That would be better than being trapped in an elevator!
After a moment's deliberation, Vodka finally came up with an idea.
He took out his phone, took a deep breath, and resolutely dialed Gin's number.
The call connected shortly afterward.
Gin's chilling voice came through the receiver: "You should know that I hate being late and taking last-minute leave."
"I... I didn't ask for leave, I'm already downstairs!" Vodka exclaimed, startled.
"If the elevator doesn't malfunction, I'll definitely be there within three minutes—I'm calling you in case there's no signal in the elevator. If I don't arrive soon, well..."
"..."
Gin glanced at the guy across the table who had arrived early and was now flipping through the menu, but wasn't looking at the recipes at all; instead, he was looking at the chef's resume. He instantly understood Vodka's concerns.
He was briefly speechless, but it couldn't be said that Vodka's concerns were unfounded. So after a moment of silence, Gin simply snorted and gave a brief instruction: "Come up."
Then, out of sight, out of mind, I hung up the phone.
downstairs.
Vodka breathed a sigh of relief. Although his older brother hadn't said he was right, his reaction just now clearly showed that he agreed with his distress call.
Vodka dared not delay any longer. He stepped forward, pressed the button to reopen the elevator door that had been closed due to the long wait, took a deep breath, and stepped into the elevator as if entering a battlefield.
Just as I stood still and was about to press the close button, a waiter suddenly walked into the elevator.
"!" Vodka's finger, which was reaching for the close button, suddenly stopped. Alarm bells rang in his mind, and complex thoughts tangled in his head, finally turning into two bright, shining words—Here it comes!
Is Uzo's killer move finally about to be unleashed?
"The elevator that the waiter should be using should be a regular elevator or an employee elevator, but this is a VIP elevator. It's very strange that this guy is here."
Thinking this, Vodka's finger quietly moved towards the door open button: "Should I go down first and wait until he leaves before I sit down? If he doesn't leave, then I can be sure there's something wrong with him, and then I can ask Brother Gin for help!"
Just as they were about to do so, a hand reached out from the side and smoothly pressed the close button, then pressed the button for the floor where the sushi restaurant was located.
The elevator doors closed and began to ascend.
Vodka, whose journey was slowed down by excessive thinking: "?!?!"
He moved his hand and immediately prepared to draw the tranquilizer gun.
But just then, the waiter spoke up, her voice a familiar female voice: "No matter how many times I see you, this alert look of yours is still a bit hard to get used to... Vodka, do you remember what you used to look like?"
Vodka paused for a moment, then immediately recognized her: "Vermouth!?"
The "waiter" smiled, crossed his arms, and casually leaned against the wall.
It wasn't entirely for showing off; her ribs were still a bit sore, as was her leg from the gunshot wound—even though her recovery ability was much stronger than that of ordinary people, this level of injury still required some time to heal.
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