Chapter 118 Twelve Cats

Shirley found that the boy opposite her looked at her with sympathy, as if he felt the same way as her after discovering that they had a common experience. His attitude towards her was not as cautious as at the beginning.

That won't work.

She calmed herself down, slowly rolled up her sleeves that were too long for her head, put her hands behind her back, and leaned her upper body forward slightly.

"APTX4869." Conan heard the brown-haired girl utter this strange name in a cold tone. He instinctively sensed something was wrong, but he couldn't describe his feelings at the moment. "This is the name of the medicine you took."

"What are you talking about? How do you know about this?" Conan laughed dryly, moved his legs imperceptibly, and tightened his fingers on the anesthesia watch behind him.

"Of course I know." Shirley sat on the armrest of the sofa, looking down at Conan with a vision that was higher than Conan's, with a strange look of pity and superiority on her face, "Because the organization ordered me to make that medicine, and I prepared it myself."

Yes, that's it!

Conan——Shinichi's vigilance became even stronger.

Two months ago, he went to a tropical park with Qingmei. When leaving, he accidentally discovered the organization's transaction site, but he did not notice that someone behind him had discovered him, so he was knocked down without any preparation.

The other party also force-fed him a pill. Judging from the conversation that Shinichi heard while he was drowsy, they seemed to think that it was a pill that would cause him to lose his memory, so they used him as a guinea pig for the experiment and erased their existence and the content of the transaction from his mind.

However, when Shinichi woke up again, he not only found that his memory was intact, but also found that there were horrible changes in himself.

His body shrank and his prototype changed from a cat to a dog!

After that, in order to facilitate his investigation of the organization, Shinichi found a way to stay at Ome's house, and even changed his name to Edogawa Conan. And it was because he knew that his changes were completely different from what Gin said when he was given medicine that Conan did not doubt the identity of the girl at the first time.

If Gin and the others had known that taking the drug would make them smaller and change their species, he wouldn't have been able to hide safely until today, right?

Therefore, Conan originally thought that the other party was a victim like himself, but now it sounds like that is not the case at all.

"No, compared to this... who are you?" He asked solemnly with a gloomy expression. "Oh, haven't you heard it before?" The girl sat sideways and swung her legs. "Just as you thought, the confused detective."

She tucked the loose hair behind her ears and said with a chuckle, "Shirley, my code name."

"You originally only suspected the store manager, and didn't think of me." Shirley raised the corners of her lips and tilted her head slightly, "But it's a pity that I have to break your fantasy like this - how about it, it's unexpected, right?"

"Kudo Shinichi-kun."

Cold sweat dripped down Conan's forehead. He took a step back in shock: "So, you are indeed an accomplice of those people in the organization!"

"Are you still surprised by this?" Shirley's smile became even colder. "You haven't figured out the situation yet, have you? Do you think that coming here today is just a coincidence? Don't be so naive."

What——

Conan shuddered and looked at Shirley in disbelief.

"Yes, since they know where you live, it's no surprise that they acted like this." Shirley said lightly, "Your childhood sweetheart, and the so-called Maori detective - although they are not as useful as Professor Agasa, the only one who knows your identity, I think the threat level to you should be the same. What do you think?"

Shirley jumped off the sofa, her hands still behind her back, and walked briskly towards Conan. The latter was forced to take a step back subconsciously by her momentum, but after hearing what she said, his eyes widened suddenly, and he asked in shock and anger: "What did you do to Ran and Uncle?!"

Damn it! The people from the organization deliberately lured him away so that they could attack Lan and the others!

"It's too late to worry now. You should have known what you would bring to them from the day you moved in." Shirley laughed shortly and said sarcastically, "But, are you really going to hide your identity? Their behavior is not as low-key as you think, 'ordinary seven-year-old children'."

Conan no longer cared about being on guard. He quickly took out his cell phone from his pocket and tried to call the two people to confirm their safety. However, the obvious "no signal" on the cell phone screen directly shattered his lucky mentality.

"It's useless. There's a signal jammer installed in this room. You can't call anyone." Shirley said slowly, "Do you think we will leave you this chance to ask for help? Now that you're here, don't even think about leaving... Conan."

This was a blatant threat, Conan heard it, and at the same time he remembered the three children outside the room who had followed him into the store.

Shirley was telling him that even if he could escape alone, Yuantai and the others who were with the store manager at the time, or Xiaolan and her uncle in the office, would not be able to escape.

Conan clenched his teeth: He should have realized something was wrong long ago. The store manager was indeed not an ordinary person. It was very likely that the other four cat-like people outside were also members of the organization. He thought he was investigating secretly, but who knew that he was actually walking into a trap!

——Shirley was satisfied.

Seeing the cold sweat dripping down the detective boy's forehead, his pale face and trembling pupils due to fear, she felt a little more balanced.

Everything Shirley said before was true, not a single word was false.

She is indeed a researcher of the organization, and she did develop APTX4869. Her code name is indeed Shirley, and she knows that if Conan's identity is really exposed, the organization will definitely take action against Maori and his daughter, and even use it to threaten him.

As for the matter of the store manager, Shirley was completely fooling the other party. She did not say that the store manager was also a member of the organization, nor did she say that the store manager deliberately lured this guy over.

There is also a signal jammer in this room. According to the store manager, it was installed two months ago. He installed it to ensure that no one could disturb him while he was resting in this room. It has nothing to do with the detective. If he misunderstood, it is his fault.

As for why Conan followed them here, Shirley was not quite sure. She didn't know that the number the store manager left for them was an invalid number, and thought that the detective simply contacted the store manager before coming to investigate.

Just as Shirley was about to press on and say something to scare Conan, steady footsteps were suddenly heard outside the door.

After spending a few days together, Shirley, who was always hiding in this room, immediately recognized that the person outside was the store manager - her face changed and she immediately lost her calm look.

The words that Shirley warned Conan were also a warning to herself. From the day she decided to stay with the store manager as the silver fox Shirley, she knew what she would bring to the manager.

It was her bad taste to "threaten" Conan here today, but she knew that if her identity was exposed one day in the future, the store manager would fall into the hands of the organization and suffer the same situation as she threatened Conan.

Did she really want to see such a gentle store manager who treated her as kindly as her sister Akemi without reservation being killed by Gin?

Shirley was dazed for a moment by the scene that she imagined in her mind, but she came to her senses in the blink of an eye. She quickly turned back to her original form and climbed onto Conan's shoulder.

Conan was caught off guard and was startled. He subconsciously reached out to catch the puppy that was flying towards him. Before he understood what Shirley was trying to do, he saw the door of the room opened from the outside. The store manager poked his head in from outside and looked at him in surprise.

"Don't say unnecessary words." Shirley warned him softly in his ear.

What do you mean by superfluous words?

Conan's hands and feet stiffened under the store manager's gaze. He silently touched his anesthesia watch again, with alert written all over his face.

This is not good. Shirley looks to be about the same age as he is now, so he still has a chance of escaping. But if it were the store manager, he would probably have to try using his foot-strengthening shoes... After all, he is a member of the organization, and if he is agile, the anesthesia watch might not be able to hit him.

The store manager hesitated for a few seconds, then waved his free hand towards him, as if to say hello: "Hi?"

…

Why are you saying hi? You should say this is your territory, right? What's the point of saying hi to him now? I completely ignored him outside just now, so he was led into this room by Shirley!!

Conan's mouth twitched, and he felt an inexplicably familiar feeling of tiredness.

The store manager thought for a moment, then nodded with a smile and put both hands back on the door panel.

"It looks like you two are getting along well." The store manager said in a strangely relieved tone, with a bright and sincere smile, "Then I'm relieved. After all, I'm asking you, the little detective, to find her previous owner... Well, you guys go play first, and I'll come over later."

As soon as he finished speaking, the manager prepared to close the door and leave.

Conan's brain, which had been in a mess due to Shirley's words, finally came to its senses. He slowly frowned, and after calming down, he quickly realized that something was wrong.

"Wait a minute, manager brother, I have something to ask you." Conan spoke quickly, stopping the manager from leaving.

Shirley on his shoulder froze, thinking that he was going to reveal her own affairs - her words and actions just now were misleading Conan, "In fact, the store manager is also a member of the organization and knows that she can transform into a human." It is normal for Conan to misunderstand.

"Why is the contact number that the store manager left at the office an invalid number?"

The young detective lowered his head slightly. He reached out and pushed the frame of his glasses, and a flash of white light passed through the lenses.

Only then did Shirley realize that Conan came here because something went wrong with the store manager, so both man and dog held their breath, nervously waiting for the manager's answer.

The store manager stood there with a confused expression, then thought for a few seconds and suddenly realized.

"That..." The young man pinched his face with his fingers. His long hair was tied up high behind his head with a pencil. There was a sparkling, childlike innocent shyness in his watery red eyes.

The adult aura that he displayed as if he was at ease disappeared at this moment. His cheeks flushed slightly and he turned his head to the side and muttered something.

"What?" Conan was so shocked by his appearance that he stood still, and asked unconsciously.

"I said..." the store manager covered his eyes with his hands and explained in a rather depressed tone, "Because I don't use my phone very often, when I was memorizing the phone number, the cat dragged me to open snacks, and I forgot to remember one digit... or something."

Because he was not familiar with using mobile phones, he had no idea how many digits a phone number should have. Even if he forgot one digit, he did not notice it. He just left the number to the office. He only realized it after he came back, but he forgot to tell the office.

This kind of thing... could this seemingly reliable person really do it?!