Phantom Thief of Heart!but conan

Chapter 1235: Full set of acting

"'Eliminating racial hatred', was this the reason you studied anthropology?"

"You could say that. I've always been baffled by what happened to me, and what happened to Shiho. I want to get to the root of this 'difference'—where exactly does it come from..."

"Then it feels like you chose the wrong subject."

"Haha, my father said the same thing later. But it's not surprising that children can't understand those things..."

Before he pushed open the door, Vodka heard the sound of two people in the room chatting and laughing, and his eyebrows froze.

Mizuno Reina, who was following behind him, raised her eyebrows and put on an interested expression as if she was watching a good show.

She had never doubted Tang Ze's ability to speak.

Not to mention his abilities and identity, just based on his mouth, even if Tang Ze was really kidnapped, she felt that the outcome would be that Tang Ze would sell out the kidnappers, and the kidnappers would even say thank you to him.

However, without revealing any hidden identity, how he could make Naomi Argento let down her guard and cooperate with his plan made Mizunashi Rena very curious.

The cheerful conversation came to an abrupt end as the door opened.

Vodka looked at the two people who had already sat on the edge of a bed, each occupying one end and the other, and his eyebrows twitched slightly.

It's only been a few hours, and they've already started talking about everything from poetry and songs to life ideals...

Vodka glanced at Kumail's deceptive face, ignoring him and looking directly at Naomi, whose face was pale. "Can you, have you figured it out? Have you decided to help us improve the system?"

This was the condition he put forward when he took out the photo of Miyano Shiho.

"Think it over carefully. If you agree now, you can discuss the terms of your salary with us. If you refuse again, it won't be you who makes the offer."

The blatant ultimatum almost put the threat on the table.

Under his oppressive gaze, Naomi, who was a little confused, hunched her shoulders, pursed her lips and said nothing.

"It seems that you want us to help you 'think it over carefully'." Seeing that persuasion was ineffective, Vodka did not hesitate. He took two steps forward, grabbed Naomi's collar, and prepared to drag her out.

"Wait!" Tang Ze shouted, "You arrested us because you want us to agree to some conditions, right? We can still discuss it. Please don't hurt her..."

Vodka's wrist stiffened when he was halfway through the action.

Of course, there is no relationship of high and low rank between Kumail and him, and he has no right to order him. But considering Kumail's past style of doing things, when hearing Kumail's words while doing things, let alone Vodka, everyone would be stunned for a few seconds and think about the deep meaning behind Kumail's words.

Naomi, whose whole body was stiff, saw that the strong man opposite her had really stopped moving, but her eyes lit up.

Although she did not object to Tang Ze's bizarre method of feigning surrender, deep down she did not think that this method would work.

It was naive to want to bargain in front of such a vicious threat who had such resources and strength. Tang Ze just said it, and she just listened to it, without putting much hope on it.

But now, the other party actually showed a willingness to communicate...

"Your goal is a cross-age recognition system, right? Miss Naomi's abilities are very strong and definitely not limited to such a narrow area. It's not a good idea to harm her." Tang Ze continued, "If she agrees to cooperate later, harming her now will become an unstable factor in future cooperation..."

To be honest, ignoring my own opinion, Vodka has to take it into consideration to some extent. From the perspective of the organization, Tang Ze also thinks that it is unwise for them to directly threaten Naomi's family members.

They kidnapped Naomi, used threats and inducements, but their goal was still to take her technology, hoping that she could operate and maintain the delivered system for a long time.

If you create a blood feud with the other party at this time, aren't you really worried that they will lay mines in your cooperation?
It doesn't need to be too much, just a little bit of the facial features of the organization members. Naomi definitely has enough technical capabilities to transmit the relevant information without making any noise.

Just as Tang Ze couldn't understand why Interpol dared to operate the Pacific Buoy on its own, he also didn't understand why the organization handled Naomi's problem in this way.

She was a top computer expert, not a genius like his parents, whose abilities wouldn't be affected by being locked up. What was the point of just arresting people? The facial recognition system she was about to take over was one that dealt with sensitive information.

Since they value the value of this system and even more so the ability of the developer Naomi herself, they should not use such direct and violent means.

Vodka's eyebrows twitched twice, and he let go of the hand that had been holding Naomi, turned around and picked up Tang Ze.

"What are you fussing about? Do I need you to teach me what to do?" Vodka seemed to be using the situation as an excuse rather than a gesture of respect. "Don't forget your own situation. You want to be the hero and save the damsel in distress? Fine, then, you go first."

After saying that, he dragged Tang Ze out, feeling very resentful.

He didn't help but kept making trouble, saying he would try to convince her himself, but for a long time he just went into the room and chatted with the beautiful girl...

Seeing him pretending to be innocent with a clear conscience, Vodka felt furious and decided to ignore Kumail's nonsense and drag him out to stop him from making trouble.

In any case, it is impossible for Kumail to persecute Tang Zezhao in front of the hostage Naomi. Even if he takes the opportunity to beat Kumail up, Kumail can only get revenge later.

Of course, it's just a thought. After all, you may not be able to win if you really fight.

"What are you doing!" Naomi, who was thrown aside by him, panicked. "Isn't your target me? Don't hurt him, stop! We can still discuss the system, don't implicate innocent people!"

Vodka, who had already dragged Tang Ze to the door, paused again.

He turned his head and looked at Tang Ze. Even through his sunglasses, the incredible look on his face was clearly conveyed.

No, I threatened her with her entire family, but she refused to give in. I just grabbed you and dragged you a few steps, and you couldn't stand it anymore?
Kumail, if you want to do mind control, then do it. It's really outrageous to manipulate people into this state...

Receiving Vodka's incredible response, Tang Ze just smiled calmly and said nothing more.

This has nothing to do with mind control; it's a common problem among researchers like Naomi who lack social experience. They have the sentiments and ideals of intellectuals, but they haven't been trained, and their actual psychological resilience is not strong, especially when it comes to the harm and suffering happening before their eyes. For them, who lack sufficient life experience and haven't felt the true meaning of pain and despair, it is absolutely unbearable.

Even though she was thousands of miles away and couldn't see the sniper's gun or the sword on her neck, she was still able to stick to her bottom line and keep her spirits high and refuse to give in.

But if the victim was really tortured and abused in front of her, and she saw the tears falling and the blood dripping in front of her, she would soon be unable to bear it.

If her parents were captured and tortured and threatened in front of her, she would collapse just as quickly, no matter who the target was.

The same thing would happen if it was Haibara Ai who was captured. If the organization chose to threaten her with Haibara Ai, who looked like a child, Naomi would also quickly collapse under the pressure and bow her head.

Not to mention that after the previous communication, she has already accepted that Tang Ze is Miyano Shiho's relative, and has a similar personality to Miyano Shiho. They are peers who can understand each other and empathize with him in extreme circumstances.

"Hmph..." Mizunashi Rena, who was about to laugh out loud, made a little noise, breaking the ridiculous situation in front of her. She walked forward and pulled up the tearful Naomi. "Alright, Vodka. Since you're so inseparable, let's go together. Accept the conditions and work for us obediently, or die. The choice is simple, isn't it?"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Someone is using the backdoor program to retrieve information!"

In the control room, a group of people were checking the surveillance footage on the island with serious expressions when Ed's loud shout once again drew everyone's attention.

"What happened?" Makino Yosuke looked at Ed first.

"After Engineer Argento disappeared yesterday, I set up trigger-type alarms for related keywords and personal information. Whenever someone searches for the relevant person, the alarm will automatically trigger." Ed looked up from the console in front of him and projected the relevant content onto the big screen. "Now I have received an alarm. This person, this person should be Naomi's relative..."

As he operated, an enlarged photo with a white background was projected.

"Mario Argento!" Makino Yosuke's brows knitted together. "He's a member of the European Parliament and Naomi's father!"

"What?!" Sato Miwako's eyelids, which were fighting, suddenly opened.

"He was one of the people actively assisting in the Pacific Buoy Project. It was thanks to his communication and coordination that we were able to quickly establish surveillance channels in Europe..." Makino Yosuke pointed out the importance of the other party's identity. "He's now trying to use the system to locate Senator Mario's specific location!"

"Ed!" Grace shouted, "We should be able to identify the backdoor program now and track it back as soon as possible!"

If he can set up a backdoor in the system, he can set up a second one.

With the backdoor set up yesterday using the European network center, his subsequent operations have been covered, and now it is not a problem even if he gives up the earliest remote backdoor.

Giving up an obvious discarded pawn can also improve his own identity to a greater extent, so he shouted louder than anyone else.

"Notify Europol and the congressman himself! Be sure to protect his safety!" Makino Yosuke's voice was even more anxious.

It's true that Naomi is the technical core of the Pacific Buoy Project, but now that the system has been built and the basic debugging work has been completed, her criticality has declined.

On the contrary, people like her father who can open up channels and obtain resources are more important to the entire system than the technology itself.

To put it bluntly, even if something happens to Naomi herself, the congressmen cannot be allowed to get into trouble. If something happens to the former, it will at most cause short-term chaos, but if something happens to the latter, the platform itself may have to shut down.

"Have you located the councillor himself?"

In the network center far away in Frankfurt, the staff who received the first-line intelligence were nervously retrieving and uploading the surveillance data one by one, and there was also a lot of chaos.

James, standing on the platform behind them, looked down at the noisy work center in front of him and winked at Judy and Carmel.

Even though their personal safety was in danger and it was clear that the other party's daughter was missing and her whereabouts were unknown, they did not even think of contacting me or my security team first, but instead used the system to search for her location.

They are not stupid, they simply want to prove the value of this system. Even in such a crisis, the first thing they consider is how to take advantage of the opportunities in front of them to gain more support and funding.

We can't count on this group of unreliable guys. It's more important to contact Senator Mario himself as soon as possible, confirm a safe place with him, and rush over to protect him.

"father!"

Naomi looked at the photos that popped up on the screen, then watched the system's progress bar slowly move forward, watched windows pop up one after another, searching among countless faces for the face she didn't want to see at the moment, and tears instantly filled her eyes.

As the main developer in the past, it was of course impossible for her to consider the dangers and disadvantages of this system from other perspectives.

In her more straightforward thinking, as long as her technology is handed over to reliable people and institutions that will not misuse it, it will not become a sharp blade pointing at innocent people and will definitely have a positive effect.

However, at this moment, she was unable to move and looked at the familiar interface again. She saw the beast she had created with her own hands breaking through all information protection barriers and pouncing on her father who was completely unaware of the impending danger. She could hardly control her trembling and fear.

The two Japanese policemen and the topic that Tang Ze had mentioned a while ago about how to protect this complex system from being tampered with and misused, belatedly filled her mind.

What should she do when the sword she created is held in the hands of the enemy and pierces her flesh mercilessly?

"What are you going to do..." Naomi turned her head and glared at Vodka fiercely. "I've already said that the conditions can be negotiated. It's not that I'm unwilling to hand over the system to you, but many of the subsequent things were not developed independently by me. They are comprehensive systems created by engineers from the entire Pacific Buoy. I don't have the authority to dispose of them casually-"

"Alright, I think you weren't very clear about your position just now. Now, let's discuss the terms." Vodka smiled upon hearing Cohen's straightforward response. "Your father is very kind to you. He's worked hard for your ideals. Without his help, you wouldn't have been able to establish this system. Do you still want to continue bargaining with such a great father?"

“This is not a matter of bargaining…”

Naomi said this, looking at Tang Ze for help.

Are you still not willing to give in? If you still don't give in easily, then, then father...

(End of this chapter)