Conan's corpse picker

Chapter 3727-3740 [The Shady Merchant Vodka] Requesting monthly votes ()

"Could it be that, in my heart, the death of that bomber is really related to the people on the other side?"

Sato Miwako pressed her hand to her chest, as if standing at opposite ends of a fork in the road: "If that's the case, should I pretend I don't know anything, or should I act like a police officer and take him back for investigation?"

She doesn't know either.

If it were two days earlier, Miwako Sato felt that she would definitely have chosen the latter.

But today's experience, the emotional collapse she felt when she met the bomber face-to-face, made her feel as if she were seeing a completely new and unfamiliar version of herself.

However, these thoughts can be put off for now.

Since the other party has agreed to meet, where should we arrange to meet?

Crowded places...

Sato Miwako suddenly remembered something and looked down at the two tickets that Inspector Megure had given her.

"This will do."

She's never been one to fuss over details; if a place is offered to her, she'll go.

……

After agreeing on the time and place to meet, Jiang Xia handed the phone to Noah, took one last drag of the fresh firework cake, and then stubbed out the burnt ghost mint in the ashtray.

Startled by this action, Matsuda Jinpei recalled his actions earlier that day that were not part of "Uzo," and reluctantly confessed that he had pulled Sato Miwako back when she fired her gun.

In addition...

There was also the incident where, in a moment of panic, he rushed over and threw away his old classmate who was almost part of the bomber's business.

"Doesn't fit Uzo's image?" After waiting anxiously for a while, Jiang Xia's reaction was different from what it had imagined. The spirit medium shook its head and said matter-of-factly:

“You seem to have a misunderstanding about our image—Uzo is actually a friendly, helpful, and kind person; it’s just that some people have too much prejudice against us.”

Matsuda Jinpei: "..." Hmm?

Jiang Xia: "Who cleans up the mess after those troublesome cases? The police. In other aspects, these officers have also helped us a lot. In this situation, it's a win-win situation for us to step in and protect a police officer who shares our ideals, preventing her from impulsively shooting and losing her job."

"As for the boss... Bourbon is our colleague, so it's normal to help him out. Doesn't 'that person' dislike infighting? In other words, he advocates for friendship and mutual assistance, which aligns well with the organization's principles."

"..." Matsuda Jinpei felt his head was on fire, and unconsciously rubbed the cold noodles in his hands to relieve the pressure.

Jiang Xia glanced down at the new shikigami in its hand: "...Why did you take it out? Don't lose it."

Fog Tengu, ever the helpful ghost, floated over and said: "No, I'll keep an eye on it."

Xiao Bai also bounced over: I'll help him play.

As soon as he finished speaking, Matsuda Jinpei smacked him on the head.

……

The ghosts were reviewing their day's harvest.

On the other side, Amuro Tooru suddenly sneezed.

On the other end of the phone, Kazami Yuya paused his report, somewhat hesitantly. In the past, his superiors were always quick and accurate in pointing out problems, catching many oversights he himself hadn't even noticed. But this time…

Mr. Furuya seems to be quite distracted.

This is extremely rare.

What exactly happened this afternoon?
The thought of the bomber who died on the spot in the sealed warehouse made Kazami Yuya's heart skip a beat. He then wondered if his superiors were behind this.

"No, what am I thinking!" Kazami Yuya quickly shook his head, reminding himself, "Mr. Furuya isn't the kind of person who would settle personal scores... Even if he were, he would never blow someone up on the spot, right? Whether it's catching the bomber and taking him back to the police station or capturing the organization, it's far better than blowing someone up. The person who did it today definitely couldn't be him."

...But how did that bomber just happen to die? In fact, he died in a bizarre explosion that was almost laughable.

"Wait, speaking of 'coincidence'..."

A nerve in Kazami Yuya was struck, and he shuddered violently: Could it be...?

Just as he was muttering to himself, his boss's voice suddenly came through the receiver: "Find the information on the bombing case from three years ago and bring it to me—any information is fine."

"Hmm?" Kazami Yuya paused for a moment, and although he didn't understand, he still replied, "Okay, I'll go and get it sorted out right away."

……

The communication between police officers was relatively harmonious, but on the other hand, the atmosphere was not so friendly in a certain self-proclaimed dark organization.

After confirming that Curaçao had left Uzo's side, and waiting for a while longer, Vodka finally breathed a sigh of relief when he found that no ghost faces had appeared in the passersby mutual aid group and no more news related to "Miss Shirai" had appeared in the market. He then casually unlocked Curaçao's restricted account.

He kept his eyes glued to the screen, ready to pretend to be Calvados and reveal the other person's address at any moment... Fortunately, Uzo still didn't show up.

All that came out of the other end was a cold, dismissive reply from Curaçao: "[If there's danger, you kick me out first. Is this your kind of random 'mutual aid' group?]"
Vodka: "..." Very good, this doesn't sound like something Uzo would say. The danger level has been lowered another step.

As for the passersby "mutual aid" association...

“We can’t always emphasize ‘mutual assistance’; we need to recognize our relationship—we are just a group of ‘passersby’ who are forced to band together under the threat of Uzo.”

“Normally we can lend you a hand if we keep our distance, but just now, you’ve already fallen right into Uzo’s trap. If we reach out to you now, it would be like handing you over for nothing.”

If he really did it on a whim, he'd bet Chianti that the one pulling them up by the hand wouldn't be Curaçao, who had fallen into a trap, but a happy-go-lucky Uzo.

“That woman Curaçao must understand this principle too—if our positions were reversed, she would definitely run faster than me.”

However, what I really think is what I really think.

On the surface, Vodka was just typing away enthusiastically, like a customer service representative:
[I was worried about you too. Think about it, you and Uzo were less than an elevator's distance apart. What if your phone had fallen into Uzo's hands? If he opened it and a message from the strangers' mutual aid group popped up, you'd be in big trouble—you wouldn't want Uzo to know about this kind of app, especially since you're an active member, right?]
Curaçao: "..."

Of course she knew, and even understood the other side perfectly—if they were in different positions, and she was the administrator, while the other person from the passersby mutual aid group was next to Uzo, less than a meter away from that demon… she would kick that person away immediately, without a second's hesitation.

However, knowing this is one thing, but we can't just let it go like this.

Curaçao did not answer, staring at the screen, her silence revealing the murderous intent she was brewing.