Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 349 Codename Hunter, FBI and Vermouth

Tokyo.

Gao Mo took the three children home separately, and it was already evening when he was about to return to the firm.

After spending only two days in Gunma Prefecture and discovering that it was difficult to advance the Stargazer profession beyond level 2, he lost the idea of ​​staying any longer.

If it's just about observing "Kaguya," he could do it in Tokyo just as well, since the comet has already entered the solar system.

According to current observations, Kaguya is a short-period comet, passing by Earth every few months to several years or even decades.

However, considering the timeline in the Conan universe, astronomical knowledge may not be that reliable.

It would be best to go to Gunma Prefecture for stargazing every now and then.

"Ok?"

Suddenly, several cars caught Gao Mo's attention.

Several familiar auras appeared in his senses at the same time: Vermouth, Jodie, and Shuichi Akai.

Has the FBI and the Distillery started a new round of conflict after he's been gone for a few days?
However, Gin doesn't seem to be here.

Was this a unilateral action by Vermouth?

When Gao Mo realized that Vermouth's main purpose in coming to Japan was to find Ai, his gaze darkened slightly.

After glancing at the car disappearing into the distance under the neon lights, Gao Mo remained silent and continued driving back to the firm.

"Why don't you stay at the doctor's house for today? I have something to do."

"Kirouto!"

Xiao Ai reached out and grabbed Gao Mo's sleeve, opened her mouth, but ultimately chose to let go.

"Be careful……"

"It's just a small matter."

Gao Mo grabbed the black cat that came out to greet him, stroked it a few times, and then stuffed it into Xiao Ai's arms.

"If things go smoothly, I can be back today."

……

Wharf Warehouse Street.

Judy slowly brought the car to a stop, listening to the long wail of ship horns in the bay at night, her fingers gently rubbing the steering wheel.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Dr. Shinichi looked bewildered: "Professor Judy, why did you bring me here? Didn't you say your friend is sick and wanted my help?"

“It seems you really don’t remember me,” Judy said, her glasses reflecting the light. “That makes sense, after all these years, I’ve grown up from that little girl.”

Dr. Shinichi smiled helplessly: "What are you talking about, Professor Judy..."

"Keeping secrets makes a woman more feminine, remember? That was the last thing you said to me."

Judy's eyes held a deep sadness, but her expression didn't change much.

"To keep myself from forgetting, I've always kept those words about my father's killer on my lips. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, Chris Vineyard... or should I call you Vermouth?"

“I see,” Dr. Shinichi said after a moment of silence, then smiled and ripped off his disguise, his long, wavy hair tossing aside. “I never imagined that little girl was you. I remember I originally planned to burn you alive with me, but afterwards we only found your parents’ remains in the ruins, which made me search for you for a long time…”

"I was thinking of buying orange juice for my dad and I went out anyway. Later, my dad's friend helped me get a witness protection plan."

Judy's gaze was intense.

"I've been following you all these years and finally I know that you are the Thousand-Faced Witch Vermouth, and also the retired actress Chris. When we discovered that you were frequently going in and out of Shinichi Hospital even though you were not sick, we decided to play along and let you impersonate Dr. Shinichi."

"Oh?" Vermouth remained unfazed, instead feigning curiosity. "So, the car carrying Dr. Araide and his family that plunged into the sea in front of me that day was also part of your plan?"

"That's the only way to save their lives. The people sitting in that car were actually my companions."

Judy turned off the engine.

"Just as we expected, you soon walked right into our trap, appearing disguised as Dr. Araide. We secretly searched your room and finally discovered your purpose for coming to Japan: the girl with slightly reddish brown hair, around twenty years old, pinned to the wall with a dart..."

Your goal is to find the girl in the photo and kill her, right? Can you tell me who that girl is? And what about the other photos in your room, the one of a girl named Ran Mouri and another of an elementary school student…?

"Do you really want to know?"

Vermouth smiled, smoothing a strand of hair with one hand and reaching for her waist with the other, but Judy coldly pressed her hand down.

The two melons, which had been disguised as being sealed, bounced and were released from under the sweater, their shape deformed by the seatbelt, making Judy's eyebrows twitch.

"do not move!"

Judy took out the pocket pistol hidden under the seat first.

"One last question, why don't you get old? Twenty years have passed, and you've gone from Sharon Vineyard to your daughter Chris Vineyard, why are you still so young?"

"boom--!"

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and the pocket pistol was knocked away by Judy in shock, spinning as it was caught by Vermouth.

Sniper!
How can it be?

“Keeping secrets makes women more feminine,” Vermouth said with an unchanged smile, casually unbuckling her seatbelt and looking at Judy with amusement. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you, Ms. Judy.”

"Why...why?" Judy's forehead was covered in cold sweat.

Are you waiting for your comrades who are lying in ambush here?

Vermouth fiddled with her pocket pistol.

“I was here two hours ago, dressed up as you, of course, and told them to call it a night and postpone the operation until tomorrow.”

Judy's heart raced: "You..."

"Little sister, haven't you noticed? The reason I've been so open about going to the new hospital so often is to lure out you annoying flies."

Vermouth chuckled and looked directly at Judy.

"Thanks to you, I was able to find out your numbers, location, and contact information, including your actions today. I pretended not to know about your sneaking into my room to search it, because I was thinking you might be able to help me find that child..."

"But to be fair, your companions were far too careless during the search; they rummaged through my things haphazardly and didn't restore everything completely."

Judy's breathing quickened: "You're terrifying..."

“Alright,” Vermouth adjusted the pocket pistol and pressed it against Judy’s temple, “This reunion after twenty years ends here. It’s time to say goodbye. Come on, smile. I’ll send you to heaven to see your father right away…”

"Hoohoo!"

Judy remained unmoved, simply staring coldly at Vermouth: "If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it already. You deliberately followed me here; you must have other motives, right?"

“Clever,” Vermouth smiled, glancing around with slight disappointment. “I was trying to lure out that girl’s brother-in-law, but it seems I failed. So you weren’t together after all?”

"Your target is Akai?"

Judy's expression changed drastically.

"Could that girl be...?"

"call--!"

A sudden, noisy gust of wind swept through the dock.

As the ship's horn sounded, a figure in a trench coat slowly walked out of the container terminal.

"Are you still here?"

Vermouth squinted ahead, and as she pulled Judy out of the car, she shouted at the hidden sniper.

"Don't fire yet, I want to capture him alive!"

"He's not Shuichi!" Judy cried out anxiously through the strong wind. "Don't drag unrelated people into this!"

"Not Shuichi Akai?"

Vermouth looked at the man in the trench coat illuminated by the car headlights with a puzzled expression, her face slightly unpleasant.

Didn't all the FBI agents leave?
"Calvados!"

"Run!"

Judy gritted her teeth and shouted, but the man in the trench coat seemed not to hear her. Instead of leaving, he took the initiative to step out of the sniper's blind spot.

"boom!"

The sound of sniper rifles rang out again at the dock, and deadly bullets were fired from the top of the containers, but the man in the trench coat casually turned his head to dodge them.

"what?"

Vermouth's pupils dilated, her gaze trembling as she watched the man in the trench coat continue to approach.

"Who is this guy? Tell him to stop!" Judy, with a gun pointed at the back of her head, was completely bewildered; she didn't recognize the person at all.

"Damn it! Let's retreat!" Vermouth felt a strong sense of threat and quickly grabbed Judy, trying to get back into the car.

She worried that she had been tricked again, and that the FBI's return had turned into a real trap.

"boom--!"

The hidden sniper, undeterred, fired again, this time aiming at the man in the trench coat's heart.

However, just as he pulled the trigger, the man in the trench coat seemed to have a premonition and managed to step aside, dodging the bullet once again.

"how is this possible?"

The sniper felt a sense of collapse, his eyes were bloodshot, and he gritted his teeth, preparing to retreat as Vermouth instructed, when he suddenly met the gaze of the man in the trench coat.

The whole world changed instantly, with a pair of huge, blood-red eyes filling the sniper's field of vision.

"Calvados!"

Vermouth shouted urgently, but the next moment she saw the sniper stand up abruptly, pull out the pistol from his leg, and shoot himself in the chin with a crazed expression.

"boom!"

"what happened?"

Vermouth stared in disbelief at the bizarre scene before her.

Why commit suicide when retreating would have been better?

Are we already surrounded?

"Snapped!"

Judy reacted quickly, seizing the moment when Vermouth was distracted, swiftly swatting away the pocket pistol and launching a close-quarters attack.

A heavy punch landed on Vermouth's waist and abdomen, but she clearly felt resistance.

Bulletproof vest?
Judy was startled and wanted to continue her attack, but Vermouth had already recovered and easily dodged the sweeping kick.

The two figures clashed back and forth, but in the end, Vermouth, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, gained the upper hand and kicked Judy several meters away.

"I lost this time, but..."

Vermouth hooked her leg and pulled out the pistol from her ankle, casually fired a shot at Judy, then hurriedly jumped into the car and restarted the engine.

What the hell is going on today?

Where did this expert from the FBI come from? He can actually dodge sniper bullets...

"Wow!"

Looking up at the man in the trench coat illuminated by the car headlights, Vermouth felt a surge of apprehension. As she tried to reverse and leave, her eyes suddenly went out of focus.

Faced with the enormous red eye that occupied the entire world, she seemed to understand why the sniper had died.

Illusion?

"Who the hell are you?!"

Despite her inner turmoil, Vermouth's body moved like a puppet as she got out of the car, her pistol falling to the ground, and she walked straight to the shore without stopping.

"call!"

The sea breeze ruffled Gao Mo's scarf and the hem of his trench coat, and he looked at Vermouth, whose blonde hair was flowing, with a complicated expression.

Sorry.

He actually quite likes Bayonetta.

But now that I live in this world and have Ai as my family, I see more of this woman's dangerous side.

No matter how charming she is, Vermouth is still a member of the Black Organization with blood on her hands. She doesn't think she can make this woman willingly give up chasing Ai Haibara like Conan does.

The reason the other side wants to lure out Shuichi Akai this time is most likely because they still want to find Ai Haibara.

All he could do was make Vermouth's departure less bloody than that of a sniper.

"Stop! Vermouth!"

A dark-skinned figure suddenly rushed out from behind the container.

Rei Furuya leaped over the car and pounced on Vermouth just before she was about to jump into the sea.

This guy……

Gao Mo's eyelids twitched slightly as he frowned as he watched Furuya Rei save Vermouth.

Is it necessary for undercover police officers to go to such lengths?

"With this illusionary ability, you must be the third-ranked hunter on the assassin list, right?"

Rei Furuya forcibly knocked Vermouth unconscious and threw her into the car, then faced Gao Mo with his eyes closed.

"I heard you're hunting down the number one and number two assassins on the assassin ranking list. Why are you here?"

The hunter?
Gao Mo was confused.

Where did this bizarre code name come from?
"Do you know where they are?" Gao Mo asked in a hoarse voice.

"They're looking for you too, and they should be coming to Japan soon."

Furuya Rei dared not open his eyes, relying entirely on his senses and memory to grope his way backward in the car.

"After all, your existence has caused a lot of resentment throughout the assassin world."

Indeed, no assassin likes a guy who specializes in hunting down assassins.

After the two mercenary assassins died mysteriously last time, the assassin world became increasingly apprehensive, and the legend of the third-ranked assassin became more and more exaggerated.

Someone initially gave him the codename "Grim Reaper," but later felt it was inappropriate and changed it to "Hunter," believing that Gao Mo's goal was to eliminate all other assassins.

Originally, Furuya Rei was curious about who the Hunter was and what abilities he had to cause such a commotion.

Seeing the real person now only fills me with extreme horror.

No wonder two generations of top illusionist assassins died in Japan one after another; this kind of hypnotic ability, where a mere glance can kill anyone, is terrifying.

"Buzz!"

The car turned a corner and disappeared from Gao Mo's sight.

After thinking about it, he still didn't chase after them.

At the very least, we need to figure out why Rei Furuya saved Vermouth.

Could these two have a secret relationship?

"Thank you."

Judy was shot in the shoulder. After enduring the pain and treating it, she turned to look at Gomer, who was standing in the wind.

"Are you really number 3 on the assassin list?"

Gao Mo shook his head: "That's probably what they say, but I've never taken on any murder cases, and I've never killed anyone on my own initiative."

"Huh? Heh..."

Judy stared blankly at the sniper who had been shot in the head and died on the container.

"Anyway, thank you for saving me."

“I was just passing by, and that guy shot me himself.”

Gao Mo walked past Judy and glanced at Shuichi Akai, who was hiding behind the container.

This guy came with Furuya Rei, but he didn't do anything, and it's unclear what he was thinking.

"Who exactly are you?" Shuichi Akai didn't seem to care much about revealing his location. He stepped forward and stared intently at Gao Mo with his deep gaze. "Was that you at the Beika Restaurant last time? This appearance shouldn't be your true face."

Gao Mo: "Does it matter if it's true or false?"

“I only know that Akemi definitely doesn’t have a friend like you,” Shuichi Akai said seriously, “but you certainly don’t seem like an enemy either.”

"that's enough."

Gao Mo smiled slightly, waved his hand, and turned to leave.

Looking at these people now, it feels strangely like they're playing house.

(End of this chapter)