The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

"'Binga'? Did this person contact you online?"

"Well, at least that's what they claimed in the email. They offered a high price, but required me to sign an agreement to give them exclusive ownership of the system and be responsible for its subsequent maintenance and improvements. I had already discussed the system with my father and the police officers I had worked with, and we had decided to work with Interpol to complete it, so I declined the offer..."

"You would think it was related to the kidnapping, and it seems he hasn't given up on it."

"Yes. For a long time, he used the excuse that he'd read my thesis and was interested in some theoretical research I was developing, and he kept asking me about my progress. At first, I thought it was just normal academic communication and answered his questions a few times, but gradually, I started to feel something was amiss. He wanted to guide me in developing some functionalities."

When she said this, Naomi's face showed an expression mixed with fear and regret, and the muscles on the sides of her cheeks trembled unconsciously.

The look of uncontrollable fear as if she had suddenly recalled the chilling details after many days made Tang Ze, who observed her facial expression, guess something.

He glanced sideways at the wall beside the dormitory, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Do you think there's something wrong with those functions?"

"At the time, the Pacific Buoy project was already on the agenda. I took a quick look at his idea and felt it was too redundant, so I declined. Now it seems that he might have had some plans for a cross-age recognition system at that time."

With her hands tied, Naomi could not move. She could only curl up her body tighter and explain to Tang Ze with difficulty several technical details proposed by the other party.

This includes, but is not limited to, resolving network latency and bandwidth issues. Rather than connecting directly to the cameras, a better approach would be to set up a server to regularly download and retrieve surveillance data. Furthermore, given the nature of transnational crime, the fact that some suspects' countries don't have electronic information archives or authorization options should be taken into account, and a manual archive creation function should be added. And so on...

From the perspective of solving specific problems, these are indeed options that can improve efficiency, so Naomi naturally didn't think much about it.

But now it seems that the convenience these functions point to is a kind of skipping of security checks, which is more conducive to personal use.

"Your system is indeed implanted with a backdoor." Tang Ze confirmed her guess, "That's why you were kidnapped. Under normal circumstances, it's difficult to disappear from an underwater facility."

"As expected." Naomi's pupils widened slightly. "The more we communicated, the more I felt that this person's understanding of the system was beyond normal. I realized something was wrong and stopped replying to his emails. Now that I think about it, maybe he was actually an employee involved in the project, and the so-called business agreement was the hint that pushed me towards further cooperation with ICPO..."

Tang Ze felt that she couldn't stop her expression.

As a Japanese-Italian mixed-race person who grew up in the United States, she may not have learned many other things, but she has learned conspiracy theories thoroughly.

After confirming once again that walls have ears, Tang Ze thought about it and decided to drive away the guy next door who was eavesdropping here when he had time.

Vodka, who was leaning against the wall and listening attentively, suddenly heard the young man on the other side of the wall switch to a softer tone and laugh softly.

"Miss Naomi, Miss Naomi? You look a little too nervous..."

"No, I'm not nervous, I just feel that this person might——"

"Could it be someone you know? I understand your thoughts. Being trapped in such a cramped, enclosed space, one can't help but think about many things. However, our top priority right now is to resolve our current situation. Whether the traitor exists, and who they are, are questions we'll only have time to consider if we survive."

"Feel sorry……"

"It's okay, you're just a little bit emotionally out of control. Relax a little. Look up and look into my eyes. Yes, that's it. You're not working alone now, you can trust me..."

The sound became softer and softer, and slower and slower. When Vodka realized it, he found that he had felt sleepy without knowing when. He looked drowsy and began to slide down the wall.

He shuddered and immediately stood up with the help of the wall, pushing himself a little further away.

Naomi in the room was not as lucky as him in waking up. Her voice also became calmer and more confused, and her speech speed slowed down.

"...Is that so? Ah, looking at it carefully, I seem to have seen you... somewhere before... I mean, before..."

"That's possible. I told you, you can trust me, Miss Naomi. Relax, relax... You can take another closer look..."

Vodka didn't dare to listen any more and turned away.

Apparently, Kumail felt that he couldn't let Naomi continue thinking, so he began his "preparations".

Fortunately, the code members are generally trained and have a certain degree of defense in this regard, otherwise they would be like the woman inside and fall into it unknowingly.

But I dare not continue listening. If I listen to a few more sentences, I won’t be able to say who is being brainwashed...

Thinking of this, Vodka immediately quickened his pace and ran back to the control room under the strange gaze of Rena Mizunashi.

"What's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost. Did Kumail kill her?"

"Killing her might be a good thing for her," Vodka muttered. "That thing is horrible."

Died at the hands of the kidnappers, and was nearly hypnotized by the kidnappers disguised as helpers, completely unable to control his own thoughts...

If there really was a choice, the woman inside might rather die in a conscious state than be controlled and degraded bit by bit like this.

If Bourbon really replaced Rum in the future and stood in that position, with someone like Kumail under his command, a task that would take Binga five years to complete would take him less than five hours...

Thinking about it this way, I suddenly feel that it’s good that Bourbon can succeed. At least it won’t increase their workload.

Of course, working with a viper like that makes things even more terrifying.

In the dormitory, after hearing Vodka's panicked footsteps completely disappear, Tang Ze looked at Naomi in front of him again and smiled at her.

Completely different from what Vodka had imagined, the atmosphere here was not at all like a cult brainwashing scene.

Following Tang Ze's guidance, Naomi opened her eyes wide, ignoring her mobility issues, and tried to get closer to observe his face.

"You, you look alike like Shiho!" Her eyes were clear and filled with surprise. "I can't be mistaken. This resemblance isn't accidental... Do you know a girl named Shiho?"

During this conversation, Tang Ze was just reciting the lines according to the common hypnosis techniques, but in fact he was trying to improve Naomi's mental state.

She was kidnapped, and she thought she had implicated the person she had always wanted to find. After the mental shock, she had been depressed and unable to think rationally. Tang Ze was using a dispelling mask to help her clear the debuff.

As for those lines that required her to look into her own eyes, once she regained her spirits, Naomi, with her knowledge of anthropology, would quickly figure it out.

"If you're talking about Miyano Shiho, then I know her. She's my sister. Do we look alike?"

"If you look closely, there are some big differences, but they really look alike." Naomi's tense body relaxed. "No wonder, no wonder they went for Shiho, but caught you... It's great that they didn't find Shiho, and she's safe... Oh, sorry, that's not what I meant..."

Halfway through her feelings, she realized that it was inappropriate for her to say this to the victim who was most likely implicated by both herself and Shiho, and she hurriedly apologized.

It's certainly a good thing that Miyano Shiho wasn't harmed, but it's not appropriate to say this to the unfortunate scapegoat.

But despite saying this, Naomi's eyes were still sparkling.

Tang Ze clearly expressed that he knew Miyano Shiho and was her relative, which meant that Miyano Shiho was really on Hachijo Island and was currently safe.

The person she had been looking for for so long was so close, and she felt a little happy even though it was inappropriate.

With a bit of excitement, Naomi started to explain her past interactions with Miyano Shiho. After talking for a long time, she saw Tang Ze staring at her with a smile, and she couldn't help but shrink back.

I'm a little too excited. This doesn't seem like the right topic to talk about in this kind of atmosphere...

"No need to be so cautious. We're in the same boat." Tang Ze shrugged, indicating that he couldn't move his hands or feet. "Shiho has others protecting her, so she'll be fine. The one you should be most worried about right now is you."

Thinking of this, Naomi felt a little discouraged: "Hey, when I saw that they could find Shiho's whereabouts, I should have realized that there was a big problem with the system security."

"That's right. I wanted to ask this when I went to your place. With such a complicated technology, don't you have a budget for firewalls? Apart from Europol, you have at least dozens of network centers to connect to, including some countries with average technology in this area... Isn't this system a sieve?" Tang Ze finally let out the complaints he had been holding back for a long time.

"There's nothing we can do about it. Interpol is already very short on funds for this project," Naomi said with a look of helplessness. "Of course I know many people are concerned about this security issue, so we have to further strengthen the authority management..."

"As long as you don't hold the key, it's meaningless." Tang Ze rejected it directly. "If a second person in the world hears it, the secret is no longer a secret. Even if the intention is good, there are so many unreliable international organizations that are constrained by so many factors."

Naomi wanted to refute, but thinking of the ups and downs she had gone through in the past few years trying to figure out the system, she could only smile bitterly: "It seems that what my father said is right. I still take my R&D concept for granted."

Too many people and interest groups were involved, and she, a purely technical official, was also caught up in the complex issues and found it difficult to extricate herself. Half of her time in the past three or four years was not spent on research and development.

At this moment, she felt even more helpless as she felt the stinging and numbness on her wrists caused by the friction of the ropes that had been tied up for a long time.

Forget about data security. The current situation is that the personal safety of the founder and core developers of this project is not guaranteed...

"Speaking of your father... the situation is special. Although you are a hostage, you are the one who will be blackmailed, so next, they are likely to use the system to directly threaten your immediate family members. He is very dangerous." Tang Ze continued to follow her topic.

"He, he's a member of the European Union, after all, and he has his own security detail..."

"They all have submarines, and you're still talking about this?"

The last bit of luck was shattered, Naomi lowered her head and sighed deeply.

"I don't want to hand over the system to these dangerous guys, and I can't possibly agree to their conditions. But if I do, if I do... my family..."

The photos of Shiho they showed her today were more like a warm-up and a threat, reminding her that they now have control over the system, and if she doesn't know what's good for her, it will be difficult to end the situation.

Naomi has been suffering from this for a long time, and Tang Ze just pointed out the dilemma that she was unwilling to face.

"Is there a possibility that you can 'fake surrender'?" Looking at the conflicted Naomi, Tang Ze couldn't help but say.

"Huh?" Naomi raised her head blankly.

"Just verbally agree to their terms first. You can't be locked up in a submarine and have them remotely program you. If you agree to the terms, they'll have to negotiate your compensation, right? Even if they don't give you freedom, they'll have to take you somewhere else, right?"

“Will you?”

"This isn't some soul contract. Once you agree to it, you can't go back on your word. Even if the police are handling a kidnapping case, they still have to raise the ransom and calm the kidnappers before finding the hostages." Tang Ze looked at the stubborn scientist with a caring look. "You just agree to it first. Once they let their guard down, we'll have a chance to escape, right?"

Naomi was stunned for a moment, thinking about this logic.

Yes, that seems to be the case.

Tang Ze looked at this talented girl with pity, whose brain was not very flexible.

Putting aside the issue of the Pacific Buoy's imminent death, the improvements the organization sought couldn't be directly applied to the Pacific Buoy; they wanted custom services, meaning they wouldn't be able to tamper with the existing system.

They have already hacked into the system and gained access, so why do they still have to kidnap her? Doesn't it mean that Naomi's abilities are irreplaceable and necessary?

Even if we give them the technology, what does it matter? They can't change it themselves. In this field, she is undoubtedly the world's best.

So instead of confronting it, wouldn't it be better to just agree verbally first?

"What you said makes sense..." After thinking for a long time, Naomi nodded slowly, "But how are we going to escape if we just rely on ourselves?"

"They drove me directly into the sea and brought me here, while you were kidnapped from such a deep exit." Tang Ze reminded him, "So this means that this submarine..."

"...Is there a way to enter and exit the sea directly?" After recovering from her shock, Naomi's IQ finally came online.

"Yes, so as long as we find a gap in their surveillance, escaping is not as difficult as we imagined." Tang Ze began to persuade again.

"After we get out, they've mastered the system, so it's still easy for them to find us..."

"You're the creator of this system, but you don't even have the confidence to catch the traitor and eliminate the backdoor? Then just disable it. It should be disabled for security reasons."

"..."

"Okay, stop daydreaming. Listen to me. Since you're Shiho's friend, how can I harm you? Okay, now..."