Detective Conan: The System Takes Me to Zero's World

No one noticed this detail. The female secretary was staring at the screen to confirm the parameters, and Karasuma Renya's attention was all on Kudo Yuki.

"Now, can you let me see the real parameters?" Kudo Yuki withdrew her gaze, her tone calm.

The wheelchair's breathing valve paused for a moment, and after a moment, Karasuma Renya waved his hand: "Secretary, give her the key.

The female secretary took out a metal USB flash drive from her pocket and handed it to him. Kudo Yuki noticed that some blood was seeping from between the fingers of her gloves - the needle hidden in there was probably crushed by her herself.

The moment she took the USB drive, Kudo Yuki's phone vibrated in her pocket. It was an encrypted message from Amuro Toru:

The surveillance has been cut off and we will pick you up on the rooftop in one hour.

She plugged the USB drive into the port next to the mirror, and a stream of data immediately spread across the mirror. One line of bold text stood out:

ES Dark Amber's ultimate goal is to transplant the consciousness of Karasuma Renya into the container.

The data stream on the mirror scrolled extremely fast. Kudo Yuki's fingertips lightly touched the virtual keyboard, but her eyes swept over the line of bold text inconspicuously.

She lowered her eyelids, hiding the coldness that flashed across her eyes, and pondered to herself: [ES Amber... a consciousness transplant container? So this is Karasuma Renya's true plan.]

"Fine wine, do you understand?" Urawara Renya's eyes were fixed on her in the wheelchair.

Kudo Yuki didn't look back. Her fingertips paused for a moment on the "Controlled Parameters" column, then called up the modification interface.

She simply lowered a few key values ​​slightly—just enough to weaken the control effect without triggering system alarms. It looked more like a fine-tuning to make the "container" more stable.

"It's just basic calibration," Kudo Yuki said calmly, as if handling a very ordinary task. "Parameters that are too high can cause rejection, so this is safer."

Karasuma Renye obviously didn't delve into the technical details; he only cared about the result: "Is it OK?"

"Yes." Kudo Yuki unplugged the USB drive and turned to hand it back to the secretary. The moment their fingertips touched, she felt the other person's gloved finger gently hook hers - that was a unique signal from Vermouth's men, indicating that everything was going well.

When the female secretary took the USB drive, the bloodstains between her fingers had been blurred by her gloves. She respectfully stepped aside, as if she was not the one who crushed the syringe just now.

Karasuma Renya smiled with satisfaction, and the breathing valve made a hoarse sound. "Very good, I was right about you. Now that things here are over, I will take you to see someplace else."

Kudo Yuki did not refuse, but just nodded slightly.

She followed behind the wheelchair, her eyes seemingly casually scanning the layout of the laboratory, but in her heart she was silently counting the time in Amuro Toru's message - less than an hour before the pick-up.

The metal doors on both sides of the corridor were heavy and cold. Karasuma Renye's voice echoed in the empty space: "The front is the cultivation cabin area.

The metal doors on both sides of the corridor were heavy and cold. Karasuma Renya's voice echoed in the empty space: "The area ahead is the cultivation chamber. The 'materials' inside are all prepared for the final stage."

The wheelchair made a slight buzzing sound as it rolled over the ground. Kudo Yuki kept a distance from it, his eyes sweeping over the transparent cabins embedded in the walls.

Fuzzy outlines floated in the light green nutrient solution, and the vital signs data jumping on the cabin wall were mostly silent. Only a few of the innermost cabins were still emitting faint red lights.

"These are all failures." Karasuma Renya's tone was emotionless, the hoarseness of the breathing valve mixed with the low hum of the machinery. "Fine wine, you have to know that the perfect container is never created overnight."

Kudo Yuki didn't respond, but followed his gaze to the deepest cabin - the outline inside seemed to be closer to human form than the others, and there were a few tiny metal fragments sinking in the nutrient solution, like the wreckage of some device.

At this moment, there were very light footsteps behind him. It was the female secretary who followed. She had changed into a new pair of gloves, and her fingertips were slightly curled at her side. She blinked quickly in the direction of Kudo Yuki - that was the code signal from Vermouth's men to convey "safe".

The wheelchair stopped at the end of the incubator area. Karasuma Renya's breathing valve made a long sound. He turned his head and looked at Kudo Yuki through the lens. "Where did the original blueprint of these 'materials' come from?"

Kudo Yuki paused for a moment, her expression remaining calm. "I'd love to hear the details."

"APTX4869." Karasuma Renya's voice was hoarse and almost boastful. "Originally, I just wanted to create the perfect elixir of life, but then I discovered that its gene editing ability is the best cornerstone for building a 'container'."

His fingertips slid across the console panel, leaving a fleeting white mark, and his eyes were filled with an almost fanatical light.

"But having the foundation alone is far from enough. I've spent decades screening gene sequences and adjusting drug ratios, but I still can't overcome that hurdle—either the body can't withstand the burden of genetic recombination, or consciousness is completely dissipated in the mutation."

"There are too many failed APTX4869s," Karasuma Renya's breathing valve made a dull sound, and his eyes swept over the silent incubators. "Those whose bodies collapsed, whose consciousness became disordered, became useless waste. It wasn't until the launch of the 'ES Dark Amber' project that I realized that simply 'immortality' was too narrow-minded."

Kudo Yuki's fingers hanging at her side curled up slightly. APTX4869 - this name was like a thin needle, piercing into the depths of her memory unexpectedly.

She looked up at the person in the wheelchair: "So, ES Amber is based on it..."

"It's sublimation," Karasuma Renya interrupted her, his tone filled with an almost fanatical certainty. "APTX4869 can rewrite the gene sequence, but it can't control the direction. But ES Amber is different. It can precisely cut and reshape, and even... reserve an interface for consciousness transplantation."

He turned his head, his gaze lingering on Kudo Yuki's face. "The parameters you just adjusted were to make this interface more 'docile,' weren't they?"

Kudo Yuki's fingertips paused for a moment, then returned to normal. "You're right. Overactive gene chains will reject foreign consciousness, just like the immune system attacks foreign matter."

She deliberately avoided the word "transplant" and simply passed it off as "foreign consciousness."

The secretary followed behind the two men, her fingertips appearing even paler against the backdrop of her newly changed white gloves. She seemed intently staring at the corridor floor, but in reality, she was catching Kudo Yuki's subtle movements from the corner of her eye. When Karasuma Renya mentioned APTX4869, the moment the girl lowered her eyes, the shadow cast by her eyelashes concealed a faint chill, so quick it seemed like an illusion.

"You know a lot about this." Karasuma Renya let out a chuckle, and the wheelchair began to move forward. "In front is the gene bank, which stores all the experimental data of APTX4869, and... the core algorithm of ES Dark Amber."

The metal door at the end of the corridor slowly slid open, letting in the scent of cold air mixed with disinfectant. In the center of the room stood a cylindrical database, its blue light streaming across the transparent walls like a frozen galaxy.

Karasuma Renya raised his hand and gestured, "See those flashing nodes? Each one corresponds to a set of genetic samples modified by APTX4869. ES Amber selects from these samples the 'soil' most suitable for carrying my consciousness."

Kudo Yuki's eyes swept across the label on the side of the database, and a line of small words made her pupils shrink slightly - "Sample number: Kudo Shinichi, status: dead."

She quickly looked away, her heart beating steadily in her chest, but her face remained calm: "What are the screening criteria?"

"Compatibility," Karasuma Renya said with a hint of complacency. "Not only must it be able to withstand genetic editing, but it must also be able to accept the flow of consciousness data. The genetic crack left by APTX4869 just happens to be the channel for ES Amber to access. It's like... carving a window in an airtight wall."

The secretary coughed softly at this moment. It wasn't loud, but it accurately interrupted Karasuma Renya's words. She stepped forward and bowed slightly. "Boss, the gene bank's constant temperature system needs to be calibrated. Do you want to do it now?"

This was an excuse, and Kudo Yuki immediately understood. The secretary was reminding her that the surveillance here might not be completely cut off, so it was not appropriate to ask too many questions.

Karasuma Renya was clearly displeased, but he waved his hand. "We'll talk later." He turned to Kudo Yuki and softened his tone. "Jiang, look at this database. Doesn't it look like God's palette? I want to mix the most perfect colors from it and create eternal life."

Kudo Yuki didn't respond, but just followed his gaze towards the flowing blue light.

The pain of APTX4869 and the conspiracy of ES Anpo slowly unfolded in this cold room. She suddenly remembered Conan's shrunken body and Haibara Ai's fear when she mentioned the medicine. It turned out that those seemingly isolated fragments had long been woven into a huge web by Karasuma Renya.

"There's nothing to see here." Karasuma Renye turned the wheelchair, "I'll take you to one last place—the prototype cabin of the ES Dark Amber."

The female secretary followed behind, and when she passed by Kudo Yuki, she deliberately slowed down her pace and made a "three" gesture with her fingertips at her side - three minutes left, Amuro Toru should be here soon.

Kudo Yuki nodded slightly, her eyes seemingly fixed on the corridor ahead, but she was silently calculating in her mind: the location of the gene bank, the layout of the culture cabin area, the direction of the prototype cabin... This information must be sent out within an hour.

The wheelchair turned the corner, and a metal door with intricate patterns appeared before them. Karasuma Renya's voice carried an almost sacred solemnity: "Inside, is the end of everything."

The metal door slowly slid open, and Kudo Xue smelled the familiar smell of formaldehyde, which was exactly the same as the smell in the early experimental chamber of APTX4869.

The prototype cabin was suspended in the center of the room, and lavender data streams were wrapped around the silver-white cabin, like the blood vessels of some living thing.

Karasuma Renya's breathing valve made an excited sound. "Look, this is the heart of ES Dark Amber."

He tapped his fingertips on the control screen, and a translucent holographic image was immediately projected onto the side of the cabin.

That was the molecular structure of APTX4869, marked with countless red lines, disassembled, and ultimately reassembled into a brand new gene chain. "The original APTX4869 simply packaged 'death' as ​​'rebirth', but I gave it the true ability to create."

Kudo Yuki's gaze fell on a line of small words in the corner of the video: "Subject 734, Adverse Reaction: Delayed Consciousness Separation."

That was the failure case that Akemi Miyano had mentioned before. Her fingertips quietly tightened at her sides.

"The parameters you adjusted are like injecting a soul into this body." Karasuma Renya's voice was filled with enthusiasm. "The genetic rift torn by APTX4869 needs ES Amber to heal it - and the fine-tuning you just made just made this wound 'docile', perfect for accepting a new consciousness."

He suddenly turned to Kudo Yuki and said, "Come to think of it, your reaction to APTX4869 seems unusually calm. Unlike other researchers who are either terrified or fanatical."

Kudo Yuki lowered her eyelids to hide the cold light in her eyes: "In my opinion, any technology is just a tool."

When she looked up, her tone was just the right amount of distance. "It's more meaningful to study its principles than to dwell on its uses."

At this moment, the female secretary suddenly stepped forward and handed over a glass of water: "Boss, it's time to take your medicine."

There was a little yellowish powder on the edge of her gloves - it was a sedative specially made by Vermouth, which could temporarily distract Karasuma Renya when mixed with water.

Karasuma Renya took the cup of water, and the wheelchair suddenly shook slightly.

The female secretary immediately said, "Maybe the line is not connected well. I'll go check it out."

The moment she turned and walked towards the control console, she quickly turned her head towards Kudo Yuki. The surveillance signal had been completely blocked, and Toru Amuro was at the entrance to the rooftop.

Kudo Yuki watched Karasuma Renya drink the glass of water and suddenly asked, "Does the prototype cabin's energy core still use the decay energy of APTX4869?"

She pointed to the blue crystal at the bottom of the cabin. "This energy is unstable. Continuous use will cause a secondary collapse of the gene chain."

Karasuma Renya's attention was indeed diverted, and he snorted coldly, "That's why we need ES Amber's neutralization procedure."

He pulled up another set of data. "This is the real reason I asked you to come—your algorithm can perfectly offset the two energies, just like..."

"It's like letting poison and antidote coexist." When Kudo Yuki answered, his eyes had already swept across the emergency exit sign in the room. There were still ten minutes before the response time.

Karasuma Renya didn't hear the sarcasm in her words, but nodded with satisfaction: "Well said. When the final transplant is completed, I will make you the sole controller of ES Amber."

He turned his wheelchair and walked out. "Things here are over for now. You can go back and rest first."

Kudo Yuki nodded slightly and passed by the female secretary when she turned around.

The other person's fingertips tapped her palm three times quickly - see you on the rooftop.

The lights in the corridor suddenly flickered twice, and the secretary cried out, covering her forehead. "I seem to have low blood sugar... Miss Fine Wine, can you get me a bottle of glucose? It's in the cabinet at the end of the corridor."

This is the signal to evacuate.

Kudo Yuki nodded in agreement, but her footsteps moved inconspicuously towards the emergency exit.

To be continued...