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

The smell of rust mixed with dust from the ventilation duct hit her in the face. Kudo Yuki was dragged forward by Amuro Toru, and the sound of Shu Shu's hurried footsteps could be heard behind her ears.

The rusty iron sheet at the pipe joint scraped across her cuffs, leaving a few shallow scratches, but she had no time to pay attention to it - the sound of an explosion from the third floor underground behind her had already come, shaking the pipe and making it buzz, and it was about to collapse in the next second.

"We're almost at the exit." Amuro Toru's voice was hushed in his throat, as he used the beam of his tactical flashlight to identify the direction. He suddenly stopped and tapped his fingertips on a grid. "Exit from here. Vermouth's car should be in the shadow of the west wing."

Shushu rushed out from the gap in the grille first, and after a few seconds, he poked his head back in: "It's safe! There's no one outside!"

Toru Amuro used a multi-purpose knife to pry open the grille and jumped out of the pipe first.

The moment he landed, he quickly glanced around - the walls of the wing were covered with vines under the moonlight, and a black Porsche was parked in the shadows, with the windows lowered, revealing Vermouth's fingertips painted with burgundy nail polish.

"It seems you've found what you were looking for." Vermouth's voice was as lazy as usual, her eyes fixed on the bulge in Kudo Yuki's arms. "That key was really hard to hide. When I was a kid, I almost gave it away as a toy."

Kudo Yuki bent down and sat in the back seat of the Porsche. Shushu immediately jumped onto her lap, his chubby little paws scratching the leather seat to calm his breathing.

Toru Amuro was sitting in the passenger seat. The action of closing the car door with his backhand created a gust of wind, blocking out the muffled sound coming from the third floor underground.

"The key is not affected by the self-destruct program?" Vermouth stepped on the accelerator, and the car body slid into the shadow of the wing like a black fish. The sound of the tires rolling over the gravel was as light as a whisper.

She glanced in the rearview mirror at the metal box in Kudo Yuki's arms, her burgundy nails tapping lightly on the steering wheel. "That old guy specially installed an independent safety device on the gears. Even if the whole building collapsed, the old gears and keys would not be destroyed. He always said that some things should be left to 'deserving people.'"

"Someone worthy..." Kudo Yuki repeated in a low voice, looking at the crow emblem on the box and remembering what Amuro Toru had just said. "You mean someone who can destroy all this?"

Shushu's chubby little paw patted the back of Kudo Yuki's hand twice: "Xiaoxue, she said there are other things in the warehouse!"

Toru Amuro's eyebrows moved almost imperceptibly.

Vermouth chuckled, turning the steering wheel with a certain nonchalance, "Perhaps. After all, he should eventually understand that if a person's heart gets stuck in the gears, it will eventually bite the whole machine apart."

The black AC Cobra 427 convertible sports car drove out of the Karasuma Group headquarters, and a light blue hue appeared on the horizon.

Vermouth parked the car in the shadow of the street corner. The intercom in the passenger storage compartment suddenly made an electrical noise. She glanced at the jumping frequency on the screen and her fingertips paused on the button.

"Rum's people are investigating tonight's unusual movements." She took out a wet wipe and wiped the lipstick off her lips, revealing her original pure color. "Gin just led the team to the third underground floor. He's probably gritting his teeth at the ruins now."

Kudo Yuki pulled out the gear key. "Do you know where the original data for 'ES Amber' is hidden? The list in the device only reached Professor Miyano; the records of the experimental subjects after that have been deleted."

"That old man deleted it himself." Vermouth's voice turned a bit colder. "Nineteen years ago, on the day of the clock tower fire, he and his confidants stayed in the third basement for an entire night. I secretly saw them carrying out more than a dozen encrypted hard drives, which were later sent to the Miyano couple's research laboratory."

Kudo Yuki stroked the pattern on the gear key. "So the fire nineteen years ago wasn't an accident, but was done to transfer data?"

Vermouth turned the steering wheel, and the sports car turned into a secluded alley. The headlights cast a swaying shadow on the mottled wall. "I guess so."

There was a hint of self-mockery in her voice, "That day I was secretly drinking his wine in the attic of the bell tower, and I saw with my own eyes his personal bodyguard mixing accelerant into the lubricating oil of the gear train.

The old man probably anticipated that the equipment on the third underground floor would eventually be discovered, so he decided to burn all traces of it and move the truly important items right under the Miyano couple's noses—after all, no one would doubt the most 'loyal' researcher.

Shu Shu suddenly jumped up from Kudo Yuki's lap, his chubby little paws clawing at the car window frame. "I knew there was something wrong with the fire! The scorch marks on the old gears clearly started from the inside!"

Amuro Toru tapped his fingertips lightly on his knees, his eyes sharpening: "Do the Miyano couple know the contents of those hard drives?"

"I didn't know at first." Vermouth stepped on the brakes, and the sports car stopped silently in the shadow of the back alley of Beika Town.

"They thought it was just upgrade information for ES Amber, until they discovered the names of several high-ranking officials from the island nation were mixed into the list of experimental subjects."

Kudo Yuki's heart sank suddenly.

She remembered that she had found in Kuroda Heibei's office that several senior officials had suddenly resigned for "health reasons" twenty years ago. The files at the time were vague. Now she thought that this list might be related to them.

"That's why they were silenced." Amuro Toru's voice was as cold as ice. "That lord can't tolerate people who know too much, even if they are researchers working for him."

He pushed open the car door and moved sideways to protect Kudo Yuki as she got out of the car.

"Why else do you think the 'ES Dark Amber' project was suddenly restarted?" Vermouth chuckled. "He's simply old and needs to rely on equipment to stay alive. He's hiding in the constant temperature chamber deepest in the third underground floor. The self-destruct sequence just now might have been remotely activated by him."

Kudo Yuki suddenly clenched the key in her arms.

It turned out that they were only one step away from the culprit - if they had not evacuated in time, they might have seen Karasuma Renya himself.

"The constant temperature chamber's energy system relies on the main line on the third underground floor," Amuro Toru suddenly spoke, his fingertips rapidly tapping on his phone, pulling up a blueprint. "This is what I drew when I infiltrated earlier. If we cut the line here, he'll be in a coma for at least 72 hours."

Vermouth raised an eyebrow: "You want to go back again? The security system there should have been activated by now."

"We don't need to go." Amuro Toru took out his phone and sent a message to Kuroda Heibei:

Nagano Trading Co., Ltd. internal personnel have been replaced, and the target supply chain (source of experimental subjects) has been successfully cut off, without triggering any alarms. The relevant handover records have been encrypted and transmitted to the designated channel, requesting further instructions. —Bourbon

As soon as the notification tone of the successful message delivery sounded, Kuroda Bei called back:

The constant temperature chamber line was handed over to Nagano Prefectural Police Officer Morobushi Takaaki for handling. The three people have brought their men to the designated location and are expected to complete the disconnection within ten minutes.

Amuro Toru put away his phone and gazed at the distant skyline. Sure enough, a few red shadows of police lights floated in the pale blue morning light. A flicker of relief crossed his eyes, and he turned to Vermouth. "If the constant temperature chamber at Karasuma Group headquarters loses power, there will be at least three days of chaos within the organization. What are you going to do with this gap?"

Vermouth reapplied her lipstick. "The old man was in a coma for 72 hours, which was enough time for me to find the backup hard drive that the Miyano couple hid back then."

She started the engine, and the rearview mirror reflected the metal box in Kudo Yuki's arms. "That key not only opens the safe on the third underground floor, but also activates the secret compartment in the Miyano family's old house. Elena always likes to hide important things where children can't reach them."

Shushu patted the back of Kudo Yuki's hand with his chubby little paw: "She's trying to figure out the purpose of the key!"

Amuro Toru's eyes swept over the metal box in Kudo Yuki's arms, then fell back to Vermouth's face. His tone was calm and unmoved: "What's the purpose of a key? It's nothing more than opening things that need to be opened. After all, the old items of the Karasuma Group always have some mysterious mechanisms."

Vermouth's gaze paused on his face for two seconds, but she finally chuckled: "Amuro-kun, you see things clearly. However, some traps can be devastating if you don't find the right way."

She turned the steering wheel and the sports car turned a sharp corner. "Just like the fire nineteen years ago, some people thought it was an accident, but it was actually just the first insurance policy set up by the old man."

"Insurance will eventually fail." Amuro Toru met Vermouth's gaze, "especially insurance that relies on lies." "For example, the backup hard drive you thought was well hidden might have already been spotted."

Shushu hummed in dissatisfaction on Kudou Yuki's lap.

Amuro Toru caught a glimpse of its angry look out of the corner of his eye, and tapped its knee lightly with his fingertips - signaling to Shu Shu, "Got it, don't be impulsive."

Vermouth's smile faded a little. "Bourbon, that sounds like a reminder to me. But compared to the hard drive, I'm more concerned about the secret compartment in Miyano's old house. Miyano Elena hid something there, saying it was the key to completely disable 'ES Amber'. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to tell anyone."

"Oh?" Amuro Toru raised an eyebrow, his tone adding just the right amount of doubt. "Since it's the key, why don't you just hand it over to the organization?"

"Because she later discovered," Vermouth's voice deepened, "that the thing she helped develop wasn't a 'human evolution device' at all."

She glanced at the metal box in Kudo Yuki's arms. "Just like this key, it appears to open the door to power, but in reality, it holds the fuse of destruction. Who, in Bourbon's opinion, is qualified to hold this fuse?"

Amuro Toru did not answer immediately, but reached out to tidy up Kudo Yuki's hair that was messed up by the wind. His movements were so natural as if they had been rehearsed thousands of times.

"Someone who can bear the consequences." He pulled back, tapping his fingertips lightly on the door handle. "For example, someone who doesn't want to be stuck in gear again."

Vermouth's laughter echoed throughout the carriage, tinged with self-mockery. "Well said. I hope you're not just good at making nice things."

Shushu used his chubby little paws to grab at Kudo Yuki's sleeves, and Amuro Toru could clearly "hear" him mutter, "This woman has so many tricks! I'm going to bite her high heels!"

He approached Kudo Yuki calmly, gently bumped her arm with his shoulder, and silently comforted her.

Vermouth smiled, and the dark red eyeshadow at the corners of her eyes added a touch of laziness: "Then get the 'Silver Bullet' ready. I'll be waiting for you under the cherry blossom tree at Miyano's old house at 8 o'clock tomorrow night."

After a brief pause, she lightly tapped her fingertips at her side, adding a hint of playfulness to her tone, "As for the gin—I'll naturally add some more ingredients to make the water in this 'distillery' more muddy."

Vermouth stepped on the accelerator, and the black sports car slid out of the alley, and its taillights disappeared around the corner.

Toru Amuro took Kudo Yuki's hand and walked towards the Poirot Café.

Shushu squatted on her shoulder, his chubby little paws scratching at his collar as he yawned: "Can you trust what that woman says? What if she wants to steal the keys?"

"She needs us to open the secret compartment," Amuro Toru's voice was very low, with a hoarseness after a tactical operation, "The code set by the Miyano couple can only be cracked by the Kudo family and the Miyano family. Even if Vermouth got the key, it would be useless."

His fingertips gently rubbed the back of her hand. "Besides, she wants to destroy everything left by Karasuma even more than we do. After all, that's the monster her grandfather built with his entire family."

Kudo Yuki recalled the look in Vermouth's eyes when she mentioned the "old man." That mixture of hatred and complex emotions certainly didn't seem like a simple subordinate looking at their superior. "Were you the first to find out her identity?"

Amuro Toru paused for a second, his purplish-gray eyes sinking like a deep pool in the night. "There are some guesses in the information provided by Manager Kuroda."

He turned his head to look at Shushu who was peeking over Kudo Yuki's shoulder. The latter was grabbing her collar with his chubby little paws, his round eyes full of vigilance.

"But the real confirmation came thanks to a text message. Last year at a charity dinner in 4-chome, she was hiding on the terrace to receive the message."

Amuro Toru seemed to be recalling the wording of the text message. "When the screen lit up, I happened to pass by her. The sender was 'CARASUMA', and the content was only one line - 'Child, I haven't seen you for a long time, I miss you very much. If you encounter any trouble at work, don't force yourself, you can tell me.'"

Shushu's fur instantly exploded, and goosebumps covered his skin. "Kid?! That's too corny a name!"

A faint ripple flashed across his eyes, so fast it seemed like an illusion: "At that time, she was holding the phone, her knuckles were pale blue, and the light from the screen reflected on her face, half ice, half fire."

Amuro Toru said gravely, "That expression is definitely not what a subordinate should have towards their superior. Later, when I traced the origin of the codename 'CARASUMA', I discovered that it appeared in the encrypted communications within the Karasuma Group as early as thirty years ago."

Kudo Yuki recalled the instant that Vermouth's jawline tightened when she mentioned the "old guy", and suddenly understood the source of that complex emotion - hatred was wrapped in the ties of blood, and disgust hid the inseparable past.

"When she deleted the text message, her fingertip lingered on the delete key for three seconds." Amuro Toru's gaze shifted towards the warm yellow light of the Poirot Café. "Just like now, she could have just grabbed the key, but she insisted on waiting for us to go to the Miyano old house together."

Shu Shu jumped down from Kudo Yuki's shoulder, slid down her arm to her palm, and nuzzled her fingertips. "I knew something was wrong with her! It turns out she's hiding something so deep!"

Toru Amuro didn't say anything else, but just took Kudo Yuki's hand and walked towards the Poirot Café. When they passed a flickering street light, the side of his face was stretched very long.

"When people in the organization mentioned that adult, they were either terrified or fanatical. Only she... looked at a tombstone that should have weathered long ago."

To be continued...