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

Karasuma Renya rubbed his knuckles on the edge of the table repeatedly, suspicion surging in his cloudy eyes, as if he was trying to confirm the truth of the words.

Kudo Yuki's eyes under the butterfly mask remained calm, as if she was just stating an insignificant matter.

"Surveillance records..." Karasuma Renya's voice was slightly tense. "I'll have someone check. But remember, fine wine, don't get involved in their mess. Your value doesn't lie in these internal struggles."

Kudo Yuki nodded slightly, a cold smile curling the corners of her lips. "Don't worry, old man. I only care about your 'ES Dark Amber' plan. After all, it's only the authority you gave me that allowed me to stay in the organization, not their grudges."

These words hit the nail on the head with Karasuma Renya - what he valued most was always the absolute obedience of his subordinates.

The sound of Toru Amuro's breathing could be heard through the transmitter, and it was obvious that he was also worried about this risky move.

Rat rubbed her wrist against his sleeve and muttered, "The old man has finally taken the bait! Add more fuel to the fire and make him suspect Rum and Gin of collusion!"

Kudo Yuki used telepathy to suppress Shushu's excitement. "Shushu, your idea is a bit unrealistic. If I directly say they're in collusion, Karasuma Renya will just think I'm stirring up trouble and become suspicious of me. I need to let him think of it as 'they both had their own agenda but accidentally messed up the situation' so he won't focus on me."

Amuro Toru's agreement came immediately from the microphone: "You're right. The most taboo thing right now is to get dragged into the center of the vortex. What we need to do is pass on clues, not push them."

Shushu pouted, but Little Fatty Claw stopped moving obediently: "Then how do we add more firewood? We can't just stop and watch them become suspicious of each other, right?"

Kudo Yuki didn't answer immediately. Her eyes fell on the yellowed document that Karasuma Renya had just put back into the drawer - that was the encrypted file copy he had just mentioned that was burned that year.

The perfume bottle between her fingers swirled gently, and the smoke filled the air again, just enough to cover the tiny camera in the corner of the lab table. "Old man, you just said that the people who checked the destruction site became early test subjects for ES Dark Amber?"

Karasuma Renya turned around, the suspicion in his eyes still not completely fading: "Why, do you have any questions?"

"I just think this is a strange coincidence." Kudo Yuki's tone was flat, as if she was just chatting casually. "APTX4869 was guarded by Rum's people, but Gin was secretly watching nearby. Now the medicine box has inexplicably disappeared. Is there any connection between them?"

"Connection?" Karasuma Renya turned around, staring at Kudo Yuki with cloudy eyes, "Are you saying that Rum and Gin are secretly colluding?"

"You're joking, old man." The perfume bottle on Kudo Yuki's fingertips hovered in mid-air, the smoke drifting between her and Karasuma Renya, blurring the expression beneath the mask. "They've been fighting openly and covertly for so long. Last time, Rum had Cohen assassinate his target, and he deliberately bypassed Gin. Gin even dared to tamper with his encrypted instructions. It doesn't look like they're colluding at all."

She glanced at the surveillance screen out of the corner of her eye—Vodka was still struggling.

"It's just too many coincidences. Think about it. Rum's men were guarding APTX4869, and Gin was staking out the medicine storeroom at this very moment. The medicine box had just been lost, and the conflict between the two of them was already simmering. Who knows, maybe someone was trying to use this 'missing medicine' incident to get something on the other side."

Karasuma Renya's gaze was more scrutinizing, but she no longer suspected Kudo Yuki. After all, from the beginning to the end, she had only been "stating the facts," neither favoring Rum nor Gin, but instead pointing the finger of suspicion at their old grudge.

"Someone has something on me?" Karasuma Renya sneered, reaching out to push the documents in the drawer back completely. "Rum wants power, and Gin wants absolute control. They both have their own agendas, and they might actually use this as an excuse to bite the other."

Amuro Toru tapped twice in the voice transmitter, indicating that Kudo Yuki was ready.

Shushu muttered quietly into his sleeve, "This old man is finally thinking about 'internal strife'! Should we bring up the Cohen incident again to make him hate Rum even more?"

The light smoke spread through the fingers to the corner of the table.

Kudo Yuki happened to avoid Karasuma Renya's sight and analyzed with telepathy: "There's no need to bring up the matter of Cohen. Karasuma already has a grudge against Rum.

You see, Rum always likes to leave a back-up plan. This time, the medicine box was either truly lost, or he set it up to embezzle it. He specifically asked his own people to guard APTX4869 and kept it out of Gin's sight. Isn't it because he's afraid Gin will find something to hold against him?

The mouse rubbed its tail against its sleeve, "What about Gin? He'd be furious if he knew there were Rum's fingerprints on the medicine box! Should we quietly pass on a message?"

"Don't worry." Kudo Yuki gently placed the perfume bottle on her palm, her eyes sweeping across the surveillance screen showing the vodka being taken away.

"Gin is already keeping an eye on Rum. As long as Karasuma's people check the surveillance, the news will inevitably leak out."

Suddenly, a soft voice from Amuro Toru came from the microphone, with a deliberately suppressed electric sound. "There's movement in the monitoring room. Rum's people went there early, saying they want to 'help' Karasuma organize the records. I'm afraid they want to destroy the fingerprint evidence."

Kudo Yuki looked up at Karasuma Renya, her tone still as calm as if it had nothing to do with her. "Old man, I just heard from the people below that the door to the monitoring room was pried open a crack, as if someone had entered beforehand. Do you think... could it be that Rum's people were afraid there was something they shouldn't see in the surveillance footage and wanted to take action first?"

Karasuma Renya was flipping through the test data of "ES Dark Amber". Upon hearing this, he looked up suddenly, a fierce look flashing in his cloudy eyes: "He dared to touch my surveillance?"

"Maybe it's a misunderstanding." Kudo Yuki immediately took a half step back, always maintaining the attitude of a "bystander".

"Rum has always been cautious in his supervision of APTX4869. This sudden mishap could mean either an outsider truly dared to touch the organization's belongings, or... he's just using the 'lost medicine box' incident as an excuse to make other plans. After all, he even dared to bypass Gin on Cohen's mission last time. What else wouldn't he dare try?"

She deliberately dragged "Gin" into this. Once the matter gets out, Gin will definitely get to the bottom of it.

Karasuma Renya's face darkened. He grabbed the communicator on the table and dialed the monitoring room number, his tone filled with anger: "Tell Rum's people to leave the monitoring room immediately! Anyone who dares to touch the records will be treated as a traitor!"

After hanging up the communicator, Karasuma Renya glanced at Kudo Yuki and saw that she was lowering her head to organize the parts list of "ES Dark Amber" and didn't even glance at him out of the corner of her eye. The doubts in her heart faded a little.

In his opinion, "Fine Wine" only cares about plans and authority, and has no time to get involved in these internal struggles.

Kudo Yuki caught a glimpse of Karasuma Renya's expression from the corner of her eye, and knowing that she had completely removed all the filth, she responded to Shushu with telepathy:

"I sent him a small portion of Vodka's situation in the video using my name, writing 'No life-threatening situation, temporarily taken to a safe area by an elderly person.' I also added 'One box of APTX4869 is missing.'"

Shushu wagged his tail and rubbed his fists excitedly. "Got it! When Gin finds out, he'll definitely go straight for Rum!"

A black Porsche was parked behind the shadow of a tree downstairs, its windows closed, completely blocking out the afternoon sun.

Gin stared at the message he had just received on his phone. The sender was marked as "Fine Wine," and the content was short and concise, like an insignificant reminder:

Vodka's life is not in danger and he has been temporarily sent to a safe area by the old man; there is one APTX4869 medicine box missing.

The phone case was slightly deformed by his pinch.

Fine Wine's sudden mention of vodka and a medicine box clearly had a hidden meaning. The phrase "sent the old man to a safe place" in particular sounded more like a hint to Gin—if nothing had gone wrong, the adult wouldn't have "specially" provided vodka.

He took out another encrypted phone and dialed the number of the security room. "Did the lord's men check the drug store surveillance? Did Rum's men intervene?"

The person on the other end of the phone was clearly panicking: "Master Gin... the boss did ask us to check the records, but Master Rum's men went there beforehand and tried to delete the footage, but the boss scolded them and sent them away..."

"Delete the surveillance footage?" Gin sneered, tapping his knuckles on the steering wheel. "What do they want to delete? The fingerprints on the medicine box?"

The other party suddenly stopped talking, obviously having been hit on the head, and didn't dare to respond for a long time.

Gin didn't ask any more questions and just hung up the phone.

He raised his hand and touched the inside of his collar, and his fingertips touched a tiny bump - that was the bug he found today.

But now, combined with the news of the missing medicine box, a more dangerous thought came to my mind:

Rum's men were guarding the medicine storehouse, the medicine boxes were lost, the surveillance was tampered with, Karasuma suddenly placed vodka there, and there was the cryptic reminder of "fine wine"... All the clues pointed to one conclusion - Rum was up to something, and that adult had become suspicious.

At this moment, there was a sudden burst of noise from the car radio, and then it returned to normal.

Gin's eyes flickered, realizing the wire had been disconnected and discovered. He didn't care, instead pulling out a spare miniature camera and sticking it in a hidden spot on the inside of the car window.

The thought of watching the show began to arise in his mind: "Since that adult wanted to monitor him, he would just "cooperate" and continue to act, to see what Rum and that adult were going to do.

Karasuma Renya stared at the eavesdropping device on the table that suddenly lit up with the "Connection successful" prompt. A hint of surprise flashed in his turbid eyes, and then they sank.

He clearly remembered that there was a noise of the eavesdropping device being disconnected from Gin's side, and now it was suddenly reconnected, which was obviously not an accident - Gin did it on purpose, he was "cooperating" with his monitoring, and even silently provoking him.

Kudo Yuki happened to walk out of the inner room at this moment, holding the parts inspection report of "ES Amber" in her hand. She glanced at the bug prompt on the table and said, "Old man, I just heard from the people in the monitoring room that Gin's car is still downstairs and seems to be waiting for some news."

Her words seemed unintentional, but they accurately drew Karasuma's attention to "Gin's abnormality."

Gin has always been decisive and efficient. If he hadn't suspected Rum, he would never have waited downstairs for a long time.

Karasuma Renya frowned, tapping his fingertips on the edge of the table more frequently, his suspicions growing even deeper: [Did Gin reconnect the bug so he could hear him confronting Rum? Or was he trying to use him to suppress Rum?]

"Jia Jiu, go get the original recordings from the monitoring room." Karasuma suddenly spoke, his eyes fixed on Kudo Yuki, as if testing her. "Don't let anyone interfere. Go there yourself."

Kudo Yuki nodded immediately: "Okay, I'll go now."

As she turned around, she glanced at the bug out of the corner of her eye and thought, "Karasuma Renya letting me personally check the records is both a sign of trust and a test, and this is exactly the opportunity I want."

Walking into the corridor, Kudo Xue instructed telepathically: "Send all the videos about vodka to Vermouth, and tell her to 'send them to Gin step by step and guide him to find vodka.'"

Shushu's chubby little paws moved quickly on his sleeves. "Done! Vermouth has received the news. She said she will send Vodka's video to Gin in three batches, leaving a little hook each time. It's guaranteed to make him itch!"

The voice of Amuro Toru came through the speaker immediately, with a certain calmness: "The monitoring room has been cleared as planned. Rum's men were chased away before they could delete the records. The fingerprint images are intact."

Just as he finished speaking, the encrypted phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated. It was a text message from Vermouth:

Gin received the first video and has already had his men track down Vodka. Also, I 'accidentally' let that lord's people see me messaging you. He probably thought we were discussing the details of debugging ES Amber.

Kudo Yuki raised the corners of her lips slightly and replied:

Keep your distance and don't show your true colors.

Then he put away his phone and opened the door of the monitoring room.

When the people in the room saw her come in, they immediately made way respectfully - Uramaru Renya's order was there, and no one dared to stop her.

Kudo Yuki walked over to the monitoring station, tapping her fingers on the keyboard. She caught a glimpse of the bug indicator light still on in the corner, and knowing Karasuma Renya was still listening, she deliberately raised her voice, "Save a separate copy of the records from yesterday to today in the medicine storeroom, especially marking the footage where Rum's men touched the medicine boxes. The old man must review it personally to make sure nothing goes wrong."

This statement not only fits in with Fine Wine's rigorous attitude towards the plan, but also deliberately leaks the information of "Rum's men touching the medicine box" to Karasuma, deepening his suspicion.

At the same time, in the black Porsche downstairs, Gin was staring at the second video on his mobile phone - in the video, Vodka was locked in a white room with unopened food in front of him. The camera swept across the corner and vaguely saw the packaging box of "ES Amber" parts.

The sender is still Vermouth, and the additional information is only one sentence:

Only Rum's people can enter and exit the parts warehouse of "ES Dark Amber" freely.

Gin had always regarded the research and development rights of "ES Dark Amber" as a forbidden zone. Previously, when Rum intervened in the parts dispatch on the grounds of "assisting in supervision", he was full of dissatisfaction. Now the other party dared to use the parts warehouse to hide vodka and frame him, which was stepping on his bottom line.

Gin knew Rum's ambition too well - the other party had long wanted to get his hands on the research and development rights of "ES Amber". This time, he took advantage of the lost medicine box to detain Vodka near the parts warehouse, clearly wanting to frame him for "kidnapping Vodka to steal parts" and by the way, shift the responsibility for the lost medicine box to him.

He looked up in the direction of the Karasuma Group's branch building, a hint of sarcasm curling up at the corner of his mouth. "Since that gentleman wants to monitor us, I'll put on a good show. I'll use that gentleman's eyes to see how long Rum can hide his true colors."

To be continued...