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

Matsuda Jinpei took the chip, a sharp look in his eyes. "I should have chosen this path long ago. Come back to the Metropolitan Police Department with me. Officer Kuroda will arrange witness protection for you. Your mother's new identity and nursing home will all be arranged."

Shin Hashimoto followed Jinpei Matsuda towards the police car, and he seemed to see himself three years ago, bowing to Ko Ida in the heavy rain. Now, he could finally straighten his back again.

Just when he thought he could be saved, Rum's robotic voice came through his earpiece: "Go to Kanagawa tomorrow and make as much noise as possible. I'll tell you the exact location tomorrow."

Shin Hashimoto's blood froze instantly, and he was shocked to realize that what he had broken was only the spare headset, and the miniature monitoring device hidden inside his collar was not discovered at all.

Matsuda Jinpei had obviously heard the sound as well. He paused abruptly, his fingertips quickly moving towards the pistol at his waist. His eyes swept over Hashimoto Shin's neck and he said coldly, "Dismantle the listening device hidden in his collar."

Shin Hashimoto trembled and pulled off the black device behind his collar.

He stared at the flashing red light on the device and suddenly realized that Rum had never believed him from the beginning - the so-called "leave within three minutes" and "mother's oxygen mask" were all baits to force him to continue to be obedient. Even the mission to Kanagawa was a trap set up long ago.

"Kanagawa...what does Rum want to do?" Hashimoto Shin's voice was filled with fear. "He's been fighting with the Karasuma Group's technical department for control of ES Amber lately. Maybe he wants to take advantage of the chaos to destroy the Kanagawa branch's equipment and put the blame on the police."

Matsuda Jinpei immediately pulled out his encrypted phone and called Kuroda, the manager. "There's a wiretap in Hashimoto Shin's collar. Rum told him to go to Kanagawa tomorrow to cause trouble. The target might be the ES Dark Amber branch facility.

We need to immediately coordinate with the Kanagawa police to block key areas and send someone to relocate Hashimoto Shin's mother. Rum must have planted spies in the nursing home."

After hanging up, Matsuda Jinpei dragged Hashimoto Shin toward the police car. "There's no time to waste. Tell me the address of the secret compartment in the warehouse, and I'll have Hagiwara retrieve the insider list. Come back with me to the Metropolitan Police Department. Officer Kuroda wants to personally review the energy parameters of the ES Dark Amber. They might be able to help Kudo Yuki and the others find the core weakness of the device."

At the same time, Yi Dahang had just stacked the sorted old case files on the iron rack when he suddenly heard a very faint "tick-tick" sound behind his ear.

It's not the muffled sound of dripping water, but the countdown sound of electronic components with high-frequency vibrations.

Yi Dahang paused, his fingertips still stained with dust from the file bag, and following the sound, he lowered his head and swept across the ground littered with debris.

The light in the utility room was dim, and the sound seemed to come from the pile of old equipment covered with cloth at the innermost part.

Yi Dahang walked over lightly, and the moment he reached out to lift the cover, his heart suddenly tightened.

Hidden under the cloth was a palm-sized black box with faint green numbers lighting up on the side, counting down from 14 hours. A thin wire was also stuck to the box, hidden in the pile of wires, and no one knew where it led to.

"Bomb?!" He cursed softly, and just as his fingertips were about to touch the box, the communicator in his trouser pocket suddenly vibrated.

After pressing the answer button, Matsuda Jinpei's voice came through, wrapped in the wind: "Ida, a bug was found in Hashimoto Shin's collar. Rum wants him to go to Kanagawa tomorrow to cause trouble. You should keep an eye on the area around the Metropolitan Police Department and make sure nothing goes wrong."

Ida Hang's fingertips hovered two centimeters above the bomb box. He knew very well that these homemade bombs were often equipped with anti-disarmament devices, and touching them rashly would only accelerate the explosion.

Jinpei Matsuda's voice was still on the communicator.

Ida Ko gritted his teeth and lowered his voice: "Matsuda, don't hang up, there's a bomb in the Metropolitan Police Department's utility room. The countdown is 14 hours, and I didn't dare touch it."

"What?!" Matsuda Jinpei's voice suddenly tightened. "Stay where you are and don't move. I'll have Hagi take a detour. Remember, don't touch any wires, and don't let anyone else near the utility room."

Yi Dahang tightly gripped the communicator, breathing lightly, staring at the string of jumping dark green numbers - 13:59:47, every jump seemed to hit his nerves.

The dust in the utility room floated in the dim light, and the arc of the wire hidden in the pile of wires was particularly glaring.

He suddenly remembered what Matsuda Jinpei had said before: "The most sinister thing about homemade bombs is that they are designed to be tamper-proof. Even if you touch the wrong wire, it could directly trigger the detonator."

The hurried footsteps of Matsuda Jinpei came over the communicator. "Ida, Hagi is already on his way to the Metropolitan Police Department. He'll arrive in ten minutes. Look carefully around the bomb. Are there any unnecessary markings? Like symbols, stickers, or anything like that—Rum's people always like to leave hidden signs when they do things."

Yi Dahang slowly squatted down, his eyes swept across the edge of the box, and he caught a glimpse of a very faint gold-stamping pattern in the corner of the box.

"Crow Mark..." Date Kou stared at the gold stamp on the corner of the box. "In the Nagano case, the marked bombs were used to destroy clues at the distillery. This time, they're hidden in the Metropolitan Police Department. I'm afraid Rum wants to take advantage of the chaos to destroy the evidence."

"That's not all." Matsuda Jinpei's voice was wrapped around the background hum of police sirens. "The incident in Kanagawa and the Metropolitan Police Department bomb were a chain reaction. He wanted to disperse the police forces on both sides so that he could get his hands on the Metropolitan Police Department's core data. Look around the bomb again, are there any exposed wire connections? Hagi brought anti-tampering tools, and he'll remotely test the wiring when he arrives."

Yi Dahang slowly turned sideways and scanned the wires in the pile of wires in the dim light.

The thin black wire was hidden among the old electrical wires, with the end wrapped in insulating glue, leaving only a little silver interface exposed, vaguely connected to the distribution box deep in the utility room.

Ida Hang responded, "There's a silver connector at the end of the wire, connected to the distribution box deep inside the utility room... Could it be that they're trying to use the wiring in the distribution box to expand the detonation range?"

Matsuda Jinpei's voice carried the calmness characteristic of a bomb disposal expert. "It's highly likely. Don't touch the switchboard. Rum doesn't want to simply blow up the utility room; he wants to plunge the Metropolitan Police Department into chaos."

Kenji Hagiwara stopped at the back door of the Metropolitan Police Department almost brushing the cordon. When he rushed down with the anti-tampering tool box, Jinpei Matsuda was standing at the door of the utility room, his fingertips touching the handle of his pistol, his eyes looking at the dim light coming through the crack in the door.

"The wires are connected to the distribution box. Crow Pattern. The countdown is 13 hours and 48 minutes." Matsuda Jinpei quickly relayed the key information, stepping aside to let Hagiwara Kenji in. "Ida is watching from inside and hasn't touched anything."

Hagiwara Kenji nodded in agreement. As soon as he stepped through the door, he heard Date Ko's extremely low voice: "The wire interface is at the third terminal on the left side of the distribution box. I didn't dare to look closer."

He squatted down and turned on the infrared detector in the toolbox, and the direction of the wire immediately appeared on the screen.

In addition to the main line connecting to the distribution box, there is also a very thin blue wire hidden in the old wire. The end is attached to the bottom of the bomb box and is connected to a miniature pressure sensor.

"The anti-tampering design is pressure-triggered. Touching the box or cutting the wrong wire will cause it to explode." Hagiwara Kenji frowned as he adjusted the frequency of the detector. "We have to cut off the power to the distribution box first, then cover the sensor with a shield before we can remove the pressure device."

Matsuda Jinpei immediately pulled out his phone. "I'll go coordinate with the power department to cut off the power to the rear area of ​​the Metropolitan Police Department. That'll buy you three minutes at most. Ida, keep an eye on the countdown and read off every minute."

As soon as he reached the corridor, another communicator in Matsuda Jinpei's pocket suddenly vibrated, and the name "Kudo Yuki" popped up on the screen.

He pressed the answer button and heard Shushu's shrill cry from the other end, mixed with Kudo Yuki's calm voice: "Shushu said he just sensed a high-frequency electronic signal from the Metropolitan Police Department, like the vibration of a bomb countdown. Is there something wrong over there?"

Matsuda Jinpei continued walking. "A bomb was found in the utility room. Crow Mark. Countdown 13 hours and 45 minutes. Hagi is handling it. Where are you and Amuro?"

"Secret Weapon Base, just finished sorting out the follow-up report from the winery." Kudo Yuki added, "Ai said there's a hidden frequency band in the parameters, which could be the device's self-destruct trigger signal. Can you recall if there's a related activation code?"

Jinpei Matsuda agreed, and when he hung up the phone, he happened to meet the power department staff who came over. After briefly explaining the situation, he turned and ran to the utility room.

As I reached the door, I heard Ida Hang's voice: "13 hours and 42 minutes! The power is out!"

Kenji Hagiwara acted extremely quickly. When the power was cut off, he used a shield to cover the sensor at the bottom of the bomb, and then took out insulating shears to cut the wires leading to the distribution box.

The green numbers on the screen were still ticking, but the red light at the wire connector had gone out.

"Hold it steady for now, but we need to move to an open area as soon as possible to dismantle the core device." Hagiwara wiped the sweat from his forehead. "This bomb is filled with plastic explosives, powerful enough to blow through three floors."

Just as Jinpei Matsuda was about to speak, the encrypted phone in his pocket suddenly rang. It was Manager Kuroda calling.

"Hashimoto Shin's mother has been moved to a safe house. As expected, there was an informant for Rum at the nursing home, and he's just been detained by the FBI. Kanagawa police have sealed off the area surrounding the ES Dark Amber branch. And word has come from Morobushi Takaaki that electronic components identical to the bomb were found in the warehouse of Nagano Trading Co., Ltd."

Matsuda Jinpei glanced at the bomb in the utility room. "Rum wants to attack both at once. Now that the bomb is contained, I'll have Hagiwara and Date handle the transfer and disposal. I'll take Hashimoto Shin to the Metropolitan Police Department to meet with Kuroda and ask for the activation code for ES Dark Amber."

hang up the phone.

Matsuda Jinpei shouted inside, "Hagi, you and Date move the bomb to an abandoned building in the suburbs. I've already had the area cleared. Contact me if anything happens."

Meanwhile, at the secret weapons base, Kudo Yuki was staring at the pebbles that Shu Shu was picking up on the bar.

Shushu arranged the stones into the shape of a crow, and occasionally knocked on the bar with his chubby little paws, making a "tick-tick" sound.

Amuro Toru had just returned from outside, holding a diagram of the distribution box's wiring. "The backup wiring in the back of the Metropolitan Police Department has been tampered with. If the main power supply hadn't been cut off first, cutting the wires would have triggered the backup power supply and directly detonated the bomb."

"Rum is quite thoughtful," Kudo Yuki tapped the table with her fingertips. How's Hashimoto Shin doing? Does he know the activation code for ES Dark Amber?

"Manager Kuroda just sent a message saying that Hashimoto Shin only knows the first two digits of the password. The rest needs to be derived based on the parameters from the technical department."

Amuro Toru spread the wiring diagram on the bar counter. Suddenly, he saw Shushu jump onto the diagram and point his paw at a place marked "Backup Power Port". "What did Shushu find?"

Kudo Yuki took a closer look and suddenly realized, "The model of this interface matches the electronic component previously seized from Nagano Trading Co., Ltd. Rum intends to use the backup power supply to connect the Metropolitan Police Department's bomb to the 'ES Dark Amber' equipment in Kanagawa. If this one is detonated, the Kanagawa equipment will also self-destruct, destroying all evidence."

Amuro Toru immediately pulled out his communicator. "I need to tell Matsuda to have the Kanagawa police focus on checking the backup power port of the ES Amber device. Don't let Rum exploit it."

Kudo Yuki nodded, watching Shushu jump back in front of her and touch the back of her hand with its chubby little paw. She remembered the last time Shushu had rubbed her anxiously in the same way. She hadn't taken it seriously then, but now she understood it was giving her a warning.

"It seems I have to pay more attention to your little actions in the future." Kudo Yuki rubbed Shushu's little head. "It would be great if I could know exactly where in Kanagawa Rum has asked Hashimoto Shin to go tomorrow."

Amuro Toru had just finished a call and glanced at her. "Manager Kuroda has already had the FBI monitor the area surrounding the ES Amber branch in Kanagawa. If Hashimoto Shin shows up tomorrow, they'll be able to locate him immediately."

Kudo Yuki hummed and looked out the window.

She could vaguely see the lights of police cars in the direction of the Metropolitan Police Department, and she knew that the battle with Rum had just begun.

Conan held up his phone and shouted excitedly: "Graybara confirmed it! Sister Mingmei and her birthday combination is '0418+1201', which is exactly the same as the password in Ms. Elena's notes! As long as the program is paused, Brother Jingguang can enter the password to completely shut down 'ES Dark Amber'!"

Subaru Okiya adjusted the scarf draped over his shoulders, a look of caution in his eyes. "Now that the bombs are stable for now and the deployment in Kanagawa is clear, I'll go back to the Kudo residence and keep an eye on them, to prevent Rum from making any other moves that might evade the main plot."

Shushu suddenly jumped down from the bar and circled around Subaru Okiya's leather shoes twice.

Amuro Toru was the first to catch the signal: "Just a reminder, be careful of being followed on the way back."

A sharp look flashed in Okiya Subaru's eyes, and then calmness returned: "Thank you for the reminder, I will keep an eye on it."

He looked at Zhu Fujingguang who was standing silently in the corner, "Mr. Yingchuan, if you need help from the FBI later, please feel free to contact me."

Zhu Fushigure nodded slightly. "Xiaoxue, Manager Kuroda asked me to help deduce the latter part of the ES Dark Amber code. Do I need to go to the Metropolitan Police Department and meet up with Hashimoto Shin now?"

"We'll see what happens. It's getting late, everyone should go back to their rooms."

Subaru Okiya lifted his coat from his arm and nodded to Kudo Yuki and Amuro Toru, "I'll share any new information as soon as I get it, especially the progress of the ES Dark Amber code derivation."

The door hinges made a slight sound, and Subaru Okiya disappeared at the door.

Zhu Fushi Jingguang folded up the circuit diagram on the table and handed it back to Amuro Toru: "I'll go back to my room and sort out the parameters of Nagano's electronic components."

He turned and walked towards his room.

Only Kudo Yuki, Amuro Toru and Shu Shu were left in the living room.

Conan was also called back to the Mouri Detective Agency by a call from Mouri Ran.

Before leaving, he switched his phone to sharing mode so that he could synchronize Huiyuan's password derivation results at any time.