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

Kudo Yuki took out the magician's divination cards from the pocket of her windbreaker, and her fingertips ran across the cards, and a flash of light appeared on the corner of the cards.

"I'll use the cards to distract the guards. You take this opportunity to check the communication equipment. Remember to check, don't touch. Wait for Rum's people to contact first."

Just as Toru Amuro was about to nod, hurried footsteps suddenly came from deep within the warehouse.

The two of them instantly pressed against the wall of the container, and saw a man in a black windbreaker push the door open and come out, his eyes covered by sunglasses, and the cigarette butt at the corner of his lips burning scarlet. It was Rum's personal bodyguard.

"Xiaoxue, he has Rum's new instructions!" Shushu's chubby little paws gently scratched Kudo Xue's palm, his weak voice filled with urgency, "I just heard him tell the people inside that the data from APTX4869 needs to be sent to the backup lab at 3 o'clock this afternoon!"

The glances between Kudo Yuki and Amuro Toru were filled with thunder—three o'clock was the time for the "ES Dark Amber Project" equipment commissioning. It was a conspiracy the distillery used to brainwash and control key figures, and they had already thoroughly dissected it. And Rum clearly intended to personally modify the parameters during the commissioning, pushing the conspiracy even further into the shadows.

Toru Amuro clasped the hidden button on his cuffs with his fingertips. The alertness of an undercover public security agent made his whole body tense, ready to take action at any time.

Kudo Yuki snapped her fingers, and the divination card spun and landed at the door of the warehouse. The light "pop" sound instantly caught the guard's attention.

"Who's there?!" Some people bent down to pick up the cards, while others looked around with flashlights.

Taking advantage of this distraction, Kudo Yuki and Amuro Toru sneaked into the warehouse quietly and hid behind the stacked cargo boxes.

On the table deep in the warehouse, the screen of the encrypted communicator was still on, and the words "Waiting for Rum's instructions" were so sharp that it hurt people's eyes.

Amuro Toru's fingers flew as he quickly copied the contact records to the USB drive. He lowered his voice very low, "Done. It also contains the contact codes for Rum and the laboratory."

Just as the two men reached the back door of the warehouse, they suddenly felt a gun pointed at their backs.

Rum's bodyguard had circled behind him at some point, his hoarse question piercing the air: "Who are you?!"

Amuro Toru almost instinctively protected Kudo Yuki behind him, pressed the secret button with his fingertips, and an anesthetic needle accurately hit the bodyguard's neck.

The man fell to the ground with a groan.

Amuro Toru has already grabbed Kudo Yuki's hand: "Hurry up! The gunshots will attract patrol police, we have to leave quickly!"

Kudo Yuki suddenly stopped and took out the "ES Dark Amber Project" design drawing given by Wakasa Rumi from her bag. The key parameters she marked were still on the edge of the drawing.

"Go to the backup lab at three in the afternoon. Rum wants to change the parameters, so we'll take the opportunity to get the complete blueprints—and let that 'old man' see what his good subordinates are up to."

"I'll go with you." Amuro Toru held her hand tightly. "Also, I'll contact Yingchuan Luo and have him infiltrate as a technician to keep an eye on the debugging progress."

The setting sun stretched the figures of the two people on the top of the tall building very long. They watched Rum's men enter the laboratory one after another.

Kudo Yuki's phone suddenly vibrated. It was a message from Vermouth:

Gin is in the lab, staring at the rum mixing equipment. The source of the order is that adult. —Vermouth: Absinthe

A cold arc appeared on the corner of Kudo Yuki's lips. She typed a reply on the screen with her fingertips and then quickly deleted it.

This situation is no longer under the control of Rum alone.

"The show is about to begin," she said softly.

There was a warm touch in Toru Amuro's palm, just like when they were busy side by side in the Poirot Café, a secure and reassuring feeling.

Karasuma Ren'ya sent Gin here, obviously wanting to make Rum and Gin suspicious of each other and completely tear each other apart in the laboratory.

Amuro Toru followed her gaze towards the warehouse door, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the hidden buttons on his cuffs: "Kagekawa Luo has arrived. He's mixed in with the technicians and will synchronize every step of debugging the equipment with us."

He lowered his voice even more. "Just now, Date Ko sent a message that the Poirot Cafe is safe. Huibara is already checking Aunt Mary's body. Conan and Ms. Sera are analyzing Rum's other whereabouts based on the base distribution map."

Kudo Yuki nodded slightly, folded the drawing and stuffed it into the inner pocket of her windbreaker. Her fingertips touched the healing potion in her pocket, and she suddenly remembered Akai Mary's pale face.

Shushu said anxiously, "Xiaoxue! The two men in black who I punched have gone in. They told the people inside that 'the APTX4869 data that Lord Rum wanted has been brought.' Also... they mentioned 'test subject Vodka' and said they would use the data on Vodka after the three-point debugging is completed!"

"Using it on Vodka?" Amuro Toru's brows suddenly furrowed. "Is Rum trying to use vodka to secretly test the metabolites of APTX4869 under the guise of repairing his left eye? If Karasuma Renya knew he touched his chosen 'controlled body', he would definitely not let him go."

Kudo Yuki's phone vibrated again, this time it was an encrypted picture sent by Vermouth.

In the picture, Gin was leaning against the door of a black Porsche, holding a cigarette between his fingertips and playing with a gun in the other hand. Two men in black windbreakers followed behind him, and they had obviously arrived near the warehouse.

There is a line of text below the picture:

Gin brought the 'Silver Bullet', and he seemed to know that Rum was going to touch Vodka.

"Silver Bullet?" Kudo Yuki's fingertips sank slightly. "It's the brewery's newest sniper rifle, with a range of 800 meters. Gin is ready to strike at any moment."

She looked up at Amuro Toru, a look of determination in her eyes, "We have to go in early and find where Vodka is being held before three o'clock. Yingchuan Luo is in the technical team and should be able to help us avoid surveillance."

Toru Amuro nodded immediately, took out two forged technician certificates from his pocket and handed one to Kudo Yuki.

"This is a backup document I prepared earlier. The photo and information have been changed, so the guards at the door can't find it."

He reached out to help Kudo Yuki adjust the collar of her windbreaker, covering the communicator behind her ear. "Keep the communication open after you go in. Go meet up with Yingchuan Luo and get the core parameters for debugging the equipment."

As the two men walked around to the side door of the warehouse, they heard the guard's scolding coming from the door.

Kudo Yuki followed Amuro Toru and bent down into the shadows, and with the cover of the cargo boxes, they slipped into the warehouse quietly.

The roar of machines running came from the distance of the warehouse, and it was obvious that equipment debugging had begun.

"Yingchuan Luo is in debugging room No. 3. I just saw him wearing a white coat with a blue pen on his sleeve." Shushu's voice sounded in time to help them locate the location.

Toru Amuro suddenly threw a stone towards the shelf on the left. With a crisp "clang" sound, it instantly attracted the attention of the nearby guards.

"What's going on?!" Two guards rushed over with guns raised, and Kudo Yuki took the opportunity to rush towards debugging room No. 3.

As she reached the door, she saw a man in a white coat winking at her. It was Yingchuan Luo. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he quickly stuffed the USB drive into Kudo Yuki's hands.

"These are the current debugging parameters. Rum just came over and told me to set the 'optical nerve repair program' to the highest priority. He also secretly changed a few data points. I've written them down in the USB drive."

Just as Kudo Yuki was about to take the USB drive, a sharp alarm suddenly sounded in the warehouse.

The red warning light began to flash, and Rum's hoarse voice came from the radio: "There are outsiders invading, block all exits, and capture them!"

Yingchuan Luo's expression changed instantly: "It's Gin! He must have taken action at the door, and the guard triggered the alarm!"

He pulled Kudo Yuki to hide under the debugging table and said, "You hide here first. I'll lead them away. After the alarm is lifted, we'll find Vodka's location."

Just as Kudo Yuki was about to refuse, she heard gunshots in the distance. She clenched the USB drive in her hand and, through the cracks in the debugging console, saw Gin's dark figure appear at the end of the corridor, the gun at his fingertips still smoking, and his men behind him firing at the guards.

Rum's bodyguard also rushed out, and the two sides immediately started a gunfight in the warehouse, with bullets flying past the cargo boxes.

"Xiaoxue! Vodka is locked up in a lab on the basement floor. I just saw the guards delivering food there!" Shushu's voice was a bit panicked. "Amuro Toru is being entangled by two guards. He's near shelf number five and seems injured!"

Kudo Yuki's heart suddenly tightened. Just as she was about to stand up, she heard the door to the debugging room open. She held her breath and saw through the gap that Rum walked in. He was wearing a black eye patch on his left eye and holding a document in his hand. It was the data report for APTX4869.

Rum walked to the debugging table and pressed a few buttons. The words "Optic nerve repair program starting" immediately appeared on the screen.

"It's almost three o'clock. Once the program starts, my left eye will be able to see clearly." Rum's voice was filled with pride. "By then, that old man Karasuma Renya will have to give me some ground. Come out. I know you're here."

Kudo Yuki put on a half-covered butterfly mask and walked out from under the debugging table.

When Rum saw the butterfly mask on her face, his pupils suddenly shrank, and his hoarse voice became more alert. "Fine wine? Why are you here? The master only asked me to be in charge of today's debugging and didn't say to transfer you."

He clenched the APTX4869 data report in his hand. The other party's sudden appearance made him inexplicably nervous.

Kudo Yuki twirled the magician's divination cards between her fingers, a cold arc forming at the corners of her lips beneath her mask. "The old man was worried you'd be 'too busy,' so he asked me to confirm the parameters for the optic nerve repair procedure. After all, Vodka is his chosen 'controlled subject,' and if anything goes wrong, neither you nor I can bear the consequences."

She deliberately emphasized the word "controlled body" and scanned the codes jumping on the debugging screen, capturing the data that Rum had secretly tampered with. These were the key instructions that could allow the APTX4869 metabolites to forcibly bind to the optic nerve.

Rum pressed the pause button on the debugging console with forced composure. "The parameters are all set according to the standard, so you don't need to worry about it. But you, instead of staying at headquarters, came here to watch me. Do you not trust me?"

He quietly reached for the gun at his waist, but didn't notice that Kudo Yuki's divination card had slipped into his palm, and the bright mark on the corner of the card flashed again.

"Whether you believe it or not depends on the data." Kudo Yuki suddenly stepped forward and slammed the divination card onto the debugging table, pressing down on a corner of the data report. "Revert the parameters you changed, or I'll send a message to the old man right now. You know better than I do how the old man will handle the situation once he finds out."

Rum's fingertips paused at the waist, and a hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes, but when he touched the cold eyes under Kudo Yuki's mask, he suppressed it forcefully.

If this really gets to the point where it comes to Karasuma Renya, I'll be the only one who suffers.

"Why such a heated argument?" Rum slowly withdrew his hand. "The parameters are just fine-tuned to ensure more accurate repair of the optic nerve. Since you want to check, then let's take a look."

He moved aside to make room, but his eyes were fixed on Kudo Yuki's movements, like a beast on guard against its prey.

Kudo Yuki didn't move. The divination cards on her fingertips tapped lightly on the table, making a regular sound. "No need for me to check. Someone from the technical team will come to check."

Yingchuan Luo poked his head in from outside the door, his white coat still stained with a few machine oil stains, and holding a tablet in his hand - just now, while distracting the guards, he had synchronized the parameters that Rum had tampered with into the device.

"Lord Rum," Yingchuan Luo's voice was tense, "I discovered an anomaly in the parameters during debugging just now. It's 0.3 units off from the standard value issued by headquarters. I was just about to come over to report it."

He handed over the tablet, and the values ​​jumping on the screen corresponded exactly to the tampering that Kudo Yuki had found before.

Rum's face darkened instantly, but he couldn't find any reason to refute.

Kudo Yuki took the opportunity to step forward, and ran her fingertips across the shortcut keys of the debugging console, seemingly confirming the data, but in fact she was quietly inserting the USB flash drive handed to her by Yingchuan Luo into the host interface.

"Since it's an anomaly, readjust it to the standard value. Vodka was chosen by the old man, especially now that Gin is still out there."

When gin was mentioned, Rum's breathing became noticeably slower.

Of course he knew that Gin was a spy sent by Karasuma Renya. He heard the gunshots outside the warehouse clearly, but he didn't expect that "Jiang" would point it out directly.

At the moment he was distracted, Kudo Yuki had already unplugged the USB drive, and the divination card spun again and fell into his palm, blocking Rum's sight.

"After adjusting the parameters, go to the basement to check on Vodka." Kudo Yuki turned and walked towards the door, a cold arc on the corner of his lips under the mask. "The old man asked me to confirm his condition. Don't let me report back and say that you can't even take care of one person properly."

"After adjusting the parameters, go to the basement to check on Vodka." Kudo Yuki turned and walked towards the door, a cold arc curling up at the corners of his lips under the mask. "The old man asked me to confirm his condition. Don't let me report back and say that you can't even take care of one person properly."

Rum clenched his fists, but could only watch her back disappear at the end of the corridor.

After Kudo Yuki left, he immediately took out his communicator and wanted to contact his men to keep an eye on her, but he didn't notice that Yingchuan Luo quietly pressed the recording button hidden in the pen.

The conversation he had just had with Kudo Yuki had been recorded word for word.

As Kudo Yuki walked out of the debugging room, Shushu's voice hurriedly said, "Xiaoxue! Amuro Toru has taken care of those two guards. He's waiting for you behind shelf number five. He got a little gunshot wound on his arm, but it's nothing serious!"

She immediately ran towards shelf number five. As soon as she turned the corner, she saw Toru Amuro leaning against a cargo box. The cuffs of his dark windbreaker were stained with blood, but he was still playing with the stone that had distracted the guards.

To be continued...