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

Akai Mari opened the car door and spoke in a calmer voice, "Elena's notes might contain clues related to APTX4869. Ms. Kudo specifically passed on this number as a hint for us to start with the notes."

Akai Mumu handed the sandwich back to Conan and glanced at his watch. "We can't act rashly now. Haibara and Akemi are in the safe house. If we rush over, we'll be exposed. Wait for her next news and send a message in code. There must be follow-up arrangements."

Conan carefully folded the sandwich and put it in his pocket. Enomoto Azusa chased him out of the cafe, clutching the brown paper bag in his hand: "Conan, I forgot to give it to you just now! The boss specifically told me before he left that I would give it to you if you solved the code."

Inside the paper bag was a folded drawing. When unfolded, it turned out to be a sketch of the equipment for the "ES Dark Amber" project. Several part numbers were circled, one of which was "4869-07".

Conan's eyes swept to the corner and saw a line of very small handwriting - it was written by Kudo Yuki, which read "The chip implanted in Rum's left eye is of the same origin as this part."

"I see." Akai Tsutomu leaned over to read it, his fingertip pointing to "4869-07." "Rum wants to use APTX4869 to restore his left eye, and the equipment in the 'Amber' project happens to contain a component that matches the chip in his left eye. Ms. Kudo is saying that Rum's two goals are essentially tied together."

Conan rubbed the number repeatedly with his fingertips, his brows knitted together. "The left eye chip is related to APTX, and he also wants to tamper with the 'Amber' project. He wants to seize both the 'brainwashing device' and the 'recovery ability' at the same time, to gain the best of both worlds."

"Karasuma Renya is already suspicious, and Rum's scheming will only backfire." Akai Mari leaned over, her junior high school figure looking frail under the streetlight, but her tone was cold. "As for Gin, he connected the communicator knowing it was bugged. I'm afraid he's trying to use the excuse of 'keeping an eye on Rum' to secretly track down Vodka."

"So what should we do now?" Sera Masumi waved the car keys. "Sister Xue sent us a clue. There must be something she wants us to do. We can't just sit there and wait with this picture, right?"

Akai Tsutomu folded the sketch and handed it to Conan, his fingertips resting on his shoulder. "Go back to the car and wait. Ms. Kudo used a coded message and left the blueprints. She wouldn't just give a number and then disappear. Besides, this place is too close to the main road. Mary and Akemi just talked for quite a while, and if we stay any longer, we'll probably be spotted by the people from the winery."

Conan clutched the brown paper bag, remembering the antidote data Huibara had mentioned. A connection suddenly formed in his mind: "Sister tied the Amber component to the APTX4869 so they could keep an eye on Rum's left eye chip. Rum needed this component to adapt the device, and perhaps also wanted to use the APTX4869's medicinal properties to enhance the chip's function."

"The core of the 'Dark Amber' project is to control key individuals. Rum wants to restore his left eye and interfere with the equipment's development, intending to turn this machine into his own 'weapon.'" Akai Tsutomu frowned slightly. "If he dares to tamper with this component, we can follow the clues and find the equipment's debugging location."

"Then let's go find them now!" Sera Masumi said anxiously, "Conan has the route map to the safe house, so we can check on them along the way."

"No." Akai Tsutomu immediately shook his head. "Ms. Kudo used coded messages and left blueprints, clearly wanting us to follow her lead. And just now, when Mary was talking to Akemi, I noticed a black car circling in the distance.

Although I couldn't see the license plate clearly, it might be a spy from the winery. Going to the safe house now would be like putting Akemi and Shiho in danger."

"Sister Xue always leaves a 'backup' when she gives us clues." Conan reached for the strawberry sandwich in his pocket. "Sister Xiaozi said that she wanted me to crack the code and wait for news. Maybe someone will contact us soon."

A sudden tingling sensation rose in Akai Mary's throat. She subconsciously turned sideways and covered her mouth with the sleeve of her coat. The sound of her suppressed cough was intermittent in the evening breeze.

"Mom!" Sera Masumi immediately held her arm, her face full of worry, "Are you feeling unwell again? If I had known, I wouldn't have let you get out of the car to get some fresh air."

Akai Mary waved her hand and took a long time to stop coughing. Her voice was a little hoarse: "It's okay, it's an old problem. Get in the car first, don't waste time here."

Akai Tsutomu opened the car door and let Mary get in first, then signaled Sera and Conan to follow.

The moment the car door closed, the car suddenly became quiet, with only the faint sound of wind coming from the air-conditioning vents.

Near the abandoned warehouse area, Yuki Kudo confirmed that Rumi Wakasa hadn't followed her, staying behind the container. She reached out and took off her butterfly mask. Instead of leaving immediately, she walked back along the warehouse wall, her fingertips brushing against the ironwork until they touched something cool and thin.

It was a paperclip-shaped, narrow-hole key. The bright silver metal was polished smooth. If you didn't look closely, you would think it was a discarded part.

Kudo Yuki held the key in her palm and rubbed the dark patterns in the groove with her fingertips.

The pattern was exactly the same as the Rum Lab pass that Gin gave her. She put the key into the inner pocket and turned to walk to the back of the container.

As soon as they turned the corner of the iron sheet, Wakasa Rumi's figure emerged from the shadows. She was holding a short blade hidden in her sleeve, with vigilance still in her eyes. She slowly let go of her hand when she saw that the person coming was Kudo Yuki.

"Didn't catch up?" Kudo Yuki tapped the magician's divination cards in her pocket with her fingertips, as if reminding her not to reveal any flaws.

Wakasa Rumi shook her head, her eyes glancing at her cuffs, noticing the dust lingering on her fingertips. "You turned back just now, did you find something?"

"Rum's hidden 'spare key.'" Kudo Yuki didn't elaborate on the details, but instead handed over a folded supplementary sketch of the "ES Amber" plan. "The previous blueprint you gave me was missing a core circuit. By adding this, we can confirm the key nodes for debugging the equipment. Rum needs part 4869-07 to adapt the left eye chip. He'll find time to go to the lab to debug it himself."

Wakasa Rumi took the blueprint, her fingertips paused on the label "Brainwashing Equipment", and her throat tightened.

The "control measures" mentioned by Hiroshi Haneda back then finally have solid evidence.

A tightness ran down Wakasa Rumi's spine, and the paper before her, covered in circuits, was the very thing that would tear open the surface. She looked up at Kudo Yuki, her short blade scraping against the fabric of her sleeve. "Do you have any idea when Rum will be debugging the equipment?"

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe tomorrow will yield something different." Kudo Yuki's fingertips traced the edge of the divination card, her eyes flicking over Wakasa Rumi's knuckles as she clutched the blueprint. "But Rum will prioritize debugging component 4869-07 to adapt it to the left eye chip. There's a good chance the lab will be making some new moves."

Wakasa Rumi's tension eased slightly. She folded the blueprint into small pieces and stuffed them into her inner pocket, then she tucked the short blade completely into her sleeve. "Do you need me to keep an eye on the lab?"

"Not for now." Kudo Yuki shook her head, taking a half step back into the shadows along the warehouse's iron sheet. "You'd be too conspicuous if you showed up right now. Rum has already got his eye on you. If you attract the boss's attention again, it would only disrupt their plans."

The vigilance in Wakasa Rumi's eyes faded a little, leaving only the obsession with the Haneda Hiroshi case: "I know the limits, but I must be present on the day when Rum debugs the equipment."

Kudo Yuki didn't agree directly: "Just wait for the news. What you need to do now is to prevent Rum from noticing anything unusual."

Wakasa Rumi folded the supplementary sketch into a square and stuffed it into her inner pocket. Her eyes swept over the dust lingering on Kudo Yuki's cuffs. "I'll wait for news, but you can't stop me on the day Rum debugs the equipment. Don't use that 'spare key' alone. Rum's things are likely to be tainted with traps."

Kudo Yuki glanced outside the warehouse, but saw nothing unusual under the dim streetlights. "We'll act accordingly. You go out the back door first, and I'll go around to Poirot later. Xiaozi will be worried."

Wakasa Rumi said nothing more, turned around and disappeared into the shadows behind the warehouse.

Kudo Yuki waited until she completely disappeared before walking to the other side along the iron sheet. Her fingertips tapped quickly on the black mobile phone screen and sent the location of the warehouse area to Karasuma Renya.

A prompt pops up indicating that the message was sent successfully.

The low roar of a car engine could be heard in the distance, and two dazzling headlights pierced the night. They were none other than Karasuma Renya's guards.

Kudo Yuki put away her phone and quickly put on a butterfly mask.

"Master Fine Wine." The captain of the guard pushed open the car door, his tone respectful yet scrutinizing, his eyes sweeping over the dust lingering on her cuffs. "The boss asked us to pick you up and bring the vodka back to headquarters."

Kudo Yuki curled her eyes at the captain's scrutiny. "Everyone's worked hard. As for the vodka matter... since the old man has made arrangements, just follow the rules."

The captain of the guard reached out and opened the passenger door for her, and the roar of the engine sounded again.

Kudo Yuki's eyes swept through the blurry street scenes in the night through the car window, but her consciousness had already sunk into the telepathic channel with Shu Shu.

Gin's black Porsche had just disappeared in the dust of an old gas station in the suburbs.

Idahang emerged from behind the tanker, his coat still stained with grass. He stared at the fading ruts on the road, his knuckles tapping the intercom at his waist. "Confirmed target has departed. No tailing or unusual communication signals detected."

When Toru Amuro injected the new anesthetic into the unconscious Rum, he heard the conversation between Kudo Yuki and Shu Shu using telepathy.

"Shushu, tell me where you and Tou are, and send us your real-time location."

Amuro Toru paused mid-air and glanced at his feet out of the corner of his eye:

Shushu was squatting next to the gas pump, his round ears stretched straight up, obviously receiving the message at the same time.

The next second, Kudo Yuki's voice entered his mind again: "I'm in the car of the captain of the Karasuma Guard. They are sending Vodka back to the group headquarters. You must get Kenji and Jinpei to evacuate the scene before we arrive. Don't run into the guards. Just leave Vodka where he is and don't make any extra moves."

Shushu's chubby little paws tapped on the system screen, and a faint telepathy immediately floated into Amuro Toru's heart.

"Don't worry, Xiaoxue! Amuro Touto just confirmed that Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji have tied up the vodka in a corner of the warehouse. They'll send you the location right away!" Its little head tilted. "But will the guards search the scene? Amuro Touto just installed a micro-eavesdropping device in the corner..."

Kudo Yuki paused for half a second and added, "The other two members of the guard, remember to remind Toru to wake them up and make sure the process doesn't go wrong."

Only then did Toru Amuro stand up straight, take out his cell phone from his pocket, tap the screen quickly with his fingertips, and send the location.

Shushu climbed up his trouser legs and squatted on his shoulder. His chubby little paw patted his earlobe: "When Xiaoxue said 'awakening', you mean the two people who were buried in the bushes before, right?"

Amuro Toru nodded, his fingertips pausing on the send button for a moment.

He looked up at the night outside the gas station. In the distance, he could vaguely see the halo of car lights swaying among the shadows of the trees. He was probably thinking that the car of the Karasuma Guard was approaching.

Toru Amuro must ensure that Matsuda and Hagiwara are completely evacuated before that, and must not let them be exposed to the guards' sight.

"Tell Xiaoxue that everything is going according to plan. I'll keep an eye on the guards' movements." Amuro Toru whispered softly to Shushu on his shoulder, his voice extremely low. "Also, tell her to be careful. The guard captain's scrutiny won't be easy to deal with."

Shushu immediately twitched his ears, and the telepathic frequency sounded again: "Xiaoxue, Amuro Toru said everything is fine, and he also asked you to be careful of that captain! He just saw car lights in the distance, the guards must be approaching!"

Toru Amuro put away his phone, turned around and leaned against the gas pump, his eyes fixed on the car lights that were getting closer and closer in the night.

He knew that every step forward could not go wrong.

They must ensure the safety of Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji, ensure the Karasuma Guards successfully "bring back" the vodka, and ensure that Kudo Yuki remains undetectable in front of Karasuma Renya. This game of chess cannot afford any mistakes.

Amuro Toru immediately pulled out the intercom and lowered his voice to a very low level: "Kenji, Jinpei, evacuate through the back door immediately. The guards are almost here. Don't leave any traces."

After hearing Kenji Hagiwara's response from the other end of the intercom, he bent down and walked towards the bushes and injected two special awakening injections into the unconscious guard members.

On the rooftop in the distance, Subaru Okiya was observing all this through a telescope.

The wind in the warehouse area suddenly changed direction, bringing with it a harsh sound of iron sheets rubbing against each other.

Kudo Yuki sat in the guard's car, watching the passing streets through the window, her mind rapidly calculating: "Rum's left eye chip, the "4869-07" component, and the "ES Amber" device, these three have become a web."

What she had to do was to let the net entangle Rum before Karasuma Renya noticed it.

The paperclip key in her pocket poked her palm, and she suddenly remembered Wakasa Rumi's reminder, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of her mouth - Rum's trap might become their weapon for counterattack.

Inside the gas station, Toru Amuro had already confirmed that Jinpei Matsuda and Kenji Hagiwara had evacuated safely, and was pretending to check the gas pump while watching the guards carry the unconscious Vodka into the car.

Shushu squatted on his shoulder and delivered Kudo Yuki's new message: "Xiaoxue said that the captain of the guard is watching her, and told you not to worry, she can handle it."

Amuro Toru's eyes followed the guard's car as it disappeared into the night, but his fingertips clenched tightly. He knew better than anyone how strict Karasuma Renya's scrutiny was, and every step of Kudo Yuki's performance as a "fine wine" was a dagger.

To be continued...