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

As Date Ko's car turned the corner, Hagiwara Kenji in the back seat leaned over to Matsuda Jinpei and poked the unwiped oil stains on the hem of his uniform with his fingertips.

"I told you to wipe it more often. Now it's like a patch. If Sato sees it, he'll laugh at you for being sloppy."

Matsuda Jinpei slapped his hand away, fished out a mini-display from his inner pocket, and flipped the switch back on. The light from the screen illuminated the seriousness in his eyes. "Look at this first."

The silver crow insignia on the guard members' cuffs was clearly visible on the screen. He tapped the edge of the screen with his fingertips. "I didn't look closely just now, but there's a micro-number in the lower right corner of the insignia. Amuro, did you find a similar marking in the guard information you looked up earlier?"

Toru Amuro was looking in the rearview mirror to see if there was a vehicle following him. Upon hearing this, he turned around and looked at the screen.

"The numbers are arranged by mission level. This number corresponds to 'escort of core supplies,' which means the vodka was transferred this time, essentially being sent to the laboratory as 'supplies.'"

He changed the subject and took out a receiver from his pocket. "I've already put Rum's locator into silent mode. Someone will be there to pick up the phone at the safe house, but we have to wait for news from Vermouth at the lab."

Date Ko lightly slammed on the brakes to avoid the speed bump ahead, turning the steering wheel lightly. "Just now at the gas station, I saw the car Xiaoxue got in headed towards Beika Town. She deliberately took a detour. Could she be trying to divert the guards' attention?"

"It's very likely." Hagiwara Kenji put away his joking expression, "She deliberately asked the guards to send Vodka to the lab first, but she went in the opposite direction, just to make Karasuma Renya think that she was not watching what was going on in the lab.

But... Rum is still in the trunk. Will the chip's medicinal properties suddenly take effect? ​​I noticed he looked a little off just now."

Amuro Toru dug out a first aid kit from the passenger compartment, pulled out a tranquilizer and shook it: "I gave him a dose before we left, so he should be able to make it to the safe house at least."

The black car of the Karasuma Guards stopped in front of the Beikacho Hotel building. The light from the neon signs outside the car shone through the windows and flowed into a river of color on the seats.

The captain of the guard turned around and looked at Kudo Yuki in the back seat. "Master Fine Wine, according to the boss's instructions, after sending you here, we must immediately return and escort Vodka to the laboratory."

Kudo Xue opened the car door and looked out the window: "No need to leave in a hurry."

The captain of the guard had just placed his hand on the steering wheel when he froze. "Master Fine Wine, the boss's order..."

"I know the instructions better than you do," Kudo Yuki interrupted him, the silver lines on the edge of her butterfly mask flickering under the neon lights. "Turning back now will only lead to an 'accident'. Didn't you notice that car outside the gas station just now that was following us?"

These words made the captain of the guard tighten his grip on the steering wheel instantly. He had indeed caught a glimpse of the car, but he thought it was just a passing transport vehicle. Now that his identity was exposed, he belatedly remembered the blurry obstruction on the truck's license plate.

Kudo Yuki's eyes grew colder beneath her mask. "Wait ten minutes before leaving, and don't check any communications during this time. If you want Vodka to get to the lab safely, do as I say."

The car door closed with a click.

The rearview mirror reflected the captain's tense profile, but he didn't dare to refute.

In the Karasuma organization, Fine Wine's authority was already higher than his, not to mention the warning hidden in his previous words. He could only release the accelerator and let the black car lie quietly under the neon lights, the low roar of the engine gradually fading.

Kudo Yuki walked into the Beikacho Hotel. The light from the crystal chandelier in the lobby fell on the butterfly mask, reflecting a fine silver light. She deliberately slowed her pace, her fingertips skimming the edge of the bar.

There was a note folded into a triangle, which was a mark left by Vermouth in advance to prove that the safe passage was not monitored.

Walking through the noisy dining area, Kudo Yuki tilted her head slightly, her long hair sweeping over her shoulders, just blocking the sight from the neighboring table.

The cloth curtain at the food delivery entrance in the back kitchen was half-closed, and hot and humid steam mixed with the aroma of soy sauce wafted out. She took advantage of the waiter's backseat and quickly slipped in.

The kitchen staff were busy serving dishes, and no one noticed her. They just thought she was a VIP guest who had made an appointment in advance and was walking through a special channel.

Walking to the end of the storage room, Kudo Yuki raised her hand and pressed on an inconspicuous groove in the wall, and the secret door popped open with a "click".

The vigilance in Kudo Yuki's eyes was even stronger than when they were in the guard car. "Absinthe, is the lab access card confirmed to be usable?"

The sound of high heels tapping on the ground came from behind the secret door.

Vermouth was wearing a black windbreaker, a silver card tucked between her fingers. "Don't worry, this is a spare card stolen from the lab director's office. Even the chip number is the same as the main card. But your action of asking the guards to wait for ten minutes was very risky. If they report it directly to Karasuma, all our previous arrangements will be in vain."

Kudo Yuki ran her fingertips over the scratches on the edge of the secret door.

That was the mark left by Vermode last time, proving that the passage had not been tampered with.

"I calculated the time. Ten minutes is enough to get Rum to the safe house and organize the badge data captured by the cameras. Besides, the captain of the guards wouldn't dare gamble. If he turns back now and encounters an 'accident', the old man will just blame him for his incompetence."

Vermouth suddenly leaned closer and lowered her voice, "I just received news that the laboratory has tripled its guards tonight, all of whom are core guards wearing silver crow insignias. Vodka has been sent to an isolation room on the third floor underground. There's fingerprint and iris verification at the door, so my disguise skills won't be used for the time being."

Kudo Yuki held the silver access card between her fingers, her fingertips tracing the chip groove on the edge of the card. The solemnity in her eyes deepened. "Triple Core Guard... Karasuma Renya is protecting Vodka like a 'living specimen.' Double verification in the isolation room isn't a problem; the difficult part is how to install a camera in there without triggering the alarm."

Vermouth raised her hand to tuck a strand of curly hair behind her ear: "I've been prepared."

She took out a palm-sized metal box from the inner pocket of her windbreaker. When she opened it, she found three miniature cameras the size of fingernails inside, with a dark purple glow at the edges of the lenses.

"It's made with the winery's latest stealth coating, affixed to the isolation room's ventilation grilles. Unless someone scans it closely with a UV detector, it's impossible to detect. But the problem is how to get close to the ventilation vents—the corridors on the third underground floor are patrolled by guards, who conduct cross-checks every three minutes."

Kudo Yuki looked down at her watch and saw that the fluorescent hands on the dial just pointed to ten fifteen.

According to the encrypted message sent by Toru Amuro before, Rum should have been sent to the safe house by now, and Jinpei Matsuda and Kenji Hagiwara should have finished sorting out the badge data.

Kudo Yuki raised her eyes. The silver thread on the edge of the butterfly mask gleamed in the faint light that seeped in through the crack of the secret door. "Use 'time difference'."

"Time difference?" Vermouth raised her eyebrows and tapped the edge of the metal box lightly with her fingertips.

"Yes." Kudo Yuki walked to the surveillance screen behind the secret door and pressed the switch.

The screen showed a real-time image of the laboratory's perimeter. Guards in black uniforms were patrolling along the wall, the silver crow badge on their cuffs visible under the night vision camera.

"The ten minutes I told the guards to wait weren't just to buy time for Rum, but also to tamper with the electrical distribution box outside the lab. At exactly midnight, the lighting system on the three lower floors was deliberately tripped for thirty seconds. That was enough time for us to sneak in and install the cameras."

Vermouth's eyes flashed with surprise, and then she laughed again: "You counted everyone. Can you guarantee the accuracy? Thirty seconds is too short. If the circuit breaker doesn't trip on time, we will be sitting ducks in the corridor."

Kudo Yuki tapped her fingertips lightly on the edge of the surveillance screen, the fluorescent light illuminating half of her face beneath the butterfly mask. "Don't worry about the accuracy. The one responsible for cutting off the power is Yingchuan Luo. He installed a timing device in the wiring of the laboratory distribution box. The error will not exceed two seconds."

"Kagekawa Luo?" Vermouth raised an eyebrow, gently shaking the silver access card between her fingers. "How dare you hand over such a crucial step to a newcomer."

She didn't know that Kagekawa Raku was Morobushi Kagemitsu, and only thought of him as an external informant developed by Kudo Yuki.

Kudo Yuki didn't explain, but just opened the encrypted photo album on her phone and pulled up a route map.

That was the escape route that Zhu Fu Jingguang had marked based on the laboratory building drawings. The location of the ventilation holes circled in red just happened to avoid all blind spots of surveillance.

"This is a rough outline. We'll discuss the specific details once we find out about Rum's backup lab."

There was a humming sound from the ventilation system behind the secret door.

Vermouth watched the patrolling guards on the surveillance screen and looked at Kudo Yuki: "By the way, Gin just sent me an encrypted message saying that Rum's pass card password is '4869-07'."

"4869-07..." Kudo Yuki repeated the password in a low voice, her fingertips stroking the chip on the edge of the card. "This number combination matches the development number of APTX4869."

Vermouth raised an eyebrow and pushed the miniature camera in the metal box towards her: "Gin suddenly delivered the message, aren't you worried that it's a trap? He is the sharpest knife in the hands of that old man. When will he help a 'traitor' like us?"

"He's not helping us." Kudo Yuki raised her eyes, a glint of understanding in them. "He's leaving himself a way out. The old man had a bug installed in the communicator that monitored Rum, so there's no way Gin didn't notice. Crushing it and reconnecting it was just a show of 'loyalty'."

Vermouth looked out the window.

Under the neon lights, the black car of the Karasuma Guard started, its tires rolled over the flooded road, splashing tiny drops of water, and soon disappeared into the night of Beika Town.

Vermouth's lips curled up in a mocking tone: "That old man's dog is indeed obedient, but unfortunately, no matter how obedient it is, it can't protect the 'living specimen' he cherishes so much."

Kudo Yuki accepted the metal box, her tone expression expressionless. "Gin had no reason to set a trap. He knows better than us that if Vodka really becomes a 'living specimen,' he might be the next person the old man considers a 'replaceable pawn.'"

Vermouth chuckled at this. "That's true. That guy has always been very careful with his life. But you dare to entrust a power outage to Yingchuan Luo. Aren't you afraid that he might make mistakes due to his lack of experience? Even a single misconnected wire in the lab could trigger the alarm prematurely."

Kudo Yuki's gaze from behind the butterfly mask passed through the doubt in Vermouth's eyes: "Kagekawa Luo is not a newcomer. His ability in circuit layout is three times better than those engineers in the laboratory who only know how to follow the manual."

She didn't explain further.

Zhu Fujingguang's identity cannot be exposed, not even by his cooperating Vermouth.

The neon light that leaked in through the gap of the secret door flickered on her sleeves, covering up the white marks on her fingertips from squeezing the access card too hard.

"Besides, before he installed the timing device, he had already memorized the lab's backup wiring diagram. Even if the main line fails, the backup line will last until we finish installing the camera."

Vermouth raised her eyebrows doubtfully: "I hope you are not mistaken."

"The old man is inherently suspicious. Gin has been so dominant these past two years, he's always going to find a way to give him a hard time. Gin knows the value of a 'living specimen' better than we do. As long as Vodka is still breathing, he won't sit idly by." Kudo Yuki suddenly raised her hand. "I have something else to do, so I'll take my leave."

Vermouth watched her back disappear into the shadows of the corridor, a complex look flashing in her eyes.

She always felt that this "partner" was hiding too many secrets. He was familiar with the core operations of the winery, knew Karasuma Renya's thoughts very well, and even understood Gin's temperament, but he never mentioned his own identity.

Only when the footsteps completely disappeared around the corner did Vermouth put away her thoughts and turned to walk towards the safe passage deep inside the secret door.

At this time, the five police officers had gathered in the safe house that Kuroda Beibei gave to Miyano Akemi, and Rum was placed alone.

As Miyano Akemi handed a cup of warm water to Haibara Ai, she saw her holding her mother's notebook, stroking the pen handwriting on the last page with her fingertips, and her eyelashes cast tiny shadows under her eyes.

Ida Hang leaned against the wall and placed the badge data folder he had just organized on the coffee table.

Ai Haibara's fingertips rested on the pen words on the last page of the notebook. Those were the words "Protect Shiho" left by her mother Elena Miyano. The edges of the paper had already become hairy from being rubbed repeatedly.

She looked up at Rum, who was placed in the corner. He was still unconscious, and the light blue bruise under his left eye was particularly glaring in the warm light.

That was the trace of the conflict between the chip and APTX4869, like a striking brand, reminding her of the nightmare this drug had brought her.

"Is the chip in his body still working?" Haibara Ai's voice was soft but alert.

Amuro Toru had just transmitted the sorted guard badge data to Kuroda Heibei's encrypted terminal. When he heard this, he turned around and saw Shushu squatting on his shoulder combing his fur, his round ears trembling slightly.

Amuro Toru walked over to Haibara Ai, his eyes falling on his notebook. "To be on the safe side, the medical equipment in the safe house is ready. We'll perform the chip removal surgery when he wakes up. Hiro has news that the timed power-off device in the laboratory has been debugged, and the error is indeed no more than two seconds."

Haibara Ai's fingertips were still on the last page of the notebook. When she heard Amuro Toru mention the chip removal surgery, she looked up at Rum in the corner, her eyelashes trembling slightly.

"Have the surgical instruments been sterilized? If the chip in his body is bound to his nervous system, forcible removal could trigger an emergency reaction and easily lead to an accident."

To be continued...