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

Amuro Tooru's car drove through the streets in the early morning.

The mouse rummaged through its pockets, compiled the report on Matsumoto Kenta's resignation and the suspicious financial reimbursement details into a document, and sent it to Amuro Tooru's phone.

"Still no news from Kazami?" Kudo Yuki turned to ask Amuro Tooru in the driver's seat, who was holding the steering wheel with one hand and glancing at his phone's message bar from time to time with the other.

“Just set the location, we’re already downstairs at Matsumoto’s apartment building.” Amuro Tooru tapped the screen lightly. “He said the old building doesn’t have an elevator, and he’s climbing the stairs. He told us to drive slowly and not to get too close.”

The little mouse poked its head out, its eyes fixed on the phone screen: "Look, let me see! Oh dear, Kazami's speed isn't good enough. It takes him three minutes to climb to the third floor. What if Matsumoto takes the opportunity to jump out the window and escape?"

Kudo Yuki chuckled and shoved it back into Amuro Tooru's pocket: "Most windows in old neighborhoods have security bars, so there's no way he can escape. Besides, Kazami is very cautious; he'll definitely check the situation at the entrance first."

Amuro Tooru's phone vibrated; it was a call from Kazami Yuya. He pressed speakerphone, and Kazami's voice sounded slightly hurried: "Mr. Amuro, I'm at the Matsumoto house. I've been knocking for ages, but there's no response. The door isn't locked; it opens a crack when I push it..."

"Don't go in." Amuro Tooru's face instantly darkened. "Observe from the doorway first, see if there is any movement inside, and pay attention to any unusual smells, especially disinfectant or... the smell of blood."

There was a two-second pause on the other end of the phone, followed by the sound of Kazami Yuya moving around quietly before he whispered back, "I don't smell anything strange, but there are sounds inside, like... the sound of something being rummaged through?"

The mouse jerked violently in the pocket: "Oh no! It must have been someone who started it! Trying to destroy the evidence, or just kidnapping Matsumoto!"

Amuro Tooru immediately turned the steering wheel and increased the speed slightly: "Kazemi, you stay at the door. We'll be there in five minutes. If anyone inside tries to come out, try to remember their physical characteristics, but don't stop them. Safety first."

"Understood!" As soon as Kazami Yuya finished speaking, a loud "bang" came from the other end of the phone, like the sound of a chair falling over, followed by arguing, and then the call was disconnected.

"Oh no!" Kudo Yuki's heart jumped. "Kazami must be in trouble!"

Amuro Tooru's brows furrowed even more, and he stepped on the gas again, the gauges climbing higher: "Don't panic, Kazami's fighting skills are not bad, he can hold out for a while even if he encounters someone. We just need to get there quickly."

The mouse quieted down, with only its chubby little paws still gently tugging at the fabric, as if it were nervously counting down.

Kudo Yuki squeezed Amuro Tooru's hand, trying to calm her down: [Zero always manages to stabilize the situation at crucial moments, but the thought of Kazami possibly facing danger alone still makes me worry.]

The five-minute journey seemed to stretch on endlessly until the car stopped at the entrance of the old residential area. Amuro Tooru and Kudo Yuki almost simultaneously pushed open the car door and rushed inside.

Following the location provided by Kazami Yuya, they quickly found the apartment building. Just as they climbed to the second floor, they heard a muffled "bang" from the third floor, followed by a low shout from Kazami Yuya.

"Up there!" Amuro Tooru quickened his pace, drawing his pistol and tucking it behind his waist. He wasn't carrying live ammunition, only tranquilizer darts, to avoid causing any deaths.

Kudo Yuki followed behind him, her fingertips secretly reaching for the miniature stun gun in her pocket, which Amuro Tooru had prepared for her, saying it was just in case.

As soon as I reached the corner on the third floor, I saw Kazami Yuya fighting with a man wearing a black hoodie.

Kenta Matsumoto was huddled in the corner, with a bruise on his forehead, as if he had just woken up after being knocked unconscious.

Several overturned cardboard boxes were scattered on the ground, with documents inside strewn everywhere. One of the papers even had the words "Member of Parliament's Financial Statement" printed on it.

"Stop!" Amuro Tooru shouted, quickly stepped forward, grabbed the man's wrist, and twisted it slightly. The man cried out in pain and released his grip on Kazami Yuya's collar.

Kazami Yuya took the opportunity to step back, rubbed his wrinkled collar, and nodded to Amuro Tooru: "Mr. Amuro, you've arrived! This guy was rummaging through Matsumoto's things, and when I stopped him, he attacked."

Seeing that things were not going well, the man tried to turn around and run towards the stairwell, but was tripped by Kudo Yuki and stumbled and fell to the ground.

Amuro Tooru quickly stepped forward, grabbed him, and pulled down the hood of his hoodie, revealing an unfamiliar face. His eyes were filled with panic, and he was still muttering, "I just came to get something... It's not my fault... Someone from above sent me..."

"Who's upstairs?" Amuro Tooru's voice was menacing, his fingers tightening slightly. "Explain yourself. Why are you going through Matsumoto's things?"

The man trembled, his eyes darting away, unable to meet his gaze. He mumbled incoherently, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.

The mouse jumped out of Amuro Tooru's pocket, ran to the scattered documents, and rummaged through a piece of paper with its chubby little paws: "Look at this! Matsumoto's resignation letter had a note tucked in it, which said 'They will come to me for the report's original manuscript,' and there was also a phone number!"

Kudo Yuki walked over and picked up the note.

The handwriting was messy, as if it had been written in a hurry, and there was a strange symbol at the end of the phone number, which looked like an upside-down "L".

She handed the note to Amuro Tooru: "This symbol...could it be the mark of some organization?"

Amuro Tooru took the note, stared at the symbol for a few seconds, and his eyes darkened: "It looks a bit like the mark of someone who had worked with the politician before. When we investigated the politician's financial issues, we found that he had financial dealings with the politician, but we didn't find any concrete evidence."

Kenta Matsumoto slowly got up from the corner, coughed lightly twice while covering his forehead, and said in a hoarse voice, "It was...it was reporter Ogasawara who asked me to post the trending topic...He said he was afraid his life would be threatened, and asked me, a fellow journalist, to publish the report if he went missing. He said that if I made the politician's scandal public, I could avoid ending up like him..."

"Then why don't you just cooperate with them directly, instead of hiding the original drafts of the report?" Kudo Yuki looked at him with suspicion.

Kenta Matsumoto's face paled even more, a flicker of fear crossing his eyes: "I...I later discovered that they not only wanted to bring down the politician, but also wanted to destroy all the evidence related to the scandal...I wanted to live, so I hid the drafts, and today they sent people to steal them..."

Amuro Tooru held the note in his hand, looked up at him, and said in an emotionless voice, "Where is the original draft hidden? Only it can uncover the person behind it now."

Matsumoto Kenta slowly straightened up, leaning against the wall. His gaze swept over the mess on the floor and finally landed on the hidden compartment under the wardrobe: "In...in the bottom of the wardrobe, I made a hidden compartment. I originally planned to hand it over to the police after things calmed down, but I didn't expect them to come so quickly."

Kazami Yuya quickly stepped forward, squatted down, and opened the wardrobe door.

The clothes in the wardrobe were in disarray. He reached out and tapped the bottom wooden panel, and sure enough, he heard a hollow echo. He gripped the edge of the panel with his fingertips and pulled, and the thin panel opened with a click, revealing a sealed brown paper bag inside.

"Mr. Amuro, we found it." Kazami Yuya picked up the paper bag and carefully handed it to Amuro Tooru.

Amuro Tooru took the paper bag and looked at the man still struggling on the ground. He increased the pressure on the man's shoulder: "Now you can talk. Who sent you to steal the manuscript?"

Cold sweat beaded on the man's forehead, his body trembled even more violently, and his lips quivered as he finally managed to squeeze out a complete sentence: "It's...it's the Mud Ginseng Association! I was only here to pick up the things, I don't know anything else!"

"The Mud Association!" Kudo Yuki frowned, roughly aware of the seriousness of the matter. "If this photo hadn't been released after Ogasawara's death, things wouldn't have developed like this. I know very little about the Mud Association. As an organization protecting Representative Kondo... we can only leave it to the former Prime Minister Ooka Ie-no-kami to handle. We have no right to interfere in politicians' infighting."

As soon as the words "Mud Party" came out of the man's mouth, Amuro Tooru knew that things would not end with stealing a copy of a report.

This group of organizations, which claim to protect politicians but actually engage in shady deals, will not leave anyone alive when they take action. The only reason Matsumoto Kenta is still alive is because they haven't confirmed whether the original manuscript is really in his possession.

"Kazemi, subdue him first, and notify someone to come and take over." Amuro Tooru didn't even look up, but this made the man on the ground tremble even more violently. "Remember, during the interrogation, focus on asking who is in charge of this mud-related event."

Kazami Yuya immediately responded, took out a restraint belt from his waist, and squatted down.

The man tried to back away, but the other man held his shoulders down, preventing him from moving.

Kudo Yuki walked over to Matsumoto Kenta, handed him a bottle of water, and watched him take it with trembling hands: "Since you knew about the Mud Ginseng Association's methods, why didn't you contact us sooner?"

Matsumoto Kenta gulped down two mouthfuls of cold water, his gaze drifting to the scattered documents on the floor as if they were something too hot to handle.

"I...I'm scared." His voice trembled with tears. "Before Ogasawara died, he sent me a message saying that the people from the Mud Sankai might be watching him. They thought that if they hid the manuscripts, they could secretly hand them over once they forgot about me..."

Mouse emerged from the pile of documents, its chubby little paws digging into the expense report bearing the councilor's signature, and whispered, "Xiaoxue, look! The amount on this report... the council must have been helping the councilor with his accounting, that's why they're destroying this evidence!"

Upon hearing this, Amuro Tooru walked over, bent down to pick up the expense report, and ran his fingertips over the ink stains at the signature, his eyes growing even colder.

“It’s not just about accounting.” He folded the expense report and put it in his pocket, then pointed to the brown paper bag. “The drafts inside might also contain information about Nie’s connection with other politicians.” He looked up at Kudo Yuki. “You need to contact the head of the Ooka family.”

Kudo Yuki nodded, took out her phone and was about to dial when she heard hurried footsteps downstairs, accompanied by someone shouting, "The police are here."

Kazami Yuya looked up at Amuro Tooru, his eyes questioning.

Amuro Tooru shook his head: "They're not one of us."

Two men in police uniforms appeared at the top of the stairs on the third floor. They were both taken aback when they saw the scene inside. One of the older officers frowned and asked, "What happened here?"

Amuro Tooru took a step forward, took out his identification from his pocket and handed it over, his voice steady: "Public security police, we are on a mission. This is the suspect in the case, please assist in his custody, and colleagues will follow up later."

The older policeman took the ID, glanced at it, and his expression immediately changed. He quickly handed the ID back and winked at the younger policeman beside him: "Understood, we will cooperate."

The young policeman quickly stepped forward and helped Kazami Yuya lift the man up.

The man was still muttering "I don't know anything," but the old policeman interrupted him coldly: "We'll talk about it at the station."

After the police left with the man, the house finally quieted down.

Kazami Yuya was tidying up the documents on the floor.

Kudo Yuki answered the phone, and the calm voice of the Ooka family head came from the other end: "Miss Kudo, what happened?"

“Master Ooka, the Mud-Sensing Association has made its move.” Kudo Yuki walked to the window, avoiding Matsumoto Kenta’s gaze, and lowered her voice. “We found the original manuscript left by reporter Ogasawara, as well as evidence of the transactions between Representative Kondo and the Mud-Sensing Association. Now we need you to step in and restrain the upper echelons of the Mud-Sensing Association, so that they don’t send anyone else to steal our things.”

The head of the Ooka family was silent for a few seconds, then the sound of papers turning came from the phone: "I understand. Where are you now? I'll send someone to pick you up. The drafts can't be left outside; it's too dangerous."

Amuro Tooru strode over and mouthed "address" to Kudo Yuki.

Kudo Yuki gave them the address of the residential area.

After hanging up the call, she turned to look at Amuro Tooru and found him staring at the note with an inverted "L" symbol on it, his fingertips repeatedly tracing the edge of the symbol.

"Are you sure this symbol is the mark of the Mud Ginseng Association?" Kudo Yuki looked at the messy handwriting on the note. "I've never seen this symbol before when I looked up information about the Mud Ginseng Association."

Amuro Tooru handed her the note, his eyes thoughtful: "It's not a common mark of the Mud Ginseng Association, it seems more like it's unique to a certain minor leader."

He looked at Kenta Matsumoto, "When reporter Ogasawara gave you the note, did he mention this symbol?"

Kenta Matsumoto shook his head, his face turning even paler: "No... He only said that if I'm in danger, I should call this number, and that the person on the other end can help me..."

Suddenly, the mouse jumped onto Amuro Tooru's shoulder, its little head close to the note, and whispered, "This inverted 'L' looks just like the pattern on the ornament I saw in the congressman's office before! It's that bronze ornament on the top shelf!"

Amuro Tooru's eyes lit up instantly. He took out his phone, found the photos he had taken when he sneaked into the senator's office, and zoomed in on the one of the bookshelf. Sure enough, he saw a small inverted "L" symbol on the base of the bronze ornament: "It's Ozaki."

"The middleman in charge of liaising with the councilors at the Muddy Water Association is named Yuichi Ozaki. We couldn't find him before, but now it seems he's the mastermind behind this theft of the drafts."

Kudo Yuki looked at the symbols on the photo, then glanced at the note, and her heart suddenly tightened: "Could the person on the other end of the phone be one of Ozaki's people? If Mr. Matsumoto makes the call, wouldn't he be walking into a trap?"

Matsumoto Kenta dropped the water bottle in his hand with a clatter, spilling water all over the ground: "I...I didn't hit him."

He hurriedly waved his hand, "I dare not hit it, I'm afraid it might really be a trap..."

To be continued...