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

Amuro Tooru's tone turned serious: "Gin sent a message saying that after Karasuma Renya transferred Vodka to the research area's hidden room, he added new experimental projects, seemingly to adapt him to the 'ES Dark Amber's' primary control module."

"As expected." Kudo Yuki put two pinches of tea leaves into the teacup. The moment boiling water was poured in, the aroma of tea filled the air, mingling with the fragrance of red plum blossoms from the tin tea canister.

"The old man wanted to turn it into a real weapon of control; vodka was just a pawn used to test compatibility."

The mouse, perched on the edge of the table, chattered, "Poor Gin! In the video Vermouth sent to Gin, Vodka seems to have gained a little weight, but his eyes are glazed over. Did he get some kind of drug?"

A complex look flashed in Amuro Tooru's eyes: "Gin has completed 70% of the cleanup of Rum's men. He said he'll deal with the remaining three strongholds during the full moon operation."

“He certainly knows how to save trouble.” Kudo Yuki picked up her teacup and blew on it. “The more thoroughly Rum’s men are cleaned up, the easier it will be to infiltrate the core laboratory of the ‘ES Dark Amber’ project. With Hiroki’s hacking program and Mr. Kuroba’s restraint, our chances of winning can be increased by another 30%.

"By the way, the senior didn't say it explicitly in the meeting room, but judging from his deployment list, it seems that he transferred Date and the other two to the rendezvous point on the outskirts of the core area. Although he didn't reveal their identities, with them there, the ground evacuation route shouldn't be a problem."

Amuro Tooru's eyes were full of doting: "He's always like this, he doesn't say nice things, but he's very thorough in his actions."

In the living room, Hiroki Sawada had completed the program adaptation, and green data streams were jumping on the screen.

Ai Haibara frowned slightly: "Rum's terminal protection is very special, with a built-in biometric lock. Can your delayed virus guarantee a ten-minute shutdown?"

“No problem.” Hiroki Sawada pulled up a piece of code. “I used the quantum entanglement algorithm. The virus will disguise itself as a system update package called ‘ES Dark Amber’ and automatically lie dormant when it connects to Rum’s terminal. It will only be triggered when Mr. Kuroba starts copying data. I added a reverse tracing program to the virus, which can also locate the location of all backup databases.”

Conan leaned closer to look at the screen, seemingly lost in thought: "My sister said to have Uncle Daoyi and my cousin Kaito infiltrate. Where are they now? Have you confirmed the route for the full moon night?"

Kudo Yuki took a sip of hot tea, the steam rising around the rim: "It's almost time for the 'visiting.' By the way, is there any news from Father and Mother? I hope they can return before Uncle Toichi and Cousin Kaito 'come over,' so we can catch up."

Upon hearing this, Conan shifted his gaze from the screen, his lips twitching slightly as he revealed his signature crescent-shaped eyes. He turned around, hands in his pockets, and shrugged helplessly at Kudo Yuki: "Sis, don't expect them to actually come back and report in advance."

He walked to the sofa armchair and sat down, his tone full of complaints about his "deduction-obsessed couple": "Before leaving this morning, my mom left a note saying that she and my dad were going to relive their first love date route and create a romantic ritual. They had to decipher the code that the other person was hiding in the old place before they could meet."

"But given their hectic pace of solving the puzzle, plus the travel time, I just did a quick mental calculation. Considering the time needed to decipher the code and meet up, I should be on my way home now. If all goes well, I should be there in half an hour."

He looked out the window at the darkening sky and added, "I hope I can get back before Uncle Daoyi and Kaito, otherwise my mom will drag me into discussing 'The Duel Between the Great Thief of the Century and the Famous Detective' again."

The tea mist blurred the smile in Kudo Yuki's eyes: "That's called the romance between husband and wife."

She looked up at Conan's helpless expression and teased, "Every year, Father and Mother set different challenges. With common goals to keep us going, life won't get boring, and there will always be something new."

Amuro Tooru sat beside her, his eyes overflowing with doting affection.

The mouse lay on the corner of the table, its chubby little paws supporting its chin, and muttered to itself, "What's 'fun'? Is it like when Kogoro Mouri sends a text message to Eri Kisaki? He clearly wants her to put on an extra layer because it's cold, but he sends back 'Don't catch a cold and make me gossip'?"

Kudo Yuki smiled upon hearing this, put down her teacup, and gently replied through telepathy, "I suppose so. Some people's concern is always wrapped in a hard shell, and they only feel at ease when they express it in an awkward way."

Amuro Tooru let out a very soft laugh, and followed up on her words, saying, "Conan's predicament with Ran is exactly the same in this respect."

He stroked the armrest of the sofa and joked, "Before Poirot revealed his true identity, when Miss Ran asked why Shinichi never showed up, he was so anxious that he almost spilled coffee on the guest. In the end, he made up an excuse that he was investigating a case abroad and the signal was bad."

Conan's cheeks flushed slightly as he glared at Amuro Tooru and said, "Mind your own business!"

Although his words were firm, his ears were secretly burning.

He turned to look at the screen, trying to change the subject: "Hiroki, can the reverse tracing program bypass 'ES Dark Amber's' firewall? Rum's technical team has former CIA technicians, and they are very vigilant."

Hiroki Sawada typed out the last string of commands on the keyboard, and the green data stream on the screen suddenly froze, turning into a flashing shield icon.

"The reverse tracking program has a built-in three-layer mimicry disguise. Even if Rum's terminal connects to 'ES Dark Amber's' core firewall, it will only determine that this is redundant data from the system self-check. I specifically matched the firewall frequency provided by Sister Xue, and the paralysis time will be more or less than ten minutes."

Ai Haibara's brows relaxed slightly as her gaze fell on the backup code in the corner of the screen.

"The stability of the quantum entanglement algorithm is indeed not a problem, but Rum has former CIA technicians around him who are likely monitoring the terminal status in real time. Once an anomaly is detected, our infiltration plan will be exposed."

“We were prepared for this.” Kudo Yuki put down her teacup. “Uncle Toichi will release jamming signals during his infiltration, disguised as an electrical malfunction in the headquarters building.”

“Hiroki’s virus was triggered precisely at the stage when the interference signal was strongest. Even if they discovered the terminal was abnormal, they would only attribute it to a circuit problem and would not immediately associate it with data intrusion.”

Amuro Tooru took out a small communicator from his pocket.

“Gin just sent an encrypted message saying that Rum has noticed the outer outposts have been cleared out and has been frequently mobilizing the guards in the core area. He told us to move on the night of the full moon to avoid the patrols on the west side. Those are ‘live’ people he deliberately left behind to confuse Karasuma Renya.”

“He’s actually quite reliable.” Conan raised an eyebrow, took out special glasses from his pocket and put them on. A 3D structural diagram of the Karasuma Group headquarters immediately appeared on the lenses. “At midnight on the night of the full moon, first cut off the external monitoring of the core laboratory, and then start copying the data.”

Mouse jumped up from the corner of the table, pointing its chubby little paws out the window: "Wow! There's a huge pigeon outside! It smells like that strange old man who does magic tricks, like it's saying hello!"

Kudo Yuki looked in the direction it pointed and saw a silver-gray pigeon perched on the windowsill, its feathers neatly combed and its eyes fixed on the tea and snacks on the corner of the table.

She picked up a few kernels of corn that the mouse had handed her, bent down and leaned closer to the windowsill. The dark hair at the ends swayed slightly with her movements, reflecting the deepening twilight outside the window.

The pigeons gently pecked at the grains in my palm, the cool touch penetrating through their thin skin, while the aroma of red plum blossoms from the tin tea canister still lingered in my nostrils.

"Not shy at all." Kudo Yuki chuckled, about to hand over another kernel of corn, when the soft sound of a key turning came from the entryway, accompanied by Mouri Ran's slightly excited voice: "Conan, we're back!"

Conan's eyes lit up, and he was about to get up when he heard Yukiko Kudo complain with a smile: "Dad is quick at solving mysteries, but he's so slow at driving. I almost thought we'd miss your 'big plan'."

Kudo Yusaku said helplessly, "It was you who insisted on taking the long way to buy that old-established wagashi shop, saying you wanted to give it to Yuki and Conan as a midnight snack."

Just as everyone in the living room got up to greet them, the silver-gray pigeon on the windowsill suddenly took flight.

Kuroba Toichi appeared at the entrance with his signature magician's smile, followed closely by Kuroba Kaito. The boy's face still had a touch of childishness, but he couldn't hide the liveliness in his eyes.

The pigeon had transformed into a jet-black raven, which landed on Kuroba Toichi's shoulder and made a low "cawing" sound.

"Long time no see." Kuroba Toichi raised his hand to remove his top hat and nodded to Kudo Yusaku. His gaze swept over everyone in the living room and finally landed on the corn kernels in Kudo Yuki's hand. A hint of amusement flashed in his eyes. "It seems my 'messenger' has been treated quite well."

Kaito Kuroba peeked out, his gaze shifting between the green data stream on the screen and Ai Haibara's tense expression before finally settling on Conan. He grinned and said, "Cousin, Yuki-neechan, we're not late, are we? Dad and I have checked the infiltration route three times already. We guarantee it'll be even smoother than when we stole the Suzuki family's jewels last time."

Yukiko Kudo immediately rushed forward, grabbed Toichi Kuroba's arm, and exclaimed excitedly, "Toichi! You're finally here! I thought you wouldn't show up until the full moon. Perfect timing, I just bought some dorayaki, come and try some. Just what kind of amazing thing is this 'ES Dark Amber' that the Great Thief of the Century is going to challenge this time?"

Yusaku Kudo shook his head helplessly, his gaze towards Toichi Kuroba filled with the familiarity of old friends: "Your timing is quite precise, you just got back and you're already 'visiting' us. Yuki has already told us the core of the plan, Hiroki's procedures and your checks and balances are the key to this operation."

Amuro Tooru stood up, his gaze sweeping over the Kuroba father and son before finally settling on Kudo Yuki, his eyes still filled with doting affection.

"Mr. Kuroba, Kaito, we have updated Rum's terminal protection and the deployment of patrol teams in the core area to your communicators. Gin specifically instructed that the patrol team on the west side is a decoy deliberately left behind, and you must avoid it during the operation to avoid alerting the enemy."

Kuroba Tou nodded in acknowledgment, took out a magician's divination card from his pocket, and handed it to Kudo Yuki.

"This is the divination card I promised you last time, with a miniature tracker injected into it. It can emit a jamming signal at crucial moments. Kaito has already memorized the ventilation duct diagram of 'ES Dark Amber's' laboratory, so it won't trigger the infrared alarm when infiltrating."

Kudo Yuki took the divination cards and looked up at Kuroba Kaito: "Kaito, how's your disguise skills improving? This time we need you to disguise yourself as Rum's technical assistant. Although you won't be involved in the core operations, the biometric lock avoidance will all depend on you."

"Don't worry, Sister Xue!" Kaito Kuroba pulled out a disguise kit from his pocket. "I've been training my muscle memory for three months, so even if I'm observed up close, I won't give myself away. Besides, Dad said that if all else fails, we can use magic props to create chaos, which will ensure that Hiroki can copy the data without interruption."

The mouse, perched on the corner of the table, tilted its little head and muttered, "Crows are so cool! Much better than pigeons!"

The laughter and chatter in the entryway had not yet faded.

The crow on Kuroba Toichi's shoulder suddenly flapped its wings, skimmed over Kudo Yuki's hair, and landed on the bookshelf next to Sawada Hiroki, its eyes scanning the electronic devices in the living room warily.

Seeing this, Kaito Kuroba quickly took out a small handful of crushed nuts from his pocket and coaxed gently, "Don't cause trouble, we'll need you to relay the signal later."

The crows on the bookshelf cawed urgently.

The crow on Kuroba Toichi's shoulder suddenly flapped its wings, skimmed over Kudo Yuki's hair, and landed on the bookshelf next to Sawada Hiroki. Its unusual reaction made everyone subconsciously look at the terminal.

Kudo Yuki carefully put away the divination cards, which were miniature trackers that Kuroba Toichi had specially embedded. These trackers resonated with the signal frequency of "ES Dark Amber" and could interfere with it at crucial moments.

“Rum’s tech team has been working overtime lately,” Kuroba Tou said, twirling his top hat. “Last night, when Kaito sneaked into the perimeter of headquarters, he saw them transporting three boxes of encryption equipment to the core lab. They should be the latest adaptation modules for ‘ES Dark Amber’.”

Kaito Kuroba nodded quickly and took out a folded sketch from his backpack, marked with key nodes of the ventilation duct: "I've attached miniature sensors to the inner wall of the duct, which can transmit temperature and personnel flow data in real time."

"The biometric lock that Sister Xue mentioned is located below the main control panel on the east side of the laboratory. I have already memorized its scanning angle."

A flash of blue light appeared on Conan's lens, and the core area on the three-dimensional structure diagram was circled with a red dotted line.

"During the midnight operation, Uncle Toichi will be responsible for attracting the guards' attention, while Kaito, you will take the opportunity to sneak into the control room, use Hiroki's virus to paralyze the terminals, and at the same time copy the core code of 'ES Dark Amber'. Mr. Amuro and I will provide support from the outside to deal with any emergencies."

"Me too!" The mouse suddenly jumped onto Amuro Tooru's lap. "I can squeeze into the ventilation ducts and keep an eye out for patrolling robots for Kaito!"

Amuro Tooru raised a hand to stroke its fur, a soft chuckle escaping his throat: "There might be traps in the ventilation ducts. Can Hiroki's program block them simultaneously?"

Hiroki Sawada brought up another set of code, and a waveform appeared on the screen.

“I have cracked the blueprints of the headquarters’ security system. The frequency of the traps is connected to the laboratory’s power system. Mr. Kuroba will cause a circuit malfunction, and the detectors will automatically enter a dormant state, which will be enough for Mr. Kaito to complete the operation.”

To be continued...