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

“I’ll go with you.” Curaçao put down her water glass, the color in her eyes becoming calmer. “I still have some of the design logic of the secret room mechanism in the winery in my memory, which may be able to crack the safety device of the hidden compartment. Moreover, I can locate the approximate location of the key through magnetic field sensing.”

The crow on Kuroba Toichi's shoulder seemed to understand the conversation. It flapped its wings, circled the room once, and landed on Kudo Yuki's head. Its hoarse voice was urgent: "Secret...locked room...file clues..."

Its beak gently pecked at Kudo Yuki's hair, its wings pointed towards the golden villa outside the window, and the lingering warmth of the coded mark wafted through its feathers.

Kudo Yuki raised her hand and pressed down on the crow on the top of her head. Her fingertips felt the slight trembling under its feathers, and the lingering warmth of the coded mark seemed to still be burning her skin.

"Since you know the clues to the secret room, then come with us. But you'd better stay by my side and not cause any trouble."

The crow seemed to understand, nuzzling her fingertips with its beak and responding softly, its wings folding obediently to its sides.

"Xiaoxue, Curaçao, and I are responsible for infiltrating the secret room to capture Jäger." Amuro Tooru quickly dialed Kazami Yuya's number, his tone efficient. "Kazami, immediately arrange for three highly concealed vehicles to be on standby near the Kudo residence. The route should avoid the blind spots of the surveillance cameras around the Golden Villa. Use the previously agreed-upon 'Porro Delivery' code to make contact."

Kazami Yuya replied respectfully, "Received."

After Amuro Tooru hung up the call, his gaze fell on the crow on Kudo Yuki's head, and his eyes flickered slightly: "Bringing it along might save a lot of trouble."

“I’ll go too.” Subaru Okiya put down his teacup and stood up with steady movements. “I know a little about the properties of the Dark Amber Potion. If there are any residues of the potion in the secret room, I can give you a timely warning. Besides, there may be sentries from the winery outside the Golden Villa. I can cover their retreat.”

Yusaku Kudo nodded in agreement: "Mr. Akai's involvement provides an extra layer of security. While you're infiltrating, Hiroki can remotely hack into the villa's surveillance system and synchronize the footage in real time."

He turned to Hiroki Sawada, who immediately nodded, his fingertips already rapidly typing on his laptop, where a 3D model of the Golden Villa appeared on the screen.

Kuroba Toichi's gaze swept over the crow atop Kudo Yuki's head, and he smiled faintly, "It seems this little guy gets along well with you; he might bring unexpected surprises at a crucial moment."

"Uncle Toichi, why don't you catch up with Father?" Kudo Yuki said, looking at her younger brother who was still looking at the tablet and searching for clues. "Shinichi, you've been to the Golden Mansion before, so you're quite familiar with it. You can come along too."

Upon hearing this, Conan closed his tablet, his eyes behind his glasses brightening. As he stood up, he casually grabbed the skateboard that was placed on the table.

“I’ve been waiting to hear that! I remember the layout of the Golden Villa’s corridors very clearly. The secret door is most likely hidden near the fireplace in the study in the west wing. Last time I went there, I felt that the echoes from the walls there were not right.”

He turned to Ai Haibara, his tone serious, "Haibara, you stay here to assist Hiroki. There might be undestroyed APTX4869 experimental data in the secret room. Remote analysis will be your responsibility."

Ai Haibara nodded, and a diagram of the interior structure of the Golden Villa popped up on the screen.

“I have marked the areas where there may be drug residue. I will notify you if any anomalies are detected. Also, the core equipment of the ES Dark Amber Project requires a specific energy supply. You can keep an eye on the villa's power distribution room; you might find an opportunity to sabotage it.”

Kudo Yuki cautioned, "Hiroki, you must remember to conceal your talent appropriately, don't let the people at the brewery discover it, and don't become the second Itakura Taku."

Hiroki Sawada looked up and nodded emphatically: "I understand, Yuki-neechan. I will use conventional hacking methods to cover up the traces and only provide necessary support at critical moments."

The moment the phone screen suddenly lit up, the temperature of Kudo Yuki's fingertips seemed even more scorching than the lingering warmth of the crow's feather.

The bank's notification of a deposit of a six-figure sum was glaringly obvious, while the text message contained no contact information, only a single, concise line of text:

The secret behind the destruction of the Golden Villa. —The old man

She lowered her eyes and stared at the screen, the contents of the text message reflected in her pupils. She recalled Karasuma Renya's scheme, and realized that this so-called "repayment" was nothing more than another pawn being handed to her.

"What's wrong?" Amuro Tooru's voice rang out promptly, filled with concern, his fingertips gently resting on the back of her hand.

Mouse couldn't help but mutter, "Wow, Karasuma Renya is really generous. Is he letting Yuki destroy the evidence or giving her start-up capital? There must be a big treasure in the secret room!"

Amuro Tooru rubbed her palm with his thumb, conveying comfort and also implying that he knew the truth.

Kudo Yuki looked up, her expression returning to normal, but a cold glint flashed deep in her eyes: "Nothing, just received an anonymous transfer and a strange text message."

She didn't read the text message aloud, but instead turned the phone screen towards Amuro Tooru, lip-reading in a language only the two of them could understand: [Old man, destroy the secret of the locked room.]

Amuro Tooru's eyes darkened slightly as he pondered: [Karasuma Renya's orders clearly aim to completely erase certain traces. The conflict between these two points confirms my previous suspicions—the brewery is now a dead end, a game of mutual distrust.]

Curaçao sensed the undercurrent between the two, and the light in his eyes flickered slightly: "Was it sent by someone from the distillery?"

She still remembered the organization's methods, that unique sense of information suppression, which was exactly the same as when she received the mission back then.

"Most likely." Kudo Yuki put away her phone, raised her hand to stroke the crow on her head. It seemed to sense her emotional fluctuations, nuzzling her fingertips with its head, its wings pointing again towards the golden villa outside the window, a low whimper escaping its beak.

"It seems we have another task: figuring out what the old man actually wants to destroy."

In the Golden Villa, Kazami Yuya huddled behind the bushes on the west side, a bugging device pressed against the villa's exterior wall in his palm, the sound of electricity mixed with a slight metallic scraping.

He held his breath, his eyes fixed on the direction of the west wing study. Amuro Tooru's low voice came through the earpiece: "Keep quiet. Jäger's footsteps are three meters to the left of the fireplace. Watch out for any unusual noises from the mechanism being activated."

Inside the study, Jäger fumbled with the oak paneling beside the fireplace, cocked the Browning pistol at his waist, glanced around, and avoided the dark patterns on the carpet with the soles of his boots.

That's a common trap trigger point in the design of a winery's secret chamber.

"The alliance documents between the Ooka and Haneda families... Once we get our hands on them, Lord Rum's plans can move forward even further."

Jäger muttered to himself, his fingertips pressing on the slightly raised carvings. The wall clicked, and a hidden door slowly recessed inward.

Lights were embedded in the walls of the hidden door, illuminating the mechanism structure filled with gears.

Jäger slowed his pace, Rum's words echoing in his mind: "The secret room security device was cracked by Curaçao back then, but she's dead. No one knows the backup unlocking logic better than you."

Unbeknownst to him, his deliberate lie that "Curaçao is dead" had already sown the seeds of future problems within the distillery.

Meanwhile, Kudo Yuki and his group were quietly approaching the east side of the villa.

In the shadows on the west side of the villa, Gin leaned against the hood of a black Porsche 356A, his fingertips tracing the screen of his phone.

The video sent by Kudo Yuki only played the first half.

Vodka, dressed in a lab coat and strapped to a metal frame, was still struggling and calling out "Big Brother".

The video suddenly stopped, and a message popped up on the screen:

To save him, we must eliminate Rum's core stronghold as agreed. —Vintage Wine

Gin's lips curled into a cold smile as he traced the gun's shaft with his fingertips, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.

Karasuma Renya's instructions are still lying in my phone:

Leave Rum there for now and observe his movements.

He had seen through all the schemes in this game; neither Rum's selfishness nor Karasuma Renya's ruthlessness could escape his eyes.

A faint buzzing sound came from the communicator in his pocket. He knew that Karasuma Renya was still listening, but that didn't stop him from doing things his own way.

The mouse, clutching popcorn, stared intently at the screen: "Wow, Gin's eyes are terrifying! Is he going to break into the Golden Villa and kill Jäger?"

Amuro Tooru lowered his voice and said, "Gin's bottom line has always been its own people, but this concern can be sacrificed at any time under the rules of the brewery."

Kudo Yuki ran her fingertips over the crow on the top of her head.

The crow suddenly bristled its feathers, pointed its wings toward the power distribution room on the east side, and made a rapid "chirping" sound from its beak.

“There’s something wrong with the power distribution room.” Curaçao’s pupils turned a pale purple, and the magnetic field she sensed made her frown. “There are high-intensity energy fluctuations inside. It should be the core equipment of the ES Dark Amber Project in operation.”

Amuro Tooru raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop.

Subaru Okiya took out night vision goggles from his backpack, his eyes behind the lenses gleaming like a hawk's: "There are two figures moving in the west wing. Besides Jäger, there's another one whose presence is very subtle."

He didn't say much. He was the man Rum sent to monitor Jäger, and from his hiding place, he could see Jäger's movements clearly.

Kudo Yuki raised her hand and pressed down on Amuro Tooru's arm, lip-reading: [Go to the power distribution room first, disrupt the power supply, and disable the safety device in the sealed room.]

Amuro Tooru turned to Conan and whispered, "Take Curaçao to the secret door in the study, and we'll follow."

Conan gripped the skateboard: "I've figured out the mechanism of the fireplace. Hiroki just sent me a message saying that the third gear behind the secret door can be interfered with with a magnet."

Jäger had entered the secret room, which was filled with filing cabinets. His gaze was fixed on the metal safe in the center.

Just as his fingertips touched the cabinet door, he heard a slight noise behind him. He turned around and raised his gun, only to see a crow flapping its wings and flying by.

"Damn beast." He cursed under his breath, turning back to continue cracking the safe's combination, completely unaware that a crow had landed on top of the safe, its feathers concealing coded markings that were faintly glowing and transmitting his actions to Kudo Yuki.

Kazami Yuya heard the sound of gears turning in the safe through his bugging device, and he immediately reported: "Jägermeister is cracking the safe and expects to open it within five minutes."

Amuro Tooru, Kudo Yuki, and Curaçao sneaked to the door of the power distribution room.

The colors in Curaçao's pupils shifted rapidly: "I can temporarily disable them using magnetic interference, but it will take ten seconds."

Kudo Yuki nodded, signaling Amuro Tooru to get ready: "In ten seconds, you'll be in charge of cutting off the main power. I'll deal with the guards inside."

Mouse warned, "Little Snow, be careful! There are two people in the power distribution room, and they're carrying stun guns!"

Curaçao raised her hand and aimed it at the control panel in the power distribution room, her pupils glowing with a strong purple light.

The infrared defenses were instantly extinguished.

Amuro Tooru kicked open the door, pinned the two guards against the wall, and dropped the stun gun to the ground with a "thud".

Kudo Yuki cut off the main power, and the lights in the villa went out, leaving only the faint glow of the emergency lights.

The safe in the secret room suddenly stopped working, and Jäger pulled out a spare flashlight.

The hidden door was pushed open from the outside, and Conan's voice was tinged with laughter: "Mr. Jägermeister, you must have had a hard time finding the documents, right?"

Jäger turned around, pointing the gun at the door, only to see Kudo Yuki standing behind Conan, her eyes as cold as frost, and the crow on her head pointing its beak at the safe key in his hand.

"Curaçao!? Those days of tracking weren't for nothing, you're still alive!" Jäger's pupils shrank, and he subconsciously reached for his phone to report, but then he saw a flash of cold light, and Amuro Tooru's throwing knife knocked him away.

Amuro Tooru slowly walked into the secret room, his aura overwhelming: "You didn't report that she was still alive. Did you want to take all the credit, or were you afraid that Rum would hold you accountable for your dereliction of duty?"

Jäger's face turned deathly pale. He took a step back and leaned against the safe: "Bourbon! We both work for Rum, what are you doing here?"

He gripped the safe key, his eyes darting back and forth between Kudo Yuki and Curaçao, filled with disbelief and fear.

Amuro Tooru's lips curled into a cold sneer as he toyed with the throwing knife that had knocked Jägermeister's phone away, its blade gleaming coldly in the dim light of the emergency lamp: "Rum's business may not necessarily be the distillery's business."

He approached slowly, his aura pressing down on Jäger like a deep abyss, making it almost impossible for him to breathe. "You deliberately concealed the fact that Curaçao is still alive. Did you think that you could use your success in solving the secret chamber to advance your career with Rum? Or were you afraid that he would hold you accountable for failing to completely eliminate her back then?"

Curaçao stood beside Kudo Yuki, her gaze sweeping over the gear mechanism on the wall of the secret room.

"The backup unlocking logic of this safety device is a backup plan that I designed to deal with sudden failures. Only the rotation sequence of the three core gears is crucial. The key you have now can only open the first lock. The real secret is hidden behind the double hidden compartments."

She pointed to another recess on the side of the safe.

"You seem to have forgotten that this kind of device will automatically initiate a self-destruct program after three minutes if it detects the fingerprints of an unauthorized person."

Jäger's face drained of all color in an instant, and he instinctively released his fingers from the safe. He never imagined that the backup unlocking logic he had relied on would, after being exposed, render all his calculations futile.

"You're talking nonsense!" Jäger pointed his gun at the three men, his wrist trembling uncontrollably. "Rum said you died in that mission! Curaçao, you betrayed the organization, you deserve to die!"

Kudo Yuki's gaze swept over Jäger's neck, which was tense from nervousness. There, tiny bumps were wriggling under the skin, coinciding with the chip fluctuations detected by the magnetic field sensor.

She raised her hand, her fingertips hovering in mid-air, her tone as calm as if she were chatting: "Jäger, when you were in charge of escorting Curaçao on her memory erasure mission, did Rum specifically instruct you to activate the chip in her neck if her memories showed signs of revival?"

To be continued...