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

The little mouse peeked its head out from Kudo Yuki's collar, rubbing its eyes with its chubby little paws and muttering, "Yuki is so tired. Rum is such a troublemaker, he doesn't even give Yuki a proper sleep."

Amuro Tooru's eyes deepened with tenderness as he ran his fingertips through the stray hairs on Kudo Yuki's forehead.

Kuroba Toichi smiled slightly, the coin between his fingers finally stopping. He looked away and turned to his son: "Don't waste time, let's set off now. After you've set up the equipment, remember to synchronize the recording signals to Hiroki. I still have some things to take care of. I'll keep an eye on things with Rum."

He reached up and picked up the coat draped over the back of the chair, then turned and glanced at Kudo Yuki with a meaningful look in his eyes.

"Received, Dad." Kaito Kuroba put away his joking expression, carefully folded the fake document and put it into his coat pocket. With a flick of his wrist, the magic wand disappeared.

"I'll install the signal device at the entrance to the secret passage in a well-hidden way, so that Rum's men won't find it. Once they're inside, I guarantee they won't come back—no, I mean they won't be able to leave."

Subaru Okiya leaned against the bookshelf, his gaze sweeping over Yuki Kudo, who was fast asleep on Tooru Amuro's shoulder, before returning to Tooru Amuro. His voice was low and steady: "The FBI will set up surveillance around the former site of the Golden Villa. Once Rum's men are thrown into disarray, we'll take the opportunity to figure out their movements and cooperate with the Public Security Bureau to finish them off."

He paused briefly, then added, "My mother has been settled in, and her health has improved recently, although she still coughs occasionally."

As Shuichi Akai, he was always concerned about his mother who had shrunk, and he also knew that Yuki Kudo had secretly provided a lot of special medicines to help Mary Akai improve her health.

Hiroki Sawada shut down the computer, carefully put away the USB drive, and handed it to Tooru Amuro.

"The backups of the fake documents are all here. The dongle trigger mechanism has been set up. As long as they try to crack the fifth layer, the location program will be automatically activated, and garbled text will overwrite all the fake data, making their efforts futile. I have already synchronized the communication frequency of the Rum technical team with Officer Kazami, so I can monitor their movements at any time."

Kudo Yusaku put down his pen, got up and walked to the desk. His gaze fell on Kudo Yukari's peaceful sleeping face, his eyes full of heartache: "Let her get a good night's sleep. She's had a hard time these past few days."

He turned to Amuro Tooru, his tone serious, "Yukiko has already prepared the guest room. You can carry her up to rest later. I will organize the documents in the study. We'll discuss the follow-up tomorrow."

Amuro Tooru nodded gently, picked up Kudo Yuki, and tried not to disturb her sleep.

Kudo Yuki shifted slightly in his arms, finding a more comfortable position, her brows relaxed, and a faint smile lingered on her lips.

Amuro Tooru looked down at her, his eyes almost overflowing with tenderness, and walked very lightly out of the study.

Kaito Kuroba watched the two figures disappear into the distance and couldn't help but tease, "Mr. Amuro is so doting on my cousin. He's being so careful around her, as if he's afraid of waking her up."

Despite this, there was no malice in his eyes, but rather a hint of envy.

Subaru Okiya said calmly, "She deserves it."

These three simple words encapsulate a consensus among everyone.

Kudo Yuki single-handedly navigates between the Karasuma Group, the Public Security Bureau, and the FBI, playing the role of "fine wine" while advancing various plans and protecting those around her, bearing pressure far exceeding that of ordinary people.

Kuroba Toichi draped his coat over his arm, turned and walked towards the door: "I'm leaving now. I'll let you know if there's any movement from Rum's side."

As he walked to the door, he glanced back at the people in the study.

"Remember, the most terrifying thing about the Karasuma Group has never been Rum, but Karasuma Renya's lust for control. There may be an even more terrifying secret hidden behind the ES Dark Amber Project."

Kuroba Touichi pushed open the door and stepped out, his figure quickly disappearing into the night.

Kudo Yusaku looked at the alliance documents on the table, lost in thought: "Rum wanted to use this document to dismantle the alliance between Ooka and Haneda, but he didn't know that this alliance had already penetrated to the bone, and it was not something that could be easily broken by a single document."

He looked up at Subaru Okiya. "Mr. Akai, do you really think that Renya Karasuma had Gin spy on Rum just because he suspected him?"

Subaru Okiya pondered for a moment before replying, "Perhaps there's a deeper purpose. Renya Karasuma has always been suspicious, and he couldn't possibly be unaware of Rum's ambitions. Having Gin monitor Rum serves to both check and balance Rum and to create a situation where Gin and Rum check each other."

He knew very well that Karasuma Renya's methods were always the same: to kill with a borrowed knife and to divide and conquer.

Kaito Kuroba put away his joking expression and said seriously, "No matter what Karasuma Renya's plans are, the scheme we've set up this time will definitely make Rum suffer a great loss. When he finds out that the documents he got are fake, and he's completely disoriented in the underground passages, he'll probably be furious."

He turned and walked towards the door. "I'm setting off too. I'll try to get all the equipment set up before dawn and wait to see the show."

Yusaku Kudo picked up the document, slowly opened it, and said with a deep gaze: "In this game... Rum is just the first move. The real opponent is still behind the scenes."

As night deepened, the Kudo family mansion was enveloped in tranquility.

In the guest room on the second floor, Amuro Tooru sat on the edge of the bed, quietly watching the sleeping Kudo Yuki, his fingertips brushing her cheek, his eyes full of doting and heartache.

He felt the steady heartbeat of the woman in his arms; this moment of peace was their most precious comfort amidst the chaos of battle.

In the monitoring room of Karasuma Group headquarters, Gin watched Rum's men assembling and heading towards the former site of the Golden Villa on the screen, a cold smile playing on his lips.

He was still on his phone with the video of vodka sent by Vermouth, and seeing that although he was thin, he was alright, which relieved him a little.

The deal with "Fine Wine" continues; rescuing the vodka is his only obsession. He merely goes along with the game between Rum and Karasuma Renya, watching them both suffer a crushing defeat.

Meanwhile, Rumi Wakasa sat in her apartment, holding a photo of Koji Haneda in her hand, a resolute glint in her eyes.

She already knew the truth, and she knew that Kudo Yuki would give her a chance to take revenge. Now, all she needed to do was wait patiently for the moment when she could personally finish off Rum.

The preliminary instrument blueprints for the ES Dark Amber Project on the table are proof of her cooperation with Kudo Yuki and also her bargaining chip for revenge.

Under the cover of night, various forces were quietly taking action.

As Kudo Yuki slept soundly, the smile on her lips seemed to foreshadow the final outcome of this game of chess.

Amuro Tooru did not leave immediately. He turned the bedside lamp to its softest brightness and carefully tucked the blanket around Kudo Yuki.

He gazed at the relaxed expression on Kudo Yuki's face, his heart churning with complex emotions: worry for her perilous situation, admiration for her, and a deep sense of cherishing her that he himself hadn't fully grasped.

This feeling quietly grew during countless days and nights of fighting side by side. From the initial appreciation of her wisdom to the current obsession with protecting her from the wind and rain, it has long been ingrained in his bones.

Inside the study, Yusaku Kudo transmitted encrypted files to Subaru Okiya's terminal, the code flashing on the screen reflected in his deep eyes.

“This is the last clue left by Mr. Haneda,” he said in a deep voice. “Back then, Koji Haneda was not involved in the ES Dark Amber Project by chance. He was actually investigating the gene editing experiments secretly carried out by the Karasuma Group.”

When Subaru Okiya saw the description of the "perfect container," his eyes suddenly turned serious: "So, Rum's eagerness to obtain the alliance documents between Ooka and Haneda is not only to undermine resistance, but also to obtain the key data needed for the experiment?"

Kudo Yusaku nodded: "Karasuma Renya's ambition goes far beyond controlling the business world. What he wants is control that transcends life and death, and the ES Dark Amber Project is the cornerstone for realizing his ambition."

Kaito Kuroba has arrived at the site of the former Golden Villa.

The building appeared eerie under the moonlight, its walls crumbling and dilapidated. Avoiding the malfunctioning surveillance cameras, he relied on his keen intuition for traps and mechanisms to quietly slip into the underground passage.

The magic wand at his fingertips transformed into a tool, and he opened the stone door in no time.

Kaito Kuroba took out a miniature signal device and a smoke device from his backpack and set them up at key points according to the pre-arranged plan.

“Done,” he clapped his hands, a sly smile playing on his lips. “If Rum’s men dare to come, I’ll make sure they experience what a labyrinth of despair is all about.”

Kuroba Touichi pressed the remote control in his hand to confirm that all device signals were synchronized with Sawada Hiroki's terminal, and then disappeared into the depths of the secret passage.

On the 8th floor of the Karasuma Group headquarters, velvet curtains blocked out most of the night, leaving only the screen on the desk illuminating Rum's sharply defined profile.

He held his phone, repeatedly playing the video sent by Kudo Yuki—flames licked the edge of the paper agreement, and the clauses for Ooka and Haneda to jointly resist the Karasuma Group gradually turned to ashes in the flames.

The line at the end of the video, "Don't blame me, I was just following orders," carries a sense of helplessness and sincerity. The tone is so realistic, without a trace of deliberate stiffness, that it sounds like a genuine expression of being unable to control oneself.

Rum's eyes darkened, he sneered, and threw his phone onto the table, the screen hitting the surface with a loud thud.

"Follow orders? That lord really doesn't trust anyone."

He knew that the fine wines were always directly under the control of Karasuma Renya, and although he held some power, he could never truly control the owner of the wine name.

But the scene of the agreement burning in the video was too real. He had seen the original of those terms before, and the curling words and seal outlines in the flames were something that could not be achieved by forgery.

“Now that the fine wine has been made, the alliance between Ooka and Haneda should be cracked.” Rum stood up, walked to the French windows, lifted a corner of the curtain with his fingertips, and looked down at the brightly lit city night view, a sinister glint in his eyes.

He was concerned about the core data of the ES Dark Amber Project. The biotechnology resources controlled by the Ooka family and the network of connections of the Haneda family were indispensable to the advancement of the project.

By dismantling the two alliances and then seizing the opportunity to win over one of them, it would be easy to obtain the data. Even if Karasuma Renya became aware of it, the die would be cast, and he could use his control over the plan to further consolidate his position and even find an opportunity to restore his left eye.

He raised his hand and pressed the call button on the inside of his desk.

"Pass the word down that the remaining personnel should immediately head to the Golden Villa, infiltrate the underground passages according to the predetermined route, and make sure to confirm the remnants of the Agreement Ashes, while also bringing back any clues that may have been left behind."

He paused, then added, "Tell them to be quick and leave no trace; the FBI might already be lurking around the area."

He had long suspected that Kudo Yuki might have powerful backers, but he didn't expect them to cooperate so quickly with the wine "destruction" agreement. This made him more wary, but also strengthened his resolve to obtain concrete evidence as soon as possible.

After hanging up the call, Rum turned back to his desk, his gaze falling on the encrypted email that popped up on the screen—it was a mission report from Gin, a few words mentioning that the clearing of a certain outpost had been completed as instructed, the words exuding his usual coldness and aloofness.

“Gin…” Rum murmured the name, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

He vaguely sensed that Gin's recent actions seemed to be getting out of control, especially after the appearance of the fine wine, and that the two seemed to have reached some kind of tacit understanding.

When Kudo Yuki called last time, the woman made a pointed remark about "Cohen assassinating women and having others clean up his mess," which immediately put him on guard.

He knew that Gin hated being used, and if he knew that he was using Cohen's actions to restrain him, Gin would never let it go.

But now, with the agreement broken and the alliance on the verge of collapse, he has no time to delve into Gin's strange behavior.

Rum opened the encrypted folder, brought up the structural diagram of the underground passage of the Golden Villa, and traced the complex route with his fingertip on the screen.

"Although the fine wine destroyed the agreement, given that woman's cunning, she might still have a backup plan."

His eyes grew increasingly deep. "The mechanisms in the underground passage must be personally inspected and dealt with; otherwise, they could be used by others and become a trap to restrain me."

He had already arranged for men to ambush him in the secret passage, intending to catch him like a turtle in a jar after obtaining the agreement, but now he had to deal with the possible variables first.

Rum's private terminal suddenly received an anonymous message:

FBI agents appeared outside the Golden Villa.

Rum's pupils contracted sharply, and his fingers clenched tightly. The other party's appearance at the Golden Villa at this moment was clearly aimed at his actions.

"It seems this show is far more exciting than I imagined." Rum's lips curled into a sinister smile, but there was no trace of panic in his eyes.

He replied to the message quickly:

Keep a close watch, do not act rashly, and await my instructions. —RUM

Since the other party has already fallen into the trap, why not turn the tables and use the Golden Villa as a pretext to eliminate the FBI's hidden dangers at the same time?

He raised his hand and pressed the call button again: "Have the Dark Group activate the paralyzing fog device on the third level of the secret passage in advance, and prepare the explosive switch for the backup route. If the FBI dares to break in, give them a 'grand' funeral."

After hanging up the call, Rum walked to the liquor cabinet, poured himself a glass of dark spirit, and the amber liquid swirled in the crystal glass with a cool, ethereal motion.

He tilted his head back and drank it all down. The spiciness burned his throat, but it also made his muddled thoughts clearer.

Kudo Yuki's video was too realistic, but the more perfect it was, the more suspicious he became: [That person has always treated the alliance agreement with contempt, so why would he specifically order the destruction of the fine wine this time? Is it just to pave the way for himself?]

To be continued...