Conan and Gin are both my brothers, what's wrong with meeting them once?

The wind and snow outside continued relentlessly, and soon it was completely dark.

Kogoro Mouri and his companions, including Fumio Doi and Shuichi Hamura, all stayed overnight at Daisuke Torakura's Castle.

After dinner, Fumio Doi and Daisuke Torakura discussed the upcoming publication of their works.

The others, meanwhile, drank tea at the invitation of Toshiya Tadokoro.

While his main body was sipping warm, fragrant tea, Kudo Kazuma used the [Two Forms Clone] technique to release his Yin clone.

Perhaps for the sake of atmosphere, there is a large grove of tall trees not far from the backyard of the Deshula Villa, a place that is most suitable for Tibetans.

The wind and snow outside were too heavy, so Kudo Kazuma took out the large, thick windbreaker from his system space and wrapped it around himself. He also put on a pair of ski goggles before searching through the forest with his feet barely touching the ground.

Since there were people around before, there should be people nearby.

Unfortunately, the wind and snow were too heavy, and there was little light at night, so he didn't find any footprints...

Just as he was about to give up on the spot, Kudo Kazuma suddenly noticed a shadowy figure in the woods, and that figure was tentatively walking towards him.

In a short while, the figure appeared behind a tree only about two meters away from him.

The tree trunk obscured half of his body, and the other person asked with some doubt, "Is...is it Danpo?"

The voice was somewhat familiar.

With his exceptional eyesight, Kudo Kazuma confirmed the identity of the newcomer: short, slightly wavy brown hair, a pale but delicate face, and a cold expression tinged with a hint of surprise—it was Sherry, Shiho Miyano.

Shirley was wearing a simple set of home clothes, with an ill-fitting white lab coat over it, which made her figure look even thinner.

Moreover, she wasn't wearing shoes; her bare feet were treading on the ice and snow, a sight that made one's heart soften...

Hmm, maybe that's the effect they wanted.

Unfortunately, the Yin clones never fall for this trick.

Moreover, Kudo Kazuma knew that the real Sherry was currently studying at Professor Agasa's house, so he only had one thought in his mind—Rum discovered Ai Haibara on the day of the Emperor's Cup, and therefore suspected that he had deliberately created a fake Sherry to test him.

Is this guy really not just here to get himself killed?

Seeing that Kudo Kazuma neither moved nor spoke, Sherry cautiously asked with a hint of surprise, "Danpo, is it really you?"

Kudo Kazuma grinned, revealing a chilling smile: "Long time no see... Sherry..."

"Great, I escaped from Rum, I... ah..."

Before Shirley could finish speaking, she was shot in the right shoulder.

Immediately afterwards, bullets pierced her left shoulder and both knees.

Seeing the fake Sherry lying on the ground with her limbs broken, Kudo Kazuma flipped his wrist, put his hand in his pocket, casually put the silenced gun back into the system space, and then took out his phone to call Gin.

"Big brother, how did you dispose of Sherry's body? Did you just sloppily dispose of it and cause her to come back to life without you even noticing?"

Gin on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment: "...Speak like a human being."

Kudo Kazuma squatted down in front of the fake Sherry and sneered, "Now, there's a Sherry right in front of me. Do you want to live or die, big brother?"

Why do you need to ask him about something like this?

Is this a disguised form of accusation?

Could this fake Sherry be another one of Rum's doing?

Gin was speechless: "Kill him."

"Row."

While the clone was speaking, Conan asked curiously from the main body, "Hey, where's your phone? Aren't you going to play with it anymore?"

Kazuma Kudo shrugged: "Take a break."

Of course, it was sent through the system space to call the clone.

"Would you like to come along with Mr. Tadokoro and take a look at the vampire collection he mentioned?"

Kazuma Kudo frowned: "No, you guys go..."

Just as the main body and Conan exchanged a few words, the shadow clone's attention was momentarily distracted, and the fake Sherry seized the opportunity to blow out a poison needle. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and blocked the needle with his phone.

But Gin still heard the crisp "ding" sound of the poison needle colliding with the phone, before he could hang up.

"what sound?"

"It's nothing..." The Yin clone casually dislocated the fake Sherry's chin.

Just as he was about to finish off the fake, Gin spoke up again: "...What about that fake Sherry? If she's not dead, I want her alive."

"can."

Kudo Kazuma put his phone on speakerphone in his pocket and, while giving Gin his address, broke the fake Sherry's limbs one by one with his bare hands.

A suppressed cry of pain escaped from the fake Sherry's throat and reached Gin's ears on the other end of the phone.

"Hurry up and get your men here, or I won't know whether this person will live or die in a moment."

Kudo Kazuma hung up the phone, stood up and looked into the distance. He saw eight men in black, armed with guns and wrapped up tightly, creeping towards the Desura Villa in the snow.

He dropped the fake Shirley, crept over silently, covered the mouth of the last person from behind, and slammed him to the ground.

"Speak softly!" Kudo Kazuma asked, using his [Sound Illusion] skill. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The man's gaze froze for a moment, then he lowered his voice and whispered, "We're from the Ghost Tiger Gang. We're here to kill the villa's owner, Daisuke Torakura, and a woman named Sherry."

So... he actually received Rum's orders remotely, right?

Does Rum also have ties to the Ghost Tigers?

A sense of danger arose spontaneously, and Kudo Kazuma almost reflexively kicked the man away, sending him flying. He then used the [Sword Control Technique] to retreat a considerable distance.

With a loud "boom," half of the Ghost Tiger Gang member's body exploded—he was carrying a bomb!

Moreover, the bomb's detonation switch doesn't seem to be on him.

The explosion attracted the attention of the remaining seven people, who quickly surrounded him and threw the bombs they were carrying at Kudo Kazuma.

Kudo Kazuma's face darkened.

Okay, so Rum is playing it this way, right?

Is this called a test?

First, the fake Sherry threw poison needles, then a bunch of people played with bombs like hand grenades.

If it were anyone else here, they would only die if they tried.

Seven bombs, clearly controlled by someone else, exploded simultaneously, and Kudo Kazuma, who was surrounded in the middle, disappeared in the huge burst of fireworks.

On a hillside not far away, Amuro Tooru, who was holding binoculars, suddenly widened his eyes.

After the smoke and dust from the explosion dissipated, in the wind and snow, only a few corpses lying haphazardly on the ground could be vaguely seen; there was no trace of Kazuma Kudo.

Behind him, besides the two snipers, there was another person holding a cannon-style telescope. A long antenna on the telescope swayed in the wind, and the lens was pointed directly at the direction of the explosion.

He stared directly at the camera, his face filled with coldness.

"Is this what you mean by 'testing'?"

"Rum?"