Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

"It turns out it's not your problem..." Qingliu Binguang muttered.

"Fifty-fifty. I didn't remind them again to be more vigilant before taking action. This was my negligence."

Shuichi Akai, who had been cheated out of several years of hard work by his colleagues, calmly took half of the blame on his back.

Qingliu Binguang glanced at him without comment.

"My mission failed, but you are different. You are a successful undercover agent." Shuichi Akai opened the car window to let the smell of smoke in the car escape. "I am very interested in your experience. Can you talk to me about it?" Want to talk?”

Qingliu Binguang smiled. He raised the corners of his mouth, slowly tightened his lips, and then gradually loosened them, and finally he let out a long sigh.

"You want to ask me how I feel about success?...I'm just lucky."

He spoke.

"The organization was in internal strife. The leader was old, his son was incompetent, and his former confidants wanted to seize power. The people under him split into two factions. Not long after I joined, the conflict between the two sides broke out completely. I could only be regarded as a lucky ally."

Shuichi Akai read all the mission reports provided by Aoyagi Himitsu after he returned. At that time, he was hanging around the second-in-command and the leader's own son. It can be said that he faced this contradiction head-on.

Don't listen to his modesty and talk as if he was really picking up the slack. In fact, he was in quite a lot of trouble, and he was almost exposed once.

Because several operations were sabotaged, the son suspected that there was a mole around him, so during a major operation, he deliberately revealed different information to different people to see which side the FBI would target.

Fortunately, Aoyagi Binguang realized something was wrong in time and secretly obtained another person's information and sent it back. Although the FBI was deceived by him and the trip was in vain, he successfully saved himself and even passed on his undercover identity to others, taking the opportunity to win more of trust.

Akai Shuichi didn't think there was any problem with this method at all. If necessary, he would do the same. He asked: "Then what do you think of this case?"

Qingliu Binguang took a few puffs of cigarette, but his expression was calm. After all, he is a person who has seen the world, so even if a colleague dies, he will not reveal much emotion.

"The headquarters thinks it's retaliation for you, and it was done by the criminal group you once worked as an undercover agent." He raised his eyes and looked forward, as if thinking, "...but I think there are other possibilities."

"Oh?" Akai Shuichi raised an eyebrow.

"Criminal groups will retaliate against undercover agents, but they may not necessarily kill them."

"After the KIKI incident, criminal groups with a little bit of brains did not dare to retaliate too brutally against undercover agents, because once the country behind the undercover agents was completely angered, it would lead to military suppression. They could have survived, but now they can only die suddenly on the spot."

"In this incident, I have read all the autopsy reports. The methods were very bad. Most of the deceased had experienced torture before their lives. And it was not just the agents who died, but also their family and friends... It affected their relatives and friends. This is worse than The fact that the agent himself was killed is more likely to inspire fear and anger.”

"If it's a small gang, it might be so brainless; where you are undercover... you have to go to Japan all the way. It must be a transnational criminal group? They don't and can't do things in such a high-profile way..."

Aoyagi Binguang frowned when he said this, as if he was trying to explore the logic of the other party's behavior.

Akai Shuichi suddenly understood.

The headquarters and himself thought it was retaliation because they were thinking about the reason for the organization to do this, while Aoyagi Binguang thought in reverse. He believed that the other party would do no good, so he went to explore other possibilities.

There is actually nothing wrong with thinking this way, and it is even a comprehensive consideration, but the problem is that the information he has obtained is incomplete.

He didn't know that most of the dead agents had participated in that arrest, that the new deceased had a close relationship with him, and that the bottle of rye whiskey at the scene was his past code name for the organization...

——Because I don’t know, I think of going somewhere else.

"Do you think someone else did it?" Shuichi Akai asked.

"No, I can't be sure. I can only say that it may be retaliation against you, or it may be a small group or individual behavior. It may not be targeted at you, but at the FBI as a whole."

When Shuichi Akai heard this, he understood that Aoyagi Binguang might be thinking of his previous experience.

In the recent New York car bombing case, the first bomb was in a car in front of the apartment where Aoyagi Binguang lived, and the second one was at his alma mater, New York University. Therefore, the branch believed that the remnants might be retaliating against him.

The result was not like that. After the prisoner was arrested and brought to justice, he discovered that the person he wanted to take revenge on was the FBI. It was a coincidence that he was related to Aoyagi Binguang twice. The branch had always been worried about whether he would encounter revenge, which led to preconceptions...

Akai Shuichi wanted to say something else, but at this moment, Aoyagi Binguang's cell phone rang.

At the same time as the cell phone rang, the eagle behind him started to flutter inexplicably. Qingliu Binguang turned to look at it and then answered the phone.

He didn't know what he heard. The next second, he sat up straight.

This reaction made Akai Shuichi stunned, and he had a bad feeling in his heart: "What's going on?"

What if there's something going on with the FBI? If so, he should have received a call at the same time... Could it be Aoyagi Binguang's personal matter?

Aoyagi Binguang didn't answer. The expression on his face was so complicated that it was hard to describe in words. He slowly put down his phone so that Shuichi Akai next to him could hear the voice on the other side.

"You heard it right, Teacher Aoyagi, I'm in trouble again. Agent Kamel and I were... kidnapped by a gangster..."

Akai Shuichi: "..."

Akai Shuichi: "…………?"

Chapter 231 Naughty kid and pig teammates

Back to morning.

The only ones driving today were Kudo Yukiko and Kudo Shinichi - Aoyagi Binguang was called back to the FBI to work overtime, and Mao Lilan would not be able to arrive in New York until tomorrow evening.

"I have already bought the tickets. The game is in four days. Let's go today..."

Kudo Yukiko's voice was still full of energy. The events of the previous two days had little impact on her. In contrast, Kudo Shinichi in the co-pilot seemed less interested.

He rested his chin on his hand and stared out the window. He didn't listen carefully to how his mother planned today's schedule. All he thought about was the FBI serial murder case.

After encountering the corpse in the parking lot on the first day, he started searching for news as soon as he returned to the hotel. Many media followed and reported the case. He soon learned the identities and causes of death of many deceased people.

While in Japan, Kudo Shinichi encountered some cases, including serial killings or extremely cruel methods, but none of them targeted the police or other public officials. It has caused great panic among the people.

Who did it? Killing so many people one after another, and even brazenly leaving clues to the next scene at the scene, shows that the murderer is not afraid of the FBI or even the United States behind his back.

In addition to his disgust for the murderer and his sympathy for the victim, Kudo Shinichi's case itself also aroused strong curiosity and desire to explore.

It would be nice if I could contact Mr. Aoyagi... However, judging from his attitude the day before yesterday, even if he knew the inside story of the case, he would not disclose it to unrelated people...

Kudo Shinichi sighed at the thought and looked out at the street again.

At this time, he saw a wolf walking by the street.

"Little new……"

"...Shinichi!!?"

The sudden increase in volume made Kudo Shinichi jump out of his wits. He sat up straight, grabbed his seat belt and looked at Kudo Yukiko.

"What's wrong? Why are you so loud all of a sudden?"

Kudo Yukiko rolled her half-moon eyes and looked at him: "Are you distracted just now? I've been asking you what you want to eat for lunch, why didn't you answer me?"

"Well... uh, just go to the restaurant you booked. There was another case yesterday and we missed it again." Kudo Shinichi said quickly.

"Okay, let's go there."

The car drove forward steadily. New York is indeed an international city. It is as lively and noisy as Tokyo, but at the same time it presents a different style. From a distance, it is full of high-rise buildings.

"Shinichi, do you want to move to the United States? You are not yet an adult after all. It is not good for you to stay alone in Japan." Yukiko Kudo said.

Kudo Shinichi didn't even think about it and refused on the spot: "You've asked me several times - I don't want it. I'm not a child, so I don't need to stay under your supervision every day."

"But the security in Japan has not been very good in recent years." Kudo Yukiko frowned, "You have encountered it several times in a row, haven't you? I remember that there was an explosion in another police station last year..."

Kudo Shinichi corrected: "It's not the regional police station, it's the National Police Agency. It is said that several police officers died."

When she heard it was the Police Department, Kudo Yukiko was startled: "Is it a terrorist attack? Has the prisoner been caught?"

"No."

Kudo Shinichi recalled last year's news: "This incident was a big deal. In order to arrest the suspect as soon as possible, the National Police Agency rarely disclosed the suspect's image data to the public, but there were no clues at all."

Hearing the image, Kudo Yukiko remembered it completely: "You mean that..."

Before she could finish her words, the front of the car seemed to hit something. She was startled and slammed on the brakes. The wheels made a sharp squeaking sound and quickly stopped.

Kudo Shinichi rushed forward and was restrained by the seat belt in time. Fortunately, the speed of the car was not fast, so the sudden braking did not cause any damage to them.

When he looked forward, he saw that the collision with them was another vehicle. They were crossing an intersection, and the car happened to come down the ramp on the right, and the two sides collided with each other.

There were no other vehicles around. Kudo Yukiko immediately unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car, running to ask about the other driver. Kudo Shinichi also got out of the car and followed her.

When they saw clearly what was going on inside the car, their expressions changed greatly——

The driver was a young woman, her head lowered and motionless, and her clothes were stained with a large amount of dark blood.

Kudo Yukiko was stunned. When Kudo Shinichi saw the car window half-open, he immediately put his hand in and felt her pulse. He then took a closer look at her abdomen, and his expression became even more ugly.

"Call the police! She has a knife wound on her abdomen!"

……

The two called 911, and New York police arrived at the scene.

What surprised Kudo Shinichi was that after the police confirmed the basic situation to them ("Why is it you again, boy?"), the FBI also arrived quickly and took over the scene.

They were taken to the FBI's New York branch to take notes.

Kudo Shinichi was not the driver involved and quickly completed the transcript work. He didn't stay in the reception room all the time. He slipped out curiously and wanted to see the FBI's real case handling process.

Since the deceased woman had her driver's license and Social Security card on her person, the FBI quickly determined her identity and whereabouts yesterday, and conducted an interview as soon as possible.

Kudo Arata didn't understand until then that the police suspected that the deceased was a new victim of another series of serial murders of women in New York, so they immediately notified the FBI responsible for the case.

He saw most of the information on this case in the hands of a detective he met yesterday - the other party may have felt embarrassed to point a gun at him, so he readily showed it to him.

"The murderer is an Asian male with long white hair tied up. He is in his forties. He was wearing a brown jacket and a light purple shirt when he escaped. He had a gun and a silencer..."

Kudo Shinichi looked at the wanted notice that had been posted, and the man on it looked at him ferociously.

He looked away indifferently and tentatively asked the agent beside him: "Agent Kamel, since a wanted order has been issued, is there no news at all in the past few days?"

Kudo Shinichi spoke in Japanese, which the other party could understand.

Agent Kamel scratched his cheek: "I don't know. I have been at the headquarters before and I don't know the progress of the case in this branch."

Kudo Shinichi was surprised: "Headquarters?"

"I am an agent from the headquarters, and I came to New York for the FBI serial murder case." Kamel said this and sighed, "Because Akai said that I was mentally unstable and could not investigate the case properly, so I was asked to stay in the branch as much as possible. …”

Due to yesterday's experience, Kudo Shinichi knew that Akai was the tall Japanese man. Although he has long hair like Aoyagi Binguang, his temperament is completely opposite, and he is not easy to mess with at first glance.

He instinctively wanted to ask something about the FBI case, but the photo on the file in his hand suddenly made him feel a little strange.

"No..." Kudo Shinichi muttered.

"What's wrong?"