Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

Next to him, Aaron put down his binoculars and looked at him strangely as he kept rubbing his nose. He ignored the long story and said, "You have a cold?"

Artemis took out a wet tissue to wipe her hands, took out a piece of spicy chocolate from her coat pocket, opened the package, took a bite, and mumbled, "I don't know, I rarely catch a cold. Maybe someone was talking about me just now."

Aaron didn't know why, so he picked up the telescope again and looked at the apartment building opposite.

It was freezing on the roof of the building without shelter, and the cold wind kept blowing on his face. Aaron, who was afraid of the cold, shivered on the spot and cursed the damn weather in his mind. Hearing the pause in the Beretta's gunshots over the earphones, he immediately confirmed:

"Gin, do you need Artemis to come over and help?"

"Need not."

"——Gin, three people came upstairs from the back passage."

A voice similar to Artemis came from the earphones. The real Artemis was eating chocolate and heard her brother Anatole continue:

"Isn't it really necessary? Don't show off, Artemis won't deliberately mess with you during the mission."

Gin snorted in reply. Seconds later, gunfire rang out again.

Aaron looked helpless, and Artemis, who was disgusted, held the chocolate and asked nonchalantly: "Is the target really inside? I didn't see it at all when I went to plant the bomb in the afternoon."

Depending on the difficulty of the organizational tasks, several members will cooperate to complete them. The most troublesome part was how to dig out the traitors. Aaron had already finished this, and he divided the rest among several students.

Artemis is responsible for loading the bomb, which must be blown clean;

Gin is responsible for entering the building and fishing out the target. Those bombs are all timed to detonate and must be stuck before the time limit;

Anatoly did not follow. He was responsible for hacking into the surveillance system and promptly notifying Gin of the situation of the other party's personnel based on the information obtained through surveillance and eavesdropping.

Among them, the part that Gin was responsible for was the most dangerous and troublesome. Not only did he have to kill the FBI guarding him, but he also had to bring someone out - he had to be alive.

"Yes." Aaron said resolutely, "I have met Cinderella's child before. I saw him yesterday and the day before yesterday when I was on duty. It is impossible to admit my mistake."

Cinderella, full name Cinderella cocktail, is made from lemon juice, orange juice, pineapple juice and grenadine syrup.

You can tell from the recipe that this is a non-alcoholic cocktail. There is this female member in the organization, and she is the traitor this time. She is currently locked in the interrogation room.

"Cinderella..."

Artemis naturally knew the recipe of this "wine": "It sounds like a cocktail, but in fact it doesn't contain a drop of alcohol. Isn't that a traitor?"

Aaron ignored his nagging and continued to observe the other side.

Unlike Artemis who started paddling after completing the part she was responsible for, Aaron, as the commander of this mission, was far from calm on the surface.

He and Cinderella have been friends for many years, and they have always kept an eye on each other's working conditions. Except for a one-year break when she was pregnant and gave birth a few years ago, she has been working in the industry.

If he hadn't heard the conversation between her and the FBI agent in the listening device, he wouldn't have believed that she was the traitor, and the reason for the betrayal was...

"This is normal." Artemis suddenly said, "The child fell into the hands of the FBI. It was said to be protecting witnesses, but in fact it was a hostage. What can she do?"

"!"

Aaron's hand holding the telescope shook and he subconsciously looked at Artemis beside him.

Artemis looked as usual and tore off the outer packaging of the chocolate a little bit: "You didn't say what was in your heart. I guessed it myself - you are so surprised. Could it be that I happened to be right?"

Aaron was about to speak when his gaze swept across the windows of the target building. The entire glass windows shook violently. Even without a telescope, you could see that all the glass exploded in the next second!

"boom--!"

The sound of the explosion, whose volume was reduced by half due to the distance, rang in his ears. Aaron reacted and quickly raised the telescope again.

Thick smoke billowed upwards, even in the dark night, it was still very eye-catching.

Aaron estimated the power of the explosion, suddenly remembered something, and immediately asked: "Artemis, did you tell him?"

The bomb treats all life equally. If it is to be installed, the more reliable members will tell their colleagues the location and detonation time, so that even if the other party is unfortunately killed, the blame will not be on them.

There was silence and no answer.

A few seconds later, the sound of chocolate being gently broken and chewed by teeth could be heard clearly again.

"..." Aaron had a bad premonition, and he confirmed again uneasily: "Artemis, you told Gin the detonation time and the locations of all the bombs... right?"

Artemis swallowed the chocolate and said slowly: "Probably."

Aaron's eyes darkened: "What do you mean roughly?"

Before the unreliable student could answer, a louder roar sounded in the distance, and the wind and waves caused by the explosion blew here. Artemis quickly grabbed a piece of chocolate wrapper that almost flew out.

"I can't remember if I said it before. It doesn't matter if I didn't. Gin knows that my brain is not good, so I should be mentally prepared and everything will be fine."

Artemis stuffed the wrapping paper into her pocket and took out a remote control.

He turned off the headphones, looked at the buttons on them and said quietly, "There is still a little escape route and a little gift outside. I'll count it as him... No, let's press it when they are almost out."

Aaron stood there, thinking of what Gin said in the study this morning. He suddenly felt a rush of blood to his brain, causing his temples to throb.

"Are you a child? You want to deliberately take revenge during the mission for such a trivial matter??!"

He reached out to grab the remote control, but at this moment, another identical voice sounded from the earphones.

"My brother is indeed still a child."

Although he is an older brother who is only a day older, or to be precise, only a few hours older, Anatoly is still like the parents of thousands of naughty children in the world, opening his eyes to see everything, and saying things that make people blood pressure. Soaring words.

"Artemis is actually very simple, just like a blank piece of paper. If there is no organizational need, he will not hurt even the enemy..."

Aaron: "…………"

The top killer of the organization who has been fighting with the police, FBI, and gangs for many years. Even if he heard the beginning of the name clearly, he didn't realize who it was for more than ten seconds.

After a few more seconds, he finally came to his senses and continued to grab the remote control. However, at this moment, there was a slight movement behind them.

He wasn't the only one making the noise, Artemis, who had better hearing, naturally heard it too. He turned his head and saw Gin standing behind him at some point. Seeing him, the corners of his mouth lifted up, revealing a sinister smile.

A black headset was half-hidden in the silver hair, and did not fall off while running all the way.

Obviously, he heard what he just said.

"That's great, Gin." Artemis held the bomb remote control in her hand and greeted happily as if nothing had happened. "I knew you were fine. I don't want to change people. It would be too troublesome to adjust again."

"...This is true for enemies, and even more true for partners. Artemis will even hand over the most precious thing in the darkness - trust in her companions."

Anatoly was still talking on the other end of the earphone, his tone was extremely sincere, as if he was telling the truth:

"Because of her trust in Gin's ability, Artemis subconsciously classified this kind of thing as a trivial matter. Because it was a trivial matter, she accidentally forgot it."

"I think Gin shouldn't be angry. He should be happy. He is happy that there is such a good partner in the organization who trusts him so much."

Aaron: "…………"

He slowly turned his head to look at Gin's face.

The night wind blew up the long silver hair, revealing the face underneath, and a smell of gunpowder smoke came from the other party. Aaron thought that he might never forget the expression on the silver-haired killer's face at this time in his life.

——Gin, the organization's top assassin, the partner of the Anisette brothers, he is the first witness to their brotherhood, and...the biggest victim.

The biggest victim of brotherhood sneered and threw Cinderella's child in his hand to the ground. The unlucky kid's chest was heaving, but he was just fainting, not dead. He remembered the mission requirements perfectly.

Then he grabbed a piece of white paper in front of him and pressed the remote control switch in the other person's hand——

"Bang!—bang!"

There were no explosions, just a few fireworks sparkling and blooming in the night sky.

The firelight illuminated most of the night sky, and Artemis' side face was also shrouded in this gorgeous brilliance. Her light brown eyes were almost gray.

"This is my gift to you. Can you apologize to Anatole for what you said this morning?"

……

It is impossible to apologize.

The fate of Artemis for not telling Gin about the bomb was that after returning to the villa, he was dragged into the fighting training ground for a one-on-one friendly sparring session.

They are five years apart. If they are twenty-four and twenty-nine, there is not much difference between them. If they are thirty-four and thirty-nine, they will have a physical advantage.

However, they are fourteen and nineteen years old, with a double gap in physical ability and experience.

The fighting ring was a little higher than an ordinary boxing ring. Aaron stood below and could only see what was happening on it through the monitors and displays next to it.

Artemis was beaten badly.

Aaron looked at his figure who fell down and quickly got up again, holding his hand on his forehead and letting out a long sigh.

Anicet, this is the code name shared by Anatole and Artemis. They and Gin are both his students, and Artemis is the most troublesome to him.

Anatole's physical weakness is indeed a weakness, but he has a good mind and has already obtained two doctorate degrees at the age of fourteen. Artemis cannot do it. Even if he tries his best, he can only be in the middle of the pack in private schools.

His mind is not as good as his brother's, his skills are not as good as Gin's, and even the most important character of living in darkness is not in place. He is not as ruthless as his father.

Even when he first joined the organization four years ago, Anatole adapted early, but Artemis developed sympathy for a certain mission target and wanted to let the other person go, which ultimately led to both brothers being punished.

It doesn't matter if a guy like this is an ordinary member, he can still become a high-level person despite his seniority. If he is Goldwasser's son, I'm afraid...

While Aaron was dazed, Artemis' back hit the guardrail, and he slid down again, falling right in front of him.

There were large bruises on the boy's legs, and he subconsciously curled up his calves because of the pain. Aaron wanted to speak to stop this one-sided beating, but the corner of his eye glanced at his ankle, and a small snake came into view.

snake.

Aaron was stunned for a moment, and his words inexplicably stopped on his lips.

As a confidant, he clearly knew that this was a symbol of Goldwasser and the mother family of the organization BOSS.

The United States is the largest country of immigrants, and New York is the largest city among them, with citizens from different countries, multiple ethnic groups, and multiple faiths.

Aaron's grandfather's generation immigrated from Scotland, England, similar to Goldwasser. At that time, Italy was about to be involved in the war, and their family was in danger, so their ancestors fled here.

He hates snakes, but Goldwasser likes them very much. Snake ornaments can be seen everywhere in the villa, and he also likes to let his men and children get snake tattoos on their bodies - Aaron's tattoo is on the back of his neck, and Artemis and Anatole are on their ankles. superior.

What Aaron saw was the tattoo on Artemis' ankle. The slender snake body looked like a curved staff from a distance, and it could cause all kinds of disasters with a slight wave. It crawled darkly on that inch of skin, lifelike, as if foretelling that everything was not over yet.

There were footsteps beside him, and Anatole came over. He glanced at his brother on the stage worriedly, and then turned to Aaron.

"About Cinderella's treatment..." He paused, "Father has something to ask you."

Aaron nodded and turned to leave.

Before leaving, he took one last look at the display.

This time Artemis fell to the ground and couldn't get up. Gin didn't drag her up directly like before, so he might have beaten her up.

He leaned over and slowly smoked a cigarette. When he was about to finish smoking, he did not go for the ashtray, but bent down and gently lifted Artemis's shirt. In front of Anatole, he pointed at a certain piece of skin and pressed down the cigarette butt.