Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

"I don't know him. I saw him waiting for someone to take a statement, so I chatted with him for a while."

Maori Kogoro said as he rummaged in his pocket and handed a card to Edogawa Conan: "He seems to be the president of a car rental company. I said I often rent cars, so he gave me his business card."

Edogawa Conan took the business card and browsed the information on it.

Jack Waltz, president of Tokyo Seal Car Rental Co., Ltd., provides cargo transportation and military vehicle rental services. The company's address is: 3-42, Beika-cho, Tokyo.

Military vehicle?

After reading the business introduction, Conan Edogawa seemed to be thinking about something, and then returned the business card to Kogoro Mouri.

The person who came to pick up Suzuki Sonoko had not arrived yet. She stood beside Mao Lilan and sighed deeply: "Xiaolan, I suspect I am cursed. Last time I went to my sister's villa, I encountered a case. This time I visited the newly built tower, and I encountered a case again. It has only been a short time..."

Her condition was not bad. The moment the glass shattered and Edogawa Conan shouted that there was a sniper attack, Mouri Ran immediately protected her and lay on the ground. This time she did not see the corpse with her own eyes.

Mao Lilan, who had experienced more cases recently, shuddered for no reason and patted her best friend comfortingly: "No, Sonoko."

While they were talking, several detectives from the Investigation Division came in. They walked quickly and looked very unhappy. As soon as they came in, the others surrounded them.

From where Conan Edogawa was standing, he couldn't hear what was being said there, but this strange atmosphere made him sure that something had definitely happened - and it was much more serious than the sniper attack on Suzuki Tower.

"Uncle, do you know what other major cases happened today besides the sniper?" Conan Edogawa quietly asked Kogoro Mouri who had just been outside.

Maori Kogoro glanced at him and said, "There was a show with Ms. Yoko this afternoon. I didn't watch any news, but..."

He paused and looked at the detectives as well.

"…While they were talking, I accidentally heard something. There was an explosion in the port area. It seemed that some diplomats were killed in the explosion."

Edogawa Conan widened his eyes in surprise.

"Everyone, pack up. We will have a meeting in the conference room on the tenth floor in ten minutes."

Megure Juzo walked in and announced loudly to the others. After he finished speaking, he noticed Edogawa Conan and his group: "Brother Mori, are you here to pick up Xiaolan?"

Maori Kogoro nodded, then he looked at the other detectives and asked in a low voice: "Officer Megure, is this meeting about the case this afternoon? Is the situation that serious?"

Megure Jusan coughed and said, "I'm sorry, this case is special and I can't reveal anything to outsiders. If everything is ok, you should take Xiaolan and the others home quickly. They also encountered a case today and need to have a good rest."

Hearing his tight-lipped response, Edogawa Conan, who also had his ears pricked up, lowered his head in frustration.

"Then I'll go down and wait for my family's car to pick me up." Suzuki Sonoko said, turning her head to look at Mao Lilan, "Xiaolan, I'll ask the driver to take you back, so you don't have to squeeze on the train."

Mao Lilan did not refuse.

The group walked outside and Edogawa Conan followed.

He reached into his pocket, intending to send a message to Dr. Agasa, asking him to help collect information about the afternoon's case.

But just as he pulled the cell phone out of his pocket, the two cufflink-shaped eavesdropping devices were pulled out with it, fell to the ground, clattered twice, and slid under an office desk.

Conan Edogawa didn't expect that what happened in the hotel last week would happen again, so he hurried over.

He originally thought that the policeman at that desk was not there, but when he got closer he found that he was there, but he was half-kneeling on the ground, reaching his hand to feel around under the desk.

The back view looks quite familiar.

"Strange, where did it fall..."

A more familiar voice came.

"Takagi, what are you doing?" asked Sato Miwako in surprise.

"The cufflinks on my clothes accidentally fell off." Takagi Shigeru said helplessly.

"Let's look for it when we get back. We have to go to a meeting now." Sato Miwako advised. Suddenly she noticed Edogawa Conan standing next to her. "What's wrong, Conan, do you have anything else to do?"

Edogawa Conan came back to his senses: "Something of mine accidentally dropped and slid under this table."

"found it!"

Officer Takagi made a sound of surprise, he stood up straight, and without looking closely, he simply pinned the cufflink he had picked up back on the cuff of his shirt.

He picked up the materials for the meeting, and after hearing what Edogawa Conan said, he lowered his head and said to him a little embarrassedly: "Sorry, Conan-kun, Officer Sato and I have to go to a meeting, so we can't help you."

"It's okay, Officer Takagi, you guys go quickly." Edogawa Conan said hurriedly.

The two officers left together, and the other detectives also walked out. Many people saw Edogawa Conan squatting by the desk and groping, but because he was a child, they didn't take it seriously.

One of the police officers, a male police officer with short curly hair and wearing sunglasses, stopped to observe him for a while, but soon walked away.

"——Hey! Conan! Where have you been?!"

When Kogoro Mouri walked to the door, he finally realized that someone was missing. When he turned around, he saw what Conan Edogawa did. He was so angry that he forgot about the child support he had just received, and his fists were itching again.

"Wait a minute! I'm looking for something!"

Edogawa Conan fumbled for a long time, felt his fingertips touch a small hard object, and immediately took it out. He held the cufflinks in his hand and ran back to the others.

"I'm sorry, I dropped something by accident." He apologized again.

Maori Kogoro wanted to give him a lecture, but Maori Ran stopped him and said, "Okay, Dad, Conan was just careless. Let's go quickly. The police officers are going to have a meeting."

Her consolation worked, Kogoro Mouri stopped blaming him, and they all left the office.

There were not many people near the elevator. This meeting might be very important. While they were waiting, an elevator came up from downstairs. A group of policemen walked out and headed towards the meeting room. Then the elevator continued to move up.

Conan Edogawa's mind was not on going home at all. He thought about the sniper attack by Suzuki Tora and the explosion in the port area, as well as the tight-lipped look on Inspector Megure's face just now, and felt helpless.

Two major cases happened in succession today...Cases involving diplomats must be kept strictly confidential. A European diplomat also died in the red-haired serial murder case three years ago. His father wanted to help at that time, but was rejected by the Metropolitan Police Department.

Realizing that even if he was still Kudo Shinichi, he might not be able to intervene in this case, Conan Edogawa sighed imperceptibly.

The elevator reached the top floor and began to descend. Conan Edogawa looked at the numbers jumping on it and realized that the cufflinks were still in his hand. He spread out his hands, wanting to check if the bug was broken before putting it away.

However, when he saw clearly what was in his hand, he froze instantly, and at this moment it seemed as if all the blood in his body rushed to his brain.

What he held in his hand was not a bug at all, but just an ordinary cufflink!

——Officer Takagi, he got the wrong one!!

Chapter 300 Edogawa Conan, danger?

Takagi Shigeru had no idea what was happening outside the elevator.

He and Miwako Sato came to the largest conference room in the Metropolitan Police Department on the tenth floor. When they arrived, there were already quite a few people sitting inside. Those police officers were either frowning in deep thought or whispering to the people next to them.

This kind of atmosphere made Takagi Shigeru a little nervous, and he quickly found his seat and sat down.

Their seats were very close to the front this time, and he could clearly see the huge projection screen at the front of the conference room and the person sitting in the main seat next to the projector.

"It's Deputy Director Moroboshi. This is the first time I see him presiding over a meeting in person." Sato Miwako, who was sitting next to him, whispered.

Takagi Wataru also saw Toshio Moroboshi sitting at the head of the group, and whispered, "It seems that the attack that happened today was really serious..."

The situation was so serious that the entire Investigation Division didn't care that he was so close to Sato Miwako today. Even Officer Shiratori was sitting in the back row looking through the documents with a serious face, without even looking at them.

Other police officers arrived one after another and sat in different positions according to their respective departments. The last person to arrive from the Investigation Division 1 was Jinpei Matsuda, who arrived almost on time.

He stood at the side of the stairs, looked around casually, seemed to greet someone, and finally sat on the other side of Takagi Wataru.

Takagi Wataru suddenly became more nervous. Anyone who has worked in the First Investigation Division knows how difficult it is to deal with this former member of the explosive ordnance disposal team who always wears a black suit.

But Jinpei Matsuda ignored him. As soon as the cool guy with sunglasses sat down, he looked forward.

Following Matsuda Jinpei's line of sight, Takagi Shigeru discovered that he was not looking at their Deputy Superintendent of Police, but at the man who stood up from the main seat and walked slowly to the projector.

The other person had a foreign appearance and frivolous temperament that was out of place in the entire room. When he stood in front of the screen, everyone in the front row could see the three capital letters printed on his chest.

--FBI

……

FBI police liaison officer Aoyagi Akimichi walked up to the screen and pressed the microphone on his collar.

He came with his boss half an hour ago. As soon as he arrived, he went straight to see the Superintendent of Police and the Deputy Superintendent of Police, and then entered this meeting room. He did not see anyone else during this time.

He didn't bring any documents or information, just came up with empty hands. As information appeared on the screen, he began to explain the case.

"This attack on the United States can be traced back to two weeks ago, when five soldiers from Yokosuka Base who were about to return to the United States disappeared for unknown reasons..."

On the screen was a photo of five foreigners in soldier uniforms. Robert Otto, another FBI police liaison officer sitting in the first row, touched the dog tag on his wrist uncomfortably.

In fact, he was initially responsible for the disappearance of soldiers, after all, Aoyagi Akimitsu had just arrived in Japan not long ago.

If they are just ordinary soldiers, their disappearance is not a big problem and can be transferred to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Station or the Metropolitan Police Department for full investigation.

But those people are——

At this time, a police officer sitting in the front row raised his hand. He was not from the search section and asked his own question: "I remember it is not a holiday in the United States. Why do these five soldiers want to go back?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu looked at him and answered, "They were deported. Two of them were convicted of sexual assault and were released from prison not long ago; one of them got into a fight after drinking and shot the other in the spine. The injured person is still in the hospital; the last two, one of them was suspected of burglary and the other was suspected of inducing others to take drugs. The prosecutors did not prosecute these two charges due to insufficient evidence."

The atmosphere at the scene became dead silent.

The arm of the Japanese police officer who asked the question froze in mid-air. In such a strange atmosphere, Otto lowered his head in silence.

That’s right, all these missing soldiers had committed crimes in Japan, and their punishments were obviously too light… This was the reason why he refused to stand up and explain the case even though he was in charge of investigating the disappearances.

Otto even admired Aoyagi Akimitsu a little. He felt awkward just sitting in the front row with only a few people nearby secretly looking at him, but he accepted everyone's gazes without changing his expression at all.

Aoyagi Binguang continued as if nothing had happened:

"They won't have to go to jail when they go back, so the possibility of them hiding and not wanting to be deported is low. I went to the last place they went before they disappeared, where I found their car and the strange chess pieces in it."

The scene on the screen changed, and photos of five chess pieces appeared. All of them were live photos, and they were placed in different positions on the vehicle.

Many people recognized that they were Go pieces, all black, but half of them were dyed red.

"After identification, it was found to be camel blood, and no human blood or fingerprints were found," added Aoyagi Akimitsu.

As he spoke, the screen image changed again, switching to the shattered windows of the Suzuki Tower, blood on the ground, and a parking lot burning in flames.

Next to the picture of Suzuki Tower, there is also a photo of a middle-aged Asian man.

Seeing the man up there, there was a small commotion in the conference room. Many people knew that a major case had also occurred on Suzuki Tower in the afternoon, but the victim was a Japanese. They didn't know why it was brought up here.

"Next are the two cases that happened today."

Aoyagi Akimitsu looked up at the enlarged photo above. He did not look at the Japanese policemen not far away. His calm voice was clearly heard by everyone.

"At 4:25 p.m., a sniper attack occurred at Suzuki Tower in Tokyo. The victim was a Japanese real estate agent who had lived in the United States and had experience in real estate investment."

"After the police arrived, they searched nearby high-rise buildings and finally found a bullet casing and an identical Go chess piece on the rooftop of the building opposite."