Stay away from Conan.

At the beginning, when the first person to arrive, who claimed to be a "Japanese Public Security officer," appeared next to Professor Agasa, Professor Agasa was on the phone with Shinichi Kudo and was worried that this person's conversation would expose their subsequent actions. The man in sunglasses, who was the leader, had already taken Professor Agasa's phone and hung up the phone.

Now, having prepared to let Professor Agasa go, the phone was returned to him. However, the other person seemed to have received some message, and his emotions suddenly changed noticeably. This made the sunglasses-wearing man in the lead suddenly realize—

I can't believe I forgot to check this person's phone!
Therefore, the man in sunglasses couldn't help but call out to Professor Agasa:
"I'll leave you my contact information and let you know when to pick up your things."

Using this as an excuse, the man in sunglasses called out to Professor Agasa, and before Professor Agasa could react, he stepped forward and tried to snatch the phone from Professor Agasa's hand, giving him no chance to react.

Dr. Agasa was greatly alarmed, as it would have been extremely strange if the other party had seen that message.

However, Professor Agasa was too preoccupied to stop the other person and could only watch helplessly as his phone was taken away. Then, before the screen closed, the other person clearly glanced at what was displayed on the screen, which terrified Professor Agasa.

Obviously, this way the other party can directly see the new message they just received.

Surprisingly, Dr. Agasa didn't get any reaction from the other party after seeing the message. Instead, the other party seemed not to have seen anything, glanced at the phone screen a few times, operated it a bit, typed something on the phone, and then handed the phone back to Dr. Agasa.

Thus, Dr. Agasa, who had been extremely alarmed by the process, found everything to be as normal in the end. This left Dr. Agasa somewhat bewildered as he retrieved his phone. He took the phone in a daze, glanced at the contact information left on his phone, nodded somewhat blankly, and then, at the urging of the people who came later, followed the group like a walking corpse and got into their vehicle.

Meanwhile, Dr. Agasa stared at his phone for a while, but couldn't figure out anything special about the contact information left by the other party. He then subconsciously switched the phone screen back to the message notification screen.

Could it be that I'm overthinking things? I thought the other person would be suspicious of that message, but it's just my imagination that's making me suspicious?

As a result, after Professor Agasa was dazedly escorted into the car by the others, he looked at the message page on his phone and couldn't help but freeze in shock—

Because he discovered that the message he had just received was gone!

Even the messages exchanged with the other party in the transaction have all changed.

The message that was supposed to tell me to launch the drone after I arrived here has been changed to me waiting for someone to come and take over.

This……

How is this going?

My brain isn't working properly anymore; I'm even starting to misremember information I just saw?
Or……

A chill ran down Professor Agasa's spine as he thought about the technology the other party had provided. Could it be...?

Suddenly, Professor Agasa realized that he had escaped the dangerous situation he had just been in, but...

Who are these people around me now?

"You, you..."

If his memory serves him right, the other party in the transaction was asking him to go with them. However, now that he's already doubting the identity of the other party, coupled with this unexpected turn of events in the message on his phone, Dr. Agasa's vigilance has reached an unprecedented level.

In response to Professor Agasa's question, the man beside him pulled out identification—"Japanese Public Security Bureau..."

Looking at the identification the person in front of him produced, Professor Agasa was even more dazed—

Were they Japanese Public Security officers? Then what about those people from earlier?
Thus, when Dr. Agasa was completely puzzled about the identities of these two groups of people, the group that had arrived earlier at the spot where they had left watched Dr. Agasa and his companions depart. Their expressions turned solemn as they looked in the direction they had gone, then at the truck that had been parked there, and at the drones inside.

Then, the man in sunglasses, who was in the lead, began to report the situation at the scene using a miniature communication device, and a woman's voice came through his earpiece...

……

While the operation in Gunma Prefecture was clearly hampered, on a shopping street in Osaka Prefecture—

Following instructions from Yuya Kazami, two Japanese public security officers stationed in Osaka Prefecture, acting on a tip from Akemi Miyano relayed by Tooru Amuro, located the internet cafe where Takato had briefly worked.

The internet cafe is still open, but business seems slow.

After the two men showed their identification, they inquired with the current owner and several long-time employees about a young man named "Gao Yuan" who had worked there briefly about a month prior. The owner and employees had a strong impression of him and a good feeling about him. Although he had only worked there for a few days before suddenly resigning, they felt that Gao Yuan was probably just a college graduate who had come to do odd jobs.

Therefore, they were not particularly surprised that Gao Yuan resigned after only a few days. If the Japanese police hadn't come to ask about it, they would have almost forgotten about it.

However, the results of such questioning were obviously not satisfactory. After all, it was an order from above. The two experienced Japanese police officers began to casually extend the topic, asking about things that happened when Takato was in office.

Then they learned that Gao Yuan had come to work there because the former internet cafe manager had taken a temporary leave of absence, and that the internet cafe's network was having serious problems at the time.

Furthermore, when asked about the internet cafe manager who didn't show up, the staff expressed some regret—

Shortly after Gao Yuan resigned, the internet cafe manager also submitted his resignation and left the company.

"The previous network administrator? What was his name? Why did he resign?"

The two Japanese police officers astutely seized on this point and inquired about more details, obtaining employee registration information from the internet cafe and Sato Takeru's contact information and address.

According to the information, Takeru Satoh lives in a nearby low-rent apartment complex.

Without delay, having obtained this clue, they went straight to the other party's residence—

No one answered the door when I knocked. I asked the neighbors and learned that the person had also moved out in a hurry about a month ago. They left in a great rush and didn't take many things with them. The landlord had to come and clean them up later.

As the investigation progressed, suspicions surrounding the former internet cafe manager grew increasingly strong.

Immediately, the two reported the news. Upon learning this, Amuro Tooru also realized there might be a problem. Miyano Akemi's investigation had indeed uncovered something, so the two Japanese public security officers, skilled in complex investigations, were instructed to continue following up on the matter, while resources were allocated to search for the missing internet cafe manager.

As a result, they soon discovered the person's new address by checking their credit card transaction records... (End of Chapter)