Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"I...where am I?"

Although his eyes were closed, Conan felt a bright spotlight shining directly into his eyes when he woke up. He struggled to open his eyes a crack, and as he adjusted to the pain, he was finally able to vaguely see his surroundings.

The space is about 200 square meters, and all around are various small cabinets with mechanical doors. Each cabinet has a tube as thick as an adult's thigh inserted into it, as if something is being transported into the cabinet.

Behind the spotlight in front of him, there was a man in a black robe, his face covered by a hood and not very clear, but he was tall and strong.

"How interesting, there are two Shinichi Kudos at the same time. You have a scent that doesn't belong to this time. Pandora is echoing you."

"Who are you! Where is this?"

When his identity was exposed and he remembered that he was taken down by "Segawa Taikei", Conan tried to use his sneakers to break free, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed all his equipment that had been taken off and placed on a table not far away.

"Segawa Taikei, no, you are the murderer who killed him!" Conan frowned: "You are not Northern spies, nor are you underground resistance fighters for the country."

"Don't compare us to those rotten guys. Whether it's the South or the North, we're all the same in the end, aren't we? I think you know that better than anyone."

The man in black stood up from his chair, walked to the machine to Conan's right, took out a card from his pocket, sensed it on the only panel on the cabinet for a second, and then started typing on the keyboard that popped up.

"Hey, what's that..."

Conan stared wide-eyed, and as his eyes adjusted to the bright light, he saw that the black-clad man's outstretched hand was not human at all. Although it was similar in structure to a human body, it was clearly arthropod.

"What a third-rate sci-fi show..."

He suddenly remembered the "Pandora" mentioned by the man in black earlier. He recalled that Yuuji had said it was a powerful gem that the Kuroba family was searching for, and a ridiculous idea popped into his head.

If even magic exists, could this kind of thing also be real?

“You should have been the best choice, since you had a reaction with Pandora, but unfortunately your body is still too small.”

The man in black held a piece of gravel in front of Conan, making the elementary school student look at the stone that was flashing green light, and then pointed to the glass that revealed the inside of the cabinet.

"Segawa Taikei..."

The man who attacked him was unconscious inside, and after the man in black put the stone into the box next to the cabinet, the tube connected to the box continuously pumped green gas into it, causing the person inside to convulse uncontrollably.

"Are you kidding..."

In less than ten minutes, a strange creature with a spider's head and covered in green slime crawled out of the cabinet, panting heavily and drooling greedily at Conan.

"It wasn't for nothing that we went to such lengths to hide this laboratory on the ship. Go, Spider-Man, kill Segawa Shoichi, drag out those in the crowd who resist our American annexation of West Asia, and make everyone on this ship pay for our deaths! New humans who have obtained the great power of Pandora."

Spider-Man clenched his fist in front of Conan and slammed it against the wall, exposing the exposed steel bars and iron plates to the elementary school student.

"Whoosh!" A tranquilizer dart flew out of nowhere and struck Conan in the neck. The Spider-Man, who had been so ferocious just moments before, saw the elementary school student's head loll to the side and he passed out. He raised his claw and scratched his chin.

"I said, do you really need to act out this manga that Suzuki Yuko rejected in front of him? And the wall has such a huge flaw, it's practically floating up."

Matsuda Jinpei's voice came from inside the spider suit. He shuddered in disgust and looked at the slime covering his body through the glass peephole, feeling nauseous.

"The new material that Hiroki is researching is really suitable for making this kind of leather case. It's disgusting."

"Is that so?" He ripped off the black clothes, pulled off the fake limbs on his arms, and said calmly with the face of Prime Minister Kudo, "Who told those guys who were turned by the United States to hide so well? If they don't put on an act, this kid won't work for me willingly."

"I think if he's not completely mad, he'll definitely notice something's wrong with what you're doing."

Rize also came out wearing Segawa Taikei's face, her face covered in green powder, which was quite comical.

“This is over thirty years in the future. Don’t forget, the Black Organization could reverse aging thirty years ago. Is genetic modification really that difficult? The more absurd it is, the more he’ll believe it.” Yuuji spread his hands: “As long as we don’t go too far. As long as we actually create something like Kamen Rider, it’ll be fine.”

"I promise I won't go through with your 'illness' again next time, Prime Minister." Mr. Spider-Man clearly looked exhausted.

"A secretary is supposed to obey the boss's orders, Matsuda-kun. It's common sense to take off your clothes and be asked to do this or that by your boss."

[What kind of common sense is it to accompany someone in a stage play?!]

"So next we have to put on a scene where Segawa Shoichi is brutally murdered in front of him. Matsuda, don't rush to take off the suit."

Kudo Yuji walked to the chair, sat down gracefully, and steered the conversation back to the main topic.

"Sagawa Shoichi originally planned to hand over the Southern government's urban economic plan and details of support funds for the front-line war zone to the American secret agents on the ship in exchange for the opportunity to go to North America for asylum. However, it now seems that even he did not know how the other party would contact him before he boarded the ship."

"So why did you have someone reveal to him that you were exposed, so that he would get on the plane and cause us trouble?" Rize wiped her face in annoyance: "Wouldn't it have been easier to take him down together after he boarded the ship and met with the other party?"

"This person will inevitably come into contact with all sorts of people. The safest way is to let him escape on the plane and kill him. There will be changes before or after that."

Yuji Kudo looked at the spider: "Before dawn tomorrow, hang Sagawa Shoichi's body on the top deck of the ship. Remember to use the simulated spider silk thread that Hiroki gave me."

"You really want to keep playing this game?"

"Let's have some fun. The stuff's already been delivered, so let's get him onto the deck first, and then Rize can steer the ship back."

Yuuji patted the wall and walked out, rounded the corner and looked at the inner harbor of the ship. He returned to the ship from the temporary set built on a small boat.

He carried Conan toward the deck, while Matsuda, still in his suit, dawdled as he prepared to arrange the real Segawa Shoichi's entrance.

"Damn it, why is this leather glove so high? My butt hurts so much!" (End of Chapter)