Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"You kicked the lock and broke it!"

Looking at the door lock that shattered into pieces without any resistance, Higashino turned to Conan and asked him a question in a speechless tone.

"If he had a companion who came up the stairs from downstairs and found that the door had been vandalized, he would definitely become suspicious."

The two studied the steel door for a while, but in the end, there was no other way. Conan had to take off his jacket, untie the elastic straps from his body, hang them on the door, close the two sides together, and then tie them to the two pillars in the corridor.

Pressing the button caused the straps to retract rapidly, and the steel door slammed shut under the instantaneous pulling force, ignoring the two people's attempts to pull it open.

"That's good. If we want to go out, we just need to press the contact button and the straps will loosen."

After dealing with the tail problem, Conan dragged the man into an empty room on this floor, stripped him naked, and checked the corridor to make sure nothing was left behind. Conan then handed the tranquilizer dart watch to Higashino and took out his impact pen from his pocket.

"Besides a pistol, he didn't even bring a cell phone? Well... let's wake him up first."

With the pen tip pointed at the man's stomach, Conan slightly turned the pen cap, and the pen tip, which had been used as a bullet, struck the man instantly, waking Akimura from his daze.

"Uh……"

A bit of green saliva sprayed from Zhaocun's mouth onto the bed. The man looked in horror at the two children he had originally intended to attack. One was pointing a gun at him, and the other was holding a pen.

"what!"

The pen struck him again, successfully getting Zhaocun to speak.

"water……"

The two remained locked in this standoff until Conan impatiently tossed a bottle of mineral water to Conan, after which Conan cautiously picked it up and took a couple of sips.

"puff!"

Another pen tip hit him, and the water he had just drunk was instantly vomited up. Zhaocun immediately gasped for breath, knelt on the ground, and began to tremble with his hands supporting him.

"Who's behind you?" Conan waved his pen, signaling Akimura not to try anything funny. "It's... Mr. Cosette from the American Embassy."

The man's face was ashen. Clearly, this exposure meant he had been officially expelled from the organization. If he didn't honestly tell everyone he knew now, and the Americans wanted to silence him, he would be alienated from both sides.

"Cosette? That's the guy who openly expressed his desire to marry the prime minister's daughter during last week's talks. I didn't realize he was so good at hiding his true feelings."

Higashino paused for a moment, then turned his head and noticed that Conan's expression had darkened considerably, and even the air pressure around him seemed excessively low.

"That's what he used to mislead Yuji Kudo. The United States has always treated Japan as... as something in the palm of their hand, and looked down on this country that grovels before them. But now the Prime Minister is saying that he wants to sell Japan to them as a package deal. It's ridiculous."

Akimura was somewhat apprehensive. The reason he attacked the two children was naturally because they had discovered his whereabouts. He used to be a fan of Kudo Yuuji and knew what that person looked like. This newly appeared child resembled Kudo Yuuji in both speech and appearance.

"Then why did you attack us?"

Conan squinted and asked the question that he had a slight idea of.

"Why? Haha, looking at you all like this, I know I wasn't wrong just now, it's a pity I didn't succeed..."

Zhaocun lowered his head and said, "People outside say that everyone related to the Kudo family is a natural prodigy. Whether it's the one from thirty years ago, the now-disappeared Kidd Buster, the Kudo brothers, or you two, you are all much more mature than those in their twenties or thirties at such a young age."

"..."

"If I don't kill you, even if I manage to sneak away and get the documents that Segawa Shoichi brought, you'll eventually be exposed because of the coded message, and then I'll be silenced!"

Zhaocun's face turned red as he explained his reasons, and he even felt that he was quite right.

"What exactly are Segawa Shoichi's documents?"

"It was... a document he obtained from a friend after he got drunk one time. I don't know what it contained, but I know it was a message that could overthrow Japan." (End of Chapter)