Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

"Belloberg...is this the name you used when you were an undercover agent in the past?"

Inside the black Chevrolet, as soon as these words came out, the air in the car seemed to freeze.

Akai Shuichi felt that the surroundings became silent, only those light brown eyes swept straight towards him.

As a former member of HRT, an undercover agent who returned safely, and now active on the front line of counter-terrorism, Aoyagi Binguang has a very strong figure, with explosive muscles hidden under his elegant suit. Even though he has a gentle expression, he still looks like someone else. What a hunting wolf.

Being stared at by such eyes, Akai Shuichi was not only not uneasy, but also felt...excited to meet someone of the same kind.

“Chi-chi-chi”

The atmosphere was tense, and the cry of an eagle suddenly sounded, breaking the silence.

The small eagle raised its head from Qingliu Binguang's arms and flew back to the back seat from the gap between the car seats, its flapping wings almost passing over their faces.

Qingliu Binguang finally moved.

He looked away, leaned back on the chair, took out the cigarette case from his pocket, took one out and bit it in his mouth, and then took out a lighter with a gold shell.

"Want one?" he asked.

Akai Shuichi was not polite, took one, borrowed the other party's lighter to light it, and then said flatly: "I thought you would deny it."

“Does denial make sense?”

Qingliu Binguang was chewing on his cigarette, his voice a little slurred, implying a little bit of anger that his original plan had been inexplicably disrupted, but he quickly regained his original calmness.

He may not be in a good mood at the moment. He originally wanted to test it out, but suddenly his identity was revealed by a passerby, causing him to fall into a passive state...

However, Akai Shuichi agreed to come with Aoyagi Binguang for another reason - he knew there was someone here who had met [Sylvie Belloberg].

When Aoyagi Binguang was undercover, the zoo sent him to steal gems from Chairman Sindora, and he worked as a bodyguard for a period of time. The chairman of the board had a good relationship with the winery owner, who had a wide range of friends. If they occasionally interacted with each other, the winery owner would most likely recognize him.

The undercover agent has a good memory, but he will not remember everyone he met while undercover, especially if the person has nothing to do with the hidden organization. In a certain mission, a certain chairman recognized Aoyagi Binguang when he was rescued. However, Aoyagi Binguang didn't think of him until he heard the key words "bodyguard" and "Sindora" - this incident It was the branch chief who told Shuichi Akai.

Akai Shuichi thought that if he was recognized, he would have the opportunity to naturally talk to Aoyagi Binguang about the undercover topic... Even if he didn't, it didn't matter. They all came out together anyway, and he would always have the opportunity to find another entry point.

Qingliu Binguang took off the cigarette with his left hand, and his voice became clear again, and he added: "There are many people in the branch who know that I have been an undercover agent. Isn't it strange that someone in the headquarters knows about it? Besides, you are still..."

He glanced at him and said very bluntly and unceremoniously: "An undercover agent who failed the mission and withdrew."

Akai Shuichi was not angry.

He said calmly: "It seems that the branch director has told you all about my situation."

"He didn't go into too much detail." Aoyagi Binguang said, "He said you went to Japan a few years ago and were exposed there."

Qingliu Binguang paused, and his tone became a little subtle: "...how were you exposed at that time?"

If an undercover mission fails and an emergency evacuation occurs, others will wonder how he was exposed. This is human nature. When Shuichi Akai first returned to the FBI, he was repeatedly questioned by his superiors and colleagues for a long time.

"There was a mistake during the arrest. Someone mistook the person being tested as an innocent passerby, and it was exposed when he went to remind him."

"It turns out it's not your problem..." Qingliu Binguang muttered.

"Fifty-fifty. I didn't remind them again to be more vigilant before taking action. This was my negligence."

Shuichi Akai, who had been cheated out of several years of hard work by his colleagues, calmly took half of the blame on his back.

Qingliu Binguang glanced at him without comment.

"My mission failed, but you are different. You are a successful undercover agent." Shuichi Akai opened the car window to let the smell of smoke in the car escape. "I am very interested in your experience. Can you talk to me about it?" Want to talk?”

Qingliu Binguang smiled. He raised the corners of his mouth, slowly tightened his lips, and then gradually loosened them, and finally he let out a long sigh.

"You want to ask me how I feel about success?...I'm just lucky."

He spoke. "The organization was fighting internally. The leader was old, his son was incompetent, and his former henchmen wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. The people below him were divided into two groups. Shortly after I entered, the conflict between the two sides completely broke out. I can only ignore it."

Shuichi Akai read all the mission reports provided by Aoyagi Himitsu after he returned. At that time, he was hanging around the second-in-command and the leader's own son. It can be said that he faced this contradiction head-on.

Don't listen to his modesty and talk as if he was really picking up the slack. In fact, he was in quite a lot of trouble, and he was almost exposed once.

Because several operations were sabotaged, the son suspected that there was a mole around him, so during a major operation, he deliberately revealed different information to different people to see which side the FBI would target.

Fortunately, Aoyagi Binguang realized something was wrong in time and secretly obtained another person's information and sent it back. Although the FBI was deceived by him and the trip was in vain, he successfully saved himself and even passed on his undercover identity to others, taking the opportunity to win more of trust.

Akai Shuichi didn't think there was any problem with this method at all. If necessary, he would do the same. He asked: "Then what do you think of this case?"

Qingliu Binguang took a few puffs of cigarette, but his expression was calm. After all, he is a person who has seen the world, so even if a colleague dies, he will not reveal much emotion.

"The headquarters thinks it's retaliation for you, and it was done by the criminal group you once worked as an undercover agent." He raised his eyes and looked forward, as if thinking, "...but I think there are other possibilities."

"Oh?" Akai Shuichi raised an eyebrow.

"Criminal groups will retaliate against undercover agents, but they may not necessarily kill them."

"After the KIKI incident, criminal groups with a little bit of brains did not dare to retaliate too brutally against undercover agents, because once the country behind the undercover agents was completely angered, it would lead to military suppression. They could have survived, but now they can only die suddenly on the spot."

"In this incident, I have read all the autopsy reports. The methods were very bad. Most of the deceased had experienced torture before their lives. And it was not just the agents who died, but also their family and friends... It affected their relatives and friends. This is worse than The fact that the agent himself was killed is more likely to inspire fear and anger.”

"If it's a small gang, it might be so brainless; where you are undercover... you have to go to Japan all the way. It must be a transnational criminal group? They don't and can't do things in such a high-profile way..."

Aoyagi Binguang frowned when he said this, as if he was trying to explore the logic of the other party's behavior.

Akai Shuichi suddenly understood.

The headquarters and himself thought it was retaliation because they were thinking about the reason for the organization to do this, while Aoyagi Binguang thought in reverse. He believed that the other party would do no good, so he went to explore other possibilities.

There is actually nothing wrong with thinking this way, and it is even a comprehensive consideration, but the problem is that the information he has obtained is incomplete.

He didn't know that most of the dead agents had participated in that arrest, that the new deceased had a close relationship with him, and that the bottle of rye whiskey at the scene was his past code name for the organization...

——Because I don’t know, I think of going somewhere else.

"Do you think someone else did it?" Shuichi Akai asked.

"No, I can't be sure. I can only say that it may be retaliation against you, or it may be a small group or individual behavior. It may not be targeted at you, but at the FBI as a whole."

When Shuichi Akai heard this, he understood that Aoyagi Binguang might be thinking of his previous experience.

In the recent New York car bombing case, the first bomb was in a car in front of the apartment where Aoyagi Binguang lived, and the second one was at his alma mater, New York University. Therefore, the branch believed that the remnants might be retaliating against him.

The result was not like that. After the prisoner was arrested and brought to justice, he discovered that the person he wanted to take revenge on was the FBI. It was a coincidence that he was related to Aoyagi Binguang twice. The branch had always been worried about whether he would encounter revenge, which led to preconceptions...

Akai Shuichi wanted to say something else, but at this moment, Aoyagi Binguang's cell phone rang.

At the same time as the cell phone rang, the eagle behind him started to flutter inexplicably. Qingliu Binguang turned to look at it and then answered the phone.

He didn't know what he heard. The next second, he sat up straight.

This reaction made Akai Shuichi stunned, and he had a bad feeling in his heart: "What's going on?"

What if there's something going on with the FBI? If so, he should have received a call at the same time... Could it be Aoyagi Binguang's personal matter?
Aoyagi Binguang didn't answer. The expression on his face was so complicated that it was hard to describe in words. He slowly put down his phone so that Shuichi Akai next to him could hear the voice on the other side.

"You heard it right, Teacher Aoyagi, I'm in trouble again. Agent Kamel and I were... kidnapped by a gangster..."

Akai Shuichi: "..."

Akai Shuichi: "...?" (End of this chapter)