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

The two people at the table ate dinner quietly.

Conan Edogawa knew that Aoyagi Akiko could cook and liked to cook (he could even sing in public to find out how to knead the dough better), but he didn't expect that her cooking was so delicious.

He was munching on a sandwich, and after eating half of it he felt a little full, so he turned his head and looked around.

Just now he was busy making phone calls and sending emails and had no mood to observe the place. Now taking a closer look, he found that the living room was decorated with a lively atmosphere, like the flowers above the piano as decoration.

On the green leaves, several small flowers are clustered together, each with five light pink petals, looking light and fragile.

Conan Edogawa thought it was cherry blossoms, but when he looked closely, he found that it didn't look like it.

"Has the message been sent?"

The voice of Aoyagi Akimichi startled Conan Edogawa, who was distracted. He turned around and saw the man opposite him looking at him calmly, with an empty plate in front of him.

“…It’s sent.”

Since his identity was exposed, Conan Edogawa didn't continue to hide it: "I also sent her the address of the tower, but I didn't tell her the specific house number."

Aoyagi Binguang nodded, picked up the plate, and pretended to get up: "That's good, you stay here and wait for her to pick you up. If you want to watch TV or play games, there is a game console in the brown bedroom, you can go get it yourself."

Edogawa Conan didn't care about the game. He quickly stopped the other party: "Wait a minute, Mr. Aoyagi! I want to know, how did you find out that I am Kudo Shinichi?"

The question was so straightforward that Qing Liu Bingguang paused with his hand holding the plate and looked at him again.

"Kudo." He said helplessly, "I am a member of the Counter-Terrorism Department after all, and Mrs. Yukiko showed me your childhood photos."

Edogawa Conan was stunned, and instantly understood what he meant.

The United States has experienced the largest terrorist attack in the past, and has also been repeatedly threatened by explosions in the past few years. These attacks are generally investigated by the FBI.

In order to arrest the suspects, the detectives in charge of the case have to learn to capture the other party's figure from hundreds or thousands of street surveillance cameras. In addition to facial features and clothing, walking posture, habitual movements, etc. are also important ways of identification.

Not to mention that his mother had shown the photo directly to Mr. Qingliu. His only disguise was his glasses. Even if he didn't recognize him the first time they met, he would remember him the next time they met.

"Then how did you recognize my mother?" Edogawa Conan asked unwillingly, "Although she claimed to be my mother several times on the road, I didn't recognize her from her appearance and demeanor..."

Later he spoke in a lower voice. As a son, he couldn't recognize his own mother, which was really unworthy of the title of detective.

"I visited them before I came to Japan this time," said Aoyagi Akiko. "They had just returned from Japan, and she asked me what I thought of this new look, which she made based on the wife of a novelist in the newly published "Night Baron" series."

Edogawa Conan knew that his parents would occasionally fly back to Japan secretly, but he didn't care about this and quickly flipped through his memories of his father's works.

Soon, he remembered the description of the lady in the original text, and it was exactly the same as the look that Kudo Yukiko had just had.

"........."

So, so embarrassing...

I didn't pay attention when I was scared, but now when I review the game, I find that the various clues are so obvious. Edogawa Conan is so ashamed that he wants to dig a hole in the floor and crawl into it, and then seal the top.

"how about you?"

Aoyagi Hiromitsu suddenly asked, "Kudo, why did you become a child? How many people besides me know that you have become like this?"

Conan Edogawa recovered from the huge blow and told the story of how he spied on two suspicious persons making a deal in the amusement park, and was hit by a club and poisoned by one of them, and then mentioned the person who knew the truth.

"My neighbor knows. He watched me grow up. He was the first acquaintance I met after I became a child. He also helped me arrange my current identity and schooling..."

When Haibara Ai's name came to his lips, he paused and quickly swallowed it.

"…Besides him, it's you and my parents."

Conan Edogawa did not reveal the identity of the other person who had shrunk. He looked at Aoyagi Akimitsu carefully.

Aoyagi Binguang frowned, seemingly not noticing the pause he had just experienced, and was immersed in his own world, thinking about something.

Edogawa Conan's heart moved.

He remembered that Haibara Ai mentioned that the FBI had sent an undercover agent, which proved that the FBI had investigated this organization before... Could it be that Aoyagi Akimitsu had also heard about it, or even knew some information?
He was about to ask, but Aoyagi Akimichi interrupted him and asked another question:
"Mr. and Miss Maori don't know?"

Edogawa Conan was stunned, then nodded: "Yes, I didn't tell them. My neighbor told me that if I was exposed, people who knew my identity would also be killed."

Although Xiaolan may have discovered it, I wonder if the drama his mother performed today can fool her... Aoyagi Binguang frowned even more tightly. Seeing him like this, Edogawa Conan quickly asked what he wanted to ask: "By the way, Mr. Aoyagi, have you heard of this criminal organization that made me small when you were in the United States?"

He concealed the existence of Huiyuan Ai and pulled out Miyano Akemi to add:
"Not long ago, a 10 billion yen robbery occurred in Japan. It caused a big stir at the time. I wonder if you have heard of it? In fact, this case was committed by that organization... Before one of the members was killed by others, I happened to rush to her side, and she told me some characteristics of the organization."

"It's a transnational criminal organization that flocks like crows and its members like to wear black."

Qing Liu Bingguang looked at him steadily. After a few seconds, he shook his head:
"In the past, the Mafia was rampant in the United States, and now there are many criminal organizations and gangs of all sizes. The clues you gave are too few, and I can't be sure which one it is."

As he spoke, he looked at Edogawa Conan's young body: "And with the damage you've suffered so far, I can't ask the headquarters for help or request more information. If someone finds you through me, you'll be in even greater danger."

Of course Conan Edogawa knew this. After all, he was a detective who had sent the mayor into the past, and he knew the disgusting nature beneath the glamorous appearance of some big shots.

But he was still a little discouraged and sat in his seat for a while in a daze.

After eating the toast, the eagle looked at Edogawa Conan, then flapped its wings and flew into the arms of Aoyagi Akimitsu next to it.

Conan Edogawa looked at Aoyagi Akimichi stroking his eagle: "Mr. Aoyagi..."

He hesitated for a moment, then asked the question that he had been curious about since noon: "I have a question. Uh... you come from a well-off family, and you were a special police officer in the HRT unit. Why did the FBI choose you to be an undercover agent?"

He didn't know the specific criteria for selecting undercover agents, as they were different in different countries and departments, but he knew a universal principle -

The offspring of the upper class with good family backgrounds are rarely chosen to do such dangerous work. Even if they are willing, their superiors will have more concerns.

"This..."

Aoyagi Binkou seemed to see his doubts and smiled helplessly.

"Because my uncle offended many people."

"Ah?" Edogawa Conan was stunned.

"He is one of the current Supreme Court Justices. He has helped many people and offended even more people. He has no children. I am his nephew and also his adopted son."

"So someone gave money to a senior FBI official, hoping to teach me a lesson in secret. It just so happened that the FBI was investigating a certain organization at that time, and I had mentioned to my teammates not long ago that I was considering retiring and becoming an ordinary agent, so this undercover mission was given to me."

Conan Edogawa frowned: "This is too much! Has the mastermind and the official who accepted the bribe been arrested?"

"That officer died in a street shooting before I returned from my mission," Aoyagi said. "It was his death that led the FBI to investigate this matter, but unfortunately, the clues stopped there."

"Could the shooting also have been arranged by a mastermind?" Conan Edogawa asked suspiciously.

"I don't know about that." Qing Liu Bingguang said calmly, as if he was talking about an outsider's business, "The murderer has not been caught."

Edogawa Conan was about to say something else, but at this moment, the pager at the door suddenly rang - the building management office on the first floor called him.

Aoyagi Akimitsu apologized and stood up to listen to the news. Edogawa Conan watched him walk to the door and then looked away.

During this time, his eyes once again swept across the vase of flowers on the piano, and this time he finally remembered what these flowers were that looked a bit like cherry blossoms at first glance.

——It’s apple blossom.

Not long after, Aoyagi Binguang came back.

"Mrs. Yukiko is already downstairs." He said, and held out his hand to Edogawa Conan, "I'll take you down now."

……

At the same time, in another apartment somewhere.

Gu Jiao returned to her residence. She took off the guitar bag on her back and placed it at the entrance. She unzipped it halfway and began to change her shoes.

Two small green snakes crawled out of the bag one after another through the zipper.

Gu Jiao put away her shoes and prepared to walk into the room, but the moment she turned around, a man's figure suddenly jumped into her eyes.

Qing Liu Bingguang, who had turned back into human form, raised his hand. He did not feel any discomfort after turning into a snake. The little snake that he gave to her, an undercover agent who changed his career halfway, was wrapped around his arm. He tilted his head slightly and looked at her.

"It's really rare for me to see you as Glenn." He said. (End of this chapter)