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

Chapter 399 Bourbon and Rye's Intelligence Communication (Part 1)
Shibuya district.

Inside the police's secret underground bunker, Matsuda Jinpei unscrewed the last screw.

He held the bottom of the collar with both hands, carefully removed it from Furuya Rei's neck, and placed it gently on the ground.

His hands were very steady, and throughout the entire dismantling process, the liquid on both sides stayed obediently in their respective glass tubes and did not flow into the empty groove in the middle.

"That's it." Matsuda Jinpei breathed a sigh of relief, threw the tools back into the toolbox, and sat down on the ground without any regard for his image. "Physical operation is indeed more complicated than model making. Fortunately, I had seen the previous versions of the design drawings beforehand."

"Thanks."

Rei Furuya rubbed his neck, which was finally free, and breathed a sigh of relief. He expressed his gratitude to his friend and reached out to help him tidy up the bomb disposal tools that had been left outside the box.

But Matsuda Jinpei waved his hand and refused: "No need, you go out and do your thing. I need to find someone to take this to a safe place and detonate it later."

Furuya Rei did have a more important mission to attend to. When he heard Matsuda Jinpei say that, he didn't bother with formalities and said, "I'll invite you guys out for a get-together when I have time," before leaving the bunker.

Outside the glass wall, Kazami Yuya watched the entire bomb disposal process with bated breath, even more tense than the two people directly involved. Seeing Furuya Rei emerge, he immediately rushed to greet him: "That's wonderful, Mr. Furuya!"

"Kazami." Furuya Rei took his phone from him. "Quickly contact the others; we need to continue the mission."

"Yes!"

Kazami Yuya took out his phone, walked to the side, and started making a call.

While he was contacting others, Rei Furuya boarded the elevator.

……

The underground bunker was built not far from Shibuya Station and the intersection.

After all, Rei Furuya didn't know when the bomb around his neck would explode, so he couldn't drive to a more remote suburb. He had no choice but to find the nearest secret police outpost.

There were no surveillance cameras in this area, and the surrounding area was guarded by police. He walked directly out of the building without any protection.

The rain had lessened, so it didn't matter if he didn't use an umbrella. As Furuya Rei was about to walk to his car on the side of the street, he suddenly looked up and saw decorative ribbons in the distance, with round balls shaped like animal heads hanging from them.

A dark shadow flew down from above and landed silently on the ribbon. It folded its wings and stared in his direction.

When Furuya Rei saw the eagle, he stopped and slowly turned to look at the shadows of the building.

Shuichi Akai emerged from the alley between the buildings, also without an umbrella, a cigarette between his fingers. The cigarette quickly went out upon contact with the rain.

"..."

Upon seeing the FBI agent again, Furuya Rei wasn't as shocked as when he first encountered him; in fact, he had almost expected it. He opened the Mazda's door, his actions and tone remarkably calm.

“Come up and let’s talk.”

……

Rei Furuya dislikes foreign intelligence agents who come to Japan without permission.

However, given that he didn't have any deep-seated hatred for Shuichi Akai, and that he had entered the country through proper procedures and had a public cooperative relationship with the Japanese police, he quickly overcame his displeasure.

—Especially in matters to be discussed next, he must communicate calmly with the FBI in order to obtain more accurate information.

Rei Furuya quickly checked the car to make sure it was safe before turning to Shuichi Akai, who was sitting in the passenger seat and looked like he wanted to get another cigarette.

When did you join that chat group?

His gaze was sharp, cutting straight to the point. Seeing Furuya Rei's reaction, Akai Shuichi understood: "As expected, your and Morofushi's exposure is related to it."

Rei Furuya's expression immediately turned sour.

Shuichi Akai didn't come here to annoy people; he wanted to communicate properly to get the information he wanted. So after that first sentence, he got straight to the point.

"Three years ago, I received a mission. A popular detective novel exposed that a small island was secretly trafficking drugs, and those drug dealers were connected to an organization. So the organization sent me to eliminate them and the survivors of the massacre that happened years ago, and to investigate how the author knew about this."

“But when I finished cleaning up and came to the port to start investigating the author, Gin suddenly told me that the investigation had been handed over to someone else. That was around the beginning of September.”

Shuichi Akai started from the beginning.

“Bourbon, you’ve been in the organization for a few years, so you should know their style. It’s rare for them to transfer a mission to someone else without any unexpected situation. There are usually only two possibilities: First, the member in charge of the mission has a problem and is suspected of being an undercover agent or a traitor; second, the mission objective has a problem and the original person is not suitable to continue to be in charge.”

Rei Furuya recalled the rumors circulating within the organization three years ago: "Back then, I hadn't heard that you were suspected of being an undercover agent."

Shuichi Akai continued, "At the time, I suspected it was the second one, so I didn't rush to leave but continued to keep an eye on that author."

"Shortly after that, she was suddenly embroiled in a lawsuit when a murder victim's family questioned her for using detective novels to teach others how to kill. Although the two sides eventually reached a settlement, online criticism continued to attack her. She then stopped serializing online, established a fan chat room, and strictly screened those who joined, only posting new content from her novels there from then on."

Finally, they got to the point. Rei Furuya sat up straight: "So that's when you joined?"

Hideaki Akai nodded: "I was the last one to join. The requirements for joining the group are very strict. You have to apply first, then answer questions, and you have to answer a lot of questions correctly to be accepted. I think most people don't have that kind of energy. Only true fans or people with ulterior motives would be so persistent in joining."

"It started as just ordinary chatting, with only a few people being quite active. But one day, she suddenly announced that she would be serializing cases about the police and wanted to write about their stories during their time at the police academy."

Rei Furuya frowned slightly.

They actually knew all this a long time ago.

After Hiro was exposed that day, the Metropolitan Police Department immediately went to arrest Katsutoshi Teraoka. While cleaning the office, they found a fan who happened to be in the chat room. They had seen his complete chat history and knew the earliest posting time of each story.

He interrupted, slightly puzzled, "When you saw these articles, didn't you report us to the organization?"

Undercover agents from different countries are also in competition. Shuichi Akai apparently discovered two undercover agents at once, so why didn't he report them to the organization?

As a result, not only did they not report it, but if his memory is not faulty, this bottle of rye had not come to test them during that period.

Shuichi Akai remained silent for a moment.

His gaze fell on the car window, as if he were seeing the scene from years ago again through the rain.

"I don't want to report any undercover agents. Although we come from different countries, we all have the same goal. There's no need for internal strife, and there are other ways to climb the ladder."

He spoke calmly.

“I didn’t come to test you, because my contact person had some problems at that time.”

Rei Furuya was slightly taken aback: "Your contact?"

"He suspected he was being followed and monitored, and he sent me a message asking for help. But when I tried to contact him again, he said everything was fine."

Shuichi Akai's deep voice echoed in the cramped carriage.

"So at the time, I suspected that the organization had discovered my identity and was testing me, deliberately labeling two members I was relatively familiar with as undercover agents, to see if I would approach or warn them..."

(End of this chapter)