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

Nerima District.

The living room fell silent again.

A few minutes earlier, Kazuya Miwa turned off the TV, took his laptop and reference books back to his bedroom, leaving only Ayagi Akimitsu and the cat he brought back in the living room.

Aoyagi Akimitsu opened his email and then checked the system. After confirming there were no new messages, he got up from the sofa and went to pick up the package that was placed by the door.

This is the cat bed he bought a few days ago, which arrived today. He opened the package, looked around the living room, and finally found a suitable place to put it.

"This will be your home from now on."

Aoyagi Akimitsu pulled out a soft cushion and placed it at the bottom before putting the cat inside.

Then he fell silent as he stared at the cat, which was completely buried in the mat and struggling to get up despite its limbs flailing about.

"It seems I bought the wrong thing... I'm sorry, I'm a newbie and don't know how to take care of you."

Aoyagi Akimitsu apologized to the cat, then reached out and scooped the cat, which had nearly suffocated, into his arms again. He gently stroked the cat's forward-bent ears, a symbol of genetic defect, as the two of them looked at the oversized cat bed.

"Among the people I know, only Gin has ever owned a cat, and it was a gift from my brother."

He sighed softly and muttered to himself.

"It's a pity I can't ask him for advice on raising cats now..."

……

During this time, Aoyagi Akimitsu felt a little embarrassed to visit his good friend Gin in the organization.

One reason is that he had tricked him over the phone not long ago. The saying goes, "It's fun to tease someone beforehand, but it's a nightmare to appease them afterwards." If he calls him now, he will definitely get into trouble, and even if it's not a big deal, he will be met with cold words.

The second reason is—

He's betraying the organization with the person he hates most (an undercover agent), so he's too embarrassed to go find him.

The story begins last Sunday morning.

Goldwasser successfully took over, the rabbit's mission was completed, and after writing the application report to mobilize armed helicopters, Aoyagi Akimitsu opened the organization's intranet to check the organization's current situation.

Then he discovered that his account privileges had not been upgraded.

As before, he could only see some of his own or his brother's past missions, but could not see the distribution of other codename members or organization outposts.

Having no other option, he contacted Guqiao.

[Furious: How much intelligence do you currently have about the organization?]

The other party might be available and will reply in a few seconds.

Greed: In what way?

[Furious: Who in the organization did you replace? Did you even compile a list?]

[Furious: And there's Pramia. You should know her, right? She's the international bomber who was brought into the organization three years ago. Do you know where she is?]

During their previous meeting, Tani Tsuru told Aoyagi Akimitsu that she was "watering down" the organization.

Select people connected to the organization—such as members of a mafia organization that has been absorbed, or the organization's original unnamed members—kill them, and then create a human agent with the same appearance to impersonate the other person.

Gu Shao also stated her principles for selecting people: First, they must have a long history of crimes; second, they must have cold interpersonal relationships, few acquaintances, and a low probability of being discovered after impersonating someone else; third, these are relatively rare and special cases, and they must be people who are already dead.

Some jobs in this world, such as company president, are high-risk professions.

The organization frequently deals with the presidents of certain large companies. As Rum's confidant, Gu Shao, despite being known within the organization as someone who keeps to himself and doesn't like socializing, is still sent to make deals with those people.

More than once, she went to a company at the agreed time, thinking that the president was waiting for her. However, when she arrived at the office door, she found that the door was locked from the inside. When she summoned her eagle to look through the window, she found that the president was already dead inside.

Whether such people are guilty or deserve to die, Gu Shao doesn't know, but every time she encounters them, she seizes the opportunity to find someone to take their place and observes the reactions of those around her. Whoever reacts the most strongly to the president's lively and energetic behavior is the murderer or someone who knows the truth. She will handle the aftermath based on the reason the other party committed the crime.

To get back to the point, Gu Shao has replaced quite a few people in the past two years, and even Qing Liubin doesn't know exactly how many people she currently has under her control.

He hadn't cared before, but now that Godivaser had taken over, he needed to start planning to disrupt the organization from within, which required knowing the identities of specific individuals.

[Greed: I'll send you the list later.]

[Greed: Pramia is in Rum's hands. He tried to brainwash her, but it wasn't entirely successful; she sometimes loses control, so Rum usually keeps her confined to the base. I've only seen her twice.]

[Outrage: How were they confined? Completely restricting personal freedom?]

[Greed: No, just tell her not to go out casually. She's nominally a codename member, and her privileges in those bases are quite high; at least she can freely enter and exit the labs.]

Aoyagi Binguang thought to himself that it was indeed quite high, at least higher than him, and he couldn't get into any of those places.

[Greed: You're looking for her?] [Wrath: Yes.]

[Furious: I've reconnected with the aunt of one of my former students. She's an admirable woman, and I'm thinking of offering Pramiya's head as a date gift in exchange for her favor.]

There was silence for a few seconds.

Aoyagi Akimitsu knew she knew who he was referring to and what his purpose was. This was something they had discussed when they met in the past.

Greed: Yes.

[Greed: I'll suggest she come with me on the next mission. Is there a time limit?]

[Furious: The faster the better.]

[Angry: Have you been very busy lately? You left so hastily the last time we met; I thought you disliked me. If you need anything, feel free to ask, and I can assist you.]

[Furious: After all, we're allies.]

The other side remained silent for a few more seconds.

[Greed: There's a problem at the crematorium. I can handle it myself; I don't need your help.]

Aoyagi Akimitsu understood perfectly.

It's still related to her people and messengers. The number of people she impersonated means the number of corpses that need to be dealt with.

Moreover, the matter must be handled cleanly; for example, the corpses of those company presidents must absolutely not be discovered.

He knew about her troubles and had kindly offered some suggestions: the first was to fill the sea with cement and sink it, but she refused because she couldn't pollute the ocean; the second was to feed the animal messengers, since they weren't picky eaters and could digest bones, but she almost blocked him on the spot.

In the end, she chose the most common method: cremation.

Cremation does not mean simply setting fire to the body. To avoid attracting attention, she secretly acquired several remote crematoriums and disposed of the bodies collectively.

Since these were minor matters, Gu Shao would no longer do them personally, but delegated them to the messengers.

Aoyagi Akimitsu wasn't surprised that she was exposed. With a high incidence of murders in Japan, the authorities have been tightening their control over crematoriums to prevent murderers from destroying bodies. It's already quite remarkable that she only got discovered now after secretly burning hundreds of corpses.

However, out of curiosity, he still asked:
[Furious: How were we discovered?]

[Greed: One of the properties belonged to a mid-level executive of the Muddy Waters Association, changed hands twice, and I bought it.]

[Greed: Two people who had been there before were drinking nearby. After getting drunk, they broke in. The people responsible for cremating the bodies hid, but the incinerator didn't go out so quickly. They saw signs of use and notified their superiors, who then informed me.]

[Furious: Why don't you kill them?]

[Greed: Too late. They have too many acquaintances, making it difficult to impersonate someone else, and they have connections with informants in the police force. By the time I heard the news, they had already passed on the intelligence.]

Gu Qiao remained relatively calm, indicating that the problem was not serious and was well within her control.

Seeing her like this, Aoyagi Binguang naturally didn't continue to offer his help.

Then he saw his ally's next message pop up.

Greed: Rum plans to hire a programmer.

"..."

Aoyagi Akimitsu's gaze fell on the last line of text, and the corners of his mouth, which usually habitually turned up in a smile, slowly faded.

[Greed: I suspect it's related to the BOSS, I mean the former BOSS, Karasuma Renya. The organization has been looking for Sawada Hiroki for two years.]

[Greed: Before the competition started, Rum mentioned that he wanted to find the world's best programmers, as if he was preparing for something. After Goldwasser took over, he told me to immediately mobilize the people on his contact list, and also instructed me not to attract attention.]

Aoyagi Akimitsu read every single word she wrote and typed a reply.

[Furious: As expected of someone so impatient. It seems we don't need to stir things up; he'll make his move on the new leader soon.]

[Greed: He was too hasty. I knew he was impatient, but I didn't expect him to be this hasty. Such impulsiveness makes him too easily swept away in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, this is his nature, and I can't change it.]

You could feel her dissatisfaction with her boss even through the screen.

[Furious: Don't worry.]

After a moment's thought, several plans took shape in his mind. Considering his current needs and pondering the details, he felt there weren't any major problems and began to slowly reply.

[Furious: All we need is a leader to oppose Godvasel and weaken the organization from within. Who that leader is is irrelevant.]

[Furious: Let's talk about Pramia first. I have a way to lure her out; I need your help.] (End of Chapter)