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

The organization is based at an unknown base.

The people in the dungeon were unaware of what was happening outside. When faced with Conan Edogawa's questioning gaze, Morofushi Kagemitsu did not answer.

It wasn't that he didn't want to answer, but just as he was about to speak, he suddenly felt dizzy and his whole body went limp. He could only barely maintain his sitting posture; he didn't even have the strength to stand up.

When Morofushi Kagemitsu saw that he was not bound, he guessed that the organization might have injected him with some kind of drug to control him. He did not panic and tried to conserve his remaining strength.

His gaze shifted to behind Conan Edogawa, and he stared intently at Taku Itakura.

"Mr. Itakura, besides us, are there any other people locked up here?"

He suspected that Ishigami's disappearance at the hospital that afternoon was related to the organization. After all, this senior had also been knocked unconscious by Curaçao at the Suzuki Hotel last time, and the organization knew his identity as a public security officer.

Conan Edogawa seemed to have thought of the same thing and turned to look at the person in his cell.

Itakura Taku slowly raised his head and saw the other two, especially Morofushi Kagemitsu next door, looking at him. His body visibly trembled, and after a long while, he said dryly, "...I don't know, I only see you guys."

Hearing the other party's fluent response, Morobushi Kagemitsu breathed a slight sigh of relief, confirming that such a person was capable of communication.

He softened his voice and continued, "You're afraid of me. Do you know who I am?"

"..."

Itakura Taku looked at him, his eyes filled with deathly fear and despair: "I know, you are... you are Scotch Whisky, an undercover agent for the Public Security Bureau. That's what they said when they threw you in here. They said that neither undercover agents nor traitors can escape."

Morofushi Kagemitsu was not surprised.

The identities of the codenamed members are kept strictly confidential, while the exposed undercover agents are the complete opposite. In order to capture them, almost everyone in the organization has a copy of their portrait photos.

Conan Edogawa was genuinely surprised.

He never expected that Morofushi Kagemitsu, a public security police officer he had met a few times, would be an undercover agent for the organization—Scotch whisky, just hearing that, was a code name of the same level as gin and vodka—and then he thought of something else.

No wonder Officer Morofushi was hidden in the ice storage by the organization at the Suzuki Hotel last time, with the intention of smuggling him away. At the time, he wondered why so many police officers were only arresting him. Now he knows...

Upon learning that Morofushi Kagemitsu was actually an undercover agent, Conan Edogawa was quite excited and immediately wanted to ask about the medicine.

But soon, he looked at his surroundings and thought about his current situation. It was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head, and he instantly became dejected.

Morofushi Kagemitsu noticed Conan Edogawa's unpredictable reactions but didn't investigate further.

He didn't know when the organization would send someone to interrogate or kill him, so he had to hurry and gather intelligence.

Even if the organization locking Itakura Taku in the cell next to him is a trap, he has to try and step into it. Because he's already in the worst situation, it can't get any worse.

Morofushi Kagemitsu stared at Itakura Taku: "Then why were you locked up here? Did you betray them too?"

Itakura Taku's face turned deathly pale, and he shook his head repeatedly: "No, I didn't, I just—I just really didn't want to—"

As if recalling something extremely terrifying, his body trembled like a leaf, and he shook his head repeatedly. He reached out and hugged his head tightly, his eyes wide open.

"I can't—I can't continue developing that software," he finally said. "That would be a disaster for all of humanity!"

"..."

Zhu Fujingguang frowned even more deeply.

If it weren't for his physical limitations, he would have loved to move closer to the iron bars. Getting closer to the person being interrogated would make it easier to continue questioning or observe their expressions.

Itakura Taku refused to continue, cowering against the wall, trembling. Edogawa Conan glanced at him, then at the silent Morofushi Kagemitsu, and recalled:
"Software?...Do you mean the one we developed at Sindora Corporation before?"

Morofushi Kagemitsu finally looked at him again, his tightly furrowed brows still furrowed: "What do you know?"

“Yesterday… uh, it was Friday night the day before yesterday, Mr. Aoyagi and I attended the game launch event of Full Paradise, where we met Mr. Bisciniano, a game developer from Syndora, who is a friend of Mr. Aoyagi.”

Knowing the situation was urgent, Conan Edogawa abandoned any riddles or opportunistic demands and began to explain directly.

"He came to Japan to find Mr. Itakura, because he was developing a game at the time and thought that a piece of software that Mr. Itakura had left behind when he worked at Sindora might be useful, so he wanted to ask him to continue the development."

Upon hearing Aoyagi, Morofushi Kagemitsu's heart skipped a beat; then, upon hearing Bisignano, that familiar surname, a name that symbolized the need for caution, calmed him down. "What software exactly?" he asked.

"An artificial intelligence."

Conan Edogawa said, "An artificial intelligence that can simulate human intelligence and thought, and even replicate the consciousness of the dead."

He remembered what Aoyagi Akimitsu had said to him that day...

……

"—Do you want to communicate with the dead again?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu's voice was very pleasant, especially when he sang; he never sang off-key. But when it reached Edogawa Conan's ears, it sent a chill down his spine for no apparent reason.

The fake child looked on with disbelief: "How is this possible?"

"It's impossible."

Aoyagi Akimitsu seemed nonchalant: "In my opinion, it's just an AI with a personality, at most its personality is based on those of real people."

It took Conan Edogawa a few seconds to realize what he meant: "Artificial intelligence?"

Seeing his curiosity, Aoyagi Akira explained the principle:

"For living people, we collect neuronal signals through a brain-computer interface, copy the so-called 'memory' and 'consciousness,' and then upload them to a computer to generate an artificial intelligence loaded with these things."

"It's even simpler with the dead. We can directly read their diaries, emails, online messages, other people's records, and other written materials to generate an artificial intelligence with a similar personality and thoughts."

Conan Edogawa was filled with questions, feeling as if he had been transported to a science fiction world.

"Can you really do that?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu stared at the screen, his tone unchanged: "I guess so. I met that unfinished product when I was in Sindora. Communicating with him felt similar to talking to a real person, or even a bit more polite."

Conan Edogawa thought for a moment: "That's great. In games, it can enrich the player experience; in real life, it can also help those who have lost loved ones..."

"No, it's useless in reality. Once someone is dead, they're dead. As family members, they should know this fact better than anyone else. Using something like this would be an insult to them."

Aoyagi Akimitsu coldly interrupted.

Conan Edogawa was taken aback; this was the first time he had heard Aoyagi Akimitsu speak in such a tone.

"but……"

Seemingly realizing he had been too harsh, the usually mild-mannered FBI agent softened his tone: "For some who are truly unable to overcome the grief of losing a loved one, this may indeed be a comfort."

"It's like when you're sick and go to the hospital, the doctor chats with you kindly and then prescribes a bottle of painkillers," he said gently.

"—Temporarily delay your pain, endure the present, and then one day in the future, die an even more horrible death."

……

Conan Edogawa slowly clenched his fist as he recalled Aoyagi Akimitsu's words from back then.

A young girl who died from a genetic disease, an unfortunate woman who got into a car accident due to the shock, the Karasuma Group, which is related to them, the bizarre frequency of surgical accidents in the hospital, and this artificial intelligence that can replicate human consciousness...

If what he heard in the afternoon was correct, then he has figured out exactly what happened here.

At this point, Morofushi Kagemitsu had no time to consider Edogawa Conan's reaction.

His mind was buzzing.

—We are both God and Demon. Because we want to reverse the flow of time and bring the dead back to life…

Could this be... the organization's purpose? (End of Chapter)