I'm in Conan, I'm not a gangster

Chapter 542 Injection (2nd Update)
The water park on the gambling ship was filled with laughter and joy.

The giant slides, wave pool, and lazy river glittered in the sunlight, and screams and laughter from tourists filled the air.

Shiraishi E, Ran, Sonoko, and Kazuha were having a great time.

Four people climbed onto the platform and sat in the inflatable boat. A staff member gave them a gentle push—

"Waaaaahh ...

The inflatable boat spun rapidly in the huge funnel-shaped slide, and the screams of three girls echoed throughout the water park.

Kazuha had just gotten off the "Super Big Horn" and was still a little dizzy, leaning against the edge of the pool panting.

Her cheeks flushed with excitement, her wet hair clung to her shoulders. She patted her chest and laughed, "This is terrifying! I need to rest for a bit."

"Let Emi stay here with you! I'm going to go play somewhere else with Sonoko!" Ran said, pulling Sonoko along happily.

“Okay, you guys go ahead… Anyway, most of the facilities are for two people, so I won’t go.” As she spoke, Shiraishi E grabbed two glasses of chilled lemonade from a passing waiter’s tray, handed one to Kazuha, and sat down on the recliner next to her.

"Thank you." Kazuha took the cup, the cool water droplets sliding down the side of the cup. She took a sip, and the sweet and sour lemon flavor made her sigh with relief.

Shiraishi E leaned lazily against the recliner, the light shining on his handsome profile, water droplets sliding down his collarbone, making Kazuha steal a few more glances.

“You seem to be very popular,” she couldn’t help but say.

Shiraishi E raised the corners of her mouth slightly, revealing a confident smile: "It's not just that it seems popular, it's that it's really popular."

Kazuha was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing: "You really aren't modest at all!"

Shiraishi E shrugged: "That's called self-confidence. People need to have self-confidence..."

He turned his head to look at Kazuha: "Just like you, you can actually be more confident in yourself."

Kazuha blinked: "Do I look insecure?"

Shiraishi E nodded: "Yes, you always follow Heiji cautiously, like a little kitten afraid of being abandoned."

Kazuha immediately retorted, "No way! I'm not afraid of being abandoned by Heiji!"

Shiraishi E smiled and said in a relaxed tone, "If not, that would be for the best."

He took a sip of lemonade and continued, "Dating is about mutual affection, happiness, and enjoying the relationship, not about constantly worrying about whether the other person will leave."

Hearing this, Kazuha's eyes dimmed slightly, and she muttered softly, "But... Heiji and I were always inseparable when we were little, but as we've grown up, he seems to be getting busier and busier..."

E raised an eyebrow: "Feelings are pure when you're young, but as you grow up and meet more people, your thoughts naturally become more complex."

He looked at Kazuha with interest. "You dare say that from beginning to end, Heiji has been the only one in your heart? There haven't been any other handsome guys?"

Kazuha's face flushed red, and she stammered, "Uh... there were indeed a few handsome upperclassmen, a few male idols, and a few male actors..."

She counted on her fingers: "...there are only a few!"

Shiraishi E couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Goodness, there are almost ten of them already, and you call that not many?"

Kazuha covered her face and laughed, "You're right!"

Shiraishi E stretched and said in a relaxed tone, "In short, date whoever makes you happy, instead of thinking 'I'll only be happy if I date this person.' Don't get that logic backwards."

Kazuha nodded, lost in thought. She glanced furtively at Shiraishi E, wondering, "So, Ran and Sonoko both feel happy being with him, which is why they both have feelings for him?"

After finishing her lemonade, Shiraishi E stood up and extended her hand to Kazuha: "Alright, you've rested enough. Shall we go rafting? Rafting on a boat, that's really an eye-opener!"

Kazuha smiled and nodded, offering him her hand: "Okay!"

Shiraishi E pulled her up, and the two ran towards the rafting area.

Kazuha felt the warmth from his palm, his heart beat slightly faster, and all his worries seemed to be left behind.

Splashing water, laughter... and the person beside me who gives me a strange sense of security.

—This is what love feels like!

Kudo Yusaku slowly opened his eyes, the blinding white light causing him to squint instinctively.

He felt a chill run down his spine—he was lying naked on the cold metal operating table, his wrists and ankles firmly restrained by heavy straps.

The pungent smell of disinfectant alcohol still lingered on his skin, and an ominous bluish-purple ring had appeared around the needle marks on the inside of his arm.

"Damn it!" Yusaku struggled violently, but the restraints didn't budge.

He then saw the needle marks on his arm and immediately realized that the medication had been injected.

A chilling fear crept up his spine, causing a sharp pain in his stomach.

He struggled to turn his neck and saw on several operating tables nearby, Kogoro Mouri, Heiji Hattori, and Shinichi Kudo were also stripped of their clothes and bound like livestock awaiting slaughter.

Their arms also bore the same needle marks, with eerie bluish-black vein patterns faintly visible under the skin.

"Shinichi!" Yusaku called out hoarsely, but his son remained unconscious. He remembered Shinichi's description of the "zombies" on the cruise ship—monsters that had lost their minds after being modified by drugs.

Are they going to become like that too? This thought almost suffocated Yusaku.

"Damn it." Kogoro Mouri was the first to wake up. He blinked his cloudy eyes and then realized his situation.

"You bastards!" he roared as he struggled, the metal operating table scraping against him with a grating sound. "Let me go!"

Immediately afterwards, Heiji and Shinichi also woke up one after another.

When Shinichi realized he had been injected with the drug, his face turned deathly pale. "It's over, it's all over."

He muttered to himself, a look of despair flashing in his eyes.

"Yeah, we've really messed up this time," Heiji said with a wry smile, his voice filled with unprecedented fear: "We'll become like those monsters too."

An atmosphere of despair permeated the laboratory.

Yusaku forced himself to calm down, trying to find a way to escape. But the restraints were military-grade, and without tools, he couldn't break free at all.

Even more terrifying, he could already feel an unusual burning sensation spreading from the injection site throughout his body.

Just as everyone was sinking into despair, Shinichi suddenly let out a painful groan. His body began to convulse violently, and his bones made a chilling "crackling" sound.

"Shinichi!" Yusaku watched in horror as his son's body shrank at a visible speed, the blood vessels under his skin writhing like living things.

In just a few seconds, the seventeen-year-old high school detective transformed back into a seven-year-old child—Conan Edogawa.

Conan blinked blankly, then realized he was actually quite lucid and even felt more energetic than usual.

This transformation was not accompanied by the usual high fever and excruciating pain.

"Holy crap!" Kogoro Mouri's eyes widened, his jaw almost dropping to the ground. "How did you become Conan? Wait a minute, you've always been Shinichi?"

His expression shifted from shock to anger: "So you've been playing me all along?!"

Conan gave an awkward laugh, his little face full of apology: "Um... that's how it is."

He twisted his wrists nimbly—his childlike size allowed him to easily break free from the restraints.

"Never mind that for now!" Conan quickly jumped off the operating table, his bare feet stepping onto the cold metal floor.

He quickly untied Yusaku's restraints: "We must leave immediately! They might find us at any moment!"

Yusaku, flexing his aching wrists, immediately went to rescue the others.

His mind raced: Why did Shinichi turn back into Conan at this moment? Was it a drug malfunction? Or something else?
Suddenly, the laboratory alarm blared, and the red warning lights began to flash.

(End of this chapter)