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

Chapter 696 The Mid-Air Extortion Case (1st Update)
Conan keenly noticed a fleeting look of seriousness and anxiety on Air Marshal Bill's face. He immediately leaned closer and asked in a concerned and curious tone, "Officer Bill, what happened? You don't look well."

Bill was focused on text communication on his phone screen, his fingers flying across the keyboard, his brow furrowed.

Hearing Conan's question, he didn't even look up, and just vaguely replied, "It's nothing serious, just a little trouble at work. Conan, wait here for a moment, I'll take care of it."

Although he tried to keep his tone calm, Conan still noticed his haste and underlying unease.

Conan felt an itch to know what information the words on the screen conveyed.

But Bill wasn't Inspector Megure, so it was impossible for him to show him confidential communications related to his work.

However, this is no challenge for Conan.

His eyes lit up and he immediately had an idea.

Taking advantage of Bill's sudden movement as he seemed to receive some urgent instructions and stood up to head to economy class, Conan swiftly and silently pulled a tiny, button-sized listening device from his pocket.

The instant Bill turned and took a step, he flicked his small hand, precisely attaching the bug to the inside fold of Bill's trouser leg.

After doing all this, Conan sat back down as if nothing had happened, but the miniature receiver in his ear was already activated.

He watched as Bill hurried through the business class curtain and into the economy class area, where he exchanged a few words with another equally muscular and nervous-looking white man who was already waiting there.

Then, the two of them surprisingly went into the galley of the economy class cabin one after the other to talk.

"What are they talking about?" Conan, driven by curiosity, immediately got up and went to the economy class restroom.

He immediately put on headphones and began eavesdropping.

Through the conversation between the two people heard through the bug, Conan discovered a shocking truth!
A mysterious hacker has infiltrated the airline's internal network and is threatening Bill! The hacker demands that Bill immediately contact ground control and prepare $100 million to be transferred to a designated overseas account. Otherwise, in twenty minutes, they will begin killing him!

Upon hearing the news, Ke Nanfei was not afraid; instead, he instantly became excited, a thrilling sense of challenge coursing through his body.

He immediately turned around, jogged back to business class, and found Shiraishi E leisurely watching a movie with her headphones on.

"Shiraishi! Something terrible has happened!" Conan lowered his voice, unable to hide his excitement, and told Shiraishi E everything he had overheard.

Shiraishi paused the movie, took off one earphone to listen, and was first stunned for a moment, then a smile mixed with surprise and amusement appeared on her face: "Oh? Something happened so quickly? It's only been a little over an hour since takeoff, right? This trip doesn't look like it'll be boring."

He looked at the excited young detective with great interest and asked, "So, famous detective, what do you plan to do?"

Conan clenched his small fist, a determined white light reflecting off his glasses, and said resolutely, "Is there any need to ask? Of course, we must find that threatening person hiding behind the internet and stop his conspiracy!"

Shiraishi E seemed intrigued. He put away his tablet, sat up straighter, and asked, "That sounds interesting. Tell me, how do you plan to find it? There are hundreds of people on this plane."

Conan clearly already had a preliminary plan. He calmly analyzed, "The two of us alone won't do; we need Bill's help. He's an air marshal, has the authority to know the situation on the plane, and can coordinate the crew. Without his cooperation, our operations will be severely limited. We need to confront him first and gain his trust and cooperation!"

Since Shiraishi E was bored anyway, and seeing Conan's confident expression, she nodded: "Alright, let's go see what you want to do. Let's go."

After waiting a while, until Bill returned to his business class seat, the two got up and went over.

Conan walked straight up to Bill, looked up, and said in a calm tone beyond his years, "Officer Bill, let's talk. I know about the hacker's threat and the $100 million ransom."

Bill was taken aback and stared incredulously at the elementary school student in front of him: "You... how did you know?! This is classified information!"

Conan pushed up his glasses smugly: "I'm sorry, I planted a bug on you... By the way, let me introduce myself. My name is Conan Edogawa, and I'm a detective."

Bill was speechless when he saw Conan pull a bugging device out of his trouser leg. He, a professionally trained air marshal, had been bugged by a child.

This was an insult to his professional abilities. He turned to look at Shiraishi E beside him, frowning as he asked, "So, who is this...?"

Shiraishi-e remained unfazed and calmly uttered four words: "Shinichi Kudo".

Bill paused for a moment, then suddenly realized, his surprise turning into respect: "Shinichi Kudo? You mean that famous high school detective from Japan? I've seen your name in some international case reports! I didn't expect you to be on this flight!"

Standing to the side, Conan heard Shiraishi E casually using his name without batting an eye, and his lips twitched involuntarily. A strange ache rose in his heart: 'This girl… she actually used my name! How casual! She didn't even bother to ask!'

But he couldn't expose it at that moment, so he could only silently roll his eyes.

Emi Shiraishi, bearing the title of "Shinichi Kudo," quickly got into character.

His expression was serious, and his tone was calm as he began to discuss countermeasures with Air Marshal Bill: "Officer Bill, the situation is urgent. We must develop a plan as soon as possible to find the criminal and bring him to justice. Do you have any initial ideas or action plans at the moment?"

Bill rubbed his still throbbing temples, trying to sober up from the combined effects of alcohol and the sudden crisis.

He thought for a moment and said, "I think the first thing we should do is inform the captain about this so he understands the potential danger we are facing. At the same time, we also need to contact a senior flight attendant we can absolutely trust and ask them to assist us discreetly, stabilize the atmosphere in the cabin, and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. It would be too conspicuous for just a few of us to act on such a large plane."

At this moment, Conan interjected with a crucial suggestion: "Officer Bill, while notifying the captain and flight attendants, could you also ask them to provide the registration information for all passengers on this flight? We need to screen the passengers as soon as possible to narrow down the suspects."

Bill paused for a moment, then asked, somewhat puzzled, "Passenger data? Of course we can get that. But... how do we screen hundreds of passengers? We probably don't have enough time."

Hearing Bill's slightly slow reaction, Shiraishi E took over the conversation and explained in a clear and quick tone, "The selection process doesn't need to be that complicated."

“We can start with a few simple elimination criteria. First, all passengers traveling with their families, including elderly people or children, can be directly ruled out as suspects. No criminal would bring their loved ones to do such a high-risk thing.”

He paused, then continued his analysis: "Secondly, those passengers whose passports show frequent travel between Japan and the United States, especially those with regular itineraries that appear to be business trips, can also be largely ruled out. They usually have stable work and life routines and are unlikely to suddenly commit such a desperate crime."

"Furthermore, passengers sitting in business class are usually wealthy and influential, with good social standing and economic conditions. The likelihood of them risking their reputation to extort $100 million is relatively low. Of course, this is only a preliminary assessment and not absolute."

Conan immediately added the most crucial point, his little face full of seriousness: "Considering that after they extort money from you, they'll most likely run away..."

Upon hearing this, Bill instinctively interrupted and asked, "Why do we have to run? Wouldn't it be less likely to be discovered if we just got off the plane among hundreds of ordinary passengers?"

Conan glanced at Bill speechlessly, his eyes seeming to look at a clueless Kogoro Mouri, inwardly thinking that alcohol really does affect intelligence.

He patiently explained, as if lecturing a primary school student, "Officer Bill, once the plane lands safely, the police will definitely get involved."

"They will retrieve the cabin surveillance footage and investigate one by one which passengers exhibited abnormal behavior during the period when the threat message was sent, such as prolonged use of electronic devices, nervousness, or frequent visits to the restroom."

“Once someone is listed as a prime suspect and subjected to individual questioning and checks of their electronic devices, it’s very difficult for them not to slip up. Therefore, the safest way for them is to disappear quickly before the police have completed their surveillance.”

After listening, Bill suddenly realized what he meant, slapping his head: "Oh! Right, right! That makes sense! Look at my brain... really. Young people these days, their thinking is so quick!"

Conan couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Officer Bill, you should probably drink less... maybe it'll help your brain work better."

Bill smiled awkwardly and didn't reply; this wasn't the time to discuss personal habits.

Conan continued, "Considering that they will most likely choose to jump out of the plane and escape after successfully extorting money... they should be quite muscular and have received parachute training. As a result, people with military backgrounds will become the focus of attention."

Bill nodded repeatedly, perking up, and said, "Okay! We'll do it your way! I'll take you to the communications room outside the cockpit right now, to communicate with the captain first, and then find a reliable flight attendant to retrieve the passenger list!"

After saying that, he gestured for Shiraishi E and Conan to follow him. The three of them walked quickly through the economy class aisle towards the cockpit at the front of the plane.

(End of this chapter)