Conan: Rice Flower Spring

Chapter 341, Section 335: Conan vs. Ran Mouri, All Together!
"You mean I told Yusaku and Yukiko to escape?" Vermouth's eyes flashed with a dangerous light as she looked Curaçao up and down.

“Curaçao, you should know that this is a very serious accusation within the organization, right?”

Pointing your finger at a senior official and accusing him of disloyalty is the same as publicly accusing an official of embezzlement and bribery.

This is a very dangerous accusation, and you'd better have solid evidence in your possession.

Otherwise, regardless of whether senior officials are loyal or not, or whether officials are corrupt or not, once they are innocent, the one who is guilty will be the one making the accusations.

“I did not make such an accusation; I was merely recounting the surveillance of the Kudo couple.”

Curaçao certainly wouldn't admit it directly; the Intelligence Support Department and Vermouth hadn't completely broken off relations yet.

Rum didn't want to provoke Vermouth while already being at odds with Gin and Ryoma.

Vermouth may seem to be alone and isolated, but she holds a position of authority within the organization.

Vermouth may seem like she's working alone, but she actually belongs to the intelligence support department.

In other words, if Vermouth wants to develop her own power within the organization, she can naturally take away some of the intelligence support department's authority and resources from Rum.

Most importantly, this person is a favorite of the boss. Rum's connection with the boss is far greater than Vermouth's.

Who would dare to offend such a person, especially a woman?
Curaçao only has some personal grudges with Vermouth, but Rum would never support Curaçao and Vermouth becoming enemies.

So Curaçao only touched on the topic briefly. She mentioned Vermouth's suspicions briefly, and then stopped there.

Vermouth did have a motive for doing this; one of her public identities on America was Hollywood actress Sharon Vineyard.

This person is a longtime friend of Yukiko Kudo, and the two even studied under the same master in the same place.

Although most members of the organization don't really care about so-called friendships, if you really want to, that could be considered one of their motivations.

Seeing that Curaçao was showing weakness, Vermouth simply snorted and didn't dwell on the matter any longer.

Based on her understanding of Gin, she knew that by showing an "I don't care" attitude, she could dispel some of Gin's suspicions.

However, if you are too eager to prove your innocence, it will only attract Gin's attention.

As expected, Gin didn't say much after seeing Vermouth's attitude.

"Dongdong"

Lin Longma tapped the table: "Everyone, you seem to have gone off-topic. Now is not the time to assign blame."

If the boss wants to find out which of us has performed the worst, then we can discuss that kind of thing then.

Now that the Kudo couple has run away, how can we make amends?

The most relaxed person in the entire room was Lin Longma.

He was truly relaxed and not flustered at all.

Gin has been quite busy lately, but he's mostly been putting out fires. He's just doing his job.

For a boss, if he gives so many preferential treatments to the organization's senior executives, shouldn't they just do their jobs well?

This is not something to be praised.

Vermouth and Curaçao, on the other hand, failed to perform their duties properly, which falls into the category of those who can be blamed or punished.

but.

Vermouth is a true "close advisor to the emperor," someone who can casually inquire about the boss's affairs even when she has nothing else to do, and she might not necessarily be the one punished. But Curaçao is different.

Her direct supervisor is Rum, and there's another layer between her and the boss. Would that cunning old fox Rum really argue with the boss over a little punishment and defend Curaçao to the death?
Even a fool wouldn't believe it. Binga was also Rum's confidant, but what became of Binga?
They're not even doing as well as Gin's two snipers.

Although those two don't have high authority within the organization, they don't have much work to do either.

When looking for a job, you should at least consider one of the following: high pay, low workload, and close to home.

As for Lin Longma, he is quite different from them.

Because of the Isshin-kai (一心会) faction, the boss likely both uses and guards against Lin Longma. He needs to utilize him, but he also needs to be wary of him.

After all, Lin Longma joined the organization not voluntarily, but out of necessity. His background was neither righteous nor upright.

Add to that the fact that Yixin is a key figure; no one would feel at ease with that.

However, Lin Longma recently "paid tribute" to the boss, and for so many years, no one has been able to unlock the treasure within the Twilight Villa.

Lin Long immediately transformed the Twilight Villa into the Golden Mansion, and then sold this rare real estate, which was among the best in the entire island nation, to the boss.

Even if this favorability isn't permanent, the boss won't take advantage of Lin Longma during this period.

Not to mention that the Security Countermeasures Division has recently purged a lot of unsettling elements from the organization. It's one thing to not reward them for their achievements, but there's no reason to punish them.

Since the boss is going to use Lin Longma, he won't easily force him to rebel.

In other words, of all these people, only Curaçao is likely to be unlucky.

Lin Longma's words were essentially giving Curaçao a way out and smoothing things over.

“We need to take this matter seriously, as Shinichi Kudo may appear in Kyoto. Vermouth, take Cohen and Chianti there later to check on the progress.”

If it's confirmed that it's Shinichi Kudo, then bring him back.

Gin then looked at Curaçao: "The surveillance of the Kudo residence cannot stop. From now on, the identity of everyone who visits the Kudo residence must be recorded."

If Shinichi Kudo appears nearby, we must bring him back immediately.

Gin glanced at Ryoma Hayashi one last time, then looked away after a moment of silence.

"The boss's trust is precious; the organization won't be so extravagant as to give someone a third chance."

You'd better pay more attention.

Gin gave everyone a final warning, then was the first to get up and leave.

This time, Ryoma Lin didn't leave last; instead, he followed Gin closely behind.

As for his destination...
It was obvious that it was the Mori Detective Agency.

It can only be said that Vermouth chose the timing too cleverly, as the Kudo couple left just as Conan was exploring the Kosaka family castle.

The couple clearly didn't have time to wait for Conan to return when they left, and if they insisted on taking Conan with them, it would definitely expose him to the organization's surveillance.

With no adults at Kudo's house, Conan obviously couldn't stay any longer, so he had no choice but to return to the Mouri Detective Agency to continue his stay.

But this time I stayed
Lin Longma still remembers Ran Mouri, who was acting out of character in the Kosaka family castle. He wonders if Conan can successfully gloss over this matter this time.

(End of this chapter)