Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 315 Ai Haibara Exposed
"I said, it seems your wife is taking the blame for you."

Frank smacked his lips, feeling that Xia Chuan's behavior was indeed a case of shooting himself in the foot.

"It's all the same; it's normal for a family to share joys and sorrows."

That's what he said, but Xia Chuan's gesture of covering his face clearly expressed his helplessness.

They only intended to annoy Gin, but ended up getting Joel involved!
Gin's idea was actually not wrong, since there was no third party present. Even the sniper from earlier was probably thought to be part of the Thorn Princess's plan.

With snipers on standby, blowing up the car isn't hard to explain.

Fortunately, Joel's identity as the Thorn Princess doesn't appear often. Next, let's see if we can find the Gardener, kill her, take over her communication with Joel, and then give Joel some safer tasks.

He doesn't plan to be honest with Joel yet, at least not now; he'll wait.

“The gardener’s IP address is different every time he chats with me. Either he moves it every few days, or he’s a highly skilled hacker. It’s a bit difficult to find him.”

"Is it a lone wolf?"

There aren't many people that Frank can't find, especially since the other person has had multiple mission exchanges with Frank. Under normal circumstances, Frank would have already figured out everything about them, even what color underwear they wear.

"It should be a lone wolf, but he is backed by an assassin organization. This organization is a loose alliance, and the members basically don't know each other. It's like a platform for assassin transactions in the underworld."

The platform's servers change periodically, and given the gardener's hacking skills, I think the chances of finding him are slim.

"So, to find the gardener, we might have to beat him in hacking?"

Xia Chuan stroked his chin, thinking that this was another person who was not simple.

"Of course, I think we shouldn't even think about these things. We can't even crack the Dark Baron virus, let alone find the Gardener."

Frank was clearly not optimistic about hiring a gardener.

To survive in the underworld for so long, one must have some skills to survive; those who have lived and become famous are no ordinary people.

Finding a hacker, in particular, is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Who says it's impossible?"

Xia Chuan suddenly smiled mysteriously. "Isn't he just the world's top hacker? As long as we wait for that plot, maybe we can find a way."

Time goes back a few minutes.

Conan accompanied Officer Takagi to the rooftop of the Beika Hotel.

The rooftop stretched as far as the eye could see, and the ground was covered in a blanket of white snow with nothing out of the ordinary, showing no sign of the shooting that had taken place there.

Beside a chimney, the chimney cover lay on the ground, half covered by snow, with only half a corner showing.

"Strange, could the shooting have happened somewhere else? But according to my colleague's deduction, the sound definitely came from here!"

Takagi was a little confused.

In the short time he was stunned, Conan had already rushed out.

"Hey, Conan, we're not even sure if this is a shooting scene yet. If you barge in like this, you'll destroy the evidence!"

Conan completely ignored the other person and arrived in front of the chimney with the chimney cover missing in the blink of an eye.

If you stick your head into the chimney, you can clearly smell a faint aroma of alcohol.

According to Ai Haibara, she was imprisoned in a wine cellar, and it is likely that she escaped from this chimney.

"The snow on the chimney wasn't quite intact, and the chimney cap shouldn't have fallen more than half a meter off the chimney. It must have been pushed away by Ai Haibara."

Conan immediately confirmed that this was the location where Ai Haibara had escaped, and also found the detective badge that Ai Haibara used to communicate with him on the ground nearby.

However, the detective badge had already been broken off at this point.

"What exactly happened after she came up here? Did the Black Organization have people planted on the rooftop beforehand and take her away the moment Haibara appeared? There are likely still suspicious individuals connected to the organization in this hotel!"

Conan was suddenly startled.

Perhaps the moment Gin discovered he was being eavesdropped on, he immediately deployed other members, intending to trap him like a turtle in a jar.

"Haibara, were you really taken away by that organization?"

Conan's heart sank to the bottom. If something happened to Ai Haibara, it would be his fault. If he hadn't insisted on getting involved, Ai Haibara wouldn't have been dragged into it.

How should he explain this to Uncle Xia Chuan when he gets back?
Conan had barely been lost in self-reproach for two seconds when a loud bang came from the direction of the hotel's front door.

A red flame shot into the sky, instantly turning the sky crimson.

The snow-covered ground shimmered with an orange glow under the firelight.

The air currents surged up layer after layer, and the heavy snow instantly began to ripple outwards.

A charred car emblem clattered to the ground in front of Conan.

Porsche

Conan was shocked. If he was right, there should only be one Porsche at the entrance, right?
It's Gin's Porsche 356a.

"Professor Agasa, Professor Agasa! Did Gin's Porsche explode?"

Conan pulled out his detective badge and asked loudly, his heart pounding as he ran towards the railing. But before he even reached it, he tripped over something and fell flat on his face into the snow.

"That's right, there was a sudden explosion, and my Beetle was also affected. Now the tires seem to be flat, and there's a piece of the front bumper stuck on the hood."

Professor Agasa was on the verge of tears; this was just too unlucky!

He did nothing wrong, he just got his eyes done outside, and yet he still got affected.

Hearing Professor Agasa's steady reply, Conan visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"But... what was that just now?!"

Conan bent down and picked up the thing that had tripped him.

"Bullets?"

"strangeness!"

Conan noticed that the bullet's tip was somewhat distorted, as if it had collided with something.

Normal bullets will deform when they hit a wall, steel, or human bones, but the key point is that this bullet didn't hit anything at all.

Digging through the snow, Conan discovered that there was more than just one bullet on the ground; there were at least a dozen of the same type, all with twisted and dented bullet heads.

He looked around and even dug through the surrounding snow, but couldn't find even a single bullet hole.

What exactly happened on the rooftop? What's the situation with these bullets? And why does he smell a bit of alcohol after he came up?

What could be the reason for this smell? It can't be that the Black Organization members want to drink.

It's unreasonable to say that Ai Haibara brought Lao Bai Gan (a type of Chinese liquor) up with her.

While there aren't many Lao Bai Gan Neon cigarettes, it's not enough to warrant Ai Haibara carrying one around even in such a dangerous situation.

Before Conan could delve deeper into his thoughts, Takagi's shout of "Ah!" pulled him back from his reverie.

"Officer Takagi, are you alright?"

Conan snapped out of his daze and quickly ran to Takagi Wataru's side.

Takagi Wataru was sitting on the ground, hugging his foot. He was just about to come over and stop Conan from ruining the scene when, after taking only a couple of steps, he suddenly felt something prick his foot, and it hurt terribly.

"It's glass."

Conan brushed away the snow, revealing shards of glass bottles scattered all over the ground.

After picking up a few larger shards of glass, it dawned on me: "These are shards from a vodka bottle." It seemed the taste of the liquor must have come from this bottle of vodka.

But why?

The winery has been involved before, but they never left any bottles or anything like that at the scene. What is their purpose this time?

He knew that some assassins would leave behind something at the scene after killing someone to identify themselves.

Does this vodka refer to vodka?
But Sherry never mentioned it before! And when Gin killed himself, there didn't seem to be any Gin bottles left at the scene.

"Officer Takagi, are you alright?"

"It's nothing." Takagi thought to herself that she couldn't show weakness in front of the little girl, so she held back her tears and forced a smile: "It's not a big problem. I've had much worse injuries before, so this little thing is fine."

Conan nodded upon hearing this, and ran noisily towards the rooftop door to go downstairs.

"Hey, at least call an ambulance for me!"

The moment Takagi reached out, his buttocks shifted slightly, giving him a jolt of fear. He instantly felt a chill run down his spine and dared not move.

Conan completely ignored it. He couldn't find Ai Haibara upstairs, and then there was an explosion downstairs. There must be some connection between these events.

The explosion might have been carried out by the Black Organization. Such a crazy organization, which doesn't even respect politicians, is definitely capable of doing something like this.

As for Pisco, we can only rely on Inspector Megure!

The rooftop of a high-rise building, far from the Mihana Hotel.

Joel gently placed Ai Haibara on the ground. Her expression was completely hidden by the thin veil, but her trembling hands revealed a hint of fear.

Having seen all sorts of people in his life, and fearless of ghosts and gods, Joel finally encountered something that terrified him.

An adult can turn into a little kid in just a few seconds, which would frighten anyone with a scientific worldview.

Moreover, not only has he become a little kid, but this little kid is actually from their family.

The thought of having slept with Ai Haibara made Joel's heart race.

For the first time, I felt my adrenaline surge to the limit. At times like this, perhaps only beating up my younger brother could relieve the frustration in my chest.

But before that, we first need to confirm whether the little girl in front of us is Ai Haibara.

Gin just called her Sherry, and if we don't consider rock sugar Sherry, then it can only be Sherry wine.

If Ai Haibara is indeed Sherry, then she has no choice but to be suspicious!
It's suspected that Natsukawa may have been targeted by Gin!

Perhaps when Ai Haibara appeared at home, it was because Gin discovered that Natsukawa was investigating Shigehiko Tonoguchi, which led him to send her to his home to investigate.

But what's going on now?

Gin seemed intent on killing Sherry; Vodka's shots on the rooftop showed no mercy.

This contradicts her reasoning.

There is still one question.

Why can Ai Haibara change size?

"嘤——"

Joel looked down at Ai Haibara and found that she had already woken up.

Am I not dead?

The white coat was obviously too big for the child, letting in drafts everywhere. After shivering, Ai Haibara noticed the Thorn Princess watching her, and for a moment she didn't know if the chill came from the weather or from the Thorn Princess.

"Haibara Ai?"

Joel asked tentatively, "Are you Ai Haibara?"

"I am Shirley."

The two stared at each other for a moment, until a snowflake accidentally fell into Ai Haibara's eye.

Ai Haibara raised her hand to wipe her eyes, and the moment she let go, she suddenly noticed the overly long sleeves and her hands, which were now half the size.

She then remembered that after Gin left, she felt that pain again when she grew bigger, and then fainted from the pain.

"Did it turn back?"

She murmured something, then suddenly realized something was wrong.

Wait!
The Thorn Princess called her Ai Haibara just now, right?
"who are you?"

Ai Haibara moved back a few steps, trying to distance herself from the Thorn Princess.

Hearing the name from the Thorn Princess's lips was like hearing a horror story, sending chills down one's spine.

Ai Haibara has a sense of fear that she is still being controlled by others, even though she is trying her best to hide it.

Very few people actually know the name Ai Haibara.

The Mori family, the Natsukawa family, Dr. Mori, and then the elementary school students of Teitan Elementary School.

She rarely goes out; she's either at home or in her doctoral research lab. Logically, no outsiders should know her identity.

If the Thorn Princess knew, she must have been investigating me for a long time, perhaps she's been watching my every move.

"If you're not one of Gin's people, are you one of Tequila's people?"

Ai Haibara did not deny that she was Ai Haibara, which clearly meant that she acknowledged that Joel was just a bit dull, but not really stupid. She understood this in her heart.

"Who is Tequila? Judging from that name, is he also a codename member of a black-clad organization?"

Ai Haibara opened her mouth, but in the end, she didn't say anything.

The Thorn Princess's tone seemed genuine, but if she wasn't one of Tequila's people, why would she save him? And who was that sniper in the office building?
There were too many questions, and no one could give her a correct answer. Therefore, she believed that only silence could protect her and her family.

Xia Chuan, Yoel, and that unreliable Anya.

Oh, right, and that Bond guy too.

Well-behaved Bond, perhaps after today I won't be able to feed you dog food anymore.
With tears in her eyes, Ai Haibara looked at the Thorn Princess who was approaching her again, and tears of sorrow streamed down her face.

"Why are you crying?"

Joel felt a chill run down his spine, realizing that Ai Haibara's current state was clearly due to being overwhelmed by shock.

"I won't do anything to you!"

"Go ahead and fool me!" Ai Haibara turned to run away, but because her white coat was too long, she tripped on the hem and fell flat on her face.

Joel calmly helped him up.

Now she can be 100% certain that this little girl must be Ai Haibara.

Their tone of voice, facial expressions, and eye contact are all identical; even twins cannot be so in sync.

Ai Haibara thought that the Thorn Princess was about to attack her, and with the intention of finding out the other party's identity and why she knew her name before she died, she reached out to grab the veil on the Thorn Princess's face.

Joel caught the movement instantly. Her brows furrowed slightly. She was about to dodge, but then she saw the resolute look on Ai Haibara's face.

She paused.

And so, she let Ai Haibara tear off her thin black veil.

(Ask for monthly ticket)

(End of this chapter)