Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 519 Bare your heart
A few days later.
In the quiet room, a black window suddenly popped up on the computer screen.

"Ding-dong-"

A simple text message appeared in the black window.

Gardener: There's a new mission. I've noticed you seem quite interested in the Black Organization lately. This mission is closely related to that organization, and I believe you'll find it interesting.

Slender fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard, producing a "tap tap tap" sound, and a brief question was entered into the chat box before being sent by pressing Enter.

Princess Thorns: Sure, I can accept any mission related to that organization.

Gardener: Your answer is a bit absolute. You haven't even asked what the specifics are. Although the commission for this operation is very considerable, are you sure this organization is dangerous? I've heard that various countries' Red Army forces are investigating it, but decades have passed and it has remained standing.

Gardener: I don't know what happened between you and this organization, but I still want to give you some advice. After all, you are an assassin. You can't let your emotions control your purpose, otherwise it will easily become your weakness.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long time, as if he was pondering what the other person had said.

After an unknown amount of time, his fingers began to tap on the keyboard again.

Princess Thorns: Sent.

The gardener's advice seemed formulaic; after receiving Joel's reply, he immediately sent a document.

Joel began browsing without any expression.

This is a bounty mission regarding a winery base. There is no information about the person who puts the bounty, but it should be a red force from some country. After all, the bounty seeker's goal is to destroy this base. Apart from the one-week time limit, there are no other requirements, not even requiring the killing of a specific target.

Even when the zoo issued missions before, they all had specific requirements, such as killing codenamed members or peripheral members, making their objectives very clear.

Therefore, this mission should be a plan by the Red Team of a certain country to destroy a certain winery, but for some reason they cannot do it themselves, so they put it as a bounty mission in the underworld.

Above, Joel saw a picture of vodka.

A very tricky camera angle: in what appears to be an ordinary office, Vodka is talking to some men wearing the same black suits and sunglasses as him.

It took Joel a few minutes to finish reading the document.

"Okuho Town 4-chome."

Joel felt that the place was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Strange. I've dealt quite a few blows to the distillery recently. Logically, they should be more vigilant. Why was this base discovered by the Red Team? And in Tokyo no less. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"

After downloading the data to his local USB drive, Yoru decided to ask Ai Haibara about the situation.

Before cleaning up the various locations of the brewery, she would always check with Ai Haibara in advance.

Ai Haibara will only intervene in situations where she feels there is no problem.

But so far, she had only been outside of Tokyo. This was the first time she had come across a brewery's base within Tokyo, which made her both excited and somewhat skeptical.

According to Ai Haibara, Gin Vodka has actually been operating in Tokyo all along. Even after she escaped, when the base of Shirahato Pharmaceuticals was destroyed, the distillery couldn't possibly be without a backup base. She was certain that the other party was in Tokyo.

If what Ai Haibara said is true, is Okuho Town the new base after Hakuba Pharmaceuticals?

With this question in mind, she went to find Ai Haibara.

After reading the information, Ai Haibara fell silent.

Based on the information, this place was put into use about half a year ago. Judging from the time she left the winery, this place is very likely to be the new research base after Baijiu Pharmaceutical.

Even without him, did the winery still continue its research on drug A?
"Ai, what's wrong?"

Seeing that Ai Haibara's expression was a bit off, Joel asked worriedly, "Or is there something wrong with this base?"

Joel thought it was the address on the vodka photo or document that triggered bad memories for Ai Haibara: "Never mind, I'll investigate this myself. I'll let you know if I find out anything."

Ai Haibara shook her head: "No, I was just spacing out because I was thinking about something."

After taking a sip of coffee, the cool taste eased Ai Haibara's condition somewhat. After reviewing the data again, she finally spoke up: "This may be the brewery's new research and development base after White Dove Pharmaceuticals. Normal bases are relatively hidden, but research bases require a lot of research materials, which will generate a lot of chemical waste, making it difficult to hide. Therefore, it is most appropriate to build it in the open and use the name of a pharmaceutical company or research and development center."

"That's great!" Joel's face lit up with a smile. "If we can get our hands on the research data, it might speed up your research!"

Joel could tell that, in essence, Ai Haibara still didn't want to remain in a primary school student state. Although she didn't say it, the large number of bags she had collected in her room proved it.

Ai Haibara rarely carries these bags when shopping, and she frequently takes care of them, as if she's preparing in advance. She probably wants to make shopping trips feel more ceremonial once they return to their normal size.

"Maybe"

Ai Haibara forced a smile and grabbed Joel's hands: "Aunt Joel, I was actually a little worried that the breweries were targeting you after you took action against so many brewery outposts."

This mission came as abruptly astray, and it's in Tokyo. Research bases are supposed to be highly secure; they shouldn't be discovered so easily. Didn't you consider the possibility of a trap?

Joel's heart skipped a beat, but he still smiled and said, "I have been working with the person who gave me the mission for many years. When it comes to interests, you have to think long-term. I believe he can understand the value I can bring to him."

There is no such thing as friendship in the underworld, except for Frank Natsukawa.

Everything is based on self-interest.

For the gardener, the value that Joel has created for him over the long term is by no means a small amount.

The possibility of being bribed by the brewery is extremely low. Although there is a possibility that the mission itself is a trap, Joel did not say so, not wanting Ai Haibara to worry. Moreover, Gin really angered her, and she did not want to lose any opportunity that could potentially damage or even destroy the brewery.

"I don't know why, but lately I've been having a lot of bad premonitions. For example, last time when I was on the bus, I inexplicably sensed the presence of the distillery. I was actually quite scared."

Ai Haibara seems to have let go of something and has begun to open her heart to Yoel.

"On the bus, the constant sense of oppression tormented me. At that time, I thought I had lost all hope, which is why my body was stiff and I didn't want to move. But my racing heartbeat told me that I was actually afraid to move because I was afraid of dying, not because my body didn't want to live."

"On the bus, when I learned there was a bomb on board, I was scared and also wanted to die to escape. So I chose to sit still and ignore everything else, wanting to leave my life or death to fate."

"When you and Uncle Xia Chuan finally arrived, I breathed a sigh of relief and felt extremely relaxed. That ever-present sense of oppression seemed to disappear at that moment. After returning, I thought to myself, I still want to live, I want to see my sister, and I don't want to die so easily."

“I will be careful.” Joel gently stroked Ai Haibara’s brown hair. “You know my strength, so don’t worry. I will find a way to destroy the brewery and make this organization disappear into the shadows. Whether it’s for you, for myself, or for Natsukawa who has already started to make contact with this organization, you are all very important people that I want to protect.”

For Joel, the distillery has already severely impacted her life, and now she even has to worry about whether it will harm her family.

During that bus incident, she even suspected that Gin had extended his clutches to the people around her, which is why she didn't communicate with Natsukawa and jumped directly from the sunroof onto the roof of the bus.

The conversation between the two was rather somber, as if they were facing a life-or-death separation. This atmosphere only eased somewhat when Anya opened the door.

"Aunt Joel, Ai Haibara, what were you two talking about behind my father's back?" Anya asked casually, then tossed a backpack over: "Haibara, this is your schoolbag, isn't it? It's been sitting in the entryway for days."

Anya's arrival stopped the two from talking, and Joel got up and went downstairs to find Xia Chuan.

Ai Haibara picked up the backpack from the ground.

No wonder I felt like I was missing a few clothes these past few days. I initially thought Anya had taken them and worn them, but now I realize it was a misunderstanding. They must have been in my backpack that day and I hadn't taken them out.

Ai Haibara opened her backpack and prepared to take out the change of clothes she had brought to the ski resort.

Suddenly, a long, narrow object fell to the ground.

"what is this?"

Ai Haibara frowned, picked it up and took a look.

"A voice recorder?"

"How could there be something like this in my backpack?"

Ai Haibara is certain that she has never had such a thing.

She turned to look at Anya, who was already lying on her bed, and suspected that the thing might belong to Anya, since Anya had a penchant for secretly filming Conan and always carried a camera with her. She couldn't rule out the possibility that she also carried a recording pen.

But why put it in her backpack?

And now, has it been forgotten?

It seems that what Anya usually records are the hilarious moments when Conan makes a fool of himself.

Not in a good mood, Ai Haibara thought for a moment and decided to listen to the recording first, hoping it might cheer her up.

Ai Haibara got up and quietly went up to the third floor.

Yoel and Xia Chuan were being affectionate on the first floor, Anya was sleeping in her room, and the third floor was quiet at this time.

Once she was sure no one was around, Ai Haibara turned on the playback function.

"Drip."

After two beeps, a human voice appeared in the recorder.

"Shiho, I'm so glad you're still here."

Ai Haibara had already closed her eyes and relaxed to listen to Conan's embarrassing stories, but the sound coming from the recording pen shocked her!
She didn't even notice the content; just hearing her sister's voice gave her a feeling of being bathed in a spring breeze, of being resurrected from the dead.

For her, Akemi Miyano was not only an older sister, but also played the role of a father and mother.

For her parents, who died shortly after giving birth to her, her older sister was the one who touched their hearts the most.

The recording was ten minutes long, and Ai Haibara listened to it three times while sitting on the rooftop.

Listen to the sound the first time, listen to the sound the second time, and listen to the sound the third time.

"elder sister."

Ai Haibara wiped away her tears and then realized that her clothes were completely soaked.

But she didn't care and clicked play for the fourth time.

Another ten minutes passed, and she finally stopped crying, with even a slight smile appearing on her face.

This recording doesn't actually contain anything about the winery or the police; it's simply an older sister's longing and concern for her younger sister.

But for Ai Haibara, this was exactly what she wanted to hear. The everyday conversations and expressions of care recorded on the recorder reassured her, confirming that Tequila hadn't lied to her and that her sister was indeed safe and sound.

But when did she put this thing in her backpack?

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(End of this chapter)