Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

Inside the hotel.

Ran and Sonoko flanked Ai, knowing that she had been found and had come to see her.

Ai leaned against the headboard, her legs still wrapped in bandages.

But this bandage was something Zheng Yi insisted on putting on her this morning.

She said she was fine, but Zheng Yi was just bored.

When Xiaolan and the others arrived, Zhengyi had just finished wrapping her hair, and she was too embarrassed to untie it in front of them.

Hongye sat gracefully on the sofa to the side, occasionally handing them peeled fruit.

Ai was pinned to the bed, as if she had suffered a serious injury.

"I'm fine, the swelling in my foot will go down on its own in a few days," Ai said helplessly.

“No,” Hongye said. “Even if there are no physical injuries, you must have been frightened. You need to rest more.”

Xiao Ai remained silent.

She wasn't actually frightened at all. Everyone inside treated her very well, and no one dared to raise their voice at her. It was better than being here.

Here, Zheng Yi would occasionally tease her, something that never happened on the submarine.

The girls quickly got into a lively conversation, bursting into laughter every now and then.

On the other side of the room, Conan stood in front of Shoichi with a look of utter despair.

There stood this famous detective.

At this moment, he was wearing a comical colorful woolen hat, an exaggerated pair of windproof goggles, and a large red and green scarf around his neck, making him look like a strange doll that had just escaped from a circus.

Zheng Yi looked him up and down: "Your taste is really strange now, why do you like wearing this kind of thing?"

Conan helplessly adjusted his comical goggles and sighed.

"Stop laughing. Xiaolan made me dress like this. She scolded me if I didn't wear it. What could I do?"

He felt that Xiaolan had changed.

Xiao Lan was so gentle before.

My temper is getting worse and worse, and I sometimes even berate myself.

Furthermore, Xiaolan enjoys dressing up in outlandish outfits and taking photos to commemorate the occasion.

He was also helpless.

Zheng glanced at the beads and felt that Xiao Lan's behavior was somewhat similar.
As Conan spoke, he tugged at the scarf around his neck in frustration, clearly not wanting to dwell on the topic any longer.

He quickly composed himself, looked up at Zheng Yi, and asked, "Let's not talk about that for now. Zheng Yi, who exactly kidnapped Xiao Ai?"

Zheng Yi said casually, "They're just a few business competitors, not worth mentioning. I've already taken care of them."

"A competitor?" Conan asked suspiciously.

Is business competition really that fierce these days?

They've started to endanger each other's families.

Those guys are really scum; they should all be sent to prison.

“Well,” Zheng Yi shrugged, “They’re just a few crematorium owners. I acquired most of their shares and then made some minor adjustments to their business strategy.”

They engaged in some underhanded tactics like overcharging and declining service quality, which resulted in their reputation collapsing and crematoriums going bankrupt one after another.

These people were desperate, so they thought of kidnapping someone close to me to get revenge. However, they've already been arrested and are no longer able to do anything wrong.

Conan was stunned and speechless for a long time.

Is Brother Zheng's method really that dirty?
Acquire a majority stake in another company, then manipulate the company to its collapse, thus achieving a monopoly.

This is too much...

"Ahem." Zheng Yi added, "Those guys weren't good people either. They went much further than I did. I was just defending myself."

"Forehead."

Zheng Yi said, "Those guys actually dared to send living people to my crematorium just to ruin my reputation."

Simply ruining their company is already being quite merciful.

"Are these guys really that outrageous?" Conan asked incredulously.

They've gone to extreme lengths.

Conan felt that these guys were almost as dangerous as the Black Organization.

"There's no other way," Zheng Yi said helplessly. "The current economic climate is bad, and business competition is fierce. Everyone's resorting to all sorts of methods."

Conan nodded.

But that would be too cruel.

It seems that Brother Zhengyi did do a good thing by ruining their company.

"By the way, Brother Zhengyi," Conan asked, "do you know what happened with the explosion in the sea?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Zheng Yi said. "I asked a few people, and they said it was the US military stationed in Japan that was operating. There seemed to be something dangerous in the sea, but it has been destroyed, so there's nothing to worry about."

Conan said, "Someone from the organization infiltrated Interpol's Pacific buoy. Could it be that the guy escaped and was attacked by the US military stationed in Japan?"

"That's unclear, it's possible," Zheng Yi said, frowning.
"I don't understand those things; I only focus on business matters."

Conan believed what Shoichi said.

Although outsiders say that Zheng Yi is involved in political and business collusion, and even has connections with the United States, Conan still believes that Zheng Yi is very pure.

"Ai, we're off then."

"Bye-Bye."

Over there, Ran and Sonoko said goodbye to Ai, then pulled Conan away.

After they left, Masahiro whispered to Ai, "Why do I feel like Ran has a murderous aura about her?"

"What murderous aura? It's so inexplicable." Ai looked at Zheng Yi speechlessly.

You can still sense the murderous intent?
Don't be so outrageous.

That's a poor imitation of me.

I can sense the organization's atmosphere because I have lived and worked in the organization for a long time and am very sensitive to it.

How are you able to sense the murderous intent?

How many people have you killed?

"No, I really do have a feeling about it," Zheng Yi said. "Especially when she gets close to Conan, Ran's murderous aura becomes more obvious."

"Is that so?" Ai replied casually to Shoichi.

Seeing that Ai didn't care about this, Masakazu didn't say anything. He walked over to her, pinched her cheek, and before Ai could get angry, slipped a 'cheek pinching coupon' into her hand.

Ai gave a habitual snort and then untied the bandage on her foot.

"These bandages should really be stuffed in your mouth."

"Ugh~" Zhengyi said with disdain, "You didn't wash your feet last night, they're so dirty."

"It's washed!"

"Then you can eat it."

"You're disgusting," Ai said.

Zheng Yi said, "You see, you don't have any reaction, which means you've gotten used to my disgust, so you're not disgusted anymore."

Ai pouted.

I'm just too lazy to react.

Yeah, I've actually gotten used to it.

Xiao Ai sighed.

Just as he untied the bandage from Ai, he wrapped it around Ai's head again, making Ai annoyed and punch him in the chest with her little fist.

After a while, Zheng Yi calmed down.

He said to Ai, "I didn't expect you to be so kind when you were little." Ai stared at Masakazu without blinking.

What do you mean?
Am I not kind now?
Looking at Ai's face, which seemed to be looking for trouble, Masakazu said, "It's hard to believe that you would help a classmate who was being bullied when you were a child."

“What’s so hard to believe? I’ve always been a kind person,” Ai said.

Zheng Yi looked at Xiao Ai with a complicated expression.

He reached out and gently rubbed Ai's face.

Honestly, Ai Haibara has never been this shameless before, actually boasting about her kindness.

It seems she's been spending too much time with Hongye and has become shameless. I need to keep her away from Hongye from now on; she's been corrupted.

"Great job, just as kind as I was when I was little," Masakazu praised Ai.

"Forget about it."

Hongye retorted mercilessly, "You were a bully when you were a kid, when have you ever been kind?"

"How dare you slander someone's innocence?" Zheng Yi looked at Hong Ye, who was spewing venomous words, with displeasure.

Hongye scoffed.

"Back then, you bullied Hattori Heiji, and he held a grudge against you for many years. The feelings he hasn't forgotten all these years are all the result of the bullying," Koyo said.

“I only punched him once, it doesn’t count as bullying,” Zhengyi said.

And there was a reason why I beat him up.

Hongye smiled but didn't say anything.

Zheng Yi wasn't a good person when he was a child. He often bullied her, and she often went to Zheng Yi's father to complain about him when she was young.

So every time she cried, Zheng Yi's father would assume that Zheng Yi had bullied her, and would start beating Zheng Yi and deducting his allowance.

Zheng Yi has always been a money-grubber, and then he got annoyed by her crying.

Heiji Hattori made her cry, and Masakazu immediately reacted by beating Heiji Hattori up.

Stealing his money, wouldn't that be worse than killing him?

Seeing that the two of them suddenly fell silent, as if they were recalling something, Ai curled her lips in disgust.

Eh~~
Childhood sweethearts, how wonderful, with so many shared memories.

Zheng Yi suddenly spoke up: "Since Naomi is an old acquaintance of yours, why not let her run around with Interpol? It would be better if she stayed in Japan with you."

"Humph!"

Ai said, "If you like someone, just say so. Don't keep using me as an excuse."

"What?" Hongye's tone became somewhat sharp without her realizing it.

Did you fall for someone after just one meeting?
"I'm attracted to her skills," Ai said.

Hongye shrank back into her neck.

“Oh, it’s true that you want her to keep you company,” Zheng Yi said. “It’s not easy for an old friend to come over, so of course I want to keep you company.”

“We’re not old friends,” Ai said. “I only helped her once, and we haven’t had any contact since.”

"How could someone who has had little interaction with you remember you so fondly for so many years?" Zheng Yi asked.

"sure."

Hongye said, "You and Hattori Heiji only met once, but he has been thinking about you for so many years."

“That’s because he’s petty,” Zheng Yi said.

Ai looked at Momiji who suddenly interrupted and pouted again.

No wonder they're childhood sweethearts; they're talking about things I didn't even know.

And that happened many years ago.

Zheng Yi hugged Ai's arm and said in a coquettish tone, "Let her stay."

"Can you please stop being so disgusting?" Ai rolled her eyes.

You don't actually think you're cute, do you?
Ai said, "If you want to keep someone, go yourself. I won't speak up for you."

She knew what Zheng Yi, that bastard, was thinking.

She wanted to use emotional appeals and appeals of gratitude to keep the person, but Ai didn't want to.

“I’d like to go myself, but my methods of keeping people here aren’t very elegant and might scare them away,” Zheng Yi said.

Ai's lips twitched.

Yes, if Zheng Yi were to try and stop someone, he might be carrying a pistol and a bomb, which could easily scare people.

“I’m doing this for her own good,” Zheng Yi said. “The organization is clearly very interested in her system, and only I can protect her.”

"okay!"

Ai pushed Masakazu: "Stop rubbing against me like that. Can't I keep her here for you?"

You want all kinds of technology, you want all kinds of people, how can you be so greedy?

"Thank you, Ai!"

Shoichi rewarded Ai with a hug. Although Ai seemed disgusted on the surface, Shoichi knew that she was very happy inside.

She's just a bit proud and doesn't want to say it.

Look, even when she pushes herself, she's reluctant to use any force.

Ai was furious.

When that jerk hugged her, he brushed against her injured foot, and it hurt a lot, you know?!
She was in so much pain that she had no strength left!
After finally getting rid of that bastard Masakazu, Ai and Momiji started chatting, but Ai didn't seem very happy.

Because Hongye actually talked about a lot of things that happened when Zhengyi was a child.

Although she was quite interested in what kind of outrageous things Zheng Yi had done when he was a child, what was with Hongye's boastful tone?

Suddenly, Koyo asked, "By the way, Ai, you seem to really enjoy reading comics lately?"

“That’s right, add some hobbies to your life,” Ai said.

Simple bags are too boring.

Moreover, it's very expensive. Hobbies that cost a lot of money are more likely to result in things like character customization vouchers.

Momiji was very curious that Ai would like comics. Isn't that something only children like?
She asked curiously, "What kind of comics do you read?"

"Oh, it's a not-so-famous comic." Ai said expressionlessly.

Hongye was clearly not satisfied with this vague answer. Just as she was about to ask more questions, there was a knock on the door. It was Zhengyi who came to tell them to go to the restaurant for dinner.

"Let me carry you out," Hongye said.

"No need." Ai was speechless. "It's not a serious injury. My foot was just bumped."

"Ok."

"Let's go."

Hongye's eyes darted around slightly, and she felt a tickle in her heart, like a kitten was scratching her.

What kind of comics does Ai Haibara read?

She pretended to be nonchalant and followed Ai towards the restaurant, but then made an excuse to quietly turn back halfway.

The room was quiet. Hongye tiptoed to Ai's bedside.

She looked around to make sure no one had returned, then quickly rummaged through the bed and found a slightly worn comic book.

There was another book cover on the outside, which covered the title of the comic.

"Let me see what kind of manga makes Ai so mysterious..."

Hongye muttered to herself, a mix of guilty excitement and elation, as she turned to the first page of the comic.

As the pages turned, her previously nonchalant expression gradually froze.

"My childhood sweetheart has been snatched away again!"

How could Ai-chan read such a vicious comic?! (End of Chapter)