He's in Detective Conan, and he's the mastermind behind everything.

"...If you catch a cold, you should go to the hospital."

"No, that's not true. Just think of it as my brain's CPU cooling down. It was running too intensely before."

Ying Sheng walked towards the opposite lane. Although he was crossing the road, the entire street was completely blocked, and the vehicles were just crawling along, so it didn't matter at all.

Xiaolan hesitated for two seconds, then, remembering what was in her pocket, she followed. Compared to her previous actions, this was nothing at all.

"Are you feeling any better now, Mizuki-kun?"

"Actually, it's not much different from before. I feel drowsy, mainly because I haven't rested well. And then there's the matter of Kurosawa Kogane. That guy is so annoying."

"What exactly did he influence? Can you tell me?"

"Well... roughly speaking, I think he was at least incapacitated, so he disguised himself as someone else from the distillery, trying to set a trap and take out a few more people."

But surprisingly, he didn't completely lose consciousness; at least two phone calls had occurred right before his eyes, putting some secrets at risk of being exposed.

"So, Shuiyue-kun said he wanted to stay at my house. Is he worried that someone is lying in wait for you?" Xiaolan's tone was somewhat worried, but her eyes quickly became dark and unpredictable. "Should we make a move against them? They're definitely bad people, aren't they?"

"It's not that bad. Even in the worst-case scenario, I'm just a suspect," Ying Sheng laughed. "I'm just thinking that if they come to my house to search or something, I'm too lazy to meet them. Let them do what they want."

He looked at Xiaolan and said, "I'm telling you, I never intended for you to turn evil or anything like that. Just be normal."

Xiaolan let out a sigh of relief and rolled her eyes at him: "Can't I even worry about you? Besides, you said that's the worst-case scenario, so there's also the best-case scenario, right? Are we still going to eat now? Shouldn't we try to find a way to salvage the situation?"

"The best-case scenario is, well..."

Ying Sheng thought for a moment: "Ideally, the two people who have already inhaled the drug should be able to overcome all external difficulties."

Unfortunately, this possibility is extremely slim. So, even if we take a step back and at least one person is shot or unconscious, there's still room for the situation to turn around.

"Can't you be a little clearer about who the person involved is?" Ran sighed. "No, according to what you said before, it couldn't be Shinichi and Yukimatsu, could it? They might have inhaled some kind of drug and then been shot?"

Ying Sheng nodded without hesitation: "Yes."

"........."

Chapter 198 Xiaolan has been completely influenced by Yingsheng's colors.

"Oh my god, why did things turn out like this?"

Xiao Lan sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation. Their once peaceful life, and the four of them who were once so peaceful, seemed to have suddenly become strange in a very short period of time.

"Could you explain a little more clearly, Mizuki-kun? I'm completely confused about the situation right now."

"In short, Kiyoko Yukimatsu is a person from the brewery, codenamed Vermouth. After I accidentally discovered this, I wanted to kill her, but I also wanted to find out why she got close to Kudo first, so as to avoid any other trouble later."

As for Kudo, he doesn't know much. I mainly used him as a smokescreen to attract attention so I could act covertly.

However, I assure you that if the plan proceeds smoothly, Kudo will be in no danger whatsoever; on the contrary, it will lead to a great success.

Of course, I'm not sure now. But based on my calculations... well, there's a possibility he was forced to join the distillery and become my colleague.

"........."

Xiaolan looked at her blankly; "Are you serious?"

"of course."

Ying Sheng shrugged: "They were all schemed against by me, the mastermind behind it all. If Gin hadn't been inexplicably as resilient as a cockroach, I would have taken care of three organization members in one go and rescued Miss Sherry while I was at it. Sigh..."

Why does it feel a little regrettable as we talk about it?

"..."

Xiaolan was speechless: "I felt it was a pity that I didn't fully understand it, so we should have continued to follow along, right?"

"No, personal safety is the most important thing. There's no need to fight them head-on; it's not worth it."

Ying Sheng shook his head helplessly: "Besides, who could have predicted Gin's situation beforehand? The main reason I didn't pursue him was because of Ghost's bomb."

"Ok."

Xiaolan sighed, "Then we'll just have to wait until next time."

"...Xiao Lan, do you also have a grudge against them?"

Xiao Lan snorted: "If Shuiyue-jun's true identity is discovered, I definitely won't be able to escape either. Don't think you can get rid of me and go it alone. Otherwise, I'll just have to passively wait for fate to come my way."

"Hey, is this still the Ran I know?" Hotaru looked her over carefully and clicked his tongue in amazement: "Completely different. Weren't you the kind of person who used to passively wait for fate, both your parents and Kudo?"

"This is called 'one who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black.' Humph, who do you think I'm with every day?"

"I am guilty, I repent."

"But I'm very happy."

"Poor little guy, you must be starved for love to have gotten on my ship so easily."

"That's just how reality is. What can I do? You told me to do this, so don't overthink it."

As Xiaolan spoke, she took Yingsheng's hand and shook it vigorously:

"Don't say anything else that will spoil the mood, okay? There's no other possibility now."

"Hey~~ I don't really have any special fetishes after all." Ying Sheng smiled. "But what you said reveals a little problem."

"what?"

"Suzuki-kun has contacted you, hasn't he?"

"...Seriously, are you analyzing things all the time? Be careful not to overload your brain's CPU."

"Isn't this the norm? What did Suzuki-san tell you? About the Sakura Class?"

"This was just a brief mention. The main question was when we officially became a couple. Sonoko thinks you seem a bit confused about the situation."

"Oh, so what do you think?"

"I think that's how it is. Anyway, I lost to you. Whether you have a heart or not, whether you've been moved or not... Ah, I have no idea. Let things continue to get worse."

"Hiss—you don't actually think you're a green tea bitch, do you?"

"It's not that I think so, it's just how I am."

Xiaolan pouted: "According to Shuiyue-jun, you can definitely feel other people's love, right? I'm afraid I haven't given you any love even once in all this time. Doesn't that prove anything?"

"How do you know we haven't offered any? They might already be fully booked."

"Because you can feel it, it's like..."

Sigh, sorry, I have to bring up Shinichi myself at this time. If I were to compare him to someone else, I would sometimes worry about him, about his safety when solving cases and his forgetfulness in daily life, but I would never worry about Suigetsu.

In the end, I was just greedy for your warmth, but what I really felt inside... ah, it's absolutely awful, why am I like this?

"Hmm... Is it possible that you know I'm very reliable?"

"It's different. Trust and worry are two different things."

"Okay, then let's just say you're a green tea bitch. But men all like green tea bitches. And I really think it's pretty good. It's very casual to be around you, and there are occasional surprises, like going back to the past."

"An Easter egg? Like the ambush from before?"

"Almost, back to the Sakura Class, don't you know which kindergarten Kudo attended before transferring?"

"I don't know, he's never mentioned it. Is this important?"

"It's not that important, but if the people at the research institute start fully coordinating intelligence, they'll definitely mention that place. I'm wondering if there's anything we can do about it, like ambushes or keyword anchoring."

"........."

Xiao Lan was speechless: "Shuiyue Jun, be careful not to be too wise and hurt yourself, and what do you mean by anchoring your consciousness to keywords?"

"Just like the hypnotic keywords in hentai anime, they are used to awaken traumatic memories, and are often accompanied by great pain and somatization reactions."

Through certain methods, this anchoring can be artificially created, much like the golden headband in Journey to the West. No matter how enthusiastically Sun Wukong jumped around before, he would immediately stop upon hearing the key words.

Yingsheng explained.

"So..." Ran glanced at him sideways, "You're planning to use this method on Shinichi?"

"Of course not, why would I control him? There's no benefit to it."

Ying Sheng sighed softly: "Let me be blunt with you. Before Kudo transferred to your Sakura Class, he and Sherry were childhood friends. Later, the people from the brewery forcibly took Sherry away, leaving Kudo with traumatic memories, which his brain then avoided."

Gin might realize this after overhearing the Miyano sisters' conversation.

Do you know what this means?

This means that if the brewery also has research in the fields of memory and consciousness, they could potentially make this incident an anchor in Kudo's consciousness, so that he would never forget that scene and might even remain immersed in the immense pain of that time.

No matter how righteous Kudo was originally, at that point, he would likely have no choice but to succumb to the darkness.

"!!!"

Xiaolan was shocked: "Then are we still going to eat?"

Chapter 199 Ying Sheng Confessed Everything to Xiao Lan

"Don't panic, that's just thinking the worst. Besides, we still have plenty of time. We can eat first." Ying Sheng rubbed his empty stomach and pouted. "Besides, even if we wanted to force our way in, we'd have to fill our stomachs first."

He pointed to a wooden sign not far ahead: "We've arrived at Sanmei House."

Xiaolan sighed softly and pulled him into the store: "There's still plenty of time. Do you think Gin is just putting on a brave face and will eventually pass out?"

Ying Sheng nodded: "Also, Sherry won't cooperate with him, and Kudo has inhaled the drug, so he might faint after being stopped."

"What kind of medicine is it?"

"Don't say it, don't say it."

LSD?

"Of course not, why would you think that?"

"Because we just met last night, and besides, you did consider saving Shinichi, right?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have told you."

As they spoke, the two entered the restaurant. The hostess was wearing a blue and white porcelain cheongsam and had a warm smile on her face. Xiao Lan glanced around and realized that this was a Chinese restaurant.