Conan: I've been linked to the tech tree system.

But Kudo called him and said someone was swallowing something dangerous, and that's how this unexpected thing happened?

Who believes it!

Chapter 135 The Traitor in the Organization

Despite various pressures, the police detained all the celebrities present, hoping to find clues about the killer among them.

Inspector Megure has been meticulous and responsible in his work for many years, and he is very familiar with the legal process... but he really doesn't know how to solve cases!

If cases could be solved on the spot, the First Investigation Division wouldn't rely so much on detectives.

Inspector Megure scanned his surroundings, thinking of Tohru Tono for the 114514th time.

'My dear Tono, I miss you.'

Tohru Tono is a perfect detective. He solves cases with lightning speed, never works overtime, and his personality is not as high-profile and flamboyant as Shinichi Kudo's. He also occasionally looks down on the police.

At the same time, because it's just a hobby, he doesn't try to get reporters' attention like a professional detective like Kogoro Mouri, to pique their interest, or to create suspense.

It can be described as a plus-++ version of Shinichi Kudo.

The only problem is that, unlike the other two plague gods, he isn't always at the scene of the crime when something happens, and sometimes he can't be found.

Just like today.

Inspector Megure turned off his phone screen and sighed.

Let's downgrade the rating to Shinichi Kudo Plus+.

Wait, Shinichi Kudo?

Inspector Megure then remembered that it was Shinichi Kudo who had told him about the assassination attempt on Representative Tonguchi earlier that day.

Yeah, I can always reach out to my brother Kudo; it's been so long since we last contacted each other I've almost forgotten.

Inspector Megure eagerly found Shinichi Kudo's number.

"Toot~toot~Moshi Moshi?"

After a few rings, the call was answered.

"Kudo, my friend," Inspector Megure said, bringing his mouth close to the receiver and speaking as softly as possible to avoid being heard by other guests, "Are you at the memorial service right now?"

"No, but I heard about it."

Conan hid under the table at the scene, holding a bow-tie-shaped voice changer, and started spouting lies.

"So do you have any clues?... To be honest, if this drags on any longer, I'm going to lose control of the situation."

Inspector Megure's hopes were greatly diminished upon hearing this.

Can a case be solved if the person is not at the scene?

"Hmm..." Conan recalled the purple handkerchief that had fallen at the crime scene.

It smelled of gunpowder.

"Try to stall for a little longer. If it really doesn't work, check the guests who received the purple handkerchiefs on site and gather them together to stay."

"A purple handkerchief? Why?"

"Just do as I say, I already have a plan."

Conan hung up the phone, and several suspicious figures flashed through his mind.

The strangest one was the high school girl, but he had checked and the receptionist had no recollection of her. It was very likely that she had sneaked in.

Although this makes it even more suspicious, it also eliminates any suspicion related to the purple handkerchief.

Is there some ulterior motive? Or is it just a coincidence?

Conan felt himself caught in a deep cloud of doubt.

-----------------

Outside the building, inside the alley.

A black Porsche 356A was parked in front of the back door, and Gin was smoking in the snow.

Her long blonde hair hung down to her waist, and her oversized black trench coat trailed on the ground.

The snow was still falling, and the scattered red spots stood out starkly against the white world.

"Creak, creak, creak"

The sound of footsteps in the snow is different from ordinary ones; no matter what kind of shoes you wear, they all feel like rain boots.

Gin glanced up at the person walking towards him, then immediately lost interest and moved his lips, shifting the cigarette butt that was tilted to the right between his teeth to the left.

"Starlight?!"

Vodka, who had been standing diligently beside him, watching the surroundings, was startled and stared wide-eyed as if facing a formidable enemy.

He, Vodka, will never forget the humiliation he suffered!

Vodka drew his pistol, striking a pose that said, "I'm not someone you should mess with, so don't mess with me."

"Starlight" strode over, completely ignoring him.

Instead, she leaned closer to him with a curious look and asked, "Why don't you use the plasma gun I made?"

"..."

Vodka's face twitched, and he took a few steps back without making a sound.

At the same time, he glanced subtly at Gin's waist.

"Oh~" Starlight felt that she understood.

Because his direct superior is an old-school, conservative man who is unwilling to accept the latest technology, Vodka, as his subordinate, will not easily change his sidearm.

Working people tend to overthink things.

The starlight blinked at the vodka.

Brother, I understand you.

Vodka nodded slightly, his impression of "Starlight" improving considerably.

It's so good that someone understands me.

Gin glanced coldly at the two of them, who seemed to have inexplicably reached an agreement without saying much.

Vodka suddenly stood at attention, as if surveying his surroundings.

Starlight made no move, turning his gaze toward Gin.

"Don't talk nonsense."

"What do you mean by 'nonsense'? This is a customer after-sales survey, it's very important, okay?"

"Have you ever worked in e-commerce? After-sales surveys are a crucial channel for product quality feedback. Customer suggestions can effectively improve manufacturers' efficiency in improving products, while also making it easier to analyze the product's strengths and weaknesses, remove redundant functions, simplify the design, and reduce prices and costs—all of which are highly beneficial to both buyers and sellers..."

"Shut up."

Gin drew his pistol.

He had a slight pain in his temple.

"...Hai, Hai."

"Starlight" stopped the conversation.

"You really need to change your habit of drawing your gun all the time?"

"Speak your mind, or you'll have a bloody hole in your head right now."

“Well, it’s like this… I met Vermouth inside, and she gave me a mission, asking me to assist you in completing some kind of ‘mission’.” Toru Tohno chuckled. “Besides assassinating the senator, there are other missions as well, that’s incredible.”

"What kind of mission is it? It's so hard to guess."

"..."

Gin put away the Beretta and gave him a cold look.

"She told you something like this? What is that Vermouth woman up to now?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're trying to take this opportunity to betray the organization."

Tohru Tono had said it unintentionally, but suddenly a thought struck him.

In the original manga, Vermouth even restrained her hatred for Shiho Miyano in order to protect Conan and Ran, and repeatedly did things that were detrimental to the organization...

For an assassin, it's difficult to simply explain it with something like "they saved me"; there must be more to it than that.

Perhaps Vermouth had already harbored rebellious intentions towards the organization, or rather, the boss, and Conan simply accelerated this process.

This kind of double agent... might actually be trying to pave the way for his future by winning me over.

Interesting, perhaps Vermouth is also someone we could try to win over... we could use her "godson" as leverage.

Gin didn't think much of it. He was used to Starlight's endless ramblings and wouldn't take some of the obviously made-up words seriously.

Chapter 136 I just want some benefits

The handling of organizational members always requires the boss's personal approval, so any unplanned events during the mission must also be reported to the boss.

But since it was Vermouth who made the suggestion, it must have been reported to the boss long ago, so there's no need to confirm with the boss again.

"Vodka, tell her the mission objective."

Gin, too lazy to explain himself, simply passed the buck to Vodka.

"Ah, oh." Vodka paused for a moment, then walked over somewhat reluctantly.

"Ahem." He stood a distance away from "Starlight," then carefully cleared his throat. "It's like this..."

Tohru Tono listened with great interest as he explained the mission.

-----------------

As Kenzo Masuyama wore his black tuxedo, specially for the funeral, a corner brushed against the copper trim of the oak barrels in the wine cellar, his cloudy pupils reflecting the blue light of his phone screen.

He finally managed to shake off the annoying police and arrive at the underground wine cellar where he had arranged to meet Gin.