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

......

Tohru Tono hung up the phone and listened to Conan's strategic planning.

"Doctor, could you please borrow a car from the police station next door? Right now, the only ones who can identify Mr. James are just a few of us."

"Okay, I'll go right away." The doctor quickly turned and left.

"How's it going over there?" Conan asked Tohno as he walked over.

When no one else is around, Conan doesn't even act anymore; he doesn't act like a child at all.

Shiho Miyano is still standing here... Is it because she doesn't see any threat and is therefore selectively ignoring it?

“Yes, Sato said he’ll have the traffic police help stop the car that might be carrying James,” Toru Tono said.

"Okay, that should be foolproof..." Conan pondered.

Then he suddenly looked up and asked, "Tono, don't you find this suspicious?"

"Suspicious? Where?" Toru Tohno was taken aback. Had Conan noticed something was wrong with James Black?

He didn't see anything... but that's also related to the fact that he already knew James was an FBI agent. It's quite reasonable for Conan to have noticed something was off from James's behavior.

"If he was led here by two grown men from the parking lot through the alley, and then got into another car... that means he cut his finger to make the mark while walking through the alley, right?"

“Ah, that’s probably right.” Tohno Toru nodded.

"But in this situation, knowing that the two people on the other side were suspicious, he still followed them and left marks for us... Why was that?"

Because he's not afraid at all... and maybe he heard about Conan's "cool guy" reputation from Jodie and wanted to tease you.

Tohru Tohno thought about it briefly and roughly guessed the truth of the matter.

Intelligence can truly give you a god-like perspective.

Although he guessed the truth in his heart, he said something else entirely.

"It's possible that they were threatened with a gun, or that they didn't dare to run into the street to ask for help because they weren't good at Japanese... or that they instinctively sensed something was wrong but weren't sure, so they took double precautions... There are many possibilities."

"That's true..." Conan looked at the ground thoughtfully.

Chapter 202 The Truth About P&A

Before long, Professor Agasa successfully borrowed a police car to pick them up.

However, obtaining full usage rights was impossible, so the driver in the car was still a local police officer, temporarily acting as the driver.

"Let's go check the other side of the checkpoint."

Conan and the Detective Boys got on the bus first.

Tohru Tono and Shiho Miyano were a step behind.

"That was...?"

“Ah, it’s him, no doubt.” Tohno nodded.

Shortly before the police car borrowed by Professor Agasa arrived, a black sedan passed by them.

The driver's side window was rolled down, arrogantly revealing Shuichi Akai's signature knitted hat and his unique cat-like dark green pupils.

He just walked by slowly.

With such close proximity, even Shiho Miyano recognized him immediately as "Dai Moroboshi".

Definitely intentional.

Tohru Tono thought this, while also carefully observing Shiho Miyano.

Surprisingly, the "organizational radar" did not show any signs of fear or trembling.

Strange, has the radar really malfunctioned?

What happened on the bus that day? Was it Vermouth's fault that caused her to behave that way?

Tohru Tohru was puzzled.

After receiving an affirmative answer, Shiho Miyano remained silent for a moment before suddenly saying something.

"He... seems to have cut his long hair."

"?"

Why are you so concerned about this?

......

Miyamoto Yumi walked with her hands behind her back on the street, which was congested due to a traffic accident, recalling the phone call her best friend Sato Miwako had just made to her.

"Foreigner, foreigner..." she muttered to herself, mentally reminding herself of the physical characteristics of the person she was looking for.

At the same time, he walked to each car and checked if anyone matching Sato's description was sitting inside.

She found nothing from every car ahead, so she walked to a police car in the middle of the road.

"Hey! Miss!"

In the police car, the person sitting in the back by the window greeted her.

"Hello? Is there something you need?" Yumi Miyamoto approached very politely.

"Could you let us through here first?" the man wearing sunglasses who greeted her asked with a smile.

"We need to collect evidence at the scene before dark, which can only be done last night."

The "police officer" sitting by another window also came over with a smile, completely obscuring the figure of the "prisoner" sitting between them, who was wearing a hood.

"I'm sorry, thank you for your hard work," Miyamoto Yumi said smoothly, never imagining that the "prisoner" sitting among them was the target they were looking for.

Meanwhile, James had a cold pistol pressed against his waist, but he couldn't attract the attention of the traffic policeman in front of him.

"Alright, you can go ahead then?" Miyamoto Yumi thought for a moment and then let them go.

"Thank you," the man wearing sunglasses said naturally, just like a real policeman.

"boom"

The driver stepped on the gas, swerved into the emergency lane, and drove off in a dashing manner.

Miyamoto Yumi didn't think much of it, watching the police car's exhaust fumes as it drove away, still pondering what Sato had said.

"Alright, let's continue the search... foreigners, foreigners..."

She continued walking forward with her hands behind her back.

......

Sitting in the car at the nearby police station, Tono chatted casually with the driver.

The driver seemed to have long heard of Miwako Sato from the First Investigative Division. Hearing that they were "connected" individuals who had asked Sato to lend them the car, he was unusually enthusiastic and talked about Sato the whole way.

Tohru Tono also experienced firsthand the popularity of the First Investigative Division's female police officer among the special group of police officers.

He clearly remembered that Yumi Miyamoto was quite pretty, and she was also a police inspector... so why wasn't she as popular?

Tohru Tono simply doesn't understand these old men.

While responding to the driver's words in a half-hearted manner, Toru Tono looked around at the interior of the car.

Come to think of it, this is only the second time he has ever ridden in a police car... Although Inspector Megure often offered him a ride after solving cases, he would always find a reason to refuse if there was any possibility of not taking the ride.

After all, riding in a police car is not a good sign... and these days, most police cars in Japan are pretty rubbish, far less comfortable than private cars.

Perhaps it's a sacrifice made for low cost and high performance; after all, this black and white custom car can't compare to a privately owned car that can be exported globally...

Wait, black and white?

Tohru Tohno suddenly had a flash of inspiration, his own divergent ideas sparking new thoughts.

He recalled that in the British and Hong Kong police forces, there was a tradition of calling patrol cars with distinct black and white paint schemes "panda cars".

Because this color scheme is so bright, eye-catching, and intimidating, police cars in Japan and the United States have continued this tradition...

As an Anglo-American, James should have known that patrol cars are called "pandacars" no matter what.

The clue he left behind, "P&A," has an ampersand symbol in the middle that means "and," which is the English word "and."

Therefore, if we write "&" as "and", the complete clue becomes "PandA", which is "panda". It refers to the car that took him away, which is the panda car, or patrol car.

"..."

Tohru Tohno suddenly realized something, then was speechless.

This is such a unique way of thinking... How could an ordinary person come up with this idea so quickly?

Chapter 203

The police car sped along the highway, Toru Tono's fingers unconsciously tapping the edge of the window. The digital clock on the dashboard showed 17:23 PM, the setting sun turning the asphalt road orange-red, and Conan's glasses reflected dappled light in the rearview mirror.

“Pandacar…” Shiho Miyano suddenly repeated softly, the cuff of her black sweater slipping down to reveal half of her bandaged wrist. “So that Englishman was put in a police car and taken away?”

"To be precise, they were hijackers disguised as police officers." Toru Tohno adjusted the car's navigation system; the flashing red dot on the map was moving along the Muzu River towards Saitama Prefecture. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl in the passenger seat holding a detective badge to her ear; the metal casing made her earlobe almost transparent.

The walkie-talkie suddenly blared, Officer Takagi's voice crackling with static: "Target vehicle spotted in Ikumo-gai 3-chome! Repeat, license plate Shinjuku 500... Whoosh!" A screeching sound of brakes instantly drowned out the channel.

"Officer Takagi?" Toru Tono jerked the steering wheel, the police car screeching as it rounded the bend. A sound of Genta retching came from the back seat, and Ayumi's pink hair clip rolled to the floor beneath the brake pedal.

Shiho Miyano suddenly grabbed Toru Tono's wrist, her fingertips icy cold: "Ten o'clock."

A black Toyota sedan swerved out of the side road. The man in the driver's seat, wearing a knitted hat, held the steering wheel with one hand and flicked a burning cigarette butt out the window with the other. Sparks traced a crimson parabola in the air. Toru Tono reflexively slammed on the gas, and the police car shot off like an arrow.

"Shuichi Akai!" Conan practically pressed his face against the windshield. "He's following that fake police car!"

Two cars engaged in a deadly race on the highway. Toru Tono caught a glimpse of a black motorcycle approaching in his rearview mirror—Vermouth wore a skull helmet, and her modified exhaust pipe spewed out indigo flames. The image reminded him of an underground racer he had seen in Munich three years ago, with the same madness and precision.

"Hold on tight!" Toru Tono suddenly swerved and veered down the emergency ramp. The moment the tires slipped on the gravel road, he heard Shiho Miyano's breathing suddenly quicken, and the girl's body slammed heavily against the car door due to inertia. Toru Tono instinctively reached out to protect the back of her head, his palm touching her soft hair.

Fifty meters ahead, a white Toyota disguised as a police car slowly drove into the abandoned factory. The rusty iron gate looked like the fangs of a giant beast in the twilight, and Shuichi Akai's car suddenly blocked the entrance. The sparks from the clinking of metal illuminated his cold profile, and Toru Tono noticed a strange ring on his right index finger—a half-emerald set in a silver base.

"FBI!" As Akai held up his badge, Toru Tono had already kicked open the car door. The twilight wind carried the smell of rust, and he saw James being supported by two men in bulletproof vests, one of whom had a dark red cherry blossom tattoo visible on his collar.

Shiho Miyano suddenly began to tremble violently. Toru Tono silently stepped in front of her, but heard the girl whisper, "That tattoo... even police officers get it..."

"It's quite lively," Vermouth's voice came from above. She had somehow climbed onto the factory roof, her long silver hair fluttering in the evening breeze. "MI6's little wildcat, the FBI's stray dog, and..." she suddenly blew a kiss in the direction of Shiho Miyano, "...our lost lab rat."