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

Tanaka Tomofumi hid behind a shipping container, looking around nervously.

After confirming once again that there was no one else nearby, he quietly walked towards an inconspicuous corner between the container and the bridge pier.

He crouched down, parted the weeds, and saw a dark blue six-pointed star symbol carved into the ground beneath his feet.

It seems this is it.

Tanaka Tomofumi took out a handkerchief to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and nervously stood on tiptoe.

This was his first time buying something on the dark web, and he was so nervous he was trembling.

Having been a law-abiding citizen for most of his life, this was the first time he had done something so outrageous. While feeling guilty and fearful, a strange sense of pleasure also welled up inside him.

The eerie feeling made him pace back and forth, glancing at the hands of his watch again and again, trying to ease his tense nerves.

But as the clock ticked away, less than a minute remained until the agreed-upon transaction time. Tanaka Tomofumi still hadn't heard the sound of a car engine, nor had he seen anyone.

This gave his mind, which was already overflowing with tension, a chance to start working again.

Did I get stood up?

Are people on the dark web really this uncivilized?

The hour and minute hands on the watch overlapped, and Tomofumi Tanaka still hadn't seen the suspected trading partner.

Just as he relaxed and was filled with doubt, wondering if he should run away, he suddenly felt something tug at his trouser leg.

The cold touch sent chills down his spine.

After the initial tension, the sudden relaxation was followed by a shock. Tanaka Tomofumi felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his stomach, and his body jerked to the side two or three meters in response.

As a result, it crashed into a container next to it.

"bump!!!"

Tanaka Tomofumi felt as if his skull was about to crack, and when he saw stars, he seemed to see his grandfather in the sky waving to him.

He sat on the ground for a long time before he recovered, and only then did he remember to check what had pulled him.

He looked down and saw a pure black Maine Coon cat in front of him.

The cat was staring blankly at him, its deep blue eyes revealing no emotion.

The cat was also carrying a small metal box in its mouth.

Tanaka Tomofumi smacked his head, secretly blaming himself for being such a coward and how he could be so frightened by a cat.

He carefully pulled the box out of the cat's mouth, watched it turn and jump away immediately after completing its task, disappearing quickly among the containers.

Tanaka Tomofumi opened the box and found that it contained the products he had ordered online, along with a handwritten instruction manual and a note with a bank card number written on it.

Tanaka Tomofumi breathed a sigh of relief, completely at ease.

Although the delivery method was somewhat different from what he had expected, he finally got his hands on the goods.

Are businesses these days really this creative? They even trained a cat to deliver goods?

Tanaka Tomofumi couldn't quite figure out the other person's thought process.

......

Tohru Tohno retrieved his mechanical cat and stuffed it directly into a metal box.

He looked at the pile of things on the back seat and sighed.

Because of the constant purchase of new equipment to enrich his laboratory and the acquisition of various raw materials that might be needed in the past few days, Toru Tono's savings have shrunk considerably.

However, because these small expenditures are like cutting flesh with a knife, Tohru Tono never really grasped the significance of them.

It wasn't until he felt he lacked a means of transportation and went to buy a car that he realized that with his current assets, the cars he could afford were mostly the economical and practical type.

Forget about luxury cars.

After weighing the options, Toru Tono had no choice but to select the Wuling Sunshine.

This car is spacious and durable, which perfectly meets his needs for fieldwork.

What's more, it's a domestically produced car; with some modifications, it can last a lifetime.

It's like meeting an old friend in a foreign land.

Tohru Tono stuffed the box containing the mechanical cat back into the back seat of the car, thinking that it would be better if it were a real cat, and he would definitely buy it a dried fish as a reward.

Tohru Tohno wasn't a cat lover; he had originally planned to just wear a mask and come to make the trade. But while he was designing the mask, he suddenly noticed a cat plush toy nearby.

Inspiration suddenly popped into his head.

So he hammered and pounded away, and created a mechanical cat.

He also wanted to try to create a real robot in one go, but it turned out that he was obviously overthinking it.

Aside from looking almost exactly like a real cat, Toru Tono's mechanical cat is just an ordinary mechanical toy.

[Magnetic Mechanical Cat: A mechanical cat made using a special process, powered primarily by magnetic energy. Owners can receive images captured by the cat via radio signals and perform simple controls.]

Tono had a notebook in front of him; he had just used it to control the mechanical cat to deliver goods to customers.

When Tanaka Tomofumi was so frightened that he lay on the ground for a long time, Tohno Toru even thought for a moment that he would never get up again and almost called 120 (emergency services).

Fortunately, the subsequent transactions went relatively smoothly.

However, there's still one step away from completing the deal!

Toru Tono stared intently at the red dot on the laptop screen, closely monitoring its movements.

Just as he was operating the robotic cat to pull the customer's trouser leg, he attached a transmitter locator to the inside of the jeans to monitor whether the customer who received the product had honestly transferred the money to the bank card number he had written on the slip of paper.

If someone is thinking of getting something for free...

Don't blame him for tracking you down to your home and checking the water meter!

As the red dot slowly approached Beika Bank, Toru Tono smiled with satisfaction.

The people in this world are good.

Very trustworthy.

Chapter 8: Have the prisoners evolved?!

My name is Conan Edogawa, and I'm a detective.

I was originally a high school student, but unfortunately I was poisoned by the men in black and shrunk.

Even though it's shrunk, its mind is still just as sharp!

I really want to say that, but lately I've been feeling a bit powerless.

Conan peered out the window of the Mouri Detective Agency and sighed with worry.

For some reason, the cases he's been handling lately have become significantly more difficult. The criminals seem to have suddenly become enlightened, and they always manage to erase all the key clues left at the scene, such as fingerprints or footprints, using some inexplicable method.

Although he could quickly solve cases by applying psychological pressure to criminals who were generally not very mentally strong, the fact that the chain of evidence always broke inexplicably made him very unhappy and caused him to lose a lot of brain cells.

If this continues, he will begin to suspect that the poison he was given may have caused irreversible damage to his brain, which is why he can't find any clues.

"Kid, why are you sighing like an adult at such a young age?"

Kogoro Mouri was drinking beer and watching Yoko Okino on TV when he heard Conan sigh, so he punched Conan on the head.

"Come watch Yoko's dramas with me, that way you won't be unhappy!"

"Ha ha ha ha......"

Conan covered his head, his lips twitching. "Heh... Only a third-rate detective like you, whose mind goes blank as soon as he arrives at a crime scene, would be happy every day."

After mentally contemplating his future father-in-law, Conan suddenly heard the sound of someone changing shoes beside him.

"Sister Xiaolan, where are you going?"

"Ah, I'm going to my teacher Matsumoto Sayuri's wedding." Ran picked up her shoes and waved to the two people inside the house.

"I won't be back for lunch, you two will have to fend for yourselves~"

Kogoro Mouri waved to his daughter with his back to her, indicating that he understood.

Conan suddenly remembered that Ran had called him, Shinichi Kudo, the day before yesterday, asking him to attend Matsumoto-sensei's wedding together.

But how could he go in his current state? He had no choice but to make up an excuse to refuse, and was scolded by Xiaolan.

"But I really want to see what Matsumoto-sensei's lover looks like~"

"Hopefully nothing will happen this time." Conan stroked his chin, then turned to see Ran had already opened the door and gone downstairs.

"Wait for me, Sister Xiaolan!"

"I also need to go!"

......

Toru Tono sat in his Wuling Sunshine van, idly resting his hands on the steering wheel, waiting for the long red light.

"buzz"

Tohru Tohru's phone vibrated slightly as he placed it aside. He picked it up and glanced at it, only to find that it was a text message from the bank reminding him that the remittance had been received.

Looking at that long string of zeros, Toru Tono felt a sense of joy.

Several days have passed since he officially debuted on the black market. During this time, although almost everyone who used his invention ended up at the police station, his reputation in the industry has generally been on the rise.

After all, those in the know can see that his invention is truly useful; none of the criminals featured in the newspapers were arrested for leaving crucial clues at crime scenes.

They all managed to get themselves into prison because of their poor mental fortitude.

Tohru Tono played with the box in his hand. This little thing was quite impressive, after all, it was his masterpiece, the result of his painstaking efforts.

[Wireless Portable Biomarker Annihilation Device: A device manufactured using a special process. Activation releases microwaves that carbonize keratin glycoproteins within a 10m radius within 5 seconds, eliminating fingerprints. Pressing the switch for 5 seconds writes the topological information of footprints within the range into a virtual sandbox and generates mechanical waves to vibrate the soil, burying or removing the footprints.]

Thanks to this invention, Toru Tono replenished his savings in just a few days.

Of course, the versions he sells to others are all modified versions, which not only have a huge difference in appearance, but can only be used for a maximum of five minutes. After that, they will automatically break down, and the self-disassembling parts will blend into the ground.

Thanks to this design, the police have not yet discovered that the criminals recently arrested all used the same bio-trace eraser.

Only the forensic science class shed tears alone amidst constant self-doubt.

Thinking of this, Tohno Toru snorted out two plumes of white steam from his nostrils.