Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

"I heard from that kid with glasses that a strange detective came looking for me and told me to come over right away. Plus, there are clues here about a case I'm investigating—cough cough—that's why I rushed over."

Chu Ming, who was secretly eavesdropping, thought: Goodness, I'll inform myself.

Ran shoved Hattori away from Shinichi Kudo and rushed forward a few steps: "You're lying! You didn't even ask me how I was doing on the phone. Either you have someone you like, or you're just hiding and laughing at me, aren't you? How could you do this—" Ran became more and more distraught as she spoke, her voice trembling with tears.

Shinichi Kudo felt somewhat helpless. It was all because of Chu Ming and Hattori, those two old guys, who misled Ran. He always felt that Ran looked at him as if he were a scumbag. Thinking about Ran's karate skills that could kick down telephone poles, and then looking at his own weak and frail body, he realized that Ran was a scumbag.

He stared into Xiaolan's eyes, trying to convey his sincerity: "I'm a detective, you know—I can tell if you're doing well just by listening to your voice."

Xiao Lan was stunned. The two looked at each other, and dreamy bubbles floated all around them.

"Cough cough cough—" A heart-wrenching cough interrupted their tender moment. Ran looked at Chu Ming, who was blowing bubbles at her and Shinichi with a bubble machine, speechless: "Chu Ming, what are you doing..."

Chu Ming looked completely innocent. He had spent 1 point to redeem the bubble machine to create a romantic atmosphere for them. Where could you find such a kind person?

Seeing that Shinichi's cough was getting worse, Ran turned and ran out, saying, "I'll go get the doctor, wait for me—"

Heiji Hattori walked up behind Kudo and said, "Hey Kudo, I didn't get to compete with you this time, but next time I'll definitely challenge you to a duel."

Shinichi Kudo turned and stared intently at Hattori: "There's no such thing as winning or losing in deduction, because in this world—there's only ever one truth!"

Hattori Heiji stared wide-eyed at Kudo Shinichi, whose body was delicate yet whose stature was incredibly tall.

"It's love at first sight—oh no, I can't hide from your gaze~" The two looked at Chu Ming with black lines on their faces as he suddenly started singing a Chinese song in a weird tone.

"Ah—" Shinichi Kudo felt that heart-breaking sensation coming back again. Oh no, the large-sized trial card was about to expire. Damn it, he hadn't even had a chance to talk to Ran yet...

He couldn't let them see him—Shinichi Kudo struggled to his feet and staggered out.

"Doctor, hurry up, I'm waiting for you to save my life—" Xiao Lan's voice came from afar, and the doctor, who was out of breath, put his hands on his legs and tried to calm his heartbeat.

"Hey Shinichi, where are you going?! Why are you wandering around like that?!"

Oh no, I'm about to turn into Conan! Ran can't see me!

Shinichi retreated step by step, forgetting that there was a staircase behind him. He lost his footing and fell down.

Chu Ming looked up and saw his magnetic field generator fall down the stairs. He instinctively rushed over to grab it, but ended up rolling down with it.

Feeling the astonishing temperature emanating from him, Chu Ming realized something was wrong. This guy was about to shrink. No way, how was he going to tease Conan after he found out his disguise?

He was about to let go when Shinichi Kudo, afraid of being seen by Ran, immediately darted into the bathroom. The sudden outburst, coupled with Chu Ming's distraction, ultimately—

Chu Ming and Shinichi Kudo, who was only wearing a shirt, stared at each other in the bathroom.

Before Kudo Shinichi could react, Chu Ming preemptively struck: "Pah, you scumbag, what do you want with me? I'm not that kind of person! That's a different price."

He turned around and pushed the door open to leave, but as soon as his hand touched the handle, he heard a hoarse, suppressed cry of pain.

—Oh no, my alternate account has been forced online.

Chapter 38 Conan's Identity is Revealed

Shinichi Kudo regretted it as soon as he brought Chu Ming in with him. What was he doing, handing over his identity?

So even if Chu Ming said something outrageous, he gritted his teeth and stood there without saying a word, only writing it down in his notebook and watching Chu Ming leave.

As he watched Chu Ming about to open the door and leave, he breathed a sigh of relief, but the feeling of his whole body melting overwhelmed him again, and he couldn't help but roar out loud.

Chu Ming also wanted to ignore everything and just open the door and leave, but his persona on the Red Team was definitely not the kind of cold-blooded person who would never turn around if he heard his teammates crying and screaming in pain behind him. He resignedly turned around and stared at Conan, who was sitting on the toilet wearing a baggy T-shirt that looked like a skirt.

Conan clutched his collar, looking pitifully at Chu Ming.

Chu Ming rubbed his eyes and glanced at the walls around him, which had no windows. Damn it, they won't even give me a chance to lie through my teeth?

"You...this...Conan? That...Kudo..." Chu Ming was incoherent, his worldview being violently shaken.

Conan looked around and, realizing he couldn't hide it any longer, grinned foolishly at Chu Ming: "Brother Chu Ming~"

Just as Chu Ming was about to say something, the door clicked open.

Ran came in and stared in disbelief at Conan, who was curled up on the toilet, and Chu Ming, who was standing in front of him.

"Shinichi, you're here—uh, Chu Ming, Conan? What are you doing? Conan, where did you go? I couldn't find you anywhere. What's wrong with your clothes? And Chu Ming, where's Shinichi? Didn't you come down together? Why is only his suit at the stairwell?"

Conan, afraid that Chu Ming would blurt it all out, preemptively spoke up: "I was sweating just now, so I borrowed a piece of clothing. I overheard Shinichi telling Chu Ming in the bathroom that he had obtained a lead in the case and was in a hurry to deal with it. Because the case he's currently investigating needs to be kept secret, he hoped that no one would talk about his presence. Then he left. Chu Ming seemed to be going to the bathroom and just came in—right, Chu Ming-ge~ ge~?"

Conan frantically winked at Chu Ming, who frowned but still covered for him.

"Yes, he was in a hurry to leave, saying he was fine and just needed some medicine. This kid didn't even lock the door when he went to the bathroom. I thought no one was there, so I just walked in. It gave me a fright. I was just about to leave."

Ran clenched her fists: "That bastard, next time I see him I'm going to—Conan?"

Halfway through her harsh words, Ran saw Conan collapse on the ground and hurriedly took him to the hospital.

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

For the next three days, Conan remained unconscious in the hospital. Chu Ming visited him from time to time. During this period, he also planned to secretly go to Professor Agasa's house to find Shiho Miyano and tell her about how Conan grew bigger after drinking alcohol, suggesting that she could study the ingredients of Chinese baijiu (a type of Chinese liquor) when she had nothing to do.

At this time, Shiho Miyano had been renamed Ai Haibara by the professor. After hearing about her activities in the organization, the kind professor still decided to take her in and even wanted to send her to experience the joy of school.

Ai Haibara felt that even though she had shrunk, it would be too silly to go back to school, so she refused to go no matter what.

Just as the doctor was earnestly trying to persuade Ai Haibara, Chu Ming arrived. The doctor was unaware that Chu Ming already knew Ai Haibara's true identity, and only thought that Chu Ming was a kind person who had met Ai Haibara and was taking her home. So he introduced Chu Ming to him as Ai Haibara, the granddaughter of his old friend, who had come to seek refuge with him.

Chu Ming smiled faintly and waved to Ai Haibara: "Little Haibara, we meet again."

Ai Haibara huddled behind the professor like a shy little girl. It seemed that Chu Ming hadn't reported her to the organization after all this time.

"Chu Ming, you've come at the right time. Xiao Ai just doesn't want to go to school. You can come with me and try to persuade her."

Chu Ming smiled and said meaningfully to Ai Haibara, "Then I'll call you Ai too. Ai, going to school is a lot of fun, and you'll have lots of friends. For example, Conan, whom I told you about last time, is in first grade at Teitan Elementary School. You're about the same age, so you should get along well."

Upon hearing that they were of similar age, Ai Haibara's eyes flickered, and she tilted her head: "Really?"

"Of course, he's a very interesting kid, you'll like him."

To the doctor's delight and heartache, Ai Haibara, whom he had tried to persuade for a long time without success, was moved by Chu Ming's few words and nodded in agreement to go to school.

The professor turned to contact his friend to discuss sending Haibara to Teitan Elementary School midway through her studies, leaving only Chu Ming and Haibara in the living room.

Ai Haibara's organizational radar kept trembling. After the doctor left, she faced Chu Ming directly, her face turning pale.

Chu Ming beckoned to her, leaned closer, and whispered, "Have you read the newspaper? Do you know about the diplomat's death that's been making headlines lately?"

Ai Haibara nodded, composed herself, and sat down next to Chu Ming.

"Shinichi Kudo went too."

Ai Haibara's eyes widened. Although Chu Ming had been hinting at it to her, and she had also noticed that Shinichi Kudo's childhood clothes were missing when she was inspecting the Kudo residence, she was still somewhat shocked when she actually confirmed it.

"He transformed into a child right in front of me—that is, Conan. The prelude to the transformation should be that he accidentally drank a glass of Chinese liquor while he had a cold. You can try to deduce the antidote."

With the doctor absent, Ai Haibara finally had the chance to ask the question she had always wanted to ask: "Why did you help me? Aren't you afraid—"

Chu Ming lowered his eyes, and Ai Haibara couldn't see through his expression.

"It's not to help you, but mainly because your symptoms are the same as Shinichi Kudo's. To protect him, I can't hand you over. Otherwise, the organization will thoroughly investigate everyone who has taken this drug before, and it will be easy to find him. Then, to maintain secrecy, they can kill everyone around him. Ran and Conan saved me back then, and I'm not the kind of person who repays kindness with enmity."

Taking advantage of Ai Haibara's ignorance of the situation, Chu Ming gave his reasons, half-truthfully and half-falsely.

He was indeed protecting Shinichi Kudo, the source of the magnetic field. As long as he was there, a continuous stream of magnetic fields would appear around him. That's not exactly a lie.

"So in exchange, I won't report your affairs to the organization, and you shouldn't tell Shinichi Kudo my identity. He's a righteous detective who can't tolerate any injustice, and knowing my identity wouldn't be good for him."

Ai Haibara and Chu Ming exchanged a glance for a moment, then lowered their eyes and nodded in agreement.

Just then, Dr. Agasa returned in high spirits to tell Ai Haibara about transferring to Teitan Elementary School, and also to Chu Ming that Conan had woken up.

Chu Ming hurriedly said goodbye to the doctor and rushed to the hospital.

Chapter 39 I'm about to shed the identity of Conan

--Hospital--

When Chu Ming arrived at the hospital, Conan was leaning against a soft pillow, and Ran was peeling an apple for him and feeding it.

Damn, is this really such good treatment?

Chu Ming placed the flowers he had bought on the way on the shelf. He had originally wanted to buy fruit, but it was too expensive, so he just picked out a bunch of flowers from the discounted flowers on the roadside.

Seeing Chu Ming arrive, Xiao Lan quickly stood up: "Brother Chu Ming, you've come at the right time. I need to go and process Conan's discharge from the hospital. This kid likes to run around everywhere. Could you please watch him for a little while? I'll be right back."

"It's alright, you go ahead." Chu Ming agreed, as he had something to talk to Conan about anyway.

Seeing Ran walk away, Chu Ming frowned and asked Conan, who was sitting up straight, "What exactly happened to you that day?"

Conan knew that Chu Ming had seen him transform. After thinking about it since waking up, he felt that Chu Ming was not a bad person and had even saved him. So he simply told Chu Ming everything.

"You mean you saw two men in black acting suspiciously at the amusement park, secretly followed them, got knocked unconscious, poisoned, and then shrunk?"

Conan sat on the hospital bed with a serious face: "What I said is true. They said it's a kind of poison, but it doesn't matter. I already know what the antidote is. The identity of Conan will disappear after this. When we meet again, I will be Shinichi Kudo~ Don't tell Ran about this experience, Chu Ming-ge. She will worry."

You're overthinking it. That wish would require you to be at least in second grade, though of course, given the timeline of Detective Conan, you probably won't even be in second grade.

Chu Ming nodded: "It's good that you have a clue, but you should also pay attention to your safety in the future. Don't be so reckless. What if they were using guns? What if you weren't so lucky and got poisoned instead? Xiao Lan would be so heartbroken."

Conan also agreed with Chu Ming's point of view. Ran would indeed be very sad. He hadn't been able to say goodbye to Ran properly this time. Once he recovered, he would definitely catch up with Ran properly. However, Conan completely ignored the advice not to be stubborn. How could the advancement of detective justice be called recklessness? It was clearly courage and wisdom.

"Alright Conan, pack your things, it's time for us to leave the hospital~ Your friends have come to visit you too~" Just as Chu Ming and Conan were speechless, Ran returned.

"Conan, we've come to see you~" A cute little head peeked out from beside Ran's legs; it was Ayumi and the other two members of the Detective Boys.

"Conan, you're so weak! You took three days off just because of a cold. It must be so much fun not having to go to school for three days!" Genta exclaimed excitedly, his face full of envy.

Only Mitsuhiko, due to the angle, saw Chu Ming standing at the foot of the bed. He swallowed hard and said in a low, polite voice, "Excuse me, we've come to visit Conan."

"Mitsuhiko, what's wrong with you? Why is your voice so soft all of a sudden—" Genta stopped mid-sentence because he also saw the person standing in the shadows, staring coldly at him like a giant beast in the darkness.