Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

Is he trying to find out if he had ever met any members of the organization at the Sherato House?

So, are you planning to silence them?

But something still doesn't feel right—

This kind of clichéd and flawed rhetoric is really unlike the style of that organization.

Under Conan's suspicious gaze, Kid was somewhat helpless. His usual practice of using subtle hints was largely ineffective against someone as wary as Conan. He could only sigh and try to back down: "Sigh, everything I said is true. There's nothing I can do if you don't believe me. After all, this kind of thing is really hard for you to accept. Oh well, it's just that this old woman has been meddling—"

He said "never mind" and turned away, but he was actually drawing out his words, waiting for someone to stop him.

Ayumi was the first to take the bait. She looked at Conan with concern and grabbed Kid's hand anxiously: "Grandma, what should we do in this situation?"

Seeing that someone was cooperating, Kidd suppressed his joy and cleared his throat: "There is a solution, but only if you tell me exactly where you were infected by the evil energy can I prescribe the right medicine—"

[Just one chapter today QAQ My little cuties, go to bed early after reading~]

Chapter 604 Kidd is a narcissist

"Damn it!" Before Kidd could finish speaking, an exasperated voice rang out, "He beat me to it again."

The group looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Sudo, the treasure hunter who had said he wanted to explore the area further.

"Who beat you to it?" Genta asked curiously.

Sudo shone his flashlight on the mountain wall by the pond, where a piece of paper was pasted. It was Kid's special little note.

"I've taken the Nioh Stone~ — Phantom Thief Kid"

At this point, the children had completely lost their sense of menace; they stared at the note with grim faces, saying, "Really? Kidd is too amazing..."

Genta swung his foot defiantly, nearly knocking Mitsuhiko, who was standing nearby, into the river. Chu Ming quickly pulled him up; he remembered that this was the kid who had seen the diamond that Kid had hidden after falling into the water, and then brazenly revealed it in front of everyone after getting out.

He didn't want the diamond to be washed away by water, so he decided to leave it buried there.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Kidd let out a strange laugh from behind: "Oh dear, Kidd truly lives up to his reputation as a master thief who has roamed the world. If he were taken away by the phantom thief who manipulates everyone, I'm sure Misui Yoshie wouldn't be disappointed~"

Seeing how smug he was, Chu Ming couldn't help but tease him, deliberately lowering his head to talk to Conan: "I've encountered Kaito Kid quite a few times, and I've discovered a pattern."

Conan had a pretty good idea of ​​who Kid was disguised as, and asked Chu Ming, "What's the pattern?"

Chu Ming whispered to Conan in a voice that Kid could hear: "Kid is a narcissist. He always likes to over-drama himself. If anyone praises Kid after something is stolen, it's very likely that it's him."

After thinking for a moment, Chu Ming added, "Except for the garden."

"Brother Chu Ming thinks so too? I think so too. That narcissistic thief only knows how to brag about himself all day long—" Conan drawled, his eyes fixed on Kid, his eyes full of mockery.

Kidd cleared his throat, flicked his trench coat, stood up, and in a very pretentious manner, ripped off his disguise, striking Kidd's classic pose in the whistling mountain wind.

"It really is you." Conan also stood up, short in stature but with a commanding presence.

Just as the two were about to start exchanging harsh words, another treasure hunter, Salina, jumped down from the nearby stone wall and cocked a bullet with a click: "Kaito Kid, hand over the gem."

Conan looked at the gun in her hand, narrowed his eyes, and slowly touched the tranquilizer watch on his right hand: "You finally couldn't hold back anymore. The corpse in the river earlier, you killed it, didn't you?"

Salina pointed the gun at Kidd and sneered, "So what if it's me, little brother? Stand aside and shut up. I'm looking for Kidd right now. After I finish talking to Kidd, I'll take you all to cool off in the water."

Conan originally wanted to use his deductions to attract Sarina's attention and then take the opportunity to drug her, but she only wanted to get the diamonds from Kid and had no interest in listening to Conan's rambling.

Helpless, Conan could only step aside as she asked. Just as he was about to ask Chu Ming for help, he discovered that Chu Ming had somehow gotten behind Salina and was now slowly pulling a baton out of his sleeve.

Conan's eyes widened, and for a moment he found Chu Ming's action of raising the baton strangely familiar.

"Gudong-"

Salina collapsed in response.

Chu Ming bent down and wiped the baton on her clothes, then elegantly put it away. When he straightened up, he noticed Conan staring at him in disbelief. He tilted his head in confusion and asked, "What's wrong? Were you scared out of your wits?"

"It's not that bad—" Conan revealed his crescent-shaped eyes. The danger hadn't even had a chance to arrive before it was nipped in the bud by Brother Chu Ming, so he wasn't scared out of his wits. But... Brother Chu Ming's actions were too practiced!

How many times did it take to hone that skill?

Just then, Professor Agasa rushed over with two police officers: "This is it, officer, this is where we found the body."

Chu Ming then revealed the unconscious Shalina behind him: "Officer, you've come at the right time. The murderer is this lady. She has just confessed to killing the person and even tried to threaten us with a gun, but we have already subdued her."

Conan turned his head somewhat anxiously: "The police are here, aren't you going to—wait a minute?"

He had just figured out the code and realized that the diamond couldn't be taken out. Considering that Kidd hadn't stolen the gem this time, he was going to let Kidd go and reminded him to leave quickly. But when he turned around, he found that there was no one behind him.

Kidd had already left sometime earlier.

He silently withdrew his hand, staring at the distant mountains and forests, silently uttering a harsh threat: "One day, I will catch you with my own hands!"

It was already late. After the police took the body and the murderer away, they told the group to remember to give a statement the next day before leaving in a hurry.

The group returned to their tent, looked at the cold stove and empty pot, and sighed deeply. They had worked hard all day, but hadn't found the treasure and hadn't even cooked dinner yet. It was a terrible situation.

The doctor directed the children to tidy up the firewood they had collected and quickly make a simple curry rice to fill their stomachs first.

Soon, steaming hot curry rice was served on the makeshift table. After working late into the night, the children were starving and stuffed the rice into their mouths like little pigs.

"Hey, kind children, I'm lost in the forest. I'm tired and hungry. Could I trade this fruit for something to eat?" A frail voice called out, and an old man, hunched over, slowly emerged from the woods with a bunch of wild fruit in his hand.

Ayumi looked in the direction of the voice and saw a familiar face: "Ah, it's that old lady from before—no, aren't you Kid?"

Kidd didn't argue, but simply waved the fruit in his hand: "Kind little girl, could you give me something to eat in return?"

“Of course!” Ayumi jumped up excitedly, squeezed in with Mitsuhiko and the others to make room for Kid. “Come sit down, Doctor made a lot of curry rice, we can’t finish it all.”

Conan was a little confused. After Kid sat down, he asked him in a low voice, "Why did you come back again?"

"It's that question I asked you before. Do you remember if you've had any contact with a stranger recently? Someone you sat with for at least an hour or two." Kid scratched his head, dealing with the chattering children around him, and then turned to Conan in a low voice to ask.

Although he didn't know what Kid wanted to ask, Conan thought about it carefully and shook his head: "No, I haven't gone out much these past few days. Even when I did go out, I didn't have much contact with any strangers. What happened? Tell me, maybe I can help you?"

Conan curiously leaned closer, thinking that maybe this could help him uncover Kid's true identity?

Chapter 605 Mr. Kui is Just That Amazing

The truth definitely couldn't be told. Even if it were, Kid felt Conan wouldn't believe it. He glanced at the others by the campfire, then quietly went into the woods with Conan. He organized his thoughts and told the story indirectly.

"Do you remember that baby-faced puppet we brought to Fantasy Park before—Mr. Kui?" Kidd almost blurted it out.

Conan certainly remembered. He still remembered the hoarse sound of Mr. Aoi when he spoke, like a stone rubbing sandpaper, and the feeling of being stared at by him, as if he were being stared at by some inorganic machine.

Are you looking for him?

Kidd rubbed his hands together and began to fabricate a story: "Actually, Mr. Aoi isn't really my friend. He just owed me a favor, which is why I was able to get him to help me. I'm in a bit of trouble lately and need to contact him, but he's always been homeless and doesn't have any way to contact him. However, Mr. Aoi carries a fragrance that only I can smell, and I smelled it on you. Mr. Aoi's disguise skills are also quite good, so you must have unconsciously come into contact with him at some point—"

Conan shook his head firmly: "Impossible. Don't I know whether there are strangers around me?"

"Maybe he's disguised as someone you know? You might not even be able to tell." Kidd scratched his head, revealing the truth in one sentence.

Conan's eyes widened suddenly as he thought of Kyosuke Haga, who had been killed by the organization's drug.

According to Kidd, he could even disguise himself, and that look he gave people was like looking at inanimate objects—

Mr. Aoi is very likely a member of the organization, and he might even be the same member who was at the old Shitara house back then!

If you think about it this way, many things that he couldn't understand will become clear.

That Mr. Aoi can disguise himself; he might be one of Vermouth's men. He wasn't attacked because of Vermouth's orders, and Mr. Aoi was disguised as someone he knew, which is why he didn't realize it.

That doesn't make sense either. The people who went to the Shirakawa-no-Otoko with him were Uncle Mori, Ran, and Brother Chuming. He didn't sense anything wrong with any of them at the time.

Kidd had already taken out paper and pen and started scribbling on the paper by the light of the fire not far away: "Come on, let's sort this out first?"

Conan nodded, and the two sat down cross-legged. Fortunately, Conan had a good memory, and he recounted his itinerary for the past few days bit by bit. Kid scribbled on the paper, and after a while, placed the paper in the middle.

"Your scent can only be picked up by sitting together for more than an hour. I've removed all the fragmented time you mentioned spent with other people. During that time, I've circled everyone who came into contact with you and sat with you for more than an hour—all of them are people around you."

Those children, Detective Mouri, Ran, and Mr. Chu Ming. Although those children and Mr. Mouri spent more than an hour together, they didn't sit together, so their scent couldn't have transferred to you…”

Kidd circled Xiaolan and Chuming's names: "Only these two are left."

He paused, as if remembering something, and added, "That Mr. Chu Ming also had this scent, but it was very, very faint, probably because he only came into contact with him for a short while."

Conan stared at the name on the paper, speechless for a long time. Kaito Kid's addition clearly indicated that he already had someone he suspected: "You think that the person who accompanied me to the Shirakawa Mansion that day wasn't the real Chu Ming, but the Mr. Aoi you mentioned?"

“Yes, the very faint scent on him might have come from when Mr. Aoi knocked him unconscious,” Kid said with certainty, because he would do the same before disguising himself.

"Impossible..." Conan refused to believe it. "How could that be? Brother Chu Ming has never mentioned it to me. It can't be that Mr. Kui was able to knock him out without alerting him, right? You don't know how good Brother Chu Ming is."

Kidd recalled the demon's omnipotent magic and remembered that the demon had given the puppet a portion of its power, and couldn't help but sigh softly, "Why not? You don't understand, Mr. Aoi is just that powerful."

Conan watched with mixed feelings as Kid chattered on like a fan leader, explaining to him just how amazing this so-called Mr. Aoi really was.

"Hey, why don't we just ask? Maybe Mr. Aoi disguised himself while he wasn't home? Maybe your Chu Ming thought it was too embarrassing and didn't tell you? Or maybe he didn't even realize he'd been knocked unconscious, but there might have been some clues left at home?" Kidd nudged Conan, signaling him to go ask.

That made some sense, so Conan and Kid cautiously peeked out from the woods and waved to Chu Ming: "Brother Chu Ming, Brother Chu Ming, come here for a second~"

In the dead of night, two heads, one old and one young, suddenly emerged from the dark woods. In the flickering light of the campfire, it was truly terrifying!

Chu Ming twitched his lips. He had just secretly leaned over to listen and understood what Kidd had been doing all day, muttering to himself.

To be honest, his demonic persona hasn't been able to visit Kid for a while. Once he's finished dealing with things with the FBI, he'll go and have a good chat with Kid.

What kind of dog-nose tracking is this?! He couldn't detect any scent on his puppet at all. Logically, since his body absorbed a lot of magnetic fields, his sense of smell should be several times stronger than others, right? But he couldn't smell anything at all—

It was getting late, and although the children were very curious about what Kid and Conan were talking about—they were all members of the Junior Detective League, so why was only Conan able to chat with Kid?—they could only be sent back to their tents to sleep by Professor Agasa because Chu Ming was still there, and Ai Haibara was also chiming in, saying they would ask Conan together tomorrow.

Chu Ming didn't go over, but instead waved to them: "Come over here and talk, they've all gone to sleep."

Conan came running over and got straight to the point: "Brother Chu Ming, were you the one who went with me to the Shele Mansion last time?"

Chu Ming looked bewildered: "Huh? Didn't we go together? Why are you suddenly asking this?"