Conan: What alias? That's my struggle!

Tokyo unfolds quietly outside the car window in the afternoon sunlight.

High-rise buildings, streets, pedestrians, traffic—everything was in perfect order, as if the chaos from just moments ago had never happened. This is what makes the world of Detective Conan special.

The car stopped in front of an old-style residential building in Beika-cho.

Lin Ye turned off the engine but didn't get out of the car immediately. Instead, he glanced at the surrounding streets through the car window.

The afternoon sun slanted across the asphalt road, and there was a faint smell of cooking oil in the air. Several elderly people were sunbathing on a bench by the roadside, looking quite harmonious.

Everything seems normal.

No one is following them.

He unbuckled his seatbelt and glanced at Akemi Miyano in the passenger seat.

"arrive."

Akemi Miyano's finger paused briefly on the seatbelt buckle.

Her expression seemed calm, but Lin Ye noticed that she took a deep breath before getting out of the car, as if she was encouraging herself.

The two walked into the building.

The stairwell was narrow, only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The white paint on the walls had turned yellow, and several dusty bicycles were piled up in the corner.

On the third floor, to the left, Lin Ye took out his key and opened the door. The moment the door opened, a faint smell of disinfectant wafted out.

The safe house wasn't large, just two bedrooms and a living room, simply but fully furnished. In the center of the living room, Shiho Miyano sat on the sofa, her hands still encased in the electronic handcuffs flashing red. Two men in black stood behind her, one on her left and one on her right, like two black statues.

Upon seeing Lin Ye enter, the two men in black immediately straightened up.

"Mr. Madeira."

Lin Ye nodded and stepped aside to let Miyano Akemi behind him pass.

The moment Shiho Miyano saw her sister, she felt as if she had been struck by something.

Her body leaned forward slightly, her lips moved, but no sound came out. A thin glimmer of light suddenly appeared in her usually calm eyes.

"Shiho..." Akemi Miyano's voice trembled slightly.

She walked quickly over, knelt down in front of her sister, and reached out to hold her handcuffed hands. The two sisters' hands were intertwined, a testament to their deep sisterly affection.

"He actually did it!"

Shiho Miyano lowered her head, looking at her sister's fingers, and remained silent for a few seconds. Then she raised her head, looked over her sister's shoulder, and looked at Lin Ye standing in the doorway.

"Thank you, Madeira." Her voice was soft, but every word was clear. "I will keep my promise to you."

Lin Ye nodded without saying anything more.

He turned to the two men in black and said, "Come out."

Two men in black followed him out of the room. The door closed behind Lin Ye, shutting out all sounds from the living room.

In the corridor, Lin Ye leaned against the wall and took out his phone to check the time.

"How long will it take?" he asked, as if asking about the weather.

The two men in black exchanged a glance, and one of them cautiously replied, "Mr. Madeira, Shiho Miyano's meeting time is limited. According to the organization's regulations, at most—"

"I'm not asking about the rules," Lin Ye interrupted him. "I'm asking how long the two sisters are going to talk."

The man in black hesitated for a moment, then another quickly chimed in, "Well... we're not sure either. There's no precedent for this."

Lin Ye glanced at them but didn't ask any more questions.

He pulled a deck of cards from his pocket, which he had bought at a convenience store on his way here. The packaging was still intact, and the transparent plastic sheet reflected shimmering light under the corridor lights.

"Do you know how to play cards?" he asked.

The two men in black exchanged another glance, their expressions shifting from wariness to confusion, and then from confusion to an inexplicable unease.

"Yes...yes."

"That's good." Lin Ye unpacked the playing cards, squatted down, and spread the cards on the corridor floor. "Three people, let's play Dou Dizhu, you know how?"

"Yes." The two men in black answered almost simultaneously.

They had seen many strange scenes in the organization, but this was the first time they had ever seen a high-ranking member of the organization squatting in a corridor playing cards.

Three minutes later, the three of them sat cross-legged on the floor in a circle in the corridor. Lin Ye's cards didn't look very good, but his expression was very serious, as if he was doing something very important.

"A pair of threes." He played a pair.

Man A in black glanced at the cards in his hand, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "...Pass."

Man B in black shook his head: "Pass."

Lin Ye blinked: "If you pass, I pass too? Then this card will be in my hand, right? I'll play it again, and it'll be a pair of fours."

"Pass."

"Pass."

"Five?"

"Pass."

"Pass."

Lin Ye looked up at the faces of the two men in black in front of him. Their expressions were very serious, so serious that they didn't seem to be playing cards, but rather carrying out a dangerous mission.

But their hand—if they're not acting—is truly abysmal.

He played a single card, and they passed.

He had a couple, and they got together.

He came up with a three-of-a-kind with one extra card, and they still won.

Lin Ye threw the last card on the ground and looked at the two men in black in front of him with a blank expression.

"You guys...don't you know how to play?"

"Yes, yes," Man A in black nodded quickly. "Mr. Madeira is a master gambler; we are no match for him."

Man B in black chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, Mr. Madeira's luck is just too good. We can't play at all."

Lin Ye looked at his empty hands and then at the pitiful few cards on the ground—the highest card he had played was a King, and he hadn't even seen a 2.

That's it?

He won?

Lin Ye took the cards from the two men in black and glanced at them—good heavens, one had a royal flush, and the other had four 2s. These two had such good cards, yet they managed to pass through the game so easily, allowing him to play out a pair of threes, a pair of fours, and a pair of fives, leaving them with nothing?

Lin Ye raised his head and looked at the two men in black in front of him.

The man in black A gave him a fawning smile, a smile that contained respect, fear, and a hint of humility, as if pleading, "Please don't kill me."

The smile of Man B in black was almost identical, as if it had been measured with a ruler.

Lin Ye suddenly understood.

These two men weren't bad at cards; they were just afraid to beat him. In the eyes of these two organization members, "Madeira" was a ruthless, insane killer.

Playing cards with this kind of person is a death sentence if you win, and a survival sentence if you lose. So they'd rather hold onto their best hand than play a single card in front of him.

"..."

Lin Ye was speechless.

"Have fun, you guys!"

He instructed them to start a new game.

"One three."

He played his card again.

"I can't afford it."

The two organizers, clutching their cards and swallowing hard, still opted for the most mindless strategy—it was clear they were really trying their best to survive.