Conan: What alias? That's my struggle!

The atmosphere was tense.

"Damn it! They found me!" Shinichi Kudo crouched behind the metal barrel, his back against the wall, his eyes wide open, Lin Ye's image reflected in his pupils.

His lips were slightly parted, and his breathing was rapid and shallow, like a small animal cornered against a wall.

"Kid, what are you spying on?"

Lin Ye finally appeared in front of Shinichi Kudo.

"I...I didn't see anything." He opened his mouth, trying his best to deny it, his brain racing, trying to find a way out of the predicament.

Lin Ye looked at Shinichi Kudo.

The high school student's face appeared exceptionally pale in the shadows, with a fine layer of sweat on his forehead. His eyes were wide open, and his own face—Gin's face—was reflected in his pupils.

He asked in a feigned indifference.

"Your name?"

Shinichi Kudo's Adam's apple bobbed.

"Shinichi Kudo." After a slight hesitation, he answered, hoping that his identity as a detective would make the other party hesitate.

"Kudo?" Lin Ye repeated the surname, paused, and then said, "I see, is it that Kudo?"

Shinichi Kudo did not answer. His hands were still trembling, but a little better than before; at least the binoculars were no longer making that faint rattling sound.

He started backing away, his bottom scraping against the ground, his shoes making a screeching sound on the concrete. He tried to stand up and run, but his legs wouldn't obey him.

It felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead.

Lin Ye didn't move, just stood there, looking down at him. The hem of her trench coat swayed gently in the breeze blowing in from the alleyway, and her silver-white hair covered half her face, revealing only one eye. That eye was cold, devoid of warmth, as if it were looking at something insignificant.

"What do you see here?" Lin Ye asked.

Shinichi Kudo's lips trembled slightly. "I didn't see anything."

"Then why did you run away?"

The question was fatal. Shinichi Kudo braced himself on the ground, his fingers clawing wildly at the surface, dust and pebbles embedded in his fingernails.

His gaze went past Lin Ye's shoulder.

He saw it in the alley—vodka was still standing there, carrying a travel bag, a penguin plush toy tucked under his arm, and his eyes behind his sunglasses were staring at him.

On the ground, Murakami Masao's body leaned against the wall. The blood in his chest had stopped flowing, and dark red bloodstains spread out in an irregular shape on the cement floor.

"I……"

Shinichi Kudo's eyes widened suddenly, his pupils contracting to their maximum. He had seen something he shouldn't have seen, he knew he had seen something he shouldn't have seen, he knew he knew something he shouldn't have known. This realization caused his body to react even before his brain—he turned and ran.

Lin Ye reached out and grabbed him by the back of his collar.

Shinichi Kudo's school uniform collar was suddenly grabbed, causing him to lean back and slam his back against the wall. His head hit the concrete wall with a dull thud, and his vision went black for a moment. His body slid down the wall, while Lin Ye pulled a baseball bat from his trench coat pocket.

Shinichi Kudo looked up and saw the baseball bat. His pupils reflected the wood grain and Lin Ye's expressionless face. His lips moved, but no sound came out. Lin Ye gripped the bat tightly, his fingers tightening on the handle, and then swung it.

Yes.

He wielded the baseball bat with remarkable skill, smashing it directly at Shinichi Kudo.

The baseball bat struck Shinichi Kudo on the back of the head with a dull thud, like a wooden stick hitting a soaking wet cloth. Shinichi's eyes widened, his pupils went unfocused, and his body went limp, like a bag of cement with its skeleton removed.

"hateful!"

He lay on the ground, his face turned to the side, his left cheek pressed against the cement floor, his eyes half-open, his lips slightly parted, and his breathing very shallow.

It's so light that it's almost invisible.

"hehe."

Lin Ye looked down at Shinichi Kudo.

The seventeen-year-old high school student lay on the ground, his school uniform covered in dust, with a trickle of dark red blood slowly seeping from the back of his head.

It was flowing down her hairline, dripping onto the cement floor.

"At least he's not dead."

Lin Ye breathed a sigh of relief and gave himself a thumbs up.

He retrieved the bat and glanced at the grip. There was no blood on it, only the sweat from his palms. He put the bat back into his trench coat pocket.

He zipped up his jacket and turned to walk toward the vodka.

Vodka stood in the middle of the alley, his travel bag at his feet, a penguin plush toy tucked under his arm, and his eyes behind his sunglasses shifted from Shinichi Kudo to Lin Ye.

"Boss, what do we do with that kid?"

Lin Ye didn't look at Shinichi Kudo. He took out a pack of cigarettes from his trench coat pocket, pulled one out, put it in his mouth, and lit it. Smoke spilled from his lips and slowly dissipated in the shadows of the alley.

"Feed him that."

Lin Ye knew what she had to do.

Vodka paused for a moment.

"that?"

He was still a little taken aback.

"APTX4869".

Lin Ye exhaled a puff of smoke, the smoke blurring his expression. "It's a new drug developed by the organization. It hasn't been tested on humans yet, so we can use this reckless brat to give it a try."

"Oh, okay, okay." Vodka took a small, silver-white, metal box out of his pocket, about the size of a palm.

He opened the box, inside which was a row of white pills, each embedded in a black sponge groove, like a row of parts waiting to be installed.

Vodka took out a capsule, walked over to Shinichi Kudo, and knelt down. Shinichi Kudo's eyes were still open, but his pupils were dilated, and his consciousness was floating between sleep and wakefulness.

"Damn it! Let me go!"

He saw Vodka's face, and he saw the white pill in Vodka's hand, but he couldn't move his body, and he couldn't lift his hand.

His mouth was agape.

"What an unlucky brat." Vodka pried open Shinichi Kudo's jaw and shoved the pill into his mouth. He pressed his finger against his throat.

The pill slid down.

A muffled sound escaped Shinichi Kudo's throat, like swallowing or coughing. His body began to convulse, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Lin Ye stood to the side, smoking, watching Shinichi Kudo convulse on the ground. Smoke rose from his fingers, twisting, dissipating, and disappearing in the shadows of the alley. He glanced at Vodka. Vodka had already stood up, put the small silver box back into his pocket, and picked up his travel bag.

"Boss, shall we go?"

Lin Ye threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stubbed it out with the sole of his shoe.

The spark flashed on the ground and then went out. He turned and walked to the other end of the alley, took two steps, stopped, and said a sentence without turning his head.

"After returning, report to the organization that we only received 100 million. We'll split the remaining 100 million equally." At the last moment, Lin Ye ultimately failed to maintain Gin's persona.

no way.

It's all money!

This scene was also witnessed by Shinichi Kudo, who was in a coma.