Conan, I'm an actor

A dozen minutes later, Yue Shui knocked on the basement door.

"They're gone?" Shinjo asked, looking at the screen in front of him.

"He's gone, and he took the data with him too." Yue Shui frowned and asked, "When can the drug be developed? I heard from Miss Karen that the antidote has already been approved..."

"When the drug is developed, that will be the time for the final battle." Shinjo leaned back in his chair, which spun around. "The news that Shinichi Kudo is still alive in the Nagano case has already been released. I think the bait will be taken soon."

As Shinjo predicted, the news that Shinichi Kudo was still alive was like a bucket of cold water poured over a hot pan of oil, and all sorts of opinions began to emerge. Gin's killing of the young detective had caused quite a stir, since the newspapers hadn't reported Shinichi's death at the time. Now that Shinichi had reappeared, it was practically proof that Gin had failed in his mission.

However, Gin had a deep-rooted authority within the organization, and even though there were some discordant voices, no one dared to confront him directly, so the situation was still within a manageable range.

Two days later, Shinjo drove Ai Haibara directly to Teitan Elementary School.

"Flaxe-colored hair, so pretty." Ayumi noticed this unfamiliar classmate almost immediately.

"I've never seen you before. Are you a transfer student?" Mitsuhiko asked curiously.

"Conan, what are you looking at?" Genta nudged Conan beside him and asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Ah, it's nothing." Conan silently removed his finger from the control buttons on his glasses.

Absolutely right, he saw that license plate at the research institute in Xincheng. That girl is definitely related to Uncle Xincheng!

Ai Haibara glanced at the four members of the Detective Boys and headed straight into the school to begin her reporting duties. Koshimizu was supposed to accompany her, but she firmly refused.

The morning classes were a bit boring, and before she knew it, it was lunchtime. Haibara took out the bento she had prepared and was about to start eating when she saw her older sister waving at the door.

Watching Ai Haibara leave the classroom, Conan opened his mouth, but ultimately didn't call out to her.

With her excessive maturity and childlike appearance, this girl looked like someone who had taken that kind of drug. Coupled with Xincheng's car, it was practically a done deal.

"Conan, you're not planning to pursue Ai Haibara, are you?" Mitsuhiko asked with a hint of hostility.

Although they haven't spoken yet, he genuinely likes this girl with flaxen hair. Conan already has Ayumi, does he really want to pursue Ai Haibara too?

"Idiot! The problem is with the license plate of the car that brought her here this morning." Conan rolled his eyes. "That's Uncle Shinjo's license plate. I think she might be Uncle Shinjo's child."

"Uncle Shinjo has a child?" Yuan Tai was taken aback.

“But I’ve never seen Aunt Shinjo before.” Mitsuhiko’s face also showed a gossipy expression. “I told you that Sister Koshimizu and Uncle Shinjo are not a couple.”

"If he's Shinjo's child, then why does she believe Haibara?" Ayumi asked, somewhat puzzled. "Could it be that she's Shinjo's child with his ex-wife, whose last name is Haibara?"

Looking at the three little ones lost in their own thoughts, Conan's lips twitched slightly. If Shinjo knew that they were talking about him like this behind his back, he was afraid he would make them suffer.

Chapter 261 The Dead Agent and the Ocean Buoy

Metropolitan Police Department

Matsumoto Kiyoshi stared at the photograph in front of him, lost in thought. The deceased in the photograph were mostly foreigners, and they all had one thing in common: they had nothing on their bodies that could prove their identity.

"Has the investigation yielded any results yet?" Matsumoto Kiyomasa asked, looking at Megure as he walked in.

“I checked the entry and exit records for the past few months, but there were no results,” Inspector Megure said. “However, I think it’s unlikely that they are illegal immigrants.”

"How do you know?" Matsumoto Kiyomasa's expression remained unchanged, still very calm.

“These people are too clean.” Inspector Megure gathered his thoughts and said cautiously, “These kinds of people are usually special agents or gang members. Since the dead are not Japanese, the former is more likely.”

"How likely do you think it is that you have connections with those people?" Matsumoto Kiyomasa asked, frowning.

“Eighty percent,” Inspector Megure said with a dark face, “but no one has claimed the body yet. If it were them, they would probably try to take the body away.”

“If there’s an opportunity, let’s test the waters.” Matsumoto Kiyoshi leaned back in his chair. “If possible, don’t collect the body; do them a favor.”

"Do me a favor?" Inspector Megure was taken aback. "But what if someone calls the police..."

"You need to know your limits."

"If it's confirmed that it's related to those people, what should we do?" Inspector Megure asked, frowning. "Should we stop here, or should we continue to investigate and get to the bottom of it?"

"You think there are a lot of people in the Metropolitan Police Department?" Matsumoto Kiyomasa rolled his eyes. "Just organize the materials and hand them over to the Public Security Bureau. As long as no ordinary citizens are harmed, it's not our responsibility. Besides, this is a tough nut to crack, and we don't need to take the blame for the Public Security Bureau."

Inspector Megure opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he didn't. Clearly, he had objections to Matsumoto Kiyomasa's way of handling things, but he didn't speak up because Matsumoto Kiyomasa was his superior.

Just as he stepped out of his boss's office, Inspector Megure saw a mixed-race young man walk past him with a visitor's pass around his neck.

"Um, visitors are not allowed to set foot in the area in front," Inspector Megure said.

The mixed-race youth smiled helplessly at the person behind him, ignoring Megure.

"It's alright, I invited him." Just then, a dignified voice came from behind him.

"You are..." Looking at the one-eyed old man with burn scars on his right cheek behind him, Megure felt his courage dwindle for some reason.

"Megure, they're from the Public Security Bureau. Just pretend you've never seen them." Matsumoto Kiyomasa heard the commotion outside and came out of his office to see Megure looking flustered. He spoke up to help him out of the predicament.

The one-eyed old man nodded to Matsumoto Kiyomasa, and then walked towards the mixed-race young man.

These two were none other than Kuroda Hyōe and Amuro Tooru.

"Why did you call me here in such a hurry?" Amuro Tooru asked bluntly. "I have a meeting to attend tonight, which has been postponed for a long time, and they are all getting impatient."

Vodka said he had a mission for him and Shinjo. After discussing it, the two of them had already guessed what the mission entailed and didn't want to get involved, so they both postponed it.

But just a few days ago, Vodka, whether because he had Gin backing him up or because he had something on them, actually gave them an ultimatum in a particularly tough way.

"I've called you here for two things. The first is that the FBI has been quite active in Japan lately, and quite a few people have died," Kuroda said. "The second is about ocean buoys."

"Ocean buoys, are those the facilities Interpol built?" Amuro Tooru was clearly more interested in the latter. "Those guys in the organization seem to care a lot about this thing. Can you tell me more about it?"

“I don’t know the specifics either.” Kuroda coughed. “Interpol needed our assistance, so we provided some help. This project was led by Europe and the United States, and we knew very little about it before it was implemented.”

Amuro Tooru felt a bit of a toothache. What a mess! The enemy knows less about our own people than our own!

He has already obtained some information from Vodka, including some of the system's development logs and that age verification system, which is incredibly detailed.

"This thing isn't important. Interpol is full of useless guys." Kuroda snorted. "They've probably been completely infiltrated by now. This ocean buoy is probably the same. If necessary, we can use it as bait to feed them. It's not a big problem."

Amuro Tooru nodded silently. He had a natural aversion to facilities that had no jurisdiction over his territory, and if he could just get rid of them, he wouldn't mind going with the flow.

“There’s another thing you need to be aware of.” Kuroda took out a file folder from the drawer. “This is the third one now. They’re all foreigners with clean identities; the Metropolitan Police Department can’t find them.”

"Are these the FBI agents?" Amuro Tooru looked at the photos in his hand and said coldly, "They all died horribly, shot in the head."

“We can only confirm that one of them is an FBI agent; the other two are suspected.” Kuroda coughed. “These are the ones we’ve already discovered; there are likely many more that we haven’t found yet.”

"What are they trying to do? Are the Americans trying to help us get rid of this cancer? Is it really necessary? And when have they ever been so kind?" Amuro Tooru was a little confused. "This doesn't look like a shootout. Were any other bodies found at the scene?"

"No, the clues we've gathered so far have ruled out the possibility of a shootout. It's more likely that an FBI mole within the organization has been exposed, and the entire network of agents is facing a purge."

Kuroda Hyōe spoke lightly, but Amuro Tooru understood the danger involved. Given the organization's ruthlessness, he feared that many FBI members would die this time.

What do you need me to do?

“We’re gathering evidence. They’re conducting intelligence activities on our turf without permission.” Kuroda paused for a moment. “They’ll have to pay the price eventually.”

Amuro Tooru's lips twitched. His superior was clearly planning to take advantage of the situation, but he supported him. However, this job wasn't easy. FBI agents were already well-hidden, and his own identity within the organization was highly sensitive. It wasn't convenient to directly inquire about those guys' whereabouts. It was a headache.

Chapter 262 The Painting That First Glimpse

3 PM, Teitan Elementary School

Ai Haibara looked at the contents of her phone and sighed helplessly. This guardian was really incompetent.

The message was sent by Xincheng, and it basically said that he was busy in the evening and told her to go home by herself.

Conan glanced at Ai Haibara's phone, pondering an excuse to strike up a conversation. But before he could even speak, the other three members of the Detective Boys invited Haibara to visit the Detective Boys' mailbox—or rather, Genta's shoe locker.

Normally, Conan would try to avoid these kinds of Junior Detective League activities, but today, he was more concerned about Ai Haibara's identity and silently followed behind the three little ones.

Ai Haibara glanced at Conan Edogawa following behind her, then pretended to be very interested and started interacting with the three children.

She never expected that there would actually be a case in the Junior Detective Club's mailbox, and after learning the details, it turned out to be a genuine missing person case, the kind that even the police were involved in.

After chatting for a while, the members of the Junior Detective Club decided to go to Nakata Toshiya's house to see if they could find any clues.

Conan lagged behind the group the whole time. He wanted to find an opportunity to chat with Ai Haibara, who was alone, but the three little ones never gave him that chance, as they kept talking non-stop the whole way.

The Nakata family's house wasn't far from Teitan Elementary School. A dozen minutes later, they arrived at the Nakata family's house and immediately saw the police car parked in front of it.

Conan also had a bit of a headache. He wasn't afraid of encountering cases, nor was he afraid of playing detective games with children, but just thinking about solving cases with a group of kids made his head spin.

As they entered, they saw Mrs. Nakata seeing the two police officers off. After talking with his mother, Nakata Toshiya led the Junior Detective Club members to his brother's room.

"Are we looking for clues here?" Mitsuhiko asked, looking at the room in front of him with some doubt.

"Yes, it's right here." Conan put down his schoolbag. "Of course, it's just a chance. Haibara-san, aren't you going back?"

“I’m also very curious about this, so I’d like to stay and see. Is there a problem?” Haibara tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Her little gesture made Mitsuhiko's eyes light up, and he immediately said, "No problem, how could there be a problem? Okay, Conan, let's get started."

Conan rolled his eyes. This woman actually used such methods to bully a child. How shameless!

Just then, Mitsuhiko and Genta suddenly cried out in surprise, as if they had found something extraordinary.

Conan looked over and realized it was a pair of high-end air-cushioned shoes. This technology is a recent development and is very popular among teenagers.

However, Nakata Shunya said that it was brought to him by his uncle, so it couldn't be considered an important discovery.

Soon, Ayumi found something under the bed and laughed as she took a painting out from under the bed. "What is this painting? It's so ugly."

“Picasso,” Ai Haibara said.

“This is a copy of Picasso’s painting ‘The Weeping Woman’.” Mitsuhiko recognized the painting on the ground at a glance.

All the paintings under the bed were pulled out and lined up in a row; they were all works of art by famous artists.

“These paintings were all done by my older brother. He was famous in his high school art club for his skill in imitating the works of various famous artists,” Nakata said.

"So, he might have been kidnapped and forced to paint!" Genta stood up abruptly.

“It is indeed possible to imitate a famous painting and then switch it with the real thing,” Mitsuhiko said seriously.

"No, it shouldn't be that bad." Conan looked at the painting in front of him. "The composition is indeed very similar, but his use of color and brushstrokes is far from good enough to be considered a forgery. Besides, the kidnappers' target shouldn't be money. If it were money, you should have already received a call from the kidnappers."

"Besides, none of these famous paintings are in Japan. They could find a high school student in Japan to make fakes and take them to a museum abroad," Haibara said coldly. "No criminal would do something so stupid."

"What really catches my eye is this painting." Conan picked up one of the paintings.

"I feel like I've seen this person somewhere before," Ayumi said, frowning, but she couldn't quite place where she had seen him before.

"This is Natsume Soseki." Conan sighed, a bad feeling rising in his heart.