Conan, I'm an actor

"Upstairs." Sakata Yusuke had a tense face, not because he was aloof, but because he felt guilty.

I don't know what Mr. Shinjo was thinking, but he actually threw him out to face this big devil alone while he went to hide.

“Where’s that Cognac guy?” Vermouth asked, frowning. “Don’t tell me he’s not here.”

“The boss has been busy with other things lately, and he doesn’t have time to manage things here.” Sakata Yusuke delivered the prepared explanation. “He has handed over all the work to me. You can come to me if you have any questions.”

"Can you make that decision?" Vermouth looked at Sakata Yusuke with a hint of amusement.

“Okay!” Sakata Yusuke said, forcing a smile, but when he met Vermouth’s gaze, he lowered his head slightly. Even so, he still felt uncomfortable being stared at by Vermouth. Just as he was about to say something, Vermouth took the lead and walked upstairs.

“Tell him that this matter can be cooperated on. Since it's cooperation, show your sincerity. Don't use such petty tricks in the future,” Vermouth said.

"I understand." Sakata Yusuke lowered his head even further.

Monitoring room

"Oh dear, someone's clever trick has been seen through," Karen said with a hint of schadenfreude. "What's next?"

"A little cleverness?" Xincheng said with a smile. "Then let's just call it a little cleverness. I'm not in a hurry anyway."

"You're not really planning to piss this woman off, are you? There's still room for cooperation in the future. Besides, don't forget that this woman holds many of your secrets," Karen said with some concern. "What if she really flips the table..."

"Don't worry, she can't afford to gamble."

Top floor of the research institute

Yusuke Sakata led Vermouth into an office, which contained only a desk and chair and a laptop.

"Can this computer access the systems inside the ocean buoys?" Vermouth asked, looking at Yusuke Sakata beside her.

"Yes." Sakata Yusuke nodded and then left the room.

Seeing his actions, Vermouth couldn't help but frown. "Aren't you going to explain things from the side? Didn't that guy tell you anything?"

Yusuke Sakata smiled shyly. "The boss said there are instruction manuals on the computer, explaining how to use the system. They all have instructions in the manuals."

"And then?" Vermouth tapped her fingers on the table; the guy was almost running out of patience.

“Mr. Shinjo said that if Ms. Vermouth wants to take the computer with her, that’s fine too,” Yusuke Sakata said after thinking for a moment. “This computer has already been certified and can log in to that website anytime, anywhere. There are no requirements for the deployment environment.”

“That’s not what I was asking…” Vermouth was about to explode when she saw the bewildered Yusuke Sakata and said helplessly, “You can go out now.”

“Okay.” Sakata Yusuke nodded and then left the room.

Vermouth first checked the cameras in the room, but to be honest, she just glanced at them. Apart from the tables and chairs, the room was all white walls, even the floor was white; there was no way a camera could be installed there.

After doing all this, she turned on the computer, took out the USB drive, and began the operation.

She was busy until the afternoon, when Vermouth left the office with her laptop. No one knows what she did on the computer during that time.

Underground firing range

Shinjo, watching the surveillance video Karen sent, especially noting Vermouth's nonchalant expression as she left the research institute, began to feel uneasy. Could it be that this age verification system wasn't as threatening to the organization or the boss as he had imagined?

Just as he was about to lose control, the phone next to him rang, and the caller ID showed it was Vermouth's private number.

"You went to the research institute?" Shinjo adjusted his emotions.

"I've seen the goods. Now, tell me, how do we plan to cooperate?" Vermouth's voice was somewhat cold.

"Cooperation? What do you think we can cooperate on?" Xincheng asked, feigning doubt. "Should I blow up the ocean buoys, or should I hack the entire system and make them build a new one?"

Vermouth fell silent on the other end of the phone. Both methods could destroy the system, but with Interpol's capabilities, they could replicate such a system in a matter of minutes.

Moreover, the system rebuild may be faster than they imagined, given that their destruction of the ocean buoys has damaged Interpol's reputation.

"Besides, the secret of drug A can no longer be kept." Shinjo played with the bullet in his hand. "Rum called me before, urging me to hurry up, and by the way, he also asked me to give him a copy of the system."

"What do you suggest we do?" The voice on the other end of the phone sounded tired.

“Simple. Make the people in the organization believe that this broken system is useless.” Shinjo straightened up. “Then, the BOSS will order the system destroyed. Or I will kill Rum.”

Chapter 274 Who Will Take the Blame?

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, lasting more than ten seconds. Clearly, Shinjo's proposal had crossed Vermouth's bottom line.

“You just want to get rid of Rum, don’t you?” Vermouth finally broke the silence. “Rum is the organization’s second-in-command, get rid of him…”

"You didn't reject me immediately because the price wasn't high enough?"

"Don't be so clever." Vermouth was clearly a little angry. "Also, I'm warning you, don't do anything reckless."

"I'll listen to you, let this old guy live a little longer." Xincheng loaded the bullets into the magazine, pulled the bolt, and fired. With a gunshot, a bullet hole appeared between the eyebrows of a target head 50 meters away from him.

"Where are you?" Vermouth asked nervously.

“Don’t be nervous about collecting interest,” Xincheng said slowly. “The rest is up to you. There’s no reason for me to do the work while you reap the benefits.”

"Okay." After hanging up, Vermouth dialed Bourbon's number, but the call didn't go through. She then dialed another informant's number.

A report appeared in her inbox a dozen minutes later.

"Twelve?" Vermouth picked up a glass of red wine from the table. "That's quite ruthless. Rum's going to be heartbroken for a while now. I wonder how he'll react. Will he retaliate?"

The report listed twelve names, all of whom died from sniping. They all had one thing in common: they were all members of the organization and Rum's subordinates.

It's not surprising that Shinjo would retaliate against Rum; that guy is known for being vindictive. But the timing is interesting. She glanced at her laptop. Why not retaliate earlier or later? Why wait until she goes to the research institute? Is he trying to make her take the blame?

She didn't think that Shin-chan was trying to shift the blame onto her out of fear of Rum's retaliation. She thought he probably wanted to escalate the conflict between her and Rum and force her to make a choice.

With that in mind, she dialed Bourbon's number again and asked him to meet her. She wanted to know if he had been involved in today's operation.

Almost simultaneously, the report appeared on Rum's desk.

"You've only just arrived in Tokyo and you've already caused such a commotion." Rum suppressed his anger. "Do you think you have Vermouth backing you up?"

“Some of those shot died in the streets, and the killer didn’t use a silencer to cover his tracks,” the blond subordinate said cautiously. “Things seem to be getting out of control; the Metropolitan Police Department has deployed a large number of officers to investigate their previous jobs…”

"Do what you're supposed to do, and don't report this kind of thing to me." Rum waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to leave.

The person who could find these people so accurately must be someone within the organization, and in a high position.

Vermouth is indeed a suspect, but not a major one, since she hasn't completely fallen out with the BOSS yet.

As for Gin, Japan is his territory, and his arrival there did indeed provoke his displeasure. However, if he were to resort to violence over such a trivial matter, he wouldn't be in his current position. Moreover, it clashes with his long-held principles.

"An assassination in the street, that's incredibly audacious. Even if the organization were to purge a traitor, they would make sure the traitor leaves without a trace." Rum looked out the window. "Was it really you? And what are you relying on? Or is it a third-party force?"

Inside the institute

Masaaki Okakura squatted to one side, his hand holding a cigarette trembling, with a sniper rifle placed beside him.

Yusuke Sakata sat opposite him, but this former elite from Osaka Prefecture was not in good condition either, and there was an identical sniper rifle next to him.

"A total of 14 people were killed, 12 of whom were from Rum's faction, and 2 were low-level assassins who were considered Gin's men," Curaçao reported expressionlessly. "Their skill level was very low."

Sakata Yusuke and Okakura Masaaki both wore helpless smiles; Curaçao's assessment was already quite generous to them. Out of 14 people, one of them got 3 kills, the other got 2 kills, and the rest were all taken down by this guy.

“Well done, but what about those two assassins?” Shin-chan asked, frowning.

The list he gave Curaçao was full of Rum's men, and now he's slaughtered Gin's men, which is...

“The missions these two men were responsible for were very important. One of them had been in contact with me before, and he happened to be on the scene, so I sent him on his way.” Curaçao paused for a moment. “The other one was the person who was in charge of cleaning up White Dove Pharmaceuticals.”

Xincheng scratched the back of his head somewhat awkwardly. "We've already killed them, so you guys go back and rest. What to do next depends on what they do next."

Curaçao nodded and walked out without looking back, never glancing at his teammates Sakata Yusuke and Okakura Masaaki. Clearly, he was extremely disappointed in them.

"How was it?" Shinjo asked, looking at Okakura Masaaki. "I heard you're one of the elites trained by the organization, and there are only three of you."

“No comparison, no comparison.” Masaaki Okakura said with a cigarette in his mouth, “That woman was a madwoman. She was still on the street when she was shot dead with a single bullet, and she didn’t even clean up the scene before going to find her next target.”

Yusuke Sakata fell silent. He had been in charge of receiving Vermouth that morning, which meant he had less time to carry out the mission than his two teammates. However, he was almost discovered. If it weren't for the timely support of the drone, he might have been caught red-handed.

"Boss, how should we handle the aftermath of this?" Sakata Yusuke asked, looking up. "This is a really serious matter."

“Yes, it was very bad,” Shinjo said with a smile. “So I’ve already found a scapegoat. The organization was cleaning up its internal spies recently, and nine FBI agents alone died.”

"You mean, the Metropolitan Police Department will consider this operation as retaliation by the FBI?" Yusuke Sakata opened his mouth, "But..."

"But what?"

"If the Metropolitan Police Department just gives the FBI a heads-up, this whole thing will be exposed."

"Do you think the Metropolitan Police Department is qualified to communicate with the FBI? Or rather, do you think the FBI would even contact the Metropolitan Police Department?" Shinjo stretched comfortably. "The sniper rifles we prepared for you this time are all specially made, and there aren't many in total. Even if the FBI wanted to deny it, they couldn't. The Metropolitan Police Department will directly assume that the FBI did it. They won't go up there and get slapped in the face. What they need to do is clean up the mess and arrest some unlucky gangsters to give the public an explanation."

"Is that all?" Masaaki Okakura asked, somewhat bewildered.

“There’s some trouble with the Public Security Bureau, after all, the FBI operates on their turf, and there’s also the FBI operating in Japan.” Shinjo shrugged. “I’ll leave these matters to Amuro Tooru and Akai to worry about. By the way, you two, Sakata, you go to Germany and England, Okakura, you go to Canada, help me find three people.”

Chapter 275 It's Good to Fish in Troubled Waters

On an island near Tokyo

A submarine was moored in the dock, and a dozen white incandescent lights illuminated the area as if it were daytime.

"You mean, a submarine attacked you?" Gin stared at the submarine in front of him, his tone somewhat hostile.

"That's how it is." Vodka wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He knew this was a serious matter; a trip out for fun had damaged the organization's submarine. Money was a minor issue at the moment; the real problem was the spare parts needed to repair the submarine. Vodka felt that his boss was really in deep trouble this time.

"Do you know who attacked you?" Gin's expression remained calm, but his eyes were sharper than usual.

"Neither radar nor sonar is showing anything," the captain said at this moment.

"So what do you think attacked you?"

"Surface ships are unlikely; torpedoes are more probable," the captain said, forcing a smile. "If it were a surface ship, our radar should be able to detect it. Besides, our hull uses the latest technology, so the probability of it being detected is low."

"So you mean a submarine that couldn't be detected by sonar approached you, then fired a torpedo at you, but didn't kill you, instead letting you go?" Gin's expression darkened further. "You idiots, haven't you realized there's a problem yet?"

Vodka wanted to ask Gin what the problem was, but he didn't ask in the end because he knew that asking at this time would definitely backfire. He decided to let the professionals answer.

"We had already circled the area before we came back, and we even risked surfacing to scout, but we didn't find the target we were following," the captain said. "Because of this, we stayed on board for six days and just came out yesterday."

Gin looked at Vodka, who nodded frantically, proving that what the guy said was true.

Thankfully, he had listened to this guy and hadn't sent the submarine straight back to port, otherwise the boss would have really killed him. Vodka felt a little guilty thinking about how he had pointed a gun at this guy's head earlier.

Gin fell silent; taking a beating without fighting back wasn't in his nature. But the question was, were their opponents even capable of retaliating?

They had collected a lot of information on ocean buoys, but none of the information mentioned that submarines patrolled around this facility, let alone submarines used for combat.