Conan, I'm an actor

Seemingly noticing Kazama's confusion, Amuro Tooru said, "Just relay these words verbatim, and don't worry about the rest."

"But……"

“Sometimes being sidelined isn’t a bad thing.” Amuro Tooru closed his eyes to rest. “After all, being alive is better than anything else.”

Kazama took a deep breath. Since Mr. Furuya had said so, he could only go back and relay the message. Now he could only hope that the retaliation would not be too severe.

After the interrogation room door closed, Amuro Tooru opened his eyes, his eyes flashing with an ambiguous light.

If he hadn't agreed to Xincheng's demands and made that deal with him, he might have chosen to comply with the higher-ups' requests. But now, he was already in the middle of the river; even a pawn that has crossed the river can hardly turn back, let alone someone like him who was already in the middle.

Chapter 288 Shifting Winds and Clouds

Looking at the ceiling of the interrogation room, Amuro Tooru fell into deep thought. At that moment, he remembered his conversation with that guy earlier, and everything that guy had said was true.

It's only a half-finished product now, and those guys dare to abuse their power, turning everything upside down. What if a finished product actually appeared…

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder.

Kazama relayed Furuya Rei's original words to the leader, who remained silent and did not utter a single word.

The interrogation room was equipped with cameras, and they had already heard what Furuya Rei said. They had already vented their anger, and they wouldn't hold a grudge against Kazama, a mere pawn.

Amuro Tooru's unwillingness to cooperate is a minor matter; as long as that person called "Shinjo" hasn't left Japan, they will still have a chance.

However, they are not the only ones who want to take action against that guy now.

Those FBI agents were originally planning to leave Japan, but now, there's been no word from them.

Several organizations on their side have hinted at it a few times and issued several orders to leave, but that bastard named James seems to have ignored them.

"Mr. Moroboshi, can you give me an explanation now?" Kuroda said in a deep voice. "If you don't give a reasonable explanation, I think we might not be able to cooperate with you afterwards."

“That organization has already abandoned its Japanese branch. That guy named Gin left Japan with his elite troops.” Moroboshi smiled. “So we decided to take down the remaining forces of the organization. It’s that simple.”

Kuroda Hyōe took a deep breath. This guy named Moroboshi was obviously just trying to fool him, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He wasn't an idiot; he naturally knew the ins and outs of this. Since this guy named Moroboshi was unwilling to talk about it, he would investigate it himself later. But before that, he needed to release Amuro Tooru first.

The thought of this infuriated him. He took a nap, and his capable henchmen and a group of underlings were arrested.

These guys are all special agents, and their addresses are strictly confidential. Yet they were able to take control of everyone in just a few hours. It's impossible that there wasn't a mole betraying them.

I could pretend I didn't see it before, but now it's time to clean out the parasites in the team.

The two young men standing next to Kuroda Hyōe shuddered when they saw the look in Kuroda Hyōe's single eye. Were their leader preparing to begin a purge?

"How many people have died so far?" Kuroda asked, frowning.

"We've lost 28 people here, and over 40 are in the hospital," the young man said, forcing a smile. "They're mostly killed by drones; those drones are impossible to defend against. And..."

"And what?"

"These drones caused too much noise and a considerable disturbance," the young man said, looking down. "The Metropolitan Police Department and the Public Security Bureau are under a lot of pressure, and their decision to stop is probably due to this consideration."

Kuroda Hyōe's lips twitched, but he remained silent. He didn't believe those guys would even consider that; they were afraid—afraid that their men would rebel.

When peace lasts too long, people may develop a longing for war. But when war is near them, or even when death is imminent, most people will back down, while a minority will choose to turn their guns on them.

The young man thought for a moment, wanting to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything. However, the indifferent expression on his face betrayed him completely.

Although everyone used to fight fiercely, they all followed a rule and maintained a facade of civility.

It's normal to suffer a great loss if a crazy person with no bottom line suddenly appears and doesn't know when to stop. But this kind of guy also dies quickly; once the machine of violence is turned on, he won't be around for long.

Just then, Kuroda Hyōe's phone rang. After listening to only a few words, he put down the phone, his face turning even more pale.

"The ocean buoy has been blown up," Kuroda said in a low voice.

"What exactly is inside that ocean buoy?" the young man asked in a low voice. "There have been forces that have tried to blow up ocean buoys before, and more than once. The first two times they used submarines, so how did they blow it up this time?"

"Our initial assessment is that a submarine brought the person to the vicinity, and then divers planted a time bomb." Kuroda took a deep breath. "The ocean buoy contains an AI system. As long as that person appears under surveillance, we can quickly find the suspect through the AI ​​system."

"Doesn't that mean..."

"The one who made the move must be that organization." Kuroda Hyōe took a deep breath. "I'm afraid they were planning to make the move a long time ago. Now that the ocean buoy has been blown up, it will be difficult to find them again."

Inside the base

Xincheng leaned back in his chair, the large screen in front of him displaying satellite images of the research institute, with the wreckage of a dozen cars and three armored vehicles standing out prominently.

"It's a pity, none of these properties can be liquidated. We should have done so earlier, but now..." Karen said with some resentment.

Listening to Karen's rambling, Xincheng also had a headache. "Stop reading, stop reading, it's giving me a headache. Whatever we lost, we'll just take it back. They rob us, so we'll rob them back, it's only right. Mark out the vaults of several banks. That war machine has already been built, right? We'll just use the war machine to take all the cash out of these banks. If you're not satisfied, we can also go to those overseas banks and only rob the valuable ones."

“Maybe we should just forget about it…” Karen thought for a moment. “If we mess up the entire financial system, the impact on us will be too great.”

Shinjo rolled his eyes, and was about to say something sarcastic to Karen when Karen suddenly disappeared.

The door to the control room opened, and Rena Mizunashi walked in from outside.

"You've met him?" Shinjo looked at Rena Mizunashi. "Did you send him back?"

"I sent it back." Rena Mizunashi took a deep breath. "What do you want to do?"

The only thing about her that Shin-cheng could scheme against was her CIA agent identity; this guy probably wanted to use her to send false information to the CIA.

“Your job now is to stay here. If the CIA sends you any messages, tell me directly, word for word,” Shinichi said expressionlessly. “Ideally, record it.”

"Don't you have a top-notch hacker? Why don't you just have her hack into their system?"

“Words are cold and emotionless. What I need to know is their attitude, not what they did.” Before Xincheng could finish speaking, a new image popped up on the screen in front of him.

“This is…” Rena Mizunashi looked at the image on the screen, somewhat bewildered.

"The ocean buoy was the last thing Gin did before leaving Japan." Shinjo pulled a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket. "If your superiors ask, just say that the organization started evacuating Japan."

"Where to retreat to?"

"Just say he's inside the submarine. As for the exact location, let him find it himself. You wouldn't know even if you were inside the submarine," Shinjo said irritably.

"Sure, is there anything else you need me to do?"

“That’s it! Don’t contact your brother too much.” Xincheng took a deep drag on his cigarette. “This base is my last remaining asset. If even this little bit of my assets is exposed, I’m capable of anything.”

Rena Mizunashi nodded, indicating that she knew what was important. However, she didn't leave but stared at Shinjo, seemingly wanting to ask a question but unsure how to begin.

“I already knew your identity.” Shinjo seemed to have figured out what she wanted to ask. “Those guys who tried to stop you during that surveillance were my doing.”

Rena Mizunashi got the answer she wanted, but she was even more confused. Since she knew her identity so early, why did she keep it a secret until now?

This time, however, Shin-chan simply waved her away, signaling her to leave, without answering her question.

Gin entrusted these people in Tokyo to him, but there's been no word from the organization yet. He needs to assess their attitude to decide what to do next. He just doesn't know if it's Vermouth or that other person who contacted him.

Just then, the phone on the table rang. Looking at the caller ID, it was Vermouth.

"You finally decided to call. I thought you were going to play dead," Shinjo said with deep resentment.

“You will temporarily take charge of the affairs in Tokyo,” Vermouth said in a low voice. “In three months, Rum will come to Tokyo to take over the organization’s manpower and influence there.”

"Rum?" Shinjo's expression changed. "They've found a successor so quickly?"

“We were already preparing to replace the person who did what happened last time, but you acted too quickly.” Vermouth’s voice was devoid of any emotion.

"Could it be that they felt it was too humiliating for the organization's second-in-command to die at the hands of an unknown nobody, so they came up with this excuse at the last minute?" Shinjo sneered. "Things have already come to this point, and I've made it clear that in three months, the organization's assets in Tokyo will probably be almost gone."

"It doesn't matter. Just treat it as a task assigned to that guy by the organization. Let him rebuild the organization's influence in Japan." Vermouth hung up the phone after saying that.

Shinjo hung up the phone, his brow furrowing. If these guys really were handing over their influence in Japan to him, that would be a good thing. Three months was too short, and the new guy was also an unstable factor.

If he remembered correctly, the Rum he killed had inherited the codename Rum from his father.

This new guy is very likely the unfortunate man's son, or some distant relative, and his attitude towards me...

In a hotel in the United States, far across the ocean

Vermouth looked at the message on her phone with a headache. "That's all I can do for you. From now on, it's up to you."

The text message on the phone screen was short: "It seems I've been too lenient with you. Come back, Vermouth."

This time it's not a minor skirmish like before. Whether it's Rum's death or the severe damage to Tokyo's forces, it's a serious blow that has even affected the overall plan.

That lord's patience with "Cognac" must have reached its limit. The reason he hasn't made a move yet is because Cognac has retreated to Japan, and its forces have become quite powerful. Removing this pawn in the short term is almost impossible, so he chose to compromise.

"If you can really destroy the organization, then show me." Vermouth washed her face, put her phone in her bag, picked up her already packed suitcase, and walked out of the hotel.

A strange thing has happened at the Metropolitan Police Department these past few days.

First, the First Investigation Division was purged, with veteran officers like Kiyomasa Matsumoto and Juzo Megure being removed from the fold, along with a number of their subordinates. The entire Metropolitan Police Department was on edge, with most officers choosing to keep a low profile for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

However, just two days later, these people were reinstated. Except for Matsumoto Kiyomasa, everyone else was promoted one rank as compensation. Among them, Takagi, the patrol chief, was promoted two ranks and went directly to the position of police inspector.

The colleagues who initially sympathized with these people instantly changed their attitude, becoming somewhat envious, or even jealous.

In order to get along well with his colleagues, Takagi had to pay out of his own pocket to treat those roughnecks to three meals out. If Sato hadn't intervened, he probably wouldn't have been able to keep his salary for the next few months.

Because of this incident, Takagi was inexplicably ostracized by her male colleagues, and Sato was also the subject of much gossip among her colleagues.

In the small meeting room of the Metropolitan Police Department

Inspector Megure, who had just been promoted to Superintendent, sat in the third-to-last seat. Adjacent to him at the very end was Inspector Nakamori from the Second Investigation Division, and second-to-last was Inspector Shiratori, who, like Megure, had just been promoted. Sitting next to them were Inspectors Matsumoto Kiyonaga and Chaki Shintaro.

Odagiri Toshiro took a stack of files from beside him and placed them in front of him. "Now that everyone is here, I'll begin. These are all old cases that have been solved for a long time. Now that someone has helped us solve them, all we need to do is arrest the perpetrators."

Megure and Shiratori exchanged a glance. They knew a little about the events of the past two days, but they didn't expect to see the follow-up so soon.

Most of these so-called cold cases were shelved because the police intervened. Often, the police would find some key clues, then the officers would step in and take over the case, turning it into a cold case.

"Can I ask what exactly happened?" Matsumoto Kiyomasa asked Odagiri.

Shiratori and Megure, two rookies who have just become inspectors, might be afraid of Odagiri, but this old hand is not afraid at all; his superiors still owe him compensation.

"Arrest all these criminals, and the case is closed." Odagiri looked at Matsumoto Kiyomasa and patted the file beside him. "From now on, we're on the same level. As for the rest, don't ask questions you shouldn't ask."

Chapter 289 The Shift in Offense and Defense

Matsumoto Kiyomasa was clearly dissatisfied with the answer, but he also knew that this was not something that Superintendent Odagiri could decide, so he could only keep quiet.

"This operation will be carried out jointly by Section 1 and Section 2, with Section 1 taking the lead and Section 2 assisting. We need to act quickly and decisively, without worrying about causing a commotion. The public relations department has already prepared a cleanup plan." Odagiri looked at the superintendent of Section 2 and Inspector Nakamori. "Any problems?"

Chaki immediately replied, "We will absolutely cooperate!"

Nakamori wanted to ask a few more questions, but his boss forced him to agree to the request.