Conan, I'm an actor

“You will personally deliver their compensation.” Amuro Tooru glanced at Kazama. “In a way, they died in your place.”

Although he disagreed with Mr. Furuya's words, Kazama didn't dare to offend his superior at this time. Besides, delivering the compensation money wasn't a difficult task, so he immediately nodded and agreed to it.

In the afternoon

Xincheng came to this area again and found that no one had been stationed at the original location of the hidden stakeouts. No one was found watching the apartment either. It seems that these people are afraid.

Just then, he heard faint footsteps behind him. He could tell that the guy was deliberately concealing his footsteps. If it were anyone else, they might have been able to fool him, but his hearing was far more acute than that of an ordinary person.

Without any hesitation, he drew his gun and aimed it at the position behind him, waiting for the other party to show themselves.

Amuro Tooru, holding a pistol, had just stepped out from the corner when he saw the dark muzzle of the gun.

"Who are you?" Seeing that the other party had discovered him, Amuro Tooru walked out from the corner without hesitation. The fact that the other party hadn't fired meant that there was still room for maneuver.

Xincheng subconsciously reached out to touch his face, forgetting that he was currently in disguise.

“Killer.” A hoarse voice came from his mouth. “You shouldn’t be here. The police should have all left.”

Amuro Tooru raised an eyebrow. The mole planted here had indeed been removed, but how did this guy in front of him know? Could it be that he was also a member of the Public Security Bureau? Impossible, he didn't remember having such a person in the Public Security Bureau.

“Leave now, and no one will get hurt,” Shinjo continued in a hoarse voice.

"Which important figure sent you here?" Amuro Tooru asked, staring at the "assassin" in front of him.

He felt he had guessed the truth, and the most troubling thing for the higher-ups now was the disappearance of Tetsuo Shinjo.

The seizure of assets and the arrest of Koshimizu—all of this had only one ultimate goal: to force Shinojo Tetsuo to reveal himself. This surveillance operation was no different, except they probably didn't expect it to provoke the other side so much that five of their subordinates died.

The decision reached within the Public Security Bureau was to take a step back first and then make further plans after further discussion.

However, Amuro knew that some people in the Public Security Bureau were quite dissatisfied with this decision. They were arrogant and thought that these people's behavior was a challenge to their authority and that they had to retaliate in kind.

The guy in front of me is very likely a "hitman" hired by some big shot, or an elite member of the self-defense force disguised as a hitman, whose purpose is naturally to get revenge.

"I can't say." Before Shinjo could finish speaking, his head tilted slightly, and a bullet grazed his temple.

The bullet didn't come from the front, but from behind.

Kazama stared in disbelief at the scene before him. The man hadn't even turned around; he had simply dodged the bullet. There was nothing more outrageous than this.

Before he could react, something dark came crashing down on him. After dodging it, he heard a loud bang—the sound of a fire extinguisher hitting the tiles.

Seeing that he had started to make a move, Amuro Tooru no longer held back and emptied the magazine of the man in front of him.

The opponent was just too fast, and they had also fired, so the bullets fired between the bullets were completely inaccurate, and not a single one hit.

As Xincheng threw one fire extinguisher, he smashed the corridor window with another, then pulled out the lock and sprayed it wildly into the corridor.

Amuro Tooru and Kazama immediately covered their eyes, and by the time the smoke cleared, the guy had vanished without a trace.

Xincheng climbed directly to the top floor, then went down to the second-to-top floor, took out a key, and moved in.

A dozen minutes later

Amuro Tooru and a panting Kazama finally gave up the search, as the two of them managed to escape each other's attacks.

Kazama asked nervously, "Mr. Furuya, couldn't you have just shot and wounded that guy earlier? If we worked together, as long as..."

"You couldn't even hit me with a sneak attack, how could I possibly hit you?" Amuro Tooru got into his car. "That guy's reflexes are incredibly fast, it's terrifying."

Not many people can dodge bullets, so who could it be?

Upstairs in the apartment building

“They’ve already decided to remove the hidden agents, but they’ve left two people here. It seems they’re quite unwilling to give up.” Karen’s voice came through New Town’s earpiece. “What’s your next step?”

“Let’s leave Yue Shui here for now,” Shinjo said, frowning. “Explain the situation to her. She’s safest here right now. If we leave her rashly, we might expose the base’s location, or there could be danger.”

"Danger? Those guys still dare to make a move?"

“Don’t underestimate your opponent, especially when they’re about to go insane.” Shinjo shook his head. “Who knows what decisions they might make.”

Just then, his eyes narrowed, because the white Mazda RX-7 had returned.

"Damn it, that guy seems to have figured out where you're hiding."

Although she was saying "It's going to kill me," Kallen's voice was extremely relaxed. Even if Amuro Tooru guessed that Shinjo was hiding in this building, it wouldn't matter. Shinjo could just disguise himself and Amuro Tooru wouldn't be able to find him.

Xincheng casually wiped his face, changed to a different face, and then sat on the sofa to watch TV.

Half an hour later, Amuro Tooru walked around the building and then stopped at the top floor, where he found some white powder at the edge of the top floor.

"This is..." Amuro Tooru frowned and said, "...is it powder from fire-fighting equipment?"

It seems that the guy from earlier must have hidden inside the building. But he can't possibly knock on every door. Now we'll have to have Kazama check the apartment building's owners to see which unit is the most suspicious.

Half an hour later, Shinjo arrived at the window, and the white RX-7 finally drove away.

"Where are we going next?" Karen asked curiously.

"The research institute needs to take stock of the property losses before we can claim compensation, right?" Shinjo opened the door and went downstairs, heading straight for the research institute.

Two days later, in a coffee shop

"We meet again, Mr. Kuroda." Shinjo sat down opposite Kuroda Hyōe. "Is your Public Security Bureau short of people? What about those people who were behind all this? Are they all dead or what?"

“Mr. Shinjo, I concede defeat,” Kuroda said. “So, what price must we pay to obtain those drug data?”

"I'm currently in charge of managing the organization's influence in Tokyo. You should know that, right?" Shinjo took the orange juice from the waiter.

“I know,” Kuroda Hyōe said with a dark face. “This is just a transaction, not a long-term partnership.”

What he wanted was the drug information; he was willing to relinquish some profits or hand over certain items, since it was a one-time deal. But if this guy wanted them to be his long-term protectors, he felt there was no point in continuing the negotiation.

Kazama's expression was terrible, while Amuro Tooru, standing beside him, seemed to have guessed what Shinjo was going to say and remained calm.

"Don't be nervous, I won't make any requests that would put people in a difficult position." Shinjou smiled. "You've probably heard of Rum, right?"

Kazama looked at Amuro Tooru. If he remembered correctly, Mr. Furuya had told him that the second-in-command of the organization named Rum had been killed by the man in front of him.

Chapter 306 Scandal, Hidden Story

"You mean, the guy who just inherited the codename Rum?" Furuya said, clearing up Kuroda Hyoue and Kazama's doubts.

“That’s right.” Shinjo stirred his straw and said, “According to the original plan, this guy was supposed to take over my position in two months. However, after my identity as a traitor to the organization was exposed, they will shorten the time limit, and he may have already set off.”

"You want us to kill him?"

“That’s right.” Shinjo looked up at Kuroda Hyōe and gave him an extremely smug smile. “Kill him, take his head and come to me to exchange for the drug data. If you can’t do that, there’s no point in continuing this deal.”

"You don't trust us."

"You can't even protect your own subordinates, why should I trust you?" Xincheng snapped his fingers. "You have a lot of men, but they're all rookies. Don't look at me like that. Take care of the people in this restaurant. I only need five minutes. Before your reinforcements outside the mall arrive, I can kill you all."

Amuro Tooru sighed, pressed Kazama's shoulder, and gestured for him to sit down.

Kuroda Hyoue frowned in thought. Being used as a pawn was an unpleasant feeling, but fortunately, assassinating Rum was their job anyway, so using him as a bargaining chip was barely acceptable.

“Sure,” Kuroda Hyōe said. “But could you provide a clue? If we have our people look for Rum, it might waste a lot of time, and it wouldn’t be good if it delayed things.”

"Heh, so you haven't made contact with any spies within the organization, have you?" Shinjo finished his orange juice in one gulp. "Then I'll reveal some unconfirmed information to you: Rum recently appeared at a port in South America and made contact with local smugglers."

Kuroda Hyoue frowned. The information was useful, but not that useful.

If this guy had entered the country through legitimate means, it would have been much easier for them to investigate. But then again, how could someone like this possibly have entered the country through legitimate means?

Shinjo glanced at Amuro Tooru sitting there, then got up and left.

Amuro Tooru glanced at Shinjo; he had received the signal. Now he needed to figure out how to meet her.

The meeting cannot be arranged by Kazama; he is not trustworthy right now.

Kazama sat there somewhat bewildered, unaware that he had been abandoned by the respected Mr. Furuya.

But even if he knew, it wouldn't matter; he was powerless to change his situation now.

Mouri Detective Agency

To celebrate Conan's return, Ran suggested eating out today, which Kogoro Mouri strongly objected to, but to no avail. However, Kogoro didn't come away empty-handed; at least no one bothered him about whether he'd been drinking or not.

After dinner, Ran carried Kogoro Mouri back to the agency, while Conan remained asleep on the second floor.

It turns out that Xiaolan made him sleep on the second floor, but now he wants to sleep on the second floor himself.

Although Shinjo said that the Japanese members of the organization wouldn't cause him any trouble, he also said that the guy who inherited the codename Rum would.

Sleeping on the second floor meant that even if those guys found him, at least it wouldn't affect the Mori father and daughter who were sleeping on the third floor.

At that moment, he remembered Hattori's call a couple of days ago. He took out his phone and dialed Hattori's number, but the phone indicated that it was out of service area, so he guessed that Hattori was dealing with some case.

When it comes to cases located deep in the mountains and forests, cell phones become useless.

But tonight, he didn't sleep well. In his dream, he was being chased by a man with a dagger. The man was very fast, and he was killed before he could even put up a fight.

Every time he was killed, this dream would repeat itself. The last time, he simply stopped running away; he wanted to see who the murderer who killed him was.

Then he saw his own face, his face before he shrank, and the guy was holding a knife and stabbing it into his heart.

The next second, he screamed and woke up from his dream.

A few seconds later, Ran and Kogoro Mouri ran down from upstairs.

"Shinichi, what's wrong?" Ran asked with some concern.

"I..." Conan was about to speak when he realized something was wrong; he thought he had caught a cold. "It's nothing, I just had a nightmare."

"What you think about during the day, you dream about at night. Are you thinking about something bad?" Kogoro Mouri noticed that Conan's voice sounded a bit off, and when he placed his hand on Conan's forehead, he was startled. "It's so hot!"

When Ran saw that Conan had a fever, she immediately went upstairs to get a thermometer and a first-aid kit.

The temperature reading was 39.5 degrees Celsius, almost reaching 40 degrees Celsius. The father and daughter immediately took the boy to the hospital and started an IV drip.

Meanwhile, Hattori, who had just emerged from the deep mountains, received a phone call. Inspector Otaki said there was a tricky case that the police couldn't easily investigate, and wanted him to go and find out more about it.

As for the reason, Officer Otaki hesitated for a long time before finally revealing the truth: this case was an old case that had originally been closed. But recently, for some unknown reason, the police department issued an order that all cases assisted by detectives must have their evidence reviewed again, and this case was one of them, because there were suspicious points.

"I understand. I'll come over and check it out when I have some free time in a couple of days." Hattori yawned.

As soon as I stepped into my home, I saw a letter addressed to me on the doorstep.

He opened the letter and, after just one glance, became interested. The writer said there was a case solved by Shinichi Kudo, which contained a fatal logical error. He wanted to clarify things with Shinichi Kudo in person, but since he couldn't find Shinichi Kudo, he sent the letter to Hattori instead.

Hattori was startled when he saw the contents of the letter. "I never thought Kudo would make a mistake in his reasoning. Oh well, I'll call him and ask what's going on."

The call was answered quickly.