Conan, I'm an actor

On the other end of the phone, Sonoko asked curiously, "Ran, are you going or not? Is something wrong? It's really nothing."

"It's nothing, I just have something to take care of here," Xiaolan said immediately. "I'll call you when I'm done."

"Then you'd better hurry up."

Kogoro Mouri took out his phone and dialed Shinjo's number, but the call didn't go through.

Ran called Conan, who replied, "Go." His reasoning was simple: Rum was currently imprisoned in the hospital, and soldiers without command were in disarray. If there was indeed an assassination plot against him, he could use Rum's imprisonment as an opportunity to eliminate any potential assassins in one fell swoop.

After Xiaolan gave her reply, the garden quickly prepared the train tickets.

Meanwhile, inside the base

Hearing the voice on the phone, Ai couldn't help but sigh, "I won't go. I still have some things to take care of, so I'll just leave it at that..."

She was about to refuse when a large notification popped up on her computer screen, displaying the message "Go." Karen was clearly listening in on her call. Rolling her eyes, she reluctantly agreed after the other end of the line repeatedly invited her.

"Please don't listen to my calls next time, especially children's calls," Ai said with a hint of exasperation. "So, what's on the Suzuki Express that's worth persuading me to take this train trip?"

“It’s not good to stay cooped up in the base all the time,” Karen typed quickly in response.

"Do I need to remind you that we just went on a two-week trip to London a month ago, and then spent more than half a month at sea?" Ai asked with some resentment. "The guy who got me to join the train trip must have been that guy. What's his plan?"

"He needs you as bait."

"Used as bait again?" Haibara frowned, recalling the chase in London. "Will my sister go too?"

“Theoretically, no.” Karen thought for a moment and said, “All three targets are in the car. Anyone with a brain knows it’s a trap. Besides, Miss Akemi has no direct connection with the Suzuki family, so she has no legitimate reason to be in the car.”

"What do you mean by 'theoretically'?"

"Monitoring the entire train definitely requires manpower, and it must be elite. Right now, manpower is what we lack most. We can't count on those incompetent Japanese Public Security officers. Once they board, they'll likely alert the assassins. Akai Shuichi, skilled in espionage, is likely to become Shinjo's target. He's on the train, your sister..."

"Where is Xincheng now? I'm going to find him!"

"It should be at the private hospital in the new city. Should we notify Commander Lei to drive?"

Haibara shook the medicine box in her hand. "I have a driver's license! If they're really targeting me, I should at least show my face beforehand to avoid appearing too abruptly."

"Do you need me to prepare weapons and equipment for you? It's dangerous to go out like this. I can have Ryssin and Stout go with you; they don't have any missions lately anyway," Karen asked with some concern.

Ai Haibara ignored her and drove straight towards Shinjo Private Hospital.

Karen dared not be careless, and in the end she still had Stout drive with Ai Haibara, while using surveillance cameras to monitor the whole way and notifying Shinjo.

Shinjou glanced at the message Karen sent, smiled, and ignored it.

Meanwhile, London

"Boss, we just got word from Japan that Rum is being held in a hospital," Vodka said in a low voice. "He might need our help."

"Rum? That guy was arrested as soon as he arrived in Japan? How come he's in the hospital?" Gin quickly realized the problem.

"It's said that his address was exposed as soon as he arrived in Japan," Vodka said in a low voice. "His residence was attacked by a drone bomb in Cognac, and he was knocked unconscious. When the hospital requested the police to investigate his identity, it seems they found something."

"Damn it!" Gin asked coldly, "How was his residence exposed?"

"I heard it was exposed when he sent people to investigate that research institute."

"idiot!"

Gin was at a loss for words. The previous Rum had already learned his lesson about that research institute, losing two of his key lieutenants there. Moreover, Vermouth had already stated that the institute had a very comprehensive security system. Was this new Rum either not very bright or too confident in his abilities, choosing to tackle the toughest challenge right away?

"Boss, what should we do next?" Vodka asked anxiously. "We've revealed all of Japan's pieces. If Rum gets caught during the interrogation, our entire strategy in Japan will be ruined."

"Wait," Gin said calmly.

"What?"

“Wait for the orders from above to eliminate Rum,” Gin said coldly. “Cognac has just betrayed us. If we take care of Rum now, what will the higher-ups think? Besides, this generation of Rum is probably an extremely arrogant guy. Even if we risk everything to snatch him back from the Metropolitan Police Department, he won’t appreciate it.”

Chapter 317

"Are we just going to watch like this?" Vodka said with a dark face. "I heard that Rum has restarted several of our original plans. Now that he's locked up and there's no commander, those guys... if they carry out their missions according to the original plan, they might very well be wiped out by Cognac in conjunction with the Japanese Public Security Bureau."

"What do you want to say?" Gin's eyes turned cold.

“If we return to Japan in the future, we will still need these people,” Vodka said, forcing a smile. “Training another batch of people like them would be extremely difficult.”

"What gave you the illusion that you could go back to Japan?" Gin was somewhat speechless. "I already took the people I could take with me back then. Now all that's left over there are some abandoned pawns. Even if the police catch us, they won't find any evidence that's detrimental to us."

Seeing that his boss had made a decision, Vodka didn't say much. He could only pray in his heart for these abandoned guys, hoping they wouldn't work for the guy locked up in the hospital.

“But you’ve reminded me that we can’t just do nothing.” Gin sneered. “That woman Vermouth has nothing to do lately, so it’s a good opportunity to have her clean up her mess.”

Vermouth, who was enjoying a bottle of red wine at a presidential suite restaurant in New York, smiled with amusement when she saw the smiling message from Gin.

Walking to the floor-to-ceiling window and looking at the neon lights outside, she smiled and said, "Is this mocking me, or declaring war on me? I happen to have nothing to do lately, so I'd like to go to Japan and see what kind of deal they made with the FBI."

Starting last month, both the FBI and CIA launched a manhunt for members of the organization, arresting a large number of people suspected of being members, including one of its leaders.

The good news is that, so far, they haven't identified who the organization's members are. The bad news is that they still don't know what the FBI and CIA are investigating.

In the past, when faced with this situation, they only needed to arrest a few people who had been wrongly arrested and released, and then use coercion and bribery to get the answer. But this time, the situation was different. Even though it was confirmed that these people were innocent and the wrong people had been arrested, neither intelligence organization released them. Instead, they transferred them to a secluded sanatorium, clearly indicating that they did not want others to know what they had asked.

However, Vermouth could guess something; it must be related to that drug. After all, those arrested were all from the pharmaceutical industry.

Kudo family

At this moment, Conan is trying to extract information from James. Due to Yusaku Kudo's personal relationship, Conan and James and his group quickly became friends. Moreover, because they are children, James and his friends are basically unguarded when Conan asks them questions.

From them, Conan learns that Shinjo made a deal with them, and the traded item was the production information for APTX-4869, a poison that he considered a monstrous threat.

He really wanted to ask these guys what they wanted the poison for, but he also knew that once he asked that question, the fragile trust they had now would be destroyed, even if he was just a child and even if he spoke without thinking.

Just as he and James were having tea, Judy knocked on the door and came in.

"Is there any new development?" James looked at the papers in Judy's hand and immediately stood up.

“It was the people back home who told us to speed things up and find a way to get the data as soon as possible,” Judy said seriously. “Before our operation even began, those guys had already started trying to destroy the factories and production data for that drug. Now their factories are gone from the country, and their research data has been destroyed, not even as comprehensive as what we have.”

Conan was stunned. He hadn't expected to hear such a bombshell: the organization had started a pharmaceutical factory.

He didn't believe those guys had a change of heart, that they thought the drug was immoral, and therefore destroyed the pharmaceutical factory. It's more likely that those guys encountered difficulties in their operations in the US and decided to destroy evidence before leaving.

“That guy’s version isn’t the final one either. According to him, the probability of the drug successfully triggering is only 30%,” James said, frowning. “A 30% probability and a 60% probability are quite different. Those guys probably won’t agree to us paying such a high price for this information.”

“We’re not the only ones who want this information right now,” Judy said, sounding a bit annoyed. “If other people get their hands on it and figure something out beforehand, then…”

"I'll go talk to that guy again," James said with a smile to Conan beside him. "Little Conan, I'll take you to Professor Agasa's house first, and he'll take you home. We're going to meet an important guest this afternoon."

"No need, I can go home by myself." Conan directly refused James's offer and then ran off in a flash.

He now has to go to the new city and find out who he plans to sell the APTX-4869 research data to. That kind of poison should not exist in the world. The incinerator is where they should be!

From what Judy and James were saying, it seemed they had obtained some finished drugs, conducted human trials, and obtained data.

He hadn't run very far when he bumped into Professor Agasa, who was on his way home. Just as he was about to ask him something, he realized that there might be FBI agents nearby.

"I was saying, Shin..." Before the professor could finish speaking, he saw Conan give him a wink and immediately changed his words, "Conan, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Doctor, I want to eat ice cream!" Conan said immediately.

He wanted to ask the doctor what to do next, but he didn't dare to ask in the doctor's house. These agents had no bottom line when they did things, and who knew if they might plant listening devices in the doctor's house.

Although he didn't know what Conan was up to, Dr. Agasa still took him to get ice cream. At that moment, Conan noticed the two foreigners following behind him.

Seeing these people, Conan sighed. They couldn't even find a few locals to help them. The professionalism of these FBI agents was really not that great.

"Hey Conan, is there something you need from me?" The professor ate half a scoop of ice cream from his bowl, his face full of happiness.

"Doctor, I heard that Mr. Shinjo seems to be planning to sell the data on APTX-4869," Conan said seriously.

"What...did you say?" The doctor's eyes widened. "People actually want to buy this kind of information?"

"It looks like the FBI," Conan whispered. "Keep your voice down, there are two FBI agents nearby, be careful they don't hear you."

"Oh, it's them. That's not surprising." The doctor breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that it was the FBI who wanted to buy it. "Don't they often do assassinations? This kind of drug is perfect for them. Even if it's poisoned, no trace can be found. Even if an autopsy is performed, the final result will still be sudden death."

"They seem to have conducted experiments and obtained some kind of data," Conan asked nervously. "Should we stop this deal?"

"Data? What data?" The PhD student looked bewildered.

"I don't know what data they're referring to, but they mentioned that 30% and 60% are vastly different, and they said it's related to research or something. From what they're saying, it seems they're not the only buyer," Conan said angrily. "If this kind of information leaks out..."

"Shinichi, are you overthinking this?" the professor suddenly said.

"You're overthinking it?"

“Is it possible that this data represents the survival rate?” the doctor said seriously. “If it were just about poison, they would be perfectly capable of finding other alternatives or taking other measures. There’s no reason for them to go to such lengths to target APTX-4869.”

"Then who are they..." Conan stared at his hands in shock, saying in disbelief, "No way, could it be for this?"

"In a way, your situation can be considered a kind of rejuvenation," the doctor said seriously. "For those guys at the top, lifespan is the most important thing. If it's for immortality, any investment is worthwhile."

"Including conducting experiments on living people?"

"Hmm." Professor Agasa nodded, looking at Conan who was about to go berserk, and said, "Actually, there's nothing you can do. First of all, you can't stop this deal. Neither the two parties, nor any of the three parties, will allow you to disrupt this deal."

"But this medicine..."

“People die during the development of every drug, and you think Mr. Shinjo leaked the information.” The doctor sighed. “Actually, he had no choice but to hand over the information. I worked with his company for a while before. The most important departments of his company are either in the United States or Japan. If he refuses to hand over the information, he will lose these businesses.”

Conan's eyes dimmed, a sense of powerlessness washing over him...

“Even if they get the drug’s research data, they will adopt a more conservative research method. The kind of barbaric drug testing methods that the organization used are impossible to repeat. Moreover, the first people to test the drug will probably be those who don’t have much time left to live. Whether it’s rejuvenation or death, it will be a relief for them.” Dr. Agasa could only try to comfort her, “Don’t think about it so much. Didn’t Ran say that the Suzuki family’s express train is about to depart? It seems to be this month. You should think about traveling.”

"I understand, Doctor," Conan said with a hint of helplessness.

"Do you still want your ice cream? If not, I'll eat it."

"Miss Haibara said that with your body, you have to pay attention to your diet. It's best to eat less of these high-sugar, high-energy foods." Conan finished his ice cream ball as he spoke.

The professor sighed. The world is going to the dogs, people's hearts are no longer what they used to be, even Conan has been corrupted by Ai.

New City Private Hospital

"I noticed someone was following me when I arrived; they reacted quite quickly," Shiho Miyano said, sitting in the director's office chair. "My sister..."

"Don't worry, I won't take her with me." Shinjo rolled his eyes. "Besides, I won't take Shuichi Akai with me either, you can rest assured about that."

"Then I'm relieved. So why did you invite me onto the train?" Shiho Miyano asked, somewhat helplessly.

“I have some technical questions for you to answer. I’m planning to hold the transaction with the police and the FBI on the Suzuki Express,” Shinjo said directly. “I don’t have time.”

"No time?"