Conan, I'm an actor

Chapter 319 The Transaction Proceeds

“I’ve seen four of them. Are you sure you want to make a move?” Xincheng said with a smile. “These are just those standing on the platform; those already on the train don’t count.”

Sato and Takagi exchanged a glance and ultimately chose to remain silent; arresting someone now would only alert the enemy.

"Mr. Shinjo, why are you here?" Takagi suddenly realized the key point.

"Me? I'm a business partner of the Suzuki zaibatsu." Shinjo put his hands in his pockets. "I'm here to observe my business partner's operating methods."

How are trains operated?

“Besides being a means of transportation, trains can also serve other purposes, such as entertainment…” Shinjo snapped his fingers. “I want to build a train and move all the entertainment facilities from cruise ships, except for swimming, onto the train. I came here this time to investigate the feasibility. After all, the Suzuki Express is the closest train to my vision in Japan.”

"Would anyone actually participate in this kind of project?" Takagi remained skeptical.

However, Sato Miwako seemed to have guessed something, and her gaze toward Shinjo was somewhat unfriendly, as if she were looking at a heinous capitalist.

After saying goodbye to the two, Xincheng wandered around the platform a couple more times before leisurely boarding the train 15 minutes before departure.

Soon, Haibara's voice came through the earpiece in his ear.

Is there anything unusual?

"Not yet, but it's a bit strange that no one has recognized me." Shinjo said, stroking his chin. "The intelligence says Vermouth has arrived in Japan. Knowing her personality, she definitely won't miss this train. I'm waiting for her to pull the trigger on me."

“That woman is dangerous,” Ai Haibara suddenly said. “She may have already seen you, but she has chosen to lie low.”

"Hibernation?"

“This train is a direct train and won’t stop along the way, so in a way it can be considered a locked room.” Haibara looked at the brochure in her hand. “Maybe she’s planning to trap you after you get on the train.”

“It’s not impossible.” Xincheng found his compartment and lay down. “By the way, if there’s a fire on the train, escape with everyone else. I’ll handle the rest. No one will get hurt.”

"I know, I've said it many times already."

Shinjo switched communication channels and found Kaito, who was wandering around the train aimlessly.

"How's the situation?" Shinjo asked with a smile.

"Anto Yu, Noto Daisaku, Izumi Mari, Kosuke Natsue, and Sumitomo Hiruka in her wheelchair have all arrived; they're all in carriage eight." Kaito's voice came through the headset. "I'm looking for Murohashi Etsuto, um..."

“No need to look anymore. That guy wasn’t very lucky. He’s probably a corpse by now,” Shinjo said calmly. “You have more important work to do. Leave finding the body to the kids.”

"What kind of child is so unlucky? Doesn't seeing a corpse leave him with psychological trauma?" Kaito shuddered.

"Psychological trauma?" Shinjo's expression was a little strange. "Even the most fragile person would become stronger after seeing corpses all the time."

"Used to seeing corpses?" Kaito felt a toothache. "Are you sure that's a child, and not a forensic doctor or a police officer?"

"They have a playmate named Conan Edogawa."

“Okay, I understand.” Kaito sighed. “I have deep sympathy for their childhood.”

Even though he was very knowledgeable, he had never met anyone as unlucky as Conan Edogawa, a guy who basically died wherever he went.

"By the way, is everything ready? Don't lose anything, that thing is very expensive," Shinjo asked with a smile.

"Where did you get so much gold?" Kaito asked, somewhat exasperated. "I investigated what you did in Shizuoka before. The gold coins that appeared in the river that time were actually yours, weren't they?"

“You mean that gold?” Xincheng stroked his chin. “Actually, it was maple leaf gold coins stolen by a criminal gang. They were arrested by the police before they could retrieve them. They were sentenced to five years and are scheduled to be released next month. The police couldn’t find the gold coins at the time, but I found them later, so I helped them get them out and spend them.”

"They'll be furious when they come out and find their gold coins are gone."

“That has nothing to do with me. By the way, I heard that they were sentenced so lightly because the police couldn’t find the gold coins. In a way, I helped them destroy the evidence. They should be thanking me.”

Kaito gasped. He'd seen shamelessness before, but never anything like this.

On the other side, Ai Haibara and Conan stood together, waiting for the train to depart.

"This train won't stop until it reaches its final stop," Mitsuhiko remarked, gazing at the fleeting scenery outside the window.

"Really? No way!"

"However, where the train terminates at remains a mystery," the doctor said with a chuckle.

“It’s Nagoya,” Conan said matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" The professor was taken aback. He couldn't understand why Conan knew the destination.

“By checking the train timetable online, you can roughly deduce the train’s destination,” Haibara said expressionlessly. “Right, Great Detective?”

The doctor looked at the two adults who had turned into children and inwardly groaned, "We've all managed to get on this mysterious train, can't you two cooperate a little and stop saying things that ruin the mood?!"

Conan glanced at Ai Haibara and asked in a low voice, "By the way, don't you have any other people accompanying you?"

"What kind of companion do you need?" Ai asked, feigning curiosity.

"Those guys might be on this train, doesn't that guy know that?" Conan asked, somewhat exasperated. "Isn't his intelligence gathering ability supposed to be quite strong?"

“Having strong intelligence capabilities doesn’t mean being omniscient.” Haibara rolled her eyes. “Besides, those guys seem to have figured out how we gather intelligence, so lately they’ve been communicating through letters or verbal communication. He already learned that the hard way back in London.”

"Aren't you worried at all?" Conan was taken aback.

Haibara seemed so calm to him; he had initially thought that Shinjo had arranged bodyguards for her.

“What’s the use of being nervous? The train has already started moving and won’t stop along the way.” Haibara said helplessly, “I saw organized people on the platform when I was there, but I had no way out by then. If I had left the station then, I might be a corpse by now.”

"This……"

"I'll be leaving for a bit."

"Where are you going?" Conan grabbed Ai Haibara's wrist nervously. "Those guys are on the train right now, and it's not safe on the train."

"Going to the restroom, do you want to come with me?"

"Hey!"

"Conan is terrible!" Ayumi was the first to complain.

Genta and Mitsuhiko joined Ayumi in condemning Conan's shamelessness, and Conan immediately fell silent. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ai slipped out of the carriage and headed to the pre-arranged carriage number four.

A dozen minutes later, inside carriage number 4

Xincheng closed the window and waited quietly for the FBI agents to arrive, unaware of which high-ranking official would be visiting.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Shiho Miyano, wearing a white coat, walked in, carrying a bag containing her clothes that she had just changed out of.

"You didn't attract the attention of those children, did you?" Shinjo asked bluntly.

"Do you think that's possible? The other three are fine, but that guy is incredibly perceptive." Shiho Miyano sat down directly opposite Shinjo. "That guy even suspects you were in the car."

"Yeah, that guy's got a sharp mind." Shinjo stretched.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and James walked in alone with a briefcase.

"Mr. James, why are you the only one here? Does the FBI take this deal seriously?" Shinjo's eyes sharpened instantly when he saw that James was the only person there.

“Please don’t misunderstand, Mr. Shinjo,” James said somewhat awkwardly. “The transaction location is on this train, and tickets are really hard to come by. Moreover, to avoid attracting the attention of the Japanese Public Security Bureau, we have very few people with us this time.”

"What about the conditions?" Shinjo asked, stroking his chin. "They won't change, will they?"

“Just as we discussed two days ago, there will be no further changes,” James said seriously. “Mr. Shinjo, please hand over the information to us for processing.”

"All the data is on the hard drive. When the hard drive is accessed again, the program inside will start." Xincheng took out a hard drive. "It contains a program that generates real-time keys. You need to log in to a website to retrieve the data."

“This…” James said with a headache, “Shouldn’t we just deliver all the data at once?”

“We’ll unlock 10% of the data for you to verify,” Shinjo shrugged. “As for the rest, that’ll be cash on delivery.”

“OK.” James put the hard drive directly into his briefcase.

He couldn't stay here for too long, or it would arouse suspicion from some guys, after all, he wasn't the only intelligence organization on this train.

Not long after James left, the door to carriage number four was knocked on again. This time, it was a staff member from the planning department. If Shinjo remembered correctly, this guy should be Kazama's confidant.

“I thought it would be Administrator Kuroda who would come,” Shinjo said with a smile. “It seems you’re not taking this deal very seriously.”

"Chief Administrator Kuroda has entrusted me with the task of negotiations. I can represent him in the transaction on his behalf." The man's face remained calm, showing no reaction to the pressure exerted by Shinjo.

"Are you a negotiation expert?" Shinjo asked with a smile.

"I was a negotiation expert before joining the planning department," the man said, neither humble nor arrogant.

"Then why join the Planning Department?"

"Because the suspect was shot during negotiations."

"Alright, you're quite talented too." Xincheng took out another hard drive. "Everything's in here. I've brought everything I asked for."

The man placed a locked suitcase on the table. He didn't know what was inside, only that it was a bargaining chip for his deal with the guy named Xincheng.

Shinjo nodded in satisfaction; he had no intention of opening the briefcase in front of this man.

This trade happened even faster than the one involving James, and it was completed in less than five minutes.

"You seem to trust the Public Security Bureau quite a bit," Shiho Miyano asked. "Aren't you afraid they'll try something? The document you gave to the FBI had encryption, but their copy didn't?"

“No.” Shinjo leaned back in his chair. “Those guys wouldn’t lie to me if they were thinking straight. Negotiations and deals are based on equal strength between the two sides. On Japanese soil, my strength may be slightly inferior to theirs, but if it really comes down to it, I can skin them alive.”

“But your power is all hidden. Do they really know your strength?” Shiho Miyano frowned and said, “Going back three months, they did a lot of stupid things.”

“Is that so?” Shin-chan said with a smile. “Eleven high-ranking officials and seven members of parliament—that’s the price they paid. And these are just the dead; there are many more who were ousted by their rivals after scandals broke out.”

He is not flustered at all. The ruthless methods he used in his previous revenge did not provoke resistance from those high-ranking officials and members of parliament. In fact, some of them even liked this method of revenge and wanted to cooperate to eliminate their political enemies through this means.

New City would definitely refuse such a deal. Karen's side only recommended that they contact Pisco and sell a few pieces of dirt on him.

After obtaining the dirt, those guys didn't rush to attack. They were clearly preparing to unleash a powerful move, intending to humiliate their competitors and force them to step down in disgrace at a crucial moment.

Just then, Xincheng's phone rang. Judging from the number, it seemed to be an unfamiliar number. Just to be on the safe side, Xincheng answered the phone.

As soon as the call connected, Amuro Tooru's tense voice came from the other end of the line, "Where is Shiho Miyano right now?"

"Amuro Tooru, what made you think of calling me?" Shinjo asked with a smile. "This call should be from the Public Security Planning Department, right? Your subordinate?"

"Don't worry about whose call it is!" Amuro Tooru was getting a little frantic. "A lot of people are heading towards carriage number four. They're all from the organization, and they probably want to capture Sherry."

"Don't worry, I've prepared enough food and drinking water in carriage number four," Xincheng said, squinting. "As long as they don't set the entire train on fire, we won't leave. If there's a fire, stop the train immediately and have everyone disembark for inspection."

And you?

"Hiding in the car."

Chapter 320 The Train (Suicide or Homicide)