Conan, I'm an actor

"Could you tell me who this Kirino Makio is?" Stout also became interested. "The boss seems to be quite wary of him."

“I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of superpowers, but Kirino Makio’s superpowers are precognition and telepathy,” Kallen said. “His ability to foresee the future has never been wrong. You can think of it this way: if Kirino Makio says that Shinjo will crash, then he will definitely crash.”

"Isn't that a wizard?" Aquavit swallowed hard. "Who would dare mess with him?"

“A wizard’s curse may not necessarily come true, but his prophecy will definitely come true.” Stout took a deep breath. “By the way, Miss Karen, what was that abnormal brainwave you mentioned earlier?”

“It’s a method for detecting superpowers. A certain research organization once conducted some research on superpowers, but without much success.” Kallen paused for a moment. “The only thing we know is that when a superpowered person activates their superpower, their brainwaves will show certain abnormalities.”

"Does this mean that we can artificially guide and mass-produce Supermen?" A glint of excitement flashed in Stout's eyes. He wanted to become Superman too.

"Theoretically it is possible, but in practice it is very complicated. Some laboratories have conducted related experiments, and the volunteers in these experiments all ended up with only one outcome—brain death."

The term "brain death" effectively shut up Stout and Aquawitte. They weren't stupid; wouldn't it have been better for them to be alive? The cost of this failed experiment was far too high.

At the same time, Shinjo and Yusuke Sakata also got into the cockpit of the Flying Swallow No. 1 and began the emergency takeoff procedure.

The moment the plane took off, a massive power outage suddenly occurred in the area near Jiuliang Island. The outage lasted for more than five minutes. Just as the power company employees were frantically trying to figure out what the problem was, the power was inexplicably restored.

Karen was supposed to take over all the beach cameras, but there wasn't enough time, so they had to resort to the rather crude method of cutting off the power.

Yusuke Sakata had never flown outside the atmosphere before; the only time he had come close to the edge of the atmosphere was when Karen was piloting the Flying Swallow II. Fortunately, he had simulated it many times in the simulator, so he was quite familiar with it.

In just a few minutes, the Flying Swallow-1 broke through the atmosphere and arrived outside the atmosphere. With the change in the shape of the Hall effect wing, the Flying Swallow-1 quickly burst into its strongest speed.

Following the radar's guidance, Shinjo quickly located Daigo's position. Not far from the escape pod was the Flying Swallow No. 1's fuselage. Calling it the fuselage was actually a bit inappropriate; the pile of things in front of him was more accurately described as wreckage.

"What on earth is this made of?" Yusuke Sakata felt a little short of breath.

"Karen, investigate the flight logs of Daigo's aircraft," Shinjo ordered directly. "And Sakata, you get to the rescue as soon as possible."

"Understood!" Sakata knew this wasn't the time to be curious and immediately began retrieving the escape pod. Retrieving the escape pod was quite difficult, but fortunately, the aircraft's computer had a pre-programmed procedure, and with Karen's assistance, it wasn't a major problem.

Xincheng quietly exited the exercise mode and entered the actual combat mode.

Even someone as incompetent as Yusuke Sakata could spot the problem, so how could he not?

The structural strength of the Flying Swallow No. 1 has been proven through both actual combat and theoretical studies. Even an explosion could not cause such severe damage to the structure.

Unless there are monsters, but how could there be monsters in this time and space?

There was only one possibility he could think of: Daigo must have run into trouble.

This guy might be able to resonate with time and space, taking himself to another time and space, fighting a monster, damaging the Flying Swallow No. 1, and then coming back.

"The flight clock shows Daigo has been missing for four hours; it's probably a mechanical malfunction." Karen's voice carried a hint of doubt. "Did you discover something?"

"Do you think it's possible that someone like him possesses some kind of special quality?" Xincheng coughed. "Like suddenly traveling through time and space or something. I just checked with radar, and there's no sign of any giant life forms around us, or even any life forms at all around here."

“That possibility cannot be ruled out, but in either case, we must wait until he wakes up before making a decision.” Karen’s voice carried a hint of barely concealed excitement.

Xincheng touched his nose, sensing that things might be going badly and that he might lose his free labor.

The Nori in this timeline should be gone, or perhaps it hasn't even been born yet. Karen invested so much money and resources but couldn't find it, so the possibility of its existence is very low.

If there were a living Nori in another timeline, he estimated that Karen, with her love-struck mind, would not hesitate to travel through time to find her sweetheart.

At that moment, the radar screen of the Flying Swallow No. 1 suddenly showed an abnormal fluctuation, and then the alarm lights inside the entire aircraft began to flash.

"What happened!" Karen asked nervously.

"It's temporarily out of control, but the problem isn't too serious." Shinjo started trying to salvage the plane according to the instructions in the operating manual, but unfortunately, nothing worked.

At this moment, he also realized that the situation predicted by Yusuke Sakata earlier was very likely to be the current situation. It's just that back then, Daigo was on his plane, while now, Daigo was on Yusuke Sakata's plane.

Just when he didn't know what to do, the aircraft's instruments suddenly returned to normal, and the plane was back under control.

Chapter 334 Research Institute Attack

"Boss, are you alright?" Sakata Yusuke asked with some concern.

"It's nothing, a minor issue. The aircraft maintenance wasn't done properly, resulting in a small malfunction, but it's been resolved." Shinjo patted the control panel. "You take Daigo back first, I'll keep an eye on the area."

“Okay.” Yusuke Sakata nodded.

"Karen, scan this area for any unusual energy fluctuations," Shinjo ordered directly.

“It’s been scanned, and there are indeed some abnormal wavelengths of energy, but there are too many rays in the universe, so this should be normal.” Karen’s voice was somewhat hesitant.

"what happened?"

“The equipment on Unit 1 is limited, so even if there is an anomaly, I won’t be able to collect specific data,” Karen said with some helplessness. “Unit 2 can be equipped, but it can’t reach outside the atmosphere, so it would require a lot of modifications. It would be better to design and manufacture a new one.”

"Then forget about it," Xincheng said decisively. "No money!"

What happens in outer space is completely beyond his control. The cost of a new fighter jet in outer space is at least several hundred million US dollars. The company is in dire financial straits and can't raise that much money unless it borrows from banks.

Moreover, even if they were to ask the bank for a loan, they might not be able to get one, since their company has too few profit points and a low profit level, which clearly does not meet the loan requirements.

“Why don’t we try monetizing our technology? I heard there’s some defense exhibition going on recently. If we make a move, we can get orders,” Karen said confidently.

Shin-chan rolled his eyes. "Those devices are for dealing with extraterrestrial crises. That's the original purpose of TPC. TPC's bottom line is not to involve internal human conflict. I won't let you do that."

"TPC is from that year's almanac, only someone like you would still remember it," Karen retorted. "Besides, there's no such person in the world. Never mind, I'm not going to say anything more."

Shinjo looked out at the universe, his brow furrowed, and after a moment of contemplation, he piloted Unit 1 back into the base.

Two days later

Another large-scale power outage struck near Jiuliang Island, this time lasting over thirty minutes, overwhelming the power supply system's phone lines. The power system personnel eventually confirmed an attack, classifying it as a hacker attack; however, the hacker's motive for attacking the power station remains unknown.

Meanwhile, at the base on Kyurojima Island, Shinjo looked at the machine in front of him and fell into deep thought.

When Daigo returned, he was carrying a thick stack of blueprints. Sakata Yusuke thought it was Daigo's will and brought it back with him. However, after arriving at the base, they realized that it seemed to be the blueprints for the construction of something.

According to Karen, whatever it is, just make it first.

Shinjo recognized the item immediately, not because he'd seen it before, but because he recognized the signature: Takayama Gamu. Time travel, and he even messed up the Flying Swallow No. 1! Did Daigo go to the set of a time-traveling movie?

He originally wanted to stop Kallen's actions, after all, this thing was a Pandora's box, who knows what would be released after it was opened? If a Five Emperors ran out, there would be nowhere to cry.

But he had no reason to believe it; if he said this thing could open a time portal, Kallen certainly wouldn't listen to him.

Just now, Karen began her first test, which used the reactor inside the base and external power input.

However, they did not expect that starting the machine would require so much electricity. Even with the reactor operating at full power and the power supply from Jiuliangliang Island, it was still not possible to make the machine work stably, and it also caused a half-hour power outage on the entire Jiuliangliang Island.

"What on earth is this thing?" Karen frowned. "It consumes so much electricity, why don't we just build a high-energy power plant..."

"Alright, alright, save your breath. We don't have that much money for you to mess around with." Shinjo immediately stopped Karen's fantasy. "What is this thing? We'll find out when Daigo wakes up and we'll ask him."

Shinjo looked at the time machine in front of him and sighed. This thing consumes so much power, I don't know how my dream started. I can only say that the people at XIG really spoil him.

"Do you know something? I have a feeling you're hiding something from me."

"How could that be! Do you think I'm that kind of person?" Shinjo stretched. "I have something to do. The shipping company has a meeting about adding more ships, so I'll be going now."

"Sonoko Suzuki just called Ran Mouri and invited her to some Skyship event. Do you want to go?"

“High-end private parties are inaccessible to ordinary people.” Xincheng rolled his eyes. “Besides, this isn’t a big deal; they can handle it themselves.”

On the third floor of the former Mori Detective Agency

"Shinichi, you asked Sonoko to bring Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko along. Are you sure it's okay that you weren't there?" Ran asked with some concern. "She'll definitely be very angry in the end."

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it. I can't create clones." Conan flipped through JUMP with a hint of helplessness. "Besides, the reason I asked her was to help me create a suitable place to confess my feelings. I can't ask someone else for help with something like that."

"So why did you use this excuse?"

“I’m not familiar with her. If I use any other excuse, she won’t help me. She might even yell at me or beat me up.” Conan sat up abruptly. “In short, telling Sonoko my identity is absolutely out of the question.”

"Why? Isn't Sonoko our good friend?"

"Given her personality, in a few days at most, the whole world will know that Conan is Shinichi Kudo." Conan sighed helplessly. "At least wait until I become Shinichi Kudo before we talk about it."

"Then..." Xiaolan asked, frowning, "After you change back, will you have to move out?"

"Probably." Conan sighed. "I'll rent a house nearby. It's not like we won't see each other."

Ran was still a little melancholy. The thought of not being able to live with her boyfriend in the future made her feel melancholy. However, she also knew that Shinichi couldn't keep up with Conan's appearance forever.

Conan glanced at Ran and instantly understood what she was thinking. Just as he was about to ask for something, his phone rang.

He was originally going to hang up immediately, but when he saw that it was his mother's number, he had no choice but to answer it.

"Hey, Mom, has something else happened?" Conan asked, somewhat helplessly.

"Oh, Shin-chan, your dad and I are going on a trip. You'll be in charge of managing this trip yourselves, so make sure you explain everything clearly to the kids." Yukiko's voice came through the phone.

"What?!" Conan's face instantly turned green. "If you don't come, how am I supposed to explain this to them? What if they don't believe me?!"

"I trust Shin-chan, that's all." Yukiko said and hung up the phone.

"What's wrong, Conan?" Ran asked, frowning. "Is something wrong with Aunt Kiko?"

"Yes! Mom and Dad are going on a trip and won't have time to join us. How annoying!" Conan said with a dark face. "If she doesn't come, Ayumi and the others will definitely think I'm joking."

"Actually, things aren't as bad as you think. Once school starts, they'll know you weren't joking," Ran reassured Conan.

"No, I still need to find some outside help."

"foreign aid?"

"Find someone who can disguise themselves!" Conan said, forcing himself to speak.

He invited Yukiko over to cover up the lie, having her play Conan Edogawa's mother and his own father play Mr. Edogawa—all while in disguise. After all, the three kids had met Yukiko and Yusaku Kudo and knew they were Shinichi Kudo's parents.

Disguise alone isn't enough; acting skills are also essential. Conan's first thought was Kaito Kid, the master of disguise and a good actor. But the thought of having to call him "Dad" filled him with a hundred times the reluctance, after all, they were the same age.

Thinking of this, he dialed Xincheng's number, but this time Xincheng did not answer.

He was unwilling to give up so easily, so he directly edited an email and sent it, which detailed the situation.

When Xincheng saw the email that evening, he immediately gave her the same expression as an old man using a cell phone on the subway.

"So eager to acknowledge a father, do you want this son?" Karen asked teasingly.

"Son? If I had a son like that, I'd beat him to death beforehand." Xincheng rolled his eyes. "Otherwise, he'll bring me bad luck and I'll die one day."

"So that means rejection?"

"No way, it's not bad to be this kid's dad once in a while." Shinjo thought for a moment and replied to Conan with an OK. But after having a dad, he can't be without a mom. Speaking of disguise and acting skills, another person immediately came to mind.

Nishitama City, Tokyo National Institute of Microbiology

At that moment, several fully armed thugs wearing gas masks forced the research institute to the door of the laboratory where the experimental samples were stored, and poked the back of the researcher's head with a gun.