Conan, I'm an actor

Just then, Amuro Tooru slammed on the brakes, and the car came to a smooth stop in front of a research institute.

"We've arrived. This is the Cognac research institute." Amuro Tooru didn't rush to get out of the car. He took a pistol from the glove compartment, checked the magazine, and asked, "Want to come up with me?"

Seeing Amuro Tooru's performance, Vermouth couldn't help but frown; this guy was being far too enthusiastic.

But now is not the time to dwell on that; she felt she needed to have a serious talk with Cognac. He wanted revenge, fine, but he had to keep things under control.

She originally thought that the conflict between Cognac and Rum would only be confined to Tokyo and could be resolved by Gin's mediation. She never expected that Cognac would set fire to the headquarters and even the BOSS would find out.

Just then, a car drove up from the opposite lane and stopped in front of the research institute.

Vermouth recognized the cognac in the car, so she didn't do anything, but Amuro Tooru reached into his pocket.

“Bourbon, we’re not here to get rid of rats today,” Vermouth felt she needed to remind her temporary partner. “It wouldn’t be good for either of us if we upset the cognac.”

Amuro Tooru finally put his hand down, but inwardly he was thinking, "You know it's no good to provoke him, so why are you acting as a persuader?"

You know how crazy that guy is. If he thought you were one of Rum's gang, he'd probably be lying on the ground right here today.

Chapter 153 The Secret You Shouldn't Know

Meanwhile, inside the car opposite

"Those two people up ahead seem to be looking for you," Sakata Yusuke said nervously.

"Just pretend you didn't see them, drive straight into the research institute." Shinjo also saw the two people and said in a low voice, "Put on your masks later. The man is Bourbon, a very powerful character. As for the woman, her name is Vermouth. Don't provoke her unless necessary."

"Okay." Yusuke Sakata felt his throat go dry.

When Xincheng introduced the organization to him, he had already anticipated meeting the organization members in the future and had mentally prepared himself. However, he did not expect that day to come so soon.

As a former police officer, he had a keen eye for observation. After observing for a few seconds, he determined one thing—both of the guys were carrying guns.

It seems that carrying guns is standard practice for these guys. The frequent gunfights that have been happening in Tokyo recently might be the work of these guys.

As he drove past the two men, his heart pounded. Was it really okay to ignore them like that? This car wasn't some bulletproof sedan. If those two couldn't stand it and pulled out their guns, wouldn't the two of them sitting inside be riddled with bullets?

Fortunately, the two remained restrained and did not make any unnecessary movements until the car entered the research institute and the gates were closed.

Yusuke Sakata let out a long breath; his little heart couldn't take it.

"You're a young man, yet you're far less capable than old man Ochiai," Shinjo teased. "Drive the car to the parking lot and then go back to your place. Get used to your new identity for the next couple of days, and I'll arrange a job for you later."

Meanwhile, outside the institute's gate

Vermouth remained silent, but the heaving of her chest proved one thing: she was very angry, extremely angry.

"Um..." Amuro Tooru was also a little confused.

He was already prepared to watch the show unfold, with Vermouth and Cognac going at each other while he, as their underling, cheered them on from the sidelines.

But why aren't you playing by the rules, senior? Why are you just ignoring me? This guy is a favorite of the boss! Even if you don't plan to stay in the organization, I still am! As Vermouth's subordinate, should he force his way in, or...?

Just then, the doorbell rang, and Vermouth's finger was already on the doorbell.

As the doorbell rang, the door slowly opened without a single question being asked.

"Um, should I excuse myself for a moment?" Amuro Tooru asked with an awkward smile.

“There’s no need for that. You should rush in and drag that guy out.” Vermouth looked at Bourbon with a half-smile. “Are you chickening out?”

"Well, didn't you just say there was no need to make things..." Amuro Tooru hadn't finished his explanation when he saw Vermouth walk into the research institute.

At this point, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow, secretly praying that Cognac would restrain himself and not clash with Vermouth at this time. But before he could finish his prayer, he saw two dark gun barrels pointed at him.

Vermouth was standing not far in front of him, and her situation was even worse than his.

It wasn't a pistol, but a machine gun. The ammunition belts were attached to both sides of the machine gun, and you could even see the bullets marked with red. Each bullet had such a red mark, so they couldn't be tracer rounds; they were more likely incendiary or armor-piercing incendiary rounds.

What is this guy doing using this anti-armor weapon indoors? What is he defending against? And where did he get this large-caliber anti-material weapon?

"Is this the surprise you prepared for me?" Vermouth said, looking at the cognac in front of her. "I didn't come here today to cause you trouble. What you did in America made some people unhappy. So, I was ordered to come and mediate."

"Do you think there's any need for mediation?" Shinjo waved his hand, and the muzzles of the two machine guns moved away from the two men's location under the operation of the robotic arm.

"I have to try, otherwise I'll just be slacking off," Vermouth said wearily. "Are you just going to let us stand here and talk?"

"Follow me." Shinjo led the two of them directly along the route with the most concentrated firepower.

Along the way, wherever they passed, the weapons would raise their muzzles or cannons to make way for them.

Vermouth and Amuro Tooru's eyelids twitched. The machine guns in front were just an appetizer; the defensive grenades, minefields, anti-tank guns, and rocket launchers were the main course. Most of these weapons were old-fashioned, even outdated export versions, but their lethality was not diminished by their obsolescence.

Amuro Tooru estimated that, using normal tactics, it would take at least two battalions to break into the building, and even then, there was no guarantee of success. Fortunately, he hadn't ordered his men to force their way in; with his few subordinates, they would likely have been wiped out at the entrance.

"Who are all these weapons and equipment for?" Vermouth's lips twitched slightly.

“Of course, it’s to guard against Rum. He’s the organization’s second-in-command. Gin can easily mobilize armed helicopters, so Rum shouldn’t have much trouble mobilizing a combined arms brigade in Tokyo.” Shinjo shook his head. “Most of the equipment here is second-hand, slightly modified to make do for now, and we’ll replace it with new equipment when it arrives. There are also three air defense positions on the rooftop and inside the park for helicopter protection, but they only have man-portable missiles; we haven’t gotten any surface-to-air missiles yet.”

Amuro Tooru stood behind Vermouth, his face turning ashen.

They even have missiles, even man-portable missiles, that's outrageous. And Shinjo just said he hasn't gotten his hands on surface-to-air missiles yet, not that he can't, meaning given time, he can get them. Does this guy think Japan is Africa?!

What bothered him most was the timing described by New Town. He bought this equipment to defend against Rum, but how long had it been since Rum attacked him?

These weapons entered Japan within the last two weeks, but customs officials haven't heard a thing. Are they a bunch of idiots? How could they not know that such a large quantity of dangerous goods were entering Japan?

"For a rum?" Vermouth looked at Shinjo with a half-smile. "Isn't it for the things in the research institute?"

"You could also say it's for the things inside the research institute." Shinjo stood directly in front of the unlock button, and after verifying his iris and fingerprint, the metal door slowly opened, revealing the server room inside.

"The server room?" Amuro Tooru was taken aback.

He thought there would be a laboratory or something else behind it.

“A supercomputer, a world-leading supercomputer,” Xincheng said with a smile. “Didn’t you ask me who that hacker was? Now it’s right in front of you, and the weapons you just saw were all controlled by it.”

"Artificial intelligence, AI?" Vermouth tentatively voiced her guess.

“That’s right, I am an artificial intelligence life form. You can call me Karen.”

Just then, another sound rang out, and lights lit up around the room. These lights eventually converged to form a projection of Karen's body.

Amuro Tooru and Vermouth both swallowed hard; they never expected to encounter something they'd only ever seen in science fiction movies.

Just then, Karen walked up to Vermouth and looked her up and down.

Then, amidst the astonished looks of Vermouth and Amuro Tooru, he spoke up, "You should have taken that kind of medicine, right? Can I examine you? I'm very curious about the bodies of people like you. One sample from Cognac isn't enough, and the medicine that kid named Edogawa Conan took was different."

Chapter 154 New Drug Emergence and Mortality Rate

“Cognac…” Vermouth’s face instantly turned extremely ugly.

There weren't just her and Cognac here; Bourbon was also there, and he wasn't stupid. With just a little information, he could deduce a lot, including the secrets the organization had been covering up, and the secrets she wanted to hide.

“Don’t look at me, it figured this out itself.” Shinjo lit up a screen on one side. “Half of the machines here are used for APTX-4869 research. It can tell whether someone has taken the drug or not. After all, it’s an immature drug; neither reversing aging nor achieving eternal youth is perfect.”

This time, Amuro Tooru's face turned truly pale. Although he had some similar speculations about the effects of the organization's drugs, he had never confirmed it. Even when he did investigate, it was always in secret.

Moreover, he knew that the group led by Vermouth in the organization was keeping this information strictly confidential, and even the second-in-command, Rum, didn't know about it, but now he had found out.

Looking at Vermouth's fierce eyes, he had no doubt that Vermouth would kill him to keep the secret. He had been really tricked by Shinjo-senpai this time.

"What? Isn't this Bourbon one of your trusted men?" Shinjo said with a half-smile. "Do you need me to silence him? Killing an organization member is a troublesome matter. Gin and you have a good relationship, but he probably won't take the blame for you. I don't care, I don't need another life of his anyway."

Amuro Tooru's face turned green. "How can you treat your senior like this? Are you unhappy because you didn't see me die?!"

“No need, I’ll find a way to shut him up.” Vermouth coughed. “So, your research is almost ready?”

"The outcome? Do you really think there will be an outcome for this kind of thing?" Shinjo waved his hand.

Soon a robot delivered a box of medicine to him; its red and black color scheme looked somewhat dangerous.

“This is…” Vermouth looked at the medicine in the box and then at the cognac with some confusion.

“The improved version of the silver bullet can temporarily alleviate the aging of some cells, but it has not yet undergone clinical trials.” Xincheng found a chair, sat down, and crossed his legs. “The silver bullet forcibly intervenes in the aging process of cells, while APTX-4869 causes cells to degenerate, and this drug only slows it down. You can think of it as a version with reduced efficacy, but it works on all cells.”

Vermouth looked at the pills in front of her, picked one up and examined it in her hand, waiting for New Town's further explanation.

This guy built such a large research institute and installed a supercomputer to run experiments, definitely not to produce a drug that is less effective than the Silver Bullet and APTX-4869.

"You've probably already seen the list of those who took Silver Bullet and APTX-4869, right?" Shinjo said with a smile. "Every time you take it, it's like gambling with your life. Because it's a one-off event, 99% of the people who take it die, and only a small number of lucky ones survive. This drug only increases the probability, maybe 50/50."

Amuro Tooru's expression softened slightly. Even if it was only a 50% chance, as long as it was related to immortality, then...

"Just because of that?" Vermouth looked at Shinjo with amusement. "If that were all, you wouldn't have invested so much, would you?"

“Fine, you can’t hide anything from me.” Shinjo shook his head. “My lungs were severely damaged due to the fire and the plane crash. The remaining lung lobes can keep me alive, but they also affect my physical strength, so I developed a new drug to alleviate this condition.”

Vermouth nodded, acknowledging this explanation.

She had a physical examination two months ago. Although her body was still young, her lungs were in very poor condition. In the doctor's words, she had the lungs of a 50 or 60-year-old when she was in her 20s or 30s. The doctor even advised her to quit smoking.

Cognac's condition was even more serious than hers, so it's understandable that she invested in drug research to save her life.

"Didn't you say it was half and half? Aren't you afraid of taking your own medicine and killing yourself?" Vermouth shook the medicine box in her hand.

Xincheng took a pill directly from the tray and popped it into his mouth. "Half and half is for ordinary people. We lucky ones are not subject to this restriction."

He had already swallowed the medicine while he was speaking, and even burped.

Seeing that he had taken the medicine, Vermouth put the medicine box in her pocket and put it away. Then she looked at Bourbon behind her and said, "No one can tell anyone about what happened here, if you don't want to die."

Amuro Tooru nodded frantically; he was genuinely afraid that these two would just shoot him dead.

“You probably won’t be active in Japan for a while, right?” Shinjo said, staring at Vermouth.

“That’s true. The mess someone made is too big, so I need to go and help.” Vermouth glared at Shinjo as she spoke. “I’ll make Rum stop, until then…”

After learning what the research institute was studying, she valued Cognac to a whole new level, so she was willing to pay some price to make Rum stop.

“That guy is very ambitious, and you can’t keep satisfying him forever.” Shinjo interrupted Vermouth bluntly. “The best way to deal with a hyena like him is to break his arms and legs.”

"whatever."

“I need to borrow someone from you,” Shinjo said directly. “I recently recruited a promising talent and plan to train him to be my agent. Now I need a mentor, and Bourbon seems like a good fit. I feel more comfortable having him train the newcomer.”

“Oh? Then you can go with him, Bourbon.” Vermouth agreed to Cognac’s request after only a moment’s thought.

Bourbon knew the organization's secret, and she wasn't comfortable leaving herself unattended; she had originally planned to take Bourbon to America. Now that Cognac was willing to take over, that was for the best.

At this moment, Amuro Tooru's face remained expressionless. He thought of the person he had seen in the car earlier. Before, he had only felt that the person looked familiar, but now he realized that it was Sakata Yusuke, the one who died at the Higashijiri Police Station in Osaka.

Because Shinjo went to Osaka, he paid close attention to news from there and naturally knew about Numabuchi Kiichiro and the serial murder case.