Stay away from Conan.

"Chris Vineyard, and her mother Sharon Vineyard... are actually the same person?"

Immediately, upon hearing this news so abruptly from the other end of the phone, everyone present was stunned for a moment—

After all, this news was truly astonishing.

The name Vermouth might be unfamiliar to some high-ranking officials who only have contact with the organization, but Sharon Vineyard and Chris Vineyard are obviously more well-known.

As a well-known American actress, especially since Sharon Vineyard's era was roughly the same one that many of us here witnessed growing up, it's not unusual for people to know her.

And her daughter, Chris Vineyard...

Since they are mother and daughter, there should be at least a twenty-year age difference, but now some people are saying that the mother and daughter are actually the same person.

This news is rather...

As a public figure, if this news is true, then...

How can a person simultaneously appear before the world as both a mother and a daughter?
Many people present were curious about this question, and they didn't even object to Gao Yuan's subconscious skepticism. Even Gin, who instinctively wanted to refute something, didn't question Gao Yuan's claim that the two people belonged to the same person.

"Hmph... 'Thousand-Faced Witch' Vermouth? With her ability to disguise herself as anyone at will, it's not surprising that she can impersonate anyone she wants. What's so strange about that?"

Gin responded with a cold snort.

But what Gao Yuan said next surprised everyone even more—

"By the way, one more thing: I'm not the only one who knows this. Besides the highest-ranking members of the organization who should know about it, the FBI is also involved—"

"For some reason, the FBI secretly extracted Chris Vineyard's fingerprints and compared them with Sharon Vineyard's fingerprints, thus confirming with absolute certainty that the two were the same person in disguise."

"Furthermore, there is one more thing you need to know, and that is, what Chris Vineyard looks like now is her true appearance!"

Thus, upon hearing this, the two pieces of information mentioned caused everyone present to momentarily lose their composure—

FBI?

Does the FBI already know Vermouth's identity and have launched an investigation into her?

This news immediately caught the attention of Gin and other codenamed members of the organization. Furthermore, the subsequent statement, "Chris Vineyard's appearance is her true appearance," fueled everyone's speculations.

If Chris Vineyard and Sharon Vineyard are the same person, then why does she now look like the younger version of herself?

As Sharon Vineyard, she existed for at least forty years, so why...?

Could it be that she has some kind of secret to maintaining her youthful appearance?
Or perhaps Sharon Vineyard was a real person, but her identity was later taken over by Vermouth.

Many people had various complex thoughts running through their minds, but with so little information, they couldn't come up with a more accurate answer. Gin and others, as codenamed members of the organization, couldn't help but review Vermouth's resume within the organization after hearing this news, and began to wonder what Vermouth's true age should be.

However, after careful recollection, Gin was suddenly taken aback, because he couldn't think of any more information. As a mystic within the organization, much of the information he had about Vermouth was only known through a few collaborations, and based on the intelligence he already possessed, Vermouth's age should not exceed thirty.

In that case, although the "real appearance" matches, Vermouth at this age also impersonated her mother, Sharon Vineyard.
Why is that?
Thus, while everyone present was lost in thought, Rum, far away elsewhere, was genuinely taken aback by Gao Yuan's words—

Not to mention that Vermouth's public identity was exposed by that person, it's not surprising that the person even mentioned Sharon Vineyard's name.

But Sharon Vineyard...

The Sharon Vineyard who secretly cooperated with Koji Haneda back then is now Chris Vineyard.
What does this news mean?
Rum was utterly shocked at that moment!

Could it be that the organization had already made progress on related experiments back then, but I was unaware of it?
What bothered Rum even more was that this person also knew the FBI's findings on Vermouth.
Who exactly is this person? How could he possibly know information about the FBI in addition to the CIA?

This is absolutely incredible!
After Rum realized the true meaning of the information Gao Yuan had just revealed, many thoughts began to form in his mind. It seemed—

Finding that person is becoming increasingly urgent!
And it seems that the key to finding that person lies with that person himself!

What he said in the letter he left for himself was not unfounded!
Rum was still deeply troubled, but he couldn't act rashly yet. He had to wait for the man to reveal more important information first. After all, the man had released this information so easily, so there must be more to say.

As Rum had predicted, after Gao Yuan revealed the information about Vermouth, he went on to tell another truth, but this topic had nothing to do with what had just been discussed—

"Alright, let's leave the topic of Vermouth here for now. I'm sure you're all tired of all this confusing news, so let's talk about the treasure instead."

Thus, hearing the person on the other end of the phone suddenly bring up the topic of treasure again immediately piqued the interest of the group, who had been lost in thought.

Vermouth and such are far away and don't need to be concerned about them right now, but the treasure here is right in front of us, how could we let it go?

Therefore, as expected, after the commotion caused by Vermouth's topic subsided, Gao Yuan immediately revealed further information about the treasure—

"Actually, the so-called auction held here back then probably never happened. That bloody incident was likely fabricated to... cover up the true circumstances of the tragedy that occurred here!"

"As far as I know, Karasuma Renya actually gathered many scholars here back then in order to unravel the secret of the treasure left to him by his mother. Regardless of whether those scholars were able to solve the secret, it is certain that Karasuma Renya did not intend to let them go."

"So, it's very likely that Karasuma Renya's idea was exposed, so even if someone eventually unlocked the secret of the treasure, they didn't tell Karasuma Renya the secret. Instead, they wrote it down as a code and passed it out."

"And coincidentally, I obtained the code left by the scholar who deciphered the secret before his death, and I also deciphered it. So, let me—"

Let me share this with you!

"First, there's the code:"

"'Two travelers gazed at the night sky, a demon descended upon the castle, the king fled with his treasure, the queen wept over the Holy Grail, begging for forgiveness, and a soldier took his own life, his blood staining the fields…'" (End of Chapter)