Stay away from Conan.

With Takato bringing this information, the police officers in the Metropolitan Police Department were all busy, and naturally no one had time to worry about Kogoro Mouri and the others. Especially since Kogoro Mouri didn't seem to have fully recovered from his drunkenness, even Inspector Megure was temporarily preoccupied with other matters. The officers who remained behind were busy looking after Kogoro Mouri and the others before they all set to work.

At this moment, even though he had listened to Takato's analysis in its entirety, Kogoro Mouri was still somewhat confused. He only vaguely knew that, based on Takato's clues, the police had finally obtained some information, so they were now going to stake out two locations in the hope of catching the murderer there.

Thus, although Kogoro Mouri was very dissatisfied with Takato's analysis and reasoning on the police's side, it was ultimately just an analysis, and it was still a long way from catching the culprit. Therefore, Kogoro Mouri quickly convinced himself and lay down on the desk in the Metropolitan Police Department office, drifting off to sleep.

Meanwhile, Conan, who was walking alongside, was lost in very complex and serious thoughts—

Admittedly, my initial purpose in coming to the Metropolitan Police Department was to try to find out about Ireland, the member of the organization that was hiding in the police force.

After all, the other party must have been hit by his anesthetic needle. Given the properties of Dr. Agasa's anesthetic, even if the duration of its effect is limited, it should still put the other party to sleep for about half an hour, or at least not for too short a time.

In this way, since it is known that the other party infiltrated the police force for the purpose of this serial murder case, it can be basically determined that the police officer they impersonated must be among the officers investigating the incident; otherwise, the organization would not have been able to obtain relevant information about the case in a timely manner.

Therefore, according to the initial plan, Conan thought that as long as he arrived at the Metropolitan Police Department, if there were officers from the Joint Investigation Team who were not present but arrived afterward, the possibility that this person was Ireland would greatly increase. Afterward, as long as he could find a way to confirm it further, then with the combined efforts of the officers within the Metropolitan Police Department, there might be a chance to directly keep Ireland there.

However, things didn't go as planned—

Not to mention that when they arrived at the Metropolitan Police Department, all the main officers of the investigation team were there, so no one was particularly suspicious.

Regarding this, Conan was unsure whether it was because the drug's effects didn't last long or for some other reason. Before Conan could think about it further, Takato's message came too suddenly.

Although the intelligence discovered by Gao Yuan is very important, it has now connected all the previously unidentifiable links between the various body disposal locations. Furthermore, based on the appearance of the seventh victim, Shindo Sumire, during the day, the police could potentially catch the murderer directly by simply staking out those two locations before the police find the body!
Therefore, Conan couldn't help but feel very anxious. After all, after Ireland suspected his identity, the only solution Conan could think of to deal with the organization's threat was to obtain the memory card containing the list of the organization's undercover agents, and use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the organization.

However, to achieve this goal, you must first find the murderer yourself.

But given the current situation...

After carefully analyzing the current situation, Conan understood in his heart—

At this point, it's virtually impossible for me to find the killer before everyone else.

Since the police have already begun their deployment, I have almost no way to intervene in this situation of staking out an uncertain target.

The only good news is that the situation is the same for the organization as well.

After the police made such a deployment, unless the organization wanted to confront the police head-on, it would be almost impossible to take the killer away without anyone noticing.

Moreover... if we have to say something, the murderer may not appear at any time. Even if the police stake out the place all night, they may not find any trace of the murderer.

Before fully understanding the killer's motive, based solely on the patterns observed in the locations where bodies were found, all we can do is wait and see, rather than actively searching for the killer.

Therefore, after thinking about all this, Conan calmed down for a moment and realized that there was still a chance...

However, while this means we don't have to worry about the killer being found by the organization in advance, the question remains: what will Ireland do at this moment?
Did the other party go to stake out the area with the officers on duty, or...?

For no apparent reason, Conan felt a chill run down his spine, a sense of imminent danger surrounding him—

Perhaps the other party also realized that such a stakeout might not be able to find the murderer, but the fact that they were inside the Metropolitan Police Department was undeniable!

Conan realized that the other party was unlikely to give up easily. They hadn't managed to abduct him from the agency, but now he was in the Metropolitan Police Department, which was short-staffed. Perhaps the other party would…

……

That brat is currently spending the night at the Metropolitan Police Department, so the best opportunity is to arrest him directly, but...

Ireland, having left the Metropolitan Police Department office where the meeting had just taken place, returned to his own office, which belonged solely to Matsumoto Kiyonaga, and was now deep in thought with a serious expression.

Clearly, Ireland had paid special attention to Conan's expression when leaving the office, realizing that the clever kid had likely sensed the danger. Therefore, even though now was the best opportunity, it might not be possible to successfully capture the prepared kid.

If this brat causes any trouble, things could get very complicated.

But now that things have come to this, this step is unavoidable. If the officers sent out to stake out tonight catch the murderer and find the memory card on him, our mission will fail. So we must prepare a backup plan and strike successfully in one fell swoop...

Thinking of this, Matsumoto Kiyonaga, disguised as an Irishman, sat back down in his chair, his face grave. After a moment of contemplation, he took out his phone, the one he used to contact the organization, and began composing a message, preparing to report to the organization on tonight's findings first.

On one hand, it diverts Gin and his team's attention in that direction; on the other hand, what if Gin and his team are able to take the culprit away under the police's noses? Then their mission wouldn't be considered a failure.

Thinking this, just as Ireland was composing his email, a shadow suddenly appeared behind him—

As Ireland realized the situation and was about to get up, a pistol was suddenly pressed against the back of his head, causing him to freeze in place. Then, a sound rang out, startling Ireland even more:
"Ireland, what are you doing?"

—That's Gin's voice! (End of Chapter)