Stay away from Conan.

"Ok?"

After hearing the disguised electronic voice on the other end of the phone, presumably Gao Yuan's, recount the so-called "fire," Vermouth's initial underestimation of Gao Yuan's seemingly all-encompassing intelligence immediately turned into seriousness.

Clearly, Vermouth understood the implied meaning in Gao Yuan's words: this guy had likely already identified the murderer.

Therefore, following Vermouth's reaction, Gao Yuan on the other end of the phone didn't hold back and relayed the clues—

In short, the most crucial clue among all the leads the police currently have is the only last words left behind by the deceased: "Tai Chi Kyō".

After breaking it down and speculating, it is easy to associate it with "Tanabata Festival" and "Kyoto". Based on these two points, we investigated in detail and found the hotel fire that occurred in Kyoto on Tanabata Festival last year. All the current victims are survivors of that fire!
"In this way, the connection between the deceased that had been missing was discovered. Then, by examining the details of the fire, it was found that the only victim of the fire was named Honjo Nanako. She was probably traveling in Kyoto with her boyfriend at the time, but her boyfriend escaped because he was not at the hotel when the fire occurred."

"Therefore, since the murderer chose the location of the Big Dipper as the site for disposing of the body, then including Shindo Sumire, there is still one person missing. So, I can confirm that the boyfriend of Honjo Nanako, who survived the fire, even if he is not the murderer himself, will be the last victim."

In this way, Gao Yuan simply explained the intelligence without lying, essentially pointing Vermouth in the direction of the investigation.

Upon hearing that Gao Yuan's investigation had reached this level, Vermouth was somewhat surprised and also harbored some doubts.

"Now that you've investigated to this extent, is there anything that can't be clarified?"

In Vermouth's view, since Gao Yuan already knows that the core issue has been locked onto Nanako Honjo's boyfriend, then finding this person would make it a piece of cake to confirm those issues.

But now, he only says that it is not yet certain whether this person is the murderer or the final victim. Isn't this intentional?

Or was he deliberately hiding it?
Gao Yuan wasn't surprised by Vermouth's question. After all, revealing only this much of the clue would inevitably arouse Vermouth's suspicion that he was withholding information. However, Gao Yuan was prepared for this.

"It's not that I don't want to investigate, it's that I can't..."

Thus, the helpless electronic voice that reached Vermouth's ears made her frown, wondering what Gao Yuan was up to—

"Nanako Honjo's boyfriend's name is Kosuke Mizutani, and he has gone missing..."

In this way, Gao Yuan gave Vermouth an explanation, and this explanation was not a lie. After all, Gao Yuan was not entirely sure where Mizutani Kosuke was before Tanabata. He could only vaguely recall from the original work that he was probably retracing the places he had traveled with Honjo Nanako before. However, Gao Yuan could not find out the specifics without using special means.

In this way, Gao Yuan has essentially posed the question to Vermouth.

For Gao Yuan, the clues he gave Vermouth were not difficult to obtain. Once he had a direction, the investigation was a piece of cake. He could find out the information by checking the news or asking the hotel staff.

However, finding Mizutani Kosuke himself based on these clues proved difficult. Takato didn't want to reveal too much of his abilities in this matter, and...

"Moreover, and more importantly, now that I know the organization has sent Ireland to monitor all of this within the Metropolitan Police Department, if I launch an investigation, all my actions will be noticed, and then you won't be the first to know about this information, will you?"

Thus, Gao Yuan's statement implies that, so far, within the organization, Vermouth herself is the only person who knows the details of the case.

Having understood the underlying meaning of Gao Yuan's words, Vermouth fell into deep thought—

In other words, based on Gao Yuan's actions, am I currently the person within the organization closest to the truth? This gives me a better chance of finding the murderer and retrieving the memory card…

How to arrange the whole thing is entirely under my control?

Thinking about this, Vermouth couldn't help but feel deeply wary of Gao Yuan's motives—

Clearly, regardless of whether what Gao Yuan said is true or false, at least in terms of reality, this guy has simply thrown the problem back at himself.

How to use this information, how to retrieve the memory card—these are questions that Ireland should have been handling, but now…

Should I handle this myself, pass the message on to someone else, or simply let Ireland deal with it...?

Recalling what happened in the car earlier, and the incident last night when Ireland attempted to attack Conan, Vermouth knew in her heart that Ireland absolutely could not be allowed to stay, otherwise...

I've really put myself in a tough position, but...

But I have to say, it's always better to make this decision myself than to let others know.

In this respect, if it weren't for "Jun Du," Gao Yuan would have already...

"Of course, the time limit is until this year's Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day). Since this crime was committed because of the fire on Qixi Festival years ago, judging from the timing of the actions, this person will definitely choose to end everything on Qixi Festival. At the same time, I can be certain that the location the murderer ultimately chose, based on the position of the Big Dipper, will likely be the East Tower—"

"After all, that's the closest place to the sky!"

Thus, while Vermouth was deep in thought, Gao Yuan further revealed other information, making it clear to Vermouth that she didn't have much time left to choose, and moreover...

"Oh, right, there's one more thing..."

Gao Yuan gave one last piece of news—

"Conan has also realized what 'Tanabata Kyoto' might mean and has started investigating in that direction. I estimate... we should have results today!"

Upon hearing this, Vermouth's expression grew even more serious.

And then there's Conan's side...

……

Meanwhile, on Conan's side—

Just as Gao Yuan and Vermouth had said, since Conan had contacted Hattori Heiji the previous night to investigate clues in Kyoto, Hattori Heiji called Conan back the following morning to inform him of his findings:

"The fire that occurred at the Kyoto inn on Tanabata Day—the victims you mentioned were all survivors of that fire!" (End of Chapter)