I'm in Conan, I'm not a gangster

Chapter 675 The Experiment Begins (2 Updates)
After a few days of peaceful campus life, the expected "unrest" soon came knocking on Shiraishi's door.

His phone rang, and the caller ID showed "Yusaku Kudo".

After the call connected, Yusaku's gentle yet always meaningful voice came from the other end: "Shiraishi-kun, how have you been resting these past few days? The preliminary preparations for the lab are almost complete, and the first formal experiment is about to begin. How about it, are you interested in coming over to see it for yourself?"

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi E's lips curled into a smile of keen interest, and she readily agreed, "Of course I'm interested. Time? Place?"

"After school, my car will be waiting for you at the east gate of the Central Park in Beikacho 3-chome."

As soon as the school bell rang, Shiraishi E said a brief goodbye to Ran and Sonoko, saying that she had something to do and had to leave first.

Although the two were a little curious, they didn't ask any further questions.

He carried his schoolbag and strolled leisurely to the agreed-upon east gate of Central Park. A low-key but expensive black sedan was already quietly parked by the roadside.

The car window rolled down, revealing Yusaku Kudo's smiling face, wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

Shiraishi E opened the car door, sat in the passenger seat, and casually tossed her schoolbag onto the back seat.

Yusaku slowly started the car and smoothly merged into the traffic. He glanced at Shiraishi E's crisp Teitan High School uniform, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes, and said with emotion, "Seeing your uniform really reminds me of my own school days... Although it was busy, it was indeed a simple and beautiful memory."

Shiraishi E fastened her seatbelt, turned her head upon hearing this, and teased with a mischievous smile, "Oh? Mr. Yusaku's high school days? Then why don't you tell me, who was your first love in high school?"

"Ahem..." Caught off guard by this direct question, Kudo Yusaku coughed awkwardly twice, then laughed and skillfully dodged the question, saying, "Never mind, it's all old news, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning..."

He decisively changed the subject, and his tone became slightly more formal: "Let's get back to business. The preliminary preparations for the lab were really not easy... far more complicated than writing a novel."

Shiraishi E tactfully refrained from dwelling on the other person's past and instead followed up by asking, "What's wrong? Did you run into trouble with the site selection?"

“Location selection is not difficult; the organization has ample financial resources, so finding a suitable and secluded place is not hard.” Yuzuo shook his head, his brows furrowing slightly. “The real headache is the strategic direction for how to conduct this experiment.”

"Mr. Karasuma's desire is very strong. He wants to push forward drug research at all costs and demands that the scale of the experiment and data collection be expanded immediately."

Yuzak paused, his tone carrying a hint of understanding, but more so of worry: "Of course, I can understand his urgency... After all, he is indeed quite old, and time is the most precious thing to him."

“However,” he changed the subject, his voice becoming serious, “expanding the experiment at all costs is making too much of a fuss. Expanding the experiment means needing a large number of clinical trial subjects.”

"If we continue to use illegal kidnapping methods, the number of missing persons will rise sharply in a short period of time. This will easily attract the attention and investigation of the police or even higher-level forces, which will expose the laboratory and result in more harm than good."

“So,” Yuzuru pushed up his glasses, a sharp glint in his eyes, “I gave him another suggestion: instead of blindly expanding the number of experiments, we should allocate resources to hiring, or rather ‘inviting’ more top biologists, pharmacologists and geneticists from around the world to participate in core research.”

"After all, the level of researchers is the key to breaking through technological bottlenecks. Otherwise, even if we are lucky enough to obtain more smaller samples, it will be in vain if we cannot analyze the principle or accurately control the efficacy of the drug."

"Fortunately, Mr. Karasuma adopted my suggestion and temporarily abandoned the idea of ​​large-scale capture of experimental subjects."

After listening, Shiraishi E couldn't help but praise, "Impressive. To be able to voice objections to someone like that and even persuade him, Mr. Yusaku is truly remarkable."

He spoke sincerely; it was no easy task to persuade an elderly person of high rank and little time left to change their mind.

Yusaku Kudo smiled, but his tone was not relaxed: "He just proposed an alternative that he considered more feasible... It's not particularly brilliant. However, doing so is not without its costs."

"Oh? What's the price?" Shiraishi asked curiously.

“In order to ‘invite’ those world-class experts who are often unwilling to cooperate,” Yuzuo lowered his voice, with a hint of complexity, “the organization used some unconventional methods… to ‘invite’ a lot of professionals from all over the world.”

"They should be on a plane flying here right now, or they've already been settled somewhere."

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi E clicked her tongue in amazement: "What a grand scheme... This is much more troublesome and riskier than capturing ordinary test subjects."

“Yes.” Yusaku Kudo nodded, his gaze fixed on the road ahead, his tone becoming somewhat somber. “Mr. Karasuma’s recent actions… seem unusually urgent. I don’t know if it’s simply his personality, or if his health… is really not looking good. If something were to suddenly happen to him…”

He paused, his voice growing even lower: "This massive organization is likely to face a huge personnel upheaval and power reshuffle. Its future direction is unpredictable."

Shiraishi agreed: "That's true. After all, no matter how much Karasuma Renya messes around, his ultimate goal is relatively 'simple': to develop APTX4869 and pursue the elusive 'immortality'."

"But if a younger, more ambitious successor is appointed... he might lose patience with this time-consuming research and might think of using the organization's existing resources and strength to do something even more 'earth-shattering'."

Yusaku Kudo nodded heavily: "That's exactly what I'm worried about." If the organization's destructive power were to spread to a wider social level, the consequences would be unimaginable.

As the two talked, the car drove into a quiet, upscale area in Tokyo and finally stopped in front of a building with an extremely modern exterior that looked like a top-tier sanatorium or private hospital – “Beika High-End Private Hospital”.

Yusaku parked the car and led Shiraishi E toward a special entrance on the side of the hospital.

There were none of the crowds found in a typical hospital here, making it unusually quiet.

Yuzuo took out a special access card and swiped it, then went through fingerprint verification and iris scanning in turn, before a heavy metal door slid open silently.

Stepping through this door feels like entering another world.

The interior is decorated in a cold, silver-white tone, full of futuristic technology, which is completely different from the warm hospital style outside.

They passed through two more security gates that also required biometric verification before finally arriving at the secret experimental area located in the core of the building. A faint smell of disinfectant filled the corridor, and occasionally researchers in full protective gear hurried past, creating a somber and tense atmosphere.

As Yusaku walked, he whispered to Shiraishi E about the situation: "The basic drugs currently used in the laboratory for human experiments were all provided by Sherry."

"As for the specific effects... we will soon be able to witness them for ourselves."

Shiraishi's gaze swept over a large laboratory next to her, where dozens of medical beds were neatly arranged, each with a volunteer lying on it, connected to various vital sign monitoring instruments.

He raised an eyebrow slightly: "So many people? All of them are 'voluntary'?"

Yuzaku nodded and explained calmly, "Yes. This time we changed our strategy. We are recruiting paid clinical trial volunteers from the public under the name of 'Beihua High-End Private Hospital' and a well-known overseas biotechnology company."

"All procedures were legal and compliant, and everyone signed detailed informed consent forms and confidentiality agreements. The compensation was quite generous."

He adjusted his glasses and continued, "Although the investment in this area far exceeds that of the past, compared to the simple and brutal kidnapping methods used during Rum's era, this method is undoubtedly much safer and will not attract unnecessary trouble."

"Anyway, the organization has no shortage of money." Yusaku said in a flat tone, as if he were talking about the weather: "Mr. Karasuma's wealth is unfathomable, and there are many wealthy and powerful people in the world who want to prolong their lives and regain their youth."

“They are happy to provide huge amounts of funding just to get priority access to results. So this expense doesn’t matter.”

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi E nodded repeatedly, a playful smile on her face: "It seems that joining the organization isn't all bad. At least now the ordinary citizens of Beika City are fortunate; they don't have to worry about being suddenly stuffed into sacks and used as test subjects when they go out at night. In a way, you've even contributed to local security and stability."

But then he became curious: "Since the funds have always been so plentiful, why did the organization resort to such risky and inefficient extreme methods as kidnapping before?"

Yusaku sighed helplessly, gently pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, and lowered his voice, saying, "Rum... he's rather greedy. He often finds excuses to embezzle large amounts of experimental funds to fill the holes in his other 'businesses,' or to line his own pockets. When funds are insufficient, he can only resort to even 'lower-cost' methods." There was a hint of barely perceptible contempt in his tone.

Shiraishi nodded knowingly: "I see... Worms are everywhere."

During their conversation, the two entered the main observation room.

This is a small theater-like room with a huge one-way glass wall in front, offering a clear view of the largest laboratory below.

The observation room was furnished with more than twenty comfortable seats, and seven or eight people were already seated there.

Most of them were well-dressed and had an extraordinary air about them. Some were whispering to each other, while others were silently watching what was below. They were clearly important members of the organization or potential investors.

Yusaku and Shiraishi E found two empty seats at the back and sat down, looking down.

The experiment appears to have entered a critical phase.

Researchers can be seen injecting several volunteers with a modified APTX-4869 drug.

Before long, an astonishing change occurred before their very eyes!
One of the middle-aged male volunteers began to tremble slightly after receiving the injection, and a look of pain appeared on his face.

The instruments monitoring his vital signs sounded an urgent alarm, and researchers immediately rushed to his aid.

However, a few minutes later, when his condition stabilized, everyone in the observation room gasped!
Through a close-up shot on the high-definition display screen, it was clear that the wrinkles around the volunteer's eyes seemed to have faded, and her loose skin appeared to have tightened considerably. She looked... several years younger!
Although it's far from the exaggerated level of turning into a child, this visible "reverse aging" is already quite astonishing!

Oh my God!

"It worked?! It really works!"

"Incredible! This is simply a miracle!"

The observation room erupted in excitement!
The seven or eight spectators who had been maintaining their composure stood up excitedly, their faces filled with unbelievable ecstasy and greed!

They all took out their phones to take pictures or excitedly shook hands with each other in celebration.

"Invest! We must increase investment!"

"This is the greatest discovery of this century! No, the greatest discovery in human history!"

"Quick! Contact my financial advisor! I want to invest all my liquid assets in this project!"

"The gates to immortality... have really been opened?!"

"........."

Excited shouts filled the observation room.

These usually shrewd and calculating nobles completely lost their composure when faced with the ultimate temptation of "youth" and "lifespan".

Kudo Yusaku looked down at the volunteer who seemed a little younger, then glanced at the excited crowd around him. His eyes behind his glasses were deep and complex, and no one could guess what he was really thinking at that moment.

Eirori Shiraishi had a faint smile on her lips, as if she were enjoying a wonderful show.

He knew that Pandora's box had been cracked open.

(End of this chapter)