Conan: Rice Flower Spring

Chapter 416, Question 410: At this moment, are you joking?

A skillful and sophisticated way of slacking off is a skill that every high-ranking member of an organization (except Gin) must master.

This skill may not make you more trusted in the organization, but being good at slacking off can make you feel comfortable enough in the organization.

How many people in the organization can be a workaholic like Gin?
While slacking off can be enjoyable, if you stumble upon a major problem while doing so, it's no longer a matter of comfort or enjoyment.

Rather, it felt like a fishbone stuck in my throat, something I had to get out.

Vermouth wanted to tell Lin Longma, "You're talking nonsense," but she had to admit that Lin Longma was right.

She's been slacking off a lot lately and hasn't really been paying attention to Xiaolan.

Although Vermouth privately calls Ran an "angel," it doesn't mean that Vermouth's attention is on Ran Mouri 24/7.

If someone actually did that, they'd be a total psychopath.

For Vermouth, all she needs to do is check on Ran Mouri and Conan's situation every now and then.

As a result, Ran Mouri's sudden "explosion" of popularity came at just this crucial moment, making Vermouth extremely uncomfortable.

She could only tacitly acknowledge that Lin Longma was right, as she hadn't been very familiar with Mouri Ran's situation lately.

In this situation that was almost a forced assignment, Lin Longma simply stopped hiding his thoughts and said whatever came to mind.

"Sometimes I'm really curious whether Ran and Conan saved your life."

"You, a Thousand-Faced Witch, are actually so concerned about the two of them."

"A thousand-faced witch? Heh heh," Vermouth said with a forced smile, her two cold laughs sounding utterly disloyal.

"Xiao Lan contacted me a while ago, asking if there was any way to verify a person's identity."

You know there are only a few ways to verify identity, and I told him that at the time.

The reason Ran Mouri became a detective ultimately stems from Conan. Therefore, Ryoma Hayashi has to start from the beginning when he tells the story.

But as soon as he got started, he was met with a cold shoulder from Vermouth.

"You answered her question?"

She asked me why I couldn't answer?

The daughter of a former police officer, detective, and lawyer probably already had the answer in her mind when she asked me.

She's come here seeking answers. What can I do? Try to fool her?
Or should we reject her and let her rashly find a testing agency connected to the organization, and then deliver Shinichi Kudo's fingerprint sample there?

Lin Longma bluntly stated, "Vermouth, get this straight, it's you who's willing to be Shinichi Kudo's babysitter, not me."

"I've never received any favors from Shinichi Kudo, nor do I have any connection with his father. This kid has been hanging around under my nose for so long and I haven't arrested him; you should thank me."

"The reason I was willing to cover for Xiaolan was because she introduced me to the Suzuki Group, and I also had a good relationship with her father."

Ultimately, I have no responsibility towards them.

"So please don't talk to me like that. I don't owe them anything; on the contrary, they owe me something."

Including you, Vermouth, I don't owe you anything.

Realizing that her actions were being swayed by her emotions, Vermouth quickly adjusted her mindset. Ryoma was right; he really didn't owe Conan or Ran Mouri anything.

Just as he said, as a high-ranking member of the organization, he was one of the few who knew Conan's true identity.

Conan hasn't been caught by the organization to be used as a guinea pig yet, and Conan and the Kudo family should be very grateful to Ryoma Hayashi for his leniency.

"Sorry, I got a little excited. Please continue." Vermouth composed herself and asked Lin Longma to continue.

The older generation of "strong people" are different; they admit their mistakes and stand up straight when they're punished. When you need to ask for help, you should have the right attitude.
There's no room for boxers to perform within the organization, even if some boxers somehow manage to sneak in and want to fight.

Once she uses her powers, she'll know that there aren't many people in the organization who will tolerate her bad habits; one shot is true equality.

Everyone only has one life; that's the fairest thing about this world.

"Later, she came to me for help with two fingerprint samples, one of Shinichi Kudo and the other of Conan Edogawa."

The comparison results speak for themselves, don't they? They're identical. Drug A can alter Shinichi Kudo's age and growth pattern, but it can't change his fingerprints or DNA.

"Later on, Ran probably discovered that Conan was very determined to turn her father into a famous detective."

But Conan's methods were too crude. The tranquilizer darts were only used every few days, which was a bit too infrequent. It was like he had to shoot Kogoro Mouri in the neck once every one or two days.

Let alone a middle-aged person who doesn't abstain from smoking and drinking, even a healthy, normal person, how could they possibly recover after being drugged like this?

"It was probably around this time that Xiaolan made up her mind to become a detective."

As for the stadium incident, I specifically assigned that case to Ran. The second young lady of the Suzuki family asked me to find Ran a reliable client, and of course I wouldn't refuse.

"Then you see, how successful it was! After one case, the whole of Tokyo was chanting Ran's name."

Oh right, what did they call Xiaolan again?

"Valkyrie of Mihana," right? Isn't that better than her father's "Sleeping Kogoro"?

Vermouth listened to Lin Longma's story from beginning to end, and after listening, she realized that she really had no reason to blame Lin Longma.

Isn't Ran Mouri's fame ultimately due to that little bastard Conan?
He himself knew to keep a low profile at the crime scene, but Ran Mouri went all out.

Some media outlets are still linking Ran Mouri and Shinichi Kudo together.
Isn't this just ruthlessly putting a death sentence on Xiaolan?!
"Can't we find a way to reduce Xiaolan's fever?" Vermouth unscrewed the bottle of ice water, but the ice water did nothing to quell her frustration.

"Pressure temperature? At this moment?"
"Are you kidding me?" People can really laugh out loud when they're speechless. How can you suppress this?

Lin Longma runs a consulting firm, not a media company. Moreover, this wave of hype was tacitly fueled by numerous media groups under the leadership of Nichiri TV.

You want people to give up their enthusiasm the moment their upper lip touches their lower lip?

That kind of hype was like gold being mined from a gold mine for the media group's people; you have to know that cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents.

Not to mention how many people are in the media group from top to bottom; you can't just cut off the livelihoods of so many people with a single sentence.
Even if it's the prime minister, you can't do that!

Besides
"Even without this incident, there would have been others. As long as Ran is determined and Conan is still in the agency, this kind of thing is unavoidable."

Do you know the true value of the "Plague God of Rice Flower"?
With Conan by Ran's side, how could she possibly lack cases?
During this time, Lin Longma wondered if Conan, with his cursed physique, was holding back some kind of big move.

(End of this chapter)