Conan: Rice Flower Spring

Chapter 434, Section 428: Taylor's Struggle

Robert Taylor, a senior field agent for the CIA's Island Nation branch in America.

What is the concept of a senior agent? Basically, this is the top level of frontline agents. Above that are management positions with administrative components, such as agent supervisors.

This also means that Robert Taylor is now in the process of transitioning from a spy to an intelligence officer.

This process is crucial; many high-ranking agents are stuck as spies their entire lives because they fail to overcome this hurdle.

Even though the salary increases with years of service, it is still at a relatively basic level.

Three years ago, Robert Taylor was not a senior agent; he was just a mid-level agent in the CIA's island nation branch.

He abandoned the big city of Tokyo and came to Tottori Prefecture not for any so-called field research.

The photographer profession was just a facade, a false identity that made it convenient for Taylor to travel around.

With the identity of a photographer, he can have a reasonable explanation no matter where he appears.

Don't ask, the answer is you just don't understand photographic art.

Isn't it normal for artists to think differently from normal people? So, officer, I was really just discussing art with this scantily clad lady in a hotel room.

It's perfectly reasonable for an unknown photographer like me to hire models, right?
It's perfectly normal to give her money.

An accidental escalation occurred during the photoshoot, and the atmosphere was just right. You can say we lacked professionalism, but you can't say we broke the law!

In short, Robert Taylor's appearance at Lolling Ridge was simply to complete his investigative mission.

As is well known, the CIA, a prominent intelligence agency in America, is extremely adept at drug smuggling.

They are not only adept at smuggling narcotics into their own country, but also keen on selling their products to other countries.

Thanks to the convenient access to the American Navy and its overseas military bases, Langley's business was booming.

For example, in South Korea, a neighboring island nation, Langley's products dominate the "narcotics" market.

If South Korea has already acted this way, then this island nation, which is also home to US troops, will naturally be no exception.

However, Langley's island nation branch recently discovered that the sales of their supposedly best-selling foreign goods had plummeted.

As a branch leader who had been working in this field for many years, they immediately realized that they had met their match this time.

The cake is only so big, and there are only so many people who are going to eat it. If someone wants to come up and share the cake, and the number of people eating the cake doesn't decrease, then naturally everyone will get less cake.

This is something that neither the upper echelons nor the lower echelons of Langley can accept.

Poor sales mean lower revenue, which in turn reduces the benefits and perks of these Langley officials.

Most importantly, their income will also decrease accordingly.

Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents; even most criminal organizations would not accept such a thing, let alone the ever-dominant Langley.

For the same reason, relying on the American army, Langley was not so "civilized" when it came to business competition.

By physically eliminating their competitors, the pie they can eat will naturally become bigger.

In other words, Taylor had experienced this kind of simple and crude solution before, which is why he was convinced that Lin Longma would like the "special services" offered by their hotel.

Before the Tokyo City Hotel was built, Taylor and even the entire island nation branch had already experienced the joy of simplicity and brutality.

When everyone follows the rules, those who have the ability to break the rules undoubtedly enjoy the most.

Not to mention that this kind of "breaking the rules" not only goes unpunished, but also brings a lot of benefits to oneself.

Who could refuse that?

At the time, Taylor, a mid-level agent, followed the clues all the way to Rakugan Pass in Tottori Prefecture.

He discovered that some of the "anesthetics" on the market originated from Luoling.

Strangely, there are no prominent gangs, "planting bases," or "manufacturers" in Luoling.

Left with no other option, Taylor decided to try his luck—and then he encountered a very rare landslide.

Faced with such a natural disaster, even if he were a Marine, let alone a mid-level agent, it wouldn't be enough.

On the verge of death, Taylor was rescued by the Takeda family and taken home.

Then he met his "true love"—Misa Takeda.

Later, after Taylor recovered from his illness, he thought about taking Misa Takeda with him, but then he considered her identity at the time—an ordinary photographer.

He has no famous works, nor a job he can boast about. Most importantly, he came to Luoling with a mission.

Is it appropriate to bring a Japanese woman back with you on your way back?
Freedom isn't supposed to be like this—especially since Taylor still had ambitions to climb the social ladder.

So when Misa Takeda asked him what he thought of her, he left her with the word "shine".

That means that in Taylor's heart, Misa Takeda shines like the sun.

The American, who is usually straightforward in expressing his feelings, was unusually reserved this time, probably because Misa Takeda is a girl who is easily shy.

Taylor also believed that Misa Takeda would understand his thoughts and wait for him to return like a superhero, leading her towards the light.

Perhaps it was Misa Takeda who brought him good fortune. As soon as Taylor returned to the precinct and reported the bad luck that had befallen him, he suddenly received an unexpected "compensation".

The compensation is that mid-level agent Taylor will return to the American Carnley headquarters immediately for six months of advanced training, after which he can become a senior agent of the island nation branch.

Senior agents, huh? The biggest dividing line and threshold for junior agents is right in front of them, within reach.

How could Taylor possibly refuse such a good thing?

Of course, while accepting this windfall, Taylor also inquired about why such a good thing had fallen into his lap.

Although his investigation made little progress due to objective factors, Langley never relied on any one person to get things done.

Several other agents were also carrying out the same mission as Taylor.

They weren't so unlucky. Although they couldn't find out who was stealing their business from Langley, they did find out about many competitors in the industry.

Since we haven't found a new person to eat the cake, it's not unreasonable to kick the person who was originally eating the cake off the table.

So while Taylor was recovering from his injury, some other "anesthetic" dealers in the island nation were in for a terrible time.

They were drinking their liquor and selling their medicine, not bothering or offending anyone, when suddenly "justice came from heaven."

In this way, the island nation branch that orchestrated the entire event not only eliminated competitors, but also managed to seize the majority of the vacated market in the first instance.

Instead of decreasing, the turnover actually increased. The success of the operation naturally warranted rewards, and coincidentally, that unlucky Taylor returned to the branch office to report his findings.

Considering that Taylor almost died, and with plenty of opportunities left to reward merit, the branch office chief gave him a "consolation prize."

As the saying goes, even if you don't have great achievements, you still have worked hard. Taylor almost lost his life, which is the highest level of hard work.

After all, he almost died.

In addition, Taylor had already accumulated a considerable number of merits, so his promotion to senior agent was a natural progression.

People say that you're lucky in love but unlucky in your career, but that's nonsense.

Such words are merely meant to comfort those who are down on their luck; true success is always success in all aspects.

The saying "Good fortune never comes in pairs" may not be entirely accurate, but the saying "Misfortunes never come singly" is certainly true.

Similarly, the first part of that statement is probably just a consolation. The occasion in which such a statement is uttered is most likely not a joyous one.

Otherwise, would "double happiness" sound bad or "five blessings" sound unlucky?
Having just found love, Taylor returned to Langley headquarters in America for a six-month training program.

After completing his training, he did not return to the island nation immediately. Instead, he was first sent to the branch office in South Korea to learn from the advanced sales experience of the sister unit.

Later, he discovered that his Korean colleagues had truly unconventional methods.

When they did this in the island nation, at least they kept it a little secret and avoided it. But their South Korean counterparts simply didn't bother to hide it at all!

They not only used US troops stationed in South Korea to transport them, but they even sold them directly by US troops stationed in South Korea.

Under the guise of serving Korean girls, they directly bypass middlemen to earn the price difference and maximize profits.

Tsk, this kind of thing can be done in South Korea, but not in an island nation.
Why can't it be done in an island nation?
They're both places where troops are stationed, so who's more noble than whom?
If Langley from South Korea can do it, why can't Langley from our island nation?
It all depends on human effort!

Before Taylor could even put his advanced experience to good use upon returning to the island nation branch, he was assigned a new mission by his superior.

Their branch office has an intelligence agent who is undercover within a transnational criminal organization.

Now the intelligence agent is seeking their assistance, and Taylor has been assigned as the latest supporter to the undercover agent Hondo Eikai, also known as Kiel.

Taylor was very dissatisfied with this.

Why send a high-ranking agent from the Langley Island branch to support an intelligence agent for a criminal organization?

What are you doing?
Do you really think you're the Pacific police?

They, Langley, are drug addicts. Even if they arrest all the criminals in the island nation, they still need to rely on drugs to make money.

Why are you giving up such a lucrative business opportunity and learning from the advanced experience of your South Korean colleagues, instead of letting him support an undercover intelligence agent?

Do you know how much profit his brain can bring to the island nation branch?!

Thus, Taylor, whose mind was full of business, made contact with the intelligence agent Kiel, and then discovered that Hondo Eikai had also brought him a business deal.

Assassins are one of the oldest professions, and there will be a demand for this profession as long as people exist.

Now, Hondo Eisuke wants to set up an offline assassin platform in Japan, and Taylor approves of this intelligence agent's vision.

If this deal actually goes through, it's really hard to say whether the platform or the business itself will make more money.

The market for narcotics in island nations is limited, but the demand for assassins is limitless as long as Beika Town exists.

With his keen insight and decisive actions, Taylor abandoned his original ideas after hearing Kiel's plan and instead began to advise Kiel.

With his help and integration, the Tokyo City Hotel was prepared very quickly, and he gained considerable influence within the hotel as an industry expert.

With the hotel about to open, their task is simple: to build a customer base for the hotel.

Improve the hotel's "service" to make the hotel famous in a certain circle.

He even made future development plans—when the hotel reaches a certain scale, he will find someone to make a movie or a series of movies.

In the movie, their hotel is called the Mainland Hotel!
The film needs assassins, dogs, and even bulletproof suits—it sounds wonderful.

Just as Taylor was preparing to return to Lok-ri as a partner at the Tokyo City Hotel to meet with Misa Takeda and express his three years of longing, he received the devastating news.

Misa Takeda committed suicide three years ago!
After a brief period of despair and collapse, Taylor devised his revenge plan. In reality, his revenge was remarkably successful.

The Takeda clan, if not completely destroyed, was certainly in dire straits. None of the three Takeda brothers escaped the law.

Even shortly after their capture, they began to face waves of assassination attempts.

The third son of Takeda was successfully assassinated, the second son was injured, and the eldest son lived in constant fear.

The Takeda relatives outside the village also struggled to make ends meet after losing their family's breadwinner, but at least they managed to survive.

Taylor did not leave Rokuro Pass with Ryoma Hayashi in order to stay in Tottori Prefecture and witness the fate of the Takeda family.

Taylor was extremely satisfied with his revenge. However, what pleased him even more was that he had brought a VVVVIP customer to the hotel.

"Don't worry, Kiel, I've definitely brought the hotel a super high-value client this time."

If we can secure this client, we might not only no longer have to worry about orders, but also about finding customers in the future.

"As long as you handle the assassin matter, our hotel will definitely succeed."

Taylor spoke confidently to Rena Mizunashi over the phone.

"You're asking about the client's identity? Haha, that's a secret. I'll reveal it when I get back to Tokyo."

"Oh, right, I remember you used to be a TV host? Maybe you'll even have a chance to interview me, your client."

"Soon, I'll be returning to Tokyo tomorrow. Let's meet at the hotel then."

The opportunity to make a name for ourselves is just around the corner, and we absolutely cannot miss it.

This isn't just your achievement; it's also a stepping stone for me. Rest assured, I care about the hotel's success or failure more than anyone else.

"That's settled then. We'll talk about it when we get back."

goodbye."

In the hotel, after finishing his phone call, Taylor suddenly felt his heart beating a little fast. Unable to sleep, he decided to drive through the night.

As the headlights of the car pierced the night sky, Taylor embarked on his journey back to Tokyo.
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"Brother, Robert Taylor is almost in Tokyo."

(End of this chapter)