The establishment of the Time Travelers Alliance began in the first year of Conan

Chapter 207 Each person in the car had their own thoughts.

After the car slowly started moving, the atmosphere inside the car immediately became quiet.

It was as if all the anxiety and unease that had been building up in front of the firm had vanished.

The five people in the car each had their own thoughts.

In this eerie atmosphere, just as the car was about to leave the street corner...

"Damn you little devil!"

After reluctantly shifting his gaze from Maria, also known as Vermouth, Kogoro Mouri immediately spotted Conan sitting nonchalantly in the passenger seat.

He was sitting in Hattori Heiji's lap, and after hearing Kogoro's voice, he turned his head and gave Kogoro Mouri an awkward smile.

"Heiji-nii, why did Shinichi-nii..."

"This is case-solving time!" A black line immediately appeared on his forehead. "You brat! Get out of the car! The funeral home isn't—"

Kogoro Mouri's roar hadn't even fully unleashed its power when his voice stopped abruptly as Maria turned around and smiled.

"Cough cough!"

Kogoro Mouri's expression immediately changed. He straightened his tie, lowered his voice, and created a mature and deep whispering tone:

"Well, the place we're going to next is one that even adults have nightmares about. Conan, aren't you going camping tomorrow?"

Heiji Hattori and Conan, sitting in the front seats, exchanged a somewhat helpless glance; their true communication was evident in their eyes.

"Has Detective Mouri always been like this?"

"Uh...hehe..." Conan's lips twitched, and he gave an awkward smile. "This perverted old man..."

But no matter what, I absolutely have to bring Kudo to the scene.

Thinking this, Hattori Heiji naturally picked up the conversation:
"After all, this matter is very urgent, so I may not have time to go to Mr. Mori's office again."

Heiji Hattori turned to Kogoro Mouri and said, "Mr. Mouri, let him stay in the car. Maria can take care of him there."

As he spoke, he secretly winked at Conan below.

"You can figure out how to get out of there later."

Conan immediately understood.

—As for how to get rid of Ms. Maria's care, is that even a question?

"Conan, what do you think? How about letting Maria accompany you?"

When Heiji asked him, he immediately nodded, pretending to be obedient, and showed his usual innocent smile.

"Don't worry, Heiji-nii! I promise I won't run off!"

Kogoro Mouri hesitated for a moment, "But..."

"Mr. Mori, please rest assured, I will take good care of this child."

Having taken on the role of Hattori Heiji's secretary, it's natural to fulfill the leader's wishes—while simultaneously achieving one's own goals.

Vermouth spoke gently, a perfect smile playing on her lips, and then, with a look of longing and admiration in her eyes, she turned to Kogoro Mouri sitting beside her.

"This child's name is Conan, right? He just said you're a very skilled detective!"

Kogoro Mouri put his hands behind his head, and the flattering words immediately made him feel smug. His tone softened accordingly: "Alright! This won't happen again!"

"call--"

The atmosphere inside the car seemed to relax a bit, and Conan and Heiji Hattori both breathed a sigh of relief at almost the same moment.

Then, Vermouth looked at the three case collections that Kogoro had been holding between his ribs.

"Mr. Mori, Director Heiji really values ​​you."

"He specifically asked me to collect some newspaper clippings of cases and mysteries. I've included several cases you solved at the end as well, and I hope you like them."

“You didn’t bring a bag, and it must be tiring to carry it all the time. If you don’t mind, I can put these three case studies in my bag for you to keep safe.”

—That makes sense; one of a secretary's tasks is to carry things.

Vermouth's words made Conan's eyes narrow slightly.

As for Kogoro Mouri?
He immediately forgot the displeasure he felt when he received the gift from Heiji Hattori.

"Hahaha! What I, the famous detective Mori, love most is solving mysteries! These three case collections are perfect for my leisure time after lunch..."

To others, it seemed that Miss Maria, the dutiful secretary, had thoughtfully leaned over and reached into Kogoro Mouri's arms to take the three case collections from his arms and keep them safe for him.

However, Vermouth's peripheral vision was fixed on Conan's expression, and she noticed a fleeting moment of contemplation in him.

She smiled inwardly—she knew she had succeeded.

This is the second step – doubt.

Yes, Conan didn't even bother to criticize or subtly expose Uncle Mori's affected manner as he used to; he now understood one thing very well—

Heiji's secretary wasn't telling the truth.

Or rather, the secretary's behavior was off, and her logic was somewhat contradictory.

Looking back now, why did she insist on standing on the street and shouting to the second floor?
Based on his conversation with Heiji at the harbor, Heiji's current level of secrecy is very high, and according to Heiji, matters related to "the frontier of science" and that "black organization" have an even higher priority.

but……

Isn't it strange that this woman just shouted it out?

This is inconsistent with her identity and role.

Ms. Maria should have been more careful; this mistake was so basic.

Especially when it comes to cases with such a high level of confidentiality, any negligence could lead to irreparable consequences.

Even if it was truly due to Ms. Maria's carelessness, or because she was too nervous and anxious, and ended up doing such a thing unintentionally.

So how do we explain Uncle Mori's situation?
Judging from what she just said, she knows the details of Uncle Mori solving the case.

Now that she had reviewed the cases related to Uncle Mori, and even knew that her boss was a detective...

But she said that the detective was of little use in this case.
Isn't this a bit too strange?
Conan couldn't help but think this way; the contrast Vermouth displayed in such a short time was truly abrupt.

And this is exactly the result Vermouth needs—

This aroused Conan's suspicion.

Shinichi Kudo's suspicions will then be cleverly guided toward an outcome that Vermouth and the Alliance need.

In fact, Vermouth even took the initiative to conceal her true "persona" after noticing Conan's thoughts.

And this is definitely part of the story timeline, or rather, the Boss's requirements for her, isn't it?

A pitiful look appeared on Vermouth's face, and she spoke in a soft, self-reproachful tone:
"Director Heiji, I just violated the confidentiality regulations."

Then, she spoke slightly faster, making herself appear eager to explain her mistake.

“At the time, I remembered that you had specifically instructed me to tell you any information about Masami Hirota as soon as possible, so I… I am willing to accept any criticism or punishment.”

Before Hattori Heiji could react, Maria's cautious plea earned her the detective's forgiveness.

"Oh my! Heiji will definitely understand!"

—It's Kogoro Mouri.

His voice suddenly cut in, like a pebble thrown into calm water, precisely hitting the trap set by Vermouth.

Maria is so gentle and considerate, she definitely didn't do it on purpose!
"After all, it was the first time I'd encountered such an urgent case, so it's normal to be a little flustered. There weren't many people on the street at the time, so no one would have heard us!"

Upon hearing this, Hattori Heiji narrowed his eyes slightly, pretended to ponder for a moment, and finally nodded, indicating that the matter should be dropped.

"Since Mr. Mori has said so..."

Heiji Hattori calmly scrutinized the secretary sent to him by the Tokyo headquarters—Maria Shiraha.

Heiji felt that, judging from her slightly flustered reaction and emotional behavior just now, she didn't seem like a pawn planted by any faction to trip him up.

On the contrary, this careless and easily flustered personality may actually be an unexpected advantage in the current complex situation.

After all, his private invitation to Kogoro Mouri and even bringing Conan into the funeral home to investigate the matter were theoretically also against the rules.

Just as Conan was about to speak up and point out the suspicious detail he had just noticed, Heiji Hattori suddenly turned around, his voice carrying a sense of pressure:

“I won’t pursue this matter further, Maria, but I need Mr. Mori to come with me to the scene later to take a look.”

He paused, a hint of uncompromising simmering in his voice, "If the relevant procedures are handled normally, it could be quite troublesome. Some people might notice Mr. Mori's whereabouts..."

He glanced at Maria Shiraha, "Maria, you should understand what I mean, regardless of what others think..."

Heiji Hattori stopped there, reminding Maria that she was now on his side.

Heiji's words made Kogoro Mouri turn his head to look out the window, even consciously pretending to be lost in thought.

"!!!"

For Conan, Heiji Hattori's words made him suddenly look up—

Hey! This is absolutely an abuse of power!

But Heiji Hattori was undoubtedly right. In fact, his gaze had already subtly turned to Conan, like an invisible wall, forcefully blocking the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

Conan pursed his lips. Although he didn't want to admit it, it was clear that the cases related to Ms. Yami and the pointer were more important.

Moreover, judging from Heiji's words, these doubts may simply be related to factional struggles within his organization.

Hmm, it's best to observe for a while.

"I understand."

Vermouth, disguised as Maria Shiraha, nodded slightly, a perfectly measured expression of compliance on her face.

"I immediately started communicating with them."

She pulled an old-fashioned keypad phone from her pocket and skillfully pressed a few keys.

"Beep beep beep..."

Conan's perfect pitch instantly picked up the first four key tones—"8, 9, 5, 9".

But then, Vermouth calmly pressed the mute key, and the keyboard sounds stopped abruptly.

"Sorry, I've muted it." Soon, her voice, communicating very quietly with the other end, could be heard.

"Hmm, we need to stay hidden... Okay, the specific route is... I understand..."

After hanging up the phone, Vermouth's lips curled into a slight, meaningful smile.

“The funeral home will leave us a small path in the backyard. We can walk to the right from 3-chome. This way, there are the fewest red lights and we won’t attract any attention.”

"However, we need to be quick, because if the temporary road closure lasts too long, it may attract the attention of other people."

“I can get there in ten minutes.”

Yuto Kinoshita, the driver who had been silent all along, finally spoke.

He had fully understood Vermouth's implication.

As special agents of the Alliance, everyone memorizes many sets of code lists so that they can be reasonably mobilized by the Alliance after being reset by Conan.

This code doesn't need to be too complex; in fact, it would be even better if it could cause various misunderstandings.

This is all part of the special training for the Covert Operations Department and the Psychological Disguise Department:

"Because as special task force members, you must interpret every piece of information, every word, even the slightest rustling sound, as a hint from the Alliance to you..."

Yes, it's different from the encrypted calls between typical spies or undercover agents.

As a special task force member, especially a member of the disguise department.

Their first step is to learn to proactively align all communication with the people or things around them with the idea that "this is an indication of an alliance."

more importantly--

"Even if it is a misunderstanding, don't worry about it, because your actions after hearing the hint will be perfectly in line with your identity."

Just like the four "beep beep beep beep" sounds from Vermouth's phone, the string of numbers was quickly decoded in Kinoshita Yuto's mind.

"8959" sounds like "boundaries without end" in Chinese.

If we look at it from the perspective of the strokes of Chinese characters, if we reverse the first two numbers, "8959" is exactly the number of strokes in the Chinese characters for "scientific boundary".

This is not a particularly difficult code, but unless someone knows the inside story, almost no one would think of its meaning.

After all, these four numbers can evoke far too many associations—

Phone numbers, dates, or even random coincidences.

Moreover, Vermouth pressed the mute button at the right time, making the subsequent numbers disappear without a sound. Even if someone became suspicious, they would only think that these four notes were just the beginning of a longer sequence and would be preoccupied with how to obtain all the numbers.

Moreover, this was genuinely a call from GSSRA's internal communications department—

It was nothing more than a phone call to the "Frontiers of Science" faction.

Vermouth's next sentence is even easier to understand.

"The funeral home's backyard" alludes to factions within GSSRA that are associated with the coalition and "the frontier of science."

"Leave a side path" implies that the plan has changed and a secret route needs to be taken;
"3-chome" refers to Conan, "red light" symbolizes sudden braking, and the following words can even be understood literally.

Combined, the instructions are crystal clear:
There's only one person in the car who isn't wearing a seatbelt right now, and that's Conan himself, who's currently being held in Heiji Hattori's arms.

According to Kinoshita Yuto's interpretation, the organization clearly intends to send Conan to the back seat, preferably to Ms. Shiraha Maria.

So he suggested, "Chief Heiji, I know this road, but the road conditions aren't very good, it might be a bit bumpy, and if you speed..."

He paused deliberately, glancing at Conan with a somewhat troubled look.

Everyone instantly understood: children are always more prone to motion sickness than adults.

"I knew I shouldn't have let that kid on the bus!"

Before Kogoro could finish complaining, Maria kindly said, "Let me hold him!"

"Okay, okay! Big sister, give me a hug!" Conan immediately smiled and stretched out his little hand. His acting was absolutely flawless.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Maria."

Hearing this, both Hattori Heiji and Conan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Heiji glanced at Maria, thinking to himself:
"Luckily, Kudo is just a kid. In that case, it seems his secretary won't pay too much attention to him. Maybe he can even sneak a peek at those documents and see if he can find any other clues."

As Conan was being carried away, he was already secretly making plans in his mind:
"Since I can't confirm Maria's suspicions, what better way to monitor her than by standing next to the suspect?"

Conan always felt that this secretary was behaving strangely.

Conan and Heiji Hattori exchanged a glance, their eyes briefly meeting in the air. They both felt that the other understood their meaning.

As Vermouth held Conan securely in her arms, the car silently veered off the main road and sped toward the funeral home like an arrow.

Bourbon, Chianti, and Cohen received the Boss's orders at almost the same time.

"This mission has been cancelled."

It is now impossible to evacuate Vermouth from the road to the funeral home under the pretext of an attack on her.

Not to mention that the last-minute change of route and the bumpy high-speed driving made the task of "precisely hitting Vermouth without killing her" almost impossible—

The timeline of the story clearly defines Vermouth's character.

Although the storyline is quite certain that even if a sniper attack did occur, and although the bullet could not possibly harm Shinichi Kudo, Vermouth is unaware of this.

She would only assume that the organization would rather kill Shinichi Kudo than let her escape.

Since Conan once saved her life, Vermouth is very likely to choose to stay and protect Conan.

More importantly, the [real-world timeline] quickly seized upon this flaw.

With the termination of the mission, the three members of the Black Organization were removed from the "case," meaning they would not "appear" again.

And their absence means—

"We have found a suspect carrying a gun! Repeat! We have found a suspect carrying a gun!"

Standing atop a building near the road leading to the funeral home, Chianti couldn't understand how she had stumbled upon a murder.

"Damn it! What terrible luck!"

Similarly, Bourbon was stopped by GSSRA personnel as he tried to prove his undercover identity.

Cohen was in an even worse situation; the fire alarm above his head blared shrilly, and thick smoke billowed from downstairs, clearly indicating a fire.

—All the plans in the story are in complete chaos.

Currently, both parties hold half of the "shares" in the case. Within the territory of the [real timeline], they can "play" however they want in reality without entering the case.

Even now, with Vermouth and Conan in his arms, the story timeline makes it completely impossible to contact her using that black phone.

Any action could expose a flaw or even trigger greater unforeseen circumstances.

Thus, two "model workers" who had not yet escaped the case, or rather, those who had triggered the case, made their appearance.

Vodka and Gin, having finally shaken off GSSRA pursuers, returned to their previous safe house somewhat disheveled and needed a moment to catch their breath.

Before the two of them could catch their breath, their phones vibrated.

The vibration of the text message immediately turned Vodka's face ashen.

Then, he heard Gin, after reading the text message, coldly utter a few words he never wanted to hear again.

"We need to buy Vermouth a chance to evacuate."

"But brother! That funeral home is a den of iniquity! We! We—!"

"only……"

Gin and vodka were immediately reset, and then the [story timeline] readjusted the mission descriptions and actions.

“We need to pick up Vermouth for the evacuation; she will come to us through the path behind the funeral home.”

—That sounds much more reasonable now.

……

For the alliance, the time display screen flickered with complex images, while the RSI index detector's pointer swung wildly—

The two timelines are now engaged in a fierce struggle for control within the funeral home.

In the executive meeting hall, Bai Zichen kept his eyes glued to the instruments. After seeing the car carrying Vermouth and Conan slowly drive into the backyard of the funeral home, he immediately contacted the Department of Magic Research.

"The time has come. Is the Dream Infiltration Team ready?"

"Act immediately according to the new plan. We need to imply that Shiho Miyano should exercise restraint tonight. She cannot take APTX-4869 at the pharmaceutical plant as originally planned."

"Have the Abnormal Climate Science Department prepare the weather weapons in advance, ready to support any deviations from the actual storyline at any time!"

"Conan won't be staying at Professor Agasa's house tonight. According to the simulation by the Time Division, it's very likely that Gin was the one who went to the Kudo residence to check on Shinichi Kudo's condition."

"We need to conduct a 'skip-the-needle' operation, just like we did with the Maple Leaf Gold Coin case! We need to connect the end of today's 'Miyano Akemi's Body Theft Case' with tomorrow's 'Hoshimi Tower Case'!"

……

Meanwhile, Ran Mouri is being surrounded by the Junior Detective League children—

She was now extremely uncomfortable, and even tried her best to avoid eye contact with Professor Agasa.

From the very first second she stepped into Professor Agasa's house after a long absence, Ran Mouri didn't relax for a single second.

This place was a complete minefield for her!
It can be described as a situation of constant warnings and perilous steps!
[Story Timeline] She's keeping a close eye on things now!

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that they could only create false warnings and not cover up genuine ones, the storyline would have already started "entrapment"—

By staying away from Shinichi Kudo and actively getting closer to the "truth," the Junior Detective League also played the excellent role of "relaying" Ran Mouri's words to Conan.

If Ran Mouri does anything that doesn't align with the "camping plan," the story timeline will absolutely choose to reset Ran Mouri's position, prioritizing control of the funeral home over her.

She is now showing signs of shifting towards a persona that shouldn't exist in the first place.

This is absolutely prohibited.

This is far too destructive to the whole story; she should be kept outside the main plot.

In any case, that wasn't the "place" she belonged in.

Ran Mouri must never become Conan's "Watson".

(End of this chapter)