Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 216 New Directions in Drug Research
"Is that so?" Xia Chuan thought for a moment. If he were to go along, there wouldn't be any problem.

"Then Xia Chuan, you can make the trip and also act as Ran and Sonoko's bodyguards."

I heard that the Suzuki family seems to be under surveillance lately. A while ago, Mr. Jirokichi Suzuki's beloved dog, Lupin, was kidnapped, and he spent billions of yen to ransom it.

The news that the Suzuki family spent billions of yen on a dog spread throughout the Metropolitan Police Department.

Because of this incident, the Suzuki family has become much more cautious when going out recently, and the Metropolitan Police Department has also dispatched a team to investigate the case.

While ostensibly acting as bodyguards for Ran and Sonoko, Joel was actually more concerned about Anya being implicated.

Anya is a child. If someone wants to harm the Suzuki Group, they might use her as a threat. Anya is only in first grade and could be tricked out of a few peanuts. She needs a guardian to look after her.

"Okay, then please tell Xiaolan and Yuanzi that we'll be inconvenienced." Xia Chuan nodded with a smile.

Anya definitely needs protection.

That bandaged guy was pretty crazy. Realizing he was almost discovered by Xiaolan, he actually tried to kill her. If Anya had followed...
Don't underestimate Anya's ability to cause trouble; she could easily take on the entire Junior Detective Club by herself.

He still needs to be with me, otherwise my safety is not guaranteed.

Fortunately, there was nothing going on at the winery at the time, so he had plenty of time.

When the topic of the distillery came up, his gaze turned to Conan.

This guy's mood seems to have worsened a lot after I borrowed his phone to make a call this morning.

I don't know why.

Conan sat on the tatami mat in the living room, resting his chin on his hand, his heart heavy with worry.

I borrowed Natsukawa's phone this morning to call Professor Agasa's house.

I should have called last night to inquire about that document, but the avalanche caused a short circuit in the phone line, so I waited until this morning to do it.

The reply he received, however, left him feeling quite disheartened.

This so-called document appears normal during a regular check, but if the file is opened for more than 30 seconds, or if you try to transfer the file to your computer, it will trigger some kind of background virus.

Two of Dr. Agasa's computers broke down because of this information.

If Dr. Agasa hadn't reacted in time, the virus might have even been sending signals outwards after taking control of the computer.

He had been wondering why Sherry could so easily send this information to Miyano Akemi. It turned out that Gin already knew about this information and was using it as bait to fish.

Fortunately, Professor Agasa's computer has a strong antivirus system; otherwise, if Professor Agasa and Ai Haibara were exposed, he would definitely be doomed.

This powerful transnational criminal organization is truly remarkable; I never expected them to even possess viruses, and they seem to be quite advanced.

Even with his self-developed antivirus system, Dr. Agasa's computer couldn't withstand the virus.

Feeling dejected, Conan went straight to Professor Agasa's house as soon as he got home.

Ai Haibara was already in character, and Professor Agasa even provided her with a white lab coat that fit her perfectly like a child.

Wearing a white coat at this age feels a bit out of place, but it doesn't seem to suit Ai Haibara very well.

She was sitting in front of the computer, seemingly engrossed in something.

"How's it going?"

Conan quickly walked over and glanced at the screen. He found it was filled with data, so dense that it made him dizzy.

"The data is mostly destroyed, but a small portion was preserved under the cover of Dr. Agasa's antivirus software."

Ai Haibara took off her glasses, looking somewhat disappointed, and said, "Although I preserved a portion, it's very little. It might indeed speed up my research, but only a tiny bit."

She drew a line with her thumb and forefinger to indicate that the data retention rate was approximately zero.

"Damn Gin, I didn't expect him to have a trick up his sleeve." Conan slammed his fist on the table, his anger overflowing, feeling like he had been tricked.

As a famous detective, he has always been the one to outwit criminals; this is the first time a criminal has outwitted him.

Moreover, this person was the culprit who caused him to become a child, adding fuel to the fire of hatred, making this an irreconcilable feud.

"Don't worry, with Professor Agasa here, I'm still confident. It's okay if it's a little slow, you're not going to die anytime soon anyway."

"Please! Being a child is really inconvenient, okay?"

Not only does he have to endure Uncle Mori's righteous iron fist every day while solving cases, he also occasionally gets threatened by Anya.

It's not easy at all.

The most important thing is still Xiaolan's side.

It's really painful to be unable to show yourself even though you've been right next to the other person the whole time.

Especially on his birthday last time, Xiaolan invited him to see a movie, but he couldn't make it.

Although Xiaolan didn't say anything, he could clearly sense the disappointment in her voice during the call.

"Never mind, don't overwork yourself, take care of yourself and get some rest."

Conan sighed. He had only himself to blame and shouldn't have taken his anger out on Ai Haibara.

This guy is also a pitiful person, and they have a common enemy—the Black Organization.

Ai Haibara did not answer, but turned back to continue checking the data, occasionally typing on the keyboard to fill in any missing information.

For the next few days, Ai Haibara's daily routine was very monotonous.

Get up, go to school, do research, go to sleep.

This state lasted for many days, and Xia Chuan could hardly bear to look at it.

I always felt that this little girl was abusing me.

He also learned about the research data from Frank.

After all, he's a master eavesdropper; once Frank notices him, it's hard to escape his keen ears.

"I never expected Gin to have installed a virus on that document."

"I retrieved the computer that Professor Agasa had sent to the recycling center and had it examined by professionals. They discovered that the virus Gin was using was called Dark Baron, a relatively well-known virus software in the underworld in the past two years."

It has been two years since it appeared, and it has been constantly updated during that time, consistently ranking high on the list of viruses with the highest frequency of transactions in the dark world.

The investigation now suggests the virus originated from a winery, indicating their software development is quite sophisticated and they have many experts in this field.

"really."

Xia Chuan nodded. He had already felt that the winery's software technology was at the forefront of the world when he visited the software R&D base last time.

"By the way, when you had the professionals identify it, you weren't exposed, were you? This virus is so dangerous, it's a bit difficult to pinpoint its location."

“It’s alright. The Dark Night Baron in the data is a version from two years ago. Although that version of the virus was also troublesome, my channels are not simple either. This kind of outdated virus poses no challenge to him.”

Frank was full of confidence.

"If that's the case..."

Natsukawa hesitated, wondering whether he should extract a portion of the research data he had recently confiscated from Miyano Akemi's house and give it to Ai Haibara.

Haibara had done a lot for Anya, and seeing her growing thinner and with dark circles under her eyes, he still felt a little sorry for her. After thinking for a while, Natsukawa decided to give her some earlier documents.

I'll use the Tequila identity to do this, and also to soothe the other person's heart.

The reason the other party has been constantly researching this is probably partly due to their sense of urgency to reunite with their sister as soon as possible.

However, before that, he needed to check whether the data he obtained from Miyano Akemi had also been infected with the Dark Baron virus.

This is, after all, a file that Ai Haibara copied directly from the research institute, so it's highly likely to be the same as the previous one.

It's probably not Gin deliberately trying to lure people in; it's just an anti-theft measure for the internal computers.

He would never allow Sherry to share such important information as APTX4869. Even if it was infected with a virus, he would likely deal with Miyano Akemi and Hirota Masami as soon as they obtained the information. He wouldn't wait for Conan to retrieve the file.

Xia Chuan handed the data directly to Frank, asking him to find a way to crack it, on the condition that it not be leaked.

"It's a bit tricky. This data is from recent times. If we want to extract the information, we'll have to wait for that professional to thoroughly study the recent Dark Baron virus."

I'll have him make a cracked version of the file for me then, and I can handle it directly without any risk of leakage.

"It's alright, let's wait a while then, safety first."

This matter cannot be rushed. We must ensure that the software is problem-free. If it arouses Gin's suspicion, something bad will definitely happen.

Fortunately, Conan opened the file at Professor Agasa's house. If it had been placed elsewhere, the firewall probably wouldn't have detected the virus and would have exposed Ai Haibara.

After talking with Frank, Natsukawa went to Professor Agasa's house.

In the past few days, he has invested a lot of money in Professor Agasa, all for the sake of the latter's invention.

The fact that both Kid and Conan's equipment was made by Professor Agasa is enough to prove its excellence.

Although the other party can't offer him any useful inventions right now, at least the relationship has been established in advance.

He can also get a batch of any equipment that comes his way in advance.

Most of the things Dr. Agasa researches are not lethal, but at least they are convenient. For example, that retractable sling. If the retractable sling could be changed into a retractable rope, it would be very convenient to use.

The anesthetic needles are good too, and there's also a solar-powered skateboard.

Actually, glasses that can magnify images are also very appealing; these things are all strategic resources.

"Is Ai still playing games? I'm coming to pick her up and take her home."

Haibara's excuse to Natsukawa was that she came to Professor Agasa's house every day to play video games, claiming that this would help Natsukawa regain her memories as quickly as possible.

The excuse was a bit far-fetched, but Xia Chuan, who knew the inside story, didn't nitpick and pretended not to know.

"Ah, it's Natsukawa!"

When Professor Agasa saw Natsukawa enter, he immediately greeted her loudly, and then said towards the research lab, "Ai, stop playing games, your Uncle Natsukawa is here to take you home."

This can't go on forever!
Professor Agasa sighed inwardly, wanting to urge Conan to confront Natsukawa soon.

With Natsukawa's family wealth, Ai Haibara could conduct research at home.

"I see."

Ai Haibara walked out looking sickly. Today's research had made some progress, but not much.

However, with time and effort, the results became apparent, and she also had a new idea from Conan's side.

That's Lao Bai Gan (a type of Chinese liquor). This stuff can actually make a shrunken person temporarily return to their original size. It's amazing.

This direction might be a new breakthrough, and perhaps we can use Lao Bai Gan (a type of Chinese liquor) to find the antidote.

The fact that the prerequisite for the antidote was "having a cold" puzzled her; she was still a bit confused about it.

However, we have a new direction, and with our previous research experience, we should be able to stick to this direction without making a mistake.

"Playing games like this isn't a solution. You should take a break and conserve your energy; that will help your memory recover."

"No, it's okay. I think it's fine as it is."

A pair of large hands patted Ai Haibara's head, making the little girl a little shy. She quickly leaned back to avoid Natsukawa's warm hands.

"Ania is going to the mountain villa with Ran tomorrow, and Conan will be going too. Why don't you come along? I'll go too."

Seeing that Haibara was about to refuse, Natsukawa said seriously, "It's settled then. Professor Agasa is going out for a walk tomorrow. He can't just stay at home all the time."

"Yes, yes, Ai, you should rest for a day. Your body won't be able to take it if you keep going like this."

After being persuaded by the two, Ai Haibara reluctantly accepted.

Upon returning home, Anya learned that Ai Haibara was also going to the mountaintop villa, and Anya showed complete resistance.

"Please let me go." Anya whispered in Ai Haibara's ear, pleading, "You saw my test results today. Anya has really improved a lot. She needs some rest."

"Oh? Going from last place to fifth from last, is that considered progress?"

"You didn't just copy the answer key from your homework, did you? Otherwise, why would you make mistakes on problems you've already solved?"

Ai Haibara reprimanded Anya with a blank expression, and Anya, feeling utterly bewildered, buried her face in the sofa, pretending to be an ostrich.

When Bond saw Ai Haibara return, he excitedly ran to her with his rice bowl in his mouth.

This girl is much better than Anya; she feeds herself dog food every day.

That little guy Anya hasn't been fed for several days!
Ai Haibara really likes this Great Pyrenees dog; she liked it the first time she saw it.

Moreover, Bond is very intelligent, understands human speech, and is very reassuring.

"Bond, come here!" Anya felt even more resentful upon discovering her treacherous partner.

When she realized the other person wasn't listening, she cried out in despair, "Bad dog! Anya doesn't like you anymore!"

Why bother arguing with Bond?

Ai Haibara rolled her eyes and said, "I can give you a break for now, but if you don't improve by the next exam, my tutoring will be even stricter!"

"really?"

"Of course, but you'd better take it seriously. You know I keep my word."

Anya nodded frantically; finally, she could watch TV again.

As for the results.

Haha, I was unlucky these two times; both exams took place on a full moon day.

Next time it definitely won't be a full moon. She can just listen to Ai Haibara's or Conan's inner thoughts and get a perfect score on the test!

I heard from my father that a murder might have occurred at that villa.

Hehe, if I put in a little more effort to help the police, maybe I can make the newspapers again.

(Ask for monthly ticket)

(End of this chapter)