Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

Inside one of the organization's safe rooms, the air seemed to freeze, so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

Gin sat in the dim light, his face so gloomy it seemed to drip water.

The dense numbers on the screen no longer appeared as dry financial statements to him, but rather as Zheng Yi's mocking face.

"Damn it..."

In the short few months since Zheng Yi took over the organization, the deficit on the books has been staggering.

It wasn't just the huge "fire loss" at Warehouse No. 3, but also countless "special expenditures" with unclear purposes.

"How dare he be so blatant?" Gin slammed his laptop shut with a loud bang.

But Gin quickly understood.

Zheng Yi has always been very bold.

He dared to kill even a prince, so what wouldn't he dare to do?
Gin felt that if he lived a little longer, he might even witness Shoichi killing the Prime Minister and the Emperor.

But Gin could not tolerate Shoichi's audacity.

This is not just a matter of corruption; it's about undermining the organization!

That brat is eroding the organization's foundation.

“Vodka,” Gin called out coldly.

"B-Big Brother!" Vodka, who had been standing in the corner as a background figure, was startled and quickly stepped forward. "What are your orders!"

"Call Vermouth over here." Gin stubbed out his cigarette. "Now, immediately. I have a score to settle with her."

This woman has applied for far too much funding.

Gin didn't understand what she was going to do to dare to apply for 1.1 billion yen!

He only dared to ask Miyano Akemi for 1 billion yen back then, but Vermouth actually asked for 100 million yen more than him.

Vodka didn't dare to delay and quickly took out his phone to dial Vermouth's number.

However, instead of the familiar ringtone, a cold voice message came through the receiver: "Sorry, the user you dialed is busy..."

Vodka wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looked at Gin's increasingly dark face, and gritted his teeth to dial one more time.

This time, the call connected.

"Hey?"

Vermouth's languid voice came from the other end of the phone, with the faint sounds of wind and waves in the background.

She appears to be on vacation at the beach.

"If it's Gin, I'm busy right now. I'm on a very important secret mission."

"A secret mission?" Gin snatched the phone away. "Your so-called secret mission is applying for 1.1 billion yen in funding?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by Vermouth's nonchalant laughter: "Oh, that's right, I applied for 1.1 billion yen. What? This small amount shouldn't be much for the organization right now, right?"

She decided to help Zhengyi fight for him.

As a member of a corrupt accomplice, one must naturally protect each other and not easily betray one's comrades.

Perhaps Zheng Yi will even have a chance to take over the organization, then she can embezzle even more.

"Small change?" Gin laughed angrily, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists.

"Vermouth, do you think I'm easy to talk to? The losses from Warehouse No. 3 haven't even been settled yet, and you've come up with this astronomical figure. What exactly are you planning to do with this money?"

"Of course, it's to find something."

Vermouth's voice became a little serious.

"As you know, the things in the warehouse weren't burned, they were stolen. Those were the organization's core assets; if they fell into the wrong hands, the consequences would be unimaginable."

I need to use all my intelligence networks to hack into Interpol's database, and I also need to bribe some key figures... all of this will cost money.

"So, you're asking for an exorbitant 1.1 billion?" Gin said coldly.

Are you treating the organization's money like waste paper?

"Gin, you're being petty," Vermouth chuckled.

"Sometimes, you have to pay a price to get what you want. As long as you can recover the supplies, it's worth any amount of money."

Gin wants to kill someone.

He said coldly, "Get back here right now! And give back the money you took."

"Oh dear, your tone is so scary!" Vermouth screamed in feigned terror, then changed her tone.

"However, the money is all spent, so I definitely won't be going back."

Gin asked, "How much did you take? How much did Cointreau take?"

“Mmm~” Vermouth said, “Neither Coindu nor I took any. We spent the money for the organization.”

"Oh."

Gin was so angry he laughed.

Do you and Zheng Yi really see an organization?

Gin felt that he was becoming more and more tolerant of these bastards.

He suppressed his anger and said as calmly as possible, "As long as you find the stolen supplies, I will not pursue the matter of the 1.1 billion yen."

“I will certainly do my best to find the stolen supplies from the warehouse,” Vermouth said.

Not hearing what he wanted to hear, Gin decided to keep asking.

"Beep-beep-beep-"

The call was disconnected.

Gin held his phone, listening to the busy tone coming from it, his face terribly grim.

Vodka cautiously leaned closer, "Big brother, Vermouth, she..."

"There's definitely something wrong with her!"

Gin stood up.

"1.1 billion yen? Investigating stolen goods? Don't be ridiculous! This is clearly a case of the thief crying 'stop thief!'"

Vermouth and Shoichi's relationship has always been ambiguous.

Vermouth is definitely an accomplice to that brat's blatant embezzlement of public funds.

Even... even in the theft of Warehouse No. 3, Vermouth was the mastermind.

"Good...very good." Gin sneered.

Vodka stood nervously to the side, even deliberately holding his breath, afraid of becoming the target of his elder brother's venting of anger.

The Beretta pistol in Gin's hand was disassembled and reassembled.

"Has Bourbon not arrived yet?" Gin asked without looking up.

"We're here! Big brother, I'll let him in right away!"

The door was pushed open, and Bourbon walked in. He was carrying a paper bag containing several cups of coffee that looked like they had just been bought.

"Good evening, Gin, vodka." Bourbon placed the coffee on the table. "I heard you were looking for me? Is there some tricky task for me?"

Gin raised his head, as if he wanted to devour him alive.

"Explain yourself." Gin threw the printed financial statement in front of Bourbon.

"This 'special investigation funding' was requested by you. What was the reason?"

Bourbon glanced down at the report on the ground, his smile unchanged: "Oh, this. This is the funding I requested to investigate the truth behind Pisco's death."

"Pisco?"

Gin's movements suddenly froze.

Who doesn't know that Pisco was killed by Gin?
It was the boss who gave the order personally.

Because Pisco was incompetent, his identity was exposed, and he was even photographed; he was a complete waste of space.

Now, Bourbon is saying he wants to investigate the truth behind Pisco's death?
Bourbon remained unfazed.

Zheng Yi told him to come up with a reason himself, but he couldn't think of a good one, so Zheng Yi helped him come up with one.

Bourbon felt a sharp pain in his teeth when he heard the reason. "Bourbon," Gin's voice was terribly low, each word sounding like it was being squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Do you think that I was too lenient by not killing you last time?"

"How could that be?" Bourbon spread his hands innocently.

"You didn't kill me last time because I wasn't an undercover agent, and you wouldn't kill innocent people indiscriminately."

Gin's hand was already reaching for the holster on his waist. All he wanted to do now was shoot this damn blond bastard.

"Give the money back." Gin suppressed his murderous intent and said coldly, "Your investigation is pointless."

"Give it back?" Bourbon shrugged, looking troubled. "But the money's all gone."

"All spent?" Gin narrowed his eyes, his killing intent palpable. "What did you use it for?"

"Of course it's used to win people over and gather information," Bourbon said, spouting nonsense with a straight face.

Bourbon said softly, "But there's still a little left. If you want it, I can exchange it for one million yen."

Twenty million yen, just to investigate a good-for-nothing who's long dead?
Bourbon is also burning the organization's money like waste paper!
"And the results of the investigation?" Gin asked. "Since all the money has been spent, what did you find out?"

He wanted to see what Bourbon could find out about this well-known matter.

Bourbon's smile faded slightly.

"I found it."

He spoke slowly: "That old man Pisco was indeed incompetent. Not only was he inefficient, but he also left behind so many weaknesses. His death was entirely his own fault, and he deserved to die. You did not kill innocent people indiscriminately."

Gin stared intently at Bourbon.

So you mean you're investigating Pisco for my own good, right?

Bourbon met Gin's gaze without flinching.

Zheng Yi is a bastard, a cancer on the organization. He squanders public funds and transfers organizational assets in various ways, making the organization a mess.

But... this might not be a bad thing for Bourbon.

An organization that is internally chaotic, has a broken funding chain, and is filled with mutual distrust among its leaders is more likely to be destroyed.

The man-made disaster that is Zheng Yi is more destructive than anything else.

It probably won't be long before Zheng Yi can bankrupt the organization on his own, without needing his help as a police undercover agent.

An undercover agent should cooperate with these kinds of corrupt elements within the organization.

Therefore, Bourbon decided to help Shoichi keep it a secret.

"So, you got one million yen?" Gin asked.

Bourbon remained silent.

“Give back that million,” Gin said.

“Okay.” Bourbon agreed readily.

"roll."

Gin uttered only this one word in the end.

Bourbon breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. Looking at the coffee on the table, he said, "Then I'll be going now. This coffee is for you guys. Remember to drink it, it won't taste good when it's cold."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Gin watched Bourbon's departing figure with a blank expression.

“Zhengyi… Bourbon…”

Bourbon had no guts to take money from the organization; it was all because of that bastard Zheng Yi who concocted pretexts to force Bourbon to apply.

The door to the safe house was pushed open again, and Shuichi Akai walked in, carrying a thick folder in his hand.

Gin, you were looking for me?

Gin placed the gun on the table, looked up, his eyes bloodshot.

Hideki Akai subconsciously narrowed his eyes, sensing that Gin might suddenly attack and kill someone.

“Explain your funding request,” Gin said.

Shuichi Akai's expression remained unchanged as he handed over the folder in his hand:

"This is the latest experimental data and progress report. We have made some breakthroughs, so we need more funds to purchase equipment and raw materials."

Gin took the folder and opened the first page.

The room was filled with dense chemical formulas, molecular structure diagrams, and various terms he couldn't understand.

Gin frowned as he read line by line. He recognized each word individually, but when they were put together, he couldn't understand them at all.

"explain."

Shuichi Akai said, "Even if I explain, you won't understand."

Gin squinted, but showed no anger.

Hideaki Akai paused for a moment, then continued, "In short, this is a very complex systems engineering project that requires a lot of financial and human resources. Once the final research results are out, you will understand that these investments are worthwhile."

"How much of that money is actually used for research?" Gin asked the most crucial question directly.

Shuichi Akai fell silent.

He didn't speak, but simply lowered his head slightly, avoiding Gin's gaze.

Although he disliked Zheng Yi, he still approved of his actions that harmed the organization.

The desire and goal of everyone is to weaken the organization.

Gin understood.

The amount actually used for research is probably less than a fraction of what was actually spent. The rest all went into Zhengyi's pocket.

"very good."

Gin gave a cold laugh.

"You can leave now," Gin said.

"Yes."

Hideaki Akai nodded, put away the documents, and turned to leave.

Unlike Bourbon, he was not asked by Gin to return the funds.

Gin sat there quietly, while Vodka grew increasingly frightened but dared not utter a sound.

Vodka.

"Big Brother!" Gin's sudden voice startled Vodka.

"Tell me, how should we deal with Zheng Yi?" Gin asked.

Vodka opened his mouth, but then shook his head.

What can we do to deal with this?
He felt that his older brother and Zheng Yi were quite similar.

Their methods of dealing with people are quite simple and brutal; they simply kill them.

However, both Gin and Shoichi are of high status, and when they are at odds with each other, they cannot actually kill each other. They cannot use their most familiar methods and are at a loss for what to do.

"Do you think I can learn from Zhengyi?" Gin said.

"what?"

Gin said coldly, "Also, let the people in the organization embezzle money from Zheng Yi's group, and then return the embezzled money to the organization."

"what?"

“That money originally belonged to the organization, so it’s only right to take it back,” Gin said.

Vodka nodded: "Brother is right, but who dares?"

Who would dare to embezzle Zhengyi's money?

It's not like the Justice Group hasn't been exposed in the news before; those who dared to embezzle all died at the hands of Justice.

“There will always be some people who would rather die than keep their money,” Gin said.
"Moreover, the organization also has some people willing to sacrifice themselves for it." (End of Chapter)