Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

Zheng Yi sat in front of the high-end computer in his study, where a complex stream of data from the cross-age recognition system was scrolling rapidly across the screen.

As he typed on the keyboard, he waved to Naomi, who had just walked in.
"That old guy Rum just gave me a mission, insisting that I use your precious system to find that BOSS."

Zheng Yi grumbled inwardly.

The boss is in charge of such a big business, and he just disappears like that, and his subordinates can't even contact him. This is too much. I wonder who he learned it from.

Naomi nodded and said with great confidence, "Theoretically, with just one photo of him, we can pinpoint his current location on a global surveillance network."

"Go ahead and look for it."

Masaru sent a photo to Naomi, who glanced at it and then started the automatic matching process.

The system quickly located the person in the photo.

Naomi said, "He's in Tokyo."

“He’s in Tokyo, of course,” Masakazu said.

"Ok?"

Naomi looked at Masakazu with a puzzled expression.

Judging from your tone, it seems like you already knew where he was. So what was your purpose in using a cross-age recognition system to find him?
Is this just a test to see if the system works?

“Because the photo I gave you is of Gin, um, my good friend,” Shoichi said.

Naomi blinked, automatically filtering out the word 'good friend'.

She learned from Ai who Gin was and his relationship with Shoichi.

"Why did you give me his photo?" Naomi said. "Shouldn't we do something more important first?"

"Yes, it's serious business." Zheng Yi's smile was very bright, and his fingers quickly tapped a few keys on the keyboard.

Dozens of composite images of male faces, generated by precise AI calculations and spanning decades, instantly popped up on the screen.

Naomi watched Shoichi's actions, hesitant to speak.

This system isn't operated like that.

“I’m doing something very serious. Look, these are the suspects I just screened out, whose facial bone structure is highly similar to Gin’s,” Zheng Yi said.

Naomi leaned closer to the screen and froze instantly.

Among the suspicious people on the screen were a middle-aged bald man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, a kind old lady dancing in the square, and even a husky gnawing on a bone.

The compatibility between the older man and Gin is 50%.

The old lady's match rate is 80%.

The compatibility with Huskies is 100%.

"W-What are you doing?!" Naomi asked, a smirk playing on her lips.

This is a high-tech invention he developed to eliminate age and racial discrimination, to find missing persons, and to combat crime.

It's not for random matching!

What are you doing?!

Zheng Yi shrugged nonchalantly, casually opened his encrypted email, packaged the dozens of bizarre 'Gin-like faces', and sent them to Gin's private encrypted terminal with one click.

And left a kind message:

"Gin, Rum asked me to find someone. I'll help you find your long-lost relatives while I'm at it. You're welcome."

He is such a good person.

Gin is clearly a person without relatives, and Shoichi is doing a great deed by helping him find his family.

Naomi sighed helplessly.

The system I developed isn't for you to play with.

"Can we start looking for someone seriously now?" Naomi asked.

"What's the rush?" Zheng Yi said casually. "Finding the boss isn't urgent, let's find Ai first."

Zheng Yi pulled up Ai's photo and began matching her with other photos.

However, the matching process during the Zhengyi operation is different from the system's automatic matching.

He pulled up two images and manually filled in the matching score. Even if they had no resemblance whatsoever, they could still match 100%.

Ai's match is even more tragic than Gin's.

Gin at least has two people, but Ai's are all small animals.

Kittens, puppies, mice—and Zheng Yi even matched Ai with a tigress.

"Is Ai Haibara home?" Masakazu suddenly asked.

Naomi shook her head. "I don't know."

"He's not home."

Zheng Yi breathed a sigh of relief and then immediately clicked send.

Naomi looked bewildered.

I shook my head because I didn't know; I didn't say Ai wasn't home.

"Click".

With a crisp sound of the lock being forcibly opened, a little girl, exuding murderous intent, rushed into the study.

Ai's eyes were gleaming coldly as she stared intently at Zheng Yi: "Zheng Yi, you just matched me with a tigress and a bunch of kittens and puppies?"

Do I look a lot like those things?

Masakazu blinked, then looked at Naomi and gave her a wink.

Didn't you say Ai wasn't home?

Naomi shook her head frantically.

I said I didn't know, but I didn't say that Ai wasn't home.

Zheng Yi sighed as he looked at the aggressive Ai.

He should have known long ago that Naomi and Ai had known each other for a long time, and that she was definitely on Ai's side.

“It was Naomi’s system that matched me, what does it have to do with me?” Zheng Yi said.

Naomi's eyes widened.

So you're just going to shift the blame to my system like this?
Naomi said in a low voice, "We can restart it and see if it matches those cats and dogs."

"Do you want to give it a try?" Ai stared at Shoichi through gritted teeth.

Zheng Yi, sitting in a chair, suddenly said, "You're so short."

"Huh?!" Ai's eyes flashed with a brief look of confusion.

Zheng Yi patted Ai's head and said, "Even when I'm sitting down, you're still not as tall as me."

"Stop trying to change the subject!" Ai said, annoyed.

There's a reason I'm short; I just turned back to my original height this morning.

Ai's expression was serious, but Zheng Yi grinned and argued, "I'm testing the system's biodiversity compatibility!"

"Compatible my foot!"

Ai cursed at Masakazu, then her eyes darted around before she suddenly darted to Naomi's computer.

"Can I borrow your computer?"

Naomi hadn't recovered from her earlier shock when she saw Ai push back her swivel chair, sit down skillfully, and start rapidly operating the keyboard and mouse.

"Since you like playing matchmaking so much, then I'll test you out too!" Xiao Ai snorted coldly and quickly brought up the background operation interface of the cross-age recognition system.

Naomi said with a hint of panic, "Hey! Ai, this system is very sophisticated, don't touch it!"

"No problem, if Zheng Yi can do it so easily, I definitely can too."

Without turning her head, Ai pulled up Zheng Yi's photo and, just like Zheng Yi had pranked her earlier, began frantically searching through the system's database.

She bypassed the system's original algorithm and, using the administrator privileges that Naomi had taught her before, began manually pulling images for forced matching.

A dirty pink pig rolling in a mud puddle (match rate: 99.9%).

A picture of Crayon Shin-chan picking his nose (match: 100%).

There's even a picture of a salted fish making a funny face at the camera (matching score: off the charts).

Zheng Yi would only fill in 100% at most, but Xiao Ai actually filled in an off-the-charts.

Not to be outdone, Masakazu started attacking Ai. Naomi stood to the side, watching as the once sophisticated age recognition system was now reduced to a tool for two childish pranksters, her lips twitching uncontrollably.

She couldn't help but sigh, rubbing her forehead: "My cross-age recognition system! This is cutting-edge technology that could change the landscape of policing worldwide, how did it end up in your hands..."

So it became a toy for kindergarten children?
This system is coveted by terrorist organizations.

Looking at the little pig on the screen that matched him 99.9%, Zheng Yi leaned close to Ai and gave a serious evaluation:
"Hmm, this pig is a good choice, it has a certain charm. But I think this salted fish is more like me, especially that kind of languid feeling of having seen through the world."

Ai was so angry at his shamelessness that she almost laughed out loud. She snorted coldly, "Since you like it so much, then I'll send these matching results to Momiji so she can have a good look at them too."

“Sure,” Zheng Yi said.

Ai looked up and glanced at Masakazu.

Huh? You accepted it so readily?

Zheng Yi said, "How about I send your matching profiles to your sister as well?"

"No !!!!"

Ai is clearly someone who can't take a joke.

……

Gin sat in the driver's seat of the Porsche 356A, the cigarette between his fingers burned to the end.

For some reason, he has been feeling uncomfortable whenever he rides in this car lately.

The atmosphere inside the car was very oppressive. Chianti sat in the passenger seat, barely daring to breathe, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

Just now, Zheng Yi sent an email to Gin, and Chianti, being a very curious person, immediately leaned over to look at it.

Then she couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.

Initially, Gin intended to ignore it.

After all, Zheng Yi is always prone to intermittent erratic behavior, posting inexplicable things to disgust people; it's become a regular occurrence for him.

Gin was somewhat displeased by Chianti's smile.

Chianti realized she had seen something she shouldn't have, so she was now breathing very softly, trying to minimize her presence.

Gin wasn't angry with the first email.

But when the second and third letters came, it was really hard for Gin not to get angry.

The first batch of photos, though somewhat outrageous, at least still depict humans.

Gin looked at the balding, Mediterranean-looking man and snorted coldly.

Then came the second wave, with a sudden change in style.

When the photo of the husky gnawing on a bone popped up, labeled '100% match in sharpness of gaze,' veins were already bulging on Gin's forehead.

Chianti's renewed laughter only added fuel to the fire.

Chianti looked at Gin's murderous gaze, then stole a glance at the adorable husky on her phone.

How is it similar?
Gin still didn't explode; he just stared intently at his phone.

Zheng Yi's teasing clearly didn't end there.

The third batch of photos is here.

It is no longer a person, nor an animal, nor even a living being.

A high-resolution, unedited photo of Shet appeared on the screen.

The system also thoughtfully includes automatic analysis and comments:

'Although its shape is irregular, the oppressive aura it exudes is highly consistent with Mr. Gin.'

"..."

This time, Chianti held firm.

She covered her mouth tightly, refusing to laugh.

But Gin couldn't hold back. He stared at the pile of shit and remained silent for a full three seconds.

"S-One!"

Gin gritted his teeth and squeezed out those two words.

What exactly is that bastard trying to do?
He took out his phone and called Zheng Yi.

The call was answered almost instantly, and Shoichi's voice came through immediately: "Yo, Gin, what are you calling for? To thank me?"

"You're asking for it!" Gin said coldly.

Zheng Yi picked at his ear, already immune to Gin's threats.

He discovered that Gin was a very petty person, and would get angry even if someone made a joke at him.

Zheng Yi waved his hand, letting Ai continue, indicating that nothing serious was wrong.

Ai nodded and continued writing her analysis and comments for Gin.

The two are at peace now because they decided to play pranks on Gin together.

Those rather vicious comments about Gin were all written by Ai.

She's so wicked.

"You'd better give me a reasonable explanation."

"Don't get so angry." Zheng Yi laughed heartlessly on the other end of the phone.

"Rum asked me to find someone, but I ignored him so I could help you find your relatives first. And you still got angry at me. You have no conscience."

Gin took a deep breath, struggling to suppress the urge to crush his phone.

He asked coldly, "Who does Rum want you to find?"

"Oh?" Zheng Yi's tone was clearly surprised. He said, "Didn't Rum tell you?"

"No."

Hehehe~

Laughter came from the phone, and Gin could clearly tell that the laughter was mocking.

Zheng Yi said, "Since Rum didn't tell you, I can't say anything either. After all, this is a matter for the organization's higher-ups, and it has nothing to do with you."

It's none of your business.
Gin's eyes narrowed.

Are you and Rum high-ranking members of the organization?

It has nothing to do with me?

Chianti listened to Gin and Shoichi's conversation and felt really excited.

So Gin has already been ousted from the upper echelons by Shoichi and Rum?

Wasn't the boss supposed to trust Gin a lot? Why isn't anyone saying anything in Gin's defense?

"Oh, right," Zheng Yi continued, "I found a few more photos, I'll send them to you later."

"Beep beep beep~"

"Huh?" Zheng Yi said with dissatisfaction, "He actually hung up on me."

Ai had just finished writing a vicious comment and was feeling refreshed.

She looked up at Zheng Yi and asked, "Have you already ousted Gin from the organization's upper echelons?"

That's impressive.

Gin is usually so cold, but now that he's no longer considered a high-ranking member of the organization, let's see how he can still be cold.

“It wasn’t me who ostracized him,” Zheng Yi said. “It’s that Rum doesn’t treat Gin as an executive.”

Whenever something happens in the organization, Rum consults with me instead of Gin.

Isn't it obvious who's in a high position and who isn't?

"Gin, I wholeheartedly support you as the boss."

Chianti said this in the Porsche.

Seeing that Gin had broken his phone, Chianti quickly said:

"Rum has lost both of his trusted confidants and doesn't even have any subordinates. What kind of high-ranking person is he? Not to mention Zheng Yi, he's just an outsider in the organization."

"Only Gin has so many followers, and everyone else trusts him. That's what makes him a true leader of the organization." (End of Chapter)