Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

Vermouth tapped the steering wheel: "Ask away."

"What exactly is your relationship with the BOSS?" Chu Ming's gossipy eyes lingered on Vermouth. "It seems like my sister doesn't really like the BOSS~"

Vermouth's eyes suddenly sharpened, then fell silent: "You've met the BOSS, haven't you?"

"I've seen him." Chu Ming nodded.

"Does it look good?"

"Beautiful! Even more beautiful than Gin." Chu Ming thought back to the face he had seen and clicked his tongue in admiration.

Vermouth turned around, tilted her head slightly, and looked at Chu Ming with deep and focused eyes: "Then look at me, do I look like him?"

At this moment, the moonlight slanted down from the forest and fell on the ground, leaving a silvery glow on Vermouth, which diminished her charm and added a touch of holiness rarely seen in her.

But it was precisely this sanctity that made Chu Ming's eyes widen in surprise as he examined Vermouth's face.

Looking at it this way, she and the BOSS do indeed resemble each other somewhat.

"Sister, are you the BOSS's daughter?" Chu Ming blurted out.

Vermouth smiled slightly: "No, the boss never married."

"That--"

“My mother is the BOSS’s youngest sister.” Vermouth’s gaze drifted into the distance as she fell into deep thought. “By kinship, the BOSS should be my uncle. My mother was determined to marry a foreigner, even eloping with him and giving birth to me abroad. However, at that time, Japanese people didn’t have a high social status in America, and the man my mother was going to marry wasn’t a good person. He only approached my mother because he coveted the wealth of the Karasuma family. But my mother abandoned everything to go to America with him, and in his eyes, my mother became a burden…”

Vermouth's tone was completely flat, as if he were talking about a completely unrelated person.

As Chu Ming listened to Vermouth's explanation, he gradually understood why she harbored resentment towards the BOSS.

Chapter 420 The Reason for Repeated Jumping

Vermouth didn't have a good childhood in America. After all, the poorer the place, the more chaotic it is. In addition, her mother inherited the excellent genes of the Karasuma family. Her outstanding appearance turned into a deadly poison after falling into the slums.

How could a frail woman with a child possibly survive peacefully there?

But her mother succeeded, taking her from one different man to another, so that young Vermouth had already seen too much of the glitz and glamour of life.

Because of this experience, her mother did not live long. Although Karasuma Renya was her mother's older brother, they were too far apart in age and did not have much interaction. The years her mother spent wandering overseas coincided with the gradual decline of the Karasuma family.

Karasuma Renya was pursuing immortality at that time, and it was during those most intense years that he didn't care at all about where his sister, with whom he wasn't particularly close, had gone.

After her mother's death, Vermouth grew up in the slums, surrounded by relatives who treated her like uncles. Vermouth's beauty blossomed, and she excelled academically and was stunningly beautiful. She attracted a constant stream of suitors, including some wealthy second-generation Americans.

However, having witnessed all of this since childhood, Vermouth ultimately chose a man who, though ordinary, treated her very well.

When Vermouth spoke of that man, her gaze softened, and her usually alluring eyes now seemed to glisten with tears.

The man disappeared a year after their marriage, at the height of their happiness.

She investigated thoroughly for a long time, eventually uncovering clues about the organization and infiltrating it in an attempt to rescue her lover.

Not long after she infiltrated the organization, she was able to apply for a code name due to her outstanding performance. During this process, she was spotted by Karasuma Renya.

Although Vermouth wasn't particularly enthusiastic about recognizing her relatives, if her uncle was the leader of this organization, wouldn't rescuing her lover be much easier?

Unfortunately, her lover was captured by the organization for Karasuma Renya's immortality and was used for human experiments.

What Vermouth finally saw in the laboratory was her lover, who had been dissected for the Miyano couple's experiment. His body was empty, and his removed brain was placed in a glass dish next to him.

To compensate her, the BOSS fed Vermouth the silver bullet developed by the Miyano couple, which was the precursor to APTX-4869.

From that moment on, time seemed to stand still for Vermouth; her face remained unchanged, and she maintained her youth for decades to come.

However, Vermouth did not like this change, which came at the cost of her lover's death. And her lover's death was caused by the Miyano couple's experiment.

That's why she hated it so much, to the point of hating everything related to the house.

Vermouth was somewhat vague in her remarks, but Chu Ming basically guessed the whole situation.

He roughly guessed why Vermouth kept switching between the red and black sides. On the one hand, she hoped that the BOSS's experiment would succeed so that her lover could be resurrected. Therefore, she was very concerned about the organization's mission in this regard.

On the other hand, her lover died because of the BOSS's ambition for immortality. After seeing the mindless state of those experimental subjects, she would rather the organization's plan fail and her lover rest in peace. In addition, she guessed that the world's will saw hope in Conan to destroy the organization, so she showed mercy to the Red Team because of Conan and Ran.

This makes it easy to get Vermouth back to the black side—to ensure the success of the BOSS's experiment.

But that's not worth it. As long as the BOSS lives, he's still just the crown prince and won't be able to control the organization.

Chu Ming's mind was racing, but he didn't show it on his face. He looked satisfied after listening to the gossip and winked at Vermouth: "Don't worry, sister. You can leave your angel and the little boy you like to me. As long as the others in the organization don't find out anything, I can basically protect him."

Vermouth breathed a sigh of relief. She shot and destroyed the recording equipment Conan was carrying, then looked at Conan and asked, "So what should we do with this child now?"

Chu Ming picked up Conan and casually tossed him under a nearby tree: "Just leave him here, let's go. Didn't he just say he had an accomplice? The moment he saw the heart signal stop, his accomplice must have received the message. He must have been carrying a tracking device, and his accomplice is probably on his way here right now."

Vermouth glanced at Chu Ming disapprovingly: "I tore his clothes; he'll catch a cold if he leaves them here like this."

After saying that, he draped his suit jacket over his shoulders.

Chu Ming sat directly in the passenger seat where Conan had just been sitting, urging Vermouth, who was looking at Conan with a kind expression, "Hurry up, let's go. If we're any slower, his accomplices will come. Will you kill them or not? Take this FBI agent back to Lafitte, and we'll meet up with Gin."

Vermouth looked at Chu Ming, who was already seated in the passenger seat with his seatbelt fastened, and drove off speechlessly: "Can't you drive? Can't you have some gentlemanly manners?"

"I'm still a child, why should I be a gentleman? This isn't a blind date." Chu Ming lazily reclined his seat back. Judy had been shoved into the trunk by Vermouth halfway through the journey. With no obstructions in the back seat, he lay down comfortably.

"Where did you assign Calvados?" Vermouth finally remembered the sycophant she had been ignoring until now.

"I've gone to support Gin. Shuichi Akai has left the base. Jodie, who has a bit of brains, is also confronting you. The FBI gathering place you investigated back then is now just a bunch of small fry. I'll have Gin finish his mission and wipe that place out while he's at it."

Although they're not particularly skilled, they have more people, and having more snipers provides better protection. Calvados and Chianti have worked together before. However, Gin's group is finished; let's go assemble now.

-

Lying in the car, Chu Ming calculated the points he had gained from the Full Moon Chapter. Having made so much money, he was now rich overnight, enough to buy several Breakthrough Pills. So, which aspect should he focus on upgrading now?

My memory and comprehension definitely need to be upgraded, otherwise my brain simply won't be able to handle all the documents assigned by the boss.

The computer needs an upgrade. The boss has already caught us writing the novel, so we can't let Rum catch us too, or Rum will definitely make it known to everyone in the organization, especially to Gin.

However, he really wanted to improve his fighting skills. If he had the fighting prowess of Makoto Kyogoku, would he be afraid that Gin would find out about his novel?

With that level of fighting ability, he could even stand in front of Gin and write and read to him at the same time!

Chapter 421 Never Gets Drunk

By the time everyone regrouped, Gin, along with several snipers, had already wiped out the FBI's hideout. He was impatiently leaning against his car, smoking a cigarette. When he saw Vermouth and Chu Ming arrive, he casually stubbed out his cigarette under his foot: "Why are you here so late?"

"We ran into Shuichi Akai." Chu Ming lazily rolled out of the passenger seat. "I was going to catch him, but it took up some time."

"He got away again?" Gin was not surprised at all. After all, if Shuichi Akai were so easy to catch, he wouldn't have been able to keep running around until now; he would have been on the organization's experimental platform long ago.

Vermouth also pulled Judy out of the trunk and threw her on the ground: "Yeah, she's lucky, she got away again."

Chu Ming added, "But I not only made several holes in him, I also caught his ex-girlfriend."

"Why bring her back? Couldn't we just kill her?" Chianti used her toe to flip Judy over, who was lying on the ground. She was startled to see that Judy had Vermouth's face on her. "Why did you disguise her as Vermouth? Are you planning to make them kill each other when it matters?"

Vermouth, suppressing a laugh, recounted Chu Ming's outrageous antics to everyone. Chianti was the first to burst into a deafening laugh, and even Gin couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.

Chianti stared at Chu Ming's face in disbelief: "How did you manage to plaster on that fake face layer by layer? Doesn't your skin get too thick?"

"?" Chu Ming was completely confused. These words didn't sound like anything good.

Chianti realized her words were ambiguous and quickly clarified, "No, no, what I meant was, don't you feel stuffy with so much disguise on your face?"

"No, the ultra-thin mask that my sister researched before was quite useful. I used that along with makeup, and didn't use any disguise materials at all." Chu Ming tore off Matsutake Yusuke's face and handed it to Chianti to see.

Chianti had always known that Granburg was in disguise when he interacted with them, but seeing him tear off a mask and find that the face under the mask was still Shuichi Akai, her expression couldn't help but twist for a moment.

Seeing that Chianti was staring at his face, Chu Ming winked at her playfully: "What, are you impressed by Shuichi Akai's looks? How about I go shopping with you looking like this?"

Chianti was moved but refused: "I'd rather not. I'm afraid I'll be wanted if I go out with that face."

"What are you afraid of? You run first and I'll cover your retreat." Chu Ming clicked his tongue, looking quite interested. "I'll add some more stories to Shuichi Akai's face."

"Let's forget it. Going on missions with you is always thrilling." Chianti quickly waved her hand. She remembered the last time she accompanied Granburg on a mission, they almost left him surrounded by the Public Security Bureau. If it weren't for Gin's quick reinforcements, Granburg would probably have been in prison for life.

“This operation was a great success. Shall we go to a bar to celebrate?” Calvados suggested, his face slightly flushed, his true intentions hidden beneath the words.

"Okay, okay, I agree!" Chu Ming thought of the medicine that Ai Haibara had given him before, and felt that his chance to avenge himself was right in front of him, so he was the first to respond.

"Don't even think about it!"

"no!"

"No, I think so..."

Gin, Vermouth, and Vodka, who knew Chu Ming's background well, decisively rejected the suggestion.

As for drinking, as long as they're around, Granbury won't even let you touch a bottle.

Chu Ming jumped up: "Are you looking down on me? I've practiced a lot in my spare time, I'm sure I can do it this time!"

Seeing that Gin and the others didn't believe him, he emphasized, "It's true! Big brothers, you have to believe me! This time it's definitely going to work, I can already drink several glasses."

He had secretly tried the medicine once after getting it, and felt that he had finally regained his drinking capacity from his previous life.

"Yeah, Gin, what's wrong with having a drink? We used to go out for drinks together all the time after missions." Chianti was a little confused as to why Gin and the others were reacting so strongly.

"??? You guys always go drinking together without me? Are you excluding me?!" Chu Ming had long forgotten his vow to never drink again. He looked indignant. "We've known each other for so long and no one has ever invited me!"

"Who would dare invite you..." Vodka muttered in a very low voice, hiding behind Gin.

Chu Ming pretended not to hear and squeezed into Gin's car: "Come on, brother, let's go for a drink. Today, let me, Granburg, show you what it means to be able to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk."

Gin frowned as he watched Chu Ming get into the car. He then casually got out of the car and turned to instruct Vodka, "Take him back to base."

???