Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

"Snapped--"

The phone screen cracked, and from afar, the faint sound of Rum gritting his teeth could be heard coming from the phone.

"So you're Little Bird Vodka!!! You—"

Chu Ming scratched his ear, completely unaware of what bomb he had just dropped. All he knew was that he had gotten away from the noise, so he turned over and fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter 431 is a bit chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur).

When Chu Ming woke up again, it was already the afternoon of the next day. He rubbed his throbbing temples and immediately saw the phone he had tossed in the corner of the room.

The phone's screen was cracked like a spider web, and the inner screen was also broken. The white light stripe slid from top to bottom, undulating continuously, clearly indicating that it was ruined.

Chu Ming couldn't remember why he had gone crazy after drinking last night, and even threw away his phone.

However, Ai's pills are becoming less and less effective. She became confused after drinking two bottles of alcohol yesterday, and I haven't had a chance to visit her recently. I wonder if she has any new research.

How about we go and inquire about it tonight?

However, I still need to go to the Suzuki Museum now, just in case something happens to Kid and he calls me, so I don't have to be too far away to hear him, otherwise my character will collapse.

Playing Shinichi Kudo is fun, but if you play Shinichi Kudo, you have to face Ran, since the two of them are practically a couple who haven't confessed their feelings yet.

Chu Ming was impatient with dealing with these things. He could make a big fuss by pretending to be Shinichi Kudo, but when it came to romance, Chu Ming could talk a good game, but when he actually pretended to be Shinichi Kudo in front of Ran, he really had to use willpower to suppress the irritation in his eyes.

Why bother with romance? Wise people don't fall in love. A girlfriend will only slow down your ability to draw your sword and expose your weaknesses.

Chu Ming simply went over in Lucifer's form. Sigh, impersonating Shinichi Kudo wasn't very interesting; next time he'd just impersonate Gin. After all, Gin couldn't dominate him anymore, and occasionally he could even turn the tables. So even if he used Gin's face, he'd only be sparring with Gin a few times, no big deal.

Since the airspace above the Suzuki Museum is filled with helicopters arranged by Jirokichi Suzuki, Chu Ming didn't just fly over there. Instead, he took a taxi and bought a new phone and changed the SIM card on the way.

When they arrived at the museum, they ran into Conan following Ran, looking around. Conan had gone to Dr. Agasa's house last night after Chu Ming left, because he wanted to see if the person impersonating him was actually sent by the organization.

Unfortunately, after his arduous journey to the doctor's house, he found no one at the Kudo residence. He also couldn't get any useful information from Ai Haibara, and was scolded and driven away by her.

Ai Haibara was somewhat speechless when Conan would question her every time he encountered someone who seemed to be from the organization. Although she came from the organization and was indeed a code name member who knew some information, she was just a researcher. How could she possibly know everyone?

Moreover, it's obvious that many people in the organization are skilled in disguise. So what if they reveal their appearance? It would be a miracle if she recognized them.

That's why Conan was craning his neck to look around today, and he happened to make eye contact with Chu Ming, who was disguised and watching the commotion.

Conan paused and stopped, and Ran, who had been walking, also stopped and looked in the direction Conan was looking.

"Oh, it's that gentleman from the plane last time!" Xiaolan's memory was clearly good. "It was you and Mr. Shinjō who saved us all. I didn't even have a chance to thank you last time before you left."

Conan twitched his lips. It was clearly him and Kid who had turned the tide. Shinjo was Kid in disguise, and the foreigner in front of him was just there to slack off.

It just occupies the spot without actually using it.

He sat firmly in the co-pilot's seat, making the man who was actually assisting Kidd in piloting the plane stand the entire way...

Sonoko was leading a group of people inside when she realized that only Kogoro Mouri was left behind, so she quickly turned back to find Ran and Conan.

"Xiao Lan, how did you and this brat fall behind—hiss~"

Sonoko gasped as she looked at Chu Ming's face, her eyes lighting up. She nudged Ran's arm and whispered, swooning, "Such an incredibly handsome guy! How come I didn't notice him last time! Ahhh, what did I miss?!"

Xiaolan was a little embarrassed and tugged at Yuanzi, signaling her to be more normal: "Sir, I still don't know your name..."

"Lucifer." Chu Ming casually gave his name, which made Xiao Lan and Sonoko exchange bewildered glances.

Simply put, this name is a bit too cheesy.

Conan's first thought was that this person was using a fake name, but then he remembered that when Kid met this man on the plane, he kept calling out "Lucifer, Lucifer, Lucifer" for a long time, so this person's real name is Lucifer.

Upon learning that he was also there to see Kid, Sonoko warmly invited Chu Ming to come upstairs with them to wait for Kid's arrival in the VIP seats.

Chu Ming didn't refuse. He was waiting downstairs anyway, and he was waiting upstairs with the rich woman to sit and drink tea, so why not choose the more comfortable option?

Upon reaching the top floor, a gust of wind, reminiscent of Conan's style, blew away Ran's hat. When Conan went to retrieve the hat, he discovered traces left by Kaito Kid on the top floor.

After Conan's reminder, everyone gathered around the two scratches. Sonoko even called the security guard in another building to check if there were any similar marks in the same location on that building.

Based on these two marks, the group began to speculate about what kind of technology Kidd used to achieve his aerial walk yesterday.

Was it suspended in mid-air by ropes? Or was it using virtual reality technology? There were all sorts of guesses, but Kogoro Mouri rejected them all.

Kogoro Mouri, with one hand in his pocket, walked along the railing, completely oblivious to his fear of heights as he focused solely on showing off. He tilted his head back, his face full of confidence: "Humans, what arrogant creatures we are. We all have this problem: once we've decided that something is impossible, even if it really exists, our preconceived notions will prevent us from seeing it."

Xiaolan, listening to her father's words, seemed to have solved the mystery of the high altitude, and asked, "So, Dad, what method do you think Kidd used?"

“Of course it is—” Kogoro Mouri drawled, and everyone except Chu Ming stared at him expectantly, which greatly satisfied his pride. “Of course it’s a super huge piece of glass. These two marks must have been left by him when he installed the glass. With such a huge piece of glass between the two buildings, Kid could easily walk on the glass and achieve what he calls ‘walking in the air.’ The reason Inspector Nakamori didn’t see it is because he simply didn’t think of it.”

"..."

"..."

Sonoko and Ran, who were initially full of anticipation, started criticizing Kogoro Mouri instead.

"That's impossible! With such a large pane of glass, how could no one have seen it!"

"Exactly. Besides, with such a large pane of glass, it would take Kidd a long time to clean it up. It's impossible."

……

Kogoro Mouri's weak attempts at explanation were drowned out by Ran and Sonoko's words. Conan, on the other hand, suddenly understood after hearing what Kogoro Mouri had just said.

Looking at his confident demeanor, Chu Ming figured that he must have found out what method Kidd had used.

Wow, that's what you call the chosen one. Whenever he can't figure something out, the whole world is sending him clues.

Downstairs, the focus representing Kidd was rapidly approaching from a distance. Chu Ming peeked out and happened to see Suzuki Jirokichi riding his bicycle at high speed in their direction.

Good grief, is he dressed up as Suzuki Jirokichi again this time?

Do I catch myself?

It has to be said, Kidd can really pull off some tricks sometimes.

Chapter 432 Jipo sells melons

Conan jumped off Ran: "Ran-neechan, I'm a little bored, so I'm going to go play for a while?"

After saying that, he turned around and left.

But after taking only two steps, she realized that leaving this strange foreigner here might mean he wouldn't have time to stop him from doing anything to Xiaolan and the others. So she turned around and slapped Chu Ming's thigh, then tilted her head up and asked cutely, "Big brother, do you want to come down and play with me? Uncle Jirokichi has lots of security cameras to watch, let's go take a look together?"

Sonoko glared at Conan: "What's wrong with you, brat? You finally have a handsome guy to keep you company and you still want him to leave? I heard you're pretty close to that bastard Kudo? Are you keeping an eye on Ran for him?"

Conan's eyes instantly went dead. He was clearly concerned about their safety, but how did it all turn out differently in Sonoko's mouth?

Chu Ming did not refuse. He slowly stood up, gestured to the others, and led Conan downstairs.

Sonoko watched Chu Ming lead Conan away into the distance, excitedly shaking Ran: "Ahhh, Ran, this, this is so handsome! His aura is so captivating, cold yet composed, seemingly wicked but actually gentle. Ahhh, I hereby declare him my idol!!"

"..." Ran pulled Sonoko, who couldn't contain her excitement, and whispered to her, "Keep your voice down, have you forgotten Mr. Kyogoku..."

“It’s different. Ah-zhen is my boyfriend, but this is my idol. There’s no conflict.” Sonoko cupped her face, her eyes sparkling.

From a distance, Chu Ming heard the conversation between the two people behind him and chuckled softly, "Your friends are quite interesting."

Conan ignored him and instead pursed his lips: "What exactly did you mean by the collection you mentioned earlier? Is Kid your subordinate? Did you send him around stealing jewels?"

Is this a valid interpretation?

"You can interpret it that way if you want." Chu Ming didn't refute him, because he really didn't have the nerve to make another chuunibyou declaration in front of Conan. If he disrupted Conan's worldview, the world's will would probably just smash his character.

“The last time Kid saw you, he was clearly surprised. If you were just his accomplice or subordinate, he would never have had that expression, unless you are his boss or someone he can’t afford to offend.” Conan said his reasoning with a serious face as he walked, which Chu Ming found very reasonable.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Chu Ming looked at Conan's small body beside him. Conan's mind was indeed very sharp, and he could notice many details that ordinary people could not see. Sometimes Chu Ming really admired him, and even thought that if there was no world will, it would be very interesting to pull Conan to the black side.

"Kid always returns the stolen gems, which means he doesn't actually need the priceless gems; he's looking for something else. And what he's looking for is hidden inside the gems, right? As Kid's boss, what leverage do you have over him to make him work for you? What gem do you really need?"

Looking into Conan's piercing eyes, Chu Ming smiled enigmatically: "Then what makes you so sure I'll tell you?"

Conan was speechless. He seemed to be used to the buff of always being able to answer questions, so it was rare to encounter someone who didn't answer. He paused for a moment.

"You have questions for me, so I'd like to ask you one too. Why did you have to arrest Kidd?"

Chu Ming always felt something was strange. Although Kid liked to steal jewels, he would always return them after stealing them. Even without Conan following him, the jewels would still return to their owners. It was normal for the police to think he was disturbing public order and want to arrest him. But why was Conan, as a detective, tracking Kid? Was it because he dreamed of catching criminals like Kaito Kid, who left many detectives helpless, like Hakuba Saguru?

"..." Of course, it's because I want to prove it to Kidd.

Conan didn't say this aloud. After he shrunk, he followed Kaito Kid to the rooftop and heard Kid arrogantly say to him: "If a phantom thief is a highly skilled, creative artist who steals treasures, then a detective is just someone who follows the phantom thief around nitpicking, at best a critic."

This is tantamount to slapping Conan's revered identity as a detective in the face. Imagine a thief standing in front of you saying you'll never catch him, and all you can do is chase after him, following the clues he keeps giving you, and witnessing his art. How humiliating is that for a detective?

However, Conan wouldn't explain these things to the man in front of him. The relationship between him and Kid could be described as mutual respect, or as having different goals but compatible paths. In short, it was a contradictory relationship where they loved and hated each other, but could still help each other when things happened.

The discovery that Kidd was likely being threatened by the man in front of him to commit the theft made him even more distressed.

The two approached Suzuki Jirokichi together. Suzuki Jirokichi's eyes narrowed slightly the moment he saw Conan and Chu Ming together, but quickly returned to normal.

The time had come, and Kidd reappeared in the sky, but instead of striking a pose and greeting fans like he did yesterday, he walked straight toward the goddess statue on the museum roof.

Suddenly it started raining, and even the images on helicopter number seven disappeared in an instant.

Just as Inspector Nakamori was frowning and staring intently at the image of Kid on the surveillance camera, Jirokichi Suzuki announced that the goddess statue would be moved into a museum and ordered all the lights inside to be turned off.

Inspector Nakamori felt that this wouldn't work. What if all the lights were turned off? Wouldn't that be exactly what Kid wanted?

Jirokichi Suzuki pointed at Kid and asked him, "Then tell me, officer, what other way do you have to stop that thief who walks through the air like a god to steal my jewels?"

Like a god? A master thief?

Good grief, isn't this blatantly telling Conan that you have a problem?

Douzi has a knack for boasting.