Survival Manual of the Science Fiction World

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Chu Ming asked blankly, "What corpse?"

Vermouth suddenly looked up at Chu Ming, and after staring at him for a long while, she tentatively asked, "It's... Conan's corpse..."

Perhaps the confusion and bewilderment on Chu Ming's face were too obvious, because Vermouth seemed to realize something and asked hesitantly, "I...I was wrong?"

"Sister, how could you think I've already killed someone...?"

Chu Ming took out his phone and looked at the message he had sent to Vermouth. There was nothing strange or suggestive in it; he had simply told her that Gin had noticed Ai Haibara and asked him to bring her to the organization because her little boy might not be able to be hidden anymore.

He never mentioned killing Conan from beginning to end.

Vermouth looked a little embarrassed and fell silent.

“However, your concerns are not unfounded. Since Gin has already noticed Sherry, your little boy can no longer be hidden. It’s fine to mourn for him in advance.” Chu Ming said meaningfully.

"Are you going to negotiate with me?" Vermouth seemed to realize something. "Go ahead, I won't refuse anything I can do."

"As expected of my sister, you really understand me." Chu Ming smiled, her eyes crinkling, then suddenly changed the subject, "I need you to take the blame for me."

Vermouth's first reaction upon hearing this was, "What trouble have you gotten into now?"

"...I didn't!!!" Chu Ming's eyes drooped slightly. "What kind of image do you have of me? I do have a way to help Shirley, but on one hand, there's my dear sister's request, and on the other hand, there's my respected older brother's demand. I'm in a real dilemma—"

Chu Ming's tone was drawn out, but Vermouth didn't hear a hint of embarrassment in his words. Instead, she felt that Chu Ming was frantically hinting, "Hurry up and bribe me, bribe me, bribe me!"

"Just give me the conclusion." Vermouth rubbed her temples. She was known for her mysticism in the organization, and seeing through people's hearts was almost her innate skill. However, this skill was rarely used on Chu Ming now, mainly because the child had grown up and his thoughts were unpredictable, making him completely unfathomable.

“I disguised myself as you to deliver goods to Gin.” Chu Ming stroked his chin. “I told him I couldn’t leave, so I asked you to go. If something goes wrong later, and Gin finds out that the girl he noticed before was really Sherry, and he was fooled, then it will be your problem.”

"Then why not keep it simple? I'll just go and tell Gin that I've already met that girl, and it's not Sherry." Vermouth had seen Chu Ming's cringe-worthy actions and wasn't really willing to lend him her face.

"That won't do!" How can we squeeze Ai's points out of her if we don't send them to Gin? Besides, that suspicious guy Gin only believes what he has personally confirmed. "Gin only trusts himself."

Vermouth glanced at Chu Ming and shook her head slightly: "Not entirely. He doesn't just believe in himself."

"Oh right." Chu Ming suddenly realized, "He still believes in the BOSS, after all, he's a big fan of the BOSS."

Vermouth's lips twitched: "Where did you hear that from?"

"What do you mean by hearsay? This is my speculation based on facts."

Seeing that Vermouth didn't believe him, Chu Ming recounted how Gin had previously enthusiastically praised the BOSS's great achievements. After embellishing his words, Chu Ming made Gin sound like a sycophant following the BOSS around like a shadow.

Vermouth's expression was extremely strange. Her instinct to gossip made her listen with great interest, but Chu Ming's exaggerated words made her suspicious of what she was hearing. Seeing that Chu Ming kept talking, she quickly interrupted him.

"Alright, so what exactly do you plan to do about Sherry? Disguising her won't fool Gin's eyes. After all, Sherry grew up under Gin's supervision, and he's seen what Sherry looked like as a child. Besides, she grew up in the organization, and her fingerprints and DNA are all on file there." Vermouth was still somewhat worried.

"It's not easy to disguise. I'll do some makeup for Sherry; a slight change in makeup will alter her aura. As for the DNA, as long as the result doesn't match Sherry's records in the organization, it'll be fine, right? The Noah's Ark program fragment I extracted last time can do that." Chu Ming deflected all the blame onto the Noah's Ark, since he couldn't say he had a system shop that could get anything.

Vermouth nodded. She had heard about Noah's Ark, but she didn't know that Chu Ming had actually extracted a piece of the program.

Why would he take something so important to the BOSS...?

Her gaze was somewhat profound as she looked at Chu Ming and slowly asked, "Are you planning to—take over the position yourself?"

The last four words were almost spoken to herself, and even Chu Ming, with his excellent hearing, couldn't hear them clearly. He looked up in bewilderment, staring at Vermouth in confusion: "What did you just say, sister? What am I planning to do?"

"It's nothing." Vermouth looked up, her face still bearing her usual smile, as if emphasizing or reassuring herself, "It's nothing."

Chapter 491 Wealth Code

After they reached an agreement, Vermouth felt relieved and then realized that someone seemed to be watching them from a distance.

Her gaze sharpened as she looked at Chu Ming's car parked some distance away. As she pulled out her gun, she said to Chu Ming, "It looks like a kitten got into your car, I—"

Chu Ming stopped her, grabbed her gun and held it in front of her, blocking her view: "This is the little cat you know, the one who's about to be delivered to Gin."

"You brought her here? You told her your identity?" Vermouth's expression changed. "Then Conan knows too?"

She felt a sudden darkness engulf her. If Chu Ming's alignment with the Red Party were exposed, Gin would hunt her down across Japan! Especially if Conan found out, given his curiosity…

Chu Ming shook his head: "Only Sherry knows, and before I became a codename member, Sherry had met me. Gin asked me to take her to meet her sister. So Sherry knew about my identity from the beginning. But she won't talk about it."

"...Alright, as long as you know what I mean."

Vermouth was relieved. This was Gin's problem. Why did he have to delegate the task of taking Sherry out for a walk to Granburg? But could this be one of the reasons why Gin was so eager to hunt Sherry down?

Knowing Chu Ming's identity is like a ticking time bomb. Given Gin's overly cautious nature, there's absolutely no way he'd let this traitor stay out there forever.

Vermouth put her gun away: "Then I'll be going now?"

"Wait a minute." Chu Ming seemed to have thought of something. "Since I have such an important matter to attend to, then I might have to—"

Vermouth's lips twitched. She'd taken on every single mission the organization could offer just to torment Chu Ming—probably a year's worth of missions. And now, how did these missions end up back in her hands?

Chu Ming was in a good mood and forwarded the task list back to Vermouth: "Thanks for your hard work, sister~"

Vermouth sighed helplessly, "Alright, I'll do the rest. What have you finished? Let me check."

Chu Ming looked completely innocent: "No need for that. I haven't done any of them."

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Vermouth looked at him incredulously: "It's been so many days, and you haven't even started the mission yet?"

"No rush, no rush, I knew things would turn around. Look, now I have a kind, beautiful, generous, and stunning older sister to help me with my mission~" Chu Ming tried his best to flatter Vermouth.

"I really owe you..." Vermouth sighed. Luckily, she had transferred Bourbon from Chu Ming's side before, so she could still get Bourbon to do some tasks for her. After all, Bourbon's identity was in her hands, so he would definitely be willing to help with this small favor.

Having made up her mind, Vermouth didn't want to stay there any longer. Who knew if Chu Ming would come up with something else to exploit her later? So she said goodbye and left in a hurry.

Chu Ming stood there and waited until she was far away before walking towards the car in the distance. He deliberately parked the car a little further away to avoid Haibara Ai hearing anything she shouldn't hear.

When Chu Ming returned to the car, he saw Ai Haibara, her face pale and her mouth agape, breathing heavily like a stranded fish. It was clear that she had been frightened by Vermouth's sudden eye contact with her and had forgotten to breathe.

"Brother Chu Ming, did Vermouth just see me...?" Ai Haibara stammered, "I didn't look at her on purpose. I just saw her suddenly attack you..."

Chu Ming's car was parked too far away, so she didn't hear what Chu Ming and Vermouth were talking about. In addition, both of them were facing away from her. However, she saw Vermouth step forward and try to fight Chu Ming. Then, after Chu Ming said something to her, she even touched the gun at her waist!

She wanted to kill Chu Ming!

Ai Haibara got excited and her breathing became a little rapid. In addition, she stared intently at the other side because of her worry. Vermouth, being a professionally trained person, was very sensitive to this kind of gaze and immediately noticed her spying.

The moment Vermouth looked over, Ai Haibara felt like she couldn't breathe. She froze in her seat, her mind blank. She wanted to run, but her legs seemed completely out of her control, frozen in place. She could only watch helplessly as Vermouth's eyes flashed with murderous intent as she drew her gun—

Then, Chu Ming used his own body to block the gun barrel!

In that instant, Ai Haibara felt her heart was about to jump out of her chest. Self-blame almost overwhelmed her. She was the one who exposed their presence and had to rely on Chu Ming to cover for her...

Her fingers were already on the car door switch. She couldn't let Chu Ming take such a big risk for her; Vermouth wasn't someone to be trifled with.

But before she could take any action, Chu Ming said something to Vermouth, and she actually put the gun away, gave him a meaningful look, turned around and said a few words to Chu Ming before leaving.

She knew Vermouth wouldn't say anything nice, especially after she saw Chu Ming frown as he watched Vermouth's retreating figure, lost in thought for a long time before returning to his car.

Ai Haibara's heart sank slowly. If Chu Ming had been pondering for so long, Vermouth must have mentioned her just now.

Ai Haibara felt she was ready and gently tugged at Chu Ming's sleeve.

"Brother Chu Ming, Brother Chu Ming?"

As Chu Ming was contemplating whether to knock Ai Haibara unconscious or give her a sleeping potion, he heard her call his name. He turned to look at her and asked, "Ai, what's wrong?"

“Vermouth just found me, didn’t she…” Ai Haibara bit her lower lip lightly, “Did she ask you to hand me over to the organization?”

Chu Ming didn't hide anything from her; instead, he took the opportunity to feign a sorrowful expression: "I'm sorry, Xiao Ai, I said I would protect you, but in the end—"

Ai Haibara then comforted him, saying, "Brother Chu Ming, you've helped me so much. If it weren't for you, there would be no Ai Haibara at all. I might have died long ago when I was trying to escape the organization..."

Chu Ming gripped the steering wheel, veins bulging on his hands: "Not only has Vermouth discovered you, but Gin has also started to suspect you. Last time you went to the 'Cocoon' press conference, Conan told me that you bumped into someone who looked a lot like Gin, and he saw you."

Ai Haibara's fingers curled slightly: "Who is he?"

"I'm not entirely sure either. He suddenly appeared in the organization, supposedly returning from America, along with a woman codenamed Bailey's. But Granburg said she was Gin's brother and girlfriend," Chu Ming said, spouting nonsense with a straight face. "Because Gin's brother said you looked a lot like Sherry when she was little, Gin ordered me to bring you back..."

The moment Chu Ming mentioned Gin, the points on the system interface began to rise rapidly.

Goodness, Gin must really be a nightmare for Ai Haibara and Conan...

But isn't this the secret to his wealth?

It's perfect!

Chapter 492 He's really a good person

Ai Haibara answered tremblingly, "I...I...I can, Chu...Chu Ming-ge, please take...take me there..."

Chu Ming looked at Ai Haibara, who was terrified, her face pale and her lips trembling, but still mustered the courage to let him take her away. For once, his conscience ached.

Oh dear, so many emotional points!

He's really not a good person!

Chu Ming closed his eyes briefly: "I'll take you back first, and then I'll take you away later. Don't worry, I'll do my best to protect you."

Before Ai Haibara could answer, Chu Ming drove her home.

After saying goodbye to Professor Agasa, I drove back.

Ai Haibara mustered her spirits and managed to exchange a few words with Professor Agasa, her gaze lingering on his face as if she would never have another chance to look at him again.

Even the oblivious Professor Agasa sensed something was off: "Ai, why are you looking at me like that today?"

Ai Haibara paused, then looked away. She couldn't let Professor Agasa know, otherwise, if Conan found out, she would harm even more people.

She changed the subject: "Did you eat anything high in oil and salt tonight, Doctor?"