In the Marvel Universe: I can summon items from all dimensions.

Chapter 70 The Kidnapping at Professor Agasa's House

Ah, that felt great.

If this scene were shown in a TV animation, the viewership rating for that episode would increase by at least 30%.

The moment the word "Sherry" was uttered, Mason saw Haibara's shoulders suddenly tremble.

With the gun barrel pressed directly against the back of her head, Mason could clearly feel the trembling of this small body—clearly terrified, yet forcibly restrained by reason.

As expected of Ai Haibara—no, Shiho Miyano?

Incidentally, because he's been having really bad luck lately, Mason hasn't loaded a single bullet into his pistol to prevent it from going off accidentally.

"Who are you----?"

Haibara managed to utter a question, albeit haltingly.

Without even touching her, you could tell from her barely audible voice that she was terrified and on the verge of fainting.

"Ah—me?"

Mason chuckled twice, then sheathed his pistol and said casually, "Turn around—but don't make any suspicious noises, or you know what will happen."

'

Haibara hesitated for a full five or six seconds before slowly raising her hand and pushing the table, causing the swivel chair to rotate half a circle.

The moment she saw Mason's face, her pupils contracted sharply: "It's you—?!!"

"Sigh—so you really do remember me? Does that mean there's no surprise?"

Mason sighed. "Just how unlucky do you have to be to bump into your own research subject while having a meal? Don't you think?"

"Who exactly are you?!" Haibara gasped for breath, then bit her lip and asked with all her might, "How do you know—?"

"Oh? You're a bit braver than I thought," Mason chuckled. "Konek—that's my codename. What do you think? Heard of me?"

"So you really are part of the organization—"

At this point in the conversation, Haibara seemed to have managed to suppress her fear. A resolute look appeared in her beautiful lake-blue eyes, and she subtly placed one hand at her side. Then, in a much smoother voice than before, she said softly, "You are—"

"That won't do."

In a split second, Mason suddenly reached out and grabbed Haibara's hidden hand.

—Sure enough, she was reaching into her pocket for the Junior Detective Club badge.

Before the radio communication could be activated, Mason crushed the badge into a pile of electronic junk with brute force. He then pressed the pistol against Haibara's head again, revealing a menacing smile. "Want to warn your comrade? Sorry, I'm not so careless as to let this happen. Got it. If I hear you making any more noise, go to the next room and take care of that fat old man. Got it?"

"————"

Thus, the flame of hope that had just ignited in Haibara's eyes was extinguished.

"What do you want to do?" she murmured, her expression grim. "Aren't you going to kill me? Or are you trying to play a cat-and-mouse game?"

"That's a good suggestion."

Mason pulled over a chair, sat down, and said leisurely, "Let me count: Kogoro Mouri, Ran Mouri, Genta Kojima, Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya, Ayumi Yoshida, Professor Agasa, and Conan Edogawa. That's enough to make a game, Sherry."

With each name Mason uttered, the fear and despair in Haibara's eyes deepened. After she finished speaking, tears welled up in her eyes, and she pleaded in a voice that could only be described as humble: "It has nothing to do with them—please, let them go—I'll do anything."

— Hmm, it seems like we've gone a bit too far. Let's tone it down.

"Hmm—that's a bit of a difficult request."

Mason crossed his legs and said casually, "In principle, I didn't want things to turn out this way either. After all, Dr. Elena helped me out a bit back then. But you know the organization's style. To prevent leaks, everyone in your social circle must be eliminated."

Cornelius's diary does indeed mention Elena Miyano, Ai Haibara's mother. Cornelius had a few encounters with her when he was young, and although they weren't close, it's true that he was helped by her, as it's written in his diary—

"On July 16th, Dr. Elena paid for my meal, and I hope to find an opportunity to repay her."

Before they could return it, the Miyano couple both perished in the fire.

Do you even know what it means to repay a drop of kindness with a spring of gratitude?

In ancient times, Han Xin repaid a debt of a single meal with a thousand taels of gold. I, Mei, can do the same!

"----Mother?"

Haibara lowered her head. The appearance of the name "Dr. Elena" was unexpected and caused a ripple in her almost completely desperate heart.

—We can't give up yet. Even if we have to die, we'll die trying to save our friends.

"Since that's the case, why waste your breath on me?" She suppressed her fear and said in a self-deprecating voice, "Now that they know my identity and the situation around me, the organization should already be carrying out a cleanup operation, right?"

"Ha, trying to trick me into revealing anything?"

Mason grinned, "Alright, I'd like to see if you can pull off a miracle—here's the thing, I can tell you, I'm the only one in charge of this mission, and I'm the only one actually doing it. I haven't reported anything to the organization yet. In other words, if you can turn the tables and defeat me here, all your friends will be safe. How about that? Feeling a bit hopeful?"

Haibara's eyes trembled almost imperceptibly.

Was he alone?

If this is the situation—

"—I'm not stupid enough to believe something so impossible." She scoffed. "Trying to give me hope first and then crush it? What a twisted sense of humor."

"Heh, don't you believe me?"

Mason said calmly, "That's quite normal. Hmm, how about this, Sherry, let's play a game, as you suggested."

"What?" Haibara looked up in surprise. "What exactly do you want to do?"

She was smart enough to figure out that there was a reason why she hadn't been shot in the head silently. As for the reason, it could be that they wanted to take her to the organization for execution, or to capture her and start researching APTX-4869 again—or perhaps the man in front of her was just a simple pervert who had received orders to kill her but didn't intend to do it immediately, instead planning to torture her severely before taking her life.

"Want to know? Let's talk somewhere else then."

Mason pointed his pistol toward the door: "Stand up and get out of this room—don't try to leave any messages or warn anyone, Sherry. You should know what the consequences will be."

Under the threat of the gun, Haibara could only stand up, raise her hands, and slowly walk toward the door, while Mason followed silently behind her like a shadow.

When Haibara left the room and arrived at Professor Agasa's laboratory, she subconsciously glanced inside.

That's great—the doctor is still alive.

Her footsteps caught the doctor's attention, who looked up and asked in confusion, "Ai?"

Mason, who was pressed against the wall, gave her a friendly smile and waved the gun in his hand.

Haibara gritted her teeth and replied in a voice that sounded perfectly normal, "—I'll go up for a bit."

""

""

"oh."

Professor Agasa, unsuspecting, lowered his head and continued with his work.

Haibara took a deep breath and continued forward.

—Damn it, why does this person walk so silently? He's wearing leather shoes!

Once on the first floor, Mason reached out and pressed down on her head, pointing his gun towards the kitchen and saying, "Go that way, climb over the back wall."

Haibara had no choice but to do as she was told.

So, Mason led Ai Haibara over the back wall, left Professor Agasa's mansion, and came to the streets where night had already fallen.

"Very good, now please revert to your adult form."

Mason said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Haibara subconsciously shook her head: "I could never do something like that."

"Ha, don't underestimate my intelligence network."

Mason put the pistol back into his briefcase and said, "High school detective Shinichi Kudo reappeared at Teitan High School's stage play after disappearing for a while and solved a murder case—could it be that the great detective is even proficient in pharmacology and can conjure up an antidote out of thin air?"

"iii————

Haibara's lips trembled a few times.

How could this person know so much about Kudo's affairs?!

"Alright, change back now," Mason said with a smile. "I have no interest in wandering around with an elementary school girl late at night. If someone sees us and calls the police, it'll be troublesome—something as important as the antidote for APTX-4869, you'd definitely carry with you at all times, right?"

"————" Haibara was silent for a while, then slowly said, "————I need————clothes."

"Ah, that's true."

Mason nodded, then reached into his briefcase and miraculously pulled out a brand-new women's outfit, including a dress, vest, beanie, and sandals, which he handed over without changing his expression: "But I'm always a thoughtful person, and I've already prepared this."

Space equipment, isn't that amazing?

By the way, he picked out the clothes at a roadside clothing store while following the Detective Boys. Mei's aesthetic sense is trustworthy, and the size is never a problem. The styles he buys all have room for error. Even if the body measurements of Shiho Miyano listed in the setting are fake, there shouldn't be any situation where she can't fit or that they are too big.

After handing over the clothes, Mason pointed to a small alleyway by the roadside, his meaning clear.

Haibara gritted her teeth, but with no room for negotiation, she could only take the clothes and walk into the alley with a resentment she dared not show.

Mason stood at the alley entrance, keeping an eye on the situation inside out of the corner of his eye. He saw Haibara take out a small medicine box from her pocket, pour out a blue and white capsule, and then swallow it in one gulp.

Immediately afterwards, she let out a series of suppressed cries of pain. The drug worked quickly; in less than ten seconds, the elementary school student's petite body swelled up at a visible speed.

Before her clothes ripped, Mason turned around and sighed.

This is far more outrageous than any medical miracle; it's blatantly trampling on the cornerstone of physics: the law of conservation of mass. Where does the extra matter go when it shrinks? And where does the missing matter come from when it grows back up? Even in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, writers give characters like the Hulk, who can expand their size, a concept of drawing mass from a pocket universe. But APTX—

There is absolutely no explanation for 4869.

All I can say is that if a fragile scientist from the Three-Body Problem universe were to witness such an explosive phenomenon, he would probably be so frightened that he would hang himself on the spot.

Then, the sound of fabric rubbing came from the alley. Feeling that it was about time, and to prevent her from doing anything, Mason turned around again and saw Haibara—no, Shiho Miyano—putting a woolen hat on her head.

From any perspective, she is a very beautiful woman with a delicate face, a slender figure, and a rare blend of gentleness and coolness. If she were to debut as an idol, she might be able to reach a similar level of fame as the celebrity mother of Detective Conan.

After all, in the popularity poll for Detective Conan, she defeated all other female characters with an overwhelming advantage. Incidentally, Mason also voted for her back then, so he was a fan who wasn't exactly a die-hard fan.

Seeing that she was sweating and her face was flushed and pale, Mason thoughtfully took out a handkerchief and handed it to her.

"I see." Mason nodded as he spoke. "Although I had seen what you looked like as a child in the photos Pisco had, the idea that someone could shrink out of thin air by taking a pill is still too far-fetched—to be honest, I was skeptical of my investigation results before actually meeting you."

'

Shiho Miyano bit her lip, took the handkerchief Mason offered, and wiped the sweat from her forehead—at this point, she simply stopped pretending and glared at Mason resentfully, saying, "What exactly do you want?"

"Don't rush, let's talk as we walk."

Mason gestured for her to leave, then walked ahead first. Shiho Miyano paused for a moment, then sighed briefly and followed.

"First, let's talk about 'Ke Xue'—oh, no, I mean, science."

Mason said as they walked, "Sherry, you don't need to worry about me killing you. If you were just Shiho Miyano, it would be hard to say, but since you've become Ai Haibara, that's interesting. As a scientist, you should understand how terrifying it is for someone to suddenly shrink by ten years. Even from a scientific experimental perspective, the organization will absolutely not kill you until they figure out what exactly happened to you. The same goes for Shinichi Kudo."

"Hmph—some ways of living aren't necessarily more comfortable than being shot dead."

Shiho Miyano sneered, "Is this organization some kind of legitimate research institution? I'd rather die right here than be captured and used as a guinea pig."

"That makes sense," Mason shrugged. "But you didn't do that—were you worried about your friends? How kind of you."

"Is it really ironic that someone in the organization would say something like that?"

"I agree, but don't you think saying that has the air of a villain?"

'

'

First, I must not act impulsively. This person is carrying a gun, and I have no chance of defeating him no matter what.

After repeatedly telling herself this, Shiho Miyano took a deep breath: "And then?"

"Don't put on that attitude. I'm not Gin, I'm not that interested in killing people."

Mason said casually, "Didn't I just say that from a personal perspective, I don't want to go too far, but the organization's requirement is to eliminate everyone who knows the truth. What do you suggest we do?"

"...——"

"Those elementary school kids are fine; I bet you wouldn't be so bored as to discuss anything too scary with them. But the others are a different story—like Professor Agasa, who lives with you. I doubt he'd take you in without knowing anything about you. And then there's Shinichi Kudo. If a famous, righteous detective were to remain indifferent to an evil organization lurking in the shadows, even a three-year-old wouldn't believe it, would they?"

Mason turned his head and stared at Shiho Miyano's face, saying, "Let me put it this way, my contact is Vermouth, and she told me something—there have been a lot of FBI activity in Beika City."

At that moment, Vermouth, who was staying in a star-rated hotel in New York, sneezed for no apparent reason.

"—How much exactly did you find out?" Shiho Miyano asked, barely suppressing her fear.

"That's hard to say, because Mika is such a wonderful place with outstanding people and resources. The more I research, the more alarmed I become."

Mason shrugged and said, "After Conan Edogawa moved into the Mouri Detective Agency, that man who was addicted to drinking and horse racing suddenly became a famous detective in the industry—what was his name again? Silent Kogoro? I checked Kogoro Mouri's previous case-solving records, but I've never seen him sit in a chair and use ventriloquism to act profound. Why is that? It's really puzzling."

"Oh, right, and about that incident where Gin led a group to kidnap Kir, I checked the hospital's surveillance footage and found that Conan Edogawa frequently went in and out of that hospital during that period—but there weren't any patients he knew there, except for Rena Mizunashi." Mason shook his head and sighed, "I think the FBI has really hit rock bottom, hiring an elementary school student as an operations consultant. If this gets out, MI6 and the KGB will probably laugh themselves silly."

At this point, the two arrived at the main street with a large flow of people. Mason waved at the roadside, hailed a taxi, and then got in with Shiho Miyano.

"Where are you planning to go, guest?" the driver asked.

"The Mouri Detective Agency," Mason replied with a smile.