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

Chapter 71 Miss Miyano, you didn't want this either...

The driver gave an OK sign and then started the car.

"What are you going to do?!" Shiho Miyano asked in a shocked whisper.

"Of course, we'll ask Detective Mori to investigate," Mason said meaningfully. "Ms. Miyano, if we don't know exactly how much they know, it'll be very difficult for me. You also want me to help them clear their name as soon as possible, right?"

"you----!"

"I know you're uneasy too, but there's no other way; we have to do this," Mason smiled. "Only in this way can I know what to do next, right?"

"Guest, do you have any troubles you'd like to discuss with Detective Mouri?"

The kind-hearted driver then joined the conversation: "He's amazing! There's no mystery in the entire Beika City that Detective Mori can't solve!"

"Yes, that's right," Mason chimed in. "I went there specifically because I'd heard about Detective Mouri's reputation!"

"Don't worry, Detective Mori is the pride of Beika City!"

The driver exclaimed excitedly, "I don't know why, but the murder rate has been terrifyingly high these past few years. If you didn't know better, you'd think you were in the Middle East or South America instead of Japan! Detective Mori has solved most of the mysteries single-handedly, and people say his work efficiency is higher than the entire Metropolitan Police Department!"

"Wow, that's really amazing." Mason smiled. "I used to be so focused on my work that I didn't pay much attention to the outside world. I only found out after doing some research that such an amazing person came from Mika City."

Then, he gave Shiho Miyano a meaningful look and mouthed, "Don't do anything impulsive, or I can't guarantee this game can continue."

The taxi quickly crossed several blocks, dropping Mason and Shiho Miyano onto a bustling street, then stopped in the middle of the street—across from them was the core danger zone of the Conan world, where the Mouri Detective Agency couldn't feel comfortable without solving two, three, four, or five murder cases every day.

"Guest, we've arrived." The driver pointed across the street and said, "That's the Mouri Detective Agency—"

By the way, I would like to thank you for one thousand two hundred yen. "

Mason took out 1,500 yen from his briefcase and handed it to the driver, indulging in the feeling of being a "keep the change" kind of rich guy. Then he got out of the car with Shiho Miyano.

Standing on the street, Shiho Miyano said coldly, "I won't let you hurt them—unless you kill me first. Perfect, if I die here, it will serve as a warning to Kudo."

"Oh? Is this a sign that you're coming clean with me?"

Mason smiled. "I admire your courage, but don't forget, the initiative is in my hands now. Well, let me put it this way, if you don't intend to continue playing with me, then I'll have to follow the organization's rules. I'll shoot you dead here first, then immediately rush into this office and kill everyone inside. Don't think I can't do it; killing a few unsuspecting ordinary citizens is a piece of cake for me."

Mason himself felt a little guilty after saying that.

Putting everything else aside, this agency has a karate monster who can dodge handgun bullets at close range and whose kicking power is stronger than most Heisei Kamen Riders. If he doesn't launch a sneak attack, Mason suspects his head will be smashed like a watermelon on the spot.

Then there's the invincible Grim Reaper Elementary School Student—his high-tech kicks can deflect falling satellites. Who knows if he'd hit a person with one of his kicks and create a mortar-like effect? ​​And that doesn't even include his other mystical gadgets.

Ke Xue (a pseudonym), isn't that amazing?

Whether others believe it or not doesn't matter, but Shiho Miyano probably does.

She lowered her head and said in a voice like a woman in an adult anime being coerced into submission, "You bastard—what exactly do you want?"

This was no joke. Her face was flushed with anger, and she was biting her lip hard, holding back tears. It was hard not to think something was amiss.

What was that saying again? Ms. Miyano—you didn't want to—sorry, wrong channel.

—So, isn't this atmosphere a little off? Is this the effect I wanted?

Feeling things were starting to go in a strange direction, Mason forced himself to continue, "Don't worry, Kogoro Mouri is a public figure after all. Even if we wanted to kill him, we wouldn't just barge into his office and shoot him dead. That would only cause unnecessary trouble. The organization doesn't like doing that, and you should understand that."

—These words made Mason even more guilty.

What do you mean I don't like it? If the Distillery is willing to go so far as to fire on a landmark building in a country's capital just to kill a mole, what in the world wouldn't they dare to do? It's a good thing the Conan movies were filmed in Japan. If it were in America, would Bin Laden even have the chance to crash a plane into the Twin Towers?

But since the act had already gone this far, it wouldn't be right not to finish, so Mason continued, "Therefore, I've decided to at least investigate before taking action—if the Mouri family doesn't know anything, I don't want to cause any trouble, but if they do know—"

With that, he let out two villainous laughs: "Then it'll be your turn to come in handy—"

"You don't mean to—"

Judging from Shiho Miyano's expression, she had indeed thought of some very dark scenarios in an instant, so she shook her head desperately and said, "No, no, I would rather die than do such a thing."

"Heh, that's not up to you." Mason shook his head. "I've always believed that people's feelings have different degrees of closeness and distance. For you, the most important people should be Professor Agasa and Conan Edogawa, right?"

"—No, no."

Shiho Miyano continued shaking her head, two glistening tears welling in her eyes: "You devil—"

"You don't need to remind me of this."

Mason cracked his knuckles, then sighed and said, "If you've thought it through, then follow me. By the way, Ms. Miyano, while it's fine to call me by my code name, in a place like this, please use my real name—Cesel Lee Mason. Please take care of me."

After saying that, he walked straight to the Mori Detective Agency.

Shiho Miyano stopped by the roadside and remained silent for a while before finally gritting her teeth and following behind with her head down.

Arriving at the office door, Mason straightened his collar, then gently knocked on the door, glancing back at Shiho Miyano, who had silently followed him.

"Okay, please wait a moment, I'll open the door right away."

A young woman's voice came from inside the office, and a few seconds later, the door opened.

Ran Mouri, sporting a unicorn-like hairstyle, glanced curiously at Mason, then bowed and said, "Hello."

How did you even manage to comb that pointy style? This is the real world! How many bottles of hairspray do you use every day?!

Suppressing the urge to complain, Mason asked, "Is Detective Mouri here? We'd like to ask him to investigate something."

"Ah, yes, yes, are you a guest? Please come in."

Ran Mouri nodded, stepping aside as she called out loudly into the house, "Dad! Let's watch TV later! We have guests!"

Mason and Shiho Miyano went in one after the other.

The interior furnishings are exactly the same as in the animation, but due to the realism, there are many more details, giving it a strange feeling of pilgrimage.

Behind the desk, Kogoro Mouri, sporting a small mustache, stood up while adjusting his tie, sporting a very businesslike expression—it seems this man, who indulges in wine and women all day, can also be serious when it comes to serious work.

Then, a short figure peeked out from the kitchen.

It was Conan Edogawa.

Upon seeing Mason, he looked surprised, as if to say, "How could I run into him?"

But when he saw Shiho Miyano, he was first stunned, and then confused.

Fun fact: During this period, Conan actually never formally met Ai Haibara's identity as Shiho Miyano.

But he immediately realized what was happening, and then his expression showed one of utter disbelief.

That's Ai Haibara—right?

It got bigger? Why? What happened?

In an instant, their eyes met. Shiho Miyano shook her head very slightly, giving a hint, while Conan frowned slightly, immediately recalling their conversation when they parted in the evening. It sounded like they were talking about members of the Black Organization, dangerous individuals.

And a few hours later, he brought the enlarged Haibara to the Mouri Detective Agency. It must be Haibara, no doubt. You can tell just by looking at her eyes. It can't be that the Miyano family has another daughter, right?

After realizing what was going on, Conan's expression immediately turned serious.

He put his hands behind his back, turned on the dial of his anesthesia watch, and prepared to start fighting at any time. But after glancing at Ran Mouri and Kogoro Mouri, a look of anxiety appeared in his eyes.

Damn it—what should I do? I absolutely can't drag Lan and Uncle into this—

While he was thinking, Mason had already sat down on the sofa in the reception area. After hesitating for a moment, Shiho Miyano also sat down after him, but kept her head down and didn't say a word.

"Detective Mori, it's an honor to meet you."

Mason warmly shook hands with Kogoro Mouri, then said with a wry smile, "I apologize for visiting at this time, but there is something extremely urgent that requires your immediate attention, Detective Mouri."

As he spoke, he took out several stacks of banknotes from his briefcase, piled them on the table, and said sincerely, "As long as you can help me solve this problem, the amount of payment is negotiable, even if it means giving away my entire fortune."

"this--"

Kogoro Mouri stared intently at the large amount of Fukuzawa Yukichi's food piled on the table, and couldn't help but swallow hard. However, his professional ethics, which were still intact, made him straighten his expression and say sternly, "Solving problems for others is a detective's job. You flatter me, sir."

"With that in mind, I feel relieved."

Mason nodded, deeply moved, and said, "My name is Mason—well, I'm a software engineer, you could say. I'm here because—Detective Mouri, do you know someone named Itakura Suguru?"

"Itakura Taku?"

Kogoro Mouri blinked blankly, not quite understanding at first, but the expressions of Shiho Miyano sitting next to Mason and Conan, who had already stealthily approached, immediately changed.

Suguru Itakura, a highly skilled amateur programmer, is an early catalyst in the main Conan storyline. The Black Organization entrusted him with the task of developing an important but ambiguous program, but he changed his mind halfway through, citing "the sake of all mankind." Generally speaking, such a person would definitely be shot dead by Gin's men, but Suguru Itakura had the misfortune of dying at someone else's hands before that, and the case was just happened to be witnessed by Conan and his friends, who easily solved it.

"Ah, Itakura—?"

Ran Mouri, who was listening in, suddenly remembered something and raised an eyebrow, saying, "Dad, have you forgotten? Itakura Taku—that amazing game developer and programmer."

"Oh oh oh—"

Kogoro Mouri slammed his fist in realization, exclaiming, "Right, right, right! That's the programmer who was killed a few months ago by—yes, Ryusuke Soma! I was the one who solved that case!"

A few months ago—the chaos of the Conan world's timeline was truly awe-inspiring.

"Yes, it's him."

Mason smiled wryly, "The trouble has fallen on Detective Mouri because you had contact with Itakura before."

"So, what exactly do we need to do?" Kogoro Mouri asked, snapping out of his daze.

"As I just mentioned, I also work in software development. Before Itakura died, my project team collaborated with him and outsourced some things to him. The development process was going well, but then he was suddenly killed—sigh, without his part, the entire project's progress was stalled."

Mason sighed for a moment before continuing, "Itakura's programming skills are very impressive, and he has his own unique style. It would be very difficult for the project team to find someone to replace him. Detective Mori, I would like to ask you to help me find the storage devices he left behind before he died, whether it's floppy disks or CDs. The code he wrote that was halfway through should be in there. As long as we have that, our project team can find a way to continue the development."

"I see."

Kogoro Mouri nodded, then said somewhat reluctantly, "It's not that I'm refusing—but Mr. Itakura has been dead for some time now, and many things from his house have been taken to the police station as evidence. Investigating now would be extremely difficult—"

Please!

Mason lowered his head and said, "We're really desperate—the project development deadline is fast approaching, and if we can't deliver the expected results, the entire company will be dragged down by the exorbitant penalty for breach of contract. If you, Detective Mori, can help us find the code storage device in Itakura, the price is negotiable—how about five million yen? If that's not enough, we can add more!"

"this----?"

Kogoro Mouri swallowed hard.

Five million might not be a huge sum, perhaps enough for the Suzuki zaibatsu's daughter to have one meal, but it's definitely not a small amount either, and it's certainly very tempting for him.

"I see!"

Kogoro Mouri slammed his hand on the table: "I accept this commission!"

—It wasn't that he was being arrogant. After all, before Conan started racking up murder cases for him, the Mouri Detective Agency's business was basically limited to investigating extramarital affairs and finding things. Without a certain level of professional competence, he wouldn't have lasted until he became the Sleeping Kogoro.

"Thank you so much."

Mason stood up gratefully, shook Kogoro Mouri's hand tightly, and handed him the three stacks of money on the table.

"This is the deposit. Please keep it safe. I will pay the balance as soon as the deal is done."

Then came a long, drawn-out argument, with both sides discussing for over ten minutes where Itakura Taku might have hidden the item. However, Mason mostly made things up based on the manga, since his only goal was to give Kogoro Mouri a request that couldn't be resolved quickly. If he could actually find the floppy disk that Itakura Taku had developed for the sake brewery—wouldn't that be great? He'd been wanting to see what the sake brewery was up to for a while.

The Mori father and daughter naturally assumed it was just a routine request, but Conan and Shiho Miyano remained on edge, fearing that the man would suddenly pull out a pistol from his bag and shoot everyone in the agency. However, after listening for a while, it turned out that they really were just discussing business, which left them completely bewildered.

No, brother, what exactly do you want to do?

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Kogoro Mouri patted his chest and promised to solve Mason's problem in the shortest possible time. Mason thanked him repeatedly and then left the office with Shiho Miyano, agreeing to meet again the next morning.

In a flash, Conan, hiding behind the sofa, used a rubber band to flick a sticky transmitter onto Shiho Miyano's shoe. The latter understood and then walked out of the agency as if nothing had happened.

After the two went downstairs, Kogoro Mouri scratched his head, his exaggerated confidence collapsing instantly. He plopped back into his office chair, muttering to himself.

"The pay is good—but it's been a long time since I've done this kind of work, so the pressure is quite high."

"Dad—" Ran Mouri rolled her eyes at him, "That guest seemed to be in a real hurry. If you're not confident, you should explain things to him properly."

"A job that pays five million just to find something—how could I let it slip by?"

Kogoro Mouri raised his head and said, "Ran, do you not believe in my abilities?"

"Ha ha----"

Ran Mouri chuckled twice, then blinked, and said in a somewhat confused low voice, "Speaking of which—"

The one with Mr. Mason—she looks older than me, so I should call her "older sister"? Dad, Conan, don't you think she looks familiar, like we've seen her somewhere before?

"Sister Xiaolan, nothing like that happened, right?"

Conan, trying to sound cute, said in a high-pitched voice, "I don't remember ever seeing a woman who looks like that before."

"Really?" Ran Mouri scratched her chin, puzzled. "But she looks really familiar?"

"Hahaha————"

Conan forced a couple of dry laughs, then suddenly feigned a look of sudden realization and said, "Ah! I forgot! Dr. Agasa contacted me earlier, saying he needed to talk to me about something!"

"But didn't you just come back from the professor's house? And it's so late—"

"It's okay, it's okay. The professor often makes these kinds of mistakes. I'm coming right now—" Conan dashed into the bedroom, grabbed his nuclear-powered skateboard, and ran out without looking back. "Bye-bye, I'll be right back!"