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

Chapter 76 The Ultimate Insult to Vermouth (Confirmed)

The person on the other end of the phone was none other than the famous actress Yukiko Kudo, who was currently on vacation overseas with her husband. As the saying goes, true love is between husband and wife, and children are just an accident. In a sense, this couple who let their eldest son run around like a child all day long (I'm sure of it) are quite something.

Mason understood Conan's meaning and gave a subtle smile.

Shiho Miyano understood Conan's meaning and then hissed.

Only Vermouth's face first turned angry, then pale, as a sense of shame and fear spread through her heart.

"Shin-chan? What are you talking about?"

Yukiko Kudo asked, bewildered.

"You'll know once you hear her voice."

Conan walked over to Vermouth and held out the phone, while Mason smiled at her obligingly: "Won't you catch up with an old friend?"

"you----"

Vermouth took a deep breath, and for a moment showed a look of resignation, before smiling and saying, "Yukiko, it's me."

"?!?"

Yukiko Kudo on the other end of the phone was immediately shocked. After a moment's thought, her intelligence prevailed, and she shouted nervously, "Sharon! What did you do to my son?"

"Huh?" Vermouth's eyes widened. "Me?"

"Sharon! Haven't you all caused Shin-chan enough trouble?" Yukiko Kudo shouted, "Let him go! Or I'll—"

"If you feel sorry for your son, then come back and spend more time with him—"

Vermouth couldn't help but retort, "And it wasn't me who arrested your son, it was your son who arrested me!"

'

"?"

Yukiko Kudo's brain has shut down.

"That's right, that's exactly it," Conan added. "Things are complicated. You and Dad should go back to Japan right away; something big might happen."

"??????"

After a moment's thought, Yukiko Kudo realized the key point and snapped, "I get it! It's a voice changer! What are you trying to do, trick me and my husband?!"

Conan: "————"

Vermouth:

Mason: "————"

After a period of silence, Conan sighed, then turned on the video call function, showing both his and Vermouth's faces in the video, and chuckled twice: "Seeing is believing, any other questions?"

'

Although there are many outrageous things in the world of Detective Conan, at least in this era, there is no AI face-swapping technology, so real-time video calls generally cannot be faked.

Yukiko Kudo: "————"

But she was still a little skeptical. After all, given Vermouth's abilities, it was quite normal for her to find a child to disguise and act. You couldn't make a judgment based on appearance alone.

"If you were Shin-chan, tell us a secret that only we know," Yukiko Kudo asked with a serious expression.

Conan rolled his eyes: "Is Professor Agasa satisfied now that he has a hairy mole on the back of his butt?"

"!"

She hissed, brought her face close to the phone, stared intently at it for a couple of seconds, and only after Vermouth gave her a helpless smile did she lean back dramatically.

"Really, really, really?"

Yukiko Kudo gasped, but after a moment's thought, a morbid smile appeared on her face, exactly like Conan's earlier.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!" She suddenly burst into laughter, mocking him mercilessly, "Sharon! You've finally met your match, hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!"

"."

'

Vermouth took a deep breath, then looked at Mason and said earnestly, "Konek, I've treated you well before. Please, I'm begging you, kill me."

Mason blinked, then flashed a bright, cheerful smile and gave Vermouth a thumbs-up, saying, "Good luck."

Then he continued to ponder that question—Conan was one thing, but how did Yukiko Kudo know that Professor Agasa had a hairy mole on the back of his butt? Was it some kind of secret passed down through generations?

Vermouth sighed, suppressing the urge to smash her head against the wall—after all, she didn't have the strength right now. After a long silence, she finally sighed again and revealed a smile that seemed to belong to an enlightened being, detached from worldly concerns.

There's nothing to be afraid of anymore.

"Mom, stop laughing," Conan said. "How long will it take you and Dad to get to Japan? Like I said before, something big might happen soon."

"Please wait a moment."

Yukiko Kudo stopped laughing and yelled to the side, "Husband!!!"

A moment later, Yusaku Kudo, soaking wet and wearing only swimming trunks, appeared next to Yukiko Kudo. After only a couple of sentences of explanation, he immediately realized the seriousness of the situation, and nodded solemnly, saying, "Dad, I have some connections in the US military. I'll go borrow a fighter jet and fly it over right away—"

It will arrive within half a day.

""

Conan, Shiho Miyano, and Mason were immediately filled with awe.

Is this what a world-class novelist is like? Amazing, incredibly amazing.

"I understand." Conan nodded. "We'll meet at Professor Agasa's house."

After saying that, he hung up the phone, then looked up at Mason and Shiho Miyano and said, "Let's go to Professor Agasa's house. The problem is very serious, and I'm afraid it's not something we can solve by just a few of us. It will be easier if we work together."

Mason nodded happily: "Very good, I thought you were going to be a lone hero."

"—This kind of thing obviously can't be solved by one person, right? Do you think I'm stupid?"

Mason gave Conan a thumbs up for his resolve, then found a lot of ropes in the cabinet, put the bodyguard in a position where it was very difficult for him to exert any strength, and tied him up repeatedly until he was completely bound into a human dumpling.

Even so, he still felt it wasn't safe enough, so he pried open the creature's mouth to examine it further. He finally discovered that its canines were similar to those of a venom-spitting cobra, a structure that uses muscle compression to eject venom. That was fine; as long as it was a biological structure, it could be dealt with physically. The real problem was that the creature's ability to spray corrosive liquid was actually some kind of supernatural ability, which would be more troublesome.

To prevent any accidents, Mason simply found another gun and smashed his canine teeth to pieces with the butt of the gun, then stuffed his mouth tightly with a wet strip of cloth—to be fair, the hypnotic hammer was incredibly effective; even after being treated so roughly, the poor young man didn't wake up and remained asleep like a dead pig.

Meanwhile, Shiho Miyano, with a look of disgust, helped Vermouth stop the bleeding and bandaged her wounds to prevent her from fainting from excessive blood loss.

"Let's go."

Mason used his shoulders to support the bodyguard and Vermouth, and then quickly evacuated the safe house with Conan and Shiho Miyano.

Fortunately, there was no one outside, which made it very easy for them to get into the car.

With the two prisoners on board, the group returned to Beika Town. They first went to the Mouri Detective Agency to ask Kogoro Mouri to begin a formal investigation into the whereabouts of Itakura Suguru's software, and then quickly went to Professor Agasa's house.

Conan and Shiho Miyano both took the day off using a cold as an excuse, so there's no need to worry about school matters; they have a whole day to deal with their current issues.

After explaining the series of shocking events that occurred last night, Dr. Agasa was still quite shocked, but he was able to accept it and promptly welcomed them into his home.

First, the group locked the bodyguard in the underground all-steel room that Professor Agasa used when he was experimenting with explosives. Don't ask why there's such a thing here; Mason almost couldn't hold back when he heard that.

Then, Shiho Miyano and Professor Agasa went to help Vermouth treat her wounds further, while Conan continued to call for backup.

To put it bluntly, it's just a call to the FBI, since cracking down on the Black Organization is their mission.

James, Andre, and Judy, along with some other small fry, were all called over. Although Mason thought they were all useless small fry, small fry could still be used to fill in the gaps, so they would make do.

So, Yukiko Kudo and Jodie, the two women with complicated relationships with Vermouth, were already on their way on horseback.

In other words, the ultimate insult against Vermouth is about to unfold.

In the living room, Mason changed out of his tattered clothes, which were almost soaked in blood, and threw them away. After tidying himself up, he and Conan went to the door of the guest room that was being used as a makeshift medical room.

Inside, Shiho Miyano was stitching up Vermouth—whether intentionally or because she hadn't done this kind of work much before, her movements were quite clumsy, causing Vermouth to sweat profusely from the pain without anesthesia.

"Oh, so you've finally met your match."

Mason leaned against the doorframe, shook his head, and sighed, "Cherish the present, because once your old friends arrive, you won't get this kind of treatment anymore."

"Konek————"

Vermouth gritted her teeth and turned her head, revealing an angry look to Mason: "So that's how it is. You betrayed the organization and then used me as a pledge of loyalty? You really have a good plan."

"Betrayal is relative." Mason shook his head. "I've been working like a slave for the organization for so many years, and all I got was a job with a monthly salary of $15,000. It wouldn't have mattered in the past, but the organization is clearly planning something big now. The heaviest burden will definitely fall on people like me. If I don't run away before anything happens, am I supposed to stay and wait to die?"

Vermouth scoffed, "That's quite a fancy excuse."

"Reason? No, no, to be honest, like Sherry, I was a tool that the organization trained with a specific purpose from a young age."

Mason scoffed, "Vermouth, are you trying to say that the organization nurtured me out of some selfless love? To put it bluntly, it's just an investment and a business deal—how much did the organization spend to nurture me? Half a million dollars? Add to that the salary and bonuses I've received over the years, and it's at most a million dollars, right? But how much profit have I generated for the organization? Ten million or twenty million dollars? If we're really talking about favors, it's the organization that owes me."

From this perspective, Cognac and Cissell probably have a lot in common.

"—" Vermouth's eyes widened slightly. "You—are you really Konek?"

As mentioned before, Konek was basically her direct subordinate, and for many years he had been following her orders directly. In her mind, Konek was a calm and collected person who was indifferent to most things. To put it bluntly, he was someone who wouldn't say a word, so how could he possibly come up with such a long string of reasons?

"Of course it is!" Mason smiled. "It's just that you didn't see my true colors before."

"————?"

Vermouth blinked, a sudden surge of intense self-doubt washing over her.

"Heh, you should think about how to face the FBI's interrogation and your old friend's ridicule."

Mason shrugged, then turned and walked toward the front door of Professor Agasa's house.

"What are you going to do?" Conan asked instinctively.

"Of course I'm going to run away! You've already called a bunch of FBI agents over. If I don't run, am I supposed to just sit here and get arrested?"

""

Mason waved without turning his head, then quickened his pace and arrived at the front door: "We exchanged phone numbers before. Once everyone you called has arrived, we'll have a video call. See you later."

"ha?"

Before Conan could stop him, Mason pushed open the door and quickly left.

Soon, the sound of a car engine starting could be heard outside the door.

He turned around, stared at Shiho Miyano and Professor Agasa in silence for a while, and then slowly sighed.

Mason drove to Beika Town, randomly picked a clothing store that was already open, went in and bought a casual outfit, a baseball cap and sunglasses set. Then he threw the clothes, which were kindly provided by Professor Agasa, into a roadside trash can. After that, he drove back to the car rental shop from yesterday, returned the car, and got a more expensive one.

He did this to prevent someone from sticking a tracking device or something on him, since the place he was going to was not a place the Grim Reaper Elementary School Student and his group could easily find out.

Mason then drove along the map and, after some time, arrived at the other side of the Tokyo metropolitan area.

----------

After arriving at his destination, Mason parked his car on the side of the road, got out and walked for a while, then looked up—

Before me stood a school, with the words "Ekoda High School" prominently displayed at the entrance.

Some people may not be familiar with this name, so here's a little hint.

This is the school that Kaito Kuroba—or rather, Kaito Kid—attends.

Mason didn't rush here to see what the legendary Phantom Thief Kid looks like; he was looking for someone else.

To figure out what's really going on in this world, he needs to find a professional to help him.

The confirmed intelligence is that the Black Organization has developed some kind of outrageous bio-engineered demon technology, and it is highly related to their mission. Considering the strength of the client, Mason feels that there must be some troublesome supernatural factors involved.

This raises a question: Does the world of Detective Conan contain supernatural elements?

The answer is "It's possible, but not guaranteed."

In Detective Conan, while some characters can master karate to the point of punching through a wall, that's a comedic element that can be glossed over with excuses like "the human body is amazing, isn't it?" However, in Magic Kaito, another work closely related to Detective Conan, supernatural elements such as "magic" and "demons" are clearly present.

Kaito Kid, who is also the classmate of Kaito Kuroba, a second-year student at Ekoda High School, is a witch named Akako Koizumi. She can use magic with clear effects, such as alchemy, fire, lightning, and summoning. She can also communicate with "demons" whose specific identities are unknown. She is very powerful. Mason came here to find her.

As Aoyama Masayuki gradually merged the two works in his creative career, with "Detective Conan" taking the lead, the various supernatural elements in "Magic Kaito" were naturally banned, and the character design of the witch Koizumi Akako became purely chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur).

But now that the Black Organization has brought out something like the Bio-Demon that obviously won't appear in the Conan movies, it's not a problem that Ekoda High School has a real witch, right?

Even if it doesn't exist, it doesn't matter. At worst, we can change the target to Kaito Kid. Although the hypnotic club is broken into three pieces, it shouldn't be a problem to use the broken parts as throwing weapons. Then we can knock that kid unconscious with one blow and then "imprison" him!

—Oh no, my way of thinking is leaning too much towards the villain; I need to rein it in.

Mason sighed, then walked to the security booth at the entrance of Ekoda High School and waved friendly to those inside.

"Hello there."

The security guard standing guard inside nodded to him: "What's the matter?"

"Excuse me, could you please inform someone? I have something to give to Koizumi Akako from Class 2-B." Mason scratched his head and said, "Thank you."

Some people might think he would sneak over the wall into the school and carry out a sneak attack, but that's unlikely. Why take the risk when you can do it through proper channels? It's not worth it at all.

"Is this Koizumi Akako? Please wait a moment."

The security guard nodded and then relayed Mason's request over the radio to the school, whereupon Mason calmly stood there waiting—until the guard said something completely unexpected.

"I'm sorry, Koizumi Akako hasn't been to school for a while. Her teacher said she's either sick or something happened at home. You—"

"What?"

Mason's eyes widened slightly.

Sickness? Family trouble? Why did something have to happen at this time of year?

"Wait a minute," Mason frowned. "How long is 'recent period'?"

"I'm not quite sure—I didn't ask clearly, but it must have been almost a month, right?"

"Thank you for your help."

Mason nodded to the security guard, then turned and left.

After turning around, he immediately frowned and began to think.

Something's not right, not even nine-tenths right.