No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

"A balance between work and rest is my attitude towards life. Only in this way can I bring out my best in handling cases."

Vermouth appeared to have returned from her trip to Okinawa, but in reality, she had completed the mission assigned to her by the organization. The day she returned happened to be the day Kitahara Masaki took leave, so Kitahara Masaki took Vermouth out to play.

"Thank you so much, Masaki. I didn't expect my Beetle to break down the day before the trip. I'm counting on you for this trip."

"No trouble at all, it's just being a driver for the kids once in a while."

That's right, and coincidentally, the Junior Detective League and Professor Agasa were both planning to go mushroom picking in the mountains. Apparently, this is the season when fungi grow, and there's also a restaurant in the area famous for its mushroom dishes, so it's like a complete trip.

Kitahara Masaki was also very interested in Japanese mushroom dishes, and in order to avoid the reporters who kept asking him "What is your opinion on this case?", he volunteered to be the dedicated driver for this trip, ignoring the fact that it was snowing just one week ago and he could wear short sleeves this week.

----------------

"Although you can pick mushrooms here, there are restrictions. Adults can pick a maximum of three, and children can pick a maximum of two. After you return to the inn, someone will use the mushrooms you picked to cook a dish."

This sounds a bit like a neon-style rural guesthouse. The uncle in charge of guiding tourists pointed to a barbed wire fence nearby and said:

"Attention, guests. Behind these two barbed wire fences is a hunting area with wild animals and hunters. It is very dangerous. Please do not climb over the barbed wire fences out of curiosity."

It was probably the first time the three children had come to collect mushrooms, and they were very excited. However, after only half an hour, they started to get bored because they were just looking at the ground randomly and naturally couldn't find anything.

Then they pestered Vermouth, asking her about her encounter with Kitahara Masaki, and also curiously inquired about what life was like for adults in the United States.

Seeing Vermouth's troubled expression, Kitahara Masaki sat smiling under the red pine tree, enjoying his daily life without having to deal with work. On weekends, he usually played games at home, went to dessert shops to eat new kinds of desserts, or went to the gym to exercise. He didn't have many opportunities to connect with nature. During his last trip to Shizuoka Prefecture, an unexpected reporter appeared, so he couldn't relax.

"Hey, stop bothering Sister Lande. If you want to pick pine mushrooms, observe your surroundings carefully. Look, the leaves of that red pine tree have turned yellowish-green. Pine mushrooms usually attach themselves to the roots of red pine trees to absorb nutrients. So those red pine trees that are attached to them don't look very healthy. By using these points, we can find places where pine mushrooms grow in a targeted way."

It seems that Hawaii also taught Conan how to find mushrooms in the forest and how to distinguish between poisonous and edible mushrooms.

"You see, if we switch from looking for pine mushrooms to looking for red pine wood with yellowing leaves, we'll find them very quickly."

Soon, the children found a pine mushroom under a red pine tree. Professor Agasa, also a foodie, couldn't stop laughing when he saw it. He gently pulled it out, smelled it, and exclaimed:

"A real tree! Aren't you going to pick it?"

"No rush, there's still plenty of time before dinner, I want to enjoy the fresh forest air. If we really can't find any, we'll just take a few from Conan's basket."

After seeing the doctor accompany the children to another red pine tree, Vermouth sat down next to Kitahara Masaki and said:

"When did you become so close to these kids?"

At this point, Vermouth hadn't realized that Conan was Shinichi Kudo, and Masaki Kitahara wouldn't tell her that Ai Haibara was Sherry. Naturally, to Conan and the others, Vermouth was just Masaki Kitahara's girlfriend.

Upon hearing Vermouth's question, Kitahara Masaki replied:

"These kids are exceptionally lively. They've been involved in many cases and have given statements at the Metropolitan Police Department more than ten times. Basically, the entire Metropolitan Police Department knows about these kids who love playing detective games."

"Oh, I see. Actually, I was attacked by a group of people when I went to Okinawa."

Vermouth wasn't too concerned about the children. Even the intelligent Conan was just a precocious brat in her eyes. It's just that without comparison, she would definitely have some doubts about Conan's identity. But after Kitahara Masaki's reminder, Conan has now completely become a kid who doesn't even say "Ah-le-le" anymore.

So since she couldn't see it, that was fine, saving Kitahara Masaki a lot of explanations. Besides, the attack Vermouth mentioned also bothered him.

"What is your identity?"

"Hmm, they said they were hired by an organization called Tsukuyomi. The assassins lowered their guard after seeing that I was a woman, and said quite a few unpleasant things."

"Has it been completely resolved?"

"Of course, those people probably thought I would become 'Officer Kitahara's' weakness, which is why they had me kidnapped. I threw them into the sea afterwards, and they're probably in the bellies of fish now."

Kitahara Masaki rubbed his forehead, also surprised that Tsukuyomi's luck was so bad. Not only had she offended him, but she had also offended a contemporary witch.

It seems that Tsukuyomi's destruction was a predetermined fate. Could it be that their organization and the world of Detective Conan are incompatible...?

To this, Kitahara Masaki responded – "It's like popping champagne."

Chapter 122 Bad luck! Bad luck! Bad luck!

"Genta! Genta! Where did you go?"

Hearing Conan shout loudly, Kitahara Masaki stood up, walked over, and asked:

"what happened?"

"Genta is gone! He was just here a moment ago, but now I can't find him anywhere..."

Oh dear, Genta, this is really...

"Professor Agasa, Evelyn and I are going to find Genta and come back. You can stay here for now."

As we inspected along the barbed wire fence, we found a spot covered in mud that hadn't dried yet, indicating it had just been there. Given that it was only in such a small area, it was likely caused by a child's shoe sole stepping on it.

"Let it go."

Kitahara Masaki and Vermouth easily climbed over, which was quite baffling. The area was a hunting zone, and the barbed wire fence used for isolation was only three meters high with no spikes or anything like that on top. Yet, even an elementary school student could climb over it.

"Shinichi, it seems you still value these kids quite a bit."

“Vermouth, what do you think if I said that in the future—I want you to do your best to help those children in trouble if you see something like this happen?”

"Is it too late for me to start doing this now?"

"Haha, I just wanted to tell you that maybe some things are better than you think after you try them once."

Kitahara Masaki took out a survival knife and left a mark on the ground as he moved forward, while Vermouth saw a hole appear in the second barbed wire fence.

"It seems that the child has indeed fallen into the situation you described."

Kitahara Masaki remained silent. Being able to farm achievements was certainly not a bad thing, but it didn't feel right to have to put a group of children in dangerous situations every time to farm achievements.

“Let’s go over there, but we have to be careful. Every year, a lot of people in Japan are shot because they are mistaken for prey, and it’s also a yearly tradition for them to disappear into the forest.”

"Hmm... I don't really understand this kind of thing in Japan. Even if they are in so much pain that they want to commit suicide or run away from home, they still choose to understand themselves in an empty place. Why is this culture of 'not wanting to cause trouble for others' so pathological?"

"It's better not to understand; if you really understand, you'll become unhappy."

Kitahara Masaki never liked the oppressive environment of Japan. Most of the police officers in the Metropolitan Police Department became familiar with each other through drinking, but there were still many officers, such as the patrol officers at the police station, who would bow and scrape when they saw Kitahara Masaki, for fear of offending him.

"And the kid we're looking for now, I bet he spends most of his time thinking about what to eat tonight."

"Really? That's a very cheerful child."

After the two crossed the second barbed wire fence, they suddenly saw the grass there swaying, and then a small bear emerged from the dense grass.

"Oh, as expected of a hunting area, this little bear must only be a year old. It's so cute."

Vermouth wasn't afraid at all and went straight to pet the bear cub. The bear cub lay down on the ground and obediently exposed its belly, its instincts telling it that it had to quickly make these two humans understand that it was harmless.

To the average person, Kitahara Masaki and Vermouth are just a handsome man and a beautiful woman, but to animals, they are two predators reeking of blood. If they don't show weakness, they might become a bear that dies young.

"Why are you acting like a silly husky, letting your guard down so easily when you meet humans for the first time? Aren't you afraid of being shot by hunters? Or are the prey in this hunting area actually kept as pets?"

Kitahara Masaki, of course, hadn't forgotten that he was there to find Genta. After entering the hunting area, he called out several times, seemingly hearing Genta's voice in the distance, but…

The sound came from behind.

"Hey, Masaki, Genta only crossed the first barbed wire fence. We've already reunited, so you and Miss Lande should come back soon too."

"Understood, Professor Agasa. Remember to give Genta a good beating and tell him that if he continues to break the rules like this, he'll never be allowed to eat eel rice again."

"Haha, definitely, definitely. But if I say it's for a lifetime, I think that kid will be silly enough to believe it. So let's say it's for a week."

Ah, Professor Agasa is too kind to these children.

“Go back, Vermouth.”

"I see, then we'll..."

Halfway through their conversation, both of them simultaneously saw the figure of a hunter appear in the distance, and then the hunter raised his rifle...

Without any prompting or shouting, the two simultaneously made a dodging motion, hiding behind a large tree. The hunting rifle also fired a shot, the bullet hitting a nearby tree, which was still some distance from where the two were hiding.

"enemy?"

"That shouldn't be the case. We don't know him, and in this level of visibility, he shouldn't have mistaken us for prey..."

At this moment, the drone suddenly spotted a body hidden in the grass not far away. It was still warm in the thermal imaging field of view, probably just delivered.

"Oh dear, it seems we've stumbled upon a murder case. There's a body in the bushes over there."

"So what do we do? Pretend to be an ordinary tourist and run away, or take out your police handbook and smash it in the killer's face?"

"Neither of these proposals sounds like a good option. I think we should wait no longer. The one who's in a hurry now is the murderer. We can obviously wait."

"Oh, I thought you were going to use the trees as cover to get close to him and then take his gun."

"The key is that these kinds of trivial things just don't motivate people at all."

"Then how about I become his hostage? Maybe that will motivate you."

The two men were just talking, using their peripheral vision to observe how far away the hunter was from them. As for the little bear, it was whimpering and sitting obediently next to Kitahara Masaki.

"Little Bear, luckily I'm not a bad poacher. What would you do if you encountered a hunter who would kill you even if he didn't care about principles?"

Kitahara Masaki rubbed its bear-like face, seeing that it also looked like a bear, which made him angry.

"Get out of here right now! Jubei is nearby! Go back to the other side of the barbed wire; she'll definitely smell the child!"

The hunter drew closer, but he didn't fire again; he just shouted at the top of his lungs.

Roar! ! ! !

No sooner had the old hunter finished speaking than a huge black bear charged out of the forest, roaring fiercely at Kitahara Masaki, who was kneading his face like dough, and then smashing a small tree with a single slap.

Seeing this sudden turn of events, Kitahara Masaki exclaimed:

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!"

Chapter 123 Take this palm strike that fell from the sky!

collapse! ! !

The hunter fired a shot into the air, making a threatening sound, and shouted as he ran towards the black bear:

"Jubei! Do you remember me? You saved me in that accident eight years ago!"

This old man was quite brave, completely unafraid of being killed by a bear's paw, and even turned around to shout at Kitahara Masaki:

"Get out of here quickly, and cover yourselves with dirt. If Jubei can still smell the bear cub's scent on you, he'll think you're the murderers who killed her cub!"

Damn it, I just came here to find a kid, but instead I've turned into a death knell. Since Kitahara Maki is here on vacation, he left all his guns at home. Now he's facing a black bear that's almost twice the height of a person when it stands up, and it's not some lowlife from the Japanese underworld.

Perhaps the black bear was still angry, because it completely ignored the old hunter's words and slammed its paw directly into the ground. The dust it kicked up made the old hunter cough repeatedly and he couldn't help but take several steps back.