Conan, I'm an actor

"I understand!" Conan nodded emphatically.

"Furthermore, the truth is often the opposite of what we see; an upside-down world may be the answer." After saying this, Shinjo got into the car.

"I really don't like the way that guy talks. He can just say what he wants to say directly," Mori complained. "He used to be like that too, always trying to be mysterious and assuming everyone is as smart as him, but in the end, he always ends up in a mess."

After returning to his room, Xincheng left to begin working, starting by searching for a suitable hardware supplier.

Regardless of who you hire to build the supercomputer, it will require massive amounts of funding and hardware, and this part of the work can be done in advance. Although he could simply pay an agent to do it, he didn't want to be taken advantage of.

Inside the Metropolitan Police Department, the lights in the meeting room were on, and it was completely dark outside.

"I've asked you here for no other reason than to inform you that a police officer has gone missing while on vacation with his girlfriend. This is the missing officer." Inspector Megure took out a photograph and placed it in front of Conan.

Conan, who was studying the code, suddenly stood on the chair, supporting himself on the table with both hands. "This is the person, Inspector Megure."

"It really is him. His name is Yamabe Koichi, the Olympic rifle shooting champion." Inspector Megure said seriously, "The current situation is that the criminals have kidnapped Yamabe and his girlfriend, Eri, and are using Eri as a hostage to threaten and force Yamabe to shoot a target with a rifle."

“Rifle shooting athletes, does that mean that the people they’re targeting are basically already…” Kogoro Mouri scratched his hair in distress.

"Now we know the specifics of the situation, but we don't know when and where the operation will take place." Inspector Megure looked at the numbers in front of Conan with some distress. "Conan, have you thought of anything?"

"By the way, didn't you go to the New Town Detective Agency earlier? You probably went to ask him about the code, right? Did he say anything to you?" Kogoro Mouri asked Conan.

“Uncle Xincheng gave this to me, saying that the places chosen during assassin training are based on reference points. The river might be a simulated railway or road, the toy might be a simulated vehicle, and the balloon is a simulated target.” Conan held up his picture book. “I’ve looked it up. There’s no S-shaped curve on National Highway 31, only on National Highway 162.”

"If National Highway 162 represents the location, then the preceding information should represent the time. How should this be..."

"Let me give it a try!" Kogoro snatched the blueprint in front of Conan and placed it in front of him, but after looking at it for a long time, he still couldn't figure it out.

Sitting across from Kogoro, Conan looked at the blueprints in front of him, and Shinjo's words suddenly flashed through his mind: "The truth is often the opposite of what you see; an upside-down world may be the answer."

He looked up at Inspector Megure and said, "Inspector Megure, could I borrow your calculator?"

“A calculator? That might be a bit difficult. The case has been upgraded, and the calculator is important evidence,” Inspector Megure said with some difficulty.

"Any calculator will do, I don't need the one I found."

"Yes, I do. I'll go get it for you." Inspector Megure said and walked out of the meeting room.

Kogoro looked at Conan with some surprise. Could it be that the numbers written on the paper were different from those on the calculator?

Chapter 39 The Truth is Upside Down

A few minutes later, Inspector Megure returned to the meeting room with a calculator, though he still didn't understand why Conan wanted one.

"When Uncle Shinjo left the detective agency, he told me that the truth is what's reversed." Conan pressed the numbers directly onto the calculator. "Before, I couldn't see it because of the difference between handwriting and how numbers are written on a computer. Now, I just need to look at it upside down and treat the numbers as English letters."

"291, HEISEIE, followed by Heisei, isn't that a reign title?" Kogoro Mouri frowned and asked, "What does it mean?"

“Heisei should refer to the railway train, the Heisei Limited Express.” Conan had already opened the booklet. “It should be at this S-curve. As for 291, it should refer to the time, 1 p.m. on the 29th of this month. You can find out by checking the train timetable.”

The Metropolitan Police Department acted very efficiently, quickly obtaining the timetable for the 29th from the railway authorities. After comparing the locations and terrain the train would pass through at 1 p.m., they quickly pinpointed the exact sniper positions.

“We’ll be lying in ambush all around, these criminals will never escape our grasp.” Inspector Megure patted Conan on the shoulder. “Conan, you have the potential to be a great detective.”

Conan felt the weight on his shoulders and looked somewhat embarrassed.

He remembered what Shinjo had told him—if they couldn't even crack this code, then they should give up on that unrealistic fantasy. For those guys in the organization, this code would only take a few minutes to decipher.

He racked his brains for almost an entire afternoon before finally cracking the code with Xincheng's help, and he even got it wrong on his first try.

If it weren't for Shinjo's reminder, they might have gone to the wrong place and caused a tragedy. Uncle Shinjo must have realized his mistake, which is why he gave him another hint before leaving the agency.

In this situation, it took him almost an hour to decipher the code. If the people in the organization could really crack the code in a few minutes...

The next day, at Professor Agasa's house

Shinjo glanced at the now empty Kudo house next door, then rang the doorbell.

"Who is it?" Soon, Professor Agasa's voice rang out from inside the doorbell.

"Excuse me, are you Professor Agasa? I'm Tetsuo Shinjo. We met on Tsukikage Island before. I'd like to ask you for help designing and completing a project," Shinjo said very politely.

"I've been quite busy lately, and I really can't find the time..." Professor Agasa was interrupted before he could finish speaking.

"Twenty million."

"I think regarding the price..."

"US dollars."

The doorbell went silent for a moment, and then Professor Agasa's door opened. A nimble, chubby man rushed out of the house, opened the gate to the yard, and asked very politely, "I heard from Conan that you were coming. Welcome, welcome."

half an hour later

Looking at Professor Agasa in front of him, Shinjo didn't know what to say for a moment.

He knew that Dr. Agasa was short of money. The data he investigated showed that Dr. Agasa had several projects that were crowdfunding, but the fundraising results were not ideal. However, he did not expect that the doctor was so short of money.

Upon arriving at Professor Agasa's house, Professor Agasa quickly served two cups of coffee and then looked expectantly at the salesperson in front of him, waiting for him to state his needs.

“Here’s the thing, this is a supercomputer room that our company designed.” Shinjo took out a document that he had prepared in advance. “These are the construction requirements. I hope Dr. Agasa can help our company complete the construction of this computer room.”

"But I know absolutely nothing about computers." Upon hearing that it was about computers, a hint of difficulty appeared on Professor Agasa's face.

He's an inventor, not a computer engineer.

“We need to purchase a lot of materials for this server room, and our company knows nothing about this,” Xincheng said after carefully considering his words. “Just name your budget; the 20 million US dollars is just a deposit.”

"May I ask what this computer room is used for?" Dr. Agasa was clearly already somewhat interested.

"Artificial intelligence, ai".

"What do you need that for?" Professor Agasa asked, somewhat puzzled. "AI isn't very useful these days..."

Halfway through his sentence, Dr. Agasa's mouth was shut up by the check on the table, or more precisely, by the long string of zeros on the back of the check.

"It's settled then, no problem, right?" Xincheng picked up his briefcase. "This is the address for building the server room. The entire plot of land covers 600 acres. I only have two requirements: security equipment must be in place, and the process must be fast. Money is not a problem."

"No problem, no problem. This kind of thing can be solved simply by purchasing the equipment; it's no big deal at all." After reviewing the proposal, Dr. Agasa immediately patted his chest and gave his assurance.

As he went outside, he noticed two cars parked in front of the Kudo residence next door, with two men dressed in black uniforms, resembling bodyguards, standing beside them.

"Are they Gin's people or Sherry's people?" Shinjo paused for a moment, just as he was considering whether to go in through the back door to say hello and give them a surprise.

The men in black seemed to have noticed Xincheng; two of them had already approached, their hands in their jacket pockets, clearly field agents carrying weapons. After a brief moment's thought, he decided to get into his car and leave this dangerous place.

However, at that moment, the two men in black suddenly drew their guns and pointed them at Xincheng.

“Hey, hey, hey, we’re all on the same side, there’s no need for this.” Xincheng smiled and raised his hands. “My code name is Cognac, you can look it up.”

The two men in black hesitated for a moment, but one of them still chose to approach Shinjo, directly tied his hands behind his back, and then took him to the Kudo family's villa.

Shinjo felt a little confused. If it were Gin, he wouldn't need to use such methods. He could have just sent Vodka to find him, or had Chianti and Cohen, those two snipers, kill him.

Excluding Gin, the only person who could be at the Kudo residence right now is Shiho Miyano. But why would Shiho Miyano attack him? It doesn't make sense.

After being brought into the Kudo residence, Shinjo quickly met Shiho Miyano, who was wearing a white coat. She was directing her subordinates to search the surrounding area for any signs of the man named Shinichi Kudo.

"Let me introduce myself, Sherry," Shiho Miyano said, staring at the man in front of her. "Let him go, and you can leave."

After she finished speaking, the two members of the organization behind Shinjo released Shinjo and left the Kudo family.

Chapter 40 An Unexpected Invitation

"Your men are really rough," Shinjo said, cracking his knuckles. "I've heard of you, a very capable scientist. So, what does this great scientist want from me, a field operative?"

“I want to join forces with you,” Shiho Miyano said. “After my sister leaves the organization, you should be in charge, Cognac.”

“Yes,” Cognac said with a smile. “Gin probably wouldn’t tell you something like this. Let me guess who told you. Those unlucky guys in the bar that day didn’t have the guts, and they didn’t know so much about the inside story. It seems like only that Vodka guy did.”

"It's vodka, he let it slip."

“I should tell Gin to cripple that guy’s tongue, so he won’t leak information all the time.” Shinjo stroked his chin. “But I heard you’re a drug developer, how about developing a drug to make him mute?”

Shiho Miyano stared at the cognac, remaining silent for a long time.

"Alright, alright, just tell me what you want me to do?" Xincheng found a chair and sat down.

"Make sure my sister leaves the organization safely," Shiho Miyano said, emphasizing each word.

“Sorry, I can’t do that,” Shinjo said with a smile. “I’m not that stupid. I’m making a living on Gin’s turf. If I let the person he’s killing go, my future will be bleak. Given Gin’s personality, he might just kill me outright.”

Seeing Shiho fall silent, Shinjo added, "And to tell you the truth, when Miyano Akemi was handed over to me, she had already completed a major robbery of 10 billion yen. Once she escaped, her personal information would become clues and be handed over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Socially dead, she could only hide in the sewers like a rat, and was eventually killed by the organization."

Shiho Miyano fell silent. While her intelligence was exceptional, she had been raised by the organization like a caged bird. Without connections or power, she couldn't possibly devise a way to help her sister escape Gin's clutches, unless…

"Don't think you can use your continued employment in the organization as a condition for your sister's safety. In their eyes, it's your duty. There aren't many people who can replace you, but they are not nonexistent. Gin can deceive your sister, so he can deceive you too," Shinjo said with a smile. "Let me confirm one thing first: you called me here to discuss a deal, right?"

"Yes."

"So, what are your chips?"

“I…” Shiho Miyano was speechless for a moment, unable to think of any bargaining chips she had.

“You want to make a deal, but you don’t have any leverage. This is a difficult situation.” Shinjo tapped his fingers on the table. “How about this, I’ll help you think of a leverage: the drug information for APTX-4869.”

Upon hearing Shinjo's words, Shiho's pupils instantly contracted. The code name APTX-4869 was currently known only to a few high-ranking members of the research team and the organization.

Who exactly is this guy? And why does he need the drug information?

She believed that Cognac was a high-ranking member of the organization. The fact that he had caused such a scene at Gin's bar and escaped unscathed, without Gin pursuing the matter further, was enough to prove his high status within the organization. This was also her reason for risking everything to find him.

But if he were a high-ranking member of the organization, he could simply obtain the drug information directly; there would be no need for her to handle it. Unless he obtained the drug's code name through improper channels, then his identity is...

“Don’t think too much. You just need to agree or disagree.” Xincheng tapped the table. “If you agree, I’ll let your sister go. Her ex-boyfriend is an FBI agent. With the FBI, keeping her alive won’t be a problem.”

"I agree," Shiho Miyano said through gritted teeth. Having no goodwill towards the organization anymore, she was not interested in betraying it.

Moreover, Mingmei has no way back now. Even being in prison and under the FBI's surveillance is better than becoming a wandering ghost.

“Then let’s move on to the second deal: help me find Bourbon,” Shinjo said, stroking his chin. “And then have him come to me.”

"Organization members?"

“Yes, Jiang Xiaobai, the organization member who faked his death, has appeared on Moonshadow Island.” Shinjo said with a smile as he looked at Shiho, who was becoming increasingly excited. “He has many secrets. Gin’s first assassination attempt failed, so Rum sent Bourbon to Japan to assassinate Jiang Xiaobai.”

“I agree, but what are your bargaining chips? Since it’s a transaction, you need to prepare corresponding bargaining chips,” Shiho Miyano said, staring at the man in front of her.

“You’re really putting your knowledge to good use. It’s a pity, this isn’t a transaction, it’s a win-win situation.” Shinjo said with a smile. “Fine, you still won’t believe me. So I’ll give you a little tidbit. When Bourbon was a kid, he was often bullied by his classmates because of his hair color, and he often got into fights. Every time he got hurt, he would go to a clinic for treatment, and the doctor at the clinic was named Elena Miyano.”

Upon hearing her mother's name, Shiho Miyano could no longer sit still and shouted at Shinjo, "What else do you know?"

“I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew. I’ll tell you once you’ve prepared your bargaining chips.” Shinjo brushed away Shiho’s hand that was gripping his collar. “He and Miss Elena have a very good relationship. If it’s to help her daughter, he’ll definitely be happy to do so. Besides, I just want him to give false testimony.”