Conan, I'm an actor

Putting on gloves, she opened the first-aid kit that Xincheng had brought with him when he went out.

Medical records are a matter of personal privacy, and out of politeness, one shouldn't inquire about them. In addition, Xincheng had previously explained that he was taking medication because he had a chronic illness, so she didn't delve into it further.

However, what happened at the Kyoto hotel last time made her concerned about her partner's condition. She desperately wanted to know what was wrong with Shinjo so that she wouldn't be at a loss next time he had an attack.

"Cyclosporine soft capsules and mycophenolate mofetil dispersible tablets, what are these two medicines used for?" Yue Shui frowned as she looked at the two medicine bottles with the most medicines, but she still copied down the names of the medicines.

After doing all this, she put the medicine and medicine box back in their original places, trying to restore them to their original state.

After turning on her computer, she began searching for news about plane crashes.

On the Shinkansen, Shinjo mentioned that he had survived a plane crash, which severely injured him and even disfigured him, to the point that he needed surgery on his entire face. If what he said is true, then the reason he didn't become a policeman becomes clear; perhaps his illness is also related to that plane crash.

Plane crashes are rare to begin with, and those with survivors are even rarer, so Yue Shui felt that she was already very close to the past of the new city.

After searching through all the information on air crashes, she found that in the past twenty years, there had not been a single similar incident involving a Japanese airline, and even major airlines rarely had such incidents.

Either the plane crashed and everyone on board died, with no survivors, or the emergency landing was successful with only a few minor injuries. The only few who were seriously injured all died despite all efforts to save them.

“If it’s not a passenger plane…” Yue Shui grabbed her hair, “then it’s a small plane or a helicopter, which would broaden the scope considerably. It seems we’ll have to start with medicine.”

Taking the medicine bottle to the doctor to ask about its effects is unrealistic; hospitals nowadays still value patient privacy, especially given her sensitive identity as a detective.

Fortunately, her school had a medical school, and she had a few friends there. She could ask them for the answer. After flipping through her contacts, she quickly found a few classmates from the medical school, made a few calls, and soon finalized a date for a get-together.

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

After leaving the Mouri Detective Agency, Shinjo returned to his safe house in Tokyo. After changing his clothes, he opened a closet. After emptying the clothes inside, he pressed a button on the inside of the closet.

With a very soft sound, the inner wall of the cabinet opened outward, revealing the inner compartment.

A dozen or so firearms of varying lengths were displayed on the upper level of the compartment, while below them were a row of bullets and magazines of various calibers.

Shin-chan took out one of the Glocks, checked its condition, and after confirming that there were no problems, put it directly into his coat pocket.

Take out five magazines from the bottom, fill them with bullets, and insert them into the carrying device.

Just as he was about to close the camouflaged hidden door, he hesitated for a moment, then took out a short-barreled revolver and a bullet, and tucked them into the carrying harness on his waist.

You can't believe everything Vermouth says; she might be digging a hole for herself while preparing things.

Akemi Miyano may indeed have applied for retirement from the organization, but there is still a long time before the billion-yen robbery, and Gin and Akemi Miyano are probably still in the bargaining stage.

Vermouth is taking this matter far too seriously. Even if there was a deal between them, given her hatred for the Miyano family, she shouldn't be taking it so seriously.

Unless she wanted to use someone else to do her dirty work, whether she wanted to use him as a tool to kill Miyano Akemi or Gin as a tool to kill him, he didn't know.

The only thing we know for sure is that Vermouth hasn't completely broken off relations yet, or rather, she doesn't dare to, otherwise she wouldn't have resorted to such methods.

After making all the preparations, Xincheng took out a baseball cap, put it on his head, and headed directly to the designated location.

An hour and a half passed in the blink of an eye, and Xincheng pushed open the door and walked into a bar.

Upon seeing the bar, he immediately began searching his memory for information, but he couldn't recall the organization having a base here. After hesitating for a while, he still decided to enter the bar. Even if Gin's men wanted to attack him, they wouldn't do so in such a crowded place.

The entire transaction went smoothly. A dozen minutes later, when Xincheng returned to the vehicle, he was carrying a briefcase.

But when he got to his car, his expression became somewhat suspicious.

When the prosthetic eye scanned the vehicle, it discovered a bomb under the car, an earth-based IED. The bomb consisted of 19.64 kg of trinitrotoluene and a mobile phone. There were two ways to detonate it: one was to start the vehicle and the bomb would explode, and the other was to detonate it remotely.

Upon seeing the information from the prosthetic eye scan, Shinjo's lips twitched slightly.

Typical anti-tank mines typically contain no more than 10 kg of trinitrotoluene, while those mixed with RDX generally contain less than 6 kg. What do these guys think their vehicles are? Tracked armored vehicles? They're going all out like this.

After reaching a safe distance, Shinjo immediately called Vermouth.

"Did you do the parking lot incident?" Xincheng asked, suppressing his anger.

"What about the parking lot?" Vermouth asked, her voice filled with doubt.

"Not you?" Xincheng looked at the car not far away, then glanced around the parking lot to make sure no one was there before saying, "My car was parked in that bar's parking lot, and less than an hour later, someone planted a bomb on it."

"Gin?"

"This guy may like big explosions, but he probably didn't do this job."

"Why? You'd rather doubt me than doubt him?"

“Gin is a meticulous person; this kind of work is too rough for him to do.” Shinjo stepped back behind a pillar. “About 20 kilograms of TNT. Besides the organization, I can’t think of anyone else who could get their hands on this stuff. So I wanted to ask if it was one of your men who did it.”

“We two shouldn’t have reached the point of completely falling out, right?” Vermouth chuckled. “As for who did it, I do have a clue. That day, you called me from a landline, so I asked Gin to check, and he told me that the phone booth was burned down.”

"You really are... devoted to your allies!"

"Likewise, after all, I didn't breach the contract either."

Vermouth on the other end of the phone hung up before he could continue speaking.

Chapter 10 A Heart-Pounding Vodka

Looking at the phone that had been hung up on, Shinjo took a deep breath. This guy was clearly retaliating for threatening her back in New York.

But that happened a year ago, is it really necessary to hold a grudge like that?

Just then, another number rang; it was his number at the detective agency.

He originally wanted to hang up immediately and let Koshimizu handle the situation alone, but considering that it might be Conan calling, he patiently answered the phone.

But the voice on the other end of the phone made his face darken.

What he said came true. He recognized the voice—Gin's sidekick, Vodka.

“Mr. Shinjo, is that right? You’re quite perceptive. No wonder you were able to defuse the bomb on the Shinkansen.” Vodka sat in his chair, his eyes fixed on the electronic monitor in front of him. “The bomb last time was just an appetizer. Why don’t you try the main course under the train and see if you can defuse it?”

He set the bomb himself. This guy messed up the Shinkansen project and made him work overtime for several days. Only by blowing him up can I vent my anger!

"Vodka, is it?" Shinjo asked expressionlessly.

"What!" Vodka jumped up from his seat, then calmed down. "You overheard our conversation on the train, didn't you?"

"My colleagues at the Japanese branch are really hospitable, greeting me with explosives right off the bat," Shinjo said coldly. "As soon as I come out of the bunker, you remotely detonate the explosives, right? 20kg of TNT, quite a large sum. Didn't Gin tell you about Rum?"

Vodka's forehead was already covered in cold sweat. He realized that this person seemed to be one of his own, and not a low-ranking one at that.

“The Boss doesn’t like big scenes. With the deaths of Koji Haneda and Amanda, Rum got a real dressing down from the Boss.” Shinjo looked up at the monitor not far away. “What do you think the Boss would do if the Shinkansen were blown up? Or does Gin think he’s important to the organization so he can do whatever he wants? Tell him that old dog Pisco is still alive. Although he’s no longer useful, he can still maintain the organization’s position in Japan.”

Vodka's back was completely soaked. The guy in front of him was likely on par with his boss.

Even among those who are given codenames, high-ranking officers like Gin can have access to the organization's second-in-command, or even the boss.

As a lower-ranking official, he had no chance to meet the big shots, let alone learn about their deeds and rumors from Gin.

“Mr. Shinjo, this is a misunderstanding…” Vodka said. “Why don’t you leave the car over there and we’ll send someone to remove the bomb?”

“Just call me Cognac. That’s my code name in the organization. If Gin doesn’t know who I am, tell him to ask Vermouth.” Shinjo snorted. “There are no fingerprints on this bomb, are there?”

"No." Vodka felt like he could barely hold his phone.

Cognac is a distilled spirit, and the code name conforms to the organization's naming rules for male members. Furthermore, given that the other party knows so much and even Vermouth's name, it's safe to assume they are one of us.

Moreover, Cognac's production area is in the Cognac region of France, making it a genuine European product. Even within the organization, this person is a high-ranking official on their side.

Taking it upon himself to retaliate, the target of which turned out to be the car of a leader from another department—what a coincidence!

"Tell Gin that he doesn't need to worry about the Shinkansen and the bomb. I'll handle everything. All you need to do is send a fax to the Metropolitan Police Department in two hours. Say whatever you want, just that you're a bomber who planted the bomb there." Shinjo hung up after saying that.

According to his deal with Vermouth, Vermouth will handle the follow-up matters on the organization's side.

This guy tricked me, so I have to find a way to trick him back.

The organization has strict requirements regarding the scope of activities of its members. Vermouth's activities are confined to the Americas, and without reasonable constraints, she cannot leave the Americas. The identity she was given naturally follows the same principle.

He had just looked at Cognac's resume; this guy was promoted by Vermouth and was an absolute confidant.

Sending someone like this to Gin's territory to settle a personal score for no reason—if Gin reports it to his superiors, the organization will definitely cause her trouble; if Gin doesn't report it, she'll still owe Gin a favor.

Having resolved the issue with the vodka, Shinjo immediately called several acquaintances at the Metropolitan Police Department and asked them to send people to clear the area.

Upon learning that there was a TNT bomb in the parking lot, the entire First Investigation Division was in an uproar, and they dragged several colleagues from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team, who were still having tea, to the scene.

Thirty minutes later, Shinjo saw Inspector Megure, fully armed, coming down from the parking lot.

"Over here," Shinjo said, pointing to a vehicle not far away. "It's this car."

"You're saying there's a bomb planted in this car? Do you know who planted it?" A lazy voice sounded behind Inspector Megure. "Shin... Shinjo-senpai?"

"Hey, Matsuda, long time no see." Shinjo looked at the handsome man in sunglasses in front of him. "You're doing well in the First Investigation Division, aren't you? You've gained quite a bit of weight. Can your fingers still work?"

"Well..." Matsuda said somewhat awkwardly, "I'm fine with the work."

"Give me the stuff. I'll defuse this bomb. You all go up." Shinjo held out his hand to Matsuda.

“Senior, you’re not a policeman anymore, are you? The time shortage on the Shinkansen was due to the tight schedule, and our people didn’t have time to prepare. But this time, half of our explosives disposal team is here.” Upon hearing that Shinjo wanted his equipment, Matsuda immediately objected, “No way, no way, I absolutely can’t let you steal the spotlight this time.”

"Oh, fully armed?" Shinjo asked with a chuckle. "A close-range explosion of 20 kilograms of TNT, I wonder what kind of equipment can withstand that? I'd like to see it for myself."

Inspector Megure and several officers from the First Investigation Division did not understand what Shinjo meant, but Matsuda Jinpei and several officers from the bomb disposal team who had been brought over all took a step back.

"What's wrong?" Inspector Megure asked, somewhat puzzled.

“A typical explosion-proof container can only handle up to 1.5 kg of TNT, but there was 20 kg under the car,” Xincheng said. “If the bomb detonates during dismantling, everyone on this floor will die; the only difference will be how gruesome their deaths are.”

"Um..." Matsuda Jinpei said somewhat awkwardly, "Since you already know the weight of TNT, you must have observed the bomb, right? Could you explain it in detail?"

“An IED, an earth-based IED, will explode no matter which wire is cut. Once moved, the mercury column switch responsible for sensing vibrations will activate, making it impossible to transport it outside for removal.” Shinjo shrugged. “There’s also a cell phone on it; the suspect could detonate it remotely by making a call. My personal suggestion is to detonate it on-site.”

Chapter 11 A Generous Gift in the Parking Lot

Shinjo's proposal was not adopted, or rather, the higher-ups in the Metropolitan Police Department dared not adopt it.

This is Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Even though it's far from the city center, it's still a densely populated area.

The 20kg of yellow explosives detonated on the spot. Not only did the building explode, but public opinion also exploded, and the top officials of the Metropolitan Police Department had to collectively apologize and bow in remorse.

The order given to the explosive ordnance disposal team by higher command was to come up with a solution within two hours, and if that failed, to detonate it on the spot.

Several bomb disposal experts from the Metropolitan Police Department took turns trying to solve the problem, but none of them had a good solution.

The bomb's outer casing had been removed, revealing large chunks of yellow explosive and a dense network of wires inside. Just as Xincheng had said, the risk of defusing the bomb on-site was simply too great.

Cell phones and wiring are minor issues; these bomb disposal experts are highly skilled and have disarmed many such explosive devices.

However, the mercury column switch was too dangerous. The bomb was installed upside down under the car, and even a slight vibration would electrify the mercury inside the column, activating the bomb.