Conan, I'm an actor

The bartender walked into the room behind him, said something, and started mixing drinks. While he was mixing drinks, the sound of a printer could be heard coming from the room behind him, as if some documents were being printed.

A moment later, the bartender arrived with the documents and a cocktail in front of the Cognac.

Shinjo downed the drink in one gulp, then pulled a 10,000 yen note from his wallet and placed it under the glass before starting to review the intelligence.

The bartender stared blankly at the 10,000 yen note under his glass. He didn't know whether to take the money or not, because none of the people in the organization had ever paid for their drinks here.

“Take it if I give it to you. If you don’t even dare to take money, people will laugh at you.” Cognac picked up one of the A4 sheets of paper, folded it into a paper airplane, and then tossed it lightly.

The paper airplane flew to the bar's ceiling, then spiraled down, its head landing precisely in the glass in front of Gin.

"Yay, perfect score." Shinjo stretched and walked out of the bar with the remaining documents.

"Boss, this..." Vodka didn't know what to do for a moment.

"If you don't dare to draw your gun, then sit down and have a good drink." Gin took the paper airplane out of his glass, unfolded it, glanced at it, and his expression instantly changed.

Chapter 177 Evacuation and Ward Interrogation

On the A4 paper, the glaring presence of that white clown mask was no less striking than that of the rat he hated most, Jiang Xiaobai. Not only was that man not dead, but he had also wandered into his territory.

“Isn’t this that…” Vodka’s expression also turned sour.

As Gin's henchman, he had naturally heard of Jiang Xiaobai, the man who came back from the dead—that guy had fooled everyone. "Can't you just stay alive? Why did you have to come to Tokyo?"

Tokyo is Gin's territory. In addition to managing the organization's members operating in Japan, Gin also has the job of cleaning up defectors from the organization and spies within it. His actions are no different from turning his back on them.

“Things seem to be getting more interesting.” Gin lit the paper, stuffed the burning paper into his glass, turned and left the bar, without even taking his vodka with him.

The moment the bar door closed, the glass couldn't withstand the intense heat of the fire and cracked open.

Not far from the bar, Shinjo watched Gin get into his Porsche and a smile appeared on his face. Judging from Gin's expression, he was clearly already involved. Rum, Gin, the Public Security Bureau behind Amuro Tooru, and the Metropolitan Police Department behind Matsuda Jinpei—what kind of sparks would fly?

"How can you be so sure that Gin will definitely get involved?" Kallen asked, somewhat puzzled. "I hacked into that organization's database, and he didn't execute many of its members."

"He doesn't make a move because those guys aren't worthy of his attention." As Shinjo turned to leave, he stubbed out his half-smoked cigarette in the trash can. "If he has to deal with even the smallest fry, then his men might as well die. The organization doesn't need trash."

"Then how can you make sure you stay out of it?" Karen asked with some concern. "You can't stay invisible the whole time if you want to draw those guys' attention away, and there's also Morofushi Hiromitsu in the hospital who needs to be moved. It's easy to mess things up."

"Don't worry, it won't be a disaster."

At noon, in the office on the top floor of the hospital

Dr. Cheng Shi stared at the text message on his phone, momentarily stunned. Xin Cheng had actually arranged for him to go on a business trip abroad at public expense. Didn't he know that his hospital was being targeted? Sending him on a business trip at this time—wasn't he afraid that the hospital would be completely drained of its resources?

Thinking of this, he decided to call Xincheng directly to get to the bottom of things, but just like last time, he couldn't get through.

With a thud, Dr. Narumi's phone made intimate contact with the office's tiled floor. The usually mild-mannered Dr. Narumi finally snapped, "It's always the same! You can't get through at crucial moments. What are you trying to do? How are others supposed to know if you don't tell them?"

After venting his frustrations, Asahi thought of Koshimizu Nanatsuki. Koshimizu Nanatsuki was close to Shinjo; they used to live together, so she should know Shinjo's whereabouts.

Thinking of this, he dialed the number Yue Shui had given him last time, and the call was answered quickly.

"Oh, it's Dr. Narumi. Is there anything I can help you with?" Koshimi asked, somewhat puzzled.

"It's like this, that guy Shinjo asked me to go on a business trip at public expense." Asagi suddenly stopped speaking, realizing that Koshimizu might not know about those people's existence.

"Oh, is that what it is?" Yue Shui said with a smile. "Isn't it good to have a business trip on company pay? Don't worry about it. Besides, he's the boss, only he can make the decision."

"That's not what I meant! What I meant was..."

"You're afraid someone will target the hospital, and when you come back from your business trip, there won't be anything left in your hospital, right?"

"Yes!"

Dr. Chengshi breathed a sigh of relief. It was so convenient to talk to smart people; it saved a lot of time explaining things.

"You don't need to worry about that; Xincheng has already made preparations. As for the reason for arranging for you to go abroad, it's quite simple: those guys' way of doing things might be a little different from your expectations, and the level of danger is beyond your imagination."

"Is this telling me to go out and hide?"

That's roughly the idea.

Hearing that Shinjo had made arrangements, Dr. Chengshi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Then he asked, "What has Mr. Shinjo been busy with lately? Why can't I get through to him on the phone?"

"Asking me about this is useless, because I can't get through to him either."

Meanwhile, in the other ward, Binga groggily opened his eyes and found that he couldn't move.

"Awake?" Curaçao's voice was calm, without any emotional fluctuation.

"Where is this place? Curaçao, what do you want? Let me go! What are these restraints?! Damn it!" Binga was quite agitated.

"These restraints are to keep you in place and prevent you from going out drinking before your injuries heal and worsening your condition," Curaçao said, looking at the medical record in front of her. "So, can you tell me what happened yesterday, why you were beaten, and what the person who beat you looked like?"

"Are you interrogating a prisoner? You bastard!" Binga tried to spit at Curaçao, but his head was also fixed in place, limiting his range of motion, and he could only see half of Curaçao's face.

"Until you are cleared of suspicion, you are a criminal." As Gin's voice rang out, a chilling sensation descended upon Binga.

Binga's expression was extremely grim. He hadn't expected Gin to be there too; that thing on his head must be his Beretta. Damn it, had Curaçao betrayed Rum? He'd actually teamed up with Gin to frame him!

“Gin, he’s Rum’s man. I agreed to cooperate with you, not so you could point a gun at his head,” Curaçao said expressionlessly.

"I need him to give me a satisfactory answer," Gin said, but he still moved his pistol away.

“You saw it too, Binga, the person who attacked you is important to the organization,” Curaçao’s voice rang out again. “If your answer doesn’t satisfy Gin, I can’t save you either.”

"Stop pretending!" Binga said viciously, but he still chose to back down. "The person who attacked me was wearing a mask. I didn't see his face. It should be Jiang Xiaobai who defected from the organization before."

"It really was him." Gin put the gun back in his pocket. "What did you do before this?"

“He attacked me, not me,” Binga said, somewhat frustrated. “How would I know what he was trying to do? You should ask him that.”

“Jiang Xiaobai should have arrived in Japan a long time ago. He worked for me for a while and knows how the organization deals with traitors.” Gin snorted. “Under normal circumstances, he won’t show up to cause trouble for us, let alone attack a member of the organization, unless you do something to provoke him.”

“I don’t know.” Binga’s eyes darted around. “I just botched a mission recently. Mr. Rum didn’t assign me any tasks. I was just wandering around there when this guy shot me right away.”

His little actions naturally did not escape Gin's notice, but Gin did not care.

Since Binga is unwilling to talk about it, he'll go find him himself. Although this guy is difficult to deal with, his personality is easy to understand. After failing the mission and being warned by Vermouth, he'll definitely vent his frustration on some unlucky person.

In his eyes, the Cognac industry was probably the unlucky one.

Chapter 178 The Mori Family Pays a Visit

In the afternoon, Gin and Vodka drove to the location where Binga was attacked the day before. The police tape at the entrance had been removed, and the two of them entered the building without any trouble.

However, they encountered the police on the second-to-top floor, but they pretended to be looking for a toilet and left in time without arousing suspicion.

Just then, the organization called. Upon hearing the information on the phone, Gin's brows furrowed deeply.

"What's wrong, boss?" Vodka asked, somewhat puzzled.

Isn't the most important thing right now to find Jiang Xiaobai hiding in the shadows? Why does the boss seem to want to deal with other things?

“There’s some reckless guy who’s been carrying the list of organization members around like a talisman. This guy has definitely defected from the organization.” Gin’s expression was quite strange.

All he wants to know now is who recruited these guys and how they managed to bring a bunch of idiots into the organization.

Even if they didn't know how terrifying the organization was before joining, after being there for so long, they should have realized its power. To think they could threaten the organization with a list is naive.

Vodka stood behind Gin without saying a word. He knew his boss was angry and the consequences would be severe. He didn't want to be the one to stick his neck out at this time.

Before Gin could make a decision, his phone rang again, this time an overseas call.

“Hey, Vermouth, I’m busy right now, I don’t have time… What did you say?” Gin’s expression worsened. He waited until Vermouth finished speaking before saying, “I understand, I’ll handle it. Give me Tequila’s contact information.”

Vodka shuddered. What was this ominous atmosphere, like the calm before a storm? Was the organization about to undergo a major upheaval?

“Give Binga a call. Isn’t he really talented with computers? Have him find a way to infiltrate the AI ​​research group. There’s a traitor in there who needs to be eliminated,” Gin said through gritted teeth.

It wasn't that he wanted to hand the task over to Binga; given time, he would personally eliminate every single traitor in this organization.

The problem is that although these guys are all minor figures, they are all very difficult to deal with.

Leaving aside Jiang Xiaobai, the guy with the organization's list is the mayor's secretary, always by his side, with an exceptionally high level of security. The other guy isn't as heavily guarded, but as a core member of the research project, he spends all his time in the research area; killing him wouldn't be easy either.

Meanwhile, Shinjo lay in the research institute, squinting at the ceiling.

“Okakura Masaaki, Hara Yoshiaki, whether you survive or not depends on yourselves.” Shinjo leaned back in his chair. “You’ve been given the opportunity; if you can’t seize it, that’s your own problem.”

"Why are you targeting them?" Yue Shui placed a glass of hot milk next to him. "Didn't you tell me those guys were dangerous? Then why are you provoking them? Wouldn't it be easier to recruit directly from the school?"

She knew a little about the giant company that was going to be established in the new city, and she also knew that this giant company would need a lot of talent. But in her opinion, these talents could be poached with money or trained by herself; there was no need to snatch them from the jaws of death by that black-clad organization.

“Students and tech workers from big companies have choices, but they don’t.” Xincheng picked up the milk next to him and drank it all in one gulp. “If they don’t cooperate with us, there’s only one outcome: they’ll be silenced by the organization. Even if they cooperate with us, they can’t escape that outcome.”

Do I have to choose one of the two?

"Besides, most of the technical staff in those big companies have impressive resumes, but very few are truly capable. As for those college graduates, what they learn in school is outdated stuff from over a decade ago, so their abilities are limited. The people the organization selects are guaranteed to have capabilities in all aspects."

Just then, the doorbell rang suddenly, startling both of them.

The research institute wasn't without visitors, but these visitors never used the main entrance; the only time the door rang was when Vermouth pressed the button.

"Who is it?" Shinjo asked as he strode over to the monitor.

"It's me, Uncle Shinjo." Conan's voice came through the monitor. "Ran and Professor Agasa are here too. We've come to play."

Shinjo felt a bit of a headache. He could understand Professor Agasa, since finding this place might require going through him, but what was with Ran? "Shinichi Kudo, do you know that you dragged Ran into this?"

But it's too late to say anything now; all we can do is open the door and let these little devils in.

"We have guests, so we might have to trouble you later," Shinjo said with a hint of helplessness.

"Trouble me?" Yue Shui was taken aback, not understanding what had happened.

“Conan’s here, and Ran came along too. Conan, Professor Agasa, and I have some things to discuss,” Shinjo said seriously. “The job of keeping Ran occupied is up to you.”

"Alright then." Yue Shui sighed.

When he arrived at the door, he saw Ran standing next to Conan with gifts in hand, and Professor Agasa behind her.

"Where's Kogoro Mouri? Why didn't he come?" Shinjo asked Ran Mouri with some confusion. "Also, why did you bring so many gifts?"

"Dad said you saved me, so he wanted to come and thank you." Ran's smile was a little forced. "Also, I wanted to ask Uncle Shinjo about Conan. When did you find out his identity?"

Shinjo glanced at Professor Agasa and Conan. Professor Agasa had dark circles under his eyes, but they didn't look like they were from staying up all night; they looked more like he'd been beaten up.

“The one at the hot spring inn, but I only had suspicions then.” Shinjo stretched his shoulders. “What really confirmed his identity was this skyscraper bombing case. Before, Teiji Moriya’s invitation was sent to Shinichi Kudo, but in the end, it was you and Kogoro Mouri who showed up.”

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Xiaolan's tone became a little tense.

“No normal person would believe something like this. And this kid will probably try every means to deny it and create his own alibi. By the way, Hattori figured it out too.” Shinjo said, stroking his chin. “So I was thinking of a way to expose him to his face, and it turned out to be pretty good.”