Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

The next second, his eyes widened in shock - he saw a figure falling from the top floor of the shopping mall opposite, smashing the glass extending outward from the first floor, and then falling heavily to the street!

"Wow--"

"boom!!"

The sounds of glass shattering and falling were intertwined, and the crowd nearby was stunned for a second before letting out a loud scream.

Many passers-by were hit by the broken glass falling from above, and the scene was extremely chaotic for a while.

Kudo Shinichi looked serious and stuffed the book into Mao Lilan's hand: "Xiaolan, hurry up and call an ambulance and the police!!"

"Shinichi?!"

Kudo Shinichi ignored Ran Mouri calling him from behind, crossed the street and ran towards the crowd, while recalling the nearest hospital and various first aid methods in his mind.

The ground was covered with broken glass, and he would get scratched if he wasn't careful. However, Kudo Shinichi ignored all that, he stepped over the glass, struggled to push through the crowd, and finally squeezed to the front.

"How about it……"

However, before he could finish his words, the scene before him made him stunned again.

——There was nothing in front of him.

There were no corpses, no seriously injured people, and not even a large pool of blood on the ground. Those scattered bloodstains were from other injured people.

"........."

Kudo Shinichi stared blankly, unable to tell for a moment whether the scene just now was an illusion or the other party really disappeared out of thin air.

----

The coffee shop on the second floor was also in chaos, with many people sticking to the transparent curtain wall, looking down.

"what's the situation?"

"Did someone jump off the building just now?"

"But there's no body down there! ...By the way, there's a book signing for a detective novel happening across the street. Could this be a magic trick by the organizer?"

"A magic show broke all the glass? And injured so many people?"

"How tragic! Fortunately, I got here in time..."

Everyone was talking about it, but the chaotic voices had nothing to do with Aoyagi Akimitsu. Only when he heard the words "there is no body" did his expression change subtly.

He turned his head to look outside, and saw those people who looked like public security police were also shocked by this sudden change... No, the expressions on their faces were not surprise, but more of an expression of anger as if a trapped prey had escaped.

The man wearing the communication headset reached out to press the headset. The other party said something to him. He opened his mouth and said "Received", then turned to the other people.

——Operation failed, evacuate now.

They did not go to watch the fun like ordinary people, but left the place quickly, without noticing that there was a pair of eyes staring at them from a distance.

Now Aoyagi Bingguang was completely certain that they were public security police.

The Japanese Public Security Police are not ordinary criminal police, they are a kind of secret police, usually responsible for national security and counter-espionage intelligence work. Most of the Japanese local undercovers sent into the organization are public security police.

Aoyagi Binguang withdrew his gaze, and suddenly he felt the phone in his pocket vibrate.

He thought it was from his skill clone, saying something had happened to the rabbit. But when he opened it, he found that it was from a sender he had not expected, but was not surprised either.

[Tomorrow night at 8 o'clock, go to the Rattlesnake Bar after dressing up, I have something for you. ——Gin]

【receive……】

Aoyagi Akiko thought about how face-blind Gin was - during a mission, another girl accidentally changed her hairstyle to the same as the target, and he almost sniped her - so he gave him a kind reminder.

[…I will disguise myself and give you a surprise. You must recognize me.]

Aoyagi Akimitsu did not type in his code name. The code names of the undercover agents sent out by the organization had to be kept confidential and would not be used in emails.

Gin didn't reply.

……

Because of the accident, the ambulance came to take away the injured and the police also came to investigate, so the book signing event in the bookstore was forced to be cancelled.

Aoyagi Binkou did not go to make a statement. He waited in the coffee shop for another hour, but the skill clone or the rabbit never sent him any message.

He looked outside at the sky and felt that if he waited any longer the mall would probably close, so he took the initiative to send an email to another phone to inquire.

【How about it? 】

【He has returned.】

"...?"

Aoyagi Binguang was a little puzzled. Since he was back, why didn't either of them inform him?

Soon, the clone sent him another email.

[The rabbit is not in good condition, you'd better come and pick him up quickly. ]

Seeing this, Qing Liu Bingguang immediately stood up, deleted the email while walking, and walked towards the men's bathroom.

There was still no one in this remote bathroom. He walked to the only locked door and knocked gently: "Are you in there?"

There was no response from inside.

A few seconds later, Aoyagi Binguang's phone made a beeping sound, which was the notification sound of the system group chat receiving a message.

Almost at the same time, a memory flooded into his brain - the skill clone in the compartment took the initiative to cancel the skill - Qing Liu Bingguang instantly knew everything that happened here in the past two hours. It turned out that the rabbit came back half an hour ago.

The door slowly opened, and the rabbit sat on the toilet in human form, his hands hanging limply by his side, as if the action of opening the door had exhausted his remaining strength.

"what happened?"

Seeing that there was no one around, Aoyagi Binguang asked directly.

Under Aoyagi Binguang's gaze, the teammates in front of him shrank little by little and turned back into the form of black rabbits.

[…I’ll tell you the details after I get back.]

[I may have thought it was too simple before...]

Chapter 24 Rabbit's Adventure

Time goes back to two hours ago.

……

The rabbit floated out of the window.

After yesterday's tests and practice, he was already quite familiar with the operation in this state. He floated down quickly along the shadow on the wall.

The black fog can pass through solid objects, but its main body is black and will be noticed by others, so Aoyagi Binkou suggested that he could move along the shadows on the ground or wall, and he accepted the suggestion of this reliable teammate.

Rabbit crossed the street quickly. Because he was on a mission, he didn't pay attention to Kudo Shinichi who was not far away. He entered the bookstore quietly from under the revolving door.

There were not many other customers in the bookstore at this time. The staff were busy running around, and an older man dressed like a store manager was directing them.

A clerk walked out of an aisle holding a pile of books. The store manager turned to him and asked, "Has Mr. Hojo arrived yet?"

"She's here. I just saw her go to the temporary dressing room next to the warehouse." The clerk looked back at the passage. "She specifically asked not to disturb her. She will come out on her own at the appointed time."

"I hope she can hurry up. The children are still outside basking in the sun." The manager sighed.

After hearing the conversation between the two staff members, Rabbit became alert and quickly moved towards the passage behind.

During the movement, he felt a little excited, but more nervous.

He was excited about meeting other players, but nervous because it was his first time actually helping out and he was worried he wouldn't do well.

Calm down, calm down... Players from different factions who have never chatted privately cannot determine the identity and location of other players. Moreover, this time he is just taking a close look at her situation and will leave soon. As long as he is careful, she will not be able to find him...

The rabbit reminded himself again and again, and looked around him attentively.

The backstage passage was not well decorated. It was dark and narrow, with a lot of debris piled up. There were several doors on both sides, but there were no signs on them.

He looked at the corridor in a daze - where was the dressing room?

Seeing that there was not enough light here, the rabbit simply stopped clinging to the shadow and floated slowly into the air, drifting back and forth like a headless fly.

In this state, he was unable to use the system and could not ask Aoyagi Akimitsu for help, so he could only figure it out on his own.

Can't I even do this little thing well... The rabbit was worried, when suddenly, he heard footsteps and faint voices behind him. He was covered in black mist and quickly hid behind a water pipe.

The footsteps and voices became clearer and clearer, and a man walked past Rabbit.

The man was wearing the most common light suit among Japanese office workers. Perhaps it was too hot, so he took off his jacket and hung it between his arms.

Rabbit looked at his face carefully: his skin was extremely white, his cheekbones were flared, his eyelids were single, his eyes looked very small from a distance, his eyebrows were thick, and his brow bones were slightly protruding...

He looks okay, but gives people the feeling that he is very aggressive and difficult to deal with.

—And for some reason, Rabbit felt that he was familiar.

But that face was completely unfamiliar. The man had headphones on his ears and was communicating with someone.

Rabbit calmed down his inexplicably restless mood and listened attentively. He did not tell Aoyagi Binkou for the time being that his hearing and vision were sharper when he was in the black fog state. For example, now, he could even hear what was being said on the other side of the headset.

"The target person has appeared and is moving towards the top floor."

"Very good, keep it like this, follow quietly from behind, and don't alert the enemy."

...?

Target person? Alerting the enemy? ...What is the purpose of this?

The rabbit didn't understand and moved a little closer.

After the man finished giving his instructions, he suddenly raised his hand and stroked a plain ring on his right middle finger. A familiar pop-up window instantly appeared beside the man, and he raised his hand and typed something on it.

!!!

Seeing this scene, if the rabbit had a head at this moment, its eyes would definitely be wide open.

System ring!

This is another player!!

Is he here to look for Hojo Toika as well? Oh, by the way, those girls said that Hojo Toika once had an argument with a policeman, and he and his teammates suspected that the policeman was also one of the players. Could it be him?

The rabbit was very excited and was about to step forward.