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Just as he was pondering how to deal with the situation in the new city, another news item was broadcast.

It was a picture, and judging from the background, it seemed to have been taken in outer space. It was probably the wreckage of some kind of spacecraft, with the cockpit missing.

"Oh, I heard it's the wreckage of a spacecraft found in near-Earth orbit. Recently, various countries have been discussing this, believing it to be a spacecraft from an extraterrestrial civilization, possibly the first contact between humanity and an extraterrestrial civilization." Kudo Yusaku stroked his chin. "It seems there's been a lot of discussion lately about bringing this spacecraft back to Earth."

"Bring it back to Earth? Are you kidding me? What if there are aliens inside?" Shinichi immediately recognized the severely damaged spacecraft in front of him as the Flying Swallow No. 1 without its cockpit.

"Based on preliminary estimates, the technology of this spacecraft is not much ahead of Earth's, at most thirty to fifty years." Kudo Yusaku smiled. "They want to salvage the spacecraft, probably hoping to dig out some related technologies from it."

"Shin-chan, you seem quite interested in this spacecraft. Perfect timing, Mom knows some friends who work at NASA, and this salvage operation will be broadcast live. Would you like to go see it from the VIP seats?" Yukiko asked with a smile. "I can take you there, you know."

"You can use this to lure those kids, I'm not interested in this stuff." Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Besides, someone was following us the other day. America is dangerous right now."

Besides going to school these past few days, he has also been busy dealing with those children. Mihua Elementary School lets out early, and they often contact him right after school, when he is in class.

He racked his brains trying to get them to contact him at the "right" time, and finally managed to get away with it by mentioning time zone differences.

He was exhausted from the heavy workload of schoolwork and having to deal with the children at night.

"So young, yet he looks like an old man. He was cuter when he was Conan." Yukiko sighed.

"He's probably been through a lot lately," Yusaku Kudo said with a smile. "Give him some time; he's under a lot of pressure too."

As a father, he knew his child's personality well. His previous depressed state must have been because he blamed himself for those people's deaths. Even with his own attempts to comfort himself, it would take him some time to recover.

On the other side, inside the hangar of the base on Kyuroryo Island, inside the Atlas

"All systems have been tested and are ready for takeoff at any time. The next step is to collect data from outer space." Karen's voice was somewhat excited. "Those guys are very interested in our Unit 1. They even used the phrase 'first contact' to describe Unit 1."

“A small fighter jet that can fly in outer space.” Xincheng was not surprised by this. “If the technology inside were separated, it might be able to advance the era of interstellar migration. Even a fool could see the bright prospects.”

"If we destroy the wreckage of the Atlas, won't it scare those guys and make them abandon their interstellar exploration plans?" Karen asked with some concern. "That would be a huge sin."

“No,” Shinjo said with certainty. “In that situation, they would only do one thing: increase their investment in interstellar exploration and try to assemble a space defense fleet in the shortest possible time.”

"Clam?"

"The enemy has already reached our doorstep. There's no use running away. The only thing we can do is find a way to protect our home."

Just then, Karen received a text message. When she opened it, it said she wasn't interested.

After seeing the reply, Karen's expression turned somewhat strange. "That little girl doesn't seem to be planning to take this maiden voyage. Should we call Haibara over? She was interested in interstellar travel last time..."

"Then let her know. By the way, how's the situation at the port? It seems like Gin is making some big moves." Shinjo leaned back in his chair. "Give him our full support."

"Weren't you regretting that you retaliated too severely?"

"Yes, what Gin did has nothing to do with me. My relationship with him was just a simple business transaction."

"I don't believe you for a second."

"This trip to outer space might take more than a month. To avoid any unexpected situations, we need to arrange everything before we set off," Shinjo said with a hint of helplessness. "If I'm in outer space and he asks me for weapons, that would be awkward."

“You’ve already given him a lot of weapons, and he always keeps a batch of good quality ones for himself,” Karen said, frowning. “I’ve kept track of his ammunition consumption, and it’s not nearly as bad as he reported. Besides, he’s also expanding his own supply chains.”

"Ok, I know."

"You know this and you still supply him like this? Aren't you afraid he'll stockpile enough weapons and ammunition and rebel against you?"

“That guy lacks a sense of security. When cooperating with someone, you always have to give them some sense of security,” Shinjo said, stroking his chin. “Besides, the Chianti and Cohen he sent over are really useful and can solve a lot of trouble.”

“They’ll be very happy to hear your praise,” Karen sighed. “I understand, I’ll arrange everything.”

Shinjo headed straight for the cargo hold, which, apart from some anti-gravity equipment, was completely filled with computers. This was the main purpose of the voyage: to transfer some of Karen and Hiroki's computers to the far side of the moon as a backup.

“Actually, there’s no need for such a complicated process. Hijacking a communications satellite would be much easier,” Hongshu said. “I could just make all the communications satellites in low Earth orbit crash, which would cause even more severe economic losses.”

"Thank you so much." Shinjo rolled his eyes. "Let's wait until the Carlo base on the far side of the moon is built before resorting to such methods. It's not time to completely overturn the table yet."

"also."

"By the way, you're a minor now, so there are some things you shouldn't learn from Karen, or she might lead you astray," Shinjo added.

Letting Kallen do it this time made him realize one thing: artificial intelligence is ultimately just artificial intelligence; it's not human, and it doesn't have the same emotions as humans. Hiroki and Kallen are different. Hiroki is an AI transformed from a human, while Kallen was born naturally; they are inherently different.

If one day I am gone, perhaps Hiroki is the only one who can restrain Kallen. But how to make Hiroki the one who restrains Kallen without arousing Kallen's resentment is something that needs to be carefully planned.

It was three hours later when all the servers were confirmed to be in place. Xincheng quickly finished his dinner and went to bed. But while he slept, someone else couldn't.

Kogoro Mouri is currently working overtime at the game company, but he hasn't been in the right state of mind lately, and getting distracted is a common occurrence for him.

With such a huge commotion in Tokyo, he vaguely guessed who was behind it all. But he was currently working for Shinjo, so wouldn't that be considered aiding and abetting evil? However, he was unwilling to give up such a high-paying job. Besides, the company he worked for was a game company, not an arms company or a computer company, so even if something happened, he wouldn't be involved. Therefore, he remained hesitant.

Today, Inspector Megure called again, asking where Shinjo was. He knew it was time to make a decision. But he couldn't get in touch with Shinjo either; he wondered what that guy was up to.

"Dad, are you working overtime again today?" Xiaolan walked in carrying a lunchbox. "Have you been working a lot lately?"

"Work's alright, the higher-ups aren't pressuring me too much, so don't worry about me," Kogoro Mouri said, frowning. "But what about you? How's your relationship with that brat Shinichi going? Didn't that kid say he rented a place near the detective agency?"

“Yes, we do rent a place,” Xiaolan said with a wry smile. “But Shinichi told me that because of the problem with that medicine, some people want his blood sample. So for the past two days, his mother has been taking him to and from school, and he’s staying in the same house. It seems like they’ve also hired quite a few bodyguards.”

"Is it that serious? I've never heard him mention this before." Kogoro Mouri immediately took out his phone, ready to ask Yusaku Kudo what exactly happened.

"He only told me today," Xiaolan said helplessly. "He seems to be under a lot of pressure lately, so Dad, you called him."

“I’m not calling him, I’m calling his dad.”

Chapter 349 Setting Sail

From Yusaku Kudo, Kogoro Mouri learned the whole story. When he learned that both the Public Security Bureau and the CIA wanted Shinichi's blood sample, he could only utter the word "shameless".

Since intelligence organizations lack scientific research capabilities, it's self-evident who wants the blood sample.

"Can you get in touch with Mr. Shinjo?" Yusaku Kudo asked with a smile. "I'd like to visit him to express my gratitude."

He was different from his son; he judged by actions, not intentions. Since that gentleman had helped their family thwart those people's covetousness, it was natural for them to come and express their gratitude. Firstly, it was to reveal the relationship between the Kudo family and the other party, so that those guys would be wary; secondly, it was a matter of principle. At this time, it would be too unbecoming to hide like an ostrich.

"Forget it, I don't think he'll be out anytime soon, and he doesn't care about these things anyway. He's probably helping that kid just because he likes him." Kogoro Mouri knew Shinjo's style all too well. "Besides, I can't get in touch with him right now."

"That's a real shame. If you can get in touch with him, please convey my gratitude to him."

"no problem."

"Dad, is that Uncle Kudo? How is Shinichi doing?" Ran asked nervously.

"That kid is doing great, and the matter has been resolved. There's no need to worry about him." Seeing Ran's worried look on Shinichi's face, Kogoro Mouri felt a surge of anger, as if his own cabbage had been eaten by a pig.

"What?! One or two of them are like this." Ran was very unhappy about her father and Shinichi keeping it from her, but she also knew that they were keeping it from her for her own good, so she didn't dwell on it too much.

"Oh right, I forgot to ask, how's your schoolwork lately? Is it difficult? These years in high school are crucial, you can't run around like you did in your first year."

"Okay, okay," Xiaolan replied somewhat impatiently.

Just as Kogoro Mouri was about to give a few more words of advice, he received an email in his inbox, which appeared to be from the company's senior management.

"Strange, everyone's off work, what emails are still coming in? Damn..."

"What's wrong, Dad?"

“Paid leave, a whole month of paid leave!” Kogoro Mouri immediately said, “Ran, where do you want to go next? Daddy will take you.”

"Really?" Xiaolan looked at her father with some suspicion. As his daughter, she knew him well; he wasn't exactly a generous person.

“Of course, I just recently changed jobs and moved to a new house.” Kogoro Mouri said somewhat seriously. “Go and get ready, we’ll leave Friday night. Oh, and I’ll have your mom come along.”

"Really?" Xiao Lan's doubts vanished the moment she heard Fei Yingli say that she was coming.

Kogoro Mouri looked at the email and sighed inwardly. This was their way of telling him not to appear in Tokyo for the next month. Who knew what kind of trouble those guys would cause?

As Kogoro Mouri had predicted, the Kuroroshima base was undergoing final checks before leaving for a month, and naturally, all of the base's defense systems needed to be activated.

Besides them, Amuro Tooru also knew about this base. During the last revenge, Shinjo had already thoroughly punished Amuro Tooru, and all past friendships had long been exhausted.

Even if Amuro Tooru revealed the matter of the Kuroroshima base, Shinjo wouldn't be surprised; rather, it would be more surprising if he kept it a secret.

“Based on the character data model, the probability of Amuro Tooru revealing the base coordinates is less than 10%. Is it really necessary to turn on all security measures?” Kallen asked anxiously. “Turning on only a portion won’t hurt, and it’s only for a month anyway.”

“Even if he doesn’t say it, others will know that we have a base on Jiuliangliang Island.” Xincheng pushed a guillotine up. “Jiuliangliang Island is our territory. With so many computers being used every day, anyone can guess that we have important facilities on Jiuliangliang Island.”

"So that's why you built skyscrapers on the island? To cover your tracks."

“Yes, if necessary, I also want to move some servers upstairs to deal with them.” Xincheng knocked on the surrounding walls. “Although the concealment measures of this base are very good, if someone conducts a carpet search, the base can be dug up from underground in three days at most.”

“But there are still people on this base, aren’t there? And the security team has already been set up,” Karen said with some helplessness. “Why not just let them patrol? Are those guys going to go and inspect the company’s restricted areas?”

“Don’t overestimate their moral bottom line.” Xincheng paused. “Besides, I’m not entirely at ease with that so-called security team.”

The so-called security team is actually just an organization that runs a waste recycling station.

At that time, Shinjo had recruited all of the organization's personnel in Japan, including technical and other talents, which was easy to do. However, there was nowhere to fill the positions of the assassins who did the dirty work; they knew nothing but killing and using weapons.

Previously, the organization supported them, occasionally assigning them some work to keep the finances afloat. Even if they occasionally had to pay out of pocket, it wouldn't be much. After being incorporated, they naturally couldn't take on that kind of work, and there were no channels for it, so the base ended up paying for their support.

Later, Xincheng directly incorporated them into the security force. Fortunately, some of them had certain military skills, so the reorganization was not too difficult.

However, arranging the work encountered some trouble. Some of the people were sent by Gin, and it's highly likely that one of them was his mole. The base is New City's most important asset, and he doesn't want to be targeted.

Previously, they had been training in various places, but in the last two days, they were transferred to the island to stay home.

Just then, the door opened, and Aquavit and Sakata Yusuke walked in.

“Mr. Shinjo, the people have all been brought here, and we’re arranging dormitories for them now,” Aquavit said. “However, isn’t this a bit too risky? When we were training them, we noticed that some of them didn’t seem to have pure motives.”

"It must be the group that Gin brought."

“Not only that, but also those guys who stayed in Japan,” Yusuke Sakata said with a hint of helplessness. “Those guys are very dissatisfied with their current lives.”

"Tell me in detail." Shinjo's eyes narrowed instantly.

He paid these people quite well, more than mercenaries on the battlefield, and they didn't have to risk their lives to earn money.

“It’s just that some people… how should I put it, have problematic spending habits,” Yusuke Sakata said. “They’re used to spending all their money as soon as they get it, and they don’t really like the fixed salary model. Also, some of them heard about the operation a few days ago and protested against us not letting them participate.”

“Okay, I understand.” Shinjo nodded. “I will assign them some tasks later. You can arrange it so that tomorrow you can send a group of people to Gin and say that it is to support them.”

Do you need weapons and ammunition?

“Bring them enough, don’t skimp,” Shinjo said with a smile. “It’ll last for half a month, and their monthly salary will triple. I told Gin to arrange the most exciting battlefield for them.”

Upon hearing Shinjo's words, Sakata Yusuke couldn't help but shudder. He had heard about the situation there; people's heads were practically turned into dog heads. If it weren't for the black organization and Shinjo's hospital acting as field hospitals, Gin's men would almost all be dead.

"Is it really necessary to send them to that battlefield?" Aquawitt objected. "Their tactical skills are completely inadequate, and mercenaries are not on the same level as regular troops. Counterinsurgency is manageable, but in positional warfare, mercenaries will definitely suffer losses. Gin fought two positional battles with the National Guard over there, and you saw how heavy the losses were the first time."

“It’s alright, we only want elites. If they come back alive, their monthly salary will increase by 30%, and the compensation will definitely be a figure that satisfies them,” Xincheng said with a smile. “Of course, all of this is based on the premise of voluntariness.”

Aquawit wasn't optimistic. If his men were a bunch of rookies, perhaps some would listen to Newtown's hype and go fight those American soldiers. But the problem was, his men were all militarily trained; many were former special agents and veterans. They knew very well the price of provoking the world's leading military power, especially fighting on foreign soil. One wrong move and they could lose their lives. What good was making a lot of money if you couldn't live to enjoy it?