Chapter 466
Sincerity is a sure-kill move, insincerity is a super sure-kill move
"I received the alarm at around 1:40. I saw that Conan was sleeping soundly, so I didn't wake him. I changed my clothes and left the bedroom, only to find that you, who were guarding outside, were also asleep."
Aoyagi Akimitsu glanced at Morofushi Kagemitsu:
“You’ve been under a lot of stress all day and you must be tired, so I didn’t call you. I just opened the window next to you and climbed out. That window is very quiet when you open it from the inside, but it’s very loud if you push it from the outside, so I didn’t close it again after I got out.”
Morofushi Kagemitsu: "..."
So that's how the living room window is opened, and he wasn't woken up at all.
"Did you bring a weapon?" Conan Edogawa interrupted the conversation.
"I brought a small knife and my usual handgun."
Conan Edogawa frowned and said, "That's too impulsive. To deal with an adult brown bear, you need at least a hunting rifle or a special tranquilizer gun. Ordinary small-caliber pistols can't kill them at all, can they?"
"You have no right to say that to me," Aoyagi Akimitsu said in a tone that reminded others that bread can be cut with a knife or torn by hand. "Besides, I'm confident that even if I've been lazy and haven't trained properly these past few years, I'm still capable of killing a bear with my bare hands."
Conan Edogawa: "..."
This inquisitive elementary school student chose to temporarily shut down at this moment.
The corridor was very long, and they hadn't even walked halfway yet. Aoyagi Akimitsu, completely oblivious to the problem with what he was saying, continued:
“I commandeered a motorcycle parked in the alley and rushed to the forest. But after I arrived and searched around, I didn’t find the bear at all. Instead, I saw several men in black carrying flashlights coming out of the depths of the forest, and I ran right into them.”
"I wasn't sure how many weapons they had, so I ran into the forest immediately. They chased after me, and I hid in a tree and overheard their conversation."
Knowing that what followed was important, Zhu Fujingguang perked up.
“There were five of them in total, and the foreign man who was in charge was called ‘Ireland’,” Aoyagi Akimitsu said. “Two of them received a phone call saying that they had captured an important person and were to bring him back to the base, and then they left.”
Conan Edogawa spoke again: "Could it be those two people I met?"
This was just a muttered remark, not a question. Aoyagi Akimitsu didn't answer, but continued, "They were reduced to three people. I thought this was a good opportunity, so I jumped down and subdued them one by one, and also asked them... well, a few questions."
Seemingly to protect the mental health of minors, he used very euphemistic language.
"They told me that the person they caught was an undercover agent codenamed Scotch Whisky, whose real name was unknown."
“During my previous undercover work, I came into contact with an organization that liked to use alcoholic beverage names as code names. This is Japan, and this Scottish man might be an undercover agent for the local public security bureau. I'm worried he might be the other public security officer who went missing this afternoon, so I was planning to come back and tell you.”
"On my way back..."
In order to explain the situation as quickly as possible, Aoyagi Akimitsu clearly skipped over a lot of details.
Conan Edogawa's eyes widened when he heard the "code name of the liquor," and he immediately wanted to ask more questions regardless of the occasion, but Morofushi Kagemitsu interrupted him:
"How are those three doing?"
“I didn’t kill them—at least they were all alive and well before I left,” Aoyagi Akimitsu said sincerely. “I just took something from them because I was thinking that I might have to go to that base for rescue later.”
He sighed again as he said this: "Then on my way back, I ran into trouble again. A Porsche 356A was parked outside the forest, and I recognized Gin in the driver's seat."
Morofushi Kagemitsu and Edogawa Conan's expressions changed simultaneously.
Morofushi Kagemitsu couldn't help but ask, "You know him?"
“I’ve seen him, more than once.”
Aoyagi Akimitsu's tone remained unchanged.
“When I was working for the zoo organization, I infiltrated many important figures, including a businessman who was secretly colluding with the organization. Every time he met with them, I would accompany him as a bodyguard.”
Zhu Fujingguang frowned slightly.
In his memory, Gin was indeed active all over the world, and he had made many deals with certain big shots on behalf of the organization.
...So that's why Aoyagi Akimitsu knew Gin and was able to imitate him?
“I spent more time with this boss than Sindora did, and I collected a lot of incriminating evidence along the way. He was arrested after I returned to the FBI. Unfortunately, he was found dead by suicide while on bail.”
After briefly summarizing how he met Gin, Aoyagi Akimitsu continued, "He was clearly more alert than Ireland. He spotted me the moment I appeared. We started fighting."
Conan Edogawa asked anxiously, "Are you hurt?"
“He missed me, I stabbed him a few times, and then we both fell down a steep slope.” Aoyagi Akimitsu’s voice finally cracked at this point: “It hurt pretty bad. He’s the most troublesome guy I’ve encountered since I became an FBI agent.” Morofushi Kagemitsu: “…”
So the blood on that knife was...
In fact, he had many more questions he wanted to ask, but the situation was urgent, and since Aoyagi Akimitsu was not his prisoner, he could not seize every detail in his words to question him one by one.
“His condition was slightly better than theirs in Ireland, but he was also temporarily incapacitated and unable to make phone calls. I left the hillside and rushed back to the hotel as quickly as possible.”
"But when I went back the way I came, I found that you were gone, and Conan was gone too."
Aoyagi Akimitsu's voice carried a hint of helplessness, as one problem after another arose.
"After confirming that you were missing, I had no choice but to wake up Mr. and Ms. Mori next door and ask the night watchman. He told me that he saw Conan run out in a hurry."
"Mr. Mori called the police on the spot, but the police force in Anchu City is insufficient. In the evening, they received another case of stabbing in a cemetery, and they couldn't find anyone to help. I remembered that Conan had given me a transmitter in the afternoon, so I immediately turned it on to pinpoint his location and found him in the forest, motionless."
“Those guys told me the location of their base. I did a quick estimate and found it was somewhere in that area. I know him. He probably saw something suspicious, chased after them, ran into them, and got captured.”
At this point, they had reached the end of the corridor, where a door stood in front of them. Aoyagi Akimitsu didn't rush to open it, but turned to look at Edogawa Conan.
Conan Edogawa scratched his head awkwardly: "Sorry."
Morofushi Kagemitsu saw it all clearly. As the elementary school student’s attention was diverted, Aoyagi Akimitsu swiftly pulled a cleanly severed hand from his pocket with his other hand and pressed it against the palm print reader by the door.
He only withdrew his hand nonchalantly after the message "Verification successful" appeared on the screen.
Morofushi Kagemitsu: "…………"
Could this be what he meant by "taking something"?
The police officer had something to say to the FBI agent, but Aoyagi Akimitsu quietly squeezed his wrist, so he silently shut up.
“The criminal organization’s base is dangerous, and it would be too late to wait for the Gunma Prefectural Police Headquarters to send reinforcements, so I plan to go and check it out myself first.”
“Normally, I’m confident I could sneak in directly, but not now. I just had a bad fall and my whole body aches. I don’t usually take painkillers. I can only try to save people by taking a shortcut.”
"So you finally decided to impersonate Gin?" Morofushi Kagemitsu asked.
"Yes, I happen to be wearing a silver wig."
Aoyagi Akimitsu said, "These kinds of people are actually easier to impersonate than ordinary members. They usually look fierce and menacing, and even if they are slightly different, no one dares to ask them questions, and they would never think that someone is impersonating them."
The electronic door opened, but only the right half was open. Behind the door was a large room surrounded by snow-white walls that were almost blindingly white.
It looks like a laboratory.
Morofushi Kagemitsu heard Aoyagi Akimitsu beside him let out a soft "Huh?"
"What's wrong, Mr. Aoyagi?" Conan Edogawa asked.
“I didn’t see this room when I followed that person in,” Aoyagi Akimitsu said. “I’m sure there were no forks in the road. Could it be that different levels of authority lead to different routes?”
Morofushi Kagemitsu: "..."
He felt mentally exhausted. Sometimes, the problems caused by capable people could be more terrible than the troubles caused by incompetent colleagues.
He said, "Don't move. There are surveillance cameras here. We..."
He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.
Morofushi Kagemitsu looked at the center of the laboratory, where a metal vessel stood upright. At first glance, it looked like a hibernation pod from a science fiction movie, with several wires connected to it.
It was filled with a clear liquid, and a woman was soaking in it, her long hair gently floating.
Morofushi Kagemitsu's expression changed instantly when he saw that face clearly.
—Aniset?! (End of Chapter)