Page 167

"..."

Ah, this is... truly unexpected...

However, it's not entirely unreasonable...

Machima remained silent, offering no reply—not only surprised by Shiho's indifferent reaction, nor simply by the fact that she had guessed it all—Shiho was, after all, a bright child.

This surprise stemmed more from the fact that the arrival of this moment did not bring the joy I had expected.

She had prepared many contingency plans—like a child going to the beach tomorrow, filled with wonderful dreams about the sea they'd never seen before, imagining how to arrange all sorts of plans…

But in the end, when you actually arrive at the seaside, the ocean, though still novel after all those beautiful filters have been removed, is far less blue than you imagined. The sand is not white, and the water is grayish. In the end, it just becomes an ordinary scene.

—This drama of red, black, and utter darkness, though it had reached its climax, did not bring Machima any further experience…

At this moment, she could certainly explain, could use all sorts of reasons to excuse herself, and make Shiho believe it; Shiho might even believe it—or at least convince herself to believe it…

but……

Suddenly I feel so bored...

I want to see... something even more interesting...

She looked down at Shiho, and in the despair in her eyes, nodded calmly.

"Yes."

"..."

Ai trembled slightly, then lowered her head.

"..."

"..."

"Why...why not at least lie to me one more time...like before?"

"Hmm... well... maybe I'm just getting a little tired of it?"

Machima looked up at the sky and replied in a helpless tone.

"Shiho is too smart. I thought I acted very well... Ah! Is it because I lied to you too many times before that you no longer believe me no matter what happens?"

"..."

"..."

Ai hugged her arms tightly:

"So...everything before...was all a lie? Even...that time?"

"..."

Machima asked seriously, "Which time?"

"..."

"..."

Seeing Ai tremble slightly again, Machima smiled:

"Anyway, it was all a lie, because I wanted Shiho to fall in love with me, or at least, to never be able to live without me again..."

"..."

"……Um?"

Machima tilted her head, then leaned down and looked down at Shiho, who was trembling slightly—was she really crying?

A long-lost sense of joy finally welled up in her heart again. She moved her fingers, released Vermouth, and then picked up Ai despite the other's resistance.

"Let's go..."

"Let...let me go!"

Ai, who was crying uncontrollably, tried to resist, but was naturally suppressed without a doubt.

"Haiyuan!"

Conan, who was also tied up, shouted, but was still powerless to help.

Jieluo, who hadn't appeared for a long time, emerged from the darkness, pulling a strand of hair from her hand:

"Lady Machima, the rest of the people?"

Machima waved her hand dismissively: "All of them..."

"--don't want!"

Ai in her arms immediately stopped resisting and grabbed Machima, shouting.

"Get them...get them all out of here! And don't hurt them afterwards!"

Jieluo looked at Machima hesitantly, and the latter shrugged:

"You heard what she said."

“…Yes.” Jieluo disappeared into the darkness once more.

"I'm so sorry, Lady Machima."

Miss Hound reverted to her maid mode and quietly retreated to Machima's side.

Vermouth, however, wisely refrained from approaching. She glanced at Machima with some apprehension, and upon realizing that the other party completely ignored her, she clutched her wound, glared fiercely at the remaining FBI and CIA personnel, got into a car, and sped away.

Several seconds later, until everything returned to silence, those present only felt the steel wire around their necks loosen.

"Cough...cough cough!"

"Quick! Bandage...bandage..."

"Where are the enemies!? They..."

"Commander Ada! Commander Ada!?"

"Quickly, treat everyone's wounds first! Call...call for backup!"

Amidst the chaos, Shuichi Akai weakly removed the wire wrapped around his already wounded neck, and Jodie quickly brought him bandages to bandage him.

"Shuichi!"

"It's nothing, just a superficial wound..."

Shuichi Akai gestured that he was alright, then looked at Conan beside him, who was staring intently at his tracking glasses. He then stamped his foot in frustration.

"Damn it... there's no signal at all!"

He hurried to find the two of them:

"Professor Judy! Please get the CIA to turn off the signal jammer immediately. Ai's tracking glasses are still on her. We might still be able to find her! We might even be able to..."

"it's useless……"

Locke walked over, clutching his neck; he still remembered this kid.

“We’ve completely lost contact with our people on the periphery… I’m afraid they’ve all perished. It seems that all our actions have been monitored by her…”

Ida could only sit on the ground, panting. She looked at the thin thread in her hand, completely unable to understand what was happening.

"How...how did that guy do it? What kind of trick is that?!"

Locke sighed, took out a lighter, and lit a cigarette.

"It's too similar. The way they manipulate the threads is almost exactly the same as Gwanghee's. Now I'm even more suspicious... that Makima and Gwanghee are probably the same person..."

Conan, who knew nothing about it, was stunned for a moment: "Who is Kwang-hee?"

Locke glanced at her, then looked at Shuichi Akai:

“This time…we lost more than half of our men. I hope we can no longer keep information from each other alone—we must truly cooperate.”

Shuichi Akai sighed helplessly—he never expected things to develop this way. After a moment of silence, he finally nodded.

Chapter 268 Shiho Miyano's Fall

In the early hours of the morning, the vehicle slowly drove into the dock, and Machima carried the struggling Shiho into her private estate.

"Let me go!"

"No!"

Machima, like petting a cat, lifted Shiho up and buried her head in her stomach, taking a few deep breaths. Then she waved her hand, signaling that Miss Hound could leave, and carried Shiho towards the bedroom.

Like throwing a kitten, Machima tossed Shiho onto the bed and slammed the door shut, startling Shiho so much that she quickly grabbed a pillow to cover herself.

He looked at Machima with an unquestionable expression.

"You...you're insane! You're interested in a child's body?!"

Machima nodded without hesitation:

"Of course, to be precise, I'm even more excited."

"..."

Shiho was slightly taken aback, then burst into a tirade:

"Pervert! Pedophile! Death penalty! *…!"

Instead of being insulted by Shiho, Machima was even more excited by the insults. Her hunting instincts were aroused, and she climbed onto the bed. Like a big cat before hunting its prey, she bent over and slowly approached Shiho, quickly cornering her in the corner of the bed.

"You...you stay away!"

Shiho became genuinely afraid of what was about to happen and couldn't help but kick Machima in the face.

"Ouch...it hurts..."

Unexpectedly, the latter did not block at all, and the kick landed right on the bridge of her nose, causing Machima to stop and cover her face.

"I……"

Shiho subconsciously stopped what she was doing, wanting to ask Machima if she was alright, but then she realized that she was actually waging a war against Japan.

So she put on a stern face again: "Serves you right, who told you to..."

I'm angry!

Machima grabbed the blanket, holding the two corners with both hands, and draped it behind her back, raising it high.

"I'm a man-eating slime now. Any kittens I catch will be eaten and then thoroughly digested in my belly!"

The next second, the "man-eating slime" made of blankets squatted on the bed and then crawled towards Shiho.

"Are you... are you sick?!"

Shiho, both amused and exasperated, tried to dodge, but the man-eating slime grabbed her ankle and threw her onto the bed. She then watched helplessly as the slime slowly approached her, gradually covering her from her feet.

"Mmm! Shiho, this is delicious!"

Inside the bedding, Machima held the trapped Shiho with satisfaction, completing her "feeding."

Shiho, who had been resisting desperately, stopped after a brief, symbolic resistance when she realized that Makima was just holding her tightly and not making any outrageous moves.

"What... exactly do you want?" Shiho asked breathlessly and irritably.

"you."

"..."

"Ah, it hurts!"

Shiho gave Machima a hard pinch and tried to pull back the covers.

"It's so stuffy! Let go of me first..."

"No, I want to hold you like this. It takes time to digest the man-eating slime."

Looking at the big, rascal cat who acted like a child, Shiho was completely at a loss.

The two remained silent. Shiho seemed to have initially decided to ignore Machima, but after a while, she finally couldn't hold back anymore—she had too many emotions she wanted to vent to the other person.

This guy was the one who dumped her outside, leaving her alone and terrified, but now, this guy…

What am I to you... exactly?

Machima thought for a moment and answered seriously, "A pet who's also my girlfriend? Maybe more like a pet?"

"..."