Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

This is a two-story abandoned factory. The internal lighting facilities are damaged. The only light source shines through the square window above, and the floating dust becomes clearly visible in the air.

A young man was carrying a suitcase, and the sunlight cast tiny spots of light on his black clothes. He walked forward in a hurry.

His name is Ross, and he was a member of a small gang many years ago. He was caught on the spot by FBI agents from the New York branch who were guarding other criminals on the roadside for trying to plant a bomb on the chassis of a rival gang. He was only released from prison a year ago.

Even if the sentence was reduced for the sake of no death, the prison sentence still destroyed his original world: he had a conflict with others in prison and lost half of his tongue. After he was released from prison, his parents moved away and his girlfriend took the children away. It turned out that the child The gang has long been annexed by other forces.

With no place to live and no money on him, he could only be a homeless man, but he couldn't even say a complete and clear sentence when begging. Just when Ross was desperate, he met a brother from his old gang.

The brother helped him and then asked him if he wanted to do some "dirty work."

Because he had been in prison, Ross could not find a serious job. He had been completely rejected by this society, this country, and this world. So when he heard his brother's invitation, he agreed on the spot.

He then enters a criminal organization that is larger and more mysterious than his original gang.

The name of the organization is unknown, and the number of members is unknown. Outstanding members can get a wine code and earn more money. Ross and this group of little people are the bottom members who are randomly dispatched by these wines.

There weren't many members with code names. Ross got to know two or three in the year he joined, and one of them was used to communicating via email. He only met him once and recognized his face. He was a man with a kind words.

This is what Ross likes the most - giving orders or requests directly, never laughing at him for being mute, and paying him the same night or the next morning after the job is completed. He is the favorite of the workers.

Now Ross is carrying out the member's orders.

He asked him to blow up the abandoned chemical factory that had been one of the organization's joints. A few days before, he had asked him to steal a company executive's car.

This factory is located in a remote location, and the factory building is shaped like an "8", which is a very strange design. Some chemicals in the site have not been cleaned up yet, and even homeless people don't usually come here.

As Ross walked, he recalled the contents of the mission.

In the past, when the other party sent messages, he would name the specific time and place, but this time, perhaps because of the sudden incident, he actually called him directly and asked him to quickly come and plant the bomb. His tone was crazy and excited, just like a desperado.

Ross didn't understand what was going on, but he knew that the organization's orders were absolute, and the truth was coming.

He came to the center of the "8"-shaped factory, the junction of the two fields, opened the box and took out several inconspicuous small-volume bombs circulating within the organization, hoping to plant them here.

At this time, there were sudden footsteps upstairs.

Ross had been in the organization for a year, and his reaction ability and shooting skills were far superior to those of the past. He immediately pointed his gun at the place, raised his head with caution, and saw a white male face passing by.

That face was a bit familiar, and he saw him too. He was obviously stunned for a moment, then turned around and left.

"...?"

Ross lowered his gun and stared blankly up.

Why such a surprised and frightened expression?

It was obviously Mr. Snake Venom... who assigned him this task, right?
……

The footsteps faded away, but Ross did not catch up. He dutifully placed the bomb on the first floor, and then walked towards the second floor carrying the suitcase, which was half lighter.

The second floor is very high, and the sky is crisscrossed with various pipes that cannot be passed by a human body. There are several employee rest rooms and offices on this floor, and there are more places where bombs need to be deployed.

Ross calculated the time when the bomb was about to explode and quickly walked towards a corner. However, at this moment, an arm suddenly stretched out from the side and clamped down on his neck!

"!!!"

A huge force came from his neck, strangling him so hard that he could hardly breathe. Ross had no doubt that this force would break his neck in the next second!
He subconsciously began to struggle and tried to look up. A male voice came from above.

"Don't move." The man who controlled him with his left arm was also wearing black clothes. His long black hair hung naturally, and a strand of hair in front of his forehead was a little curly. There was a cold light in his dark green eyes.

Faced with this murderous aura that was no less than that of those members of the organization's code name, Rose's scalp went numb and his fingers suddenly relaxed.

The other party easily took the gun and the half box of bombs and placed the latter gently on the ground. Ross didn't come back to his senses until his hands were empty and shuddered.

The man who caught him looked at his open mouth, and probably saw that only half of his tongue was left inside. Without communicating with him, he turned to look at a room with an open door in the distance.

Rose saw another young man walking out of that room, supporting an Asian teenager.

The man also had long hair. He held the boy's shoulders to steady him, looked towards them, and saw the suitcase at the first glance.

"What's that box?"

For some reason, Ross found his voice very kind.

……

Da da……

The sound of rapid running sounded from the other side of the second floor of the factory.

Aaron Lucas ran forward with all his strength, not daring to look back at all, trying to avoid the black shadow behind him that was not too slow but could pursue him closely.

But unfortunately, when he was about to cross a walkway, something tripped under his feet. He hit the railing and fell over.

From the second floor to the first floor, it is a height where ordinary people will break bones if they are lucky enough to fall, and will fall to death if they hit their head if they are not lucky. It is not a big problem for people like them.

Aaron's knees hit the ground, and a heartbreaking pain immediately came. He ignored this minor injury and quickly turned over and jumped up again.

His hands were shaking constantly, and there were inconspicuous tooth marks on the inside of the two fingers on his right hand. The muzzle of the gun swayed with his hand, but in his field of vision, the crow-like shadow disappeared.

Only two very thin stainless steel plates fell into the light spot on the ground in front, shaking with dazzling light.

"I've always disliked this place. This structure... others think it's a figure 8? Actually, it's more accurate to say it's ∞... It's very troublesome to use for hide-and-seek."

The voice came softly from behind him. There was no anger or majesty, it was a soft whisper like caring for the weak.

Aaron Lucas's breathing began to shudder.

He didn't dare to look back, even though he recognized who the person behind was, he still stared blankly in front of him.

He could clearly see the patterns on the two stainless steel sheets - the one above had the body of a snake, which twisted and bit its tail to form an "∞" symbol.

The pattern stung his eyes.

The burnt skin on the back of the neck, the snake-shaped tattoo that he had destroyed with his own hands twelve years ago, started to hurt again, the pain was heart-piercing.

A hand reached out from behind and hooked Aaron's neck. There is no strength in the arms, just like the arm-in-arms between close friends, but the feeling against the skin is colder than a snake crawling across.

"Ani... Seth..."

Aaron shouted out this code name that had been remembered for sixteen years and had tortured him like a nightmare for twelve years.

----

The next chapter writes a little about the protagonist’s winery experience. (End of chapter)