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

Inside the tomb.

At the same moment when darkness fell, Pu Siqinglan quickly put on night vision goggles and raised his gun in the direction of Qingliu Binguang.

The whole set of movements was extremely fast, without any hesitation.

Like a carefully honed killing machine.

……

Pu Siqinglan is twenty-seven years old this year.

She committed her first murder twelve years ago.

That year, she had not yet left the United States to search for the treasures of the Romanov dynasty around the world. She was still in a training camp for a killer organization. After determining that she had a good talent for shooting, the instructor took her to the edge of a slum.

He gives her a real gun and motions for her to look across the street.

"This lesson is very important." The instructor said lightly, "I will teach you how to kill people. These people are your training props today."

Pu Siqinglan was stunned.

She could see that they were homeless people. There were piles of worn-out clothes, bedding and bags around them. Some scraps that could be sold were carefully placed against the wall to prevent them from being taken away suddenly.

They are people on the margins of society. Even if they go missing or are killed, it will not attract other people's attention, will not be on the news, and will not attract police investigation... They are indeed very good "teaching materials".

But at this time, the "student" Pu Siqinglan just stared at them blankly. Her hand holding the gun became stiff, and a trace of panic and confusion appeared on her face.

She knew this day would come.

From the moment she entered the training camp, she knew that she would reach this point sooner or later.

…But when she actually picked up the gun and was about to point it at a group of living people, she still hesitated.

She found herself unable to do it.

The instructor noticed that she was holding the gun but hadn't pulled the trigger, and looked over at her.

The instructor looked to be in his early thirties, thin and not in good health. But he had a special status in the training camp, and those who usually bossed them around always treated him with respect.

So Pu Si Qinglan did not dare to disrespect him. Her fear of him was even deeper than that of those cruel guys.

She looked him in the eyes, and she saw that in the moonlight above, those eyes were like two fine emeralds, and he said to her, "What are you hesitating about?"

Pu Siqinglan nodded, her finger reaching for the trigger, still trembling a little.

Seeing her actions, the instructor laughed.

His laughter was very light, almost inaudible in the dark night with noise in the distance, but Pu Siqinglan, who was standing next to him, heard it clearly.

For a moment, she felt as if a poisonous snake was crawling along her skin, and its tongue was slowly licking the last soft spot in her heart.

"Are you feeling sorry for those people?" he asked.

Pu Siqinglan was stunned and subconsciously wanted to deny it, but she saw the instructor smile again.

"They are indeed pitiful."

He looked at them and spoke softly.

"Not all the wanderers are self-indulgent people. Some of them are from a country that is in chaos. Some are middle-class and working-class people who used to work hard but went bankrupt due to illness. Some are retired soldiers who were already suffering from injuries and illnesses in the battlefield, and the country did not provide them with any help... They are just a group of ordinary people who want to climb out of the quagmire, or struggle just to avoid falling deeper..."

His voice was so light that Pu Siqinglan even heard a hint of gentle compassion in it.

"But what does this have to do with you?"

The instructor changed the subject, and there was only calmness in his emerald green eyes.

"Their past experiences, morals, and life pursuits have nothing to do with you - to you, they are just teaching props now."

"Let go of your reverence for life." He looked at Pu Siqinglan. "Ordinary people need to pay attention to this, but we don't. People who deal with crime all year round and still want to keep their conscience will only make themselves suffer."

A few seconds later, several gunshots broke the tranquility of the street.

……

Let go of your reverence for life.

Pu Siqinglan, who had been away from the training camp for many years, suddenly had the words of the instructor from many years ago flashing through his mind.

She acquired her current skills in the training camp, but ultimately she did not join the organization because the instructor let her go the day she stepped out of the base.

——"...You don't fit in here. I'll let you go and do whatever you want."

Pu Siqinglan's actions did not stop because of the memories. She aimed directly at Qingliu Binguang's heart and was about to pull the trigger.

Under the night vision goggles, everything around her glowed green. She could only see a blurry figure and could not clearly see the expression on the other person's face.

But for some reason, she saw the other person's lips seemed to move and raise up into a smile.

A chill suddenly burst out from Pu Siqinglan's heart, and a bad premonition arose.

"Bang!" A gunshot was heard in the darkness.

The voice was so close, and everything seemed to be happening again as if that night many years ago. Pu Siqinglan felt a pain in her palm, and something brushed against her gun-holding hand, knocking her gun flying!
"?!!"

Before Pu Siqinglan could react, another gust of wind passed by her eyes. She felt someone grab her shoulder and twisted it backwards. Suddenly, her body lost control and she fell forward.

The smell of a just-extinguished candle wafted past her nose, and then a broad, strong hand grabbed her face and "picked her up" from behind to prevent her from falling.

"Shh-"

A flashlight beam lit up.

"Shuashuashua——"

Countless white lights lit up in the dim tomb.

Also arriving was a person they had met in the morning.

The man in an olive-colored suit and glasses wiped his sweat with his hands against the wall. While directing the people behind him to come in quickly to take care of the other people present, he spoke to Aoyagi Akimitsu.

"Sorry, Mr. Qingliu, we are late. Are you okay?"

Pu Siqinglan's mind went blank.

Her first reaction was not where the lights came from or where those people came from. Her attention was all on what was in front of her.

She fell just now and almost hit the edge of a stone pillar with candles on it, but Aoyagi Akimichi caught her.

At this time, his palm was still covering her face, and one hand supported her entire weight. His fingers were not completely closed, and her right eye was barely visible through the gap. Her eyeball was only a few millimeters away from the tip of the pillar, and her eyelids could touch it if she blinked.

"It's okay." Aoyagi Hikari said gently, "Although it was a bit unexpected, everyone cooperated well."

Pu Siqinglan was pulled up only then.

Those men handcuffed her, and she finally reacted and looked at the others in surprise.

Natsumi Kosaka, who had been very nervous, patted her chest and breathed a long sigh of relief; Conan Edogawa wanted to take the egg, but was hit on the head by Kogoro Mori; the Russian secretary was surrounded by two people, and he shook his head at them, probably to indicate that he was fine.

None of them were surprised by the others' arrival.

"you……"

Aoyagi put away the pocket pistol he had used to shoot her. He pulled the emerald hair ornament from his hair, noticing her surprise, and smiled at her.

"I lied to you."

Qingliu Binguang's laughter was very light, which made Pu Siqinglan feel inexplicably familiar.

...But, it's not exactly the same.

……

At the same time, above the castle.

The door to the dining room was open, and Furiya Rei was leaning against a window with his finger on the communication headset.

The window next to him faced the sea. The sea, which had been sparkling in the afternoon, now looked like a bottomless abyss.

Not far from him, the art dealer grabbed one of the men's arms and said, "Mr. Policeman, I have followed your request and accompanied the dangerous killer all the way to this castle without leaking any information. Does this count as some kind of merit? Can I get a reduced sentence?"

"Sorry, smuggling is not our business..."

The Metropolitan Police Department SAT member who was grabbed by him broke free from his hand swiftly.

Fūya Rei didn't pay attention to the noise around him and listened carefully to the message in the headphones.

"Mr. Fūya, we have captured the 'Scooping', and no one is injured down there."

"That's good."

Furiya Rei's heart, which had been tense for hours and had been hanging in the air since he heard about Aoyagi Akiko's plan, finally relaxed.

……

Time returns to morning.

"Ms. Mizunashi Reina, we found the deceased's lost necklace in your room. Please cooperate with us for further investigation."

In the small conference room on the tenth floor of the hotel, everyone was stunned when they heard the noise outside the door and the undisguised voice of the Osaka police.

"what??"

Kogoro Mori, who loves beautiful women, made an incredulous sound.

Aoyagi Binguang glanced at the door, and it was unknown what he was thinking of, but he suddenly stood up and walked towards Furukaya Rei.

"Furiya." He shouted, "I have roughly guessed who Spider is. Can you help me?" (End of this chapter)