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Chapter 212: The Perfect Subject
In the taxi.
Conan's eyes instantly became bloodshot and red.
Anger overpowered fear.
This bastard!
He approached Ran not just out of lust, but to use her as a lab rat!
What beauty medicinal bath!
What opening meridians!
That was all groundwork to inject Ran with the Organization's poison!
The taxi drove over a speed bump, jolting slightly.
On the other end of the earphone, the man's voice continued, carrying a nauseating elegance akin to appreciating art.
"Don't worry about side effects, Gin."
Blake blew a nonexistent smoke ring at the empty alley entrance, his tone as light as if discussing tomorrow's breakfast.
"The reason previous subjects dissolved from cellular breakdown was that their physical constitutions were too poor."
"But Mori Ran is different."
"I confirmed it when I held her wrist."
"That toughness of muscle fiber, that explosive power hidden under the skin... she is simply a container tailor-made for 'that thing'."
"Wait, this is..."
Silence. Dead silence in the back of the taxi.
The harsh static in the earphone stopped abruptly, followed by a crisp cracking sound. It was the sound of hard plastic being crushed by two fingers.
Conan ripped the earphone out as if touching a red-hot iron, gasping for air.
I was discovered!
Conan's heart tightened, followed immediately by a sense of relief. Fortunately, the Professor upgraded the bug. Without a lab analysis, one can't discover the circuitry inside; they'll just think it's some dirt stuck there.
"Conan?"
Ran noticed something was wrong. She reached out to touch the boy's forehead, her voice full of concern. "Why are you sweating so much? Do you have a fever?"
Looking at Ran's unsuspecting face, his heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible giant hand, hurting so much he could barely breathe.
That man!
I must stop him!
Absolutely! I absolutely cannot let him hurt Ran!
"I... I'm fine, Ran-neechan."
Conan forced a smile that was uglier than crying, his voice dry and hoarse. "It's just too stuffy in the car, I'm a bit carsick."
Mori Kogoro let out a drunken belch from the passenger seat and muttered groggily, "Brats are so troublesome... Driver, open the window a bit wider."
Night wind poured into the car, carrying the chill of late autumn, yet it couldn't blow away the cold sweat on Conan's back.
He had to be calm. Panic wouldn't solve anything.
That man—Blake—was equal to Gin, perhaps even higher in status. He had his sights on Ran's physical constitution. Moreover, he mentioned "Sherry". He knew of Haibara's existence. But he seemed unaware that Haibara had shrunk, merely mocking Gin's loss of smell.
This was an opportunity. The only opportunity.
As long as that man didn't know "Haibara Ai" was Sherry, they were still in the shadows.
The car slowly came to a halt downstairs at the Mori Detective Agency. Before the car even stopped completely, Conan pushed the door open and jumped out.
"Brat, where are you going?!" Mori Kogoro shouted from behind.
"I'm going to Agasa's house! The Professor said his new game console arrived; I'm sleeping there tonight!"
Conan didn't look back. His Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes stomped the ground, and before his Turbo Engine Skateboard was even down, he shot into the night like a bullet from a chamber.
"That child, really..." Ran sighed helplessly, then looked at Conan's disappearing back with some worry. "Dad, Conan seems a bit off."
"What's off about him? The kid just wants to play."
...
The streets of Beika Town stretched out under the streetlights. Conan stepped on the skateboard, pushing its speed to the limit. The wind roared in his ears, stinging his cheeks.
Faster.
Faster.
I must find Haibara immediately.
Only Haibara knew the details of that Organization's drug research.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Conan gritted his teeth, his eyes red. He had never felt so powerless. Before, facing Gin, Vodka, or even the unfathomable Rum, he could at least maintain his rationality and think of countermeasures. But this time, the enemy had put a knife directly to Ran's throat.
Unforgivable!
The skateboard screeched to a halt in front of Agasa's gate. Conan didn't even have time to pick it up; he stumbled to the gate and pounded frantically on the thick iron door.
"Professor! Professor! Open up!"
"Haibara! Haibara!"
His voice echoed in the quiet residential area, carrying unconcealable panic and anxiety.
A few seconds later, the intercom on the gate lit up, transmitting Agasa's confused voice. "Shinichi? It's so late, why are you..."
"Open the door! Hurry!" Conan roared at the camera, his anxious expression startling the Professor on the other side of the screen.
Click.
The lock sprang open.
Conan pushed the door and entered, not even bothering to change his shoes as he rushed into the living room barefoot. Agasa, wearing pajamas and holding a half-eaten sandwich, looked blankly at the panting Conan.
"W... What happened?"
"Where's Haibara?"
Conan had no time to explain, scanning the living room.
"She's in the basement, researching the thing you brought back last time..."
Before he could finish, Conan had already rushed toward the basement entrance.
The stairs leading to the underground lab were dim and narrow. Conan jumped down them three steps at a time and pushed open the heavy soundproof door.
The lab was brightly lit. Haibara Ai, wearing a white lab coat, was observing something through a microscope. Hearing the loud noise of the door opening, she merely frowned slightly without looking back.
"Great Detective, if you're here to rush the antidote progress, I suggest you turn around and leave right now." Her cool voice carried a trace of fatigue. "I need rest too; I'm not your case-solving machine."
"He's here."
Conan stood at the door, hands in his pockets, gasping for air. Sweat dripped from his chin onto the floor with a soft sound.
Haibara's finger adjusting the microscope paused slightly. She turned around, her tea-colored pupils reflecting Conan's face, which was pale as paper.
She knew Kudo Shinichi too well. This arrogant detective wouldn't show this expression even if a gun was pointed at his head.
This kind of... despair, as if the sky had fallen.
"Who?" Haibara's voice tightened involuntarily. "Gin??"
"No."
Conan took a deep breath, forcing himself to stand straight, but his trembling fingertips betrayed his inner fear.
"It's a man named 'Blake'."
Clang.
The glass slide in Haibara's hand slipped, shattering into powder on the floor. But she didn't care. She just stared dead at Conan, brows furrowed, a trace of doubt flashing in her eyes.
"Blake? The Organization doesn't have this codename."
"Whether it's a liquor name or something else, I've never heard of it." Haibara analyzed calmly, trying to use reason to dispel the oppression in the air. "Could you be mistaken? Or is it a fake name for some peripheral member?"
"No, you don't understand."
Conan shook his head and walked to the lab table, gripping the edge tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white from the force.
"Just half an hour ago, I stuck a bug on him."
"I heard his conversation with Gin."
Haibara's pupils instantly contracted to pinpoints.
Gin.
That nightmare-like name. A person who could talk directly to Gin, and whom Kudo Shinichi feared so much...
"What did he say?" Haibara's voice began to tremble.
Conan closed his eyes. The man's low, elegant, yet cruel voice echoed in his mind again.
"He mentioned you."
Haibara's body swayed violently. She subconsciously hugged her arms, her face turning deathly pale instantly. The fear carved into her bones made her cold all over.
"And..."
Conan opened his eyes, which were filled with bloodshot veins, his voice sounding like it was squeezed through his teeth.
"He said he found a perfect subject."
"A subject to test the improved version of the 'new drug'."
"The new target is Ran!"
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