"With a child's size, he can definitely get into these safes..."
The cold voice echoed in the dark basement.
Conan, huddled in the cramped locker, almost felt his heart stop when he heard this.
No. There's nothing I can do—
His small body trembled inside the suffocating metal box. His lungs burned, struggling to draw in the thinning oxygen as his heart pounded violently against his chest. All that flashed through his mind was: If I die here, then Professor Agasa will probably also—!
"For kids, it's better to hide under the lockers."
There was a cruel, bloody undertone hidden in Gin's cold tone.
Am I going to die!?
It was as if he could already see the scene of Gin pulling him out in the next second. Conan stared at the closed locker door, just like a prisoner staring at the cell bars, waiting for death to arrive at any moment.
Outside, Gin was looking down at the row of lockers, hesitant to make a move.
Vodka was about to squat down and open one when—
"Wait."
Hayashi Yoshiki's calm voice interrupted.
"What, what happened?"
"When people squat, their movements are restricted. Mr. Vodka, have you ever considered the possibility that the moment you open the locker, it's not a child inside... but a bomb rigged to detonate immediately?"
"... Eh?"
Vodka stiffened in place.
He glanced at Gin and noticed that his elder brother was also staring at the lockers, but had yet to take any action.
Gin was indeed wary.
First, Itakura Taku had suddenly changed the transaction time to the middle of the night and attempted to track them. Clearly, someone else was manipulating things behind the scenes.
Second, what kind of child would be running into an abandoned station basement in the dead of night? It was too deliberate—as if someone was guiding them to open the lockers.
Gin's past experiences—multiple assassination attempts and the time he was almost killed—had made him far more cautious than before.
If he was careless and triggered a trap here, he would end up as laughable as Tequila, who blew up in the bathroom.
Hayashi Yoshiki glanced at the time: 4:14 AM.
That should be enough.
Just then, Gin's cell phone suddenly rang.
Ding-ling-ling—!!
"...Hello. It's me."
Conan, still curled up in the locker, forced himself to take slow, shallow breaths as he desperately listened to Gin's conversation.
"Master Gin! Sakimoto and the others suddenly lost contact!"
"When?"
"Less than a minute ago! They seem to have been sniped—!"
The call abruptly ended.
On the other end, the sound of a body and a phone hitting the ground echoed faintly.
Gin hung up, his face dark as thunder.
Tch. We were tricked.
"Brother?"
"Retreat!"
Gin didn't hesitate anymore.
Vodka immediately stood up and quickly nodded at Hayashi Yoshiki, then rushed after his brother.
Hayashi Yoshiki simply smiled faintly.
Inside the locker, Conan listened carefully to the fading footsteps, but he didn't dare move yet.
Could it be a trap?
He endured the thin air.
A long time passed before Conan finally mustered the courage to push open the locker door.
Pitch black.
Gin, Vodka... Hayashi Yoshiki—they were gone.
He immediately took out his cell phone and sent a text message to Dr. Agasa.
On the other side, after leaving the basement, Vodka said quickly, "I'll go get the car!"
Even though he was loyal to Gin, he was clearly aware that running outside now meant risking getting his head blown off by a sniper.
But surprisingly, Vodka managed to reach the car, start it, and didn't encounter any danger along the way.
Only the silent, eerie night streets accompanied him.
Gin and Hayashi Yoshiki quickly got in as well.
Hayashi Yoshiki observed Gin carefully—his vigilance was at its peak. From approaching the car to getting in, Gin's entire body remained tense, as if ready to react to an ambush at any second.
"Brother, nothing unusual."
"Let's go."
Vodka stepped on the accelerator without another word, speeding away from Xianqiao Station.
As they raced through the silent city, Gin's brows furrowed deeper.
Something's not right.
There's no follow-up attack?
The enemy knew the time and place of their transaction with Itakura Taku and had clearly set a trap. Gin had stationed his men at strategic points to monitor the area—but those men were all sniped within a minute.
Why?
The enemy wouldn't go through all that trouble just to kill a few low-level operatives. What was their true goal?
Gin's face remained grave.
If they weren't aiming to kill him, then they must've been covering something up.
Was there something else in the locker?
Gin's sharp gaze suddenly flashed.
"Turn back to the station."
"Ah—yes!"
Without hesitation, Vodka spun the wheel and sped back.
Perhaps sensing his brother's bad mood, Vodka slammed the gas pedal to the floor, the black sedan roaring through the city streets.
Just as they neared Kembashi Station—
BOOM!!
A violent explosion erupted in the distance.
The shockwave rattled the entire car.
As black smoke began billowing from the station's underground entrance, Gin's expression turned as dark as the night itself.
"There really was a bomb?! And judging by that power—"
Vodka let out a relieved sigh.
Gin's face twisted into pure rage.
Hayashi Yoshiki casually quipped, "Well, looks like the station's gonna be closed at dawn. I feel bad for the poor commuters in a rush."
"…"
"Although it was a wasted trip, at least we weren't caught in the blast. That's something to be thankful for, right?"
He chuckled softly.
Meanwhile, Conan had finally made it back to Professor Agasa's house.
He stumbled into the room, gasping for air, pale-faced and shaken to his core.
What had happened tonight was far too terrifying—and absurd.
Why?
Why is Yoshiki part of that organization?
His whole body trembled violently.
"Shinichi… you just said Mr. Hayashi… is also a member of that organization?"
"He was working with Gin and Vodka!"
Dr. Agasa's face instantly turned ashen.
If this is a joke, it's the worst joke I've ever heard in my life!
But then, he remembered something even worse.
"Ai-chan—Ai went to Hayashi Yoshiki's house today!!"
"Doctor, we have to go back! Hurry!"
"R-right!"
Dr. Agasa panicked.
But things were about to get even worse.
The old Beetle had broken down on their way from Gunma Prefecture. They had only managed to get here thanks to hitching a ride with two jewel thieves who were wanted by the police.
Now, stranded in the middle of the night, there was no car and no taxis in sight.
And no way to get back in time.