Something Incredible Seemed to Have Been Discovered
Gin grabbed Vodka and took advantage of the chaos caused by the explosion to escape the scene.
When he arrived at the parking lot, he found that Vermouth was already waiting next to his Porsche 356a.
At this moment, Vermouth had elegantly put on a black hat.
A black veil draped down from the top of her hat, obscuring her features and giving her the appearance of an elegant noblewoman.
"They came specifically to hunt down that girl, only to be outmaneuvered..."
Vermouth, peering through her black veil at the disheveled Gin and Vodka, uttered a mocking remark. "I never thought you'd be this pathetic, Gin."
"..."
Gin's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, and his expression darkened even further.
In a daze, he seemed to recall the tone of the woman wearing the fox mask from just now.
He pulled a flattened cigarette from his pocket, lit it with a lighter, and calmed himself down.
He asked Vermouth, "Where's Pisco?"
"We were interrogated by the police separately."
Vermouth answered without hesitation, her tone unusually calm, "As for where he went, I have no idea..."
"Did he defect?"
Gin glanced at his still bleeding and throbbing arm, a murderous glint appearing in his eyes.
A moment later, on the road near the Haido Hotel.
"However, I never expected that the little girl would hook up with someone else... I'd like to see the girl's desperate and twisted face when she faces death."
Vermouth, while driving, glanced out of the corner of her eye at Gin, who was tending to Vodka's injuries in the back seat, and asked, "So, who exactly is the person who rescued that little girl?"
"Have no idea."
Gin narrowed his eyes, seemingly reluctant to recall the painful scene he had just witnessed, but after a pause, he continued, "It was a woman wearing a fox mask."
"A woman wearing a fox mask?"
Vermouth asked in confusion, and suddenly, she couldn't help but recall the white-robed figure who had been pulling at Pisco earlier.
But after a pause, she pretended to guess and said, "Could it be that organization that likes to use animals as code names?"
"That organization?"
Gin fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
"It seems you've got a lot of trouble on your end."
Vermouth lit a cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke out the car window. "Looks like I, as an actress, should take a break and enjoy myself in Japan for a while."
Vermouth has no immediate plans to reveal the white robe.
This is a troublesome matter.
If you don't tell anyone, no one will know; but if you do, it will only cause a lot of trouble.
Moreover, she had more important things to confirm during her trip to Japan, and she couldn't be bothered with such troublesome matters.
On the other side, on the rooftop of a building not far from the Haido Hotel.
Fujino had just used the Grappling Gun to reach the rooftop and stopped when he heard a series of system notifications:
[Detective Profession Mission detected: Protection of the client has been completed]
[Mission Reward: Two million yen, 300 Detective Reputation points have been issued]
[Detective Profession Mission quest: The Lost Little Girl has been completed]
[Mission Reward: One million yen, 300 Detective Reputation points have been issued]
Current balance: 10.42 million yen
[Congratulations, host! Your Detective Level Up to Intermediate Two Stars! (450|1500) Currently available points: 1]
"The balance has exceeded ten million..."
Fujino stared at the system interface in front of him, "Even the detective level has been raised to intermediate level two stars?"
"As for strength, it would be more appropriate to spend money to upgrade it permanently... Let's allocate that to reasoning ability instead."
After a pause, Fujino allocated his detective career points to Detective Intuition.
[Detective Intuition: Beginner Level 2 (Increases reasoning ability by 75%, and increases reasoning ability by 150% when Detective Intuition is actively triggered; Note: Active skill duration: 90 seconds)]
"Increased reasoning ability by 25%, and added 30 seconds of active triggering time?"
Fujino stared at the upgraded Detective Intuition and rubbed his chin.
Then, he turned his attention to the professional interfaces for Fighting Master and Swordsman Grandmaster.
He now has ten million yen, which is more than enough to upgrade two professions.
[Three million five hundred and sixty thousand yen have already been consumed for the host]
Current balance: 6.86 million yen
[Upgrade Swordsman Grandmaster to Level 3 (300|1000) 3 million yen, currently available points: 1]
[Upgraded to Level 3 Fighting Master (203|1000) for 3 million yen, currently available points: 1]
"Upgrading from level two to level three requires two million, and upgrading from level three to level four requires three million..."
Fujino glanced at the amount needed for the next upgrade and guessed, "Upgrading from level four to level five, I'm afraid it will require four million?"
Putting his thoughts aside, Fujino opened the system interface.
Without hesitation, he immediately allocated the two points he gained from the upgrade to "Use Your the Body is the Sword" and "Fierce Iron Fist".
[Fierce Iron Fist: Level 6 (Increases host's strength by 120%; increases host's all attributes by 120% when fighting bare-handed)]
[The Body is the Sword: Level 7 (The person is the sword, and the sword is the person; the host gains a 170% bonus to all attributes)]
The two class skills together provide him with a 15% increase in all attributes and a 20% increase in strength.
Two million yen is a reasonable amount.
After all, it's permanent.
After doing all this, Fujino slightly moved his fingers, closed the system interface, and then looked out at the city lights twinkling in the night.
"Butterfly..."
Fujino suddenly recalled what that man had said before.
He couldn't yet determine what the butterfly was.
However, considering that the man was a drug addict, the butterfly was probably some kind of illegal drug.
Taking a deep breath, Fujino glanced at the bloodstains on his robe, then looked up at the city lights, recalling the image of the little girl standing by the window.
"Let's investigate a little."
Fujino family.
As night deepened, the snow outside the window continued to fall.
Ai Haibara suddenly woke up from her bed.
She rubbed her eyes, and her vision gradually cleared.
The room that greets you is decorated in a delicate, girly style, a familiar room.
Ai Haibara sat up in bed, rubbing her aching head.
She remembered that she should have been captured by Pisco and was waiting to die...
How did I end up back in my room?
Are they all fake?
Was it all a dream, from beginning to end, even the fact that she was captured by Pisco?
The little girl frowned, sensing that something was amiss.
For a moment, she was even unsure whether she was in reality or whether everything before her was just the last delusion of a girl in the darkness before her death.
Memories kept colliding in my mind.
Ai Haibara got up from the bed, put on her fluffy bear slippers, and walked to the door of the next room.
Pushing open the door, I saw "Akemi Fujino" fast asleep.
She pinched her cheek to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
However, when she lowered her hand, a shallow wound on the back of her hand pulled her back into her memories.
She remembered!
Just as he was about to give up and end it all, a person dressed in white robes suddenly appeared before him.
She thought that person had come to take her life, but that wasn't actually the case.
That must be the person who saved her and brought her back here.
But who exactly was that person, and why did they save her?
Ai Haibara pondered for a moment, then her eyes suddenly widened as if she had discovered something extraordinary.
Upon closer reflection, she felt a sense of familiarity with that person.
Her intuition is probably correct...
Coming to her senses, she walked to the window, gazing at the falling snow outside, a faint smile appearing on her usually indifferent face.
The snow outside the window seemed to melt away.