The Truth

"Hmph! It's good that nothing happened. I didn't expect that doctor to be out today; it seems I'll have to find another time to deal with him. I certainly don't want any more accidents." Hearing Fumiyo Edogawa's reply, Mr. Lin snorted coldly.

Conan thought to himself that it was fortunate the doctor wasn't home, or things would have gone wrong. "Oh, come up here quickly; I've made a discovery." Conan continued using Fumiyo Edogawa's voice. He dealt with the unconscious woman's body and called the man up, intending to use the same method to knock him out so he could capture them both.

"Is that so? I'd like to see what kind of discovery you've made." The man said as he walked up.

Listening to the footsteps on the stairs, Conan quickly hid to one side.

As the footsteps grew closer, it was clear the man was following his plan and walking right in.

However, when he reached the doorway, the man stopped, looked at the figure standing by the window, and said, "What discovery? And why are you standing over there?" Clearly, the situation before him made the man suspicious.

To the man's question, 'Fumiyo Edogawa' replied, "I have my reasons for standing here. The thing I discovered is right here; come over and see for yourself."

"Hmph!" The man didn't say anything else and walked straight over. When he reached the woman, he saw her tightly closed eyes and knew something was wrong. Before he could react, Conan, who was to the side, fired the anesthetic needle, which quickly pierced the man's neck.

Watching the needle sink into the man's neck, Conan smiled happily. But just as he prepared to emerge from the shadows:

"Is this your secret weapon? What a good thing! No wonder she was knocked out by you; so this is what you relied on." The man said as he walked toward Conan's position. It was clear the anesthetic needle hadn't knocked him out immediately.

"Ho... how is that possible? You..." Looking at the man standing before him, Conan felt it was unbelievable. He knew the man had been hit in the neck with an anesthetic needle; how could he be fine?

"Heh, nothing is impossible. If my physique weren't much stronger than an ordinary person's, I would have already collapsed. Now, prepare yourself." The man said as he stepped forward, grabbed Conan, and delivered a hand-chop to his neck, knocking him unconscious.

Looking at the unconscious Conan, the man muttered to himself, "Damn, if my stats hadn't been increased by half, I probably would have collapsed too." This man was Lin Maoxian. Just as the needle pierced his neck, he had received a system notification.

Adventurer has been hit by an anesthetic needle, triggering a potent anesthetic effect.

Adventurer's body has been digitized. Willpower and Stamina are taking effect, preventing the adventurer from falling unconscious. However, for the next 30 seconds, all of the adventurer's stats except Charisma will be reduced by 2 points. After 30 seconds, the adventurer will suffer a debuff of -1 to all stats for a duration of 1 minute.

The system notification let him know that the needle's effect was quite strong. Losing nearly a third of his stats for 30 seconds—if he had been in the middle of a fight, that would have been fatal. Still, a digitized body was truly formidable; otherwise, he wasn't sure if he would have been alright.

Lin Maoxian first tied Conan up with a rope, intending to wake Fumiyo Edogawa first.

About ten minutes later, Fumiyo Edogawa regained consciousness.

"I, I am..." Looking at the tied-up Conan and Lin Maoxian standing before her, Fumiyo Edogawa clearly didn't know what had happened.

Lin Maoxian said to her with annoyance, "You really are something, getting knocked out by a little boy with an anesthetic needle. What am I supposed to say to you?"

"How was I supposed to know this brat would be hiding to the side, and that he had something like an anesthetic needle? I was just caught off guard for a moment." Looking at the bound Conan, Fumiyo Edogawa defended herself.

Listening to her excuses, Lin Maoxian waved his hand and said with a smile, "Alright, alright, let's not talk about that now. Since we've caught the brat, what do you intend to do?"

"Heh, wake him up first. I'll show him what's coming. To think he dared to make me lose face; I won't let him off easily." Fumiyo Edogawa gritted her teeth. Clearly, being knocked out by a little boy made her feel humiliated, and she was prepared to 'treat' Conan well.

It was unknown how much time had passed, but when Conan woke up, he found himself tied to a chair. Just as he tried to move, he heard the woman's voice. "You're finally awake, brat. You're quite capable, aren't you? Managing to escape and even knocking me out. Now, try running for me again."

Conan looked toward the source of the voice. It was the woman called Fumiyo Edogawa. She was standing to the side, looking at him with a fierce expression and a look of gloating.

"Hmph, if it weren't for that man, I would have already caught you. You wouldn't be standing there talking to me." Conan felt nothing but disdain for the woman's words.

Conan's words clearly irritated her, as she roared, "You brat, how dare you say that! You've made your mother's neck ache even now!"

Hearing the woman call herself his mother again, Conan snorted coldly, "You are not my mother! My mother doesn't look like you, you old hag!"

"Old hag? You dare call me an old hag? Am I that old? I will make Shinichi call me 'Mom' willingly!" The final 'old hag' really angered the woman. She had always believed her appearance was very young and beautiful, and the term 'old hag' had absolutely nothing to do with her.

To the woman's words, Conan retorted, "Impossible. I will never call you Mom, so you can rest easy on that."

"Oh? Is that so? Then what if you call me Mom willingly? What will you do then?" Hearing Conan's words, the woman said with a strange smile.

Conan said offhandedly, "If I call you Mom voluntarily, you can do whatever you want. Anyway, that's impossible."

"Oh, really? You'd better watch closely in a moment." After saying this, the woman turned and walked into the adjacent room.

Lin Maoxian had heard their entire conversation clearly. He knew exactly what was going on because he had arranged it all. He looked at Conan with pity: "Conan, you're far too confident. You'll see in a moment just how miserably you've lost."

"Hmph!" Conan ignored Lin Maoxian's words, snorted, and stopped paying attention to him, turning his focus to the ropes binding him. He thought about how to untie them without being noticed so he could find a chance to escape.

"Now, look at me again and tell me if I'm an old hag."

A familiar voice interrupted Conan's thoughts. He looked toward the source of the sound and was stunned. "Mom, you... how are you here? Could it be that just now..."

The person who arrived was Yukiko. Lin Maoxian had told her about this, and she found it quite interesting, so she had disguised herself as Fumiyo Edogawa. However, she had ended up being knocked out by Conan and even called an old hag, which made her very unhappy. "That's right, I was that old hag just now. What do you say, Shinichi?" When she said 'old hag,' Yukiko asked through gritted teeth.

Looking at the terrifying expression on his mother's face, Conan quickly changed the subject: "Mom, what is going on here? When did you come back? And why are you with this man?" He looked at Lin Maoxian as he asked Yukiko.

Lin Maoxian interrupted Yukiko before she could speak: "Yukiko, don't you think we should untie your son first?"

"Better untie him. I was actually thinking of keeping him tied up a bit longer for calling me an old hag." Yukiko's words made Lin Maoxian sigh; women really shouldn't be offended, especially smart, beautiful, and slightly petty ones. It was just one 'old hag,' and she wanted to punish her own son. It seemed he had to be careful not to offend her.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask: "Yukiko, is he really your biological son? He wasn't picked up somewhere, was he?"

Yukiko glanced at Lin Maoxian and said with annoyance, "You're the one who was picked up. He's the one I carried for ten months and gave birth to with such difficulty. You tell me if he's my biological son!"

Lin Maoxian shrugged: "From the way you talk, it doesn't look like it."

Yukiko ignored him and stepped forward to untie the ropes on Conan.

With his body free, Conan stretched and asked Yukiko angrily, "Mom, can you explain what is going on?"

Looking at her angry son, Yukiko explained with a smile: "Shinichi, don't be angry. This has nothing to do with Mom. Lin invited me back from the United States through your Aunt Eri. After arriving in Japan, he told me you had an accident and your body had turned into a child's. I didn't quite believe it at first. All these things were arranged by him; they have nothing to do with me."

"Even if you didn't arrange it, you shouldn't just do whatever people tell you to do." Yukiko's explanation clearly didn't satisfy Kudo Shinichi; the tone of his voice showed he was still angry.

"Well, Mom had no choice. Lin forced me to do it, even though I was strongly opposed. He said this was the only way to make me believe you had become Conan and were temporarily staying with Ran, so I had no choice but to do it." Seeing her son was still angry and knowing she had gone a bit too far, Yukiko had to play the victim and push all the blame onto Lin Maoxian.