"Do you really want to give up on the mystery before you? It's a field that Holmes, Poirot, Queen, and even your father, Yusaku Kudo—world-famous master detectives—have never explored."
Conan stared intently at this "himself." This man knew him well, and those words truly stirred an impulse within him.
Yet the longer Conan looked at his face, the more out of place it felt.
"That isn't what you really look like, is it? No, I should say there's probably not a single part of your body that reflects your true appearance. If you want my help, shouldn't you at least let me see your real face?"
Miyauchi Hiyage shrugged and did not deny it. "The villains trying to overturn the world are more cunning and treacherous than the last. If us righteous characters aren't even more cunning and cautious than them, how are we supposed to defeat them?"
"You chose to stay at Detective Mouri's agency because you wanted to use his detective identity as cover while investigating the Black Organization, didn't you? And over the past month or two, you haven't told your Ran about your identity either, have you?"
Although Conan was dissatisfied with this person comparing him to himself, he did feel somewhat guilty. After all, he still had not told Ran who he really was.
Then Miyauchi Hiyage continued.
"If you want to know who I am, investigate it yourself. But there is one thing I can tell you, and it is absolutely not a lie." Miyauchi Hiyage decided to tell Conan a genuine truth. "I started paying attention to you around 2008."
In 2008, he had still been in elementary school. This person had been watching him from that far back?
Conan frowned. This person had kept an eye on him for so long, yet he had never noticed his existence?
But that was enough discussion about the man's identity. After a moment of silence, Conan continued questioning him. "I need to know more. The things I just saw, that lens in your hand, and the enemies you mentioned."
Seeing Conan take the bait voluntarily, Miyauchi Hiyage immediately began explaining those things.
From vengeful spirits to cursed spirits, from Exorcists to Sorcerers, Miyauchi Hiyage gave him a brief explanation of each. He also casually mentioned the possible existence of Magicians.
Finally, he got to the lens. Miyauchi Hiyage took it out. "This is a tool specifically meant to deal with vengeful spirits. Once assembled, those with Spiritual Power can pour it into the device to dispel those evil spirits. For people like you who lack Spiritual Power... it consumes some of the holder's life energy instead."
Noticing Conan's tense expression, Miyauchi Hiyage waved his hand. "Life energy can be recovered through eating and exercise. It's not as scary as you think. Besides, the lens I'm giving you has no exorcising function. It only lets you see those things."
"Under normal circumstances, it's no more than needing an extra bowl of rice... but it seems you haven't had dinner tonight. On top of being locked up here for so long, you might come down with a slight cold for a day or two afterward. But honestly, catching a cold would actually be a good thing for you. I happen to have something suitable for you to take when you do."
Conan did not quite understand him. Catching a cold would be good for him? What kind of good thing could that be?
But he had received so much information tonight that his adrenaline was pumping wildly. He did not feel tired in the slightest.
Perhaps only after he slept and woke up would he realize his body's true condition.
"That's enough for now. You've only just come into contact with the other side of the world. If I tell you too much at once, you'll only get confused."
Although Miyauchi Hiyage could see plenty of doubts still on Conan's face, he stopped there. "You can think over these questions slowly. Next time, tell me what you think of these things. I'm looking forward to seeing what surprises your mind can bring me."
"For now, as payment, I can tell you a little about yourself. What do you want to know?"
At those words, Conan instantly remembered his current predicament.
He first sought confirmation. "What exactly happened to me?"
He still cared whether his body had truly shrunk or whether his memories had been transferred into another body.
Though the latter seemed more "scientific," after witnessing a hideous vengeful spirit get destroyed by a superpowered mouse tonight, he had gradually begun rebuilding his worldview.
"APTX4869. That is the name of the poison you took. In most cases, it causes the victim to die of cardiac paralysis, but in extremely rare cases, it causes the user's body to regress."
"As for whether that drug contains supernatural power, that is something for you, the detective, to investigate."
"What exactly does that organization want to do to me?" Conan looked at the two people sleeping outside the room.
"You want to confirm their identities? Go ahead, then." Miyauchi Hiyage spread his hands. "As long as you don't make too much noise, they won't wake up."
There Are Far Too Many People Who Share Your Face
This time, Conan did not hesitate. He walked straight over to the masked man lying on the sofa.
Not long ago, he had heard this man say that he would be quietly dealt with to avoid exposing the organization's secrets. Conan desperately wanted to know what lay beneath that mask.
Then, the moment he held his breath and lifted the mask, he was shocked once again, nearly suffering cardiac arrest!
Why was the man beneath the mask his father?!
No, that was impossible. His father should still be in America. There was no way he could be here!
Conan seemed to realize something. He hurriedly turned an unfriendly gaze toward the "himself" behind him, who wore a faintly amused expression, wanting to know whether this was some prank the other man had deliberately arranged.
Though he had known this man for less than an hour, Conan had already seen his unserious nature.
If this really had been something the man designed on purpose, it somehow seemed more normal.
Miyauchi Hiyage could not help laughing.
This was indeed the most wonderful expression he had seen on Conan's face tonight.
"It seems you really don't read your father's work much." Miyauchi Hiyage shook his head. "Have you still not noticed that he is dressed exactly like Night Baron, the most famous character your father created? Your father left you a huge clue."
Only then did Conan abruptly remember that his father had indeed created such a famous character.
The expression on his face instantly turned bewildered.
Could the person sleeping on the sofa really be his father?
Then why had he kidnapped him?
"By the way, if you peel off that woman's face, you'll see your mother's appearance underneath. The two of them have merely been put to sleep by a special method of mine. They probably won't wake up until tomorrow morning." Miyauchi Hiyage mercilessly exposed the Kudo couple's plan.
Conan began questioning his entire life even more.
His mother was involved too?
They both knew he had become smaller?
So this whole thing had been a prank deliberately arranged by his parents?
Putting on fierce expressions to kidnap him and throwing him into such a rundown place to put him under psychological pressure—was that something normal parents would do?
"They wanted to tell you that the organization responsible for turning you into this can truly do such things." Miyauchi Hiyage shook his head and continued.
"Your intense curiosity toward every mystery is your strength, and it is why I invited you to join my team. But that excessive curiosity is also your greatest weakness. You really aren't worried about anyone noticing your identity, are you? If you were allowed to turn back into Shinichi Kudo right now, would you simply return to school as though nothing had happened?"
Miyauchi Hiyage stepped in front of Conan and looked down at him with Shinichi Kudo's face.
"The person who forced you to take that poison belongs to a massive transnational criminal organization. For decades, governments across the world have tried to infiltrate it and uncover its goals. Yet even now, those countries still have not figured out what the organization truly wants."
"You know your father's identity. Besides being a mystery writer, he is also an outstanding detective with contacts in countries all over the world. He probably knows far more about that organization than you do."
"Do you know that because they never found your body, your status on the organization's drug administration list is marked not as 'dead,' but as 'unknown'? They are still searching for Shinichi Kudo's whereabouts. They have even secretly searched your home. If they discover that the clothes you wore as a child have recently been moved around, what do you think they will conclude?"
"When that happens, Shinichi Kudo, everyone around you will be dragged down by you—perhaps even killed!"
"I think your parents appeared before you this way because they considered that possibility. This was both a test and a warning for you."
After giving Conan a harsh grilling, Miyauchi Hiyage felt much better as he watched him stand there at a loss.
After allowing Conan several minutes to reflect on himself, Miyauchi Hiyage finally spoke again.
"Of course, you do not need to worry too much. I know the organization's situation fairly well, and I have made arrangements for these matters. As long as you stop courting death, no one will notice anything about you in the short term."
"If we work well together in the future, I can gradually tell you more information about that organization."
"But from now on, try not to use the Stun-Gun Wristwatch so often. Sleeping Kogoro... that title itself is likely to attract attention. You would be better off coming clean to Ran, telling her your identity, and having her cooperate with you as your spokesperson."
"I..." Conan hesitated. He still did not want Ran exposed to such danger.
Miyauchi Hiyage waved his hand, indicating that he did not want to hear it.
At the same time, he muttered inwardly, Still struggling with it, huh? When you catch a cold one day, I'll lock Ran in a room with you, shove a bottle of baijiu down your throat, and see how you explain yourself then.
"Anyway, you now understand what is going on. Whether you expose your parents' test and come clean about your thoughts, or play along and turn the tables to mess with them, that is something you need to consider yourself."
"As for me..."
Before Miyauchi Hiyage could finish, Conan spoke up. "This is a partnership between you and me. I will not tell them about you. If they notice anything unusual about tonight, I'll tell them that you are, like me, a victim of that organization and that you are secretly assisting me."
Regardless of how truthful the "savior" in the other man's words was, this matter was clearly even less suitable for the people around him to know than the Black Organization.
Seeing Conan's response, Miyauchi Hiyage nodded in satisfaction.
"If I need to find you in the future, Jerry will appear before you. You should know what to do then." As he spoke, Miyauchi Hiyage extended his hand toward Conan. "I cannot tell you my real name for now. As for what to call me, you can call me Tom for the time being."
"I hope you'll be wearing a different face the next time we meet." Conan shook hands with "himself," feeling deeply awkward.
"That would be a real shame. There are plenty of people in this world who share your face. Among the people I watch, there is one person who looks exactly like you apart from his hairstyle. Even his voice is almost identical."
"By my estimation, that person will likely appear before you soon. He might even directly use your identity in front of others. If you cannot get used to it, your future life probably will not be very comfortable."
Conan gave Tom a suspicious look. The person he was talking about was not himself, was it?
Drive Out Every Vengeful Spirit
No matter what, Conan kept in mind the people the other man had mentioned who looked exactly like him.
Shinichi Kudo's identity was extremely sensitive now. If someone truly appeared while pretending to be him, it would be no good if the Black Organization noticed.
Although Tom possessed mysterious powers, Conan did not want to seek his help for everything.
Seeing that "Tom" was preparing to leave, Conan hurriedly asked him several more questions.
For example, how the existence of those vengeful spirits affected Beika Town, and whether he could learn the methods for driving them away.
He still remembered that before revealing the truth to him, the other man had specifically mentioned Beika Town's crime problem. There was clearly some connection between the two.
Miyauchi Hiyage gave a simple answer.
"People who cannot see vengeful spirits generally will not be attacked by them. But they are not clean things, after all. If they linger around someone for a long time, they will still subtly affect humans to some extent."
"For example, they can make people more prone to negative emotions. What might originally have been a minor conflict may, under their influence, ultimately lead someone down the path of crime."
"And Beika Town became one of Tokyo's gathering places for vengeful spirits long ago. The town's current high crime rate has also been heavily catalyzed by those spirits."
Miyauchi Hiyage knew that, given Conan's personality, he certainly would not stand idly by after learning this.
"As for training, you definitely cannot practice with your current physical condition. Even if I gave you an exorcising tool right now, you would probably need to lie in bed for several days just to dispel an ordinary vengeful spirit. But exorcising spirits is not something you need to do personally."
"You should focus on using your strengths and solve problems with your mind."
"Where do vengeful spirits come from? Why do they madly attack people who can see them? Why do they gather in Beika Town? Those are the things you, the detective, should figure out."
As he said this, Miyauchi Hiyage displayed the lens in his hand again.
"I'll give you this after your life energy has recovered in a few days. By then, I believe you will have thought everything through."
Upon learning that the vengeful spirits played a catalytic role in murder cases, Conan visibly clenched his fists.
He had encountered many criminals in the past who were extreme in temperament and murdered others over trivial matters.
He had never thought much about it before, but now that he knew those criminals might have been influenced by vengeful spirits, just as Miyauchi Hiyage expected, he could not possibly ignore it.
He had to uncover why those vengeful spirits appeared and remained in Beika Town, then find a way to lay them to rest or drive them away!
But first, he needed to deal with his own affairs before thinking any further about those things.
After all, his parents were still lying on the sofa outside. Although he felt helpless about his parents' habit of setting their son up, he could not really leave them sleeping here, could he?
Under those circumstances, Conan had no intention of staying here and continuing to act out the rest of the performance with his parents.
Ghosts existed in this world. Who had the mood to keep acting with people?
So Conan directly took his father's phone from his pocket and called Professor Agasa far away, asking him to come pick up the three members of his family first.
One could imagine the spectacular expression on Professor Agasa's face when he answered a call from Yusaku Kudo, intending to confirm the next day's plans with them, only to hear Conan's voice on the other end.
As for Miyauchi Hiyage, he quietly left before Professor Agasa drove over.
Conan was now on his side. At least in their attitude toward vengeful spirits, the two of them were currently in agreement.
"What a shame. I specifically brought up Relic Technology in front of Conan, so why didn't that guy ask about it?"
Miyauchi Hiyage felt slightly regretful.
The reward Miyauchi Hiyage had received from writing his diary today came from the cyberpunk world and was inextricably linked to Relic Technology, which could allow a person's soul to exist forever.
It was Soul Killer Technology, the predecessor of Relic Technology, capable of extracting a person's soul and converting it into data or destroying it.
Compared with Relic Technology, this technology was neither as stable nor as safe, and it had not solved the issue of loss during consciousness transfer.
Its greatest use was naturally prying into every secret buried deep within a person's heart. After all, no one could falsify anything within their consciousness after it had been converted into data.
But after obtaining this technology, Miyauchi Hiyage's first thought was not to use it on humans. Instead, he wanted to see whether it could be used on those vengeful spirits and monsters.
If he could create a data interface that worked even on vengeful spirits, then those spirits and monsters would have no secrets left before him.
Before you continue