The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

Chapter 1141 Old Pigeon

"Dad, you are preparing gifts again."

"Uh, it's not a gift, it's just...oh, forget it..."

"Hmph, okay, okay, it's not a gift. Are you going to pick up your mother tonight?"

"Didn't someone invite me and I invited her too? So, is that on my way? Tsk, don't look like that..."

The Maori father and daughter, who had no idea what thrilling scene had happened during the holiday, were in a relaxed and leisurely atmosphere. However, Conan, who was sitting next to them, was completely unable to fit in with their atmosphere.

His mind was still lingering on last night's thoughts. Many faces kept appearing and disappearing before his eyes, making his attention very distracted.

At present, he has come into contact with quite a few people who can be confirmed to be members of the organization, and he knows many of their code names.

But apart from the fact that the organization would use black and gray industries to kill and rob people and raise funds, all he knew was that the organization seemed to be developing many unknown technologies.

Cognitive science research led by Karasawa's parents, drug development in which Miyano Shiho once participated, and electronic information technology that is closely related to Noah's Ark.

Rather than a criminal organization, this sounded more like an illegal research institute seeking to conduct research that violated normal academic ethics and public order and morality. It was a far cry from the criminal group he had initially anticipated...

But then again, when he opened his eyes and found himself turned into a child instead of being sunk in Tokyo Bay, he should have guessed that this organization was unusual.

So, are there many cases like Curacao in the organization?

So what about Karasawa? What about Akechi Goro? What about Joker? What happened to these guys who are so closely connected to the organization? Is it similar to Curacao, just one of the lucky ones?

He also had many speculations about the gunman, but since he couldn't get more evidence to verify them, he could only put these speculations aside for the time being.

First of all, Goro Akechi is still the most suspicious one.

The other party is a member of the organization, and there is a high possibility that it is Kumail.

Not only did he have a gun, but he was also an excellent marksman and was familiar enough with firearms. It was common for Goro Akechi to be so calm and hide the sound of the gunshot with the sound of fireworks.

If he is Kumail and he accepted the task of dealing with Curacao, then what happened is very reasonable.

Then, another possibility that had to be considered was that the gunman he saw was most likely... "Tang Ze".

There are masters of disguise in the organization. It is not that difficult for them to replace someone without anyone noticing. Conan himself has experienced this more than once.

Even if their replacement only took place for a few minutes, if the gunman at the time used Tang Ze's face and there was no power outage, the person appearing in all the surveillance videos would only be Tang Ze.

This not only makes it easy to frame Tang Ze for the murder and hide their existence, but also allows them to get rid of the troublesome Tang Ze. This is definitely an advantageous choice.

Finally, there is a possibility that cannot be ignored...

Conan lowered his eyes, and the corners of his mouth almost curved into a straight line.

...Tang Ze himself wasn't so clean either. Regardless of his purpose, he lied.

The clues in front of him were a mess, and several faces and names appeared in front of him alternately. Conan, who always felt that he had grasped something, couldn't help but fall into thinking that he hadn't come up with any results all night.

Who is it and why?

And the golden ornament left at the scene, is it a legacy left by Curacao, or some kind of physical evidence?

Just when his mind was in a mess, the phone in the office rang.

Standing at her desk, Mao Lilan turned her head, picked up the receiver, and answered familiarly, "Hello, yes, this is Mao Li Detective Agency... Hmm? Games? Uh, the engineer in charge of development is missing?"

Conan turned his head and looked at Ran Mouri who was answering the phone.

"Yes, you want us to help you find someone, right?" Mao Lilan picked up the pen and paper on the table and was about to write down the contact information. When she heard the following content, her hand almost trembled and she almost pierced the paper. "Huh?! What do you mean by trying to kidnap him?!"

At this moment, Kogoro Mouri, who was busy matching his tie, was distracted.

"This is a private detective agency, so we can only conduct legal investigations... No, no, that's not allowed either. That's personal detention... Okay, if you insist on talking about debt collection, then... Wait a moment, I'll check with Detective Maori..."

Feeling that the conversation was difficult to continue, Ran Mouri covered the microphone of the receiver and looked at Kogoro Mouri for help.

Although many things that private detectives do are, strictly speaking, violations of privacy and are not so aboveboard, it is still too much to treat them as gangsters. I have never seen such a direct client.

Generally speaking, even if they were catching a mistress, they would only commission a detective to help collect evidence, not to help beat up the mistress...

"No, we don't really mean to commit a crime. You misunderstood..."

Looking at Kogoro Mouri sitting opposite him with an attitude of interrogating a criminal suspect, Sadahira Naito, who came to commission a commission, waved his hands repeatedly.

"Yes, Detective Maori, locking him up was just an exaggeration in anger. We really had no intention of committing any crime." Subeklu, who came with us, also explained, "This guy is just too infuriating."

After gazing at them suspiciously for a while, Maori Kogoro reluctantly let go of his unfriendly scrutiny and put away his posture of being ready to arrest them at any time: "Next time, don't say such dangerous things to the detective. You know, I have encountered such situations many times."

They say they are here to ask for a commission, but in fact they just want to use the detective as a part of their play, or they are confident that they can let the detective help them commit perjury. Kogoro Mouri has met many similar clients.

Having too much say in front of the police and being a witness carries more weight than others is the halo of a famous detective. For the same reason, this has also become a "benefit" that is easily coveted by others.

Sometimes it is hard to say whether the influence of the famous detective is positive or negative.

Knowing that they were in the wrong, the clients hurriedly apologized again. After Kogoro Mouri glanced at their faces, he finally let go of the hesitation about whether it was illegal or not and picked up the photo that had been left on the table for a long time.

The photo shows a middle-aged man wearing glasses and a mustache.

——It is possible that she is not yet middle-aged, but her hairline is roughly like this, and she doesn’t look young at all.

It really fits the stereotype of a great programmer. Kogoro Maori nodded and continued to ask about the details of their commission.

"Is that the programmer Itakura Taku who's been missing for a week? He's been missing for so long, I have to consider whether there might have been a personal accident. Why didn't you call the police?"

"Because this isn't the first time." Subeklu scratched his head in pain. "He's an outsourced engineer, he doesn't have a fixed company. Almost every time the deadline for a commission is approaching, he disappears..."

"Oh, delaying the manuscript." Maori Kogoro suddenly realized, "That's not surprising. Why does he disappear for such a long time every time?"

"A week isn't his limit, it's the project's limit." Naito Sadahei rolled his eyes. "They say it's so he can focus on his work without being disturbed and improve efficiency."

"It's just to avoid those who contacted him to urge him to work." Xu Beklu shook his head. "But we are only responsible for the connection, not the project leader. I can't report this reason to my superiors..."

"There was one time when he disappeared so completely that no one could find him, and I even called the police," Soma Ryusuke explained, spreading his hands. "We did find him, but because we alerted the police, they had to take several statements to close the case. It made him very angry, and he almost stopped cooperating."

"Just stop it, can't you find other partners?" Maori Kogoro asked curiously as he took the tea Maori Ran offered him, "The price you offered is not low, is it?"

"Itakura Taku has a very good technical level. Although there have been some delays, the cooperation and communication are smooth and there is rarely any rework, so we are used to working together. Now that the project deadline is approaching, it is too late to replace him and rebuild." Naito Sadahei sighed.

"Furthermore, the area he's responsible for is a very core algorithm. Without his module support, the project would barely be completed and wouldn't achieve the expected results." Soma Ryusuke slowly shook his head. "This is truly too much."

"Anyway, with a master like you, Mr. Mori, you should be able to find Itakura quickly." Naito Sadahei took out his business card and prepared to hand it to Mori Kogoro. "If you find out his location, or at least can get back in touch with him, please be sure to notify us immediately..."

"Hey, are you kidding me? Our company has the highest commission, right?" Soma Ryusuke interrupted him loudly, "If we can't deliver on time, our losses will be huge!"

"Wait a minute, among us, my commission was completed the earliest, right?" Seeing them arguing, Subekolu refused to give in. "According to the first-come-first-served principle, I should have been informed first..."

"You guys aren't employees of the same company?" Maori Kogoro's brows furrowed. "Are you responsible for different projects?"

The fact that they were arguing over news about Itakura Taku meant that they were all trying to contact Itakura Taku first and push forward the projects they were responsible for.

In other words, they are very clear that it is impossible for Taku Itakura to complete all of their projects at the same time. This wave is on a first-come, first-served basis, and no one after that will be accepted.

"Yes, the three of us are not from the same company." Xu Beikelu nodded without denying it.

"This is also something I'm very dissatisfied with. Independent developers can indeed advance multiple projects simultaneously, but accepting several similar competing products at the same time is a big problem." Naito Sadahei pushed his glasses and explained to Maori Kogoro, "Our project is in charge of chess. Subaru, that's him, is advancing the Go project. Soma's is a shogi project..."

"Are they all chess?" Maori Kogoro's expression became even more strange. "Does this Itakura Taku have any outstanding works or resume in this area? He sounds very talented."

This was a rather euphemistic statement, but everyone present was well aware of his subtext.

Although the rules are different, the types of chess games are not particularly different. If three games are developed at the same time, the codes will really be intertwined. If the three companies start a copyright lawsuit, they won’t know where to start.

"That's why we have to find him now!" Subekolu couldn't help but slam his hand on the table. "Even though the delivery deadline is still a month away, if he uses it to produce three competing products simultaneously, there's either not enough time or it's unavoidable to be suspected of plagiarism. We didn't pay outsourcing fees to get into trouble!"

There will not be any anti-competition clauses in the outsourcing agreement. After all, the person who accepts the outsourcing and the client only have a commissioning relationship, not formal employment, and the person cannot control what the other party does. However, the commercial product confidentiality agreement and the default industry rules must still be complied with.

It is obvious that Itakura Taku's actions have violated the rules, and it is normal that he made Party A angry.

What they are asking for now is not just to find Itakura Taku, but also to be the first to get their own code and register the copyright as soon as possible to avoid disputes. It would be strange if they were not anxious.

"When I found him, he said it himself that he had no other work to do and had plenty of time..."

"That's what I heard..."

"Damn it! This guy didn't tell me he's been developing a similar game recently..."

Maori Kogoro listened to their discussion, took a sip of tea, and whispered, "It sounds like they're planning to roll up their sleeves and run away?"

"Chess, Go, Shogi... Yeah, they have quite a complete range of props."

At the same time, in another corner of Tokyo, Tang Ze picked up a chess piece and looked at it for a while, then threw it back on the chessboard. He turned to look at the computer on the table and couldn't help shaking his head.

"Even if you have a good attitude, this behavior is unacceptable. You know exactly where your algorithm comes from, Mr. Itakura. You're really brave to use the source code we provided to make a quick buck and run away."

Tang Ze turned around and looked at Itakura Taku who was tied to a chair. He leaned back at the table and looked at the other's flushed face leisurely. He picked up the medicine bottle beside the computer desk and shook it a few times.

The pills made a lot of noises as they jarred around in the plastic bottle, and Itakura Taku's face turned even redder.

It was not difficult to see from his almost bulging eyeballs that this pain was due to his illness, but even more so to his fear.

"While this behavior is indeed reprehensible, I should have followed his instructions and properly controlled your overly flexible brain and made you do what you should do. But honestly, I don't like to use overly violent methods. You are a talented person, and it would be a shame to destroy your brain."

As Tang Ze spoke, he slowly unscrewed the lid in his hand and poured out two tablets.

The white pill fell into the black glove, eye-catching and dazzling, causing Itakura Taku, whose mouth was also tied, to breathe with difficulty.

"You don't look well. Do you want to take some medicine?"

Tang Ze curled his eyes, stretched out his palm, stopped at the tip of Itakura Taku's nose, almost touching his mouth, and quickly withdrew his hand.

Facing Itakura Taku's trembling gaze, he casually threw the pills onto the carpet.

"Then please cooperate... crawl over here and get it yourself."