Chapter 289 Rum on the Plate
After meal.

Although Kogoro Mouri still wanted to pull Makino back to the office to drink, as soon as he opened his mouth to call out Makino’s name, he was “controlled” by Conan and Eri Kisaki with fierce eyes.

Obviously, both Xiaolan and Eri Kisaki have a full understanding of Kogoro Mori’s character.

In desperation, Kogoro Mori had to signal Makino with his eyes to contact him later.

After seeing Xiaolan and the others off, Makino drove back home.

In order to follow up on the “second phase” of the private satellite as quickly as possible, and to allow Bane to use the satellite to build the Sky Eye intelligence system in his mind as soon as possible, he did not live in the Suzuki residence as usual in the past two days.

In his opinion, building a private Sky Eye intelligence system with Bane as the core is the most important thing at the moment.

As a result of his intervention, the distillery and rum’s “control and influence” over Tokyo and the surrounding area declined significantly.

Especially the last “Operation Finney Escape”.

After that action, Rum had been silent for a long time.

In that operation, two official members “Lak and Sotten” specially summoned by Rum from abroad were easily dealt with by him with a single RPG shot.

The Osprey helicopter carrying old friends “Gin and Vodka” was also shot down by Shuichi Akai with a sniper rifle and crashed into the sea.

According to the information from Rei Furuya and Vermouth, there is a high possibility that Gin and Vodka were also completely destroyed in that incident.

In addition, there were Pisco, Cohen, and Chianti, who were “jointly” executed by him and Gin before, and Ramus, the confidant of Ireland and Rum, who he disposed of in the warehouse at the Rice Flower Wharf…

All in all, the organization’s existing official members in Japan can be counted on one hand.

Even if we include Vermouth who just came from abroad, there are only three official members that Rum can mobilize at the moment – Kir, Bourbon and Vermouth.

And these three people…

Thinking of this, Makino couldn’t help but raise a strange smile at the corner of his mouth.

Although he is not interested in “beating a drowned dog”, if it is “beating a drowned rum”… he is still very interested.

In fact, judging from the fact that Rum has not been making any moves recently, he must be planning something big.

Vermouth and Heibei Kuroda, who had just been transferred to the Metropolitan Police Department, seemed to be aware of this.

Coupled with the “ocean buoy that is about to be completed” mentioned by Yusaku Kudo today, Makino believes that Rum is probably ready to take action on the ocean buoy, or the “cross-age recognition system.”

According to Vermouth, Rum never seemed to give up looking for the BOSS.

……

Not long after, Makino drove back home.

——“Buzz, buzz”

As soon as he opened the door, he received a text message from Vermouth.

Before he could open the text message from Vermouth, a message from Rena Mizunashi popped up on his phone screen.

Makino: “?”

——“Buzz buzz buzz”

Immediately afterwards, the phone vibrated again, and a name that was so familiar that it couldn’t be more familiar appeared in Makino’s sight.

Makino: “…”

After two seconds of silence, Makino answered the phone, and Fūya Rei’s anxious voice immediately came from the phone: “Makino, Rum has made a move! Are you home now? I’ll drive over now!”

“…”

After hanging up the phone, Makino glanced at the moonlight outside the window and sighed softly: “Rum, I don’t want this to happen…”

Half an hour later, in a dark alley not far from Makino’s house.

Makino opened the door of the white Mazda and sat directly in the passenger seat.

As soon as Makino closed the car door, Furugaya Rei spoke up, “Not long ago, Rum suddenly called us to a meeting. In addition to me, Gil and Vermouth also showed up. Although Rum himself did not show up, he told us an extremely important action plan. He planned to…”

Before Furuya Rei could finish, Makino shook his head and said, “You mean he was planning to attack the ocean buoy?”

Fūya Rei nodded subconsciously: “Right! Hmm? Wait… Makino, how did you know that?!”

Makino smiled, blinked helplessly, and thought to himself: “How did you know? Before you came, I had already seen two text messages with the same content…”

Seeing that Makino didn’t answer, Furuya Rei continued, “Forget it, let’s not talk about this for now. The important thing is… there are military personnel involved in this action plan! Do you remember what happened in Yokohama not long ago?”

At this point, Furuya Rei’s expression became extremely solemn: “I’m sorry Makino, our previous guess may be correct. Rum may be connected with the ‘Okinawa army’. In this plan, in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the plan, Rum seems to intend to use military equipment such as submarines and armed helicopters!

Vermouth and I, who were previously only responsible for gathering intelligence and providing information support, were assigned important missions this time. Not only that, Rum seems to be planning to transfer regular members from bases in other countries to Tokyo again, and they will carry out this mission with us! “

Makino nodded silently.

The information from Furuya Rei and his men undoubtedly confirmed his previous guess that Rum was indeed planning to take action against the ocean buoy in the near future.

Although his guess was correct, it also raised a new question:

——”Why does Rum insist on finding the true identity of the boss?”

At a time when manpower is extremely short, if Rum really has not given up the goal of “finding the BOSS” and is even prepared to go all out to attack the “ocean buoy”, it means that his goal is not as simple as “finding the BOSS”.

After all, whether it is Rum, Vermouth and others, they can contact the BOSS through text messages or phone calls.

So far, many of BOSS’s commands and actions have been arranged in this way.

Logically speaking, if Rum was just a “loyal and sensible subordinate”, he would not be so eager to find the specific location of the BOSS.

As the second in command of the organization, he can get in touch with the boss anytime he wants.

The reason why Rum was so eager to find the BOSS was definitely not because he “missed the BOSS’s face”, which even a child would not believe.

Makino guessed that Rum was so eager to find the BOSS not out of loyalty, but for other reasons.

And there is a high probability that this reason has nothing to do with “loyalty”, or may even be the exact opposite.

Thinking of this, Makino turned his head to look at Fūya Rei beside him, and an inexplicable light flashed in his eyes.

If it were before, he would probably have considered carefully whether or not to kill the winery so quickly.

To be honest, he was very interested in what the winery was researching and what the “ultimate goal” was.

Even though he has obtained a lot of information about drugs and experiments from many winery members and bases, these are probably just a drop in the bucket compared to the winery’s ultimate goal.

Although he has the help of the genius Haibara Ai, if it were just Haibara Ai alone… even if she worked herself to death, she could not compare with the winery who had spent so many years and employed so many top scholars from all walks of life.

Therefore, at first, he planned to wait until the winery’s research was almost complete, and then steal all the research results of the winery over the years. However… that was his idea before he got [Bane] and established the [Sky Eye Intelligence System].

Now he doesn’t have to worry about such things at all.

Not only that, he could take this opportunity to try out whether the [Sky Eye Intelligence System] could meet his expectations.

Due to his interference, Rum did not go to work at the sushi restaurant near the Mori Detective Agency, so Makino naturally could not easily track down Rum’s whereabouts.

However, the moment the Sky Eye intelligence system officially started operating, he had already instructed Bane to have several of the satellites closely monitor Tokyo and carefully look for any trace of Rum.

Since Rum has proposed an “action plan” to Rei Furuya and the others, he will definitely go to Tokyo.

It won’t be long before he can completely track down Rum.

……

On the side, seeing that Makino hadn’t spoken a word, Furuya Rei was not surprised.

Because this was also his reaction when he first heard about the Rum Plan.

Even someone as strong as Makino would probably feel at a loss after hearing the news that the organization is actually connected to the military and plans to send out submarines to carry out the mission.

Rather, if he had not tried hard to control his facial expression at the time, Vermouth and Kil beside him would have definitely noticed some flaws.

Thinking of this, Fūya Ling nodded seriously and frowned, saying: “Although I don’t know why Rum is making such a big move this time, we must not let him succeed in his plan!

In addition to the ocean buoy, Rum also wants us to kidnap a researcher named Naomi Argent. I will have my subordinates investigate the information about her and will tell you the result after we find it. “

Hearing this, Makino shook his head and said, “No need, I have her information. Naomi Argent, 19 years old, is a system engineer for Interpol’s ocean facility ‘Ocean Buoy’ and the developer of the cross-age recognition system.

Rum may have been attracted by her research on the cross-age recognition system, or he may have simply been attracted by her technical capabilities in the field of artificial intelligence.”

Jianggu Ling: “???”

and many more?

From the beginning, it was like, how come you seem to know everything? !
Without waiting for Fūya Rei to speak, Makino continued, “I have collected relevant information about the Ocean Buoy before. The director of the Ocean Buoy seems to be an Interpol named Makino Yosuke. Although I have never met him, he seems to be a member of our Makino family.

If nothing unexpected happens, I will represent the Metropolitan Police Department in a few days to attend the ceremony for the official start of the operation of the ocean buoy. Rather than this, please tell me in detail the plan made by Rum. “

……

The next morning.

Just after Makino had breakfast, he received a call from Xiaolan and Sonoko, who wanted to invite Makino to the indoor baseball field to practice baseball.

Although he had no interest in baseball, after hearing that the proposal was first made by “Sera Masumi”, he had some vague guesses in his mind.

Soon after, an indoor baseball field.

After seeing Makino, Xiaolan and the others smiled and waved.

When Makino came nearby, Yuanzi hurriedly trotted forward and whispered in Makino’s ear: “Brother Longyi, aren’t you going home tonight? Sister has been mentioning you unintentionally these past two days~ Not only that, she has been watching cartoons for children recently. I guess sister actually wants to have a few children…”

Without waiting for Sonoko to finish, Makino gently raised his hand and hit Sonoko on the head, shaking his head helplessly: “Sonoko, if I tell Ayako exactly what you just said… guess what will happen?”

Hearing this, Yuanzi quickly shook her head and waved her hands: “Don’t! I was wrong, isn’t that okay? Brother Longyi, please don’t tell me! Next time I’ll give you my share of pudding, okay?”

Makino: “?”

Hmm? You’re trying to buy me off with a serving of pudding?

Seeing Makino raise his hand again, Sonoko hurriedly ran behind with a smile and hid behind Xiaolan and Sera Masumi.

Seeing this, Makino shook his head with a smile, then slowly walked up to Xiaolan and Sera Masumi and simply greeted them: “Long time no see, Sera.”

“Long time no see, brother Makino! We didn’t play tennis last time, how about playing baseball this time?” Sera Masumi smiled heartily, revealing his signature little fangs.

Hearing this, Sonoko immediately jumped out from behind Sera Masumi, nodded with a smile and said, “Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Ryuichi play baseball before, maybe Makino really can’t play baseball! Sera, maybe we can win this time!”

“Really? If that’s the case, we might really have a chance of winning!” After hearing what Sonoko said, Sera Masumi’s eyes lit up, and he clenched his fists, looking determined to win.

Xiaolan glanced at Sonoko and Sera Masumi beside her, covered her mouth and laughed: “Really? But I think even if Makino-san can’t play baseball, he won’t lose to us~”

“Really, Xiaolan, why do you want to boost others’ morale and destroy our prestige?” Yuanzi pouted in dissatisfaction.

“…”

after an hour.

The first to come on stage are Sonoko and Xiaolan.

Since neither of them had played baseball much, even though the pitching machine was not very fast, they didn’t hit many balls.

Only Xiaolan, with her excellent physical fitness and eyesight, swung the bat and hit a few balls, but none of them hit the opposite side’s bull’s eye.

Unlike the other two, Sera Masumi’s batting skills are obviously much better than Xiaolan and the others.

Not only did she catch all the balls, but almost every ball she threw hit the target on the other side.

Not only that, for every five balls she hit, one would accurately hit the other side’s bull’s eye.

After putting down the bat, Sera Masumi raised his head and wiped the sweat off his forehead, then turned around and said with a smile: “How about it, Makino-san? I hit it very accurately, didn’t I? It’s your turn next. If you want to admit defeat, do it now~”

Hearing this, Makino smiled and shook his head, then took over from Sera Masumi and walked into the batting room.

ten minutes later.

Makino slowly put down the bat in his hand, turned his head and looked at Xiaolan and the other two who were already dumbfounded behind him: “So, do you want to continue the game?”

Just as Sonoko had guessed before, he really hadn’t played baseball much.

The only time he played baseball was when he was in the police academy, and due to a shortage of personnel, he took over the catcher position.

but……

The baseball machine on the opposite side was only able to serve at the standard 110km/h. In Makino’s eyes, this speed was like slow motion and there was no difficulty at all.

Therefore, after adapting to the first pitch, Makino was able to hit the baseball accurately every time he swung the bat, and hit it accurately on the bull’s eye marked “home run” on the opposite side.

After coming to their senses, Xiaolan and the other two quickly shook their heads.

Before Xiaolan and the others could speak, a shrill female scream suddenly resounded throughout the indoor baseball field.

–“ah!!!”

(End of this chapter)