Chapter 333: Diluc Picks Someone Up
Toru Amuro quickly pieced the puzzle together. Since the man in the suitcase had met his end at the hands of Kei Kenzuka, the victim back at the detective agency likely hadn't committed suicide either. But the truth behind the murder had to wait. Right now, their absolute priority was finding Conan.
Mouri Ran suddenly remembered a crucial detail: Dr. Agasa kept a spare pair of tracking glasses. Her fingers flew across her phone screen as she quickly dialed the professor, her voice trembling slightly as she explained the kidnapping. Consequently, Ai Haibara and Subaru Okiya, who had been keeping a close watch on the doctor's residence, caught wind of the escalating crisis.
Without missing a beat, Subaru smoothly persuaded both Agasa and Haibara to join forces and track down the missing boy together.
Just as they finalized their plan, Masumi Sera—whose previous call had been abruptly cut off—rang Ran again. Upon learning the grim sequence of events, the tomboyish detective immediately shifted gears, deciding to rendezvous with Ran's group before making their next move.
While the rescue team scrambled to locate Conan, a very different atmosphere settled over a dimly lit bar across town. Venti and Gin were already deep in conversation regarding the peculiar accessory carried by every member of the mysterious Teyvat Organization.
"You mean this Vision?" Venti hiccuped loudly. He reached into his pocket and casually fished out the glowing green gem encased in winged metal. With a careless flick of his wrist, he tossed the supposedly sacred object onto the sticky wooden table. It landed with a dull clatter. "This isn't important at all. It's just a common glass bead."
His words slurred together, his tongue heavy from downing four or five glasses of high-proof liquor in rapid succession. A hazy, unfocused mist veiled Venti's emerald eyes. He swayed slightly in his seat, looking completely and utterly wasted, his senses entirely muddled by the alcohol.
Kir sat quietly across the booth, her sharp eyes tracking the Vision as it slid to a halt. Curiosity piqued, she slowly reached out to examine the artifact herself.
As her slender fingers hovered over the green gem, she kept a cautious peripheral watch on Venti's face, anticipating a sudden reaction.
Nothing happened. Even when Kir picked up the Vision, Venti's attention remained entirely fixated on the half-empty glass in front of him. He didn't spare her a single glance.
After turning the object over in her hands, Kir gave a subtle nod, shooting a meaningful glance at Gin. It was exactly as the bard claimed: a mundane glass bead. It felt so fragile that a little applied force could easily crush it into powder, making it incredibly easy to mass-produce or replicate.
"Then why is it called a Vision?" Gin asked, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. He leaned forward, his silver hair catching the dim tavern light. "Is it the official emblem of the Teyvat Organization?"
"Emblem? No, no, no." Venti shook his head so vigorously he almost lost his balance. He waved a dismissive hand, his speech slurring into an incoherent mess. "This... this is the gaze cast down by the gods. It holds special power."
Gods? Gin mentally scoffed, a flicker of cold disdain crossing his sharp features. He hadn't expected a syndicate as formidable as Teyvat to harbor such ridiculous, superstitious beliefs.
And yet... "Didn't you just say it was a common glass bead with nothing special about it?" Gin pressed, his eyes narrowing into predatory slits. He strongly suspected the bard was simply talking out of his drunken stupor, given how wildly contradictory his information was.
"Huh? Did I say that just now?" Venti pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. He scrunched up his face, putting on an intense expression as if trying to excavate a deeply buried memory. After a few seconds, he nodded in solemn self-affirmation. "But I wasn't wrong! It is just a common glass bead."
Now Gin was absolutely certain. The Mondstadt department head was completely plastered. He stared at the swaying, hazy-eyed boy, an indecipherable darkness swirling in his cold gaze. His fingers twitched. It would be so easy to extract information by force right now. But then, a sudden memory flashed through his mind—the humiliating stumble Rum had suffered at the hands of the Dawn Winery. Gin's jaw locked. He forcibly abandoned the dangerous thought.
He shifted his gaze and coldly instructed his subordinate. "Vodka. Contact Kaeya. Tell him to come collect his department head."
Kir, who had been sitting in tense silence, felt the freezing atmosphere instantly thaw. Watching Gin's predatory expression earlier, she had genuinely worried the executive might attempt to assassinate or abduct the muddled boy right then and there.
Regardless of her undercover status, she was currently bound by the Teyvat Organization's control; she couldn't just sit back and watch one of their own get killed. Hearing Gin's order to Vodka allowed her to quietly exhale a breath she didn't realize she was holding. It seemed she wouldn't need to blow her cover to intervene.
Still, she couldn't help but marvel at the sheer audacity. This boy was supposed to be a high-ranking department head of Mondstadt, yet he possessed zero vigilance. Getting blackout drunk in front of ruthless operatives from the Black Organization? Was he truly that foolish, or was this all an elaborate act?
"Boss," Vodka muttered a few minutes later, lowering his bulky frame. "Kaeya says he isn't in Japan right now. But he's already contacted someone else to come over and handle it."
"Hm," Gin grunted in a low, indifferent tone. He smoothly pulled a cigarette from his dark trench coat pocket and clamped it between his teeth. The flick of his lighter produced a faint, flickering flame. Wisps of pale blue smoke curled upward, gradually expanding into a thin, hazy screen that completely obscured Gin's stern face, hiding whatever calculations were running behind his cold eyes.
Not long after, the heavy wooden doors of the bar swung open. A tall man with striking, fiery red hair stepped into the entryway. He swept his sharp gaze across the dim room before striding purposefully toward Gin's booth.
"Boss, it's Kaeya's adopted brother—Diluc," Vodka leaned in, whispering the reminder directly into Gin's ear.
Hearing this, Gin turned his head. His piercing gaze locked onto the newcomer, lingering for a fraction of a second on the red, metallic Vision fastened securely at Diluc's waist.
Sure enough, Diluc was also an active member of the Teyvat Organization's Mondstadt branch.
The Teyvat Organization was truly a bottomless well of hidden talents, even managing to recruit foreign nobility into their ranks.
And looking at the man's stern demeanor... Gin couldn't help but wonder if the relationship between Kaeya and Diluc was truly as hostile as their intelligence division had reported.
Diluc stopped right beside Venti's stool. He offered a curt, minimal nod toward Gin and his associates, a gesture devoid of any real warmth. Then, he looked down at the slumped figure of the drunken bard.
"Venti," Diluc began, his voice a low, reprimanding baritone. "I provided you with funds specifically so you wouldn't end up like this. And to get blackout drunk in front of outsiders..." He paused, his crimson eyes narrowing slightly. "You didn't say anything you shouldn't have, did you?"
Before anyone could react, Diluc sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he quickly abandoned that line of thought. "Forget it. You're just a tone-deaf bard anyway. You don't handle any of the real matters, so you wouldn't even know any secrets to spill."
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