The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

"It turns out that I have really been dead for so long..."

"You've been looking at your phone for a long time, and this is the only conclusion you can draw?" Matsuda Jinpei helplessly put his hands on his waist, not knowing whether to say he was insensitive or had a good mental state. "Resurrection from the dead is such an exaggerated thing, and you don't even have any additional feelings?"

"I can't help it. It feels too unreal." Hagiwara Kenji leaned towards the car window and pulled the shutters of the RV. Through the gaps in the windows, the streets of Tokyo were rapidly receding. "I felt like I was rushing towards the bomb with adrenaline rushing the moment before, and the next second, suddenly, Kojinpei and Komorobushi, who had grown up a little, appeared and said to me, you've been dead for seven years or something..."

He understood the principle. This magical resurrection mechanism brought back his consciousness at the moment of death intact, so from his perspective, it was as if a bomb exploded. He closed his eyes and opened them again, and the world became a different place.

But the misalignment in perception does exist. Even though he has strong receptive and learning abilities, it still takes some time for him to accept this change in memory.

He is still feeling the aftereffects of the explosion.

"It's nothing bad. Although that moment was short, in that last second, you should have replayed the entire life in your mind, and imagined other people's reactions after your death..." Matsuda Jinpei rubbed his hair twice and spoke softly, "Knowing that these things have come true, but there is room for redemption, I am relieved."

"Ha, I almost forgot that you and I died in similar ways." Hagiwara Kenji turned his gaze and glanced sharply at Matsuda Jinpei's face, "Being harmed twice by such a lousy guy is really lousy and really makes me unhappy."

"There's nothing to be angry about. That guy is still lying in the hospital half dead." Zhu Fujingguang, who had closed his eyes to rest, opened his eyes a little, "Tang Ze said that he is still useful and his palace was not touched. If you have any dissatisfaction, you can go there to vent it."

"Forget it. Since this guy has been caught and can't make any more trouble, I have no interest in beating him up when he's down." Hagiwara Kenji's smile faded a little. "Call me when he wakes up and is formally tried."

Even though the two of them have been saved by magical powers and returned to the human world, it cannot erase the fact that the bomber maliciously used explosives to kill them.

Kenji Hagiwara was lucky to have a friend who remembered him and waited for a miracle to happen, but the other police officers who also died on the rooftop that day and those who were injured in the explosion were not so lucky.

After learning from Jinpei Matsuda about the brutal ending that Karasawa had planned for the criminal, Kenji Hagiwara first felt relieved that his friend had not completely crossed the line of murder, and then he just felt happy.

Yoji Motobashi's crime is extremely serious and has caused a very bad social impact. It also involves the element of murdering a police officer. When this guy recovers from the painful and desperate burns, what awaits him is the foreseeable death penalty trial.

From this perspective, Karasawa's method of instigating Jinpei Matsuda to retaliate with a light, low-powered explosive was extremely vicious. The burns have completely destructive effects on the quality of life. He will continue to struggle with his broken body. Even if the review of the death penalty takes a long time, what this time brings to Yoji Motobashi is not the joy of living a life of compromise, but the torture of his pain being magnified.

That's good, and fitting for a bomber who brought such pain to so many people.

When it comes to tormenting his enemies, Tang Ze has all kinds of tricks.

"I really thought about a lot of things at that time. I was worried about my sister and you." Hagiwara Kenji slowly exhaled, "Let's not talk about the fact that you died in his hands. My sister seems to be doing well, so that's good."

At this time, he would be glad that he died on a task that he had just started working on.

He got along well with his colleagues, but they did not develop into life-and-death friendships. His death would cause pain to some people and create indelible memories, but it would not become a permanent trauma. The harm he caused to those who stood in the same position was very small, and this fact would make him feel relieved.

Even if you are dead, it is still a heavy thing to bear too much cause and effect.

Jinpei Matsuda opened his mouth, but when he saw Hagiwara Kenji's dazed expression, he didn't say anything.

Kenji Hagiwara still has fresh memories of the explosion. This is not the time to discuss those topics. Like Karasawa, he actually needs a good sleep, rest, and sort out his thoughts.

Seeing that no one else responded, Hagiwara Kenji touched his nose, trying not to let the atmosphere cool down: "So, what I vaguely saw before I woke up, was that actually the process of going from death to life? The underworld is like this, it's still a bit unexpected to me."

"What did you see?"

Tang Ze, who had his eyes closed, suddenly opened them and sat up straight, which scared them.

"Hey, your zombie-like way of waking up is too scary, isn't it?" Matsuda Jinpei instinctively leaned back and sat up again, complaining, "Why did you suddenly wake up at this time? Are you really sleeping or just pretending to sleep..."

"I've slept enough, so I woke up naturally." Tang Ze smoothed his hair that was messed up by sleeping, exhaled a breath without any smell of alcohol, and sat up straight.

There's nothing he can do about it. His sleep is always stuck between dreams and reality, and it's hard for him to fall asleep on time.

"It won't be unfair to you if you die of overwork one day." Matsuda Jinpei threw a bottle of water over and said unhappily, "What else can you see? It's nothing more than some blue ocean-like colors, or the moon or something..."

"Hey, did you see it too?" Hagiwara Kenji raised his eyebrows in surprise, "The true face of death is so peaceful..."

"Yes, that's true. When I saw it, I didn't realize what it was. I thought it was some meaningless fragments of the last moments of consciousness." Zhu Fu Jingguang touched the back of his neck and recalled, "It was that kind of very saturated and positive blue. Rather than saying it was the ocean, it was more like a gem with a high content of certain elements..."

"Klein blue?" Miyano Akemi, who was buried in a pile of information, suddenly raised her head. "Then, red, and moonlight?"

"That's about right. A golden color." Matsuda Jinpei nodded, and then the corners of his mouth twitched a few times, "Can something like this become a collective memory?"

"Yeah, what's going on?" Miyano Akemi glanced at Tang Ze who was holding his chin as if thinking.

Not only that, if Xingchuan hadn't been driving, this guy would probably have similar feelings.

"As for me, the scene I saw was more specific." Hagiwara Kenji confirmed everyone's description and recalled carefully, "I saw chains, and I had a very clear feeling that I was rising. In addition, the light I saw didn't look like the moon..."

He squinted his eyes, trying to catch the fleeting fragments in the corner of his consciousness, and slowly described the specific scene he saw.

"The center is very dark, like a black hole, and outside the black is a circle of golden light, a bit like a total solar eclipse. If you really want me to describe it accurately, I might think it looks like an eye."

"Golden eyes?" Miyano Akemi held her chin and fell into thought.

She knew a little about the concept of cognitive psychology, and also knew that this subject was closely related to Jungian psychology, Freud, etc., and that in these contents, imagery was of great significance.

Is this some kind of phenomenon related to death, touching upon the deeper nature of things?

"The bottom of the human soul." Tang Ze, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

Several people looked at Tang Ze who had come to a conclusion inexplicably, but he did not continue to extend the topic. He changed the subject: "Our trip proved something very important. As long as the conditions are met, even an ordinary person has the possibility of mistakenly entering the cognitive world. Conan has no concept of the other world. I have also confirmed that there are no strange programs in his phone after he came out. But he did follow us in and out of the area of ​​the Mamiya family castle when we did not activate the other world navigation."

"Are you using him as a test tool?" Miyano Akemi was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

"Then what else can he do? Apart from using his brain to help analyze the details of the Mamiya family case, he is just a burden." Tang Ze shook his head, "So, this is probably the real reason why the truth of the cognitive world has not been exposed until now. If someone who has not become a mask user accidentally enters such a space, it will be difficult for him to come out alive."

"Indeed, cognitive space is too dangerous." Matsuda Jinpei nodded in agreement. "After all, it is a space made up of emotions and desires. It is not so controllable."

“Even if we are lucky enough to enter a palace that is not dangerous, if we cannot understand the truth of that world, or if we understand it but cannot find the correct way to leave, even if we don’t die at the hands of the shadows, we will starve to death in there.” Zhu Fujingguang, who already has some insights into that world, sighed.

"This is just like the confusion of whether there is an afterlife. Only those who are truly dead can know the truth, but of course the dead cannot pass on the answer," Miyano Akemi concluded.

"So, from our perspective, does this exist or not?" Kenji Hagiwara, who was just discussing this topic, muttered to himself.

"This is the second difficulty. It is impossible for someone who has been inside to convey all this information to someone who knows nothing about it." Miyano Akemi nodded affirmatively, "This is still a difficulty."

"In that case, tell me, why is the boss of the organization so sure that the cognitive world really exists and believes in my parents' theory?"

Tang Ze took out the old letter from forty years ago and placed it in the center of the table.

Miyano Akemi stared at the faded mark left by the crow emblem at the bottom of the letter and lowered her eyes.

She knew very well how her parents were controlled by the organization, and of course she knew that the Karasuma family was definitely not clean.

"You said," Tang Ze pointed at the photo and slowly asked his question, "Is it possible that at that IQ feast forty years ago, Karasuma Renya also glimpsed a corner of the cognitive world for some special reason?"

----

"W-what did you just say?!"

When she was suddenly interrupted in the middle of her speech, Huihara Ai looked at Conan, who was shocked, speechlessly: "What's wrong? Did I say something extraordinary?"

After returning to the doctor's house and leaving the silly elementary school students, Conan finally had the chance to stop her and question her carefully about the Phantom Thieves and the School of Cognition.

She knew that Conan, who had seen her sister in person, would never believe that she was unaware of the fact that her relatives lived next door, so she thought for a moment and selectively revealed some information to Conan.

Including but not limited to, because of her relatives and her identity as a researcher, she did know something about the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts did need her, a serious disciple of Ikawa Karasawa, and they had a mutually beneficial cooperative relationship. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts were responsible for providing her with the intelligence and research materials she needed, and she helped solve some conceptual problems, helped them make potions, etc...

"It's indeed inappropriate not to tell you before, but just like you wouldn't tell me their information without reservation. You can't betray your partners, right?" Feeling that her logic was very smooth, Haibara Ai puffed out her chest, looking very righteous.

We are all comrades-in-arms and we all have our own secrets. Having the same stance is only the basis for cooperation, not a reason to cooperate without reservation.

There's nothing wrong with keeping some harmless secrets that won't hurt your allies.

"No, no..." Conan raised his hands and covered his mouth and nose tightly, even unable to restrain himself from squeezing his throat, "Those medicines, those medicines were made by you for them, and the raw material used was, Joker's blood?!"

"Hmm? Yes, that's right." Huibara Ai cleared her throat.

She related the reason for her intersection with the Phantom Thieves to the blood-stained cotton swab that Conan gave her, claiming that she had not originally established such a close cooperation with them, but that special blood gave her a lot of inspiration, which was an opportunity for the two parties to cooperate.

She quietly erased the shadows of Tang Ze and her sister from the story, thinking that her lie was well made and could well reflect the blood relationship between her and Tang Ze.

"So, those drugs used to alleviate cognitive distortion are actually... Ugh..."

"Why are you retching here... Oh, did you drink the potion they gave you? It's not that serious, those are just diluted extracts, just think of them as a detoxifying serum mixed with the original liquid... Hey, don't really spit it out! It's hard to wipe off!"