In the afternoon, everyone either returned to their rooms to rest or wandered around the ship, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere.
Mouri, with a cigarette in one hand and a wine glass in the other, was hanging out in the smoking lounge bragging with a group of middle-aged men. The room echoed with laughter—they'd totally hit it off.
"Uh, Mr. Mouri, check this out. I found it under the seat."
Mouri took it. It was a glass container with a sticker of a weird-looking red cat on it. Already buzzed from drinking—80% drunk—he squinted and burped, "Hic~ What the hell is this?"
"What is this thing?" Mouri could barely hold it steady, but it looked a little familiar. He'd seen something like it before.
"Ahhh!" someone suddenly screamed.
A grown man yelling like that only earned everyone's scorn.
"What's wrong?" Mouri asked, confused.
"Mr. Mouri, that's the Red Siamese Cat!"
"What cat? A red cat?" Mouri still hadn't realized how serious this was.
"It's the Red Siamese Cat! I saw it on TV two days ago. Red Siamese Cat is an international crime organization—they're known for blackmailing government agencies using all kinds of methods. Not long ago, they raided a microbiological virus lab in Tokyo and stole a batch of highly dangerous viruses. This... this kind of container is what they use to hold them—viruses! Deadly viruses!"
Mouri's face turned grim. "What virus?"
"No idea which one exactly. But it's definitely fatal."
Everyone instantly panicked and tried to rush out of the smoking lounge.
"Stop! Nobody leaves!" Cold sweat rolled down Mouri's forehead, but he knew this was no time to panic. The bottle was already open, which meant everyone in the smoking lounge was likely infected. "You wanna kill everyone out there too? No one moves!"
The alcohol completely wore off. Mouri barked, "Sit back down. Don't move!" He was scared too, no doubt. But there were over 100 people on board, and only about 10 in the lounge. He couldn't let this virus spread.
He pulled out his phone and called Inspector Megure. "Inspector Megure..." His voice was heavy.
"What?! A deadly virus? Red Siamese Cat??" Megure's voice shot up 10 octaves. Luckily, there were only five officers up at the observatory deck.
The other four turned pale. "Inspector? Red Siamese Cat is on the airship?"
Megure's face darkened. One crisis after another. "Mouri found a virus container in the smoking lounge. They're probably already infected."
"No way! What do we do now?" Takagi jumped in shock.
"Turn back immediately. This needs the hazmat unit. And the infected must be taken to the hospital. Even though the virus Red Siamese Cat stole mainly spreads through skin contact, once released, it can go airborne too. The people in the smoking lounge—none of them will be spared," Satou said. "If they pass the incubation period, they'll all die."
"I know!" Megure's expression was grim. "Alright, set a course to return immediately."
But of course, it wouldn't be that easy.
The airship's pilot was a member of the Red Siamese Cat. "Boss, showtime's about to begin!"
A helicopter that had been trailing the airship now made its move. Fully armed soldiers rappelled down onto the airship. Red Siamese Cat was a top-tier international crime group—they moved with that cinematic Hollywood mercenary style. They were decked out in full gear—automatic rifles, military-grade body armor, smoke grenades, flashbangs. The five police officers on board were no match for them.
With the pilots also being part of the criminal group, Red Siamese Cat had full control of the ship.
"Be good and hand over your weapons." Two armed men burst into the observatory and aimed their rifles at Megure and the other four officers.
Megure nodded and was the first to pull out his firearm. Soon, all five small handguns were in the criminals' hands.
"Heh." One of the thugs chuckled. "Cops really are weak."
"What do you want?" Megure asked, staring straight at the leader of the criminals.
The boss tossed a phone to Megure. "Call the cops."
If they were going to blackmail the government, then everyone needed to know just how much leverage they had over Japan.
The whole country was shaken, but the most panicked was Osaka—the airship's destination. The Osaka Metropolitan Police Department immediately held an emergency meeting, trying to figure out a way to fix the crisis.
"All of you, sit in the corner and don't move." There were 10 criminals in total, plus 2 pilots.
"If any of you do anything suspicious, I'll blow up the airship. It'll crash immediately, and the virus we brought will spread. A lot of people will die," the boss threatened.
'Why use both a virus and a bomb?' Conan thought. 'Isn't that redundant?'
"Dad, where is he?" Ran, Sonoko, and Conan crouched together. Ran was getting worried.
"Don't worry, Ran-neechan. Uncle will be fine," Conan said, then suddenly stood up. "I need to pee!"
"You little brat—CAT-1, take him to the toilet."
All Red Siamese Cat members had codenames starting with CAT. The leader was CAT-0, the rest were CAT-1 to CAT-9.
Conan needed a way to get free and head into the airship to disarm the bombs. Honestly, his courage was on another level—he was under the barrel of a gun and still thinking about how to save everyone.
Sure enough, when they reached the toilet, the thug turned his back. That gave Conan his chance. Tranquilizer dart!
The big guy collapsed in the bathroom. Conan climbed up into the ship's ventilation shaft and crawled into the internal gasbag compartment.
He recalled the news reports about Red Siamese Cat. The virus they stole was terrifying, and once infected, the chance of recovery was almost zero. His uncle was probably already infected. The most important thing now was to take down the criminals and get his uncle to a hospital.
Sure enough, behind the smoking lounge, Conan found a bomb. Looks like the criminals didn't want to die either. If necessary, they'd kill the infected to protect themselves. So maybe the bomb and virus combo was their double insurance—to make sure the operation couldn't fail?
Still, something felt off. Conan kept thinking as he defused the bomb. It was a simple remote-detonated device—compared to previous bombers, this was amateur stuff. He used the tiny scissors on his keychain to snip the wire.
Now the question was: how many bombs were there? Either way, he had to keep searching.
But then the unconscious guy in the toilet got discovered. The boss glared at the hostages. "Step forward. Who did this?"
"Kaitou Kid! It must be Kaitou Kid!" someone shouted.
The boss froze. He hadn't expected to run into Kaitou Kid. What a headache. "Shut up! From now on, no one moves a damn inch. Hold it in if you have to."
"CAT-2 and CAT-3, go find that brat and Kaitou Kid."
"Yes!"
'Kaitou Kid... is it really you?' Satou thought. The man who took the fall for her sins, the enigmatic figure who could pull off the impossible.
But Inspector Megure was wondering what Kaitou Kid's true goal was.
Conan and Kaitou Kid both knew—this wasn't Kid's doing. But if things kept going this way, he'd end up taking the fall again.