Ningguang's Advance Preparation
Kudo Yusaku gave Ganyu a courteous nod. "Miss Ganyu, it's a pleasure. I never imagined the capable assistant Miss Ningguang mentioned would be someone so young. To have earned her regard, you must be exceptionally talented."
Ganyu flushed faintly at the praise and waved her hands in flustered denial. "Oh! No, no, I'm not nearly as remarkable as you suggest, Mr. Kudo. I only carry out the tasks Miss Ningguang entrusts to me. The truly remarkable ones are Miss Ningguang and the others—without them, there would be no Jade Chamber Corporation." And without them, no Liyue as we know it today.
That last part she kept to herself, unwilling to say it aloud in front of Kudo Yusaku—though it was, in truth, what she genuinely believed.
"Haha, it seems you hold Miss Ningguang in very high esteem," Yusaku said with a warm chuckle, then turned his gaze back to Ningguang herself. "In fact, after everything that just happened, even I can't help but admire the decisiveness of your operation. The case had barely broken before you moved against the Schindler Group without a moment's hesitation—and if I'm not mistaken, every research asset Schindler possesses now belongs to you. But forgive my bluntness: I'd say the most valuable piece of all is the AI, Noah's Ark. So when it went out of control, Miss Ningguang—why didn't you halt the operation then?"
"That would be because I judged something else to be of even greater value," Ningguang replied.
"Oh? Is that so. Well then, allow me to wish your plan every success." Yusaku was curious what the Schindler Group could possibly hold that outweighed an artificial intelligence, but he didn't press the matter—it was, after all, an important piece of commercial information on her side.
"Thank you." Ningguang accepted his well-wishes with a gracious smile.
Just then, she noticed a staff member searching for her in the distance, and glanced at Yusaku. "Mr. Kudo, I'm afraid I have matters to attend to. Please excuse me."
"Of course, Miss Ningguang. Don't let me keep you."
With that, Ningguang departed, Ganyu at her side.
Yusaku watched the two women make their way toward the waiting staff member, then said, "You've heard enough, haven't you? Come on out."
He looked pointedly at the spot beside the table where a tablecloth hung down.
When no answer came after a moment, he could only sigh helplessly and say it outright. "Shinichi. I know it's you."
Only then did Edogawa Conan abandon any hope of slipping away unnoticed and step out from behind the table.
He looked up at his father with an embarrassed grimace. "Dad, when did you figure out I was there?"
Yusaku reached out and ruffled Conan's hair. "When that Miss Ganyu came over earlier, the tablecloth twitched, so I knew someone was hiding there. If it had been an adult, people would have noticed—so it had to be a child. And among the children here, the only one interested enough to eavesdrop on something like this could only be you."
Connan ducked hastily away from his father's hand. Honestly—he was a grown man now! Since when had Dad started picking up Mom's habit of mussing his head like this? He'd never done that before.
Smoothing down his disheveled hair, Conan gave an awkward grin. "Heh, I just wanted to know what you two would talk about at a time like this."
Yusaku watched him dodge away and arched an eyebrow. "Well then, Shinichi—you heard everything. Any thoughts?"
Just as Yukiko said—this boy really did get a little cuter after shrinking down.
At that, Conan forgot all about his hair. He frowned, turned the matter over in his mind for a moment, then spoke. "Something feels off, but I can't put my finger on it. Miss Ningguang's response was unbelievably fast, sure—but given her capabilities, is that really abnormal?"
After all, judging by what his father had dug up, even he had to admit her business acumen was genuinely exceptional.
Yusaku studied Shinichi's thoughtful expression and offered a hint. "That's exactly the problem. However formidable Miss Ningguang may be, without advance preparation it would have been impossible to bring the Schindler Group's directors to heel in the mere hours since the crime occurred—and those directors are all in America right now, while Miss Ningguang herself is here in Japan. Granted, Miss Keqing is certainly capable enough to lead such an operation—but even so, without preparations made well in advance, it simply couldn't be done."
"You mean..." Conan's eyes went wide. "Miss Ningguang and the others may have known the Schindler Group was going to be attacked—before it happened?"
It wasn't impossible. Given Katagiri's connection with Nahida, Ningguang had likely guessed long ago that Hiroki's death was tied to Schindler, so it would be perfectly natural for her to anticipate that Schindler would move against Katagiri next.
But what Conan couldn't understand was this: if she'd known all along, why didn't she stop it beforehand? Was she really willing to let the crime happen just so she could walk away with the Schindler Group?
That was a human life! Katagiri had simply been lucky—if the knife had struck a vital spot, he could have died on the spot...
So was that why Miss Ningguang had been able to arrive at the scene so quickly? And did Nahida, who had appeared there alongside her, know what Ningguang had done?
"I'm afraid so," Yusaku said with a sigh, watching the disbelief on Shinichi's face.
Evidently, even knowing this Miss Ningguang was not quite what she seemed, Shinichi hadn't guarded himself against her—if anything, he'd developed a measure of fondness for her, which was why this revelation had shaken him so.
Then again, it was understandable. This Miss Ningguang had real personal magnetism: she read people instinctively and wielded words like an artist. Once you'd spent time in her company, it was genuinely difficult not to be won over.
Even now—even knowing she had coldly allowed Katagiri to face mortal danger—after actually speaking with her, Yusaku found it hard to feel any real antipathy toward her himself.
"Though there's one thing I'm not sure about—whether the out-of-control rampage of Noah's Ark was part of their calculations. If it was, she should have taken steps to stop the AI's self-destruction when it happened." An artificial intelligence of that caliber was, after all, a truly epoch-making invention—extraordinarily valuable to any businesswoman. When Noah's Ark had destroyed itself earlier, the police had examined the mainframe beneath the event hall and confirmed that the AI really had been wiped out completely.
On that front, one could only say: thank goodness for Nahida. She was worthy of the name Dendro Archon—using her Gnosis, she had transferred Noah's Ark's code into the Akasha Terminal without anyone noticing, carried it out of the venue, and left the entire world believing the AI had genuinely deleted itself.
Yusaku pressed on. "But if it wasn't anticipated—then why wasn't Miss Ningguang alarmed when she saw Noah's Ark go berserk? Unless, as she claims, Schindler really does possess something even more valuable than the AI."
At his father's question, Conan lapsed into thought as well.
Just as Dad said—Miss Ningguang's behavior really was contradictory. And try as he might, Conan couldn't make sense of it.