After the Undercover System Went Haywire, I Switched to Grinding Suspicion Points Chapter 196

Despite this incident, the bomb expert quickly recovered his mood. After getting in the car, he continued driving them to the hotel while explaining:

"Although you encountered bomb cases both in Hawaii and here, these things are actually quite rare. Don't worry—what's more common here are shootings, and I chose a hotel in a neighborhood with relatively good security!"

"...Oh, thank you."

Great comfort. Please don't comfort us next ti.

The hotel choice was indeed good, and it was close to the conference venue—after all, it was a technical exchange conference where many people had to give presentations. One or two days definitely wouldn't be enough. With a longer duration, the distance between accommodation and etings would affect the happiness of this trip. It could be said that the bomb expert was really thoughtful.

They were here on leave with a tight schedule and no ti for tourism or leisure. The exchange conference began the next day.

Before the official start ti, with quite a few social types around, when Usuha Izuki and his group arrived, everyone was already standing or sitting in small groups throughout the venue, seeking out people of interest to chat with.

The bomb expert spotted Usuha Izuki's group at a glance and hurried over to invite them to join his side.

"This is my colleague from the FBI, Rock Blade. These are the three friends I ntioned before, invited from Japan."

Rock Blade smiled and greeted them: "Hello, just call Rock..."

The bomb expert said enthusiastically, as if proud of his own deduction: "Yesterday's bus case—didn't Morgan say 'actually got everything right'? He was talking about Samukawa's deduction!"

"I see." Blade looked at Usuha Izuki again and nodded in acknowledgnt. "No wonder Joseph fought for several spots to invite Japanese experts. I finally understand—you really helped us a lot... But do Japanese bomb experts need to know so much?"

"...I'm actually a detective."

"..."

"Asia likes cultivating well-rounded talents..." The bomb expert coughed, trying to change the subject. "Plamia ran rampant in so many countries without being caught, but her real identity was discovered in Japan. Change your habit of always looking down on other countries!"

Blade: "Don't make sound racist. I just don't have much contact with Asia, and those nas are hard to rember... Speaking of which, what do your nas an in Japanese?"

After so casual chat, as the conference host arrived, everyone found seats. The room returned to quiet, with only extrely soft whispers and coughing.

Usuha Izuki had also roughly scanned the conference attendees earlier. He didn't know if it was stereotypical thinking about Arica, but the more socially extroverted ones seed to be Aricans, while people from other countries were sowhat aloof, not animated when talking, leaning toward another stereotype about researchers...

But considering certain people's identities, this was understandable.

Based on Usuha Izuki's analysis skills for profiling people—exchanged for Samukawa Shinryu—at least five attendees had committed cris and might have been recruited...

When he entered with his "Black Screen Aura" active, everyone just glanced over without anyone being blind enough to say he looked suspicious. They probably thought he was also recruited, so having a sowhat dangerous aura was normal.

Thinking of this, Usuha Izuki suddenly felt speechless.

So positions probably couldn't avoid recruitnt... like IT personnel, like bomb experts... The forr because regular forces might not match wild hackers, the latter because regular forces had higher casualty rates...

At the conference start, they first explained the eting's purpose, process, etc. Perhaps everyone here seed too lifeless about these things, preferring practical matters, so the flashy preliminaries quickly passed, entering the stage of sharing recent classic bomb cases from their respective countries.

Since it was held in Arica, naturally Arican experts would start.

Joseph, the expert who invited Usuha Izuki's group, went first, fumbling to insert a USB: "Ahem, let share a bomb we encountered a couple years ago... Don't make that face, everyone. I know technology has developed rapidly these years, but this bomb would still be difficult even now... Found it, in this folder. Let show you the model I reconstructed..."

Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei's expressions beca sowhat strange.

...At ho, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit studied this model. Coming abroad, they still had to discuss this model. It was like they'd co abroad for nothing.

It must be said, classics were classics. Even after several years, they were still classics. Everyone had been a bit cold initially, but once the 3D model appeared and Joseph began explaining, the discussion below imdiately beca heated.

"The probability of successful installation is actually quite low. For the victim to give such an opportunity... practicality isn't really high..."

"Indeed a bit cumberso, but since it was for extortion, as long as it could be successfully installed, that's a win. Very clear thinking—luck is also part of strength."

"Actually, I think..."

After so discussion, soone asked: "How did you finally solve this bomb? Did you detonate it directly?"

Joseph answered: "That's what I planned, but we had outside help at the ti. They blew up the control box above, so the hotel had almost no damage."

The audience imdiately erupted.

"To blow up the control box without disturbing the chanisms inside and the bomb box below? And it actually succeeded?"

"Where was this outside help from?"

"Did this outside help co?"

Joseph quietly glanced at Usuha Izuki, seeming to ask if he was willing to go up.

Usuha Izuki pondered for a mont.

There were no important plot characters among these people, so the suspicion values he'd farm had no weight. His appetite had already been spoiled—he couldn't really appreciate these and was too lazy to bother. So he gently shook his head, then nodded, aning keep his presence here secret but everything else was fine.

Joseph imdiately understood and coughed: "That outside help used self-mixed plastic explosives with very precise amounts, which is why they could do so well... And this design was actually created by him for his departnt's training, but it was leaked. Everything was quite coincidental—anyone else couldn't have done it. I recomnd direct detonation, and I'd like to remind everyone present that liking bomb design is a personal hobby no one can interfere with, but please store your designs carefully to avoid trouble..."

Perhaps out of guilt, and also feeling such cumberso bombs had too few practical applications, that mole in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit only privately traded this one copy without widespread leaking. That's why Joseph chose this bomb for today's exchange—otherwise, if everyone knew about it, there'd be no point in exchanging.

For so reason, following Joseph's explanation, Usuha Izuki inexplicably received a bunch of suspicion values.

He opened them and found all these suspicion value contributors were conference attendees.

System: [...??? What's happening? You can farm suspicion values without even going up to say strange things?]

Usuha Izuki thought for a mont, analyzing what Joseph had just said, and suddenly understood: [Joseph's explanation was easily misunderstood.]

[Ah? What he said seed quite normal?]

[Feel it again—'The bomb designer didn't an it that way, just that the design leaked,' 'The bomb designer just happened to be there,' 'The bomb designer helped solve it'...]

The system understood: [...Why does Joseph make it sound like everything was planned by the bomb designer?]

[That's what they're suspecting too—it's too coincidental.] Usuha Izuki sighed. [He naturally helped farm so many suspicion values... just by speaking normally...]

—Could Joseph be a genius?!

Although Japan had endless bomb cases, it lacked creativity in bomb design, so the three of them hadn't prepared materials and just listened.

This exchange conference lasted three days, all proceeding smoothly until the fourth day when Blade, who had only attended the first day, suddenly returned with bad news.

"Sorry, we received a warning letter. Soone seems to be planning to kill soone at the conference..."

After three days of exchange, what needed to be said had mostly been said. Those who hadn't shared their materials felt it didn't matter—having seen others' shared experiences, leaving now wouldn't be a loss at all.

So everyone expressed that the eting should just disperse!

Blade looked embarrassed: "Well, sorry, that won't work either. He says if any of you leave, he'll detonate a bomb sowhere... Since you're already being targeted, why don't you stay under our protection for a couple days to avoid problems on your way ho."

"What's going on?" Joseph, also being FBI, directly asked his colleague with justification. "Too sudden. What happened? Where's the warning letter? Could it just be a joke?"

"...The warning letter was found on a corpse." Blade frowned. "So we can't treat it as a joke. He might take the next step at any ti."

"A corpse?"

"Yes, and the corpse..."

"—had a glass ball in its mouth."

A female voice suddenly continued. Judy Starling, a female FBI agent Samukawa Shinryu's group had t in Hawaii, walked in with the conference roster, looking at the dark-haired, red-eyed youth with complex eyes.

"Dark red."

—Just like this person's eyes.