It's more accurate to say they were kept in captivity than adopted.

In Sindora's eyes, Hiroki was just a tool for making money.

Despite living this kind of life, Hiroki did not develop any thoughts of revenge against society; his final wish was so simple that it was heartbreaking.

He just wanted to hang out with other people!

"Hey, Kousuke, what are you thinking about?" Conan waved his hand in front of Kousuke and asked, "What's going on?"

Guangyou then came to his senses, shook his head, as if doing so would shake all the negative emotions out of his mind: "This is a long story, let me tell you slowly."

"Can't you just get to the point?" Conan stared with his half-moon eyes. His curiosity was already bursting, but he still had to listen to Kōyū's story, which was a bit tiring.

"No." Guangyou is usually the type who responds better to gentle persuasion than force. If Conan's tone were softer, he might consider keeping things brief, but Conan's tone just now was anything but soft; it sounded like he was urging him on.

Anyway, this matter wasn't urgent, so Guangyou directly refused his request: "If you want to know, then listen to my story. If you don't want to know, then I have no objection."

"Alright, alright, you two can take a break for now." Professor Agasa stood between the two, pressing his hands down to smooth things over. "Let Kosuke continue."

Actually, Professor Agasa didn't need to smooth things over. The moment Conan heard what Mitsuyu said, he deflated and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "Alright, alright, then go ahead and tell me, I'm listening."

Ai, who was standing nearby, was also listening intently. She knew how powerful artificial intelligence was, but she wasn't particularly interested.

What interested her most was the story that Guangyou was about to tell; she wanted to know what exactly happened to Guangyou in the virtual world.

After the two main characters calmed down, Kōyū, with a look of reminiscence, slowly said, "This story begins at the 'Cocoon' press conference that day..."

...