After swallowing the chocolate in his mouth, Kwang-woo closed the gift box with the lid.

There are five chocolates left in the gift box; I'll take them home and enjoy them slowly tomorrow.

"Has the rain stopped outside?" Ai asked, turning off her computer and pretending to be nonchalant.

The subtext was quite clear: "Are you going back now?"

"It hasn't stopped yet, and I doubt it will stop anytime soon." Guangyou shook his head.

"So today..." Xiao Ai only got halfway through her sentence.

"I'm not leaving today." Kōyū turned his head, looked at Ai, and smiled.

"Hmm," Ai replied calmly.

Whether she was truly as calm as she appeared to be, only she herself knew.

After shutting down the computer, Ai picked up the two paintings and handed them to Kousuke, saying, "Here, your paintings."

“No, this is your painting.” Guangyou subconsciously picked up on the joke, coughed lightly, and explained, “Just leave it here. I’m a forgetful person, and it wouldn’t be good if I lost it.”

Being forgetful was just an excuse; the real purpose was to give the two paintings to Ai.

Neither of them was stupid. Ai naturally knew what Kousuke was up to. She didn't refuse. She nodded and followed Kousuke's words, saying, "Then I'll keep it for you for the time being."

This is how the two usually communicate; they don't say many things directly.

However, they both understood each other's meaning, so it didn't cause any problems, and both of them were enjoying themselves.

Then, Ai put the two drawings away and tucked them into a notebook.

She didn't avoid Guangyou, so Guangyou saw it clearly.

The notebook contained not only the two paintings, but also a photograph.

After a quick glance, Guangyou knew what the photo contained.

That's his dark history, the kind where he was forced into it.

He quickly looked away, and Guangyou pretended to know nothing.

He tapped his fingers on the table, making a rhythmic sound, trying to distract himself.

But things are never that simple.

At first it was fine, but after a few seconds his rhythm completely went out of control.

The photo and the image of being forced to take it flashed through his mind.

It was an evening at Heiji's house.

He'd spent all his time outside for nothing, even running into a brat along the way, and when he finally got home, he was greeted by several women...

Forget it, forget it, the past is too painful to recall, let's not talk about it anymore.

Unexpectedly, he saw that photo at Ai's place.

Thinking of all this, Guangyou let out a long sigh.

Fortunately, Ai Haibara didn't seem inclined to show the photo.

What happened just now was an accident; it was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

After calming down a bit, Kōyū tried to change the subject to prevent Ai from having any inappropriate thoughts after seeing the photo: "Ai... how's the antidote research going?"

He originally wanted to talk about something else, but for a moment he couldn't think of anything to talk about.

"It's not going very smoothly." Ai frowned and replied, "The development of a permanent antidote is progressing very slowly. At this rate, it may take decades before it can be developed."

"Yeah, but we can only take it slowly now, there's no point in rushing it." Guangyou frowned slightly and replied.

Kōyū had previously discussed the antidote with Ai.

Developing an antidote is even more difficult, and there are many problems that Ai Haibara cannot solve in a short period of time.

There's nothing that can be done about it, since Ai is all alone.

Even if there is a team researching this, it probably won't be very fast.

Drug development cycles are typically measured in years.

From research and development to preclinical trials and then to clinical trials, the entire process is estimated to take more than ten years.

Even if this drug isn't officially launched, and some steps are omitted, it will still take several years to develop.

This is only the time required to research a specific drug or a drug for a common ailment.

For example, for ALS, drugs developed over more than a decade may only alleviate symptoms and cannot cure the disease.

This is similar to the current situation, where drugs developed over so much time may only be temporary solutions.

It can only be said that the side effects of temporary antidotes are becoming less and less likely to produce antibodies.

Developing a permanent antidote after decades is already a very optimistic scenario.

That's why Guangyou came up with the idea of ​​artificial intelligence.

One AI can replace several, or even dozens, of teams, and it can work without rest with a very low error rate.

With the help of artificial intelligence, the development cycle of antidote will be greatly shortened, and the chances of success will be greatly increased.

"Let's take it one step at a time," Guangyou sighed. "Hopefully, that AI is real, so it can help you."

"Hmm." Ai's furrowed brows slowly relaxed after hearing the second half of Kouyu's sentence, and she continued, "As for the temporary antidote, the current approach is to reduce the side effects after taking the medication and delay the time it takes for antibodies to develop."

"Compared to a permanent antidote, a temporary antidote is progressing more smoothly."

Upon hearing the second half of the sentence, Guangyou's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, but then returned to normal.

This statement implies that the development of a temporary antidote is not progressing smoothly at present.

This is understandable, as reducing side effects and delaying antibody production are not simple tasks.

Take your time.

Coming to his senses, Kōyū took a few steps toward Ai, opened his arms and pulled her into his embrace, whispering, "Ai, thank you for your hard work."

Ai was startled when she was suddenly hugged. After she realized what was happening, she opened her arms and hugged Kousuke. She didn't say anything, but just shook her head and then pressed her head against Kousuke's chest.

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!