Chapter 27, Section 26: Noah's Ark: The Encounter Two Years Ago...

"The witch who was not invited stormed into the banquet in anger, pointed at the little princess and said, 'She will be injured by a spindle at the age of fifteen and then die!'"

Everyone was terrified, but thankfully one witch who hadn't had time to offer her blessing rushed over and said, "The princess won't die; she'll just fall into a deep sleep."

"'And he slept for 100 years...'"

A clear, childlike voice rang out in the comfortable and tidy bedroom. Ayumi Yoshida sat by Zhuge Tongzhi's bedside, holding a fairy tale book, telling her sleeping friend the story of Sleeping Beauty.

Zhuge Tongzhi slept peacefully. The O-D navigation in the void automatically switched to idle mode, only recording a few previously completed historical routes on one side of the navigation bar. The blue and white prompt box has remained unchanged since a new 'life wish list' was added.

The energetic girl was sitting next to Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya and Genta Kojima. The two boys, who had been excited all the way on the plane, were now drowsy due to jet lag, but were being asked by adults to adjust to the time difference. They were swaying back and forth, barely keeping themselves awake.

"Ah, I really envy Zhuge. She doesn't need to adjust to the time difference at all." Kojima Genta mumbled indistinctly, then swayed and bumped into Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko next to him.

"Genta!" Ayumi Yoshida called out in dissatisfaction.

"Ayumi, your story is so hypnotic, I can't hold on any longer." Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya struggled against Genta's considerable weight and said, "Besides, Sleeping Beauty really did sleep for a hundred years before waiting for the prince, Zhuge Liang can't wait a hundred years."

"Mitsuhiko, really, don't take fairy tales so seriously." Ayumi Yoshida began to explain her reasoning in a very logical way. "Anyway, the most important thing is that Sleeping Beauty woke up in the end and lived happily ever after."

"But if you have to sleep for a hundred years to wake up, then after a hundred years your family and friends will all be gone. Can being with a prince really be considered a happy life?"

Ai Haibara's voice, slightly static, came through the landline phone in front of Ayumi Yoshida, as she expressed her unconventional views as always.

The girl who declined the group activity due to feeling unwell chose to stay in Japan with Professor Agasa. However, as soon as the Junior Detective League arrived in the United States, they made an enthusiastic international phone call to ensure that the friends who had fallen behind could also feel involved.

"Ah... Ai, what you said makes so much sense." Having never looked at the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale from this perspective before, Ayumi Yoshida was momentarily stumped by Ai Haibara's question. Children of this age still yearn for the love story of a princess and a prince on a white horse; who would care about Sleeping Beauty's circle of friends and family a hundred years from now?

"It's okay, I'll change the story then." The short-haired girl quickly skipped over the slightly philosophical question and turned to the page of Snow White, which was also a story about a princess who fell into a coma and then woke up.

"Snow White is about to die after eating the poisoned apple, but the prince from the neighboring kingdom will soon wake her up with a kiss, and then they will live happily ever after." Ayumi Yoshida seems determined to give her sleeping friend a princess role, quickly summarizing the key plot points.

Ai Haibara calmly said on the other end of the phone, "A 14-year-old Snow White falling in love with a 31-year-old prince, I think it should be classified as a criminal case rather than a romantic fairy tale."

"Eh—?" The three children exclaimed in unison.

"Hey, Haibara, don't nitpick the details of fairy tales." Conan, standing at the bedroom door, couldn't help but let out a helpless half-moon-shaped eye as he listened to the children behind him suddenly perk up and start chattering.

However, his attention was not on that. The boy clinging to the door frame began to listen intently to the conversation in the living room outside. Ran Mouri, Hikaru Midorikawa, Jinpei Matsuda, and Chisato Hagiwara were talking to a boy who looked to be only a teenager.

The boy, dressed in a light blue jacket and light gray straight-leg pants, was composed. When faced with questions from four strangers much older than himself, he would pause slightly to think for a moment after each question before giving a logically sound answer.

Aside from his clear, childlike voice that hadn't yet gone through puberty, the boy's slow, deliberate tone and mature, composed demeanor gave him a maturity beyond his years.

But Conan knew that this was not another fake child who had shrunk using the A drug. After being informed of the invitation from the Syndora Technology Group, he searched extensively online for information about the group and the young designer.

The rapid development of the Sindora Group in recent years is inseparable from the young man who is now talking eloquently in the living room; the two are now closely linked.

Behind the crack in the door, a black-haired, blue-eyed elementary school student pushed up his gleaming glasses and pulled out the newly added character information from his database.

Hiroki Sawada was born in Japan, but after his parents divorced, he moved to the United States with his mother. After his mother's death, he was adopted by Thomas Sindora, the chairman of the Sindora Group.

This child showed amazing talent in computer science from a young age, but was not accepted by the people around him when he lived in Japan. After moving to the United States, he enrolled in the graduate program of computer science at MIT at the age of ten.

He is a genius with a troubled past. In recent years, with the full support of Thomas Sindora, he has created several world-leading technological inventions and made Sindora Corporation a leader in the technology industry.

A twelve-year-old child with such an unusual life experience is naturally not like an ordinary child, especially since he came here as the chief designer to finalize the details of the experimental procedure with the families of the test subjects.

Conan listened as Hiroki Sawada recounted the results of the preliminary experiments to the parents, assuring them that the experiments would not cause any harm to the human body. He explained that the medical pod worked on the same principle as the virtual game pod that was being used at the press conference, ensuring that even vulnerable children would be well protected.

“Okay, I understand. Well then, I have one last question.” Midorikawa Hikaru looked at the sincere-looking boy in front of him, his voice full of doubt: “Since the medical pods announced this time will focus on reviving vegetative patients, why invite us to participate?”

"I think you should have known beforehand that they do not fall into the category of vegetative state patients, and the reasons why they cannot wake up are still inconclusive in medicine. If the goal is just to demonstrate the effects at the press conference, this may not be the best choice."

The gentle-looking college student spoke sharply, pointing out the most unreasonable aspect of the Sindora Group's invitation. The three participants beside him nodded in agreement, indicating that they had the same question.

Conan listened intently, just as intently.

Faced with the questions, Hiroki Sawada remained calm and gave a straightforward answer: "To be frank, this is just a marketing tactic for the Japanese press conference."

"The attention surrounding the Qingchuan Tower bombing case is still lingering. If 'Cocoon' can help the two parties involved, it will undoubtedly produce excellent results." He spread his hands to the crowd, expressing his sincerity.

Beneath his bangs, which swayed in front of his forehead with his movements, the boy met Midorikawa Hikaru's gaze with his bright eyes and began to speak.

"As I mentioned earlier, the 'cocoon' has been successfully tested to awaken patients in a vegetative state. If it can also awaken people who are asleep for unknown reasons, it would be even better."

"This is a win-win invitation."

Hiroki Sawada's explanation neatly covered up all the logical flaws. Hikaru Midorikawa withdrew his probing gaze, glanced at Jinpei Matsuda and the others beside him, and seeing that they had no more questions, nodded to Hiroki Sawada to indicate that everything was settled.

The young man in the jacket stood up at the same time as the four people opposite him, a genuine smile appearing on his young face: "Well then, I really look forward to meeting you all at tomorrow's press conference."

He shook hands with each of the four people, his gaze, which concealed his emotions, lingered on Midorikawa Hikaru's face for a moment, then looked past the back of the sofa at the bedroom door that was not closed properly, and then scanned the suite as if he were looking at it normally.

"If you have any questions about daily life, please feel free to contact the Sindora Group."

After exchanging pleasantries, Hiroki Sawada, accompanied by two burly bodyguards, nimbly left the hotel.

…

After watching the boy get into the back seat of the van, the two bodyguards, as always, raised the partition between the front and back seats and then got into the front to drive.

Hiroki Sawada casually pulled out the charging cable from the seat handle, clicked it to connect his phone, and after the phone screen flashed a few times, all the indicator lights on the car's cameras, both visible and hidden, went out within seconds.

As he relaxed and exhaled, the large screen on the roof slowly lowered, and a familiar giant ship appeared on the screen, spelling out words using data points.

"Hiroki, Midorikawa Hikaru is actually Morofushi Kagemitsu." The artificial intelligence calmly exposed Morofushi Kagemitsu's false identity, reminding its master to be careful.

“I know, Noah, we were involved in his faked death plan.”

Hiroki Sawada leaned back in his chair, looking at the question mark Noah's Ark had displayed, and smiled as he guided the AI, which was less than two years old: "You can go and look through your own confidential database. To prevent you from accidentally missing any messages while surfing the web, I've set the permissions to be quite high."

Once Noah's Ark gained access, it immediately began searching through its vast database of cabins. Suddenly, various barrels, harpoons, and scrolls flew wildly across the screen, vividly depicting an artificial intelligence rummaging through boxes and cabinets while searching for data.

It quickly pulled out a dark, sealed safe. This airtight box had no keyhole and sat seamlessly on the ship's hull. Of course, in the data world, this black box was simply a string of files protected by layers of firewalls.

Noah's Ark used its newly acquired access and quickly navigated through the layers of barriers that were being removed, revealing the innermost secret.

Those were two lonely documents.

A document titled "Scottish Fake Death Plan" records the entire process of Morofushi Hiromitsu's identity being exposed within the organization, and includes simulations and speculations for several scenarios, as well as follow-up measures for a successful rescue.

The person who edited the document had a very clear logical structure, dividing the entire plan into five sections: core objectives, information gaps, plan execution, and backup contingency plans. Each section was presented in detail, making it well-organized.

Noah's Ark quickly extracted information from the documents, simplifying each detailed description into a few short sentences, and piecing them together into a contingency plan:

Core objective: To create the illusion of Scotland's death and ensure his subsequent identity security.

Information gap:

He was hunted down by the organization after his identity was exposed (information from a police undercover agent: unknown). His original date of death was December 7, 1990 (specific time: unknown), and the location was suspected to be a rooftop in Japan (specific location: unknown). The known participants were Shuichi Akai and Rei Furuya (whether there were other members: unknown).

Plan Execution:

Rooftop fake death (location uncertain, abandoned)

Prevent their identity from being exposed in advance (undercover information unknown, therefore discarded).

The patient's size decreased after taking ATPX4869 (upon investigation, the patient was found to have no bloodline in the Akai family, so the treatment was discontinued).

Sending someone abroad for refuge ahead of time (unable to gain trust, therefore abandoned)...

Bold and red: To take the lead in 'eliminating' Scotland, requires witnessing by key organizational members; Rye, Bourbon, and Gin are worth considering (highly difficult, but feasible).

Emergency Filing:

"If no one is available to meet you, safe houses should be set up along the route in advance, and first aid medications should be prepared..."

Noah's Ark continued scrolling down and found that after the plan was implemented, a brief, newly edited review of the plan was created:

"A Review of the Fake Death Plan"

Mission status: Basically successful. The organization has confirmed Scotland's death. Going forward, be careful to avoid Bourbon's search.

Target status: Unable to be awakened; examination revealed no external injuries or intracranial hemorrhage; cause remains unclear.

Key points to follow: identity,

Then, the document abruptly ends at the word 'identity', and the editing time is set to about a year ago.

Noah's Ark then began reading a second, unsigned, blank title file.

A file with a photo popped up, but the forms for name, date of birth, and kinship were all blank. Only the blood type field had an attachment that recorded the file owner's DNA test information.

The artificial intelligence, which is equipped with a DNA identification system, automatically retrieved the blood information left by Zhuge Tongzhi at the hospital and compared it with the information left in the file.

During the testing process, Noah's Ark scrolled through page after page of blank files, finally reaching the end of this file that contained no information whatsoever, where it found a hastily written handwritten message—

"Hiroki, please help me erase all traces, the cleaner the better."

"Live well and hide Noah's Ark."

The artificial intelligence took a screenshot of the two slightly crooked and messy messages and placed it on the screen in front of Hiroki Sawada, along with the file photo and a recent photo of Zhuge Tongzhi.

At the same time, a thin pop-up window appeared as the comparison results, which Noah's Ark placed in the gap between several screenshots.

The comparison results in the pop-up window show that the DNA is completely identical, indicating that it is the same person.

However, the ages of the two people in the photo don't match at all. One is a cute and innocent six-year-old girl's ID photo, while the other is a casual selfie of a teenage girl.

In the cool-toned photo, the girl with delicate features has a detached expression. A high-necked, sleeveless black fitted top covers her slender neck, and her high ponytail sweeps across her exposed shoulders. The clear muscle lines on her smooth arms highlight the explosive power they contain.

The photo next to it is filled with bright sunshine. A girl wearing a warm-colored casual outfit has messy short hair and is holding a half-melted ice cream with several other children. She smiles brightly at the camera.

The starkly different styles make two people who look so alike appear so disconnected, and the vast age difference makes it impossible to regard two seemingly independent people as the same being.

'Although I now know the reality, is human technology capable of reversing aging?'

Noah's Ark typed a sentence on the screen using data points, but it didn't care about that. It quickly dispersed the data points with electronic waves, and simply enlarged the handwritten message again, silently asking its little master what the meaning behind it was.

"It's exactly what it sounds like, Noah." Hiroki Sawada said, referring to the events that occurred before the creation of Noah's Ark. His gaze fell on the DNA comparison results pop-up on the screen. Everything stemmed from this human origin tracing system.

"The DNA identification system loaded in your program once identified a blood relationship between Thomas Sindora and Jack the Ripper."

"Thomas was afraid I would tell everyone, so he wanted to kill me. I was going to do what he wanted." Hiroki Sawada said, making a soothing gesture towards the Noah's Ark on the screen, which was now raging with waves, his voice tinged with laughter.

"But Sister Tong approached Thomas in the name of that organization, threatening him by saying that I was a talent the organization had its eye on, and that the organization would check on me regularly."

Hiroki Sawada recalled that same windy rooftop that night, and how the ponytail-wearing girl somehow bypassed the company's security and climbed up from the edge of the rooftop to grab him just as he was about to jump.

But in reality, it's not like she said at all. The Black Organization's attention is still focused on the field of medical experiments, and it's a pipe dream to think that they would recruit a ten-year-old child as a member of the organization.

After using the organization's name to intimidate Thomas and prevent him from making any rash moves, Sister Tong simply handed him a fake organization email address, allowing him to send emails to Thomas regularly to threaten him.

This behemoth, rooted in various countries, effortlessly intimidated Sindora. He had to ensure Hiroki Sawada's safety, while reluctantly increasing his surveillance to prevent him from leaking secrets, but he dared not pressure him any further.

Hiroki Sawada suddenly transformed from an adopted son living under someone else's roof into a collaborator with a huge, shadowy crow standing behind him.

The change in identity caused Hiroki Sawada, who had been under immense psychological pressure, to suddenly plunge into a lake with a suitable water temperature, like a fish about to die of thirst on the shore, and take a deep breath of the abundant oxygen in the water.

Of course, this wasn't free, but the cost was relatively small—Tong would occasionally ask him to help investigate things that couldn't be found on the surface, track some signals, or find traces left by targets on the internet, but she never let him get involved in deeper matters.

After each collaboration, she would send him an email teaching him how to maintain this delicate working relationship with Sindora and what methods he could consider if he wanted to bring down his adoptive father, which completely broadened Hiroki Sawada's perspective.

The girl offered no explanation as to why she knew these things, and Hiroki Sawada didn't dare to disturb her, who seemed very busy.

Thus, this relationship, which the other party unilaterally defined as "cooperation" and he defined as "charitable aid," unfolded in a rather magical way.

The two, whose contact was extremely infrequent, began to become closer after the Scottish fake death plan was launched. The initial version of Noah's Ark helped in the plan all the way, and the rescue of Scotland was very successful.

But just six months after the fake death plan was successfully executed, he was unilaterally cut off from all contact.

The email inbox, which no longer receives any responses, contains only a blank file and two messages, asking Hiroki Sawada to erase his traces through photos and DN information.

At that time, the second round of testing of Noah's Ark had just been completed.

After the database was drastically modified, the first information search instruction received by the restarted artificial intelligence was to search for people like looking for a needle in a haystack based on photos.

After being out of contact for more than a month, it captured photos of the scene of the Qingchuan Tower explosion in news reports, identified one of the key figures, Zhuge Tongzhi, followed the clues to find out the girl's current identity, and extended this invitation.

'So she is Hiroki's benefactor.'

Noah's Ark added this high-priority tag to Zhuge Tongzhi's database.

“Yes, that’s what I think.” Hiroki Sawada pulled out the mission review from the Scottish fake death plan and highlighted the phrase ‘unable to be awakened…’ He pondered, “I’m not quite sure how Kiri-nee solved this problem. I just hope our holographic pod will work.”

"And this isn't the only thing we need to deal with. You'll have to work hard from now on, Noah's Ark."

'No problem, Hiroki.'

…

The next day, at the venue

The staff of the Sindora Group took the invitation from Conan, raised their hands to let him pass, and told the child to choose one from the empty holographic capsules.

Conan casually chose the holographic capsule next to Ran Mouri and lay down inside. The Detective Boys rushed over like the wind, selecting several of the closest holographic capsules around him. Soon, staff members came to help them put on the holographic equipment and safety belts.

Hagiwara Chisato and Matsuda Jinpei Hikaru quickly put on their holographic equipment with the help of the staff. The two adults checked on the minors one last time, exchanged a glance with Midorikawa Hikaru who was staying outside the venue, and then pressed their slightly tense backs with soft fabric.

Lying in the holographic capsule, which resembled a massage chair, the venue's broadcast system, after confirming that all attendees were inside, began announcing the countdown in a clear female voice.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

Matsuda Jinpei slowly exhaled, glancing through the gradually lowering black glass dome at the virtual pod beside him, whose interior was no longer clearly visible—Higashima Kenji was lying inside.

The man who had been in a deep sleep was now also wearing a holographic device and lay quietly in the cabin. If all went well, they would meet in the virtual world in the form of consciousness.

According to Hiroki Sawada, the sole purpose of this virtual holographic journey is to stimulate the mental threshold, complete the story by following a pre-set plot, and the accumulating impact will cause the sleeping person's nerve activity to reach the point of awakening.

Well, see you later, hagi

"Six, five, four..."

Morofushi Kagemitsu withdrew his gaze from the holographic pod where Moroku Tōshi was, recalling his conversation with Furuya Rei, the intelligence expert who had described the Sindora Group to him in this way:

"This tech giant has made rapid progress in recent years, but the relationship between its chairman, Thomas, and his adopted son is intriguing. The security team surrounding that child serves both as protection and surveillance."

'The organization's database contains information on the Sindora Group, but someone deliberately lowered Hiroki Sawada's priority level; his abilities absolutely shouldn't place him at that level of attention.'

'Hiro, this medical pod launch event is likely to attract the organization's attention. Be careful.'

"The priority has been lowered..." As Morofushi Kagemitsu watched the announcement, all the holographic pods emitted a synchronized roar the moment the black hatches closed.

Accompanied by a sound similar to the pressurization of exhaust, streaks of pure white light began to flash rhythmically at the bottom of the holographic cabin. The lights on the top of the holographic cabin went out, and each holographic cabin became the only light source in the center of the venue.

The technologically advanced scene quickly stirred up the crowd.

It's a pity that his current fake identity is not suitable for entering the virtual world to explore. Morofushi Kagemitsu lifted his foot and walked towards the backstage.

But he can go and look at other things.

"Three, two, one"

Ran Mouri exhaled amidst the roaring, undulating sound. Hikaru Midorikawa's physical condition was not suitable for participating in this event, and among the people that Toshiyuki Zhuge had been communicating with, besides the Junior Detective Club and the old man in the neighborhood, she was the only one.

She was worried about Conan, Zhuge Tongzhi, and the Junior Detective League who were not familiar with the other two adults, so she readily accepted Sindora's invitation.

Hiroki Sawada said that the instances they experience will be independent, and the virtual environment settings will be different from the purely entertaining games that children experience, with various pain thresholds that will be infinitely close to the real world.

For the purpose of stimulating the nerves, some elements of the holographic world with realistic five senses may also contain dangers. If a consciousness suffers damage that can be defined as serious injury or above in the virtual world, it will be automatically ejected.

She will protect everyone.

With a determined look in her eyes, Ran Mouri slowly closed her eyes as the gentle voice prompts from inside the holographic capsule guided her.

Inside the venue, as the flashing light circle turned into a constant light source, the clear female voice was replaced by a mechanical electronic voice, and a calm voice announced simultaneously inside and outside the cabin:

"Holographic simulation trip, begin."

In the pitch-black world of consciousness, O-Dream Navigation's pages, which had been dormant for a week, suddenly became active again.

The blue and white prompt box pushed aside all the historical routes and hovered in the very center.

"A new route has been detected. We have automatically planned a path for you based on your travel direction."

"Next Stop: Alice in Wonderland (In Progress)"

Three progressively advancing arrows flashed, pointing to the only bright spot in the pitch blackness—a low, abruptly appearing rabbit hole.

Zhuge Tongzhi, who had just rubbed his eyes and crawled out of a strange darkness, thought: ?

Where did you get the money for her?

Arno, is this still the world of Detective Conan?

-----------------------

Author's Note: Welcome back to Zhuge Liang! (Sprinkling flowers)

Hagi's inability to wake up is influenced by factors from the original storyline.

Let me explain to you slowly.

…

Next up is the Alice in Wonderland dungeon.

Dreams reflect people's inner world.

…

This is my first time writing a VIP post, so there are many things I'm not familiar with OuO

Thank you everyone for your understanding!

P.S. It rained yesterday and I left my umbrella in the bike basket. I'm so sad to lose my most beloved umbrella!