"Wait, Noah's Ark, no, Hiroki!" Tadaaki Murakami suddenly shouted.
"You're Hiroki, aren't you? You must be! You're speaking out for Hiroki, who was treated unfairly and driven to his death, right?"
"It's my fault. I didn't take good care of Hiroki. If you want revenge, come at me! The people in the game pods are innocent!"
The electronic voice chuckled twice, devoid of emotion, yet chillingly cold.
"Innocent?"
"Those who qualify for the game are all so-called scions of prestigious families, enjoying the best resources in society. Without those, what are they?"
"You, Mr. Murakami, and President Schindler next to you, you couldn't have missed that there are many young people and children in the venue who were able to attend this presentation thanks to their relatives and friends, but who couldn't get into the game, could you?"
"Aren't they innocent? Were they treated fairly?"
The village was momentarily stumped by the question, but still tried its best to persuade the stubborn artificial intelligence together with President Schindler.
Yoruichi Toyama found it rather strange.
I remember that the story of Noah's Ark hijacking the game pods and forcing the children to complete the game did happen, but in that storyline, he claimed that Japan's education system was too rigid and backward, so the children of the privileged class were not capable of taking on the future of society.
It is certainly just as extreme, but that theory is more like a wishful conclusion that Hiroki came to on his own because he was ostracized by the school.
As for cynical remarks like "A banker's son will become a banker, and a politician's son will become a politician," didn't that come from the mouth of a certain genius girl, Ai Haibara?
She's still staying obediently at home in Fudoyama.
So how did Noah's Ark, this AI that supposedly possesses the emotional intelligence of a 10-year-old child, come to say such things?
"But, as long as someone completes the game, it'll be fine, right?" Tadaaki Murakami asked tentatively.
At this moment, he and President Schindler were extremely glad that they had not adopted the first version of the plan, which involved selecting 50 children under the age of 18 to enter the game.
Fifty naughty kids! It'll be a good thing if they don't cry and call for their mothers!
Many of the players joining now are very talented with computers, and some are expert gamers, so their win rate seems quite high.
Noah's Ark chuckled twice more, completely devoid of emotion.
"You'd better pray that's the case."
"Because I've turned off the low-difficulty dungeons and been monitoring all players the whole time, so they have no chance to cheat."
"What does this mean?" Yoruichi Toyama was taken aback and quickly asked.
In the original storyline, there seem to be a total of 5 instances, from the Dakar Rally to the Amazon jungle adventure, and players can choose any instance to enter.
Conan and his friends entered the puzzle-solving instance "The Phantom of Baker Street," but before they could clear it, all the players in the other instances had already been wiped out.
Putting aside science fiction, mystery games are generally safer than competitive or adventure games.
So, is the Wraith of Baker Street considered a low-difficulty dungeon?
What if Conan and his friends get thrown into the Dakar Rally...?
Thinking of this possibility, Yoruichi Toyama shuddered and turned to look at the Gundam pilot beside her.
If I had known this would happen, I would have let Touko into the game...
Amuro Tooru, noticing his gaze, didn't speak, but simply raised an eyebrow in acknowledgment.
Yoruichi Toyama then noticed that Akechi was holding a phone and whispering something.
Because his attention was focused on the village and President Schindler's negotiations with Noah's Ark, he didn't notice anything amiss.
At that moment, Mingzhi hung up the phone.
"Mr. Village, since this artificial intelligence infiltrated your computer through a Trojan horse, you should be able to trace it back, right?"
Tadaaki Murakami was slightly stunned.
While dealing with Noah's Ark, the programmer, who was used to multitasking, also heard Yoruichi Toyama and Akechi's questions. Even he felt overwhelmed.
He paused for a moment before nodding blankly, then looked at Yoruichi Toyama.
"In terms of the difficulty of the replicas, the puzzle replica set in 19th-century London, England, should be the most difficult."
"But looking at their profiles, most of the invited players are skilled in action games..."
“Then you don’t need to worry about it.” Mingzhi interrupted him without saying a word. “There are several famous detectives in the game who are good at deduction.”
"Find this disruptive AI as soon as possible and cut off its control over the game as much as possible."
"Wh-what?"
Not only was Tadaaki Sakamura surprised upon hearing this, but so was Noah's Ark, who had been talking non-stop.
"Don't even dream about it, you can't do it! I can..."
The electronic voice choked up, just like a human, which was rather awkward.
"Because Mr. Murakami said that this AI created an index on your computer through a Trojan horse, while the actual AI resides in the cloud."
“I just notified the local network operator to cut off the internet connection between Koh Kampung and the outside world.”
"If it were on a network node outside the island, it should have disappeared by now."
"Since it's still there, it can only be on the Deep Blue Hotel's local area network."
Noah's Ark fell completely silent. Judging from Tadaaki's expression, it was like a scholar encountering a soldier—unable to reason with him.
Yoruichi Toyama and Tooru Amuro exchanged a glance, both trying their best to suppress their laughter.
You mean Mingzhi, who's supposed to be a computer expert, doesn't use proper hacking techniques; instead, he goes and unplugs someone's network cable?
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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