Chapter 271 Seventy-Third Cycle (101)
The men in black above were holding guns, ready to fire at anyone who dared to peek out.
Conan Edogawa didn't dare to peek directly at the glass; he could only observe through the reflections of the glass and the smooth ground.
Before entering that separate space, there were thirteen people in the laboratory.
He, Kudo Huai, Oki Masaya, the Dark Night Baron, the White Detective, the Dying Detective, and seven other players.
His only close contacts on the surface were the Dark Baron, the White Detective, and the Dying Detective; the four of them formed a group.
The other seven players appear to be acting alone, only following their plan and thus acting together somewhat obediently. In reality, they often disappear, rarely stream, and their activities are unknown.
Of these seven players, Conan Edogawa is only familiar with one—Shuichi Akai.
Shuichi Akai concealed his identity and outwardly acted alone, only occasionally exchanging information with others.
As for the identities of the other six players, he had a rough idea—they certainly weren't ordinary players.
In the instant he left the isolated space, as he dodged bullets and fled, he also roughly surveyed his surroundings.
Baron Dark Night stood beside Okiya, who was lying unconscious on the ground for some unknown reason.
Kudo Jun wanted to get close to Oki Masaya, but was forced to roll and hide in the "brain pool" by bullets.
Hattori Heiji, carrying a katana he had prepared beforehand, saved Hakuba Saguru from being captured.
Three other players were also dodging bullets, but four players were not being chased.
When Conan Edogawa saw Shuichi Akai among the four players, he understood. Akai had chosen to join the Black faction and was in league with the organization.
The men in black not only didn't pursue them, but even gave them weapons, instantly increasing the pursuit team to ten... no, eleven.
The Dark Baron is also one of them.
"Bang bang bang!"
The bullet grazed past Conan Edogawa and accidentally hit a brain in a vat. The splattered nutrient solution smelled fishy, and no one knew what it was.
"What are you doing?! Do you want to die?! Watch your step!" came an angry shout from the other end. "Tsk, I told you we shouldn't have given guns to these noobs. Hand over the guns! Go over there and block them with your knives!"
"Yes, yes, yes." The Dark Night Baron flawlessly portrayed a flustered and frightened newcomer. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I was just too nervous..."
After his gun was taken away, he followed orders and used a rope to tie up the unconscious Chongya on the ground and placed her against the wall. Finally, he took a knife and went down into the "Brain Pool" to search for and surround the players who had chosen the red camp, along with the other men in black.
Conan Edogawa, keeping an eye on the commotion, quietly moved over there.
The game certainly doesn't simply give players five minutes to escape; there must be some reason why the time is only five minutes.
What could cause them to only have five minutes?
More than a minute has passed, and nothing unusual has been found so far.
Conan Edogawa's hand, which was pressed against the ground, touched some raised patterns. He looked down and narrowed his eyes.
Two minutes after the countdown to the battle royale ended, Conan Edogawa had secretly run to the corner where the Dark Baron was conducting the search, and he also encountered Heiji Hattori and Saguru Hakuba, who had the same idea as him.
"You're injured? Is it serious?" Conan Edogawa's gaze sharpened.
Hattori Heiji moved his left hand: "It's nothing, just a superficial injury. Let's think about how to escape now."
Conan Edogawa nodded, but still couldn't help but warn, "Be careful. Given our current situation, we might die in the game, and our real bodies could also be damaged."
Hattori Heiji nodded earnestly.
Hakuba Saguru remained noncommittal, turning to look at the blond child who was whispering something to the Dark Baron.
Yes, Kudo Jun was there too.
What surprised Conan Edogawa was not that Kudo Huai would be here, since Kudo Huai had been hiding here first, and they arrived later.
He was surprised that Kaito Kid could gain Kudo Yui's trust so quickly.
Although they did have a good relationship with the main characters in this loop, Kudo Jun seemed to trust them.
However, this level of trust is far from enough to warrant believing in the Phantom Thief Kid even after he sided with the Men in Black following an unexpected situation.
—Especially since Phantom Thief Kid's current attire as the Dark Baron doesn't exactly make him look like a good person.
"There's no time left, listen to me." The Dark Night Baron, dressed in all black, turned around and pretended to explore. He quickly spoke to the group crouching in the corner, "The organization has only given us players who joined the Black Faction three minutes to hunt you down. Once the three minutes are up, we must evacuate and then activate the self-destruct program to destroy all evidence and clues before the police break in."
Conan Edogawa was startled and instinctively looked at the blond child.
I wondered if players could talk about such things in front of the game's main character.
But the blond child didn't pay attention to them. Instead, taking advantage of his small size, he quietly moved to the edge of the "brain pool" and looked at the unconscious Masaya with a serious expression.
When Phantom Thief Kid was talking to him just now, did he use a phrase that NPCs would know to tell him about the castle explosion five minutes later?
In that dangerous instant, Conan Edogawa's mind raced even faster.
If he wasn't mistaken, the 29-year-old Kudo Jun from the future should know about the organization's secret experiments and should also have some understanding of the situation here.
Didn't he know that in the worst-case scenario, the organization would self-destruct the base?
If that's the case, then did he encounter the danger of dying and being reverted to a previous state?
Is it too late for them, as players, to salvage the situation?
What is the system's reasoning for doing this?
Conan Edogawa frowned.
He originally thought that the escape route for the players and the protagonist Kudo Huai was the time machine mentioned by the system, but he only thought it meant that their minds would travel through time, not their bodies.
But now that the organization is about to self-destruct, can their bodies survive if left here?
Did that time machine take the body with it when it traveled through time?
It's certainly possible that they are players, after all, they are the ones who traveled from twenty years in the future in this body.
But Kudo Huai and Oki Masaya's situations are different. They are people from this time and space. How can they reasonably travel through time?
Even if Kudo Jun was also a time traveler, he clearly only traveled through spirit.
Is it possible to send Kudo Huai and Oki Masaru, now in the present, to travel to twenty years in the future with the players?
Shuichi Akai, who was holding a gun, seemed to have noticed the blond child who was eager to rescue his brother, but he pretended not to see him and even turned to talk to the man in black next to him to attract the other's attention.
Conan Edogawa was a little worried that the blond child might run out and get into trouble.
Baron Dark Night pulled Conan Edogawa back from peeking too far ahead and lowered his voice: "Time is of the essence. First, take them to the time machine that the system mentioned can take you to twenty years in the future and get out of there. We can't let them actually get blown up underground."
"And what about you guys?" Conan Edogawa asked.
“We’re about to retreat with the main force, so you’d better not come with us; it’s too dangerous,” said Baron Dark Night.
Hattori Heiji and Hakuba Saguru, who were closer to them and had heard what they said clearly, nodded.
"And what about the protagonist, Kudo Huai? Do you think it's better for him to be captured by the organization and evacuate the Twilight Villa with me, or to come with you to find the time machine?" Baron Dark Night added, "However, the organization's orders are to kill you all, so he might die if he goes with you."
The group frowned, but ultimately decided that, based on the system's consistent approach, it would be better to bring the protagonist along with the storyline.
Otherwise, it's very likely that the protagonist will die if they leave the main plot, and that they won't be able to open the time machine without the protagonist when they get to the core plot.
Just as the Dark Baron had said, when the three minutes were up, all the men in black began to retreat, pointing their guns at Brain Pool as they retreated.
Conan Edogawa ran over, grabbed the blond boy, and pressed his head down, holding him tightly to prevent him from running out to save people.
“They didn’t kill Okiya directly; they just took him away while he was unconscious. He might be safer than we are now,” he quickly explained.
The blond child stopped struggling.
But he still managed to lift his head and, at the last moment before the door closed, glanced at Okiya outside, his eyes filled with sorrow and worry.
Conan Edogawa's heart skipped a beat, feeling that his reaction was too much, and he realized that something was not quite right.
But there were no longer any opportunities for him to reflect or repent.
The moment the door closed, hundreds of brains in jars suddenly fell into the tunnel below with a click and were teleported away in the blink of an eye.
Heiji Hattori, who was prepared, used the handle of his knife to wed the gap that was about to close, and with the help of others, he pried open the floorboards.
The transport tunnel below wasn't very big, so they had to crawl to move forward.
"How do you know which direction the time machine is in?" Mary Akai stared sharply at Conan Edogawa, who was calmly directing everyone.
"Because of the patterns." Conan Edogawa didn't lower his voice either, explaining to everyone, "The positions of those brains in jars weren't random. They should be arranged according to their status, close to the most important parts of the experiment. This can be seen from the butterfly patterns on the ground."
Hattori Heiji exclaimed, "In such a short time, it's amazing that you could notice such details, and even recognize the names of the brain's owners?"
Conan Edogawa chuckled twice without explaining. He couldn't very well just say that he had been investigating before and therefore had some guesses and impressions, could he?
"So, following this line of reasoning, we can probably conclude that the organization is researching time machines, and those brains in vats are probably just one part of it. The most crucial time machine is located where the big shots' butterfly-patterned heads are gathered, which is right here." The 3D map in Conan Edogawa's mind was very clear. He nimbly kicked open the railing of the ventilation opening and jumped down.
The laboratory below is empty; it's clear the evacuation was rushed, with almost nothing left behind.
Even the instruments were still lit up, and self-destruct programs were being initiated on the computer screens, with countless pieces of intelligence being completely destroyed at an alarming rate.
Conan Edogawa stared at the screen, momentarily stunned.
He was familiar with this method of destroying intelligence; he had seen it once before, also when he was fighting against the organization.
That was when the information about the organization left behind by Itakura Taku was destroyed by the virus, and Haibara Ai said that was the organization's usual method.
The virus's name is "Dark Baron".
"What's wrong?" The blond boy suddenly ran over and grabbed the stunned black-haired boy, then turned and ran towards the huge circular device that was clearly a time machine. "There's less than a minute left. If anything happens, we can talk about it later."
Conan Edogawa snapped out of his daze and, while running, asked the blond child who seemed to have returned to normal, "Do you believe in the existence of time machines now?"
They had previously tried to explain the organization's behavior in terms of what NPCs could understand, but Kudo Jun clearly didn't quite believe it.
The blond boy climbed into the giant time machine without turning his head and said, "It's just a gamble. Even if it's not a time machine, I can at least avoid some bombs inside."
In other words, he didn't really believe it; he was just trying to seize any opportunity to survive.
"You just now..." Conan Edogawa was still concerned about the blond child's previous reaction and prepared to continue asking questions.
"Thirty seconds until the explosion," Hakuba Saguru suddenly said.
The police officers, who were still searching around, paused for a moment, but then turned and ran towards the time machine.
Although intelligence is very important, in this game, dying might mean you're really dead, and you can't bring the intelligence back. So, surviving is the most important thing.
Having found no information about Pandora, the scorpion clicked its tongue, cursed under its breath, and then turned and entered the time machine.
Mary Akai, who was quickly searching for information about the laboratory, did not look back. When there were still ten seconds left, she nimbly jumped into the time machine.
The time machine was enormous, but it could only hold a limited number of people. The five members of the Red Team, plus the protagonist Kudo Jun, made up a total of six, which was already quite cramped.
With only five seats available, Conan Edogawa held the blond child in his arms, fastened their seatbelts, and sat down in the front seat.
They weren't familiar with time machines, and after studying them haphazardly for a while, they finally managed to start the time machine during Hakuba Saguru's countdown.
The only possible timeframe is twenty years from now.
"Five." Hakuba Tan counted down with perfect precision.
Mary Akai suddenly said, "I've looked at the experimental data. In fact, the organization's previous time travel experiments have never been successful. All the people captured for experiments died."
“Four,” said White Horse Scout.
Conan Edogawa agreed and replied quickly, "We'll die if we stay here. We don't have time to leave anyway, so let's try what the system says."
“Three,” said White Horse Scout.
Scorpion sneered: "Is the system trustworthy? Isn't it the system's fault that we're in this situation now?"
“Two,” said Hakuba Saguru.
Hattori Heiji quickly said, "But you still came in. You know that if the game system wanted to kill us, it would be incredibly easy. In an emergency, following their plan might allow us to survive temporarily."
"System?" Kudo Huai asked softly, "What game?"
The group felt a chill run down their spines and stared at him, fearing he might suddenly die at any moment.
“One.” Hakuba Saguru’s gaze left the pocket watch.
He looked up and scanned everyone present, clearly seeing their varied expressions under the machine's red light.
Kudo Huai did not die suddenly; he simply watched them quietly.
Perhaps it was the eerie red light, or perhaps the activation of the time machine caused spatial turbulence, but the blond child's expression also became somewhat strange.
Conan Edogawa's hand tightened slightly.
The blond boy turned and looked at him.
Conan Edogawa is waiting for an answer, and the blond kid is also waiting for an explanation.
But in the end, neither of them spoke.
“Zero.” Hakuba Saguru sighed.
Even through the time machine, the sounds of the constant explosions outside could be heard.
Amidst the violent tremors, the light inside the time machine reached its peak.
In the blinding red light, Conan Edogawa saw the blond child, whose figure was gradually blurring, reveal a helpless smile that was clearly out of character for his age, calm and gentle.
"See you next time," he said.
It was as if he was saying goodbye.
In an instant, something flashed through his mind, and Conan Edogawa stared wide-eyed as if he had just realized something.
But at this moment he had completely lost control of his body, could not see anything, and could only hear emotionless mechanical sounds.
[The jump time point has been determined to be twenty years from now.]
[Time Travel Begins]
He completely lost consciousness, then woke up with a loud "boom," and all he could hear was the cold, mechanical voice.
[This time travel was successful]
[You have arrived twenty years in the future]
[Searching for nearby information online...]
Conan Edogawa suddenly woke up, and before he even opened his eyes, his hand instinctively reached forward.
Then they scooped it all up.
His heart skipped a beat, and he instantly opened his eyes.
As his vision gradually cleared, he found his arms empty.
Even though the seatbelt still looks like there's an extra person, the person who should have been there has disappeared.
He looked up and around, but the conspicuous blond-haired, dark-skinned child was nowhere to be seen in the enclosed and cramped space.
Conan Edogawa's heart sank, and almost subconsciously, scenes of the blond child's death flashed through his mind.
Did it fail again?
But this time there's no chance to reload the save file...
Congratulations on clearing the dungeon "Twilight Villa"!
[Achieve the Happy Ending Side Story: A Narrow Escape]
[Game CG included]
Huh? I beat the game? And it's a happy ending?
Finding a time machine to travel through time is indeed the only way out for the player and the game's protagonist, Kudo Jun.
Perhaps Ah Huai is alright?
But what about the other players who didn't get on the time machine, and what about Chongya who was taken away by the men in black?
The image of the blond child's sorrowful eyes and gentle farewell smile flashed through Conan Edogawa's mind again. He stared wide-eyed at the screen of the time machine, which was still flashing with an unknown ball of light.
wrong--
[Second save point discovered: Pacific Buoy]
[Archiving...]
"Wait! Don't save yet!" Conan Edogawa exclaimed urgently, "Ah Huai might—"
Save successful
"..."
Conan Edogawa felt suffocated.
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