Chapter 274 Seventy-Third Cycle (104)
"Is everyone ready?" the tour guide asked.
"Ready!" the tourists replied excitedly.
"Then let's set off!" the blond, dark-skinned tour guide said with a smile.
His bright smile, handsome appearance, and gentle demeanor captivated several tourists, who then approached him to chat and try to get his contact information and take photos with him.
The cruise ship moved slowly across the sea, its destination being Hachijō Island.
Ai Haibara stared at the blond youth surrounded by people, her expression subtle.
Why is this person even working in a game?
And why does his character creation in the game still look so much like his original self? Even if his facial features and body shape have changed, wouldn't it immediately arouse suspicion from acquaintances if the most obvious thing, blond hair and dark skin, remains the same?
She even initially suspected that it wasn't the real Bourbon, but someone else in disguise.
But after following him all the way, she was nine-tenths certain that this person was Bourbon.
There's also the possibility that Vermouth can perfectly impersonate other people.
“Our destination is Hachijojima,” the blond tour guide said with a smile, leaning against the railing. “Hachijojima is located 300 kilometers south of Tokyo. It takes only one hour to fly from Tokyo to Hachijojima, but ten hours by boat, so we will spend ten hours on the boat.”
The cruise ship was very large, and of course, there were many other people besides their tour group.
Most of them were tourists, and half were NPCs.
But whether they were NPCs or players, they all gathered around to listen to the blonde tour guide's explanation.
"Hachijojima is quite a famous tourist destination, attracting over 160,000 visitors every year." The blonde tour guide, unperturbed, smiled and continued, "Besides its scenery, which boasts the title of 'the closest Hawaii to Tokyo,' it also has the mysterious legend of Xu Fu, who, on the orders of Qin Shi Huang, sailed to Hachijojima in search of the elixir of immortality."
Rumi Wakasa, standing in the crowd, immediately looked up and stared sharply at him.
The blonde tour guide seemed completely oblivious and continued explaining to the tourists: "Legend has it that Xu Fu led three thousand boys and girls to Kumano. After arriving, he sent the boys and girls on his ships to search for the elixir of immortality, but they were separated by the waves. The ship carrying the girls was washed ashore on Hachijo Island, hence Hachijo Island is also called 'Guardian Island' or 'Women's Island'."
Rumi Wakasa raised her hand, like an ordinary tourist. Although a little nervous and shy, her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she asked, "Excuse me, does Hachijojima really have an elixir that can make people live forever?"
“Well…” The blond tour guide paused for a moment, then smiled and spread his hands under everyone’s expectant gaze: “How could that be? Immortality is just a legend after all. Even the story of Xu Fu is full of truths and falsehoods, and it is still controversial to this day.”
"However," he changed the subject and added with a smile, "although there are no immortal herbs on Hachijo Island, there is a kind of salty herb."
"Salted grass?"
The blonde tour guide nodded: "It's a perennial herb of the Apiaceae family. Both the stems and leaves are edible; it's delicious and nutritious. This herb is very resilient; if you pick the leaves today, new shoots will sprout tomorrow, hence its other name, 'Tomorrow's Leaf.' Furthermore, Hachijo Island is famous for its longevity, so according to the islanders, the immortal herb Xu Fu sought on Hachijo Island was this herb."
Amidst the astonished gazes of others, he smiled and spread his hands, saying, "Of course, legends are not entirely credible. After all, the place of origin of Asuka is China, and the immortal herb that Xu Fu crossed the sea to find was certainly not this salty herb."
*
Hachijo Island.
"Um, when is it likely that we can go out to sea to see whales?" Ran Mouri asked.
"We'll depart at 3 p.m.," the blonde tour guide said with a smile. "We'll arrive at the best whale-watching spot in two hours, and we'll be able to see the sunset over the sea at 5 p.m. Before that, you can come with me to see some of the island's famous attractions, or you can take the map and information I've given you and explore on your own. Just meet up at 2:30 p.m.
After a ten-hour sea voyage, it is now 8:00 AM.
Of course, for the players, there was only a 15-minute transition on the ship, 10 of which was spent on the blonde tour guide giving a narration.
This has left players hesitant, unsure whether the next few hours will pass quickly or if they really have to wait that long.
There are two guesses.
Firstly, the sailing time on the ship is already skipped, so players can't actually sit on the ship for ten hours.
Secondly, as before, the time jump is based on the protagonist's action plan, which means that the protagonist may also be on the ship.
It wasn't that no one suspected the blond tour guide, but after discovering he was a player, they completely gave up and turned to studying other NPCs.
—For example, the protagonist of the first part, Jun Hayami, and the protagonist of the second part, Jun Shibata, are also in the tour group.
The NPCs are unaware of the players' dilemmas.
While some tourists were indeed drawn to the blonde guide's explanation and wanted to see the specialty of Hachijojima Island, Ashitaba (Falcon shiitake mushrooms).
However, most ordinary people don't care about the legend of immortality; their focus is still on watching whales, and everything else is irrelevant.
Hachijō Island is neither too big nor too small, and there aren't many tourist attractions. With a map and explanations, they prefer to explore at their own pace.
"I'm not going hiking with the tour group, it's too tiring, I'm going to go for a drink!" Kogoro Mouri waved his hand.
Hachijojima Island is famous for its sake, and Kogoro Mouri just wanted to go for a drink, so Ran Mouri naturally went along.
Heiji Hattori, who had promised Conan Edogawa, naturally went along to protect the two.
Having accepted the mission from Miss Momiji, Iori Muga continued to follow Hattori Heiji.
In the end, only six people in the twenty-person tour group decided to follow the planned itinerary with the blonde tour guide.
Ai Haibara, Professor Agasa, Rumi Wakasa, Sasori, Jun Hayami, Jun Shibata.
Jun Hayami and Jun Shibata are already well-known police officers. It is said that they are currently on vacation and want to take advantage of the whale tail season in April to have some fun.
“The whale watching season is from December to April, but it usually only lasts until March. You may not see any whales in April,” Jun Hayami lamented.
"There's nothing we can do about it, we're just too busy with work," Shibata Jun laughed. "At least we have holidays, but those two don't even have time to rest."
Rumi Wakasa immediately probed, "What? There's not even a break? Really? What kind of job is that? Isn't that going too far?"
“It’s a job, after all, it’s always tough.” Hayami Jun skillfully changed the subject. “By the way, can we go up the mountain to pick the Ashitaba ourselves? I remember the advertisement said we could pick them ourselves.”
"Yes, there are special parks here for tourists to pick their own fruit," the blonde tour guide said.
On their way to the park, they passed by Mount Hachijo-Fuji, which looks very similar to Mount Fuji.
Ai Haibara suddenly asked, "Um, is there an Asuha on this mountain that looks a lot like Mount Fuji? I think I saw a sign? Can I go visit this Mount Fuji?"
The blonde tour guide turned to look at her, her eyes crinkling into a smile: "This won't do. Although they are indeed cultivating Ashitaba on Mount Fuji, it's not a place for ordinary people to go and pick it. They seem to be cultivating a new variety."
Ai Haibara nodded and said nothing more.
Once everyone else's attention had shifted, Professor Agasa leaned over and whispered, "Ai-chan, is there something wrong with that mountain?"
Ai Haibara turned to explain, "Mount Hachijo is an active volcano. Although it hasn't erupted for many years, it's not a place where cold-resistant plants like Asuka can grow. They say it's for cultivating new varieties, but I saw red butterfly patterns. It's very likely that an organization from the game is secretly conducting experiments inside."
*
"How's the situation on Hachijojima?" Akai Hide asked Edogawa Conan.
The FBI was almost completely wiped out, and had neither the energy nor the ability to keep an eye on the situation there, so they could only get intelligence from Conan Edogawa.
Of course, even after it was proven that the organization did not have complete control over the game world network, Conan Edogawa still contacted others with extreme caution.
He briefly summarized the information he had obtained from Ai Haibara and analyzed, "If that's the case, other players might also try going to Mount Hachijo-Fuji. The results there should come out before the Pacific Ocean buoy."
Shuichi Akai nodded, but said, "Even if there's still time in the game, the organization is getting impatient and might do something crazy. Let's go help Camel."
"Us?" Conan Edogawa was a little surprised.
Without Professor Agasa's technological support from the real world, his combat skills are pitifully low. It's better for him to command from behind the scenes.
“Yes, Umi-zaru Island isn’t far from Hachijo Island. We’ll just go to the Pacific buoy and join the game.” Shuichi Akai had already picked up his backpack, which he had prepared beforehand.
After putting on his backpack, he turned to look at the computer screen and asked Yusaku Kudo if Conan Edogawa could come along on his adventure.
Yusaku Kudo: "?"
Yusaku Kudo blinked: "Why are you asking me?"
Shuichi Akai's expression remained unchanged: "Isn't Conan Mr. Kudo's relative's child?"
Kudo Yusaku suddenly realized and laughed, "Of course, as long as Conan wants to go."
Conan Edogawa, unaware that he was about to expose his true identity, immediately exclaimed, "I'm going!"
Carmel did not exactly succeed in rescuing his two FBI colleagues.
During the frenzied chase by the pack of vicious dogs, their vehicle exploded and plunged into the sea, leaving him as the sole survivor.
The good news is that the two FBI agents who died did not fall into a vegetative state and wear time bombs like the others; instead, they seemed to be still in the game.
They guessed that this was probably the result of a player's normal death.
In other words, if things really got really bad, Carmel could commit suicide, but he absolutely could not fall into the hands of the organization or be killed by them.
However, this does not guarantee absolute safety. After all, their accounts have been targeted by the organization. Even if they survive temporarily, they do not know what will happen after they die, or whether the organization has any other plans.
Therefore, it's still necessary to stall for time until the FBI hacks into the program, allowing Carmel to successfully exit the game or fake his death again.
Once the organization believes that the account has indeed been killed by them, there will be no further plans to kill it.
*
"What?"
The blonde tour guide turned around in surprise and sighed helplessly.
"However, the Ashitaba leaves near Mount Hachijo-Fuji do not grow well; those from other places taste much better."
But others persisted in their own ideas.
"It's okay, it's okay, we just like things different! Let's try Asuka over there when we get back!"
"Yes, you can see Mount Fuji from here, which makes it even better for taking pictures."
At the strong suggestion of the tourists, the blonde tour guide finally chose a park on a mountain next to Mount Hachijo to lead the tourists to pick Ashitaba leaves.
The park here is very remote, there are not many people, and the terrain is quite rugged.
Perhaps because he wasn't a first-time tour guide and had already grown tired of the sights, the blond youth simply stood by and watched everyone after his introduction, preventing any accidents from happening.
The dedicated tour guide kept a close eye on it, and the scorpion, who had wanted to sneak away to the neighboring Mount Hachijo-Fuji, couldn't find an opportunity. It gradually became impatient while picking leaves.
After a while, Wakasa Rumi walked over hesitantly and said apologetically, "Um, I'm very sorry, it seems my little bucket is broken, and I'd like to go to the warehouse to get a new one. But it's very dark there, and I'm a little scared. Could you come with me?"
The blond, dark-skinned tour guide immediately stood up, a warm and approachable smile on his face.
“Of course, I’ll go with you,” he said.
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