The establishment of the Time Travelers Alliance began in the first year of Conan

Chapter 272 The Day the World Stopped Turning
Standing on the deck of the ship bound for Beika Town, Professor Agasa turned around and looked behind him.

Kogoro Mouri was fast asleep in that dark green recliner, his snoring so loud it could be heard through the waves and the sea breeze.

It's amazing he could fall asleep in that situation...

Dr. Agasa sighed inwardly, "To be honest, I'm probably the most exhausted person in this case."

But he can't rest yet; he has to keep a close eye on the deck, observing Conan while preventing any "blind" tourists from suddenly running over.

Ai and the other children stayed in the cabin and didn't come out.

She was pulled away by Genta and the others and kept in the room to solve the "puzzle" that Conan had left for them.

It can only be said that Conan is quite adept at fooling children.

He merely made a casual remark about his doubts about the Junior Detective League's abilities, and the children fell for his provocation.

As for Ai...

Professor Agasa sighed softly.

He no longer knows how to face that child.

He could even tell that the child was experiencing inner turmoil and didn't know how to face Conan.

This is what he has always been worried about.

Originally, Professor Agasa planned to use some technical means to blur some of Ai Haibara's memories, just like last time—

This is a relatively "mild" approach that he has personally verified.

It is possible to retain some of her inner struggles and contradictions without violating the framework of the "persona".

But this time, Ai Haibara refused.

She simply whispered her assurance to him that she wouldn't show any "oddness".

And what happened next is well-known.

After Professor Agasa revealed the plan that could "save everything," she did temporarily put aside her hatred.

And it helped Conan discover the pointer called "Heart of the Moon".

"only--"

Dr. Agasa sighed.

This morning, he roughly estimated the change in Ai Haibara's "persona" by analyzing the changes in her RSI value.

"It's hard to say, maybe it's because of Conan's influence..."

Thinking about this, Dr. Agasa sighed again, realizing he was being a bit sentimental.

After all, is there anything in this universe that is unaffected by that child?
Even he himself couldn't say for sure about this.

……

but--

The league's previous predictions were largely correct.

Conan Edogawa's RSI value has not yet broken through 333, even though he has successfully obtained the third pointer.

"Under normal circumstances, this value should be Conan's limit."

Although this is still an exceptionally high number.

However, considering that this only applies to Conan himself, and that the overall cosmic background RSI value did not fluctuate significantly after the third pointer was collected...

This should be considered good news, Dr. Agasa thought.

After all, with the end of "The Moonlight Murder Case", both the story timeline and the real timeline have finally been completely and thoroughly put back in their coffins.

Without the interference of two timelines, and with Conan now having made up his mind.

What other difficulties could there be?

After obtaining the third pointer, the power of that "Pale Sun" will theoretically be eight times greater than before obtaining the first pointer.

Dr. Agasa couldn't think of anything that could prevent a "good ending" from happening.

Moreover, the Conan of today is no longer the Shinichi Kudo who only pursued "solving cases" in the past.

The idea that focuses solely on logic and evidence, even to the point of pushing criminals to the brink, and the belief that "solving the case comes first," have been completely shattered.

For Conan Edogawa—

Nothing could make him feel more powerless and guilty than watching a living being perish in a fire right before his eyes.

"Was it really right for the detective to ultimately force the murderer to atone with his death?"

The piano music playing amidst the sea of ​​fire seemed to linger in Conan's mind, never fading away.

……

"So, Conan—"

Ran Mouri leaned against the deck railing, her sea-blue eyes meeting the tranquil and peaceful ocean.

Even though Dr. Chengshi's case has been settled, it still leaves a faint sadness in the heart of this kind-hearted girl.

Why did Dr. Narumi send that advance notice letter to my father?

Conan leaned against the railing, his gaze also fixed on the distance.

"He probably hopes that someone can see through his true intentions and stop him."

"Then, what about the coded message that Dr. Narumi played at the end?"

Xiaolan tilted her head and leaned closer, "What exactly is that piece of music—"

Conan's face immediately fell. "Who would remember something like that!"

Your expression has given you away!

Ran Mouri then reached out her devilish hand to Conan, saying, "Conan, if you don't tell me... I'm going to tickle you!"

"Ami! I really don't remember!"

Conan took off running, and a small commotion of playful fighting immediately broke out on the deck.

Everything seemed exactly the same as before Conan arrived on the island.

But Conan understands better than anyone the impact "The Moonlight Sonata Murder Case" had on his heart.

……

Oh, perhaps the CYZ Alliance understands this a little better than Conan himself.

After all, that pale sun caused quite a stir this time.

Regardless of Conan's current obsession with "redemption" and "life," or his determination to prevent crime and redeem murderers in the future, isn't it a bit too idealistic?

But there is no doubt that his impact was profound.

This shift in Conan Edogawa's mindset was so profound that it could be directly observed at the Alliance level.

The inevitable death outcome of choosing one of three options has been broken.

On the night the case concluded, Dr. Agasa received this good news from the Alliance.

The projection of the liaison officer who appeared in front of him had an expression of disbelief, even great shock, on his face.

"Dr. Agasa, so far the Pointer Shaping Project is very successful."

"According to the data from the time display, for the first time globally, the death rate from extreme violent crimes has declined."

"Moreover, the alliance has already confirmed that Asai Narumi's 'survival' is just the beginning."

"Although we are not yet sure if this is due to the abnormal effect of the [Heart of Moonlight]."

"But now, the historical logic of cases with 'justifiable' motives, acts of intervention during the crime, and remorse from the perpetrators is beginning to shift."

“In these types of cases, the victim is bound to die, and the perpetrator’s criminal logic is altered.”

“Especially in Beika Town, there have even been cases where victims surrendered themselves before the perpetrators committed the crime.”

"We have now put 'Science Frontiers' in the fold to guide GSSRA in taking action, and the External Relations Department has also begun to broadcast outwards again."

"The Alliance is already assessing the impact of this logic on the development of human society, as well as on other civilizations in the universe..."

On the deck, the sounds of Ran and Conan's playful banter gradually faded into the distance, bringing Professor Agasa back to reality from his memories of the phone call with the Alliance the previous night.

He glanced down at the TDD indicator to make sure no one was approaching, then, with a smile, shouted a warning to them to be careful: "Be careful not to fall off the deck!"

Looking back at the distant blue sky, the sea breeze made Professor Agasa's beard stand up a little.

At this moment, Dr. Agasa felt more relaxed than ever before.

After so many sacrifices and struggles—

Everyone will surely have a happy ending.

……

But clearly, this time Conan seems to have gone a little too far in his "reflection".

Or rather, after the case was closed, he developed a kind of... a vague sense of fear about "the case itself".

After setting foot on land again and returning to the Mouri Detective Agency, Conan immediately began another investigation without bloodshed.

Today is a school day, and Ran Mouri went to school.

As for Kogoro Mouri, he has a request from the Metropolitan Police Department—the agency is currently unmanned.

Right now, Conan is writing and drawing in his notebook while simultaneously contacting Hattori Heiji by holding the phone to his ear.

"Hattori, could you please find all the historical data related to the 'Moonshadow Island Red Fire Festival' in the GSSRA database for me?"

"Yes, I want to verify a hypothesis... related to that 'thing'."

Kogoro Mouri's desk was almost entirely occupied by Conan, with a large stack of information about Tsukikage Island on it.

Maps, cultural materials, local customs records, photocopies of old newspapers...

The documents were neatly stacked on the table, and Conan had marked what he considered to be key information on almost every page with red and blue pens.

Now, all the interfering factors are gone.

Conan has plenty of time to try and figure out the remaining mysteries in the "Moon Shadow Island Case".

It was also at the very end of the case that he wanted to overturn all the doubts he had previously raised in his judgment.

—The treasure of the Crimson Fire Festival.

This thing shouldn't be in this "case".

He opened the hand-drawn timeline in his notebook and began to re-examine the three-fold structure of the case.

"First, it was twelve years ago."

"Aso Keiji was murdered by Kameyama Isamu and three others for refusing to continue trafficking drugs, and they set fire to cover up the evidence."

"Then Dr. Narumi returned to the island two years ago."

"If he wasn't lying, Kameyama confessed to him after discovering his true identity, and then died of a heart attack."

"Finally, it's everything that just happened."

Conan's gaze lingered on that line of text, and his eyes dimmed for a moment.

"Dr. Narumi uses the drug trafficking gang's old code and the symbolism of 'Moonlight Sonata' to take revenge on the criminals who participated in the murder of Keiji Aso."

He glanced at the extra information he had organized to the side.

"According to the recollections of the Long Island police officers, Kameyama and his group suddenly became wealthy more than ten years ago."

“Including Kameyama Isamu being elected village chief, and Kuroiwa Tatsuji being elected village chief later... Nagashima said that they all directly used money to buy votes.”

Conan paused for a moment, then picked up his pen and drew a line connecting the information about "drug trafficking" and "village chief election".

"In that case, it's understandable why the cursed piano and the pollution of the fishing grounds suddenly appeared on the island after Keiji Aso's death."

"After Keiji Aso's death, they needed to find a way to smuggle drugs without using his name."

But that's where the problem arises.

"Then, what about the Black Organization?"

Conan frowned and muttered to himself.

"What about that black-clad organization that likely has a base on the island, and that might be connected to the body trafficking ring on the island?"

Conan has not forgotten what happened in the harbor case.

He circled this suspicious point twice in red pen in his notebook.

“If the Black Organization had been on that island for a long time, they couldn’t have ignored such an obvious target as the ‘Red Fire Festival’, given that their goal was to use the ‘pointer’.”

"But the pointer ended up in Dr. Narumi's hands, which means they didn't find it at all."

Conan then began to deduce the reasoning.

"Therefore, they could only have arrived on the island recently, for example, after Keiji Aso died. This also explains why the 'pointer' ended up in Dr. Narumi's hands and was not found by those people."

"Because he returned to Tokyo to continue his studies after attending his father's funeral, and only came back two years ago."

"Ten years might be enough time for the Black Organization to abandon the leads here, until GSSRA appeared and they moved back..."

Conan frowned; now everything seemed to make sense again.

No, no!

He shook his head violently, banishing the thought from his mind.

His intuition told him that there was something about this that just didn't make sense.

"Conan, are you hungry?"

The office door was suddenly pushed open, and Ran Mouri walked in carrying her schoolbag, her face showing a hint of exhaustion from school.

But that smile remained gentle.

"I'll make you dinner right now. How about curry rice tonight?" Conan put down his pen and jumped off the stool.

"No problem, Sister Xiaolan!"

……

Holding the phone to his ear, Conan scribbled in his notebook while asking Heiji Hattori for help:

"Hattori, could you please retrieve the autopsy report for Keiji Aso's case from the GSSRA database?"

"Yes, this is very important. I need to verify a hypothesis about that thing."

Today is a school day, and Ran Mouri went to school.

Kogoro Mouri, on the other hand, has a request from the Metropolitan Police Department.

The office was quiet, the surrounding streets were quiet, and there wasn't even a bird chirping.

There was no interference.

He looked at the desk in front of him that originally belonged to Kogoro Mouri.

There was a thick stack of documents on top, all of which were copies of historical records about the "Red Fire Ritual".

They were sent to the office by Hattori Heiji this morning.

"According to the records on the island, this festival can be traced back more than 300 years."

Conan frowned as he stared at the photocopy of the document in front of him, which was covered with a lot of "■■■".

He recalled Hattori Heiji's explanation on the phone:

"Conan, the information you need... isn't easy to get. I mean, it might be incomplete."

"I have obtained the relevant records from the government, but some have been redacted, possibly due to some 'privacy' reasons."

"You know, the so-called document decryption over there used to be like this. They would black-mark some key information, but they wouldn't release the specific details of these scandals to give GSSRA any leverage."

Heiji Hattori has always been very attentive to anything related to "pointers".

Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to Moonshadow Island to find Conan as soon as he finished dealing with things at GSSRA.

"However, I have read the contents in advance, and just as you said, it does mention the natives of Moonshadow Island, also known as 'Red Demon Village'."

Conan turned to that page, which had notes that Heiji had marked beforehand.

The Red Fire Festival involves throwing precious things into the fire and offering treasures...

The fleet that discovered the island and its customs found large quantities of gold and built a temporary naval port...

"It's no different from what Masato Shimizu explained back then, or what Uncle Mori deduced."

"The most crucial treasure of the Crimson Fire Ritual is gold, and as for the pointer—"

Conan glanced at the document with its black borders drawn over it again, and frowned.

"Besides gold, there are also some refractory gemstones such as corundum."

This clue seemed very important, but Conan knew it was no longer relevant.

Hundreds of years is a very long time. Even if we only calculate the time when the fleet landed on the island, it would be enough for many things to circulate in people's hands and eventually be processed into the shape of a "pointer".

"In other words, Kameyama and his gang weren't necessarily just acting for drug trafficking back then..."

"Perhaps they have clues about the gold, or even some hints from the 'Crimson Fire Sacrifice'."

"Or, they may know of the existence of the 'pointer' and may have even been in contact with certain organizations... such as the Black Organization."

These inferences are interconnected and logically sound.

But it's still not right!

Conan shook his head sharply, banishing the thought from his mind.

His intuition told him that there was something about this that just didn't make sense.

"Conan, are you hungry?"

A familiar voice came from the doorway; it was Ran Mouri after school.

She walked into the house carrying her schoolbag, a tired but gentle smile on her face.

"Let me make you dinner. How about oyako-don tonight?"

Conan put down his pen and jumped off the stool.

"No problem, Sister Xiaolan!"

……

Holding the phone to his ear, Conan scribbled in his notebook as he spoke to Heiji Hattori:
"Hattori, could you please help me find information about the blue castle on Moonshadow Island from the GSSRA database?"

"Yes, that castle... It's very important to me. I need to verify a hypothesis about 'that thing'."

Today is still a school day, and Ran Mouri went to school.

Kogoro Mouri, on the other hand, has a request from the Metropolitan Police Department.

The office was unusually quiet.

All interfering factors are gone.

Conan has plenty of time to confront and solve the biggest mystery in his heart.

He looked at the desk that originally belonged to Kogoro Mouri.

On it was a large stack of records about the "Keiji Aso Case" and the recently occurred "Seiji Aso Case".

It was a whole stack of files about the "Keiji Aso Case" and the "Seiji Aso Case".

It includes the victim's autopsy report, on-site trace analysis, eyewitness testimonies, and key materials jointly compiled by the GSSRA and the Metropolitan Police Department in recent days.

This was still sent to the office by Heiji Hattori this morning.

However, just like the previous two times.

These autopsy records did indeed contain a corner that was most likely to touch upon the "truth".

But no one knows better than a detective at concealing the truth.

Before removing TDD and actively resetting his memories, Heiji Hattori personally filled in the last piece of the puzzle that Conan Edogawa might have discovered related to "time".

"what--!"

Conan scratched his head in frustration; the autopsy results didn't reveal anything wrong.

His gaze moved back and forth between the various colored lines connecting the clues on the wall and the key information pinned to the map.

Everything seems to make sense.

Conan can only find the most "harmless" details—he has found every single problematic detail.

There are issues regarding the owner of the Blue Castle, the timing of its renovations, and its closure.

There are problems with the deaths of Hideo Kawashima and Ken Nishimoto.

The seawater on Hideo Kawashima was definitely not from being lowered down from the sea cliff and then pulled back up.

Ken Nishimoto was even stranger.

Upon closer examination, Dr. Narumi had absolutely no reason to know his exact location, even though he had run into the forest early on.

The footprints photographed by Yokoyama police officers also prove this point.

In the end, Conan's deductions will lead him to a surprising conclusion—

The absurd conclusion that Dr. Chengshi managed to conceal his tracks by climbing and moving using the aerial roots of that banyan tree is quite far-fetched.

The behavior of Akimoto Kazuta and Oi Kento in the Harbor Case was also very strange.

Conan has confirmed that the archaeologist from Tokyo that Kameyama Isamu summoned is Akimoto Kazuta.

This makes their motives in the "harbor case" suddenly unclear again.

"They suddenly turned into criminals who would kill for money, as if they were two completely different people."

But Conan knew that he would never get the real answers to these seemingly obvious questions.

—They are all dead.

This made Conan's doubts even heavier.

Especially after everything is associated with pointers.

This is also why Conan is unwilling to give up investigating this clue.

Why did Professor Agasa obtain it from that organization and hand it over to himself?
What does it symbolize?
Why is it related to "truth"?
What happened on Moonshadow Island provides an excellent opportunity to trace back to that time.

The "Crimson Fire Ritual" has a clearly defined time and records; perhaps he can use this to try and figure out the organization's purpose—

Regardless of the purpose of the organization called "Science Frontier" or the Black Organization.

"Conan, are you hungry?"

The office door was suddenly pushed open, and Ran Mouri walked in with an even more tired smile.

She put down her schoolbag and breathed a sigh of relief: "I'll make dinner. How about curry rice again tonight?"

Conan looked up at her.

The chaotic thoughts in my mind quieted down.

Xiaolan will be with him—he has plenty of time to find out the truth.

Xiao Lan would always be there for him.

"No problem, Sister Xiaolan!"

Conan jumped off the chair and followed her into the kitchen.

That's all for today. We'll talk about more clues tomorrow.

……

With the microphone clipped to his ear, Conan scribbled in his notebook as he spoke to Heiji Hattori:

"Hattori, could you please help me find some relevant information in the GSSRA database?"

"What I'm looking for is information about the sword with the 'pointer' that Uncle Jirokichi mentioned on the auction train, as well as information about the two gem pointers, named 'Clear Eye' and 'Full Moon Shadow'."

"Yes, this is very important to me. I need to verify a very crucial conjecture."

Today is still a school day.

Ran Mouri went to school as usual.

As usual, Kogoro Mouri accepted a request from the Metropolitan Police Department and was not at the office.

The desk, which was covered with documents, had some new files added today, files about the Blue Castle.

However, it was exactly the same as a few days ago.

It was all in vain.

"Conan, are you hungry?"

The office door was suddenly pushed open, and Ran Mouri walked in with a somewhat tired smile.

"I'll make dinner. How about fried meat patties for tonight?"

Conan looked up at her and returned Ran's smile with a childlike joy.

"No problem, Sister Xiaolan!"

He put down his pen.

He jumped off the stool.

Xiaolan would always wait for him.

He followed her to the kitchen, as if nothing had changed from yesterday.

……

"Still no success?"

As "this day" was drawing to a close, Ai Haibara, who had finally arrived home, opened the door to Dr. Agasa's house and walked into the living room.

What came next was Professor Agasa's question.

Ai Haibara shook her head.

"I can no longer directly interrupt his thinking."

She recalled Ms. Kobayashi's advice to her today, the inexplicable impromptu gathering of the Junior Detective Club, the desk that suddenly collapsed, and the schoolbag that was stolen and then quietly returned...

and also--

It's taking her longer and longer to get home and to school these days.

"If I continue to test him in that way, I'm afraid I'll never be able to truly get close to Kudo."

Ai Haibara's tone was calm, but her eyes revealed a long-suppressed anger.

She gets angry whenever she thinks about it.

She even gave up revenge because of this!
But what is the result? !
"He's completely hooked now."

"He wanted to thoroughly understand the origin of the 'pointer,' and even its function and purpose, before he would move on."

Yes, I believe everyone has figured it out now.

The detective is now deeply entangled in a mystery created by the Alliance that seems impossible to solve.

Indeed, nothing or no one can stop the path to the end.

Today is the day the world stops turning.

(End of this chapter)