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

Chapter 298 The Final Case (10,000 words daily, please vote!)

You have to admit that Karasuma Renya did indeed very cleverly find a "sure path to victory".

His assessment of the dual timelines, historical inertia, and other factors such as alliances is undoubtedly correct.

However, he overlooked a crucial premise for the change.

Despite possessing memories of the story's timeline, Karasuma Renya still mistakenly believes he has some kind of "independence" or "uniqueness."

This is a huge misjudgment.

He still subconsciously placed Conan Edogawa in the position of the "god of ignorance".

He placed the detective in a position where he could manipulate him, believing he could guide the child onto a path of reasoning that was "to his advantage."

But of course, that's not how it works.

The reason why the Alliance never directly interferes with those seemingly "directly leading to a happy ending" [historical inertia], and why it prefers to relocate entirely to other universes, is to avoid the "sharp edge" of those time points...

The reason is as simple as the phrase "do nothing".

In that silent, pure white void, the "First Universe" is no longer a reality of free evolution.

—It has long been part of [Edogawa Conan], part of the "deduction" of that pale sun.

Karasuma Renya forgot the "ending of the story" that he should have remembered.

But that's perfectly normal.

How could Jack the Ripper possibly know the "ending" that a detective hasn't yet figured out?

His seemingly fate-controlling actions clearly completed the final piece of the "truth" puzzle:

In a reasonable and necessary way within the game, Conan is reminded of the importance of the watch to "time".

Now, seeing the success rate finally rise to 99%, Dr. Agasa finally breathed a sigh of relief.

His tired face looked somewhat aged under the layers of shadows, but his eyes were exceptionally bright, even revealing a long-lost sense of relief.

Before him, in the virtual image projected by the Cocoon System, below the "Reichenbach Falls"—

Fog filled the air, and the water roared.

Meanwhile, "Holmes" is leading a group of people to set up a net, and they will catch Ran Mouri.

They need to get to the Star Viewing Tower before Conan Edogawa makes his final choice.

This is the final case.

Dr. Agasa switched the projection in front of him and brought up the communication channels that had infiltrated other time points in "Universe One".

Logically speaking, the cocoon system should not have such a function at all.

But now it can do that.

Dr. Agasa's voice rang in the ears of Akemi Miyano, Ms. Miyano, Akikawa Ota, Kogoro Mouri, and everyone else still in Universe One.

"Attention, all members of the CYZ Alliance are about to complete the [Cycle]. All personnel except those at the [Star Tower Contact Point], please begin the evacuation procedure."

"To reiterate—attention, all members of the CYZ Alliance are about to complete the [cycle]. All personnel except those at the [Star Tower Contact Point], please begin the evacuation procedure."

After receiving a response, Professor Agasa finally completed all the tasks.

He lay in that silver "cocoon," watching the child's figure, standing firmly and alone at the crossroads of fate.

Dr. Agasa now has complete confidence.

He murmured softly, "He will make the right choice."

He never doubted the child.

……

At that moment, the black watch lay quietly on the ground on the roof of the car.

Karasuma Renya reached out tremblingly and embraced it like a criminal with the original sin of greed in mythology.

A near-fanatical light shone in his eyes—

He even knelt on the ground, firmly securing the watch between his knees.

He bent down reverently, bit the tightly fastened metal clasp on the ring with his teeth, and then gently removed the white pointer with his still-functioning right hand.

As the button on the side of the watch was pressed, the transparent watch cover opened with a "click".

The whole world seemed to hold its breath.

Time seemed to slow down for a moment, as if everything was tense because of his actions at that moment.

And amidst the increasingly rapid wind and the deafening, thunderous clatter of wheels—

Karasuma Renya carefully and slowly inserted the last pointer into the last empty space, as if offering a sacrifice.

The sixth pointer has returned to its original position.

Now, all the dials and hands are spinning.

Behind him, Ran Mouri quietly balanced herself and stood up. She stood in the wind, looking at Conan in the distance, who was bowing his head and silent, as if he had given up hope. She too was lost in confusion.

Ran Mouri didn't know what else she could do to avert this terrible outcome.

She murmured softly.

"Shinichi... what should I do?"

That sorrowful and desperate voice drifted away amidst the roar of the train.

"What would Shinichi do in a situation like this..."

But for some reason, Ran Mouri felt as if her thoughts were being torn apart at that moment.

She closed her eyes, as if searching for a voice that would bring hope in the darkness.

The scene before me was both strange and familiar.

The vibrations of the train, the whistling wind in my ears...

Everything gave her a sense of déjà vu, bringing back those initial memories.

To truly understand the future, you must return to the very beginning of the past.
Finally, finally...

She found the voice.

Ran Mouri felt as if she had returned to that distant moment, back to the beginning—

Dorobiga Park, the roller coaster about to depart.

At that time, Shinichi sat beside her and told her about Sherlock Holmes:
"I really love a line that Holmes said back then, Lan, do you know what it was?"

Her answer at the time was, "I don't know."

"That's right. If it's possible to truly destroy you, I'd gladly embrace death for the public good."

She opened her eyes suddenly.

Now, Ran Mouri finally knows what she should do.

A gentle yet resolute smile appeared on her lips.

Just as Karasuma Renya forcefully closed the watch case, preparing to pick up that fateful watch—

Ran Mouri turned around.

She looked at Conan: "Conan, do you know where this place is?"

Conan could see the tears glistening in her eyes—those glistening teardrops dissipated in the wind.

The face that was about to face its end showed no sadness or fear, only an unparalleled trust and peace.

Seeing Ran Mouri's slightly trembling shoulders and the look of farewell in her eyes, Conan's pupils contracted sharply.

"Could it be that……?!"

Ran Mouri said softly, "This is Reichenbach Falls, Conan."

She lowered her head. "I'm sorry I couldn't be with you until the end."

"No, Lan!"

"Shinichi, I've always believed in you." She finally said the words that had been weighing on her heart for so long.

The wind howled, and time seemed to stand still at that moment.

Karasuma Renya finally picked up the watch—victory was within reach.

"As long as... as long as I restart all of this—"

At the very moment when Ran Mouri was about to take him down with her.

Karasuma Renya immediately pressed the adjustment button on the watch that had remained unmoved, preparing to initiate the "reboot" that would change everything.

But at that moment, his body suddenly stiffened.

Immediately afterwards, he casually dropped his watch and lunged at the dagger he had just dropped.

He couldn't control himself.

"Damn it! It's [historical inertia]!"

—That was all he had time to say.

Ran Mouri then leaped off the cliff beside her, and as the ropes binding the two of them suddenly tightened, she and Jack plummeted together towards the bottomless valley and waterfall.

"orchid!!!"

Conan staggered to the edge of the carriage, where he knelt down helplessly.

Before me lay a bottomless cliff, with only the howling wind and the rushing water of the waterfall echoing through the valley.

Conan's fingertip hovered in mid-air, as if about to touch something.

But he caught nothing.

That familiar figure has disappeared.

His heart seemed to stop for a moment, and he felt as if he had truly become that "Prospero".

He is the summoner of mysteries, the master of reasoning.

But when the mystery ended, He lost everything that was most important to Him.

It was as if fate itself demanded an equal sacrifice from him at that irreversible end.

Feeling the fierce wind brushing against his face, and looking at the lights that had already appeared in the distance, Conan suddenly looked up—

Those are the lights of Charing Cross Station.

"As long as I win the game..."

"As long as I... win this game..."

He gritted his teeth and kept muttering to himself, as if trying to hypnotize himself.

But the problem is—

How can he get off a train that is already traveling at nearly 100 km/h or even accelerating and has no brakes?
Every moment that happened after entering the game flashed before my eyes.

Those fragmented clues scattered throughout his memory were quickly reassembled and pieced together in Conan's mind.

"You must be covered in blood."

The drunken homeless man's reminder suddenly came to mind.

"That's a hint!"

Conan's eyes suddenly sharpened. "Although the train's braking system is damaged, as long as I can use red wine to create a buffer...!"

Conan ran to the back of the carriage and rushed towards the shelves without hesitation—rows of stacked wine barrels.

He raised the spare axe he had found under the beam and aimed it at the first barrel.

With only ten minutes left, he didn't have time to slowly pour the contents out bucket by bucket.

"Bang!" The wooden plank of the first barrel of wine cracked, and the strong red wine poured out like blood.

boom! boom! boom!
The liquor quickly gathered on the carriage floor, flowing into a cold, murky red stream, and then soon covered the floor in a layer, swaying gently with the vibrations of the carriage.

But it was too late.

This task should have been done by two people.

Now, the piercing sound of alarm bells could be heard from the direction of the station, while the alcohol in the carriage barely reached Conan's calves.

Conan instinctively reached for the watch that was already firmly on his left wrist.

"Snapped!"

Conan immediately used his left hand to slap away his right hand, which was already covering the watch face.

His expression turned serious, and he stopped himself from pressing the button.

No—it's not the right time yet.

He had to do that at the very beginning.

Although Conan didn't understand why those hints made such a request, but—

Irene Andora's operas, Sherlock Holmes's notebooks.

Even Hiroki Sawada's unusual behavior at the beginning, and Jack the Ripper's actions at the end.

Even further back, the fifth pointer, the fourth pointer...

Professor Agasa, Heiji Hattori, Baron Dark Night... many people's hints all point to this.

“ONE DEMON END”.

If he doesn't make the right choice at the right time, then all that awaits him is—"the devil".

Conan looked up at the flickering light on the ceiling, and then, using the changing light and shadow, his gaze quickly locked onto the largest wooden barrel.

"We can only gamble once!"

He silently counted the time in his mind.

Just like back at the Beika Hotel, at the moment when the alarm bells blared loudest in front of us.

Conan opened the barrel and jumped in, shrinking his body and holding his breath.

The next moment, a violent impact struck—

An unstoppable steam train, with immense power, crashed into the platform. Amidst the blinding sparks flying from the friction between the wheels and the rails, the locomotive overturned and derailed.

Following closely behind were a series of rear-end collisions, with one carriage hitting the rear of another, even overlapping each other in an inverted "V" shape.

The red brick walls of the station shattered like thin planks, and in the enormous smoke generated by the impact—

The last carriage tumbled to a stop.

……

For Conan, it felt like he was falling into a vortex of red wine.

Dizziness, churning...

It's like turning time and space into diluted paint and stirring it into a rainbow-colored dream.

When Conan opened his eyes and came to his senses, what he saw was an endless expanse of pure white void above him.

That was the initial space of the game, the stage where everything began.

"Looks like... I won?"

Conan sat up and looked at his clothes, which had been soaked in red wine and turned red.

"Sure enough, 'covered in blood' means that I should use red wine as a buffer."

"You're awake."

A voice came from his left, and Conan turned his head to find another child standing next to him.

"Looks like you won."

A gleam of joy shone in the child's eyes.

He reached out his hand, and Conan instinctively reached out his hand as well, and the two shook hands.

"It's so good that I believe in you," the child said.

"No need to be so polite, Noah's Ark."

Conan then spoke up and said his name.

"Or is it better to call you Hiroki?"

The child's figure subtly shifted in the white light, and iridescent data flowed like a waterfall, finally revealing that familiar silhouette—

That's the figure Conan had seen many times at the recent science and technology exhibition.

Hiroki Sawada.

Conan looked down at his left wrist, where the black watch with six hands was still quietly worn.

"So, this watch... really does grant core control access to the Cocoon System, right?"

Hiroki Sawada nodded.

"That's right, Shinichi Kudo. You can now freely adjust everything within this cocoon system."

Seeing the somewhat surprised look on Conan's face, he paused for a moment, then added a sentence.

"You don't need to worry about anyone else hearing your real identity. I've already sent everyone else away beforehand."

Conan nodded thoughtfully, then frowned and looked at Hiroki Sawada:

"Then... what about the 'real pointer'?"

"Isn't it already in your hands?" Hiroki Sawada was somewhat confused by this question.

"I mean--"

Conan scratched his head. "When I return to reality, will an extra hand suddenly appear on this watch?"

"You don't need to worry. Each cocoon contains a miniature printing device, and the system will automatically generate that physical pointer after you leave this world."

After he finished speaking, he pointed to the stone door behind Conan, which immediately lit up with a pure white light.

"Go and reunite with your friends, and also with that older sister named Ran Mouri, she's been waiting for you for a long time."

"Ah."

Conan nodded and slowly walked towards the white light screen.

But just before stepping through the door, he stopped and looked back.

That child standing alone in the center of the stage.

"So, you'll live in Noah's Ark forever, right?"

Conan saw a hint of sadness in Hiroki Sawada's eyes. He gently shook his head, his eyes glistening with tears.

"No, if artificial intelligence like me continues to exist, it will only be used by adults to do bad things."

He gave Conan a relieved smile.

"I will delete myself. As for the external control of this system... I think handing it over to you would be the best choice."

"Alright, go back to your world now."

He paused, then added, "Also, I hope that when you wake up, you can tell everyone something."

"Real life is not as simple as games."

The next moment, the child's figure dissipated like smoke in the wind and disappeared into the white void.

Conan stared at the empty space, remaining motionless for a long time.

Immediately afterwards, the last person's figure also disappeared into the light screen.

……

This was the first time Conan had ever witnessed himself being "logged out".

In that absolute white void, his figure plummeted downwards... plummeted...

When he regained consciousness, what he saw was that familiar silvery-white color—

The capsule compartment of the "Cocoon System".

But now that cold, curved metal surface has changed somewhat.

To the right of the seat, the once smooth, mirror-like metal wall has silently sunken in.

Immediately afterwards, a small mechanical hand slowly emerged from the hidden compartment and handed a pure white pointer to her.

Conan didn't say anything.

He simply reached out silently and picked up the pointer called the "Cocoon of Time".

Then he looked down and opened the black watch on his wrist, carefully placing the sixth and most important hand into the last groove.

"Conan? Can't you get out?"

Outside the closed, silvery-white "cocoon system" where the outside world is obscured, Ran Mouri's worried voice could be heard.

"Help! Conan is trapped in here!"

Immediately following was Kogoro Mouri's voice.

"I'll pry it open!"

"Thump! Thump!" A series of metallic knocking sounds rang out, followed by a flurry of noise.

"I am one of the developers of this system!"

Then came Professor Agasa's voice.

"Conan! There's an emergency escape button on the lower left side under your seat."

Then came the voices of Yusaku Kudo, Yukiko Kudo, and Heiji Hattori...

They called out anxiously from outside, their voices overlapping and echoing in the sealed cabin like waves crashing against stone walls.

Conan sat silently inside the cabin.

He did not respond to the calls and attempts from the outside world.

He even reached out and pressed the button next to his helmet to enter the "Cocoon System".

The once enclosed and cramped capsule world has lost its coldness.

When Conan opened his eyes again and regained consciousness, he saw an endless white void above him.

This is the original game space.

"Looks like... I won?"

He repeated this unconsciously, then sat up.

His white suit was still stained with the color of red wine—just like before, without a trace.

"Sure enough, 'covered in blood' means that I should use red wine as a buffer."

And after he murmured those words.

"You're awake."

A voice came from his left, and Conan turned his head to find another child standing next to him.

"Looks like you won."

The child's eyes gleamed with a joy that Conan recognized all too well.

He reached out his hand and shook hands with Conan's outstretched hand.

"It's so good that I believe in you."

"No need to be so polite, Noah's Ark."

Conan then spoke up and said his name.

"Or is it better to call you Hiroki?"

And all the subsequent conversations—

Hiroki Sawada, permissions, printing device, white stone door...

Everything happened again in a way that was almost a "perfect reenactment".

Even the words spoken before parting remained unchanged.

“Alright, go back to your world now,” Hiroki Sawada said to him.

He paused, then added, "Also, I hope that when you wake up, you can tell everyone something. Real life is nothing like a game."

And so, the last person's figure disappeared into the light.

In that absolute white void, Conan's figure plummeted downwards... plummeted...

--wake up.

When Conan opened his eyes, he saw the silver-white capsule that had trapped him inside.

On the right side of the seat, a smooth mirror wall is recessed.

Immediately afterwards, a small mechanical hand presented a pure white pointer to me.

Conan silently picked up the second pointer called the "Cocoon of Time".

Then the third one...

……

At this moment, Conan is standing below the boundless white void, in the center of the stage.

The surroundings were...desolate and lifeless.

Conan looked up at the child who always stood at the edge of the stage—Hiroki Sawada.

There was a hint of doubt in the other person's expression, as if they didn't understand why he hadn't yet stepped through the "gateway to reality".

Conan remained silent for a moment.

"Hiroki, could you adjust the recording so that I can join the last three minutes of that game called 'The Phantom of Baker Street'?"

Hiroki was taken aback, then nodded, as if he wanted to retrieve a certain save file immediately.

But the next moment, his voice suddenly stopped:
"No...no...no problem—"

That intermittent, chilling mechanical sound reappeared.

"Thanks to everyone's help, the pointer in his hand, named [name missing], please do not open it—"

The first half of the sentence is a trap.

The meaning of the second half of the sentence is now quite clear.

"—And please do not leave the Cocoon System."

Conan turned his head and looked at the version of himself in the video that had entered 1888.

He paused, then turned and walked toward the light screen that appeared in the stone pillar gate behind him.

He returned to that familiar place once again—the silver-white, sealed chamber known as the "Cocoon".

The bulkhead next to them caved in again.

The fourth "sixth pointer" was gently handed out by the mechanical hand.

Conan let it fall to the ground with a crisp sound.

"Conan?"

Ran Mouri's voice came from outside the cabin again, trembling and anxious.

"Doctor! The bulkhead is locked again! What's going on?!"

"Strange...didn't he already leave...? Why is the system running again?"

"Quickly! Check the system controller!"

The world is calling him from the outside.

The voices outside the cocoon grew increasingly urgent and worried, and amidst this worry, Conan slowly lowered his head.

The lights in the capsule were soft yet pale, but Conan, realizing what had happened, trembled slightly in the unchanging seat.

He curled himself up, much like a child... forgotten in some other world.

Conan patiently waited for something.

He waited until the sounds outside the warehouse subsided.

Then, he restarted the "Cocoon System".

Before Noah's Ark uttered its first words, he looked at Hiroki Sawada.

"Hiroki, did you just say that having a watch with six hands is equivalent to having operating access to the entire Cocoon system?"

"How did you know?!"

Before Hiroki Sawada's surprise had even subsided, Conan's next words sent his voice back to its familiar mechanical tone.

Because Conan pressed the button on the side of the black watch.

"It's just a game..."

"Remember, right now I'm just in this game..."

He took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

"I want to enter London in 1888, and I want to play 'The Phantom of Baker Street' again."

"clear."

Hiroki Sawada smiled and projected a familiar light screen behind him.

—A gateway to the "game world" of 1888.

……

And indeed, things turned out exactly as Conan had predicted.

Now, Conan, hiding on the other side of the Whitechapel district, quietly watches another version of himself not far away.

The "Conan" who was unaware of the truth was leading Ran Mouri and several friends toward 221B Baker Street, his eyes filled with doubt and contemplation about what had just happened.

"As expected, watches are related to time."

He raised his left hand and placed his right hand on the knob on the right side of the watch that was originally impossible to turn.

He gently began to twist backward.

The first gem pointer deflected backward by a very slight arc.

In the next instant, it seemed as if the entire universe was shaken up, and that pale sun, like a judge, suddenly shone brightly.

Those white rays of light, as if they were tangible, wrapped around that slender timeline, shifting the timeline of the entire universe backward.

The clocks on the street began to run backwards, the wind reversed, and the burning gas lamps condensed back into oil.

Even the sun in the sky, obscured by the fog, suddenly shifted by an arc.

History flows upstream in His glory.

If time refuses to move in a straight line, then follow the reflection it leaves behind to find direction.
Now, Conan finally understands the true meaning of that sentence.

Thus, Conan Edogawa began to trace clues back to the past.

"1888 years..."

He traversed every corner of this game world throughout 1888, meticulously examining the backgrounds, records, and times of presence of every suspect—

Sherlock Holmes, Moriarty, Jack, government officials... even the newsboy on the street corner.

If time refuses to move straight ahead.

Then follow its reflection to find your way.

Because sometimes,
In order to truly understand the future,

You must go back to where you started.
—These are the exact words that the father wrote down in his notebook.

After the meaning of the first sentence was fully understood, the meaning of the second sentence obviously changed as well.

"The very beginning..." Conan pondered the meaning of this phrase.

In retrospect, "the initial starting point" clearly does not refer to the space at the beginning of the game, nor to the starting point in 1888.

"And, at some point—they disappeared."

Conan was quite certain that this disappearance was also part of a message being conveyed.

Because he had already run back to the very beginning of 1888.

He even recognized the voice of the red-haired girl who had placed the jar containing his father.

He heard it when he was unconscious at the twilight villa.

But the problem is-

"When I turn back time, it's as if they can't see me, and when the game ends, they disappear from the world."

[Conan Edogawa] frowned deeply, clearly indicating a very strong meaning behind his expression.

Just like the situation where he was given hints over and over again.

"It's just a game..."

He repeated the sentence softly again.

Clearly, it wasn't that they were unwilling to tell me certain crucial clues, but rather that they couldn't.

After all, Mom's hint couldn't have been clearer—

He had listened to that opera called "The Tempest" over and over again in the past:
Our party is over now!
These actors, just as I predicted...
They all melted into the air, becoming thin air.

Like this illusory, baseless fabric,
Towers shrouded in mist, magnificent palaces,
Solemn temples, magnificent Earth itself.
And everything it inherited will vanish.

Just like this illusory grand event has faded,
Leave no trace.

We are nothing more than raw material for dreams.
Our life,
It was nothing more than a mirage in a dream.

Right now, Conan is sitting in a secluded corner of the Royal Opera House, holding a copy of Shakespeare's plays.

"This scene is called 'In front of Prospero's cell.' If the 'Cocoon System' is the 'cell,' then I am obviously the 'Prospero' trapped inside."

Conan then circled the parts he considered important from the opera book in his hand.

"'The party' is over' means 'the game is over,' and 'the actors have all melted into thin air,' which is consistent with how I acted when I faced them."

"Then it's about 'leaving no trace,' and insisting that it's all just a 'phantom in my sleep.'"

"If you say that my parents were 'actors' who were put in from the outside to help me..."

Conan's eyes suddenly lit up!
"That homeless man!"

He even read it aloud: "How could I forget him? If all 'actors' eventually 'fade'..."

"Wouldn't it be enough if I just found those people who haven't 'faded' yet, and who aren't 'material for dreams'?!"

Finally, he discovered the homeless man hidden under the hat, a detail he made every time he left London.

Standing on the dock at the port, Conan picked up the ticket that had been thrown off the cruise ship.

—The date written on the ticket is December 12, 1993.

……

For Kogoro Mouri, this period was incredibly difficult.

It took a full 105 years, from 1888 to 1993.

Although he is "in" the world of Noah's Ark, this world can pass at a rate of one year equivalent to five years for humans.

Even so, this also means that he would need to stay there for a full "21 years".

Kogoro Mori downed an entire bottle of liquor—

He let his mind "soak" in the bottle of liquor that never left his hand.

He couldn't remember the exact time, or even his own name—

"How come this newspaper got my name wrong? I think I'm—Kogoro Mouri…Rave, right?"

As the famous, sleeping detective, Kogoro Mouri held a stack of briefings that he had just cut out from the newspaper.

After all, it seems he just solved a major case in 1993? Or maybe 1982—at that place called Moonshadow Island!
Moreover, this case was ultimately entrusted to him by a particularly famous military officer!
In Crimson Fire Village twelve years ago, I looked at this almost insane...drunkard.

That familiar face, shouting that he wanted to become a "famous detective," swimming up into this deadly place...

Hattori Heiji fell into a long, long silence.

He spoke with great difficulty: "The relevant files cannot be made public for confidentiality reasons."

"What about my famous detective?"

—This person, now, only remembers that he is going to become a famous detective.

“We’ll print a separate section of the news for you,” he paused, then handed over a stack of newspapers, “news just for you, news from the real detective.”

Heiji Hattori silently recited the name of the true great detective in his mind—"Kogoro Mouri".

And so, on this street in 1993, a man was wandering alone.

The disheveled, ragged homeless man, still half-asleep, peered at the spotless newspaper he had painstakingly bought with the money he had earned from his part-time job.

"Yes! That must be it. How could the newspaper make a mistake? It clearly says 1993!"

"I must have solved this case not long ago!"

He lay drunk on a street corner in Beika Town, laughing heartily.

"Haha, I'm a real detective now!"

"Now—I'm a real famous detective!"

Kogoro Mouri excitedly showed everyone passing by his newspaper, which had appeared in 1993 and featured the title "The Sleeping Detective."

Immediately afterwards, he bumped into Ota Akikawa, who was looking gloomy.

Da Tianxiaochuan found it hard to believe that he would soon be arranged to meet a super-rich man from China whom he had never heard of before.

"Why did I even bring up that 'Detective Paradise' suggestion back then?!"

He even slapped himself hard after the meeting.

Well, that's good now, according to the information he found.

The wealthy man named Lin Sheng had an eccentric temper and a penchant for all sorts of strange and unusual things.

He was just an ordinary detective enthusiast.

And if anything could be worse than that, it's now.

With a "thud," Da Tian Xiaochuan bumped into a dirty homeless man.

Then, as a detective enthusiast, he immediately noticed the strangeness of the drunkard in front of him.

—The newspaper in his hand.

The newspaper looked brand new, spotless, which was completely out of place with the homeless man's dirty clothes.

"Excuse me, are you alright?"

He quickly helped Kogoro Mouri up, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw what was written on the somewhat torn newspaper.

"A news item related to detectives!"

This newspaper, as if possessing some kind of magic, aroused a certain "craving" in Da Tianxiaochuan.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Da Tian Xiaochuan said it three times in a row.

Then, amidst the drunkard's wailing cries of "Give me back my newspaper!", he made the offer to him.

"How about this, may I buy this newspaper?"

He pulled out the largest denomination banknote he had on him. "This is enough for you to buy many newspapers, and some wine!"

"—And wine!"

The homeless man snatched the banknotes from Da Tian's hand and handed him the torn-out page.

Then, amidst Da Tian Xiaochuan's curses, he quickly disappeared around the street corner.

That night, Ota Akikawa thought it over and over.

He felt that he could only try to impress the strange businessman named Lin Sheng by relying on his passion and the detective book he had worked so hard to comprehend.

"Oh, right! And that new case page from this morning!"

A memory suddenly flashed through his mind, prompting Ota Akikawa to pull out that crumpled page of the newspaper.

He stared at that seemingly magical page of the newspaper, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

"Oh right! How could I forget that famous detective named Sleeping Detective!"

He solemnly took out his detective magazine and pasted the only page of the newspaper with "Kogoro Mouri" written on it onto the title page.

"That should be enough to convince him!"

……

Yes, I believe everyone has noticed.

Just as Shigenobu Hitomi said—

"do nothing."

Just as Professor Agasa repeatedly reminded—

"Only one chance."

Just as Lin Sheng himself repeatedly emphasized to Koizumi Akako—

“Hongzi, there is no free will in this universe at all, not even a little bit.”

Even just like Akako's own prediction:

Airplane, secret room
—It is the starting point of the cycle.

Detective Paradise, Wireless Telephone

—The beginning of the century

Black, Red, Murderer, Detective

— An indispensable element of all directions
Shinichi Kudo, Professor Agasa, Ran Mouri
—Three essential founders
spiral, parallel, contradiction
—Two most important sacrifices
A land of despair, a city of crime, a city of sin.
—A physically real core
The answer was actually revealed from the very beginning, wasn't it?
Airplane, enclosed room—the starting point of the cycle.

Otherwise, when Lin Sheng boarded the Boeing 747 that was actually piloted by Ms. Miyano and Akemi Miyano, he faced that strange and sudden "time loop".

Since Shinichi Kudo and Kogoro Mouri were still at the agency at the time.

Which case was the very first to cause this cycle?

It was an unresolved mystery from 1888, from the distant past, or perhaps the equally distant future.

As long as Conan Edogawa doesn't leave the "Cocoon" at that moment, this case will never end.

Conan watched all of this in silence.

On December 12, 1993.

It was on flight MN1993, which shared the same name as Kogoro Mouri's ticket.

Conan pressed down on the rotating dial.

So, amidst that strange cold and trembling, Lin Sheng knew he was doomed.

Of course, just like the story told at the beginning.

Months later, when Lin Sheng stood atop the Star Tower, looking towards his future or past, facing the MN1993 aircraft, he would recall that distant afternoon of December 12, 1993, at 5:30 PM, when he first encountered the time loop.

It was in that secret chamber made of airplanes.

He had to face the reality that he clearly needed to find a way to get to December 13th.

Now, the only problem is the history related to the Star Viewing Tower.

And that was precisely the one centered around the [Star Viewing Tower], with the captured [Karasuma Renya] and the only remaining cyanide crystal at its core—

The key to activating the [Time Fixation and Cosmic Events Propulsion System].

At this moment, Lin Sheng was standing on that towering mountain, which seemed to overlook the world like the eye of a god—

The top of the Star Viewing Tower.

He looked at the spacetime wall being pierced by the "light of reasoning," his gaze falling on the figure that was gradually approaching the true [truth].

—【Conan Edogawa】.

Lin Sheng sighed with emotion.

"We're almost there...the end of the truth."

He raised his hand, and at that moment, ripples of time spread to the boundary between the two universes.

From the beginning of another universe, a stream of retrospection from another universe, carrying a reversed timeline, surges toward the "web of deduction" constructed by [Conan Edogawa].

Under the immense power of Conan Edogawa, they should never have crossed paths.

The entire Star Tower trembled under the CYZ effect, and Lin Sheng began to invest all of his CYZ effect into this point in time.

He commanded them to intertwine at that moment.

Thus, in another identical universe, the timeline anchored by the CYZ effect, those two timelines that never intersected...

Then the forward and inverse universes collided!
Yes, there is only one way to make Conan Edogawa lose the key to the truth forever:
The "Star Viewing Tower Case" is fixed at a point in time that has neither a past nor a future.

What Lin Sheng needs to do is to shape this moment, the [Star Tower], into the eternal midpoint of time itself.

It will become the link between two streams of time.

There is no longer a beginning, nor a destination.

Now, a universe composed of a forward universe and a reverse universe, consisting of two opposing lines that never meet—

[The Möbius Ritual Case Cycle].

And so it was born.

……

Of course, there is another crucial question: how should the remaining people leave?

Oh!
We seem to have forgotten the plan that Da Tian Xiaochuan brought to Lin Sheng himself.

Now, in the red phone booth below the Mori Detective Agency.

Conan, already prepared, picked up the phone number he had never been able to call before.

That phone call was made to himself by Lin Sheng himself—

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Shinichi Kudo?"

"you are?"

As if they had been waiting for a long time, the voice on the other end of the phone was suddenly filled with surprise.

Lin Sheng paused, a long-awaited smile appearing on his lips.

"Oh! I'm an investor from China, my name is Lin Sheng, and I want to build the world's number one detective theme park in Japan!"

"..."

"If you don't believe me, you can search my name now. I'm very wealthy!"

"Okay!"

Conan looked up at the Mori Detective Agency in the distance, smiled, and agreed.

"But there is one condition that must be met."

Conan paused for a moment, then stated the conditions he had already prepared.

"I remember there's a Star Viewing Tower on the western outskirts of Beika Town, right?"

"Furthermore, there are large vacant lots around it where related supporting facilities can be built, if possible..."

hang up the phone.

"call--"

Conan Edogawa let out a soft breath and looked up at the somewhat bright sun.

The weather is so nice today.

(End of Volume 1)

(End of this chapter)