Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

“I heard that a new arcade game store has opened on the sixth floor of the department store,” Liuli tilted her head and thought for a moment. “A lot of the boys in our school have been enjoying playing arcade games lately. Why don’t you take Xiuyi there to check it out?”

"Arcade games? You don't mean pachinko, do you?" Kogoro Mouri frowned. "Shuichi doesn't like that. I went once before and he gave me a long lecture."

“It’s not a gambling game like pachinko,” Ruri didn’t know how to explain, “Why don’t you take Shuichi to see it and you’ll find out.”

“Alright then,” Kogoro Mouri nodded helplessly. Before leaving, he reminded the two of them, “You’d better hurry up and prepare whatever you need. I might not be able to keep Shuichi until six o’clock before I get back.”

After saying that, he turned and walked out of the small gift shop, but did not notice Lin Xiuyi's figure, and left from the corner of the door.

……

After circling around, Lin Xiuyi found Kogoro Mouri waiting at the bathroom door from another direction.

"Where did you go?" Kogoro Mouri complained. "I went in and looked for you three times, I even asked the cleaning lady to check the women's restroom, but I still couldn't find you!"

His voice rose eight octaves because he was anxious, causing several girls passing by to cover their mouths and giggle.

"I browsed around the nearby shops," Lin Xiuyi asked casually. "Where to next?"

“Let’s go…” Kogoro Mouri scratched his head, “There seems to be a new shop that opened on the sixth floor, let’s go check it out.”

“It’s an arcade, right?” Lin Xiuyi said with a smile. “I saw their advertisement just now, so I’ll go check it out.”

When Kogoro Mouri heard his friend mention arcade games, he was immediately startled.

Did he overhear our discussion?

Fortunately, after hearing what Lin Xiuyi said next, Kogoro Mouri finally felt relieved.

"I've heard that arcade games are really fun," Kogoro Mouri said with a dry laugh. "A lot of people in the baseball club have been talking about the games there lately, and I've been wanting to check it out for a while now."

“Going there is fine,” Lin Xiuyi paused deliberately, noticing his friend’s tense expression again, “but what about Liuli’s gift?”

"That's not urgent!"

Kogoro Mouri quickly waved his hand, his movement so forceful that he almost hit an elderly woman passing by.
"Anyway, it's still a long way off before I have to give Liuli a gift!"

The way he almost let something slip made Lin Xiuyi nearly burst out laughing.

The two took the elevator to the sixth floor, where various electronic sound effects and cheers from young people could be heard from the newly opened arcade.

Seeing Kogoro Mouri's relieved expression, Lin Xiuyi decided to continue playing along with their act for the day.

The feeling of being meticulously "deceived" is surprisingly reassuring.

Now that it's been exposed, all of Kogoro Mouri and the others' efforts have been in vain.

The arcade on the sixth floor was illuminated by colorful neon lights, and electronic music and game sound effects mingled together, leaving Kogoro Mouri amazed.

Through the glass door, you can see a large crowd inside, mostly young people of similar age to them.

“There are quite a few people,” Lin Xiuyi said, pushing open the glass door and walking in.

A blast of air, a mixture of the coolness of the air conditioner, the heat from electronic devices, and the faint smell of carbonated drinks, hit me.

Kogoro Mouri's eyes were immediately drawn to the various game consoles. He rubbed his hands together excitedly: "So this is arcade games! They're played on a screen like a TV. I thought they were similar to pachinko."

At this point in time, arcade games have only been around for less than two years. Although Lin Xiuyi and Mouri Kogoro had heard of them before, this was the first time they had ever seen one.

Of course, for the former, this can only be considered the first time in this lifetime.

In his previous life, Lin Xiuyi played many arcade games when he was young, with Street Fighter, King of Fighters, and Dynasty Warriors being the most memorable. Unfortunately, at this time, arcade games were just beginning to develop, and the newest game was Pac-Man.

Lin Xiuyi will have to wait several more years to play those well-known games.

"It seems like you can play by flipping a coin," Kogoro Mori said excitedly, pulling Shuichi Hayashi to choose a less crowded line and start queuing.

There's no way around it; arcade games were only recently introduced, and they were just too attractive to young people.

Every single machine in the arcade was occupied, with three to five people in line behind each machine, and sometimes even more.

"I wonder when it will be our turn?" Kogoro Mori asked impatiently, craning his neck to look around.

After waiting for more than an hour, it was finally their turn.

The machine they were assigned to had the classic game Space Invaders installed.

"This can be played by two people!"

Kogoro Mouri was excited and subconsciously reached for his coins, but then his expression froze. He hadn't brought his wallet with him at all.

Lin Xiuyi shook his head helplessly, took out his wallet and put in the coins.

On the screen, pixelated alien spaceships are neatly arranged, and as the game progresses, they begin to attack downwards in waves.

The two were not very good at operating the game at first, and they were both killed within a few minutes.

Kogoro Mouri clicked his tongue in annoyance, clenching and unclenching his fist.

However, both of them quickly found their rhythm.

With his gaming experience from his previous life, Lin Xiuyi quickly mastered the skills, while Mouri Kogoro kept up with his amazing athleticism and reaction speed.

With their perfect teamwork, the game character moved nimbly across the screen and quickly reached the tenth level.

"From the left! It's coming from the left!"

Kogoro Mori shouted excitedly, tilting his entire body from side to side with the spaceship in the game, as if this would help him dodge bullets.

Lin Xiuyi maintained a relatively calm demeanor, but her finger movements were quick and precise.

When the words "GAME OVER" finally appeared on the screen, the two had already made it into the top ten of the leaderboard.

"awesome!"

Kogoro Mori excitedly patted the machine until his palms were red, attracting the attention of several other players around him.

"See that? See that?! We're in the top ten!"

Kogoro Mouri grabbed Hideaki Hayashi's shoulders and shook him with such force that the latter wondered if his bones were about to fall apart.

"I've already finished this one," Lin Xiuyi said, rubbing his shoulder that had been pinched sore. "Want to play again?"

"Of course I'll play!"

Kogoro Mori nodded vigorously, his eyes already searching the arcade for his next target, finally locking onto a yellow machine not far away.

"Let's go play that! Pac-Man! That seems to be a new game!"

Judging from his expression, he's clearly hooked and has probably forgotten why he dragged Lin Xiuyi to the arcade in the first place... (End of Chapter)