Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

The visitor was wearing a lab coat and standing barefoot on the ground. Perhaps he had been subjected to long-term harsh treatment. His arms were as thin as bamboo poles that could break with a single bend, and there were many pinholes visible to the naked eye on the veins in his arms.

And there was nothing on his neck.

This is a headless man.

Chapter 6 Teammates Meet

"..."

During his years in the organization and the FBI, Aoyagi Akimitsu has seen all kinds of strange people and corpses.

Those who were bombed, those who were shot, those who were robbed but were anally strangled, those who were buried in the ground and rotted beyond recognition, those who were taken out of their stomachs after being fed to dogs...

But he had never seen such a scene before.

As far as he knew, he only knew that animals or insects such as cockroaches and sea slugs could survive for a period of time without a head, but he had never seen a human being survive without an entire brain.

...No, the question should be, is this thing in front of me really a human being?

A mass of black, smoke-like but thicker thing, was attached to the broken neck of the headless man and kept surging. Although the other person had no head and no eyes, when he stood in front of him, he still felt like he was being stared at and scrutinized.

Even though a creature that looked like a non-human came to visit him, Aoyagi Binguang remained calm. The special environment he grew up in taught him that panicking would not solve any problem.

——And no matter how bad the situation is now, it won’t be worse than it was a few months ago.

Qing Liu Bin held his breath and focused his attention, staring at the other party's every move, his muscles tense, like a wild wolf ready to fight to the death.

Under his wary gaze, the headless man suddenly raised his hand and wanted to take a step forward.

Aoyagi Binguang's pupils suddenly contracted, and he aimed at the heart without hesitation and pulled the trigger, deciding to strike first!

"boom!"

The silencer covered up the sound of the gun, and the bullet passed through the barrel with a violent rotation, generating a blazing temperature due to friction. His left hand, which had shot countless times, was extremely stable, without any trembling due to the recoil.

"Wow——!"

The black fog at the headless man's broken end surged like a rising tide, filling up most of the space in just one second! It rolled forward as if it had consciousness, grabbed the two bullets, and engulfed them!

"!?"

Aoyagi Binguang was stunned when his attack was blocked. He could even catch bullets?!

For a moment, he didn't know what expression to make. Now he only had two pistols with him, and no more powerful weapons. If even the guns couldn't hurt the other party...

He looked at the headless man, waiting for his next move, but the headless man's behavior was beyond his expectations - after stopping him from shooting the bullet, the other party actually started dancing.

"...?"

Aoyagi Binguang was confused, and the next second, he saw a flash of light on the other person's left hand.

That was the reflection of the ring. There was a plain ring on the other person's hand. The delicate ring was on the pale finger and it was easy to be overlooked if you didn't look closely.

Aoyagi Binkou suddenly realized something.

He recalled the contents of the group chat that he had just seen flash, and asked in an incredulous tone.

"Are you a player too?"

And he is the black player, his teammate?

The headless man opposite stopped dancing and nodded his neck repeatedly.

……

Five minutes ago, Aoyagi Akimitsu saw the [Group Chat] flashing.

He often uses various social software. His first reaction was that other black players saw the "newcomer" coming and sent messages to say hello. He was about to go in to take a look, but he only saw a line of incomprehensible text.

【? ? :#*!&%!@……】

At the same time, there is a list on the right, with [Current number of black players: 2] written at the top, and "Rage" and "?" displayed below.

Aoyagi Binguang knew that the other one was his teammate. The rules stated that the system would not tell players what other people's IDs were, not even their teammates'.

Players can ask the person himself, or guess based on his words and actions, it is one of the seven deadly sins. There are three chances to guess, if all three guesses are wrong, the other party's ID will be kept secret forever.

So when he saw that the other party's ID was a question mark, Aoyagi Akimichi did not feel strange; instead, the strange string of garbled characters behind it made him fall into deep thought.

Although the system said that the other six players had different origins and were from another dimension, Aoyagi Akimichi did not directly regard them as aliens to be eradicated.

He is not an extreme person and rarely condemns a group of people. More importantly, he has a lot of things to ask them, such as important people in the world and the future direction (plot).

As a result, he couldn't understand what the other party sent.

He suddenly realized a problem.

Different countries or regions do not speak the same language, so will the differences between languages ​​in different parts of the world be even greater? Even if the system provides Japanese translation, the other party will not be able to use it?

……

Aoyagi Binguang put down his gun, looked at the headless man, and realized that he might have thought too much just now.

Most creators will directly use their native language when creating a virtual world, and few people will create a new language on purpose. This way, the other party can obviously hear and understand what you say.

He did not ask the other party why he sent a string of garbled text, but confirmed again: "Can you hear my voice?"

The other person taps his neck.

He asked again: "Can you see me?"

The other person tapped his neck again.

"You can see and hear..." Qing Liu Binguang watched his movements, "but you can't speak?"

This time, the other party tapped the neck so hard that the black mist shook along with it.

After confirming that the other person was also a player, Aoyagi Binkou's first reaction was not rejection, nor happiness, but an indescribable confusion.

Why do time travel players look like this?

Are all other time travelers in the same strange state?

Since he is a player, is this black fog his skill? Teleportation? Controlling shadows? Or some other ability? This ability would be very convenient for assassination...

Aoyagi Binguang thought more and more.

He was fortunate that because of his special status, the organizers working here did not dare to run around nearby. Even if they wanted to call him for treatment, they would remind him at the door first and would not come in directly.

There was no surveillance in the house, only a bug, and he had tampered with it so that other people would not notice a special uninvited guest breaking in within a short period of time.

The only exception is Gin. He is the only one who would barge in without saying anything. No one knows why he left just now and when he will be back.

Seeing that the headless man was still standing there, Qing Liu Bingguang temporarily withdrew his thoughts and said to him: "It's too inconvenient to communicate like this now. Can you use the system's [Chat] function? You should be able to type, right?"

The headless man quickly touched the ring on his hand. The ring disappeared, and a system pop-up window appeared in the air. The other party quickly typed something on it.

【？ ？：Okay, okay! It’s much easier to talk this way!! I was really stifling just now. I used body language for a long time but you didn’t respond. I thought you didn’t understand.】

...He really didn't realize that it was body language. Qing Liu Bingguang couldn't help asking: "Why didn't you use the system to talk to me just now?"

【? ?: I’m not familiar with the system functions yet, I forgot…】

Qingliu Binguang was silent.

Why does this time traveler give him the feeling that he is not very smart... No, he cannot let his guard down, the other party may be pretending.

"How did you get into the game?"

He looked at him and asked the question he was most curious about.

——What is the basis for the system to select players?

Is it completely random, or is there a certain screening process, requiring players to have certain traits?

Chapter 7: Aboriginals and Travelers (I)

He is a traveler.

But he forgot how he wore it.

Maybe he was sleeping? Or maybe he encountered an accident while walking? In any case, when he regained consciousness, he was inexplicably in a strange dark space, and an even stranger voice sounded beside him.

[We invite you to become a player of "Detective Conan" world, do you accept? 】

【……ah? 】

He looked confused, and it took him several seconds to figure out what he had heard.

[Who are you? Conan... the Japanese elementary school student wearing a blue suit and a red bow tie? Are you asking me to travel through time?]

After a few seconds, he came to his senses: [Why me? I was born with a unique bone structure and a strange appearance, which made you fall in love with me at first sight? Then why didn't you give it to me when I was in my third year of high school? Did I encounter an accident? No way, I remember I was in...]

【exist……】

He was stuck.

——He found that he could not remember anything that happened before entering this space.

...No, more than that!

He tried desperately to recall, and was even more shocked to find that not only the memories before arriving here, but also the memories of school, roommates, friends and parents had become blurry!

I can't even remember my own name!!

He panicked and asked loudly: [Did you do something to my memory? ! ]

【No. 】

The system voice is calm: [We will randomly select people whose lives are in danger in reality and invite them to become game players. As long as you pass the game, you can return to reality.]

[You lost some of your memory because you injured your head in an accident.]

[What if I refuse? ...Will I stay here forever?]

There was darkness all around him, boundless and without a single ray of light. He could not see or touch anything else, and there was only this strange sound around him.

[This system adheres to the principles of voluntary play, free play, and happy play. For those who refuse to become players, they will be sent back to their original bodies. ]

[However, most of you have had an accident in reality. Even if you can go back, you are still in a vegetative state. You can only hear your family and friends calling you, but you can't respond. You are also not sure when you will wake up.]

The surroundings fell into deathly silence.