"I really didn't expect Genta to switch camps at the last second and run off to join Tsuneo-niichan."
As Ran led the children through the curtain of light, Mitsuhiko couldn't help but sigh in exasperation. The Junior Detective League felt incomplete with one member missing.
"He probably figured the food would be better over there," Ai Haibara said with a small, knowing smile.
The journey to conquer the seven seas was indeed spectacular, and the scale of that world had been modeled to be far larger than this one.
"London, the City of Fog. Rather than calling it romantic, it feels more... eerie," Ran remarked, glancing at their surroundings.
They had spawned on a street corner swallowed by a thick, grey mist. The yellowish glow of the gas lamps struggled to pierce the gloom, proving almost useless. The streets were deserted, casting a heavy, oppressive silence over the city.
However, the architectural style was an exact replica of the photographs and legends of 19th-century London.
"It feels like the air is dirty... it even has a smell," Ayumi noted, wrinkling her nose.
"London's fog isn't just clean water vapor," Conan explained, shifting into his informative mode. "It's smog—a combination of coal smoke and soot produced by burning fuel, mixed with the natural mist."
Suddenly, a woman's piercing scream shattered the silence of the night, echoing from a distance.
"Jack the Ripper!" Conan's expression sharpened instantly. He bolted toward the source of the sound without hesitation.
He hadn't expected the main antagonist to appear so soon after the game started.
"Conan!" Ran and the others cried out, racing after him.
After weaving through two narrow alleys, the Great Detective spotted a tall figure draped in a heavy cloak, crouching over a woman collapsed on the ground.
"Stop right there!"
Seeing that witnesses had arrived, Jack the Ripper didn't hesitate for a second. He spun around and vanished into the fog.
"Dammit! Don't you dare think you're getting away!" Conan reached down to twist the dial on his power-enhancing sneakers and kicked a discarded metal kettle lying on the ground with all his might.
The next moment, he was hopping on one foot, clutching his toes in agony.
The shoes that were supposed to multiply his leg strength had failed. The impact against the solid metal kettle sent a jolt of pure pain through him, leaving him dazed.
"It seems Professor Agasa's inventions are disabled in this game world," Ai noted, her brow furrowing slightly.
Without the "Killer Soccer Ball" to back him up, Kudo's combat effectiveness had plummeted to zero. He'd probably lose a fistfight to Genta right now.
Conan checked his glasses, his watch, and his belt, only to find they had all reverted to being ordinary accessories.
"Oh no! Jack the Ripper was here!"
Behind them, bypassers had finally reached the fallen woman, their voices trembling with terror as they called for help.
"What happened?"
"Another victim!"
"This is the third one already!"
As a crowd began to gather, Conan and the others retreated into the shadows to observe. It had to be said, the scene was breathtakingly realistic. Every NPC that ran over had movements and lines that made them feel like living, breathing people.
"This is almost too real. Not just what we see and hear... even the temperature is dropping," Mitsuhiko said, rubbing his arms.
"And my foot actually hurts..." Conan added ruefully.
Soon, the police arrived to take over the crime scene.
"I've been meaning to ask since we started," Hideki Moroboshi said, turning to Conan as they moved to a safe, secluded spot. "What's the deal with that man who wants to be the 'Pirate King'?"
"Tsuneo-niichan?" Ran pondered for a moment, finding it hard to put into words. "He's..."
"He's a man who does exactly what he says he'll do," Conan finished, rubbing his temples. A vision of chaos unfolding in the other game world was already beginning to form in his mind.
"Professor, how's the situation?" Mouri Kogoro asked, staring at the cluster of dots on the screen.
"Some children have already been eliminated. Conan's group is moving steadily through the map, but as for Tsuneo's side... I honestly don't know what they're doing."
The Professor manipulated the controls to zoom in on a specific marker.
Out of the fifty participants, the Pirate World had the most children—nearly thirty of them. Conan's group, including Ran, consisted of only nine. The two children already eliminated had chosen the other stages.
So far, the two most promising teams hadn't lost a single member. However, Tsuneo's progress was a total mystery. A large cluster of markers was simply loitering around the starting point.
"Kashimura, do you know what's going on?" Yusaku asked, being less familiar with the Pirate World stage.
"The spawn point for the Pirate World is different from the other four. You could say there's immediate danger the moment you land," Kashimura explained. "The starting location is a small island in the middle of the ocean—a transit hub for various pirate organizations. Much like the movies, chaos is the main theme there. Players must find a key NPC to have any chance of safely boarding a ship and leaving the port."
Kashimura shook his head as he studied the screen. The time flow in these game worlds wasn't uniform; in the time that had passed, two or three days might have already gone by in the Pirate World. They shouldn't still be standing in the same place.
"The firearms in that world shouldn't be very advanced, right?" Saguru Hakuba asked with a smirk. He was starting to wish he could watch the live feed. If only he had secured an extra badge.
"Indeed. Just obtaining a single flintlock pistol is considered a major achievement..."
The Pirate World.
Tsuneo was currently wearing a flamboyant captain's hat. A magnificent, ornate cutlass—of unknown origin—was strapped to his waist. Wearing such gear over a modern suit created a truly bizarre and jarring silhouette.
"Um... Captain? We've finished gathering the supplies. Shouldn't we be heading out now?"
A scrawny, middle-aged man dressed in local rags asked, swallowing nervously.
"Didn't you say yesterday that our ship was trash? That we'd sink the moment we ran into a real pirate crew?" Tsuneo replied calmly, continuing to supervise the children as they prepared a meal.
They were currently in a large courtyard not far from the coast. The dark, thin man was Ruth—the "critically important NPC" Kashimura had mentioned. Without his expertise, leaving the island was impossible.
"We have fresh water and food now. As long as we're careful, we can avoid most dangers," Ruth said, desperately wanting to take back his words from their first meeting.
Yesterday, shortly after Tsuneo led the children into the game, he had quickly located Ruth and inspected the "ship" assigned to them.
The Fixer had nearly scuttled it on the spot out of sheer disgust. It didn't even look as grand as a decent fishing boat. It had only two cannons, barely any gunpowder, and even fewer cannonballs. It was practically a floating prop.
"Captain... you've already plundered two pirate crews. Do we really need to keep doing this?" Ruth asked, his voice full of exasperation.
The cutlass at Tsuneo's waist and the mountain of supplies had been obtained exactly that way.
In the game's original design, players were supposed to rely on Ruth's guidance to slowly gather resources, set sail for minor adventures, and upgrade their ship using found treasure.
Ruth hadn't expected his "Captain" to announce he was going out for "friendly negotiations," only to return having bypassed the entire progression loop by robbing two small pirate groups.
"I heard at the tavern yesterday that a massive ship is supposed to return to port in a few days," Tsuneo said, turning his head.
"The... the Sari?!" Ruth's eyes widened, and he shook his head violently. "Those men are savages! They say they eat people without even cooking them first!"
"Look at these kids, Captain! They can barely make a bed, let alone fight! They'd be nothing more than snacks for a crew like that!"
My Captain must be out of his mind!
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