Chapter 110: Loading the Stand User Version in the Fifth World-Line Divergence
Shinichi Kudo was a protagonist for a reason. In that hair-breadth moment, he jerked his head aside, dodging the bullet, and lunged forward in a desperate attempt to seize the gun.
To Gin, such an action was laughable. He simply lowered his hand, stepped sideways to evade the grab, and delivered a brutal knee strike to Shinichi's stomach. Shinichi collapsed to his knees instantly, clutching his abdomen.
Gin raised his gun again, aiming it at Shinichi's head—only to slowly lower it.
Guns eventually run out of bullets, and as luck would have it, Gin's magazine was empty. He could have leisurely reloaded, but he chose not to. Instead, he delivered a savage kick that sent Shinichi tumbling backward. Cracking his wrists, he stalked toward the boy.
"The self-proclaimed Emperor of Crime, Moriarty... and this is all you amount to? Kid, you're a joke!"
Gin, usually decisive and efficient in his executions for the Organization, was willing to "indulge" himself a little for the sake of his desecrated Porsche. He intended to beat this brat to death with his bare fists.
"Damn it... I'm not... Moriarty!"
Shinichi gritted his teeth against the pain, rolled over, grabbed a nearby metal canister, and hurled it at Gin. Gin tilted his head slightly to dodge, but Shinichi used that opening to pounce again, engaging Gin in a frantic struggle.
Shinichi's knowledge of martial arts was superficial at best, but he was young, fit, and a regular soccer player. More importantly, having a childhood friend like Ran Mouri—who could cave in walls with a single punch—had granted Shinichi a remarkably high tolerance for taking a beating.
For a moment, he actually managed to trade blows with Gin!
Neither of them noticed a "person" standing in the shadows nearby, perfectly merged with the darkness. Mo Yu watched the brawl and offered a critique:
"What a clash. They're fighting so hard the very 'Great Dao' is almost being ground away!"
To an outsider, it looked like Gin was pummeling Shinichi while Shinichi, beaten half to death, desperately threw household junk in retaliation—an asymmetrical fight where the humiliation outweighed the actual damage.
But in Mo Yu's eyes, the true battle was different.
Killing intent manifested as a crimson cloud swirling in the room. A pitch-black dragon bared its claws and roared wildly—this was the manifestation of Gin's fortune. On the other side, brilliance erupted from Shinichi, converging into a blurry humanoid figure of light. This figure of light delivered a massive "slap of love," leaving the dragon dazed and disoriented, followed by another slap that sent the dragon spinning in a 720-degree tumble!
This was a battle of Fortune vs. Fortune, and the result was equally one-sided. By the time the dragon crawled back up, it was shaking its head with stars in its eyes, clearly suffering from a metaphysical concussion.
There was a reason Gin had suddenly dropped his gun for a fistfight. His protective fortune had been slapped into a stupor, and the resonance in reality had caused Gin's own brain to suffer a momentary lapse in logic.
However, while Shinichi's protective fortune was overwhelmingly powerful—authentic "Protagonist-tier" Luck—it had a slight problem: it was a bit of a "salted fish." If the dragon charged in to do something, the protagonist-luck would hit back, but otherwise, it acted like it hadn't woken up yet, responding only passively with zero initiative. Thus, the scene was at a stalemate.
This first collision between the main villain and the main protagonist gave Mo Yu a deeper understanding of the Conan world-bubble.
Whether it was the fortune formed by the Heavenly Killing Intent or the hidden "Conan-Science" within Shinichi, their manifestation and operation were essentially "Metaphysical." Though they lacked flashy sound and light effects in reality, their actual impact was incredible, touching upon the realm of Universal Laws.
Take Shinichi right now: Gin was a professional killer. His strikes targeted joints, internal organs, the throat, and the groin. An ordinary person would have been neutralized and killed in seconds.
Yet Shinichi had taken several heavy hits over multiple rounds, and the result was merely a dusty face, a few scrapes, and a bit of blood at the corner of his mouth.
Like a manga protagonist, no matter how many times the enemy hits him, the severity of the injury depends on whether the artist feels like drawing it clearly, not on the enemy's strength. Under the influence of unscientific Conan-Science, Shinichi had effectively "Locked his HP." Those injuries could probably be fixed with a couple of Band-Aids later.
Of course, Gin wasn't incompetent. His black dragon of fortune, after taking a few slaps, had gradually recovered from its concussion. It learned its lesson, circling warily and darting in for quick scratches before retreating—playing it like a Souls game player chipping away at a boss's feet.
Shinichi's luck, being too passive and sluggish, gradually allowed the black dragon to score some points. This caused the "HP Lock" law to waver slightly. Shinichi's health bar began to drop. In reality, this meant Shinichi was slower to get back up and was breathing heavily, while Gin grew impatient, his hand drifting toward his backup weapon.
On the surface, it was a street brawl. At a deeper level, it was a high-tier offensive and defensive exchange of Fortune and Law—a level of combat that would be considered high-tier even in the Bleach worlds.
Mo Yu realized the power level of the Conan bubble was likely higher than Bleach's, as it involved constant collisions of fundamental Laws. It's just that these battles weren't visible; they were processed in the world's "backend," with the physical fight being merely the "output" or "result."
It was like a video game: the player inputs commands, but the damage numbers and health bar fluctuations are the result of background calculations already completed by the system.
Mo Yu found this fascinating. Based on this logic, every time a criminal in Beika Town committed a crime, the background calculation must be spectacular. A criminal might thrust a knife at a victim; in the backend, it was a clash of killing intent illuminating hundreds of miles versus the victim's fortune rising like beacon fire. Only after they fought three hundred rounds in the backend would the result be decided: did the knife hit the heart, did it slip, or did it leave just enough of a mark to give the detective a clue?
Knowing this was meaningful to Mo Yu. Only by knowing could he better utilize and "mod-ify" everything.
Though the fight was ongoing, Mo Yu knew the result. No matter how arrogant Gin's dragon was, it paled before Shinichi's protagonist-luck. Shinichi was losing ground only because his luck was passive. But under the dragon's harassment, that protagonist-luck was beginning to brew a "Change"!
The final result would inevitably be "A Narrow Escape." Mo Yu could even guess the plot: Shinichi's luck would erupt, knocking the dragon into a super-concussion. Gin would beat Shinichi into a "salted fish" state but would abandon the idea of shooting him—just like the original work—and instead feed him the poison, helping him reclaim his true form as Edogawa Conan.
While there was nothing wrong with that development, it was a bit boring for Mo Yu.
So, he reached out and snapped his fingers. Simultaneously, in the 3D dimension, a finger tapped a key on the keyboard.
Beaten into a pulp, Shinichi lay on the floor gasping for air. He wanted to struggle, but his strength was fading and his vision was blurring. He could only watch as Gin approached with murderous intent.
"Is my path as a detective ending here...?"
Regret and helplessness surged within him. But then, Shinichi noticed Gin's foot—which had just lifted to take a step—freeze in mid-air, motionless.
Shinichi, ever the observer, noticed that it wasn't just Gin. Even the dust motes floating in the air were frozen.
Time has stopped. The realization flooded his mind, followed by the instinct to deduce: Is this a near-death hallucination? Is my brain overclocking to create this phenomenon?
Before he could finish the thought, footsteps approached. A low, gloomy voice echoed in his ear:
"Dear Mr. Holmes, if you can't even handle a small scene like this, the Reapers will laugh at how 'impotent' you are when you see them after death!"
Shinichi painfully turned his head toward the pitch-black "person" strolling through the frozen world. He was now certain this was a hallucination; otherwise, how could a person look so abstract and surreal?
"Moriarty... mock me if you want. I knew the risks of being a detective. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon..."
"Willing to accept it? Your answer is as boring as ever. However, I have a suggestion: if you want things to be more interesting, why not ask Mr. Magical Salmon? See if he has a different idea, or if he's willing to open the Mouri Agency Gate for you..."
Shinichi couldn't help but retort: "I think 'Mr. Magical Die' and 'Steins;Gate' were fine. Stop changing the names! You're making me irritable!"
Mo Yu didn't answer. He smiled and pulled the irregular six-sided die from Shinichi's pocket, placing it in the boy's palm.
"That's not important. What matters is: do you have the courage to welcome the Fifth World-Line Divergence? Do you firmly believe there is hope for a comeback hidden within?"
Shinichi recalled everything Mo Yu had said about the die. It all sounded too fantastical to believe. But he was young. His desire to live made him want to try.
Shinichi gave a bitter smile. "Will the Fifth Divergence have an alien invasion?"
"I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Everything is chaotic and unknown; all possibilities are contained within!"
Everything Mo Yu had done—the time stops, the Xiao Hei skills—had one goal: to make Shinichi "Believe."
Believe that Moriarty was his split personality, believe the die could change reality. It was all a "Zuo Wang Dao" (Path of Forgetting/Deception) performance to make Shinichi "believe" the world wasn't simple.
By "believing," Shinichi would subconsciously guide and twist the "unscientific" Conan-Science within him, breaking its boundaries to manifest in reality.
So, did he believe?
Shinichi's hand twitched. The irregular die tumbled slowly to the floor. Then, on the blank faces of the die, faint patterns began to emerge.
The answer was clear: Shinichi believed. Not much, and quite shallowly, but the Conan-Science within him shifted in resonance with his will. For Mo Yu, that was enough. It gave him the space to cause trouble! For example: tearing through the boundary invisible to mortals.
Mo Yu laughed and clapped. "Oho! Mr. Magical Octopus has responded! He says the chance to ascend the Throne of Heaven's Gate has arrived. The Fifth Divergence will be a very interesting update. Enjoy it..."
Shinichi winced. "Is it because of the species difference? I didn't understand a word the die said. Please explain."
Mo Yu grinned. "Simple. The Fifth Divergence has implemented the 'Stand' setting. A Stand is a supernatural manifestation of the soul and fate. Those who master them are Stand Users."
Shinichi's smile grew even more bitter. He admired his second personality's ability to talk absolute nonsense with a straight face. But before he could speak, he turned his head and was struck dumb by the sight.
Behind Gin, blood clouds were roiling, and within them, a black dragon was coiling and dancing. It looked like a Great Demon had descended—truly majestic and terrifying.
Shocked wasn't just Shinichi; it was Gin.
At some point, time had resumed. Gin stood staring up at the dragon hovering over his head, blinking in bewilderment.
"Whoa! As expected of an executive of an evil organization. That Stand is not to be trifled with. Judging by its looks, it's at least an A in Power and Speed!"
Shinichi didn't have time for shock; he just wanted to complain. Why did the world update to include Stands, but the villain was the first to awaken one!? Where was the "hope for a comeback"?
But his sharp mind connected the dots. He looked at Mo Yu, who was still standing there despite time resuming.
"Could it be..."
"No need for 'could it be.' I, Moriarty, as your second personality and inner darkness, will also serve as your Stand and partner in this new version update. We can fight side-by-side now! Surprise! Excitement!"
At this moment, Shinichi only wanted to ask Mr. Magical Die: I don't want to be in this world-line anymore. Can we roll back to the Fourth?
End of Chapter
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