Chapter 299: You will definitely like it

"Professor Agasa, Conan."

Haibara Ai and Ayumi greeted them.

Professor Agasa said with a smile, "Haibara, Ayumi, you're here to experience the game too. Let me tell you a secret: one of the five games is set in London a hundred years ago. I'm sure you'll definitely like it."

A hundred years ago, London...

Akaso Kaze pursed his lips.

*Isn't that the era when Sherlock Holmes existed!

*Detectives really do love that era!

"Snap!" The venue lights suddenly went out, leaving only the colorful lights on the stage flickering. The gorgeous lighting immediately attracted everyone's attention, and with a grand sound effect, a capsule-type game pod slowly rose from the center of the stage.

"Distinguished guests," the host said loudly, "please enjoy this next-generation game machine, Cocoon!"

Everyone looked toward the stage.

The game pod opened, and a beautiful female model entered the pod to demonstrate.

"This game machine uses electrical stimulation of the central nervous system to control a person's five senses. Whether it's touch, pain, or smell, every sensation is extremely realistic, making the player feel as if they are in the real world. And it is completely harmless to the body."

"Is it really completely harmless?" Akaso Kaze narrowed his eyes.

Professor Agasa laughed dryly, "That's why a lot of effort went into the technology. All kinds of extreme situations were considered during the development process."

"Come on, Professor, you didn't participate in the technical development part, did you?"

Conan said from the side, staring with dead fish eyes.

"Well, about that... haha." Professor Agasa awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

Akaso Kaze knew about this incident, and it was only because there was no risk that he let Haibara Ai and Ayumi participate.

Moreover, he had a feeling that this "Cocoon" might be very useful to him.

In an underground machine room of the City Hall, the quiet environment filled with pipes was a different world from the one above. In the room, there was only the sound of equipment running and the sound of water flowing in an aquarium.

This was the office of the game development lead, Tadahiko Kashimura.

Tadahiko Kashimura sat in his computer chair, looking at Thomas Schindler at the door, his expression calm: "Mr. Schindler, you're here?"

"Yes." Thomas Schindler nodded, his pale face and sinister eyes fixed on Tadahiko Kashimura.

"Mr. Kashimura, I have come as promised. Can you give me the DNA tracking system that Hiroki sent you before he died?"

"Of course, no problem." Tadahiko Kashimura replied, then spoke.

"I can give you the DNA tracking system, but I hope Mr. Schindler will hold a press conference and apologize to Hiroki."

Thomas Schindler was stunned: "What?"

"I know everything." Tadahiko Kashimura looked at Thomas Schindler.

"Two years ago, after Hiroki developed the DNA tracking system, he used your DNA to run a test and accidentally discovered a huge secret—a secret enough to bring down the Schindler Company."

"You were worried that Hiroki would reveal this secret, so you kept people monitoring him. In the end, Hiroki couldn't take it anymore and jumped to his death after developing the AI 'Noah's Ark,' right?"

Hearing Tadahiko Kashimura's words, Thomas Schindler remained expressionless.

Tadahiko Kashimura continued earnestly: "I'm not interested in that secret, but now you must make everything you did to Hiroki public."

"This is the condition for getting the DNA tracking system back. Can you do it?"

Thomas Schindler was silent for a few seconds before speaking softly: "No problem. Since you insist, it shall be as you wish. However, I want to confirm if the system is real first."

"Okay." Tadahiko Kashimura nodded.

He turned to look at the electronic equipment in front of him, took a disc out of his pocket, put it into the drive, clicked the mouse, and opened it. The computer screen was instantly filled with code.

Thomas Schindler stared at the content on the computer screen, his hands quickly putting on white gloves.

Then, his sleeve moved slightly, and a short knife appeared in his hand. With a fierce look, he walked toward Tadahiko Kashimura.

Tadahiko Kashimura scrolled the mouse twice and turned around to let Thomas Schindler check, but saw Thomas Schindler holding the short knife, rushing toward him at lightning speed. The knife struck his abdomen directly.

Tadahiko Kashimura let out an "uh," his eyes looking at Thomas in shock, unable to believe it: "You, you, why?"

"Why?" Thomas Schindler's gaze was fierce, gnashing his teeth as he looked at Tadahiko Kashimura, letting out a sinister laugh.

"You said it yourself, that secret is enough to bring down my business empire, so how could I let you live? As for apologizing to that brat Hiroki, that's even more impossible!"

While the reception was in full swing, a police car quietly drove into the City Hall parking lot under the watchful eyes of the staff. Inspector Megure, with a grim face, got out of the car with Shiratori and Chiba.

Shiratori Ninzaburo, who had just been seriously injured, had already recovered—truly a very "Conan-esque" fact.

"Chiba, have the standby police cars block all entrances and exits immediately."

Inspector Megure ordered Chiba, who was driving, and looked solemnly at the surrounding cars.

"It seems quite a few big shots have come this time."

"Yes," Shiratori also looked solemn. "The Deputy Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police, financial giants, and several assemblymen..."

"We must be careful," Inspector Megure said, pulling down the brim of his hat. "Let's go. The killer is likely still in the venue."

In the basement machine room, Kashimura's office.

Megure and Shiratori were investigating inside the room.

"The victim is the person in charge of the game 'Cocoon,' Kashimura," Megure said in a deep voice. "A single stab to the heart, and the murder weapon was taken from the scene."

Shiratori approached the victim to check and scanned the crime scene.

The time of death wasn't long ago; it should have been during the reception.

There were blood-stained tissues left on the floor, which looked like the killer had specifically wiped the blood off the murder weapon.

This meant the murder weapon might be very important to the criminal, or leaving it behind would reveal who the criminal was.

In addition, the keyboard behind the deceased was also stained with blood.

There were bloodstains on the "R," "T," and "J" keys. Looking at the blood-stained arm hanging to the side, the possibility of the killer tampering with it could basically be ruled out.

The victim seemed to have used his last strength to leave a death message before dying.

"When was the body discovered?" Inspector Megure asked, turning back.

The first staff member to discover the situation explained: "Just before the performance started, because Mr. Kudo wanted to meet with the director, I came here to call him, but..."

"Speaking of which," Shiratori said strangely, "why is the R&D director's office in the basement?"

"Because the director said he couldn't concentrate in crowded places, so he came here alone."

The staff member responded and looked hesitantly at the computer.

"Um, actually, there is one more strange thing: all the data in the computer has been destroyed."

"Data?"

"Could it be sabotage by a rival company? I heard that there are quite a few commercial spies active during this press conference."

"It shouldn't be," Conan, who didn't know when he had entered the room, interjected from behind.

"Because 'Cocoon' is already finished. Isn't it too late to destroy the data on the director's computer now?"

Inspector Megure turned around in shock, black lines on his forehead: "How did a kid get in?!"

Conan nimbly ran to Takagi's side: "I followed Officer Takagi here!"

Takagi gave a sheepish smile; he had taken the blame for Conan again.

"Inspector Megure, a metal detector was set up at the entrance. The murder weapon should have been left in the City Hall beforehand. If we investigate, we might find clues," Shiratori Ninzaburo said.

"Hmm, I'll leave this to you."

After Megure left the investigation to Shiratori, he looked at the keyboard in confusion and said, "The 'R,' 'T,' and 'J' keys with bloodstains—do they have any special meaning?"

"RTJ... TRJ... JTR..." Conan pondered, holding his chin, his expression suddenly changing. "JTR?!"

*Isn't that the abbreviation my father often uses to refer to Jack the Ripper?

"What's wrong?" Takagi asked secretly. "Did you remember something?"

"The background of that game is London a hundred years ago, right?"

Conan looked up and asked. Without waiting for Takagi to answer, he turned around and ran out of the basement office without looking back, disappearing in a flash...

"Hey, hey..." Takagi stood puzzled in front of the computer.

*At least explain what it means before you leave. I helped you take the blame for nothing.

Eight o'clock in the evening, inside the press conference venue.

Guided by the host and staff, the children with badges went through security one by one, walked onto the stage where "Cocoon" was placed, and lay into the "Cocoon" under the staff's guidance.

At the security entrance, Akaso Kaze sent Haibara, Ayumi, and Sonoko through the security gate.

Conan also rushed back.

All the selected children lay in the "Cocoon," ready.

Not long after, the lights in the venue went out.

"All 50 participants have boarded."

A female voice in the venue began to remind the guests who were watching nervously.

"Brain wave transmission device installed, capsule lid closed, main hardware connection starting."

"Input area code to connect the linker, coordinate axis micro-adjustment in progress."

"Punctuation correction 0. successful, locking complete, screen displaying, system starting, energy setting complete."

"Game start!"

The game officially started. In the large control room, staff carefully checked the status and projected the situation of the game capsules onto giant screens. At first glance, one would almost think it was a battleship command room from an anime.

Chairman Schindler stood in front of the control room window with his arms crossed. The short beard around his lips and his long, hooked nose were very typical British features, and he looked quite fierce.

He suddenly saw Yusaku Kudo leading several police officers over, and he couldn't help but frown.