The Game Begins
Originally, Xia Yu had planned to arrange a bodyguard for Kenmura — someone who would step in the moment Sindora tried to make his move and stop him before he could strike.
But on reflection, he realized that if Sindora failed, a man of his abilities would likely escape any real punishment. Hiring a top-notch lawyer to wriggle out of an attempted murder charge would hardly be a problem for him, and that would make seizing control of Sindora's company afterward far more difficult.
No — the ideal outcome was for Sindora to actually go through with it, for Kenmura to survive by nothing more than sheer luck. That way, exoneration would become genuinely difficult, and it would pave the way for Ningguang to take ownership of Sindora's company down the line.
At that moment, the "Cocoon" press conference began, and Kudo Yusaku took the stage in a blaze of fanfare alongside Professor Agasa.
Conan felt a flicker of exasperation at the sight of his father being swarmed by the female fans in the audience. Seriously? I wanted to catch up with Dad and trade information, but it looks like he's got no time for that now.
Professor Agasa, meanwhile, managed to slip Conan his badge for the game and fill him in on the game's setting.
Just before the game officially began, the organizers dimmed the lights to demonstrate the "Cocoon's" capabilities.
Meanwhile, in the basement.
Pale and frantic, Sindora opened the basement door and met Kenmura, who was waiting there for him.
They exchanged a few words, and the moment Kenmura turned away to pull up some data, Sindora drew a knife from behind his back and drove it with surgical precision into his chest. He then planted a virus in the computer, intending to erase every last trace of what he'd done.
After wiping the blade clean with a tissue, he pocketed the knife and left the room.
Sangonomiya Kokomi, hidden in a corner of the basement, waited until Sindora was gone before using her Oath of the Moonjelly to tether Kenmura's fading breath. Then, after notifying Ningguang, she too slipped away from the scene.
Before long, Inspector Megure received the report and arrived at the basement, with Conan and Mouri Kogoro hot on his heels — Conan had taken one look at the inspector and known something was wrong.
Megure gave the brazenly self-invited Mouri Kogoro a flat, half-lidded look, but after a moment's thought, he decided that solving this case might well require the man's talents, and so let him stay — which meant Conan managed to stick around as well.
The inspector turned to the person who had reported the crime. "So, Miss Ningguang, you're the one who called it in? Can you tell me exactly what happened?"
Ningguang answered calmly. "I asked the staff, and they told me they'd seen Kenmura head down to the basement, so I came here looking for him. The moment I walked in, I found him collapsed in front of the computer. I went over to check on him, and when I realized he was still barely alive, I immediately called for an ambulance and reported it to the police."
"And why exactly were you looking for Kenmura?" Megure asked.
"It actually wasn't me who wanted to see him — it was Nahida," Ningguang said. "Back when we were in America, Nahida and Kenmura were already quite close. He once said that looking at Nahida reminded him of his own child, so he always looked out for her. This time, with the 'Cocoon' project such a success, Nahida wanted to congratulate him in person, so she asked me to bring her to find him."
Conan couldn't help cutting in. "Nahida, you knew Miss Ningguang all along? So when Xia Yu-neechan said you were 'a friend's kid' — was the 'friend' she meant Miss Ningguang?"
"No," Nahida replied. "In a certain sense, Miss Ningguang and I don't really have any connection at all."
"If you have no connection, then why is Miss Ningguang the one looking after you? Where are your family?" Megure asked, confusion creeping into his voice.
He'd occasionally seen the child trailing after Xia Yu or the Detective Boys at crime scenes lately, but he'd had no idea she had any tie to Miss Ningguang.
Ningguang explained, "Nahida is, in a manner of speaking, a friend of one of my elders."
"A friend of your elder?!" everyone exclaimed in surprise.
"Mm. If I had to put it in a single word..." Ningguang hesitated, searching for the right description. "...a friendship that transcends age, perhaps?" She continued, "Nahida has no family left, you see. She was picked up by a handful of arrogant old men who only wanted to exploit her abilities — they treated her terribly. It was Xia Yu who found out and took her away from them, which is why the two of them are so close. In truth, it was my elder who knew Nahida, and who asked me to look after her for a while. And Nahida is remarkably clever — she's been a great help to me."
"I see," said Inspector Megure.
After questioning Nahida and confirming that her account matched Ningguang's, he all but dropped his suspicion that Ningguang might be the culprit.
With the situation in hand, Conan set about combing the rest of the crime scene for clues.
Suddenly, his eye caught the message Kenmura had left on the keyboard — JTR — and he immediately recalled what Professor Agasa had told him: the game was set in London at the end of the nineteenth century. Without a second's delay, he sprinted off toward the hall to queue up for the game.
Ningguang had also noticed the message Kenmura left behind, and watching Conan bolt, she allowed herself a small, meaningful smile.
It seems we've accidentally misled these detectives this time. The background of this round of "Cocoon" has nothing at all to do with the message Kenmura left.
All they had wanted this time was for Haruki to enjoy a proper game together with the other children. As for everything else — they could simply leave it to them.
When Kudo Yusaku arrived shortly after, he grasped Conan's intent at once and explained to Inspector Megure that the three letters Kenmura had scrawled were the initials of Jack the Ripper, the serial killer who appeared in the "Cocoon" game. Which meant that the game should hold a vital clue to the case.
Off to the side, Ningguang and Nahida listened quietly to Yusaku's explanation without interrupting.
By this point, the Detective Boys had already used Mitsuhiko's brainchild — trading in their treasured Kamen Rider cards — to get their hands on the game badges. And Sonoko had given her own badge to Ran, allowing Ran to join the game alongside Xia Yu and the children.
Scarcely had the players entered the game when the artificial intelligence Noah's Ark appeared, announcing that it had seized control of the "Cocoon's" operating system — and declaring that it wanted to play a game with them all. If anyone managed to clear the game, it would give up and go away. If not, it would unleash electromagnetic waves to destroy the brains of every player and give the whole of Japan a clean slate.
Outside, the crowd erupted into panicked murmurs at the news that their children were in danger, and it took all of Inspector Megure's efforts to calm them down.
The immediate priority now was finding a way to stop the game.
Megure asked Professor Agasa and Ningguang, both of whom had worked on the "Cocoon" project, but to his dismay, both told him the same thing: the game's core code was now entirely under "Noah's Ark's" control, and there was nothing they could do to shut it down.
Thankfully, Professor Agasa added that he had a way to contact the people inside the game — he could pass on the method for clearing it to Conan and the others.