Chapter 5: The Birth of Conan
[COMPLETED]
Quest rewards have been distributed.
Xiayu opened her quest log and saw that the world quest she'd just finished now displayed [COMPLETED], with the rewards already delivered to her.
She let out a long breath of relief. Thank goodness — for a moment there, she'd been worried that finishing the quest the way she had wouldn't count.
Meanwhile, Kudou Shinichi had noticed that the blonde young woman from moments ago had vanished, but he didn't think much of it. Far more troubling to him were the two men in black who had ridden the roller coaster with him — their eyes had carried a callous indifference to human life, the look of men who had killed plenty of people before.
Just then, one of the two men in black sprinted past right in front of him. Unable to shake his unease, Shinichi took off after him, tossing a word back over his shoulder for Mouri Ran to head home without waiting for him.
Ran, however, had just felt her shoelace snap, and could only watch helplessly as Kudou Shinichi disappeared from view.
The gears of fate had begun to turn.
Just as anyone might have predicted, Kudou Shinichi paid the price for his recklessness — a poison forced down his throat.
Not long after Gin made Shinichi swallow the organization's newly developed poison, tidied away every trace of their presence, and departed, a soft rustling rose from the grass, and a figure appeared a short distance away.
By then, Shinichi was wracked with agony from head to toe, his bones feeling as though they were melting, his consciousness more than half gone. He was utterly incapable of registering anything happening around him.
Alhaitham watched the famous scene of Conan's birth unfold before his eyes, observing closely all the while as he silently counted off the seconds in his head. After all, this was rejuvenation — returning youth to the old — something even the adepti of Teyvat could rarely accomplish.
"Thirty-five seconds after ingesting APTX4869, the body begins to react, exhibiting marked acute pain. The pain lasts one minute and twenty-eight seconds, after which the body begins to change, gradually shrinking, its functions reverting to a juvenile state. The observed regression is approximately ten years. The transformation itself is brief, lasting around fifteen seconds. Once the change ceases, no further abnormal reactions are observed."
With that, Alhaitham produced an unused syringe he had found in the amusement park's medical office, stepped forward, crouched down, and drove the needle into an inconspicuous spot on the inside of Kudou Shinichi's arm, drawing out a single vial of blood.
Having stowed the sample away, Alhaitham left the scene without sparing so much as a glance for the boy still sprawled where he had fallen.
He had already caught the sounds of approaching people; before long, someone was bound to stumble upon Kudou Shinichi. There was no need for him to meddle further.
Xiayu had no idea what Alhaitham had just done to the story's protagonist. She was still going through the rewards from the completed quest.
Besides a pile of Mora and some experience books, the rewards included a personal identity certificate for Xiayu herself, along with the deed to a property.
What a relief. She had been worrying only moments ago about where she'd sleep once night fell, and now she had both an identity and a house. She decided to notify Alhaitham and head home.
She had already discovered that the system's messaging function could send texts to specific people — currently, only two names appeared in the list. Lisa's icon was grayed out, presumably because Lisa hadn't been manifested yet, while Alhaitham's avatar glowed bright.
So they really could message each other. Before long, Alhaitham appeared at the gate, showing not the slightest intention of telling Xiayu what he'd just been doing. As far as he was concerned, it was his own business, and he had his own plans — it certainly wouldn't affect Xiayu. Telling her now wouldn't help anything; it would only hand her a fresh worry she didn't need.
Xiayu glanced at the address on the deed — 5-chome 39-10, Beika-cho — and only then realized how close it was to the Mouri Detective Agency.
She remembered that the agency was supposedly at 5-chome 39-1, Beika-cho, which meant the system's property was just a few doors down from it.
When they arrived at the destination, sure enough — the building sat diagonally across from the Mouri Detective Agency, and from this side she could just barely make out the large lettering on the agency's window.
It was a three-story detached building, standing apart from both of its neighbors. The first floor faced the street and looked like it could house a small shop — though Xiayu hadn't yet decided what to do with it, so she resolved to leave it empty for now.
The second floor was livable, with two bedrooms — a master and a guest room. It wouldn't hold many people, but with just the two of them tonight, it was more than enough.
The third floor was a small attic, its window facing the street. Looking out from it, one could see the window of the Mouri Detective Agency — not clearly, but well enough to tell whether anyone was inside.
Xiayu had no intention of buying a telescope just to see more clearly — that would be a little too much like being a stalker. Besides, Conan was so sharp-eyed that if he ever caught a glint of reflected light and realized someone was watching them through a spyglass, Xiayu couldn't begin to imagine how she'd explain herself.
After a rough look over the building's overall condition, she headed down to the second floor to get ready for bed. Her plan had been to take the guest room herself — it was the smaller one, and it seemed a bit cramped for a grown man like Alhaitham.
But by the time she reached the second floor, she found that Alhaitham had already claimed the guest room.
"This is your house," Alhaitham said. "There's no such thing as the owner sleeping in the guest room. Besides, I hardly find it cramped. All I need is a quiet place to rest and read."
Xiayu didn't argue. She knew herself well enough — and she knew him well enough too. If he said it, then that was genuinely how he felt.
Lying in bed at last, Xiayu finally had time to grill Paimon about the finer details of the system. Between the character pulls and roleplay, and then the quests, there had never been a spare moment to really understand it.
And there was one thing in particular weighing on her mind — where were all the characters she'd pull in the future supposed to live?
Two people was fine for now. Once Lisa was manifested, the house would just barely manage — worst case, Xiayu could share the master bedroom with her. But any more than that and the place simply wouldn't fit them. She couldn't exactly make everyone sleep on floor mattresses, and honestly, she'd feel too guilty to ask.
Hearing Xiayu's worries, Paimon looked genuinely puzzled. "Traveler, you didn't know? Every character you pull gets their own place to live! It's only you, Traveler, because you're an outsider with no home or identity records, who has to earn an identity and a place to live by completing quests."
Xiayu was stunned. All this time, she'd assumed the characters she pulled started out undocumented just like her, having to earn their identities through quests. So she was the only one without papers, huh.
Paimon scratched her head, looking a little sheepish. "Hmm... it seems Paimon forgot to tell you. Actually, the moment a character from a character card appears in the real world, the world's consciousness helps create a matching identity for them. After all, we're helping it out too, so of course it's going to lend us a hand. Hehe."
Paimon went on to explain: "The identity it provides comes with a background similar to the character's own history, so nobody will notice anything off. And the people connected to that background get vague, fuzzy memories of the character — the kind where they know someone like that exists, but without any really specific impression of them."