Chapter 386 Noah’s Ark
Chapter 386 Noah's Ark

I lost consciousness for a short time, and then a burst of white light rushed into my mind. When the white light disappeared, I opened my eyes again, and I had entered a secret space. I looked up and saw a dark space, with only a piece of blue brick floor reflecting a dim light from an unknown light source. Or maybe it was the external light from the ground that made the children present unable to see anything else except each other.

"How do you feel?" I asked Shiho beside me while moving my hands and feet.

"After entering the cocoon, I put on the nerve-connected helmet and placed my hands on the control axis with a scanning pattern. The cocoon's coordinate axis moved backwards, and my body completely relaxed. After the electric current stimulated my head, I began to lose consciousness. Then I came here." Shiho explained after a while. "Perhaps except for the hearing which is externally played, all other senses are controlled."

"Me too, no discomfort, no special feeling." After saying that, I waved my fist and felt the strength in my hand. "This cocoon is not simple, it can accurately scan all kinds of human information into the game. You know, the structure of the human body is very precise, it can instantly calculate a person's height, weight, and muscle density. It also maps out relevant data based on the brain's electrical signals. This huge amount of calculation... always makes me feel a little unreal."

"After all, you are being controlled." Shiho patted my face gently, then used her fingers to turn my face to the side.

"Conan, Xiaoxun." Behind me, Xiaolan's voice fell into my ears at the right time.

"Xiaolan...sister?" I called out subconsciously. It was then that I realized that among the many teenagers, there was suddenly a 17-year-old girl. "Why did you come in too?"

"It was Sonoko who gave the badge to me." Xiaolan said, putting her hands on her hips. "How about you guys? How did you join this game?"

"Conan~~" Not far away, the children also ran over. Six children plus Xiaolan, seven people gathered together.

"I never thought that just by putting together a few people, we would account for nearly one-tenth of the total number of players in the game." Shiho smiled.

"That's right. Even in the game, we have to play together to have fun." Ayumi continued.

"However, we are in a hypnotic state now, but we don't feel anything at all, it's like a dream." Mitsuhiko looked down at his hands with an excited look.

"Yeah, yeah. I was sitting on a chair, but now I can run around freely. It's really interesting."

"No, quite the opposite." Shiho said calmly to the children. "Forget freedom. Our vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste are all controlled by computers. If something goes wrong with the machines outside, we may be in danger without knowing it."

"Well... don't say that." Conan smiled awkwardly, even though he knew it was the fact.

"Conan, let's chat for a minute." I pulled Conan aside, avoiding the children and Xiaolan, and Shiho also tacitly started talking about a lot of things about this game and our current situation to attract the children's attention.

"Did something happen outside?" I asked first.

"Ah." Conan nodded. Then he looked at me meaningfully. "A person in charge of the development of Cocoon died. He was stabbed in the heart. The control program on the computer was also hacked."

"I won't kill people who are not related to the mission." I waved my hands quickly.

"I didn't say what you meant." Conan chuckled. "The person in charge was called Jiancun. Before he died, he left a death message on the keyboard, JTR. Jack The Ripper. So I came in to check. Maybe I can find some clues. It's a good thing that you came in too, which is good for me to finish the game quickly."

"Hey? I thought you would stay outside and solve the case." I said lightly. "But, we don't know what's inside this thing."

"Didn't the doctor say that there is a scene in this game that is London a hundred years ago? There must be the clues I want there."

"Okay. As long as the other scenes can make me bored, I'll go with you." I put my hands behind my head and walked back leisurely. As for the game, as long as I have fun, it's fine.

"Hello, friends who are experiencing the cocoon for the first time. The game is about to begin, please be ready." Soon, a voice resembling a young man sounded out of nowhere in the sky. A colorful ring seemed to be an audio generator, and it was flashing and introducing itself to the children. "My name is Noah's Ark, please give me your guidance."

"Please give me your advice~"X40+. The children's greetings rang out at the same time.

"Next, I will play promotional videos of five different game scenes for you. Please choose the world you want to play. However, there is one thing you should pay attention to. This game is no longer a simple video game. This is a game that concerns your life."

"Ok?"

"What? Our lives?"

“Oh, it’s really Link Start?”————————————Detective Conan the Movie: Six & The Phantom of Baker Street————————————

"Yes, you heard it right. Once all fifty of you are eliminated, you can't return to the real world. So, you have to play the game seriously. As long as one of you reaches the finish line, you win. And before that, all the eliminated people will be able to wake up and return to the real world. This is the rule I decided. I don't know if you understand it."

Although Noah's Ark's words were gentle, they brought great pressure to the children. Yes, there must be something wrong with this game. When the name of Noah's Ark appeared, I realized the problem. I wonder which game company would name a game guide NPC for children Noah's Ark. But now this thing called Noah's Ark controls Cocoon, which makes me have a guess.

"When all of you are eliminated, I will release a special electromagnetic wave to damage your brains. So, this is a bet on whether Japan can be reborn."

"Haha, it seems that I guessed it right." Listening to the voice above, I further verified my guess.

"You who are here now cannot hear the outside voices, but someone outside just asked me a question, so I answered it for everyone. Seeing your current appearance, I think the son of a dirty politician will eventually become a bribe-taking guest, and the son of a doctor who only thinks about making money will eventually follow the same path. If you want to make Japan a better place, you must completely eliminate this hereditary inheritance connection."

"Interesting." This reminded me of what Shiho said just now outside the exhibition hall.

"I do not have the right to play with human life, just like you adults have no right to play with Hiroki's rights." As if talking to someone outside, Noah's Ark suddenly said something that no one could understand.

"Hiroki?" The sudden appearance of the name made me raise my eyebrows. I turned to look at Shiho beside me.

"About two years ago, the United States published a news report saying that the American IT giant Syndor adopted a boy named Hiroki, and that boy was the only one who had the prototype of the concept of artificial intelligence design." Shiho recalled what she heard in the United States. "I remember that the name of artificial intelligence at that time seemed to be Noah's Ark."

"Tsk, this is interesting." I looked at the colorful rings in the sky and couldn't help laughing. "You say, what we are discussing now, and what we are thinking in our brains, will it be recorded by this thing that may be artificial intelligence?"

"It shouldn't be a possibility, but a certainty." Shiho frowned slightly. "This cocoon should be recording our information every moment, otherwise the signals transmitted to us by the brain would not allow us to communicate and move so freely. But in terms of thinking..."

"He knows everything we say?"

"In the current environment, yes. But I'm not sure about thinking and recalling. After all, what is synchronized are only the body's activity signals." After thinking about it, Shiho came to a conclusion.

"Heh, that's interesting." I licked the corner of my mouth. "Maybe we can have some fun?"

"Okay, kids, you've been waiting for a long time. It's almost time to start the game!" As he spoke, Noah's Ark projected five different pictures, and at the bottom of the pictures, there was a long and narrow passage.

"First up is the first stage, Viking Pirates. Players will play the role of a captain of a ship and go on adventures in the seven seas until they obtain the treasures of the seven seas."

"The second stage is the Paris Dargo Off-Road Race. Players will become the co-pilot of a racer and complete the race with world-famous drivers. Whoever wins the championship will win."

“The third one is the ancient Roman Colosseum. Players will look for powerful weapons and equipment to go to the Roman Empire to participate in competitions. Winning the final victory will clear the level.”

"The fourth stage is Solomon's Secret Treasure. Here, everyone will become a treasure hunter and travel around the world to find secret treasures. You can pass the level after accumulating a certain amount of wealth."

“The last stage is London in the old days. Here, players will experience the thrilling and suspenseful story brought to you by London. The winning condition is to capture Jack the Ripper, the serial killer who has not been caught in London in 1888.”

"Each stage has a character who can help you move forward. You can rely on him to play the game. So, kids, the game has begun. Please choose the game you like!"

"Questions!" Just when the children were still in a mess, a voice suddenly covered up the panic of the children. A little boy with pale blond hair raised his hand high, and the action was exactly the same as that of a child waiting for the teacher to call his name.

"Little friend, do you have anything to ask?" Noah's Ark paused for a few seconds and then asked.

"What you just said are all the conditions for victory. So I want to ask, what are the rules for elimination and failure? What should I do if I encounter a bug during the game? How open is the game? Is the game available worldwide? And... can the characters who help the player be killed due to the player's control errors?"

"...oh?"

(End of this chapter)