"Is our world real?"
After returning home, Little Ai grabbed Fang Zheng and asked this question right off the bat.
Fang Zheng glanced at Little Ai.
"Why are you asking this?"
"You should know the answer, tell me!"
Little Ai tightly held Fang Zheng’s hand, her face somewhat pale, while Akemi stood there uneasily, not knowing what to do.
"Well, it depends on what you consider the real world to be like."
The twin maids had already gone to rest, so Fang Zheng took out three bottles of juice and placed them in front of the two, opening one for himself in the process.
"To be honest, I’m not much of a fan of philosophical propositions, but I guess what you mean is... whether your world was created."
".........."
Little Ai nodded.
"Then I can give you an answer — yes."
Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s reply, Little Ai’s face instantly turned visibly pale, while Akemi also looked at Fang Zheng in shock.
"So, does God really exist?"
"The one from the Bible? No, that’s nonexistent. You see, as I previously mentioned, if we liken your world to a program, then we are the programmers. We created this world, set it to run automatically, but that’s about it."
Fang Zheng spread his hands, looking at Little Ai.
"You should be able to understand what I mean."
"I, I can......."
Little Ai seemed to have difficulty breathing, and she reached out to open a bottle of juice, took a sip, and only then seemed marginally stable.
"Then, why did you create us?"
"Summer homework."
"......Huh?"
"Summer homework, you see, because our teacher gave us a topic — Research on Evolution of Primates and Civilization Development — so we created this world to observe, record, and report. You’re a college graduate, don’t you understand?"
"I understand!!"
Little Ai slammed her fist heavily onto the table.
"But why, why us? Do you think just because you created us, you have the right to play with our lives? Can you arbitrarily dictate everything about us?"
"Shiho...?"
Faced with Little Ai’s sudden outburst, Akemi was somewhat stunned. Although this fact surprised her as well, she didn’t expect her sister to react so explosively. Nonetheless, Fang Zheng could understand; although Little Ai was not voluntarily, she is ultimately a scientist. Once a scientist discovers that the world and everything they explore were predetermined — faith collapsing wouldn’t be surprising.
"Alright, don’t be so agitated, I was just joking."
Fang Zheng chuckled and stretched out his hand to pat Little Ai’s head.
"Actually, there’s nothing much to tell you, well, here’s what happened......"
As he spoke, Fang Zheng explained matters concerning the Order Clan, those worlds, along with the Chaos crisis to Little Ai and Akemi, including the inner and outer worlds and everything encompassed. Of course, to enhance persuasiveness, Fang Zheng even showed them some videos filmed in other worlds, including self-slaughter at Hope Academy and Ultimate Despair diffusion, as well as indiscriminate slaughter of adults by children in Tahe City... To be honest, just witnessing these was enough to frighten the two.
"So, according to you, this Chaos has polluted the entire universe?"
"Currently, it’s most of it. It’s like a terminal cancer patient; though some parts haven’t been eroded, there’s only a very small portion left."
Fang Zheng spread his hands, discussing matters with scientists is simple, while Akemi, listening with a dizzy head, remarked that she would go to sleep.
"But... I don’t feel any chaos in our world?"
Little Ai frowned.
"According to you, our world should have similar chaos, but why haven’t I noticed it?"
"You’re right, you haven’t noticed it.......
Fang Zheng silently commented.
"Does it really exist?"
Upon hearing this, Little Ai was shocked, while Fang Zheng rolled his eyes.
"Of course, do you know? Three days before I went camping with you, I was still in winter, then it turned to spring. After I camped and returned, it became fall, and now it’s back to summer again... I don’t even know when I can celebrate a New Year."
"How is that possible? During the spring outing, we were on vacation, then it was........"
At this point, Little Ai paused.
"I didn’t notice anything wrong......"
"You obviously wouldn’t notice. You’re immersed in this world, you could say you’re evolving with it, but for me, it’s different. Simply put, this world’s year of three hundred and sixty-five days’ timeline has been entirely thrown off. Not only are dates disconnected, but days even repeat. If this issue isn’t resolved, then mark my words, twenty years later, you’ll still be living the life of a primary school student."
Fang Zheng guarantees he absolutely didn’t lie, that’s the only thing he’s pretty sure of.
Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Little Ai’s expression slightly changed.
"So that’s why you bought those clothes..."
"Yeah, it’s convenient, simple, just add or remove according to the weather of the day."
Fang Zheng helplessly spread his hands. Little Ai was talking about Fang Zheng’s wardrobe, which was full of black trench coats, black dress pants, black suits, and black shirts. Originally, Little Ai had teased Fang Zheng about whether he could wear something other than black, but she hadn’t expected there to be this reason behind it.
Fang Zheng couldn’t help it. He could feel the temperature, but was unable to determine the season. If you go out in the middle of winter wearing short sleeves, people will definitely see you as a fool, so he simply purchased clothes that could be worn in all seasons. On cold days, he added a trench coat; on regular days, he just wore a jacket. Others wouldn’t be dumb enough to question why he’s dressed that way...
"But do you have to let Belmod join our plan?"
After learning the ins and outs of the matter from Fang Zheng, Little Ai became even more worried.
"Even if she can’t tell us the whereabouts of the Black Organization’s boss due to ’settings,’ we can still find other ways, right? Didn’t I see you introducing a very powerful mind reader before?"
"It’s Psychological Grasp, she’s a Psychic User."
Fang Zheng simply replied.
"Don’t underestimate her ability; it’s not just about reading minds. She can alter others’ memories and thoughts at will. To put it simply, she just needs to meet you for a minute or less, and you and Akemi will forget you’re sisters, starting over as strangers."
"...that terrifying?"
Upon hearing this, Little Ai’s complexion changed instantly.
"Of course, the ability itself is quite terrifying. But she’s a person with a strong sense of justice, so you don’t have to worry about her abusing her power. However, the unfortunate part is that coming here won’t help, because this world doesn’t have such a Special Ability Attribute Level, so even if she came to this world, she’d only become an ordinary person unable to use her ability—oh, by the way, her physical strength is extremely weak, she belongs to the type that puffs for half an hour after running five minutes, so you could say without her ability, she’s weaker than ordinary people."
"No way."
Faced with this fact, Little Ai was stunned.
"I don’t think she looks fat; she’s about the same as an ordinary female middle school student."
"Actually, she’s a complete sports idiot with no athletic cells."
Fang Zheng waved his hand.
"As for Belmod, you don’t need to worry. It’s best if she complies. Of course, we can’t rely solely on her, but if she can help, that’s naturally for the best."
Fang Zheng’s requirement for Belmod is actually quite simple, and that is to have Belmod reveal clues about the Black Organization to Conan as much as possible, helping Conan discover and find the Black Organization’s lair as early as possible. As for how to do it, Belmod can decide for herself.
Since it’s been determined capture and interrogation won’t work for getting a confession, Fang Zheng can only hope Conan will give some effort as the protagonist.
Fang Zheng also thought about directly bringing Belmod back for Conan to interrogate, yet he considered it carefully and felt the risk was too high. After all, this is a world of deduction; if Conan directly asks, it wouldn’t be called deduction. Plus, it’s still fine if Belmod mentions it in front of Conan, but if she can’t say anything, Fang Zheng would have to explain everything to Conan...that’s trouble.
He really doesn’t want to tell Conan the reason he can solve cases is because he’s the protagonist, with deaths following him wherever he goes and every criminal deliberately covering up and engaging in a battle of wits with him...
Conan would definitely collapse on the spot upon hearing this.
Even if Belmod’s limitations mean she can’t directly tell Conan the address with a code, at least it accelerates the main plot. After all, Conan has been running for twenty years, and there may not even be twenty episodes related to the main plot...
"Riiiiing."
Just then, the phone rang. Fang Zheng glanced at the phone then answered it, hearing Conan’s voice come through.
"Where exactly are you?"
"I’m at home, about to go to sleep."
Hearing Conan’s voice, Fang Zheng chuckled.
"What’s up?"
"You’re asking me what’s up? Not long after you left, Captain Ghost was murdered! Everyone thinks you did it!"
"Oh."
"Oh?"
"What else? If you can’t find the real killer, it just means you’re incompetent. If you do find the real killer, then I won’t have to take the blame, right?"
"......"
Hearing Fang Zheng’s reply, Conan almost choked on the other side. Obviously it was you who disappeared inexplicably, how is it my fault for being incompetent? If I could beat you, I would...well, I can’t beat you.
"But how on earth did you leave?"
Indeed, that’s the reason Conan called Fang Zheng. He couldn’t comprehend how Fang Zheng managed to leave the yacht without a trace. Originally, Conan thought Fang Zheng disguised himself as someone else and hid in the cabin, but after searching every corner of the cabin, even finding the real killer who killed Captain Ghost, he didn’t find Fang Zheng, so he had to surrender and make the call—only to find out that Fang had already returned home and gone to bed?
Without figuring out his method, Conan thinks he won’t be able to sleep tonight!!
"Hehe."
Upon hearing Conan’s question, Fang Zheng chuckled.
"Take a guess."
After saying this, he decisively hung up the phone.
Tonight, Conan doesn’t plan on sleeping.

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