Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

While driving to Beika City Hall, Fang Zheng seemed bored and somewhat uninterested.

In fact, since ”Undead of Baker Street,” Fang Zheng hadn’t really watched Conan much anymore, and the reason is that the movie has a lot to blame for.

”Undead of Baker Street” made Conan take a huge step forward in science fiction, and then take a big step back in reasoning.

Moreover, the various idiotic routines of the people in it made people speechless.

The reason President of Sindora drove Tomoki to his death was that Tomoki extracted ancestral DNA from Jack the Ripper’s leftover knife, confirming blood ties between the President and Jack the Ripper, which panicked the President, who then drove Tomoki to his death and killed the designer who obtained the DNA analysis program.

However, in Fang Zheng’s view... this is really stupid.

The knife is also just ”rumored” to be left by Jack the Ripper, couldn’t it be an heirloom passed down by the President’s ancestors back then? Then their ancestor might have been eccentric and claimed this dagger was left by Jack the Ripper, so what? Maybe their ancestor used it to cut apples back then.

Moreover, Jack the Ripper was never caught, nor did he leave any evidence behind. As the saying goes, ”a single witness cannot stand,” without comparison, how can you claim this is Jack the Ripper’s? Could he jump out of the grave to admit it himself?

Just from this, Fang Zheng confirmed that President of Sindora definitely wasn’t a descendant of Jack the Ripper; if Jack the Ripper had an IQ that low, he would have been caught by the police long ago.

In this sense, the President of Sindora is not even as good as Moriya Teiji, the latter’s symmetrical OCD is somewhat easier to understand. But the President panicking over an unconfirmable DNA test, besides saying he’s confused at his old age, there’s nothing else to say.

To put it bluntly, the whole movie felt to Fang Zheng like it was forcibly created for VR game hype, with the sci-fi elements almost completely overshadowing the detective aspect.

This made Fang Zheng greatly disappointed in this movie; he watched Conan primarily for the detective and crime-solving parts, who wants to watch sci-fi, damn it? Why not watch ”The Fifth Element” for sci-fi?

If Conan Doyle added aliens and UFOs to Sherlock Holmes, would it not be disastrous?

Since then, Fang Zheng hasn’t watched any Conan movies anymore.

Thus, when Fang Zheng arrived at Beika City Hall, he still appeared half-awake.

”Oh, Fang Zheng, you finally came!”

Seeing Fang Zheng appear, Officer Megure also breathed a sigh of relief.

”Why did you call me here?”

”The situation isn’t good now...”

According to Officer Megure, Fang Zheng learned the current development of the situation, similar to the movie, the problem now is that the whole game system has been hijacked by an AI named Noah’s Ark. Though Dr. Agasa helped to perfect the system, he is helpless against that AI, so Officer Megure thought of Fang Zheng. After all, Fang Zheng’s main task at the Metropolitan Police Department is maintaining the Skynet System, and Officer Megure thinks he must have insights in this area, therefore invited Fang Zheng to see if he can solve it.

Moreover, the person who initially pointed out the system’s security loophole was Fang Zheng, if nothing happened, everyone would just laugh at him for being overly cautious, but now people would only think Fang Zheng was farsighted.

People are just like that.

”Oh, oh, oh, Fang Zheng, you’re here.”

When Fang Zheng arrived at the control room, Dr. Agasa also breathed a sigh of relief seeing him. He has interacted with Fang Zheng quite a bit and knows this young man is quite adept at programming. Dr. Agasa himself is also strong, but being advanced in years, he lacks energy; vying for system control against an AI isn’t his forte. Previously, just breaking through the blockades nearly exhausted his energy, and honestly, he’s at a loss.

”Hello, Dr. Agasa, it’s been a while.”

Fang Zheng nodded to Dr. Agasa.

”How’s the situation now?”

”The situation is dire, and the kids are all inside...”

”The kids?”

Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow.

”I remember I specifically warned Conan about the security issues of this thing.”

”This, this...”

Facing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Dr. Agasa was also sweating, not knowing how to respond.

”Alright, let’s not bring that up, let me see the current program operations.”

Fang Zheng glanced at Yusaku Kudou standing not far away and resolutely gave up; he isn’t Conan’s dad, let him worry about his own kid, what does it have to do with him?

”Okay.”

Dr. Agasa then hurriedly stood up to make space for Fang Zheng and quickly explained the current situation. Fang Zheng nodded, then began examining the whole program... truth be told, doing this blindly would indeed be troublesome, but Fang Zheng knows the plot. He knows that the AI named ”Noah’s Ark” has infiltrated by disguising as one of the participants, thus all he needs to do is find the disguised guy, then confine and eliminate him to solve the problem.

”Half an hour to resolve the issue.”

”Whew......”

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s response, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief. Yusaku Kudou glanced at Fang Zheng, then turned his head — his son was fine, so it was time for him to start working.

”Well, let’s proceed with finding the murderer of Mr. Kemura.”

As Conan’s father, Yusaku Kudou naturally had strong reasoning skills. He quickly began analyzing and deducing on the spot, figuring out how the murderer brought the weapon into the venue, how Mr. Kemura was killed, and then compared the found weapon with fingerprints at the scene. The murderer turned out to be — President of Sindora!!

However, facing Yusaku Kudou’s accusation, the President of Sindora naturally was......

”Nonsense! I will protest to the Government of Japan! Besides, I have no motive to do these things!”

”Uh......”

Upon hearing the President of Sindora’s words, everyone was momentarily at a loss for what to say, and at this time, Fang Zheng’s voice sounded again.

”Whatever you want.”

”What?”

”If you want to protest, go protest. As for the motive? You tell us, we’re not interested in guessing. President of Sindora, what you need to do now is explain to the police why your fingerprints are on the murder weapon. As for why you committed the crime, what’s that got to do with us? We’re the police, we only care about evidence. Motive? That’s something detectives look for.”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng tapped the keyboard and scoffed.

In fact, many cases are really like this. Perhaps people who have read too many detective novels think that every time a case is solved, they must find the suspect’s motive, but many times the police catch the criminal first and then ask about the motive.

That’s right, police solving cases doesn’t fundamentally need to identify the motive for committing a crime, as long as the method of the crime is clear, and there is evidence pointing to the criminal, then people can be arrested.

As for why you committed the crime? You tell us?

”You, how dare you speak to me like this?!”

”Why not?”

Fang Zheng glanced at the President of Sindora and sneered.

”Your company may have to apply for bankruptcy protection tomorrow. To someone who is about to become a pauper, possibly in debt, what am I afraid to say? Don’t you think that after this incident, your company can escape unscathed? This is global synchronized live broadcasting. I suggest you plead guilty; at least in prison, you have a place that shelters you from wind and rain, to eat hot meals. Otherwise, you might be roaming the streets, scavenging trash.”

”You...... you......”

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s words, the President of Sindora’s face alternated between red and white, while the others remained silent; this was no longer content they could interrupt, better to pretend not to hear.

The confrontation between two giants of the business world left the minor characters shaking — they couldn’t afford to play along.

”Alright, done.”

After casually mocking the President of Sindora, Fang Zheng refocused his attention on the screen, continuing to tap the keyboard.

In the next moment, all the screens in the control room turned pitch black, and then the system rebooted. Soon, the ”eggs,” which had been transferred underground, swiftly rotated and floated upward, and the hatches opened.

Seeing this, the parents who had been sitting uneasily in their chairs rushed down, hugging their children in front of the game pods.

”You managed to regain control of the system from Noah’s Ark and forcibly reboot it?”

Dr. Agasa was astonished to witness this.

”How did you do it?”

”Simple, just process faster than it does...... alright, once it’s confirmed that all players are safe, immediately turn off the power and disconnect from the network.”

”Yes!”

As Fang Zheng stood up and stretched lazily, the President of Sindora finally confessed.

As Fang Zheng said, even if he didn’t commit murder today, just the compensation for those present would bankrupt the Sindora Company, coupled with other companies withdrawing their investments and lawsuits, even if he didn’t end up in prison, he’d be dead on the streets.

Rather than that, it’s better to retire in jail... at least meals are guaranteed.

Although in movies, in the end, Conan and others find the murder motive from the game, in Fang Zheng’s view, this is meaningless.

First of all, the jury would not use AI’s words as evidence. Secondly, the game setting is ultimately just a game setting; it’s barely an evidence. No one could possibly convict you of murder motive because an NPC in the game said so. So in Fang Zheng’s view, Conan playing detective games inside is purely a waste of time. Thus, like a parent pulling the plug on a child deeply engrossed in gaming, he decisively hit reboot.

The worst part was that they hadn’t saved their progress.

Hmm... that feeling is truly delightful.