I'm in Conan, I'm not a gangster

Chapter 750 I hate bad teammates, so... clear the field!
Just moments before Shiraishi E and Conan stepped into the thick fog of London, in a core space suspended above the torrent of data, a series of urgent alarms suddenly flashed in the operation log of the artificial intelligence Noah's Ark:
"Beep beep beep—Unknown data file intrusion detected... File format unrecognized... Deep scan and analysis in progress..."

Before this tiny ripple could spread, it was temporarily masked by a much larger stream of data.

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Passing through the thick, damp fog that smelled of coal smoke, Shiraishi E and Conan stepped onto the solid, slightly uneven stone path.

The scene before me suddenly opened up; it was London in 1888, as night fell.

Dim gaslights struggled to cast a yellowish glow through the thick fog, outlining the silhouettes of the Victorian buildings lining both sides of the street—narrow windows, rough brick walls, and those iconic bald windows—all bearing the marks of the era.

Besides the two of them, the other eight players also solidified their figures in the mist, looking at this strange yet real world with curiosity and tension.

Conan, like a bird released from its cage, excitedly looked around and couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow! This is the Victorian London described in the books! Shiraishi, look at these buildings, the details, the atmosphere—it's so characteristic of the era!"

Shiraishi E yawned, with a "nothing special" expression on her face, and complained: "Special features? What special features? If you buy a plane ticket and fly to London now, you can see large areas of these old houses."

"More than a hundred years have passed, and apart from a few more skyscrapers in the city center, London's urban landscape has remained largely unchanged."

"I bet even the house at 221B Baker Street, where Sherlock Holmes lived, was a model that was scanned directly from the real museum."

Conan opened his mouth, thought about it carefully, and realized that it seemed to be true. Half of his nostalgia was instantly punctured, and he could only say sullenly, "Can't you... can't you stop being so discouraging and just immerse yourself in and enjoy the game?"

Shiraishi E grinned and said matter-of-factly, "Commenting is one of the most important ways I enjoy games!"

Conan was speechless, choked by his powerful logic. After his meddling, the surrounding environment did indeed lose some of its mystery and gained more of the feel of a "tourist attraction".

He shook his head, refocusing his attention on the task at hand, and after looking around, asked, "Alright, enough joking. We're in, so what's next? What should we do?"

Shiraishi E gestured in a direction with her thumb and said lazily, "What else could we be doing? Of course, we're going to find your dad... oh no, I mean, we're going to report to the great detective who lives on Baker Street—Mr. Sherlock Holmes."

Conan's face instantly fell, and he said plaintively, "Shiraishi! Please don't bring this up again! If you keep talking about it, you'll ruin the last bit of hope and fantasy I have left!"

Shiraishi E laughed heartily and patted him on the back: "I'm helping you get used to it in advance, to face reality, so you won't be too shocked when you see 'familiar faces' later."

Just as the two were joking with each other, suddenly, from the depths of a darker, narrower alley in the distance, came an extremely shrill female scream, shattering the silence of the night!
"Oh no!" Conan's expression changed drastically, his detective instincts instantly putting him into focus. "It's a plot trigger!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already shot off like an arrow towards the direction from which the sound came.

The other players also heard the scream, realized that a key event in the game had occurred, and quickly came to their senses, following Conan and Shiraishi E as they ran over.

Conan was the first to turn the corner and rush into the alleyway filled with the smell of blood and filth.

In the dim light, a tall man in a dark cloak was seen leaning over a middle-aged woman lying on the ground. A cold glint flashed in his hand, as if he was about to disembowel the victim.

"Jack the Ripper!!" Conan exclaimed in shock.

The players who arrived shortly after also witnessed this bloody and horrifying scene, and gasps and gasps of shock erupted from the crowd.

The cloaked man—Jack the Ripper—noticed the sudden appearance of so many people and immediately abandoned his actions. He stood up abruptly, turned around without hesitation, and fled into the depths of the alley!

Conan instinctively twisted his foot, instantly activating his power-enhancing shoes, and kicked hard at a piece of gravel on the ground!
However, the expected scene of rocks whistling through the air did not appear. Instead, he clutched his foot and cried out in pain—his high-tech equipment had obviously failed in the game world.

"Pfft—" Shiraishi E couldn't help but laugh as she watched from the side. "Big shrew, I already told you this is a virtual game, your cheat items won't work anymore."

As he spoke, he bought a handgun from the bandit's online store.

A gleaming, vintage-style revolver instantly appeared in his hand.

"In crucial moments, you still need to look at this!"

He raised his hand, aimed at the fleeing cloaked figure, and pulled the trigger without hesitation! "Bang! Bang!"

Two crisp gunshots echoed through the narrow alley.

The bullet clearly hit its target. Jack the Ripper staggered and let out a muffled groan, but he didn't fall. Instead, he endured the excruciating pain and continued at full speed as he turned into a smaller fork in the road ahead.

Conan and Shiraishi E immediately gave chase.

However, when they rushed into that fork in the road, they were stunned—it turned out to be a dead end!

On the left and right sides were bare, high walls without any doors or windows. The bloodstains on the ground extended all the way to this point, and then eerily stopped, as if the wounded murderer had evaporated into thin air.

Conan followed the trail of blood to the end of the alley in disbelief, touching the cold, damp wall with his hand, and exclaimed in shock, "How is this possible?! He was clearly shot, but the blood trail ends here... Where did he go? Did he walk through the wall?"

Shiraishi E wasn't surprised at all. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, laughing, "What's so strange about that? It's just game mechanics. NPCs can just disappear whenever they want; there's no need for logic."

"Besides, if Jack the Ripper is taken down by two shots in the first act, how are we supposed to continue the game's storyline that lasts for several hours? We can't just stand there staring at his corpse, can we?"

Conan was taken aback when he heard this. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that what Shiraishi E said was absolutely correct. He couldn't refute her at all and could only accept this setting helplessly.

The echoes of the gunshot still seemed to reverberate in the damp air. The mystery of Jack the Ripper's disappearance remained unsolved, but Conan's attention was first drawn to the revolver in Ei Shiraishi's hand.

“Shiraishi…” Conan’s eyes widened, his voice filled with disbelief, “Where…where did you get this pistol?!” Upon hearing this, Shiraishi Ei nimbly twisted her wrist, and the revolver spun a few times on her fingertips before she firmly grasped it.

With an innocent, matter-of-fact expression on his face, he said, "Huh? This? It's the initial equipment you come with. What, didn't the system give you anything when you came in?"

His gaze swept over Conan and the other players who had gathered around, as if wondering why they were making such a fuss.

"Born with a handgun?!"

These words were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, instantly stirring up a huge uproar among the players.

Conan and the other eight players were stunned. They instinctively searched their entire bodies—pockets, waists, backs… However, apart from the rough cloth clothes they were wearing that matched the era, they couldn’t even find a decent knife.

"That's not fair! This is so unfair!!" Conan couldn't help but shout, his face full of frustration: "Why is it only you who has it? Is it some kind of randomly assigned lucky item?"

Shiraishi E shrugged, a smug smile playing on her lips, and said, "That just means I'm a tiny bit luckier than you guys."

Other players also became agitated and began complaining about the unfairness of the game mechanics, creating a noisy scene.

Just then, an arrogant voice forcefully interrupted, breaking the chaotic scene.

It was none other than Hideki Moroboshi, whose grandfather was the deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Department.

He swaggered up to Shiraishi E, chin slightly raised, and in an almost commanding tone, stretched out his hand: "Hey! You civilian over there, hand over that gun! This kind of powerful weapon isn't something someone of your status is qualified to use!"

Upon hearing this, Conan's heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself, "Oh no! Has this kid gone mad?! How dare he talk to Shiraishi like that?"

He knew Shiraishi E's impulsive and never-say-die nature all too well, so he quickly stepped forward to try and smooth things over, advising Shiraishi E, "Shiraishi, don't take it to heart. He's just a kid, doesn't know any better, and speaks without thinking..."

However, Conan's attempts to dissuade him only angered Hideki Moroboshi.

He turned his attention to Conan, yelling angrily, "Hey! What are you muttering about, you little brat? Do you think you're so great? Daring to lecture me?"

Faced with this provocation, Shiraishi E didn't get angry but laughed instead, a smile carrying a chilling hint of amusement: "Heh, interesting. I admire your arrogant and fearless attitude... Please keep it up!"

"Wait! Shiraishi!" Conan realized what he was about to do and exclaimed in surprise, trying to stop him.

But it's too late.

Before she could finish speaking, Shiraishi E had already raised her hand and pulled the trigger! "Bang!" A crisp gunshot rang out, and the bullet accurately struck Moroboshi Hideki in the chest.

Hideki Moroboshi's body stiffened abruptly. He looked down in disbelief at the spot where he had been shot, then looked up at E Shiraishi in astonishment.

Immediately afterwards, his body began to emit streaks of white light, a signature effect of a player being eliminated.

"You...you dare...how dare you?!" Hideki Moroboshi was both shocked and furious, pointing at E Shiraishi, unable to speak coherently.

He never expected that the other party would actually dare to shoot him!
"You bastard! Do you know who his grandfather is?! You've gotten yourself into big trouble!!" Another player, who looked like a son of a high-ranking official, jumped out in shock and anger, pointing at Shiraishi Ei and shouting at her.

His response was to raise his gun again without hesitation.

"boom!"

Another gunshot rang out, and the second son of a high-ranking official was also forcibly logged out of the game amidst a white light, his face filled with disbelief.

“I have no interest in knowing who his grandfather is,” Shiraishi E said, blowing away the non-existent gunpowder smoke from the muzzle of her gun, her tone as indifferent as if she were discussing the weather. “All I know is that it’s better to get rid of teammates like you who only know how to shout and yell because of your background and who will mostly drag us down at crucial moments.”

His gaze swept over the remaining players who were still terrified, and finally landed on Conan. "This game is enough for me and Conan to complete."

Upon hearing this, Conan's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly understood Shiraishi E's intention. He hurriedly shouted, "Stop! Shiraishi! Don't do this! We can cooperate..."

Unfortunately, his advice was ignored once again.

“Bang bang bang bang—!”

The continuous gunfire, like a sonata of death, echoed fiercely in the narrow alleyway.

Shiraishi's movements were as fast as lightning, without the slightest hesitation. Her revolver spat fire, "sending" the remaining players who were trying to escape or standing still out of the game one by one.

In the blink of an eye, the alleyway, which had been somewhat crowded just moments before, became completely empty.

Only Shiraishi E and Conan, standing beside him with a shocked and helpless expression, remained.

As if to announce the results of this brutal purge, in the distance, London's iconic Big Ben began to chime heavily and loudly, one chime after another striking the hearts of the two men.

On the clock face, the number that originally represented fifty players was now rapidly decreasing like a death countdown. Finally, the huge hand stopped steadily on the cold number 42.

The tolling of the bell clearly reveals a fact: in this game where Japan's future is at stake, only 42 players remain.

(End of this chapter)