give it all to miss machima

Chapter 246 Ai Haibara, the girl who was saved

Ai was stunned and speechless. For now, she could only put this score on Machima and find her later to settle the score together!

Of course, the most important thing right now is to win this game.

What should I do?

Ai asked—she had completely decided to let Reese, whose strength and decision-making ability were impeccable, arrange everything.

"Let's try to find a generator first, but this time... once the Butcher catches up with us, it might not be so easy to shake him off, since we're the only ones left now."

"Then...should we split up? After we find the generator, we..."

"no!"

Reise quickly interrupted Ai's thoughts, shaking her head:

“The butcher isn’t stupid. If he only saw me, he would never bother chasing me, because he knows you’re definitely taking the opportunity to repair the generator.”

Ai fell silent—indeed, judging from the previous events, the Butcher possessed considerable intelligence…

But if it were Leisai repairing the generator while she distracted the Butcher, that would be even more risky. Separating them would be too dangerous, especially since she couldn't afford to make any mistakes right now, because she had the lives of a hundred people on her shoulders...

But that means we can only pin our hopes on Reese...

"Okay, trust me, you'll be alright, everyone... will be alright!"

Leise gently rubbed Ai's furrowed brows, then picked her up and began searching for a generator.

With Ai and countless others on tenterhooks, the two cautiously searched the farm and soon found one.

But... the two hadn't been resting for long when the heartbeats gradually drew closer. Lése, who had been keeping an eye on the crows in the distance, managed to grab Ai and run into the cornfield in time. After a series of chaotic dashes and twists and turns, the increasingly close heartbeats gradually faded from their ears.

After finally getting rid of the sound of their heartbeats, the two of them, along with countless others outside, breathed a sigh of relief.

"It seems... the trail has a limited range, and the butcher's vision isn't as good as ours."

Ai calmly analyzed the situation.

"For a few seconds just now, I vaguely saw him, but he didn't notice us. He just kept his head down and followed the path we had taken... If that's the case, maybe we can win!"

"Do not."

Reisen playfully flicked Ai's nose.

"We can definitely win! Let's keep going!"

Just to be on the safe side, the two waited a while before touching the generator again. But as soon as they touched it, Xiao Ai frowned and saw that the progress bar, which was already more than halfway through, had almost reached the bottom.

"The progress bar...rew backwards?"

The two exchanged a worried glance, but could only continue repairing. Less than a minute later, crows cawed in the distance, and the two quickly left. However, when they returned a while later, the progress bar was almost completely gone, meaning they had wasted two hours in a row.

The third time, Leise and Ai repaired it for a while, then hid in a locker where they could see the generator. Then the two of them saw the Butcher come to the generator, kick it hard, and sparks flew. The speed of the generator's piston suddenly decreased.

"This guy... he can even sabotage the power plant maintenance schedule!?"

Ai was so angry she wanted to bite her teeth, while Reise looked worried.

Soon, not only them, but everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.

There were three generators left that could be repaired, but... they were all located close together. The butcher was constantly patrolling between the three generators, and as soon as he found one that was almost ready, he would kick it.

Basically, he kicks as much as the two of them repair.

He didn't bother to investigate the two people who might still be hiding nearby; he was determined to patrol back and forth and then sabotage the generator.

"How could this be?!"

Once again, things have gone back to the pre-liberation era, and Xiao Ai is so angry she's practically fuming.

"This numerical design! It's clearly designed to prevent players from winning! It's simply unsolvable!"

The high-ranking officials and nobles who had been anxiously waiting outside were now so angry that they started cursing.

In fact, many people had already been taken away by medical staff due to the emotional ups and downs and the intense stimulation. The Japanese police were also exhausted. Only the BIF and CIA personnel in the control room seemed to be a little calmer.

"What do you think you would do in this situation?" Ada asked Locke beside her, her eyes fixed on the screen without turning her head.

Locke had already taken a piece of paper and was writing and drawing on it, calculating something.

He frowned: "It's bad... The only thing I can think of is to split up. I noticed that the Butcher didn't pay much attention to the generator's startup progress bar twice, so he didn't bother with it."

"so?"

"So, I don't think the Butcher's ability to kick generators is... well... a skill with no cooldown—he can only kick a generator a limited number of times within a certain time, and I've calculated it carefully, it seems to be based on a percentage value to damage the progress bar. If two generators are damaged at the same time, he will be unable to handle one, and one of them, even if it is damaged repeatedly, will definitely have its progress bar gradually increased and then repaired..."

"Theoretically feasible... but practically it's hopeless."

Ida sighed.

"This method is based on the premise that... both people have the ability to escape the butcher's pursuit, or at least have the ability to hold off the butcher for a while."

Locke also sighed:

"Ah, the butcher isn't stupid... He knows that child is the biggest weakness. Once he sees both generators under repair, it means... the child is now completely unprotected and can be easily hunted down..."

"maybe."

Shuichi Akai stepped forward and interrupted their conversation, looking at the girl on the screen with a complicated expression.

"Even the butcher needs to gamble, to see which side is more likely to catch the prey. If he's chasing that AI girl, given her intelligence, she'll definitely try everything to stall for time, and then he'll likely win the game..."

“But what if it’s a different situation…” Ada remained expressionless.

"..."

The three fell silent—one hundred lives, each extremely valuable in every sense of the word, who would dare to gamble on that?

Locke took a deep breath: "Or... there is an even safer way."

"Found it, the entrance to the tunnel."

Leisei stopped in her tracks and suddenly spoke.

"What?" Little Ai in her arms didn't react for a moment... She was still wondering why Reise had been taking her around in places far away from the generator.

She followed the other person's gaze and saw a trapdoor that was almost completely hidden by bushes; it was very inconspicuous at first glance.

She jumped off Leisser's arms and tried to lift the sliding door, but it wouldn't budge.

"It's no use, this is completely useless..."

"Do not."

A scene that made Ai very uneasy, and even a little heartbroken, appeared—Rese's gaze towards her became increasingly gentle, and at the same time, it also had a different color, as if she had made up her mind about something.

“I’ve calculated that if we continue like this, we’ll never be able to fix the generator, and the success rate of splitting up is only 42.3%, so… this is the only option we have left.”

"But...but the tunnel isn't only for when there's only one person left..."

"It will open, I promise..."

Reise knelt down, hugged Ai tightly, pressed her face against Ai's, and whispered gently in her ear as always:

"And you have to promise me that you'll stay here and wait for it to open, then don't worry about anything else, and jump in..."

Chapter 247 Director Machima Unleashes His Power Again!

"But what about you!?"

Ai grabbed Reise's hand as she was about to leave. She realized what Reise was planning to do—the system determined that only one person could open the tunnel, which meant… Reise wanted to…

"What would happen if...you...died?"

"..."

Reisen paused for two seconds, then patted Ai's head again:

"I'm just a program, Ai. Death isn't scary for me. At most, it's just like... losing my memories in this game. That means I... won't remember you..."

"Can……"

Ai opened her mouth, but then couldn't say anything.

Yes... Compared to a hundred lives, what does it matter if it's just a memory of artificial intelligence, a sacrifice of data?

She has no right to compare the two, nor would anyone allow her to do so.

"Don't worry, even though I might not remember you, as long as the server is still running, we'll still have a chance to meet. I think... we'll still be friends."

Reise gently held Ai in her arms.

"Then... let's play games together again, the normal kind of games, I'm sure you'll like them."

"Then...it's a deal!"

"Ah."

Reisen released Ai, gave her a final, gentle kiss on the forehead, smiled at her, and then ran into the night.

The girl's emerald green eyes were filled with sorrow, yet still brimming with determination. She murmured to herself:

"I'm sorry, Ai... I..."

Waaah... No, I can't laugh out loud, the play isn't over yet!

Even those watching from the outside could feel the tragic grandeur of "Lesser's" journey.

"Such emotions and thoughts... are almost indistinguishable from those of humans..."

Judy couldn't help but sigh.

"It's unbelievable that this girl is just a program made up of a string of code..."

Meanwhile, Shuichi Akai, standing to the side, still had his brows furrowed—if this program named "Reise" was so intelligent that it could even resonate with human emotions, then… what about that butcher…?

Only two people remained on the big screen: Ai, who was hiding nervously beside the tunnel.

The other is Rese, who is heading towards death.

Many of the children's parents have already begun praying that this will all end soon!

Finally, Leise arrived at the generator and began repairs.

The butcher, who was constantly patrolling between the generators, soon arrived, accompanied by the sound of his heartbeat. He saw Leisei lurking suspiciously near the generator, and immediately pulled the roaring chainsaw, charging towards her.

Seeing this, Leisai turned and ran, but this time she didn't move and was knocked away. Then, pretending to be in a panic, she was hit by the butcher's second knife and fell to the ground.

"it's over……"

Seeing the butcher holding the sledgehammer high, seemingly about to finish her off, Leisei let out a long breath and closed her eyes.

"That's...a good ending..."

But... the hammer did not fall.

Leise opened her eyes in confusion, only to see the butcher's mocking gaze.

"……you……!?"

A flicker of fear crossed Leisser's eyes, followed by an angry shout:

"What are you waiting for! Do it! Finish me off!"

But the butcher simply put down his hammer, never looked at her again, ignored her curses, and strode away.

"Wait... this direction... it's the tunnel!"

"How is this possible! How is this possible! How could he have known!"

"No, no! Stop him!"

"No! Quick... quick, make the child hide!"

"Let me through! You bunch of tax thieves!"

As the butcher rapidly approached the unsuspecting Ai, the crowd in the hall stirred once more, while many from the BFI and CIA wore expressions of despair, mentally preparing themselves for potential repercussions and accountability.

"It seems the butcher knew the location of the tunnel all along... He miscalculated..."

"It's over...it's really over..."

Meanwhile, at Conan and Ai's group of friends, Professor Agasa, Ran Mouri, and Kogoro Mouri watched with equal tension and fear as the situation unfolded in a way that seemed almost hopeless.

And Ai, the last hope, also sensed that something was wrong—her heartbeat... was getting closer?

How could this be!?