give it all to miss machima

The generator isn't nearby, so why would the Butcher be here...? Could it be that something happened to Reese?

She looked at the still unopened tunnel, hesitated for a moment, then immediately turned to find a place to hide, but...

"It will open, I promise..."

Reisen's face appeared in her mind again, and Ai couldn't help but stop in her tracks.

What should she do?

"Sir! Let's get started!"

Inside the lobby, on the Japanese police side, a police inspector anxiously whispered to Toshio Morohoshi, the highest-ranking officer present.

"The people and equipment are all in place! While there's still time, we still have a sliver of hope to rescue some of the children."

Toshio Moroboshi turned to look behind him—besides the police officers maintaining order, there was a considerable number of police officers and personnel borrowed from the fire department, technical support department, and other departments, carrying specialized equipment.

They were ready to cross the restricted area and swarm in.

Moroboshi Toshio gritted his teeth: "Have all the priority rescue targets been confirmed?"

"Don't worry, it's all been confirmed. Apart from your grandson, we've verified the identities of everyone on the list. The children of the most important guests will be our first rescue targets."

There was nothing that could be done about it. The number of professional personnel and equipment that could be mobilized in such a short time was extremely limited, and there simply wasn't enough time to forcibly dismantle more than a hundred cocoons at the same time—especially while ensuring the speed was as fast as possible.

People are equal, but the powerful and wealthy are more equal.

In the current situation, a fairer and more equitable division is necessary among these powerful figures present.

Toshio Moroboshi knew that once he gave the order, regardless of whether the rescue was successful or not, and regardless of whether the parents of the children who were judged to be more equitable would protect him afterward because of his merit in the rescue...

As long as a sufficient number of children don't get a job, he can forget about working peacefully until retirement...

But he had no choice—his grandson was also in the game.

Then, Toshio Moroboshi took a deep breath and raised his hand: "Now, immediately..."

"Get moving...ahhhhh!"

A girl's voice interrupted her.

Everyone turned their attention to the AI ​​girl again—because…a miracle had occurred!

Under the rules, she, who had been deemed incapacitated and could only struggle to crawl a few steps on the ground, was able to stand up again.

"What... what is this?"

"The server's processing speed is... is increasing exponentially!"

The technicians in front of their computer terminals stared in disbelief at the soaring data.

"What on earth is going on?! Can we stop it?!"

"No! All permissions have been overwritten! All the computation has been moved... Wait! At this rate, the computer will be overloaded!"

Dr. Agasa squeezed in front of the terminal screen, paused for a moment, then stared wide-eyed at the girl on the screen who had already taken a difficult first step.

"It's her, she's..."

Leisei stumbled and ran away like a maddened beast.

"Ai... wait for me!"

Chapter 248 Farewell and the End

It failed...

There's no escaping it...

When Ai saw the butcher appear in her field of vision, she turned and started to run away, but she knew in her heart that it was all over.

Her athletic ability was never strong to begin with. The escape skills that Leisai had, which allowed her to kite the killer to the point of being helpless, were something that even as an adult, let alone as a child, she couldn't do. The killer could catch up with her, who had no movement skills, in just a few breaths and then end everything.

So... this is my fate.

She carried the hopes of a hundred children on her shoulders, she hadn't seen her sister yet, and she hadn't settled accounts with Machima, but... everything was about to end here.

The butcher's roaring chainsaw was already approaching rapidly, followed by the sound of air being torn apart almost right next to their ears.

But... what followed was not excruciating pain, but a familiar embrace and a chilling sound of flesh being torn apart.

Xiao Ai stared blankly at the person standing close behind her.

"Lei...Se?"

"Don't worry, Ai...it's over..."

With the butcher's roar, Ai felt her body tremble slightly behind her again. Then, in a dizzying moment, she was suddenly pushed into the opened tunnel.

At the end of the scene, before Ai falls into the dark tunnel, she sees Reise kneeling on the ground, still giving her a gentle smile.

The butcher behind her was angrily lunging at her, but it was too late.

Everything was plunged into darkness.

At the same time, the two last live feeds on the large screen outside were abruptly cut off.

The entire scene was silent. Whether it was the police who were fully prepared to carry out a forced rescue or the parents who were frightened and at a loss, everyone was at a loss as to what was happening in front of them.

"Did we...we won?"

According to the game rules, one person has already won...

But... who can be sure that the terrorist who orchestrated all of this will abide by the rules she set for herself?

In this silence that makes countless people's blood pressure soar and their hearts and lungs stop, with a "bang," a "cocoon" that already represents elimination rises from the ground, spinning upwards, followed by a second, a third, and countless others.

After a brief silence, countless parents, overjoyed and weeping, bypassed the police who were no longer blocking their way, rushed onto the platform, and opened the hatch.

After seeing the children safely rescued from the game pods, countless police officers and high-ranking police officials finally breathed a sigh of relief, some even collapsing to the ground as if a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders—their official positions were finally saved.

"Looks like it's over..."

Ada relaxed slightly, lit another cigarette, took a puff, and looked at Locke, whose brows remained furrowed.

"Locke, do you... feel anything...?"

"..."

The latter remained silent for a while, and finally shook his head:

"Although it seems like everyone is happy, I still feel there's something strange about it. Compared to her madness in Roanapur, Kwanghee seems a bit too... kind-hearted this time?"

“Yes… Compared to the countless deaths and injuries in Luoanapura, not a single person died this time? If it were her, she should have suddenly appeared when everyone thought they had won and saw hope, personally crushed that hope, and then enjoyed people’s despair.”

Locke nodded in agreement.

The question remains... is about Leisai's AI. How could Kwanghee allow something that disrupts her script to exist?

He went to the tangled mess of technicians and asked about the server's condition, only to be shocked by what he learned next.

"A short circuit...and then a fire?"

Ai felt as if she had fallen into a dream, and had been falling into endless darkness for an unknown amount of time.

Finally, as light slowly appeared around her from who-knows-where, she opened her eyes again and found herself lying next to Leisai, her head resting on her lap.

"Are you awake?"

"……Um."

Ai looked around and saw only a pure white space. Clearly, this was not the real world.

That's natural; in the real world, how could she possibly rest her lap on Leisei?

"Where are we?"

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

Leisei hugged her tightly.

"Everyone's brains were burned by the powerful electric current, but I... before you died, I copied your memories and consciousness and stored them on my server..."

"...Huh?" Ai was stunned.

"You...you must remain calm. In reality—you are already dead. You are now just...a ghost made of data..."

"...I...died?" Ai Haibara stared in disbelief.

She... is dead?

Right now, she's just a fragment of memory, a piece of data stored on a server?

Ai, lost in thought, was about to say something when she noticed that Reise, who was holding her tightly, was trembling slightly. But it wasn't because she was sobbing; rather, it seemed like she was trying to suppress a laugh.

"..."( )

"I'm sorry, Ai, please forgive my selfishness, I just didn't want to... Aaaaaah!? It hurts!"

Ai released her grip on the soft flesh of the other's waist, thinking to herself that the sensation was far too realistic. She then glared at Reise, who was trying not to laugh.

"So artificial intelligence can feel pain too? Go on, where were we?"

"I know it's hard for you to accept, but you really are... Ahhh! I was wrong, I was wrong! I was just teasing you!"

After pinching Reisen, who was rolling on the ground, a few more times, Ai finally let her go. Then she stood up and looked around.

"Alright, stop teasing me. What's the situation now? We... we should have won, right?"

"We won! The rest of the kids are safe now, right?"

"Then we..."

"I'm sorry, this time it really was just my personal reason. I... wanted to spend a little more time with Ai before we parted, at least... to say goodbye properly, right? Come on~"

Leise took her hand and walked away into the distance. Ai looked closely and noticed that there seemed to be a pure white door in the distance. Because it was close to the color of the background, it was hard to spot without careful observation.

"So... what exactly happened at the very end just now?"

"It's nothing, it's just that the butcher is smarter than I thought, he didn't even try to finish me off."

Leisei said it casually.

"Fortunately, I managed to forcibly increase my computing power, break through the game program's limitations on me, and get to you in time."

"You can do that?"

"After all, I'm a one-of-a-kind artificial intelligence in this world, and... what made me do all this is actually my love for Ai~"

Chapter 249 Love and Hate, and New Fun

The sudden, direct confession left Ai momentarily stunned.

"Are you...so...enthusiastic towards all humans?"

"No, that's not true. It's only for Ai-chan. In fact, the moment I saw Ai-chan after entering the game, I decided to protect her."

Ai couldn't help but wonder, "Why... am I so special in your eyes, Reise?"

Thinking back carefully, it seemed that Leisel had deliberately chosen her from among so many children, and... there was a sense of familiarity about her.

At this moment, the two had already arrived at the door.

It was a white wooden door standing out of thin air, like Doraemon's Anywhere Door that had been painted white.

So... what's behind the door...?

As if sensing Ai's unease, Reisen stopped and then bent down to hold Ai's hands in hers.

"Because... Ai is Ai, and I don't know why, but I like you so much."

"Hey, stop teasing me."

"It's true. The love I'm talking about isn't just my love for humans, but also my love for Ai."

Seeing Reisen's burning gaze, Ai couldn't help but look away after a few seconds—she was afraid she would be melted by that loving look...

Seriously, how can artificial intelligence have such terrible eyesight...?

And why am I always getting attention from women lately? And they're all these older women who seem a little mischievous...

"I wanted to spend a long, long time with Ai, playing all sorts of games together, but unfortunately..."

Leisser's eyes shifted slightly, but then returned to their usual gentleness.

"Although we can't make a pinky promise, please promise me that we won't look back and will keep moving forward."

The next second, Reise suddenly shoved Ai hard. In surprise, Ai felt her back smash open the wooden door behind her and fall downwards.