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The next morning.
Yang Tao, who had spent the night digging through walls and shelves of miscellaneous items on Level 1, pushed open the wooden door and returned to the Overworld.
"This feeling of watching my energy value rise is truly addictive, but the efficiency of digging walls is just too low..."
In six hours, he had gained just under ten thousand energy points.
However, he did get a lot of shelves and pipes. He walked over to the furnace and shoved all the iron items into it.
"Why can't wrenches be burned? They're made of iron, aren't they?"
Yang Tao was quite helpless about this; some smaller or low-quality items simply couldn't be smelted or exchanged for energy points, which thwarted his plan of buying nails to burn iron pellets.
He organized these temporarily useless miscellaneous items and threw them into the 'trash bin,' where all the 'miscellaneous items' that were worthless to him were piled up.
Glancing at Eric, who was still sound asleep, Yang Tao didn't wake him. Instead, he took out two apples and placed them on the makeshift dining table constructed from wooden planks.
There was also some [Gray Almond Water] on the table.
'This time, I'll go to the Detective Conan World and buy a pot for cooking. Drinking Almond water every day isn't a long-term solution.'
Mainly, he also wanted to eat something.
Not feeling hungry didn't mean he wasn't craving food.
Pushing open the wooden door leading to the Detective Conan World, Yang Tao stepped inside.
As soon as he entered, he felt something was off, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. He went up the stairs to the second floor of the detective agency and knocked on the door.
Thump-thump...
"Coming, just a moment!"
Ran's voice came from inside, followed by footsteps. Soon, the door opened, revealing her youthful and beautiful figure.
"Hello, Ran. Is Shinichi home?"
Ran was a little surprised to see Yang Tao, but quickly smiled and said, "Mr. Yang Tao, Shinichi is home. He's eating right now. Please come in and have a seat."
Yang Tao nodded slightly and walked into the room. Last night, Shinichi had chatted with Eric in his space for a long time, looking through the notebook that recorded various information, and only reluctantly left at two in the morning.
He walked into the living room.
Sitting on the sofa, Ran walked over to pour him a glass of water. Yang Tao quickly said, "Ran, You don't have to be so polite. I'm already very sorry for coming so early and interrupting your meal."
Ran smiled and said, "Mr. Yang Tao, You're Shinichi's friend, so there's no need to be so polite. I'll go eat first, please wait a moment."
"Okay, You go eat first."
Ran turned and left. As soon as she entered the dining room, Shinichi ran out from inside. Seeing Yang Tao, he said with a somewhat helpless expression, "Why did You come so early?"
"I came as soon as I finished my work. I didn't think too much about it. I'm really sorry."
Ran looked at Shinichi, who had run out, and quickly asked, "Shinichi, are You full?"
"Yes, Ran, I'm full. You go eat first. I'll talk to Brother Yang Tao about something."
Perhaps it was the influence of the world, but in Ran's perception, it seemed perfectly normal for a seven or eight-year-old child like Shinichi to have a friend in his twenties.
"Then I'll go eat first."
With that, Ran left.
Mouri Kogoro's complaints also came from the dining room: "That brat Shinichi, he just took a few bites and ran off. Next time he does that, I'll have to teach him a good lesson."
"Dad, Shinichi's friend is here. He probably wanted to greet him. Just let him eat more at noon."
"Hmph, that brat..."
Sitting in the living room, Yang Tao heard the father and daughter's conversation clearly. He smiled and looked at Shinichi, whispering, "Mouri Kogoro still cares about You quite a bit, doesn't he? What do You think, if he knew your true identity, would he kill You?"
Shinichi heard Yang Tao say that Mouri Kogoro would kill him and asked in confusion, "Why would Uncle Mouri kill me if he knew my identity?"
"Put yourself in his shoes. If You had a daughter in the future and she was deceived by her boyfriend before she was an adult, showering and sleeping together, and even playing with her feelings, what would You do?"
Shinichi's body trembled slightly. Let alone Mouri Kogoro, even he would have to consider how to make such a person disappear from the world without a trace.
However, he quickly reacted and lowered his voice, arguing, "I'm just a child right now... And when did I ever play with Ran's feelings?"
"Oh? Doesn't hiding your identity count as deception? You're making Ran wait bitterly at home for Shinichi, who she doesn't know when will appear. Isn't that playing with her feelings?"
Shinichi had nothing to say and could only change the subject, saying, "Oh, right, weren't You going to buy pumpkins? Let's go quickly."
Yang Tao smiled and said nothing more. He stood up and walked towards the door. Shinichi ran into the kitchen, greeted the two, and then left with Yang Tao.
There weren't many pedestrians on the way to the vegetable store, perhaps because this area wasn't a true residential district.
"By the way, Shinichi, don't You have school today?"
"No, we're on summer vacation. Today, I'm also going to the beach for a vacation with Uncle Mouri and Ran."
Yang Tao stopped walking and turned to look at Shinichi upon hearing this.
Shinichi looked at Yang Tao, who had stopped, in confusion and asked, "What's wrong?"
"You Japanese don't obey international law for summer vacation?"
"What do You mean?"
Yang Tao finally realized why he felt something was wrong—it was the time.
The night Kaito Kid stole the dark star was clearly stated as April 1st, April Fool's Day, but it had only been two days, and You were already on summer vacation?
"What's the date today?"
Shinichi paused and said, "July 22nd. Why?"
"Then what was the date when Kaito Kid stole the dark star?"
"April 1st!"
Looking at Shinichi, who hadn't noticed anything unusual, Yang Tao finally understood the horror of this world.
The timeline of this world was completely messed up, with no logic whatsoever.
"Then how many days have we known each other?"
Shinichi paused, then said, "Three days... No, how... Time! How is that possible!!!"
Shinichi stood there like an idiot, muttering "impossible" repeatedly.
Yang Tao directly reached out and pulled him up, then led him to an empty alley, opened the wooden door, and brought him back to the Overworld.
"Hey, sober up."
Shinichi's current state was like an NPC about to awaken in a game; memory and reality were constantly clashing.
Making it difficult for him to accept for a while.
Reason told him that three days after April 1st should be April 4th, but subconsciously, he felt that July 22nd was the true date.
"Give... give me Almond water!"
Shinichi felt his head throbbing and said in a hoarse voice.
Yang Tao didn't waste words. He directly took out a bottle of [Gray Almond Water], unscrewed it, and handed it to Shinichi. Shinichi took it and gulped down the [Gray Almond Water].
After about ten minutes, he finally regained some composure, looked up at Yang Tao, and asked, "Why? You must know why, right!"
Although it was a question, Shinichi's tone was very certain.
Yang Tao didn't hide anything. He nodded directly, looked at the eager Shinichi, and said solemnly, "Do You want to understand the meaning of life? Do You want to truly... live?"
"I want to!!"
"Welcome to the real world!"
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