Offline Solo Kill

"By the way, Little Ai, did you like the gift I gave you last night?"

Before heading out, Guchuan ruffled Little Ai's fluffy hair.

"It was okay." Little Ai replied expressionlessly.

"Little Ai, you're being tsunde—"

"I liked it a lot!" Little Ai cut off Guchuan's big mouth.

She was Haibara... no! She was Shiho Miyano, not some tsundere little girl.

"How much did you like it?" Guchuan pressed on.

"Not that mu—"

Little Ai instinctively started acting tough, but when she saw Guchuan about to open his mouth again, she instantly changed what she was about to say.

"I liked it very much."

"I don't believe you."

"Believe my ass!" Unable to endure it any longer, Little Ai kicked Guchuan in the leg.

Why are you so annoying?

Even after being kicked, Guchuan was still asking whether Little Ai's foot hurt.

"Is your leg made of iron?" Little Ai sat on the floor, clutching her foot as tears glimmered in her eyes.

"It actually is." Guchuan rolled up his pant leg, revealing a layer of iron plating.

He had originally prepared that plating for Gin, but Little Ai ended up experiencing it first.

Little Ai fell silent.

Who are you guarding against with all that metal?

Little Ai sulked off to the side, unwilling to pay Guchuan any attention.

Guchuan had no choice but to pick her up and spend quite a while coaxing her.

"Don't be mad. I'll take you out to have some fun."

Carrying Little Ai outside, Guchuan mounted the Harley Motorcycle under her baffled gaze.

Beep beep~

Beep beep~

"Your phone keeps ringing," Little Ai said.

With no other choice, Guchuan took out his phone and glanced at it.

Gin: The Organization's code-named members are making a deal at Mantendo. You're responsible for support.

After glancing at the message, Guchuan stuffed the phone back into his pocket. My salary hasn't even come through yet. Why should I work for you?

"Little Ai, get on!"

"Come on, Little Ai. Let's play a fighting game. Watch big bro utterly destroy you."

Guchuan excitedly pulled Little Ai over to an arcade machine. Little Ai gave him a bored look. What was so fun about this kind of game?

"Come on, come on."

Guchuan controlled his character and launched an attack on Little Ai's.

Little Ai's expression turned serious as she controlled her character to face Guchuan. After a few probing exchanges, she finally realized that Guchuan was complete trash. One move—KO.

What was with all that bragging? He was just a weakling.

"Again, again. I just slipped up last time," Guchuan said unwillingly.

"Fine." Little Ai did not refuse.

She rather liked the feeling of utterly crushing Guchuan.

After several rounds, Little Ai used all sorts of methods to beat Guchuan down in spectacular fashion.

Putting down the controller, Guchuan lowered his head and looked silently at Little Ai.

"Little Ai, you know this is my first time playing this kind of game. Of course I can't compare to kids like you who play all the time. Besides, esports belong to the young. It's perfectly normal for an elderly esports player like me to lose to you."

Guchuan gave a logical, well-founded analysis of why he had lost. Little Ai gave a disdainful smile.

"Is that so? Grandpa Guchuan, nineteen years old."

In a fit of exasperation, Guchuan messed up Little Ai's hair. Little Ai rolled her eyes, silently cursing Guchuan for being childish.

"Mr. Guchuan, you're here too."

While Guchuan and Little Ai were fooling around, Ran walked over with Conan.

"Miss Mouri." Guchuan greeted her.

Conan looked awkwardly at Guchuan, unsure how he should apologize to him.

"Little Ai insisted on coming here to play games, so I had no choice but to bring her." Guchuan pushed Little Ai forward.

"Hehe, that's right," Little Ai said with a sweet smile.

Hehe, it's not like I enjoy video games the way some lousy but game-obsessed 'elementary schooler' does.

"We came because a game supervised by my dad is about to be released."

"A game supervised by Mr. Mouri? That's really impressive."

Guchuan's polite manner felt unfamiliar to Little Ai. It was almost as if he had become a different person.

"Want to play a game together?" Guchuan invited.

"Sure," Ran readily agreed.

"Conan and I will team up. Miss Mouri and Little Ai can be together," Guchuan suggested.

He remembered that when Conan and Ran had played games before, Ran seemed to have won. Guchuan liked stomping noobs, so he chose Conan.

Grinning from ear to ear, Guchuan walked over to the console and eagerly called Conan over.

"Conan, come on."

"Uh, okay."

Seeing Guchuan's enthusiasm, Conan felt somewhat ashamed.

Guchuan clearly hasn't taken what happened last time to heart. I'm the only one who's been hung up on it. Compared to him, I really am petty!

Guchuan looked at Conan with a smile, already unable to wait to stomp a noob.

Meanwhile, Ran and Little Ai had already finished a round. Little Ai's character had suppressed Ran's the entire match, only for Ran to pull off a desperate comeback at the end.

"Again!" Little Ai said, unconvinced.

Luck. It was all luck.

"Sure." Ran happily started another round.

The exact same thing happened again, and Little Ai was overturned once more.

"Again!"

Guchuan's expression also grew darker and darker as he played against Conan.

Am I really that much of a noob?

Seeing the Game Over message on the screen, Guchuan's competitive spirit flared up again.

"Again!"

Conan, giving it his all, failed to notice that Guchuan's expression was turning strange. He remained focused on controlling his character, enjoying the thrill of victory.

"One more round. But this time, I want to win." Guchuan pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Conan.

Conan swallowed. They were playing just fine—why did he suddenly pull out a gun?

And in front of so many people... Is he having another episode?

Little Ai, who had just lost another round, happened to see the scene. The corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily. Sure enough, this 'elementary schooler' was such a sore loser that it was just...

"Big brother is such a loser. He can't stand losing, so he's using a toy gun to threaten someone," Little Ai announced loudly.

Only after hearing that it was a fake gun did the people around them relax.

After all, no one would use a real gun to kill someone in public. Nor would they shoot a child with no fighting ability, much less kill someone for something as absurd as being unable to accept a loss.

But Conan did not see it that way.

He knew Guchuan really had a gun, and that his mental state was far from normal.

"Guchuan, don't joke around," Conan said, his voice trembling.

"I just want to win. What's wrong with that?!" Guchuan said excitedly. Conan's body was shaking, while Little Ai at the side kept spouting nonsense.

"The two of them are acting so convincingly. That little boy's trembling looks completely real."

"Yeah, I didn't expect Conan to have such a talent for acting." Ran spoke with satisfaction.

Hehe. Conan's mouth twitched.

Under immense pressure, Conan made one wrong move and lost the game.

"Conan, your gaming skills are pretty average. You need more practice." Guchuan finally felt satisfied.

He pulled the trigger, and flames burst from the muzzle. Guchuan used it to burn away the lines on his clothes.

Conan felt like an idiot.