The two characters remained like that: one lying stiffly on the ground, the other swaying around idly.
The spectators began muttering. "What's Bitou doing? Why isn't he following up? One more punch and he could send Lucas flying out of the ring."
Another person seemed to understand. "He must be waiting until the moment Lucas gets back up to deliver the final blow. That guy's nasty—out of all the ways he could win, he'll definitely pick the one that hits his opponent the hardest."
"So that's it!"
The crowd continued watching the screen, waiting for that despicable yet exhilarating final strike.
But they waited for quite a while, and it never came.
Instead, as time passed, a large "Draw" suddenly appeared on the screen.
—Time had run out. Since neither side had been completely defeated, the system ruled it a draw.
"...What the hell?!"
The onlookers erupted in anger and all turned to Bitou Kengo. If this little punk's reputation had not preceded him, they might already have rushed over to complain—he had been one hit away from victory, yet somehow it ended in a draw. It was infuriatingly frustrating.
As they looked, the person nearest to him suddenly noticed something wrong. "B-Bitou, are you okay?"
Conan was startled. His detective radar went off.
Jiang Xia immediately walked over as well.
The two circled around to the front of the game seat and saw Bitou Kengo sitting motionlessly in his chair, eyes open—he appeared to be dead already.
A body was discovered, the crowd screamed, someone called the police, Inspector Megure arrived with a large group of officers, and the junior policemen pulled out cordons and sealed off the area...
The whole sequence had been repeated hundreds, perhaps thousands of times by now, smooth and practiced.
Inside the Game