It's Already Over!

"It's already fused? What do you mean?" Tang Ze tightened his grip on the wine glass.

"Literally," Lavenza took another glass and poured himself some wine. "You're someone who knows the plot, so you understand what it's like when the cognitive world completely enters reality. And this detective world—

"Time is chaotic, high schoolers investigate murder cases, crime scene photos are plastered on the front page, people can smash concrete with their bare hands, and any ordinary person would kill without hesitation… Can this really be called the real world?"

Tang Ze swirled his wine glass and pondered.

P5 inherited a fine tradition from the series, featuring branching endings. Besides the standard, epic good ending, P5 also offered a bad ending where the protagonist colludes with the main boss.

In the bad ending, the world isn't truly destroyed, but it completely becomes a manipulated chessboard. The protagonist, lost in the game of being a secret vigilante, becomes a false hero of justice praised by everyone.

From this perspective, you have to admit, it really fits the vibe.

The strange detective rules of the Conan world, the timeline perpetually stuck within a year, and various physics-defying phenomena… This was originally a manga world that wasn't very realistic.

"You mean, Conan's world was always very idealistic. So, the cognitive world no longer exists?" Tang Ze asked uncertainly.

Good heavens, it's like he just finished the opening plot, gleefully preparing to become a phantom thief, only for the world to tell him it's already over!

"Not exactly, but the boundaries are very blurred. It's possible that abilities from both worlds could cross over. After all, someone can shatter a load-bearing pillar with one punch, so there's no reason you can't have something special. If I had to say, they can't be separated, and there's no need to distinguish them. They are all part of the world." Lavenza also picked up his wine glass and took a sip.

That's truly impressive…

It seems the cognitive world still exists, and the fundamental rules still apply, but it's likely vastly different from the setting he remembered.

And in the real world, as long as it doesn't violate the Conan world's logic, he might also possess abilities usable only in the cognitive world, like climbing a tower with bare hands, a third eye, or plucking someone's eyeball off their shoulder with a flip?

…Never mind, that's a bit brutal. A palm strike would be better. The Conan-style palm strike breaks all laws.

"I understand. Our Conan world is like this. Now I completely get it," Tang Ze nodded incessantly. "So, what should my goal be now?"

"If you don't know the answer, then I can't possibly know it either." Lavenza no longer answered directly, engaging in wordplay for the first time. "Your fate is full of twists and turns, it has left the cradle. Will you follow it and protect it, or change it and destroy it? This is no longer a game or a manga; this is your new life. You must find the answer yourself."

Tang Ze put down his empty wine glass and fell silent.

Honestly, with two scripts each going their own way, could he even find a unified ultimate goal? Tang Ze felt lost.

But Lavenza was right. With supernatural powers in his left hand and two scripts in his right, he now held the initiative, whether to actively throw himself into the vortex or to actively escape it.

Lavenza didn't disturb his thoughts. He simply picked up the bottle and poured him more Bourbon whiskey.

When the glass was full, Tang Ze slowly found some direction. He broke into a wide smile, his eyes curving, much like a villain's.

Lavenza, observing the change in his expression, subtly leaned back, wanting to distance himself from this guy whose face clearly screamed, "I want to cause trouble."

"I get it. I have to get through my damn probation period and lay low until it's over, right? But Lavenza," Tang Ze raised his glass, looking at Lavenza with accusatory eyes, "Didn't you promise not to be a riddle-man?"

Lavenza also picked up the wine glass in front of him and retorted, "Then what did you think of my lines just now?"

"Alright, they were still pretty cool."

"Thank you for the compliment. Cheers."

The two glasses clinked crisply.

Tang Ze downed the whiskey in his glass. Before he could savor the taste, he plunged back into the dark, deep dreamscape.

"Hey, hey, Ran, Ran!"

After calling out several times and seeing his friend still lost in thought, Sonoko Suzuki waved her hand in front of her.

"Ah! Sonoko, what is it?" Ran Mouri startled awake, blinking as she looked up.

"Honestly, Ran, why have you been spacing out all day?" Sonoko Suzuki turned and patted her desk. "I saw you weren't paying attention in class this morning."

"Shinichi hasn't shown up since we left the amusement park yesterday, and he didn't come to school this morning either."

Sonoko Suzuki waved dismissively. "Oh, he probably got caught up in a case again."

"But his phone isn't going through, and there's been no news…"

"Kudo is a busy man, the 'savior of the Japanese police,' after all. When he gets into a really complex case, he forgets about everything else, maybe he forgot to check his phone? Don't worry about him." Sonoko Suzuki waved the topic away and excitedly shared some news she had just heard. "I heard there's a new transfer student joining us today, and he's really handsome!"

"Transfer student?" Ran Mouri, who didn't have much of a reaction to handsome guys, focused on the first part. "A student transferring in the middle of the semester, that's quite rare…"

Sonoko Suzuki clasped her hands together, lost in her own daydreams, continuing her thoughts about the handsome guy. "My youth is incomplete without meeting a handsome and gentle school heartthrob on a campus path covered in cherry blossoms. I never expected to fulfill my girlish dream in the second year of high school. Just thinking about it makes me feel wonderful!"

Accustomed to her friend's fangirling, Ran Mouri didn't disturb her happy fantasy and looked down at her phone again.

Shinichi still hadn't replied.

The vague unease she had felt since yesterday afternoon remained high in her chest. She sent Shinichi another email, urging him to call back as soon as possible.

"Ding~ Ding~ Ding~ Ding~"

Accompanied by the school bell, Tang Ze, carrying his bag, walked into the second-year Class B classroom behind the teacher.

Turning to face the students, Tang Ze identified the sparkling Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri behind her in an instant.

Their features were too distinctive.

The teacher beside him wrote his name in Chinese characters on the blackboard and introduced him, "This is Tang Ze Zhao. He will be joining our class starting today. I hope everyone will get along well."

"My name is Tang Ze Zhao. I'm from Kyoto. Please take care of me," Tang Ze said, lowering his eyes and bowing slightly.

"Wow… is he a half-blood?" Sonoko Suzuki clutched her collar. "He has blue eyes too!"

"Keep your voice down, Sonoko." Seeing Tang Ze look towards Sonoko Suzuki, clearly having heard her excited voice, Ran Mouri nudged her best friend's back awkwardly.

Tang Ze smiled at Sonoko Suzuki, showing no signs of being bothered, which made Ran Mouri feel he was truly easy to get along with.

Tang Ze, of course, didn't mind.

Rather, the two innocent high school girls, whose first impressions could be easily improved with a few smiles, had arrived at the perfect time.

His perfect main quest entry points had arrived!