Amidst the total darkness that shrouded the forest after the electronic devices failed, the sound of the mercenaries' footsteps approached like the ticking of a death clock. Conan stood in the center, surrounded by Dr. Agasa and the trembling children, while Hera watched the man with the electronic mask atop the mansion with piercing eyes.
"They disabled everything with a directed Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)," Conan whispered, feeling his bag. "But they made one mistake. The crystal discs don't rely on traditional electricity; they rely on trapped light."
The masked man shouted from the roof in a metallic voice: "Hand over the bag, little ones, and you will return to your homes in peace. Those discs are not toys; they are the 'souls' of OmniTech waiting to return."
The Confrontation in the Fog
"Dad! I mean... Dr. Agasa! Do you remember the Light Bomb we made for the photography experiments?" Conan asked in a quick whisper.
Agasa nodded: "Yes, it's entirely chemical; it doesn't need a battery!"
"Geko, Miso, Mary... listen to me carefully," Conan said, distributing tasks with the coolness of a great detective. "When I say 'now', run toward the large trees behind the van. Hera, I need your brilliance to manually decode the bag."
Suddenly, Agasa threw two small spheres onto the ground. Boom! A brilliant white light exploded, blinding the mercenaries who were using sensitive night-vision goggles. At that moment, the forest turned into a battlefield of chaos.
"Now!" Conan shouted.
The children dashed toward the trees, while Conan and Hera pulled the bag behind a massive rock. Conan opened the bag, and the crystal discs began to glow with an intermittent blue light.
"Hera, look at these frequencies," Conan said, pointing to the light. "These aren't full human minds. They are malware disguised as digital consciousness. OmniTech wasn't looking for immortality; they were looking for a way to control users' minds via the internet!"
The Great Detective's Deduction
While bullets passed over their heads, Conan closed his eyes for a second and gathered all the puzzle pieces:
1. The magnetic interference in the basement was to hide a massive data transmission.
2. The man on the roof is not human, but a holographic image powered by local AI.
3. The mercenaries work for the company's heir who wants to release this digital virus in New York.
"I understand everything now!" Conan cried. "Hera, these discs act as 'keys'. If we break one of them inside the manual reader in the mansion, we will create a feedback loop that destroys the entire system!"
"But reaching the reader requires entering the mansion again while it's surrounded!" Hera said with concern.
"Not if we use the catapult!" Conan said, looking at Geko and Miso who had reached them. "Geko, we need your physical strength and the van's rubber that Miso cut!"
The Counterattack
With amazing speed, the team crafted a primitive catapult using strong tree branches and the van's rubber. Conan placed the "Master Disc" inside a heavy plastic soccer ball that Geko was carrying.
"Miso, calculate the angle toward the open basement window for me!"
"Angle 45 degrees, wind speed 10 knots north... ready!" Miso shouted.
Geko launched the catapult with all his strength. The ball flew like a bullet, piercing the fog, to land directly inside the ventilation opening leading to the server room.
Sssssss! The sound of a massive electrical spark erupted from the mansion. Suddenly, the digital skyscrapers (the holograms) in the forest began to fade. The masked man screamed and fell to the ground; he was merely a projection device connected to the system that had now collapsed.
Solving the Final Mystery
As the system collapsed, the mercenaries' equipment failed completely, allowing the forest Rangers—summoned by Agasa via a manual flare signal—to arrive and arrest them.
Conan stood before the now-dark mansion, surrounded by his friends. "These discs contained the 'Digital Mirror', a virus designed to steal the digital identity of every citizen in New York. OmniTech's founder didn't disappear; he was planning for this moment since the year 2000."
"And how did you know it was a virus?" Mary asked in astonishment.
Conan pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket that he found in the journals. "It is written here: 'The mirror reflects what it sees, but it has no heart.' In programming, this means a program that copies data without processing it. It was a plan for total control under the guise of immortality."
The Return Home
As the sun rose over Blackwood Forest, the team prepared to leave. Dr. Agasa handed over the remains of the shattered discs to the authorities, along with a technical report carefully written by Conan to hide his true identity.
"A great adventure, Detective Team!" Geko shouted while devouring the remaining sandwiches.
"We saved New York from a virus that would have made us digital slaves," Miso added proudly, looking at his phone which was working again.
As for Hera, she approached Conan and whispered: "Well done, Conan. You proved that the human mind, even in a small body, is stronger than any algorithm."
Conan smiled and looked at the distant Manhattan skyline. "The case ends here, but the bigger battle still awaits us. Ran is waiting for us at home, and we must return before she suspects anything."
The children returned to their homes carrying memories of a "picnic" they would never forget. At the Moore apartment, Ran welcomed Conan with a warm smile: "Welcome back, sweetie! How was the forest?"
"It was very quiet, Ran-ni-chan. Nothing exciting happened at all!" Conan said with childish innocence, while he touched a very small chip in his pocket that he kept from the mansion... a chip carrying a new secret he would discover in his next adventure.
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