Accomplice__ Kudo Shinichi x Kaitou Kid, Kaito Kid x Kudo Shinichi

Part 56: I'm asking Kaito KID for help.

"Inspector Megure! Ki—uh, Kuroba Kaito!" Kudo Shinichi came running over, slightly out of breath. He quickly donned protective gear and only then noticed Ran following closely behind him.

"Ran? Why did you come? Didn't I tell you to wait at the restaurant?" Kudo frowned as the smell of blood hit him. Without even stepping inside, he knew how gruesome the scene must be.

"Ran, it's best if you don't come any closer."

Ran nodded, backing away as she saw the police officers carrying bodies covered in white sheets. She instinctively held her chest and took several steps back.

Kudo entered the crime scene, reaching out to steady Kuroba as he stumbled. The young man, pinching his nose with one hand, waved off Kudo's help with the other.

"Why are you here? Everywhere you go, people end up dead." Kuroba just wanted to stay away from Kudo.

"Can you not with the sarcasm?" Kudo retorted, frowning. "We were in the middle of eating when one of the players ran into the restaurant. Apparently, one of the diners was his wife. You see, over there—Keiko. What's the situation here?" Kudo inquired.

"Three dead on-site, four survivors outside being treated in ambulances, but they're all fine." Officer Takagi frowned as he read from his notepad. "According to the survivors, they were playing an escape room game. Only four made it out alive. The others were... blown up by evil aliens."

"Evil aliens?" Kudo surveyed the scene. Several shipping containers were connected to form a large space with multiple rooms, forming the stages of the escape game. Kuroba picked up a blood-stained mask near the exit. "Is this an alien?"

"No." Takagi gestured toward the ambulances outside. "These are astronaut helmets. The escape room's theme was escaping from an alien moon base. Every participant was given one of these as part of the role-play experience."

Kudo tapped the glass faceplate with his knuckles. "It doesn't look much like a spacesuit."

"More like something out of a post-apocalyptic wasteland," Kuroba commented. "Cheap iron helmets paired with two goggles—They could've at least added an oxygen tank. And how is this supposed to make the role-play more immersive? "

Kudo couldn't help but shoot back, "Says the guy who loves cosplaying characters."

Kuroba raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "But this is clearly a low-budget knock-off. It looks like something you'd get as a buy-one-get-one-free souvenir at an amusement park—with a free soda."

As Kuroba walked ahead, Kudo glanced back at Ran standing outside the police tape and couldn't shake off the sense of chaos swirling around him.

There were a total of five red container houses. Upon entering each one, there were two doors to choose from. Officer Takagi opened the right door first—it led to the next stage. The left door, once opened, revealed yet another blood-splattered room. However, the once-vibrant red blood had now congealed into blackened clots.

"What kind of escape room is this?" Kuroba Kaito gazed up at the entrance to the first container, which led to the second.

Above was a large LCD screen, and the staff was frantically setting up a laptop to show them the promotional video. Essentially, each escape room was divided into two phases: team collaboration and individual logic solving.

For the first task, escaping a derelict rocket, players were required to unlock the padlocks binding them within a set time. They had to find a code hidden inside the rocket and input the code into a keypad at the exit door. The door would then open automatically, leading to the individual question phase. Once alone in a small compartment, a question would appear on the screen, and the player had to provide the correct answer. Behind the iron door were two more doors, each corresponding to an answer choice. The player who picked the correct door would proceed to the next stage. The remaining players wouldn't know which door the others chose, nor who had been eliminated. During the game, everyone wore full-body suits, and speaking was prohibited. Even if someone made a sound, it was difficult to hear through the suit.