"We've got reports coming in from across the city. Paradise users have been found unconscious..."

Ran and I looked at each other.

This is definitely something that could be linked to the people behind the identity thefts. This may be retaliation or part of their plan to cripple the working of this city.

"Hey, Ran," I was delve into the fray, " I need to use your Paradise ID."

"Its too dangerous. I ... know that you're interested in the case but you have to watch out for yourself. You won't be any help if you're unconscious."

"Uh, its the scientist." I faked the call. "You need me to come over there right now. Yeah, I'll be on my way!"

I was going to set up a dummy account using his PC.

"Wait Edogawa..."

Sorry Ran, I keep worrying you. I'll make it up to you once I find the dark syndicate and expose them. This is a chance to get closer.

...

On my way to my house where the scientist was, I called the scientist to let him know I'd be there.

"Hi Sean is it. I was just having dinner if you want to join me."

"I already ate, so don't worry about waiting for me to eat. I need to use your PC to do some research. I'm on my way right now."

"Alright. That reminds me I found and helped out someone today. You may know her since she goes to the same elementary school you do."

"That's great scientist , but we have bigger problems. I'll tell you when we get there. Bye."

I was going quickly between traffic with my scooter.

...

"Where's Nunnaly!" I panted as I , Luke LaRouge, barged into the rear of the Student Council building where Nunnaly was being housed along with her attendant. She was a family connection who knew our true identities.

There's people here. Has there been a move against me by father? I've taken so much care to remain low key. I won't forgive them if they used Nunnaly against me.

"Tell me," I used my emperor's eye on the nearest male student, "was there a girl in a wheelchair in this house."

"I haven't seen anyone like that."

Damn!

I rushed to the one place where I could find the person who would have the answer to my apprehensions. I made my way to the main Student council loft where the source of this commotion must be. I had to hear from the class president.

"Suzumiya," I huffed at her. I was at my limit with all the running.

"Alright, " she began, "we've got everyone together. We'll need everyone to follow my orders if this is going to work out."

"Suzumiya, where's..." I was cut short.

"Your sister's been in this room since the first reports came in to us. We needed to use the rooms as an extended sickbay."

I looked around to see her.

"Brother," I heard her voice from over the heads of the other council members. "I'm okay, you don't have to worry."

Relief.

"Besides, according to my hunch, you'd have to be able to see it in order to be affected."

"What do you have in mind?" one of the guys who was always with Suzumiya asked.

"Well it must be obvious!" We were waiting for her to explain. "Its the work of a secret organization with supernatural powers... Of course that isn't it." A few council shuffled nervously. "They most likely spent too much time on their computers and were affected by the excess radiation or had seizures because of flashing lights on their screens."

"You might not be far off from the truth. We have a connection between the students who lapsed," Megan began. "They, uh, were all on the same site where they were found: Paradise Called the West."

...

I, Edogawa Conan, arrived at my house and rang the doorbell. The scientist's footsteps could be heard coming closer through our hallway. The door opened.

He whispered to me, "I'll keep calling you Edogawa for now since we have a guest." Then in a larger voice,

"Ah, Edogawa, so you have something urgent to do using the personal computer here."

"Yeah, I need to find the connection between the social network , Paradise Called the West, and a string of people going unconscious. There was a developer of that site that called on Mr. Kaguro to investigate who stole their online personas. There might be a connection between the two events."

"That's terrible," the scientist spoke. "I've heard of people having seizures due to flashing lights and patterns, but nothing as severe as losing consciousness."

"It might be hypnosis," came a girl's voice as we entered the living room. She was definitely the age of the classmates in my elementary school. She brushed back her auburn colored hair as she went on, "Its possible for a combination of audio and visual stimuli to cause a reaction in the brain's neural network which would render them asleep. If there was some drug used to heighten the effects then coma would not be impossible."

There was something off about her. She sounded like someone more mature.

"That could be it, Edogawa," the scientist acknowledged her.

"Yeah, that makes sense," I answered them. "I need to do some research before I make any assertions."

"Go ahead, Edogawa," The scientist took me to his makeshift lab in our basement. A few monitors were set up. "Use this one to connect to the internet."

I was searching through hacker message boards for anything that connected to Paradise:

"GATHER is soo addicting and fun."

"I found a thousand dollars after going through one of their missions."

"Lain is gonna take it all since she's got the most points."

"I got some, hehhe unreal, stuff the other day. Whoever's running this has some good shit."

"I got bested by Lain again on one of the hunts. Damn, she's too good."

"They say if you run into Lain you can be sure that the hunt is over."

"Lain knows EVERYTHING. She's tried EVERYTHING."

There's a lot about this Lain person. I need to find out who this is and find out how she hasn't been affected by the Paradise leak.