Chapter 149, Fifty-Seventh Cycle (21)

On December 25th, Christmas Day, Hiroki Sawada and Noah's Ark joined their small group to discuss how to deal with the system and resolve the impending doom of Date Wataru that they would face in the next two months.

It took Hiroki Sawada several days to fully process everything. With the Lunar New Year approaching and school on holiday, he simply stayed home and diligently studied the materials, trying to evolve Noah's Ark.

In order to get closer to and better understand the nature of this world and the concept of reincarnation, he even started studying books that made Professor Agasa's pupils tremble, just like Rei Furuya did during his time at the police academy.

Even knowing that he was a graduate student at MIT and the genius who created the Noah's Ark of artificial intelligence, Dr. Agasa still looked skeptical when he saw a ten-year-old child reading books on relativity, quantum mechanics, and even profound philosophy and world studies every day. He even began to wonder if he was being too lazy.

Shinichi Kudo next door was also provoked by him. He solemnly told his parents that his knowledge was not yet complete and that he absolutely could not lose to elementary school students who were a few years younger than him. Then he turned around and went into his huge family library and refused to come out.

Upon learning that the two boys had also started rolling around, Morofushi Kagemitsu was speechless.

Well, how should I put it, it's really not surprising at all.

Once you come into contact with Zero and get to know him, very few people won't be drawn in.

As Rei Furuya's closest childhood friend who has never been separated from him, Morofushi Kagemitsu has naturally followed Rei all the way to the present. He undoubtedly knows the experience of being with Rei Furuya the best, and is also the person who is closest to Rei Furuya besides Rei Furuya.

During their early days at police academy, the five of them were even expelled from the human race and called "gorillas" by others.

At that time, Morofushi Kagemitsu and his classmates were constantly studying, not only in the open courses and exams, but also secretly training in undercover skills.

During the subsequent undercover period, the intelligence team, the action team, and even the research team were all driven to the brink of collapse by Bourbon. Rena Mizunashi even came into the sights of the organization's boss ahead of time and obtained a codename because of this.

Needless to say, the character of Scotland, played by Hiromitsu Morofushi, is also remarkable. From his sniping skills at the beginning to his martial arts skills, then his medical skills, and now even his intelligence gathering and computer skills, he is gradually moving closer to becoming an all-around childhood friend.

However, Hiroki Sawada and Noah's Ark's growth rate is truly the most outstanding among all of them.

Not long after the New Year, less than a month later, while keeping an eye on the movements of all the members of the Muddy Society and the surroundings of Ida, Natalie, and her parents, Noah's Ark underwent a major upgrade.

In less than a month, Hiroki Sawada's and Noah's Ark's worldviews underwent a complete transformation, opening the door to a new world. Their thinking seemed to have risen to another level, and many of their ideas changed and became bolder and more innovative.

Although they have accepted the fact that real life is probably a strange game, and do not believe that everything is fake, they will still treat the world and their family and friends with sincerity. However, when thinking about problems, they can completely reverse the process from a different perspective.

Since this world is just a game that can be restarted, where everyone's fate is predetermined and the entire world is just a program without self-awareness, and the system is a virus that invades their world, then as long as we can find a way to intervene in the program that controls the world, we can seize the entity of the system and truly fight against it.

Although the general direction is clear, how to do it specifically and to what extent still requires countless attempts and explorations.

In addition, because they were really worried that their probing would go too far and cross the world's bottom line, causing harm to Furuya Rei and forcing the world to restart, Hiroki Sawada and Noah's Ark would have every ingenious idea discussed in detail with Furuya Rei, who was in his Sakura identity, before proceeding to make sure there were no problems.

Based on the above conditions, on January 21, the six people and an artificial intelligence secretly gathered again at Matsuda Jinpei's rented apartment.

All six of them held their breath, watching Noah's Ark rush into Furuya Rei's phone once again.

The other five people couldn't see the group chat on their phones, and could only stare wide-eyed at the blank homepage, which remained completely silent.

Noah's Ark was also on edge.

Only Rei Furuya has relaxed his shoulders.

Because it has already failed.

He had already opened the group chat page. If Noah's Ark could see it, it would have noticed the moment he entered, instead of circling his phone several times without saying a word.

"Sorry, I still haven't found it." Noah's Ark finally gave up.

“It’s alright. Noah’s Ark has already done its best. To come up with so many solutions and updates in such a short time is already a remarkable achievement. Noah’s Ark and Hiroki are both amazing.” After saying that, he squatted down and gently touched the dark circles under the child’s eyes, saying helplessly, “But, you’re trying way too hard, Hiroki. Do you even remember that you’re a human child and not a machine?”

Hiroki Sawada shifted his gaze somewhat guiltily.

Actually, this test didn't need Rei Furuya to come in person. He must have come because he found that Hiroki Sawada was working so hard on this and hadn't rested much, so he came to check on him and stop him from continuing.

"Hiroki, if you keep this up, I'm going to regret telling you this." Furuya Rei's expression turned serious.

"No—" Hiroki Sawada panicked instantly, turned his head and looked at him nervously, but stopped halfway through his sentence. He couldn't help but look up to see the expressions of the other four people, but found that their expressions were all similar.

Finally, under the serious yet gentle gaze of several adults, Hiroki Sawada lowered his head, quietly reflected on himself, and sincerely apologized: "I'm sorry for making everyone worry. I have indeed been too excited lately. I will try my best to control myself and allocate my time reasonably and pay attention to rest in the future."

After saying that, he was still a little nervous, so he looked up, took a step forward, and grabbed the sleeve of the blond youth who was still squatting down and quietly watching him: "So, don't say anything like you regret telling me the truth..."

Despite her best efforts to hold back, the child's face still betrayed her sadness and panic, and she almost burst into tears.

"What's the difference between saying that and regretting being my friend?"

Rei Furuya was stunned for a moment. Hiroki Sawada had always been a calm, rational, and gentle child. It was only after living at the professor's house for a while that he became a little more lively and showed some childlike side. But he had never been so openly sad or even so aggrieved that he almost cried. It was really shocking that he suddenly showed such an expression.

He even instantly felt four burning gazes fixed on him from behind, and his body stiffened slightly.

"No, of course that's not what I meant." Furuya Rei was unusually flustered, completely surprised that his words had elicited such a strong reaction. "I will never regret meeting you and becoming your friend, but..."

I'm just a little worried. After all, no matter how precocious and intelligent Hiroki is, he's still just a child. If it weren't for his special circumstances, Furuya Rei never intended to reveal the truth of the world to him so early. This would have a huge impact on his worldview, personality, and future.

So after Noah's Ark failed, and even when Hiroki Sawada was excitedly messaging him late at night to discuss new ideas, Rei Furuya would occasionally have regrets.

"Don't hide it from me just because I'm a child. It's my fault for not resting properly, and I will definitely change it in the future. You can scold me however you want, but, but Zero, you can't just dismiss me because of this."

Hiroki Sawada tried hard to hold back his tears, wanting to calmly and rationally express his thoughts.

"It's too cruel to let the frog in the well jump out and see the outside world, and then push it back down... No, I can't say that, otherwise you might block my path to the truth from the very beginning if I fail and have to reload... I've actually been worried about that. I really, really want to fight alongside you, to become a hero of justice, to save others, to defeat the system and save the world, to make the world a better place. That's my biggest dream right now. Sakura, even you can't deny or take away my dream. I'll be really sad and angry."

Hiroki Sawada is a very intelligent and perceptive child. He may have already sensed Rei Furuya's thoughts and kept them in mind until Rei Furuya said those words. He couldn't hold back anymore and became so emotional that he even called her Sakura, which he was most used to, instead of Zero, which he had gradually started using recently.

Rei Furuya sighed, reached out and gently hugged the child, stroking his hair to comfort and apologize: "I'm sorry, Hiroki, it was my fault. I won't say those things again. You will always be an important companion to us, a friend who will never be separated."

"Really?" Hiroki Sawada finally let the tears he had been holding back fall. "You won't hide things from me just because I'm a child? Even if I have to reload the game, even if I lose all my memories, will you still find me again and become friends with me again?"

“Of course, I swear,” Furuya Rei said earnestly.

Hiroki Sawada finally stopped crying and started to smile.

Rei Furuya handed him a tissue, his eyes crinkling with a smile. "Don't worry," he said, "we've all been through this. No matter how many cycles we go through, even if we start from complete strangers, even if we have to get to know each other again and become friends step by step, I will never give up. I will cherish every day we've spent in each cycle together, and I will remember every memory of each cycle. Then, in the next cycle, I will tell you everything. I've sworn that I will work hard with everyone in every cycle and will never hide anything from you again and act recklessly on my own."

After he finished speaking, he looked up, smiled at his childhood friend who had walked up to him, and then looked seriously at the three important friends behind him.

"This is a promise I made to everyone, a vow I will never break."

Rei Furuya turned around, met the gaze of the child with red eyes, smiled and extended his pinky finger, his voice soft yet incredibly earnest: "How about I make a promise with Hiroki too? We'll pinky swear for a hundred years and never change our minds."

Hiroki Sawada looked into his eyes, then at his outstretched finger.

"Okay, then it's a promise." The black-haired child finally smiled, reached out and hooked his finger with the blond youth's, shaking it up and down while saying the vow that signified the establishment of the oath: "Pinky promise, never to change for a hundred years, or I'll swallow a thousand needles if I break my promise."

*

February 1st.

Rei Furuya looked at the calendar, an overwhelming tension filling his heart, causing him to clench his fists.

There's still one week left.

The squad leader's death day is less than seven days away.

It's been about ten days since the last time he made a promise with Hiroki Sawada, and the child is indeed not as eager to work hard as before. His uncontrollable excitement has gradually subsided.

The evolution of Noah's Ark was temporarily put on hold, and Hiroki Sawada focused all his attention on the impending doom of Wataru Date.

In fact, nothing strange has happened around Date Wataru so far, and the timeline shows no signs of converging.

This made them feel both relieved and wary.

However, by now, the number of deaths caused by "accidents" has likely decreased significantly, otherwise the convergence of timelines would have already begun.

Now there are only two possibilities left.

First, the timeline of the Date Aircraft crash caused by the mudslide will normally conclude on February 7th. If they are blocked, they will carry out a series of other conclusion actions.

Secondly, what they did before had unknowingly changed the timeline of Date's fate. The timeline they are now living in is the timeline in which Date has successfully survived, and Natalie and her parents will not die.

They certainly hoped for the latter and did everything they could think of to achieve it.

But hope is still just hope, and they are still preparing with the same attitude they had towards the former.

The peaceful days continued until the day the leader of the Muddy Society suddenly took action, while the group remained on high alert.