Chapter 295 Zero Playthrough (2)

Did we ever have the opportunity to choose a different destiny?

[Perhaps it was all destined from the very beginning.]*

*

"You did something to the Samsara Group, didn't you?"

Although it was a question, Rei Furuya's tone was very certain.

"Ever since Huayuan Wudao crossed over and I learned about the No. 1 Reincarnation Chat Group, my No. 0 Reincarnation Group has gradually become inactive, as has Wu Xiaodao's."

"No, that's not right. This change should have started after I entered the seventy-third cycle."

Taking advantage of the system's silence, Furuya Rei asked all the questions he had been holding back.

"At first, I thought it was just a simple matter of the flow of time between different worlds. Because after I entered the 73rd cycle, I fell into a time chaos, so gradually only Homura, who was still constantly repeating the cycle, could occasionally keep up with my time and have a few words with me."

"But later, even Xiaoyan stopped moving completely, and the number of cycles of reincarnation stopped changing."

Rei Furuya rubbed his fingers around the cherry blossom pendant and sneered, "Besides, with such a huge thing happening on my side now, the Reincarnation Group can't possibly remain completely silent. According to your usual practices, you should now be synchronizing the time flow of different worlds, allowing us to contact each other, thus accumulating despair and ultimately obtaining even greater energy, right?"

He exited and refreshed the page, then clicked the distorted clock icon to re-enter the No. 0 Reincarnation group chat.

[1. Rintaro Okabe: From Steins;Gate, currently on his 2500th playthrough, has died 0 times.]

[2. Homura Akemi: From *Puella Magi Madoka Magica*, currently on her 545th playthrough, with zero deaths.]

[3. Subaru Natsuki: From *Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-*, currently on his 51st playthrough, already died 51 times.]

[4. Shinpei Ami: From "Summer Revisited," currently on his 39th playthrough, having died 39 times.]

5. Rei Furuya: From "Detective Conan," currently on the zeroth playthrough, has died 73 times.

"But even now, the No. 0 Reincarnation Group remains in a static state."

In the chaotic later stages of the seventy-third loop, which was so long that time could not be recorded, the screen in the reincarnation group was filled with only Rei Furuya's messages, and no one responded to him.

Others even had their status frozen, as if they had been disconnected.

Rei Furuya said directly, "What exactly are you doing? Why did you cut off our contact? Now you can finally tell me, right?"

Now I can tell you.

The system actually responded.

We did cut off contact with you later on, otherwise it would have had a very troublesome impact on the final plot. The changes did indeed begin on the first New Year's Day of your 73rd playthrough, but we informed you at that time.

Jianggu Ling: "Huh?"

[On the night the group chat name changed, we sent you a system message saying that the game's closed beta had ended, the first Joint Reincarnation Game had officially begun, and the game mode had been switched to autonomous operation mode. Unfortunately, none of you saw it, and this system message won't leave a record.]

Jianggu Ling: "..."

Haha, what a perfect "just right".

Rei Furuya didn't want to argue with the habitual fraudster. He just frowned and thought about it, and all his bad premonitions and guesses were confirmed.

The system continued: "After trying to let the game run autonomously for a while, we found that the reincarnation group in this mode was actually an obstacle, so we turned it off later and only display your individual data."

"So, you're saying you can tell me now, does that mean everyone else, like me, has reached an irreversible and hopeless dead end? Is it finally time for you all to harvest the energy together?" Furuya Rei rubbed his temples.

"Yes and no," the system explained slowly. "The main reason I've reconnected with you is because your respective main storylines have concluded, and it's now a period we can control. Therefore, we've switched the game back to controllable mode and can reopen the reincarnation group chat."

As soon as he finished speaking, the phone that Furuya Rei was gripping tightly suddenly started vibrating wildly.

He looked down and saw the chat page refreshing with other people's messages at a speed where he could only see afterimages.

Rei Furuya couldn't understand what they were saying at all.

After refreshing for a full two minutes without stopping, Furuya Rei first clicked on the group member list next to him.

Everyone's data has been updated this time, but those terrifying numbers completely stunned Rei Furuya.

[Reincarnation Group No. 0]

[1. Subaru Natsuki: From Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-, currently on his 44,444th playthrough, having died 44,444 times.]

[2. Rintaro Okabe: From Steins;Gate, currently in his 3333rd playthrough, with zero deaths.]

[3. Homura Akemi: From *Puella Magi Madoka Magica*, currently on her 1001st playthrough, has died 0 times.]

[4. Shinpei Ami: From "Summer Revisited," currently on his 72nd playthrough, already died 72 times.]

5. Rei Furuya: From "Detective Conan," currently on the zeroth playthrough, has died 73 times.

The neatly arranged and meaningful numbers reveal the malice of fate and the system.

Furuya Rei remained silent for a long time, and the pain and despair of the four children in the Reincarnation Group were refreshed for a very long time before finally being slowly revealed to him.

*

In Natsuki Subaru's world, only a year has passed, and he is now 18 years old.

But after experiencing thousands of cycles of death, he has transformed from an optimistic and cheerful teenager into a walking corpse on the verge of collapse.

After losing contact with everyone in the group, Natsuki Subaru once again became a lonely reincarnator with no one to confide in and no one to understand him.

Then, in the City of Dreams, he met someone who could completely understand him.

That was Echidna, the Witch of Greed who possessed the Book of Wisdom, the most intelligent woman in the world, and who had the ability to foresee the future.

The Book of Wisdom records the past and future of the world. Echidna's influence extends throughout the world, and she desperately wants to help Subaru Natsuki.

Natsuki Subaru initially refused.

However, in the face of repeated difficulties that even death could not solve, and under the constant inducement of the witch, he eventually signed a contract with Echidna.

Then, the nightmare began.

Echidna is a witch of greed. She has an extremely strong desire to explore this world and Subaru Natsuki, who comes from another world and can reload his save. After signing the contract, she immediately used her wisdom and understanding of the world to develop Subaru Natsuki's ability to return from death to the maximum extent.

Subaru Natsuki became a toy for the witch to satisfy her curiosity and explore the world, and explored almost every possible development in every world line.

To execute his plan perfectly, Subaru Natsuki was even willing to die and start over just to find out what the weather would be like.

And so, after dying more than 40,000 times, Subaru Natsuki finally found the easiest and fastest path that resulted in no one dying, achieving a perfect ending where everyone survived.

He helped Emilia ascend the throne, obtained dragon blood to awaken Rem, and even, under Echidna's guidance, nearly took control of the entire world.

But no one was happy.

Everyone except Echidna seems to be in pain.

Aside from Subaru Natsuki's own life, he didn't sacrifice anyone, yet it seems he destroyed everyone.

He saved everyone, but they were merely alive.

In his pursuit of victory, he resorted to any means necessary, destroying the dreams of many and forcefully dragging their lives onto a safer but mentally painful path filled with self-reproach.

This is clearly the optimal solution, this is clearly his own choice, this is clearly the world he desired.

However, Natsuki Subaru's pain and confusion reached their peak at this moment, even to the point of complete collapse.

But he couldn't go back on his word.

At least they overcame all the difficulties, and at least no one lost their life.

Life—as long as there is life, there is a future. As long as there is a future, there is still possibility. As long as there is possibility, there is still hope.

But……

Everyone is alive, yet they are truly suffering.

*

It's only been a little over a year for Okabe Rintaro; he's 19 now.

When he first lost contact with the others in the reincarnation group, he was still in those three thousand time jumps, and thought it was just a special situation on his side.

But after the three thousand time jumps were completed, and he and everyone else finally managed to enter the Steins;Gate world line, the Reincarnation Group still didn't react, and he realized something was wrong.

He considered many possibilities, constantly reflecting on everyone's situation, while trying to integrate into a perfect worldline where everyone survived but no one possessed the memories of reincarnation.

However, perhaps this worldline was too perfect, and it gradually made him feel unreal.

He often has the illusion that he is actually in one of those thousands of reincarnations. He sees a happy scene of everyone making noise and laughing in front of him, but in a moment of distraction, he sees a horrific scene full of blood and corpses.

Danger! It's dangerous here! Escape! We have to escape! Time machine! Where's the time machine?!

Rintaro Okabe began to frequently go crazy, becoming mentally confused and doubting himself, others, and the world.

After calming down, he tried to explain to his trusted companions, but most of them looked worried and confused.

Even if someone is willing to believe him, it's still difficult for them to understand everything.

Yes, it's really hard to believe that such an outrageous thing would come from someone with a teenage angst.

Rintaro Okabe begins to heal himself, calming his trembling soul that can no longer stop.

"Through my ability to sense fate, I continuously altered future misfortunes. Amidst countless converging and expanding worldlines, I miraculously arrived at the only worldline I had hoped for. Everyone is still alive and well, living ordinary yet happy lives. That's enough; I have no other desires."

Despite these efforts, human emotions are not entirely controlled by reason.

Or perhaps it's due to being too deeply involved with countless timelines, or perhaps it's a side effect of traveling through time more than three thousand times.

One day, Rintaro Okabe disappeared from the Steins;Gate timeline.

He seems to have gotten caught in a gap in the timeline.

The world was completely still; there was only an empty city, and not a single person.

Rintaro Okabe wandered aimlessly through this desolate world.

Occasionally, he can see the future developments of the Steins;Gate world line in a mirror or on the surface of water.

He saw that in this worldline, Rintaro Okabe's existence had disappeared.

Nobody remembers him.

All traces of his existence have been erased.

*

Time seemed to stand still for Homura Akemi.

She seemed to be forever trapped in this time loop from "meeting Madoka Kaname" to "Madoka Kaname's death".

She thought this endless loop was the most desperate thing.

But it wasn't until the day this cycle was broken that she realized there were even more desperate things to come.

Madoka Kaname has become a god.

After experiencing a thousand and one reincarnations, the cause and effect of countless world lines became entangled around Madoka Kaname, causing the already powerful Madoka to transform from a magical girl into a god capable of changing the world after learning the truth.

That was her ultimate form, which she evolved during her battle in infinite time and space.

She created the Law of Cycles, interfering with the order of the universe and the time of all world lines, eliminating the despair caused by the birth of witches in all timelines of the universe, changing the fate of all magical girls who would eventually become witches, and saving all magical girls.

The cosmic reorganization caused by the desire to transcend the existing order led to Madoka Kaname's own disappearance, evolving into an omnipresent yet imperceptible and unmemorable cosmic law, thus achieving complete godhood.

In the reconstructed world, apart from Homura Akemi who still retains Madoka's memories and hairband, everyone else has forgotten her existence.

Homura Akemi is breaking down in this wonderful new world.

Is this the world that Madoka longed for?

This is indeed a perfect world, where everyone except Xiaoyuan lives a happy and ordinary life.

Homura Akemi could not accept it.

Her soul was constantly being burned by flames in this world where the small circle did not exist, and she grew more and more desperate as time went by.

*

Shenping, the online agent, returned to July 22nd.

This time, he successfully saved the island.

In that bizarre, time-distorted shadow world, he and everyone worked together to defeat the enemy and traveled back hundreds of years to the very beginning.

They successfully changed the past, making the shadow disappear from its source.

If the original plan had been followed, the world would have been reset after the past was altered, and all those who died as a result would have survived, though they might have lost their memories of the past.

But when Shinpei Neto opened his eyes again on July 22, he remembered everything and discovered that it was indeed a perfect world where everyone was alive.

However, the tide disappeared.

Strictly speaking, it no longer exists.

Her parents said they only had one child, and her sister also said she was an only child; there had never been a girl named Xiaozhouchao.

But the tide clearly existed.

They were indeed in love.

Shenping tried his best to calmly observe everything.

He recalled some details and deduced the most likely outcome.

It's possible that at the last minute, Shio raced against time to travel back to the period before July 22nd, conveying crucial information to Nagumo-sensei and guiding her to the island on July 22nd, thus initiating their subsequent cycle of reincarnation.

The disappearance of the tide is most likely due to encountering something like a spacetime turbulence, thus getting lost in the three hundred years from when the shadow appeared on the island until July 22nd of today, the time the shadow has dominated.

Even after deducing the truth, Shinpei Neto had no solution.

On this timeline, shadows do not exist, nor does the ability to travel through time.

At this moment, having lost his ability to travel through time, he truly fell into utter despair.

*

It took Furuya Rei quite a while to organize their massive amount of intelligence and determine exactly what the system wanted him to do.

This is not over yet.

The system will not let anyone off the hook.

In the system's plan, this is probably the beginning of another cycle.

"Their situation is dire, and they need your help," the system said. "I can take you to their world. You can help them while accumulating energy, and once everything is resolved, you can safely return to your own time and space to reunite with everyone and achieve a true happy ending."

There is no better choice than this.

There could be no more blatant trap than this.

Rei Furuya ignored them with a sullen face, trying to suppress his anger, and began to communicate with the four children who had resumed contact in the group.

He also explained his situation, including how the system had asked him to start a new cycle to go back to their world to do missions.

They had no way to turn back, but the path ahead might be the gaping maw of a monster, just waiting for them to jump in.

Without breaking the deadlock, the status quo cannot be changed, but breaking the deadlock may lead to a dead end and even greater despair.

They were never able to reach a conclusion on what the best course of action would be.

Three days later, Rei Furuya's funeral was held as scheduled.

In the center of the mourning hall, the blond youth's restored body was surrounded by countless white flowers in the coffin. His handsome face remained visible, and his eyes were closed, as if he were simply asleep.

More people attended the funeral than Furuya Rei had imagined.

I don't know what the police were thinking, but they didn't hide his story. Not to mention Kogoro Mouri, Ran Mouri, and Sonoko Suzuki, even Azusa Enomoto and the Junior Detective League kids eventually found out that "Toru Amuro" was dead.

They also revealed Furuya Rei's real name, stated that he was a police officer who died heroically, awarded him medals and honors, promoted him, and finally held a grand funeral.

Masaki Furuya was also there.

He was not afraid of retaliation from the remnants of the organization.

Only after Rei Furuya's death did others learn about their relationship.

But it doesn't matter anymore now.

Rei Furuya is dead.

A somber and heavy atmosphere permeated the entire funeral.

Rei Furuya stood beside his own body, looking solemn and attentive, as if everyone else could see him.

As each person stepped forward to offer flowers and bid their final farewell to the deceased, Rei Furuya would carefully respond to every single word they uttered.

Unfortunately, no one could hear it.

The day of Rei Furuya's burial was a sunny day, with bright sunshine.

According to his last wishes, his final resting place was a temple in Shibuya, Tokyo, where his body was buried with four of his close friends, thus reuniting them.

Morofushi Takaaki originally planned to move his younger brother's nameless grave back to Nagano to be buried with his parents after the organization was destroyed, but he eventually gave up and simply had Morofushi Kagemitsu's name re-carved on it.

Onizuka Hachizo stood before the tombstones of his five most prized students, his once tall and strong body slightly hunched, and his eyes reddened.

The temple abbot, who finally had his doubts resolved today, let out a long sigh.

Fewer and fewer people are visiting graves because more and more new graves are being built.

They didn't stop caring; they just died too.

After the crowd gradually dispersed, Furuya Rei stood face to face in front of his own grave, examining it closely, feeling a little uneasy.

"So this is my grave," he exclaimed.

"Woof..."

Rei Furuya turned around in surprise and saw that Haro, who was supposed to be carried away by Yuya Kazami, had run back alone.

Harlow was an overly intelligent little dog. It seemed to have understood the situation and had been unwilling to leave, lying in front of the grave and whimpering incessantly.

The child has now secretly run back, constantly sniffing around the grave, and even trying to dig into the hard cement ground with its claws to find its owner hidden underneath.

"Hello..." Rei Furuya couldn't help but crouch down to try and stop it, but his hand still passed right through the puppy's body.

"Woof—woof—woof—"

"Hello!" Kazami Yuya quickly returned as well, and upon seeing Haro digging up the grave, he couldn't help but cry again.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he simply stopped holding back and lay down on Furuya Rei's tombstone, wailing loudly. Then, wiping away his tears, he picked up Haro and left, sobbing but with unwavering strength.

"I promised Mr. Furuya that I would take good care of Haro..."

Rei Furuya watched them quietly as they walked away.

Small white dots drifted slowly through the cold air, blurring the view.

It's snowing again.

This winter seems unusually cold.

However, Furuya Rei still couldn't feel it. He even sat down in front of his own tombstone, bent his legs, and looked up at the blue sky where snow was falling.

"Splash—"

A white dove suddenly landed on the tombstone he was leaning against behind him.

Have you finally reached the ending that was destined from the beginning...?

Rei Furuya suddenly turned his head: "Who?!"

But there was no white dove he had just seen in his peripheral vision behind him.

The brand-new tombstone was blank, except for the falling of tiny snowflakes.

*

"This is not over yet!"

Matsuda Jinpei slammed his fist on the table and stood up abruptly.

"Zero isn't dead at all! He's just temporarily missing! That guy will definitely come back! We absolutely cannot hold a funeral!"

This is the fourth day since Furuya's zero deaths.

The organization has been completely wiped out, and even the police from other cooperating countries have returned home. The Public Security Bureau and Rei Furuya's family have gradually come to accept the fact that Rei Furuya is dead.

They are preparing a funeral for Rei Furuya.

“No, we still need to explain things to Furuya’s parents and let them know about Furuya’s current situation.” Date Wataru frowned. “I’ll go and talk to them and ask them to postpone the funeral.”

“I’ll go with you, class monitor,” Kenji Hagiwara said.

They all didn't want to see Rei Furuya's funeral.

It's as if holding a funeral means that everything is truly beyond repair.

They were left to stop the funeral, while the others continued discussing how to find Rei Furuya.

“No, even the surveillance camera inside the red scarf was damaged by bullets, making it impossible to recover and view what happened,” Hiroki Sawada said, his eyes dark with dark circles.

“I’ll go ask Gin again,” Morofushi Kagemitsu said expressionlessly, a cold glint in his sharp blue eyes. “This time I’ll make him spill the truth. If that doesn’t work, I’ll sneak him to the basement of the church in Nagano and try the Dream Chair.”

No one stopped him.

During these four days, they had compiled all the known intelligence, but they were still missing a very important link.

Morofushi Kagemitsu was certain that Furuya Rei had not died, but had disappeared in an abnormal way.

It's obvious that this was done by the system.

The place where Furuya Rei disappeared is Pandora's Labs, which is very likely related to the legend of Pandora.

Gin, who witnessed everything, must know something...

Morofushi Kagemitsu opened the door, paused in his steps, and looked down to meet the gaze of the blond-haired boy.

“Um… Mr. Morofushi.” Hanagaki Takedo clenched his fists and mustered his courage to say seriously, “I have finished dealing with my business. I have decided to travel to the future now and then travel back to see if I can go back to before Mr. Furuya’s accident and stop all of this.”

Morofushi Kagemitsu's finger twitched slightly.

But, however—

After entering the room, Hanagaki Takedo looked at the Sakura Team, who were now exactly the same as the future members, and carefully considered his words with mixed feelings.

"The world I live in and your world are not the same work. The storyline in my world only officially begins after the storyline in your world ends. The Tokyo Swastika Society only grew rapidly after the Black Organization was destroyed."

"According to what everyone in the future said, these two worlds will likely only intersect once. This is only after the Sakura Team conducted 95,873 experiments and twelve years after Mr. Furuya's death that they finally created this world line where the two worlds intersect."

"So, it's very likely that if I travel back this time, I won't be able to travel back to this timeline. It's also possible that even if I do travel back, I won't be able to return to the time before Mr. Furuya's accident."

After quickly explaining all the precautions, the thin, blond-haired boy took a deep breath, his eyes shining like the sun.

“But! I want to try!” he said earnestly. “If I can travel back to before Mr. Furuya’s accident with the information we have now, and if I can bring back more important information from the future, then we can still save Mr. Furuya!”

"Our hope is not zero!"

The boy's burning gaze ignited the flame of hope in everyone.

Hanagaki Takedo found Tachibana Naoto, shook his hand firmly, and headed towards the future.

Although one can control when they travel through time, Huayuan Martial Arts cannot control where they land.

Those who remained in the Nanke Yimeng timeline waited and waited, but the boy never returned.

Despair began to spread again, little by little.