Chapter 298 Zero Round (5)

Rei Furuya was buried on March 20th.

The Cosmic Möbius Strip Experiment began on April 1st.

“April 1st is a special point in time.” Hiroki Sawada showed them all the information he had compiled. “In previous cycles, especially in the chaotic time loop of the 73rd cycle, almost every April 1st would see a major event that could disrupt the rules of the world. If this rule still has an impact now, it might be considered a bug.”

He said, "Even if the game's storyline has ended, we can take the opportunity to create a sequel or spin-off [feature movie] and create a better ending."

The Cosmic Möbius Strip Experiment has officially begun.

Although there was new hope, the goal was far too ambitious, and they encountered one huge problem after another after the experiment began.

A simple Möbius strip is easy to make; even a child can do it.

However, if you want to create a cosmic Möbius strip and increase the dimension they occupy from three to four, it is almost impossible.

Faced with such a near-zero success rate, not a single person hesitated.

Aren't there plenty of impossible things happening to the Sakura team?

They are still just insignificant humans, and their enemies are still too powerful to touch, like ants trying to shake a tree.

But they've still made it this far.

They may have even undergone a dimensional ascension.

Based on the experiments and speculations of the future, the world in which the members of the reincarnation group reside should originally have only existed in two dimensions, such as games, comics, and novels.

Perhaps it is through the intervention of a four-dimensional being like the system that the two-dimensional world can be transformed into a three-dimensional world, and these worlds can be controlled to jointly create more realistic games for other three-dimensional beings to watch live, thereby absorbing the emotional energy born in these worlds.

When the discussion reached this point, they also considered whether, if they did succeed in ascending to a higher dimension, they would be subjected to another dimensional reduction attack by the system.

After all, the system might actually possess that ability, and everything they are doing now might be being watched by the system.

However, such a large-scale research project could not be conducted in secret from the system.

Not to mention they had no idea how to fool the system.

There's no other way but to hope that the system hasn't left many tricks up its sleeve in this game-over world.

Even if they fail, they can still learn from their experience and try again next time.

They will keep fighting the system until they bring back the trough zero.

Moreover, once you successfully ascend to the fourth dimension and reach the fourth dimension, it wouldn't be impossible to capture the system.

Standing on the same level, it's hard to say who's more capable.

Once they decided to go all out, they spent little time hiding anything. They even moved all the equipment and data to the basement of an abandoned church deep in the mountains of Nagano. Everyone was running around in a hurry, attracting the attention of many people around them.

For example, Sera Masumi, Mouri Ran, and Suzuki Sonoko.

After internal discussions, the Sakura Team decided to open the experiment to them and immediately received a huge investment from Sonoko Suzuki.

Two weeks later, they successfully used the foundation of their previous experiments to create the initial model of the cosmic Möbius strip and began their experiments.

But the experiment failed.

They had no choice but to hold another meeting to discuss the matter.

Ten years later, the Sakura Team has already been able to create a worldline observer to observe other worlds, as well as a time machine that can send mobile phones to the past, which is actually on the verge of touching the fourth dimension.

However, a simple time machine and a cosmic Möbius strip are completely different things; they are not even on the same level of experimentation.

This is a completely new path, but it doesn't mean that everything they've done before was in vain.

In Hiroki Sawada's vision of Noah's Ark, the cosmic Möbius strip was built on the foundation of previous experiments, and Dr. Agasa also unexpectedly created a surprising result—but it was not enough.

In the nearly one year they spent, although they obtained enough research data for the future through the future phone, the world's technological level was what it was. Many experiments that would be easy to do ten years later were completely impossible ten years ago, and their experiments were limited in many ways.

Moreover, before the game's storyline ended, their experimental progress was often stalled by invisible rules, and the experimental speed only began to advance rapidly after Furuya Rei disappeared.

In theory, the cosmic Möbius strip should be a twisted energy channel that connects all time and space. Therefore, they split the time machine and world line detector that they had previously built into two parts, trying to combine the spacetime energy generated by the two parts into a complete Möbius strip and create a node leading to the fourth dimension.

This is the initial form of the cosmic Möbius strip experiment.

However, after the lab exploded several times, the progress was severely hampered.

“We need a breakthrough point, or rather, an anchor point that can influence the fourth dimension,” Hiroki Sawada said. “Like Pandora.”

The system used Pandora to take Furuya Zero away; that's something they were certain of.

So in their current timeline, Rei Furuya and Pandora are no longer there.

It's worth noting here that the things the system can do must at least be within the logic of the world's rules. Therefore, Pandora herself should have the ability to travel through time and space; the system only provided a slight guidance.

On this point, they even proposed the idea that the system itself does not actually have a strong power to travel through time and space, because according to Furuya Rei and Hanagaki Takedo, the time travel power possessed by the people in the reincarnation group should be something that their world itself already possessed.

Even Pandora on Furuya Rei's side is an example.

Legend has it that Pandora is the Stone of Destiny that can grant immortality.

Does that mean that humans who possess Pandora can directly enter the level of four-dimensional beings?

It might not be that exaggerated, but Pandora must have the ability to touch the fourth dimension, which could make humans immortal.

If we can find something similar to Pandora, could we use it to break through that technological barrier and touch the four-dimensional world?

So, are there any other Pandoras in this world? And where did Pandora come from?

The Sakura team immediately split into two parts: one part went around the world searching for legends similar to Pandora, while the other part continued to research and improve the Cosmic Möbius strip.

In the ninth experiment, in another unmanned laboratory, the data from the new worldline detector suddenly fluctuated.

Noah's Ark immediately noticed and tried to move the surveillance camera to check, but the camera, which was halfway through its movement, suddenly froze.

*

The world spun around me, and when I opened my eyes again, the world before me had changed.

Huayuan Wudao sat in the classroom, looking dazed.

During break time, my classmates were all having a heated discussion about the same topic.

"Zero Era is so good! It's absolutely amazing!"

"Of course! This is Yusaku Kudo's new movie! And it's the world's first holographic movie! Is there anyone who hasn't seen it yet???"

"Zero is so cool! I'm praying there's more to the story!"

Hua Yuanwu instinctively turned around.

zero?

"Yes! He was so handsome! And he was incredibly kind too. It's such a shame he died in the end! Kudo Yusaku-sensei, you're so cruel!!!"

"Please! Zero can definitely be brought back to life, right? He's definitely not dead yet!"

"The topic of 'Zero, come home soon' has been trending online for a long time. I wonder if Mr. Kudo will soften his heart and write a perfect ending after seeing it."

"Don't even mention it, there's probably no more to it. There's a ton of wailing online, I'm even thinking of going to Teitan High School to find Shinichi Kudo and ask his dad to change the plot, waaaaah..."

Wait, could this be the time point—

"Hurry, hurry! He'll graduate soon! It'll be hard to find him after that!"

"But I heard that this story is actually based on a real person, and that the real person who inspired Zero is already dead?"

"Huh??? Really?! Are there really people like Zero in real life?!"

"No way? This Zero Era story is so fantastical, it can't possibly be related to reality, right? Didn't the internet say it's related to that holographic online game 'Running Towards the Sun'?"

"Yeah, isn't Zero in the movie based on the character model from 'Run to the Sun'? Holographic movies are great! Finally, we don't have to worry about real actors ruining the movie with bad acting skills, nor do we have to worry about those incredible stunts being impossible to do!"

Huayuan Wudao immediately picked up his phone, glanced at today's date, and then searched for related news.

"On another note, it feels like technology has been advancing so fast lately. Are we already in the holographic era? I'm still a little dazed."

"Um, I mean, is it possible that both stories are based on the same real-life prototype that the author knew?"

"You actually believed that? Some people online are saying the real-life counterpart looks a lot like a cafe employee from Beika Town..."

"Ah! Look at the news! Yusaku Kudo admitted that Zero has a real-life counterpart! He said this movie is a tribute to that person! He also said there will be a sequel! He even organized an event for everyone to think and guess how Zero can be saved! There's a reward for those who guess correctly!"

"What?! Really?! Let me see!!!"

Huayuan Wudao put down his phone and finally understood the current time.

It was April 17th, ten years ago.

He traveled back in time to shortly after the release of Yusaku Kudo's new movie, "Zero Era".

Although it has only been released for a short time, it has become a huge hit, and its box office quickly exceeded 10 billion yuan.

Soon after, Kudo Yusaku invested most of the profits in the Sakura Team's experimental research, which led to new breakthroughs in their studies.

But that was a wrong and dangerous direction to break through.

It's not too late!

Hua Yuanwu slammed his fist on the table and stood up, then immediately clutched his stomach, made up an excuse about feeling unwell, asked for leave, and ran out of the school.

The blond-haired boy was standing by the roadside, about to take out his phone to send a message to the Sakura team's group chat, when a purple Mazda, almost a blur, drifted and stopped in front of him.

The car window rolled down, revealing Matsuda Jinpei's face.

He took off his sunglasses and said, "Get in the car."

Kenji Hagiwara tilted his head and chuckled from the driver's seat, "We happened to be nearby, so we came to pick you up on the way. Takeshi, we already know what happened."

Huayuan Martial Arts: "?"

Suddenly, something occurred to him, and his eyes widened in excitement as he got into the car: "Noah's Ark really came with me?!"

“Oh, right.” Kenji Hagiwara stepped on the gas and drove the car toward the deep mountains of Nagano.

"You traveled here at 10:35:21 AM on April 17th, right?" Matsuda Jinpei showed him his phone. "Noah's Ark arrived at that time."

"It's around this time." Huayuan Wudao took the phone and opened the video.

The video is a surveillance recording, initially from a worldline observer, until the data on it suddenly jumped.

Noticing the commotion, the surveillance camera on the other side immediately turned around, but then suddenly stopped halfway through the action, and returned to normal after three seconds.

“The Noah’s Ark of the future arrived at this time,” Matsuda Jinpei explained. “The Noah’s Ark of the future and the Noah’s Ark of the present coexisted in the surveillance at that time, and separated normally after three seconds of information exchange. A world should not have two entities at the same time, but the Noah’s Ark seems to have been treated as simple intelligent data. Since it is data, it can naturally have as many copies as it wants.”

"I can't believe it actually worked!" Hua Yuanwu exclaimed excitedly. "That's fantastic! Now that Noah's Ark has arrived, we don't need the information in my head anymore!"

As he spoke, the boy scratched his head sheepishly, "Although I've tried my best to memorize it, I'm really not that smart. I'm really afraid that everyone's experiment will go wrong just because of what I've memorized..."

Huayuan Martial Arts made many preparations for this time travel.

First, he needs to try to travel back to an earlier time as much as possible.

Secondly, he needs to record as much data as possible about the new Cosmic Möbius strip experiment of the Sakura Team after the world line shift, travel back in time to bring it to everyone in the past, accelerate their experimental process, and thus influence the future again.

Finally, they tried to take a piece of data from Noah's Ark with them on their journey.

This last point is the most difficult.

They originally tried to send Noah's Ark directly into the phone that had successfully traveled back in time and disappeared along with Furuya Rei to find the missing Furuya Rei, but they were unsuccessful.

They failed to get Noah's Ark to travel through time via a mobile phone last time, and that phone only had a chat function left.

This attempt also failed, as if blocked by an invisible rule. It was so close, yet it was impossible to break through.

Fortunately, the backup plan succeeded. Noah's Ark successfully hitched a ride on Hanagaki Martial Arts' time travel, at least following him to the past to help the Sakura Team find Furuya Rei.

According to the description of the Noah's Ark from the future, it successfully stepped onto the suddenly formed cosmic Möbius strip the instant Huayuan Martial Arts crossed over, and came here with him.

Theoretically, the reason for their success was that Huayuan Martial Arts traversed intangible thought, and Noah's Ark can also be considered intangible thought. In addition, the energy of the cosmic Möbius strip they created resonated successfully with Huayuan Martial Arts' ability to traverse, which is why they were able to briefly create the complete cosmic Möbius strip they wanted.

However, this success was due to the use of the system and the abilities of the Huayuan Martial Arts World, and it only allowed Noah's Ark to set foot on it temporarily for a moment.

"Although it was only a very short moment, I did see too many complex things, and even I need some time to process them," said the future Noah's Ark.

"We are still a long way from enabling humans to travel through time," Noah's Ark says now. "However, if it were just me traveling through time, it would be quite possible."

"If we start using the technology I brought back from the future to speed up the experiment now, maybe they'll succeed ten years from now," said the future Noah's Ark. "Our goal is for me to become a system-like being and travel back in time to change Zero's fate."

“Leave it to me!” said the young Hiroki Sawada confidently.

*

future.

"I successfully time-traveled, the world line changed, and technology made earth-shattering progress, so why can't I enter the fourth-dimensional world? Is the system blocking some crucial part of it?" The adult Hiroki Sawada frowned and kept checking the data. "Is twenty years still not enough? Should we try again?"

"Hiroki, I've actually been thinking about something," Noah's Ark on the screen suddenly said. "If I could successfully travel to the past right now, why wouldn't my future self, in the more distant future, travel to that past? Twenty years from now, thirty years from now... even fifty or sixty years from now, I'll definitely be much stronger. Why don't I, from that future, travel to that future?"

Hiroki Sawada turned to face Noah's Ark: "You mean to say..."

*

Hiroki Sawada's goal of having Noah's Ark travel through time again ultimately failed.

When Huayuan Wudao returned from the past, his storyline came to a complete end.

Having lost his ability to travel through time, Huayuan Wudao and his seemingly perfect world are completely separated from their world, becoming two non-intersecting lines once again. They can only see the subsequent developments on the other side through the Worldline Observer, and problems are gradually arising.

Noah's Ark determined that the system had fixed the bug.

*

April 25th.

The cherry blossoms have already begun to fade at this time of year.

Amidst the falling cherry blossom rain, Morofushi Kagemitsu reached out to grab the only intact flower among the vast expanse of fallen petals.

But the cherry blossom was too fragile, and it still shattered into pieces in his palm.

Morofushi Kagemitsu's hair had grown very long, and many cherry blossoms fell on it, only to be blown away by the wind.

He lowered his head, his long black hair obscuring the emotions in his blue eyes.

"Zhu Fu?"

Morofushi Kagemitsu turned his head and saw Date Wataru carrying his daughter on his back and leading Natalie by the hand.

"Class monitor." Morifushi Kagemitsu smiled, chatted briefly with the three of them, and then prepared to leave.

"Morofushi," Date Wataru called out to him again, his gaze falling on the blooming cherry blossom branch he was holding. "Are you going to see Furuya again?"

"Hmm." Morofushi Kagemitsu put his fist, along with the fallen cherry blossom he caught in mid-air, into his pocket, and raised the bouquet of flowers, saying, "The cherry blossoms are about to fall. Let Zero take one last look at the cherry blossoms."

Date Wataru was already used to Morofushi Kagemitsu's frequent visits to the cemetery, but reminded him, "Don't forget tonight's meeting about the new experiment."

Morofushi Kagemitsu doesn't know when it started, but he has never been willing to admit that the grave belongs to Furuya Rei, and therefore never even goes to see it. Now, he occasionally stays at the cemetery and loses track of time.

"Yes." Morifushi Kagemitsu nodded.

The plan has changed a lot. Sakura Team will hold a new experimental meeting tonight, and no one will be absent.

After saying goodbye to the family of three, Morobushi Kagemitsu walked towards the cemetery.

As darkness fell, a light drizzle began to fall.

Without an umbrella, Morofushi Kagemitsu walked to Furuya Rei's grave, stood there for a while holding a cherry blossom, and then bent down to put the flower down.

The other hand, which had remained hidden, had already crushed the scattered petals into mud in its fist.

In the silent, dimly lit cemetery, only this black figure stood motionless. A gentle breeze lifted his long hair, which was then beaten down by the rain and hung heavily.

Do you want to revive Rei Furuya?

An unfamiliar voice suddenly rang in my mind.

【Morofushi Kagemitsu, are you willing to sign a contract with me to travel to the past and change Furuya Rei's fate of dying?】

A smile slowly crept up from the man's pale lips.

"System?" Morifushi Kagemitsu said slowly, "Are you starting to panic?"

system:【? 】

"What? Is Zero not cooperating with you?" Morofushi Kagemitsu smiled, his eyes crinkling. "So now you're even trying to use me to threaten him?"

system:【……】