Chapter 151, Fifty-Seventh Cycle (23)
February 5th.
The situation has gotten so bad that Ida Ko has to stay home and can't go out.
Although the worldview is based on normal scientism, too many strange things have happened to Wataru Date these past few days. Even Natalie has begun to have doubts, and her worldview is crumbling. She is thinking about the plot of the movie "Final Destination".
She also took leave from school, intending to stay home and keep an eye on Ida Wataru.
Even if it's death itself, she'll face it together with her boyfriend.
Ida was quite helpless about this; no matter how much I tried to persuade her, Natalie insisted on going with him.
[Zero: Let her go with you; you can protect her together.]
[Zero: There's a high probability that the convergence of world lines will affect Natalie.]
[Zero: If the class president can't be killed, the world will try other methods. Natalie and her parents' fates are already intertwined with the class president's life and death.]
[Zero: If the accidents didn't stop, I was planning to protect you all before February 7th.]
After reading the message, Ida Kou remained silent for a few seconds, then looked up at Natalie's back as she graded students' papers, his expression complex.
In fact, now it's pretty much confirmed that their direction was wrong, and their operation to change the world line failed. So, Furuya and his team have been frantically trying to change the world line from other angles for the past two days.
But it was no use. Without a clear goal, many of the attempts failed. Furuya Rei even almost died suddenly from heart pain and is now under strict supervision to prevent him from doing anything reckless.
Ida Ko put down his phone and leaned back on the sofa, staring at his hand, which was wrapped in bandages, deep in thought with a serious expression.
He has experienced no fewer than ten traffic accidents in the past two days, each time narrowly escaping death.
Several times he thought he was really going to die, and it was those people who risked their lives to save him from the scythe of death.
The first time was when he was on duty and was almost hit by a car driven by a fatigued driver. He was completely unable to react at that time, but Kenji Hagiwara, who was always on alert, suddenly rushed over and saved him.
They suffered minor scrapes, which nearly terrified Takagi Wataru, who was standing nearby.
The second time, he went to his usual ramen shop with Matsuda Jinpei, Hagiwara Kenji, and Takagi Wataru after get off work. Suddenly, a crashed truck crashed into the shop. Fortunately, Noah's Ark gave him a heads-up, otherwise the front of the truck would have run over Date Wataru's seat.
This incident caused significant property damage, but no one died; however, two passersby were injured.
The third time, on his way home at night, Wataru Date was walking on the sidewalk while talking on the phone with Wataru Takagi when he was almost hit by a drunk biker gang member who was driving his modified motorcycle. He managed to avoid being hit because he was alert and agile enough.
But that biker gang member died in a car accident.
The fourth time, Ida Wataru was walking on a narrow road where there was absolutely no chance of a car accident, but he was almost cut in half by a kitchen knife that fell from a height.
The investigation later revealed that a person cooking upstairs heard the commotion and went to the window to join the fun. However, he witnessed a horrific car accident on the road not far away. He was so frightened by the gruesome scene of the accident that his hand trembled and he dropped the kitchen knife.
If Morofushi Kagemitsu hadn't been constantly vigilant and protecting him, noticing something amiss and immediately raising his sniper rifle to deflect the knife, it would have landed squarely on Date Wataru's head.
The fifth time, when Date was chasing the criminal, a series of rear-end collisions suddenly occurred behind him, resulting in serious crashes along a stretch of road hundreds of meters long. Just before his car was completely wrecked, Date jumped out of the window and escaped, rolling several times before successfully avoiding the nearby reckless vehicles.
Although he ultimately escaped unharmed, he suffered relatively serious injuries, including a broken shoulder, a fractured hand, and numerous abrasions.
This serious traffic accident also resulted in three deaths and ten injuries.
It was from here that Ida Ko started taking leave. His condition has become so serious that he is unable to go to work, and it is best for him to stay away from crowded places to avoid affecting others or being accidentally affected by others.
Up to this point, it has only been less than 24 hours, from the evening of February 3rd to the evening of February 4th.
Rei Furuya also began his crazy probing from this point on, and almost died suddenly during one of his probing attempts in the early morning of February 5th. Fortunately, Kagemitsu Morofushi noticed something was wrong and stopped him in time.
It is now 7:30 pm on February 5th.
During this period, many things happened.
The sixth time, Kenji Hagiwara drove to take the seriously injured Wataru Date to the hospital, but ended up in a car accident and overturned into the river.
The seventh time, Takagi Wataru rushed over and accompanied them to the ambulance. The ambulance was also involved in a car accident on the way, but they arrived at the hospital safely.
The eighth time, Date Wataru refused Matsuda Jinpei's offer to drive him home, but he couldn't refuse the two men's insistence on taking him home. So the three of them took a taxi to catch the train home, but the taxi happened to encounter robbers. Startled by a gunshot, the taxi veered off course and crashed into the wall.
Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda managed to grab and control the driver and steering wheel in time, and the car only crashed into the bushes without serious injury.
The ninth time, they walked directly to the tram, hesitating about whether the tram would cause an accident. After discussion, they still felt that the timeline shouldn't cause such a huge disaster just because of Date Wataru's death.
Date Wataru's death is different from Morofushi Kagemitsu's. Date Wataru's survival wouldn't cause the world program to crash, but the world program is trying to kill him for some reason, so it shouldn't use any extreme methods to cause a large-scale disaster.
But an accident occurred; the train also crashed. If it weren't for Noah's Ark's intrusion control system, and if Furuya Rei hadn't immediately ordered the police to take remedial action at the suspected station, the train might have derailed and crashed, killing all the dozens of passengers on board.
For the tenth time, after such a series of unexpected events, Furuya Rei suggested that Date Wataru should not go home. His home was still some distance away, and who knew what might happen along the way? It would be better to go back to the police station not far away with the police officers.
However, Ida Ko refused.
Fearing that he might cause countless fellow police officers to be involved in car accidents, he spent a full three hours walking home.
He tried to take the less congested routes, but in the city, it's inevitable to deal with vehicles and roads. While the convenience of transportation in modern cities is certainly a benefit, it's also something we can't escape.
If the other four people hadn't rushed over to escort him home, and if Noah's Ark and Hiroki Sawada hadn't been remotely monitoring all the nearby surveillance cameras and vehicles online, he might not have even made it to his doorstep.
During this time, the five of them also successfully resolved a bus hijacking case, and Matsuda Jin defused a bomb.
After Ida returned home, the series of traffic accidents finally subsided, allowing him at least to have a quiet night.
The next day, he was told that Rei Furuya had recklessly tested the world too much and had fainted from heart pain and shortness of breath. He was so angry that he almost died.
Rei Furuya went to test Wataru Takagi.
Although not every time, Wataru Takagi was at the scene of Date's traffic accident several times, and even when he wasn't at the scene, he was on the phone with him, making him a strong suspect in the cause of Date's death.
So what could be the reason?
To advance the plot and the growth of Wataru Takagi, a police officer whose role in the future will be significant, it's better to prepare a storyline involving the death of a senior colleague.
If this causal relationship is indeed true, then we're in trouble.
Because Date Wataru's death is the cause, while Takagi Wataru's storyline and growth are the effect.
However, for those who reincarnate, cause and effect can be reversed; there is no absolute order between the two, especially in this game world.
In the future, Rei Furuya learns about Wataru Takagi's kidnapping through a conversation with the Junior Detective Club, and also learns that the case is related to Wataru Date and even Natalie.
So that guy secretly went over there alone, disguised himself, and pretended to be a kidnapper to abduct Takagi Wataru, wanting to accelerate his growth right now.
Then he almost died suddenly.
If Morofushi Kagemitsu hadn't sensed something was wrong and returned to find him using the locator, Furuya Rei might have really been in trouble.
Takagi Wataru, who was tied up, was dumbfounded. He was knocked unconscious by Morofushi Kagemitsu, who was wearing a hood, and then silently sent back to the police station. He was completely bewildered by the whole process.
Rei Furuya, who was successfully rescued, quickly woke up. Facing his childhood friend with a dark complexion, he guiltily explained that he had already contacted Noah's Ark before losing consciousness, so nothing bad would happen to him.
But Noah's Ark and Hiroki Sawada, who were his backup plans, were also quite angry.
The final test results showed that the world line shift was close to 2%, so we couldn't let Takagi Wataru advance the storyline now, nor could we touch Takagi Wataru.
Even so, Date Wataru's descent into death did not end.
So it seems that the newly discovered path is also blocked.
Rei Furuya, unwilling to give up, tried a few more times with gentler methods. Up until now, the world line has been edited two or three times, but it still hasn't worked.
Because, Ida Air was involved in an unexpected traffic accident today.
For the eleventh time, Ida Kou carefully watched the vehicles as he went downstairs to buy groceries. Through the window, he saw a policeman being dragged along by a fugitive in a car, which was about to pass by his side of the street.
He acted faster than he thought. Ignoring his injured shoulder and arm, he rushed out and grabbed the dragging policeman with one hand, rescuing him.
Enraged, the vicious criminal swerved and drove straight at the two men. At the last moment, he was stopped by a police officer, whom Furuya Rei had arranged to protect Date Wataru, but the metal fragments flying off the vehicle were heading straight for Date Wataru's head. Once again, Morofushi Kagemitsu, who was crouching nearby with a sniper rifle, shot him off target.
However, there were more than just one or two pieces of debris, and Ida Wataru was eventually cut on the forehead, but fortunately the injury was not serious.
Ida Ko raised his hand to touch the gauze on his forehead, glanced at the time, and realized it was time to change his dressing and get ready to sleep.
After reflecting on the past few days and thinking about many other things, it was already 10 p.m.
Perhaps the world line changes that Furuya Rei made to Takagi Wataru did have an effect, or perhaps it was because Date Wataru stayed quietly at home, although the unexpected traffic accidents still occurred, the frequency was much lower.
Therefore, Rei Furuya is still trying to implement a plan to change the world line through Wataru Takagi.
If it still doesn't work by tomorrow...
[Zero: Squad leader, I have a bad feeling. You should go to the underground shelter under police protection with Natalie tonight.]
[Zero: It has at least been confirmed that the convergence of world lines is limited to the form of traffic accidents, and the underground shelter might be able to prevent this disaster.]
Maybe...
Date Wataru sighed silently.
Traffic accidents can be categorized as follows:
1. Traffic accidents caused by rear-end collisions, reversing, or skidding between motor vehicles.
2. Traffic accidents caused by vehicles or pedestrians traveling in the wrong direction.
3. Traffic accidents caused by natural causes, such as floods, lightning strikes, and volcanic eruptions.
4. Traffic accidents caused by other reasons.
Now they all know that if the timeline insists on ending with Date Wataru's death in a traffic accident, or even if it means causing a train accident involving so many people, then a natural disaster, just like the one that happened during Morofushi Kagemitsu's death, is very likely to occur in the end.
Humans, however, are powerless to resist natural disasters.
All they can do is predict natural disasters and then alter the nascent tornado before it even forms, either before or just as the butterfly flaps its wings.
The problem is, it seems they're running out of time; they only have two days left.
They are still unsure of the reasons, let alone how to change them.
Ida Kou's fingers twitched slightly as he glanced at his girlfriend's shimmering blonde hair and fair profile under the light. He stared blankly at her working figure for several minutes before the blonde, blue-eyed woman noticed something was wrong, turned her head, tilted her head in confusion, looked at him, and smiled, saying it was nothing.
After Natalie went back to grading the papers, Ida Wataru opened his phone's memo app.
Or perhaps I should write a will.
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