Chapter 178, Seventy-Third Cycle (8)
What happened?
Rei Furuya's first suspicion was that there was something wrong with his own perception.
Is this a dream? Is it related to the idiom "a dream of Nanke"? Or is it that... he really has a problem perceiving time in the real world because of too many death rewinds and nightmare experiments?
Rei Furuya was initially very certain that he wasn't sick, but now, seeing everyone casually saying that yesterday was January 13th and today is January 16th, it's perfectly normal, he... suddenly became a little uncertain.
This is absurd.
Rei Furuya couldn't help but reach out and press his brow, closed his eyes and thought for a while, then suddenly opened his eyes and walked toward the calendar hanging on the wall.
Before going to sleep yesterday, he crossed out the January 13th date that had been circled in red on the calendar by hand, and then went to sleep.
He clearly remembered that January 13th was followed by January 14th, and he even put a checkmark on it with a black pen, indicating that he planned to organize something to do the next day as Bourbon.
But now...
The calendar clearly shows that January 13th is followed by January 16th, and January 14th, which was marked with a black pen, along with January 15th, has disappeared.
Rei Furuya stared blankly at the strange calendar for a full minute before turning around, walking to the window, and pulling back the curtains.
Suddenly the sunlight shone brightly, and the outside world came into clear view.
Rei Furuya squinted and carefully examined the area again and again, but still couldn't find anything wrong. It was as normal as could be, no different from any other ordinary day.
And it's incredibly realistic.
Rei Furuya stood by the window, watching the pedestrians below, and pondered for a few minutes. He listed out the possibilities in his mind, then picked up his phone to search for some things online, and even bothered Vermouth Gin and Vodka. Finally, he pretty much confirmed the most likely outcome.
Although he was initially frightened, he had experienced so many strange things, so he quickly calmed down and deduced the truth based on previous clues.
He wasn't panicked. Even if something really happened and he was caught off guard, he could just reload his save and go back to the point when he first saved the game. At least back then, time hadn't gone haywire.
After thinking it over, Furuya Rei reopened the group chat on his phone.
After this period of thought and confirmation, half an hour had passed. The people in the group were so anxious that they started making wild guesses and almost scared themselves to death. However, because Furuya Rei had told him to confirm before contacting them, he held back from taking any action.
Seeing their worried words, Furuya Rei's heavy, cold heart softened as if suddenly soaked in warm water, and he quickly began to explain.
[Zero: I'm back, I'm fine, I roughly know why, let me explain.]
He first slowly described in writing the experiments and investigations he had just conducted, and then had them do a small experiment.
[Zero: The numbers following 13 are 14, 15, and 16, right?]
The others readily agreed.
Rei Furuya then asked: "So, what date comes after January 13th?"
Five people and one artificial intelligence simultaneously and without hesitation answered: "January 16th."
Jianggu Ling: "..."
Although he had expected it, he was still taken aback by the neat rows of six "January 16th" signs for quite a while before he recovered.
[Zero: Didn't you guys... notice anything wrong with your answers?]
The group was silent for about ten seconds, it was unclear whether they were lost in thought or had gone to the neighboring 【zero observation diary】group for a heated discussion.
[Hiro: Zero, what's wrong? We can't figure it out ourselves.]
Rei Furuya suddenly let out a breath he had been holding, and a smile instantly appeared on his lips without him even noticing.
[Zero: The problem lies with time in this world. It's not a problem with my perception of time, but rather that the flow of time and the rules of this game world have changed. This started last night after the protagonist, Conan, was born.]
[Zero: For me, the date skipped three days from last night to today, but we all only slept for one night, and when we woke up, it was already three days from now.]
[Zero: I suspect this is similar to the "three days later" trope in novels and movies. For the game, it's just a brief "three days later" interlude; for the people in the game world, three days have passed. What happened during those three days isn't detailed, so the world's programming skips over it or simply erases it.]
[Zero: Or rather, there's something wrong with time itself in this world.]
[Zero: I suspect I was one of those influenced by the rules of the world in my past life. Now, thinking about it carefully, I suddenly realize that this one year in my past life was indeed very strange. It was only one year, but it felt like many years had passed and I experienced a lot of things. I even celebrated Valentine's Day, which is always associated with murders, multiple times, but I didn't feel that anything was wrong before.]
[Zero: I've suddenly stepped outside the rules and noticed something's wrong. Maybe it's because the system is bound to me, so only I'm noticing the time setting in the world rules is off.]
After he finished explaining, the group fell into a brief silence, and then erupted in chaos.
*
It was noon when Conan Edogawa arrived at Professor Agasa's house.
Having grown accustomed to the child's body, he peeked around and asked, "Isn't Xiao Ai here? Where's Mr. Matsuda? Isn't he off duty today?"
The small robot on the table lit up its black screen with white pixelated eyes and a mouth. Noah's Ark smiled and said, "They went out on business and will be back tonight."
From the other side, amidst a burst of sparks and roars, Professor Agasa turned and shouted, "Huh? What? Shinichi, what did you say? I—didn't—hear—it—!"
Conan Edogawa pushed up his huge black-rimmed glasses, which concealed his face, with a headache, and replied loudly in return, "It's nothing! Dr. Agasa, please stop calling me Shinichi!! It'll give away my identity!!!"
Noah's Ark: "..."
Noah's Ark: "I think you two need to keep your voices down."
*
On the other side, Furuya Rei was surrounded by five people who were anxiously checking him over and making sure he was alright before they breathed a sigh of relief.
Rei Furuya sighed and raised his hand to straighten his messy hair, repeating again, "I really didn't become a psychopath because of having too many undercover identities, working too hard, or dying and rewinding too frequently. I've already said that there's something wrong with the time in this world."
"Okay, I understand. So what's tomorrow?" Matsuda Jinpei slapped the table, bent down, pulled down his sunglasses, and looked directly into his eyes.
Jianggu Ling: "..."
Jiangu Ling: "January 17th?"
Matsuda Jinpei's smile vanished instantly.
The expressions of the people next to him also changed.
His expression was as if he had some incurable disease.
In particular, Morofushi Kagemitsu even lost his composure and broke off a corner of the table.
Jianggu Ling: "..."
Rei Furuya was also very troubled: "Isn't today January 16th? Logically speaking, the number immediately following 16 is 17, right? So tomorrow should naturally be January 17th. If not, then it's definitely a problem with the time in this game world, not that I'm sick."
The five people remained silent, their eyes filled with complex emotions.
Rei Furuya gave up trying to explain and could only repeatedly emphasize: "I have no problem, I'm fine, I'm perfectly clear-headed, it's really you who have been influenced by the rules of the world."
*
【ZERO Observation Diary】
[Class Monitor: Zero can't remember the date of each day anymore. What do you guys think? Is it a problem with his time perception or is there something wrong with the flow of time in the world?]
[Mazda: Although it's outrageous, I believe in Zero. This world is strange enough as it is, so what's a little more?]
[Mazda: However, just in case, we should also consider another possibility.]
[Hagi-chan: I really want to believe Zero, but I feel like there's something strange about the last save point. I'm starting to suspect that something happened during the month Zero was missing, which might have caused this problem with his perception of time. It's not impossible.]
[Hiroki: I think so too. Although I believe in Zero, I can't let go of another possible worry: what if that really is the case?]
[Class Monitor: Could it be the system playing tricks? What does that "dream of Nanke" mean?]
[Noah's Ark: Generally speaking, in this situation, perhaps it's worth seeing a psychologist to get a better understanding?]
[Hiro: Zero is hiding something from us. We really need to confirm it before we can feel at ease, but won't Zero be unhappy?]
[Hiro: And are there really psychologists who can break through Zero's psychological defenses to diagnose his mental condition?]
When Morofushi Kagemitsu uttered those words, everyone fell silent.
Ah, that is indeed a problem...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
